bia; and Daniel Carmody, Wisconsin, Vice-Presidents; Henry O'C. McCarthy, Illinois, and John A. Stuart, Indiana, Secretaries." The following are extracts from a pamphlet containing the rules and by-laws of the Fenian Brotherhood, which was found in the possession of one Moore, a blacksmith, one of the convicted prisoners. He was proved to have been employed under a contract to manufacture pikes on a large scale for the Brotherhood. "CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. "1. The Fenian Brotherhood.-The Fenian Brotherhood is a distinct and independent organization. It is composed in the first place, of citizens of the United States of America, of Irish birth and lineage; and, in the second place, of Irishmen, and of friends of Ireland, living elsewhere on the American Continent, and in the provinces of the British Empire wherever situated. Its headquarters are, and shall be, within the limits of the United States of America. Its members are bound together by the following general pledge: "2. General Pledge.-I ** solemnly pledge my sacred word of honour, as a truthful and honest man, that I will labour with earnest zeal for the liberation of Ireland from the yoke of England, and for the establishment of a free and independent Government on the Irish soil; that I will implicitly obey the commands of my superior officers in the Fenian Brotherhood; that I will faithfully discharge my duties of membership as laid down in the constitution and by-laws thereof; that I will do my utmost to promote feelings of love, harmony, and kindly forbearance among all Irishmen; and that I will foster, defend, and propagate the aforesaid Fenian Brotherhood, to the utmost of my power. "3. Form of Organization.-The Fenian Brotherhood shall be subdivided into State organizations, Circles, and Subcircles. It shall be directed and governed by a Head Centre, to direct the whole organization; State Centres to direct State organizations; Centres to direct Circles; and Subcentres to direct Subcircles. The Head Centre shall be assisted by a Central Council of five; by a Central Treasurer, and Assistant Treasurer; by a Central Corresponding Secretary and a a Central Recording Secretary; and by such intermediate officers as the Head Circle may from time to time deem necessary for the efficient working of the organization. 4. The Head Centre shall be elected annually by a general Congress of representatives of the Fenian Brotherhood, which Congress shall be composed of the State Congress and the Centres, together with elected delegates from the several circles of the organization—each circle in good standing being entitled to elect one delegate." It appeared in the course of the trials that considerable sums . of money were sent from time to time from the Fenians in America to their brethren in England. American bills for 5001. and 10007. each were found upon the persons of some of the parties apprehended. The money was applied freely in the purchase and procuring of arms. Large numbers of pikes were seized which had been made at the price of half-a-crown each, and were sent down from Dublin in cases containing fifty pikes, these weapons being described as "rods" in the correspondence of the brotherhood. A number of weapons were also found in possession of persons who were arrested. Several thousand belts were proved to have been ordered, and seizures of these and other implements of warfare were repeatedly made by the police. In enforcing the penalties of the law against the deluded men who had embarked in this insane attempt to overthrow an established Government, the authorities met with less difficulty than might have been anticipated. Against those on whom the law laid its arm there was no lack of evidence. There is always a plentiful crop of informers when political offenders are to be tried in Ireland. All the records of conspiracies in that country show that if a treasonable secret be entrusted to a third person, one of the three will become an approver. The Fenian trials afforded a fresh illustration of this propensity of Irish conspirators to betray their confederates. The informers readily furnished the information which the agents of the Crown were in search of, and the secret councils and machinations of the brotherhood were displayed in the light of day. Nor did any obstruction to the course of justice arise from that reluctance of juries to convict, which in other political trials, and indeed in ordinary criminal proceedings, has often been found a great embarrassment to the Crown. In all the cases in which the indictment was satisfactorily proved, the juries before whom these conspirators were arraigned unhesitatingly pronounced them guilty; and the instances of acquittal were only in those few instances in which the evidence might fairly be thought too weak to warrant a conviction. The prisoners were sentenced, in the more aggravated cases, to terms of penal servitude ranging from five to twenty years. Most of these men comported themselves, both before and after sentence, with cool bravado and insolent defiance of the law, justifying their conduct by the wrongs inflicted, as they alleged, upon their country, and glorying in their resistance to English tyranny. It is observable that the class to which the convicted parties belonged was generally neither that of the cultivators of land, nor the rural peasantry; nor, on the other hand, were any of the wealthy or educated members either of the upper or middle ranks implicated-the accused belonging, with scarcely any exception, to the class just above the lowest, men possessed of little or no substance, inhabitants of towns, and having some slight smattering of knowledge and superficial education. They appeared to be entirely independent of any priestly or religious influences. When the year closed, the trials were still proceeding, and the continued discovery of new links and ramifications of the eonspiracy, and the successive arrests and seizures that were made by the police, seemed to threaten a long continuance of the labours of the Special Commission and a serious tax on the vigilance of the Government. The Counties of Dublin, Cork, and Limerick, and several more were from time to time "proclaimed by the Executive under the powers of the 'Peace Preservation Act.' The military force was strengthened in various localities, and other precautions taken to obviate the contingency of any disturbance of the peace. With regard to the general maintenance of the Imperial authority in Ireland no apprehension was felt, nor could the supremacy of the law in that country be regarded as endangered by any filibustering attempt which it was competent for such conspirators to make. But on the other hand, it was in the power of these insignificant malcontents to inflict, as they unquestionably did, a serious blow upon the most important interests of Ireland from the sense of insecurity, most adverse to prosperity and progress, induced by this movement. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that the result of this abortive outbreak of Fenianism will be to throw back at least a quarter of a century the slowlydawning improvement of Ireland. Certainly nothing could be more effectual to check the development of trade and industry, to deter capitalists from investing funds in that country, and to frighten away resident proprietors from their estates, than these spasmodic, though futile, ourbursts of chronic disaffection. Making abatement for the two untoward events which have now been described, the public history of the United Kingdom during the year 1865 exhibits the features of steady progress and prosperous tranquillity. The picture indeed had, as must always be the case, its darker shades-the fortunes of the nation were chequered by some reverses unavoidable by human prudence, and by some evils more justly chargeable to its own ignorance or error. There was the usual,-perhaps not more than the average, -allowance of crime and wickedness, of losses and casualties by sea and land; there was more than the average tax paid to mortality in the death of eminent citizens, of statesmen and politicians, of men distinguished in the various spheres of science, literature, and art. The main elements of the national strength -its agriculture, commerce, and manufactures-were well sustained, and gave promise of increased development: the public finances were eminently buoyant, the transactions of foreign commerce were on the largest scale, though no increase of trade or revenue, however prodigious, has been able to effect any considerable abatement in that painful contrast which still exists in this country between enormous wealth and luxury in one quarter, and painful destitution and pauperism at the other extremity of the scale. The key to this perplexing problem, as yet unsolved by political economy or statesmanship, remains to be discovered. A few words must be added with respect to the commercial and monetary characteristics of the period. The Bank rate of discount, the acknowledged barometer of the fluctuations of capital, underwent an unusual amount of variation. During the year not less than seventeen changes were made in the rate. In January it opened at 6 per cent.; subsequently between January and May, it gradually receded to 4 per cent. At the end of May it was once more raised to 4 per cent., and between that period and July, progressively dropped to 3 per cent. Between July and October the rate was again steadily advanced to 4 per cent., but in the latter month it suddenly rose, by three successive changes, to 7 per cent. On the 23rd of November the rate was reduced to 6, but again rose, on the 28th of December, to 7 per cent. The highest amount of bullion in the Bank was on the 28th of June, when the total stood at 15,432,9851.; the rate of discount was then 3 per cent. The bullion was at its lowest point on the 11th of October, viz., 11,956,3407., when the official minimum was 7 per cent. The internal drain was at that period very strong, and towards the close of the year the market was exposed to the effect of a foreign drain. The stock of bullion on the 27th of December was 13,403,1027. The highest amount of the private securities was on the 4th of October, when it reached a total of 24,170,280%., and the lowest was on the 25th of January, when the aggregate ranked at 18,053,2471. The reserve of notes was highest on the 22nd of March, when they amounted to 9,530,8457., and lowest was on the 11th of October, when they represented 4,294,1457. The business of the country would appear to have been on the whole in a satisfactory state. Although, it is true, the great losses in produce, chiefly cotton, tea, sugar, and rice, in the early part of the year, resulted in some very large failures, the export branches exhibited remarkable vitality, and subsequently showed considerable progress. The balance in trade was nevertheless, at the close of the year, undoubtedly against us, and gave reason to apprehend a continued stringency in the money-market. The fluctuations in cotton were most violent while they lasted, and early in the year the depression was so great that it was never thought there would be a return to high prices. One feature in the failures taking place was discouraging; the amount of assets was put greatly in excess of liabilities, but the progress of liquidation was unfavourable, and in several notable instances not a fraction of dividend had been announced. For eleven months of the year ending 30th of November the total value of the exports was 150,832,3447., against 148,340,8657. in 1864, and 132,135,3687. in 1863, being an increase over 1864 of 2,491,4797, and of 18,696,9767. over 1863. The articles showing an increase were alkali, cotton-yarn, cotton manufactures, earthenware, haberdashery and millinery, hardware and cutlery, linen yarns, linen manufactures, metals, seed oil, silk manufactures, wool, and woollen manufactures. The decline was shown in beer and ale, coals and culm, and machinery. As regards imports, there was an improvement in raw cotton, animals, flax and hemp, leather manufactures, flax seed and linseed, raw silk, tallow, woollen manufactures, coffee, spirits, tea, tobacco, and wine; but a decline in clocks and watches, guano, wool, cocoa, and sugar. In the case of cereals there was an increase in the importation of barley, oats, and wheat, meal, and flour; but a falling off in wheat, peas, beans, and Indian corn. In articles of provision there was an increase in the importation of bacon and hams, salt pork, cheese, and lard; but a decline in salt beef and butter. The tendency to adopt the principle of "limited liability" was very apparent during the year. No less than 287 new Companies were introduced, though a considerable proportion of them proved abortive. The "limited" principle was developed in a somewhat novel direction. Instead of being applied to new undertakings, it was in many cases directed to the conversion of old private firms into companies, the arrangement being the absorption of the original house with the infusion of fresh blood into the management, and an extension of capital. A great number of these associations are likely to work well and successfully, but there are others which never can be developed, being hampered with stipulations which will not allow fair scope for their legitimate operation. The operations in British Funded Securities showed a considerable depreciation in price. This may be ascribed to the variety offered to the public of more profitable classes of investment, both at home and abroad, the facilities afforded to investors of sharing in the higher rate of interest yielded by foreign undertakings being very much increased. The highest price of Consols for money was in April, when they were 913; and the lowest in December, when they were sold at 863. In Exchequer Bills the range was from 88. premium in February to 198. discount in October. The following table exhibits the fluctuations: Railway shares were largely influenced by the general state of the money-market. With a few exceptions these securities showed a considerable decline in price. The Foreign Loans introduced during the year were as follows: |