demned alike the Eastport raid and the proposed invasion of Canada, and claimed that all the resources of the conspiracy should be placed at his sole disposal, with a view to action in Ireland. Mitchel had written to O'Mahony from Paris, entreating him not to allow the Irish leader to obtain the control of the American organization; but the Head Centre was powerless to prevent it, and accordingly he resigned in his favour. Stephens assumed the reins, and began a course of public meetings, to revive the ardour of the people and replenish the Fenian treasury.

At his first meeting in Jones's Wood he announced his policy to be "War in Ireland, and nowhere else;" and he added, "As surely as I address you to-day, we shall take the field in Ireland this very year," a pledge which he repeated on every opportunity during the next five months. He declared that money alone was needed. He had two hundred thousand fighting men in Ireland, fifty thousand of whom were drilled, ready to obey his summons.

Meanwhile Roberts and Sweeny were rapidly maturing their scheme of a Canadian raid, and the project was consummated on the 31st of May. On that night some six hundred Fenians crossed the Niagara River at a point in the neighbourhood of Buffalo, and "planted the Irish flag on British soil." In the absence of the

general who was expected to lead the expedition, the command devolved upon "Colonel " John O'Neill, a man who had served in the Federal army during the war, and is said to have received a captain's commission for his bravery in the field. A number of the raiders fled at the first approach of the Canadian troops; but about five hundred men pressed forward as far as Ridgeway, and some serious skirmishes took place, in which several lives were lost. On the 2nd of June the Fenians retraced their steps, and escaped from Canadian territory; but before they could effect a landing they were captured by an American gunboat. President Johnson promptly issued a proclamation declaring the raid a misdemeanour, and ordering the arrest of its promoters.

The conduct of the United States Government in this transaction was deemed most praiseworthy, and served greatly to damp the ardour of the Fenians, who counted on the inactivity, if not the sympathy of the authorities. But the effects of this policy were vitiated by the general desire to propitiate the Irish vote, in view of the elections which were then approaching. Before three weeks elapsed, Roberts was introduced upon a Fenian platform by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The prosecution of the Canadian raiders was abandoned, and a bill altering the neutrality laws in the Fenian interests was actually passed by the Lower House. and "tabled" in the Senate. At the same time, by a resolution of

Congress, the use of a public building in Washington was granted to the Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, Stephens had been making a tour through New England, though without his usual success. The dissensions increased, and funds came in but slowly. The Irish Head Centre was actually arrested for a debt of 4,000 dollars by a man who had been a member of O'Mahony's "Central Council." Meetings were becoming less frequent, and the movement was sinking in public estimation, when a new impulse for evil was imparted to it by the action of public men in bidding for the Irish vote. The Roberts party once more avowed their designs against Canada, and Stephens issued a manifesto announcing in the plainest terms his intention of leading an Irish outbreak within the year. In the beginning of August he called for returns of the men who were ready to start for Ireland "at an hour's notice," and of those who would be prepared to follow on the commencement of hostilities. Later in the month the Fenian arms which had been seized at Campobello were restored to him, and he had also at his disposal the steamer purchased for that expedition. His position was further strengthened by the arrival of a number of Fenian officers, just released from Irish prisons. In an address to their leader these men gave an encouraging account of the state of the movement in Ireland, and expressed their readiness to return at a moment's notice. But, in spite of all this, Fenianism was manifestly declining, and money could not be obtained. It appeared from a financial statement published by O'Mahony that the amount received by him up to the previous May for Fenian purposes was 460,000 dollars; but of this only a few dollars remained in the treasury, and the personal extravagance of Stephens was a serious drain upon the funds. It was plain that no military expedition could be despatched to Ireland. Stephens, nevertheless, maintained his popularity by the audacity of his public announcements. At a meeting in Jones's Wood, on the 24th September, he repeated, with increased solemnity, his determination to take the field. "The men in Ireland," he declared, " are determined on fighting this year, and I am as fully determined on being with them, come weal or woe." A month afterwards he made his last public appearance in New York. On that occasion (28th October) he attended another monster meeting in Jones's Wood, and delivered himself in the usual strain. He announced that Fenianism in Ireland was as strong as ever, and that within the next two months would be decided the great question of Irish independence. “I speak to you now," he continued, "for the last time before returning to Ireland." "There are two hundred thousand men in Ireland as brave as you are, who want to fight more than you do." "My last

words are, that we shall be fighting on Irish soil before the 1st of January, and that I shall be there in the midst of my countrymen."

It has already been stated that during the summer all fears of Fenian disturbances in Ireland were dismissed; and when in August Lord Abercorn's Government sought a renewal of the "Habeas Corpus Suspension Act," the demand seems to have been made rather with a view to enable them to deal with the three hundred and twenty prisoners who remained in custody, than with the expectation that occasion would arise for any vigorous use of the powers conferred by it. Indeed, during the next three months, only seven warrants were issued under the Act; and at the end of November the number of those in custody under its provisions was reduced to seventy-three. But these declarations of Stephens had an extraordinary influence upon the conspirators at home; and their effect was enhanced by the arrival from time to time of Fenian officers, who had sailed from New York under the conviction that an outbreak was really imminent. There is no doubt that Fenianism was by no means as formidable as it had been in 1865, but towards the close of the year appearances became fully as alarming. Great activity was again manifested by the conspirators; the usual measures for collecting money were put in active operation; arms and ammunition were smuggled into the country; reports were industriously circulated that an immediate rising was intended; and it was rumoured that the men who were pledged to lead the insurrection had actually left America. Numbers of persons fled from their homes in consequence. There was a run upon many of the banks; and in one small town in Munster sums amounting to £5,000 were drawn in gold during three days in November. The Government were inundated with demands for protection from every part of Ireland; and a state of alarm, almost amounting to panic, prevailed from one end of the country to the other. In such a state of things the Executive was again compelled to seize upon the local leaders and the emissaries of the organization; and in December, ninety-seven of the most prominent among the conspirators were committed to prison under the Lord-Lieutenant's warrant. This opportune severity produced the happiest results; and so rapidly did the prevailing excitement die out, that before the meeting of Parliament, in February, the authorities at Dublin Castle came unanimously to the opinion that the extraordinary powers with which they were invested might at once be dispensed with; and an announcement to that effect was made in the speech from the Throne. Every one doubtless is aware how signally and how soon the hopes thus entertained were doomed to disappointment. In the concluding part of this paper we shall glance at the course of events in America, to which their failure was due.

If we

IT would be no compliment to call Henry Ward Beecher the American Spurgeon. He may be that, but he is more. can imagine Mr. Spurgeon and Mr. John Bright with a cautious touch of Professor Maurice and a strong tincture of the late F. W. Robertson-if, I say, it is possible to imagine such a compound being brought up in New England and at last securely fixed in a New York pulpit, we shall get a product not unlike Henry Ward Beecher.

Mr. Beecher is quite as remarkable for what he lacks as for what he possesses. With the exception of a strong and energetic personality which is highly original-he is almost without originality. He has no mental monomania, no idiosyncrasy, no new "doctrine," no new" tongue," no new "revelation ;" and it is altogether remarkable that the two most prominent preachers in England and America respectively should be alike in this, that they have added nothing to the fertile field of theological dogmatism. Perhaps we ought to be thankful for the omission-it may be a hopeful sign of the theological times a new era may be dawning upon a world "weary of the heat and dust of controversy," when men shall no more run to and fro crying Lo here! and Lo there! because they will feel that the kingdom of God is within them. Perchance the still small voice of common sense has whispered in the ear

of each orator, "There is quite enough theology in the world, you need not manufacture any more; do you not think it is time to see about the religion of the people? There has been plenty of theology without religion, can you not fit up some of the old theological vessels (of wrath ?) with a good sound freight of religion and morality, instead of sending to sea great argosies of pain and havoc, without a human heart on board, full of brimstone and all ablaze like so many fire-ships ?"

4

As both Mr. Spurgeon and Mr. Ward Beecher are emphatically men of the day, each has unconsciously reflected the characteristics. of the vast dissenting body over which he presides. As English dissent in its general tendency is narrow and evangelical, so American dissent is broad and latitudinarian, and these tendencies are faithfully reflected on the one hand by Mr. Spurgeon, and on the other by Mr. Ward Beecher. It is perfectly extraordinary how able and powerful the great Baptist can be within his very narrow doctrinal limits it is equally remarkable how wide and catholic is the teaching of the great American Congregationalist, and yet how devoid of anything like doctrinal novelty. Whether this be a strength or a weakness, we must leave others to decide; we have already hinted at our own view of the question. He who has no one doctrine around which all others group themselves, and which in his hands becomes a new truth, will leave no school behind him, because he will either leave no formulas or too many. He who has some one point which he has the genius to bring out at the right time, or for the first time, will leave a school strong and coherent enough, but pledged to support one dogma at the expense of every other. If Mr. Spurgeon fails to leave a school it will not be for want of his definite Evangelical cast of doctrine, but merely because he is the eloquent exponent of a dying tradition. The crowds that flock every Sunday to the Metropolitan Tabernacle are not really drawn thither by the doctrine preached there -the same doctrine is constantly heard elsewhere, and inspires the impartial listener with something very unlike religious emotion. Had Mr. Spurgeon lived a century ago, when conversion was proclaimed in the form of a mighty reaction against the Slow Church—that word would have been nearly as electric in the mouth of his followers as it is in his own, and he would have founded a school; but as it is, conversion has become the stock-in-trade of the Slow Church, which has, in fact, preached itself to death with the watchwords of the faith it once persecuted. But Mr. Spurgeon resembles the last rose of summer. His fragrance is undoubted, his robustness, considering the time of year, remarkable-only he stands blooming alone. His religious influence will, we doubt not, be lasting, but his doctrinal influence will be nothing. Chapels raised by his exertions have sprung up, and, we trust, will still spring up, thoughout the land. Long may