Notice of the appointment of James Stephens as Chief Executive of the Fenian Brotherhood, 9 December 1858. IE TCD MS 9659d/208

IE TCD MS 9659d/208: Notice regarding the appointment of James Stephens as chief executive of Irish Revolutionary movement, the Fenian Brotherhood (later Clan-na-Gael and the Irish Republican Brotherhood), New York, 28 February 1858: "We the undersigned members of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, as a further mark of our confidence in the capacity and devotion of James Stephens, formerly of the city of Kilkenny, Ireland, hereby appoint the said James Stephens Chief Executive of the Irish Revolutionary Movement, and give him, on our own and our comrades behalf, supreme control and absolute authority over that movement at home and abroad. New York. December 9th 1858. John O'Mahony, Michl Doheny, Michael Corcoran, James Roche, John Reynolds, Thomas N. Dwyer, [?]. John [Mccovy?], Michl Phelan, John Burke, [Owen Keenan?], Oliver Byrne, James Cantwell, John Comber." Part of letters and papers of James Stephens (1824/5-1901), the Fenian Chief, bought for Michael Davitt by James Collins after Stephens' death. They are derived through Dr. T.W. Moody, from Dr. Michael Davitt, a grandson of Davitt's. Davitt found them disappointing, and they obviously amount to only a fraction of all Stephens' letters and papers.