The secret Irish fraternal organization called the…

The secret Irish fraternal organization called the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish counterpart of the American Fenians, is founded in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day 1858, by James Stephens, one of the "Men of 1848," to foment armed revolt against the British state in Ireland.

Stephens had established himself in Paris, and was in correspondence with John O'Mahony in the United States and other radical nationalists at home and abroad.

He founds the Irish Republican Brotherhood following an organizing tour through the length and breadth of the country after his return to Ireland, and to which a committee including John O'Mahony had sent a delegate from New York City.