DEVALERA IN AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 274, 15 August 1919, Page 7

DEVALERA IN AMERICA

' A 'CAMPAIGN FOR MONEY IRISH BONDS OP 1866 Irish bonds, valued at £100,000 which were issued in America, in 1866, and n'hich, it is said, were unofficially approved bv President Johnson, will Se redeemed by tho present Government of tho Irish Republic, according to Eanionn do Valora, ''President of tho Irish Republic,' who declared recently (says the New York "Evening Post") that Ireland considers the bond issue a debt of honour. .Valera said that details of the exchange would be arranged, and that bonds of tho proposed issue of =£1,000,000 would bo given, for those of 1866, with payments of interest wherever duo. Tho bonds issued then, he said, promised tho payment of tho face value six months after the recognition of tho Irish Republic, while tho now issuo will provide for the payment upon "the evacuation of Ireland by British forces." The story of the bonds is closoly connected with; the Amorican Civil War. and is of particular interest in New York because 1 John Mitehel, grandfather of John Purroy Mitehel', exMayor of. New York,-was roleased by President Johnson from a war prison to act as fiscal agent.of tho Irish organisation in Paris. Colonel Shatter, . who later became General in the SpanishAmerican War, is said to have released officers of the Union army to lead the invasion into Canada,, promoted by tho bond issue, and General Meade, who commanded the forces on the Canadian sido, afterwards declared that tho' lino was opened to permit the passage of the invaders. The bonds were issued in very pmall denominations and subscribed almost entirely by .working men in this country.