Fenians and the constabulary, and life was lost on both sides.
There was a design of concentrating all the Fenian forces on Mallow
Junction, but the rapid movement of the Queen's troops frustrated
the design, and the general rising was postponed. Presently two
vagrants were arrested on suspicion at Liverpool, and proved to be
two of the most notorious of the Fenian leaders, "Colonel" Kelly
and "Captain" Deasy. It was when these prisoners, remanded for
further enquiry, were being driven under a strong escort to gaol
that the prison-van was attacked by a rescue-party, and Sergeant
Brett, who was in charge of the prisoners, was shot. The rescuers,
Allen, Larkin, and Gould, were executed on the 2nd of November,
and on the 1st of December Clerkenwell Prison was blown up, in
an ineffectual attempt to liberate the Fenian prisoners confined
in it. On the 20th of December Matthew Arnold wrote to his mother,
"We are in a strange uneasy state in London, and the profound sense
I have long had of the hollowness and insufficiency of our whole
system of administration does not inspire me with much confidence."
The "strange uneasy state" was not confined to London, but prevailed
everywhere. Obviously England was threatened by a mysterious and
desperate enemy, and no one seemed to know that enemy's headquarters
or base of operations. The Secret Societies were actively at work
in England, Ireland, France, and Italy. It was suspected then--it
is known now, and chiefly through Cluseret's revelations--that the
isolated attacks on barracks and police-stations were designed
for the purpose of securing arms and ammunition; and, if only there
had been a competent General to command the rebel forces, Ireland
would have risen in open war. But a competent General was exactly
what the insurgents lacked; for Cluseret, having surveyed the whole
situation with eyes trained by a lifelong experience of war, decided
that the scheme was hopeless, and returned to Paris.