THE IRISH REVOLUTION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2488, 11 March 1881, Page 4

THE IRISH REVOLUTION.

ALARMING PLOTS. London, Feb. 15There are ominous signs abroad of a revival of Fenian activity. Stories of j f the most daring and diabolical attempts y are coming in daily from all parts of the l- kingdom, and the Land League appears s, to be calling to its aid the emissaries of s fire, explosions, and assassinations. A brisk secret trade in arms is carried on between Birmingham and Ireland. Great numbers of old Enfields were dis- ® posed of by the War Office early last year at absurdly low prices, and it is j stated that they were bought by agents . of the Fenian organisations in England. These weapons are being gradually f converted into breechloaders at 7s 6d each, and secretly exported in small quanties to Ireland where they are used f for the propagation of the “ Irish terror.” It is felt that in the present crisis it is the imperative duty of the Government to take measures to check this export, especially as the buyers and sellers on both sides of the Channel are believed to be well known to the authorities. A Darlington correspondent telegraphs: —“ Special precautions ire being taken ,1 at Sunderland in consequence of an anonymous intimation received by - Major Reid. 3rd Durham Rifles, that an attack by a body of ‘lrish ’ upon the local volunteer armoury was meditated. Iu accordance with orders from the War Department a special guard has been on duty at the garrison all the week. The locks have been taken off the 500 rifles in the volunteer stand, so that they would be useless if seized. Extra guards are also stationed at the regular barracks and at the trainingship.” A great sensation was produced a few days since by a paragraph telegraphed to the Press Association from one of its correspondents, to the effect that a “ live torpedo ” had been found beneath the bows of the Lord Warden guardship, lying off Queensferry in the Firth of Forth. The plot to blow up the vessel was ™at once assigned to Fenian agency. The Admiralty, however, intimated that they had received no information on the subject from the captain of the ship. Great alarm was excited in Liverpool by the occurrence of four fires in some the large sheds adjoining the docks which broke out almost simultaneously In two cases the flames were not subdued until a large amount of damage had been done* On the following morning, broken bottles which had contained petroleum were found on the scenes of most of the fires, as well as timber and shavings saturated with this dangerous oil Everything pointed to an organised attempt at incendiarism on an extensive scale. A dock laborer named Dynan, who was suspected of being an informer against the Fenians, was deliberately shot in his own house in Cork last Saturday night. Two men called aobut 9 o’clock in the evening, and in answer to their knock, Dynan went to the door, when, after the exchange of a few words, a revolver was fired at his head, dangerously wounding him. His deposition has been taken, but he declares that he does not know his assailant.