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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9476-0.txt b/9476-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..018e375 --- /dev/null +++ b/9476-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8848 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ridgeway, by Scian Dubh + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ridgeway + An Historical Romance of the Fenian Invasion of Canada + +Author: Scian Dubh + + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9476] +This file was first posted on October 4, 2003 +Last Updated: November 4, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDGEWAY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beth Trapaga and PG +Distributed Proofreaders. This file was produced from +images generously made available by the Canadian Institute +for Historical Microreproductions + + + + + + + +RIDGEWAY + +AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA + + +By Scian Dubh + + +“On our side is virtue and Erin; On theirs’ is the Saxon and +guilt.”--MOORE. + + +1868 + + +[Transcriber’s Note: The nonstandard spellings of the original have been +retained in this etext.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In the dark, English crucible of seven hundred years of famine, fire and +sword, the children of Ireland have been tested to an intensity unknown +to the annals of any other people. From the days of the second Henry +down to those of the last of the Georges, every device that human +ingenuity could encompass or the most diabolical spirit entertain, was +brought to bear upon them, not only with a view to insuring their speedy +degradation, but with the further design of accomplishing ultimately the +utter extinction of their race. Yet notwithstanding that +confiscation, exile and death, have been their bitter portion for +ages--notwithstanding that their altars, their literature and their flag +have been trampled in the dust, beneath the iron heel of the invader, +the pure, crimson ore of their nationality and patriotism still flashes +and scintillates before the world; while the fierce heart of “Brien of +the Cow Tax,” bounding in each and every of them as of yore, yearns +for yet another Clontarf, when hoarse with the pent-up vengeance of +centuries, they shall burst like unlaired tigers upon their ancient, +and implacable enemy, and, with one, long, wild cry, hurl her bloody and +broken from their shores forever. + +Had England been simply actuated by a chivalrous spirit of conquest, +alone, or moved by a desire to blend the sister islands into one +harmonious whole, even then her descent upon Ireland could not be +justified in any degree whatever. Ireland had been her _Alma Mater_. +According to the venerable Bode and others, her noble and second rank +flocked thither in the seventh century, where they were “hospitably +received and educated, and furnished with books _without fee or +reward_.” Even at the present moment, the Irish or Celtic tongue is +the only key to her remote antiquities and ancient nomenclature. The +distinguished Lhuyd, in his Archaelogia Britannica, and the celebrated +Leibnitz himself, place this latter beyond any possible shadow of doubt. +Scarcely a ruined fane or classic pile of any remote date within her +borders but is identified with the name of some eminent Irish missionary +long since passed away. What would Oxford have been without Joannes +Erigena, or Cambridge, deprived of the celebrated Irish monk that stood +by the first stone laid in its foundation? The fact is every impartial +writer, from the “father of English history” down to the present +day, admits, that in the early ages, when darkness brooded over the +surrounding nations, Ireland, learned, philanthropic and chivalrous, +blazed a very conflagration on the ocean, and stretched forth her +jewelled and generous hand to poor, benighted England, and fostered, in +addition, the intellectual infancy of Germany, France and Switzerland, +as well as the early civilization of regions more remote still. Then it +was that the milk and honey of her ancient tongue and lore flowed out +from her in rivers to wash the stains from the soul and brow of the +stolid and unintellectual Saxon. Then it was, that her very zone gave +way in her eagerness to pluck his Pagan life from gloom, and wed her day +unto his night. But what of all this now?--The sin that is “worse than +witchcraft” is upon him! His hands are stained with innocent blood! +He has spurned his benefactress with the foot of Nero, “removed her +candlestick”, and left her in hunger, cold and darkness upon her own +hearthstone. + +Had not Ireland, at the time of the invasion, been cut up through the +fierce pride and petty jealousies of her rulers, the English could +never have effected a permanent footing upon her shores. Contemptible in +numbers, shipping and appointments, the concentrated opposition of even +a few petty chiefs could have scattered them to the winds, or sent them +“howling to their gods”. But, wanting in that homogeneity without which +a nation must always remain powerless, the invasion of the territory +of one individual ruler was often regarded as a matter of no very grave +importance to those who were not his immediate subjects; so that from +this cause, as well as from, the unhappy dissentions which harrassed the +country at the period, the new colony found the means of establishing +themselves upon the eastern borders of the island, and of possessing +themselves of some of the walled towns, which they subsequently turned +to such good account in fortifying themselves against surprise and +baffling the pursuit of the natives, when worsted in the open field. + +Whether the subtle influences of a common nationality moved Pope Adrian +the Fourth--who was an Englishman named Nicholas Breakspear,--to issue +the famous Bull granting Ireland to his fellow countryman, Henry the +Second of England, or whether, as it has been alleged, no such Bull was +ever issued, and that the one still extant is a forgery, it matters but +little now. The Pope’s claims extended to the spiritual jurisdiction of +Ireland only; and even had he granted the Bull in question, and assumed +the right of conveying the whole island to the English king, the +transfer was obtained under false pretenses for, from the very wording +of the document itself, it is palpable that Henry led the Sovereign +Pontiff, to believe that Ireland was sunk in the grossest ignorance and +superstition, and that, in making a descent upon it, he had only the +glory and honor of the Church in view. So terrible a distortion of the +facts of the case on his part, necessarily rendered all action based +upon his statement morally invalid at least; and thus it is, that even +those who have confidence in the genuineness of this Bull, regard it as +utterly worthless, and at not all admissable into any pleadings which +ingenious English politicians may choose to advance on the subject. + +So inveterate the hostility that manifested itself on the part of the +Irish towards the invader from the moment that his foul and sacrilegious +foot first desecrated their soil, a reign of terror was at once +inaugurated in the vicinage of his camp or stronghold, by those +chieftains with whom he came into more immediate contact, and upon whose +territories he more directly impinged. In the track of both peoples, +“death follows like a squire.” Neither truce nor oath was kept by the +English; while their fiery adversaries, necessarily stung to frenzy +at the presence of yet another invader in their midst, made sudden +reprisals in a manner so unexpected and daring, that the laws of the +hour like those of Draco, were literally written in blood. While the +dash and chivalry of the Irish prevented them from adopting the stealthy +dagger of the assassin, and prompted them rather, to bold and open deeds +of death, the enactments of “The Pale” as the English patch or district +was termed, were absolutely of a character the most demonical. According +to their provisions, the murder of an Irish man or woman was no offence +whatever; while the slaughter of a native who had made submission to the +Pale, was visited with a slight fine only--not for the crime _per se_, +but for the murderer’s having deprived the king of a servant. From this +it can be easily perceived, that a cowardly system of warfare obtained +on the part of the English, which, were it not for the quick eye and +fierce agility of the inhabitants, would soon have resulted in their +total annihilation. + +This foul and dastardly system of assassination was but simply a leading +expression of the bastard nationality of the invader. Not one, single +drop of proud, pure blood coursed through his veins. His degraded +country had been in turn the mistress of the Roman, the Saxon, the Dane +and the Norman, and he was the hybrid offspring of her incontinence. +Consequently, he had neither a history nor a past of his own, calculated +to prompt even one exalted aspiration. He was a mongrel of the most +inveterate character, and was therefore, and inevitably, treacherous, +cowardly; and cunning. Not so the brave sons of the land he so ardently +coveted. Ere the mighty gnomon of “The Great Pyramid” had thrown its +gigantic shadow o’er the red dial of the desert, they had filled the +long gallery of a glorious past with an array of portraits, the most +superb presented by antiquity. Before the Vocal Memnon poured forth +his hidden melody at sunrise, or “The City of a Hundred Gates” had sent +forth her chariots to battle, they had a local habitation and a name, +and had stamped their impress upon many a shore. No people in existence, +to-day, can look back to an origin more remote or clearly traceable +through a countless lapse of ages than the Irish: and hence it was, +that at the period of the Anglo-Norman descent upon their borders, the +chivalry of a stupendous past was upon them: and having its traditions +and its glories to maintain and emulate, and being, besides, inspired +by the pure and unadulterated crimson tide that had flowed in one +uninterrupted stream through their fiery veins for the space of +two thousand years previously, they shrank from the treacherous and +dastardly system of assassination introduced by the ignoble and cowardly +Saxon, and struck only to the dread music of their own war cry. + +Still, although in detail hostile to the invader, no great, united +effort appears to have been made to rout him out root and branch, until +he had become so powerful as to make any attack upon him a matter of the +most serious moment, and had, in addition, enlarged his borders through +sundry reinforcements from his own shores. The few more purely Norman +leaders that were inspired with some desire at least for a more +honorable mode of warfare, were utterly powerless among the overwhelming +throng of their followers who had been long brutalized on the other side +of the channel. In this connection the proud, revengeful and chivalrous +natives were had at a sad disadvantage; for then, as to-day, they were +characterized by a spirit of knight-errantry, which disdained to take an +enemy unawares. + +As an evidence that Henry had the spiritual welfare only of the people +of Ireland at heart, and that the building up of the Church there +was his sole object, no sooner did he land in that country, than he +parcelled out the entire island among ten Englishmen--Earl Strongbow, +Robert Fitzstephens, Miles de Cogan, Philip Bruce, Sir Hugh de Lacy, Sir +John de Courcy, William Burk Fitz Andelm, Sir Thomas de Clare, Otho de +Grandison and Robert le Poer. At one sweep, in so far as a royal grant +could go, he confiscated every foot of land from Cape Clear to the +Giant’s Causeway, denied the right of the inhabitants to a single square +yard of their native soil, and made the whole country a present to +the persons just named. Perhaps history does not record another such +outrageous and infamous act, and one so antagonistic to every principle +of right and justice. Had there been a preceding series of expensive +and bloody wars between both countries, in which Ireland, after years of +fruitless resistance, fell at last beneath the yoke of the conqueror, +it could be readily understood, that the victor would seek to indemnify +himself for his losses, on terms the most exacting and relentless if you +will; but in the case under consideration, no animosity existed between +the two nations until the ruler of one, without even a shadow of +provocation on the part of the inhabitants of the other, made a +deliberate descent upon them, and ignoring the benefits conferred +gratuitously by them, previously, on his own ungrateful land, subjected +them to every barbarity and wrong known to the history of crime. + +For upwards of four hundred years of the English occupation--that is, +from the landing of Strongbow down to the period of James the First, +there was no legal redress for the plunder or murder of an Irishman, by +any of the invaders, or for the violation of his wife or daughter. The +laws of the Pale, enacted under the sanction of the King and the people +of England, subsidized, in effect, a horde of ruthless assassins and +robbers, with a view to striking terror to the hearts of the natives, +and driving them into a recognition of the right of the usurper to rule +over them, and dispose as he saw fit of their property and persons. This +right, however, was never conceded in even the most remote degree; for, +notwithstanding that the colony of foreign spears and battle-axes waxed +stronger daily, the Irish element, disunited though it was, fought it +constantly. True, that an occasional lull characterized the tempest as +it swept and eddied through each successive generation; but never did +Ireland assume the yoke of the oppressor voluntarily, or bow, for even a +single moment, in meek submission to his unauthorized sway. + +It would require volumes to recount a tithe of the frightful atrocities +practiced by the invaders upon the rightful and unoffending owners of +the soil during the long period just referred to, and especially towards +its close, when that lewd monster, Elizabeth, disgraced her sex and the +age. No language can describe adequately the various diabolical modes +of extermination practiced against all those who refused to bow the knee +and kiss the English rod. No code of laws ever enacted in even the most +barbarous age of the world, could compare in fiendish cruelty with the +early penal enactments of the Pale--so forcibly supplemented in after +years by the perjured “Dutch boor” and the inhuman Georges. The foul +fiend himself could not have devised laws more diabolical in their +character or destructive in their application. So close were their +meshes and sweeping their folds, that the possibility of escape was +obviously out of the question; as their victim was met and entangled +at every turn, until at last the fatal blow descended, and the unequal +contest was ended. But more infamous and unjustifiable still, when “the +foul invader” found himself occasionally unable to cope successfully +with his brave and chivalrous antagonists, he had recourse to a darker +and deeper treachery than even that which characterized the stealthy +and unexpected stroke of his midnight dagger. He adopted the guise of +friendship; and professing to forget the past, lured into his power +with festive blandishments the chiefs of many a noble following, whom he +dared not meet in open fight, but who, at a given signal, and while the +brimming goblet circled through the feast, were suddenly set upon and +foully murdered ere they could draw a dagger or leap to their feet. In +corroboration of this assertion, we have only to refer to Mullaghmast, +where a deed of this description was perpetrated; and of a character so +cruel and dastardly, that the names of those concerned in the inhuman +plot are now desecrated by every individual raised above the brute, or +inspired with the hope of heaven. + +Nor was there any mode of propitiating the satanic spirit which seemed +to actuate the English against their opponents, from the first moment +that they set their foot upon Irish soil; for, when, in the lapse +of years, a portion of the inhabitants in the vicinity of the Pale, +professed their readiness to conform to the manners, laws and customs of +the invader, their overtures were rejected, and they were still held at +the point of the sword, as “the Irish enemy,” and denied the protection +of the laws that they were ready to obey. In short, every move of the +English, established beyond any possibility of doubt, that their sole +object was the utter and complete extirpation of the natives, and the +subsequent establishment upon their conquered shores of a dynasty from +which every drop of pure, Celtic blood should be excluded forever. + +But that day never arrived, and with God’s help never shall. However she +might have suffered or failed through an occasional traitor, Ireland, +as a whole, fought against English usurpation from the moment that she +became aware of its ultimate aims, and felt its growing power within +her borders. There was, besides, in the two races, those opposites of +character--those natural antagonisms which repelled each other with +a force and vehemence not to be neutralized or unified by any process +within the reach of even the most humane or astute ruler. They were too +different peoples, with habits of thought, moral perceptions, and ideas +of chivalry at total variance with each other as entertained by them +individually. The great bulk of the English colony was composed of +unprincipled freebooters and degraded Saxon serfs; the Conqueror having, +a century previously, turned the masses of the English into swine-herds, +banished their language from court, and reduced them to a condition of +the most abject slavery. Hence their stolid brutality, the low plane of +their intelligence, and their systematic murders. But, how different +the condition of the Irish in this respect. Far ages previous, both +learning, refinement, and the chivalrous use of arms, pervaded their +shores. Evidences of the truth of this assertion lie scattered around +us in every direction. Girald Barry--the English Cambrensis, William +Camden, Archbishop Usher, Vallancey, Lord Lyttleton, and a host of +others, all bear witness to the profound learning and noble chivalry +of the Irish from the earliest periods; while the various educational +institutions throughout the continent, founded shortly after the +introduction of Christianity into Ireland, establish, upon a basis the +most immovable, the truth of an assertion made by one of the authors +just mentioned, namely, that “most of the lights that illumined those +times of thick darkness proceeded out of Ireland”. As may be presumed, +then, a people so refined and chivalrous--so sensitive to all that was +noble and elevated--a people who, as in the case of Alfred, had educated +the very kings of the invaders, as well as plucked their subjects +from Paganism, were averse to meeting the usurper on his own plane of +warfare, and that consequently, the very pride and dignity of their arms +walled in, as it were, the tyrant from any of those cold-blooded and +dastardly atrocities which so disfigured his own career. + +Notwithstanding that, after four hundred and twenty years of outlawry +the most cruel and unrelenting, the Irish were, (12th James I. 1614.) at +last, admitted within the pale of English law, and recognized nominally +as subjects at least, so long had they been subjected to the grinding +heel of oppression, and the baneful influences of continuous warfare, +and so long, also, had the usurper been accustomed to treat them as +enemies, that this recognition of their claims upon humanity availed +them but very little. Under the new regime, their freedom was merely +technical only; for now the terrible ban of the Reformation, intensified +by the cruel spirit evinced throughout the whole of Elizabeth’s infamous +reign, was upon them, and their persecution, which had so long been +regarded as a matter of course, experienced but little diminution +through the attempted toleration of her weak and pedantic successor. +Still, frightful and unprecedented as was the ordeal through which +they had passed, they preserved their nationality, and clung to their +traditions, hoping one day to rid themselves of their oppressors, as +they had already done in the case of the Danes; and in this way has the +case stood between both parties up to the present hour. + +Although long previous to the Reformation, the atrocities practiced +upon Catholic Ireland by Catholic England were of a character the most +revolting, and although the murderous hand of the invader was never +stayed by the knowledge or conviction, that both parties professed +a common creed and knelt at a common altar, yet the intensity of the +sufferings of the Irish, or what may be termed their studious, refined, +and systematic persecution, began with the _civilisation_ of Elizabeth. +The new creed of the three preceding reigns had not, up to that period, +acquired sufficient strength to exert its deadliest influence against +the ancient faith of the people, or to be introduced as a new agency of +oppression in the case of Ireland; but now, no sooner had the “Virgin +Queen” ascended the throne, than the heart of the tigress leaped within +her; and, breaking loose from every restraint, human and divine, she +at once pounced upon the unfortunate Irish, and sought to bury her +merciless fangs, with one deadly and final crash, in their already +bleeding and lacerated vitals. The coarse, cruel fibre of an apostate +and libertine father, and the impure blood of a lewd mother, had done +their work in her case. From the first to the last moment of her reign, +she combined the courtesan with the assassin. She was the murderer of +Essex, said to have been her own son and paramour; and was, at the same +time, the mistress of more than one noble besides Leicester. According +to her own countryman, Cobbett, she spilled more blood during her +occupancy of the throne, than any other single agency in the world for +a commensurate period; while her treatment of Ireland, under the “humane +guidance” and advice of such cruel wretches as Spenser, was neither +more nor less than absolutely satanic. For fifteen long years she never +ceased to subject that unhappy land to famine, fire and sword. Every +device that her hellish nature or that of her agents could concoct for +the total extirpation of the people, was put into the most relentless +requisition by her. Under the guise of the most sincere friendship, +her deputies, times without number, betrayed many of the leaders of the +Irish into accepting their hospitality, and then foully set upon them +and murdered them while they sat unsuspecting guests at their festive +board. And yet, notwithstanding her penal laws, her blood-thirsty +soldiery, and all her revolting persecutions, the Irish were more than +a match for her in the open field, and ultimately embittered the +closing years of her life. From the first moment of the invasion, the +O’Neills--Kings and Princes of Aileach, Kings of Ulster and Princes +of Tir-Eogain--as well as other chiefs and leaders, fought the Pale +incessantly: and now, after a lapse of nearly four hundred years, again +evinced to the world, that Ireland was still unconquered, and regarded +England as a tyrant and usurper. And yet the opposition of those chiefs +and rulers to the hirelings and paid assassins of this infamous woman +and her corrupt associates, was of a character the most chivalrous. +Unaccustomed to cowardly deeds of blood, these proud warriors preferred +to meet the enemy face to face, and decide the issues of the hour in +fair, open fight. They could not entertain the Saxon idea of disposing +of an adversary by the stealthy knife of the professional murderer; and +hence it was that their pride and chivalry had ever been taken advantage +of: the invaders being convinced that no reprisals of a character +sufficiently dastardly or atrocious to meet their own depredations, +would be indulged in by their chivalrous opponents. In evidence of the +spirit that actuated both parting individually in this connection, we +may refer to the massacre of Mullaghmast, on the one hand, where the +English, under professions of the purest friendship, lured many of the +Irish chiefs and nobles to a conference or council, and then suddenly +pouncing on them, murdered every single soul of them in cold blood; +while, on the other hand, we may contrast with this cowardly act--which +is but one of a series of the same sort--the noble and generous conduct +of Tir-Oen, at the battle of the Yellow Ford, in 1598, where, after +defeating the Queen’s troops with terrible slaughter, taking all their +artillery and baggage, as well as twelve thousand pieces of gold, the +remainder of the shattered army was totally at his mercy, when he might +have put every soul that composed it to death. Unlike the cowardly +invader, the field once won, he sheathed his sword, and ordered the +remnant of the enemy to be spared, as they were unable to fight longer, +and commanded that they should be conducted in safety to the Pale. In +these two instances we have a thorough insight into the character of the +invader and the invaded: so that not another word need be said upon this +part of the subject. + +And in this manner have the O’Neills and the Irish fought the English +up to the present hour. Circumstances have, we know, from time to time, +caused a lull in the tempest of arms, but the moment opportunity served +the smouldering fires burst forth anew. Not a single day of pure and +happy sunshine has ever obtained between England and Ireland, since the +flag of the former first flew over the latter. Throughout every single +hour of seven hundred long years, Ireland has been secretly plotting or +openly fighting against England. Not one solitary reign, from Henry II +down to Victoria I, but has been marked with Irish dissatisfaction of +English rule. Either in the aggregate or in detail, the Irish people +have, throughout that long period, been constantly asserting their right +to independence, and their unalterable antipathy to the presence of a +foreign power upon their shores. And the same spirit that fought the +Henrys, Elizabeth, William and the Georges, is alive still, and lighting +their descendants to-day; 1688, 1798, 1848, and 1868 are all episodes of +the same history; and the volume now must soon be closed. Humanity and +civilisation, common justice and the laws of nations, demand that +a people who have battled against tyranny and usurpation for seven +successive centuries, and who have still preserved intact their +identity, their traditions and their altars, shall be no longer +subjected to the brute force and infamous exactions of a freebooter who +has so long played false to every principle of honor, and who has been +the highwayman of powers and principalities for countless generations. + +The record of England in relation to Ireland, is one of the most +atrocious known to the history of mankind. It is fraught with the +blackest ingratitude, the vilest injustice, and the direst oppression. +Notwithstanding that Ireland first gave her an alphabet, and taught +her how to spell her name--notwithstanding that Irish missionaries +had nurtured her early educational institutions and reclaimed her from +Paganism, she misrepresented their religion and their learning in high +places, stole in upon them while they slept, and turning upon them like +the frozen snake in the fable, robbed them of their independence, and +loaded them with chains. Every year of her accursed dominion upon their +shores has been marked with some new and overwhelming oppression. She +has spit upon their creed, broken their altars, hunted them down with +blood-hounds, robbed them of their estates, exiled them penniless +to foreign shores, banned their language, murdered their offspring, +destroyed their trade and commerce, ruined their manufactures, plundered +their exchequer, robbed them of their flag, deprived them of their civil +rights, and left them, houseless wanderers, a prey to hunger, cold and +rags, upon their own soil. Of all this she stands convicted before the +world; and for all this she must alone, so sure as there is a God +above her. Ireland still lives, and so do her wrongs. The O’Neills and +thousands of brave scions of the past, are still with her, while the +rank and file of her sons are as bitterly opposed to English usurpation +to-day as they were seven hundred years ago. Besides, at the present +hour, the approaches to their final triumph are made luminous with the +generous countenance of free America, and the glorious conviction that +heaven bends benignly over them; and thus it is that they now stand +shoulder to shoulder in eager anticipation of the coming hour, when +their banners shall yet once more be flung to the winds, as, with a +cry that rends the very earth, they dash down upon their deadly and +relentless foe, and smite her hip and thigh as of yore; dealing her the +last fatal blow that forever seals her infamous doom. + +In the order of Providence, a great corrective, or reactionary +principle, attends the misdoings of nations, that, sooner or later, +exerts itself in restoring the equilibrium of justice, and avenging the +infringement of any of those laws, human or divine, constituted for the +welfare and guidance of our race. Whether on the part of governments or +individuals, no act of palpable cruelty or barbarity, has ever escaped +the censure and reprobation of all good and true peoples since the world +became civilized; so that in this connection, the oppressed or injured +party has always had the countenance and sympathy of humanity, at least. +True, that an effective expression of this sympathy may have often been +chilled or embarrassed in individual cases by political considerations +or unworthy interests; but then the tendency to illustrate it was +there, and in this sense alone, it has often exerted a benign influence. +Hungary, Greece, Poland, &c., have all, in turn, had the sympathy of +mankind; and so have had the oppressed colonies and people of Great +Britain. The cruel treatment, treachery and fraud practiced in the +name of justice and religion upon the Sepoys of India, by England, have +awakened the deepest commiseration in the bosom of all good and true +governments, and aroused, at the same time, the strongest indignation +even on the part of nations not over-scrupulous of chains themselves. In +like manner, the condition of Ireland has, from time to time, commanded +the attention of the world; and, through the cruel expatriation of her +children, made itself felt more widely perhaps than that of any other +nation. When England perjured herself for the hundredth time, and +violated the Treaty of Limerick, she exiled to France a host of our +countrymen, who afterwards met her at Fontenoy, as the Irish Brigade, +and trailed her bloody and broken in the dust. The wrongs of the past +were with them. The cruelties of the Henrys, the murders of Elizabeth, +the confiscations of Cromwell, and the perfidy of William, so nerved +their arm at the period, that their charge upon the English is mentioned +as one of the most memorable and destructive on record. But if they had +more than sufficient grounds for dealing a death blow to the power of +the tyrant then, how must this debt of vengeance have accumulated since; +when, to the wrongs already enumerated are to be added the atrocities of +the Georges, as well as those of their worthy descendant--that traitress +to humanity, whose hands have been just imbrued in the innocent blood of +Allen, O’Brien and Larkin, and who now holds in thrall, within the gloom +of her noisome dungeons, some of the noblest spirits that have ever +breathed the vital air in this or any age of the world? How, we say, +must this debt of vengeance have been heaped up since; and may we +not, under its terrible pressure, the next time that we have a fair +opportunity of meeting the enemy face to face, anticipate a repetition +of that glorious charge in every individual descent we make upon her +ranks, until we shall have ground her into pulp, and avenged the blood +of our martyrs, which has for ages been crying aloud from the ground, +“how long, Oh! Lord?” + +We have said that the misdoings of nations are, in the order of +Providence, attended with a corrective or reactionary principle, which, +sooner or later, exerts itself in restoring the equilibrium of justice; +and in no case has this been made more apparent than in that of Ireland. +When under the frightful pressure of famine, murder and robbery, her +children fled her shores, and sought refuge in the open arms of free +America, the tyrant who had caused their exile, never fancied, for a +moment, that she was laying the foundation stone of her own ultimate +destruction, and gradually forming an Irish Brigade on this continent, +which should, one day, with a terrible rebound, repay all the +cruelties and wrongs to which she had subjected them from generation to +generation. She little fancied, that in each individual Irishman that +she had driven from his native shores to seek an asylum beyond the seas, +she had sent forth an agent of her own destruction, that would colonize, +in common with his exiled brethren, the whole world with a sense of +her infamy, and build up, on this free continent, an opposition so +tremendous to her interests in every connection, that it should command +the attention of every civilized people under the sun, and shake her +institutions and existence to their very centre. As is invariable +in such cases, she administered the antidote with the poison; and +transformed the victims of her wrongs and cruelties into enemies and +soldiers; and now that, in the aggregate, they assume the proportions of +a powerful and antagonistic nation outside her borders, they only await +the hour when they shall descend upon her to the hoarse music of +their ancient war cry, and, on the banks of the Shannon, and by the +Blackwater, smite her hip and thigh, as of old; but this time without +generously escorting her broken and disabled ranks to the borders of +the Pale, or permitting them, in the hour of defeat, to recruit their +exhausted forces, so that the fight may become more equal. + +From the landing of Strongbow, in 1171, at Port Largi, then on +subsequently called also the Harbor of the Sun, near Waterford, down to +the sacking and burning of Magdala, the capital of King Theodoras, +in the present year of grace 1808, the history of English rule and +conquests has been one of bloodshed, perjury and crime. Look where you +may, and you encounter continuous atrocities similar to the massacres of +Elizabeth and Cromwell, or the blowing of the Sepoys of India from the +mouth of the cannon of the invader. Well may the ensign of England wear +an encrimsoned hue; for, from time immemorial, it has been stooped in +the blood of the nations: and that too, without her people having ever +fought a proud or decisive battle single-handed. Her fame, in this +connection, rests solely upon the influence of her gold and the power +of foreign bayonets. Scotland and Ireland have been the main stay of her +armies; her native element, _per se_, affecting their composition in +but a secondary degree. The muster rolls of the Peninsula, and the +supplementary field of Waterloo, have attested this assertion to the +fullest. The fact is, her laurels, for the most part, have been gathered +by Irish hands. Taking advantage of the proud daring and chivalry of +our people, in connection with the poverty and oppression which she had +wrought among them, she shook her gold in their half-starved faces, +as she does to-day, and lured them into her service whenever she had +a point to attain in the field. Through this channel, and through it +alone, the fame of her arms became established; the true aspirations of +her own sons seldom exceeding the exalted limits of a bread riot, or +the sudden exploits incident to some poaching expedition. As a general +thing, the English are traders and diplomats, rather than soldiers. +Their character for bravery has been won through the lavish use of their +subsidizing gold, rather than through any innate warlike propensities +on their part. They have never fought for a myth, or an abstract, +chivalrous idea; but always for some bread and beef object, however +apparently unconnected with the project said to be had in view. In the +exemplification of their Christian missionary spirit, too, this feature +of their character is abundantly set forth. Wherever they have succeeded +in introducing the Gospel among the heathen, they have subsequently +inserted the wedge of civil discord, to be followed on their part by the +sword of conquest. No more forcible illustration of this can be found +than that presented by India, and other of their dependencies that we +could name. In Ireland, also, the same spirit has been evinced; +but under different circumstances. She was already civilized and +Christianized when the invader first landed upon her shores; but in no +way was he enabled to totally overthrow her independence, except through +the instrumentality of the brand of religious discord, which, for +upwards of two hundred years, he had kept flaming at the foundations +of her nationality. It was the hostility bitterly fomented between the +Protestants and the Catholics of Ireland, from 1782 to the year 1800, +that led to the so-called Union, and from this latter period left her, +to the present hour, at the mercy of one of the most relentless and +unprincipled despotisms that has ever disfigured the annals of the human +race. + +Edmund Burk was right when he declared in his place in Parliament, if +we remember correctly, that the Penal Laws enacted by England against +Ireland, were characterized by an ingenuity the most fiendish on record, +and an attempt to oppress, degrade and demoralize a people, without a +parallel in the history of even the most barbarious ages. Within the +recollection of persons now living, nine-tenths of the population were +held in a condition of the most abject slavery, and treated as aliens +and enemies at their own doors. Add to this the fact, that, previous to +the granting of Emancipation, scarce a generation had passed away since +their priests were murdered at the altar, or hunted down with dogs, like +wild beasts; their goods and chattels seized upon by any emissary of +the government, and at a nominal valuation appropriated to his own use; +their creed and language denounced and outlawed; their children deprived +of the light of learning under a penalty the most fearful; and, wherever +the tyrant had the power, their lands confiscated and handed over to +their oppressors. The wonder has long been, that, under such a terrible +regime, Ireland had not sunk into the most hopeless barbarism, or that +England had not absorbed her, until, as Lord Byron once observed on the +subject, they had become one and indivisible, as “the shark with his +prey.” No more desperate attempt has ever been made to blot out a +nation, and none has ever failed more signally; for, notwithstanding +this dreadful cannonade of ages, backed up with the final and murderous +assault of the Reformation and the Georges, Ireland, to-day, is more +powerful and united than she has ever been since the sceptre of the Dane +was broken upon her historic shores. This fact is sustained by evidences +teeming upon us from every point of the compass. A great and mysterious +embodiment of her influence, and a vague and oppressive sense of +her unseen presence, hang ominously over all the councils of her +task-masters, and build up strange dynasties in the disturbed slumbers +of even royalty itself. Nor bolt nor bar can shut out the low mutterings +of her approaching thunder, or exclude her ubiquitous hand from tracing, +in letters of blood, the impending doom of her infamous oppressor upon +the wall. Heaven has decreed it; and thus it is, that, in more than +one quarter of the globe the exiled children of her matchless hills and +vales have multiplied into a positive power, that, inflamed with the +memories of her undeserved sufferings, shall, one day, be precipitated +upon her enemies with the most destructive and overwhelming effect, and +humble them forever in the dust. + +To avert this blow has now become a desideratum so great with England, +that all her cunning and genius are brought to bear upon the subject. +So long as Ireland was dependent solely upon her own resources, and the +spirit of revolution confined strictly within her borders, England +felt herself competent to avert the evil day, for an indefinite period, +through the instrumentality of the rope and the bayonet; but now that +beyond the seas, the terrible war cloud of Fenianism fills the whole +west, surcharged with vengeance and the great, broad lightnings of +American freedom, she reels to her very centre, and begins to loosen her +hold, claw by claw, upon her victim, in the hope that her lacerated +and bleeding prey may be satisfied with a partial release from its +sufferings, and still permit her to hold it in her modified clutch. Here +she shall fail, however; for the people of Ireland know her too well +to permit her to breathe the same atmosphere with them, or preserve the +slightest footing on their soil. They know her to have been a traitor, a +perjurer, a robber and an assassin, throughout the whole of her infamous +career. Besides remembering her at Mullaghmaston and Limerick, they +had a taste of her quality in 1782, when, under the pressure of the +Protestant bayonets of the famous “Volunteers,” she, by a solemn act of +her King, Lords and Commons, in Parliament assembled, swept Poyning’s +despotic Law from her Statute Books, and relinquished FOREVER all right +and title to interfere in the local affairs of Ireland, only to perjure +herself subsequently, by creating rotten boroughs and dispensing titles +and millions of gold, for the purpose of controlling those very same +affairs, not only more effectually than ever, but with the further view +of diverting all the resources of the country out of their legitimate +channels into her own hands, so that she should be at once the tyrant, +and the purse and conscience keeper of our race. They remember all this, +we say, and now they are about to call upon her for an account of her +stewardship, and make her foot the bill, and that, too, to the very last +farthing. + +Of course, we are aware that much of the elevated mind and strength +which invigorate the Irish element on this continent, in this +connection, is to be attributed, unquestionably, to the sublime lessons +of the great American people, and the generous sympathy they evince +invariably in regard to nations deprived of the blessings of freedom. +Time was, we are aware, when the children of Ireland had no such exalted +idea of human liberty as they possess to-day, and when they would have +hailed the return of kingcraft to their shores, on the restitution +of their independence, with every demonstration of pleasure; but that +period has passed away, and forever. Having once tasted the blessings, +and imbibed the idea of American institutions, they have now cast aside +every sentiment of barbarism in this relation, and stepped out on the +broad platform of justice and common sense; ignoring the mere accident +of birth, and paying homage only to those attributes and characteristics +which, in themselves, tend to the elevation of the human family, and +which are not confined to any peculiar class or people. + +When it becomes understood, that ever since the introduction of +printing, and the consequent diffusion of book and newspaper literature +throughout Europe, the history and people of Ireland have been subjected +by the invader to every description of the grossest misrepresentation, +it will create no small degree of surprise, that the country +has survived the assault, or that she presents to-day a compact +individuality, that commands the sympathy and respect of most of the +nations of the earth. Heaven, itself, must have inspired the vigor, +truth and heroism which, through a lapse of seven hundred years, have +battled for the right against the most fearful odds, and that now arms +her, on both sides of the Atlantic, with the mighty resolve which cannot +fail to result in her final redemption from the chains of the oppressor. +Her vitality in this connection has scarcely a parallel in the history +of the past; from the fact, that she has been subjected to a twofold +persecution--that of semi-barbarism, and that of civilization also. +The atrocities of the hybrid freebooters that invaded her shores in the +twelfth century, were not more revolting than those which characterized +her rulers six hundred years subsequently, when they were engaged +in founding educational institutions, and printing whole cargoes of +ten-penny Bibles, for the purpose of pandering to the whims of the age, +and doing honor to the spirit of the royal Pacha who moulded his +creed to his lusts, and left his rottenness a loathsome legacy to his +successors. Yes, the wonder is, that she has survived all this, and, +instead of falling into the vortex prepared for her, now stands with her +uplifted arm, awaiting the propitious moment, when she can deal a final +and irresistible blow to the ingrate that, in days of yore, she had +warmed into intellectual life on her own hearthstone. + +If there had been anything in the climate, soil, people or geographical +position of Ireland, to operate against her prosperity as a nation, +or calculated to retard her progress in any connection whatever, there +might be some misgivings in relation to the causes of her poverty and +degradation; but as the most reliable political economists, and +even those unfriendly to the Irish name and race, admit that no such +drawbacks exist, we look, of course, to the system of government to +which the country has been so long subjected, as the source of all the +evils that have so cruelly and pertinaciously beset it. McCollough, +Wakefield, Foster, and other English writers, bear the highest testimony +to the richness of its soil, the salubrity of its air, and its other +great natural advantages. Its harbors, bays, lakes and rivers are among +the finest in the world, while its neglected mineral wealth is presumed +to be all but inexhaustible. In addition to this, it is stated by +Dr. Forbes--one of the Court physicians, who had made a tour of the +kingdom--that the inhabitants are of a character the most industrious, +and bear up under the oppressive system which weighs upon them in a +manner the most heroic. It is to opinions from such sources as these we +point, with every degree of confidence, as they cannot be charged with +being prejudiced in our favor; and were we inclined to be more diffuse +upon the subject, we might quote author after author, and all of English +proclivities too, who bear evidence to the suggestive character of the +elements of material wealth which we possess in every relation, and +which, through the disastrous policy pursued towards us from generation +to generation, have been paralyzed and prostituted to an extent that +almost defies comprehension. + +Why did England violate a solemn pledge, given in 1782, to the effect, +that she relinquished all claim to interfere in the management of the +local affairs of Ireland, and conceded to the people of that country the +undoubted and inalienable right of conducting their own internal +affairs upon any basis they thought proper? After having experienced the +beneficial results of this policy upon the sister kingdom for a space +of eighteen years, why did she revoke the act establishing it, and +force the hated Union upon a people, a majority of whom were not free to +express an opinion upon the subject, or to resist a measure thrust upon +them through perjury, intimidation, bribery and fraud? The reason has +long been quite obvious to the world--the manufacturing interests and +the trade and commerce of Ireland have ever been and must ever remain +antagonistic to those of England. This fact has always influenced the +legislation of the latter country, and brought it to bear heavily and +unjustly upon almost every Irish project that has been undertaken for +the last three hundred years. When any particular Irish manufacture +was found to interfere with the interests of a similar one in England, +instantly devices were set on foot by the enemy to crush it, or so +embarrass it that its destruction could not fail to follow. It was +banned and taxed out of the market until it died. In this way, the silk, +glass and woolen manufactures of the country were destroyed; the latter +having so injured the English manufacturers in the time of William the +Third, that they presented a memorial to this dignified and affectionate +son-in-law of James, praying that the manufacture in Ireland might be +suppressed, as it was interfering with the success of the woolen trade +in England; which prayer the king entertained favorably, and promised +to grant. In this way, from the earliest days of the invasion, the +interests of Ireland have been trodden under the feet of the oppressor; +while, in a religious point of view, her people have been held for +generations in the most frightful bondage, and constrained to contribute +to the maintenance of a Church which nineteen-twentieths of them +believed to be heretical, and which had been thrust upon them in +violation of every right, human and divine. + +Now, however, it is brightening up on the verge of the horizon, and, +like chickens, England’s untold acts of infamy and oppression, in +regard to Ireland, are coming home to roost. In every city and hamlet, +throughout the great Republic of the United States, and in every town +and village in Ireland, as well as throughout the rural districts, there +exists a regiment or detachment of the vast army of the Irish Republic. +No matter how invisible the force may be at any particular point, yet +there it exists, awaiting the signal to pounce upon the enemy, and +avenge the wrongs of ages; each member of it feeling, within his heart +of hearts, that those injuries have reached him individually, and that, +without the opportunity of wiping them out, even at the expense of the +last drop of his heart’s blood, the conquest, when achieved, would be +almost worthless in his eyes. It is with this element that England, at +the present juncture, has to deal at home and abroad; and now that the +avalanche, after rolling down the steep of seven successive centuries, +has accumulated in magnitude and force most tremendously, and +sufficiently to overcome every obstacle that happens to lie in its +path, ere long we shall find it leaping in thunder upon the plain, and +overwhelming those who so long mocked at its approach, and who now so +vainly attempt to stay its resistless course. + + + + + +RIDGEWAY + +AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +On a gloomy evening in the early part of May, 1866, and while astute +politicians were struck with the formidable aspect of Fenianism in both +hemispheres, a solitary soldier, in the muddy, red jacket of a private +in the English army, might be seen hastily wending his way across a +bridge which led from one of the most important strongholds in Canada, +to a town of considerable pretensions, that lay directly opposite, and +to which he was now bending his steps. Although the weather, from the +season of the year, might be presumed to be somewhat genial, yet it +was raw and gusty; and as the pedestrian was without an overcoat, the +uncomfortable and antagonistic shrug of his shoulders, as the chill, +fitful blast swept past him, was quite discernible to any eye that +happened to catch his figure at the period. Soon, however, he left +the bridge and river behind him, and, stepping on terra firma, turned +hastily down one of the unpretending streets of the town, and entered a +restaurant, out of the drinking saloon of which, several narrow passages +led to small convivial apartments, or rather compartments, in which the +landlord, or “mine host” professed to work culinary miracles, of every +possible shade, in the interest of his patrons. The establishment, +although not the most fashionable in the place, was still regarded +as respectable, and was, consequently, the frequent resort of many +well-to-do tradesmen, and others, who, after the cares of the day had +been laid by, generally repaired thither to slake their thirst with a +flowing tankard, or indulge in “a stew,” a quiet game of billiards or +a cigar, as the case might be. From the description of the various +pictures which adorned or decorated the bar-room, the nationality of the +proprietor was easily discerned. Just over a goodly and shining away of +handsome mirrors that, inside the counter, reflected a maze of graceful +bottles, cut glass and various ornaments appropriate to the profession, +hung a large map of Ireland, very beautifully gotten up: while on either +side of it, a neat, gilt frame, enclosing a most excellent likeness of +Daniel O’Connell and Robert Emmet, respectively, harmonized in every +relation with the map itself. Around the walls of the room, and +throughout the whole establishment, kindred prints and paintings were +somewhat profusely scattered; presenting unmistakable evidences, that +the proprietor hailed from the Emerald Isle, and had no inclination, +whatever, to disguise the fact from either his customers or the world. + +At the period that the soldier entered the premises, there were some +half dozen persons seated in the bar; each discussing his favorite +beverage or enjoying his peculiar “weed.” Among these there was one +individual, however, whose appearance was singularly striking, and who +was taking part in the general conversation with an easy flippancy +and keenness of observation that showed he was a person of no ordinary +information or experience. There was something about him, nevertheless, +that, notwithstanding all his efforts to be attractive, was strangely +repellent. His small, grey eyes, thin, blue lips and hooked nose, gave +an expression to his countenance which was far from prepossessing; while +his soft, low, purring chuckle of a laugh, whenever he made a point +in his favor through some facile observation that interfered with the +deductions of those around him, evoked the idea, that he was some huge, +human mouser that was congratulating himself on having disposed of some +unfortunate and unsuspecting canary. He was, withal, shapely, and had +an air of refinement about him, the most decided, and, quite beyond the +ordinary run of saloon habitues. His complexion though somewhat dark and +out of keeping with the color of his eyes, was yet pure; while his teeth +were remarkably white and brilliant, and apparently as sharp as lancets. +In height he was about five feet ten inches; and in age, somewhere in +the vicinity of thirty. He was dressed in plain gray clothes; and, +from all one might gather from his external appearance, was a person in +comfortable circumstances. He was unknown not only to “mine host,” but +to every one present; having, as he informed them in the ordinary flow +of conversation, but just arrived in town, where he had business to +transact which might detain him for a few days, or possibly longer. This +information had been volunteered before the arrival of the soldier; +so that when the latter had taken his seat, he was literally a greater +stranger as to the name or intentions of the hook-nosed gentleman than +any one present--the former having been communicated to the landlord +as Philip Greaves, and the latter, as already intimated, quite freely +disclosed during the natural flow of the conversation in which he had +taken and still took part. + +Perhaps there were no two beings on earth so dissimilar in every +relation, as were he and the red coat who now ensconsed himself in one +of the chairs, and accepted the invitation to take a friendly glass with +the stranger. He, humble as the rank he bore in the service, was a young +man of most prepossessing appearance and excellent address. His figure, +although slight, was beautifully symmetrical and finely knit. In stature +he was about five feet eleven inches, and was apparently as agile as a +leopard. The whole volume of his heart was laid open in his broad, manly +brow and clear dark eyes; and his laughter rang out now and then, at +the brilliant wit or searching sarcasm of his neighbor, in such pure and +joyous tones, as to be infectious even amongst those who were paying +but little attention to what had provoked it. He could not have numbered +more than twenty-five or twenty-six summers; and it was almost painful, +in the presence of such manly beauty and so light a heart, to dwell +on the fact, that the possessor of both, was in absolute slavery, how +carelessly soever he wore his shackles. While both these individuals +differed the one from the other to the extent already mentioned, the +proprietor of the saloon, in turn, presented an appearance as dissimilar +to that of either of his customers as did that of the one to the other. +He was a man of herculean proportions, and blessed with as commonplace +features as you could find in a day’s walk. Every fibre of his frame +bespoke the most gigantic strength, while his full, round face glowed +with the most refreshing health, and presented at the same time as +stolid an expression as could well be imagined in connection with his +vocation. Still, there was something in his keen, gray eye and about his +mouth, that bid you beware of taking the book by the cover; while an odd +word of the conversation that now and then reached his ear, called up a +strange expression of intelligence which swept across his features +with the speed of light, and then left them as quiescent and apparently +unintellectual as before. This individual whom we shall name Thomas +O’Brien, or Big Tom, as his friends were wont to call him, although +never regarded as being over brilliant, there were those who averred +that he not only possessed a fund of good, common sense, but who +stated further, that he was a man of great influence not only among the +soldiers in the fort, but among many of his countrymen both in town and +out of it. Tom spoke very slowly and always in an oracular manner; nor +were his movements behind his bar of a very demonstrative character; +as no press of custom, whatever, seemed to possess the power of +accelerating his motions or inducing him to exceed the steady formula +that he appeared to have adopted in relation to serving his customers; +still he possessed the jewel of honesty and urbanity as an offset to +all this; and, like most large men, was, on the whole, of a kind and +excellent temper. When seen standing by the river or in any elevated +position, he conveyed the idea of a sort of human lighthouse, or a +chimney on fire, so fiercely red was the tremendous shock of hair that +covered his towering head. He was still a young man, and, like the +soldier, unmarried; although the heart of the latter had gone forth and +was in the safe keeping of a charming young cousin of “mine host,” who +had emigrated to America some time previously, and who now resided with +her friends in the city of Buffalo. Tom had preceded his relatives by +some years, and had sojourned, up to the period of their landing, in +the United States also; but taking a sudden notion, as it would seem, +he pulled up his stakes, and, like other adventurers, settled down, +apparently haphazard, in the town in which he now lived; and where he +had already been upwards of two years; having bought out the “Sign of +the Harp,” as we shall call it, with all its appointments, from another +Son of the Sod, who had made up his mind to go West. + +Before the soldier, whom we shall name Nicholas, or Nick Barry, had +finished his glass, Greaves entered into conversation with him in +relation to the strength of the fort, and the nationality of the +regiment that garrisoned it; observing, at the same time, that, of +course, as usual, a fair sprinkling from the Emerald Isle was to be +found among them. + +“Yes,” said Barry, “go where you may throughout the empire, and whenever +you meet a red coat you will be right in four cases out of six in +putting it down as belonging to an Irishman; that is, provided its +precise color and texture are like mine; but you would not be so safe +in applying the same rule wherever you chanced to encounter the clear, +bright flash of the genuine scarlet.” + +“And why?” returned Greaves, with an inquiring air which seemed to +be quite at sea upon the subject; although up to that moment, his +conversation was such as to lead one to infer that he could scarcely be +in the dark upon a subject so generally understood. + +“Because,” said Nick, “the Irish are only fit to do the fighting; and +that’s always done, you know, by the rank and file.” + +This reply, although not over satisfactory to the interrogator, seemed +to afford infinite amusement to Big Tom, who, with a perfect sledge +hammer of a laugh, exclaimed when Barry had finished: + +“Well done Nick, and the divil a betther could it be said if I said it +myself.” + +This unusual and lively demonstration on the part of O’Brien, seemed +to attract the notice of Greaves, who, with the utmost good humor, +observed, while glancing in the direction of the bar: + +“From Ireland, too, I’ll bet my head!” + +“Seven miles out of it,” returned Tom with a slight twinkle of his eye, +“and, of coorse, a gintleman so larned as you will be able to tell where +that is.” + +“Well, for the life of me,” observed Greaves, “I cannot divine what you +are at, with your ‘seven miles out,’ but as I’m an Englishman, I suppose +that accounts for it.” + +“He means by what he has said,” interrupted Barry, “that he is from +Connaught, which, for some reason or other, is regarded as seven miles +out of Ireland.” + +“For some raison or other did you say,” returned Tom. “Faith and its +raison enough there is for that same; for it was to Connaught that +Cromwell and the rest of the blaggards banished or confined the Irish +hayros that gave the Sassenach such throuble in oulden times, and that’s +the raison, you know, that the sayin, ‘to h--l or Connaught,’ first +got a futtin in the world, and that Connaught is regarded as bein seven +miles out, by the people who know the ins and outs of it.” + +This was delivered in a quiet, oracular manner from which there was +no appeal; so the conversation continued to flow in a kindred +channel--Barry observing that the regiments then stationed in Canada +were largely _adulterated_, as he humorously termed it, with the Irish +element, which, during such times of commotion, was considered by +England safer abroad than at home. + +“How is that?” said Greaves, casting a searching glance towards the +speaker. “I should fancy that the British soldier was safe, and true to +the crown whether at home or abroad; although I am free to confess, that +the Irish, as a nation, have much to complain of.” + +“And how can you separate the man from the nation; and if a people are +oppressed and wronged as a whole, are they not oppressed and wronged +individually?” replied O’Brien. + +“The inference is reasonable,” returned the other; “but as England seems +sensible that something ought to be done for the amelioration of the +condition of Ireland no doubt the two nations will soon settle down in +the bonds of amity and love, and, in a better state of things, forget +all their bickerings and heartburnings.” + +“There was a payriod,” retorted Tom, “when England could have done +somethin to appase Ireland, but that payriod is past and gone forever! +Durin the airly days of O’Connell, the repale of the Union and the +abolition of the Church Establishment would have worked merricles. These +measures would have done away with absenteeism, an unjust and gallin +taxation, and would have given Ireland the conthrol, in some degree at +laste, of her own local affairs. If the Act of 1782 previntin England +from intherfarin in any degree in those affairs was revived, it would +have given the Irish a chance to build up their manufactures and recruit +their ruined thrade and commerce. It would have recalled the landlord to +his estates, from forrin parts, and re-inthroduced a native parliament +that understood the wants and wishes of the people, and that was +intherested in carryin them out, and givin the masses an opportunity of +developin their resources and turnin their soil to account, that is +acre for acre more fertile than that of England, to-day. It would have +gathered home from the four winds of the earth the scatthered wealth +that has followed the absentee to distant lands and made Dublin and Cork +and every city in the counthry alive with min and wimmin, that were able +to pathronise Irish manufactures, aye, and pay for them too. All this it +would have done and a thousand times more; but as I have already said, +the chance has been thrown away by England, never to be recovered by +her durin _secula seculorum_; for now the light of American freedom +has fallen upon Ireland, and, pointed out what ought to be her thrue +standin, and the insufficiency of what she once would have been +satisfied with. In the broad effulgence of its glory, the people of +Ireland now persave that so if long as they attached any importance to +the mere accident of birth, or bent the knee to hereditary monarchy, +they were but walking in the valley and shadow of death. The great moral +spectacle of American freedom built upon the broad and imperishable +basis of the voluntary and intelligent consint of a whole people, has so +upset their household gods and desthroyed the prestige of kingcraft +in their eyes, that they now look forward to the total overthrow of +monarchical institutions in their midst, and the establishment, on their +shores, of a Republic in every particular the counterpart of that which +now commands the admiration of the world, across the lines there, and +which is gradually sappin the foundation of British rule on this side of +the lakes, as well as litherally swallowin us up unknownst to ourselves. +This is how the case stands now; so that we can aisily persave, that +England has lost the power and opportunity of conciliatin the Irish +race; bekase they have no longer a feelin or sintiment in common with +her.” + +These observations, which were made with a degree of ease and eloquence +regarded as totally foreign to Tom, actually electrified his hearers, +and drew a compliment from Greaves; while Barry, who knew a good deal +of him, was so astonished at his sudden and earnest volubility, he could +not resist the temptation of assuring him that he was an honor to +his country, if not to humanity at large. The other three or four +individuals present joined in the sentiment, so that, for the time +being, O’Brien was no ordinary personage in their minds, while a quiet +wink from one to the other seemed to place it beyond a shadow of doubt, +that, in their estimation, Big Tom knew more than he ever got credit +for. + +When the conversation again began to flow freely, the gentleman, with +the hooked nose, turned it imperceptibly upon Fenianism, and the rumored +intention of the Organization, in the United States, to make a descent +upon Canada at no distant day. At this point, O’Brien put in a word +or two, to the effect, that he was not so sure of the propriety of the +Brotherhood invading the Province, as its inhabitants were not in any +way answerable for the wrongs which had been inflicted by England upon +Ireland. Here Barry observed, that although he was not competent to +speak on the matter, and had no desire to endorse or countenance such an +invasion, he regarded a Fenian attack upon Canada fully as justifiable +as an assault of the same character upon England, or any other portion +of her majesty’s dominions. The empire, he contended, was a unit and +no part of it could be assailed, that did not possess, in relation to +Ireland, just as inoffensive people as the Canadians were. Fenianism, +he presumed, did not pretend to make war upon individuals, but upon a +government, in any or all of its ramifications, that was alleged to be +oppressive and an enemy to civil and religious freedom; and so long as +any people chose to endorse the acts of such a government by defending +them, and adhering to the flag under which they were said to have been +committed, so long were they amenable to the party who assumed to be +aggrieved in the premises, as aiders and abettors of the offence. + +This position was so reasonable and so logical that there was but little +room for dispute upon the subject. And hence the absurdity of certain +squeamish gentlemen who, before and since the invasion of 1866, have +denounced a descent upon Canada as not so justifiable as an attack upon +the more central parts of the empire, from the assumed fact, that the +Canadians are in no way chargeable with the wrongs inflicted by the +British Government upon Ireland. Such an argument to a military man, or +astute politician, would be the very height of absurdity. The outworks +are always stormed and taken before the citadel falls; nor are those +who occupy or defend them regarded with any personal ill feeling by +the assailing party, and are only enemies in so far as they choose to +espouse the cause and defend, at the point of the sword, the acts and +existence of a government held to be corrupt and oppressive. From the +difference in population and other circumstances, there are a greater +number of inoffensive persons in England, in relation to Irish +grievances, than there are in Canada; so that, adopting the very style +of argument used by those gingerly or subsidized cavillers, there are +more causes for justifying a descent, at any time, upon the latter +than upon the former country. The truth is, the masses or people of any +country are, for the most part, inoffensive on the whole, and are merely +wielded by governments with a view to maintaining a power for good or +evil, having in many cases themselves no very clear idea of the grounds +upon which the field may have been taken; and laying down their arms +at a moment’s notice, without being concerned as to the expediency +or justice of a cessation of hostilities. In truth, even amid armies +thundering down upon each other at the word of command, there are +necessarily thousands of unoffending persons who entertain not a single +feeling of animosity against their opponents individually, and who are +but simply the exponents of an idea that their rulers deem necessary to +maintain at the point of the bayonet; although they themselves may not +sympathize with it to any extent whatever. So that it is apparent, that +the invasion of Canada was never undertaken with a view to despoiling or +injuring the people _per se_ of that country; but for the simple purpose +of making a descent upon a point of the British empire most accessible +to the arms of the Republic of Ireland on this continent, in the hope +of establishing a basis that would enable Irish Nationalists to operate +successfully against a government that had for seven hundred years +subjected their country, name and race, to every injustice and +persecution known to the history of crime. Such are the contingencies +of war, that the innocent are dragged into the vortex by the guilty, +and that those who choose to adopt a flag and are found armed in its +defence, are constructively the enemies of the invaders, and according +to the usages of all nations amenable in the field for the conduct of +their rulers. Whatever may be said to the contrary, then, by English +sympathizers or weak-kneed patriots, so long as Canada is a portion of +the British empire, so long is she a legitimate point of attack for the +enemies of that empire, and no description of special pleading can make +it otherwise. And here we would advise the people of the New Dominion to +look into this matter and weigh the consequences of being influenced +by any seeming or real hostile attitude to the government of the United +States, or the mighty hosts which are now gathering in battle array in +the cause of Irish freedom. England is fallen! Her power and prestige +are gone forever! The star of Irish liberty has already emerged from the +clouds that have so long lain piled up along the horizon of the land of +the enslaved Celt, and no power on earth can obscure its growing +Lustre, until it blazes forth in the full meridian, splendor of Irish +nationality and independence! Let our neighbors, therefore, we say, not +be betrayed into raising a puny arm against the tremendous force +that cannot fail to be exerted ere long in this connection, or their +redemption from the British yoke and their consequent absorption by the +great American Commonwealth may be reddened with more blood than the +circumstances of the case really require. + +When Barry had finished his few observations on this topic, Greaves, +in further pursuance of the subject, and with the apparent view of +gathering the tone of Canadian opinion upon it, observed, that if all +the Irish population of the Provinces were as true to the sentiment of +the independence of their country, as O’Brien and his military friend, +there might be some reason for apprehending that the intended invasion +of the Canadas by the Fenian organization of the United States, would +tend to more alarming results to England than were anticipated by the +friends of that country; remarking, in addition, that the Irish element +must be very large in her majesty’s Canadian possessions, if one might +judge from the recent St. Patrick’s Day demonstration throughout them, +and the various St. Patrick’s Societies to be found scattered from one +end of the colony to the other; all of which were, no doubt, more or +less tinged with opinions and aspirations similar to those held by the +two individuals who had just spoken. + +“Oh, yes,” rejoined Big Tom, “there are St. Patrick Societies in +abundance, but let me inform you, that instead of bein national +associations, as they purport to be, they are the very sthrongholds of +England in this country, and, with scarce an exception, the deadliest +opponents to the very indepindence that we have benn jist spakin about. +For the most part, they are filled chock full of a pack of miserable +toadies to the governmint, which manages to gather into them a pack of +rottin, ladin Irishmin who can make speeches, dhrink ‘the day and all +who honor it,’ sing ‘God save the Queen,’ and talk English blatherskite +about the glory of the impire, the army and navy, and everythin else in +the world save and except the wrongs of poor, ould Ireland, and the way +to redhress them. Why, sir, barrin a word dhropped here and there, you’d +think it was in an Orange Lodge you were, if you happened to step in on +one of those societies while engaged in celebrating, as they call it, +the anniversary of their pathron Saint; for it’s nothin you’d hear but +‘Rule Britannia,’ ‘The Red, White and Blue,’ and kindhered sintiments, +and if a chap did happen to give ‘The harp that wanst,’ why, its the +sweet, soft air they’d be admirin, and the poethry of Tom Moore, rather +than the low wail for vingeance that was smothered in the heart of the +song itself. What could you expect from sich a St Patrick’s Society as +that of Toronto, with a gintleman at its head with the freedom of an +English city in his breeches pocket, and a desire to emulate English +statesmen and English institutions in his heart! Look, also, at the able +and larned Irishman who stands at the head of the University of that +same methropolis of the West, and whose eloquence so mystifies his +faithlessness to Ireland as to confuse you, and almost lade you captive, +until, on cooler deliberation, you find that his response to ‘the toast +of the evenin,’ is naither more nor less than a superb burst of oratory, +robed in green and goold, but with a heart as purely English as that +which throbbed within the breast of the renegade Wellington or the late +wily Lord Palmerston. Oh, no! the St. Patrick Societies of America, and +of every other portion of the globe, are simply whited sepulchres, or +false beacons erected or fosthered by the English governmint to mislade +the unsuspectin portions of our race from the allagiance due to their +own counthry, by studiously inculcatin sintimints and ideas favorable +to English supremacy, which can be paraded before the world as the thrue +expression of the Irish people, in relation to the red that governs +them, and their willinness to remain as they are, part and parcel of the +impire. Sich min as the two I have jist mintioned do more to perpetuate +the thraldom of our country than the most unfrindly and subtle statesman +that exists on the other side of the Atlantic to-day; bekase they are +powerful inemies, by their example in our own camp, and bekase there are +those amongst us who are aisily led, and who consequintly fall a victim +to their influence and example.” + +“Sure, we all know, that the Scotch thricksther at the head of the +govermint here, could do but little if it was not for such people +as Ogle R., George. L., Darcy and ‘the docther,’ as he is called in +Toronto; and thus it is, that although the three Toronto gintlemen that +I now name, are, I honestly believe, deservedly respected and esteemed +in every other relation of life, they belong body and sowl to the +English sintimint of the counthry; and if the most favorable opportunity +was offered them to-morrow, would never raise a helpin hand to place the +green above the red. But, as this is dhry work, and as I have not had +sich a bout at it since I opened here, come, one and all, and let us +wet our whistles, for I see you have jist made spy-glasses of your +tumblers.” + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Although delivered in a style somewhat uncouth, there was a great deal +of truth and native eloquence about these observations of O’Brien. There +is no doubt but the St. Patrick Societies of this continent, and perhaps +of the world, are characterized, in no ordinary degree, by the spirit +and design to which he alluded. In so far as those belonging to the +British empire are concerned, he was right, almost without an exception; +for it must be admitted, that these societies are, for the most part, +filled with pseudo patriots, who discard all revolutionary theories, and +are of the opinion, that the independence of their country, if they +ever cast a glance in that direction, ought to be achieved in the most +lady-like manner, and with “white kids.” Look, for instance, at some of +the members of these associations and kindred bodies in New York and +in various other parts of the Union, and analyze the spirit which finds +expression in their observance of the anniversary of Ireland’s tutelar +Saint. From the moment that the cloth is removed, until the last of the +company gyrates out of the room to his carriage, we have nothing but +a war of eloquence between rival politicians who are candidates for +municipal or other lucrative honors, or a subtle bid for Irish support +through some adroit manoeuvre, by which an adversary is, for the time +being, thrown into the shade. To be sure, Mr. Richard This or Mr. John +That, may occasionally give us a taste of his research and learning, +in a re-hash from the “Annals of the Four Masters,” or from some of the +leading periodicals of the day; and we may, in addition, be treated +to an _original_ poem touching Ireland from some of the various +up-hill-workers of the Muses, with whom the great mercantile centre +abounds; but as to anything practical relative to the amelioration of +the wretched condition of the country in whose name they assemble upon +such occasions, that is simply out of the question; all parties, as a +general thing, satisfying themselves with a hacknied and stereotyped +enumeration of her wrongs, and the usual bland denunciations of her +oppressors. + +And here we give an illustration of St. Patrick Societies under their +most patriotic aspect; for the power of speech which characterizes, this +great Commonwealth, and our total immunity from English persecution, +enable the spirit which actuates these societies, beneath the skull and +cross bones of St. George, to be a little more patriotic here, in its +language at least, than it dares to be in any portion of the dominions +of England. Still, its positive antagonism to Irish independence, under +the British flag, is scarcely more reprehensible than its negative +influence in the same direction under the Stars and Stripes; so that +Ireland, suffering at their hands alike, might with every degree of +justice place them in the same category. + +After all, it is the masses that free a nation, and thank God for it. +A leader may in vain look for a host to follow him, but a host never in +vain for a leader, and hence the defection of a few prominent men from +the great, Irish national idea which now so moves this continent, and +commands the attention of the world, amounts to but little save sorrow +at the stigma it casts upon our race. The rank and file of our people +are true to the spirit that fired the O’Neill’s and the Geraldines of +old; and this being the case, the freedom of Ireland is secured beyond +any possible contingency--England is brought to bay at home and abroad. +The mighty embodiments of Irish power and patriotism, yclept Fenianism, +stalks forth through the empire with an uplifted glaive in its hand, and +no one can say how soon or where the swift stroke of destruction shall +fall. Its presence fills with gloomy alarm every nook and corner of +the land, and paralyzes all the energies of the oppressor. Through its +overwhelming influence, the most cherished institutions of the usurper +are being overthrown, and the crown and mace all but converted into +baubles. It has destroyed the power and prestige of a hereditary +aristocracy, and thrown, in a measure, the whole government of the land +into the hands of Commoners. The privileged classes, no longer oracular, +recede before it, and a great democratic idea occupies the ground upon +which they stood--in short, illuminated and impelled by the glorious +spirit and impulses which moved the immortal founders of this grand +Republic of the West, it has gone forth to avenge and to conquer, and +to build up upon the shores of the Old World such a grateful monument +to the genius of American freedom, as shall, from its lofty summit, +pour its radiance over the darkest valleys of Central Europe, until the +frozen grasp of despotism yields to its magic touch and the chains +shall fall from the bleeding limbs of millions, who on emerging from the +valley and shadow of death into the pure sunlight of liberty, shall sing +paeans in honor of the great American people who first taught humanity +to the nations of the earth. + +When all present had done justice to O’Brien’s proffered “treat,” and +when Greaves seemed to be moved to a friendly view of Irish nationality, +in a gap in some desultory conversation that happened to occur casually, +this latter worthy asked whether he could be accommodated with a room at +“The Harp,” while he remained in town, as he was a stranger in a great +measure, and having accidentally, as he said, made the acquaintance +of one he believed to be an agreeable landlord. Tom replied in the +affirmative; for, in connection with the saloon business, he kept a +few boarders and had, besides, ample accommodation for more than one +occasional guest. Soon then, Greaves, who was to send the following +morning to the railroad station for his luggage, picked up a small +traveling bag by his side, asked to be shown to his room, as he +professed to be somewhat tired, and bidding the company “good night,” + while shaking hands with Barry, disappeared with Tom down the long +passage which led to his sleeping apartment on the floor above. + +When O’Brien returned to the bar, half a dozen more of his usual +customers had dropped in to exchange a kindly word with him, and taste +his newest “on tap.” Before reaching the counter, however, and just as +he was passing Barry, he whispered something in the ear of the latter, +which seemed to arrest his attention, and to which he appeared to answer +with a significant nod and peculiar expression of countenance. Barry +being off duty, and having received permission to remain in town all +night, paid no regard to the nine o’clock drums and fifes audible from +the garrison; and although quite an abstemious young fellow, he made +himself sufficiently social with the new comers, most of whom were +acquaintances. The remainder of the evening was passed in the usual +bar-room style; although the conversation for the most part, turned upon +the wrongs of Ireland and the mode of redressing them. Now that Greaves +had retired, there appeared to be less restraint upon the few who had +been a witness of the observations he had made upon the subject, for +they one and all seemed to flow into the common channel of sympathy, so +largely occupied by O’Brien in this connection. In addition, one of them +ventured to remark, that although Greaves pretended to be an Englishman, +he was evidently no such thing; for on more than one occasion, he gave +utterance to expressions that were not only purely Irish, but tinged +with a genuine Irish accent and native peculiarity, that no mere +accident could account for, and which was, without doubt, the genuine +thing itself peeping out at the elbows of a foreign dress. This idea +seemed to find favor with O’Brien, although Barry was not impressed +with its correctness, from the fact, no doubt, of his constant +intercommunication with the English and Irish element that was so +jumbled up in his company. + +As it became later, the party began to drop off, until about twelve +o’clock, up went the shutters and round went the heavy key in the +bar-room door--all having disappeared at the latter period, save Barry +and one of his most intimate friends who seemed loath to leave, and +inclined to take another glass. No sooner then, were the doors and +windows securely fastened, and the gas extinguished, than both these +parties accompanied by Tom with a bed-room lamp in his hand, proceeded +to a small and comfortable apartment which was sacred to the foot of +every individual who was not a tried friend of O’Brien. Here all three +seated themselves beside a comfortable coal fire that burned brightly in +the grate: when Tom, on extinguishing the lamp, after having lit the jet +of gas that hung in the centre of the room, exclaimed:-- + +“Nick, my name’s not Tom O’Brien, or we have got the divil +up-stairs!--but what he’s up to it’s hard to say: although I thought it +was jist as well to let him take up his quarthers here, seem that I’ll +be able to keep an eye on him--now that the times are becomin sarious.” + +“Certainly,” replied Barry, “his appearance is far from prepossessing, +but you know, Tom, it’s not always safe to judge a man by this +criterion.” + +“That’s thrue,” returned the other, “but didn’t you hear the fella how +he wanted to sift you about the Irish sintiment of the garrison, as well +as lade us out upon the feelins of the Irish in gineral throughout the +Province?” + +“I did, of course,” answered Nick, “but really thought that the +gentleman, being a stranger, was simply asking for information’s sake +only, and had no ulterior object in view.” + +“I agree with you, O’Brien,” interrupted the third party, who was named +Burk, and who had been in the saloon during the period Greaves was +present, “there can be nothing good in so cunning a face; but what is +the real news to-night, and have you heard from New York or Buffalo?” + +“I have harde from both places,” returned Tom, “and everythin looks +well; but how are things here, and are you all prepared to assist the +invading army when they cross the lines; and what number of men can we +fairly count upon?” + +“It has, I believe, been ascertained beyond a shadow of doubt,” replied +Burk, “that there are upwards of one hundred thousand men throughout the +Provinces who would at once rush to arms if they found the flag of the +Irish Republic firmly planted at any one point within our borders; while +it is known or believed, that more than twice that number would follow +in their wake, if Toronto was once in the hands of the invaders. In +fact, Toronto and Montreal once taken, the day is ours, for we should +have the French almost to a man, no matter what Monsieur George Etienne +or Master John Alexander may say to the contrary. Canada is evidently +tired of British rule, and is only kept from kicking over the traces +by a pack of government officials who hold the purse strings, and a +subsidized press that destroys the homogeneity of the people, by making +them doubt each other, and impressing every man disaffected to the +Crown, with the idea that every other individual Colonist, or nearly +so, is opposed to him. In this way, the sentiment of independence +which underlies the nine tenths of our population is obstructed and +embarrassed, and one man prompted to look with distrust upon another, +although both may entertain precisely the same sentiments in relation +to the desirability of throwing off the British yoke. As to how the army +stands, Nick here can tell you more about that than I can.” + +“The army,” said Barry, “is just as you might expect it to be. The Irish +who compose it in part, are, as you know, not British soldiers from +choice, but from necessity. They had no resource between starvation and +a red coat; so that their oath of allegiance to the English Crown may be +said to have been exacted from them under pain of death. For ages, their +country had been devastated and plundered by the power that now holds +them in special thrall, and the means of existence wrested from them +through the inhuman exactions of a tyrannical government. Their name and +race had been banned, their humble homesteads razed to the ground, and +their families scattered, naked and hungry, throughout the length and +breadth of the land, or exiled to foreign shores. The stranger had +stolen in on their hearthstone, robbed them of their lands, goods and +chattles, usurped their powers of local legislation, and then closed +every door to preferment against them, leaving them without a hope or a +crust for the future, on their own shores. Under this horrible pressure, +thousands of them necessarily gave way and fell victims to those gaunt +recruiting sergeants of the government--Hunger and Rags. Unable to earn +wherewithal to keep body and soul together at their own doors, or within +their own borders, and perceiving that the commerce, the manufactures +and all the native resource of their country were crushed to the +earth, beneath the relentless heel of the oppressor, they fell into +the pit-fall dug for them by an accursed perjurer and traitor, and, +in obedience to the first law of nature, assumed her livery, and swore +allegiance to her flag. But think you that either God or man attaches +the slightest importance to an oath exacted under such circumstances? +Here am I, Nick Barry, now in the service of the usurper, and driven +into it with tears in my eyes and rebellion in my heart, and do you +suppose that I regard my oath as other than an additional incentive to +plot the downfall of the infamous tyrant and robber who hounded me +into swallowing it, and who, to-day, keeps the girl I love out of her +mother’s property, that, on a mere technicality, was laid hold of, and +thrown into chancery, by a villainous and traitorous relative, long in +the secret service of the government at home, when he found the poor, +young thing an orphan, and without a wealthy friend in the world to +back her, and that too, upon a claim that hadn’t a leg to stand upon, as +everybody knew? My soldier-life, and his continued absence in England, +prevented my meeting the villain before he died; but as he has left the +suit to his son, who, I learn, is no better than he was himself, and is +also a great hanger on about the Castle of Dublin, I am in hopes of one +day or other meeting this same gentleman, who purports to represent the +old villain in this case, when, no matter how the chancery suit may go, +I shall hold him to a severe reckoning for the injustice and +hardships to which she has been so long subjected through their joint +instrumentality. But why should she complain any more than Tom there, +whose father’s side of the house, once powerful and wealthy, in the +west of Ireland, have been all but beggared through the same infamous +government, and their accursed agents, who had plundered them of every +acre they possessed, and exiled the bravest and best of them to these +distant shores?” + +These few observations were made with an earnestness and vehemence that +showed how fierce and hostile the blood that boiled in the veins of +the speaker. Nor was there any appeal from the inexorable logic of +his remarks. From the inhuman manner in which England has, for +seven centuries preyed upon the vitals of Ireland, and plundered and +expatriated her children, the latter are morally absolved from all +allegiance or fidelity to her, no matter what the circumstances of +their plighted faith. No man should be bound by oaths or obligations, +to maintain the supremacy or defend the interests of a tyrant, exacted +under an inhuman pressure or in the presence of such an alternative +as the poor Irish recruit is subject to, namely, that of enlisting or +starving. How can any Irish soldier, possessed of a single spark of +pride or patriotism, and wearing the queen of England’s livery to-day, +be other than the deadly enemy of the representative of a people who +have laid his country waste, murdered his kindred and left him and +millions of his race without a roof to cover them on their own native +shores? How can he gaze with any degree of enthusiasm or pleasure upon +the blood-stained rag that waved over Mullaghmast, that was perjured at +Limerick, and that endorsed with its baleful glare all the demoniacal +atrocities of the Penal Laws? “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to +God”--therefore the children of Ireland who have been so long trodden in +the dust under the feet of an usurper, are but obeying the dictates of +heaven and of humanity, when, by every means within the boundaries of +civilization, they endeavor to encompass not only their own redemption +from the bonds of the oppressor, but the total destruction of his power +in every connection. Ireland owes no allegiance to England. For seven +hundred years she has been crying out against the colony of foreign +bayonets that have kept her in bondage and reduced her to beggary. For +one single hour, throughout the whole of that long period, she has +never voluntarily accepted the condition of her thraldom, or bowed +submissively beneath the British yoke. She therefore cannot be regarded +in the light of a conquered nation, but must be looked upon as still +engaged in the deadly and mortal contest, whose first field was fought +long years ago, between the Anglo-Norman freebooters and the Fenians +of Cuan-na-Groith, or the Harbor of the Sun, when Strongbow, at the +instance of the second Henry, made an unprovoked descent upon her +shores. + +“Yes,” replied Tom, when Barry had finished, “both I and mine have felt +the cruel fangs of the despoiler; but, sure, where is the use of singlin +out ourselves, when the whole of the thrue native Irish--which manes the +nineteenth twintieths of the kingdoms-are jist as badly off. The quarrel +is not yours nor mine, nor the grievances naither. Both belong to every +man, woman and child possessed of a pure dhrop of Irish blood in their +veins; for all have suffered alike, as far as that is consarned. And, +now, all that has to be done on the head of it, is jist to wait the nick +of time that we are all expectin, and then, with one well directed and +united blow, dash the tyrant to the ground on this side of the Atlantic, +and thrust to Providence, the sympathy of the great American people and +our own sthrong arms and hearts for the rest.” + +“Quebec and the fort beyond there,” observed Burk, “may give us some +trouble; but further than this, from what has been ascertained of the +Province generally, there is little to be apprehended. The intimate +business relations and the intermarriages between the Canadians and the +people of the United States, will exercise a most powerful influence +in the case, while the manner in which both the English and Canadian +Governments fomented the recent civil war on the other side of the +lines, cannot fail to have embittered the American people against the +British Flag, wherever it is to be found. The treacherous attack of +England upon the existance of the Republic, in subsidizing the South +with arms and money, and in destroying, as she did for a considerable +period, the American carrying trade, through the instrumentality of +pirates built and fitted out in her own ship-yards and docks, will now +afford the American government an opportunity of paying her off in kind, +through permitting Fenianism to pursue its course without interruption, +until the Provinces become part and parcel of the Union, when they +have served as a basis of operation for the purpose of fitting out +expeditions against the arch enemy of Ireland and of human freedom, and +contributed to the final redemption of that oppressed country from the +bonds in which it has so long lain. Surely, what is sauce for the goose +is sauce for the gander; and if England, through the House of Commons, +cheered the Alabama when her destructive qualities were described before +that body by Mr. Laird, and, after having built the pirate, sent her out +to make war upon the North when it was in sore trouble--surely, I say, +America will not be over anxious to throw obstructions in the way of any +party who may take in hand the chastisement of such an infamous power, +no matter what the grounds of the quarrel. But when it comes to be +understood that for the last ninety years, and up to a very recent +period, England has been the deadly defamer and the secret or avowed +enemy of America and American institutions--when it comes to be +understood, that the statesmen, the business men and the wives and +daughters of the citizens of the American Commonwealth, ever since the +immortal Washington won the day for the oppressed of the whole world, +have been subjected to the sneers and jibes of the English aristocracy +and press, and held up to the ridicule of despotic Europe--when this +comes to be understood, I repeat, in connection with the fact, that +the cause of Ireland is the cause of human liberty and of republican +institutions, there will be but little fear of America stepping out of +her way to uphold the skull and cross-bones of St. George, either on +this or on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, or, in fact, in any +portion of the globe.” + +“Nor will the clear-sighted children of the Republic be cajoled into a +friendly attitude towards this blood-thirsty dastard, because that, in +the feebleness and fear that have now overtaken her, she essays to gloze +over the infamous acts of which she stands convicted before the nations, +and assumes an air of friendship towards them. Had the Union fallen, +through her infernal machinations, not a city throughout her dominions +but would have blazed with joyful illuminations at the result; while her +government would again introduce the impressments of 1812. Even when the +slightest reverse was suffered by the arms of the North, the news was +heralded throughout the whole of England with tokens of the most intense +satisfaction; while both her people and statesmen took a fiendish +delight in referring to the Commonwealth as “the late United States!” + All this, I say, will influence, and ought to influence, America in +favor of the independence of Ireland, and prevent the American people +from regarding the present pusillanimous blandishments of John Bull as +other than simply the result of cowardice, and an attempt to propitiate +a great power that had survived his infernal machinations, and now looms +up a just and mighty avenger before him. So long then, as England is +permitted to hold Ireland, that is battling for her rights, in chains, +or to taint permanently the pure atmosphere of this free continent, +so long will the Stars and Stripes shine with subdued lustre, and the +memory of the immortal heroes of ‘76 be but half honored, by those who +are pledged to defend it to the death in the sight of both God and man.” + +“As to Quebec and the other garrisons down this way,” observed Barry, +“when Hamilton and Toronto are in the hands of the Army of the Irish +Republic, they will be easily managed. None of the strongholds are proof +against Irish sympathizers, in their vicinity. This I know to be true. +Every genuine Irishman within easy hailing distance of the garrison at +Quebec, has more than one tried friend within its walls; and so of the +other strongholds along the St. Lawrence and lakes. But supposing, for +argument’s sake, that any of those forts should take it into its head +to stand a siege, where would it be when invested with such an army +as Fenianism can now put into the field, composed of thousands upon +thousands of veterans who are still grim with blood and smoke from the +terrible fields of the South? What, too, would your militia do, with +their holiday legs and maiden swords, against the men who fought at Cold +Harbor, Gettysburg or Bull Run? Why the one-fourth of the force which it +is said Fenianism has at its command, would sweep Canada like a tornado +from Sanwich to Gaspe, and be recruited every yard of the road, besides; +while the instant one signal victory was won by them, the government of +the United States would at once acknowledge them as belligerants. This, +I believe, is the true state of the case; and if the Fenian organization +across the lines, and here amongst us, possess honest, brave and +competent leaders, the overthrow of England in the Provinces cannot fail +to be achieved; for, after all, she has no secure footing in the hearts +of the masses, and enjoys nothing but a mere official existence here, +under the protection of her guns, and through the instrumentality of a +corrupt government and a hireling press. But as it is getting well up +in the small hours, and as I feel I need some rest, I think I’ll take +another tumbler, if you only join me, and then turn in.” + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +When young Barry spoke of the girl of his love, he referred to Kate +McCarthy, now in her twentieth year, and certainly one of the most +beautiful Irish girls that had emigrated to America for many a long day. +Kate and he had been schoolfellows and neighbors from their infancy, +and, as they grew up, were regarded as a sort of “matter of course +match,” from the fact, that they were always together, and apparently +cut out for each other. They were both natives of the county Leitrim, +and born on the banks of the Shannon, in the sweet little town of +Drumsna. It was by the beautiful waters of this noble river that they +first felt that impassioned glow that colors all the after life of man +or woman, and which is as different from the feelings that characterize +early boy or girlhood, as the noon-day solar blaze is from the cold and +placid beams of the pale new moon. There is one point at which the +true passion of love, in all great hearts, leaps into fierce and +instantaneous existence. There may be many imperceptible approaches +to it in some cases, we know, but out of these it is possible to turn +aside. When the hour arrives, however, in a single moment the storming +party, under one wild impulse, unknown before, mounts the ramparts of +the heart, and, after a moment’s sweet confusion, the garrison falls and +is surrendered forever into the hands of the enemy. And thus it was with +our hero and heroine. Although they had long been the dearest of friends +and constant companions--although they had long felt that the happiness +of the one was necessary to that of the other, the great secret of their +existence was never fully revealed to them, until they felt they were +about to be separated from each other for an indefinite period; Kate +to accompany her only relatives to America and poor Barry to enter the +British army, under a pressure of poverty too dreadful to relate. As +already intimated, the prospects of both had been blighted through +oppression and villainy, brought to bear upon them by distant relatives, +who were the infamous agents of a still more infamous government. The +case of Nick, although sore enough in its way, was not so heartrending +as that of Kate. He was of a sex fitted to wrestle with the storms +of life, but she, proud and brave as she was, occupied a different +position. Fortunately for both, however, through the instrumentality +of a small pittance set aside by the Courts in her case, and a kind +relation in that of Barry, their education was far above their +pecuniary pretensions, so that at the age of twenty Kate was really an +accomplished and refined girl, while her lover, at that of twenty-five, +was a dashing young fellow, with a well stored mind and quite as capable +of acquitting himself agreeably in society as any man, no matter +what his rank, in the regiment to which he belonged. It was, then, in +consequence of his education that he was looked up to by his comrades; +although neglected and studiously kept in the back grounds by some of +the officers of his company, who, viewing his attainments through +the medium of their English spectacles, closed the door of preferment +against him, and never suffered a single stripe to appear on his jacket. +With as good blood in his veins as the best of them, and with a sense of +the wrongs inflicted upon his country by the government whose abettors +they were, he could never bring himself to stoop to the fawning and +servility through which the lower grades of rank are attainable, only +in the service; and thus, it was that, from first to last, he was +viewed with an eye of suspicion by his superiors, who regarded him as +an incorrigible young Irishman, who, notwithstanding that he wore +the uniform of a British soldier, had no love for the service or the +interests it represented. + +Barry entered the army under the most terrific pressure only. He found +that Kate and her friends were destined for America, and being himself, +at the period, totally destitute of funds and without the means of +realizing them speedily, in a moment of desperation he enlisted in a +regiment that was under sailing orders for that country, in the hope of +being stationed somewhere near the being he loved, and of being able, at +least, to keep up a constant and unbroken correspondence with her until +fortune should turn the wheel in his favor. And so he enlisted and +parted from Kate and her friends, to follow her in a short period across +the Atlantic, and renew his vows of love and affection upon another +shore. + +The ship that had borne her away from his view had been scarcely two +days at sea, when the deadly intelligence reached his ear that the +sailing orders of his regiment had been countermanded, and that instead +of proceeding to Quebec, it was to sail for Malta, where it was likely +to remain for perhaps a couple of years. This dreadful news almost +annihilated him. He had made a sacrifice to no purpose, and was now +bound hand and foot beyond the hope of redemption. Before Kate and he +parted, he had agreed to write her to Quebec, in care of a friend, if +anything should occur that might postpone the sailing of his regiment, +or that portion of it that was for foreign service; and now the dreadful +opportunity arrived, when he found himself called upon to convey to +her the intelligence, that not only was the sailing of the regiment +postponed, but its destination altered. In due course the fatal +disclosure reached her, and almost deprived her of life and reason. In +the space of one brief hour she passed through the agony of years. +The being she loved, in the burning ardor of his young soul, had +hastily--thoughtlessly sacrificed his freedom; and all for her! It +had been a sufficient dagger to her soul to see him attired in the +blood-stained uniform of the enemies of her country, yet she knew that +he had been driven by the most inexorable circumstances to assume the +hated garb. But now he was overtaken with twofold desolation--he was +a slave, and beyond the reach of one kind word of solace from her, for +whom he had sacrificed all, save and except that which might be borne to +him, through the ordinary channels, across the trackless deep. + +Racked as she was with those torturing reflections, and while the first +wild burst of grief was yet rolling down her cheeks, she determined to +begin her lone, young widowhood by instantly writing to him and bidding +him hope. In this epistle, all the nobility of her true heart and nature +blazed forth so transcendently, and with such fierce, womanly fervor, +that the moment it reached the hands of the young soldier the light was +re-kindled within him, and he at once set about procuring his discharge, +or rather realizing the means of effecting his release from the bonds +into which he had allowed his pure ‘though ungovernable passion to +betray him. His education, as already observed, was most excellent, and +now, when off duty, he turned it to good account, and slowly but surely +began to add daily to what trifle he was able to save from his paltry +pay, in the hope of yet commanding a sufficient sum to purchase his +freedom and enable him, ultimately, to sail for America. In this way, +and during the two years he was stationed at Malta, he spent his spare +moments, being throughout that whole period particularly fortunate in +keeping up what was life to him, an unbroken correspondence with his +beloved. + +At the expiration of three years, having been quartered, on his return +from the Mediterranean, for the last one, in England, at length came the +welcome and startling intelligence, that the regiment, now indeed, was +to proceed forthwith to Canada, where it would be likely to remain for +a considerable period. In a delirium of joy he communicated the happy +intelligence to his love, and had just time to receive a hurried epistle +in reply, in which the very arms of the true-hearted and beautiful Kate +seemed thrown open to receive him. For some months previously, however, +she had been informing him, from time to time, of a very disagreeable +position in which she had been placed, through the persistent attentions +paid her by an Irish gentleman named Lauder, who, by some means or +other, had so ingratiated himself with her relatives, as to win them +over to urge his suit; and who was reputed to be a person of means. +These hints, however disagreeable, were always accompanied by a renewal +of the vows they had long since plighted on the banks of the Shannon, +and the fervent assurance that no one living or yet to live should ever +lead Kate McCarthy a bride to the altar, save her own Nicholas Barry. + +When Kate and her relatives arrived at Quebec, they remained in that +city but a short period, as they had friends at Toronto, as well as +near Fort Erie and at Buffalo, in the State of New York, whom they +were desirous of visiting, and near whom they had determined to settle +permanently. Unfortunately for Barry, the more intimate guardians +or relatives of Kate had become unfriendly to his suit ever since he +entered the army; impressed, as they had become, with that Irish idea, +that the red coat of a private soldier in the British service was the +most disreputable that could be worn. In this light, therefore, they +encouraged the advances of Lauder, in the hope that absence would so +weaken the first love of Kate, as to induce her to yield ultimately to +her new suitor. But they little new the girl with whom they had to deal; +for when Lauder, under their sanction, made a formal declaration of his +passion to her, she quenched his hopes, as she supposed, forever, by +informing him that both her heart and her hand were previously engaged, +and that were they even at her disposal, she should be quite unable +to bestow them upon any gentleman for whom she did not and could not +entertain a single particle of true love, although he might have secured +her esteem. This rejection, however, did not, as she supposed it would, +preclude the possibility of any further advances from such a quarter, +for Lauder, nothing daunted, kept up the siege when and wherever he +could, without giving absolute offense; so cunningly and intangibly did +he still pursue the object set before him. At last, nevertheless, so +constant were his visits at the house, and so permanent a footing was he +getting in the estimation of her friends, that, after having resided at +Toronto upwards of two years, she left it at the instance of one of the +family, who, on their first arrival in America, had settled in Buffalo, +to which city she proceeded, and in which she now took up her residence. + +While in Toronto the thought struck her that she might be able to turn +whatever abilities she had to account, in the hope of being able to +accumulate sufficient funds to aid our young hero in purchasing his +discharge, fearing, as she did, that his own opportunities, in this +relation, would be greatly restricted. So with her needle, and through +the instrumentality of a small private school, she ultimately found +herself mistress of the required amount, and was about to forward it +to Nicholas, at the very period when she received intelligence of his +regiment being ordered to America. She therefore thought it better +to wait until they met, as she had made up her mind to set out, when +apprised of his arrival, for any place in which he might happen to be +quartered, and there plan for their future and his freedom. + +In due time Barry reached Quebec, and from thence was ordered, with his +company, to the town in which we first encountered him. Here he was soon +joined by the true-hearted Kate, who remained for a few days with her +cousins, Big Tom and his sister. During this period it was decided that +Nicholas should purchase his discharge when he found that there was any +prospect of the regiment being called home. The reasons for his not +at once availing himself of the freedom he knew he could obtain at any +moment, need not now be referred to more minutely; and as Kate left him +to return to Buffalo, just four months previous to the opening of our +story, after having made more than one pilgrimage from the United States +to spend a few days with her cousins as she averred, it was settled upon +finally, that he should quit the service in the ensuing summer, when +they should become man and wife, as well as residents of the great +Republic of the United States of America. + +The intimacy, then, between Big Tom and Nick, is now accounted for in +a satisfactory manner; and thus it was, that whenever the young soldier +got leave to spend a night out of the Fort, he invariably took up his +quarters at the sign of the Harp, where he not only knew he was welcome +on his own account, but was sure to find company that was agreeable to +him, and sympathized with all his aspirations in relation to his poor, +down-trodden country. + +Kate McCarthy, as we have already said, was in her twentieth year at +the time we were first introduced to O’Brien and his customers, and +certainly, as previously intimated, a more lovely woman could scarcely +be found in a day’s walk. Her face and figure were absolute mirages of +beauty, while, if there could be such a thing as black sunbeams, her +eyes and hair would have illustrated them to intensity. She was above +the medium height, with a slightly olive complexion that harmonized +superbly with the glorious orbs through which the pure light of her soul +poured forth a mellow blaze, and the dark, heavy tresses that fell in +shining masses upon her pearly shoulders. Nothing, too, could surpass +the intensified loveliness of her soft, rounded arms, and exquisitely +shaped hands and feet, while her delicious mouth and beautifully +chiseled nose and ears were really mysteries of loveliness so rare, that +few could entertain the idea that she who possessed them could have laid +her whole heart at the feet of a common soldier, and that, too, when it +was in her power to turn such charms to high account in the every day +market of society. But she knew Nicholas Barry and the nobility of his +nature, and was aware, in addition, that had he not, like herself, been +the victim of foul play and of a government that fostered crime in its +adherents, he would never have been constrained to swear allegiance to +the flag he both hated and despised, or have been obliged to exchange +the garb of the son of a true Irish gentleman for that which had so +lowered him, in the eyes of her relatives at least. But rich or poor, +in scarlet or homespun, he was all the same to her; and now that he was +almost at her side, and master, in a measure, of his own fate, she only +looked forward to the period when she should have a legal right to his +protection, and to call him by that name which, beyond all others is the +one that lies nearest a woman’s heart. + +The relative and his wife with whom Kate lived in Buffalo, were, in +reality, noble and true-hearted people. They had known Nicholas from his +childhood, and had always loved him for his manliness and bold struggles +to gain some position at home in which he might be able to realize a +sufficiency to maintain both himself and the girl of his love, before he +led her to the altar. They had witnessed his repeated failures when he +applied for any vacant situation where his education could be turned to +account, and felt for his dire disappointment upon many an occasion +when he was denied even a subordinate office in connection with the +management of the large property that had once belonged to his family. +With pain and anger they saw his praiseworthy exertions baffled at every +turn, and, unlike the rest of their relations, discovered more of his +self-sacrificing spirit still, in the desperate step he took for the +purpose of joining his betrothed upon a foreign shore--a step which they +would have gladly prevented, had their own slender means been sufficient +to have transported him with them to their new home. Moved by this +spirit of kindness and esteem, these worthy people were the very +main-stay of Kate in the hour of her sorest trial, and now that Barry +was near her once more, they entered heart and hand into all her +projects, and were delighted to know that his discharge should be +purchased before his regiment was ordered to leave the colony. + +It must not be presumed, however, that Kate, since her arrival in +America, had permitted herself to be a burden, in even the slightest +degree, upon any of her friends or relations. Far from it; from the +moment that they became settled at Toronto, up to the hour of Nicholas’ +arrival in the colony, she not only supported herself through her +industry and perseverence, but contributed, in a degree, to +the maintenance of some of them also. Of course, in view of the +all-absorbing object she had before her, regarding her lover, she could +not be expected to do much in this latter relation; yet she did what +she could, and so satisfied her pride and her conscience. Sometimes the +recollection of the long and weary chancery suit would obtrude itself +upon her, but only to provoke a hopeless and languid smile, prompted +by the conviction that her enemy, whom she had never seen, and who had +recently succeeded to the claims of his father--Philip Darcy, now but +a few months dead--had too much influence with the government and its +legal minions, to permit her to indulge in the slightest hope, that, +were the case decided tomorrow, it could be otherwise than against her. +Consequently, it mattered but little to her whether she was worsted +by Philip the elder or Philip the younger; so, in this way, she +now invariably disposed of the unpleasant matter. Yet, she felt, +notwithstanding, deeply and bitterly upon the subject: and knew that she +was the victim of a most diabolical plot; but she did not permit this +to interfere with her daily avocations, or induce her to sit down in +apathetic sorrow, and repine over a fate that no effort of hers could +influence in any degree whatever. + +Still, as may be readily supposed, both from her education and a +knowledge of her own personal wrongs, and those which had for centuries +been inflicted upon the unhappy land of her birth, she was no friend or +admirer of the government or people who had wrought her so much ruin in +this connection. On this head she was most inexorable, and felt that +it was the duty of every true Irishman and Irishwomen in existence, to +conspire, as best they could, against a power which had plunged their +race and country into such frightful ruin; and she believed, firmly, +that, in so far as her native land was concerned, its children were +justified in using any means by which they could rid themselves of +a tyrant and usurper, who, in violation of every law, both human and +divine, subjected them to sword and flame for ages. + +It will be perceived, then, that both Kate McCarthy and Nicholas were +influenced by the same just and deadly spirit against England; and that +neither thought it otherwise than meritorious, to hurl that tyrant +to the dust, at any time and under any circumstances. The iron had +penetrated their souls; and now that rumors were afloat touching the +intention of the great organization of Fenianism, which overspread +the American Union, to make a descent upon the Canadas, with a view +to destroying the power of England upon this continent, and ultimately +rescuing Ireland from the grasp of the oppressor, Kate’s eye was lit, +from time to time, with the most patriotic fervor; while the world +could, at any moment, discover the true nature of the fame that burned +within her soul, from the emerald sheen of the silken band which +invariably bound up her raven hair, and encircled her snowy throat. + +Once or twice she happened to encounter Lauder in Buffalo, so as to +recognize him without the possibility of mistake; while on several +occasions, she could not divest herself of the idea that he had just +passed her in disguise; although she could not imagine what prompted him +to such secrecy, when she never noticed him since she had left Toronto, +or recognized him on the two occasions when she chanced to meet him in +the public street. Yet, a strange presentiment seemed to impress her +that he had not, after all her plainness with him, abandoned the idea +of obtaining her hand, notwithstanding the repugnance she had always +evinced towards him. Now, however, that Nicholas was almost within hail +of her, and that her friends, in Buffalo at least, were true to her +in every relation, she felt secure from whatever machinations her +imagination conjured up; and, therefore, whenever the subject suddenly +obtruded itself upon her thoughtful moments, she dismissed it as +summarily; reassured by the conviction that she was totally beyond the +reach of any schemes that might have been concocted in relation to her +or her future. + +For the purpose, however, of setting the matter at rest forever, she +was resolved that her lover should leave the service now as early as +possible; and, stimulated by this desire, on returning to her residence, +one evening towards the middle of April of the year in which we first +encountered him on the bridge leading from the Fort, she addressed a +letter to Nicholas, urging him to leave the army as soon as practicable, +assigning as a reason the presence of Lauder in Buffalo, whom she had, +as she felt assured, again encountered or rather discovered in the +vicinity of her residence, and adding a further reason, based upon the +rumor, that the Army of the Irish Republic would soon move upon Canada, +and that his regiment could not fail to be called out to oppose it--a +circumstance that would, as she well knew, be the cause of more actual +pain to him, than anything that could possibly occur in the discharge of +what was termed his duty. + +This letter Barry received the second day after it was written; and on +consulting with O’Brien, at once set about procuring his discharge; but +as the Colonel of his regiment had gone to the Lower Provinces, from +which he was not to return for a week or two, the matter was left in +abeyance until he should again arrive in town. In due course, however, +he did return, and the necessary application being made, no objection +was offered to granting the discharge, as Barry’s conduct had always +been most unexceptionable since he entered the service. + +In this way matters stood, then, on the night on which we found Big +Tom in secret conclave with his two friends, Nick and Burk, in his own +little sanctum; Nick having got leave to stay out until morning, as the +officer in command informed him, it was probably the last request he +should have the power of granting him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +An organization so wide-spread and so numerous as that of the Fenian +Brotherhood, it was not to expected that all its members, without an +exception, were good men and true; yet so rarely were traitors found +among its ranks, that no patriotic confraternity of its magnitude had +ever, in ancient or modern times, presented so pure a record in this +relation. When we take into consideration the fact that, the insidious +and subsidizing gold of England was brought to bear upon the frightful +poverty of the masses that composed the organization in Ireland, as well +as the temptations to treason held out by the government, through their +agents in the Republic of the United States of America, the wonder is +that there were not more Corydons and Masseys to do the work of the +usurper, and betray the cause to which they had sworn fealty. However, +there were traitors sufficient at work to cause great damage in +individual cases, and send many a brave fellow into the gloomy depths +of a British dungeon. Nearly all the injury in this connection, however, +appears to have been done at home, as treason of this character was +totally powerless under any foreign flag--or at least not so capable +of direct mischief. From the first moment of the inception of the +organization, the British and the Canadian governments had their paid +spies in and outside the American press, who kept the authorities well +informed as to all the particulars that transpired within the range of +their observation or through other channels; but these disclosures were +necessarily meagre and, in many cases, totally unreliable; from the +circumstance that those disreputable parties, for the purpose of +magnifying their importance, and securing further the patronage of their +employers, colored and distorted facts so terribly, that scarce a +line from their pens or a sentence from their lips was worthy even +the slightest credence. Still, from time to time, some little rumor +struggled to the surface, which pointed to treachery somewhere; and +thus it was that the authorities of the organization were often +placed awkwardly in relation to the idle though dangerous gossip which +occasionally singled out this individual or that, as the party who had +betrayed his trust. In the various cities along the American frontier, +there was from time to time a good deal of this gossip--a circumstance +that might have been quite easily accounted for; seeing that the +inhabitants of some of these places were in what might be termed hourly +intercommunication with the people of Canada; giving, in some cases, +rise to suspicions, which were in the main without any foundation. This +distrust, although affecting the stability or growing prosperity of the +Brotherhood in scarcely any degree, had yet the effect of strengthening +the hands of British sympathizers in the Union, and inducing them +to resolve themselves into little coteries or societies--such as was +hurriedly formed not long since under the influence and guidance of +Mr. H----, of Buffalo, for the ostensible purpose of aiding destitute +Canadians, but with the real design of keeping an eye upon Fenianism, +and disclosing, as far as the members could divine, all its intentions, +hopes and prospects, to the British government. Occasionally an +emissary, direct from Great Britain, in the guise of a lecturer or +tourist, visited these associations and received their report, which, as +far as was practicable, he verified by personal observation, and +through whatever reliable channels, he believed to be open to him. These +emissaries have been supplemented by others of a somewhat different +character, but all bearing upon the interests of England. In this latter +case, however, it has been the direct unfriendly relations between the +American government and that of Great Britain, which had stimulated the +pilgrimages of certain individuals of this class to the shores of the +great Republic. England perceiving that she had Fenianism to deal with +on the one hand, and American hostility, regarding her infamous course +during the late war, on the other, in her cowardly fears for the +consequences, backed up her anti-Fenian agents, by sending out such +persons as Mr. Charles Dickens and Mr. Henry Vincent, to prove to the +citizens of the Commonwealth how friendly the sentiments that England +had always entertained for them, and how disasterous a thing it would be +to both peoples, should a war, under any circumstances, be permitted to +take place between them. Both these gentlemen, and others, distinguished +and popular in their respective literary shades, went forth preaching +peace and good will between the Saxons on the one side of the Atlantic +and their so-called American cousins on the other. With an audacity +the most barefaced and unaccountable, upon every possible occasion, +opportune or otherwise, they wore the olive branch at their button-hole, +and described in periods the most eloquent, the identity of blood and +interests which characterized both nations, and which it were heinous +to ignore. Notwithstanding that for ninety long years their infamous +government had been indulging in the most heartless sneers, insults and +injustice towards the press, the people and the executive of the United +States--notwithstanding that during the late war every reverse of the +arms of the Republic was hailed with heartfelt joy by the English party, +both at home and in Canada, and that pirates were built and fitted out +under the very eyes of the British Cabinet, and with the secret sanction +of that corrupt horde, to make war upon American commerce and destroy +the Union in the hour of its extremity--notwithstanding all this, we +say, and maugre the kindred circumstance of subsidizing the South with +money and arms so as to prolong the fratracidal conflict until both +parties lay bloody and broken at the feet of English despotism, these +able and smooth-tongued gentry had the accursed assurance to stand up in +most of the principal cities of the Democracy, and assert broadly, that +England was the true and tried friend of republican institutions and of +the people who sustained them on the free continent of America. Under +the liberal laws which accord freedom of speech to every man who touches +the shores of the Republic, these men had, we know, a right to express, +publicly or otherwise, their sentiments in this connection, how +treacherous and untenable soever; but what we could never fathom, was +the daring of any journal professing to be true to the interests of +freedom or those of the Union, in endorsing those sentiments and setting +them forth to the world as truthful and worthy the acceptance of every +genuine American, no matter what his creed or party. An attempt so +monstrous to stullify all past experience and ignore all history has +never been made in any relation whatever; and the wonder is, that, +few as they are, so many Americans have been led astray by it. To any +individual, of even the most ordinary penetration, it must be obvious, +that the present cringing and treacherous attitude assumed by England +towards the American people, is but the mask of a foul and dangerous +spirit, snatched up in a moment of mortal fear to be worn only until +some opportune moment arrives when it can be thrown aside with safety, +revealing the old, familiar, demoniacal scowl which lurked unaltered +beneath its smiling exterior. America, to be true to herself, must +beware of such false lights, of the press as these. They are for +the most part subsidized by English gold, or so imbuded with English +sentiment, that the interests of the Union are quite a secondary +consideration with them. In evidence of the truth of this assertion, we +have only to dwell upon the apathy with which these journalists regard +the building up of a dangerous despotism upon our borders, in the very +teeth of American traditions and sentiments, and in opposition to the +feelings of the masses whom it effects more immediately, and who were +not permitted by their tyrants to express a single opinion at the polls +on so grave a subject as the total disruption or remodeling of the +constitution under which they lived. Look at the expression of Nova +Scotia on this head, and see how it reflects upon the course pursued +by the great American people in relation to the confederation of the +adjoining Provinces. Not long since the inhabitants of that section of +the New Dominion set forth, in a memorial to the British government, +that this same confederation was forced upon the people of the Canadas, +through falsehood, bribery and the vilest fraud. And, yet, free and +generous America, who assumes to be the day-star of freedom on this +continent, and to the world, permitted this despotic measure to be +enforced at her own threshold, and in relation to a people, thousands +upon thousands of whom sympathized with her interests and institutions, +and looked forward with longing eyes to the hour when the Stars and +Stripes should float from every flag-staff and tower throughout the +whole of the English possessions in the New World. Surely the missionary +spirit of the Republic has not been best illustrated in this instance; +nor can we discover now, how it is, that the authorities of the Union +sit quietly playing at thumbs, while the Parliament of the Dominion +is voting millions for the defenses of the new despotism, and framing +projects that are intended to result in a line of impregnable forts +from Sandwich to Gaspe, and at every point where it is possible for +an invader to set foot upon their shores. Wait until false, foul and +treacherous England can sit beneath the shadow of the guns of her infant +monarchy, on the Canadian frontier, and then see if she does not begin +to show her cloven foot anew. Let her once get a permanent foothold +among the newly projected fortresses along the St. Lawrence and the +Lakes, with Quebec as their key, and the peace and prosperity of +America, as well as the stability of republican institutions, cannot be +counted as secure, for a single day, from petty annoyance, or perhaps +inroads of a more formidable character. This idea may, we know, be +scouted by those who have a well grounded faith in the destiny of the +American people and the power they undoubtedly possess in a naval and +military point of view; but, after all, a gun is a gun and a garrison +a garrison; and to allow an implacable and formidable enemy to possess +herself of either, within range of our fire-sides, when we can prevent +it, is what we should call courting the presence of a bombshell on our +borders, that may at any moment be thrown into our midst. + +Without dwelling further on this particular point, however, we may +observe, that through some of the channels already referred to, the +English government became aware, in 1865, that it was the intention of +the Irish Nationalists in the United States to make a descent, at no +distant day, upon Canada, and seize it as a basis of operations, with +a view to carrying out their projects for the redemption of Ireland. In +connexion with this information, they found, also, that the troops in +Canada were largely interspersed with Irishmen, and it was consequently +deemed necessary to send a secret agent to the Provinces to look into +the case and report upon it, or rather upon the sentiment of the Irish +element in the colony, whether in or out of the army, in relation to +Fenianism. This they thought could be best accomplished through the +instrumentality of a tried emissary of their own, as even from the +Provincial Cabinet conflicting accounts were arriving constantly in +relation to the all-important subject. In furtherance of this view, the +Castle of Dublin was, of course, applied to, and a creature selected +to do the work, who was not himself fully aware that his position was +recognized by the imperial Cabinet so decidedly, but simply fancied +himself in the capacity of a sort of trusty policeman, appointed by one +of the Castle authorities, who was anxious to know for himself how the +case stood on the other side of the Atlantic. This agent was one of the +cleverest of his class, and possessed of the most consummate cunning, +and a spirit of reckless daring but seldom evinced by members of his +tribe. Already he had rendered substantial service to the Viceroy and to +England, as an inveterate spy, and a scoundrel who had, on more than one +occasion, distinguished himself in the witness box. In addition to his +investigations in Canada, he was instructed to extend the line of his +observations to the United States also, and to move from point to point, +as his own judgment might dictate in the premises. He was, of course, +furnished with ample means to carry out successfully the project +intrusted to him; and although but little faith could be placed in his +integrity, so far as the disposal of the funds put in his hands were +concerned, yet, by an opportune circumstance, connected with his own +personal interest, and overriding any sum that was entrusted to him, +the Castle was enabled to hold him in check, no matter how he might be +tempted, or where he chanced to move. With his activity and fidelity +thus insured, this miserable wretch, who went in Dublin by the name +of Philip the Spy, was despatched on his mission, and, in due coarse +arriving at Quebec, set about it in his usual cautious and conning +manner. He visited the Citadel as a stranger, under the ordinary pass +from the Town Major, and soon made himself agreeable in the dark, low +canteen among the soldiers. Whenever he thought he discovered a young +and inexperienced Irishman among the rank and file, he was unusually +pleasant and communicative. With such a companion he always moved about +the garrison, descanting upon its force and power, and imperceptibly +stealing into his good graces, until he found some opportunity of +making an apparently accidental enquiry touching the information he was +desirous of obtaining. In this way he became possessed of the knowledge +that even Quebec held within its impregnable walls many a man who was +far from being the true friend of England, and who, as he surmised, +waited the opportunity of not only deserting her flag, but betraying +her stronghold into the hands of her enemies. In this state of things +he could not but discover the truthfulness of the beautiful line of +the poet, “_Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt_,” for he +perceived that the mighty waters of the great Atlantic were insufficient +to wash out the blood stains from the skirts of England in relation +to Ireland, or to remove the deep hatred of the exiled children of the +latter, towards a tyrannical power that had held them in bitter thrall +so unjustly and so long. + +Satisfied of this, and of the additional fact, that the garrison was +invulnerable from the river side only, and that much of the artillery +that manned the citadel was all but worthless, on the pretense of being +a friend to the cause of Irish freedom and a deadly enemy to England, +he learned that not only were there many Fenian sympathizers within the +walls of the garrison, but that the city outside was literally alive +with similar friends, some of whom were to be found among the French +population, who had never forgotten England’s treatment of the First +Napoleon, or her conquest of Canada in the days of Wolf These he knew +himself were sore points with the Lower Canadians, and likely to bear +bitter fruit in relation to English interests in America, one day or +other. He perceived also that these facts, taken in connection with the +unfriendly feeling which England had engendered in the United States, +through the Alabama piracies and secret subsidies to the South during +the war that had just closed, would, tend to both foster and embolden +Fenianism, until it grew almost into an institution in the New World, or +became, at least, a leading idea with no inconsiderable portion of both +the Canadian and American people. He knew that every civilized nation +on the face of the earth, save England herself, sympathized with the +lamentable condition of the country to which he himself was a traitor; +and such being the case, he felt how easy it would be on the part of +these sympathizers, to find a means of justifying almost any measure +that might be adopted against the usurper, by the organization at home +and abroad. He saw and felt all this, and thus it became him to be +doubly cautious, as he could not but understand, that were his mission +divined by those whom he was now hourly betraying into positions of +death or danger, it would go hard with him indeed. In fact, the idea +struck him, that England, with all her boasting, was but little better +than a camp in America; and that, as in Ireland, she was surrounded here +also, by a hostile although a less demonstrative population. + +And, certainly, a truer deduction than this has never been drawn from +any premises whatever. The nine tenths of the loyalty of Canada towards +the British Crown, is superficial and terribly unreliable. Subtract the +official and the Orange element from the masses, and they would drift at +once into the arms of the United States. The events of 1837 prove that +a strong undercurrent of American feeling exists in the colony, and +various subsequent disclosures prove that it is even now only restrained +by circumstances. When we find Canadian representatives on the floor of +the House of Assembly, threatening England with an appeal to Washington +in a certain connection, and when we see Americans filling some of the +highest offices in the Dominion, and sitting at the Council Table with +the representatives of royalty, we may be sure that the interests of +Great Britain are not in safe keeping in such an atmosphere, and that +such persons can always be brought to see how necessary it is to the +_material_ welfare of the inhabitants of the Canadas that they should +become part and parcel of the free and prosperous Republic of the +United States. They cannot fail to see, that in their present dependent +position,--lying, as they are, in the grasp of an English aristocrat, +unacquainted with their wants and wishes, and who sympathizes only with +the Crown, their trade, their commerce, and their internal resources +must suffer to a frightful extent. So long as they are outside the pale +of the Union and under the British flag, so long will a mighty war cloud +hang upon their borders, that is liable to roll in upon them at any +moment. The fact is fixed and unalterable, that the people of Ireland +have secured for all time a permanent footing on this continent, where +their numbers, wealth and influence have become irresistible, touching +any project that they may entertain within the limits of the American +Constitution. We say the American Constitution, for to this they have +sworn fealty, and its maintenance is to them a matter of the first +importance--a matter of life and death; from the fact, that it is to +its generous provisions and the liberal spirit of its framers and their +descendents, as well as to the kind sympathy of the American people in +general, that they now owe their all. Were it not for the noble stand +against tyranny taken by the heroes of 1765, and the subsequent glorious +career of the country they had freed from the grasp of the English +tyrant, Ireland should be still laden with chains the most hopeless; +but, now that free America has influenced her to higher aspirations than +she had ever felt previously in relation to human liberty and just and +enlightened government, it is probable that she shall become the first +fruits of American institutions on the despotic side of the Atlantic, +and raise her bright republican head, in the midst of the hoary +tyrannies of Europe, a glorious monument to the genius of American +liberty and power, as well as to the memory of the immortal heroes of +the war of Independence, who first taught manhood to the nations, and +hurled to the dust, beneath their feet, the foul and blood-stained +braggart who had sought to build up her despotic rule upon their virgin +shores. In no way can America so justify the purity and sincerity of +her soul in relation to her institutions, as by hurling them against the +despotisms of the old world, and diffusing amongst its peoples, +wherever she can with any degree of propriety, the blessings they are so +eminently calculated to impart. And no point stands more invitingly open +at the present moment for an experiment so indispensable to the true +prestige of her power and greatness, than Ireland. Self-evident as the +fact is, that that country has for generations been kept in slavery +at the point of the bayonet, and plundered and starved by an accursed +despot and her own deadly enemy, too, she can with the greatest +possible ease move in the direction of breaking those galling bonds, and +wreathing the poor, fleshless limbs, so long lacerated by them, with the +flowery links which so bind her own glorious children in one harmonious +and invincible whole. So long as Ireland lies groaning beneath the heel +of the usurper, so long shall America have failed in her mission, and +her duty towards God and man. She cannot be truly great, and sit down +beneath her own vine and fig tree, listlessly enjoying the blessings of +liberty, peace and plenty, while her kindred and friends lie in chains +on the opposite side of the Atlantic, or while the infamous flag of the +despot who oppresses them, and who but recently sought to stab her +to the heart, floats in triumph on her very borders. Both heaven and +humanity demand something more at her hands; and if actuated by no +higher motive than that of mere self-preservation, or of providing +against a rainy day, we would advise her, in view of the powerful +armaments and the ingrained antagonisms which characterize Europe in +every direction, to assist in establishing one friendly power at least +on the shores of the Old World, which, in the hour of need, would make +common cause with her in the interests of freedom, justice and truth. +This, and the fact of the attempt now being made by England to build +up an armed despotism in the New Dominion of Canada, are, in our humble +opinion, matters of the deepest moment to the great American people; +while we are equally convinced, that, should they neglect to avail +themselves of their right to interpose wherever human suffering of the +most heart-rending character obtains under the sway of a tyrant, or +where the peace and security of a whole continent is threatened, by +portentous and aggressive undertakings on its confines, the day +will arrive, and that speedily, when they will be afforded a bitter +opportunity of regretting their criminal apathy and neglect, without the +power of atoning for either. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Although Kate had, as we have already stated, encountered Lauder on more +than one occasion in Buffalo, without any very uneasy feeling as to his +unpleasant proximity, yet she was not totally devoid of suspicion that +she was, in some way or other, the cause of his presence in that city. +True, she had rejected his heart and hand in the most decided manner; +but then there was something about the man so obtrusive and yet so +cunning, that at times she could have wished herself totally beyond +has reach or hopes, as the wife of the noble young fellow she loved so +ardently. When in Toronto, she had been sorely tried by the insidious +attacks and insinuations of her persecutor, bearing upon the character +and vocation of Nicholas, regarding which he appeared to be exceedingly +well informed. He spoke of the uniform faithlessness of soldiers in +general--their wretched mode of life and morals, together with the +stigma that invariably attached to the wife of any individual who wore +a private’s coat in the service. In addition, he seemed to be conversant +with the pecuniary embarrassments of Kate, as well as with the +circumstances of the chancery suit, and, as he averred, the settled +opinion at home, that it would be soon decided, and, without any +possible doubt, in favor of the son of Philip Darcy. All this was +heart-rending in the extreme to the poor girl; but yet her faith never +faltered for a single moment in the truth and fidelity of her lover; and +what cared she for aught else in the world, so long as he was left her +without spot or blemish. Observing the foothold that Lauder had in +the house and estimation of her relatives, she did not feel herself +at liberty to treat him with all the contempt and severity that he +deserved; so that she was too often, for appearances sake and out of +respect for the feelings of those under whose roof she was, constrained +not to notice in anger much that had escaped his lips regarding +Nicholas, or, rather, the possible character which he had turned out to +be under the baneful influence of a soldier’s life. When, however, she +accepted the hospitality and kindness of that portion of the family who +had taken up their residence in Buffalo, and who were the staunchest +friends of young Barry, she, at once, cut the acquaintance of her +rejected suitor, and, as already observed, passed him once or twice in +the street without deigning to notice him. + +This probed Lauder to the quick, and aroused all the fiend within him; +and now that Barry had reached Canada, he determined to work in some way +the ruin of either the one or the other, in order to make their union +impossible, were even the most revolting crime necessary to that end. +While dwelling on this subject, every vestige of humanity disappeared +from the heart and face of the wretch who would encompass such ruin, and +that, too, in the case of two individuals who had never injured him in +thought, word or act. He was slighted and rejected by the only woman on +earth that he cared to marry, and he would be avenged at even the +risk of his life. He would dog her footsteps were she to move to the +uttermost ends of the earth, until an opportunity to put his infernal +plans in operation arrived; and as he had abundance of means at his +command, he would enlist in his service those who would not hesitate to +sell their souls for gold. Moved by this diabolical impulse, he followed +her to Buffalo, and there made the acquaintance of two unmitigated +villains who kept a low gambling house in one of the vilest streets in +the city, and who were capable of any atrocity known to the annals of +crime. These two vagabonds were already refugees from Canadian justice, +having been concerned in one of the bank robberies so frequent in the +Provinces, and had an accomplice of their own stamp on the Canadian +frontier, not far from their present den, to whom they were in the habit +of secretly forwarding goods stolen on the American side, to be +kept until the excitement regarding the robbery had subsided, and an +opportunity presented itself for disposing of them in some part of the +Province where detection would be impossible. Under the cover of night +one or the other of these wretches frequently stole across the lines +and visited this locality, where he remained concealed until a fitting +period occurred for returning to his old haunt. + +Of this stamp were the two persons whom Lauder now took into his +confidence and employment in relation to the abduction of Kate McCarthy +from her friends, and her transportation into Canada to some place of +secrecy and of safety, until he should be able to force her into an +alliance with him, or failing in this, make such a disposition of her +as should, at least, place an eternal barrier between her and Nicholas. +Among their friends and acquaintances these two villains were known as +“black Jack” and the “Kid,”--the former as forbidding a specimen of the +human race as ever breathed the vital air. He was low and thick set, +with a neck like a bull, and a frame of prodigious strength.. His nose +was broad and flat, his month large, his ears of immense size, his +forehead low and retreating, while the breadth between his ears at the +back of his head was inconceivable. + +His companion in crime, the Kid, in so far as external appearance was +concerned, was his intensified antipodes. He was slightly formed and +of rather prepossessing appearance; and were it not for a sinister +expression of his full watery, grey eyes, remarkable when excited by +anger, and some coarse and sensual lines about his mouth, perceptible +upon all occasions, he might pass unnoticed among the thousands that +crowded daily the locality in which he lived. He was the general, Jack +the army--he plotted, Jack executed; and thus it was, that, through his +consummate cunning, they had both been enabled to avoid justice so +long. They ostensibly kept a sort of drinking saloon, from which they +professed to banish all disreputable characters, and which, through the +clear-headedness of the one, and the awe in which the great personal +strength of the other was held, was unusually free from the disreputable +rows and scenes that generally characterize such places. + +If the Kid and Black Jack differed from each other in personal +appearance, they were nearly if not quite as much opposed to each other +in dress. Jack’s attire was of the very coarsest description, and +always slovenly in appearance. No matter what the season of the year, +he invariably wore a dark blue flannel shirt, a short, heavy over-coat, +with huge, deep pockets, thick, iron-shod boots, coarse, loose trousers, +and a huge, greasy, slouched, hat, of black felt, invariably pulled +over his eyes when out through the city. The only difference as to the +disposition of his attire, touching winter and summer, was, that during +the former season he always served his customers with his slouched hat +and jacket on, while throughout the warmest part of the latter, he +was invariably to be found behind his dark, dingy bar, with his shirt +sleeves tucked up and his collar unbuttoned and thrown open, displaying +a pair of huge, swarthy arms, covered with coarse, black hair, and +a broad and massive chest, presenting a similar aspect, and which +exhibited all the characteristics, in this connection, of the most +savage denizens of the forest. Such, then, were the personal appearance +and the character of the two men whom Lauder now visited by stealth from +time to time, but always in a disguise which defied detection, and which +was made up with the most consummate skill. + +Unconscious of all the danger that surrounded her, Kate still kept the +even tenor of her way, happy in the prospect of soon becoming the wife +of the man she loved; while Barry, on the other hand, felt but little +apprehension as to any fears that she had expressed in relation to the +proximity of Lander; believing, as he did, that she was totally beyond +his reach or power, and that his presence in Buffalo was occasioned by +some business not in any degree connected with her. What, he argued, had +she to fear from any man whom she despised, and from whose society she +had deliberately and pointedly estranged herself? The days of feudal +abductions had passed away, and if in this practical age a woman refused +to become the wife of any man, she had a perfect right so to do, and +there the matter ended. Besides, was she not beneath the roof of her own +relatives, who loved her with the sincerest warmth, and who were able to +protect her until she could claim the shelter of his own breast, as he +stood by her side the husband of her heart. All this went to reassure +him, so that when he sat down to reply to the letter which urged him to +procure his discharge at once, he wrote in the most cheering and happy +manner, bidding her to be of good heart, that she was safe from the +importunities and machinations of any individual who sought to gain her +affections; but intimating, at the same time, that he should at once, or +as soon as practicable, leave the army and as quickly as possible join +her on the other side of the great lakes. + +In the love that exists between two true Irish hearts that have been +pledged to each other, deliberately and solemnly on the threshold of man +and womanhood, there is often something so confiding, so unreasoning +and so unselfish, as to put one in good humor with humanity. There is +no country on earth in which the love of gain intermixes with the +affections of the heart to so small an extent as in Ireland. In this +relation we, from time to time, witness in the Green Isle such genuine +and grateful glimpses of the better phases of human nature, that, no +matter to what subsequent inconvenience and embarrassments they may +tend, they, for the time being, at least, charm us into a recognition +of something that is, after all, beautiful and truthful in our souls. +Except where the inexorable tyranny of birth creeps in, our matrimonial +alliances are, for the most part, purged of the cool calculation of +Scotland, or the bread and beef considerations of the English. This may +be censurable in us, and doubtless it is; but, still, the charge +lies more against our heads than our hearts. It is a fact the most +indisputable, that in England most of the marriages in high or low life +are those of _convenance_, while in Ireland the contrary is the case. +Even the poorest Irish girl in the land gives her hand only, where she +can bestow her heart; nor, as a general thing, can any amount of wealth +induce her to ignore her pride or affections in this connection; while, +should her love be given to even the simplest peasant that ever stood by +her milking pail, she is totally beyond the reach of temptation. On the +part of both there is an out-going of souls in this direction that +may be said to be peculiar to Ireland. Completely outside all physical +accidents and circumstances, there is a commingling of spirit which +ratifies a compact for all time, and lives in the future as well as the +present. Stretching beyond the hoar, such souls are not dependent upon +mere personal contact or intercourse for the vitality of the passion +that animates them, for they are ever _en rapport_ with each other, +and clasped breast to breast wherever their individual physical +organizations may be. In this manner they bid defiance to fate and all +materiality; living on, undivided, and secure in the continuence of the +power that binds them to each other. Such individualities become one +spiritually--all their aspirations are identical--all their sentiments +are the same, and so closely do they become united, that you cannot +destroy the one without destroying the other. We know and feel, +beyond any shadow of doubt, that there are beings whose loss or total +annihilation we should be unable to survive, and if doomed to live, +whose place could never be filled in our souls, throughout the endless +ages of eternity. Hence the generous and beautiful, provision of the All +Wise and All Good. To every human heart, that interprets His Laws aright +and conforms to His will, he presents that beautiful counterpart which, +although mysteriously foreign, is yet, so delightfully and essentially, +a part and parcel of our two-fold nature. + +In no country in the world, then, does this divine law of natural +affinities prevail more than in Ireland; and in no case had it ever been +more clearly illustrated than in the case of Nicholas Barry and Kate +McCarthy; as each, if so inclined, could have sacrificed the other in +forming a matrimonial alliance respectively, identified with what was +believed, to be undoubted wealth. For the hand of Kate, long before +she left her native land, there had been more than one suitor of means; +while handsome Nick, previous to his entering the army, was an object of +the warmest admiration on the part of many a damsel whose prospects were +of the most flattering description. But all to no purpose; not one of +the wealthy women was Kate McCarthy in the one case, and not a single +well-to-do gentleman was Nick Barry, in the other. So this made all the +difference; and Nick and Kate, without pausing to cast their horoscope, +gave themselves to each other, as already described, by the banks of +the Shannon--a river whose bright murmuring waters have reflected more +beautiful eyes and manly forms than those of any other in Europe, or +perhaps the world. Without a thought for the future at the moment of +which we have already spoken, they plighted their faith for all time +and eternity; and well they kept their vows; although previous to the +arrival of Nicholas in America, they had been upwards of three years +separated from each other-the one leading the life of a soldier in a +sunny clime, and the other, on a far distant shore, hoping for the hour +when they should be once more side by side. + +When, however, our hero found himself the plighted lover of the being he +adored, and discovered himself simultaneously separated from her toy +the most cruel, unexpected and perverse fate, he bent, as previously +observed, every energy towards effecting his release from the bonds he +had assumed for her sake. He consequently, instead of wasting his hours +in sullen and useless repining, set actively to work and kept both his +mind and his body in a healthy condition; never losing confidence for a +moment, in his own ability to secure freedom or permitting the hope to +be shaken, that he should ultimately join the woman of his love in the +new world, and there realize an independence for both. And here we may +observe, that this feature in the character of Nicholas was one of the +noblest and most dignified that could possibly distinguish any member of +the race to which we belong. The world has been lost to many a man, from +the fact of his not sitting down to look circumstances fairly in the +face, with a full determination to grapple with them and give them a +tussel for if wherever a good man and true places any reasonable +and legitimate object before him, no matter how dark the clouds that +surround him, in nine cases out often he achieves it. The grave error in +this connection is, that finding our inability to move the great mass +of our difficulties out of our road _en bloc_ and at once, ignoring the +lesson taught by the constant drop that wears the stone, we sit down +overwhelmed, and never set sturdily about trying to remove it piecemeal. +The most profusely illustrated lesson that heaven has yet taught to +man, is that of industry and perseverence. Whether within the fragrant +chambers of the golden hive, or in the kingdoms of the busy ant, or mid +the curious nests that swing from forest boughs, we roam in thought, +we find what perseverence can accomplish, and that too, by steps almost +imperceptible in themselves. It is the individual atoms that build up +the mighty and effective aggregate that overawes all opposition, and +like an avalanche sweeps all resistance before it. The loftiest pyramid +that throws its shadow over the desert to-day, and that dwarfs at its +foot the beholder into the most incomparable insignificance, incapable +of being removed in fragments not larger than a pea, from its present +site to the other side of the globe; and the grandest structure ever +erected by human hands, has been built up from almost imperceptible +beginnings, into the imposing dimensions which so overshadow the admirer +and excite in his bosom feelings of almost superstitious awe. So that +look where we may, throughout the whole range of nature, of science or +of art, we find tee lesson of industry and perseverence inculcated in +the most impressive manner, and in a language that should reach and +influence our spirit struggles to the core. + +If less distinct than we have here delineated them, such were the +sentiments and convictions that influenced the actions and conduct of +our hero and heroine when fate had separated them. Moved by the same +impulses, they both set about accomplishing the same end, and in the +same manner. Barry’s pen and Kate’s needle flew at intervals; and the +result, as already intimated, was, that each had accumulated a sum +sufficient to effect this release from the army, and that it now was to +be brought into requisition for the purpose of accomplishing that end. + +Had Nicholas been made of that sort of stuff which, with the +greatest possible degree of coolness, lays a friend or relative under +contribution, he might have been able, through its instrumentality, to +realize a sufficient sum to have taken him to America, at the +period that Kate sailed, without having had recourse to the dreadful +alternative of enlisting in the English army; but not being built of +such questionable material, he bowed beneath the heavy yoke, believing, +as he did, that however distasteful and derogatory to his feelings, it +was more honorable and independent to be indebted to himself, even at +so great a sacrifice, for the means of joining his beloved on the other +side of the Atlantic, than to be constrained to traverse its trackless +waste, weighed down with the conviction, that, for the purpose of +accomplishing an object that could at least be honestly attained +otherwise, he had deprived those whom he had left behind of that of +which they themselves stood sorely in need. Besides, he felt satisfied +from what he knew of himself, and the prospects open to even an +industrious soldier on the shores of Canada, he should soon be able to +relieve himself of his bondage, and stand erect once more, freed from +the humiliation of the uniform he wore. But, as already seen, the fates +were against him in the first moments of his military career; and for +the time every fibre of his being was almost crushed beneath the most +frightful tension to which could have been possibly subjected. How +dreadful must have been the appalling intelligence of the countermand of +his regiment to the Mediteranean, when it first fell upon his ear; and +how sufficient was the awful announcement to crush any ordinary mortal. +Yet, with the elasticity which is ever inseparable from a true and noble +spirit, when the first crash of the news bore him almost to the earth, +he steadily began to brace himself against it, and ultimately, though by +slow and painful degrees, straightened himself beneath it, and, although +it was not the less heavy, stood erect under it at last, and bore it +squarely upon his shoulders. + +Poor Kate, although brave, too, had at first almost given up hope, +when, a few days after her arrival at Quebec, she learned the fatal +intelligence contained in the letter already referred to; but soon +perceiving, as he did, that nothing was to be achieved by useless +murmuring or hopeless inactivity, she shook herself, as free as her +strength would permit, from the dreadful incubus of the sorrow that +bowed her to the earth, and turned whatever talents she possessed to +good account; working night and day to accomplish the great and only +desire of her heart, and trusting to heaven for the rest. In this way +her constant and unwearied exertions lightened much of the load that +could not have failed under less favorable promptings, to have crushed +her completely, and have, in all human probability, consigned her to a +premature grave. + +And thus, we see, that these two brave young spirits had all but +accomplished the wish of their hearts, at the period at which our story +opens, and that they were now but simply awaiting the hour when Nicholas +should be able to exchange the hated red jacket that he wore, for a +dress more in consonance with not only his own feelings, but those of +the being he so faithfully loved. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Whatever censure may be attached to any portion of the career of the +founders of Fenianism, after the organization had become a recognized +power on both sides of the Atlantic, we cannot divest ourselves of the +settled impression, that the men who were mainly instrumental in calling +it into existence and sustaining its infancy, were actuated by the +purest motives. To be sure, Fenianism can scarcely be said to be the +embodiment of a new idea, or the exponent of new principles; but, then, +there was a masterly grouping of energies and sentiments in connection +with it, which possessed the merit of originality, and which tended so +largely, not only to popularize it, but to give it a foothold on every +Irish national hearthstone. In the selection of the name by which the +organization was to be distinguished, there was a clearness of judgment +as well as a thorough acquaintance with the necessities of the case, +that cannot fail to strike any impartial observer. Had the Brotherhood +been organized under any commonplace appelation, or under any of +the various names that had characterized the previous revolutionary +societies of Ireland, the probability is, it would have long since +fallen into line with those convivial associations, which content +themselves with an annual exposition of the grievances of Ireland, over +the short leg of a turkey, a “bumper of Burgundy,” and that roar of +lip artillery, against the usurper, which dies away in a few maudlin +hiccups, about two o’clock in the morning, to be revived only at the +expiration of another twelve months. Under the burden of any commonplace +name, such, we say, might have been the fate of the organization ere +this; and so we regard the knowledge and genius which obviated the +possibility or rather the probability of failure in this relation, as +entitled to prominent consideration and respect. To the superficial +observer, this may appear of very little moment in connection with +a subject of such magnitude; but let it be understood, that we are +influenced by seeming trifles and the surface of things to an extent far +greater than we ourselves are willing to confess. Notwithstanding the +oft repeated query, “what’s in a name?” there is a great deal in a name. +Let two strangers, Mr. Harold Bloomfield and Mr. John Smith send in +their cards together to an important official, of whom they expect to +get an audience separately, and the chances are nine out of ten in +favor of Mr. Bloomfield’s being granted an interview first. This, we +apprehend, holds good in a thousand kindred instances, and in no way has +the supposition been more clearly verified than in relation to the name +bestowed upon the organization under consideration. + +The name “Fenian” is of very remote antiquity, and appears to be most +comprehensive in its signification, and to be peculiarly adapted to +the great confraternity of patriots which now engrosses so much of the +history of passing events. There seems to be nothing sectional in it. +It is national in the broadest sense of the term, and primative and +forcible to intensity. In some annotations to the Annals of the Four +Masters we find that the ancient Fenians were called by the Irish +writers _Fianna Eirionn_ signifying the Fenians of Ireland, and +mentioned under the name of Fene, or Feine, which, according to Dr. +O’Conor, signifies the Phenicians of Ireland, as Feine, according to Dr. +O’Brien, in his dictionary, at the word Fearmiugh, signifies Phenicians; +as they were probably called so from the tradition that Phenicians came +to Ireland in the early ages. They are also called by the Irish writers +_Clann-Ua-Baois-gine_, and so named, according to Keating and others, +from Baoisgine, who was chief commander of these warriors, and ancestor +of the famous hero Fionn, the son of Cumhall; but according to O’Conor, +in his notes to the Four Masters, they were called Baoisgine, as being +descended from the Milesians who came from Basconia, in Spain, now +Biscay, in the country anciently called Cantabria. The Fenian warriors +were a famous military force, forming the standing national militia, and +instituted in Ireland in the early ages, long before the Christian era, +but brought, to the greatest perfection in the reign of the celebrated +Cormac, monarch of Ireland in the third century. None were admitted into +this military body but select men of the greatest activity, strength, +stature, perfect form, and valor, and, when the force was complete, it +consisted of thirty-five _Catha_, that is, battalions or legions, each +battalion containing three thousand men, according to O’Halloran and +various other historians, making twenty-one thousand for each of the +five provinces, or about one hundred thousand fighting men in time of +war for the entire kingdom. The _Ardrigh_, or head king of Ireland, +had, for the time being, chief control over these forces, but they often +resisted his authority. A commander was appointed over every thousand +of these troops, and the entire force was completely armed and admirably +disciplined, and each battalion had their own bands of musicians and +bards to animate them in battle, and celebrate their feats of arms. In +the reign of the monarch Cormac, the celebrated Fionn MacCumhaill, +who was descended from the Heremonian kings of Leinster, was the chief +commander of the Fenian warriors, and his great actions, strength +and valor are celebrated in the Ossianic poems, and various other +productions of the ancient bards; he is called Fingal in MacPherson’s +Poems of Ossian; but it is to be observed that these are not the real +poems of Ossian, but mostly fictions fabricated by Mac Pherson himself, +and containing some passages from the ancient poems. Fionn had his chief +residence and fortress at Almhuim, now either the hill of Allen, +near Kildare, or Ailinn, near old Kilcullen, where a great rath still +remains, which was a residence of the ancient kings of Leinster. The +Fenians were the chief troops of Leinster, and were Milesians of the +race of Heremon; and their renowned commander Fionn, according to the +Four Masters, was slain by the cast of a javelin, or, according to +others, by the shot of an arrow, at a place called _Ath Brea_, on the +river Boyne, A.D. 283, the year before the battle of Gaura, by the +Lugnians of Tara, a tribe who possessed the territory now called the +barony of Lune, near Tara, in Meath; and the place mentioned as Ath +Brea, or the Ford of Brea, was situated somewhere on the Boyne, between +Trim and Navan. + +In the reign of king Cairbre Liffeachair, son of the monarch Cormac, +the Fenian forces revolted from the service of Cairbre, and joined the +famous Mogh Corb, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians. After +the death of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the Fenians were commanded by his son +Oisin or Ossian, the celebrated warrior and bard; and at the time of +the battle of Gaura, Osgar, another famous champion, the son of Oisin, +commanded the Fenian forces. The army of Munster, commanded by Mogh +Corb, a name which signifies the Chief of the Chariot, and by his son +Fear Corb, that is, the man or warrior of the chariot, was composed of +the Clanna Deagha and Dalcassian troops, joined by the Fenians and their +Leinster forces; and it is stated in the Ossianic poems, and in Hanmer’s +Chronicle, from the Book of Howth, that a great body of warriors from +North Britain. Denmark and Norway, came over and fought on the side of +the Fenians at Gaura. The army of the monarch Cairbre was composed +of the men of Heath and Ulster, together with the Clanna Morna, or +Connaught warriors, commanded by Aodh or Hugh, King of Connaught, son of +Garadh, grandson of Moraa of the Damnonian race. The Munster forces, and +Fenians, marched to Meath, where they were met by the combined troops of +the monarch Cairbre, and fought one of the most furious battles recorded +in Irish history, which continued throughout the whole length of a +summer’s day. The greatest valor was displayed by the warriors on each +side, and it is difficult to say which army were victors or vanquished. +The heroic Osgar was slain in single combat by the valiant monarch +Cairbre, but Cairbre himself soon afterwards fell by the hand of +the champion Simon, the son of Ceirb, of the race of the Fotharts of +Leinster. Both armies amounted to about fifty thousand men, the greatest +part of whom were slain; of the Fenian forces, which consisted of twenty +thousand men, it is stated that eighteen thousand fell, and on both +sides, thirty thousand warriors were slain. In the following year, +Hugh, king of Connaught, according to O’Flaherty’s Ogygia, defeated the +Munsters forces in battle at Spaltrach, near the mountain Senchua, in +Muscry, in which he slew Mogh Corb, king of Munster. The tremendous +battle of Gaura is considered to have led to the subsequent fall of +the Irish monarchy, for after the destruction of the Fenian forces, the +Irish kings never were able to muster a national army equal in valor +and discipline to those heroes, either to cope with foreign foes, or to +reduce to subjection the rebellious provincial kings and princes; hence +the monarchy became weak and disorganized, and the ruling powers were +unable to maintain their authority or make a sufficient stand against +the Danish and Anglo-Norman Invaders of after time. + +From what is here stated, it must be obvious, that no more appropriate +name than that of “Fenian” could be given to the organization which now +holds the destiny of Ireland in its hands, and which has ramified itself +throughout almost every portion of the habitable globe. + +We have already observed that the selection of this name was judicious +in more than one relation. In the first place, it was far removed from +that of any of the well known cognomens which had characterized so +many of the noted revolutionary associations that had already failed +in Ireland, and, in this respect, was strong; being free from any +unpleasant reminiscences; while, from the fact of its import not being +generally known to the masses, it stimulated enquiry on the part of +the curious or weak nationalists which resulted in the most salutary +consequences. The rarity of the name led to newspaper expositions of it, +and moved the inquiring patriot to look into Irish history in relation +to it; and in this manner a knowledge of much of the ancient greatness +of Ireland became the common property of those who were formerly but +slightly acquainted with such lore. The result was, thousands of the +Irish became interested in relation to the past of their race; for, in +connection with this name there was that which was calculated to arouse +the spirit of patriotism within them and lead them on to a further +perusal of the annals of their country. + +It is evident, then, that no common appelation could have been fraught +with such beneficial results; as there would have been nothing connected +with it to stimulate enquiry or research. Repealers, Irish National +Leagues, Whiteboys, Rockites, United Irishmen, &c., all had their +day, and carried their meaning upon the surface; so that it was really +necessary to give the new organization some occult, comprehensive and +characteristic name, that would separate it in this aspect from all +the Irish revolutionary bodies that had preceded it, and place it +_en rapport_ with the great past of the nation which was the grand +receptacle of its traditions and source of its pride. Here, then, we +leave this part of the subject, without presuming that we have thrown +much more light upon the matter than has already been recognized by +those who have at all looked into it; for it must, we think, be obvious +to most Irish nationalists, that the energies and sentiments of their +patriotic countrymen, could never have been grouped so successfully +under any of the appelations just named, as they have been under that +of “Fenians”--given, as we have already perceived, to the great national +army of Ireland during the days of her early glory and power, and which +alone represented the nation as a whole. + +It is not our province to dwell here upon the infancy of the +Brotherhood on either side of the Atlantic, or to enter into the various +difficulties and unpleasant circumstances to which it has been subjected +by alleged want of true patriotism and economy on the part of some +of its founders. Sufficient to say, that through all such alleged +obstructions it has struggled into the greatest and most powerful +organization that has ever existed in any age of the world, and is, +to-day, the mightiest and most invincible floating power that has ever +influenced the destinies of any people. Its friends are numbered by +millions and its members by hundreds upon hundreds of thousand. To its +ranks belong soldiers, statesmen and orators, men of large pecuniary +means and cultivated minds; cool heads and strong arms, and many guiding +spirits who need but little light save that which shines within them. In +addition, the sympathies of America and of every generous nation on the +face of the earth, are with it; so that it has triumphed in advance, in +a measure; for, backed by such influences, and actuated, as it is, by +impulses so pure and holy, not a solitary doubt can obtain in relation +to its ultimate success. True, that there are those who are thoughtless +or traitorous enough to designate it as antagonistic to religion, and +subversive, of the established order of things; but these, for the most +part, are persons who reason through their pockets or their prejudices, +and who are devoid of any thorough recognition of those great principles +which are applicable to nations as well as to individuals and which are +based upon the just doctrine, that resistence to tyrants is obedience to +God--persons who are so methodical and patient under the sufferings of +_others_, that they would pause to measure the precise length of rope +that, was necessary to reach a drowning man. In the day of Ireland’s +triumph, such people, will cone to confusion; as will those who have +withheld from her, in the period of her sore travail, the pecuniary aid; +which they could have well afforded out of their ample means, with a +view to relieving their kinsmen and suffering fellow countrymen from the +grasp of a tyrant the most inexorable that ever drew breath. + +Were the Fenian organization confined entirely to Ireland, and did no +active outside sympathy obtain for that unfortunate country the day of +her redemption might be postponed to an indefinite period. So completely +are all the resources and defences of the land in the hands of the +English, that it would be difficult for the natives to make any +lengthened or effective stand against the usurper. England has her, +navy and her army to operate against any rising of the inhabitants, at +a moment’s warning; while every office in the kingdom, of the slightest +importance or trust, is in the hands of her minions. Again, among some +of the recreant sons of the soil, she has, alas too ample scope for the +use of her accursed gold; and thus it is; that to cope singled handed +with her against such fearful odds, would involve oceans of blood, both +on the field and on the scaffold. When, however, we come to dwell on +the fact, that outside and beyond her control or reach, another body +of Irish, which has been aptly termed a nation within a nation--when +it comes to be understood, we say, that on the shores of free America a +mighty and invincible Brotherhood has been built up, actuated by every +sentiment of hostility which fires the breast of the most implacable of +her enemies to-day, and that has for its aim and end an object in common +with the people of Ireland at her own doors, then we begin to perceive +how harrassed and powerless she must be. Neither her famine, fire +nor sword, can avail her here. Secure beneath the ample folds of the +glorious stars and stripes of the great Republic of America, and fired +with the love of free institutions, and taught in the great principles +of freedom by the liberty loving American people, this mighty band of +exiles, in connection with their children born beneath the folds of the +American flag, are steadily preparing to join fierce issue with her and +test, upon the open field, the prowess she has so often set forth as +superior to that of any other nation. This is what now disables and +paralyses her. Ireland is, for the time being, beneath her heel; but +what of the warlike hosts that loom in the western horizon and may soon +rush down on her like a wolf on the fold, and wedge her in between two +hostile walls? This is the great strength, of Ireland at the present +moment. Her energies are not walled in by the ocean or a British fleet +She is alive and active in other lands, and so powerful outside her own +borders, that there is no such thing as circumscribing her influence or +operations in so far as they relate to her struggles for independence. +It is, then, from America that she is to obtain her most effective aid; +and such being the case, it behooves the Irish nationalists on American +soil to be true and steady to the great purpose in which they are now so +ardently engaged; for so far, fortune has smiled upon them. The American +people sympathize with them and feel that while they are aiding them to +regain the long lost freedom of their country, they are bringing to +the dust the very self-same enemy that sought, by stealth and the most +cowardly means, to overthrow their own Commonwealth, and leave the Union +a hopeless ruin before the world. It is this which now hangs a millstone +about the neck of the British government, and which must ultimately +develope itself in active sympathy with any people who have for their +object the humiliation of the skull and cross-bones of St. George, on +this side of the Atlantic at least. + +And so the ball rolls; hourly accumulating force and magnitude, and +destined, at no distant day, to sweep in upon Ireland and hurl the +invader from her shores. No power on earth can stay its onward course. +The freedom of Ireland is the creed of millions. The young lisp it; +strong men repeat it in every clime; and the old of both hemispheres +murmur it in their prayers. In short, it has taken a hold of the Irish +heart wherever a true pulse warms it to-day, and has so incorporated +itself with the hopes and aspirations of the Irish of all lands, that +fate itself must yield to its power and universality. Within the last +few years it has become part and parcel of the education of the Irish +people wherever they are found; whether beneath the burning zone, in +temperate latitudes or at the frozen poles; so that its ultimate success +is beyond any possible contingency; from the fact that there never was a +sentiment so widely spread and so religiously cultivated and cherished, +that failed to accomplish all that it would attain. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +While the children of Ireland were engaged in defending the flag of +the Union during the late civil war, and sealing with their blood their +fidelity to the great Republic, they were, also, acquiring a knowledge +of arms and a warlike hardihood, which tended, on the cessation of +hostilities, to render the Fenian organization more formidable than +it could possibly have become, had peace pervaded the land from the +inception of the Brotherhood to its triumph at Ridgeway. All through +this gigantic struggle the hand of the Irish patriot and exile was +prominently observable. Not a field had been fought from the firing of +the first gun at Fort Sumter to the surrender of Lee’s army, on which +their blood had not flowed in rivers. Look at Murfreesboro, Corinth, +Perrysville, Iuka, Antietam, Chickahomany, Winchester, Fort Donaldson, +Island Ten, Shiloh, Lexington, Bull Run, Carnifex Ferry, the +Rappahannock, the Mississippi, the Cumberland, the Potomac and +Fredericksburg, “where one-half of Meagher’s Brigade are still encamped +_under the sod_,” and we have evidence of the truth of this assertion, +the most ample and complete. Amidst these scenes of terrific +carnage, the warlike genius and matchless personal bravery of many a +distinguished Irishman were eminently conspicuous; while the latent +fires that had previously lain dormant in the breast of others, leaped +forth into a glorious conflagration, that commanded the admiration of +every true soldier and evoked the recognition of the Commonwealth +at large. Amongst this latter class stood pre-eminently forward, +the present President of the Fenian Brotherhood throughout the +world--GENERAL JOHN O’NIELL, a brief sketch of whom we introduce here +for obvious reasons, drawn from authentic records in our possession, as +well as from the current newspaper literature of the day: + +“To the Irish reader,” observes a contemporary, well informed upon +this subject, “and especially to that portion of our people, who are +conversant with the past history of their country, and feel a patriotic +pride in its glorious records, as well as a fervent hope for their +renewal in the future--there is no name fraught with memories more +inspiring than that of O’Neill--the princely house of Ulster, the +champions of the Red Hand, who, for centuries, in the struggles of +the nation against the Saxon invader, led the hosts of their people +to victory, and only succumbed at last when poison and treachery, and +chicane had accomplished what force failed to effect; for their valor +was powerless against the dagger of the assassin, as were their honesty +and open-heartedness against the bad faith of England’s perjured tools. +Like many a noble and ancient Irish house, its scions are to-day to be +found scattered through the world, in every walk of life. But though its +banner no longer floats over embattled hosts, there is magic still in +its associations; and when men speak of the O’Neill, the Irish heart +leaps fondly towards the historic name and the proud recollection of the +days when Hugh and Owen stood for the rights of their people and native +land, and dealt the assailants of both those sturdy blows which so well +justified their claim to the blazon of the ‘Red Hand.’ + +“In our own day, too, the old blood has vindicated its inherent force +and purity, and has found a worthy representative in the subject of our +present sketch--GENERAL JOHN O’NEILL,--whose name, in the future history +of the Irish race, will be as inseparably linked with the struggles of +the present generation for national independence, as are those of +his ancestors with the efforts made by our people in the past against +English tyranny and usurpation. As this noble and patriotic Irishman is +now occupying so much of the public attention, and his political conduct +meeting with that cordial endorsement which is a just tribute to his +bravery and patriotism--whether on the bloody fields of the South, +routing a Morgan, or assuming the command of his colonel, or, with +thirty men repelling the attack of a regiment; or, with his gallant band +of Irish soldiers, chasing the ‘Queen’s Own’ at Ridgeway--a brief +review of his career will not be devoid of interest to all who desire +to preserve a record of those who have deserved well of their country. +Within the limits of such a sketch it would be impossible to do adequate +justice to the character of a man like General O’Neill, and we can only +assume to glance at the many attestations of his bravery and gentlemanly +bearing which should have a public record, as they are from men of high +position, and are of importance in illustrating the estimation in which +he has always been held by his superior and brother officers. No man can +produce a more unsullied one, or one better calculated to confirm his +title to the high position in which his countrymen have placed him. + +“General O’Neill was born on the 8th of March, 1834, in the townland of +Drumgallon, parish of Clontibret, county Monaghan, Ireland. At his birth +he was an orphan, his father having died a few weeks previously. The +early part of his existence was spent with his grandparents in his +native place. Bred up in a country, every hill and river and plain of +which was linked in story with the deeds of the mighty men of old, it is +not to be wondered at that the mind of young O’Neill seized with avidity +every incident of the past connected with the condition and history of +his fatherland, or that the bias of his future life was given by his +meditations as he rambled along the slopes of Benburb, or traced the +victorious steps of his ancient sept, through the classic region where +his schoolboy days were passed. That it should be so is only natural; +for he is a kinsman, as well as namesake, of the great Hugh O’Neill who, +with his fearless followers, swept over Ulster and defeated so many of +England’s greatest generals, and brought the heads of some of her pets +to the block. And there is no doubt but that some of her favorites of +to-day shall be made to bite the dust ere the General has done with +them. + +“General O’Neill is a man of calm temperament, but a firm will, which, +when excited, however, is stern and inflexible; uniting with this a good +education and gentlemanly address, with a mind bold, independent and +decisive. His person partakes of the character of his mind for if the +one never succumbed in the council, the other never bent in the field. +Few could imagine from his modest exterior the latent, fire and energy +which burn in his bosom. His manner is as unassuming as his mind is +noble; quiet, yet impervious to flattery or laudations, he seems at the +same time to pay due regard to popular opinion, without in the least +permitting it to influence him in the discharge of his duties. + +“While he was yet quite young, the family of General O’Neill emigrated +to the United States, and his mother settled at Elizabeth, N.J., where +she still resides. He did not follow them until 1848, when he was +fourteen years of age. Having devoted some time to the completion of his +studies here, he determined to engage in commercial pursuits, and for +some time travelled as agent for some of the leading Catholic publishing +houses. In 1855 he opened a Catholic Book Store in Richmond, Va., and +while residing there became a member of the ‘Emmet Guard,’ then +the leading Irish organization in that section of the country. The +inclination thus manifested for the military profession soon proved to +be the ruling passion in the mind of the young Celt,--checked only by +the repugnance of his family towards the soldier’s life; for, in +1857, he gave up his business and entered the Second Regiment of U.S. +Cavalry--a regiment which has since furnished the most distinguished +officers who have figured on both sides during the late war. + +“In the Regular Army, O’Neill rose steadily by his good character, +bravery and aptitude, no less than by his education and invariable +gentlemanly conduct. But though he has since filled positions of high +responsibility, he has often declared that one of the most pleasurable +emotions of his life was experienced when, for some meritorious act, he +received, from his commanding officer, his warrant of Corporal. + +“At the outbreak of the war, the regiment with which he was serving +was recalled from California, and on the organization of the army under +McClellan, was attached to the Regular Cavalry Division, which took part +in the principal battles in the campaign of the Peninsula, during +which O’Neill was in command of Gen. Stoneman’s body guard. After the +withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula, he was dispatched to Indiana, +where he was retained for some time as instructor of cavalry, drilling +the officers of the force then being raised for the defence of +that portion of the Union against the incursions of the Confederate +guerillas. He subsequently entered the 5th Indiana Cavalry as Second +Lieutenant, and served with that regiment, during 1863, in the +operations against the Southern leaders in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana +and Ohio. In these expeditions, which, whether in the nature of scouts, +reconnoisances or advances, generally took the shape of sharp running +fights, Lieut. O’Neill’s skill and daring not only attracted the +attention of his commanding officers, but further enlisted the +enthusiasm of the men, insomuch that, when one of those _sorties_ +was ordered, the first question asked was always--‘Is O’Neill to lead +it?’--and if the answer was in the affirmative, no matter how jaded the +men might be, volunteers in any number were ready at once. + +“There is no greater instance of personal bravery, or gallantry equal to +any emergency, than that related by Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, +in his account of O’Neill’s encounter with Morgan, the famous guerilla; +and as many of our readers have not read the partial account given in +Mr. Savage’s ‘Fenian Heroes and Martyrs,’ it may prove of interest to +them, as his encounter with Morgan is more generally spoken of than +understood. Archbishop Purcell says:-- + +‘There is a remarkably brave officer suffering from diarrhoea, +contracted in a three month’s chase after Morgan, now in St. John’s +Hospital, in this city--Lieut. O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry. His +mother resides in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her adventurous boy enlisted +in the regular army at the time of the Mormon excitement in Utah; was +afterwards sent to California; was made Sergeant for distinguished +services on the Potomac; employed on a recruiting tour in Indiana, and +promoted to a Lieutenancy in the famous 5th Indiana cavalry. + +‘Respecting his encounter with Hamilton’s rebel force, in May, the +Indianapolis papers spoke of the exploit of Lieut. O’Neill, and a +detachment of his company, as one of the most daring and brilliant +achievements of the war. The Lieutenant has kindly furnished us with +the following interesting account of the part he took in the defeat of +Morgan. The authorities here have recommended him for promotion to the +rank of Major. + +‘INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT WITH MORGAN, AT BUFFINGTON’S ISLAND, ON THE 20TH +OF JULY. + +‘On the night of the 19th, about 10 o’clock, Gen. Judah, with his +cavalry and artillery command, left Pomeroy for Buffington. The General +sent First Lieutenant John O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana cavalry, with +fifty men, ahead, with instructions to try and open communications with +the militia, said to be in close proximity to the island. The Lieutenant +was delayed by losing the road during the night, and did not arrive +till about an hour and a half after daylight. He then learned that the +militia had been skirmishing with the enemy during the night, and that +Gen. Judah’s advance had been ambushed, the morning being foggy; and the +General’s Assistant Adjutant General, Capt. Rice, with some twenty-five +or thirty men and a piece of artillery, and Chief of Artillery, Capt. +Henshaw, had been captured and sent to Gen. Morgan’s headquarters on the +river road, some thirty miles ahead of him, on the enemy’s left flank. +The Lieutenant at once resolved to recapture what had been taken; and, +with his Spartan band, kept steadily on. Several parties tried to stop +him; but a volley from the “Sharp’s” carbines of his boys invariably +drove them back. At length he came on Morgan, with two regiments and a +body guard of one hundred men. The Lieutenant halted his men suddenly, +at an angle of the road, within one hundred and fifty paces. He gave the +command “ready,” and intended to have given them a volley; but seeing +some of his own men in front, he did not fire, but commanded “forward,” + and dashed in amongst them. If he had fired, every shot must have told, +he was so close. Morgan, with his two regiments and body guard, ran +without firing a shot. All our prisoners were released, and about thirty +of the enemy taken. Some were killed and wounded. The Lieutenant pursued +Morgan about two miles clear off the field, and captured three pieces of +artillery, which he carried off with him. This was the last of Morgan on +the field. The Lieutenant cannot tell how many he killed or wounded, as +his fight was a running one, extending over four miles; but the surgeon +in charge of burying the dead and looking after the wounded, reported +that most of both were along the river where O’Neill had been.’ + +“The above, from Archbishop Purcell, is an unquestionable testimony of +the daring and audacity of the subject of this sketch in the field. The +_National Journal_, in giving an account of the same battle, says: + +‘Lieutenant O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, now appeared by +another road, with but fifty men, and charged two different regiments so +desperately that they broke and left our captured guns, officers and men +in our possession.’ + +“The _Louisville Journal_, after relating an instance of O’Neill’s +personal bravery, says: + +‘Lieutenant O’Neill is the same who, about two weeks ago, while out with +Col. Graham, on the Tennessee side of Cumberland, with twenty men as an +advanced guard, came up with Hamilton, having two hundred men drawn +up in line--charged and ran him thirteen miles, and with his own hand, +while ahead of his men, killed five--two of them with the sabre.’ + +“To go into detail, and give a minute account of the many instances +of gallantry, pluck and determination displayed by the subject of our +sketch, would be beyond the scope of our present purpose, as they, at +the same time, would only tend to multiply instances, without lending +any additional proof. But we cannot, as it directly bears on his +letter of resignation, with accompanying letters of endorsement from +distinguished Generals, pass over that singular and noble proof of +unexampled bravery--his assuming the command of his Colonel Butler, when +the latter showed signs of cowardice. + +“The affair took place at Walker’s Ford, on Clinch River, in East +Tennessee, where the division to which O’Neill’s regiment was attached +was stationed, to dispute the passage of the Southern troops, which in +large force occupied the adjacent country. O’Neill had only a few days +before rejoined his command, after the illness incurred in his chase +after Morgan, and was at breakfast when the alarm was given that the +enemy had surprised the advanced guard, and were attacking in force. +Springing on his horse, he rallied the company of picked men he +commanded, and for a long time held the advancing forces of the enemy +in check, to give time for others to form line of battle. But the enemy +were rapidly getting in rear of the Union troops, and O’Neill fell back +on the main body of his regiment, just in time to hear his Colonel cry +out, ‘Oh, God! all is lost! save yourselves, men, the best way you can. +Nothing is left us but retreat!’ ‘Not by a long sight!’ shouted O’Neill, +as, sword in hand, he dashed in front of the mob of soldiers, upon whom +panic and the example of their commander were rapidly doing the work of +disorganization. ‘Men,’ continued he, turning to them, ‘all of you who +mean to _fight_, fall in with me.’ The effect was almost miraculous. +About one hundred and fifty of the fugitives rallied, and with these +he drove back the advancing columns of the enemy, saved the day, and, +though severely wounded in the action, remained master of the field. + +“Of this attack, a correspondent of the Indianapolis _Daily Journal_, of +January, 1864, says: + +‘The rebels, finding we were retreating, determined to drive us into +the river. About three hundred mounted men came over the hills, charging +Company “A,” 65th Indiana, and three companies of the 5th, commanded by +Col. Butler and Capt. Hodge. Our boys began to waver. The Colonel tried +to rally them to no effect, when O’Neill rode up and took command. +Taking a Henry rifle from one of the 65th boys, he commenced firing, +at the same time yelling at the men to charge them, which they did. +For about five minutes it was the most frightful scene I have ever +witnessed. Out of the three hundred Confederates, only about _twenty_ +went back mounted, the balance being killed, wounded, and dismounted. A +rebel officer, afterwards taken, admitted the loss of twenty killed +and forty wounded in the charge. This so effectually checked them, and +convinced them that a charge would not pay, that we very easily held our +ground until the wagons and guns had crossed the river. But our brave +Lieutenant, O’Neill, received a wound in the thigh while we were making +our last stand. He rode out all day, never seeking shelter, cheering his +men. When other officers had given up all as lost, he replied, “Not by +a long sight.” He met with a hearty response from the men. We afterwards +learned that we were fighting three brigades, among them the “Texan +Rangers.”’ + +“There is no nobler instance of daring or pluck, or of presence of mind, +or decisiveness of character, equal to any crisis, than this. But what +is the sequel? The Colonel, narrow minded as he was cowardly, was piqued +at young O’Neill’s gallantry in repelling the attack, which at once +stamped himself with cowardice, and lowered him, as a consequence, +in the estimation of his brother officers. After the battle he sent a +report of the officers and non-commissioned officers whom he recommended +for promotion, _omitting the name of O’Neill_. This was a direct insult +to the man who displayed the most bravery, and had saved them from +a watery grave, a fiery death, or, worse than all, an ignominious +surrender. It at once aroused all that was stern in his nature--to have +such a coward offer him an insult. He went to the Colonel, and demanded +if it was true that he had sent the names of certain officers to the +Governor for promotion, and noncommissioned officers for commissions +over him, and omitted his name altogether. The Colonel replied in the +affirmative. ‘Then,’ said O’Neill, ‘I shall never serve another day in +your regiment.’ + +“We give these particulars in detail, as well as his resignation, +not only on account of its boldness, but as some people try to put a +different construction on the fact of his sending in his resignation at +that time. Conformably with his determination, he went to his quarters, +where, after a fortnight, he prepared his resignation, and sent it to +headquarters. In the interim, the Colonel sent one day to know if he +would drill the regiment. O’Neill sent back to know if it was an order +or a request; on being assured it was the latter, he complied. He was +expecting to be arrested every day; but the Colonel was too much of a +coward, as he was afraid the consequences would be rather unpleasant. +After a few weeks, his resignation was sent to headquarters, with +letters of disapproval--but endorsing his complaints, and testifying to +his bravery and efficiency--from Gens. Sturges and Stoneman. Comments +on these letters would be superfluous, as they speak forcibly for +themselves. + + “CAMP NEAR PARIS, KENTUCKY, April 7th, 1864. + + “Sir: I have the honor herewith to tender my resignation as First + Lieutenant of Company ‘I,’ 5th Cavalry, 90th Regiment Indiana + Volunteers, on account of promotions in the regiment, which have + placed men over me whom I cannot consistently serve under. Some of + them, Captains, have been Sergeants in the same regiment since I + have been First Lieutenant; and while I have a high regard for these + officers personally, I can never allow myself to be commanded by + them in the field. + + “I served in the regular army nearly four years, in Utah, + California, and on the Peninsula: as private, Corporal, Sergeant, + and acting-Sergeant-Major, and have been in the regiment, as + Lieutenant, sixteen months. + + “The enclosed copies of letters from Generals Hodson, Judah and + Stoneman, with others from the present Colonel of my regiment, and + the former, Colonel Graham, recommending me to Governor Morton, for + the position of field-officer in one of the regiments being + organized in Indiana, will show that I am not undeserving of + promotion in my own regiment, and that I have some cause to be + dissatisfied with not receiving it, and with having officers placed + over me whom, in point of military knowledge and experience, I + cannot regard as my superiors. + + “I certify, on honor, that I am not indebted to the United States + on any account whatever, and that I am not responsible for any + government property, except what I am prepared to turn over to the + proper officer on the acceptance of my resignation, and that I was + last paid by Major Haggerty to include the twenty-ninth of February, + 1864. + + “Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + + “JOHN O’NEILL, First Lieut., Co. ‘I,’ 5th Ind. Cav. + +“Rather a bold epistle this! He tells his commander squarely he will +not serve under officers whom he considers his inferiors in military +knowledge. We shall now give the accompanying letters to which he +refers, from Generals Sturges, Judah and Stoneman, which furnish +unquestionable proof of his ability and military capacity. These +letters, from men of fine military experience, are very high references +of O’Neill’s ability. The following is that from Major-General +Stoneman:-- + + “HEADQUARTERS 23D ARMY CORPS, March 8th, 1864. + + “I knew Lieut. O’Neill well on the Peninsula, and as a brave and + worthy officer, in whose judgment and capacity I had the greatest + confidence. I hope he will receive the promotion to which his merits + entitle him, that of a field-officer in a colored regiment. + + “GEORGE STONEMAN, Major-Gen., Com’g. Corps. + +“That from General Judah is equally as commendatory. If the one refers +to his bravery on the Peninsula, the other testifies equally to his +daring during the war:-- + + “HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, 23D ARMY CORPS, + In camp near Mossy Creek, Tenn., March 7th, 1864. + + “It gives me pleasure to state that, from personal observation, I + deem Lieut. John O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, one of the most + _gallant_ and _efficient_ officers it has been my duty to command. + His daring and services have been conspicuous, and I trust he may + receive what he has so ably merited--his promotion. + + “H.M. JUDAH, Brig.-Gen., Com’g. Division. + +“The following endorsement, written on the resignation by General +Sturges, when forwarded to the headquarters, shows that if merit, +military and personal, could meet with its reward, Lieut. O’Neill should +get speedy promotion:-- + + “HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS, + PARIS, KY., April 7th, 1864. + + “Disapproved and respectfully forwarded. + + “This is an excellent officer--too valuable, indeed, to be lost to + the service. He was severely wounded near Tazewell, under Colonel + Graham, last December, and is estimated as one of the best officers + of my command. This is not the only resignation which has been + offered on account of the promotions of inferiors having been made + in the 5th Indiana Cavalry over the heads of superiors, based upon + political or other considerations, and altogether regardless of + merit. By this system junior and meritorious officers find + themselves cut off from all hope of advancement, and compelled to + serve subordinate to others for whose qualifications they can + entertain no respect. + + “While, therefore, I disapprove his resignation for the public + good, I would respectfully urge that some policy be initiated + or recommended by which officers can see the way open for their + advancement according to merit. + + “Respectfully, + + “L.D. STURGES, Brig.-Gen. Com’g. + +“The following was the reply from Headquarters:-- + + “HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, + KNOXVILLE, TENN., April 16, 1864 + + “Respectfully returned from this Headquarters, Cavalry Corps, to + Lieut. John O’Neill, 5th Indiana Cavalry. + + “There appears to be no remedy for the evil referred to by General + Sturges. + + “By command of + + “MAJOR GEN. SCHOFIELD. + + “R. MOORE, Ass’t. Adj’t. Gen. + +“Such attestations of the bravery, military skill and high moral +character of General O’Neill, coming from his companions in arms, from +the public press, and from Generals of experience and high position, +form a record of which any man might be proud. Comment on them is +unnecessary, as they speak forcibly for themselves. Of his noble +spirit, decisiveness in the hour of danger, ability, pure character, and +gentlemanly bearing, we have produced overwhelming testimony; but as he +is now before the public in so very prominent a manner, it is necessary +that the people should know minutely his every act and the nature of the +man under whose leadership the Irish Nationalists in America are about +to renew the good old fight for loved Erin’s disenthralment. No matter +whether on the field or in the drawing-room, his calmness of deportment +and gentlemanly bearing are the same. The simplest child he would no +more offend than the most powerful man. Uniting with such gentleness and +heroic bravery, precise military knowledge, and a pure patriotism, may +not Irishmen hope that in him they have found the man who is destined to +lead them on to victory and liberty. In whatever sphere he moves, he is +universally endeared to all; for + + ‘In him is the heart of a woman, combined + With a heroic life and a governing mind.’ + +“In the movement on Canada, in 1866, Gen. O’Neill sacrificed a business +which, in a few years, would have made him a wealthy man. But he did so +without hesitation; for he loved his country, and had pledged his life +to her service. With the contingent raised by him in Tennessee, he +proceeded to Buffalo, where, finding himself the senior officer, he +assumed command of the troops there assembled, and, in obedience to the +orders he had received, crossed the Niagara river, at the head of six +hundred men, on the night of the 31st of May, and raised the Green Flag +once more on the soil of the enemy. On the following evening, receiving +information that the British forces were marching against him to the +number of five thousand, in two distinct columns, he resolved to fight +them in detail, and by a rapid march got between them. On the morning +of the 2d of June, at Ridgeway, he struck them under Booker; and, though +the enemy out-numbered his force _four to one_, routed them signally. +Falling back on his original position at Fort Erie, he there learned +that the United States Government had stopped the movement at other +points, and arrested its leaders. Under the circumstances, nothing more +could be done, at that time; and he was reluctantly obliged to re-cross +the Niagara, and surrender to the United States forces. That he only +did so under the pressure of necessity, is attested by his offer to the +Committee in Buffalo to hold his ground, as his own report of the battle +of Ridgeway attests, in which he simply says: + +‘But if a movement was going on elsewhere, I was perfectly willing to +make the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which I knew it would be the next day +if I remained; _for I would never have surrendered!_’ + +“At the Cleveland Convention of the Fenian Brotherhood, in September, +1867, General O’Neill was elected a Senator of that body; and having +been chosen Vice President on the resignation of that office by James +Gibbons, Esq., he succeeded President W.R. Roberts, on the resignation +of that gentleman, Dec. 31, 1867. + +“We have thus briefly sketched the principal incidents of General +O’Neill’s career, and, in conclusion, may venture to say that a more +stainless, or meritorious, could scarcely be presented to the public. +His whole history incontrovertibly illustrates as noble, determined and +daring a character as ever led a brave but enslaved people to victory. + +“We could supplement this with various other official documents and +accounts, serving, if such were possible, to illustrate still further +the proud daring and exalted spirit of this worthy son of an illustrious +past; but shall, at this particular point of our story, content +ourselves with what has just been said. We might, were we so inclined, +introduce, also, various other Irish names that shone forth with +unrivalled splendor during the late war, and point to the thousands +upon thousands of Irish rank and file that, on numerous fields, piled up +ramparts of dead around the glorious flag of the Union; but such would +not serve our purpose here, as we are restricted in relation to the task +before us; and as the fact of the exploits and the bravery of hosts +of our loyal countrymen are known to the government and people of this +Republic. Sufficient to say, however, that amongst all those of our race +who fought and bled in defence of the North, and the integrity of the +Commonwealth, there was not to be found one individual who evinced more +profound judgment than he in handling the forces at his command, or +more cool daring, or instances of personal bravery, as well as that +tremendous and overwhelming dash, which gained for Ney the proud +appellation, ‘the bravest of the brave?’ and placed the Marshals of +France amongst the foremost in history. + +“From out of this fierce civil contest, then, it is obvious from all +that we have just said, that Fenianism, in its military aspect, received +the largest and most important accessions. At the close of the conflict, +thousands upon thousands of veterans joined its standard; and thus, in +an incredibly short period, its warlike character became intensified, +until, at last, the organization on the American continent loomed up +before England with an aspect so threatening and a purpose so apparent, +that she instantly set about putting her house in order, and began +to glance in the direction of making some cunning, though paltry, +concessions to Ireland. + +“If, however, the military circles of the Brotherhood were distinguished +by the accession of many brave and patriotic soldiers, at the juncture +already referred to, the organization, in its civil aspect, was not +less fortunate or noticeable. Led triumphantly through some of the most +difficult phases of its existence, by such self-sacrificing and noble +patriots as Colonel W.R. Roberts, of New York, its late President, and +James Gibbons, Esq., of Philadelphia, its present Vice President--than +whom two more disinterested and sterling Sons of the Sod do not +exist--its basis enlarged and strengthened, we say, by such men as +these, and the able and truehearted Senators that surrounded them, the +Brotherhood, at the close of the war, was in a condition sufficiently +exalted to attract to its centre many of the ablest soldiers who had +fought on the side of the Union, and who, with their numerous and +respective followings, were ready to evince their love of liberty and +republican institutions further, by resuming their swords and striking +home for the freedom of poor, down-trodden Ireland, against a tyrant the +most infamous that has ever existed, and to whom America owes a debt +of vengeance, that, under any circumstances, cannot fail to be one day +repaid with tenfold interest. + +“And so this grand confraternity of patriots prospered and became the +greatest and most powerful that has ever appeared upon the theatre of +human existence. To be sure, in a body so numerous and all but ramified +throughout every portion of the habitable globe, there have been some +unworthy members, who fell before the love of gain, or British gold; +but, then, and with pride we say it, taking the gigantic proportions of +the organization into consideration, and the temptations to sin which +have been so constantly placed before it by that blood-thirsty assassin, +England, it stands, by comparison, pre-eminently pure above any other +similar revolutionary body that has ever obtained in either hemisphere, +or in any age of the world. Up to the present hour, under the protection +and guidance of a Divine providence, it has surmounted every difficulty +that has beset it. It has outlived whatever of treason or mismanagement +obtained in its own bosom; it has survived the cruel calumnies and +falsehoods of a traitorous and subsidized press, and the machinations of +that dangerous English element that sometimes steals into high places, +and which has so often interfered with the true interests of America +within her own borders, as well as touching her foreign relations. These +and many either untoward influences it has surmounted; until, now, it +stands upon a pedestal beyond the reach of danger; not only from +its great inherent strength and virtue, but from its all but +incomprehensible ubiquity, and positive existence in every land and +clime. How futile, then, the efforts of its enemies to crush it either +by ungenerous legislation, or through the propagation of falsehood. +Fenianism is a power founded upon the immutable principles of truth and +justice; and is, therefore, indestructible. Consequently, until it has +achieved the grand and holy objects that it has set before it, it must +win its way to triumph, step by step, if needs be no matter what the +magnitude or the number of the difficulties that beset it.” + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Early as Barry was up on the morning following his introduction to the +reader, he found Tom and Greaves in the bar-room, discussing one of +O’Brien’s favorite decoctions, which was averred to possess the virtue +of giving a “fillip” to the lagging appetite, and attuning it to the +healthiest possible breakfast pitch. Nicholas, although not addicted +to early potations, was prevailed upon to join the party. During, the +friendly conversation which accompanied this faithless libation to the +Goddess of Health, Greaves observed that while he did not feel himself +at liberty to speak freely in the mixed company of the preceding +evening, notwithstanding what might have been termed his unfriendly +insinuations in relation to Ireland, he was himself a true friend of +Irish freedom; and, on all befitting occasions, an humble champion of +her total and unequivocal independence of England. Here he produced a +letter, from a secret pocket in the lining of his vest, which he handed +to Tom for hasty perusal; remarking, at the same time, that he well knew +to whom he was submitting it. A hurried glance at the contents induced +O’Brien to open his eyes wider than they had been opened for some time, +and to regard his companion with an almost bewildered stare! + +“Sure enough, it’s his handwritin, and it’s as thrue as the sun,” + ejaculated Tom, as he folded up the letter and returned it to the owner, +“and it’s a different opinion both Nick and myself had of you last +night, although sorry I am for it now; and there’s my hand for you.” + +“What’s up now?” retorted Barry, well knowing that O’Brien would never +have offered his hand to Greaves, unless there were good reasons for it. + +“Nothin’ more,” returned Tom, “beyond that we had formed a wrong opinion +of our frind here, last night; for, instead of his bein’ what I was +half inclined to take him for, he cannot fail to be other than the right +stamp, or he never could have that letther in his pocket.” + +“That’s enough for me, Tom,” replied Barry, extending his hand to +Greaves, “for whoever you endorse is sure to pass muster, in this place, +at least.” + +The conversation here became low and confidential; being interrupted +only by an occasional customer who dropped in to take his “morning;” + until, at last, breakfast was announced, and the soldier and Greaves, +taking the hint, were soon snugly seated side by side in the little +parlor of the preceding night, at a neat and comfortable table, smoking +with some of the good things which so constantly characterized The +Harp. O’Brien, from his other avocations, was unable to join them at +the moment; so they both conversed freely on the topic that had just +commanded their attention in the bar, and which referred to neither more +nor less than the intended invasion of Canada by the army of the Irish +Republic, then said to be preparing for a descent upon the Provinces, +in the neighboring Union. Nicholas was unable to give any definite +information upon the matter; as the authorities of the organization in +the United States were very reticent regarding it, and Greaves himself +appeared but little better informed. Barry, however, expressed the +opinion that, if any man in Canada had thorough information on the +point, it was Tom; although he himself had no very tangible grounds for +making the observation, notwithstanding the strength of his surmises. + +“Do you not belong to the organization yourself, and if you do, +ought you not to be in possession of some facts on this all-important +movement?” rejoined Greaves, “and if you are not a member, surely you +are sufficiently true to Ireland to have been informed, to some extent +at least, in regard to it, by your friend O’Brien, who is, I learn, a +Centre here.” + +“Well, strange as it may appear,” returned the other, “I don’t belong to +the Brotherhood, not having, yet had an opportunity to join it; and +as for Tom, whatever my suspicions may be, I really am unable to say +positively that he is in any degree connected with the organization; +although I am sensible that his sympathies, like my own, lie in that +direction.” + +“How is your regiment situated on this point,” remarked Greaves, +leisurely breaking an egg and commencing to chip the shell. + +“A good many of my way of thinking,” replied the other; “but, as you +know, it is necessary to be cautious, as not only is the commanding +officer a tartar, but most of the swords and sashes are of the same +kidney. The fact of the case is, however, several of our fellows have +deserted, and no doubt will join the organization in the States, and +render good service to the cause there, in a military point of view.” + +“Why don’t you follow their example and do something for your poor, +down-trodden country,” said Philip in reply, “seeing that now is the +time she needs the service of all her children?” + +“There is no necessity for my deserting,” rejoined Barry, “for I have +already applied for my discharge, which I expect to receive this +very day; so that ere the sun sets, in all probability, I shall be a +freeman.” + +Greaves became silent here for a few moments, as if revolving something +in his mind, when, lifting his head again, he resumed the conversation +by asking: + +“Are strangers permitted to visit the Fort? If so, I should be very glad +to take a peep at it this morning, as I shall have a few boars to spare +before I can do any business, or rather before the parties I have come +to see will be prepared to meet me.” + +“Why, not as a general thing, just now,” returned Nicholas, “but I think +you may be able to gain admittance if you are accompanied by me, who +will, of course, vouch to the sentry for you.” + +“Then if you allow me,” said Greaves, “I shall avail myself of your kind +invitation, and cross the bridge with you after we have breakfasted, for +I can well imagine that during a period when such rumors are afloat, the +Commandant as rather chary of permitting strangers to enter his gates.” + +In this strain the conversation flowed until breakfast was ended, when +the friends proposed to sally forth from the Harp, and wend their way to +the point already mentioned. As Barry was leaving the bar-room, however, +Tom whispered something in his ear, which appeared to puzzle him for a +moment, but returning a keen glance of recognition, both he and Greaves +passed out into the cool, fresh morning-air, and began slowly wending +their way to the Fort. + +There being as yet no special order about the admission of strangers, +Greaves, with Nicholas by his side, passed the sentry without question, +and proceeded to the canteen, which, early as it was, showed some signs +of life. Here Barry introduced his new acquaintance to many of his +comrades; but in such common place terms, as to attract no attention +whatever on the part of any person. Being for parade, however, he was +obliged to leave his friend in other keeping, for a short period, and so +hastened to the barrack-room to prepare himself for his morning duties. +During the interval of his absence, Greaves stepped out of the canteen, +alone, and learning that the Colonel was speaking to some of the +officers near the parade ground, made his way towards where the group +was standing, and crossing the path of the Colonel as he was walking +towards his quarters, accosted him in a manner which soon arrested the +progress and attention of that officer, and brought him to a dead halt. +The conversation was brief and rapid, while a slip of paper thrust into +the hands of the Colonel, by Greaves, seemed to place both on a strange +footing of recognition. So brief was the interview, that it was not +observed by any individual in the garrison; and so quickly did Greaves +return to the canteen, that his absence was scarcely noticed. Here Barry +found him as he had left him, making himself agreeable to the soldiers; +being more than liberal in paying for all they drank. As the bugle +sounded for parade, he bid our young hero “good bye for the present,” + and leaving the Fort, proceeded to retrace his steps towards the town, +or city, as it may be called. + +When he arrived here, instead of returning to The Harp, he bent his +steps in another direction, and entered a hotel that was in every +relation the very antipodes of the establishment in which he had passed +the night. Here, in every direction, were to be found the traces of an +English spirit and blind adhesion to wretched and exploded traditions. +In the office hung the portrait of the cruel Queen of England, and that +of her defunct consort, whose injustice and pedantry were so snubbed +by the illustrious Humboldt. Here, too, were to be seen the likeness +of the--iron-hearted, it should have been--Duke, presenting a birth-day +present, or something of the sort, to a moonfaced yonker that sat fair +and plump upon the knee of its royal mother. In another corner was to be +found a representation of the Prince of Wales, for whose head and +face the engraver had done infinitely more than nature; while directly +opposite stood, in a dark, heavy frame, the one-armed hero of the Nile, +who owed so much of his fame to poor Emma Harte--the unfortunate Lady +Hamilton, who, after having conferred the most serious benefits upon +England, was permitted to starve, with her daughter, in a garret +somewhere in or near Calais; while some of the spurious offspring of +orange and ballet girls filled many of the highest offices in the land +she had so often served. + +In this establishment the subject of Fenianism was discussed as a +leading topic, in a manner quite different from the style in which it +was treated at the Harp. Here no voice was raised in its favor--no word +of justification advanced in its behalf. Still, although its importance +was ignored ostensibly, there were a nervousness and misgiving about +some of those who conversed upon it, which showed that they were ill at +ease. There seemed, in addition, to be some vague sense of insecurity +preying upon them, which could only have originated in their want of +confidence in themselves, or in some person or persons to whom were +entrusted the gravest interests of the Province. This was the more +obvious, from the fact, that, from time to time, mysterious and +half-whispered enquiries were made, in reference to one particular +individual, whose state of health or mind seemed at the moment to +engross no ordinary share of the attention of the numerous guests that +filled the bar or office, for the apartment was used as both. + +Greaves listened with open ears to all that transpired, and, after +inspecting the hotel register, took up a morning paper and seated +himself in an arm-chair at his side. While engaged, as he feigned to +be, in perusing the news, although actually endeavoring to catch every +whisper that floated around him, he gathered, that, for the week or +ten days proceeding, one of the most important functionaries in the +Province, who, although a clever man, was sorely addicted to fits of +intemperence, was now, while the country was convulsed with gloomy +forebodings, regarding Fenianism, again passing through one of his +prolonged and fearful drinking bouts, and totally unfit to pay even the +slightest attention to the momentous business of his office. Already, it +was averred, numerous dispatches, of the most vital moment, were lying +unopened upon his table, where they were scattered, wet and stained with +wine and debauch, some of them having, as it was urged, been obviously +disfigured, in part, for the purpose, perhaps, of lighting cigars; +while, pale, wretched and half insane, the miserable creature to whom +they were addressed, reclined on a sofa by their side, jabbering to +a few bloated boon companions, obscene jests and amusing anecdotes, +through which the fire of his own native wit sometimes shot brilliantly, +though but for a single moment. This, we say. Greaves gathered from the +conversation around him, and as in one or two cases he perceived, on the +part of the speakers, scarcely any desire to preserve a tone of secrecy +on the subject, he felt pretty much assured, that the case was a bad +one indeed, and that the individual who could so far forget his own +interests for the sake of the bottle, and who could be tolerated in any +position of high trust in the State, while addicted to vices of such +a character, not to mention others, thought by the Hamilton _Quarterly +Review_ to be of a graver nature were that possible, must be sustained +by the influence of persons terribly deluded, or creatures vile in their +degree in turn, and who, like himself, were regardless of the trust +reposed in them by the people. And yet, as Greaves afterwards learned, +this same man came to Canada a poor, bare-footed, Scotch lad, with a +father whose only fortune was an old fiddle, and that inexorable but +praiseworthy characteristic of his country--a determination to collect +the bawbees at whatever shrine first presented itself on the shores of +the New World. Be this as it may, the daily press of the Province has +since verified the correctness of the whispers heard by Greaves, +and made public the accusation, that this individual, so recently +distinguished by a mark of royal favor, for three weeks previous to the +invasion of Canada, was so lost in a whirlpool of the most deplorable +intemperance, as to be utterly incapable of opening or attending to the +important dispatches which lay scattered and unheeded upon his bedroom +table. + +When Greaves returned to The Harp, he found O’Brien in a state of great +excitement. A soldier, as it appeared, had just arrived from the Fort, +with the information that the Colonel, on second consideration, did not +find it justifiable to apply for Barry’s discharge, at a moment when +the country was threatened with danger; and that, as the regiment +should soon be ordered home, as he was assured, he had determined not to +recommend any discharges until it had reached England. This intelligence +had been conveyed to Nicholas by the Colonel in person, after parade, +and in a manner which precluded the slightest hope of its being reversed +by any succeeding alteration of opinion on the part of the individual +who communicated it. A thunderbolt, had it fallen at the feet of the +young soldier, could not have startled or paralyzed him more. He was +actually struck dumb by it Here was the chalice dashed from his lips +at last. He turned away in despair; but as he was for duty, he was +constrained to smother the tumultuous feelings within his breast. When +alone, however, and pacing his lonely round with his musket on his +shoulder, he had time to measure, with sufficient calmness and accuracy, +the length, breadth and depth of the great misfortunes that had befallen +him. There was but one course left open to him. He had sought to +purchase his discharge and leave the service, without the taint of +desertion attaching to his name amongst any of his comrades, although he +felt that he was not morally bound to remain in the service of England, +for a single moment longer than it served his own private ends. +Desertion, then, was the only course left open to him, and he was +determined to follow it, upon the first fitting opportunity. Another +reason why he would rather have been discharged in the ordinary manner +from the service: if he once deserted he should never again, with any +degree of security, visit any portion of the British dominions; and +as Canada lay so close beside the United States, he would gladly have +avoided the inconvenience of being shut out from it, as O’Brien and more +than one of his friends resided there. However, there was now no help +for it; to England he should never return, and so he disposed of the +matter in his own bosom. When relieved of duty, then, and with his +purpose fixed firmly in his heart, he once again visited The Harp, +where he found Tom and Greaves lamenting over the intelligence of his +misfortune, and to whom, in a moment of anxiety and excitement, he +disclosed his determination to quit the service, and gain the shores +of the neighboring Republic the first favorable moment that presented +itself. Tom appeared somewhat agitated if not alarmed; at so serious +a disclosure, made with such apparent unconcern; and it was only when +Barry remembered the hint of the morning, which O’Brien gave him as he +was about proceeding to the garrison, that he, himself, felt that he had +perhaps been too incautious and precipitate before a person who, after +all, was but a stranger to him, although apparently a kindly one. The +cat being out of the bag, however, there was now no help for it; and +as Greaves seemed to enter warmly into the project, and even offered to +share his purse with Nicholas, if there was any necessity for it, the +matter was allowed to rest as it was, and suspicion of Greaves, if any +remained in the breast of either the soldier or Tom, was driven into the +background, and constrained to remain in abeyance for the time being. + +When Barry again returned to his quarters, he freely discussed his +disappointment among his comrades, and declared his determination to +lay the matter before the Commander-in-Chief, averring, with great +earnestness, that he had always done his duty, and that he was not +accountable for the state of the country, and should not be called upon +to suffer for a condition of things outside and beyond his control, and +which he was in no manner instrumental in bringing about. His argument +seemed plausible enough, but then what, at any time, his argument, when +it ran counter to the desires or intentions of his commanding officer? +Therefore, the matter, after having been subjected to due discussion, +was allowed to fall asleep in the usual stereotyped style; although as +may be supposed, there were one or two breasts, at least, that were kept +alive and active by it. Nicholas, believing that any intelligence of his +embarrassment on the subject would but perplex and pain Kate, determined +not to write to her regarding it, but to be the first to bear her the +news himself. As already observed, she had written to him to procure +his discharge at the earliest possible moment, and now to learn that +his freedom was jeopardized for an indefinite period, involving, in +addition, his return to England first, would be a renewal of her old +agony. This he was determined to spare her; so, to those of his company +in whom he could confide, and who were themselves ripe for any project +that would tend to their total disseverment from the flag they so +detested, he cautiously communicated his intentions, finding, in return, +that more than one of them were on the eve of trying their fortune in +the same manner. Soon, then, a sturdy little band had determined to +leave the Fort, whatever night Barry should pitch upon; premising, of +course, that it should be some one on which he would be on duty, and at +a favorable point. + +This much arranged, Greaves and Tom were made acquainted with the whole +particulars of the plot; the former entering, to all appearance, heart +and soul into it, and furthering it in every manner within the limits +of his power. In fact, Greaves was actually behaving in a manner which +staggered some suspicions still entertained by Tom, notwithstanding the +letter to which reference has already been made, for he agreed to assist +in forwarding the escape of one of Nicholas’ company that had deserted +sometime previously, and was still concealed in the outskirts of the +town, in a place known to Barry only, and where he was hemmed in by +detectives from his regiment that were continually traversing the city +in colored clothes, or stationed as look-outs at certain points in its +vicinity. Barry was most anxious that this poor fellow should not be +left behind, and as Greaves promised to procure a disguise for him and +have him conveyed secretly to Tom’s on the night that the project of +leaving the Fort was to be put into execution, Barry, at the request of +Greaves, penned a note, which he hastily sealed with a love device well +known to the deserter, and which he had himself received at the hands of +the beautiful girl of his heart. The note ran thus:-- + + “Place the fullest confidence in the bearer. Follow his directions + implicitly. Your fate hangs in the balance. He will lead you to + where we shall meet. In great haste, &c., + + “NICHOLAS BARRY.” + +This note he handed to Greaves, who immediately consigned it to his +pocket-book, and set forth, as he alleged, to reconoitre the hiding +place of the soldier, and make such arrangements in his behalf as the +necessities of the case required. + +As the brief missive just quoted was written in O’Brien’s, and in the +presence of Tom himself, when Greaves left the premises, the host with +some uneasiness observed:-- + +“I don’t know how it is, Nick, but somehow or other I cannot divest +myself of sartain lurkin suspicions which I have of that man; although +there is not a single Irish Nationalist in the city that would not offer +him his hand and a glass afther seein the letther that I saw. However, +you will remimber that the first night he came I didn’t warm to him, +as I tould you, notwithstandin that I had to give up the next mornin. +Still, and withal he appears to be actin fair, although I can’t make out +exactly what he’s about here. Any way, in for a pinny in for a pound, +so we must make the best of it; but, if I find that he is playin +foul--well, God Almighty help him, and that’s all I’ll say. However, +three nights from this will tell the whole story, and if you all make +good your escape, you may take my word for it, I’ll make a clane breast +of it to him and ask his pardon into the bargain. I think with you that +it was wise not to write to Kate about your throuble and disappointment, +or apprise her of your intintion, as it would only agonize the poor +craytshure; but should you be foiled and taken, what a dreadful thing +it would be for her to hear instead of the intelligence of your freedom, +that you were in the depths of a dungeon from which you might have no +manes of escape for years!” + +Barry absolutely shuddered at the possibility of such a _denouement_ to +the scheme that now absorbed his whole mind and soul. Although sensible +of the risk he ran, he never paused to regard the peculiar features of +the case as presented by his friend; but now that they loomed up before +him in such bold and fearful relief, he almost shrank from pushing +farther the dangerous project he had undertaken. Yet, there was no other +channel through which he could hope to become speedily the husband of +the woman he loved; while, if he abandoned it, he might probably be +separated from her forever, as he felt convinced, that should an ocean +roll once more between them, she would not long survive the calamity. In +a moment, then, the faintness of his heart had passed away, and in +its stead came the firm resolve to prosecute his design to the death; +feeling that imprisonment for any term of years on the shores trodden +by the being he adored, was preferable to freedom, such as it was, in a +land cut off from her by the trackless desert of the great deep. + +Re-assured once more, then, he continued cautiously the preparations +for his departure, attending to his duties with his usual assiduity, and +still murmuring at the decision of the Colonel. Neither he nor Tom, +of course, ever approached the hiding place of the refugee already +mentioned, although they managed to hear from him occasionally, and +to keep his spirits up. Had either, by day or night, ventured near +his retreat, they could scarcely have escaped notice--the one from his +soldier’s uniform and the other from his remarkable height and personal +appearance; they were, therefore, with all their misgivings, relieved of +their embarrassment in this relation, by the generous offer of Greaves, +who, as it seemed, had abundance of means at his command to further any +project that he might think proper to undertake relative to the escape +of the deserter, or those who had now determined to join him. + +In this way, then, matters stood on the very evening which was to close +in the night selected by the intending fugitives, to put their designs +into execution. Everything was ready, and as the clock struck twelve and +the streets of the city were partially deserted, a cab rumbled up to +the door of The Harp, and Greaves and a stranger, muffled to the eyes, +stepping from it, entered the establishment and passed through the bar +into Tom’s little parlor. Greaves had kept his faith--the stranger was +the deserter! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +As might be presumed, from what we have already said regarding Kate +McCarthy, from the moment she took up her abode with her relatives at +Buffalo, she resumed her industrious habits, and set to work, in real +earnest, to add something to whatever young Barry had realized from his +own abilities and steady conduct on both sides of the Atlantic; for, +since his arrival in Canada, he had plied his pen amongst his comrades, +and in other quarters, copying papers and instructing the children of +the soldiers where he was stationed. She consequently soon found her +little store increased, and her time fully occupied. In music and the +earlier branches of English, she had several young pupils; while +for some of the fancy millinery stores of the city, she occasionally +employed her needle on some of those delicate and exquisite ornaments of +female dress which are at once so expensive and attractive. Her labors +were, of course, cheered through constant intercourse by letter with +Barry; and so the time rolled on up to the very point when Nicholas +first applied for his discharge. It may be considered strange, that +Barry had not left the service on his first arrival in Canada; but, +then, let it be understood, that neither he nor Kate had yet acquired +sufficient means with which to begin the world; while both were steadily +accumulating a little, slowly but safely; and when, besides, he felt +assured, that having the means at his command, he could, at any moment, +procure his discharge. We have already said, that owing to his proud +and unyielding nature, he was not a favorite with his officers, and that +such being the case, he never ‘rose above the ranks; but, then, after +all, the most of his superiors had, at times, recourse to his pen and +excellent education in various matters connected with the regiment, +requiting him for his services handsomely enough; but still at enmity +with his Irish blood, and what they feared was, his anti-British +tendencies. Such inducements as these, although accompanied with +drawbacks, moved him to remain in the service for a longer period than +he should have done under other circumstances, and reconciled his lover +to an absence which she believed could be terminated at any moment. And +so time sped with her, until the eve of the very day, on the night of +which Barry and his comrades were to leave the Fort, when returning +towards her home in the direction of Black Bock, from the city, just +as it began to get dusk, she was met by an over-dressed stranger, who +accosting her in a most respectful manner, begged to know if she could +direct him to the residence of Miss Kate McCarthy. + +After recovering her surprise, and casting a searching glance at her +interrogator, she replied, that she was, herself, Miss McCarthy, and +begged to know what was his business with her. The man appeared to +hesitate, as if not crediting her assertion, and proceeded to say, that +he had a message for Miss McCarthy, but that he was led to believe that +that lady was a much older person than the one whom he now addressed. + +“Possibly,” returned Kate, “there is some other lady of my name here; +but if such be the case, I am totally unaware of it. However,” she +continued, “as I expect no message from any person of my acquaintance, +doubtless I am not the person you seek,” and bowing slightly to the +stranger, she turned to pursue her way in the direction of her home. + +“I beg your pardon for attempting to delay you,” rejoined the stranger, +“but after all, you may be the lady I seek. If you are,” he went on to +say, “you will be apt to recognize this token;” holding something in his +hand, which he now thrust out towards her. + +In an instant, her whole manner altered, her cheeks flushed, and a +strange light burned in her eyes, as she exclaimed hurriedly, and while +greatly agitated: + +“Yes, I am the person; let us walk towards the house. It is but a short +distance from where we stand.” + +In a few moments, they were both engaged in the most earnest +conversation, and evidently entering into some stipulation that was to +be carried out without delay. On nearing her residence, however, the +stranger expressed his opinion, that it were better that he should +return to the city at once, and make some arrangements in connection +with the subject of their conversation, whatever that was; enforcing +upon her, in the meantime, the most profound secrecy, and the strange +necessity, above all things, of not informing any of her friends or +relations of the project upon which they had decided. + +“Twelve o’clock, at the Lower Ferry, then!” observed the stranger, as he +turned his face towards the city. + +“Twelve o’clock!” she returned. “No fear! I shall be awaiting you!” + +When she entered the house, with a view to concealing her emotions and +making some secret preparations for the accomplishment of the sudden +project foreshadowed by the words of the stranger, she hastily gained +her chamber. When alone, she gazed confused yet enraptured on the +unexpected talisman that had been given her, and which she still held +firmly in her grasp. Soon, however, becoming more calm, she set about +making such arrangements for her midnight tryst as she conceived +necessary; upon the completion of which, she penned a few lines to her +kind relatives, begging them to make no inquiries after her, as she was +safe; although, for reasons afterwards to be explained, she was obliged +to leave their roof by stealth, and for the moment in utter darkness as +to her destination. She assured them, nevertheless, that although her +conduct was for the present suspicious and inexplicable, she was free +from any taint of wrong, and was only obeying a voice that would soon +justify to the fullest, and before them personally, the step she was +now about to take. This note was left upon her bed-room table, where she +knew it would be discovered; so, after declining to join the family at +tea, on the plea of slight indisposition, she filled a traveling satchel +with what necessaries she thought she might require for the few days she +presumed she should be absent, and extinguishing her lamp at the hour +she usually retired to rest, awaited, alone and in silence, for the +clock to strike eleven; at which time she knew the family would have all +sought their couch and be sunk in slumber. + +From her chamber window she perceived that the lights soon began to +disappear from the casements of the few dwellings that were in the +immediate vicinity of her habitation, and that the quiet of repose +was stealing over the neighborhood. Busied with her own thoughts, +and anxious for the future, the time for her departure drew nigh more +rapidly than she had anticipated; so, when the last stroke of eleven had +died away through the house, she, having previously attired herself +for her journey, and secured, about her person, whatever money she +possessed, took up her satchel, and cautiously descending the stairs, +soon emerged out into the gloomy night, hastily bending her footsteps +towards the place of rendezvouz. + +Here, besides encountering the individual already introduced to the +reader, who was waiting for her, she having had to travel a considerable +distance, and it being now close on midnight, she found a second party +stationed by the side of a good sized boat, into which all three stepped +upon her arrival; the two strangers seizing the oars and striking boldly +out for the Canadian side of the river. Although rapid the current at +the point of their crossing, so admirably did they manage their craft +and lustily did they pull, they did not deviate much from the light on +the opposite shore, which seemed to gleam from some cottage window, and +which they took as a beacon and guide to their course. In the space +of about half an hour, they landed at the point they expected to make, +where they found a team waiting, with a lantern so ingeniously fixed in +the wagon as to be discernible from the American side of the river only; +this being the light by which the two boatmen had steered. + +As they all stepped ashore, Kate had a full opportunity of scrutinizing +the appearance of the second stranger, who aided her in crossing the +river. He was a short, thick-set, heavy man, of a most forbidding +aspect, with a huge mouth and a broad, flat nose, without a bridge. He +wore a blue flannel shirt and a heavy, short over-coat and slouched hat, +and was, taking him all and all, about as villainous a looking specimen +of humanity as one could well meet in a day’s walk. Nor was the driver +of the wagon into which she now was lifted, a very decided improvement +in this relation. He, also, was a most suspicions looking fellow, +although civil enough in his way. Kate felt relieved, however, when her +earliest acquaintance of the evening took his seat beside her, and +when she perceived the man with the blue shirt re-entering the boat and +pushing off for the American shore once again. + +The driver now having adjusted himself in his place in front of Kate +and her polite companion, the whip was laid to the horses, and the party +moved briskly along the bank of the river, until they struck into a road +which evidently led into the interior of the country. This road they +pursued at a slow pace until the first gray streaks of dawn were visible +in the eastern horizon; Kate’s companion, from time to time, making +such commonplace observations as the necessity of the case required; she +supposing that the presence of the driver prevented him from offering +her any farther explanation on the subject of her singular adventure. +Just as surrounding objects were becoming more distinct, they pulled up +before an isolated building, in what appeared to be a country place, and +in which, early as it was, there was some person already astir, as was +evident from the light which shone from one of the windows. + +Here they all alighted and were received at the door of the dwelling by +a middle aged woman, with a strip of red silk bound round her head and +drawn down over one of her eyes. She was dressed in a plain but neat +manner, and exhibited sufficient traits of feminine beauty to recommend +her to either sex. The driver was evidently her husband, and no very +affectionate one either, if the coarse, cold manner in which he received +her welcome could be taken as any indication on this head. However, as +Kate was cold and weary, she gladly accepted an invitation to alight and +enter the building, where she found a large fire blazing and crackling +upon the hearth, in an apartment that was used as a dining-room and +kitchen; although the house was a large one and clearly contained many +apartments. When seated by the fire, and while the driver was seeing to +his horses, her companion, who also seated himself by the warm +blaze, informed her that, for the present, she was at the end of her +journey--that the driver, his wife and a grown up niece or daughter, +were the only inhabitants of the house, and that the place was selected +as her retreat for the time being, for reasons that would doubtless be +explained to her in due time. Although surprised and mystified at all +she had already experienced, she, of course, had not one word to say in +opposition to the disposition that had been made of her; for had she +not in her bosom the guarantee that all was right; so, professing her +willingness to remain in her temporary abode until the period for her +release arrived, and promising to be as patient as possible, under the +circumstances, she begged the woman of the house to show her to her +room, as she needed a few hours rest, to which request her hostess +readily acceded, having first, though in vain, endeavored to prevail +upon her to take some refreshments after her journey. + +The room to which Kate was shown was far from a despicable one, and +possessed many articles of furniture infinitely superior to those in the +department she had first entered. The floor was carpeted, and the chairs +and tables of quite a superior quality; the bed, also, seemed invitingly +clean and comfortable, while some excellent books were to be found in a +small, neat case, standing in one corner of the apartment. On the table +there burned a handsome lamp, and a fire blazed cheerfully in a small, +open stove, as though her arrival had been expected and well cared for. +When her hostess left her, she examined her chamber door and windows, +and found the latter quite secure, while in the lock of the former was +a key, one turn of which would cut her off completely from any intrusion +whatever. Seating herself beside her lamp, she reviewed rapidly the +events of the night, and finding no solution for them, she slowly +undressed, and consigning herself to the care of heaven, was soon lost +in a calm and refreshing slumber, from which she did not awake until the +sun had nearly attained his meridian glory. + +When she opened her eyes and collected her scattered senses, she hastily +arose, and dressing herself, rang a small bell that lay on her table, +and which her hostess desired she should use when she required any +attendance. Immediately a gentle tap was heard at her chamber door, +upon opening which, a young girl, about sixteen years of age, presented +herself with a pitcher of fresh water, begging to know, as she placed it +on the wash-stand, at what period she should bring up breakfast; setting +about opening the windows as she spoke, and otherwise busying herself in +arranging the room. There was something in the appearance of this young +creature, that at once enlisted the sympathy and kindly feelings of +Kate. Her features were strangely handsome and prepossessing, and her +form of the very finest proportions. Her hands, although rough with hard +work, were, nevertheless, small and delicately shaped, while her feet, +notwithstanding that they were encased in a pair of over-large slippers, +were obviously very beautiful. She was tall for her age, and apparently +better educated than her seeming condition in life might warrant. But +what was most peculiar about her, was an air of sadness, that seemed +native to her expressive countenance, and which pervaded her smiles +even, with a strange, subduing power, that nearly allied them to gentle +tears. Her voice, too, was singularly sweet, low and melodious; while +her whole demeanor was so tinged with what might be termed some lone, +hidden sorrow, that Kate felt drawn towards her in a manner the most +unaccountable. In answer to a query put to her, she said she was not, as +was generally supposed, the daughter of the owners of the establishment, +but their niece, as she believed; and that she had now been residing +in the locality for over five years. That her uncle did a great deal of +teaming, and was often from home; and that, in his absence, she and her +aunt took care of a small patch of ground that lay at the back of the +house. She was almost glad, she said, that the lady had come to stay +sometime with them, and hoped that she would allow her to often sit by +her and read during the times her uncle would be away; as it might tend +to beguile many a weary hour; that is, provided the lady would have to +remain any length of time with them. + +There was something in all this which seemed to move Kate strangely. The +expression “almost glad” sounded curiously in her ears, and awakened +in her feelings of a no very pleasurable character. However, she +determined, upon so slight an acquaintance, not to push her inquiries +further just then; and by way of forming a friendly compact with her +attendant, assured her, that so long as she remained in the house, she +should always be happy to have her as a companion whenever she could be +spared from her domestic duties; and further, that it would afford her +the greatest possible pleasure to sit and listen to her, whenever she +could find a moment’s time to either read for her or while away a few +minutes in friendly conversation. This condescension seemed to light up +the face of the interesting young creature with a flush of gratitude +the most ardent; and with a lighter step than that with which she had +entered the chamber, she tripped away, for the purpose of bringing up +the breakfast to which she had already referred. + +When Martha, as Kate’s new acquaintance was called, again entered the +apartment, she was accompanied by her aunt, who was dressed just as she +had been the night before, with the exception that the strip of red +silk had been replaced by a purple band of the same material. As the +breakfast, which was excellent for a country place, was being placed +upon the table, Kate perceived that one side of the woman’s face was +discolored, and being moved to make some inquiries regarding the cause, +was informed, that while breaking up some kindling wood, a splinter +had accidentally struck her face. This went to satisfy her, of course, +although she thought the large, black patch which fell down along the +cheek was singularly dark and wide to be traceable to the small splinter +that the woman asserted to be the cause of it. A strange look from +Martha, too, aroused a suspicion that the origin of the disfigurement +was not that named; so here the matter rested for the present. + +During her repast, she learned from Martha, who remained with her, that +the name of the people of the house was Wilson; that they were English, +and that the person who had arrived in company with her uncle, who was +also English, was called Stephen Smith; but where he resided she was +unable to say. This she knew, however, that he made occasional visits to +the family, and was sometimes accompanied by a very ill-looking man, who +remained a day or two, after having left some boxes or cases in charge +of her uncle, who subsequently disposed of them in some manner unknown +to her. + +“But,” she continued, “I don’t like these men. They always come in the +night, and go away in the night, and are ever whispering; you must not, +however,” she went on to say, “mention this to either my aunt or my +uncle; for, if they should know I had said so much, they would doubtless +be very angry with me.” + +“Oh!” returned Kate, “you may rely upon it, that whatever you may choose +to say in relation to the men in question, or anything else, shall +remain in my bosom; for to betray any confidence of the kind, would, in +my eyes, be criminal in the last degree.” + +“What brought you here, then!--what brought you here!” ejaculated +Martha, in an anxious, nervous tone. “There must be something +wrong!--some treachery, or I am sure a lady so good and pure as you seem +to be, would never cross this threshold.” + +Kate, becoming instantly alarmed, broke off suddenly in her repast, and +begged the young girl, for Heaven’s sake, to be more explicit. + +“I really don’t know what more to say than I have already said,” replied +the girl; “but, as I feel drawn towards you by some invisible power, +short as our acquaintance has been, I will say, that I fear my uncle’s +associates are lawless men, and believe that my aunt knows it, and +regrets it, too. But a few nights ago, when Smith came here to make +arrangements about your arrival, as I suppose, I heard high words +between my relatives after his departure, and, the next morning, found +my aunt’s face just as you have seen it. But we dare not say much in +opposition to any proposition that my uncle might choose to make in any +connection, so violent and brutal is his temper at times. For my own +part, however,” she proceeded, “so soon as I can escape from such +thraldom and associations, I shall try and make my own way in the world; +for my impression is, my uncle has some idea of a union between me and +the detestable creature, Smith, who accompanied you here last night, and +who, after an hour’s rest, was again driven off by my uncle, doubtless +to whatever point he came from.” + +This intelligence, as may be supposed, caused poor Kate the greatest +possible anxiety; but what had she to fear so long as she took the +talisman for her guide? Here there could be no mistake, anyway; for had +she not it in her bosom, and was it not from _him_? Still, that there +was something perfectly mysterious about the whole affair, she was quite +ready to admit; but as she had received the strictest injunctions from +Smith not to permit herself to be seen for the present in the vicinity +of the place, or outside the dwelling, she determined to obey one to +whom no small power in her case had unquestionably been delegated by her +lover. + +During the day Martha and Kate were frequently together--the poor young +girl disclosing her history scrap by scrap, until at last Kate learned +that she was in reality an orphan; that both her parents died when she +was yet quite young; that her aunt, who was possessed of an excellent +education, had been twice married--once to her own mother’s brother, and +subsequently to the man whom she now called uncle; that her own parents +had been Irish, and that on their death, her real uncle became her +guardian and true friend until his death; when, on this second, +unfortunate marriage, the affairs of the family becoming hopelessly +embarrassed, she and her relatives embarked for America, taking up their +abode first in Toronto, and subsequently in the place where they now +resided. In addition, she stated that her opportunities of education +had been good, and that, somehow or other, since she had crossed the +Atlantic, she managed to keep a few choice books about her, and avail +herself of the assistance of her aunt, whenever they could, in the +absence of her uncle, devote an hour to study or the perusal of some new +work. + +The small clearing, on the verge of which the house occupied by the +Wilsons stood, was surrounded with woods, and no other habitation was +to be found in its immediate vicinity. From the morose disposition and +suspicious character of the proprietor himself, but few of the neighbors +were on visiting terms with the family; so that they might be said +to lead a completely sequestered life. From time to time only, an +occasional visit was paid him by some one who stood in need of the +services of his team; and thus his standing in the neighborhood was that +of a suspected or banned man--the general impression being, that he +was neither more nor less than a dangerous and daring smuggler, who was +constantly engaged in the interests of unprincipled merchants on both +sides of the lines. This idea obtained footing from the circumstance +that he had been observed returning late one night from the frontier +with his wagon laden down with suspicious looking boxes and bales; +and from the further fact, that his absences from home were frequently +lengthy and mysterious--no one knowing the precise nature of his +business, or the points to which his journeys were made so often. + +The clearing, itself, was under good cultivation, the spring crops +giving fine promise of an abundant harvest. A short distance from the +house flowed a beautiful brook, whose murmurs occasionally reached the +ears of the inmates; while the thickening foliage of the surrounding +groves, as they might be termed, gave shelter to various birds, amongst +which might now be heard, at early morn and throughout the day, the +clear, round notes of the robin. + +“The robin!”--what on earth has, we should like to know, bewitched +ornithologists to designate the great, coarse, tuneless bird, that +visits us in the earliest dawn of spring, in this far off America, “the +robin?” Neither in throat nor plumage is it even a thirty-first cousin +of the sweet, timid, little, brown bunch of melody that haunts the +hawthorn hedges of Ireland and the sister island, when they are in +bloom, or seeks a crumb at the open casement, when winter ruffles all +its russet plumes, and sets his chill, white seal on all its stores; We +have been often struck with the great dissimilarity between these two +namesakes of the feathered kingdom; for never on these transatlantic +shores have we heard what might be termed a domestic bird sing a song +so sweet as that poured beneath our window in the soft blue haze of an +Irish summer evening, by the genuine robin-red-breast, as he sang the +daylight down the west, through a sky flushed and flecked with azure, +crimson and gold, to such extreme intensity, that the poet or painter +might, at the moment, half indulge in the idea, that the sun had fallen +into curious ruins upon the verge of the horizon. Oh! the silver thread +of such a song, as it flashed and scintillated from that trembling +throat! Never shall we forget it, or the land in which it first wound +itself around our heart. + +But this, we know, is inclined to be sentimental; and as we now have +to do with stern realities, we shall resume the chain of our story +by saying, that after her first day’s residence with the Wilsons, and +finding that the uncle of Martha had no intelligence for her on his +return home on the evening or night succeeding the one of her arrival, +she expressed her great anxiety to Martha, who now devoted every moment +she could spare from her other duties, to the pleasing task of rendering +her solitude as agreeable as possible. + +On the morning of the second day after her arrival she ventured to +ask Wilson if he had any idea of when she was to be relieved from her +embarrassing position. In reply to her interrogatory he assured her, +that he was quite unable to give her any information on the subject, but +was led to believe that she should not be long a prisoner, as he termed +it. All he could say in relation to the matter was, that some person, +with whose name even he was unacquainted, had secured, through a third +party, his services as her host, and engaged the apartment she occupied, +and attendance, etc. In addition to this, he observed, carelessly, that +he was responsible for her safety until the arrival of those who +had delegated to him the right to watch over her and shield her from +observation until the proper moment arrived. + +To all this Kate made no reply; the thought having just struck her, that +Nicholas had perhaps learned of some intended design upon her by Lauder, +and that he took this method of transporting her to some point +unknown to that person, until he himself could offer her his full and +unembarrassed protection. Yet she wondered why it was that he had left +her in such dreadful uncertainty, and did not write her explicitly +upon the subject Again, she was perplexed at the idea that he was in no +position to learn anything of the plots or plans of her rejected suitor, +if he entertained any; so that, upon the whole, she was in no very +comfortable state of mind when she rejoined Martha whom she had left in +her chamber, and whom she now induced to make up a bed upon a sofa and +consent to sleep in her apartment during her stay. + +Martha, on her part, moved by this token of friendship, and while +sitting up late on the very night of the conversation with Wilson, +became mysteriously nervous and, through various vague hints and +insinuations, so far alarmed Kate at last, that the poor girl implored +her new acquaintance to tell her frankly if she knew anything that bore +upon her ease, or the reasons for her being so singularly circumstanced. + +To this solicitation Martha made no direct reply; but rising cautiously, +she stepped lightly towards the chamber door, and opening it softly +put out her head into the passage and listened for a few moments. Then +gently closing the door, she again noiselessly retraced her steps, +and drawing her seat close beside that of Kate, began thus, in a low, +trembling voice, in which fear and agitation were distinctly traceable: + +“Oh! Miss McCarthy, horrible as the disclosure is, I believe that, +instead of a smuggler, which my aunt and I long supposed him to be, my +uncle is a robber, or leagued with robbers! This, for the first-time, +came to our knowledge last night, after his return from wherever he had +been. We had been always accustomed to his bringing here, during the +night, mysterious packages; but as he informed us that they were goods +for merchants who, as he asserted, resided at some distance, we took him +at his word, and when he removed the goods again were, of course, under +the firm impression that he carried them to their owners. However, as +I have observed, on returning last night, when my aunt and I were +assisting him to remove a heavy case from his wagon, while carrying it +into the stable to place it under the hay beneath which he invariably +concealed such things, my aunt and I perceived that, this time, it was +a large trunk that he had brought, and that the lock had given way, +disclosing gleams within it, as though it contained some bright objects. +He did not notice the circumstance of the fastening having failed, and +we did not call his attention to the fact; but permitted him to shake +the hay over it as usual. Subsequently, however, my aunt and I referred +to the matter, when she, taking advantage of my uncle’s sound slumbers, +he having retired to rest before her, went out again and, re-lighting +the stable lantern, removed the covering from the lid of the great +trunk, and raising it, perceived that it contained many valuable +articles of silver and dress; but all evidently old, and huddled +together in a manner the most confused. This almost paralysed the poor +woman, and as I subsequently inspected the package, on her retiring for +the night, I arrived at the conclusion which she had, as she informed +me, herself previously adopted; namely, that the goods were stolen, and +that Smith was in some way mixed up with the robbery.” + +Now, indeed, Kate felt her situation alarming in the truest sense of +the term, and sat looking at her companion in speechless horror and +amazement. Mystery upon mystery it was; but as the dangers that appeared +to surround her, though gloomy, were indistinct, she once more had +recourse to her panacea of the token, and seeking her couch with a +fervent prayer on her lip, was soon, like her young friend on the sofa, +lost in uneasy slumbers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It was on the night of Sunday the 27th of May, 1866, that Barry and his +comrades were to attempt their escape from the Fort; and, as already +seen, it was on the same night that the deserter was conveyed in a cab +to The Harp, by Greaves. Two o’clock in the morning was the time decided +upon, and a rendezvous having been appointed, our hero, who was on +guard, saw, without challenging them, six figures steal by him into +the darkness and immediately disappear. No sooner had the last of them +vanished, than he placed his musket bolt upright in his sentry box, +and the next moment was lost also in the gloom, and in the direction in +which the figures had melted from his vision. Soon he reached the side +of the river, where he found Tom with a boat, beside which stood his +six companions. On recognizing him, they all leaped into the boat, and, +although the moon was in the heavens, sheltered by the dark overhanging +clouds that fortunately filled the sky, they dropped down the river, and +landing Tom at a point previously decided upon, they all wrung his hand +in silence, and once more put forth into the gloom, heading their craft +towards the American shore, under the guidance of a pilot who knew every +island and turn in the channel, and who joined them at the spot where +O’Brien bid them farewell. With muffled oars and in the most profound +silence, they moved along until they arrived at a turn in the channel, +where they were instructed to bend to their work by the stranger who +held the tiller; when, taking heart from their good fortune, for so far, +they made their willing craft almost leap out of the water, as they gave +a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether. + +As day was beginning to shape the world around them, they found +themselves nearing the American shore, and now perceiving themselves +beyond the reach of danger and out of the jurisdiction of the flag they +had so long and so cordially detested, they rested on their oars, and +giving three hearty cheers for the land they were fast approaching, +again set to with a will, and soon found themselves beneath the Stars +and Stripes of the glorious Republic before which all the nations of the +earth now bow, however reluctantly. On leaping ashore, they discovered +a short distance from the water a small village to which, on securing +their boat, they all posted; and having gained a neat little tavern, the +shutters of which were just being opened, they explained their situation +to the proprietor, and ordered breakfast, determined to rest themselves +for a period, and deliberate upon their future movements, although the +destination of Barry had, of course, long been decided upon. + +On hearing that they were deserters from the British army, and that, +without an exception, they were all Irishmen, who had come to the United +States with a view to aiding in any project that had for its object the +humiliation of England, and the freedom of Ireland, the landlord, who +was a six-footer from Tipperary--one of the Cummingses--gave “a yell +out of him” that brought his wife and children in _deshabille_ to the +bar-room door, proceeded by a boy of all work, who evidently shared +their alarm and surprise to the fullest extent; but when, instead of a +bar-room disturbance, they perceived the master of the premises shaking +hands over and over again with the new arrivals, and bidding them +welcome to the land of the free, they soon disappeared from the hall +and regained their chambers, from which they had been so unceremoniously +summoned. Cummings was literally in his glory, and instantly had his +counter be-littered with glasses, bottles and decanters; while, with +genuine hospitality, he made the fugitives partake more than once of +some one of the beverages that he had placed before them. Ere long +a smoking, hot breakfast was in readiness for them, prepared by the +mistress of the house,--herself a comely Irishwoman, with a set of teeth +that you’d almost let bite you, they were so white and sunny, and a +handsome, fair face, with a _cead mille failte_ in every line and dimple +of it. Already the poor adventurers began to feel the exhilarating +effects of freedom, and, as soon as they had satisfied their appetites, +each set about changing his soldier’s coat for a rough, plain one, +which had been provided by O’Brien and his friends, and which they found +awaiting them when they first entered the boat. + +As Barry, who was regarded as chief of the little party, avowed his +intention of pushing on direct for Buffalo, the others, who had no fixed +point in view, determined to join him; so, when they had taken a few +hours repose, they parted from their kind host and hostess, who would +not permit them to pay a single shilling for anything they had drank or +eaten since they entered the friendly hostel. During the time they were +waiting at the railway station, they heard various rumors as to the +intended invasion of the Province they had but just left; and from +numerous significant hints which they had received, they were fully +convinced that some important movement was on foot, which would soon +develope itself in bolder outline. On entering the cars that were to +take them west, they found the subject of Fenianism freely discussed, +and in many cases with a friendliness that showed there was, in some +instances at least, a feeling hostile to England among the American +people. As they pursued their journey and received other accessions +to their numbers as travellers, they found that this aversion was both +widely spread and deeply rooted, so that by the time they reached their +destination, they were fully satisfied that the people of America, and +those of the adjoining English Colony, could never become true friends +so long as the latter adheared to the standard of Great Britain, or +remained part and parcel of the British empire. The antagonism of +institutions, the infamous conduct of England during the late civil war, +and the fixed impression of every true American, that the Canadas +belong of right to the great people who now rule the continent, made it +strikingly apparant that England had but a precarious foot-hold upon the +shores of the New World. + +On the arrival of the train at Black Rock, Barry, who had been +previously informed as to the precise locality in which the relatives of +Kate were to be found, stepped off the cars, informing his comrades +that he would join them in the city during the day. With but little +difficulty he found the dwelling of his friends, and entering it, was +received with open arms, and was instantly asked as to where he left +Kate. For a moment he did not comprehend the question, but when by +degrees he heard the fearful disclosure, that she had secretly left the +house, by night, about a week previously, he fell into a chair, almost +fainting, while the greatest consternation seized all those about him. +Slowly, and with their hearts sinking within them, they recounted the +circumstance of the note that had been written and left for them on +her bedroom table, and the fact of her having taken some of her wearing +apparel with her, but as to where she had gone, or with whom, they +were in the most profound darkness. No one had called at the house,--no +previous intimation had been given them by her as to her intentions; +and, in so far as they were concerned, all was darkness. Lauder, they +knew, had been in the vicinity of the Rock, but then, of course, he +could have had no hand in the strange transaction, as her detestation +of him precluded, as they thought, the possibility of his exercising the +slightest influence over any of her actions. However, she was gone, and +now, as it appeared, was the victim of some horrible plot or mistake +beyond the reach of any elucidation, for the present at least. + +Never was a strong man so bowed to the dust as the poor young fellow who +now found all his hopes so rudely and unexpectedly dashed to the earth. +With a face pale as death he shook throughout every limb in a manner +fearful to behold. In vain he looked from one face to another for some +explanation of the dreadful calamity that had befallen him--all was +dark and blank and silent around him. Even conjecture was paralysed, so +completely was the disappearance of his betrothed enveloped in mystery. +As a preliminary step, to gain even the feeblest information of her, +he did not know how, or when or where to move. Could he get even +the slightest glimpse of any link in the chain, he could set about +unravelling the tangled and gloomy skein; but as it was, he was as +helpless as a child. Secure in her fidelity, however, and trusting to +Providence, crushed as he was, his young heart, after the first blow, +began to rise within him, and collecting himself, he set about making +such enquiries in the neighborhood as he thought were likely to throw +some light upon the subject. In this he was warmly aided by the alarmed +wife of his friend, who learned that on the very evening of the night of +her disappearance, after having given her last music lesson in the +house of one of her pupils, she was seen in company with a man, who +was recognized as no very respectable character, by one of the hands +employed in the rolling mills, who happened to catch a glimpse of them +in conversation as he was returning from his work. The name of this +latter individual having been ascertained, Barry at once visited the +mills and heard, to his consternation, that the suspicious person seen +in company with Kate on the evening referred to, was neither more nor +less than the Kid, previously introduced to the reader, as one of the +keepers of the low gambling house already mentioned, where we first met +him and his partner of the blue shirt, alluded to also as a burglar and +robber. + +This much ascertained, Nicholas prevailed upon the workman to accompany +him to the den in question, into which they accidentally dropped as it +were. The person they sought was, as usual, about the premises; but from +him Barry could gain no information whatever, beyond the circumstance, +that he did remember, about a week ago, accosting a lady near Black +Bock, having taken the liberty of enquiring of her, whether a certain +person whom he was anxious to find resided in the neighborhood. + +“I know that’s a lie,” said the workman, when he and Nicholas had gained +the street once more, “for as I happened to come upon them just as they +were separating, I heard the lady say, before she perceived me, and as I +was turning a corner of the road, ‘I’ll not fail to be there,’ or words +to that effect.” + +To Nicholas this was more perplexing than ever; although he now arrived +at the conclusion, that Kate was the victim of some infamous and +deep-laid plot, and that Lauder was at the bottom of it. But here again +he was embarrassed by the circumstance, that he had never, so far as he +knew, seen her rejected suitor, nor was he known to any of his friends +at the Rock; from the fact that they had left Toronto before his arrival +there, and that, notwithstanding his visits to Buffalo, he had never +crossed their path. All, then, that Nicholas had to stand upon was the +circumstance that she had actually been seen in conversation with the +Kid, and that that worthy had evidently misrepresented the tenor of that +conversation, whatever it might have been. + +The next day after his arrival, Barry, with a heart sore and dark +enough, went in search of his comrades, informing such of them as he +thought proper to admit to his confidence, of the dreadful condition of +his affairs and mind. While sympathising with him sincerely, however, +and offering him all the assistance in their power, they seemed absorbed +with some new subject of importance which appeared to engross no +ordinary share of their attention. Since their arrival, they had learned +that it was a fact and beyond all doubt, that the Fenians were gathering +along the frontier for the purpose of making a descent upon Canada and +securing a foothold upon its shores, with a view to making it the +basis of operations against England in their attempt to secure the +independence of Ireland. One and all they had determined to join the +expedition as volunteers, and Nicholas, who entertained a lurking +suspicion that Kate had crossed the American frontier under some +mysterious impulse or influence, half made up his mind to make one of +the invading army also. This suspicion was based upon the fact of Kate’s +having no friends or relatives in the States, save those at the Rock, +while she had several in Canada in the direction of which she might +have been attracted by letters or representations now a mystery to him. +However, he felt assured that, under any circumstance, she was not to be +found in Buffalo or its vicinity; so, moved by both love and patriotism, +before the evening had set in, he came to the conclusion to join his +comrades in the approaching struggle. + +This resolution once taken, he made instant application to some of the +Fenian authorities of the city, stating the circumstance of his recent +arrival, and quickly found himself surrounded by a host of friends who +were ready to share their last mouthful or dollar with him. During this +juncture, the Irish spirit of Buffalo, strongly impregnated with the +generous national sentiment of America, was discernible upon every side. +The groups of patriots quietly at first arriving from almost every +point of the compass, were received with open arms and the sincerest +hospitality by those who had an interest in the cause of freedom and the +humiliation of the tyrant England. There were, of course, a few British +sympathisers among the people and press who, ignoring their allegiance +to the Union, or the principles for which the heroes of the Revolution +laid down their lives, threw their voice and influence into the scale on +the side of England, but they were in a hopeless minority; as the great +heart of the nation beat steadily in the interests of liberty, and +inspired its sons with all the confidence necessary to the most complete +success. + +To decide, with Barry, was to act. Consequently, now that he had made +up his mind to join the expedition, he at once acquainted his friends +at the Rock, and gave them such information and instructions relative to +Kate as he thought desirable; intimating to them, at the same time, that +he was of the fixed impression that she had, by some means or other, +been lured into Canada; although a telegram, in reply to one dispatched +to Toronto, informed his friends that she had not visited that city +since she left it. Upon further inquiry, however, regarding the Kid, +he learned that that respectable personage, together with his worthy +coadjutor, Black Jack, were in the habit of paying frequent visits to +Canada on the sly; it being thought that they were employed by persons +who were engaged in smuggling. This information he gained while +walking near the breakwater with a new acquaintance well versed in city +notorieties, and who, at the moment, happened to espy a boat known to +belong to the doubtful firm of Jack and the Kid, lying drawn up on the +shore. + +This craft, of course, engaged the attention of our hero, as belonging, +in part, to the individual who seemed to be mixed up in some mysterious +manner with the fate of his beloved. Consequently, he stepped over to it +and casting a glance of scrutiny at the interior, saw something sparkle +among a little sand, that had accumulated at the bottom near one of the +stretchers. Picking it up, he found that it was a handsome button that +had apparently dropped from the dress of some lady. This he examined +with the most intense eagerness; when the thought struck him that it +was very like some buttons that belonged to a dress occasionally worn by +Kate. Of this, however, he was not sufficiently certain; so, thrusting +it into his pocket, he turned away, more perplexed than ever with the +mystery that surrounded him. Hurrying to the Rock with the waif as +soon as he could, he submitted it to his friends, when it was at once +recognized as being similar to a set of buttons worn by Kate, and which +belonged to a dress that, it was believed, she wore on the night of her +disappearance. Corroborative as this evidence was, it availed him but +little for the time being; although it strengthened his resolve to move +with the army of invasion; being convinced that his betrothed had, by +some foul means, been spirited across the borders, and all through the +machinations of her rejected suitor, Lauder. + +And now how he cursed the procrastination that had kept him from +applying for his discharge long since, when he might have procured it +without any difficulty, and have placed her he loved beyond the power +of any villain. Again, he was no longer free to search for her in the +Province; for he was under the ban of military law there, and, unless +supported by a sufficient number of bayonets, could not stem the torrent +that should soon overwhelm him if he re-entered the territories of the +Queen and was discovered. Yet, even death were preferable to the state +of mind in which he now found himself; he therefore at once set to work +to prepare himself for the coming contest, in the hope that when once +across the borders, if even amid the din of war, he might gain some clue +to the fate of all that he now cared to live for. + +As may be supposed, the service of such men as Nicholas and his comrades +were, at a moment so critical, accepted with alacrity by the military +authorities of the Fenian organization of the city. Amongst the various +sterling patriots in power here, both he and his comrades were instantly +taken by the hand and placed in positions where their knowledge of arms +could be made most serviceable to the grand cause in which they had +resolved to embark. They were all Irish, and of that stamp that never +loses color, how fierce soever the scorching fires to which they might +be subjected. Under a special provision, and at Barry’s request, +they were attached to the same company; while he, from his evident +superiority in education and address, as well as from his thorough +knowledge of drill and military tactics, was presented, upon joining +the organization, with a captain’s commission. In the hurry and bustle +attending the note of preparation, he found some slight relief from +the great and overshadowing trouble that darkened all around him; and +finding how necessary it was to keep both mind and body employed, if he +was to retain either health or energy to aid him in any of the important +projects that now loomed before him, he gave no place to useless +repinings, but busily engaged with the necessities of his new avocation, +found the hours slipping by which intervened between the period when +he swore the true fealty of his soul to the flag of his love, and +that which was to see him a hostile invader upon the shores he had so +recently left. + +As the men steadily poured into the city for a short period before the +invasion, and filled the streets and suburbs in groups of various sizes, +it became a matter of general conversation and surprise that, in bodies +so peculiarly situated, and under such seemingly slight restraint, many +of them being far distant from their homes, not a single individual +was to be found who suffered in the slightest degree from even the +appearance of intoxication. Look where you might, there was nothing but +the utmost sobriety and good behaviour. Although the men were, for the +most part, young, and many of them just from the bloodiest fields of the +South, there hung about them an air of serious decorum that argued +well for the mission in which they were about to engage. In addition, +notwithstanding that, in some cases, they were badly housed and +provisioned, a murmur never escaped their lips; nor could the most +bitter of their enemies point to a single act where the law was violated +by any of them, or show that even to the value of one mouthful of bread +had been appropriated to their use without being paid for honestly, or +given to them freely by those who felt for their position. This is so +well known that, even at the period at which we write, upwards of two +years after the occurrence of these scenes, not a solitary fact has come +to light reflecting in any degree upon the honesty, sobriety and good +conduct of these noble patriots, many of whom had left home penniless, +to wage war against a power that had almost every resource at its +command, and which they knew they should meet under circumstances that +could not fail to be disadvantageous to them. + +And here we may observe, history does not record a more daring or +chivalrous project than that entertained by the brave fellows who made +the night of Thursday the 31st of May, 1866, memorable in the annals of +this continent, as well as in those of Ireland. Although laboring under +embarrassments from the most fearful mistakes and criminal neglect of an +individual to whom the grand project of the redemption of Ireland +from the yoke of the oppressor was, in its strictly military aspect, +entrusted in this country--although badly provisioned, uniformed +and equipped--although perplexed with mysterious, contradictory and +imperfect orders, and although, at the very moment of their destiny, +left without the leader whom they were led to expect should command +them, they never lost heart for a moment; feeling that heaven would +raise up amongst them a chief not only competent to meet the emergency +of the moment, but one in whom they should be able to place the fullest +and most enthusiastic confidence. + +And heaven did not disappoint their noble and confiding aspirations; +for, when all looked dark and dreary to the more uneasy of their +numbers, the gallant O’Neill, crowned with the laurels which he had +so nobly won during the war that had then just closed, and true to the +genius of his ancient name and house, stepped in upon the stage, and +grasping the drooping standard of the Irish Republic, held it aloft; +and, fired with the spirit of the “Red Hand” of yore, raised the war-cry +of his race, before which many a Saxon tyrant and slave had trembled in +the days long past. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Philip Greaves received the note from Barry, to the deserter who +was secreted in the suburbs of the city, he proceeded, towards evening, +to the point where the soldier lay concealed, and to which he had been +directed with unerring accuracy. On reaching the house in which the +fugitive was said to be hidden, he found but an old woman, who seemed +neither alarmed nor surprised at his arrival. Upon whispering a word +in her ear, however, a look of intelligence stole into her eyes, and +putting on her bonnet and cloak, in the deep dusk, she motioned him to +follow her, having closed and locked to door behind her. After leading +him but a short distance, among a number of small though clean huts, +she gained one in which the family were seated at their plain evening +repast. As they entered the dwelling, he perceived that there was one +vacant seat at the table, from which some person had evidently arisen +hastily and disappeared from the apartment In the course of a few +moments, however, and on the head of the family having been called +aside by the old woman, Philip was greeted with a hearty welcome, and +instantly led into a little back room, where he found the person whom +he sought, gazing about him with a distrustful if not an alarmed air. +To this individual he showed Barry’s note, which he had previously +abstracted from the envelope, requesting him, as he perused it, to +return it to him again, as he wished to destroy it himself, lest, by +accident, it should fall into other hands, and as he desired to say to +Nicholas that he was personally cognizant of the fact of its being put +out of the way. To this request the deserter readily acceded, as he +would have to any other of a reasonable character, so delighted was he +to receive the assurance that the hour of his deliverance drew nigh. +Here, then, were the particulars of the plan of his escape settled upon. +He was to remain still concealed, until Greaves called for him with +a cab, but was to hold himself ready to quit his hiding place at a +moment’s notice. + +These preliminaries being arranged, Philip left the house and speedily +proceeded to a neighboring hotel, where he procured a private room, and, +calling for pen, ink and paper, at once addressed himself to writing +a letter. Various were the rubbings of hands and sinister smiles which +punctuated this epistle, until at last, on its being finished, he +carefully folded it, and taking from his pocket-book a sealed envelope, +one end of which had been previously opened with great care, and the +superscription completely removed by a cunning process, he took from +another compartment of his book a small note and introduced it into the +envelope, adroitly closing the apperture with a little mucilage, so as +to completely conceal the incision that had been made, and obliterate +every evidence of the envelope’s having been tampered with. This done, +he slowly, and with apparent great caution as to the conformation of the +letters, directed it, and when he found the ink to be completely dried, +enclosed the whole in the letter that he had just written; placing it, +in turn, in a larger envelope which he hastily directed to some party, +from whom he apparently cared but little to conceal his hand-writing. +This accomplished, he called for some brandy, and after paying liberally +for it and the use of the room, directed his steps towards a stationer’s +shop where he purchased a postage stamp which he attached to his letter. +Here, also, he heard the subject of the threatened invasion of the +Province discussed in all its bearings and probable results; and here, +too, the bitter murmurs of discontent regarding the criminal conduct of +the individual to whom the whole interests of the country were entrusted +by the people and the Crown, and who was said to have been already for +weeks in a condition of mind and body absolutely loathsome. Not wishing, +however, to delay the mailing of his letter, he soon found himself +wending his way to the Post-office, where, with his own hand, he +consigned the missive to the care of her Majesty the Queen, by putting +it in the apperture that opened into the letter-box from the street--the +office being already closed. On this, he retraced his steps towards +The Harp, where he so managed to thrust himself in among the struggling +suspicions of O’Brien, as to almost gain the full confidence of that +generous patriot and banish the last doubt from his breast. + +“Well,” said Tom, when he found a fitting opportunity, “how did you find +the poor fellow?” + +“Willing enough to leave the Province,” whispered Philip, “if he could +only manage to get away; but I think that will be easily arranged now, +as the storm about his desertion has blown over.”. + +“On the night after that of to-morrow, then,” returned Tom, “they will +make the attimpt; and as I can get a man to help them who knows every +turn and crank of the river, I have hopes of their success; besides it +will be Nick’s night for guard, and there’s somethin in that, you know; +as they can get out at the point where he stands, without much throuble +to themselves or anyone else. However,” he observed farther, “I hope no +one will let the cat out of the bag, as it would be a cryin sin to +have the poor fellows ‘nabbed’ at the very moment when they fancied +themselves about to brathe the purest air that ever floated benathe the +canopy of heaven.” + +“There’s no fear of that,” replied Greaves, “for you and I only know of +their intentions; although I feel that you are not exactly at home with +me yet, for all your friendly conduct and information; but recollect, +that I’ll perform my part of the contract, and it is for you and them to +do the rest.” + +This speech made Tom feel a little awkward; and he was about to make a +suitable reply, when he was happily relieved by some parties who dropped +in, to command the attention he so willingly accorded at the moment. + +That Greaves puzzled and perplexed him there could be no doubt; but at +no period could that individual elicit from him any information, if +he possessed such, in relation to Fenianism. He, of course, knew that +Philip learned from Barry that there were many soldiers in the Fort who +sympathised warmly with Ireland; but this was as far as he was informed +in the matter. It was obvious, however, that for some reason or other, +he was anxious to fathom the depths of the actual Organization, if such +existed in or about the city; but in every attempt he was foiled; for, +notwithstanding his most subtle attacks, he was met at each turn by a +spirit of reticence which baffled all his ingenuity and led him to the +conclusion that, after all, there were perhaps but slight grounds for +believing that the Brotherhood had any very extensive footing in the +colony. + +Tom sometimes reasoned, that his solicitude on this head was prompted by +patriotic motives; and then, again, the idea used to creep in upon him +that he sought this information for sinister purposes; and thus the +worthy host, trembling in the balance between the two impressions, +kicked the beam on the side of prudence, and if he knew anything of +the movements and intentions of the Organization, kept it to himself; +although the letter in the possession of Greaves might, were he less +cautious, have drawn from him some serious information; for Tom O’Brien +was, at that moment, the Centre of a Fenian Circle, with three hundred +armed men at his command, ready to join the invaders the instant they +entered the Province and planted their standard near him upon British +soil. This being the case, he was well aware of the intentions of the +Brotherhood in the United States; and thus it was, that when he found +Barry could not procure his discharge before the invaders were upon +them, he instantly endorsed the project of his desertion; well knowing +that, should he fail to escape before the hour of the movement arrived, +he should be called to take the field against his countrymen and against +Ireland; and, perhaps, under circumstances that might preclude the +possibility of his acting otherwise than as their enemy. Nor did he +relax in his watchfulness and caution when Greaves even brought the +deserter to The Harp in redemption of his word, or, more remarkable +still, when he learned, on the morning succeeding the night of their +escape from the Fort, that seven soldiers of the Regiment had bid +their commanding officer an unexpected and unceremonious adieu; and +notwithstanding that the garrison was all but alive with sentries and +guards patroling every avenue which led from it, made good their escape +to the American shore, where they were now beyond the reach of the +Canadian or Imperial authorities. + +No sooner had Philip ascertained that the party had made good their +escape, than he himself prepared to bid good-bye to The Harp. O’Brien +was not at all surprised at this sudden resolution, as Greaves had +professed to be daily transacting business; which he asserted might +be brought to a close at any moment. And so he had been transacting +business; for he might have been seen occasionally entering, by stealth, +a certain dwelling in the outskirts of the city where Fenianism and all +Irish Nationalists had their deadliest enemy; but, as already intimated, +this enemy had been rendered powerless by the wine cup for some time +past, so that if there had been any matter of importance to transact +between them, it would have been useless to have even approached it. +Still Philip called and called, but to no purpose; so finding that +he had pressing matters in another direction to claim his immediate +attention, he left the mystified functionary in disgust, casting +a glance at the numerous unopened dispatches on his table, and +congratulating Canada on the possession of such a creditable and +efficient, leading officer. + +Shaking hands with Tom, then, after having honestly liquidated his bill, +our mysterious friend soon found himself on board a train bound direct +for Toronto, where he arrived in due course, amid hosts of rumors, and +military movements which were being accomplished in that reckless and +inefficient haste, that went to prove a screw loose somewhere. Here he +found himself on the evening of the 29th, and being obliged to remain +in the city all the next day, he started the following morning for the +West, when he learned, while journeying onwards, that the Fenian forces +were massed at Buffalo and along the American frontier, and that a +descent upon Fort Erie was sure to take place within a very few hours. +Although he had intended to reach his destination before night, he +was delayed at the various stations, by rumors which tended to make it +important for the train not to proceed in haste, it having been alleged, +more than once, that the Fenian army was already in the Province, and +burning and destroying all before it, In turn, however, each of these +rumors was contradicted; and so the cars proceeded until another was +encountered. In this way the morning of the first of June overtook +him before he had yet reached the point for which he was bound. Now, +however, he ascertained that the Province was, without any manner of +doubt, invaded by the army of the Irish Republic, and that even then the +“Sunburst” was flying over the village of Fort Erie. + +This intelligence seemed to confound him, and to have exceeded anything +that he could have anticipated. He hod fancied that, notwithstanding all +the rumors he had heard within the last few months, there was no real +intention on the part of the Irish Nationalists of the United States to +actually invade the Province; and believed the reports of their +having congregated upon the American frontier as either unfounded or +tremendously exaggerated. Now, nevertheless, they were within a very +few miles of him, and might be upon him and the neighborhood he was +approaching, at any moment. + +There was something in this latter conviction that appeared to move him +greatly as he stepped off the train at Port Colborne, where he found the +inhabitants in a state of the direst alarm. Being a stranger, and unable +or unwilling to account very clearly for his sudden presence here, and +at a juncture when suspicion was so rife and every new comer subjected +to the closest scrutiny, he was put under surveillance and not permitted +to leave the village, as he was about to do, until he had explained his +business to the authorities. Chafing with disappointment and anger, he +was taken into custody and confined in one of the rooms of his +hotel, until a magistrate could be found to look into his case. Here, +notwithstanding his protestations and willingness to prove that he was a +loyal British subject and one of importance too, he was detained nearly +the whole day; tormented by the uncomfortable misgiving that perhaps, +after all his generalship, Nicholas Barry might again be in the Province +and at a point, too, where he should be able to frustrate all the plans +he had laid so deeply and executed for so far with the utmost secrecy +and success. At last, however, a magistrate was found and a private +investigation of his case granted. The examination was brief; for +scarcely had that functionary been closeted five minutes with him, +before he was set at liberty and again stepped forth a free man. + +So utterly helpless were the people of the section of the country in +which he now was, that they must have fallen before any considerable +force of the invaders, had such entered the Province. The greatest +distrust obtained among themselves; there being a strong body of Irish +and Irish sympathisers in their midst, who scarcely cared to hide their +sentiments. And although there was an element in the little town that +was truly loyal to the Crown, yet it is still a matter of doubt as to +its having been in the ascendant, in so far as numbers were concerned. +True, that if the census of the place had been taken at the moment, and +the tendencies of every man registered according to a public statement, +extracted from his own lips, England should have carried the day by an +overwhelming majority, as, on the same basis, she should at this present +hour throughout the whole of the New Dominion. But had one glimpse of a +victorious Irish army been caught in the distance, the case would have +been widely different, indeed; and those who were constrained, through +the force of circumstances, to fall into line with the paid, official +squad who ruled the roast for the time being, would soon hoist their +true colors and step out beneath the folds of that glorious banner of +green and gold before which, with all her boasting armaments, the +tyrant power of England now trembles to its very base. And so it will be +throughout the Colony at large, whenever the Irish Nationalists, or any +other people inimical to England, enter it with a view to tearing down +the skull and cross-bones of St. George, and ultimately replacing it +with the proud and invincible banner of the United States of America. +Not a single doubt obtains in well informed quarters on this head; so +that the tyrant England cannot fail to be swept ultimately from this +continent, never to lift her dishonored head upon its free, historic +shores again. + +And what wonder that the thinking portion of the people of Canada--men +who have its material prosperity and its happiness at heart--should +long for a union with this Republic, with which their interests are so +intimately identified, and upon which they are almost solely dependant +for a market and that good will that is not only necessary to their +peace, but to their very existence? Shut out from the ocean, that great +highway of nations, for six months of the year, they are, almost daily, +at the mercy of the United States for any description of commercial +intercourse, or exchange of thought, in relation to the material +condition of the continent or their own probable future. Lying a frozen +strip against the North pole, with all their available lands settled, if +we are to credit the assertions made by their own statesmen, were this +great Republic to close its doors against them, they should be obviously +cut off, in a measure, from all civilization, and dwarfed both mentally +and physically into the most contemptible dimensions. As it is, they are +depending upon America for every refining and practical influence that +warms their partial life, or gives any value whatever to their social +status. American literature, tastes, habits, inventions and even foibles +color all their internal intercourse; although the fact does not seem +apparent to those who are interested in perpetuating British rule +amongst them, and is denied by others from motives of envy or vanity. +Add to this the circumstance that their government is the most wretched +that could possibly be found among a people professing to be free. +Scarce a single department of it but is stained with fraud of the +vilest description to the very lips, and neither more nor less than an +instrument of public plunder in the hands of corrupt officials. Even +while we write, and for years back, a charge lies in the department of +the Minister of Finance, against the present Premier of the Dominion, +accusing that unscrupulous individual of conspiring with a whisky +dealer, _while he himself was First Minister of the Crown_, to defraud +the revenue--a charge made by the present Assistant Commissioner of +Customs and Excise, whom this same Premier has been obliged to retain +in office to the present hour, with a view to saving himself from +disclosures calculated to drive him from office in disgrace. So dreadful +have been the circumstances of this case, that when an offer was made +subsequently, through the public press, to produce bank, official and +mercantile evidence that the government functionary who preferred this +frightful accusation was dishonest and incompetent, and that he had +purloined public documents and destroyed them with a view to concealing +his crimes, still this Premier dared not summon him to trial, although, +times without number, he gave assurances, as did the then Inspector +General, that the culprit should be brought before the proper tribunal, +and justice done in the premises. But why need we complain, when Canada +takes the matter so coolly; for will it be believed, that these two +worthies--both the accused and the accuser--both disfigured by the most +damning accusations, are still in the pay of the Canadian people, and +have been so ever since the circumstances of their official character +were laid through the daily press before the world. Not a single move +has yet been made in the direction of justice, nor an inquiry instituted +as to the truth or falsehood of these frightful charges. The Premier +still carries the filthy load upon his shoulders, while his subordinate, +of the stolen bank receipts and false report, laughs in his sleeve at +the rod that he holds over his naked shoulders. + +Nor is this more than an individual case amongst others of a similar +class. What of the tens of thousands of the people’s money given, +without the sanction of Parliament, to the Grand Trunk Railway in the +interest of English stockholders; and the postal subsidies handed over +to the same line, in excess of the tender made by the Managing Director +for the carrying of her Majesty’s mails? Was not the government liberal +with the hard earnings of their poor dupes throughout the land, when +they virtually informed the authorities of the Grand Trunk that they +were altogether too modest in their estimates, and that the country +ought not to take advantage of such nice young men, but give them more +than they asked for performing the service mentioned? Glorious! wasn’t +it? We might also allude to the manner in which Sir John A. taxed +the struggling industry of the Province, millions to build up his pet +Parliament Houses at the back of God speed--buildings that almost rival +those of England--and refer also to the delightful manner in which the +Crown Lands were dealt with by another member of this happy family: +citing the case of the Wallace Mine Claim, in which the Commissioner +managed to dispose, at a mere nominal figure, of a portion of the public +domain by private sale among a few of his friends, including a gentleman +presumed to be his own agent, and that, too, in the face of a law which +made it imperative upon the government to advertise all lands in the +_Canada Gazette_ before they were put upon the market. For appearance +sake, the lands were advertised in the _Gazette_; but when a purchaser +dropped in to make inquiries, it leaked out that they had been all +disposed of previously. In this way the business of the people has been +conducted for years; and what is the result? To-day they are without +immigration, trade or commerce--to-day there is no public confidence +existing in any portion of the Dominion; for the government seem to +grasp the purse-strings with one hand while they hold a drawn sword in +the other. There is no security to be found in any corner of the State; +and no projects, formed for the future of its people. To be sure, +certain parties prate and jabber about the Volunteer Service and +national defenses; but what have they to defend? If their frontier were +bristling to-morrow with forts and bayonets, all they could hope to +accomplish would be the shutting out of American liberty and national +prosperity from the people. This must be self-evident to any individual +who is at all conversant with the true nature of the case, or cognizant +of the fact, that there cannot possibly be any hope for Canada so long +as she holds herself aloof from the great social and political compact +of this Union, upon the pulses of which, in her present helpless and +isolated position, she will always have to dance attendance and pay the +piper besides. Either the sunlight or the shadow of the Republic must +fall on her without intermission. If she choose the former, well and +good; let her cut herself free of the despotic tyrant that now holds +her in cunning thrall, and step into the broad effulgence of American +freedom, or if she will it, until circumstances of themselves +precipitate her into the arms of the Commonwealth with less grace than +she might otherwise have fallen into them, let her feel the blighting +influence of the cold clouds that cannot fail to envelope her and +paralyze all her energies in the interim. There is no need of mincing +the matter--Canada beneath the skull and cross-bones of St. George, must +ever remain a poor, puny starveling; while under the proud and ample +folds of the glorious flag of this mighty Republic, she should at once +become great, powerful and prosperous, as yet another star added to the +refulgent galaxy that now rides high amid the noontide of nations. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +One grand evidence of the deep rooted sentiment that actuates Fenianism +in the great Irish American heart, is to be found in the fact, that at +the time of the Pittsburgh Convention, the Organization was in debt, +and that within the brief space intervening between that period and the +invasion of Canada, the Brotherhood armed and equipped thousands upon +thousands of their number, and still had not expended the last dollar +in their treasury. This is, of itself, a most significant fact, and one +that goes far to exalt the Irish element on this continent in the eyes +of both soldiers, citizens and statesmen. The abiding faith of our +people in the justice of their cause, and the fixed conviction that it +shall one day triumph, enable them to deal with reverses and opposition +in a manner at once intelligent, dignified and philosophic. They know +that repeated failures have been the crucible in which the holiest and +the most successful projects have been tried in all ages; and, like that +of the spider of Bruce, the heart never fails within them. Amongst them, +too, were found upon the eve of their descent upon the Province, as +well as long previous to it, men of undoubted patriotism, genius and +chivalry. And at no point was this more obvious than at Buffalo. We say, +more obvious, for we know that scarce a city, town or village in the +State, and far and wide outside it, but contained just us good men and +true as were possessed by Buffalo; but we refer to it thus particularly, +as it is more immediately connected with our tale. We could mention many +names as sterling in every relation as those we now introduce; but none, +we apprehend, more intimately blended with the actual descent of the +brave O’Neill upon Canada, save the handful of heroes who joined him +in that proud and daring expedition; and none which, in the hour of +the sorest need of the Organization, sacrificed more for the sake of +Ireland. + +When the moment was considered ripe for the movement, then, the eyes of +the Fenian authorities were turned towards Buffalo, and other points +on the frontier lying close upon the Canadian borders. In this city, +Francis B. Gallagher, Esq., and five or six others were regarded as +marked personages towards which a peculiar portion of the movement +should gravitate before finally crossing the lines. These gentlemen, +from their independent circumstances, excellent social standing and +undoubted patriotism, were regarded as pillars of strength upon which +the expedition might properly lean for a moment, and adjust itself +before attempting to cross the Rubicon and enter the country of the +enemy. There were more, also, in this city, who evinced a spirit of the +truest love of Ireland upon that occasion, as upon all previous once, +and who assisted in forwarding the grand objects of the organization +to the utmost stretch of their abilities, but as their names are too +numerous to mention here, and as they had their counterpart, as they +have to-day, in various localities throughout the Union, we shall merely +note the circumstance of their existence. As to the Brotherhood in +its military aspect here, no portion of the State or Union was better +represented in this connection, or more competent to distinguish itself +upon the field. Its civil relations, also, were equally creditable; Mr. +Gallagher, as the period for action approached, becoming active, anxious +and restless; devoting his time assiduously to the affairs of the +Brotherhood, and constantly communicating with headquarters on some +point of importance. And thus affairs stood when the first draft of +men arrived in the city under Senator Bannon, of Louisville, Ky., and +Senator Fitzgerald, of Cincinnati, and when the movement on Canada might +be said to have fairly commenced. + +Soon, however, it began to be discovered that, although Buffalo, and +other places, were alive to their duty and ready to contribute their +quota to the expedition, there was a screw loose somewhere; and on the +evening of the thirty-first of May, it was ascertained that, although +numbers of volunteers had arrived from various points, through the +unfortunate neglect or incapacity of the then Secretary of War, there +was no one to command them. This was a dreadful state of affairs indeed, +and one which admits of no palliation. It was expected that General +Lynch, or some other distinguished officer, would take charge of the +expedition from this point; but that gallant and experienced soldier, +owing to the receipt of incorrect orders, did not arrive in time to +assume the command. Up to this point, and for some time previously, +matters had been conducted in a manner so careless by the War +Department, that the mere casual observer might reasonably presume some +parties connected with it courted failure. Arms and ammunition had been +despatched to the frontier without due precaution, and to parties to +whom they ought not have been transmitted, for various reasons. Again, +the massing of forces at the various points of debarkation was neither +compact nor simultaneous,--a circumstance which occasioned so much +delay, that the American government could not possibly close their eyes +to the fact of the invasion, without compromising themselves before +the world. Had one simultaneous and compact movement characterized the +expedition, the American authorities would never have interfered with +it; but when it was rubbed under their nose for days, through the +blundering or criminality of those who undertook to direct it from the +War Department, what was to have been expected other than is now known +to have occurred? + +In addition to this, no transport had been actually secured for the +troops that had arrived at Buffalo, and the dilemma was intensified +to the extremest pitch. What ship-owner, in the face of such bungling, +would run the risk of placing any of his vessels at the disposal of a +party so uncomfortably situated? That was a question which presented +itself at the last moment, and which was more easily put than answered. + +When all was dark and uncertain, however, and when the heart of many +began to fail, in stepped the gallant O’Neill upon the platform, +offering to command the expedition. He had arrived previously from +Nashville, Tenn., with his contingent, and felt how dreadful the +position in which the project was placed. A council of war was held, +at which Captain Hynes was present; and as this latter gentleman had +delegated authority from Gen. Sweeney, Colonel O’Neill--now General--was +at once placed in command. So far so good; but how were the troops to +get across the river? The interrogatory, as already observed, was a +perplexing one; but it was instantly solved by Mr. Gallagher and one or +two other gentlemen, who voluntarily, and at the imminent risk of every +dollar they possessed, pledged all they were worth in the world, and +procured the necessary means for crossing the river, and landing the +first instalment of the army of the Irish Republic upon British soil. + +The number of men assembled at Buffalo on the night already mentioned +was about eight hundred,--being detachments from the following +regiments:--13th Infantry, Colonel John O’Neill; 17th Infantry, Colonel +Owen Stan; 18th Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Grace; 7th Infantry, +Colonel John Hoy, and two companies from Indiana, under Captain +Haggerty; but the number of men that could be gotten together when the +expedition crossed did not exceed six hundred. + +An authentic report of this brief but glorious campaign will be found at +the close of this work. We introduce it as historical information, from +a most unerring source. The subject, it will be perceived, is treated +in the most impartial and unimpassioned manner; dealing simply in dry +details, and in that curt, soldier-like matter of fact style, which aims +at nothing like effect, and seeks only to recount circumstances as they +occurred, and that, too, in the briefest possible manner. + +Scarcely had the last boat, with the invading expedition, pushed off +from the American shore, on the night of the 31st of May, already +mentioned, when another craft, pulled by two men, its only occupants, +followed in the wake of the receding troops, dropping a little further +down the river, as it neared the Canadian side. From their dress and +appearance, the rowers might have been recognized by many a Buffalonian, +as Black Jack and the Kid, who were evidently bent upon dogging the +invaders, and, while keeping at a safe distance, dealing in such plunder +on their outskirts as might swell their own villainous coffers, while +the criminality should attach to the Fenians. This course was prompted +on their part by a sort of blind, bull-dog adherence to everything +English, and a hope of picking up in the red trail of the campaign such +valuables as would increase their already large though ill-gotten store. + +On reaching the Canadian shore, both these worthies, who had but a few +nights previously conveyed Kate across the Niagara, set out for the +village of Fort Erie, which lay about four miles up the river, and which +they did not wish to approach directly from the American side, but creep +towards in the rear of the moving mass. + +Under no circumstances does the human wolf exhibit itself to such +monstrous intensity as under those of war. Not the wolf in the uniform +of the soldier, for, let him be as blood-thirsty as he may, he buys, on +the field, to some extent at least, the right to be savage. The current +coin in which he deals is human gore; and in this relation he freely +exchanges with his antagonist the circulating medium, and gives or +takes, as the necessities of the moment may demand. He stands a nine-pin +on the great bowling-alley of the field, and takes his chance of being +knocked down in common with his opponent, who occupies a precisely +similar position. He offers life for life; and, lamentable as the +doctrine may be, he seems licensed to plunder, and, if needs be, kill. +Here, of course, we speak of the mere hireling, who has no higher object +before him than that of simple gain--who is actuated solely by a sordid +love of gold--whose soul and body are as purchasable as a pound of beef +in the shambles, and who is moved by the wretched pulses of mammon only. +Such an one, although low in the scale of humanity, and unworthy +of being mentioned in the same breath with the glorious patriot who +unsheathes his sword for Father-land, Liberty and Heaven, is an angel +of light compared with the lynx-eyed, dastardly prowler, who, when the +heart of his quarry has been stilled by some other hand, gropes, gloved +with clotted sore, among the mangled remains for the booty he never +earned; or who, when the thunder of the field, or the onward course of +a victorious army lays waste the fair land, takes advantage of the dread +and confusion of the inhabitants, and gorges himself with plunder, as +though he were a victor to whom should belong the spoils. Such wreckers +of the dead are the ghouls of our race; and never had they more faithful +representatives than the two villains who, in due course, mingled with +the invaders in the village, anxious to commence their depredations +before even a single shot was fired. + +Barry, as already intimated, joined the expedition, and was now numbered +among the invaders. Of course he perceived that with such a mere handful +of men, nothing could be effected in the Province; but, then, he +never supposed for a moment, that they were other than the simple +advance-guard of a numerous following close upon their rear. In +addition, it was anticipated that the landing of troops upon the +Canadian shore would be effected simultaneously along the frontier at +different points. This was the settled conviction of O’Neill, and of his +officers also, as the scheme formed a leading feature of the +programme of the campaign. But here the fates were against them; for +transportation, as we are led to believe, was not secured effectively +at any point save Buffalo. In fact, this city appears to have acquitted +itself with regard to the invasion, in a manner that reflects the +highest credit upon the Fenian authorities of the district; for even +when the expedition, on finding that the American Government had +interfered with the transport of reinforcements, had considered it +prudent to return, the means of reaching the American shore were placed +at its command by the patriotic gentlemen already alluded to; while, +farther still, when the United States authorities were seizing the arms +of the Brotherhood in every direction, Buffalo, through the admirable +management of these persons, contrived to keep its quota intact. + +During the morning of the landing, Nicholas happened to get a glimpse +of the Kid and big dark companion in the village; and the circumstance +awoke strong hopes in his bosom in relation to gaining some intelligence +of Kate. From all he had heard, and from having found the trinket in +their boat, he felt convinced that either one or the other of these +scoundrels knew something of her. He, therefore, kept track of them +until a fitting opportunity, when he accosted the Kid, as a sort of +half acquaintance, and, by way of attempting to surprise him into a +confession of some knowledge of Kate, produced the silver chased button +already referred to, and asked him if he knew the name of the lady that +had recently dropped it in his boat. For a moment the villain, who was, +of course, none other than the Stephen Smith that was in the habit +of visiting the Wilsons, seemed taken aback; but instantly recovering +himself, replied, that his boat was so often hired by fishing parties, +it would be difficult to tell the name of the lady from whose dress it +might have dropped--that was, “provided it had dropped from a lady’s +dress, at all.” + +Although the thrust was adroitly parried, Nicholas, who was on the _qui +vive_, noticed his momentary confusion, and determined to keep his eye +upon him, in the hope that something might soon turn up that would throw +the villain more completely into his power, and enable him to extract +from him the intelligence which he still felt satisfied was in his +possession. With this end in view, he set one of his comrades, who had +escaped from the Fort with him, to watch with the utmost caution +and secrecy every manoeuvre of the wretch and his companion; fully +satisfied, as he was, that both the rascals were determined to follow in +the wake of the army, for purposes already mentioned. + +The conduct of the Invaders at Fort Erie was of such general excellence, +that the inhabitants of that place speak of them, up to the +present hour, in terms of such admiration as to excite the +jealous animadversions of many of the Canadian people themselves. +Notwithstanding that the village and its vicinity lay helplessly at +their disposal, and was, for the moment, theirs by right of conquest, +they entered it rather in the character of guests than in that of +masters. Although the usages of war placed all that it contained at +their feet, they never appropriated to their use even one solitary loaf +of bread or glass of ale without having first paid for it. As to their +generosity and chivalry in this connection, let us quote from the work +of Major George T. Denison, Jun’r, commanding “the Governor General’s +Body Guard,” Upper Canada; author of “Manual and Outpost Duties,” + “Observations on the best Defensive Force for Canada, &c.”--an officer +who took part in the campaign against the Fenians, and who cannot be +charged with partiality to the invaders. In this work, published in +June, 1866, by Rollo & Adam, Toronto, and entitled “The Fenian Raid on +Fort Erie, with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway,” the author, +page 62, observes, first, as to the disastrous result of the collision +between both armies, to the Canadians:-- + +“The loss of this fight was the loss of the whole expedition. The two +Commanding Officers were wandering about the country, the main body of +the men captured or lying wounded about the village; the Captain of the +Artillery struck down with the loss of a leg, and the Tug almost denuded +of men, and the few left so hampered with a lot of useless prisoners, as +to be unable to undertake anything.” + +And again, after having complimented the invaders on some instances of +personal bravery, he remarks, page 69: + +“Before closing this chapter, I must mention that, from all accounts, +the Fenians, except in so far as they were wrong in invading a peaceful +country, in carrying on an unjustifiable war, behaved remarkably well +to the inhabitants. I spent three weeks in Fort Erie, and conversed with +dozens of the people of the place, and was astonished at the universal +testimony borne by them to their unvarying good conduct. They have been +called plunderers, robbers and marauders; yet, no matter how unwilling +we may be to admit it, the positive fact remains, that THEY STOLE BUT +FEW VALUABLES; THAT THEY DESTROYED, COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, LITTLE OR +NOTHING, AND THAT THEY COMMITTED NO OUTRAGES UPON THE INHABITANTS, BUT +TREATED EVERYONE WITH UNVARYING COURTESY. On taking a number of the +Welland Battery and the Naval Company prisoners, THEY TREATED THEM +WITH THE GREATEST KINDNESS, putting the officers under their parole +and RETURNING TO THEM THEIR SIDE ARMS; taking them down to the wharf on +their departure, and releasing them, bidding them adieu with EXPRESSIONS +OF GOOD WILL.” + +“Another incident,” he goes on to say, same page, “occurred, worth +mentioning: A number of them went to a widow lady’s house, near Fort +Erie, and asked her for something to eat. They were about going into the +kitchen to sit down, and she told them she would not let them in,--they +laughingly replied, ‘very well, ma’am, we’ll do here very well, it is a +very nice yard;’ and accordingly they sat down on the grass and ate the +bread and butter and milk she gave them. Another squad in the same +way took breakfast there. In the evening a man came, ragged and tired, +looking for something to eat. Seeing a loaf of bread on the table he +took it up. The lady said: ‘That is the last loaf I have.’ The man +looked at her and said slowly: ‘Is that the last loaf of bread that you +have? then I’ll not take it,’ and laid it on the window-sill. Seeing +this, she asked him to take half. After pressing it upon him, he at +length took a portion of it. This story is undoubtly true, as I obtained +it from the lady herself, with whom I am intimately acquainted.” + +“It perhaps,” he continues in the next paragraph, page 70, “does +not come with a good grace from a Canadian to give any credit to the +Fenians, who, without any ground of complaint against us, invade our +country and cause the loss of valuable lives among us; but as a truthful +narrator of facts, I must give them credit on the only ground on which +they can claim it.” + +This is honest and soldierly on the part of Major Denison; but should +these pages chance to meet his eye, he will find his theory untenable in +relation to the immunity of Canada from the consequences of any acts for +which England may seemingly be responsible only. The war of 1812 was +not a war against Canada, but against Great Britain, and yet Canada was +invaded by the Americans and made the principal theatre of the +conflict. How multifarious soever, or widely scattered its colonies or +dependencies, every nation is a unit, and consequently amenable as well +in detail as in the aggregate, for any offence committed against public +justice or humanity. When you quarrel with a man, you don’t quarrel in +particular with his eye, his foot, or his nose, although you may punish +him as a whole by inflicting injury upon all or any of these organs; and +thus it is in the case under consideration; the New Dominion is the foot +or the eye or the nose of John Bull, and as such, any enemy of England +is justifiable in maiming him in any or all of these parts. This is +the hard logic of the point; and if Canada wishes to escape its +consequences, she must demonstrate to the Irish people, or to any other +who may be at enmity with England, that she is neither part nor parcel +of the British Empire. How ridiculous the plea set up by Canada, that +because she was not forsooth an active individual agent of gross tyranny +and injustice towards Ireland, she ought to be exempt from any of the +consequences arising to the real culprit in the case. The same argument +might be urged with as much reason, by half the population of England +herself, who are just as innocent in this respect as the people of +Canada; they having never been consciously concerned in any oppression +of Ireland, either individually or collectively. But they are the +friends, allies and abettors of the government which has perpetrated +such crimes in relation to Ireland,--nay, more, they create and sustain +the agencies through which these wrongs are committed; and in this +they are joined heart, hand and soul, by the people of Canada or the +representatives of that people. Canada, then, having sworn allegiance to +the Crown of Great Britain, is constructively, as well as virtually, +as much an enemy of Ireland as England is. The Firm, comprising Great +Britain and all its colonies and dependencies throughout the world, is +known as John Bull & Co., and the distinctive sign of the house, in all +its ramifications, is the Union Jack or some adaptation of the red +cross of St. George to local predilections. As in ordinary mercantile +transactions, a debt incurred by any branch of the establishment +involves the responsibility of the whole, and can be levied for +in London or Hokitika. This is the true state of the case, and any +individual who would advance a doctrine contrary to it, is either a +simpleton or a knave. + +Black Jack and his companion were astonished to find such order reign in +the midst of an invading army, and to perceive that the inhabitants +of the village were not subjected to instant plunder, if not fire and +sword, by the troops now in possession of the place. They had come over +in the hope of being able to make some bold strokes in the wake of the +soldiery, and the confusion that they had fancied should obtain among +the people; but finding that they were foiled in this direction, they +cast their eyes about them to see what was best to be done under the +circumstances. + +“I’ll be blowed,” growled Jack, as they both rambled in the outskirts +of the village the morning of their arrival, “if this ain’t a go. Honly +fancy, Kid, vot a set of spoonies these ‘ere fellows har, not to be goin +it like the Hinglish in Hindia, or in the Peninsoola under the Duke. I +‘eard a fellow as vos there say, that they used to steal hoff at night +and ‘av hodd sport and leave none to tell the tale in the mornin. +Glorious, vosn’t it? And then ven they gathered hup the svag, they +made it hall right vith the sentries and sometimes vith the hofficers +themselves.” + +“Jack, I’ll never make anything of you,” returned the Kid; “your +language is so vulgar, and your address altogether so ungentlemanlike, +that you at once peach on yourself; for anybody, with even half an eye, +that either sees you or hears you speak, would take you for the villain +you unquestionably are.” + +“Oh! bless’ee, but you’re a sveet cove,” rejoined Jack, “and no vun +vould suppose for a moment that you cut Sal Gordon’s throat, the night +you coaxed her hoff to marry her, just because you took a fancy to a +couple of five-pun notes she had in her trash-bag that she refused to +give hup afore the knot vos tied.” + +“Come, come,” winced the Kid, “no more of that, but let us see if we +can’t do a little business here, or, at least, before we return, which +I venture to say we shall manage if we keep in the wake of these fellows +without arousing the suspicions of any of them.” + +“Yes, yes!” said Jack, “but vot hif ve should run foul of the henemy and +be taken hup as belongin to these ‘ere chaps, hif so be they’re beaten, +as I hope they vill?” + +“I tell you what, there’s but one chap among them all that’ll keep +his eye on us,” replied the Kid, “and that’s the fellow who thought to +surprise me into a confession, by suddenly producing a button that, I +apprehend, dropped off the dress of the lady that we, recently ran over +here for our new employer. I have found out his name, and learned that +he was engaged to be married to this same beauty, who is now safely +caged at Wilson’s, where she’ll soon be apt to learn that she’s in about +as nice a fix as ever she was in during her life. But,” he continued, “I +don’t know what to make of that Martha. All I can do or say, whenever I +happen to be at the house, has no other effect than that of apparently +making her more and more opposed to her uncle’s wishes, until I am +convinced shell never be mine, willingly at least. And after all, I love +the girl well enough; although I feel I should kill her before she was +mine a month.” + +Thus baffled and circumscribed, these two scoundrels prowled about the +village until near ten o’clock, when the troops moved down the river +about four miles, and went into camp at Newbiggin’s farm. At this period +the gallant O’Neill was in great uncertainty. Here he was in an enemy’s +country with but a handful of men, and in utter darkness as to what was +going on at other points. Already, at Buffalo, he had a taste of the +manner in which the War Department had conducted the expedition to +that point; and was, of course, afraid that the inefficiency of that +department would make itself apparent in more relations than one. In +the ability, activity and devotion of President Roberts, Vice-President +Gibbons and the Senate, he had the fullest confidence; but Col. Roberts +did not take it upon himself to dictate to a department that was in +charge of what was believed to be an old and experienced military +officer, and one on whose judgment and practical skill he placed the +fullest reliance. The position was a desperate one; but O’Neill was +determined to maintain his ground on British soil, until satisfied that +failure had obtained elsewhere, and that there was no probability of his +being reinforced. He had long burned for an opportunity of meeting the +enemies of the land of his birth in open fight; and now, although all +around looked dark and uncertain, he was determined to join issue with +any force that was brought against him. His men for the most part, too, +shared this sentiment. True, that a few cowardly hounds had deserted his +standard almost as soon as it had been unfurled on the enemy’s +shore; but then these were of that miserable breed that always attach +themselves to expeditions of this sort without measuring their motives +or the strength of their principles. However, be this as it may, they +have forever forfeited their claims to the name of Irishmen, if such +they were; while the very recollection will be painful to many, that so +dastardly and worthless a crew tainted, even for a single moment, the +pure atmosphere in which such men breathed as the following, not to +speak of the noble rank and file whose names we are unable, for obvious +reasons, to give here, and who, like them, led by the gallant O’NEILL, +immortalized themselves on the field of Ridgeway: + +_OFFICERS OF THE I.R.A., PRESENT AT RIDGEWAY_. + + Lieutenant RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK, Aid-de-Camp to O’NEILL. + + Colonel OWEN STARR, commanding Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant Colonel JOHN SPAULDING, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Captain TIMOTHY O’LEARY, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Captain JOHN GEARY, Lexington, Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant PATK J. TYRRELL. Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant MICH’L BOLAND, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + + Colonel JOHN HOY, Buffalo, commanding 7th Regiment I.R.A. + Lieutenant Colonel MICH’L BAILEY, Buffalo, 7th Regiment I.R.A. + Captain JOHN M. FOGARTY, Buffalo. + Captain WM. B. SMITH, Buffalo. + Lieutenant EDW’D LONERGAN, Buffalo. + + Colonel JOHN GRACE, Cincinnati; commanding Ohio troops. + Captain SAM SULLIVAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. + Lieutenant JOHN J. GEOGHAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. + + Captain ---- BUCKLEY, Cleveland, Ohio troops. + Lieutenant TIMOTHY LAVAN, Cleveland, Ohio. + + Captain ---- McDONALD, Pulaski, Tennessee. + + Captain LAWRENCE SHIELDS, Nashville, commanding Tennessee troops. + Captain PHILIP MUNDY, Chattanooga, Tenn. + Lieutenant JAMES J. ROACH, Nashville, Tenn. + Lieutenant JOHN MAGUIRE, Nashville, Tenn. + + Captain MICH’L CONLON, Memphis, Tennessee. + + Captain ---- HAGGERTY, Indianapolis, Indiana. + + Major JOHN C. CANTY, Fort Erie, C.W. + +We trust that we have not omitted here the name of any officer present +at Ridgeway. If it should ever appear that we have done so, it will be a +source of great pain to us, although we can plead in apology that every +effort was made on our part to procure a complete list. + +Seeing that there was not much to be made out of Fort Erie, the two +comrades, Black Jack and the Kid, moved cautiously in the rear of the +troops as they fell down the river; their intention being to remain +concealed in the vicinity of any point at which an engagement might take +place, and then trust to chance for an opportunity of rifling the dead +or picking up whatever spoils happened to drop in their way. While +deliberating upon this creditable resolve, about noon, as they had made +a detour and pushed ahead of the troops, who were going into camp, their +attention was arrested by the noise of some vehicle coming up a side +road across which they were wending their way. In the course of a few +moments they discovered that it was the wagon of Wilson, driven by that +worthy, in the direction of the village of Waterloo; he evidently not +having, as yet, heard of the Province being invaded. Immediately a +conference took place between the three friends, when it was agreed that +Wilson’s wagon should be concealed in a wooded hollow close by, and that +it should be made the receptacle of whatever plunder might be +secured during the struggle that they all felt must soon take place. +Consequently, the team was turned aside, and, after being unhitched, was +secured in a close clump of trees, that was not likely to be visited by +any persons in the vicinity; and more particularly so, when the country +was now being alarmed throughout, and people were securing themselves in +their habitations. + +After this being arranged, and the horses fed and watered, the party +again sallied forth towards the main road, with a view to getting +as near as was safe to the camp of the invaders, and gleaning some +information as to their future movements. They had been hovering about +in this way for some time, when they came to a point where two roads +met, and where they perceived two wagons in which were a number of +people, all standing and reconoitering something, in alarm or surprise, +through a field-glass, which they were passing from one to the other. +At a glance the trio saw that these persons were Canadians; and, fearing +nothing, they made instantly towards them, and as though in ignorance of +what had taken place, made inquiries as to what they were inspecting. + +While engaged in conversation upon this point, and learning that those +in the wagons were observing a body of armed men who were moving at some +distance from them, but whom they could not identify as either friends +or foes, the whole party perceived an officer riding towards them with +the greatest apparent coolness and confidence. On coming up, he informed +them that the body of men in the distance were some volunteers who were +not very well acquainted with the roads about there, and that he would +feel obliged if they would just drive down and give the commanding +officer whatever information was in their power upon the subject of the +best route to be taken to a certain point, naming it. To this request +they all gladly acceded, the Kid and Jack not daring to say a word, and +not one of them suspecting anything from the peculiar uniform of the +officer; from the fact that they were not aware the hat indicated that +he did not belong to any Canadian force; believing, as they did, that +the uniforms of the volunteers were of various descriptions. When, +however, they arrived at the point where the men were stationed, they +quickly found out their mistake, and, to their utter consternation, were +all made prisoners, Wilson and his two companions included. The body +that made this capture was a reconnoitering force commanded by Col. John +Hoy; and no sooner was it made, than the prisoners and the two wagons +were at once forwarded under an escort to O’Neill’s camp, where, on the +Kid and Black Jack being recognized as belonging to Buffalo, they were +released at once; the others being held for a short period with a view +to gaining some information from them, relative to the movements or +whereabouts of the enemy, of which, as it subsequently turned out, they +knew nothing whatever. + +This introduction to the camp was considered fortunate by the Kid and +his comrade, who now, on being acknowledged by some of the men who knew +nothing of their real character, seemed anxious to remain under the +protection of the Irish flag until, as they stated, they could effect +their escape across the river; as they now averred that, should they +attempt to regain Buffalo alone, they could not fail to fall into the +hands of the Canadian forces, who, it was rumored, were gathering on +every side of the Fenian army, with the design of surrounding it and +cutting off its retreat. This all seemed natural and reasonable enough; +and more particularly as the two villains asserted that they were on +their way to Chippewa on business of importance, but should now get back +to their home as soon as practicable; they not having had any idea that +the invasion was about to take place; and having crossed to the Canadian +side early the evening before; that finding they could not get any one +to recross the river with them, as things stood, they thought it better +to keep in the wake of the army until they had reached some point where +they could effect a crossing; not wishing to entrust themselves to the +people of Fort Erie, after the troops had evacuated that place, as they +felt certain that the inhabitants regarded them as Fenians, and would +treat them as such if an opportunity was afforded them to do so. + +During the day nothing of interest transpired, until towards evening, +when Barry, with two of his old comrades and four others of his company, +who were thoroughly acquainted with the locality, were despatched +from the camp, as were similar squads in other directions, to make +reconnoissances of the enemy, if they were anywhere near the main body +of the army. After proceeding cautiously for a couple of miles, and +pausing, from time to time, to reconnoitre, on gaining the verge of a +small piece of wooded land, they suddenly found themselves almost face +to face with ten or twelve armed soldiers, in British uniform, who +seemed to be an outpost lying in wait among some pine shrubs, on the +opposite side of a narrow ravine. Fortunately for our hero, he was +the first to discover the red coats, upon whom the sun was pouring its +declining rays, revealing them to the green coats, while at the same +time it dazzled and obscured their vision, from the fact that the +light flashed full in their faces, while it fell on the backs of their +advancing adversaries. A few hundred yards towards the upper end of the +ravine, there was a small patch of wood, through which Barry instantly +determined to move towards the point occupied by the enemy; hoping to +be able to surprise them before they were aware of his proximity. This +manoeuvre was accomplished rapidly, and with the utmost caution; but as +an open space yet intervened between him and them, when he had gained +the verge of the grove, he determined to remain under cover, with a view +to ascertaining the strength of the force he might have to cope with; +not knowing but it was larger than it seemed to be from the opposite +side of the glen. + +Here, however, he had scarcely halted when he was discovered by the +enemy, who took alarm; but, after a moment’s pause, during which a good +deal of coolness was observed amongst their ranks, they deliberately +poured a volley into the grove where he and his little band stood under +shelter, although discernible among the trees. No sooner had the music +of the bullets ceased, and as a full view was had of the force of the +enemy, than the Fenians dashed across the open space already mentioned, +and charged in a spirited manner, although received by the foe with +the utmost intrepidity, and an evident intention to work some mischief +before they retired from the spot. Barry, however, instructed his little +band not to fire until within a few yards of their antagonists, who were +now coolly reloading; so, before the redcoats were again prepared to +give another volley, one simultaneous crash of the Fenian rifles threw +them into momentary confusion; and, the next instant, both parties were +closely engaged in a life and death struggle. + +The fire of the Fenians had made sad havoc amongst the small force, +which was now cut down to the proportions of that of their own; still +those that remained never swerved an inch, but joined with their +adversaries, hip and thigh. There was but one volley fired on +either side; and, now that the shrubbery was so thick and withal so +inconveniently high, both parties had recourse to their side arms to +decide the day. Hand to hand, and desperately they fought, without much +indication of the mortal strife, save the low groan of the dying and the +thick breathing of those who struggled upon the green sward among the +roots of the young pines that so thickly studded the place. Already had +Barry silenced forever the pulses of more than one of his antagonists, +when their leader, a powerful man of about thirty-five, made a sudden +bound towards him, after having in turn brought his own assailant to +the ground, and instantly both their swords were crossed, as they stood, +alone, in an open space of a few feet square, while the deadly conflict +still half silently raged around them among the three or four who now +survived to battle for their respective flags. + +Barry, although but a private soldier when in the British service, was +regarded as one of the best swordsmen in his regiment. In fact, he was +that sort of person who took delight in excelling in every military +exercise, so that his task-masters should have no grounds for wounding +his feelings or his pride in any matter connected with the discipline +of a soldier. So skillful was he in this connection, that the moment +he caught sight of the manner in which his enemy grasped his weapon, +he looked for but one issue touching the encounter, and that was, the +probable destruction of both. He felt that he had an antagonist before +him worthy the occasion, and braced himself for the work with all the +energy of his being. Swift as lightning, both weapons flashed in the +sunlight, and the next instant lay pressing uneasily against each other +in mid-air; forming a shifting and glittering arch of death, beneath +which either its crimson or emerald pillar was soon to fall in +ensanguined ruins. Not a word was spoken on either side; each believing +that his hour or that of the other had come! The conflict in the +surrounding shrubbery had already almost ceased. Brief as the period +was, the remaining few of the enemy were vanquished and soon had fled, +pursued by a victorious two or three, being scarcely themselves more +than that number, having suffered severely, although they fought with +great bravery. It was the seven hundred years of hate and the red blood +of Ireland, that decided the conquest for so far in favor of the green; +and now, face to face, with lips compressed and glaring eye, stood the +two representatives of the individual antagonisms, which had been pitted +against each other for ages, and which never can breathe in peace the +same vital air. As if understanding, thoroughly, the power, agility and +skill of his antagonist, the opponent of Barry, who was an Englishman by +birth, and had been in the British service, never sought for a moment to +gain any advantage of the ground. In this relation, he seemed satisfied +to fight his adversary on equal terms; being well aware that a single +move might be fatal, inasmuch as it could not fail to distract his +attention to some extent from his watchful enemy. The sward sloped +down rapidly to the ravine; so that he who occupied the most elevated +position would have his adversary at an advantage; but, although this +conviction was impressed upon the minds of both, neither seemed anxious +to avail himself of it; and thus they stood upon equal terms, in every +way antagonists worthy of each other. In height, the Englishman had it +somewhat in his favor; but, then, not above an inch or so; while Barry, +in agility and compactness, seemed to be vastly his superior. And such +they were, when the first thrust and parry told that the work had begun. +This was immediately succeeded by a furious clashing, that evidenced a +rising tempest of anger in the breast of either, or both, and which gave +promise of being speedily followed by some fatal stroke that was sure to +terminate the encounter. During this ominous flurry, Barry stood on +the defensive, coolly eyeing his brave adversary, and watching for the +unguarded moment when he could either kill or disarm him; but this was +not so easily found, as the Englishman was every inch a soldier and a +superb swordsman; and Barry knew it well. + +Notwithstanding the violence of the attack, so adroitly was it met, +and so firmly was it withstood, that our hero never gave way a hair’s +breadth of ground, or suffered a single scratch; and now only, in +reality, the murderous conflict commenced. The Englishman perceiving +that our hero was not to be moved or thrown off his guard for an +instant, became more fully satisfied that he had a dangerous antagonist +to deal with, and so commenced to be himself more cautions and guarded. +Seeing that mere personal strength availed him but little, he fell +back on his admirable swordsmanship and fought with coolness the most +undaunted. Barry now, in turn, became the assailant, and pressing his +antagonist with great skill and courage, gave him a slight flesh wound, +followed rapidly by another in the sword arm, from which the blood began +to flow copiously. Perceiving that the conflict must be decided at once, +as he should soon become faint from loss of blood, once more the red +coat became the assailing party; but this time, as he was pressing our +hero, but somewhat more feebly than before, his foot caught beneath +the tough, fibrous roots of one of the pine shrubs by which they were +surrounded, and the next instant he was thrown headlong towards Barry, +while his sword flew out of his hand far beyond his reach. + +The fight was over; and fortunate it was for the prostrate soldier that +it was brought to so singular a determination; for, from the manner +in which he was bleeding, if from nothing else, the day was sure to be +decided in Barry’s favor. Regaining his feet, as soon as possible, he +looked aghast for a moment, as if expecting his death blow; but found +his antagonist not only presenting him his sword, but begging him not to +continue the conflict, as from his wound he was in no situation to keep +it up longer with any show of success. + +“By my faith,” he replied in return, “I believe, under any +circumstances, the fates were against me; so, understanding what is due +to a brave man, keep my sword and find me some water, as I begin to feel +a little shakey about the knees.” + +Just at the foot of the slope, and but a few yards distant, there was a +brook, to which our hero now led his prisoner, and where, after bathing +his temples and bandaging his wound with a handkerchief, he left him for +a moment to look after those who might need his aid more urgently, hard +by. He found, after all, that but one of his party was killed, although +two others, who managed to creep in amongst the shrubbery, were severely +wounded. Not knowing how the contest was going, and seeing themselves +completely _hors de combat_, they waited in silence the result, fearing +to call out, lest the enemy might be upon them and despatch them. The +red coats suffered most severely; six of their number having been killed +outright. Strange to say, however, that there appeared to have been none +of them simply wounded; for, although groans were heard to proceed from +the point where they lay, they must have been uttered in their death +agonies, so mortal was the damage dealt them. + +When this much was ascertained, Barry was deliberating as to what had +become of the remaining three of his party, when they returned to the +scene of conflict, weary with a fruitless chase. These men instantly +took up their comrades and bore them down to the brook, where they +were refreshed with a cooling draught. Barry, finding that it would be +dangerous for them to remain to bury the dead, as the noise of their +rifles might have attracted the attention of some other body of the +enemy that might possibly be somewhere in the vicinity of the ravine, +determined to retrace his steps at once. His two wounded companions, +like his prisoner, were able to walk slowly towards the camp; so, +collecting the enemy’s dead into one place, and covering them with +branches of evergreens, they took up the body of their fallen comrade +and, placing it on a litter hastily formed of boughs gathered on the +spot, slowly wended their way with it towards the point occupied by +the main body of the army--Barry and his prisoner moving in the same +direction, some distance in the rear. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +In the morning that Greaves visited the Fort in Canada, garrisoned by +Barry’s regiment, it will be remembered that he had a brief interview +with the Colonel. Momentary as it was, however, it was sufficient to +prevent Barry from getting his discharge; for the Colonel was then and +there apprised that our hero sought to leave the army for the purpose +only of joining the anticipated Fenian invasion, giving it the +advantage of his military skill, and aiding it with his knowledge of the +fortifications that the invaders might attempt to posses themselves of. +On being persuaded, through a glance at a certain document placed in +his hands, that Greaves was to be trusted, he at once decided as to the +course that he himself ought to pursue, and the reader has already seen +the result. Strange as it may appear for the present, it was Greaves’ +object to induce Barry to desert, and thereby shut himself out from ever +revisiting the British dominions again. He felt that it would be better, +too, that he should not be taken while in the act of deserting; as his +punishment could be but light, owing to the circumstance, that he had +endeavored, though in vain, to obtain his discharge honorably; so he +determined to aid his escape from the Fort, and secure his outlawry +beyond any possibility of mistake. Why he was prompted to an act so +gratuitous and so apparently undeserved, remains for future explanation; +but, at present, all we have to do with is the simple fact, that owing +to his mysterious machinations, our young hero was driven to the step he +had taken. + +It is, we perceive, a fact, that O’Brien was correct in his first +estimate of Greaves; as that smooth-tongued traitor was the notorious +spy in the pay of the English government, sent out to Canada with a view +to learning the particulars of the power and intentions of Fenianism in +the Provinces, as well as in the adjoining Republic. In this connection, +he had such papers in his possession as recommended him to the Canadian +Minister who gave him, on his arrival in the city where we first +encountered him, such assistance and direction as his maudlin state of +mind could afford. He recommended him to the confidence of many persons +in the upper part of the Province, where he had been staying for some +time previous to his appearance at The Harp. Among these was the Hon. J. +R-----, of Toronto--a Patrick’s Day Son of the Sod, who has often nailed +Ireland to the cross for place and power; and who regards every body +as his “dear friend” who can help him up the ladder--a man with no more +human flesh about his bones or heart within him, than is possessed by +the veriest skeleton that has ever served the purposes of a college of +surgeons, after having reposed for a whole generation in the silence of +the grave. Oh! how we long for the day when we shall meet such miserable +Judases face to face, and spit upon them before the nations; and how +willing we are to admit that we should rather tomorrow shake the manly +hand of the English Joe Sheard of Toronto, open enemy and all as he is, +than touch the vile, clammy paw of such repulsive creatures as compose +the snake-like breed of which this same paltry and sordid trimmer is a +true representative. Of course, Greaves and he understood each other at +once--they were both traitors alike; only that the former was lavish of +money in attaining his nefarious ends, while the latter would crawl to +whatever goal he had in view, through any description of filth provided +it would obviate the necessity of relaxing his gripe upon his ill-gotten +gain. It is to such men as he, that Ireland owes all her misfortunes, +and that the people of Canada owe the curse of the great embarrassments +that now sorely beset them. For so far, not a single Irishman who has +ever been prominently identified with the Government of Canada, if +we are at all able to judge, has possessed a spark of honest or true +patriotism. From first to last, every man Jack of them has fleeced the +poor Canucks unmercifully, and played the toady to England in the most +fulsome and sickening manner. Even the best of them were rotten to the +core, and but mere adventurers. Look at the case of the “Hyena,” as he +was called in his prime. One day we find him out at the elbows peddling +samples of wine around the Province, and the next, wallowing in wealth +through his Point Levi and other gouges at the expense of the people; +until, at last, he became sufficiently corrupt for England to send him +to take charge of her interests in one of her dependencies: where, as +it is asserted, he, from time to time, is carried from boating parties, +etc., to his palatial residence dead drunk, in open daylight. But +why spend a single breath in referring to such miserable specimens of +humanity? The world knows what they are; and Canada ought to have some +slight acquaintance with them: as they built her into the worthless +Grand Trunk at a ruinous figure, and, like her present, leading, +political juggler, Sir John A., fleeced her in every direction that a +collop could be cut out of her. + +It was amongst such tricksters, English, Irish and Scotch, that Greaves, +for the most part, moved secretly from the moment of his arrival in the +Province up to the date at which we find him at Port Colborne. He was, +however, surprised to learn that men so high in power, and that had been +so high in power, really knew so little of the great impending movement +which overshadowed the Provinces and bid fair to wrest them from the +hands of England. But few papers in Upper Canada appeared to know +anything of what was really going on in this relation, besides the +_Globe_, of Toronto. Nearly all the others, like the leader of the +government and his satellites, seemed to be at sea upon the subject. +This fact Greaves took care to mention in the dispatches which he sent +home to Ireland, from time to time; giving it as his opinion, that the +Prime Minister of Canada was a dangerous man to entrust with any large +interests, civil or military. + +How the spy had become possessed of the letter or paper which so +staggered O’Brien, is easily accounted for. One of the Organization in +Ireland, named Greaves, who had been purchased by the government while +on a mission of trust, and who had sworn his way into the Brotherhood +with a view to making merchandise of it, gave up his credentials for a +certain sum; and thus it was that they had fallen into the hands of +the Castle of Dublin and subsequently into those of the spy. Cunning as +O’Brien was, the spy read his connection with the Organization through +exhibiting this document to him on the morning succeeding the night of +our first introduction to The Harp; for he perceived, at once, that were +O’Brien not, is some way, identified with the Brotherhood, he would have +been unable to recognize the meaning of certain expressions contained in +the paper, which, as already observed, seemed to impress him so suddenly +and so forcibly. + +Now, however, that the Provinces were actually invaded, Greaves, as we +shall yet continue to call him, found that his mission had suddenly been +brought to a close. As the cat was out of the bag, however, he instantly +turned his undivided attention to some private matters of his own, and +which, after all, was the only thing that induced him to move so rapidly +west, after the escape of Barry and his comrades from the Fort. But with +all his deeply laid schemes, he began to feel a strange presentiment +that he had overreached himself, and that, notwithstanding the +supposition that he had shut out our hero from Canada for all time to +come, it was more than likely he was in the Province again, and that, +too, as an invader, and but a very short distance from the village in +which he now found himself. This surmise maddened him, for reasons to be +disclosed in due course; and, as if urged by some unseen power, he +was determined to make his way towards the camp of the invaders; well +knowing that had Barry joined it, he would vouch for his friendliness; +while, had he not re-entered the Province, he himself could make his way +among the Brotherhood as a friend, by the same means that he had stepped +into the good graces, or rather escaped the detection, of O’Brien. + +Early on the morning of the second of June, then, he set out from Port +Colborne, with a force under the command of Lieut. Col. Booker, anxious +to witness, and if necessary, take part in the first encounter between +the invaders and the Provincial troops. How did he know--perhaps a +chance bullet fired by himself might find its billet in the heart of +Barry, had the latter joined the Fenians; and if it did, then all would +be right, and his triumph secured. Still he had his misgivings as to +the success of the Canadians, notwithstanding their reputed superior +numbers, and the presence of the regulars to strengthen and inspirit the +volunteers. He saw that all was uncertainty and confusion. Col. Peacock, +of the 16th regulars, chief in command of the united forces, was at +“sixes and sevens” with the commanding officer of the volunteers, while +General Napier, commanding the regular troops in the whole of Upper +Canada, was so perplexed with rumors of invasion at various points, as +to be absolutely lost in a maze of bewilderment, and utterly incapable +of meeting the crisis in a soldierly and intelligent manner. + +Thus the confusion ran amongst the Canadians, when Col. Booker, on the +morning just alluded to, set out with his command from Port Colborne, +to attack the Irish Republican forces, encamped at Newbiggin’s Farm, and +with the further intention of forming a junction with the regulars under +Col. Peacock, coming from Chippewa--the invaders being absolutely hemmed +in on all sides; as a steamer with a field battery occupied the river in +their rear, with a view to cutting off their retreat, when they were, as +it was expected they should be, defeated by the large number of forces +that were being steadily brought down upon them. + +Arriving at the village of Ridgeway, the troops left the cars and +proceeded cautiously in the direction of Stevensville, at or near which +point they hoped to form the junction with Col. Peacock, who was on his +way from Chippewa, where he had bivouacked the night before. The village +of Ridgeway is on the line of the Grand Trunk Railway, which connects +it with Port Colborne on Lake Erie on the one side, and Fort Erie on +the same lake, at the mouth of the Niagara River, on the other. It is +situated about eleven miles from the former place, and something like +eight from the latter; leaving the extreme points distant from each +other about nineteen miles. At this little place, then, Lieut. Col. +Booker found himself, in command of a force which has been variously +estimated at from twelve to eighteen hundred men, composed of the crack +volunteers of the country, and, as a general thing, commanded by brave +and experienced officers. It has, however, been asserted by some that +there were not more than one thousand British engaged at Ridgeway; but +we fear that this is under the mark, and are inclined to believe, that, +at an honest computation, their force amounted to between thirteen +and fourteen hundred. This we give on what we consider to be reliable +authority, and can, at once, presume that the division under Col. Booker +stood something more than three to one against the invaders, as the +handful under the gallant O’Neill did not exceed four hundred on the +actual field of Ridgeway. + +Stevensville lies in the direction of Chippewa, on a wagon road +branching off at right angles from the Grand Trunk at Ridgeway village, +and here it was that Col. Peacock ordered Col. Booker to meet him, with +the men under his command, with the design of forming a junction and +attacking O’Neill with a combined force of volunteers and regulars +amounting to between two and three thousand men. This junction O’Neill +was determined to defeat, and did defeat it;--but let us not anticipate. + +When Greaves stepped from the cars at Ridgeway, the first man he +encountered was the Kid; and, strange as it may appear, a sign of +recognition passed between them instantaneously. In a few moments they +managed to extricate themselves from the crowds that thronged the place, +and move off to an unfrequented spot, where they could converse unheard +and unobserved. Here they were soon engaged on a subject which seemed +to excite Greaves to the highest pitch, and elicit from him sundry +ejaculations of surprise mixed with anger. Becoming cooler, however, he +led his companion into a spot even more sequestered, and then fell into +a low and earnest conversation with him, in which the name of Barry +might be heard pronounced with a deadly, hissing vehemence, indicative +of the most frightful passion and hate. All this time the Kid remained +quite calm, answering the interrogatories of his employer, for such +Greaves appeared to be, until, at last, the plot or contract, whatever +it was, was completed, and the parties had again bent their steps to the +railway station by different paths. + +Had the gallant O’Neill two thousand men at his command on the morning +of the 2d of June, 1866, with the certainty of reinforcements, _Canada +would, ere this, have been part and parcel of the United States, and +Ireland an independent Republic_, modeled after that of the American +Union. No officer was better calculated to accomplish the overthrow +of British power in the Dominion, than he. A thorough and practiced +soldier--a man of great personal courage and daring, and above all, +a genuine Celt, fired with the hereditary hatred of England so +characteristic of his name and race, he was in himself a host. With two +thousand men, composed of such stuff as he commanded at Ridgeway, he +could have swept the road before him to Toronto; for there can be no +doubt that his numbers would have been largely augmented on the way by +Irish Nationalists and American sympathisers, who then, as now, pine for +annexation. In addition, when it became once known, that a victorious +army of the Republic of Ireland was marching on Toronto, a demonstration +favorable to the invaders would have been made in that city, or +such indications of friendship evinced by the Irish portion of the +inhabitants, as would paralyze the energies of all those within its +borders who were determined to stand by the flag of the tyrant. This, we +are certain, would have been the real result of a march upon that city; +for, all that thousands upon thousands of the people of Canada, who are +now muzzled by the government, require at any moment to range them on +the side of Ireland, is the assurance of success on the part of any +invader, whether Irish or American, who makes a descent upon their +shores. What a dreadful calamity, then, it was, that the War Department +of the Irish Republic had fallen into such careless or incompetent +hands, and that some man was not at its head who could have managed +to have thrown upon Canadian soil, at Fort Erie and one or two other +points, a force to act separately or in conjunction with sufficient +effect to completely paralyse all opposition in Western Canada, among an +already excited and incongruous host, who could have been easily swept +before a compact handful of troops fired by a spirit so lofty and a +resolve so unconquerable as that which actuated the brave little band of +patriots who have made the 2d day of June, 1866, famous in the annals of +the Irish race on this continent and on the other side of the Atlantic. + +Let it be thoroughly understood, that although the fortress of Quebec +is considered the Gibraltar of this continent, it is in the midst of +an Irish and French population absolutely hostile to British rule. The +French, like the children of Ireland, never were and never can be loyal +to England; and there are but few men in Lower Canada to-day, who would +not rather see the American flag floating over Cape Diamond at the +present moment, than the blood-stained standard which proclaims it in +the grasp of a tyrant. From this we infer, that had Toronto, Kingston +and Montreal fallen into the hands of the invaders, Quebec could not +fail to soon follow; and then for the fitting out of Irish Republican +privateers that would requite all the depredations of the Alabama +ten-fold, and cripple the commerce of England, as she had destroyed that +of the United States during the last war. General O’Neill had all this +in his eye, and was ready to push the case to the mouth of the St. +Lawrence, and there commence active operations against the merchant +service of the common enemy of both Ireland and America; sweeping it +from the high seas, and striking the tyrant in her Counting House, as +one of her most vulnerable points. There could have been no difficulty +in managing all this, had a sufficient force been thrown into the +Province at the time already mentioned; nor can it be attended with much +difficulty at any moment, provided the right men are placed at the head +of the Fenian War Department. Canada is doomed, whomsoever her conqueror +may be; so the sooner her people experience the change which is sure +to overtake her, the sooner shall she be restored to internal peace, +prosperity and security; from all of which she is now excluded, and +must remain so, as long as she continues part and parcel of the British +Empire. + +As by this time, the invading army had been in the Province for a +portion of two days and two nights, the country generally was pretty +well excited; but particularly in and about the section where the +invaders had taken up their position, as well as along the line of Col. +Peacock’s march. Still there did not appear any very marked disposition +on the part of the actual settlers in these quarters to take a decided +part in stemming the invasion. It appears to us, that it was simply the +government that moved through agencies, in this connection, which +could not well disregard or resist their commands, rather than any +antagonistic, out-spoken sentiment of the people, that had developed +itself into active hostility against the Fenian forces. Be this as it +may, the numbers hastily brought against the invaders were large in +comparison with their own rank and file; and had they been actuated by a +spirit similar to that which made a host of each individual Fenian, the +fortunes of the day could not have failed to have been otherwise than +they subsequently turned out to be. Again, let it be understood, that +the majority of the little band who withstood the tempest shock at +Ridgeway, were fresh from the fields of the South and used to the song +of the bullet and the roar of artillery, as the great bulk of the army +of the Irish Republic in America is to-day; while even the British +regulars who were marching on Ridgeway were, with all their pretensions, +but feather-bed soldiers who were totally out of practice of the real +field, and had for many a day exhibited their pluck and discipline at +general reviews or sham battles only. This we hold to weigh heavily on +the side of the Irish National forces, and to decide in their favor, in +advance, in any fight with treble their number of such an enemy--that +is, we are of the fixed impression, that any hundred picked men from the +force now under the gallant O’Neill, will beat, in open fight, any +three hundred of the British army brought against them, all things being +equal, with the exception of numbers. And why?--simply because in +one case the belligerents would be fighting for the traditions and +independence of the land of their love, while in the other they would, +as a general, thing, be fighting for about six-pence a day. + +As soon as Colonel Booker and his command took the road towards +Stevensville, Greaves, who was as daring as a man could be, and who +was besides well acquainted with military tactics, procured a rifle, a +soldiers jacket, cap and accoutrements, and started forth in the wake +of the volunteers, with the rear guard of which he soon came up. The +accoutrements he wore belonged to one of the volunteers who, like many +of the men under Colonel Peacock, took suddenly ill as they approached +the Fenian lines, and fell out of the ranks. Fortunately for the spy, he +found in this guard the very comrade of the man who was left behind at +the village, and having received permission from the officer in charge, +fell into the ranks with him and held on his way, as though he were an +ordinary member of the force. + +On the other hand, the Kid, on parting with Greaves, took his way in +the direction in which he knew the invaders were slowly and cautiously +moving, in order to get between Booker and Peacock, and defeat one +command before it could form a juncture with the other. On approaching +their lines, the steady tramp of which he could hear, he fell rapidly in +the rear, where, true to their instincts, he found Black Jack and Wilson +following in the team of the latter at a respectable distance, and +anxiously waiting for the first volley that should give intimation that +an engagement had commenced. + +“By ----,” exclaimed Wilson, as his acquaintance jumped into the wagon, +“this is coming to rather close quarters.” + +“If so be,” replied Jack, “as there vos henny har tillery in the vay, it +might urt the missuses jam pots, seein as ‘ow we can’t be much hover a +mile from them, from this ‘ere place.” + +“Scarcely that,” returned the Kid, “and what’s more, from the course +the Fenians are taking, they must soon be into it against three or four +times their number, and serve them right; but what luck have you had +during the night?” he continued, turning to Jack, “although I suspect +there was not much chance in the direction in which you spent it.” + +“Call this a hinvasion?” retorted Jack, “vy these coves ‘av only a +come hover to show their good breedin and spend their money amongst the +Canadians, instead of doin the decent thing like as ow it vos done in +Hindia and the Peninsoola, veh the real harmy cut, burned and plundered +hall afore ‘em, ‘and carried hoff, from old and young, bags of the most +precious svag. This is disgustin. Honly fancy the fellows a behavin as +if they vos on knight herranty of the hancient times, instead of givin +a cove a chance of to do a little business among the walluables of Fort +Erie, or hany hother place in the wicinity. I tell ‘ee what, Kid, I’m +sorry as vee hever comed hover--that I be; and I vish I vos veil back +again behind my hown counter.” + +“Don’t be down-hearted,” replied the Kid, “for there will be fun +somewhere soon, when these invaders will have to fall back on Fort Erie, +where there may be a muss, or else the Canadians will have to retreat +towards the village I have but recently left, so that in either case +there may yet be a chance to throw something into the bottom of the +wagon, and then in our turn fall back on friend Wilson’s, here.” + +In this way the conversation was continued, while the horses moved +slowly along the road taken by the invaders, and at such a distance +from the rear of the force, as not to be visible to any of the soldiers; +until, just as the three companions we’re passing through a patch of +woods about a quarter of a mile from the rear guard of the invaders, +they were suddenly startled by the report of firearms in the direction +of the troops, just ahead of them. This report was followed by another, +and yet another, and now by one continuous volley. The famous battle of +Ridgeway had commenced! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Kate McCarthy, after having heard the disclosure of Martha, regarding +the character of her uncle, and the dangerous and nefarious practices +in which he and Smith, or the Kid, were engaged, arrived, by degrees, at +the conclusion, that she was the victim of some horrible and mysterious +plot, in which Nicholas, too, was involved unconsciously. This idea +having taken full possession of her, she immediately communicated it to +her friend, who also seemed to share her apprehension. Of course, she +had no means of accounting for the existence of the talisman upon which, +at the time she received it, she could have staked her life; but, now, +it was too plain, that even about this there was something strange and +unsatisfactory; because, from her frequent inspection of it, although +it had evidently come from the hand of Nicholas, it appeared to have +not been so clearly intended for her, as she could have desired. Yet +for whom else could it have been designed? This was the question; and +it necessarily remained unanswered, while the conviction still obtained, +that, notwithstanding there was enough in the mysterious token to +justify the course she had taken, she was nevertheless in most dangerous +toils, with the existence of which her lover was totally unacquainted. + +This once settled in her mind, her first impulse was to flee the house +immediately; but, on second consideration, she felt it were better to +await results, as she was certain that Martha was her true friend, and +believed that no actual violence would be offered to her while +under Wilson’s roof. Were she to effect her escape she had neither +acquaintance nor guide to direct her steps, and was totally uninformed +as to the character and people of the locality in which she found +herself. Again, Wilson had no doubt, placed eyes upon her that would +arrest her footsteps, or so embarrass her that she should again fall +into the hands from which she sought to escape. The region around her, +as she now learned, was addicted to smuggling, and so marked was this +truth, that a house of entertainment in the neighborhood was called the +Smuggler’s Home; where, it was said, bold and reckless men were to be +found constantly. There was one thing, however, she was determined upon, +and that was to procure, if possible, some weapon of defence in case any +attempt were made to further jeopardize her person or liberty; and in +this she was promptly aided by her young friend. + +She had now been nearly a week from home, and yet not an additional word +or line had arrived from her lover. It was fortunate, however, that in +her present perilous condition she had one in whom she could confide, +and whom she knew sympathised with her. This was a solace to her, as it +enabled her from time to time, to ease her burdened heart of the heavy +load that pressed upon it, and converse upon the probable designs of +those into whose toils she hod been betrayed. Smith, she was well aware, +knew all the circumstances of her case; but he was in the employment of +her persecutor or persecutors, and nothing, she was certain, was to be +gleaned from him. However, as he had some design on the hand of Martha, +the thought struck her that if opportunity served, her young friend +might be able to extract from him even a hint as to the real state of +her case; and this idea she at once communicated to her. Martha, on her +part, expressed herself willing to befriend her to the utmost of her +power; but still evinced a repugnance to be under any obligation to +Smith, or enter into relations with him that could aim at anything like +confidence between them. Yet she confessed herself ready to sacrifice +her feelings as far as she could properly do so, for the purpose of +fathoming the plot that surrounded her companion; but, then, where was +Smith to begin with; and when was it probable that he should again +make his appearance in that locality? These were points more easily +entertained than disposed of; and thus matters stood when circumstances +threw in their way the very individual they both desired to see. + +When the Kid, Jack and Wilson were liberated on the evening of the +day on which they had been captured with others, and sent into the +headquarters of Gen. O’Neill, it was decided that the first named of +these worthies should proceed at once to Wilson’s, and apprise the +family of the presence of a hostile army, and the necessity of keeping +close and barricading the house in case the tide of war should roll +in that direction. The habitation, as already mentioned, stood in an +isolated spot surrounded with woods, and the proprietor was of the +impression, that it would escape notice or molestation; from the fact +that the Fenians seemed to eschew everything that savored, in even +the slightest degree, of the destruction of private property or of +gratuitous pillage. Besides, he perceived that for the purpose of +meeting some of the necessities of the invaders, a few horses had been +already impressed into their service, and felt, consequently, that were +his discovered on the road leading to his home, they could not fail to +share the same fate. He therefore, as just intimated, begged the Kid to +make the best of his way to Limestone Ridge, beside which his domicile +stood. To this request the Kid willingly acceded, as it would afford him +another opportunity of seeing Martha; so, when evening was about to set +in, he commenced his journey. + +Earlier in the day, the brave Captain O’Donohue, of the 18th, white out +on a foraging party towards Chippewa, came up with some outposts of the +enemy, who, noticing his dauntless bearing, and the steady, onward tramp +of his handful of men, fled at his approach without firing a single +shot. + +When passing out of the camp to the main road, the Kid learned that the +whole force was to move off at about ten o’clock in the direction +of Chippewa; it being the intention of the commander, as previously +observed, to get between the body of regulars about proceeding from that +point, and that of the volunteers, to move forward, and form a junction +with them, from Port Colborne; intending to attack and defeat the one +before the other came up. At this time O’Neill’s troops did not, as +is confidently asserted, number as many as five hundred men; while the +force of the enemy surrounding him on every side, was estimated at an +aggregate of some thousands. This he well knew, but he had invaded the +territories of the ancient and implacable antagonist of his country and +his name, and he was determined to make another Thermopylae of any pass +in which he happened to meet the foe, no matter how overwhelming their +numbers. + +This intelligence impressed the Kid with the idea that a battle might +possibly take place somewhere in the vicinity of Stevensville or +Ridgeway; as he knew that the leader of the Irish Republican Army, or +forlorn hope, as so small a body of men might be termed, would attempt +to intercept a junction of the enemy somewhere near one or the other +of these points, as both lay on the line between Chippewa and Port +Colborne, taking the Sodom Road and the Grand Trunk Railway as the +surest and speediest route between both these latter places. So pushing +forward, with speed that never slackened, just at the period that +O’Neill was about to break camp, under the pretence of attacking +Chippewa, Mr. Stephen Smith arrived at Wilson’s door, and after a polite +double knock was admitted by the mistress of that suspicious dwelling. + +Martha was soon apprised of his arrival, and while her companion +trembled throughout every limb with anxiety for the fate of the +important enquiries which she had kindly consented to make, she hastily +left the apartment where both had been long seated, conversing upon +their future and the chances of escape from such a den. On perceiving +the Kid, although her very soul revolted against the touch of his +cold, clammy hand, she seemed to welcome him with more than ordinary +cordiality. She was, of course, both surprised and alarmed at the +intelligence of the invasion, and the proximity of the two armies; for, +as yet, not a whisper of it had reached her, so secluded the place. He +spoke of the necessity of putting the house in a state of defence, so as +to be ready to meet any contingency; although, as he himself averred, he +did not apprehend the slightest danger so long as the inmates remained +within their doors, in case the din of battle was heard in the vicinity. +As it was, however, the windows were well secured, and the heavy, oaken +front-door was capable of being rendered all but invulnerable by a huge +iron bar that could be speedily thrown across it into two deep grooves +in the posts. + +All this having been seen to, some trifling inquiry was made as to their +lodger, when Mrs. Wilson, understanding previously the intention of +Martha, and sympathizing with the case of poor Kate, left the apartment, +as if on some ordinary household affair. Martha now set about gaining +the information she sought; but with all her art, could only ascertain +from her suitor, that Kate was in the power of an individual who, for +some reason unknown to him, had betrayed her into Canada, and consigned +her, for a time at least, to the place where she was now domiciled. + +“And were you a party to the abduction of this innocent creature?” + exclaimed Martha, the blood mounting to her cheeks in real anger and +disgust. + +“Oh! it was all in the way of business,” replied the other, “and +perceiving that it would result in the most pleasant companionship for +one I so admire, I had the less scruples in furthering the design of a +good employer.” + +Let it be understood that this villain had not even the most remote idea +of the pure nature and true character of Martha. Having seen her but a +few times, he subjected her moral worth to the standard of that of her +uncle, and thought, consequently, that the disclosure he now made would +enhance him in her estimation. In this he was mistaken; for, no sooner +had he made her thoroughly cognizant of the fact that he was not an +innocent, but a willing, instrument in the abduction of poor Kate, than +she sprang to her feet, and with a glance the most withering, and full +of unconquerable hate and aversion, without a single other word, left +the apartment and ascended to that of her friend. + +No sooner had she disappeared than an expression the most demoniacal +stole over the countenance of Smith. The very devil sat on his brow, +while his eyes turned absolutely green in their sockets. His thin, pale +lips glistened again, as he drew them across his sharp, white teeth, +in an attempt to smile. Looking stealthily about him, while a curious +expression, still more horrible, replaced the one already described, he +hastily drew a long knife from a sheath concealed beneath his vest, and +regarded it for a moment in the light of the lamp before him. He knew +that every hope of obtaining the hand of Martha was lost, and forever; +and now for a terrible revenge. + +“They are helpless and alone,” he muttered, slowly rising to his feet. +“There is wealth, too, somewhere here; and should I silence them all, it +will be mine, and their death will be laid at the door of the invaders. +Besides,” he growled, “no suspicion can rest upon me, as I am the known +friend of Wilson and the family. Nobody saw me come--no person shall +see me leave. I shall fire the house after having rifled it; and conceal +whatever I may obtain, in some convenient spot until the affair has +blown over. Jack and Wilson know too much of me: I am tired of them. If +needs be, I shall silence them also. I have rare work before me. Barry +must die; but what shall I profit by killing him if I kill this woman +also? Who cares! The devil is working with me; and now for it! To the +foot of the stairs, then; where, as they descend, they shall fall one by +one without a groan until the rare bird of a prisoner is left alone in +her room. Then for some wild sport and the final blow!” + +Having muttered all this to himself, the demon in human shape, +extinguishing the lamp, sprang forward in the direction of the stairs, +to await the first who happened to descend: but scarcely had he assumed +his post of death, before the large oaken door was thrust rudely open +and two strapping young fellows, armed with a revolver and a dirk +each, rushed into the apartment, and alarmed all the party up stairs by +calling aloud for a light, the gleam from the hearth being feeble and +uncertain. + +Instantly the knife of Smith was returned to its sheath, while he +stepped forward, saying that he had just accidently extinguished the +lamp in the absence of Mrs. Wilson and Martha, who had run up stairs to +acquaint a lady friend with the intelligence that he had but that moment +brought her from Mr. Wilson, regarding the invasion of the Province and +the proximity, as he had no doubt, of the Fenian and Canadian forces. + +“That is just the mission we have come on ourselves,” returned one of +the new comers, “as we were apprised that Mr. Wilson was from home, and +thought that his family would like to know of the dangers that possibly +surrounded them.” + +The manly voice of the speaker soon brought Martha and her aunt down +stairs; and the lamp being speedily relighted, the former advanced +towards the speaker and taking his extended hand, with a bright eye and +a flushed cheek, heard all he had to say on the subject which occasioned +his unceremonious visit. + +“One of us will stay with you,” he continued, while she thanked him for +his goodness, “until Mr. Wilson arrives; and although he is not over +social in his habits, I am sure he will not misconstrue the anxiety we +feel for the safety of his family.” + +“Thank you! thank you, Mr. Evans,” returned Martha; “we shall feel so +grateful for your protection; and as to my uncle, I am satisfied he +cannot be otherwise than obliged to you for this great kindness.” + +“You stay then, Harry,” observed the other stranger, “for I shall move +on to Ridgeway, as I want to hear what’s afloat there. There are +troops, I know, at Port Colborne, and they ought to be apprised of +the whereabouts of the enemy, and so should the inhabitants of this +neighborhood. Mr. Graham, the Collector of Fort Erie, has, I am +informed, proceeded with information of the enemy to Port Colborne; +but still there is not yet anything known of their precise location, so +contradictory are the rumors, not only as to where they are encamped, +but in relation to their numbers.” + +“I can satisfy you as to both these circumstances,” broke in the Kid, +with a voice as bland as if murder had not visited his heart for an age, +“for I heard this evening that they were encamped about four hundred +strong at Newbiggin’s farm, four or five miles down the river from +Fort Erie; and that they intended to move on towards Chippewa about +ten o’clock; branching off in the direction of Ridgeway, in the hope of +meeting the troops coming from Port Colborne, and defeating them before +they formed a junction with those expected from Chippewa.” + +“As my cousin Harry will sit up with the family for the remainder of +the night, then, perhaps you would not mind walking as far as Ridgeway,” + replied the young fellow who had last spoken, “as we are sure to have +news there; from the fact of the village being on the line of the Grand +Trunk.” + +Seeing that his murderous plot was for the time defeated, the Kid made +no objection to this request; feeling that the darkness and the night, +as well as any whirl of excitement or debauch, were more in accordance +with the infernal tone of his spirit, than the conversation of two +beings, Martha and Evans, whom his keen eye at once discovered to be +lovers. So bidding the family good night, and not waiting to partake of +the refreshments offered him after his journey from the Fenian camp, +he sallied forth with his new acquaintance on the road leading to the +village. + +“Henry,” said Martha, when the sound of their receding footsteps had +died in the distance, “do you know anything of the man Smith who has +just left us, for you seemed to eye him very intently from the moment +the lamp was relighted until the door closed behind him this moment? +We know now, and have often suspected, him to be a villain; but +circumstances over which we had no control--that is, my aunt and +myself--have thrown us occasionally into the society of the wretch, whom +we both loathe and detest.” + +This interrogatory was put in the absence of Mrs. Wilson, who had again +sought the apartment of Kate to tell her all that had just transpired. +It seemed to embarrass the young man for a moment; but recovering +himself, he frankly replied-- + +“I have seen that man frequently in Buffalo. Not long since, he was +pointed out to me as a most dangerous character who was under the +surveillance of the police; and, as you may be well assured, I was +astounded to find him here and at such an hour.” + +“Oh!” returned Martha, “he has been here often, Henry, and what I +now fear is, that my uncle is leagued with him, not only in the most +frightfully dishonest practices, but in the abduction, at the instance +of some other villain, of a good and pure young creature who, a few +nights ago, was brought here by them under the pretense that it was +the wish of her lover that she should accompany them where this wretch +would--a pretense that disguised itself under a veritable token procured +in some way from her betrothed, and evidently used without his sanction +or knowledge.” + +“I believe your uncle to be a bad man, Martha,” returned Evans, “but the +fault is not yours; and besides, there is not a single drop of his blood +in your veins. I am convinced, also, that your aunt knows it, and that +it is that which so wastes her away and destroys the whole sunshine of +her life. I have long felt it; and were it not for the dread of paining +you through exposure, I should ere this have directed the attention +of the authorities to some circumstances affecting his character and +honesty, that came under my own notice; for, Martha, dear, but a few +hours since, as I may say, I was an accidental witness of an incident +which more than confirms all the suspicions that have so long rested on +him.” + +“I know! I know?” interrupted Martha, while she hid her face in her +hands and wept in bitter agony, “but go on!” + +“When,” resumed Evans, “two or three nights ago, believing Wilson to +be from home--for I shall no longer call him your uncle, he being, in +truth, no relation whatever of yours,--I stole up from our place to say +a few words to you and urge you to quit this house and become my wife. +I was astonished to see a light in the stable as I crept by it; and +looking into one of the windows. I perceived this man leaning over a +large case filled with valuables that had evidently been stolen by +him, or by some of his accomplices, who had entrusted them to his safe +keeping until the noise of the robbery had blown over. I saw this, I +saw with my own eyes; and now that you are aware of it, can you longer +remain beneath this roof?” + +“It is true! alas! too true,” sobbed Martha, “for I myself saw the very +same case; and then it was, that for the first time, a full sense of +his horrible vocation fell upon me and the poor woman that he calls his +wife. Of course, Henry, I shall quit this place, and forever; but until +this horrible din is over, and the poor creature up stairs placed in +some safe hands, I shall bear my terrible lot as best I can.” + +“Rightly spoken, dear Martha,” returned Henry, kissing off her tears, +“and I trust that this lady of whom you speak, will prove herself worthy +your kindness and esteem.” + +“No fear of that, dear Henry,” returned the maiden, “my heart tells me +that she is as good as she is beautiful, and I know, not only from her +own lips, but from what has transpired this very night, that she is the +victim of some foul plot yet to be punished and explained.” + +“And where has she come from, and what is her name?” rejoined Henry, +evidently becoming interested in the fate of our heroine. + +“Her home is in Buffalo,” replied Martha, “and her name is Kate +M’Carthy.” + +“By heaven!” exclaimed Evans, leaping to his feet as if the house were +falling, “where is she? where is she? Lead me to her at once!” + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Had General O’Neill not entertained strong hopes he should be +re-inforced, knowing, as he did, that a large body of Fenian troops were +scattered along the American frontier, under the command of brave and +true men, he would have broken camp with a sad heart on the night of +the first. No man in existence was more thoroughly aware than he, that, +‘though brave as lions, the force at his command was altogether too +small to effect anything permanent upon the soil of the enemy. The +most he hoped to achieve, was a footing, until his command had acquired +sufficient strength to enable him to move upon some of the important +towns of the Upper Province. Of the dangers and perils that surrounded +him he was fully aware; but he knew, also, that, now that he had crossed +the Rubicon, how fatal it would be to the prestige of the cause of +Ireland, to retreat again to the American shore without measuring +swords with the foe, no matter what their numbers, and, if needs be, +illustrating, with a handful of men, the spirit resolve and bravery +which, long previously, fostered by the noble Roberts and Gibbons, etc., +fired the whole Organization on this great continent, and placed the +ultimate independence of Ireland beyond any possible contingency. +O’Neill was just the man to make this impression, and to seize upon +every circumstance calculated to aid him in the attempt. Fresh from the +fields of the South, where his sword and name were a watchword and a +tower of strength when danger was to be met in the gap, he was used to +war in all its phases; while the fierce leaven of his patriotism and the +mighty promptings of his ancient name, now that he had made a descent +upon the enemy of his country and his race, rendered him almost +invincible. Though small his band, he knew that each man who had +accompanied him thus far was a host in himself, and ennobled by a spirit +identical with that which prompted him in the main. And now the hour had +arrived when he should show the enemy and the world that numbers were +as nothing in the sight of the God of battles. Besides, he felt it, as a +mere matter of generalship, incumbent upon him to maintain, if possible, +a foothold or rallying point for whatever reinforcements might follow +him, as well as keep open the line of communication with the shores he +had but just left. In short, critically as he was placed, and regarding +his little host as the vanguard of freedom, he determined to sacrifice +himself and them to a man, if necessary, in maintaining his ground until +thoroughly satisfied of the truth of his fears that President Roberts, +deceived, like the Organization generally, in the capacity of the +Secretary of War, was no longer able to send reinforcements or further +a movement calculated to sweep the Province from Sandwich to Quebec. In +this way matters stood with him on the night that he left his camp at +Newbiggin’s Farm. He was aware that two large bodies of the enemy’s +troops were marching upon him from two opposite points, and that to +permit them to form a junction would be to court utter annihilation. As +before observed, then, he set out at the hour already named, with a view +to getting between them and defeating the one before the other came up. +In his sublime enthusiasm he invested each individual of his command +with the purposes and attributes of a hero, and felt that a body so +constituted, so compact and so easily handled, could be slung with +fearful effect against almost any number of men who had no heart in the +fight, save that which was engendered by an uneasy and uncomfortable +sentiment of badly founded loyalty to the flag of a tyrant, or that +degrading spirit of hireling hostility, which changed its force +and direction, in accordance with the amount of gold offered by the +subsidizing party. + +Moved by impulses so noble and disinterested, the whole camp now marched +away in the direction of Chippewa, burning the bridges behind them, to +a point some five or six miles distant, where the reconnoitering party, +under the command of Col. Hoy, had been ordered to wait until the main +body of the troops came up, and to the left of which Gen. O’Neill hoped +to intercept some one of the two hostile forces that were, as he was +perfectly convinced, moving against him from opposite points of the +compass. + +In the rear of the moving camp followed Black Jack and Wilson, at a very +respectful distance; they being comfortably seated in the wagon of the +latter, that had been brought cautiously from its hiding place, when the +steady tramp of the rear guard of the army had died away. + +“What a pity it is,” said Wilson, as the team crawled slowly along, +“that we have no chance to take the number of a few of those self-same +invaders from behind a tree or log; for I find the English blood +beginning to stir within me.” + +“Vot’s to be gained by it,” returned Black Jack, “seein as ‘ow there’s +no use in cuttin a vizzen or scuttlin a nob, unless there’s some svag +at the end on it? For my own part,” he continued, “I’d rather that ve +should try our luck among some of the farmers or gentry about here; +although I’m certain they’re purty vide avake seem as vot’s afoot just +now.” + +“Yes! yes!” returned the other, “that’s all well enough in its way; but +as we can’t hope to accomplish much until there’s a fight between the +invaders and the invaded, I should like, if an opportunity turned up, +to thin out a few of those green jackets while we hid the horses hard by +and waited the result of the conflict.” + +“Vell! vell!” replied Jack, “there vouldn’t be much ‘arm in tryin our +‘and in that vay, as ven ve got a chance ve might step into the ranks of +the Hinglish and give them a lift; ven, if needs be, ve could slip out +again and take our luck in the trail of the fight, pickin hup votever +might drop in the vay.” + +About midnight the troops came up with Col. Hoy’s party, and after +marching a considerable distance and then taking a couple of hours rest, +the whole force made a cautious detour towards the direct line leading +from Ridgeway to Chippewa; O’Neill being satisfied that he had already +intercepted the junction of the British, and should be able to engage +and defeat either one party or the other before they could both unite. + +In this way the night was passed; every precaution being taken to guard +against ambush or surprise, until morning became well advanced, and +the invaders, after having emerged from a swamp through which they had +marched, found themselves within three or four miles of Ridgeway. + +It was at this point and period that the Kid, after leaving Greaves, +had come up with, or rather encountered, the wagon with Black Jack and +Wilson, who, as usual, kept moving slowly in the rear of the troops and +sniffing, like blood-hounds or vultures, their prey in the distance. + +As observed in a previous chapter, the two worthies had scarcely +welcomed their companion or seen him comfortably seated beside them, +before they were all aroused by the report of fire-arms, apparently +ahead of the main body of the troops, which, as near as they could +calculate, was about half a mile in advance. It was at this moment that +the brave Col. Starr, who commanded the advance, got the first glimpse +of the outposts of the enemy, which he at once charged and drove in +like so many sheep; and this was the music heard by Wilson and his +companions. Shortly afterwards, the main body of the enemy, commanded by +Lieut. Col. Booker, from Port Colborne, were discovered, and the battle +was opened by a speedy and judicious disposition of the Fenian forces, +and the hasty throwing up of a rail barricade from behind which some of +the Boys in Green commenced their work of destruction; while others of +them kept the British skirmishers in hand in the woods hard by, and in a +manner the most cool and artistic. + +Any person who gets a view of Major Dennison’s map, in the work already +mentioned, representing the disposition of the two antagonistic forces +at Ridgeway, will at once be struck with the overwhelming numbers of +that under the command of Col. Booker, compared with the compactness +and fewness of the troops commanded by General O’Neill. In this chart +we have the whole field studded, on the British side, with Highlanders, +York Rifles, Trinity College Companies, University Rifles, the Queen’s +Own and the 13th Field Battery, etc.; while on the side of the Army of +the Irish Republic, as the diagram shows, we have but a handful of +men, without artillery, and with but very few mounted officers. The +circumstances under which the forces met, were favorable to Col. Booker, +also; for not only had the British the advantage of a great superiority +in numbers, stores and equipments, but they were engaged at their own +doors, in the midst of a passive or friendly element, and with unlimited +supplies and resources at their command; while, on the contrary, the +men under General O’Neill were but poorly equipped, without supplies or +proper ammunition--their bullets having, in some instances, to be +pared on the field with a knife before they fitted the bore of their +rifles--and were in the midst of an enemy’s country, surrounded on +all sides by hostile battalions, and with but a slight hope of being +reinforced before the enemy came down in overwhelming numbers upon them. +This was a critical position, and well calculated to dismay any man less +bold and courageous than O’Neill; but frightful as it was, he saw the +necessity of accepting the situation. He remembered having, on the +battle fields of the South, with but twenty men, defeated two hundred of +a force under Hamilton, and run them in helpless disorder for a +distance of thirteen miles; killing five of them with his own hand. He +remembered, in addition, having, with a command of but fifty, charged, +on the same fields, in defence of the American Union, two different +regiments of the enemy, routed them, and recaptured the officers +and guns of the Republic that had been previously taken by them; and +remembering all this, his heart rose within him, and he felt that with +his little band of Spartans, few as they were in number, he could work +a double miracle when he met the tyrant of his name, his country and his +race face to face. And so he did not stoop to measure the forces that +were surrounding him; well knowing that, if all came to all, and that, +if it were necessary for him to fall back upon the American shore, +he could cut his way through them; as he was inclined to regard their +numbers as but simple encumbrances to themselves; feeling, as he +did, that they could be neither disciplined nor actuated by any proud +impulses such as fired his own troops and his own bosom. + +Buoyed with this spirit, and moved by the conviction that the eyes of +the world were upon him, the first glimpse of the enemy was as one of +sunshine to him; and as he looked around him and saw his brave officers +and men towering and immoveable as cliffs in the presence of the angry +deep, the strange fire so noticeable sometimes in his eye, blazed forth +as though his soul went out in flame through each glaring orb; and the +work of death had begun. + +The battle of Ridgeway was commenced by skirmishers who were posted +on both sides, among the woods and orchards with which that locality +abounds; and although for some short period but little life was lost on +the part of either the British or the Fenians, the daring of the latter +had evidently confused and, in a degree, paralyzed the former from the +first. In the woods, they gave the Highlanders a dreadful overhauling, +and when pressed by numbers they steadily fell back upon the main body, +with advantage to themselves and with loss to their opponents. When +once aware of their position, and the great odds against them, in the +incredible space of ten minutes, they threw up a breastwork of rails, +from behind which they now began to deal the most deadly havoc amongst +the enemy. The men engaged in more exposed positions, performed absolute +miracles of valor, and charged the foe in the face of the most galling +fire, until they actually touched their bayonets, and then poured in the +murderous volley that shattered their ranks and strewed the field with +their wounded and dying. As we learn from Major Denison, of the British +forces, the Fenian officers were ever in front of their men, cheering +them on to death or victory, and evincing such instances of true bravery +as commanded the admiration of even those against whom they fought. +Individual acts of the most terrible daring were performed by them, +and so generally did the whole of O’Neil’s staff, including his gallant +Aid-de-Camp, Lieut. Rudolph Fitzpatrick, as well as all the officers of +the various companies, participate in the dreadful struggle, that +even to this hour no writer has attempted to give any one of them +pre-eminence over the other. And so of the rank and file, also. Scarce +a single man of them, at one period, but was spattered with the blood +of the enemy; and never did a solitary knot of them give way, for an +instant, before any force that they were ordered to withstand. Wherever +they moved the dead and wounded tumbled before them, until, fatigued +by the frightful heat of the weather, they were, from time to time, +constrained to pause in their dreadful work. + +The engagement had continued for about an hour, when the brave Lieut. +Lonergan bit the dust, while a cheer for Ireland struggled through the +death rattle in his throat. He fell, a true hero and patriot, and well +was his death avenged; for no sooner had its intelligence spread through +his company, than its members became absolute tigers, and literally +glutted themselves with blood. Then it was, that the Sun-burst carried +through that hot field, from beginning to end, by Sergeant John Smith, +of the 7th I.R.A., company G, might be seen flying where the enemy was +thickest, surrounded by a struggling band, each of which was a host +himself. Then it was, that the wild cry of “Erin go bragh!” smote on +the ear of the foe like a death knell, paralyzed all their energies, +and froze the warm current in their heart. At that moment a dozen men in +green were worth a regiment of the material he fought against; and thus +it was, that the enemy determined to mass all their forces against +the gallant O’Neill, who stood like a rock amid the dreadful conflict, +giving his orders with as much coolness as if he were dictating a +letter; and, while the bullets whistled about him like hail, applauding +the noble deeds of his men and officers, the next moment to be whirled +into the dreadful _melee_ himself. + +With the keen, quick eye of a soldier, O’Neill perceived the intention +of his adversary, who had, now, as he saw clearly, made up his mind to +mass all his force against the Fenian troops and flank them. At this +point the Boys in Green were ordered to fall steadily back and take up +a new position, some distance in the rear of their rail barricade. The +movement was performed in the most masterly manner; while the enemy +continued to extend his wings--both right and left. On perceiving it, +however, he construed it, as it was intended he should, into a retreat, +and paused for a moment to consider what was best to be done. While +deliberating, however, O’Neill, who had in vain been for some time +endeavoring to draw out his centre, perceiving that the moment had +arrived, sounded the charge, and, the next instant, the whole compact +body of the invaders, with himself and his officers at their head, +were thundering down, with the sweep of the Cyclone, upon the weak and +startled centre of the foe, crashing through it like a cavalcade of +thunder bolts, and scattering the whole of the English forces like chaff +before the wind! + +In the twinkling of an eye the enemy was flying in every direction +before the victorious army of the Irish Republic! In their ignoble +flight they divested themselves of all the clothing they could decently +spare, and of everything that could tend to impede their progress! The +field was strown with their great coats, knapsacks, rifles, and musical +instruments belonging to their bands. Their dead and dying were left +unheeded, and in every direction lay the unmistakable evidences of +their sudden disaster and hopeless defeat. The compactness and dreadful +resolve of the force slung against them by O’Neill, and the masterly +way in which the bolt was hurled, at once bid defiance to all their +pre-conceived ideas of fighting, or of the wonders that could be +attained by a handful of brave men, commanded by a dauntless and +experienced soldier; so, that their rumored attempt at rallying is +supposed to have originated in a desire on the part of their historian, +to lessen the disgrace of their defeat in the eyes of the people of +Canada; for it is well known, that so hot and heavy was the pursuit, +that they not only had no time to rally, but so intent was each one of +them on effecting his own personal safety, that all discipline was at an +end; until the Fenians, on perceiving that they were not yet reinforced, +felt it advisable, notwithstanding their success, to fall back on Fort +Erie, for the purpose of keeping their line of communication open with +the American shore. + +And yet until this disaster had overtaken them, the British troops +fought well, considering the incentives they had to stake their lives on +the field of battle. Nor were the Queen’s Own, who suffered so severely +in this tremendous charge, and who fled so panic-stricken before it, +a whit behind, in courage, some of the companies who appear to have +escaped with less censure from the Canadian public, in relation to the +loss of this important field. The Queen’s Own, as we are creditably +informed, came up well to the mark on more than one occasion; and only +gave way before such a charge as that which carried the day at Fontenoy, +and which was, at the period, absolutely irresistible. + +Barry and his comrades of the Canadian Fort fought throughout the whole +morning with the most heroic courage. In several hand to hand encounters +he performed prodigies of valor, and once thought he perceived the Kid +and Black Jack, together with Wilson whom he saw in their company at +Newbiggin’s farm, fighting on the English side. In this he was not +mistaken; for these three worthies, on discovering the superior force +of the British, at once concealed their horses and wagon in a sheltered +hollow hard by the field, and making a detour through the woods on the +verge of which they were passing, joined in the engagement, against the +men who had treated them so well but a few hours previously. This they +accomplished immediately after Col. Starr had driven in the outposts +of the enemy, and when they had ascertained that the English forces +outnumbered the invaders to an extent which, as they supposed, rendered +the success of the latter totally out of the question. + +While on one occasion, Nicholas was engaged with a Highlander whom +he was pressing hard, a ball grazed his shoulder, evidently fired +stealthily from behind a neighboring tree. A glance in the direction +revealed the form of the Kid retreating from the spot and seeking +shelter behind another, around which were gathered a few of the enemy +who were paying some attention to a wounded officer. This struck him +as strange; but as he had other work in hand, he permitted his cowardly +assailant to escape for the moment. Later in the day, however, he caught +yet another sight of him, and was satisfied that he had made a second +deadly attempt upon his life. In this way the matter stood touching +this peculiar case, until the total rout of the forces and their retreat +towards Ridgeway village; when Barry, left with a few men to look after +the dead and wounded while the main body pursued the fugitives, had yet +another opportunity of testing the kindly intentions of Smith; for while +he and four or five others were collecting the dead into one particular +spot beneath a huge elm, in the vicinity of a house near which the +greatest carnage had taken place, another ball whizzed by his ear; and +the next moment the door of the building opened and out rushed half a +dozen men, armed to the teeth, and laying one of his party dead at his +feet with the only bullet that had taken effect out of a volley that +had been fired as they rushed forward to overwhelm him in a hand to hand +struggle. + +The assailants were now six to five, but Barry soon made the numbers +more equal, and the fight becoming desperate, two of his antagonists +closed with him, who appeared to be men of tremendous activity and great +personal courage. What seemed strangest, however, in the whole of +this sudden attack, was, all the party that rushed from the house were +masked, although he was satisfied that one of them, at least, was the +Kid. The contest had continued for about eight or ten minutes when one +of his assailants was stretched at his feet by an unseen hand; the other +taking immediate flight. He looked around,--a stranger stood by his +side. He was a handsome young man dressed in the plain garb of a farmer. +Anxious to learn how the rest of his comrades fared, while thanking his +new ally for his timely assistance, he glanced in the direction in which +they fought; all save one was wounded but their antagonists lay beside +them dead or dying. Begging the stranger to render him some assistance +in staunching the blood of those who still survived, and removing them +to a shed belonging to the house hard by, he discovered that his fallen +adversary, who lay quite senseless from the blow he had received, now +seemed to be bleeding profusely from some wound inflicted by himself; +although until that moment he had not noticed it. His enemy had fought +with a long, keen dagger after he had discharged his rifle and thrown it +away, while the fugitive used one of the ordinary rifle-bayonets in his +attack. The superb swordsmanship of their intended victim, however, was +more than a match for them, and would, in all probability have triumphed +of itself had not the contest been broken in upon in the manner already +described. + +In the course of a very few moments, the sufferers were removed from out +the broiling sun to the shed just mentioned, where they were cared for +as well as circumstances would permit--the stranger passing to and from +the adjoining house with the necessary bandages, water, etc. + +While removing the masks of two of the assailing party, who appeared to +be mortally wounded, for the purpose of giving them the draft of water +they had so earnestly though feebly implored, as Barry suspected, one of +them was the Kid. The other was Wilson, whose last midnight journey had +evidently been performed, as he was sinking fast, and that, too, without +having gratified his love of plunder in a single instance connected with +the invasion from which he and his two companions had anticipated so +much. Outside, beneath a huge elm, lay Black Jack stone dead, from a +frightful bayonet wound in his throat. His mask had fallen off in his +death struggles, which must have been frightful, judging from the manner +in which his clothes were covered with dust and the way in which the +earth was kicked up all around him. Never was a more horrible face +turned in such hideous blindness on the sun. His eyes were staring +wide open, and his huge mouth, fringed with blood-stained froth, seemed +stretched in demoniacal laughter at some horrid and unearthly orgy in +which he was about to join. The sight was actually appalling; and Barry +turned away from it in utter loathing to minister to those who were yet +within the reach of human aid. + +Although, dangerously wounded, he found that, unlike the same number +of their comrades who lay stretched on the green sward without, his two +companions who had been brought to the earth without being killed, were +not beyond the reach of hope. With their antagonists, however, it was +different; and now that Barry perceived the Kid; or Smith as we shall +now call him, was fast approaching his end, in the great anxiety that +he felt concerning the fate of his beloved, he knelt beside him and +implored him to give him any information that he might possess regarding +her, and so atone, before he crossed the threshold of the grave, for +any wrong that he might have been instrumental in doing her through the +machinations of others. + +The dying man raised his heavy eyelids for a moment and ere they dropped +again, managed, as if by one last effort, to point towards the prostrate +form of the principal antagonist of our hero, who still lay insensible a +short distance from him. His chest labored wildly for a few seconds, but +before he could ejaculate a single word, a sudden spirt of blood leaped +from his mouth and he was dead. Wilson had passed away more slowly and +less perceptibly. From the moment he had been removed to the shed he +spoke but once; and that was when he uttered a feeble cry for water. On +beholding the latter dead, the stranger, who had lent such timely aid +to our hero, regarded the silent form with a curious expression of +countenance, and then turned away towards the house. In the meantime, +the man who had for so far lain insensible, began to recover slowly. +Hitherto, his mask which hid but half his face, leaving his mouth and +chin uncovered, had not been removed; but now, as if in some uneasy +dream, his trembling hand tore it mechanically away, revealing, to the +utter astonishment of Barry, the hooked nose and ghastly countenance of +Greaves! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Had O’Neill a single troop of cavalry when he broke the British lines at +Ridgeway, the 2d day of June, 1866, would have been the darkest that +had ever occurred in the annals of Canada. He would have literally +annihilated all the forces that were brought against him on that field, +and struck such terror to the heart of the enemy, as to have still +farther paralysed their volunteer service and destroyed the confidence +of the Canadian people in the vaunted invincibility of the arms of +England for many a long day, if not for all time to come. But owing to +circumstances already referred to, he fought under every disadvantage +possible to an invading army. Still, as the case stood, his triumph was +not the less brilliant or decisive. He routed the enemy, horse and foot; +and had he been in a position to dispose of prisoners, he could have +taken a very large number with scarcely any effort; from the fact, +that after the fearful charge that had broken through their lines, they +became completely panic stricken and demoralized. As he pursued the +flying forces towards Ridgeway, what he would have given for a few +mounted riflemen or dragoons; but as a signal and glorious defeat was +more his object than the spilling of blood, he now felt, unsustained as +he was, it would be wise to fall back upon Fort Erie, in the hope that +reinforcements had arrived there, although he was unable to leave even +the smallest handful of a garrison to maintain the foothold he had so +far achieved. Seeing there was nothing further to gain but everything to +lose by remaining longer in a position he could not by any possibility +maintain, in view of the hostile forces that he knew would soon be +pouring down upon him from other quarters, he paused on the verge of the +carnage that he might have wrought still further, and addressed himself +to securing the safety of his little band of heroes and occupying some +position on the frontier from whence he could, if hard set, effect his +transit across the river, or take up a final stand, fighting until the +last man fell in his ranks, if necessary to the success of any landings +that he might learn of as having taken place on the Canadian shore at +other points, or in view of the intention of the authorities at Buffalo +to reinforce him, and enable him to pursue the campaign, so gloriously +opened, with renewed hope and vigor. + +The news of the disastrous defeat of the British arms spread like +wild-fire; throwing the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of +Ridgeway, as well as those of the village itself, into a state of +the most fearful consternation. Houses were barricaded and property +concealed in the full anticipation that the conquerors would act upon +the world-wide maxim, “to the victors belong the spoils.” But, as we +have already seen, it was the government and not the peasantry or people +of the country that O’Neill had come to overthrow. No better evidence +of this could be afforded than that shown by the circumstance, that, +although two infamous and relentless robbers, and their scarcely less +culpable acquaintance and friend, Wilson, had, for two days and two +nights, followed in the wake of his army, not a single opportunity was +afforded them of joining any portion of his command in a stealthy raid +upon the habitations or any of the people, or of taking an advantage of +the confusion and lawlessness which almost invariably surround the camp +of an invader. From first to last, his troops observed with singular +fidelity, his order that the lives and property of the Canadians not +found in arms against him, should be held as most sacred. And in no +instance, although the temptations were various and marked, was this +injunction violated. On this head, Major Denison himself is most +explicit; and when we have the testimony of an enemy upon the subject, +the most exacting incredulity cannot look for more conclusive evidence +in the premises. + +As already observed, when the rout and confusion of the English +commenced, they fled in all directions; but their main body set off, at +full speed, for Ridgeway, through which village, and for a mile beyond +it, they were pursued by the Irish forces. As was to be expected, their +wounded and dying strewed the way; while those who were thoroughly +acquainted with the locality made their escape to the shelter of +whatever woods or dwellings were to be found along the line of retreat, +without actually bordering upon it. Amongst these latter were Greaves +and the persons who made such a sudden and deadly attack upon Barry +while engaged in looking after the dead and wounded that were found +convenient to the house already referred to. This habitation ought to +have been well known to one of the party at least; for it was neither +more nor less than the residence of Wilson, in which Kate M’Carthy and +Martha and her aunt had barricaded themselves, in the apartment of the +former, after having secured the outer doors, when they heard the tide +of war rolling towards them. Wilson, understanding how the case stood +with them, when he found he could not gain admission, and being sensible +that they could not hear his voice, hastily effected an entrance by a +window in a sort of out kitchen, attached to the rear of the building, +and soon admitted his companions; re-bolting the door, and running up +stairs to warn the other inmates of the house not to speak or stir, but +remain barricaded as they were, until they heard from him again. This +done, he descended to where his comrades were, and was about to make +some observation, when the Kid instantly drew the attention of Greaves +to the party who were collecting the dead and wounded hard by, among +whom he at once recognized Barry. In the twinkling of an eye, the +countenance of Greaves was lit with an expression the most revolting; +and turning to his companions he exclaimed in a low, hissing voice-- + +“Now, my countrymen, we can avenge ourselves in part, at least, for +the disasters of the morning. There stand some of the most active and +dangerous of the army of the invader, and it is for us to take signal +vengeance on them, and not permit a single one of them to escape out of +our hands. We must not risk firing upon them at a distance so great; +as should we chance to miss a single shot, they would be sure to slip +beyond our reach. Let us rush out upon them then, with such arms as we +have at our command; and after giving them a volley pounce upon them +knife in hand, for they appear quite unconscious of any impending +danger. Above all things, do not let that officer escape. He is the +most deadly enemy we have had to encounter to-day. Let him, at least, be +despatched without fail, and one thousand dollars shall be distributed +amongst you the moment I find him a corpse before my eyes.” + +The Kid, Jack and Wilson understood all this; for the first of the +villains had explained previously to the latter two, that Greaves was +interested to an unaccountable extent, in the death of Barry; and had, +on that very morning, before he left Ridgeway, promised him a round +sum if he managed to despatch him in any way; whether by stealth, or +otherwise. This he attempted, as we have already seen; but hitherto +without the desired effect; so that, now, when his game was within his +reach, and where he felt that he should be the gainer, no matter by whom +our hero was laid low, he immediately fell into this second proposition, +as did all the others who stood around him. + +In a few moments, then, Wilson procured the masks already noticed; they +being a portion of his stock in trade, and loading the three rifles they +had at their command, the door was stealthily opened and the assault +made, which had resulted in such disaster to themselves. + +When Barry had recovered from the utter surprise occasioned by the +presence of Greaves, and overcome the speechless astonishment into which +it had thrown him, he knelt down beside the wounded man, and began to +examine into the extent of his injuries. At first a few flesh wounds +about the shoulders and arms were all that he could discover; and as +these had bled freely, he fancied that the feeble condition of the +wretch, was attributable simply to a loss of blood; and, now, that +his wounds had been staunched, he believed he should gradually recover +strength, so as to be able to offer some explanation of his presence in +that part of the Province, as well as of the circumstances in which he +now found himself. On a closer examination, however, and just about half +an inch below the nipple of his left breast, the young soldier perceived +a small discolored wound, evidently made with the point of his own +sword during the struggle that had just terminated, and from which not +a single drop of blood had flowed, outwardly at least. Here, without a +doubt, all the danger lay; and as our hero was not versed in injuries, +beyond the reach of external applications, all he could do was to bathe +the bitter, little, blue or discolored orifice--the lips of which seemed +to be pressed together in a vicious sort of manner--in some of the +water that had been previously procured at the adjoining house, when the +wounded men were removed from the open field. During this operation +the eyes of Greaves were steadily fixed upon him, and when he had again +bathed the wound and adjusted the head of the unfortunate sufferer on a +pillow made of some hay found in one corner of the shed, the lips of the +patient became as it were suddenly unsealed, while the light of a larger +intelligence, rushed full into his eyes. At this period the wounded +companions of our hero were comparatively easy, on the temporary couch +made for them by the stranger, just before he disappeared and entered +the dwelling a second time; so that, for the moment, there was not much +to distract his attention from anything that Greaves might vouchsafe to +say, some terrible foreboding having just rushed into his mind, based +upon the dying intimation of Smith, that the man who lay thus helpless +and for aught he knew dying before him, was in some way connected with +the fate of his betrothed. + +Scarcely had the conviction seized upon him, when Greaves motioned him +to draw nearer. On eagerly complying with the request, he bent his ear +almost to the lips of the sufferer, who breathed with great difficulty, +and whose voice was scarcely audible, so weak had he become. As though +by some effort of his indomitable will, however, he managed to collect +all his energies into his tongue and throat; and after whispering +through his compressed and pallid lips the single word “listen!” began +slowly as follows: + +“I am Edward Philip Darcy. I have lost, for I know that my hour has +come!” + +At the mention of the name “Darcy,” Barry sprang to his feet! Before +him lay the son of the man to whose machinations all Kate’s poverty and +hardships were clearly traceable. He it was that was now concerned in +the Chancery suit, the decision of which was to be replete with such +serious results, as he presumed, to Kate. His father had been dead for +some time, and had bequeathed his interest in the case to him! He was +the only person living who could stand in the way of the property it +involved being placed in the hands of its lawful heir; for the claims of +Darcy, whatever they might be, expired with this, his only son, and +the last of his name and race. The consideration was startling in +the extreme; but as our hero saw how necessary it was to command his +feelings, and listen to whatever Greaves, or Darcy, as we shall now +call him, intended to say, he resumed his position and listened, as the +wounded man continued:-- + +“I worshipped gold and power; and as there was some fear of the suit, of +which you have often heard, being decided against as, on the death of my +father, I stepped into his shoes, as a man who could make himself useful +to the Government, and as one, in these troublous times, pre-eminently +calculated to dip into the secrets of Fenianism at home and abroad, and +apprise the British authorities of its power, aims and objects, as well +as make them acquainted with all its plans and prospects. Although I +now surmise I had really to do with the Privy Council itself, I was +ostensibly employed by an important official connected with the Castle +of Dublin, who, besides paying me liberally for my services, promised to +influence the Court of Chancery in my favor, touching the decision now +pending; provided that, after doing all I could to unearth the leaders +and plans of Fenianism in Ireland, I crossed the Atlantic and commenced +operations upon the Brotherhood in America, of which the Canadian +government seemed unable to say much that was definite, however they +might have apprehended mischief from this quarter. It was known at home, +that but little confidence could be placed in the efficiency and honesty +of a Cabinet that tolerated a shuffling inebriate at its head; so that +from the contradictory official documents reaching the Castle from +Canada, through the Imperial authorities, it was, I suppose, deemed +advisable to send me out to learn something of the true state of the +case. Influenced thus, I set about my work with right good will; and +after doing what I could in Ireland, started for this country, with +Fenian credentials that, I need not inform you, were obtained through +the treason of one of the Organization who had gained admission into +the Brotherhood for the simple purpose of betraying it; but who was not +sufficiently deep in its plans and confidence to damage it mortally. + +“But the strongest inducement I had to visit America was the +circumstance of Kate McCarthy’s having emigrated to that country, and a +desire which I had long felt of gaining her affections and, if possible, +making her my wife; for notwithstanding all the promises of the Castle, +I was fearful that the Chancery suit would go against me--a suspicion +heightened by the conviction of my lawyer. I knew, of course, all about +your engagement to her, but being aware of your having entered the army, +and of your having, through an adverse fate, been separated from her by +two seas, I thought that I should be able to estrange her feelings and +love from you, and make her mine before you again saw her face. But here +I had deceived myself. She was not to be moved, and I was repulsed at +every point, until, maddened by repeated failures, I determined to +make her mine by force. Under the name of Edward Lauder, I first was +introduced to her, having managed to trace her from Quebec to Toronto, +after rendering good service to the home government in the former city. +From the first moment she beheld me, she seemed to entertain an aversion +towards me; and when she became aware of my intentions regarding +herself, and heard my repeated insinuations touching the general +faithlessness and bad character of private soldiers on foreign service, +all semblance of cordiality was at an end between us; and soon, +perceiving that her friends favored my suit, she left Toronto and took +up her abode with some relatives in Buffalo.” + +Here the wounded man became faint and silent; but Nicholas, anxious to +hear all he had to say, bathed his brow and moistened his lips with +the water which still stood in a large wooden vessel by his side. This +seemed to refresh and revive his spirits; so that he soon continued, +although with increasing difficulty. + +“I knew that your regiment was stationed in the city where I first +met you; and the thought struck me, that if I could separate you both +forever, by betraying you into some act that would consign you to +a dungeon or penal servitude for life, or else make away with you +secretly, I should have some hope of accomplishing my designs regarding +her; and, in case the Chancery suit was decided against me, reap the +full advantages of it after all. + +“With this scheme deep within me, I followed her to Buffalo, and there +became acquainted with the two men that I saw fall a short time since, +who had engaged with me, for a certain sum, to keep their eyes upon +all her movements whenever I was absent from that city, and obey me in +everything, even to her forcible abduction into Canada, if necessary. +These men I knew to be desperate characters; so when I made this +arrangement with them, and was well assured that they would carry it +out if needs be, I started at once in your direction to see what +opportunities might there present themselves in furtherance of the +design that now seemed to absorb my whole being. + +“A man like me, easily found out your city-whereabouts; and, as you are +already aware, shortly after my arrival I formed your acquaintance and +that of O’Brien, whom I previously learned to be a relative of Miss +McCarthy, to whom, since you had been quartered in the Fort, she had +already paid a couple of visits. Soon learning your Fenian tendencies, +and hearing that you had applied for your discharge and expected to +receive it immediately, I determined if possible, to prevent your +becoming a freeman on British soil, and to goad you into desertion; +as it was rumored, that your regiment was soon to be called home, and +knowing that you would never accompany it, even though your discharge +were denied you. My object then was, to do, what I actually did do the +morning I accompanied you to the Fort. While you were getting ready for +parade I managed to exchange a few words with your commanding officer, +showed him my credentials from the Castle, and told him that you sought +your discharge only for the purpose of joining a Fenian army now +about to invade the province; with the further view of placing them in +possession of all you knew of the weak points of the Fort. The theory +worked like a charm,--you were denied your discharge; and now I knew you +would desert. In this, however, I was determined to help you; and, at +the same time, cause your betrothed to be lured in some way into Canada, +and consigned to some safe, out-of-the-way keeping, where no one should +know of her, until I made my appearance as if by accident before her; +and where I knew you would not be likely to seek her, from the fact, +that once you were a deserter you would be out-lawed forever from +British soil. + +“You yourself furnished the means of this abduction in a manner the most +innocent. You will recollect the note sealed with a peculiar device, +that you gave me to the deserter concealed in the city in which you were +stationed, telling him to entrust himself wholly, and without question +to whomsoever presented it. This note, after exhibiting it to your +friend, I retained and perceiving that it would answer my purpose, as +it mentioned no names, I enclosed it at once to my agents in Buffalo, +instructing them to present it to Miss McCarthy, and without a moment’s +delay, convey her across the river to some secluded spot, where she was +to be held at all hazards, until further orders from me, or until I +was able to visit her myself. My injunctions were obeyed, and all was +well--you had deserted and Kate McCarthy was in my power!” + +At this point of the infamous revelation, Barry writhed in the most +fearful agony, and was on the eve of strangling the villain that lay +helpless before him; but his good angel, rushing to the rescue, restored +him to reason once more; and while great beads of perspiration stood on +his brow, he endeavored to compose himself to hear the terrible recital +to its close. + +“But,” continued Darcy, “after all my generalship you are master of +the field, and she cannot fail to become the possessor of the property +justly or otherwise so long estranged from her, although I fear it is +already embarrassed with heavy costs.” + +“But where is she now?” exclaimed Barry, as the gasping man finished his +terrible narrative. + +“I know not,” whispered the other with an effort. “As I had not an +opportunity of paying the stipulated sum to the men who undertook her +abduction, they kept the place of her concealment secret from me until +I should perform my part of the contract, which I could have done this +day, only for the fate that has overtaken us. There is, however, no +doubt of her being in the Province, and, likely, somewhere in the very +region where we now are.” + +“But,” he whispered, with increasing difficulty and spasmodic +interruptions, “I feel as if I were suffocating! Water! Water! Oh! God!” + And with a bound that almost brought him to his feet, he sprang clean +from the ground on which he lay; and the next moment fell back heavily, +a corpse! + +And so perished the four men, who scarce an hour previously were as full +of life and vigor as their hearts were of evil thoughts and designs. +There can be no doubt, that they fell through the instrumentality, +unconscious as it was, of the very individuals whom they had injured; +differing only in their shades of criminality. In other relations, +besides the one to which their fate may be mainly attributed, they were +doubtless guilty to an enormous extent. Black Jack, Smith and Wilson +were unquestionably old offenders; the two former having the heavy scent +of blood about them; while Darcy or the pretended Lauder or Greaves, +whatever his antecedents may have been, showed himself capable of any +atrocity known to the history of crime. The cup of their iniquity +was full; or they had not fallen so signally, thus. How steadily the +avenging angel follows in the footsteps of the wretch who makes war +upon humanity or does continual violence to the divine spark which, in +a greater or less degree, illumes the breast of every human being born +into the world. Throughout the whole of their infamous career, these men +were well apprised of the fact, that they were engaged in open rebellion +against God and Nature, and thus it was, that they were cut off in their +prime, without one sympathetic tear, to soothe their last moments or +hallow their graves. + +Such were the meditations of Barry, as he stood over the inanimate frame +of his implacable foe; but soon awaking from his revery, he felt how +dreadful to know that his beloved was, perhaps at that very moment, +suffering in captivity or exposed to dangers consequent upon the +disturbed state of the country at some point, where, now that her +persecutors, who had at least provided for her daily sustenance, were +dead, she might, on this fact becoming known, be subjected to further +injuries, or wrongs that might be irreparable. The thought maddened him; +and he was groaning aloud, in the agony of his spirit, when his ears +were arrested with the returning tumult of O’Neill’s forces, after their +having made the second of June, 1866, memorable in the annals of Canada, +and those of Irish Independence. Gazing steadily for a moment on the +terribly distorted features of his fallen enemy, he turned towards the +wide shed-door to make some arrangements regarding the removal of his +wounded comrades, when his opportune friend again emerged from the +house, and rejoined him as he was stepping across the threshold. + +“How fares it with your antagonist, now?” enquired the stranger as he +cast a hurried glance towards the body of Darcy, not knowing that its +spirit had already taken its flight forever. + +“Dead!” returned Barry. “They who assailed us but a short time ago are +all gone to their last home, save the man who made his escape on your +arrival and interference, whoever he may be.” + +“That’s sharp practice,” rejoined the other; “but in my opinion they +richly deserved what they got, for they fought as murderers and not as +men.” + +“Would to heaven,” returned Nicholas, “that one of them at least had +escaped the fearful chastisement inflicted upon him; for his death has +enshrouded in darkness a question which presses heavily upon my heart, +and one that I have no means of solving. But pray, sir,” he continued, +“do you reside in this vicinity, and if you do, perhaps you would be +kind enough to say, whether you have heard, recently, of the arrival of +a strange lady in this locality, who had been lured from her home and +friends under false pretenses; and who is, as I now have every reason to +believe, in questionable hands?” + +“May I ask your name?” returned the stranger, without replying to the +question, and eyeing Barry from head to foot, “and may I, in addition, +inquire what is the name of the lady to whom you allude?” + +“My name,” replied our hero, “is Nicholas Barry, and the name of the +lady is Miss Kate M’Carthy.” + +“Mr. Barry,” hastily observed the stranger, extending his hand, “my name +is Henry Evans, and my kinswoman, Kate M’Carthy, is well and now in safe +keeping.” + +At the mention of the name, Evans, and the assurance that his betrothed +was safe and well, the heart of Berry so bounded within him, that after +the blood had poured itself in one mighty torrent through his whole +frame and blazed over his face and brow for a moment, he became as pale +as death, and had not his newly found friend leaped forward and +caught him in his arms, he should have fallen fainting to the ground. +Recovering himself speedily, however, he leaned against the huge +door-post at his side, and, breathing with more regularity, soon became +cool and collected. + +Evans could well understand this sudden emotion. His own heart was +just in the vein to sympathize with it; so, in a moment the subtle +freemasonry of kindred spirits was established between them. + +Who can explain it? Here was a brave, young fellow, with the heart of +a lion, who had faced death in various shapes but an hour or so +previously--who had within the brief space of two days engaged hand +to hand in the most dreadful encounters with the enemy, without +experiencing the slightest sense of fear, or condescending to yield a +single inch of ground where he had set down his foot--here, we say, we +see him succumb at once, and rendered as helpless as a child at the mere +mention of a woman, and the assurance of her safety, although not by +any means thoroughly satisfied of her being in anything like imminent +danger. We shall not attempt to analyse the subtle and powerful +influences at work in such mysterious cases; but simply content +ourselves with the observation, that men who are susceptible of such +influences, and who strike at once to the first tap of their drum, are +not notorious for any great deficiency when brought face to face with a +more tangible and terrible enemy. And so thought Henry Evans as both he +and Nicholas sallied forth; the former to report to the gallant O’Neill, +and the latter to re-enter the house already so often referred to, where +Barry agreed to join him when he had seen the hero of Ridgeway. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +As remarked in a preceding chapter, Kate M’Carthy had some distant +relatives in the vicinity of Fort Erie; and, as fortune would have +it, the two strangers who, on the night before the battle of Ridgeway, +interrupted the murderous designs of Smith, belonged to the family with +whom she claimed kindred. One of these, Henry Evans, who had once met +her in Toronto, on hearing from Martha of her presence in Wilson’s house +and the circumstances that surrounded her, instantly requested to be +conducted to her, with a view to reassuring her and offering her the +protection of which he was satisfied she stood so much in need. The +recognition was mutually exciting, and on the part of Kate appreciated +with heartfelt gratitude. Explanations ensued which placed her friend in +possession of all that was, for the present, necessary for him to know; +and it was at once agreed upon, that she should accompany him on the +ensuing morning to the residence of his widowed mother, not far distant, +where she was to remain until Barry or her friends in Buffalo could be +communicated with; as her return to the United States, at a period so +disturbed and critical, was, of course, out of the question. New life +and hope welled up through this arrangement; and the poor girl, who +but a few moments previously believed herself in a position the most +dangerous and difficult, now found herself under the protection of her +own stalwart kinsman. + +Martha, also, was delighted that the being she herself so loved had +made a discovery that not only quieted the painful anticipations and +reflections of her new friend, but gave herself an opportunity of +speedily abandoning forever a roof that had now become loathsome to her, +as she had already made up her mind to accompany Kate to the house of +old Mrs. Evans, who, notwithstanding her suspicious associations, loved +her for her own sake, and desired that she should forgo all further +intimacy with her uncle, and become the wife of young Henry. In this way +matters stood until the morning of the second of June--Henry remaining +throughout the night with the alarmed family; there being nothing to +fear in the direction of his own residence, which lay quite out of the +line of the two armies that were now about to close in mortal strife. + +The Kid and the cousin of Henry had, as already shown, gone in the +direction of the village, where, on arriving in due course, they found +the inhabitants in a state of the greatest consternation. As in Port +Colborne, here, also, was to be observed that spirit of disaffection +towards the British Crown which led to the hoisting of the American flag +over a public building at the former place, when it was ascertained +that the Province had actually been invaded. As yet, the troops +under Lieutenant Colonel Booker had not arrived, and as there was no +opportunity for Smith to ply his vocation, that worthy, emulating the +course pursued by his companion, rested quietly on his oars, until the +cars arrived with the army that was to contest the field of Ridgeway +with the soldiers of O’Neill. + +On the arrival of this train, Smith, as we have already perceived, +encountered Darcy, and had a conversation with him, the substance of +which is already known to the reader, as well as his subsequent falling +in with Wilson and Black Jack in the immediate rear of the Fenian +forces. Before the British had proceeded from Ridgeway towards Chippewa, +for the purpose of forming the junction with Colonel Peacock, the cousin +of Evans had returned to Wilson’s with the intelligence that the command +of Booker was about to move along the Sodom Road; upon which he was +begged, by Henry, to start off and inform the widow, his mother, of +the approaching storm, and assure her that he should not take up +arms against the invaders, nor approach the scene of conflict, if the +contending armies joined issue at any point in the neighborhood. These +two young men, although born in Canada, were, yet, the sons of Irishmen, +and felt that it would be criminal in them to raise their hand against +the freedom of the land of their fathers, or in behalf of a government +that had for centuries subjected it to every wrong and insult that could +be heaped upon it. This they felt; and entered into a mutual compact +to remain passive at least, should the tide of the conflict surge their +way--hoping only for the success of the cause of poor, down-trodden +Erin, without feeling themselves impelled to raise an arm in her +defense against a body of men made up in part of their friends and +acquaintances. + +This was not genuine patriotism, we know; but, still, under the +circumstances, it had its merits. In addition, it had enough of the real +stuff about it to be capable of being shaped readily, under certain not +unreasonable conditions, into a most useful and active element in the +cause. Where a sentiment is not absolutely hostile, but on the contrary +even imbued with some slight degree of friendliness, it is easily +brought into line with the cause towards which it leans. And thus it +is with a vast body of the people of Canada, who do not take any active +part in the great question that now so agitates the Empire and shakes +the tyrant England to her very foundations. They would like to see +Ireland free; but they do not care to come into collision with the +British authorities on the subject. Could they lend her a helping hand +in secret and without detection, they would extend it cheerfully; but +they have not the nerve or moral courage to give her three cheers in the +market place. To this numerous class, these two young men belonged; and, +singular as it may appear, we count on it for real support in the +final struggle that must take place between us and England upon this +continent, one day or other. We think, also, that in the hands and under +the fostering care of the out-and-out Irish Nationalists of Canada, who +are ready to mount the scaffold at any moment, this friendly element +could be fostered into a great and irresistible power; for we have been +always of the opinion, that nine-tenths of those who have even one, +single drop of Irish blood in their veins, can, by judicious treatment, +be developed into the deadliest enemies of our ancient and implacable +foe. Let these people be educated in the history and the wrongs of +Ireland, as well as the extent to which England is indebted to that +unfortunate country for an that she now is. Let them take the Penal +Laws for a text-book, and the murders and confiscations of Elizabeth, +Cromwell and the Georges, for their “Reading Made Easy,” and no fear +but they will soon fall into the ranks from which they now, alas! keep +aloof. Let them dwell upon the ages of famine, fire and sword to which +we have been subjected by a wretch who in the days of her gross darkness +came begging to our door in her breeches of blue paint and asked us for +an alphabet, while we were yet the day star of European civilization +and Christianity, and then they will be enabled to justify in their own +bosoms any act that would tend to her humiliation, and comprehend fully +how bitter and eternal the enmity between us, and how just, whatever +stroke should seal her doom at our hands. + + Seek music in the wolf’s fierce howl, + Or pity In his Wood-shot eye, + When hanger drives him out to prowl + Beneath a rayless northern sky. + + But seek not that we shall forgive + The hand that strikes as to the heart, + And yet in mock’ry bids us live + To count our stars as they depart. + + We’ve fed the tyrant with our blood,-- + Won all her battles!--built her throne!-- + Established her on land and flood, + And sought her glory, next our own. + + We raised her from her low estate + And plucked her pagan soul from hell. + And led her up to heaven’s own gate, + Till she for gold, like Judas, fell. + + And when in one long soulless night + She lay unknown to wealth or fame. + We gave her empire---riches--light, + And taught her how to spell her name. + + But, now, ungenerous and unjust, + Forgetful of our old renown, + She bows us to the very dust, + But wears our jewels in her Crown! + +This is the sentiment that fires the heart of every true son and +daughter of Ireland; and all that is necessary to its general adoption +on the part of those related to us by even the most distant ties of +country, is the constant promulgation throughout the length and breadth +of the New Dominion, etc., of sound information regarding the past and +present of our native land, and the true history of English legislation +affecting us. + +Scarcely had the cousin of Evans disappeared from Wilson’s on his +mission to the house of the widow, when the echoing woods in the +vicinity of the place gave evidence of the meeting of the two hostile +forces. The first discharge of the Fenian rifles, after Col. Starr had +driven in the advance posts of the enemy, brought Kate to her feet, and +kindled in her eye a flame so intense, while her white teeth glistened +through her parted lips, that she seemed the very personification +of female courage and patriotism. As she listened through her open +casement, and caught the distant cheer of her countrymen, the wild +music of which she thoroughly recognized, her bosom rose and fell with +terrible emotion, while her delicate nostrils were distended in a +sort of passionate ecstasy that might be termed the climax of the most +sublime enthusiasm. Once more the Saxon and the Celt had joined in the +death struggle; and she felt as though she herself ought to be in some +way identified then and there with the conflict. Thoroughly appreciating +the mighty issues at stake, she implored heaven, in language the most +fervent, to crown with victory the standard of Ireland, and nerve the +arm of O’Neill in this the hour of his need. And as the moments rolled +by, and the tide of the contest ebbed and flowed upon her ear, her +excitement became so intense, that she begged of Henry to venture out +to some point where, without personal danger to himself, he might learn +something of the actual state of the battle and the prospects of her +gallant countrymen. + +More than an hour had elapsed since the action began, when Evans sallied +forth to gratify not only the wishes of his kinswoman, but to satisfy +his own mind as to how affairs stood. He was armed with his revolver +and dirk only; and felt, notwithstanding his former resolve, a strange +inclination to use them on the side of Ireland. A cowardly shot, +however, he could not fire; and as he knew nothing whatever of military +tactics, he at once dismissed from his mind the idea of participating in +the contest. Perceiving that the conflict did not verge towards his own +dwelling, he was determined to keep his eye upon that which he had just +left, and yet venture as near the field where the battle was raging as +a brave man might. Once he retraced his steps to inform Kate that so +far as he could perceive, both armies were holding their own; returning +again to the edge of a patch of wood close by. Here he had remained for +some time endeavoring to form an idea as to the probable issue of the +struggle, and occasionally warned of the perilousness of his position by +the rifle bullets that now and then sang around him, when suddenly +the red cross of St. George was seen to waver, and the next moment the +British lines were broken and scattered like chaff before the gallant +O’Neill and the victorious charge of his brave handful of heroes. + +The pulses of Evans beat quick with a sort of strange, wild joy, when he +heard the shout of triumph which burst from the ranks of the Irish, as +they swept like a whirlwind in the wake of their retreating foes, some +of whom stood at bay but to be instantly overthrown by their pursuers. A +desperate encounter between a knot of both forces took place quite near +to where he stood concealed: and here, also, the enemy bit the dust; +although at this precise point, they were not outnumbered. It was here +that Barry and his comrades were ordered to look after the dead and +wounded; the point being convenient to Wilson’s, and discernible from +it, although a clump of trees shut out the house from Evans. + +When Wilson saw that the day was lost, as quickly as possible, both he +and his comrades, including Darcy and two or three others of a similar +stamp, who joined them in the field, fled and took shelter in his house, +unperceived by Evans or the victorious Irish. From this dwelling, +as already described, they sallied forth in a murderous assault upon +Nicholas and his party; with what success has been already seen. To +account for Evan’s opportune appearance at the time of Barry’s being +sorely pressed, we have only to observe, that he witnessed the attack +without knowing the point from whence it proceeded, or recognizing the +persons who made it; and only hastened to the scene of action when he +perceived that the assailing party was masked and that Barry was being +overwhelmed by unequal numbers. Having gained the point where the +struggle was being carried on, the butt-end of his revolver placed Barry +on an equal footing with his antagonists; although as already observed, +the young soldier had previously inflicted a mortal wound upon the most +important of his assailants. + +Kate and Martha were eye-witnesses from their chamber window of the +whole of this supplementary fight; the former little dreaming, that the +officer attacked by the two ruffianly masks, was the man that was +all the world to her. She perceived, however, that he belonged to the +invading army, and such being the case, she viewed the contest with +breathless anxiety; looking every moment for the fatal stroke that was +to lay him low in the dust forever, until the sudden appearance of +Henry on the spot, decided the day in his favor. The relief that she +experienced was so unutterable that she burst into tears; and when a few +moments subsequently, she learned from the lips of her kinsman himself +that the Irish were every where victorious and the British forces +totally routed and in full retreat upon Ridgeway, the intelligence was +too much for her, and she swooned away into the arms of Martha, while an +expression of ineffable joy overspread her beautiful face. + +The death of Wilson was broken to his wife as feelingly as might be by +Henry. For a moment the poor woman was paralysed, and then gave vent to +a flood of tears of a character so strange, that we shall not pause to +analyse it here. Her life had, indeed, been, for so far, a hard one, +with him; and now that she had discovered his real character, she +almost felt grateful to heaven for removing him from the world he was +so dishonoring and the heart that he had already broken. Yet he had been +her husband, and she remembered that she had loved him once; and here +the woman was touched within her. The die was cast, however; and now +it only devolved upon her to see his remains quietly consigned to their +last resting place. She saw him where he lay, kissed his cold lips and +wept afresh for all his long years of cruelty towards her; and then +turned away to her lonely chamber to which the body was removed +subsequently. Martha was horrified only at the slaughter that surrounded +her; and had no place for grief in a bosom where affection for the +husband of her aunt had never existed. All she saw before her was her +beloved Henry, alive and safe after the conflict had ceased between the +contending armies; while her heart thrilled with the purest delight +on learning from her lover, that which she was as yet to keep secret, +namely, that the officer who had been attacked by the two masks opposite +the house, was the betrothed of Kate who had joined the invaders with +the two-fold purpose of striking for the freedom of his native land, and +unraveling, if possible, the mystery of her sudden disappearance from +Buffalo. + +When our hero presented himself before the gallant O’Neill, that +distinguished soldier, who was already aware of the services rendered +by Nicholas, complimented him on his bravery and informed him, that he +should now fall back on Fort Erie with his remaining forces; fearing +momently the approach not only of Peacock’s army but that of the +numerous other bodies of men that were being concentrated against him +from more than one quarter. Orders were therefore given to dispose as +hastily as possible of the dead and wounded: some prisoners that were +taken having been already paroled; among whom was the officer taken by +Barry on the preceeding day. + +When Kate opened her eyes to consciousness again, she found herself in +arms other than those of Martha; and looking up in a state of startled +amazement encountered the radiant face of Nicholas as he pressed her in +ecstasy to his bosom. A cry of joy escaped her lips, as she clung to him +with an embrace as wild as though she feared some adverse fate should +again separate them; and a second time became unconscious. Soon, +nevertheless, she was revived through restoratives used by Martha; but +yet in a state so confused that she could scarcely bring herself to +believe that all was real that was transpiring around her. By degrees, +however, she became convinced that it was in reality her lover who +enfolded her to his heart; and all was well. In due time, explanations +were given, when it was determined that she should at once return with +him to her friends in Buffalo, under the protection of the victorious +army and in a vehicle that Henry volunteered to furnish for the +occasion, and drive in person. The distance to the frontier was but +short; and as Henry’s cousin had come up from the widow’s to learn the +result of the battle, it was agreed that the one should remain in the +house of death with Martha and her aunt until the return of the other +from Fort Erie; and that, in the interim, he should collect such of the +neighbors as were within reach, and have the body of Wilson and that of +Darcy and the others interred as speedily as possible. + +This once decided upon, Barry possessed himself of such papers and +documents as were on the body of Darcy, hoping thereby, to gain some +insight not only into the Chancery case, but into the intentions of the +Government or their plans in relation to Fenianism. To him belonged of +right any information of this character that could be realized from a +dastardly foe who had been vanquished by his sword. But little, however, +was gleaned from this source, beyond the fact gathered from a letter +received by Darcy from his lawyer a short time previously, announcing +that there was no hope of his winning the suit, as some private opinions +expressed by those who composed the Court, went to convey the idea that +the claims of Kate McCarthy were of a character not to be set aside or +ignored even under the pressure of the Castle; and further, that the +opposing counsel, who was a sterling lawyer and a man of influence, was +pressing the matter so, that a decision favorable to his client could +not fail to be given at no distant day. + +This was, of course, cheering to our hero, although Darcy, just before +his death, had placed him in possession of the contents of the epistle, +and prepared him for the intelligence it contained. Kate received the +information without evincing any great degree of excitement Her mind had +been so perplexed and agitated for the last few days, that her sudden +good fortune, in a pecuniary sense, seemed lost sight of in the other +events that had already transpired, and her unexpected restoration to +her lover. She was certainly surprised at the fate and the machinations +of the pretended Lauder; and felt relieved by the conviction that the +murderous and unprincipled wretch who had wrought her and Nicholas so +much wrong and hardship, and who had attempted the assassination of her +betrothed, and her own ruin, was no more. This was a great relief to her +overburdened heart; as she now knew, that a man so desperate as he, +were he still alive, might manage, even yet, to work them some further +mischief. + +Among the papers belonging to Darcy there was found a small memorandum +book or diary, which, although a riddle to Barry, is worth noting here, +as it contained some entries that may possibly find elucidation outside +the recognition of our hero. One of them was as follows: “Toronto, +April 20th, 1866--Paid to J.G. M---- $20, for information regarding Hib. +Benev. Society.” And again: “April 23d--saw Hon. J. R----; willing to +do all he can, but wants to be paid for it. Mean fellow, whose tenderest +passion is absolutely scrofulous, they say.” The other entries related +to mere travelling expenses, etc., and to some transactions which took +place in Kingston and other points where Darcy had been conducting +his operations in the interest of the English, as well as the Canadian +government In addition to this, there was a draft for a considerable +amount; but as it needed the signature of the deceased, it was regarded +as valueless and permitted to remain in the pocket of the dead man--our +hero, however it fared afterwards, feeling a singular repugnance to +possessing himself of any property of this kind, or retaining a single +shilling of the current funds found upon the corpse. These latter were +subsequently devoted to defraying the burial expenses of the deceased, +as well as those of his companions. + +When matters were so far arranged as to permit of the departure of our +hero and heroine, Henry was about to leave the premises with a view +to procuring the vehicle that was to carry them to the frontier, when +Wilson’s team, that was discovered by a neighbor in the place where it +had been concealed, was driven up to the door. This was opportune, +as Evans, on perceiving the horses and knowing that there was a light +carriage under the shed, determined to put them into requisition at +once. Soon, therefore, the three friends were bringing up the rear of +O’Neill’s troops as the latter fell steadily back upon Fort Erie, with +the intention, as before stated, of learning whether landings had been +made at any other point, or whether there were the slightest hopes of +reinforcements crossing the river from Buffalo. + +Kate parted from Martha with a warm embrace, and an assurance of lasting +friendship; while on her part, the betrothed of Evans promised to visit +our hero and heroine in Buffalo at no distant day, and there renew the +intimacy that had begun amid such clouds, although now surrounded with +sunshine. On the departure of our little party, then, Barry’s wounded +comrades being previously cared for under the instructions of O’Neill, +the bodies of the four accomplices--Wilson, Darcy, Black Jack and the +Kid--were interred with infinitely more decent observances than their +career in life seemed to warrant. The scruples of Nicholas, however, +regarding Darcy’s draft, were not shared by some of those who disposed +of his remains; as it was taken charge of by an individual who fancied +it might, one day, be turned to account by some person authorised to +receive it. Of the mask who had escaped from the conflict opposite +Wilson’s, we may have occasion to speak in some future volume; although +Evans surmised him simply some villain who had joined Darcy or the Kid +for the purposes of murder or plunder. Be this as it may, the fugitive +had made good his escape, while those with whom he had acted for the +time being, suffered to the extent of their crimes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +It will be remembered that when the brave O’Neill and his handful of +troops fell down the river from Fort Erie on the night of the first of +June, to go into camp at Newbiggin’s Farm, preparations were being made +by the British not only to overpower him with superior numbers but +to cut off his retreat upon the American shore and capture his whole +command. In view of this, troops were being despatched against him from +all points; while the tug Robb, black with artillery and men, came round +from Dunville and patrolled the Niagara River between Fort Erie and +Black Creek, under command of Capt. L. McCallum. This craft was manned +by the Dunville Naval Brigade and the Welland Field Battery, under Capt. +R.S. King, all armed to the teeth with Enfield rifles. On this vessel +there was, we learn, so much mirth when it was found that the Fenians +were cut off from the American shore, that the force aboard it assumed +the air of a sort of military pic-nic party. They laughed at the dilemma +in which they considered the invaders placed; and landed some of their +men at one point on the river to make a pleasant reconnoisance of the +enemy, and give them a warm reception as they came flying back +towards Fort Erie before the victorious Queen’s Own or the University +Rifles--either corps being considered quite sufficient to snuff out the +little band of patriots who dared to beard the British Lion in his den. +The wine and the jest passed gaily round, until so secure were they of +their position and the defeat of the invaders, a landing was effected +At Fort Erie where the skull and cross-bones of St. George once again +floated over the village, and assured the inhabitants that they were +not yet lost to wheezy old England. Lieut. Col. Denis was absolutely in +ecstasies and evinced such instances of personal bravery over his brandy +and water, that no one could have imagined, that, in the space of a +couple of hours or so, he should be found in a hay-loft, shorn of his +fierce moustachois, and endeavoring to imitate the Irish brogue, in the +slouched caubeen and coarse, gray habiliments of some poor, plundered +Son of the Sod. Those who caught a glimpse of the brave commander as he +fled before the dangers that threatened him, report him as presenting +the most ludicrous appearance imaginable, and scarcely worth sending to +his account in a respectable manner. To this disguise alone, we learn, +he owed his escape after the second carnage of the British by the Irish +troops on the memorable day already named, and on their return from +Limestone Ridge. + +When O’Neill left Ridgeway, after pursuing the routed English forces +through and beyond the village, he took the Garrison Road and, as +already mentioned, fell back on Fort Erie. Here he came upon the Welland +Field Battery and Dunville Naval Brigade just referred to. Flushed with +the victory of the morning, he was upon them like a whirlwind, and, in +the twinkling of an eye sent them flying to cover in every direction. +His horse being much jaded with the march of the previous night, and the +dreadful fatigues of the battle of the morning, he could scarcely get +him to move a leg when he entered the village; and this circumstance was +near leading to the most fatal results; for, in passing a house in which +a number of the enemy had taken shelter, one of them came to the door, +and seeing the animal going at so slow a pace, took deliberate aim with +a rifle, and fired, in the hope of bringing down his rider. The all but +murderous ball displaced the hair just over the right temple of O’Neill, +lodging in a building opposite; the hero escaping all the dangers of the +day, to the amazement of those who had marked him galloping among the +carnage and bullets of the morning, in what might be termed a constant +hand to hand struggle with death. It is sometimes thus with the men who +show the most daring front in battle, and at the call of duty expose +themselves to dangers the most appalling; while such as are more +cautious often fall in their first encounter with the enemy. + +The British forces at Fort Erie, from the very nature of things, had the +Fenians at great advantage on the return of the latter from Ridgeway. +The troops under O’Neill were fatigued and hungry, and after a desperate +battle and a long march, while the English had been resting on their +oars and feasting all day long, or at least for many hours. Still, +with all these advantages in their favor, they were whipped instantly a +second time; many of them being killed and wounded; Captain King of +the Welland Battery losing a leg upon the occasion, and others being +terribly maimed. In addition, some of them were so terror-stricken as to +roll from the bank into the river, and conceal themselves as best they +could, with their heads just over the water, and sheltered by whatever +chanced to float against them or project into the flood. In one case +they fought for a few minutes from behind some cord-wood: but from this +they were soon dislodged by the terrible bayonets of their enemies, +and scattered like sheep in and about the village. It was here that the +brave Colonel Michael Bailey was dangerously wounded by a rifle ball +from a house where the enemy had already hung out a flag of truce. He +was riding at the head of his men when he was tumbled from his horse, +the ball having entered his left breast, damaging the breast bone and +passing out just under his right nipple. The wound was at the time +considered mortal; but the gallant soldier survived it for upwards of a +year. Still it was the occasion of his death ultimately; for, from the +hour that he received it, he drooped gradually into his grave. Only +for the timely interference of O’Neill, the house from which this +treacherous shot was fired, like that from which he himself had nigh +received his death, would have been burned to the ground. He saw, of +course, how cowardly the act, to first hang out a flag of truce and then +follow the white emblem with so diabolical an attack; but he perceived, +also, that if one building chanced to be fired, Fort Erie might be +burned to the ground. He therefore quelled the rising tempest at this +foul play, and with his iron will held the whole command in the hollow +of his hand and made those who composed it trample on their feelings +and curb their just anger for the good of the cause--a noble sentiment +emulated by the brave Dr. Edward Donnelly, of Pittsburgh, who at the +risk of his life and liberty, remained among the wounded of both parties +and assisted by the humane Drs. Blanchard and Trowbridge, of Buffalo, +attended upon the sufferers even after the troops had recrossed the +river, and the British had again taken possession of Fort Erie. + +If we except the death of the brave Lonergan and that of half a dozen +other noble fellows, whose names are unfortunately not at our command at +this moment, and take into consideration the capture by the British of +the Christian and chivalrous Father McMahon, who, regardless of his own +personal safety, remained with the dead and dying, after the forces of +O’Neill had recrossed the river, the victory of Ridgeway was completely +unclouded. This patriotic priest and some other friends of Ireland are +now suffering for their love of Fatherland in an English bastile at +Kingston, in the New Dominion; but the thought strikes us, the hour of +their redemption draws nigh. Subsequently, one or two others, including +the gallant Bailey, died from the effects of their wounds upon that +memorable field; but such are the contingencies of war, and such the +fate of some of the truest of our race. + +When O’Neill conquered and captured all the British force at Fort Erie, +he at once sent a despatch to Buffalo asking for reinforcements and +stating that if it were necessary to the success of any movement that +might be going on at some other point, he would hold Fort Erie and make +it a slaughter-pen to the last man of his command. General Lynch having +arrived at Buffalo some short time previously, it was decided to send +reinforcements; but on its being found, subsequently, that a sufficient +number to be of real service could not be then sent to the Canada side, +the idea was abandoned and transportation prepared for the victorious +troops to re-cross the river. + +When the British entered Fort Erie in the morning, they captured some +Fenian stragglers who were, of course, set free on the arrival of +O’Neill from Ridgeway; and now after being themselves captured in turn +they were released on their parole; O’Neill having no other means of +disposing of them. Nicholas was not engaged in this latter affair; as, +not anticipating it, he had kept in the rear of the army with Kate and +Evans; so that now when he came up, he was both ashamed and mortified +that even an engagement so trifling, when compared with that of the +morning, was fought without his having participated in it. However, the +day was doubly won, and as he explained to his gallant Commander, the +peculiarity of his position, with a smile and a hearty shake of the +hand, he got permission to re-cross the river with his betrothed. This +much accomplished, Henry turned his horses and drove down the bank at a +quick pace, until he arrived at the house of a friend who kept a boat; +and prevailing on him to take our hero and heroine to the American side +a little below the Lower Rock, he made his warm _adieux_, with a promise +soon to visit Buffalo with Martha, where, meeting an express desire from +the lips of Kate, he agreed that they should be made man and wife. And +so the friends parted for the time being--Nicholas and Kate, in the +course of an hour, finding themselves under the Stars and Stripes once +more, and beneath the hospitable roof that had so long sheltered her. + +Here to their utter astonishment they found Big Tom who had just arrived +from Canada; he having been obliged to turn over his establishment +hastily to his trusty friend, Burk, and fly the Province; as through +some successful espionage, his connection with the Brotherhood had been +discovered. From a friendly detective who had learned the true state of +the case and the danger that threatened him, he received the hint that +urged him to make his escape, and which doubtless saved him from the +horrors of a dungeon if not from death. His sister was to follow him as +soon as a sale of his establishment could be effected, and then, as +he said himself, “good bye to the tyrant until we meet on the battle +field.” He was astounded at the disclosures regarding the pretended +Greaves, and all but paralysed at the frightful position from which Kate +had so miraculously escaped. When, however, he heard of the glorious +victory of the arms of the Irish Republic at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, +under O’Neill, he forgot everything else and leaped to his feet with a +cheer that shook the house to its very foundation. In the ecstasy of joy +that seized him, he took everybody near him by the hand ten times over, +and added cheer to cheer until it was deemed expedient to recall him to +something like reason. A more genuine display of heartfelt pleasure and +patriotic feeling was never witnessed or experienced by any individual +or indulged in a manner more original or unsophisticated. + +“Tell it to me again, Nick! Tell it to me again!” he exclaimed for the +twentieth time; “and did you see them run, and how many of them are +kilt? Have you a soord or a gun or anythin belongin to them? for if you +have I’ll give you tin times the value of it for a keepsake.” + +“Oh!” replied Barry, amused at this unusual display on the part of +the sedate and phlegmatic Tom, “there will be no lack of keepsakes in +Buffalo to-morrow; for the field was covered with their coats, arms, and +knapsacks; and some of these, I am sure, will be got for a mere song.” + +This seemed to satisfy O’Brien, who soon flowed into conversation +touching all that had transpired regarding Kate and Darcy, as well as in +relation to Nicholas himself. During the narrative, he referred to +the doubts that he had from the first entertained regarding the spy; +although he confessed he was not altogether clear at times upon the +subject. + +After the fight at Fort Erie, many of the Fenians, understanding that +they were not to be reinforced and that the enemy was about coming down +on them in force and hemming them in on all sides, made the best of +their way across the river. The great bulk of the command, however, +stood by O’Neill; until about midnight, when a large scow attached to +a steam tug approached the Canadian shore and took the whole of the +remaining forces on board. Laden thus, they steamed out into the middle +of the river, when a 12-pound shot fired across their bows, from the +tug Harrison, belonging to the U.S. Steamer Michigan, brought them +to--doubtless to the extreme delight of Acting Sailing-Master Morris +who seemed anxious enough to fire the gun and make the capture; although +they would at the moment have stuck to a child hearing the authority +of the United States. It is significant, however, that the +over-officiousness of Mr. Morris has not tended much to his advantage as +he no longer belongs to the United States Navy; he having been quite +as unfortunate as a certain District Attorney, who, also, endeavored to +impress the Government as to his undoubted unfriendliness to the cause +of Irish freedom. The lesson may be profitable to Government officials +at some future period; and prevent them from exceeding the simple and +unprejudiced bounds of their duty. Be this as it may, about two o’clock +on the morning of the third of June the scow was brought along side the +Michigan and the officers taken on board that vessel and handed over +to the urbane and gentlemanly Capt. Bryson, its commander, as prisoners +under the authority of the United States; while the men were detained in +the same character aboard the scow. + +We are unable to trace to any particular source, the cruelty inflicted +upon these latter noble fellows, in keeping them for days in that open +vessel huddled together, and with the rain for a portion of that period, +descending upon them in torrents. The disgrace of such a proceeding +has been so often denounced, that we dismiss this part of the subject +without further comment. Ultimately, they were all liberated on +their own recognizance, to appear about the middle of the month at +Canaudaigua, to answer for a breach of the Neutrality Laws; and there +the matter ended. + +Now, however, the arms and ammunition belonging to the Brotherhood had +been seized at every point except Buffalo. In addition, the volunteers +who poured to the frontier from every side found themselves helpless, +being without weapons or a commissariat: although the brave General +Spear, with but a handful of men, made a descent subsequently upon +the enemy at St. Albans, and put them to a most ignominious flight. +According to General Meade, of the United States Army, between +thirty and forty thousand of these brave fellows were furnished with +transportation back to their homes at the expense of the Government; +while the arms that were seized were subsequently returned to the +authorities of the Organization on certain conditions that have been for +so far complied with. + +Thus ended the first invasion of Canada under the gallant O’Neill, +who, on his return from the campaign, was made a General and +Commander-in-chief of the Army of the Irish Republic, and who, in +addition, was subsequently elevated, to the position of President of the +Fenian Organization throughout the world. What his next move may be, we +are unable to say; but this we know, it will be in the right direction +and likely to succeed. He had no doubt been spared on the numerous +battle-fields on which he fought so bravely, for some wise purpose: and +this purpose, we feel, is in connection with the freedom of Ireland. For +the present, then, we bid him and his noble comrades adieu; hoping the +next time we shall have occasion to refer to them, the power of England +may be broken on this continent, and the green flag of old Ireland +floating over the Castle of Dublin. Our hopes of success were never +brighter than they appear to be at this, the moment of our writing. +We have an immense army in preparation for the field, and a noble and +self-sacrificing Senate and band of Organizers that may well command +his confidence and that of every Irish Nationalist in the world. For the +benefit of our readers, we here give the names of the members of both +these bodies, so that they shall be known and cherished throughout +the globe. We might single out from amongst them, that of the able and +patriotic P.J. Meehan, Esq., editor of the _Irish American_, and bold +it up to the admiration of our countrymen everywhere: but where all have +acted so nobly we shall include all as worthy of praise alike; although +we could point out D. O’Sullivan, Esq., Secretary of Civil Affairs, A.L. +Morrison, Esq., of Chicago, and a host of others, as eminently entitled +to our love and admiration; while, were we permitted to do so, we could +illumine our pages with the names of thousands of our fair countrywomen +and their beautiful American sisters who have laid their hands to the +good work with all the passion and nobility of their pure and generous +natures: but we must for the present content ourselves with the +following list and its recent modifications, at the Seventh National +Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood, which assembled at Philadelphia on +Tuesday, November 24th. 1868: + +_NAMES OF SENATORS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD_. + + JAMES GIBBONS, ESQ., Vice President, F.B. 333 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. + THOMAS LAVAN, ESQ., 13 Superior Street, Cleveland, Ohio. + T.J. QUINN, ESQ., Albany, N.Y. + MILES D. SWEENEY, ESQ., San Francisco. Cal. + JOHN CARLETON, ESQ., Bordentown, N.J. + F.B. GALLAGHER, ESQ., Buffalo, N.Y. + P.W. DUNNE, ESQ., Peoria. Ill. + EDWARD L. CAREY, ESQ., New York City. + PATRICK J. MEEHAN, ESQ., Hudson City, N.J. + PETER CUNNINGHAM, ESQ., Utica, N.Y. + MICHAEL FINNEGAN, ESQ., Houghton, Mich. + J.C. O’BRIEN, ESQ., Rochester, N.Y. + WM. FLEMING, ESQ., 16 Congress Street Troy, N.Y. + HON. J.W. FITZGERALD, Ellen Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. + PATRICK SWEENEY, ESQ., Newburgh Street, Lawrence, Mass. + +_NAMES OF ORGANIZERS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD_{1} + + JOHN F. FINNERTY, ESQ. + JAMES BRENNAN, ESQ. + COLONEL P.F. WALSH. + MAJOR WM. McWILLIAMS. + H.M. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + HENRY LE CARON, ESQ. + MAJOR TIMOTHY O’LEARY. + JOSEPH SMOLENSKI, ESQ. + E.C. LEWIS, ESQ. + COLONEL WM. CLINGEN. + FRED. O’DONNELL, ESQ. + H.M. SULLIVAN, ESQ. + +(FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCHES) + +PHILADELPHIA. NOVEMBER 29, 1868. + +“The Seventh National Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood adjourned _sine +die_ at six o’clock this morning, the delegates having sat from three +o’clock P.M., on Saturday, determined to finish their business in one +session. General JOHN O’NEILL was unanimously re-elected President, and +resolutions were adopted, approving his administration of the affairs of +the Brotherhood. + +“The following named Senators, nine in number, were elected to fill +vacancies:-- + +“J.C. O’Brien, Rochester, N.Y.; J.W. Fitzgerald, Cincinnati, Ohio; Major +J. McKinley, Nashville, Tenn.; R. McCloud, Norwich, Conn.; J.E. Downey, +Providence, R.I.; P. Bannon, Louisville, Ky.; W.J. Hynes, Washington, +D.C.; P.J. Meehan, New York; Colonel John O’Neill, Dubuque, Iowa. + +“The following named Senators hold over under the Constitutional rule, +having been elected for two years at the Cleveland Congress:-- + +“James Gibbons, of Philadelphia; Miles D. Sweeney, of San Francisco; +T.J. Quinn, of Albany, N.Y.; E.L. Carey, of New York; P.W. Dunne, of +Peoria, Ill.; Frank B. Gallagher, of Buffalo, N.Y. + +“What may be termed the central authority of the Brotherhood, within the +Senate, stands thus, Dec., 1868: + + “PRESIDENT--GENERAL JOHN O’NEILL. + _Executive Committee_--VICE PRESIDENT GIBBONS, P.J. MEEHAN and E.L. CAREY. + _Acting Sec. of War_--P.J. MEEHAN. + _Assistant Treasurer_--JOHN P. BROPHY. + _Sec. of Civil Affairs_--DAN. O’SULLIVAN, of Auburn. + _Assistant Secretaries_--FRANK RUNEHAN and RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK. + _Treasurer_--PATRICK KEENAN.” + +As we have referred to the recent Congress at Philadelphia, the +following article from the Philadelphia _Age_ November 27, 1868, will +be interesting to our readers as indicative of the present standing and +prospects of the Brotherhood on this continent: + +“One of the great events of Thanksgiving Day, outside of the festivities +of the home circle and the attendance on public worship, was the grand +demonstration by the Irishmen of Philadelphia in honor of the assembling +of the Fenian Congress in this city. This body, which consists of +delegates from all parts of the world, has been holding secret sessions +at the Assembly Buildings during the week, and important results have +been anticipated by the friends of Ireland all over the world. + +“The parade was quite a success, and reflected great credit on the +managers. Mr. John Brennan was Chief Marshal, assisted by Frank +McDonald, Marshal First Division; Michael Moane, Second Division; James +Carr, Third Division; John McAtee, Fourth Division; Michael D. Kelly, +Fifth Cavalcade, with the following Aids--John A. Keenan, R.J. Keenan, +Andrew Wynne, Thomas N. Stack, Capt. F. Quinlan. + +“The line commenced moving about half-past three o’clock, in the +following order, the military having the right of the line: + +“Gen. John O’Neill, President of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the +following Staff--Gen. J. Smolenski, Chief-of-Staff; Col. John W. Byron, +Asst. Adjt.-General; Col. J.J. Donnelly, of Engineers; Major T. O’Leary, +of Ordnance; Major Henry LeCaron, Com. Subsistence; Dr. Donnelly, +Surgeon; Capt. Wm. J. Hynes, Assistant Inspector; Lieut.-Col. Sullivan, +Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. Atkinson, Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. John W. +Dunne, Aid-de-Camp; Capt. J. Smolenski, Aide-de-Camp; Capt. J. Driscoll, +Aide-de-Camp. + +“There were three regiments of the Irish Republican Army in line; they +numbered fully two thousand men, and were clad in their new uniform. The +three regiments parading were the Eighth, Ninth and Twenty-fourth. The +brigade was commanded by Col. William Clingen, Major Daniel A. Moore, +Asst. Adj’t-Gen. + +“The Eighth Regiment was commanded by Col. P.S. Tinah, the Ninth by Col. +J. O’Reilly, and the Twenty-fourth by Col. Michael Kirwan. The military +was followed by numerous civic societies. There were nineteen Circles +of the Fenian Brotherhood and three hundred delegates to the Fenian +Congress, besides the Charles Carroll Beneficial Society and the +Buchanan Beneficial Society. The civic portion of the parade numbered +about five thousand men. The participants wore dark suits and badges, +and pieces of green ribbon tied in the button-holes of their coats. + +“In the line of the procession was a handsome chariot drawn by six gray +horses. It was painted green and gold; the platform was covered with +beautiful oilcloth, and on it was placed a large brass bell, supported +on a green framework. This bell was kept tolling over the whole route +of the procession. In the rear of the chariot was a raised platform, on +which sat a beautiful daughter of Erin, dressed as a Goddess of Liberty, +holding a beautiful silk banner. She was seated underneath an arch of +gold stars, set on a field of white satin, and the top of the arch was +covered with holly and evergreen. The rear of the arch and the back of +the chariot were covered by a beautiful anchor of hope, made entirely +of flowers. The horses were decked with red, white and blue plumes and +large silk pennants. The whole arrangement made a very fine display, and +elicited much applause along the route. + +“A banner was carried in the line of the civic societies, containing the +following, in gold letters on a field of green satin: + + “Delegates--remember the words of our martyred O’Brien, to unite in + God’s name, for Ireland and liberty. God save Ireland. + +“An outline cross in gold covered the front of the banner. + +“Along the route advertised, the sidewalks were lined by expectant +watchers, in some instances three or four abreast. They waited patiently +for nearly three long hours before the head of the line appeared. Green +flags, with yellow harps and the words ‘Erin go Bragh,’ were plentifully +distributed throughout the crowd. The universal color was green; green +ribbons in button-holes, green neckties, green badges, green flags, +green coats, green sashes and green uniforms. The bands played ‘Wearing +of the Green,’ continually. ‘Green grow the Rushes, O,’ ‘The Green above +the Red,’ and ‘Garry-owen’ were the only substitutes. + +“There was a great deal of enthusiasm manifested all along the route, +and the procession did not cease marching until the shades of evening +had approached.” + +But to resume, once more, the thread of our story:--In due time the +establishment of The Harp was disposed of to advantage, and the sum +realized from it placed in the hands of O’Brien by his sister who +had made her way to Buffalo according to his directions. When matters +quieted down in the vicinity of Ridgeway, Martha paid a visit to her +friend Kate, and was soon followed by Henry with a view to keeping his +word in relation to their marriage which took place on the same evening +and under the same roof with that of Kate and Nicholas. The joint affair +was a grand one; many guests having been invited to the wedding; among +whom were some officers of the I.R.A., and all that survived of Barry’s +comrades. Tom, was in his glory; and as all the military men present had +been at Ridgeway, the _pros_ and _cons_ of that important battle were +discussed in a manner the most lively and entertaining. Then and there, +it was voted, that although the invasion of the Provinces had not at the +moment, resulted in any immediate benefits to the Irish, it had given a +prestige to the arms of Ireland in an individual and national sense, not +realized by that country for ages. Not since the palmy days of our early +chivalry, had British soil been invaded by a hostile Irish army, until +O’Neill broke the ice at Ridgeway; and at no period in the history of +the nation had a mere handful of men performed greater miracles of valor +or been handled with more consummate judgment and daring. + +In the course of a few days, Mr. and Mrs. Evans returned to their home +near Ridgeway; and prevailed upon Mrs., now the widow Wilson, to dispose +of the house and property identified with so many unhappy associations, +and near which the young wife could not now be induced to venture. In +the roomy and commodious dwelling of the Evans’ she found a home; and in +the course of time began to wear a more cheerful aspect, and forget, +in a measure, the dreadful ordeal through which she had passed. +Nevertheless, no real sunshine visited her brow, as the shadow that had +fallen on it was too deep and sorrowful for even the peace and quiet now +promised her in the decline of her years. + +Six months after their marriage, the Barrys were apprised of their +success regarding the Chancery-suit; but so enormous were the expenses +attending it, that, after all, the benefits accruing from it were +something similar to those experienced by Gulliver after his having +encountered and overcome all the difficulties that could have possibly +beset humanity. Still they were richer through its having been decided +in their favor; and were enabled on the strength of it to purchase +a handsome dwelling near their friends of the Rock, where they still +reside in comfortable if not affluent circumstances. Tom and his sister, +old bachelor and old maid, are once again in business, but this time not +in the restaurant line; and had we not given assumed names throughout +our whole story in so far as he and Barry are concerned, his +establishment might be recognized at any period by those acquainted +with Buffalo and its vicinity, or such as have passed along a certain +well-known thoroughfare to Black Rock. His faith never falters in +relation to the independence of Ireland; and he still keeps up his +connection with the Brotherhood on both sides of the line; often +receiving from Canada lengthy and mysterious epistles written by Burk, +over which he pores, from time to time, with sundry nods, winks and +significant smiles. + +Henry and Martha are now occasionally to be seen at the Rock; the former +wearing a green necktie, and the latter as happy as the day is long. +In the arms of both Kate and Martha are now two sweet prattlers--one +christened, John O’Neill Barry, and the other, Martha Ridgeway Evans. +Perhaps in after years they in turn may plight their vows on the banks +of the Niagara, as Kate and Nicholas had done by those of the Shannon. +Kate now and then visits her friends at their residence on the Canadian +side of the lakes; but Nicholas is of the impression, that he is quite +as well off in judiciously remaining at home to look after the affairs +of their establishment. Sometimes, however, he gazes across the river +and wonders how soon again he shall have an opportunity of measuring +swords with the ancient enemy of his race; while Tom has made up his +mind to handle a rifle himself, the next time that O’Neill sounds “to +horse!” + +And so ends our story of Ridgeway, with all the difficulties, loves, +hopes and fears connected with it. Throughout the whole of our narrative +we have been faithful to circumstances where the interests of the truth +required that we should be just and impartial. In this connection +we have been guided solely by personal knowledge and the evidence of +respectable eye-witnesses; and by official documents of the campaign, +the veracity of which are beyond any question whatever. Here, then, +we bid our readers good-bye for the present; trusting that we may soon +again renew our acquaintance, and that we have not done injustice to any +party; for, notwithstanding the slight tinge of romance with which our +facts are interwoven, we have, after all, presented nothing for their +perusal at variance with truth, or, we hope, prejudicial to society. + +_THE END_. + + +[1] Although we are under the impression that others of these gentlemen +than those designated belong to the I.R.A. yet we are unable to give +their military rank, from the fact of our not being able, at the time of +our writing, to obtain proper intelligence on the subject. + + + + +AUTHENTIC REPORT OF THE INVASION OF CANADA, AND THE BATTLE OF RIDGEWAY, + +By the Army of the Irish Republic, under General O’NEILL, June, 1866. + +About midnight, on the 31st May, the men commenced moving from Buffalo +to Lower Black Rock, about three miles down the river, and at 3:30 A.M., +on the 1st of June, all of the men, with the arms and ammunition, were +on board four canal boats, and towed across the Niagara River, to a +point on the Canadian side called Waterloo, and at 4 o’clock A.M., +the Irish flag was planted on British soil, by Colonel Starr, who had +command of the first two boats. + +On landing, O’Neill immediately ordered the telegraph wires leading from +the town to be cut down; and sent a party to destroy the railroad bridge +leading to Port Colborne. + +Colonel Starr, in command of the Kentucky and Indiana troops, proceeded +through the town of Fort Erie to the old Fort, some three miles distant +up the river, and occupied it for a short time, hoisting the Irish flag. + +O’Neill then waited on the Reeve of Fort Erie, and requested him to see +some of the citizens of the place, and have them furnish rations for the +men, at the same time assuring him that no depredations on the citizens +would be permitted, as he had come to drive out British authority from +the soil, and not for the purpose of pillaging the citizens. The request +for provisions was cheerfully complied with. + +About 10 o’clock A.M., he moved into camp on Newbiggin’s Farm, situated +on Frenchman’s Creek, four miles down the river from Fort Erie, where he +remained till 10 o’clock P.M. + +During the afternoon, Capt. Donohue, of the 18th, while out in command +of a foraging party, on the road leading to Chippewa, came up with the +enemy’s scouts, who fled at his approach. + +Later in the afternoon, Col. Hoy was sent with one hundred men in the +same road. He also came up with some scouts about six miles from camp. +Here he was ordered to halt. + +By this time--8 o’clock P.M.--information was received that a large +force of the enemy, said to be five thousand strong, with artillery, +were advancing in two columns; one from the direction of Chippewa, and +the other from Port Colborne; also, that troops from Port Colborne were +to make an attack from the lake side. + +Here truth compels me to make an admission that I would fain have kept +from the public. Some of the men who crossed over with us the night +before, managed to leave the command during the day, and recross to +Buffalo, while others remained in houses around Fort Erie. This I record +to their lasting disgrace. + +On account of this shameful desertion, and the fact that arms had been +sent out for eight hundred men, O’Neill had to destroy three hundred +stand, to prevent them falling into the bands of the enemy. At this time +he could not depend on more than five hundred men, about one-tenth of +the reputed number of the enemy, which he knew were surrounding him. +Rather a critical position, but he had been sent to accomplish a certain +object, and he was determined to accomplish it. + +At 10 o’clock P.M., he broke camp, and marched towards Chippewa, and +at midnight changed direction, and moved on the Limestone Ridge road, +leading toward Ridgeway; halting a few hours on the way to rest the +men;--this for the purpose of meeting the column advancing from Port +Colborne. His object was to get between the two columns, and, if +possible, defeat one of them before the other could come to its +assistance. + +At about 7 o’clock A.M., 2d of June, when within three miles of +Ridgeway, Col. Owen Starr in command of the advanced guard, came up with +the advance of the enemy, mounted, and drove them some distance, till he +got within sight of their skirmish line, which extended on both sides of +the road about half a mile. By this time, O’Neill could hear the whistle +of the railroad cars which brought the enemy from Port Colborne. He +immediately advanced his skirmishers, and formed line of battle behind +temporary breastworks made of rails, on a road leading to Fort Erie, and +running parallel with the enemy’s line. The skirmishing was kept up over +half an hour, when, perceiving the enemy flanking him on both aides, and +not being able to draw out their centre, which was partially protected +by thick timber, befell back a few hundred yards, and formed a new +line. The enemy seeing he had only a few men--about four hundred--and +supposing that he had commenced a retreat, advanced rapidly in pursuit. +When they got close enough, he gave them a volley, and then charged +them, driving them nearly three miles, through the town of Ridgeway. In +their hasty retreat they threw away knapsacks, guns, and everything that +was likely to retard their speed, and left some ten or twelve killed +and twenty-five or thirty wounded, with twelve prisoners, in his hands. +Amongst the killed was Lieut. McEachern, and amongst the wounded Lieut. +Ruth, both of the “Queen’s Own.” The pursuit was given up about a mile +beyond Ridgeway. + +Although he had met and defeated the enemy, yet his position was still +a very critical one. The reputed strength of the enemy engaged in the +fight was fourteen hundred, composed of the “Queen’s Own,” the 13th +Hamilton Battalion, and other troops. A regiment which had left Fort +Colburne was said to be on the road to reinforce them. He also knew that +the column from Chippewa would hear of the fight, and in all probability +move up in his rear. + +Thus situated, and not knowing what was going on elsewhere, he decided +that his best policy was to return to Fort Erie, and ascertain if +crossings had been made at other points, and if so, he was willing to +sacrifice himself and his noble little command, for the sake of leaving +the way open, as he felt satisfied that a large proportion of the +enemy’s forces had been concentrated against him. + +He collected a few of his own wounded, and put them in wagons, and +for want of transportation had to leave six others in charge of the +citizens, who promised to look after them and bury the dead of both +sides. He then divided his command, and sent one half, under Col. Starr, +down the railroad, to destroy it and burn the bridges, and with the +other half took the pike road leading to Fort Erie. Col. Starr got to +the old Fort about the same time that he himself did to the village +of Fort Erie, 4 o’clock P.M. He (Starr) left the men there under the +command of Lieut. Col. Spaulding, and joined O’Neill in a skirmish with +a company of the Welland Battery, which had arrived there from Port +Colborne in the morning, and which picked up a few of the men who had +straggled from the command the day before. They had these men prisoners +on board the steamer “Robb.” The skirmish lasted about fifteen minutes, +the enemy firing from the houses. Three or four were killed, and some +eight or ten wounded, on each side. + +It was here that Lieut. Col. Bailey was wounded, while gallantly leading +the advance on this side of the town. Here forty-five of the enemy were +taken prisoners, among them Capt. King, who was wounded, (leg since +amputated,) Lieut. McDonald, Royal Navy, and Commander of the steamer +“Robb,” and Lieut. Nemo, Royal Artillery. O’Neill then collected +his men, and posted Lieut. Col. Grace, with one hundred men, on the +outskirts of the town, guarding the road leading to Chippewa, while with +the remainder of the command he proceeded to the old Fort. + +About six o’clock A.M., he sent word to Capt. Hynes and his friends +at Buffalo that the enemy could surround him before morning with +five thousand men, fully provided with artillery, and that his little +command, which had by this time considerably decreased, could not +hold out long, but that if a movement was going on elsewhere, he was +perfectly willing to make the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which he knew +it would be the next day if he remained. FOR HE WOULD NEVER HAVE +SURRENDERED. + +Many of the men had not a mouthful to eat since Friday morning, and +none of them had eaten anything since the night before, and all after +marching forty miles and fighting two battles, though the last could +only properly be called a skirmish. They were completely worn out with +hunger and fatigue. + +On receiving information that no crossing had been effected elsewhere, +he sent word to have transportation furnished immediately; and about +ten o’clock P.M. Capt. Hynes came from Buffalo and informed him that +arrangements had been made to recross the river. + +Previous to this time some of the officers and men, realizing the danger +of their position, availed themselves of small boats and recrossed +the river, but the greater portion remained until the transportation +arrived, which was about 12 o’clock on the night of June 2, and about 2 +o’clock A.M. on the morning of the 3d, all except a few wounded men were +safely on board a large scow attached to a tug boat which hauled into +American waters. Here they were hailed by the tug Harrison, belonging +to the U.S. steamer Michigan, having on board one 12-pounder pivot gun, +which fired across their bows and threatened to sink them unless they +hauled to and surrendered. With this request they complied; not because +they feared the 12-pounder, or the still more powerful guns of the +Michigan, which lay close by, but because they respected the authority +of the United States, in defence of which many of them had fought and +bled during the late war. They would have as readily surrendered to an +infant bearing the authority of the Union, as to Acting Master Morris +of the tug Harrison, who is himself an Englishman. The number thus +surrendered was three hundred and seventeen men, including officers. + +The officers were taken on board the Michigan, and were well treated by +Capt Bryson and the gentlemanly officers of his ship, while the men were +kept on the open scow, which was very filthy, without any accommodation +whatever, and barely large enough for them to turn round in. Part of the +time the rain poured down on them in torrents. I am not certain who is +to blame for this cruel treatment; but whoever the guilty parties are +they should be loathed and despised by all men. The men were kept +on board the scow for four days and then discharged on their own +recognizances to appear at Canandaigna on the 19th of June, to answer +to the charge of having violated the Neutrality Laws. The officers were +admitted to bail. The report generally circulated, and, I might say, +generally believed, that the pickets were left behind, and that they +were captured by the enemy, is entirely false. Every man who remained +with the command, excepting a few wounded, had the same chance of +escaping that O’Neill himself had. + +To the extraordinary exertions of our friends of Buffalo, F.B. +Gallagher, Wm. Burk, Hugh Mooney, James Whelan, Capt. James Doyle, John +Conners, Edward Frawley, James J. Crawley, M.T. Lynch, James Cronin, and +Michael Donahue, the command were indebted for being able to escape from +the Canadian side. Col. H.R. Stagg and Capt. McConvey, of Buffalo, were +also very assiduous in doing everything in their power. Col. Stagg had +started from Buffalo with about two hundred and fifty men, to reinforce +O’Neill, but the number was too small to be of any use, and he was +ordered to return. Much praise is due to Drs. Trowbridge and Blanchard, +of Buffalo, and Surgeon Donnelly, of Pittsburg, for their untiring +attendance to the wounded. + +All who were with the command acted their parts so nobly that I feel a +little delicacy in making special mention of any, and shall not do so +except in two instances: One is Michael Cochrane, Color Sergeant of +the Indianapolis Company, whose gallantry and daring were conspicuous +throughout the fight at Ridgeway. He was seriously wounded, and fell +into the hands of the enemy. The other is Major John C. Canty, who lived +at Fort Erie. He risked everything he possessed on earth, and acted his +part gallantly in the field. + +In the fight at Ridgeway, and the skirmish at Fort Erie, as near as can +be ascertained, the Fenian loss was eight killed and fifteen wounded. +Among the killed was Lieut. E.R. Lonergan, a brave young officer, of +Buffalo. Of the enemy, thirty were killed and one hundred wounded. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ridgeway, by Scian Dubh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDGEWAY *** + +***** This file should be named 9476-0.txt or 9476-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/7/9476/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beth Trapaga and PG +Distributed Proofreaders. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ridgeway + An Historical Romance of the Fenian Invasion of Canada + +Author: Scian Dubh + + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9476] +This file was first posted on October 4, 2003 +Last Updated: November 4, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDGEWAY *** + + + + +Text file produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beth Trapaga and PG +Distributed Proofreaders. This file was produced from +images generously made available by the Canadian Institute +for Historical Microreproductions + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + RIDGEWAY + </h1> + <h3> + AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA + </h3> + <h2> + By Scian Dubh + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + “On our side is virtue and Erin;<br /> On theirs’ is the Saxon and guilt.”—MOORE. + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + 1868 + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div class="middle"> + <p> + [Transcriber’s Note: The nonstandard spellings of the original have been + retained in this etext.] + </p> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>RIDGEWAY</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> AUTHENTIC REPORT OF THE INVASION OF CANADA, AND + THE BATTLE OF RIDGEWAY, </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION. + </h2> + <p> + In the dark, English crucible of seven hundred years of famine, fire and + sword, the children of Ireland have been tested to an intensity unknown to + the annals of any other people. From the days of the second Henry down to + those of the last of the Georges, every device that human ingenuity could + encompass or the most diabolical spirit entertain, was brought to bear + upon them, not only with a view to insuring their speedy degradation, but + with the further design of accomplishing ultimately the utter extinction + of their race. Yet notwithstanding that confiscation, exile and death, + have been their bitter portion for ages—notwithstanding that their + altars, their literature and their flag have been trampled in the dust, + beneath the iron heel of the invader, the pure, crimson ore of their + nationality and patriotism still flashes and scintillates before the + world; while the fierce heart of “Brien of the Cow Tax,” bounding in each + and every of them as of yore, yearns for yet another Clontarf, when hoarse + with the pent-up vengeance of centuries, they shall burst like unlaired + tigers upon their ancient, and implacable enemy, and, with one, long, wild + cry, hurl her bloody and broken from their shores forever. + </p> + <p> + Had England been simply actuated by a chivalrous spirit of conquest, + alone, or moved by a desire to blend the sister islands into one + harmonious whole, even then her descent upon Ireland could not be + justified in any degree whatever. Ireland had been her <i>Alma Mater</i>. + According to the venerable Bode and others, her noble and second rank + flocked thither in the seventh century, where they were “hospitably + received and educated, and furnished with books <i>without fee or reward</i>.” + Even at the present moment, the Irish or Celtic tongue is the only key to + her remote antiquities and ancient nomenclature. The distinguished Lhuyd, + in his Archaelogia Britannica, and the celebrated Leibnitz himself, place + this latter beyond any possible shadow of doubt. Scarcely a ruined fane or + classic pile of any remote date within her borders but is identified with + the name of some eminent Irish missionary long since passed away. What + would Oxford have been without Joannes Erigena, or Cambridge, deprived of + the celebrated Irish monk that stood by the first stone laid in its + foundation? The fact is every impartial writer, from the “father of + English history” down to the present day, admits, that in the early ages, + when darkness brooded over the surrounding nations, Ireland, learned, + philanthropic and chivalrous, blazed a very conflagration on the ocean, + and stretched forth her jewelled and generous hand to poor, benighted + England, and fostered, in addition, the intellectual infancy of Germany, + France and Switzerland, as well as the early civilization of regions more + remote still. Then it was that the milk and honey of her ancient tongue + and lore flowed out from her in rivers to wash the stains from the soul + and brow of the stolid and unintellectual Saxon. Then it was, that her + very zone gave way in her eagerness to pluck his Pagan life from gloom, + and wed her day unto his night. But what of all this now?—The sin + that is “worse than witchcraft” is upon him! His hands are stained with + innocent blood! He has spurned his benefactress with the foot of Nero, + “removed her candlestick”, and left her in hunger, cold and darkness upon + her own hearthstone. + </p> + <p> + Had not Ireland, at the time of the invasion, been cut up through the + fierce pride and petty jealousies of her rulers, the English could never + have effected a permanent footing upon her shores. Contemptible in + numbers, shipping and appointments, the concentrated opposition of even a + few petty chiefs could have scattered them to the winds, or sent them + “howling to their gods”. But, wanting in that homogeneity without which a + nation must always remain powerless, the invasion of the territory of one + individual ruler was often regarded as a matter of no very grave + importance to those who were not his immediate subjects; so that from this + cause, as well as from, the unhappy dissentions which harrassed the + country at the period, the new colony found the means of establishing + themselves upon the eastern borders of the island, and of possessing + themselves of some of the walled towns, which they subsequently turned to + such good account in fortifying themselves against surprise and baffling + the pursuit of the natives, when worsted in the open field. + </p> + <p> + Whether the subtle influences of a common nationality moved Pope Adrian + the Fourth—who was an Englishman named Nicholas Breakspear,—to + issue the famous Bull granting Ireland to his fellow countryman, Henry the + Second of England, or whether, as it has been alleged, no such Bull was + ever issued, and that the one still extant is a forgery, it matters but + little now. The Pope’s claims extended to the spiritual jurisdiction of + Ireland only; and even had he granted the Bull in question, and assumed + the right of conveying the whole island to the English king, the transfer + was obtained under false pretenses for, from the very wording of the + document itself, it is palpable that Henry led the Sovereign Pontiff, to + believe that Ireland was sunk in the grossest ignorance and superstition, + and that, in making a descent upon it, he had only the glory and honor of + the Church in view. So terrible a distortion of the facts of the case on + his part, necessarily rendered all action based upon his statement morally + invalid at least; and thus it is, that even those who have confidence in + the genuineness of this Bull, regard it as utterly worthless, and at not + all admissable into any pleadings which ingenious English politicians may + choose to advance on the subject. + </p> + <p> + So inveterate the hostility that manifested itself on the part of the + Irish towards the invader from the moment that his foul and sacrilegious + foot first desecrated their soil, a reign of terror was at once + inaugurated in the vicinage of his camp or stronghold, by those chieftains + with whom he came into more immediate contact, and upon whose territories + he more directly impinged. In the track of both peoples, “death follows + like a squire.” Neither truce nor oath was kept by the English; while + their fiery adversaries, necessarily stung to frenzy at the presence of + yet another invader in their midst, made sudden reprisals in a manner so + unexpected and daring, that the laws of the hour like those of Draco, were + literally written in blood. While the dash and chivalry of the Irish + prevented them from adopting the stealthy dagger of the assassin, and + prompted them rather, to bold and open deeds of death, the enactments of + “The Pale” as the English patch or district was termed, were absolutely of + a character the most demonical. According to their provisions, the murder + of an Irish man or woman was no offence whatever; while the slaughter of a + native who had made submission to the Pale, was visited with a slight fine + only—not for the crime <i>per se</i>, but for the murderer’s having + deprived the king of a servant. From this it can be easily perceived, that + a cowardly system of warfare obtained on the part of the English, which, + were it not for the quick eye and fierce agility of the inhabitants, would + soon have resulted in their total annihilation. + </p> + <p> + This foul and dastardly system of assassination was but simply a leading + expression of the bastard nationality of the invader. Not one, single drop + of proud, pure blood coursed through his veins. His degraded country had + been in turn the mistress of the Roman, the Saxon, the Dane and the + Norman, and he was the hybrid offspring of her incontinence. Consequently, + he had neither a history nor a past of his own, calculated to prompt even + one exalted aspiration. He was a mongrel of the most inveterate character, + and was therefore, and inevitably, treacherous, cowardly; and cunning. Not + so the brave sons of the land he so ardently coveted. Ere the mighty + gnomon of “The Great Pyramid” had thrown its gigantic shadow o’er the red + dial of the desert, they had filled the long gallery of a glorious past + with an array of portraits, the most superb presented by antiquity. Before + the Vocal Memnon poured forth his hidden melody at sunrise, or “The City + of a Hundred Gates” had sent forth her chariots to battle, they had a + local habitation and a name, and had stamped their impress upon many a + shore. No people in existence, to-day, can look back to an origin more + remote or clearly traceable through a countless lapse of ages than the + Irish: and hence it was, that at the period of the Anglo-Norman descent + upon their borders, the chivalry of a stupendous past was upon them: and + having its traditions and its glories to maintain and emulate, and being, + besides, inspired by the pure and unadulterated crimson tide that had + flowed in one uninterrupted stream through their fiery veins for the space + of two thousand years previously, they shrank from the treacherous and + dastardly system of assassination introduced by the ignoble and cowardly + Saxon, and struck only to the dread music of their own war cry. + </p> + <p> + Still, although in detail hostile to the invader, no great, united effort + appears to have been made to rout him out root and branch, until he had + become so powerful as to make any attack upon him a matter of the most + serious moment, and had, in addition, enlarged his borders through sundry + reinforcements from his own shores. The few more purely Norman leaders + that were inspired with some desire at least for a more honorable mode of + warfare, were utterly powerless among the overwhelming throng of their + followers who had been long brutalized on the other side of the channel. + In this connection the proud, revengeful and chivalrous natives were had + at a sad disadvantage; for then, as to-day, they were characterized by a + spirit of knight-errantry, which disdained to take an enemy unawares. + </p> + <p> + As an evidence that Henry had the spiritual welfare only of the people of + Ireland at heart, and that the building up of the Church there was his + sole object, no sooner did he land in that country, than he parcelled out + the entire island among ten Englishmen—Earl Strongbow, Robert + Fitzstephens, Miles de Cogan, Philip Bruce, Sir Hugh de Lacy, Sir John de + Courcy, William Burk Fitz Andelm, Sir Thomas de Clare, Otho de Grandison + and Robert le Poer. At one sweep, in so far as a royal grant could go, he + confiscated every foot of land from Cape Clear to the Giant’s Causeway, + denied the right of the inhabitants to a single square yard of their + native soil, and made the whole country a present to the persons just + named. Perhaps history does not record another such outrageous and + infamous act, and one so antagonistic to every principle of right and + justice. Had there been a preceding series of expensive and bloody wars + between both countries, in which Ireland, after years of fruitless + resistance, fell at last beneath the yoke of the conqueror, it could be + readily understood, that the victor would seek to indemnify himself for + his losses, on terms the most exacting and relentless if you will; but in + the case under consideration, no animosity existed between the two nations + until the ruler of one, without even a shadow of provocation on the part + of the inhabitants of the other, made a deliberate descent upon them, and + ignoring the benefits conferred gratuitously by them, previously, on his + own ungrateful land, subjected them to every barbarity and wrong known to + the history of crime. + </p> + <p> + For upwards of four hundred years of the English occupation—that is, + from the landing of Strongbow down to the period of James the First, there + was no legal redress for the plunder or murder of an Irishman, by any of + the invaders, or for the violation of his wife or daughter. The laws of + the Pale, enacted under the sanction of the King and the people of + England, subsidized, in effect, a horde of ruthless assassins and robbers, + with a view to striking terror to the hearts of the natives, and driving + them into a recognition of the right of the usurper to rule over them, and + dispose as he saw fit of their property and persons. This right, however, + was never conceded in even the most remote degree; for, notwithstanding + that the colony of foreign spears and battle-axes waxed stronger daily, + the Irish element, disunited though it was, fought it constantly. True, + that an occasional lull characterized the tempest as it swept and eddied + through each successive generation; but never did Ireland assume the yoke + of the oppressor voluntarily, or bow, for even a single moment, in meek + submission to his unauthorized sway. + </p> + <p> + It would require volumes to recount a tithe of the frightful atrocities + practiced by the invaders upon the rightful and unoffending owners of the + soil during the long period just referred to, and especially towards its + close, when that lewd monster, Elizabeth, disgraced her sex and the age. + No language can describe adequately the various diabolical modes of + extermination practiced against all those who refused to bow the knee and + kiss the English rod. No code of laws ever enacted in even the most + barbarous age of the world, could compare in fiendish cruelty with the + early penal enactments of the Pale—so forcibly supplemented in after + years by the perjured “Dutch boor” and the inhuman Georges. The foul fiend + himself could not have devised laws more diabolical in their character or + destructive in their application. So close were their meshes and sweeping + their folds, that the possibility of escape was obviously out of the + question; as their victim was met and entangled at every turn, until at + last the fatal blow descended, and the unequal contest was ended. But more + infamous and unjustifiable still, when “the foul invader” found himself + occasionally unable to cope successfully with his brave and chivalrous + antagonists, he had recourse to a darker and deeper treachery than even + that which characterized the stealthy and unexpected stroke of his + midnight dagger. He adopted the guise of friendship; and professing to + forget the past, lured into his power with festive blandishments the + chiefs of many a noble following, whom he dared not meet in open fight, + but who, at a given signal, and while the brimming goblet circled through + the feast, were suddenly set upon and foully murdered ere they could draw + a dagger or leap to their feet. In corroboration of this assertion, we + have only to refer to Mullaghmast, where a deed of this description was + perpetrated; and of a character so cruel and dastardly, that the names of + those concerned in the inhuman plot are now desecrated by every individual + raised above the brute, or inspired with the hope of heaven. + </p> + <p> + Nor was there any mode of propitiating the satanic spirit which seemed to + actuate the English against their opponents, from the first moment that + they set their foot upon Irish soil; for, when, in the lapse of years, a + portion of the inhabitants in the vicinity of the Pale, professed their + readiness to conform to the manners, laws and customs of the invader, + their overtures were rejected, and they were still held at the point of + the sword, as “the Irish enemy,” and denied the protection of the laws + that they were ready to obey. In short, every move of the English, + established beyond any possibility of doubt, that their sole object was + the utter and complete extirpation of the natives, and the subsequent + establishment upon their conquered shores of a dynasty from which every + drop of pure, Celtic blood should be excluded forever. + </p> + <p> + But that day never arrived, and with God’s help never shall. However she + might have suffered or failed through an occasional traitor, Ireland, as a + whole, fought against English usurpation from the moment that she became + aware of its ultimate aims, and felt its growing power within her borders. + There was, besides, in the two races, those opposites of character—those + natural antagonisms which repelled each other with a force and vehemence + not to be neutralized or unified by any process within the reach of even + the most humane or astute ruler. They were too different peoples, with + habits of thought, moral perceptions, and ideas of chivalry at total + variance with each other as entertained by them individually. The great + bulk of the English colony was composed of unprincipled freebooters and + degraded Saxon serfs; the Conqueror having, a century previously, turned + the masses of the English into swine-herds, banished their language from + court, and reduced them to a condition of the most abject slavery. Hence + their stolid brutality, the low plane of their intelligence, and their + systematic murders. But, how different the condition of the Irish in this + respect. Far ages previous, both learning, refinement, and the chivalrous + use of arms, pervaded their shores. Evidences of the truth of this + assertion lie scattered around us in every direction. Girald Barry—the + English Cambrensis, William Camden, Archbishop Usher, Vallancey, Lord + Lyttleton, and a host of others, all bear witness to the profound learning + and noble chivalry of the Irish from the earliest periods; while the + various educational institutions throughout the continent, founded shortly + after the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, establish, upon a + basis the most immovable, the truth of an assertion made by one of the + authors just mentioned, namely, that “most of the lights that illumined + those times of thick darkness proceeded out of Ireland”. As may be + presumed, then, a people so refined and chivalrous—so sensitive to + all that was noble and elevated—a people who, as in the case of + Alfred, had educated the very kings of the invaders, as well as plucked + their subjects from Paganism, were averse to meeting the usurper on his + own plane of warfare, and that consequently, the very pride and dignity of + their arms walled in, as it were, the tyrant from any of those + cold-blooded and dastardly atrocities which so disfigured his own career. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding that, after four hundred and twenty years of outlawry the + most cruel and unrelenting, the Irish were, (12th James I. 1614.) at last, + admitted within the pale of English law, and recognized nominally as + subjects at least, so long had they been subjected to the grinding heel of + oppression, and the baneful influences of continuous warfare, and so long, + also, had the usurper been accustomed to treat them as enemies, that this + recognition of their claims upon humanity availed them but very little. + Under the new regime, their freedom was merely technical only; for now the + terrible ban of the Reformation, intensified by the cruel spirit evinced + throughout the whole of Elizabeth’s infamous reign, was upon them, and + their persecution, which had so long been regarded as a matter of course, + experienced but little diminution through the attempted toleration of her + weak and pedantic successor. Still, frightful and unprecedented as was the + ordeal through which they had passed, they preserved their nationality, + and clung to their traditions, hoping one day to rid themselves of their + oppressors, as they had already done in the case of the Danes; and in this + way has the case stood between both parties up to the present hour. + </p> + <p> + Although long previous to the Reformation, the atrocities practiced upon + Catholic Ireland by Catholic England were of a character the most + revolting, and although the murderous hand of the invader was never stayed + by the knowledge or conviction, that both parties professed a common creed + and knelt at a common altar, yet the intensity of the sufferings of the + Irish, or what may be termed their studious, refined, and systematic + persecution, began with the <i>civilisation</i> of Elizabeth. The new + creed of the three preceding reigns had not, up to that period, acquired + sufficient strength to exert its deadliest influence against the ancient + faith of the people, or to be introduced as a new agency of oppression in + the case of Ireland; but now, no sooner had the “Virgin Queen” ascended + the throne, than the heart of the tigress leaped within her; and, breaking + loose from every restraint, human and divine, she at once pounced upon the + unfortunate Irish, and sought to bury her merciless fangs, with one deadly + and final crash, in their already bleeding and lacerated vitals. The + coarse, cruel fibre of an apostate and libertine father, and the impure + blood of a lewd mother, had done their work in her case. From the first to + the last moment of her reign, she combined the courtesan with the + assassin. She was the murderer of Essex, said to have been her own son and + paramour; and was, at the same time, the mistress of more than one noble + besides Leicester. According to her own countryman, Cobbett, she spilled + more blood during her occupancy of the throne, than any other single + agency in the world for a commensurate period; while her treatment of + Ireland, under the “humane guidance” and advice of such cruel wretches as + Spenser, was neither more nor less than absolutely satanic. For fifteen + long years she never ceased to subject that unhappy land to famine, fire + and sword. Every device that her hellish nature or that of her agents + could concoct for the total extirpation of the people, was put into the + most relentless requisition by her. Under the guise of the most sincere + friendship, her deputies, times without number, betrayed many of the + leaders of the Irish into accepting their hospitality, and then foully set + upon them and murdered them while they sat unsuspecting guests at their + festive board. And yet, notwithstanding her penal laws, her blood-thirsty + soldiery, and all her revolting persecutions, the Irish were more than a + match for her in the open field, and ultimately embittered the closing + years of her life. From the first moment of the invasion, the O’Neills—Kings + and Princes of Aileach, Kings of Ulster and Princes of Tir-Eogain—as + well as other chiefs and leaders, fought the Pale incessantly: and now, + after a lapse of nearly four hundred years, again evinced to the world, + that Ireland was still unconquered, and regarded England as a tyrant and + usurper. And yet the opposition of those chiefs and rulers to the + hirelings and paid assassins of this infamous woman and her corrupt + associates, was of a character the most chivalrous. Unaccustomed to + cowardly deeds of blood, these proud warriors preferred to meet the enemy + face to face, and decide the issues of the hour in fair, open fight. They + could not entertain the Saxon idea of disposing of an adversary by the + stealthy knife of the professional murderer; and hence it was that their + pride and chivalry had ever been taken advantage of: the invaders being + convinced that no reprisals of a character sufficiently dastardly or + atrocious to meet their own depredations, would be indulged in by their + chivalrous opponents. In evidence of the spirit that actuated both parting + individually in this connection, we may refer to the massacre of + Mullaghmast, on the one hand, where the English, under professions of the + purest friendship, lured many of the Irish chiefs and nobles to a + conference or council, and then suddenly pouncing on them, murdered every + single soul of them in cold blood; while, on the other hand, we may + contrast with this cowardly act—which is but one of a series of the + same sort—the noble and generous conduct of Tir-Oen, at the battle + of the Yellow Ford, in 1598, where, after defeating the Queen’s troops + with terrible slaughter, taking all their artillery and baggage, as well + as twelve thousand pieces of gold, the remainder of the shattered army was + totally at his mercy, when he might have put every soul that composed it + to death. Unlike the cowardly invader, the field once won, he sheathed his + sword, and ordered the remnant of the enemy to be spared, as they were + unable to fight longer, and commanded that they should be conducted in + safety to the Pale. In these two instances we have a thorough insight into + the character of the invader and the invaded: so that not another word + need be said upon this part of the subject. + </p> + <p> + And in this manner have the O’Neills and the Irish fought the English up + to the present hour. Circumstances have, we know, from time to time, + caused a lull in the tempest of arms, but the moment opportunity served + the smouldering fires burst forth anew. Not a single day of pure and happy + sunshine has ever obtained between England and Ireland, since the flag of + the former first flew over the latter. Throughout every single hour of + seven hundred long years, Ireland has been secretly plotting or openly + fighting against England. Not one solitary reign, from Henry II down to + Victoria I, but has been marked with Irish dissatisfaction of English + rule. Either in the aggregate or in detail, the Irish people have, + throughout that long period, been constantly asserting their right to + independence, and their unalterable antipathy to the presence of a foreign + power upon their shores. And the same spirit that fought the Henrys, + Elizabeth, William and the Georges, is alive still, and lighting their + descendants to-day; 1688, 1798, 1848, and 1868 are all episodes of the + same history; and the volume now must soon be closed. Humanity and + civilisation, common justice and the laws of nations, demand that a people + who have battled against tyranny and usurpation for seven successive + centuries, and who have still preserved intact their identity, their + traditions and their altars, shall be no longer subjected to the brute + force and infamous exactions of a freebooter who has so long played false + to every principle of honor, and who has been the highwayman of powers and + principalities for countless generations. + </p> + <p> + The record of England in relation to Ireland, is one of the most atrocious + known to the history of mankind. It is fraught with the blackest + ingratitude, the vilest injustice, and the direst oppression. + Notwithstanding that Ireland first gave her an alphabet, and taught her + how to spell her name—notwithstanding that Irish missionaries had + nurtured her early educational institutions and reclaimed her from + Paganism, she misrepresented their religion and their learning in high + places, stole in upon them while they slept, and turning upon them like + the frozen snake in the fable, robbed them of their independence, and + loaded them with chains. Every year of her accursed dominion upon their + shores has been marked with some new and overwhelming oppression. She has + spit upon their creed, broken their altars, hunted them down with + blood-hounds, robbed them of their estates, exiled them penniless to + foreign shores, banned their language, murdered their offspring, destroyed + their trade and commerce, ruined their manufactures, plundered their + exchequer, robbed them of their flag, deprived them of their civil rights, + and left them, houseless wanderers, a prey to hunger, cold and rags, upon + their own soil. Of all this she stands convicted before the world; and for + all this she must alone, so sure as there is a God above her. Ireland + still lives, and so do her wrongs. The O’Neills and thousands of brave + scions of the past, are still with her, while the rank and file of her + sons are as bitterly opposed to English usurpation to-day as they were + seven hundred years ago. Besides, at the present hour, the approaches to + their final triumph are made luminous with the generous countenance of + free America, and the glorious conviction that heaven bends benignly over + them; and thus it is that they now stand shoulder to shoulder in eager + anticipation of the coming hour, when their banners shall yet once more be + flung to the winds, as, with a cry that rends the very earth, they dash + down upon their deadly and relentless foe, and smite her hip and thigh as + of yore; dealing her the last fatal blow that forever seals her infamous + doom. + </p> + <p> + In the order of Providence, a great corrective, or reactionary principle, + attends the misdoings of nations, that, sooner or later, exerts itself in + restoring the equilibrium of justice, and avenging the infringement of any + of those laws, human or divine, constituted for the welfare and guidance + of our race. Whether on the part of governments or individuals, no act of + palpable cruelty or barbarity, has ever escaped the censure and + reprobation of all good and true peoples since the world became civilized; + so that in this connection, the oppressed or injured party has always had + the countenance and sympathy of humanity, at least. True, that an + effective expression of this sympathy may have often been chilled or + embarrassed in individual cases by political considerations or unworthy + interests; but then the tendency to illustrate it was there, and in this + sense alone, it has often exerted a benign influence. Hungary, Greece, + Poland, &c., have all, in turn, had the sympathy of mankind; and so + have had the oppressed colonies and people of Great Britain. The cruel + treatment, treachery and fraud practiced in the name of justice and + religion upon the Sepoys of India, by England, have awakened the deepest + commiseration in the bosom of all good and true governments, and aroused, + at the same time, the strongest indignation even on the part of nations + not over-scrupulous of chains themselves. In like manner, the condition of + Ireland has, from time to time, commanded the attention of the world; and, + through the cruel expatriation of her children, made itself felt more + widely perhaps than that of any other nation. When England perjured + herself for the hundredth time, and violated the Treaty of Limerick, she + exiled to France a host of our countrymen, who afterwards met her at + Fontenoy, as the Irish Brigade, and trailed her bloody and broken in the + dust. The wrongs of the past were with them. The cruelties of the Henrys, + the murders of Elizabeth, the confiscations of Cromwell, and the perfidy + of William, so nerved their arm at the period, that their charge upon the + English is mentioned as one of the most memorable and destructive on + record. But if they had more than sufficient grounds for dealing a death + blow to the power of the tyrant then, how must this debt of vengeance have + accumulated since; when, to the wrongs already enumerated are to be added + the atrocities of the Georges, as well as those of their worthy descendant—that + traitress to humanity, whose hands have been just imbrued in the innocent + blood of Allen, O’Brien and Larkin, and who now holds in thrall, within + the gloom of her noisome dungeons, some of the noblest spirits that have + ever breathed the vital air in this or any age of the world? How, we say, + must this debt of vengeance have been heaped up since; and may we not, + under its terrible pressure, the next time that we have a fair opportunity + of meeting the enemy face to face, anticipate a repetition of that + glorious charge in every individual descent we make upon her ranks, until + we shall have ground her into pulp, and avenged the blood of our martyrs, + which has for ages been crying aloud from the ground, “how long, Oh! + Lord?” + </p> + <p> + We have said that the misdoings of nations are, in the order of + Providence, attended with a corrective or reactionary principle, which, + sooner or later, exerts itself in restoring the equilibrium of justice; + and in no case has this been made more apparent than in that of Ireland. + When under the frightful pressure of famine, murder and robbery, her + children fled her shores, and sought refuge in the open arms of free + America, the tyrant who had caused their exile, never fancied, for a + moment, that she was laying the foundation stone of her own ultimate + destruction, and gradually forming an Irish Brigade on this continent, + which should, one day, with a terrible rebound, repay all the cruelties + and wrongs to which she had subjected them from generation to generation. + She little fancied, that in each individual Irishman that she had driven + from his native shores to seek an asylum beyond the seas, she had sent + forth an agent of her own destruction, that would colonize, in common with + his exiled brethren, the whole world with a sense of her infamy, and build + up, on this free continent, an opposition so tremendous to her interests + in every connection, that it should command the attention of every + civilized people under the sun, and shake her institutions and existence + to their very centre. As is invariable in such cases, she administered the + antidote with the poison; and transformed the victims of her wrongs and + cruelties into enemies and soldiers; and now that, in the aggregate, they + assume the proportions of a powerful and antagonistic nation outside her + borders, they only await the hour when they shall descend upon her to the + hoarse music of their ancient war cry, and, on the banks of the Shannon, + and by the Blackwater, smite her hip and thigh, as of old; but this time + without generously escorting her broken and disabled ranks to the borders + of the Pale, or permitting them, in the hour of defeat, to recruit their + exhausted forces, so that the fight may become more equal. + </p> + <p> + From the landing of Strongbow, in 1171, at Port Largi, then on + subsequently called also the Harbor of the Sun, near Waterford, down to + the sacking and burning of Magdala, the capital of King Theodoras, in the + present year of grace 1808, the history of English rule and conquests has + been one of bloodshed, perjury and crime. Look where you may, and you + encounter continuous atrocities similar to the massacres of Elizabeth and + Cromwell, or the blowing of the Sepoys of India from the mouth of the + cannon of the invader. Well may the ensign of England wear an encrimsoned + hue; for, from time immemorial, it has been stooped in the blood of the + nations: and that too, without her people having ever fought a proud or + decisive battle single-handed. Her fame, in this connection, rests solely + upon the influence of her gold and the power of foreign bayonets. Scotland + and Ireland have been the main stay of her armies; her native element, <i>per + se</i>, affecting their composition in but a secondary degree. The muster + rolls of the Peninsula, and the supplementary field of Waterloo, have + attested this assertion to the fullest. The fact is, her laurels, for the + most part, have been gathered by Irish hands. Taking advantage of the + proud daring and chivalry of our people, in connection with the poverty + and oppression which she had wrought among them, she shook her gold in + their half-starved faces, as she does to-day, and lured them into her + service whenever she had a point to attain in the field. Through this + channel, and through it alone, the fame of her arms became established; + the true aspirations of her own sons seldom exceeding the exalted limits + of a bread riot, or the sudden exploits incident to some poaching + expedition. As a general thing, the English are traders and diplomats, + rather than soldiers. Their character for bravery has been won through the + lavish use of their subsidizing gold, rather than through any innate + warlike propensities on their part. They have never fought for a myth, or + an abstract, chivalrous idea; but always for some bread and beef object, + however apparently unconnected with the project said to be had in view. In + the exemplification of their Christian missionary spirit, too, this + feature of their character is abundantly set forth. Wherever they have + succeeded in introducing the Gospel among the heathen, they have + subsequently inserted the wedge of civil discord, to be followed on their + part by the sword of conquest. No more forcible illustration of this can + be found than that presented by India, and other of their dependencies + that we could name. In Ireland, also, the same spirit has been evinced; + but under different circumstances. She was already civilized and + Christianized when the invader first landed upon her shores; but in no way + was he enabled to totally overthrow her independence, except through the + instrumentality of the brand of religious discord, which, for upwards of + two hundred years, he had kept flaming at the foundations of her + nationality. It was the hostility bitterly fomented between the + Protestants and the Catholics of Ireland, from 1782 to the year 1800, that + led to the so-called Union, and from this latter period left her, to the + present hour, at the mercy of one of the most relentless and unprincipled + despotisms that has ever disfigured the annals of the human race. + </p> + <p> + Edmund Burk was right when he declared in his place in Parliament, if we + remember correctly, that the Penal Laws enacted by England against + Ireland, were characterized by an ingenuity the most fiendish on record, + and an attempt to oppress, degrade and demoralize a people, without a + parallel in the history of even the most barbarious ages. Within the + recollection of persons now living, nine-tenths of the population were + held in a condition of the most abject slavery, and treated as aliens and + enemies at their own doors. Add to this the fact, that, previous to the + granting of Emancipation, scarce a generation had passed away since their + priests were murdered at the altar, or hunted down with dogs, like wild + beasts; their goods and chattels seized upon by any emissary of the + government, and at a nominal valuation appropriated to his own use; their + creed and language denounced and outlawed; their children deprived of the + light of learning under a penalty the most fearful; and, wherever the + tyrant had the power, their lands confiscated and handed over to their + oppressors. The wonder has long been, that, under such a terrible regime, + Ireland had not sunk into the most hopeless barbarism, or that England had + not absorbed her, until, as Lord Byron once observed on the subject, they + had become one and indivisible, as “the shark with his prey.” No more + desperate attempt has ever been made to blot out a nation, and none has + ever failed more signally; for, notwithstanding this dreadful cannonade of + ages, backed up with the final and murderous assault of the Reformation + and the Georges, Ireland, to-day, is more powerful and united than she has + ever been since the sceptre of the Dane was broken upon her historic + shores. This fact is sustained by evidences teeming upon us from every + point of the compass. A great and mysterious embodiment of her influence, + and a vague and oppressive sense of her unseen presence, hang ominously + over all the councils of her task-masters, and build up strange dynasties + in the disturbed slumbers of even royalty itself. Nor bolt nor bar can + shut out the low mutterings of her approaching thunder, or exclude her + ubiquitous hand from tracing, in letters of blood, the impending doom of + her infamous oppressor upon the wall. Heaven has decreed it; and thus it + is, that, in more than one quarter of the globe the exiled children of her + matchless hills and vales have multiplied into a positive power, that, + inflamed with the memories of her undeserved sufferings, shall, one day, + be precipitated upon her enemies with the most destructive and + overwhelming effect, and humble them forever in the dust. + </p> + <p> + To avert this blow has now become a desideratum so great with England, + that all her cunning and genius are brought to bear upon the subject. So + long as Ireland was dependent solely upon her own resources, and the + spirit of revolution confined strictly within her borders, England felt + herself competent to avert the evil day, for an indefinite period, through + the instrumentality of the rope and the bayonet; but now that beyond the + seas, the terrible war cloud of Fenianism fills the whole west, surcharged + with vengeance and the great, broad lightnings of American freedom, she + reels to her very centre, and begins to loosen her hold, claw by claw, + upon her victim, in the hope that her lacerated and bleeding prey may be + satisfied with a partial release from its sufferings, and still permit her + to hold it in her modified clutch. Here she shall fail, however; for the + people of Ireland know her too well to permit her to breathe the same + atmosphere with them, or preserve the slightest footing on their soil. + They know her to have been a traitor, a perjurer, a robber and an + assassin, throughout the whole of her infamous career. Besides remembering + her at Mullaghmaston and Limerick, they had a taste of her quality in + 1782, when, under the pressure of the Protestant bayonets of the famous + “Volunteers,” she, by a solemn act of her King, Lords and Commons, in + Parliament assembled, swept Poyning’s despotic Law from her Statute Books, + and relinquished FOREVER all right and title to interfere in the local + affairs of Ireland, only to perjure herself subsequently, by creating + rotten boroughs and dispensing titles and millions of gold, for the + purpose of controlling those very same affairs, not only more effectually + than ever, but with the further view of diverting all the resources of the + country out of their legitimate channels into her own hands, so that she + should be at once the tyrant, and the purse and conscience keeper of our + race. They remember all this, we say, and now they are about to call upon + her for an account of her stewardship, and make her foot the bill, and + that, too, to the very last farthing. + </p> + <p> + Of course, we are aware that much of the elevated mind and strength which + invigorate the Irish element on this continent, in this connection, is to + be attributed, unquestionably, to the sublime lessons of the great + American people, and the generous sympathy they evince invariably in + regard to nations deprived of the blessings of freedom. Time was, we are + aware, when the children of Ireland had no such exalted idea of human + liberty as they possess to-day, and when they would have hailed the return + of kingcraft to their shores, on the restitution of their independence, + with every demonstration of pleasure; but that period has passed away, and + forever. Having once tasted the blessings, and imbibed the idea of + American institutions, they have now cast aside every sentiment of + barbarism in this relation, and stepped out on the broad platform of + justice and common sense; ignoring the mere accident of birth, and paying + homage only to those attributes and characteristics which, in themselves, + tend to the elevation of the human family, and which are not confined to + any peculiar class or people. + </p> + <p> + When it becomes understood, that ever since the introduction of printing, + and the consequent diffusion of book and newspaper literature throughout + Europe, the history and people of Ireland have been subjected by the + invader to every description of the grossest misrepresentation, it will + create no small degree of surprise, that the country has survived the + assault, or that she presents to-day a compact individuality, that + commands the sympathy and respect of most of the nations of the earth. + Heaven, itself, must have inspired the vigor, truth and heroism which, + through a lapse of seven hundred years, have battled for the right against + the most fearful odds, and that now arms her, on both sides of the + Atlantic, with the mighty resolve which cannot fail to result in her final + redemption from the chains of the oppressor. Her vitality in this + connection has scarcely a parallel in the history of the past; from the + fact, that she has been subjected to a twofold persecution—that of + semi-barbarism, and that of civilization also. The atrocities of the + hybrid freebooters that invaded her shores in the twelfth century, were + not more revolting than those which characterized her rulers six hundred + years subsequently, when they were engaged in founding educational + institutions, and printing whole cargoes of ten-penny Bibles, for the + purpose of pandering to the whims of the age, and doing honor to the + spirit of the royal Pacha who moulded his creed to his lusts, and left his + rottenness a loathsome legacy to his successors. Yes, the wonder is, that + she has survived all this, and, instead of falling into the vortex + prepared for her, now stands with her uplifted arm, awaiting the + propitious moment, when she can deal a final and irresistible blow to the + ingrate that, in days of yore, she had warmed into intellectual life on + her own hearthstone. + </p> + <p> + If there had been anything in the climate, soil, people or geographical + position of Ireland, to operate against her prosperity as a nation, or + calculated to retard her progress in any connection whatever, there might + be some misgivings in relation to the causes of her poverty and + degradation; but as the most reliable political economists, and even those + unfriendly to the Irish name and race, admit that no such drawbacks exist, + we look, of course, to the system of government to which the country has + been so long subjected, as the source of all the evils that have so + cruelly and pertinaciously beset it. McCollough, Wakefield, Foster, and + other English writers, bear the highest testimony to the richness of its + soil, the salubrity of its air, and its other great natural advantages. + Its harbors, bays, lakes and rivers are among the finest in the world, + while its neglected mineral wealth is presumed to be all but + inexhaustible. In addition to this, it is stated by Dr. Forbes—one + of the Court physicians, who had made a tour of the kingdom—that the + inhabitants are of a character the most industrious, and bear up under the + oppressive system which weighs upon them in a manner the most heroic. It + is to opinions from such sources as these we point, with every degree of + confidence, as they cannot be charged with being prejudiced in our favor; + and were we inclined to be more diffuse upon the subject, we might quote + author after author, and all of English proclivities too, who bear + evidence to the suggestive character of the elements of material wealth + which we possess in every relation, and which, through the disastrous + policy pursued towards us from generation to generation, have been + paralyzed and prostituted to an extent that almost defies comprehension. + </p> + <p> + Why did England violate a solemn pledge, given in 1782, to the effect, + that she relinquished all claim to interfere in the management of the + local affairs of Ireland, and conceded to the people of that country the + undoubted and inalienable right of conducting their own internal affairs + upon any basis they thought proper? After having experienced the + beneficial results of this policy upon the sister kingdom for a space of + eighteen years, why did she revoke the act establishing it, and force the + hated Union upon a people, a majority of whom were not free to express an + opinion upon the subject, or to resist a measure thrust upon them through + perjury, intimidation, bribery and fraud? The reason has long been quite + obvious to the world—the manufacturing interests and the trade and + commerce of Ireland have ever been and must ever remain antagonistic to + those of England. This fact has always influenced the legislation of the + latter country, and brought it to bear heavily and unjustly upon almost + every Irish project that has been undertaken for the last three hundred + years. When any particular Irish manufacture was found to interfere with + the interests of a similar one in England, instantly devices were set on + foot by the enemy to crush it, or so embarrass it that its destruction + could not fail to follow. It was banned and taxed out of the market until + it died. In this way, the silk, glass and woolen manufactures of the + country were destroyed; the latter having so injured the English + manufacturers in the time of William the Third, that they presented a + memorial to this dignified and affectionate son-in-law of James, praying + that the manufacture in Ireland might be suppressed, as it was interfering + with the success of the woolen trade in England; which prayer the king + entertained favorably, and promised to grant. In this way, from the + earliest days of the invasion, the interests of Ireland have been trodden + under the feet of the oppressor; while, in a religious point of view, her + people have been held for generations in the most frightful bondage, and + constrained to contribute to the maintenance of a Church which + nineteen-twentieths of them believed to be heretical, and which had been + thrust upon them in violation of every right, human and divine. + </p> + <p> + Now, however, it is brightening up on the verge of the horizon, and, like + chickens, England’s untold acts of infamy and oppression, in regard to + Ireland, are coming home to roost. In every city and hamlet, throughout + the great Republic of the United States, and in every town and village in + Ireland, as well as throughout the rural districts, there exists a + regiment or detachment of the vast army of the Irish Republic. No matter + how invisible the force may be at any particular point, yet there it + exists, awaiting the signal to pounce upon the enemy, and avenge the + wrongs of ages; each member of it feeling, within his heart of hearts, + that those injuries have reached him individually, and that, without the + opportunity of wiping them out, even at the expense of the last drop of + his heart’s blood, the conquest, when achieved, would be almost worthless + in his eyes. It is with this element that England, at the present + juncture, has to deal at home and abroad; and now that the avalanche, + after rolling down the steep of seven successive centuries, has + accumulated in magnitude and force most tremendously, and sufficiently to + overcome every obstacle that happens to lie in its path, ere long we shall + find it leaping in thunder upon the plain, and overwhelming those who so + long mocked at its approach, and who now so vainly attempt to stay its + resistless course. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + RIDGEWAY + </h1> + <h3> + AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA. + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + On a gloomy evening in the early part of May, 1866, and while astute + politicians were struck with the formidable aspect of Fenianism in both + hemispheres, a solitary soldier, in the muddy, red jacket of a private in + the English army, might be seen hastily wending his way across a bridge + which led from one of the most important strongholds in Canada, to a town + of considerable pretensions, that lay directly opposite, and to which he + was now bending his steps. Although the weather, from the season of the + year, might be presumed to be somewhat genial, yet it was raw and gusty; + and as the pedestrian was without an overcoat, the uncomfortable and + antagonistic shrug of his shoulders, as the chill, fitful blast swept past + him, was quite discernible to any eye that happened to catch his figure at + the period. Soon, however, he left the bridge and river behind him, and, + stepping on terra firma, turned hastily down one of the unpretending + streets of the town, and entered a restaurant, out of the drinking saloon + of which, several narrow passages led to small convivial apartments, or + rather compartments, in which the landlord, or “mine host” professed to + work culinary miracles, of every possible shade, in the interest of his + patrons. The establishment, although not the most fashionable in the + place, was still regarded as respectable, and was, consequently, the + frequent resort of many well-to-do tradesmen, and others, who, after the + cares of the day had been laid by, generally repaired thither to slake + their thirst with a flowing tankard, or indulge in “a stew,” a quiet game + of billiards or a cigar, as the case might be. From the description of the + various pictures which adorned or decorated the bar-room, the nationality + of the proprietor was easily discerned. Just over a goodly and shining + away of handsome mirrors that, inside the counter, reflected a maze of + graceful bottles, cut glass and various ornaments appropriate to the + profession, hung a large map of Ireland, very beautifully gotten up: while + on either side of it, a neat, gilt frame, enclosing a most excellent + likeness of Daniel O’Connell and Robert Emmet, respectively, harmonized in + every relation with the map itself. Around the walls of the room, and + throughout the whole establishment, kindred prints and paintings were + somewhat profusely scattered; presenting unmistakable evidences, that the + proprietor hailed from the Emerald Isle, and had no inclination, whatever, + to disguise the fact from either his customers or the world. + </p> + <p> + At the period that the soldier entered the premises, there were some half + dozen persons seated in the bar; each discussing his favorite beverage or + enjoying his peculiar “weed.” Among these there was one individual, + however, whose appearance was singularly striking, and who was taking part + in the general conversation with an easy flippancy and keenness of + observation that showed he was a person of no ordinary information or + experience. There was something about him, nevertheless, that, + notwithstanding all his efforts to be attractive, was strangely repellent. + His small, grey eyes, thin, blue lips and hooked nose, gave an expression + to his countenance which was far from prepossessing; while his soft, low, + purring chuckle of a laugh, whenever he made a point in his favor through + some facile observation that interfered with the deductions of those + around him, evoked the idea, that he was some huge, human mouser that was + congratulating himself on having disposed of some unfortunate and + unsuspecting canary. He was, withal, shapely, and had an air of refinement + about him, the most decided, and, quite beyond the ordinary run of saloon + habitues. His complexion though somewhat dark and out of keeping with the + color of his eyes, was yet pure; while his teeth were remarkably white and + brilliant, and apparently as sharp as lancets. In height he was about five + feet ten inches; and in age, somewhere in the vicinity of thirty. He was + dressed in plain gray clothes; and, from all one might gather from his + external appearance, was a person in comfortable circumstances. He was + unknown not only to “mine host,” but to every one present; having, as he + informed them in the ordinary flow of conversation, but just arrived in + town, where he had business to transact which might detain him for a few + days, or possibly longer. This information had been volunteered before the + arrival of the soldier; so that when the latter had taken his seat, he was + literally a greater stranger as to the name or intentions of the + hook-nosed gentleman than any one present—the former having been + communicated to the landlord as Philip Greaves, and the latter, as already + intimated, quite freely disclosed during the natural flow of the + conversation in which he had taken and still took part. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps there were no two beings on earth so dissimilar in every relation, + as were he and the red coat who now ensconsed himself in one of the + chairs, and accepted the invitation to take a friendly glass with the + stranger. He, humble as the rank he bore in the service, was a young man + of most prepossessing appearance and excellent address. His figure, + although slight, was beautifully symmetrical and finely knit. In stature + he was about five feet eleven inches, and was apparently as agile as a + leopard. The whole volume of his heart was laid open in his broad, manly + brow and clear dark eyes; and his laughter rang out now and then, at the + brilliant wit or searching sarcasm of his neighbor, in such pure and + joyous tones, as to be infectious even amongst those who were paying but + little attention to what had provoked it. He could not have numbered more + than twenty-five or twenty-six summers; and it was almost painful, in the + presence of such manly beauty and so light a heart, to dwell on the fact, + that the possessor of both, was in absolute slavery, how carelessly soever + he wore his shackles. While both these individuals differed the one from + the other to the extent already mentioned, the proprietor of the saloon, + in turn, presented an appearance as dissimilar to that of either of his + customers as did that of the one to the other. He was a man of herculean + proportions, and blessed with as commonplace features as you could find in + a day’s walk. Every fibre of his frame bespoke the most gigantic strength, + while his full, round face glowed with the most refreshing health, and + presented at the same time as stolid an expression as could well be + imagined in connection with his vocation. Still, there was something in + his keen, gray eye and about his mouth, that bid you beware of taking the + book by the cover; while an odd word of the conversation that now and then + reached his ear, called up a strange expression of intelligence which + swept across his features with the speed of light, and then left them as + quiescent and apparently unintellectual as before. This individual whom we + shall name Thomas O’Brien, or Big Tom, as his friends were wont to call + him, although never regarded as being over brilliant, there were those who + averred that he not only possessed a fund of good, common sense, but who + stated further, that he was a man of great influence not only among the + soldiers in the fort, but among many of his countrymen both in town and + out of it. Tom spoke very slowly and always in an oracular manner; nor + were his movements behind his bar of a very demonstrative character; as no + press of custom, whatever, seemed to possess the power of accelerating his + motions or inducing him to exceed the steady formula that he appeared to + have adopted in relation to serving his customers; still he possessed the + jewel of honesty and urbanity as an offset to all this; and, like most + large men, was, on the whole, of a kind and excellent temper. When seen + standing by the river or in any elevated position, he conveyed the idea of + a sort of human lighthouse, or a chimney on fire, so fiercely red was the + tremendous shock of hair that covered his towering head. He was still a + young man, and, like the soldier, unmarried; although the heart of the + latter had gone forth and was in the safe keeping of a charming young + cousin of “mine host,” who had emigrated to America some time previously, + and who now resided with her friends in the city of Buffalo. Tom had + preceded his relatives by some years, and had sojourned, up to the period + of their landing, in the United States also; but taking a sudden notion, + as it would seem, he pulled up his stakes, and, like other adventurers, + settled down, apparently haphazard, in the town in which he now lived; and + where he had already been upwards of two years; having bought out the + “Sign of the Harp,” as we shall call it, with all its appointments, from + another Son of the Sod, who had made up his mind to go West. + </p> + <p> + Before the soldier, whom we shall name Nicholas, or Nick Barry, had + finished his glass, Greaves entered into conversation with him in relation + to the strength of the fort, and the nationality of the regiment that + garrisoned it; observing, at the same time, that, of course, as usual, a + fair sprinkling from the Emerald Isle was to be found among them. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Barry, “go where you may throughout the empire, and whenever + you meet a red coat you will be right in four cases out of six in putting + it down as belonging to an Irishman; that is, provided its precise color + and texture are like mine; but you would not be so safe in applying the + same rule wherever you chanced to encounter the clear, bright flash of the + genuine scarlet.” + </p> + <p> + “And why?” returned Greaves, with an inquiring air which seemed to be + quite at sea upon the subject; although up to that moment, his + conversation was such as to lead one to infer that he could scarcely be in + the dark upon a subject so generally understood. + </p> + <p> + “Because,” said Nick, “the Irish are only fit to do the fighting; and + that’s always done, you know, by the rank and file.” + </p> + <p> + This reply, although not over satisfactory to the interrogator, seemed to + afford infinite amusement to Big Tom, who, with a perfect sledge hammer of + a laugh, exclaimed when Barry had finished: + </p> + <p> + “Well done Nick, and the divil a betther could it be said if I said it + myself.” + </p> + <p> + This unusual and lively demonstration on the part of O’Brien, seemed to + attract the notice of Greaves, who, with the utmost good humor, observed, + while glancing in the direction of the bar: + </p> + <p> + “From Ireland, too, I’ll bet my head!” + </p> + <p> + “Seven miles out of it,” returned Tom with a slight twinkle of his eye, + “and, of coorse, a gintleman so larned as you will be able to tell where + that is.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, for the life of me,” observed Greaves, “I cannot divine what you + are at, with your ‘seven miles out,’ but as I’m an Englishman, I suppose + that accounts for it.” + </p> + <p> + “He means by what he has said,” interrupted Barry, “that he is from + Connaught, which, for some reason or other, is regarded as seven miles out + of Ireland.” + </p> + <p> + “For some raison or other did you say,” returned Tom. “Faith and its + raison enough there is for that same; for it was to Connaught that + Cromwell and the rest of the blaggards banished or confined the Irish + hayros that gave the Sassenach such throuble in oulden times, and that’s + the raison, you know, that the sayin, ‘to h—l or Connaught,’ first + got a futtin in the world, and that Connaught is regarded as bein seven + miles out, by the people who know the ins and outs of it.” + </p> + <p> + This was delivered in a quiet, oracular manner from which there was no + appeal; so the conversation continued to flow in a kindred channel—Barry + observing that the regiments then stationed in Canada were largely <i>adulterated</i>, + as he humorously termed it, with the Irish element, which, during such + times of commotion, was considered by England safer abroad than at home. + </p> + <p> + “How is that?” said Greaves, casting a searching glance towards the + speaker. “I should fancy that the British soldier was safe, and true to + the crown whether at home or abroad; although I am free to confess, that + the Irish, as a nation, have much to complain of.” + </p> + <p> + “And how can you separate the man from the nation; and if a people are + oppressed and wronged as a whole, are they not oppressed and wronged + individually?” replied O’Brien. + </p> + <p> + “The inference is reasonable,” returned the other; “but as England seems + sensible that something ought to be done for the amelioration of the + condition of Ireland no doubt the two nations will soon settle down in the + bonds of amity and love, and, in a better state of things, forget all + their bickerings and heartburnings.” + </p> + <p> + “There was a payriod,” retorted Tom, “when England could have done + somethin to appase Ireland, but that payriod is past and gone forever! + Durin the airly days of O’Connell, the repale of the Union and the + abolition of the Church Establishment would have worked merricles. These + measures would have done away with absenteeism, an unjust and gallin + taxation, and would have given Ireland the conthrol, in some degree at + laste, of her own local affairs. If the Act of 1782 previntin England from + intherfarin in any degree in those affairs was revived, it would have + given the Irish a chance to build up their manufactures and recruit their + ruined thrade and commerce. It would have recalled the landlord to his + estates, from forrin parts, and re-inthroduced a native parliament that + understood the wants and wishes of the people, and that was intherested in + carryin them out, and givin the masses an opportunity of developin their + resources and turnin their soil to account, that is acre for acre more + fertile than that of England, to-day. It would have gathered home from the + four winds of the earth the scatthered wealth that has followed the + absentee to distant lands and made Dublin and Cork and every city in the + counthry alive with min and wimmin, that were able to pathronise Irish + manufactures, aye, and pay for them too. All this it would have done and a + thousand times more; but as I have already said, the chance has been + thrown away by England, never to be recovered by her durin <i>secula + seculorum</i>; for now the light of American freedom has fallen upon + Ireland, and, pointed out what ought to be her thrue standin, and the + insufficiency of what she once would have been satisfied with. In the + broad effulgence of its glory, the people of Ireland now persave that so + if long as they attached any importance to the mere accident of birth, or + bent the knee to hereditary monarchy, they were but walking in the valley + and shadow of death. The great moral spectacle of American freedom built + upon the broad and imperishable basis of the voluntary and intelligent + consint of a whole people, has so upset their household gods and + desthroyed the prestige of kingcraft in their eyes, that they now look + forward to the total overthrow of monarchical institutions in their midst, + and the establishment, on their shores, of a Republic in every particular + the counterpart of that which now commands the admiration of the world, + across the lines there, and which is gradually sappin the foundation of + British rule on this side of the lakes, as well as litherally swallowin us + up unknownst to ourselves. This is how the case stands now; so that we can + aisily persave, that England has lost the power and opportunity of + conciliatin the Irish race; bekase they have no longer a feelin or + sintiment in common with her.” + </p> + <p> + These observations, which were made with a degree of ease and eloquence + regarded as totally foreign to Tom, actually electrified his hearers, and + drew a compliment from Greaves; while Barry, who knew a good deal of him, + was so astonished at his sudden and earnest volubility, he could not + resist the temptation of assuring him that he was an honor to his country, + if not to humanity at large. The other three or four individuals present + joined in the sentiment, so that, for the time being, O’Brien was no + ordinary personage in their minds, while a quiet wink from one to the + other seemed to place it beyond a shadow of doubt, that, in their + estimation, Big Tom knew more than he ever got credit for. + </p> + <p> + When the conversation again began to flow freely, the gentleman, with the + hooked nose, turned it imperceptibly upon Fenianism, and the rumored + intention of the Organization, in the United States, to make a descent + upon Canada at no distant day. At this point, O’Brien put in a word or + two, to the effect, that he was not so sure of the propriety of the + Brotherhood invading the Province, as its inhabitants were not in any way + answerable for the wrongs which had been inflicted by England upon + Ireland. Here Barry observed, that although he was not competent to speak + on the matter, and had no desire to endorse or countenance such an + invasion, he regarded a Fenian attack upon Canada fully as justifiable as + an assault of the same character upon England, or any other portion of her + majesty’s dominions. The empire, he contended, was a unit and no part of + it could be assailed, that did not possess, in relation to Ireland, just + as inoffensive people as the Canadians were. Fenianism, he presumed, did + not pretend to make war upon individuals, but upon a government, in any or + all of its ramifications, that was alleged to be oppressive and an enemy + to civil and religious freedom; and so long as any people chose to endorse + the acts of such a government by defending them, and adhering to the flag + under which they were said to have been committed, so long were they + amenable to the party who assumed to be aggrieved in the premises, as + aiders and abettors of the offence. + </p> + <p> + This position was so reasonable and so logical that there was but little + room for dispute upon the subject. And hence the absurdity of certain + squeamish gentlemen who, before and since the invasion of 1866, have + denounced a descent upon Canada as not so justifiable as an attack upon + the more central parts of the empire, from the assumed fact, that the + Canadians are in no way chargeable with the wrongs inflicted by the + British Government upon Ireland. Such an argument to a military man, or + astute politician, would be the very height of absurdity. The outworks are + always stormed and taken before the citadel falls; nor are those who + occupy or defend them regarded with any personal ill feeling by the + assailing party, and are only enemies in so far as they choose to espouse + the cause and defend, at the point of the sword, the acts and existence of + a government held to be corrupt and oppressive. From the difference in + population and other circumstances, there are a greater number of + inoffensive persons in England, in relation to Irish grievances, than + there are in Canada; so that, adopting the very style of argument used by + those gingerly or subsidized cavillers, there are more causes for + justifying a descent, at any time, upon the latter than upon the former + country. The truth is, the masses or people of any country are, for the + most part, inoffensive on the whole, and are merely wielded by governments + with a view to maintaining a power for good or evil, having in many cases + themselves no very clear idea of the grounds upon which the field may have + been taken; and laying down their arms at a moment’s notice, without being + concerned as to the expediency or justice of a cessation of hostilities. + In truth, even amid armies thundering down upon each other at the word of + command, there are necessarily thousands of unoffending persons who + entertain not a single feeling of animosity against their opponents + individually, and who are but simply the exponents of an idea that their + rulers deem necessary to maintain at the point of the bayonet; although + they themselves may not sympathize with it to any extent whatever. So that + it is apparent, that the invasion of Canada was never undertaken with a + view to despoiling or injuring the people <i>per se</i> of that country; + but for the simple purpose of making a descent upon a point of the British + empire most accessible to the arms of the Republic of Ireland on this + continent, in the hope of establishing a basis that would enable Irish + Nationalists to operate successfully against a government that had for + seven hundred years subjected their country, name and race, to every + injustice and persecution known to the history of crime. Such are the + contingencies of war, that the innocent are dragged into the vortex by the + guilty, and that those who choose to adopt a flag and are found armed in + its defence, are constructively the enemies of the invaders, and according + to the usages of all nations amenable in the field for the conduct of + their rulers. Whatever may be said to the contrary, then, by English + sympathizers or weak-kneed patriots, so long as Canada is a portion of the + British empire, so long is she a legitimate point of attack for the + enemies of that empire, and no description of special pleading can make it + otherwise. And here we would advise the people of the New Dominion to look + into this matter and weigh the consequences of being influenced by any + seeming or real hostile attitude to the government of the United States, + or the mighty hosts which are now gathering in battle array in the cause + of Irish freedom. England is fallen! Her power and prestige are gone + forever! The star of Irish liberty has already emerged from the clouds + that have so long lain piled up along the horizon of the land of the + enslaved Celt, and no power on earth can obscure its growing Lustre, until + it blazes forth in the full meridian, splendor of Irish nationality and + independence! Let our neighbors, therefore, we say, not be betrayed into + raising a puny arm against the tremendous force that cannot fail to be + exerted ere long in this connection, or their redemption from the British + yoke and their consequent absorption by the great American Commonwealth + may be reddened with more blood than the circumstances of the case really + require. + </p> + <p> + When Barry had finished his few observations on this topic, Greaves, in + further pursuance of the subject, and with the apparent view of gathering + the tone of Canadian opinion upon it, observed, that if all the Irish + population of the Provinces were as true to the sentiment of the + independence of their country, as O’Brien and his military friend, there + might be some reason for apprehending that the intended invasion of the + Canadas by the Fenian organization of the United States, would tend to + more alarming results to England than were anticipated by the friends of + that country; remarking, in addition, that the Irish element must be very + large in her majesty’s Canadian possessions, if one might judge from the + recent St. Patrick’s Day demonstration throughout them, and the various + St. Patrick’s Societies to be found scattered from one end of the colony + to the other; all of which were, no doubt, more or less tinged with + opinions and aspirations similar to those held by the two individuals who + had just spoken. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” rejoined Big Tom, “there are St. Patrick Societies in + abundance, but let me inform you, that instead of bein national + associations, as they purport to be, they are the very sthrongholds of + England in this country, and, with scarce an exception, the deadliest + opponents to the very indepindence that we have benn jist spakin about. + For the most part, they are filled chock full of a pack of miserable + toadies to the governmint, which manages to gather into them a pack of + rottin, ladin Irishmin who can make speeches, dhrink ‘the day and all who + honor it,’ sing ‘God save the Queen,’ and talk English blatherskite about + the glory of the impire, the army and navy, and everythin else in the + world save and except the wrongs of poor, ould Ireland, and the way to + redhress them. Why, sir, barrin a word dhropped here and there, you’d + think it was in an Orange Lodge you were, if you happened to step in on + one of those societies while engaged in celebrating, as they call it, the + anniversary of their pathron Saint; for it’s nothin you’d hear but ‘Rule + Britannia,’ ‘The Red, White and Blue,’ and kindhered sintiments, and if a + chap did happen to give ‘The harp that wanst,’ why, its the sweet, soft + air they’d be admirin, and the poethry of Tom Moore, rather than the low + wail for vingeance that was smothered in the heart of the song itself. + What could you expect from sich a St Patrick’s Society as that of Toronto, + with a gintleman at its head with the freedom of an English city in his + breeches pocket, and a desire to emulate English statesmen and English + institutions in his heart! Look, also, at the able and larned Irishman who + stands at the head of the University of that same methropolis of the West, + and whose eloquence so mystifies his faithlessness to Ireland as to + confuse you, and almost lade you captive, until, on cooler deliberation, + you find that his response to ‘the toast of the evenin,’ is naither more + nor less than a superb burst of oratory, robed in green and goold, but + with a heart as purely English as that which throbbed within the breast of + the renegade Wellington or the late wily Lord Palmerston. Oh, no! the St. + Patrick Societies of America, and of every other portion of the globe, are + simply whited sepulchres, or false beacons erected or fosthered by the + English governmint to mislade the unsuspectin portions of our race from + the allagiance due to their own counthry, by studiously inculcatin + sintimints and ideas favorable to English supremacy, which can be paraded + before the world as the thrue expression of the Irish people, in relation + to the red that governs them, and their willinness to remain as they are, + part and parcel of the impire. Sich min as the two I have jist mintioned + do more to perpetuate the thraldom of our country than the most unfrindly + and subtle statesman that exists on the other side of the Atlantic to-day; + bekase they are powerful inemies, by their example in our own camp, and + bekase there are those amongst us who are aisily led, and who consequintly + fall a victim to their influence and example.” + </p> + <p> + “Sure, we all know, that the Scotch thricksther at the head of the + govermint here, could do but little if it was not for such people as Ogle + R., George. L., Darcy and ‘the docther,’ as he is called in Toronto; and + thus it is, that although the three Toronto gintlemen that I now name, + are, I honestly believe, deservedly respected and esteemed in every other + relation of life, they belong body and sowl to the English sintimint of + the counthry; and if the most favorable opportunity was offered them + to-morrow, would never raise a helpin hand to place the green above the + red. But, as this is dhry work, and as I have not had sich a bout at it + since I opened here, come, one and all, and let us wet our whistles, for I + see you have jist made spy-glasses of your tumblers.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + Although delivered in a style somewhat uncouth, there was a great deal of + truth and native eloquence about these observations of O’Brien. There is + no doubt but the St. Patrick Societies of this continent, and perhaps of + the world, are characterized, in no ordinary degree, by the spirit and + design to which he alluded. In so far as those belonging to the British + empire are concerned, he was right, almost without an exception; for it + must be admitted, that these societies are, for the most part, filled with + pseudo patriots, who discard all revolutionary theories, and are of the + opinion, that the independence of their country, if they ever cast a + glance in that direction, ought to be achieved in the most lady-like + manner, and with “white kids.” Look, for instance, at some of the members + of these associations and kindred bodies in New York and in various other + parts of the Union, and analyze the spirit which finds expression in their + observance of the anniversary of Ireland’s tutelar Saint. From the moment + that the cloth is removed, until the last of the company gyrates out of + the room to his carriage, we have nothing but a war of eloquence between + rival politicians who are candidates for municipal or other lucrative + honors, or a subtle bid for Irish support through some adroit manoeuvre, + by which an adversary is, for the time being, thrown into the shade. To be + sure, Mr. Richard This or Mr. John That, may occasionally give us a taste + of his research and learning, in a re-hash from the “Annals of the Four + Masters,” or from some of the leading periodicals of the day; and we may, + in addition, be treated to an <i>original</i> poem touching Ireland from + some of the various up-hill-workers of the Muses, with whom the great + mercantile centre abounds; but as to anything practical relative to the + amelioration of the wretched condition of the country in whose name they + assemble upon such occasions, that is simply out of the question; all + parties, as a general thing, satisfying themselves with a hacknied and + stereotyped enumeration of her wrongs, and the usual bland denunciations + of her oppressors. + </p> + <p> + And here we give an illustration of St. Patrick Societies under their most + patriotic aspect; for the power of speech which characterizes, this great + Commonwealth, and our total immunity from English persecution, enable the + spirit which actuates these societies, beneath the skull and cross bones + of St. George, to be a little more patriotic here, in its language at + least, than it dares to be in any portion of the dominions of England. + Still, its positive antagonism to Irish independence, under the British + flag, is scarcely more reprehensible than its negative influence in the + same direction under the Stars and Stripes; so that Ireland, suffering at + their hands alike, might with every degree of justice place them in the + same category. + </p> + <p> + After all, it is the masses that free a nation, and thank God for it. A + leader may in vain look for a host to follow him, but a host never in vain + for a leader, and hence the defection of a few prominent men from the + great, Irish national idea which now so moves this continent, and commands + the attention of the world, amounts to but little save sorrow at the + stigma it casts upon our race. The rank and file of our people are true to + the spirit that fired the O’Neill’s and the Geraldines of old; and this + being the case, the freedom of Ireland is secured beyond any possible + contingency—England is brought to bay at home and abroad. The mighty + embodiments of Irish power and patriotism, yclept Fenianism, stalks forth + through the empire with an uplifted glaive in its hand, and no one can say + how soon or where the swift stroke of destruction shall fall. Its presence + fills with gloomy alarm every nook and corner of the land, and paralyzes + all the energies of the oppressor. Through its overwhelming influence, the + most cherished institutions of the usurper are being overthrown, and the + crown and mace all but converted into baubles. It has destroyed the power + and prestige of a hereditary aristocracy, and thrown, in a measure, the + whole government of the land into the hands of Commoners. The privileged + classes, no longer oracular, recede before it, and a great democratic idea + occupies the ground upon which they stood—in short, illuminated and + impelled by the glorious spirit and impulses which moved the immortal + founders of this grand Republic of the West, it has gone forth to avenge + and to conquer, and to build up upon the shores of the Old World such a + grateful monument to the genius of American freedom, as shall, from its + lofty summit, pour its radiance over the darkest valleys of Central + Europe, until the frozen grasp of despotism yields to its magic touch and + the chains shall fall from the bleeding limbs of millions, who on emerging + from the valley and shadow of death into the pure sunlight of liberty, + shall sing paeans in honor of the great American people who first taught + humanity to the nations of the earth. + </p> + <p> + When all present had done justice to O’Brien’s proffered “treat,” and when + Greaves seemed to be moved to a friendly view of Irish nationality, in a + gap in some desultory conversation that happened to occur casually, this + latter worthy asked whether he could be accommodated with a room at “The + Harp,” while he remained in town, as he was a stranger in a great measure, + and having accidentally, as he said, made the acquaintance of one he + believed to be an agreeable landlord. Tom replied in the affirmative; for, + in connection with the saloon business, he kept a few boarders and had, + besides, ample accommodation for more than one occasional guest. Soon + then, Greaves, who was to send the following morning to the railroad + station for his luggage, picked up a small traveling bag by his side, + asked to be shown to his room, as he professed to be somewhat tired, and + bidding the company “good night,” while shaking hands with Barry, + disappeared with Tom down the long passage which led to his sleeping + apartment on the floor above. + </p> + <p> + When O’Brien returned to the bar, half a dozen more of his usual customers + had dropped in to exchange a kindly word with him, and taste his newest + “on tap.” Before reaching the counter, however, and just as he was passing + Barry, he whispered something in the ear of the latter, which seemed to + arrest his attention, and to which he appeared to answer with a + significant nod and peculiar expression of countenance. Barry being off + duty, and having received permission to remain in town all night, paid no + regard to the nine o’clock drums and fifes audible from the garrison; and + although quite an abstemious young fellow, he made himself sufficiently + social with the new comers, most of whom were acquaintances. The remainder + of the evening was passed in the usual bar-room style; although the + conversation for the most part, turned upon the wrongs of Ireland and the + mode of redressing them. Now that Greaves had retired, there appeared to + be less restraint upon the few who had been a witness of the observations + he had made upon the subject, for they one and all seemed to flow into the + common channel of sympathy, so largely occupied by O’Brien in this + connection. In addition, one of them ventured to remark, that although + Greaves pretended to be an Englishman, he was evidently no such thing; for + on more than one occasion, he gave utterance to expressions that were not + only purely Irish, but tinged with a genuine Irish accent and native + peculiarity, that no mere accident could account for, and which was, + without doubt, the genuine thing itself peeping out at the elbows of a + foreign dress. This idea seemed to find favor with O’Brien, although Barry + was not impressed with its correctness, from the fact, no doubt, of his + constant intercommunication with the English and Irish element that was so + jumbled up in his company. + </p> + <p> + As it became later, the party began to drop off, until about twelve + o’clock, up went the shutters and round went the heavy key in the bar-room + door—all having disappeared at the latter period, save Barry and one + of his most intimate friends who seemed loath to leave, and inclined to + take another glass. No sooner then, were the doors and windows securely + fastened, and the gas extinguished, than both these parties accompanied by + Tom with a bed-room lamp in his hand, proceeded to a small and comfortable + apartment which was sacred to the foot of every individual who was not a + tried friend of O’Brien. Here all three seated themselves beside a + comfortable coal fire that burned brightly in the grate: when Tom, on + extinguishing the lamp, after having lit the jet of gas that hung in the + centre of the room, exclaimed:— + </p> + <p> + “Nick, my name’s not Tom O’Brien, or we have got the divil up-stairs!—but + what he’s up to it’s hard to say: although I thought it was jist as well + to let him take up his quarthers here, seem that I’ll be able to keep an + eye on him—now that the times are becomin sarious.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” replied Barry, “his appearance is far from prepossessing, but + you know, Tom, it’s not always safe to judge a man by this criterion.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s thrue,” returned the other, “but didn’t you hear the fella how he + wanted to sift you about the Irish sintiment of the garrison, as well as + lade us out upon the feelins of the Irish in gineral throughout the + Province?” + </p> + <p> + “I did, of course,” answered Nick, “but really thought that the gentleman, + being a stranger, was simply asking for information’s sake only, and had + no ulterior object in view.” + </p> + <p> + “I agree with you, O’Brien,” interrupted the third party, who was named + Burk, and who had been in the saloon during the period Greaves was + present, “there can be nothing good in so cunning a face; but what is the + real news to-night, and have you heard from New York or Buffalo?” + </p> + <p> + “I have harde from both places,” returned Tom, “and everythin looks well; + but how are things here, and are you all prepared to assist the invading + army when they cross the lines; and what number of men can we fairly count + upon?” + </p> + <p> + “It has, I believe, been ascertained beyond a shadow of doubt,” replied + Burk, “that there are upwards of one hundred thousand men throughout the + Provinces who would at once rush to arms if they found the flag of the + Irish Republic firmly planted at any one point within our borders; while + it is known or believed, that more than twice that number would follow in + their wake, if Toronto was once in the hands of the invaders. In fact, + Toronto and Montreal once taken, the day is ours, for we should have the + French almost to a man, no matter what Monsieur George Etienne or Master + John Alexander may say to the contrary. Canada is evidently tired of + British rule, and is only kept from kicking over the traces by a pack of + government officials who hold the purse strings, and a subsidized press + that destroys the homogeneity of the people, by making them doubt each + other, and impressing every man disaffected to the Crown, with the idea + that every other individual Colonist, or nearly so, is opposed to him. In + this way, the sentiment of independence which underlies the nine tenths of + our population is obstructed and embarrassed, and one man prompted to look + with distrust upon another, although both may entertain precisely the same + sentiments in relation to the desirability of throwing off the British + yoke. As to how the army stands, Nick here can tell you more about that + than I can.” + </p> + <p> + “The army,” said Barry, “is just as you might expect it to be. The Irish + who compose it in part, are, as you know, not British soldiers from + choice, but from necessity. They had no resource between starvation and a + red coat; so that their oath of allegiance to the English Crown may be + said to have been exacted from them under pain of death. For ages, their + country had been devastated and plundered by the power that now holds them + in special thrall, and the means of existence wrested from them through + the inhuman exactions of a tyrannical government. Their name and race had + been banned, their humble homesteads razed to the ground, and their + families scattered, naked and hungry, throughout the length and breadth of + the land, or exiled to foreign shores. The stranger had stolen in on their + hearthstone, robbed them of their lands, goods and chattles, usurped their + powers of local legislation, and then closed every door to preferment + against them, leaving them without a hope or a crust for the future, on + their own shores. Under this horrible pressure, thousands of them + necessarily gave way and fell victims to those gaunt recruiting sergeants + of the government—Hunger and Rags. Unable to earn wherewithal to + keep body and soul together at their own doors, or within their own + borders, and perceiving that the commerce, the manufactures and all the + native resource of their country were crushed to the earth, beneath the + relentless heel of the oppressor, they fell into the pit-fall dug for them + by an accursed perjurer and traitor, and, in obedience to the first law of + nature, assumed her livery, and swore allegiance to her flag. But think + you that either God or man attaches the slightest importance to an oath + exacted under such circumstances? Here am I, Nick Barry, now in the + service of the usurper, and driven into it with tears in my eyes and + rebellion in my heart, and do you suppose that I regard my oath as other + than an additional incentive to plot the downfall of the infamous tyrant + and robber who hounded me into swallowing it, and who, to-day, keeps the + girl I love out of her mother’s property, that, on a mere technicality, + was laid hold of, and thrown into chancery, by a villainous and traitorous + relative, long in the secret service of the government at home, when he + found the poor, young thing an orphan, and without a wealthy friend in the + world to back her, and that too, upon a claim that hadn’t a leg to stand + upon, as everybody knew? My soldier-life, and his continued absence in + England, prevented my meeting the villain before he died; but as he has + left the suit to his son, who, I learn, is no better than he was himself, + and is also a great hanger on about the Castle of Dublin, I am in hopes of + one day or other meeting this same gentleman, who purports to represent + the old villain in this case, when, no matter how the chancery suit may + go, I shall hold him to a severe reckoning for the injustice and hardships + to which she has been so long subjected through their joint + instrumentality. But why should she complain any more than Tom there, + whose father’s side of the house, once powerful and wealthy, in the west + of Ireland, have been all but beggared through the same infamous + government, and their accursed agents, who had plundered them of every + acre they possessed, and exiled the bravest and best of them to these + distant shores?” + </p> + <p> + These few observations were made with an earnestness and vehemence that + showed how fierce and hostile the blood that boiled in the veins of the + speaker. Nor was there any appeal from the inexorable logic of his + remarks. From the inhuman manner in which England has, for seven centuries + preyed upon the vitals of Ireland, and plundered and expatriated her + children, the latter are morally absolved from all allegiance or fidelity + to her, no matter what the circumstances of their plighted faith. No man + should be bound by oaths or obligations, to maintain the supremacy or + defend the interests of a tyrant, exacted under an inhuman pressure or in + the presence of such an alternative as the poor Irish recruit is subject + to, namely, that of enlisting or starving. How can any Irish soldier, + possessed of a single spark of pride or patriotism, and wearing the queen + of England’s livery to-day, be other than the deadly enemy of the + representative of a people who have laid his country waste, murdered his + kindred and left him and millions of his race without a roof to cover them + on their own native shores? How can he gaze with any degree of enthusiasm + or pleasure upon the blood-stained rag that waved over Mullaghmast, that + was perjured at Limerick, and that endorsed with its baleful glare all the + demoniacal atrocities of the Penal Laws? “Resistance to tyrants is + obedience to God”—therefore the children of Ireland who have been so + long trodden in the dust under the feet of an usurper, are but obeying the + dictates of heaven and of humanity, when, by every means within the + boundaries of civilization, they endeavor to encompass not only their own + redemption from the bonds of the oppressor, but the total destruction of + his power in every connection. Ireland owes no allegiance to England. For + seven hundred years she has been crying out against the colony of foreign + bayonets that have kept her in bondage and reduced her to beggary. For one + single hour, throughout the whole of that long period, she has never + voluntarily accepted the condition of her thraldom, or bowed submissively + beneath the British yoke. She therefore cannot be regarded in the light of + a conquered nation, but must be looked upon as still engaged in the deadly + and mortal contest, whose first field was fought long years ago, between + the Anglo-Norman freebooters and the Fenians of Cuan-na-Groith, or the + Harbor of the Sun, when Strongbow, at the instance of the second Henry, + made an unprovoked descent upon her shores. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” replied Tom, when Barry had finished, “both I and mine have felt + the cruel fangs of the despoiler; but, sure, where is the use of singlin + out ourselves, when the whole of the thrue native Irish—which manes + the nineteenth twintieths of the kingdoms-are jist as badly off. The + quarrel is not yours nor mine, nor the grievances naither. Both belong to + every man, woman and child possessed of a pure dhrop of Irish blood in + their veins; for all have suffered alike, as far as that is consarned. + And, now, all that has to be done on the head of it, is jist to wait the + nick of time that we are all expectin, and then, with one well directed + and united blow, dash the tyrant to the ground on this side of the + Atlantic, and thrust to Providence, the sympathy of the great American + people and our own sthrong arms and hearts for the rest.” + </p> + <p> + “Quebec and the fort beyond there,” observed Burk, “may give us some + trouble; but further than this, from what has been ascertained of the + Province generally, there is little to be apprehended. The intimate + business relations and the intermarriages between the Canadians and the + people of the United States, will exercise a most powerful influence in + the case, while the manner in which both the English and Canadian + Governments fomented the recent civil war on the other side of the lines, + cannot fail to have embittered the American people against the British + Flag, wherever it is to be found. The treacherous attack of England upon + the existance of the Republic, in subsidizing the South with arms and + money, and in destroying, as she did for a considerable period, the + American carrying trade, through the instrumentality of pirates built and + fitted out in her own ship-yards and docks, will now afford the American + government an opportunity of paying her off in kind, through permitting + Fenianism to pursue its course without interruption, until the Provinces + become part and parcel of the Union, when they have served as a basis of + operation for the purpose of fitting out expeditions against the arch + enemy of Ireland and of human freedom, and contributed to the final + redemption of that oppressed country from the bonds in which it has so + long lain. Surely, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander; + and if England, through the House of Commons, cheered the Alabama when her + destructive qualities were described before that body by Mr. Laird, and, + after having built the pirate, sent her out to make war upon the North + when it was in sore trouble—surely, I say, America will not be over + anxious to throw obstructions in the way of any party who may take in hand + the chastisement of such an infamous power, no matter what the grounds of + the quarrel. But when it comes to be understood that for the last ninety + years, and up to a very recent period, England has been the deadly defamer + and the secret or avowed enemy of America and American institutions—when + it comes to be understood, that the statesmen, the business men and the + wives and daughters of the citizens of the American Commonwealth, ever + since the immortal Washington won the day for the oppressed of the whole + world, have been subjected to the sneers and jibes of the English + aristocracy and press, and held up to the ridicule of despotic Europe—when + this comes to be understood, I repeat, in connection with the fact, that + the cause of Ireland is the cause of human liberty and of republican + institutions, there will be but little fear of America stepping out of her + way to uphold the skull and cross-bones of St. George, either on this or + on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, or, in fact, in any portion of + the globe.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor will the clear-sighted children of the Republic be cajoled into a + friendly attitude towards this blood-thirsty dastard, because that, in the + feebleness and fear that have now overtaken her, she essays to gloze over + the infamous acts of which she stands convicted before the nations, and + assumes an air of friendship towards them. Had the Union fallen, through + her infernal machinations, not a city throughout her dominions but would + have blazed with joyful illuminations at the result; while her government + would again introduce the impressments of 1812. Even when the slightest + reverse was suffered by the arms of the North, the news was heralded + throughout the whole of England with tokens of the most intense + satisfaction; while both her people and statesmen took a fiendish delight + in referring to the Commonwealth as “the late United States!” All this, I + say, will influence, and ought to influence, America in favor of the + independence of Ireland, and prevent the American people from regarding + the present pusillanimous blandishments of John Bull as other than simply + the result of cowardice, and an attempt to propitiate a great power that + had survived his infernal machinations, and now looms up a just and mighty + avenger before him. So long then, as England is permitted to hold Ireland, + that is battling for her rights, in chains, or to taint permanently the + pure atmosphere of this free continent, so long will the Stars and Stripes + shine with subdued lustre, and the memory of the immortal heroes of ‘76 be + but half honored, by those who are pledged to defend it to the death in + the sight of both God and man.” + </p> + <p> + “As to Quebec and the other garrisons down this way,” observed Barry, + “when Hamilton and Toronto are in the hands of the Army of the Irish + Republic, they will be easily managed. None of the strongholds are proof + against Irish sympathizers, in their vicinity. This I know to be true. + Every genuine Irishman within easy hailing distance of the garrison at + Quebec, has more than one tried friend within its walls; and so of the + other strongholds along the St. Lawrence and lakes. But supposing, for + argument’s sake, that any of those forts should take it into its head to + stand a siege, where would it be when invested with such an army as + Fenianism can now put into the field, composed of thousands upon thousands + of veterans who are still grim with blood and smoke from the terrible + fields of the South? What, too, would your militia do, with their holiday + legs and maiden swords, against the men who fought at Cold Harbor, + Gettysburg or Bull Run? Why the one-fourth of the force which it is said + Fenianism has at its command, would sweep Canada like a tornado from + Sanwich to Gaspe, and be recruited every yard of the road, besides; while + the instant one signal victory was won by them, the government of the + United States would at once acknowledge them as belligerants. This, I + believe, is the true state of the case; and if the Fenian organization + across the lines, and here amongst us, possess honest, brave and competent + leaders, the overthrow of England in the Provinces cannot fail to be + achieved; for, after all, she has no secure footing in the hearts of the + masses, and enjoys nothing but a mere official existence here, under the + protection of her guns, and through the instrumentality of a corrupt + government and a hireling press. But as it is getting well up in the small + hours, and as I feel I need some rest, I think I’ll take another tumbler, + if you only join me, and then turn in.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + When young Barry spoke of the girl of his love, he referred to Kate + McCarthy, now in her twentieth year, and certainly one of the most + beautiful Irish girls that had emigrated to America for many a long day. + Kate and he had been schoolfellows and neighbors from their infancy, and, + as they grew up, were regarded as a sort of “matter of course match,” from + the fact, that they were always together, and apparently cut out for each + other. They were both natives of the county Leitrim, and born on the banks + of the Shannon, in the sweet little town of Drumsna. It was by the + beautiful waters of this noble river that they first felt that impassioned + glow that colors all the after life of man or woman, and which is as + different from the feelings that characterize early boy or girlhood, as + the noon-day solar blaze is from the cold and placid beams of the pale new + moon. There is one point at which the true passion of love, in all great + hearts, leaps into fierce and instantaneous existence. There may be many + imperceptible approaches to it in some cases, we know, but out of these it + is possible to turn aside. When the hour arrives, however, in a single + moment the storming party, under one wild impulse, unknown before, mounts + the ramparts of the heart, and, after a moment’s sweet confusion, the + garrison falls and is surrendered forever into the hands of the enemy. And + thus it was with our hero and heroine. Although they had long been the + dearest of friends and constant companions—although they had long + felt that the happiness of the one was necessary to that of the other, the + great secret of their existence was never fully revealed to them, until + they felt they were about to be separated from each other for an + indefinite period; Kate to accompany her only relatives to America and + poor Barry to enter the British army, under a pressure of poverty too + dreadful to relate. As already intimated, the prospects of both had been + blighted through oppression and villainy, brought to bear upon them by + distant relatives, who were the infamous agents of a still more infamous + government. The case of Nick, although sore enough in its way, was not so + heartrending as that of Kate. He was of a sex fitted to wrestle with the + storms of life, but she, proud and brave as she was, occupied a different + position. Fortunately for both, however, through the instrumentality of a + small pittance set aside by the Courts in her case, and a kind relation in + that of Barry, their education was far above their pecuniary pretensions, + so that at the age of twenty Kate was really an accomplished and refined + girl, while her lover, at that of twenty-five, was a dashing young fellow, + with a well stored mind and quite as capable of acquitting himself + agreeably in society as any man, no matter what his rank, in the regiment + to which he belonged. It was, then, in consequence of his education that + he was looked up to by his comrades; although neglected and studiously + kept in the back grounds by some of the officers of his company, who, + viewing his attainments through the medium of their English spectacles, + closed the door of preferment against him, and never suffered a single + stripe to appear on his jacket. With as good blood in his veins as the + best of them, and with a sense of the wrongs inflicted upon his country by + the government whose abettors they were, he could never bring himself to + stoop to the fawning and servility through which the lower grades of rank + are attainable, only in the service; and thus, it was that, from first to + last, he was viewed with an eye of suspicion by his superiors, who + regarded him as an incorrigible young Irishman, who, notwithstanding that + he wore the uniform of a British soldier, had no love for the service or + the interests it represented. + </p> + <p> + Barry entered the army under the most terrific pressure only. He found + that Kate and her friends were destined for America, and being himself, at + the period, totally destitute of funds and without the means of realizing + them speedily, in a moment of desperation he enlisted in a regiment that + was under sailing orders for that country, in the hope of being stationed + somewhere near the being he loved, and of being able, at least, to keep up + a constant and unbroken correspondence with her until fortune should turn + the wheel in his favor. And so he enlisted and parted from Kate and her + friends, to follow her in a short period across the Atlantic, and renew + his vows of love and affection upon another shore. + </p> + <p> + The ship that had borne her away from his view had been scarcely two days + at sea, when the deadly intelligence reached his ear that the sailing + orders of his regiment had been countermanded, and that instead of + proceeding to Quebec, it was to sail for Malta, where it was likely to + remain for perhaps a couple of years. This dreadful news almost + annihilated him. He had made a sacrifice to no purpose, and was now bound + hand and foot beyond the hope of redemption. Before Kate and he parted, he + had agreed to write her to Quebec, in care of a friend, if anything should + occur that might postpone the sailing of his regiment, or that portion of + it that was for foreign service; and now the dreadful opportunity arrived, + when he found himself called upon to convey to her the intelligence, that + not only was the sailing of the regiment postponed, but its destination + altered. In due course the fatal disclosure reached her, and almost + deprived her of life and reason. In the space of one brief hour she passed + through the agony of years. The being she loved, in the burning ardor of + his young soul, had hastily—thoughtlessly sacrificed his freedom; + and all for her! It had been a sufficient dagger to her soul to see him + attired in the blood-stained uniform of the enemies of her country, yet + she knew that he had been driven by the most inexorable circumstances to + assume the hated garb. But now he was overtaken with twofold desolation—he + was a slave, and beyond the reach of one kind word of solace from her, for + whom he had sacrificed all, save and except that which might be borne to + him, through the ordinary channels, across the trackless deep. + </p> + <p> + Racked as she was with those torturing reflections, and while the first + wild burst of grief was yet rolling down her cheeks, she determined to + begin her lone, young widowhood by instantly writing to him and bidding + him hope. In this epistle, all the nobility of her true heart and nature + blazed forth so transcendently, and with such fierce, womanly fervor, that + the moment it reached the hands of the young soldier the light was + re-kindled within him, and he at once set about procuring his discharge, + or rather realizing the means of effecting his release from the bonds into + which he had allowed his pure ‘though ungovernable passion to betray him. + His education, as already observed, was most excellent, and now, when off + duty, he turned it to good account, and slowly but surely began to add + daily to what trifle he was able to save from his paltry pay, in the hope + of yet commanding a sufficient sum to purchase his freedom and enable him, + ultimately, to sail for America. In this way, and during the two years he + was stationed at Malta, he spent his spare moments, being throughout that + whole period particularly fortunate in keeping up what was life to him, an + unbroken correspondence with his beloved. + </p> + <p> + At the expiration of three years, having been quartered, on his return + from the Mediterranean, for the last one, in England, at length came the + welcome and startling intelligence, that the regiment, now indeed, was to + proceed forthwith to Canada, where it would be likely to remain for a + considerable period. In a delirium of joy he communicated the happy + intelligence to his love, and had just time to receive a hurried epistle + in reply, in which the very arms of the true-hearted and beautiful Kate + seemed thrown open to receive him. For some months previously, however, + she had been informing him, from time to time, of a very disagreeable + position in which she had been placed, through the persistent attentions + paid her by an Irish gentleman named Lauder, who, by some means or other, + had so ingratiated himself with her relatives, as to win them over to urge + his suit; and who was reputed to be a person of means. These hints, + however disagreeable, were always accompanied by a renewal of the vows + they had long since plighted on the banks of the Shannon, and the fervent + assurance that no one living or yet to live should ever lead Kate McCarthy + a bride to the altar, save her own Nicholas Barry. + </p> + <p> + When Kate and her relatives arrived at Quebec, they remained in that city + but a short period, as they had friends at Toronto, as well as near Fort + Erie and at Buffalo, in the State of New York, whom they were desirous of + visiting, and near whom they had determined to settle permanently. + Unfortunately for Barry, the more intimate guardians or relatives of Kate + had become unfriendly to his suit ever since he entered the army; + impressed, as they had become, with that Irish idea, that the red coat of + a private soldier in the British service was the most disreputable that + could be worn. In this light, therefore, they encouraged the advances of + Lauder, in the hope that absence would so weaken the first love of Kate, + as to induce her to yield ultimately to her new suitor. But they little + new the girl with whom they had to deal; for when Lauder, under their + sanction, made a formal declaration of his passion to her, she quenched + his hopes, as she supposed, forever, by informing him that both her heart + and her hand were previously engaged, and that were they even at her + disposal, she should be quite unable to bestow them upon any gentleman for + whom she did not and could not entertain a single particle of true love, + although he might have secured her esteem. This rejection, however, did + not, as she supposed it would, preclude the possibility of any further + advances from such a quarter, for Lauder, nothing daunted, kept up the + siege when and wherever he could, without giving absolute offense; so + cunningly and intangibly did he still pursue the object set before him. At + last, nevertheless, so constant were his visits at the house, and so + permanent a footing was he getting in the estimation of her friends, that, + after having resided at Toronto upwards of two years, she left it at the + instance of one of the family, who, on their first arrival in America, had + settled in Buffalo, to which city she proceeded, and in which she now took + up her residence. + </p> + <p> + While in Toronto the thought struck her that she might be able to turn + whatever abilities she had to account, in the hope of being able to + accumulate sufficient funds to aid our young hero in purchasing his + discharge, fearing, as she did, that his own opportunities, in this + relation, would be greatly restricted. So with her needle, and through the + instrumentality of a small private school, she ultimately found herself + mistress of the required amount, and was about to forward it to Nicholas, + at the very period when she received intelligence of his regiment being + ordered to America. She therefore thought it better to wait until they + met, as she had made up her mind to set out, when apprised of his arrival, + for any place in which he might happen to be quartered, and there plan for + their future and his freedom. + </p> + <p> + In due time Barry reached Quebec, and from thence was ordered, with his + company, to the town in which we first encountered him. Here he was soon + joined by the true-hearted Kate, who remained for a few days with her + cousins, Big Tom and his sister. During this period it was decided that + Nicholas should purchase his discharge when he found that there was any + prospect of the regiment being called home. The reasons for his not at + once availing himself of the freedom he knew he could obtain at any + moment, need not now be referred to more minutely; and as Kate left him to + return to Buffalo, just four months previous to the opening of our story, + after having made more than one pilgrimage from the United States to spend + a few days with her cousins as she averred, it was settled upon finally, + that he should quit the service in the ensuing summer, when they should + become man and wife, as well as residents of the great Republic of the + United States of America. + </p> + <p> + The intimacy, then, between Big Tom and Nick, is now accounted for in a + satisfactory manner; and thus it was, that whenever the young soldier got + leave to spend a night out of the Fort, he invariably took up his quarters + at the sign of the Harp, where he not only knew he was welcome on his own + account, but was sure to find company that was agreeable to him, and + sympathized with all his aspirations in relation to his poor, down-trodden + country. + </p> + <p> + Kate McCarthy, as we have already said, was in her twentieth year at the + time we were first introduced to O’Brien and his customers, and certainly, + as previously intimated, a more lovely woman could scarcely be found in a + day’s walk. Her face and figure were absolute mirages of beauty, while, if + there could be such a thing as black sunbeams, her eyes and hair would + have illustrated them to intensity. She was above the medium height, with + a slightly olive complexion that harmonized superbly with the glorious + orbs through which the pure light of her soul poured forth a mellow blaze, + and the dark, heavy tresses that fell in shining masses upon her pearly + shoulders. Nothing, too, could surpass the intensified loveliness of her + soft, rounded arms, and exquisitely shaped hands and feet, while her + delicious mouth and beautifully chiseled nose and ears were really + mysteries of loveliness so rare, that few could entertain the idea that + she who possessed them could have laid her whole heart at the feet of a + common soldier, and that, too, when it was in her power to turn such + charms to high account in the every day market of society. But she knew + Nicholas Barry and the nobility of his nature, and was aware, in addition, + that had he not, like herself, been the victim of foul play and of a + government that fostered crime in its adherents, he would never have been + constrained to swear allegiance to the flag he both hated and despised, or + have been obliged to exchange the garb of the son of a true Irish + gentleman for that which had so lowered him, in the eyes of her relatives + at least. But rich or poor, in scarlet or homespun, he was all the same to + her; and now that he was almost at her side, and master, in a measure, of + his own fate, she only looked forward to the period when she should have a + legal right to his protection, and to call him by that name which, beyond + all others is the one that lies nearest a woman’s heart. + </p> + <p> + The relative and his wife with whom Kate lived in Buffalo, were, in + reality, noble and true-hearted people. They had known Nicholas from his + childhood, and had always loved him for his manliness and bold struggles + to gain some position at home in which he might be able to realize a + sufficiency to maintain both himself and the girl of his love, before he + led her to the altar. They had witnessed his repeated failures when he + applied for any vacant situation where his education could be turned to + account, and felt for his dire disappointment upon many an occasion when + he was denied even a subordinate office in connection with the management + of the large property that had once belonged to his family. With pain and + anger they saw his praiseworthy exertions baffled at every turn, and, + unlike the rest of their relations, discovered more of his + self-sacrificing spirit still, in the desperate step he took for the + purpose of joining his betrothed upon a foreign shore—a step which + they would have gladly prevented, had their own slender means been + sufficient to have transported him with them to their new home. Moved by + this spirit of kindness and esteem, these worthy people were the very + main-stay of Kate in the hour of her sorest trial, and now that Barry was + near her once more, they entered heart and hand into all her projects, and + were delighted to know that his discharge should be purchased before his + regiment was ordered to leave the colony. + </p> + <p> + It must not be presumed, however, that Kate, since her arrival in America, + had permitted herself to be a burden, in even the slightest degree, upon + any of her friends or relations. Far from it; from the moment that they + became settled at Toronto, up to the hour of Nicholas’ arrival in the + colony, she not only supported herself through her industry and + perseverence, but contributed, in a degree, to the maintenance of some of + them also. Of course, in view of the all-absorbing object she had before + her, regarding her lover, she could not be expected to do much in this + latter relation; yet she did what she could, and so satisfied her pride + and her conscience. Sometimes the recollection of the long and weary + chancery suit would obtrude itself upon her, but only to provoke a + hopeless and languid smile, prompted by the conviction that her enemy, + whom she had never seen, and who had recently succeeded to the claims of + his father—Philip Darcy, now but a few months dead—had too + much influence with the government and its legal minions, to permit her to + indulge in the slightest hope, that, were the case decided tomorrow, it + could be otherwise than against her. Consequently, it mattered but little + to her whether she was worsted by Philip the elder or Philip the younger; + so, in this way, she now invariably disposed of the unpleasant matter. + Yet, she felt, notwithstanding, deeply and bitterly upon the subject: and + knew that she was the victim of a most diabolical plot; but she did not + permit this to interfere with her daily avocations, or induce her to sit + down in apathetic sorrow, and repine over a fate that no effort of hers + could influence in any degree whatever. + </p> + <p> + Still, as may be readily supposed, both from her education and a knowledge + of her own personal wrongs, and those which had for centuries been + inflicted upon the unhappy land of her birth, she was no friend or admirer + of the government or people who had wrought her so much ruin in this + connection. On this head she was most inexorable, and felt that it was the + duty of every true Irishman and Irishwomen in existence, to conspire, as + best they could, against a power which had plunged their race and country + into such frightful ruin; and she believed, firmly, that, in so far as her + native land was concerned, its children were justified in using any means + by which they could rid themselves of a tyrant and usurper, who, in + violation of every law, both human and divine, subjected them to sword and + flame for ages. + </p> + <p> + It will be perceived, then, that both Kate McCarthy and Nicholas were + influenced by the same just and deadly spirit against England; and that + neither thought it otherwise than meritorious, to hurl that tyrant to the + dust, at any time and under any circumstances. The iron had penetrated + their souls; and now that rumors were afloat touching the intention of the + great organization of Fenianism, which overspread the American Union, to + make a descent upon the Canadas, with a view to destroying the power of + England upon this continent, and ultimately rescuing Ireland from the + grasp of the oppressor, Kate’s eye was lit, from time to time, with the + most patriotic fervor; while the world could, at any moment, discover the + true nature of the fame that burned within her soul, from the emerald + sheen of the silken band which invariably bound up her raven hair, and + encircled her snowy throat. + </p> + <p> + Once or twice she happened to encounter Lauder in Buffalo, so as to + recognize him without the possibility of mistake; while on several + occasions, she could not divest herself of the idea that he had just + passed her in disguise; although she could not imagine what prompted him + to such secrecy, when she never noticed him since she had left Toronto, or + recognized him on the two occasions when she chanced to meet him in the + public street. Yet, a strange presentiment seemed to impress her that he + had not, after all her plainness with him, abandoned the idea of obtaining + her hand, notwithstanding the repugnance she had always evinced towards + him. Now, however, that Nicholas was almost within hail of her, and that + her friends, in Buffalo at least, were true to her in every relation, she + felt secure from whatever machinations her imagination conjured up; and, + therefore, whenever the subject suddenly obtruded itself upon her + thoughtful moments, she dismissed it as summarily; reassured by the + conviction that she was totally beyond the reach of any schemes that might + have been concocted in relation to her or her future. + </p> + <p> + For the purpose, however, of setting the matter at rest forever, she was + resolved that her lover should leave the service now as early as possible; + and, stimulated by this desire, on returning to her residence, one evening + towards the middle of April of the year in which we first encountered him + on the bridge leading from the Fort, she addressed a letter to Nicholas, + urging him to leave the army as soon as practicable, assigning as a reason + the presence of Lauder in Buffalo, whom she had, as she felt assured, + again encountered or rather discovered in the vicinity of her residence, + and adding a further reason, based upon the rumor, that the Army of the + Irish Republic would soon move upon Canada, and that his regiment could + not fail to be called out to oppose it—a circumstance that would, as + she well knew, be the cause of more actual pain to him, than anything that + could possibly occur in the discharge of what was termed his duty. + </p> + <p> + This letter Barry received the second day after it was written; and on + consulting with O’Brien, at once set about procuring his discharge; but as + the Colonel of his regiment had gone to the Lower Provinces, from which he + was not to return for a week or two, the matter was left in abeyance until + he should again arrive in town. In due course, however, he did return, and + the necessary application being made, no objection was offered to granting + the discharge, as Barry’s conduct had always been most unexceptionable + since he entered the service. + </p> + <p> + In this way matters stood, then, on the night on which we found Big Tom in + secret conclave with his two friends, Nick and Burk, in his own little + sanctum; Nick having got leave to stay out until morning, as the officer + in command informed him, it was probably the last request he should have + the power of granting him. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p> + An organization so wide-spread and so numerous as that of the Fenian + Brotherhood, it was not to expected that all its members, without an + exception, were good men and true; yet so rarely were traitors found among + its ranks, that no patriotic confraternity of its magnitude had ever, in + ancient or modern times, presented so pure a record in this relation. When + we take into consideration the fact that, the insidious and subsidizing + gold of England was brought to bear upon the frightful poverty of the + masses that composed the organization in Ireland, as well as the + temptations to treason held out by the government, through their agents in + the Republic of the United States of America, the wonder is that there + were not more Corydons and Masseys to do the work of the usurper, and + betray the cause to which they had sworn fealty. However, there were + traitors sufficient at work to cause great damage in individual cases, and + send many a brave fellow into the gloomy depths of a British dungeon. + Nearly all the injury in this connection, however, appears to have been + done at home, as treason of this character was totally powerless under any + foreign flag—or at least not so capable of direct mischief. From the + first moment of the inception of the organization, the British and the + Canadian governments had their paid spies in and outside the American + press, who kept the authorities well informed as to all the particulars + that transpired within the range of their observation or through other + channels; but these disclosures were necessarily meagre and, in many + cases, totally unreliable; from the circumstance that those disreputable + parties, for the purpose of magnifying their importance, and securing + further the patronage of their employers, colored and distorted facts so + terribly, that scarce a line from their pens or a sentence from their lips + was worthy even the slightest credence. Still, from time to time, some + little rumor struggled to the surface, which pointed to treachery + somewhere; and thus it was that the authorities of the organization were + often placed awkwardly in relation to the idle though dangerous gossip + which occasionally singled out this individual or that, as the party who + had betrayed his trust. In the various cities along the American frontier, + there was from time to time a good deal of this gossip—a + circumstance that might have been quite easily accounted for; seeing that + the inhabitants of some of these places were in what might be termed + hourly intercommunication with the people of Canada; giving, in some + cases, rise to suspicions, which were in the main without any foundation. + This distrust, although affecting the stability or growing prosperity of + the Brotherhood in scarcely any degree, had yet the effect of + strengthening the hands of British sympathizers in the Union, and inducing + them to resolve themselves into little coteries or societies—such as + was hurriedly formed not long since under the influence and guidance of + Mr. H——, of Buffalo, for the ostensible purpose of aiding + destitute Canadians, but with the real design of keeping an eye upon + Fenianism, and disclosing, as far as the members could divine, all its + intentions, hopes and prospects, to the British government. Occasionally + an emissary, direct from Great Britain, in the guise of a lecturer or + tourist, visited these associations and received their report, which, as + far as was practicable, he verified by personal observation, and through + whatever reliable channels, he believed to be open to him. These + emissaries have been supplemented by others of a somewhat different + character, but all bearing upon the interests of England. In this latter + case, however, it has been the direct unfriendly relations between the + American government and that of Great Britain, which had stimulated the + pilgrimages of certain individuals of this class to the shores of the + great Republic. England perceiving that she had Fenianism to deal with on + the one hand, and American hostility, regarding her infamous course during + the late war, on the other, in her cowardly fears for the consequences, + backed up her anti-Fenian agents, by sending out such persons as Mr. + Charles Dickens and Mr. Henry Vincent, to prove to the citizens of the + Commonwealth how friendly the sentiments that England had always + entertained for them, and how disasterous a thing it would be to both + peoples, should a war, under any circumstances, be permitted to take place + between them. Both these gentlemen, and others, distinguished and popular + in their respective literary shades, went forth preaching peace and good + will between the Saxons on the one side of the Atlantic and their + so-called American cousins on the other. With an audacity the most + barefaced and unaccountable, upon every possible occasion, opportune or + otherwise, they wore the olive branch at their button-hole, and described + in periods the most eloquent, the identity of blood and interests which + characterized both nations, and which it were heinous to ignore. + Notwithstanding that for ninety long years their infamous government had + been indulging in the most heartless sneers, insults and injustice towards + the press, the people and the executive of the United States—notwithstanding + that during the late war every reverse of the arms of the Republic was + hailed with heartfelt joy by the English party, both at home and in + Canada, and that pirates were built and fitted out under the very eyes of + the British Cabinet, and with the secret sanction of that corrupt horde, + to make war upon American commerce and destroy the Union in the hour of + its extremity—notwithstanding all this, we say, and maugre the + kindred circumstance of subsidizing the South with money and arms so as to + prolong the fratracidal conflict until both parties lay bloody and broken + at the feet of English despotism, these able and smooth-tongued gentry had + the accursed assurance to stand up in most of the principal cities of the + Democracy, and assert broadly, that England was the true and tried friend + of republican institutions and of the people who sustained them on the + free continent of America. Under the liberal laws which accord freedom of + speech to every man who touches the shores of the Republic, these men had, + we know, a right to express, publicly or otherwise, their sentiments in + this connection, how treacherous and untenable soever; but what we could + never fathom, was the daring of any journal professing to be true to the + interests of freedom or those of the Union, in endorsing those sentiments + and setting them forth to the world as truthful and worthy the acceptance + of every genuine American, no matter what his creed or party. An attempt + so monstrous to stullify all past experience and ignore all history has + never been made in any relation whatever; and the wonder is, that, few as + they are, so many Americans have been led astray by it. To any individual, + of even the most ordinary penetration, it must be obvious, that the + present cringing and treacherous attitude assumed by England towards the + American people, is but the mask of a foul and dangerous spirit, snatched + up in a moment of mortal fear to be worn only until some opportune moment + arrives when it can be thrown aside with safety, revealing the old, + familiar, demoniacal scowl which lurked unaltered beneath its smiling + exterior. America, to be true to herself, must beware of such false + lights, of the press as these. They are for the most part subsidized by + English gold, or so imbuded with English sentiment, that the interests of + the Union are quite a secondary consideration with them. In evidence of + the truth of this assertion, we have only to dwell upon the apathy with + which these journalists regard the building up of a dangerous despotism + upon our borders, in the very teeth of American traditions and sentiments, + and in opposition to the feelings of the masses whom it effects more + immediately, and who were not permitted by their tyrants to express a + single opinion at the polls on so grave a subject as the total disruption + or remodeling of the constitution under which they lived. Look at the + expression of Nova Scotia on this head, and see how it reflects upon the + course pursued by the great American people in relation to the + confederation of the adjoining Provinces. Not long since the inhabitants + of that section of the New Dominion set forth, in a memorial to the + British government, that this same confederation was forced upon the + people of the Canadas, through falsehood, bribery and the vilest fraud. + And, yet, free and generous America, who assumes to be the day-star of + freedom on this continent, and to the world, permitted this despotic + measure to be enforced at her own threshold, and in relation to a people, + thousands upon thousands of whom sympathized with her interests and + institutions, and looked forward with longing eyes to the hour when the + Stars and Stripes should float from every flag-staff and tower throughout + the whole of the English possessions in the New World. Surely the + missionary spirit of the Republic has not been best illustrated in this + instance; nor can we discover now, how it is, that the authorities of the + Union sit quietly playing at thumbs, while the Parliament of the Dominion + is voting millions for the defenses of the new despotism, and framing + projects that are intended to result in a line of impregnable forts from + Sandwich to Gaspe, and at every point where it is possible for an invader + to set foot upon their shores. Wait until false, foul and treacherous + England can sit beneath the shadow of the guns of her infant monarchy, on + the Canadian frontier, and then see if she does not begin to show her + cloven foot anew. Let her once get a permanent foothold among the newly + projected fortresses along the St. Lawrence and the Lakes, with Quebec as + their key, and the peace and prosperity of America, as well as the + stability of republican institutions, cannot be counted as secure, for a + single day, from petty annoyance, or perhaps inroads of a more formidable + character. This idea may, we know, be scouted by those who have a well + grounded faith in the destiny of the American people and the power they + undoubtedly possess in a naval and military point of view; but, after all, + a gun is a gun and a garrison a garrison; and to allow an implacable and + formidable enemy to possess herself of either, within range of our + fire-sides, when we can prevent it, is what we should call courting the + presence of a bombshell on our borders, that may at any moment be thrown + into our midst. + </p> + <p> + Without dwelling further on this particular point, however, we may + observe, that through some of the channels already referred to, the + English government became aware, in 1865, that it was the intention of the + Irish Nationalists in the United States to make a descent, at no distant + day, upon Canada, and seize it as a basis of operations, with a view to + carrying out their projects for the redemption of Ireland. In connexion + with this information, they found, also, that the troops in Canada were + largely interspersed with Irishmen, and it was consequently deemed + necessary to send a secret agent to the Provinces to look into the case + and report upon it, or rather upon the sentiment of the Irish element in + the colony, whether in or out of the army, in relation to Fenianism. This + they thought could be best accomplished through the instrumentality of a + tried emissary of their own, as even from the Provincial Cabinet + conflicting accounts were arriving constantly in relation to the + all-important subject. In furtherance of this view, the Castle of Dublin + was, of course, applied to, and a creature selected to do the work, who + was not himself fully aware that his position was recognized by the + imperial Cabinet so decidedly, but simply fancied himself in the capacity + of a sort of trusty policeman, appointed by one of the Castle authorities, + who was anxious to know for himself how the case stood on the other side + of the Atlantic. This agent was one of the cleverest of his class, and + possessed of the most consummate cunning, and a spirit of reckless daring + but seldom evinced by members of his tribe. Already he had rendered + substantial service to the Viceroy and to England, as an inveterate spy, + and a scoundrel who had, on more than one occasion, distinguished himself + in the witness box. In addition to his investigations in Canada, he was + instructed to extend the line of his observations to the United States + also, and to move from point to point, as his own judgment might dictate + in the premises. He was, of course, furnished with ample means to carry + out successfully the project intrusted to him; and although but little + faith could be placed in his integrity, so far as the disposal of the + funds put in his hands were concerned, yet, by an opportune circumstance, + connected with his own personal interest, and overriding any sum that was + entrusted to him, the Castle was enabled to hold him in check, no matter + how he might be tempted, or where he chanced to move. With his activity + and fidelity thus insured, this miserable wretch, who went in Dublin by + the name of Philip the Spy, was despatched on his mission, and, in due + coarse arriving at Quebec, set about it in his usual cautious and conning + manner. He visited the Citadel as a stranger, under the ordinary pass from + the Town Major, and soon made himself agreeable in the dark, low canteen + among the soldiers. Whenever he thought he discovered a young and + inexperienced Irishman among the rank and file, he was unusually pleasant + and communicative. With such a companion he always moved about the + garrison, descanting upon its force and power, and imperceptibly stealing + into his good graces, until he found some opportunity of making an + apparently accidental enquiry touching the information he was desirous of + obtaining. In this way he became possessed of the knowledge that even + Quebec held within its impregnable walls many a man who was far from being + the true friend of England, and who, as he surmised, waited the + opportunity of not only deserting her flag, but betraying her stronghold + into the hands of her enemies. In this state of things he could not but + discover the truthfulness of the beautiful line of the poet, “<i>Coelum + non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt</i>,” for he perceived that the + mighty waters of the great Atlantic were insufficient to wash out the + blood stains from the skirts of England in relation to Ireland, or to + remove the deep hatred of the exiled children of the latter, towards a + tyrannical power that had held them in bitter thrall so unjustly and so + long. + </p> + <p> + Satisfied of this, and of the additional fact, that the garrison was + invulnerable from the river side only, and that much of the artillery that + manned the citadel was all but worthless, on the pretense of being a + friend to the cause of Irish freedom and a deadly enemy to England, he + learned that not only were there many Fenian sympathizers within the walls + of the garrison, but that the city outside was literally alive with + similar friends, some of whom were to be found among the French + population, who had never forgotten England’s treatment of the First + Napoleon, or her conquest of Canada in the days of Wolf These he knew + himself were sore points with the Lower Canadians, and likely to bear + bitter fruit in relation to English interests in America, one day or + other. He perceived also that these facts, taken in connection with the + unfriendly feeling which England had engendered in the United States, + through the Alabama piracies and secret subsidies to the South during the + war that had just closed, would, tend to both foster and embolden + Fenianism, until it grew almost into an institution in the New World, or + became, at least, a leading idea with no inconsiderable portion of both + the Canadian and American people. He knew that every civilized nation on + the face of the earth, save England herself, sympathized with the + lamentable condition of the country to which he himself was a traitor; and + such being the case, he felt how easy it would be on the part of these + sympathizers, to find a means of justifying almost any measure that might + be adopted against the usurper, by the organization at home and abroad. He + saw and felt all this, and thus it became him to be doubly cautious, as he + could not but understand, that were his mission divined by those whom he + was now hourly betraying into positions of death or danger, it would go + hard with him indeed. In fact, the idea struck him, that England, with all + her boasting, was but little better than a camp in America; and that, as + in Ireland, she was surrounded here also, by a hostile although a less + demonstrative population. + </p> + <p> + And, certainly, a truer deduction than this has never been drawn from any + premises whatever. The nine tenths of the loyalty of Canada towards the + British Crown, is superficial and terribly unreliable. Subtract the + official and the Orange element from the masses, and they would drift at + once into the arms of the United States. The events of 1837 prove that a + strong undercurrent of American feeling exists in the colony, and various + subsequent disclosures prove that it is even now only restrained by + circumstances. When we find Canadian representatives on the floor of the + House of Assembly, threatening England with an appeal to Washington in a + certain connection, and when we see Americans filling some of the highest + offices in the Dominion, and sitting at the Council Table with the + representatives of royalty, we may be sure that the interests of Great + Britain are not in safe keeping in such an atmosphere, and that such + persons can always be brought to see how necessary it is to the <i>material</i> + welfare of the inhabitants of the Canadas that they should become part and + parcel of the free and prosperous Republic of the United States. They + cannot fail to see, that in their present dependent position,—lying, + as they are, in the grasp of an English aristocrat, unacquainted with + their wants and wishes, and who sympathizes only with the Crown, their + trade, their commerce, and their internal resources must suffer to a + frightful extent. So long as they are outside the pale of the Union and + under the British flag, so long will a mighty war cloud hang upon their + borders, that is liable to roll in upon them at any moment. The fact is + fixed and unalterable, that the people of Ireland have secured for all + time a permanent footing on this continent, where their numbers, wealth + and influence have become irresistible, touching any project that they may + entertain within the limits of the American Constitution. We say the + American Constitution, for to this they have sworn fealty, and its + maintenance is to them a matter of the first importance—a matter of + life and death; from the fact, that it is to its generous provisions and + the liberal spirit of its framers and their descendents, as well as to the + kind sympathy of the American people in general, that they now owe their + all. Were it not for the noble stand against tyranny taken by the heroes + of 1765, and the subsequent glorious career of the country they had freed + from the grasp of the English tyrant, Ireland should be still laden with + chains the most hopeless; but, now that free America has influenced her to + higher aspirations than she had ever felt previously in relation to human + liberty and just and enlightened government, it is probable that she shall + become the first fruits of American institutions on the despotic side of + the Atlantic, and raise her bright republican head, in the midst of the + hoary tyrannies of Europe, a glorious monument to the genius of American + liberty and power, as well as to the memory of the immortal heroes of the + war of Independence, who first taught manhood to the nations, and hurled + to the dust, beneath their feet, the foul and blood-stained braggart who + had sought to build up her despotic rule upon their virgin shores. In no + way can America so justify the purity and sincerity of her soul in + relation to her institutions, as by hurling them against the despotisms of + the old world, and diffusing amongst its peoples, wherever she can with + any degree of propriety, the blessings they are so eminently calculated to + impart. And no point stands more invitingly open at the present moment for + an experiment so indispensable to the true prestige of her power and + greatness, than Ireland. Self-evident as the fact is, that that country + has for generations been kept in slavery at the point of the bayonet, and + plundered and starved by an accursed despot and her own deadly enemy, too, + she can with the greatest possible ease move in the direction of breaking + those galling bonds, and wreathing the poor, fleshless limbs, so long + lacerated by them, with the flowery links which so bind her own glorious + children in one harmonious and invincible whole. So long as Ireland lies + groaning beneath the heel of the usurper, so long shall America have + failed in her mission, and her duty towards God and man. She cannot be + truly great, and sit down beneath her own vine and fig tree, listlessly + enjoying the blessings of liberty, peace and plenty, while her kindred and + friends lie in chains on the opposite side of the Atlantic, or while the + infamous flag of the despot who oppresses them, and who but recently + sought to stab her to the heart, floats in triumph on her very borders. + Both heaven and humanity demand something more at her hands; and if + actuated by no higher motive than that of mere self-preservation, or of + providing against a rainy day, we would advise her, in view of the + powerful armaments and the ingrained antagonisms which characterize Europe + in every direction, to assist in establishing one friendly power at least + on the shores of the Old World, which, in the hour of need, would make + common cause with her in the interests of freedom, justice and truth. + This, and the fact of the attempt now being made by England to build up an + armed despotism in the New Dominion of Canada, are, in our humble opinion, + matters of the deepest moment to the great American people; while we are + equally convinced, that, should they neglect to avail themselves of their + right to interpose wherever human suffering of the most heart-rending + character obtains under the sway of a tyrant, or where the peace and + security of a whole continent is threatened, by portentous and aggressive + undertakings on its confines, the day will arrive, and that speedily, when + they will be afforded a bitter opportunity of regretting their criminal + apathy and neglect, without the power of atoning for either. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <p> + Although Kate had, as we have already stated, encountered Lauder on more + than one occasion in Buffalo, without any very uneasy feeling as to his + unpleasant proximity, yet she was not totally devoid of suspicion that she + was, in some way or other, the cause of his presence in that city. True, + she had rejected his heart and hand in the most decided manner; but then + there was something about the man so obtrusive and yet so cunning, that at + times she could have wished herself totally beyond has reach or hopes, as + the wife of the noble young fellow she loved so ardently. When in Toronto, + she had been sorely tried by the insidious attacks and insinuations of her + persecutor, bearing upon the character and vocation of Nicholas, regarding + which he appeared to be exceedingly well informed. He spoke of the uniform + faithlessness of soldiers in general—their wretched mode of life and + morals, together with the stigma that invariably attached to the wife of + any individual who wore a private’s coat in the service. In addition, he + seemed to be conversant with the pecuniary embarrassments of Kate, as well + as with the circumstances of the chancery suit, and, as he averred, the + settled opinion at home, that it would be soon decided, and, without any + possible doubt, in favor of the son of Philip Darcy. All this was + heart-rending in the extreme to the poor girl; but yet her faith never + faltered for a single moment in the truth and fidelity of her lover; and + what cared she for aught else in the world, so long as he was left her + without spot or blemish. Observing the foothold that Lauder had in the + house and estimation of her relatives, she did not feel herself at liberty + to treat him with all the contempt and severity that he deserved; so that + she was too often, for appearances sake and out of respect for the + feelings of those under whose roof she was, constrained not to notice in + anger much that had escaped his lips regarding Nicholas, or, rather, the + possible character which he had turned out to be under the baneful + influence of a soldier’s life. When, however, she accepted the hospitality + and kindness of that portion of the family who had taken up their + residence in Buffalo, and who were the staunchest friends of young Barry, + she, at once, cut the acquaintance of her rejected suitor, and, as already + observed, passed him once or twice in the street without deigning to + notice him. + </p> + <p> + This probed Lauder to the quick, and aroused all the fiend within him; and + now that Barry had reached Canada, he determined to work in some way the + ruin of either the one or the other, in order to make their union + impossible, were even the most revolting crime necessary to that end. + While dwelling on this subject, every vestige of humanity disappeared from + the heart and face of the wretch who would encompass such ruin, and that, + too, in the case of two individuals who had never injured him in thought, + word or act. He was slighted and rejected by the only woman on earth that + he cared to marry, and he would be avenged at even the risk of his life. + He would dog her footsteps were she to move to the uttermost ends of the + earth, until an opportunity to put his infernal plans in operation + arrived; and as he had abundance of means at his command, he would enlist + in his service those who would not hesitate to sell their souls for gold. + Moved by this diabolical impulse, he followed her to Buffalo, and there + made the acquaintance of two unmitigated villains who kept a low gambling + house in one of the vilest streets in the city, and who were capable of + any atrocity known to the annals of crime. These two vagabonds were + already refugees from Canadian justice, having been concerned in one of + the bank robberies so frequent in the Provinces, and had an accomplice of + their own stamp on the Canadian frontier, not far from their present den, + to whom they were in the habit of secretly forwarding goods stolen on the + American side, to be kept until the excitement regarding the robbery had + subsided, and an opportunity presented itself for disposing of them in + some part of the Province where detection would be impossible. Under the + cover of night one or the other of these wretches frequently stole across + the lines and visited this locality, where he remained concealed until a + fitting period occurred for returning to his old haunt. + </p> + <p> + Of this stamp were the two persons whom Lauder now took into his + confidence and employment in relation to the abduction of Kate McCarthy + from her friends, and her transportation into Canada to some place of + secrecy and of safety, until he should be able to force her into an + alliance with him, or failing in this, make such a disposition of her as + should, at least, place an eternal barrier between her and Nicholas. Among + their friends and acquaintances these two villains were known as “black + Jack” and the “Kid,”—the former as forbidding a specimen of the + human race as ever breathed the vital air. He was low and thick set, with + a neck like a bull, and a frame of prodigious strength.. His nose was + broad and flat, his month large, his ears of immense size, his forehead + low and retreating, while the breadth between his ears at the back of his + head was inconceivable. + </p> + <p> + His companion in crime, the Kid, in so far as external appearance was + concerned, was his intensified antipodes. He was slightly formed and of + rather prepossessing appearance; and were it not for a sinister expression + of his full watery, grey eyes, remarkable when excited by anger, and some + coarse and sensual lines about his mouth, perceptible upon all occasions, + he might pass unnoticed among the thousands that crowded daily the + locality in which he lived. He was the general, Jack the army—he + plotted, Jack executed; and thus it was, that, through his consummate + cunning, they had both been enabled to avoid justice so long. They + ostensibly kept a sort of drinking saloon, from which they professed to + banish all disreputable characters, and which, through the + clear-headedness of the one, and the awe in which the great personal + strength of the other was held, was unusually free from the disreputable + rows and scenes that generally characterize such places. + </p> + <p> + If the Kid and Black Jack differed from each other in personal appearance, + they were nearly if not quite as much opposed to each other in dress. + Jack’s attire was of the very coarsest description, and always slovenly in + appearance. No matter what the season of the year, he invariably wore a + dark blue flannel shirt, a short, heavy over-coat, with huge, deep + pockets, thick, iron-shod boots, coarse, loose trousers, and a huge, + greasy, slouched, hat, of black felt, invariably pulled over his eyes when + out through the city. The only difference as to the disposition of his + attire, touching winter and summer, was, that during the former season he + always served his customers with his slouched hat and jacket on, while + throughout the warmest part of the latter, he was invariably to be found + behind his dark, dingy bar, with his shirt sleeves tucked up and his + collar unbuttoned and thrown open, displaying a pair of huge, swarthy + arms, covered with coarse, black hair, and a broad and massive chest, + presenting a similar aspect, and which exhibited all the characteristics, + in this connection, of the most savage denizens of the forest. Such, then, + were the personal appearance and the character of the two men whom Lauder + now visited by stealth from time to time, but always in a disguise which + defied detection, and which was made up with the most consummate skill. + </p> + <p> + Unconscious of all the danger that surrounded her, Kate still kept the + even tenor of her way, happy in the prospect of soon becoming the wife of + the man she loved; while Barry, on the other hand, felt but little + apprehension as to any fears that she had expressed in relation to the + proximity of Lander; believing, as he did, that she was totally beyond his + reach or power, and that his presence in Buffalo was occasioned by some + business not in any degree connected with her. What, he argued, had she to + fear from any man whom she despised, and from whose society she had + deliberately and pointedly estranged herself? The days of feudal + abductions had passed away, and if in this practical age a woman refused + to become the wife of any man, she had a perfect right so to do, and there + the matter ended. Besides, was she not beneath the roof of her own + relatives, who loved her with the sincerest warmth, and who were able to + protect her until she could claim the shelter of his own breast, as he + stood by her side the husband of her heart. All this went to reassure him, + so that when he sat down to reply to the letter which urged him to procure + his discharge at once, he wrote in the most cheering and happy manner, + bidding her to be of good heart, that she was safe from the importunities + and machinations of any individual who sought to gain her affections; but + intimating, at the same time, that he should at once, or as soon as + practicable, leave the army and as quickly as possible join her on the + other side of the great lakes. + </p> + <p> + In the love that exists between two true Irish hearts that have been + pledged to each other, deliberately and solemnly on the threshold of man + and womanhood, there is often something so confiding, so unreasoning and + so unselfish, as to put one in good humor with humanity. There is no + country on earth in which the love of gain intermixes with the affections + of the heart to so small an extent as in Ireland. In this relation we, + from time to time, witness in the Green Isle such genuine and grateful + glimpses of the better phases of human nature, that, no matter to what + subsequent inconvenience and embarrassments they may tend, they, for the + time being, at least, charm us into a recognition of something that is, + after all, beautiful and truthful in our souls. Except where the + inexorable tyranny of birth creeps in, our matrimonial alliances are, for + the most part, purged of the cool calculation of Scotland, or the bread + and beef considerations of the English. This may be censurable in us, and + doubtless it is; but, still, the charge lies more against our heads than + our hearts. It is a fact the most indisputable, that in England most of + the marriages in high or low life are those of <i>convenance</i>, while in + Ireland the contrary is the case. Even the poorest Irish girl in the land + gives her hand only, where she can bestow her heart; nor, as a general + thing, can any amount of wealth induce her to ignore her pride or + affections in this connection; while, should her love be given to even the + simplest peasant that ever stood by her milking pail, she is totally + beyond the reach of temptation. On the part of both there is an out-going + of souls in this direction that may be said to be peculiar to Ireland. + Completely outside all physical accidents and circumstances, there is a + commingling of spirit which ratifies a compact for all time, and lives in + the future as well as the present. Stretching beyond the hoar, such souls + are not dependent upon mere personal contact or intercourse for the + vitality of the passion that animates them, for they are ever <i>en + rapport</i> with each other, and clasped breast to breast wherever their + individual physical organizations may be. In this manner they bid defiance + to fate and all materiality; living on, undivided, and secure in the + continuence of the power that binds them to each other. Such + individualities become one spiritually—all their aspirations are + identical—all their sentiments are the same, and so closely do they + become united, that you cannot destroy the one without destroying the + other. We know and feel, beyond any shadow of doubt, that there are beings + whose loss or total annihilation we should be unable to survive, and if + doomed to live, whose place could never be filled in our souls, throughout + the endless ages of eternity. Hence the generous and beautiful, provision + of the All Wise and All Good. To every human heart, that interprets His + Laws aright and conforms to His will, he presents that beautiful + counterpart which, although mysteriously foreign, is yet, so delightfully + and essentially, a part and parcel of our two-fold nature. + </p> + <p> + In no country in the world, then, does this divine law of natural + affinities prevail more than in Ireland; and in no case had it ever been + more clearly illustrated than in the case of Nicholas Barry and Kate + McCarthy; as each, if so inclined, could have sacrificed the other in + forming a matrimonial alliance respectively, identified with what was + believed, to be undoubted wealth. For the hand of Kate, long before she + left her native land, there had been more than one suitor of means; while + handsome Nick, previous to his entering the army, was an object of the + warmest admiration on the part of many a damsel whose prospects were of + the most flattering description. But all to no purpose; not one of the + wealthy women was Kate McCarthy in the one case, and not a single + well-to-do gentleman was Nick Barry, in the other. So this made all the + difference; and Nick and Kate, without pausing to cast their horoscope, + gave themselves to each other, as already described, by the banks of the + Shannon—a river whose bright murmuring waters have reflected more + beautiful eyes and manly forms than those of any other in Europe, or + perhaps the world. Without a thought for the future at the moment of which + we have already spoken, they plighted their faith for all time and + eternity; and well they kept their vows; although previous to the arrival + of Nicholas in America, they had been upwards of three years separated + from each other-the one leading the life of a soldier in a sunny clime, + and the other, on a far distant shore, hoping for the hour when they + should be once more side by side. + </p> + <p> + When, however, our hero found himself the plighted lover of the being he + adored, and discovered himself simultaneously separated from her toy the + most cruel, unexpected and perverse fate, he bent, as previously observed, + every energy towards effecting his release from the bonds he had assumed + for her sake. He consequently, instead of wasting his hours in sullen and + useless repining, set actively to work and kept both his mind and his body + in a healthy condition; never losing confidence for a moment, in his own + ability to secure freedom or permitting the hope to be shaken, that he + should ultimately join the woman of his love in the new world, and there + realize an independence for both. And here we may observe, that this + feature in the character of Nicholas was one of the noblest and most + dignified that could possibly distinguish any member of the race to which + we belong. The world has been lost to many a man, from the fact of his not + sitting down to look circumstances fairly in the face, with a full + determination to grapple with them and give them a tussel for if wherever + a good man and true places any reasonable and legitimate object before + him, no matter how dark the clouds that surround him, in nine cases out + often he achieves it. The grave error in this connection is, that finding + our inability to move the great mass of our difficulties out of our road + <i>en bloc</i> and at once, ignoring the lesson taught by the constant + drop that wears the stone, we sit down overwhelmed, and never set sturdily + about trying to remove it piecemeal. The most profusely illustrated lesson + that heaven has yet taught to man, is that of industry and perseverence. + Whether within the fragrant chambers of the golden hive, or in the + kingdoms of the busy ant, or mid the curious nests that swing from forest + boughs, we roam in thought, we find what perseverence can accomplish, and + that too, by steps almost imperceptible in themselves. It is the + individual atoms that build up the mighty and effective aggregate that + overawes all opposition, and like an avalanche sweeps all resistance + before it. The loftiest pyramid that throws its shadow over the desert + to-day, and that dwarfs at its foot the beholder into the most + incomparable insignificance, incapable of being removed in fragments not + larger than a pea, from its present site to the other side of the globe; + and the grandest structure ever erected by human hands, has been built up + from almost imperceptible beginnings, into the imposing dimensions which + so overshadow the admirer and excite in his bosom feelings of almost + superstitious awe. So that look where we may, throughout the whole range + of nature, of science or of art, we find tee lesson of industry and + perseverence inculcated in the most impressive manner, and in a language + that should reach and influence our spirit struggles to the core. + </p> + <p> + If less distinct than we have here delineated them, such were the + sentiments and convictions that influenced the actions and conduct of our + hero and heroine when fate had separated them. Moved by the same impulses, + they both set about accomplishing the same end, and in the same manner. + Barry’s pen and Kate’s needle flew at intervals; and the result, as + already intimated, was, that each had accumulated a sum sufficient to + effect this release from the army, and that it now was to be brought into + requisition for the purpose of accomplishing that end. + </p> + <p> + Had Nicholas been made of that sort of stuff which, with the greatest + possible degree of coolness, lays a friend or relative under contribution, + he might have been able, through its instrumentality, to realize a + sufficient sum to have taken him to America, at the period that Kate + sailed, without having had recourse to the dreadful alternative of + enlisting in the English army; but not being built of such questionable + material, he bowed beneath the heavy yoke, believing, as he did, that + however distasteful and derogatory to his feelings, it was more honorable + and independent to be indebted to himself, even at so great a sacrifice, + for the means of joining his beloved on the other side of the Atlantic, + than to be constrained to traverse its trackless waste, weighed down with + the conviction, that, for the purpose of accomplishing an object that + could at least be honestly attained otherwise, he had deprived those whom + he had left behind of that of which they themselves stood sorely in need. + Besides, he felt satisfied from what he knew of himself, and the prospects + open to even an industrious soldier on the shores of Canada, he should + soon be able to relieve himself of his bondage, and stand erect once more, + freed from the humiliation of the uniform he wore. But, as already seen, + the fates were against him in the first moments of his military career; + and for the time every fibre of his being was almost crushed beneath the + most frightful tension to which could have been possibly subjected. How + dreadful must have been the appalling intelligence of the countermand of + his regiment to the Mediteranean, when it first fell upon his ear; and how + sufficient was the awful announcement to crush any ordinary mortal. Yet, + with the elasticity which is ever inseparable from a true and noble + spirit, when the first crash of the news bore him almost to the earth, he + steadily began to brace himself against it, and ultimately, though by slow + and painful degrees, straightened himself beneath it, and, although it was + not the less heavy, stood erect under it at last, and bore it squarely + upon his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + Poor Kate, although brave, too, had at first almost given up hope, when, a + few days after her arrival at Quebec, she learned the fatal intelligence + contained in the letter already referred to; but soon perceiving, as he + did, that nothing was to be achieved by useless murmuring or hopeless + inactivity, she shook herself, as free as her strength would permit, from + the dreadful incubus of the sorrow that bowed her to the earth, and turned + whatever talents she possessed to good account; working night and day to + accomplish the great and only desire of her heart, and trusting to heaven + for the rest. In this way her constant and unwearied exertions lightened + much of the load that could not have failed under less favorable + promptings, to have crushed her completely, and have, in all human + probability, consigned her to a premature grave. + </p> + <p> + And thus, we see, that these two brave young spirits had all but + accomplished the wish of their hearts, at the period at which our story + opens, and that they were now but simply awaiting the hour when Nicholas + should be able to exchange the hated red jacket that he wore, for a dress + more in consonance with not only his own feelings, but those of the being + he so faithfully loved. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <p> + Whatever censure may be attached to any portion of the career of the + founders of Fenianism, after the organization had become a recognized + power on both sides of the Atlantic, we cannot divest ourselves of the + settled impression, that the men who were mainly instrumental in calling + it into existence and sustaining its infancy, were actuated by the purest + motives. To be sure, Fenianism can scarcely be said to be the embodiment + of a new idea, or the exponent of new principles; but, then, there was a + masterly grouping of energies and sentiments in connection with it, which + possessed the merit of originality, and which tended so largely, not only + to popularize it, but to give it a foothold on every Irish national + hearthstone. In the selection of the name by which the organization was to + be distinguished, there was a clearness of judgment as well as a thorough + acquaintance with the necessities of the case, that cannot fail to strike + any impartial observer. Had the Brotherhood been organized under any + commonplace appelation, or under any of the various names that had + characterized the previous revolutionary societies of Ireland, the + probability is, it would have long since fallen into line with those + convivial associations, which content themselves with an annual exposition + of the grievances of Ireland, over the short leg of a turkey, a “bumper of + Burgundy,” and that roar of lip artillery, against the usurper, which dies + away in a few maudlin hiccups, about two o’clock in the morning, to be + revived only at the expiration of another twelve months. Under the burden + of any commonplace name, such, we say, might have been the fate of the + organization ere this; and so we regard the knowledge and genius which + obviated the possibility or rather the probability of failure in this + relation, as entitled to prominent consideration and respect. To the + superficial observer, this may appear of very little moment in connection + with a subject of such magnitude; but let it be understood, that we are + influenced by seeming trifles and the surface of things to an extent far + greater than we ourselves are willing to confess. Notwithstanding the oft + repeated query, “what’s in a name?” there is a great deal in a name. Let + two strangers, Mr. Harold Bloomfield and Mr. John Smith send in their + cards together to an important official, of whom they expect to get an + audience separately, and the chances are nine out of ten in favor of Mr. + Bloomfield’s being granted an interview first. This, we apprehend, holds + good in a thousand kindred instances, and in no way has the supposition + been more clearly verified than in relation to the name bestowed upon the + organization under consideration. + </p> + <p> + The name “Fenian” is of very remote antiquity, and appears to be most + comprehensive in its signification, and to be peculiarly adapted to the + great confraternity of patriots which now engrosses so much of the history + of passing events. There seems to be nothing sectional in it. It is + national in the broadest sense of the term, and primative and forcible to + intensity. In some annotations to the Annals of the Four Masters we find + that the ancient Fenians were called by the Irish writers <i>Fianna + Eirionn</i> signifying the Fenians of Ireland, and mentioned under the + name of Fene, or Feine, which, according to Dr. O’Conor, signifies the + Phenicians of Ireland, as Feine, according to Dr. O’Brien, in his + dictionary, at the word Fearmiugh, signifies Phenicians; as they were + probably called so from the tradition that Phenicians came to Ireland in + the early ages. They are also called by the Irish writers <i>Clann-Ua-Baois-gine</i>, + and so named, according to Keating and others, from Baoisgine, who was + chief commander of these warriors, and ancestor of the famous hero Fionn, + the son of Cumhall; but according to O’Conor, in his notes to the Four + Masters, they were called Baoisgine, as being descended from the Milesians + who came from Basconia, in Spain, now Biscay, in the country anciently + called Cantabria. The Fenian warriors were a famous military force, + forming the standing national militia, and instituted in Ireland in the + early ages, long before the Christian era, but brought, to the greatest + perfection in the reign of the celebrated Cormac, monarch of Ireland in + the third century. None were admitted into this military body but select + men of the greatest activity, strength, stature, perfect form, and valor, + and, when the force was complete, it consisted of thirty-five <i>Catha</i>, + that is, battalions or legions, each battalion containing three thousand + men, according to O’Halloran and various other historians, making + twenty-one thousand for each of the five provinces, or about one hundred + thousand fighting men in time of war for the entire kingdom. The <i>Ardrigh</i>, + or head king of Ireland, had, for the time being, chief control over these + forces, but they often resisted his authority. A commander was appointed + over every thousand of these troops, and the entire force was completely + armed and admirably disciplined, and each battalion had their own bands of + musicians and bards to animate them in battle, and celebrate their feats + of arms. In the reign of the monarch Cormac, the celebrated Fionn + MacCumhaill, who was descended from the Heremonian kings of Leinster, was + the chief commander of the Fenian warriors, and his great actions, + strength and valor are celebrated in the Ossianic poems, and various other + productions of the ancient bards; he is called Fingal in MacPherson’s + Poems of Ossian; but it is to be observed that these are not the real + poems of Ossian, but mostly fictions fabricated by Mac Pherson himself, + and containing some passages from the ancient poems. Fionn had his chief + residence and fortress at Almhuim, now either the hill of Allen, near + Kildare, or Ailinn, near old Kilcullen, where a great rath still remains, + which was a residence of the ancient kings of Leinster. The Fenians were + the chief troops of Leinster, and were Milesians of the race of Heremon; + and their renowned commander Fionn, according to the Four Masters, was + slain by the cast of a javelin, or, according to others, by the shot of an + arrow, at a place called <i>Ath Brea</i>, on the river Boyne, A.D. 283, + the year before the battle of Gaura, by the Lugnians of Tara, a tribe who + possessed the territory now called the barony of Lune, near Tara, in + Meath; and the place mentioned as Ath Brea, or the Ford of Brea, was + situated somewhere on the Boyne, between Trim and Navan. + </p> + <p> + In the reign of king Cairbre Liffeachair, son of the monarch Cormac, the + Fenian forces revolted from the service of Cairbre, and joined the famous + Mogh Corb, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians. After the + death of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the Fenians were commanded by his son Oisin + or Ossian, the celebrated warrior and bard; and at the time of the battle + of Gaura, Osgar, another famous champion, the son of Oisin, commanded the + Fenian forces. The army of Munster, commanded by Mogh Corb, a name which + signifies the Chief of the Chariot, and by his son Fear Corb, that is, the + man or warrior of the chariot, was composed of the Clanna Deagha and + Dalcassian troops, joined by the Fenians and their Leinster forces; and it + is stated in the Ossianic poems, and in Hanmer’s Chronicle, from the Book + of Howth, that a great body of warriors from North Britain. Denmark and + Norway, came over and fought on the side of the Fenians at Gaura. The army + of the monarch Cairbre was composed of the men of Heath and Ulster, + together with the Clanna Morna, or Connaught warriors, commanded by Aodh + or Hugh, King of Connaught, son of Garadh, grandson of Moraa of the + Damnonian race. The Munster forces, and Fenians, marched to Meath, where + they were met by the combined troops of the monarch Cairbre, and fought + one of the most furious battles recorded in Irish history, which continued + throughout the whole length of a summer’s day. The greatest valor was + displayed by the warriors on each side, and it is difficult to say which + army were victors or vanquished. The heroic Osgar was slain in single + combat by the valiant monarch Cairbre, but Cairbre himself soon afterwards + fell by the hand of the champion Simon, the son of Ceirb, of the race of + the Fotharts of Leinster. Both armies amounted to about fifty thousand + men, the greatest part of whom were slain; of the Fenian forces, which + consisted of twenty thousand men, it is stated that eighteen thousand + fell, and on both sides, thirty thousand warriors were slain. In the + following year, Hugh, king of Connaught, according to O’Flaherty’s Ogygia, + defeated the Munsters forces in battle at Spaltrach, near the mountain + Senchua, in Muscry, in which he slew Mogh Corb, king of Munster. The + tremendous battle of Gaura is considered to have led to the subsequent + fall of the Irish monarchy, for after the destruction of the Fenian + forces, the Irish kings never were able to muster a national army equal in + valor and discipline to those heroes, either to cope with foreign foes, or + to reduce to subjection the rebellious provincial kings and princes; hence + the monarchy became weak and disorganized, and the ruling powers were + unable to maintain their authority or make a sufficient stand against the + Danish and Anglo-Norman Invaders of after time. + </p> + <p> + From what is here stated, it must be obvious, that no more appropriate + name than that of “Fenian” could be given to the organization which now + holds the destiny of Ireland in its hands, and which has ramified itself + throughout almost every portion of the habitable globe. + </p> + <p> + We have already observed that the selection of this name was judicious in + more than one relation. In the first place, it was far removed from that + of any of the well known cognomens which had characterized so many of the + noted revolutionary associations that had already failed in Ireland, and, + in this respect, was strong; being free from any unpleasant reminiscences; + while, from the fact of its import not being generally known to the + masses, it stimulated enquiry on the part of the curious or weak + nationalists which resulted in the most salutary consequences. The rarity + of the name led to newspaper expositions of it, and moved the inquiring + patriot to look into Irish history in relation to it; and in this manner a + knowledge of much of the ancient greatness of Ireland became the common + property of those who were formerly but slightly acquainted with such + lore. The result was, thousands of the Irish became interested in relation + to the past of their race; for, in connection with this name there was + that which was calculated to arouse the spirit of patriotism within them + and lead them on to a further perusal of the annals of their country. + </p> + <p> + It is evident, then, that no common appelation could have been fraught + with such beneficial results; as there would have been nothing connected + with it to stimulate enquiry or research. Repealers, Irish National + Leagues, Whiteboys, Rockites, United Irishmen, &c., all had their day, + and carried their meaning upon the surface; so that it was really + necessary to give the new organization some occult, comprehensive and + characteristic name, that would separate it in this aspect from all the + Irish revolutionary bodies that had preceded it, and place it <i>en + rapport</i> with the great past of the nation which was the grand + receptacle of its traditions and source of its pride. Here, then, we leave + this part of the subject, without presuming that we have thrown much more + light upon the matter than has already been recognized by those who have + at all looked into it; for it must, we think, be obvious to most Irish + nationalists, that the energies and sentiments of their patriotic + countrymen, could never have been grouped so successfully under any of the + appelations just named, as they have been under that of “Fenians”—given, + as we have already perceived, to the great national army of Ireland during + the days of her early glory and power, and which alone represented the + nation as a whole. + </p> + <p> + It is not our province to dwell here upon the infancy of the Brotherhood + on either side of the Atlantic, or to enter into the various difficulties + and unpleasant circumstances to which it has been subjected by alleged + want of true patriotism and economy on the part of some of its founders. + Sufficient to say, that through all such alleged obstructions it has + struggled into the greatest and most powerful organization that has ever + existed in any age of the world, and is, to-day, the mightiest and most + invincible floating power that has ever influenced the destinies of any + people. Its friends are numbered by millions and its members by hundreds + upon hundreds of thousand. To its ranks belong soldiers, statesmen and + orators, men of large pecuniary means and cultivated minds; cool heads and + strong arms, and many guiding spirits who need but little light save that + which shines within them. In addition, the sympathies of America and of + every generous nation on the face of the earth, are with it; so that it + has triumphed in advance, in a measure; for, backed by such influences, + and actuated, as it is, by impulses so pure and holy, not a solitary doubt + can obtain in relation to its ultimate success. True, that there are those + who are thoughtless or traitorous enough to designate it as antagonistic + to religion, and subversive, of the established order of things; but + these, for the most part, are persons who reason through their pockets or + their prejudices, and who are devoid of any thorough recognition of those + great principles which are applicable to nations as well as to individuals + and which are based upon the just doctrine, that resistence to tyrants is + obedience to God—persons who are so methodical and patient under the + sufferings of <i>others</i>, that they would pause to measure the precise + length of rope that, was necessary to reach a drowning man. In the day of + Ireland’s triumph, such people, will cone to confusion; as will those who + have withheld from her, in the period of her sore travail, the pecuniary + aid; which they could have well afforded out of their ample means, with a + view to relieving their kinsmen and suffering fellow countrymen from the + grasp of a tyrant the most inexorable that ever drew breath. + </p> + <p> + Were the Fenian organization confined entirely to Ireland, and did no + active outside sympathy obtain for that unfortunate country the day of her + redemption might be postponed to an indefinite period. So completely are + all the resources and defences of the land in the hands of the English, + that it would be difficult for the natives to make any lengthened or + effective stand against the usurper. England has her, navy and her army to + operate against any rising of the inhabitants, at a moment’s warning; + while every office in the kingdom, of the slightest importance or trust, + is in the hands of her minions. Again, among some of the recreant sons of + the soil, she has, alas too ample scope for the use of her accursed gold; + and thus it is; that to cope singled handed with her against such fearful + odds, would involve oceans of blood, both on the field and on the + scaffold. When, however, we come to dwell on the fact, that outside and + beyond her control or reach, another body of Irish, which has been aptly + termed a nation within a nation—when it comes to be understood, we + say, that on the shores of free America a mighty and invincible + Brotherhood has been built up, actuated by every sentiment of hostility + which fires the breast of the most implacable of her enemies to-day, and + that has for its aim and end an object in common with the people of + Ireland at her own doors, then we begin to perceive how harrassed and + powerless she must be. Neither her famine, fire nor sword, can avail her + here. Secure beneath the ample folds of the glorious stars and stripes of + the great Republic of America, and fired with the love of free + institutions, and taught in the great principles of freedom by the liberty + loving American people, this mighty band of exiles, in connection with + their children born beneath the folds of the American flag, are steadily + preparing to join fierce issue with her and test, upon the open field, the + prowess she has so often set forth as superior to that of any other + nation. This is what now disables and paralyses her. Ireland is, for the + time being, beneath her heel; but what of the warlike hosts that loom in + the western horizon and may soon rush down on her like a wolf on the fold, + and wedge her in between two hostile walls? This is the great strength, of + Ireland at the present moment. Her energies are not walled in by the ocean + or a British fleet She is alive and active in other lands, and so powerful + outside her own borders, that there is no such thing as circumscribing her + influence or operations in so far as they relate to her struggles for + independence. It is, then, from America that she is to obtain her most + effective aid; and such being the case, it behooves the Irish nationalists + on American soil to be true and steady to the great purpose in which they + are now so ardently engaged; for so far, fortune has smiled upon them. The + American people sympathize with them and feel that while they are aiding + them to regain the long lost freedom of their country, they are bringing + to the dust the very self-same enemy that sought, by stealth and the most + cowardly means, to overthrow their own Commonwealth, and leave the Union a + hopeless ruin before the world. It is this which now hangs a millstone + about the neck of the British government, and which must ultimately + develope itself in active sympathy with any people who have for their + object the humiliation of the skull and cross-bones of St. George, on this + side of the Atlantic at least. + </p> + <p> + And so the ball rolls; hourly accumulating force and magnitude, and + destined, at no distant day, to sweep in upon Ireland and hurl the invader + from her shores. No power on earth can stay its onward course. The freedom + of Ireland is the creed of millions. The young lisp it; strong men repeat + it in every clime; and the old of both hemispheres murmur it in their + prayers. In short, it has taken a hold of the Irish heart wherever a true + pulse warms it to-day, and has so incorporated itself with the hopes and + aspirations of the Irish of all lands, that fate itself must yield to its + power and universality. Within the last few years it has become part and + parcel of the education of the Irish people wherever they are found; + whether beneath the burning zone, in temperate latitudes or at the frozen + poles; so that its ultimate success is beyond any possible contingency; + from the fact that there never was a sentiment so widely spread and so + religiously cultivated and cherished, that failed to accomplish all that + it would attain. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <p> + While the children of Ireland were engaged in defending the flag of the + Union during the late civil war, and sealing with their blood their + fidelity to the great Republic, they were, also, acquiring a knowledge of + arms and a warlike hardihood, which tended, on the cessation of + hostilities, to render the Fenian organization more formidable than it + could possibly have become, had peace pervaded the land from the inception + of the Brotherhood to its triumph at Ridgeway. All through this gigantic + struggle the hand of the Irish patriot and exile was prominently + observable. Not a field had been fought from the firing of the first gun + at Fort Sumter to the surrender of Lee’s army, on which their blood had + not flowed in rivers. Look at Murfreesboro, Corinth, Perrysville, Iuka, + Antietam, Chickahomany, Winchester, Fort Donaldson, Island Ten, Shiloh, + Lexington, Bull Run, Carnifex Ferry, the Rappahannock, the Mississippi, + the Cumberland, the Potomac and Fredericksburg, “where one-half of + Meagher’s Brigade are still encamped <i>under the sod</i>,” and we have + evidence of the truth of this assertion, the most ample and complete. + Amidst these scenes of terrific carnage, the warlike genius and matchless + personal bravery of many a distinguished Irishman were eminently + conspicuous; while the latent fires that had previously lain dormant in + the breast of others, leaped forth into a glorious conflagration, that + commanded the admiration of every true soldier and evoked the recognition + of the Commonwealth at large. Amongst this latter class stood + pre-eminently forward, the present President of the Fenian Brotherhood + throughout the world—GENERAL JOHN O’NIELL, a brief sketch of whom we + introduce here for obvious reasons, drawn from authentic records in our + possession, as well as from the current newspaper literature of the day: + </p> + <p> + “To the Irish reader,” observes a contemporary, well informed upon this + subject, “and especially to that portion of our people, who are conversant + with the past history of their country, and feel a patriotic pride in its + glorious records, as well as a fervent hope for their renewal in the + future—there is no name fraught with memories more inspiring than + that of O’Neill—the princely house of Ulster, the champions of the + Red Hand, who, for centuries, in the struggles of the nation against the + Saxon invader, led the hosts of their people to victory, and only + succumbed at last when poison and treachery, and chicane had accomplished + what force failed to effect; for their valor was powerless against the + dagger of the assassin, as were their honesty and open-heartedness against + the bad faith of England’s perjured tools. Like many a noble and ancient + Irish house, its scions are to-day to be found scattered through the + world, in every walk of life. But though its banner no longer floats over + embattled hosts, there is magic still in its associations; and when men + speak of the O’Neill, the Irish heart leaps fondly towards the historic + name and the proud recollection of the days when Hugh and Owen stood for + the rights of their people and native land, and dealt the assailants of + both those sturdy blows which so well justified their claim to the blazon + of the ‘Red Hand.’ + </p> + <p> + “In our own day, too, the old blood has vindicated its inherent force and + purity, and has found a worthy representative in the subject of our + present sketch—GENERAL JOHN O’NEILL,—whose name, in the future + history of the Irish race, will be as inseparably linked with the + struggles of the present generation for national independence, as are + those of his ancestors with the efforts made by our people in the past + against English tyranny and usurpation. As this noble and patriotic + Irishman is now occupying so much of the public attention, and his + political conduct meeting with that cordial endorsement which is a just + tribute to his bravery and patriotism—whether on the bloody fields + of the South, routing a Morgan, or assuming the command of his colonel, + or, with thirty men repelling the attack of a regiment; or, with his + gallant band of Irish soldiers, chasing the ‘Queen’s Own’ at Ridgeway—a + brief review of his career will not be devoid of interest to all who + desire to preserve a record of those who have deserved well of their + country. Within the limits of such a sketch it would be impossible to do + adequate justice to the character of a man like General O’Neill, and we + can only assume to glance at the many attestations of his bravery and + gentlemanly bearing which should have a public record, as they are from + men of high position, and are of importance in illustrating the estimation + in which he has always been held by his superior and brother officers. No + man can produce a more unsullied one, or one better calculated to confirm + his title to the high position in which his countrymen have placed him. + </p> + <p> + “General O’Neill was born on the 8th of March, 1834, in the townland of + Drumgallon, parish of Clontibret, county Monaghan, Ireland. At his birth + he was an orphan, his father having died a few weeks previously. The early + part of his existence was spent with his grandparents in his native place. + Bred up in a country, every hill and river and plain of which was linked + in story with the deeds of the mighty men of old, it is not to be wondered + at that the mind of young O’Neill seized with avidity every incident of + the past connected with the condition and history of his fatherland, or + that the bias of his future life was given by his meditations as he + rambled along the slopes of Benburb, or traced the victorious steps of his + ancient sept, through the classic region where his schoolboy days were + passed. That it should be so is only natural; for he is a kinsman, as well + as namesake, of the great Hugh O’Neill who, with his fearless followers, + swept over Ulster and defeated so many of England’s greatest generals, and + brought the heads of some of her pets to the block. And there is no doubt + but that some of her favorites of to-day shall be made to bite the dust + ere the General has done with them. + </p> + <p> + “General O’Neill is a man of calm temperament, but a firm will, which, + when excited, however, is stern and inflexible; uniting with this a good + education and gentlemanly address, with a mind bold, independent and + decisive. His person partakes of the character of his mind for if the one + never succumbed in the council, the other never bent in the field. Few + could imagine from his modest exterior the latent, fire and energy which + burn in his bosom. His manner is as unassuming as his mind is noble; + quiet, yet impervious to flattery or laudations, he seems at the same time + to pay due regard to popular opinion, without in the least permitting it + to influence him in the discharge of his duties. + </p> + <p> + “While he was yet quite young, the family of General O’Neill emigrated to + the United States, and his mother settled at Elizabeth, N.J., where she + still resides. He did not follow them until 1848, when he was fourteen + years of age. Having devoted some time to the completion of his studies + here, he determined to engage in commercial pursuits, and for some time + travelled as agent for some of the leading Catholic publishing houses. In + 1855 he opened a Catholic Book Store in Richmond, Va., and while residing + there became a member of the ‘Emmet Guard,’ then the leading Irish + organization in that section of the country. The inclination thus + manifested for the military profession soon proved to be the ruling + passion in the mind of the young Celt,—checked only by the + repugnance of his family towards the soldier’s life; for, in 1857, he gave + up his business and entered the Second Regiment of U.S. Cavalry—a + regiment which has since furnished the most distinguished officers who + have figured on both sides during the late war. + </p> + <p> + “In the Regular Army, O’Neill rose steadily by his good character, bravery + and aptitude, no less than by his education and invariable gentlemanly + conduct. But though he has since filled positions of high responsibility, + he has often declared that one of the most pleasurable emotions of his + life was experienced when, for some meritorious act, he received, from his + commanding officer, his warrant of Corporal. + </p> + <p> + “At the outbreak of the war, the regiment with which he was serving was + recalled from California, and on the organization of the army under + McClellan, was attached to the Regular Cavalry Division, which took part + in the principal battles in the campaign of the Peninsula, during which + O’Neill was in command of Gen. Stoneman’s body guard. After the withdrawal + of the army from the Peninsula, he was dispatched to Indiana, where he was + retained for some time as instructor of cavalry, drilling the officers of + the force then being raised for the defence of that portion of the Union + against the incursions of the Confederate guerillas. He subsequently + entered the 5th Indiana Cavalry as Second Lieutenant, and served with that + regiment, during 1863, in the operations against the Southern leaders in + Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio. In these expeditions, which, + whether in the nature of scouts, reconnoisances or advances, generally + took the shape of sharp running fights, Lieut. O’Neill’s skill and daring + not only attracted the attention of his commanding officers, but further + enlisted the enthusiasm of the men, insomuch that, when one of those <i>sorties</i> + was ordered, the first question asked was always—‘Is O’Neill to lead + it?’—and if the answer was in the affirmative, no matter how jaded + the men might be, volunteers in any number were ready at once. + </p> + <p> + “There is no greater instance of personal bravery, or gallantry equal to + any emergency, than that related by Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, in + his account of O’Neill’s encounter with Morgan, the famous guerilla; and + as many of our readers have not read the partial account given in Mr. + Savage’s ‘Fenian Heroes and Martyrs,’ it may prove of interest to them, as + his encounter with Morgan is more generally spoken of than understood. + Archbishop Purcell says:— + </p> + <p> + ‘There is a remarkably brave officer suffering from diarrhoea, contracted + in a three month’s chase after Morgan, now in St. John’s Hospital, in this + city—Lieut. O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry. His mother resides + in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her adventurous boy enlisted in the regular army + at the time of the Mormon excitement in Utah; was afterwards sent to + California; was made Sergeant for distinguished services on the Potomac; + employed on a recruiting tour in Indiana, and promoted to a Lieutenancy in + the famous 5th Indiana cavalry. + </p> + <p> + ‘Respecting his encounter with Hamilton’s rebel force, in May, the + Indianapolis papers spoke of the exploit of Lieut. O’Neill, and a + detachment of his company, as one of the most daring and brilliant + achievements of the war. The Lieutenant has kindly furnished us with the + following interesting account of the part he took in the defeat of Morgan. + The authorities here have recommended him for promotion to the rank of + Major. + </p> + <p> + ‘INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT WITH MORGAN, AT BUFFINGTON’S ISLAND, ON THE 20TH + OF JULY. + </p> + <p> + ‘On the night of the 19th, about 10 o’clock, Gen. Judah, with his cavalry + and artillery command, left Pomeroy for Buffington. The General sent First + Lieutenant John O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana cavalry, with fifty men, + ahead, with instructions to try and open communications with the militia, + said to be in close proximity to the island. The Lieutenant was delayed by + losing the road during the night, and did not arrive till about an hour + and a half after daylight. He then learned that the militia had been + skirmishing with the enemy during the night, and that Gen. Judah’s advance + had been ambushed, the morning being foggy; and the General’s Assistant + Adjutant General, Capt. Rice, with some twenty-five or thirty men and a + piece of artillery, and Chief of Artillery, Capt. Henshaw, had been + captured and sent to Gen. Morgan’s headquarters on the river road, some + thirty miles ahead of him, on the enemy’s left flank. The Lieutenant at + once resolved to recapture what had been taken; and, with his Spartan + band, kept steadily on. Several parties tried to stop him; but a volley + from the “Sharp’s” carbines of his boys invariably drove them back. At + length he came on Morgan, with two regiments and a body guard of one + hundred men. The Lieutenant halted his men suddenly, at an angle of the + road, within one hundred and fifty paces. He gave the command “ready,” and + intended to have given them a volley; but seeing some of his own men in + front, he did not fire, but commanded “forward,” and dashed in amongst + them. If he had fired, every shot must have told, he was so close. Morgan, + with his two regiments and body guard, ran without firing a shot. All our + prisoners were released, and about thirty of the enemy taken. Some were + killed and wounded. The Lieutenant pursued Morgan about two miles clear + off the field, and captured three pieces of artillery, which he carried + off with him. This was the last of Morgan on the field. The Lieutenant + cannot tell how many he killed or wounded, as his fight was a running one, + extending over four miles; but the surgeon in charge of burying the dead + and looking after the wounded, reported that most of both were along the + river where O’Neill had been.’ + </p> + <p> + “The above, from Archbishop Purcell, is an unquestionable testimony of the + daring and audacity of the subject of this sketch in the field. The <i>National + Journal</i>, in giving an account of the same battle, says: + </p> + <p> + ‘Lieutenant O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, now appeared by another + road, with but fifty men, and charged two different regiments so + desperately that they broke and left our captured guns, officers and men + in our possession.’ + </p> + <p> + “The <i>Louisville Journal</i>, after relating an instance of O’Neill’s + personal bravery, says: + </p> + <p> + ‘Lieutenant O’Neill is the same who, about two weeks ago, while out with + Col. Graham, on the Tennessee side of Cumberland, with twenty men as an + advanced guard, came up with Hamilton, having two hundred men drawn up in + line—charged and ran him thirteen miles, and with his own hand, + while ahead of his men, killed five—two of them with the sabre.’ + </p> + <p> + “To go into detail, and give a minute account of the many instances of + gallantry, pluck and determination displayed by the subject of our sketch, + would be beyond the scope of our present purpose, as they, at the same + time, would only tend to multiply instances, without lending any + additional proof. But we cannot, as it directly bears on his letter of + resignation, with accompanying letters of endorsement from distinguished + Generals, pass over that singular and noble proof of unexampled bravery—his + assuming the command of his Colonel Butler, when the latter showed signs + of cowardice. + </p> + <p> + “The affair took place at Walker’s Ford, on Clinch River, in East + Tennessee, where the division to which O’Neill’s regiment was attached was + stationed, to dispute the passage of the Southern troops, which in large + force occupied the adjacent country. O’Neill had only a few days before + rejoined his command, after the illness incurred in his chase after + Morgan, and was at breakfast when the alarm was given that the enemy had + surprised the advanced guard, and were attacking in force. Springing on + his horse, he rallied the company of picked men he commanded, and for a + long time held the advancing forces of the enemy in check, to give time + for others to form line of battle. But the enemy were rapidly getting in + rear of the Union troops, and O’Neill fell back on the main body of his + regiment, just in time to hear his Colonel cry out, ‘Oh, God! all is lost! + save yourselves, men, the best way you can. Nothing is left us but + retreat!’ ‘Not by a long sight!’ shouted O’Neill, as, sword in hand, he + dashed in front of the mob of soldiers, upon whom panic and the example of + their commander were rapidly doing the work of disorganization. ‘Men,’ + continued he, turning to them, ‘all of you who mean to <i>fight</i>, fall + in with me.’ The effect was almost miraculous. About one hundred and fifty + of the fugitives rallied, and with these he drove back the advancing + columns of the enemy, saved the day, and, though severely wounded in the + action, remained master of the field. + </p> + <p> + “Of this attack, a correspondent of the Indianapolis <i>Daily Journal</i>, + of January, 1864, says: + </p> + <p> + ‘The rebels, finding we were retreating, determined to drive us into the + river. About three hundred mounted men came over the hills, charging + Company “A,” 65th Indiana, and three companies of the 5th, commanded by + Col. Butler and Capt. Hodge. Our boys began to waver. The Colonel tried to + rally them to no effect, when O’Neill rode up and took command. Taking a + Henry rifle from one of the 65th boys, he commenced firing, at the same + time yelling at the men to charge them, which they did. For about five + minutes it was the most frightful scene I have ever witnessed. Out of the + three hundred Confederates, only about <i>twenty</i> went back mounted, + the balance being killed, wounded, and dismounted. A rebel officer, + afterwards taken, admitted the loss of twenty killed and forty wounded in + the charge. This so effectually checked them, and convinced them that a + charge would not pay, that we very easily held our ground until the wagons + and guns had crossed the river. But our brave Lieutenant, O’Neill, + received a wound in the thigh while we were making our last stand. He rode + out all day, never seeking shelter, cheering his men. When other officers + had given up all as lost, he replied, “Not by a long sight.” He met with a + hearty response from the men. We afterwards learned that we were fighting + three brigades, among them the “Texan Rangers.”’ + </p> + <p> + “There is no nobler instance of daring or pluck, or of presence of mind, + or decisiveness of character, equal to any crisis, than this. But what is + the sequel? The Colonel, narrow minded as he was cowardly, was piqued at + young O’Neill’s gallantry in repelling the attack, which at once stamped + himself with cowardice, and lowered him, as a consequence, in the + estimation of his brother officers. After the battle he sent a report of + the officers and non-commissioned officers whom he recommended for + promotion, <i>omitting the name of O’Neill</i>. This was a direct insult + to the man who displayed the most bravery, and had saved them from a + watery grave, a fiery death, or, worse than all, an ignominious surrender. + It at once aroused all that was stern in his nature—to have such a + coward offer him an insult. He went to the Colonel, and demanded if it was + true that he had sent the names of certain officers to the Governor for + promotion, and noncommissioned officers for commissions over him, and + omitted his name altogether. The Colonel replied in the affirmative. + ‘Then,’ said O’Neill, ‘I shall never serve another day in your regiment.’ + </p> + <p> + “We give these particulars in detail, as well as his resignation, not only + on account of its boldness, but as some people try to put a different + construction on the fact of his sending in his resignation at that time. + Conformably with his determination, he went to his quarters, where, after + a fortnight, he prepared his resignation, and sent it to headquarters. In + the interim, the Colonel sent one day to know if he would drill the + regiment. O’Neill sent back to know if it was an order or a request; on + being assured it was the latter, he complied. He was expecting to be + arrested every day; but the Colonel was too much of a coward, as he was + afraid the consequences would be rather unpleasant. After a few weeks, his + resignation was sent to headquarters, with letters of disapproval—but + endorsing his complaints, and testifying to his bravery and efficiency—from + Gens. Sturges and Stoneman. Comments on these letters would be + superfluous, as they speak forcibly for themselves. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “CAMP NEAR PARIS, KENTUCKY, April 7th, 1864. + + “Sir: I have the honor herewith to tender my resignation as First + Lieutenant of Company ‘I,’ 5th Cavalry, 90th Regiment Indiana + Volunteers, on account of promotions in the regiment, which have + placed men over me whom I cannot consistently serve under. Some of + them, Captains, have been Sergeants in the same regiment since I + have been First Lieutenant; and while I have a high regard for these + officers personally, I can never allow myself to be commanded by + them in the field. + + “I served in the regular army nearly four years, in Utah, + California, and on the Peninsula: as private, Corporal, Sergeant, + and acting-Sergeant-Major, and have been in the regiment, as + Lieutenant, sixteen months. + + “The enclosed copies of letters from Generals Hodson, Judah and + Stoneman, with others from the present Colonel of my regiment, and + the former, Colonel Graham, recommending me to Governor Morton, for + the position of field-officer in one of the regiments being + organized in Indiana, will show that I am not undeserving of + promotion in my own regiment, and that I have some cause to be + dissatisfied with not receiving it, and with having officers placed + over me whom, in point of military knowledge and experience, I + cannot regard as my superiors. + + “I certify, on honor, that I am not indebted to the United States + on any account whatever, and that I am not responsible for any + government property, except what I am prepared to turn over to the + proper officer on the acceptance of my resignation, and that I was + last paid by Major Haggerty to include the twenty-ninth of February, + 1864. + + “Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + + “JOHN O’NEILL, First Lieut., Co. ‘I,’ 5th Ind. Cav. +</pre> + <p> + “Rather a bold epistle this! He tells his commander squarely he will not + serve under officers whom he considers his inferiors in military + knowledge. We shall now give the accompanying letters to which he refers, + from Generals Sturges, Judah and Stoneman, which furnish unquestionable + proof of his ability and military capacity. These letters, from men of + fine military experience, are very high references of O’Neill’s ability. + The following is that from Major-General Stoneman:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “HEADQUARTERS 23D ARMY CORPS, March 8th, 1864. + + “I knew Lieut. O’Neill well on the Peninsula, and as a brave and + worthy officer, in whose judgment and capacity I had the greatest + confidence. I hope he will receive the promotion to which his merits + entitle him, that of a field-officer in a colored regiment. + + “GEORGE STONEMAN, Major-Gen., Com’g. Corps. +</pre> + <p> + “That from General Judah is equally as commendatory. If the one refers to + his bravery on the Peninsula, the other testifies equally to his daring + during the war:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, 23D ARMY CORPS, + In camp near Mossy Creek, Tenn., March 7th, 1864. + + “It gives me pleasure to state that, from personal observation, I + deem Lieut. John O’Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, one of the most + <i>gallant</i> and <i>efficient</i> officers it has been my duty to command. + His daring and services have been conspicuous, and I trust he may + receive what he has so ably merited—his promotion. + + “H.M. JUDAH, Brig.-Gen., Com’g. Division. +</pre> + <p> + “The following endorsement, written on the resignation by General Sturges, + when forwarded to the headquarters, shows that if merit, military and + personal, could meet with its reward, Lieut. O’Neill should get speedy + promotion:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS, + PARIS, KY., April 7th, 1864. + + “Disapproved and respectfully forwarded. + + “This is an excellent officer—too valuable, indeed, to be lost to + the service. He was severely wounded near Tazewell, under Colonel + Graham, last December, and is estimated as one of the best officers + of my command. This is not the only resignation which has been + offered on account of the promotions of inferiors having been made + in the 5th Indiana Cavalry over the heads of superiors, based upon + political or other considerations, and altogether regardless of + merit. By this system junior and meritorious officers find + themselves cut off from all hope of advancement, and compelled to + serve subordinate to others for whose qualifications they can + entertain no respect. + + “While, therefore, I disapprove his resignation for the public + good, I would respectfully urge that some policy be initiated + or recommended by which officers can see the way open for their + advancement according to merit. + + “Respectfully, + + “L.D. STURGES, Brig.-Gen. Com’g. +</pre> + <p> + “The following was the reply from Headquarters:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, + KNOXVILLE, TENN., April 16, 1864 + + “Respectfully returned from this Headquarters, Cavalry Corps, to + Lieut. John O’Neill, 5th Indiana Cavalry. + + “There appears to be no remedy for the evil referred to by General + Sturges. + + “By command of + + “MAJOR GEN. SCHOFIELD. + + “R. MOORE, Ass’t. Adj’t. Gen. +</pre> + <p> + “Such attestations of the bravery, military skill and high moral character + of General O’Neill, coming from his companions in arms, from the public + press, and from Generals of experience and high position, form a record of + which any man might be proud. Comment on them is unnecessary, as they + speak forcibly for themselves. Of his noble spirit, decisiveness in the + hour of danger, ability, pure character, and gentlemanly bearing, we have + produced overwhelming testimony; but as he is now before the public in so + very prominent a manner, it is necessary that the people should know + minutely his every act and the nature of the man under whose leadership + the Irish Nationalists in America are about to renew the good old fight + for loved Erin’s disenthralment. No matter whether on the field or in the + drawing-room, his calmness of deportment and gentlemanly bearing are the + same. The simplest child he would no more offend than the most powerful + man. Uniting with such gentleness and heroic bravery, precise military + knowledge, and a pure patriotism, may not Irishmen hope that in him they + have found the man who is destined to lead them on to victory and liberty. + In whatever sphere he moves, he is universally endeared to all; for + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ‘In him is the heart of a woman, combined + With a heroic life and a governing mind.’ +</pre> + <p> + “In the movement on Canada, in 1866, Gen. O’Neill sacrificed a business + which, in a few years, would have made him a wealthy man. But he did so + without hesitation; for he loved his country, and had pledged his life to + her service. With the contingent raised by him in Tennessee, he proceeded + to Buffalo, where, finding himself the senior officer, he assumed command + of the troops there assembled, and, in obedience to the orders he had + received, crossed the Niagara river, at the head of six hundred men, on + the night of the 31st of May, and raised the Green Flag once more on the + soil of the enemy. On the following evening, receiving information that + the British forces were marching against him to the number of five + thousand, in two distinct columns, he resolved to fight them in detail, + and by a rapid march got between them. On the morning of the 2d of June, + at Ridgeway, he struck them under Booker; and, though the enemy + out-numbered his force <i>four to one</i>, routed them signally. Falling + back on his original position at Fort Erie, he there learned that the + United States Government had stopped the movement at other points, and + arrested its leaders. Under the circumstances, nothing more could be done, + at that time; and he was reluctantly obliged to re-cross the Niagara, and + surrender to the United States forces. That he only did so under the + pressure of necessity, is attested by his offer to the Committee in + Buffalo to hold his ground, as his own report of the battle of Ridgeway + attests, in which he simply says: + </p> + <p> + ‘But if a movement was going on elsewhere, I was perfectly willing to make + the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which I knew it would be the next day if I + remained; <i>for I would never have surrendered!</i>’ + </p> + <p> + “At the Cleveland Convention of the Fenian Brotherhood, in September, + 1867, General O’Neill was elected a Senator of that body; and having been + chosen Vice President on the resignation of that office by James Gibbons, + Esq., he succeeded President W.R. Roberts, on the resignation of that + gentleman, Dec. 31, 1867. + </p> + <p> + “We have thus briefly sketched the principal incidents of General + O’Neill’s career, and, in conclusion, may venture to say that a more + stainless, or meritorious, could scarcely be presented to the public. His + whole history incontrovertibly illustrates as noble, determined and daring + a character as ever led a brave but enslaved people to victory. + </p> + <p> + “We could supplement this with various other official documents and + accounts, serving, if such were possible, to illustrate still further the + proud daring and exalted spirit of this worthy son of an illustrious past; + but shall, at this particular point of our story, content ourselves with + what has just been said. We might, were we so inclined, introduce, also, + various other Irish names that shone forth with unrivalled splendor during + the late war, and point to the thousands upon thousands of Irish rank and + file that, on numerous fields, piled up ramparts of dead around the + glorious flag of the Union; but such would not serve our purpose here, as + we are restricted in relation to the task before us; and as the fact of + the exploits and the bravery of hosts of our loyal countrymen are known to + the government and people of this Republic. Sufficient to say, however, + that amongst all those of our race who fought and bled in defence of the + North, and the integrity of the Commonwealth, there was not to be found + one individual who evinced more profound judgment than he in handling the + forces at his command, or more cool daring, or instances of personal + bravery, as well as that tremendous and overwhelming dash, which gained + for Ney the proud appellation, ‘the bravest of the brave?’ and placed the + Marshals of France amongst the foremost in history. + </p> + <p> + “From out of this fierce civil contest, then, it is obvious from all that + we have just said, that Fenianism, in its military aspect, received the + largest and most important accessions. At the close of the conflict, + thousands upon thousands of veterans joined its standard; and thus, in an + incredibly short period, its warlike character became intensified, until, + at last, the organization on the American continent loomed up before + England with an aspect so threatening and a purpose so apparent, that she + instantly set about putting her house in order, and began to glance in the + direction of making some cunning, though paltry, concessions to Ireland. + </p> + <p> + “If, however, the military circles of the Brotherhood were distinguished + by the accession of many brave and patriotic soldiers, at the juncture + already referred to, the organization, in its civil aspect, was not less + fortunate or noticeable. Led triumphantly through some of the most + difficult phases of its existence, by such self-sacrificing and noble + patriots as Colonel W.R. Roberts, of New York, its late President, and + James Gibbons, Esq., of Philadelphia, its present Vice President—than + whom two more disinterested and sterling Sons of the Sod do not exist—its + basis enlarged and strengthened, we say, by such men as these, and the + able and truehearted Senators that surrounded them, the Brotherhood, at + the close of the war, was in a condition sufficiently exalted to attract + to its centre many of the ablest soldiers who had fought on the side of + the Union, and who, with their numerous and respective followings, were + ready to evince their love of liberty and republican institutions further, + by resuming their swords and striking home for the freedom of poor, + down-trodden Ireland, against a tyrant the most infamous that has ever + existed, and to whom America owes a debt of vengeance, that, under any + circumstances, cannot fail to be one day repaid with tenfold interest. + </p> + <p> + “And so this grand confraternity of patriots prospered and became the + greatest and most powerful that has ever appeared upon the theatre of + human existence. To be sure, in a body so numerous and all but ramified + throughout every portion of the habitable globe, there have been some + unworthy members, who fell before the love of gain, or British gold; but, + then, and with pride we say it, taking the gigantic proportions of the + organization into consideration, and the temptations to sin which have + been so constantly placed before it by that blood-thirsty assassin, + England, it stands, by comparison, pre-eminently pure above any other + similar revolutionary body that has ever obtained in either hemisphere, or + in any age of the world. Up to the present hour, under the protection and + guidance of a Divine providence, it has surmounted every difficulty that + has beset it. It has outlived whatever of treason or mismanagement + obtained in its own bosom; it has survived the cruel calumnies and + falsehoods of a traitorous and subsidized press, and the machinations of + that dangerous English element that sometimes steals into high places, and + which has so often interfered with the true interests of America within + her own borders, as well as touching her foreign relations. These and many + either untoward influences it has surmounted; until, now, it stands upon a + pedestal beyond the reach of danger; not only from its great inherent + strength and virtue, but from its all but incomprehensible ubiquity, and + positive existence in every land and clime. How futile, then, the efforts + of its enemies to crush it either by ungenerous legislation, or through + the propagation of falsehood. Fenianism is a power founded upon the + immutable principles of truth and justice; and is, therefore, + indestructible. Consequently, until it has achieved the grand and holy + objects that it has set before it, it must win its way to triumph, step by + step, if needs be no matter what the magnitude or the number of the + difficulties that beset it.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> + <p> + Early as Barry was up on the morning following his introduction to the + reader, he found Tom and Greaves in the bar-room, discussing one of + O’Brien’s favorite decoctions, which was averred to possess the virtue of + giving a “fillip” to the lagging appetite, and attuning it to the + healthiest possible breakfast pitch. Nicholas, although not addicted to + early potations, was prevailed upon to join the party. During, the + friendly conversation which accompanied this faithless libation to the + Goddess of Health, Greaves observed that while he did not feel himself at + liberty to speak freely in the mixed company of the preceding evening, + notwithstanding what might have been termed his unfriendly insinuations in + relation to Ireland, he was himself a true friend of Irish freedom; and, + on all befitting occasions, an humble champion of her total and + unequivocal independence of England. Here he produced a letter, from a + secret pocket in the lining of his vest, which he handed to Tom for hasty + perusal; remarking, at the same time, that he well knew to whom he was + submitting it. A hurried glance at the contents induced O’Brien to open + his eyes wider than they had been opened for some time, and to regard his + companion with an almost bewildered stare! + </p> + <p> + “Sure enough, it’s his handwritin, and it’s as thrue as the sun,” + ejaculated Tom, as he folded up the letter and returned it to the owner, + “and it’s a different opinion both Nick and myself had of you last night, + although sorry I am for it now; and there’s my hand for you.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s up now?” retorted Barry, well knowing that O’Brien would never + have offered his hand to Greaves, unless there were good reasons for it. + </p> + <p> + “Nothin’ more,” returned Tom, “beyond that we had formed a wrong opinion + of our frind here, last night; for, instead of his bein’ what I was half + inclined to take him for, he cannot fail to be other than the right stamp, + or he never could have that letther in his pocket.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s enough for me, Tom,” replied Barry, extending his hand to Greaves, + “for whoever you endorse is sure to pass muster, in this place, at least.” + </p> + <p> + The conversation here became low and confidential; being interrupted only + by an occasional customer who dropped in to take his “morning;” until, at + last, breakfast was announced, and the soldier and Greaves, taking the + hint, were soon snugly seated side by side in the little parlor of the + preceding night, at a neat and comfortable table, smoking with some of the + good things which so constantly characterized The Harp. O’Brien, from his + other avocations, was unable to join them at the moment; so they both + conversed freely on the topic that had just commanded their attention in + the bar, and which referred to neither more nor less than the intended + invasion of Canada by the army of the Irish Republic, then said to be + preparing for a descent upon the Provinces, in the neighboring Union. + Nicholas was unable to give any definite information upon the matter; as + the authorities of the organization in the United States were very + reticent regarding it, and Greaves himself appeared but little better + informed. Barry, however, expressed the opinion that, if any man in Canada + had thorough information on the point, it was Tom; although he himself had + no very tangible grounds for making the observation, notwithstanding the + strength of his surmises. + </p> + <p> + “Do you not belong to the organization yourself, and if you do, ought you + not to be in possession of some facts on this all-important movement?” + rejoined Greaves, “and if you are not a member, surely you are + sufficiently true to Ireland to have been informed, to some extent at + least, in regard to it, by your friend O’Brien, who is, I learn, a Centre + here.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, strange as it may appear,” returned the other, “I don’t belong to + the Brotherhood, not having, yet had an opportunity to join it; and as for + Tom, whatever my suspicions may be, I really am unable to say positively + that he is in any degree connected with the organization; although I am + sensible that his sympathies, like my own, lie in that direction.” + </p> + <p> + “How is your regiment situated on this point,” remarked Greaves, leisurely + breaking an egg and commencing to chip the shell. + </p> + <p> + “A good many of my way of thinking,” replied the other; “but, as you know, + it is necessary to be cautious, as not only is the commanding officer a + tartar, but most of the swords and sashes are of the same kidney. The fact + of the case is, however, several of our fellows have deserted, and no + doubt will join the organization in the States, and render good service to + the cause there, in a military point of view.” + </p> + <p> + “Why don’t you follow their example and do something for your poor, + down-trodden country,” said Philip in reply, “seeing that now is the time + she needs the service of all her children?” + </p> + <p> + “There is no necessity for my deserting,” rejoined Barry, “for I have + already applied for my discharge, which I expect to receive this very day; + so that ere the sun sets, in all probability, I shall be a freeman.” + </p> + <p> + Greaves became silent here for a few moments, as if revolving something in + his mind, when, lifting his head again, he resumed the conversation by + asking: + </p> + <p> + “Are strangers permitted to visit the Fort? If so, I should be very glad + to take a peep at it this morning, as I shall have a few boars to spare + before I can do any business, or rather before the parties I have come to + see will be prepared to meet me.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, not as a general thing, just now,” returned Nicholas, “but I think + you may be able to gain admittance if you are accompanied by me, who will, + of course, vouch to the sentry for you.” + </p> + <p> + “Then if you allow me,” said Greaves, “I shall avail myself of your kind + invitation, and cross the bridge with you after we have breakfasted, for I + can well imagine that during a period when such rumors are afloat, the + Commandant as rather chary of permitting strangers to enter his gates.” + </p> + <p> + In this strain the conversation flowed until breakfast was ended, when the + friends proposed to sally forth from the Harp, and wend their way to the + point already mentioned. As Barry was leaving the bar-room, however, Tom + whispered something in his ear, which appeared to puzzle him for a moment, + but returning a keen glance of recognition, both he and Greaves passed out + into the cool, fresh morning-air, and began slowly wending their way to + the Fort. + </p> + <p> + There being as yet no special order about the admission of strangers, + Greaves, with Nicholas by his side, passed the sentry without question, + and proceeded to the canteen, which, early as it was, showed some signs of + life. Here Barry introduced his new acquaintance to many of his comrades; + but in such common place terms, as to attract no attention whatever on the + part of any person. Being for parade, however, he was obliged to leave his + friend in other keeping, for a short period, and so hastened to the + barrack-room to prepare himself for his morning duties. During the + interval of his absence, Greaves stepped out of the canteen, alone, and + learning that the Colonel was speaking to some of the officers near the + parade ground, made his way towards where the group was standing, and + crossing the path of the Colonel as he was walking towards his quarters, + accosted him in a manner which soon arrested the progress and attention of + that officer, and brought him to a dead halt. The conversation was brief + and rapid, while a slip of paper thrust into the hands of the Colonel, by + Greaves, seemed to place both on a strange footing of recognition. So + brief was the interview, that it was not observed by any individual in the + garrison; and so quickly did Greaves return to the canteen, that his + absence was scarcely noticed. Here Barry found him as he had left him, + making himself agreeable to the soldiers; being more than liberal in + paying for all they drank. As the bugle sounded for parade, he bid our + young hero “good bye for the present,” and leaving the Fort, proceeded to + retrace his steps towards the town, or city, as it may be called. + </p> + <p> + When he arrived here, instead of returning to The Harp, he bent his steps + in another direction, and entered a hotel that was in every relation the + very antipodes of the establishment in which he had passed the night. + Here, in every direction, were to be found the traces of an English spirit + and blind adhesion to wretched and exploded traditions. In the office hung + the portrait of the cruel Queen of England, and that of her defunct + consort, whose injustice and pedantry were so snubbed by the illustrious + Humboldt. Here, too, were to be seen the likeness of the—iron-hearted, + it should have been—Duke, presenting a birth-day present, or + something of the sort, to a moonfaced yonker that sat fair and plump upon + the knee of its royal mother. In another corner was to be found a + representation of the Prince of Wales, for whose head and face the + engraver had done infinitely more than nature; while directly opposite + stood, in a dark, heavy frame, the one-armed hero of the Nile, who owed so + much of his fame to poor Emma Harte—the unfortunate Lady Hamilton, + who, after having conferred the most serious benefits upon England, was + permitted to starve, with her daughter, in a garret somewhere in or near + Calais; while some of the spurious offspring of orange and ballet girls + filled many of the highest offices in the land she had so often served. + </p> + <p> + In this establishment the subject of Fenianism was discussed as a leading + topic, in a manner quite different from the style in which it was treated + at the Harp. Here no voice was raised in its favor—no word of + justification advanced in its behalf. Still, although its importance was + ignored ostensibly, there were a nervousness and misgiving about some of + those who conversed upon it, which showed that they were ill at ease. + There seemed, in addition, to be some vague sense of insecurity preying + upon them, which could only have originated in their want of confidence in + themselves, or in some person or persons to whom were entrusted the + gravest interests of the Province. This was the more obvious, from the + fact, that, from time to time, mysterious and half-whispered enquiries + were made, in reference to one particular individual, whose state of + health or mind seemed at the moment to engross no ordinary share of the + attention of the numerous guests that filled the bar or office, for the + apartment was used as both. + </p> + <p> + Greaves listened with open ears to all that transpired, and, after + inspecting the hotel register, took up a morning paper and seated himself + in an arm-chair at his side. While engaged, as he feigned to be, in + perusing the news, although actually endeavoring to catch every whisper + that floated around him, he gathered, that, for the week or ten days + proceeding, one of the most important functionaries in the Province, who, + although a clever man, was sorely addicted to fits of intemperence, was + now, while the country was convulsed with gloomy forebodings, regarding + Fenianism, again passing through one of his prolonged and fearful drinking + bouts, and totally unfit to pay even the slightest attention to the + momentous business of his office. Already, it was averred, numerous + dispatches, of the most vital moment, were lying unopened upon his table, + where they were scattered, wet and stained with wine and debauch, some of + them having, as it was urged, been obviously disfigured, in part, for the + purpose, perhaps, of lighting cigars; while, pale, wretched and half + insane, the miserable creature to whom they were addressed, reclined on a + sofa by their side, jabbering to a few bloated boon companions, obscene + jests and amusing anecdotes, through which the fire of his own native wit + sometimes shot brilliantly, though but for a single moment. This, we say. + Greaves gathered from the conversation around him, and as in one or two + cases he perceived, on the part of the speakers, scarcely any desire to + preserve a tone of secrecy on the subject, he felt pretty much assured, + that the case was a bad one indeed, and that the individual who could so + far forget his own interests for the sake of the bottle, and who could be + tolerated in any position of high trust in the State, while addicted to + vices of such a character, not to mention others, thought by the Hamilton + <i>Quarterly Review</i> to be of a graver nature were that possible, must + be sustained by the influence of persons terribly deluded, or creatures + vile in their degree in turn, and who, like himself, were regardless of + the trust reposed in them by the people. And yet, as Greaves afterwards + learned, this same man came to Canada a poor, bare-footed, Scotch lad, + with a father whose only fortune was an old fiddle, and that inexorable + but praiseworthy characteristic of his country—a determination to + collect the bawbees at whatever shrine first presented itself on the + shores of the New World. Be this as it may, the daily press of the + Province has since verified the correctness of the whispers heard by + Greaves, and made public the accusation, that this individual, so recently + distinguished by a mark of royal favor, for three weeks previous to the + invasion of Canada, was so lost in a whirlpool of the most deplorable + intemperance, as to be utterly incapable of opening or attending to the + important dispatches which lay scattered and unheeded upon his bedroom + table. + </p> + <p> + When Greaves returned to The Harp, he found O’Brien in a state of great + excitement. A soldier, as it appeared, had just arrived from the Fort, + with the information that the Colonel, on second consideration, did not + find it justifiable to apply for Barry’s discharge, at a moment when the + country was threatened with danger; and that, as the regiment should soon + be ordered home, as he was assured, he had determined not to recommend any + discharges until it had reached England. This intelligence had been + conveyed to Nicholas by the Colonel in person, after parade, and in a + manner which precluded the slightest hope of its being reversed by any + succeeding alteration of opinion on the part of the individual who + communicated it. A thunderbolt, had it fallen at the feet of the young + soldier, could not have startled or paralyzed him more. He was actually + struck dumb by it Here was the chalice dashed from his lips at last. He + turned away in despair; but as he was for duty, he was constrained to + smother the tumultuous feelings within his breast. When alone, however, + and pacing his lonely round with his musket on his shoulder, he had time + to measure, with sufficient calmness and accuracy, the length, breadth and + depth of the great misfortunes that had befallen him. There was but one + course left open to him. He had sought to purchase his discharge and leave + the service, without the taint of desertion attaching to his name amongst + any of his comrades, although he felt that he was not morally bound to + remain in the service of England, for a single moment longer than it + served his own private ends. Desertion, then, was the only course left + open to him, and he was determined to follow it, upon the first fitting + opportunity. Another reason why he would rather have been discharged in + the ordinary manner from the service: if he once deserted he should never + again, with any degree of security, visit any portion of the British + dominions; and as Canada lay so close beside the United States, he would + gladly have avoided the inconvenience of being shut out from it, as + O’Brien and more than one of his friends resided there. However, there was + now no help for it; to England he should never return, and so he disposed + of the matter in his own bosom. When relieved of duty, then, and with his + purpose fixed firmly in his heart, he once again visited The Harp, where + he found Tom and Greaves lamenting over the intelligence of his + misfortune, and to whom, in a moment of anxiety and excitement, he + disclosed his determination to quit the service, and gain the shores of + the neighboring Republic the first favorable moment that presented itself. + Tom appeared somewhat agitated if not alarmed; at so serious a disclosure, + made with such apparent unconcern; and it was only when Barry remembered + the hint of the morning, which O’Brien gave him as he was about proceeding + to the garrison, that he, himself, felt that he had perhaps been too + incautious and precipitate before a person who, after all, was but a + stranger to him, although apparently a kindly one. The cat being out of + the bag, however, there was now no help for it; and as Greaves seemed to + enter warmly into the project, and even offered to share his purse with + Nicholas, if there was any necessity for it, the matter was allowed to + rest as it was, and suspicion of Greaves, if any remained in the breast of + either the soldier or Tom, was driven into the background, and constrained + to remain in abeyance for the time being. + </p> + <p> + When Barry again returned to his quarters, he freely discussed his + disappointment among his comrades, and declared his determination to lay + the matter before the Commander-in-Chief, averring, with great + earnestness, that he had always done his duty, and that he was not + accountable for the state of the country, and should not be called upon to + suffer for a condition of things outside and beyond his control, and which + he was in no manner instrumental in bringing about. His argument seemed + plausible enough, but then what, at any time, his argument, when it ran + counter to the desires or intentions of his commanding officer? Therefore, + the matter, after having been subjected to due discussion, was allowed to + fall asleep in the usual stereotyped style; although as may be supposed, + there were one or two breasts, at least, that were kept alive and active + by it. Nicholas, believing that any intelligence of his embarrassment on + the subject would but perplex and pain Kate, determined not to write to + her regarding it, but to be the first to bear her the news himself. As + already observed, she had written to him to procure his discharge at the + earliest possible moment, and now to learn that his freedom was + jeopardized for an indefinite period, involving, in addition, his return + to England first, would be a renewal of her old agony. This he was + determined to spare her; so, to those of his company in whom he could + confide, and who were themselves ripe for any project that would tend to + their total disseverment from the flag they so detested, he cautiously + communicated his intentions, finding, in return, that more than one of + them were on the eve of trying their fortune in the same manner. Soon, + then, a sturdy little band had determined to leave the Fort, whatever + night Barry should pitch upon; premising, of course, that it should be + some one on which he would be on duty, and at a favorable point. + </p> + <p> + This much arranged, Greaves and Tom were made acquainted with the whole + particulars of the plot; the former entering, to all appearance, heart and + soul into it, and furthering it in every manner within the limits of his + power. In fact, Greaves was actually behaving in a manner which staggered + some suspicions still entertained by Tom, notwithstanding the letter to + which reference has already been made, for he agreed to assist in + forwarding the escape of one of Nicholas’ company that had deserted + sometime previously, and was still concealed in the outskirts of the town, + in a place known to Barry only, and where he was hemmed in by detectives + from his regiment that were continually traversing the city in colored + clothes, or stationed as look-outs at certain points in its vicinity. + Barry was most anxious that this poor fellow should not be left behind, + and as Greaves promised to procure a disguise for him and have him + conveyed secretly to Tom’s on the night that the project of leaving the + Fort was to be put into execution, Barry, at the request of Greaves, + penned a note, which he hastily sealed with a love device well known to + the deserter, and which he had himself received at the hands of the + beautiful girl of his heart. The note ran thus:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Place the fullest confidence in the bearer. Follow his directions + implicitly. Your fate hangs in the balance. He will lead you to + where we shall meet. In great haste, &c., + + “NICHOLAS BARRY.” + </pre> + <p> + This note he handed to Greaves, who immediately consigned it to his + pocket-book, and set forth, as he alleged, to reconoitre the hiding place + of the soldier, and make such arrangements in his behalf as the + necessities of the case required. + </p> + <p> + As the brief missive just quoted was written in O’Brien’s, and in the + presence of Tom himself, when Greaves left the premises, the host with + some uneasiness observed:— + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know how it is, Nick, but somehow or other I cannot divest myself + of sartain lurkin suspicions which I have of that man; although there is + not a single Irish Nationalist in the city that would not offer him his + hand and a glass afther seein the letther that I saw. However, you will + remimber that the first night he came I didn’t warm to him, as I tould + you, notwithstandin that I had to give up the next mornin. Still, and + withal he appears to be actin fair, although I can’t make out exactly what + he’s about here. Any way, in for a pinny in for a pound, so we must make + the best of it; but, if I find that he is playin foul—well, God + Almighty help him, and that’s all I’ll say. However, three nights from + this will tell the whole story, and if you all make good your escape, you + may take my word for it, I’ll make a clane breast of it to him and ask his + pardon into the bargain. I think with you that it was wise not to write to + Kate about your throuble and disappointment, or apprise her of your + intintion, as it would only agonize the poor craytshure; but should you be + foiled and taken, what a dreadful thing it would be for her to hear + instead of the intelligence of your freedom, that you were in the depths + of a dungeon from which you might have no manes of escape for years!” + </p> + <p> + Barry absolutely shuddered at the possibility of such a <i>denouement</i> + to the scheme that now absorbed his whole mind and soul. Although sensible + of the risk he ran, he never paused to regard the peculiar features of the + case as presented by his friend; but now that they loomed up before him in + such bold and fearful relief, he almost shrank from pushing farther the + dangerous project he had undertaken. Yet, there was no other channel + through which he could hope to become speedily the husband of the woman he + loved; while, if he abandoned it, he might probably be separated from her + forever, as he felt convinced, that should an ocean roll once more between + them, she would not long survive the calamity. In a moment, then, the + faintness of his heart had passed away, and in its stead came the firm + resolve to prosecute his design to the death; feeling that imprisonment + for any term of years on the shores trodden by the being he adored, was + preferable to freedom, such as it was, in a land cut off from her by the + trackless desert of the great deep. + </p> + <p> + Re-assured once more, then, he continued cautiously the preparations for + his departure, attending to his duties with his usual assiduity, and still + murmuring at the decision of the Colonel. Neither he nor Tom, of course, + ever approached the hiding place of the refugee already mentioned, + although they managed to hear from him occasionally, and to keep his + spirits up. Had either, by day or night, ventured near his retreat, they + could scarcely have escaped notice—the one from his soldier’s + uniform and the other from his remarkable height and personal appearance; + they were, therefore, with all their misgivings, relieved of their + embarrassment in this relation, by the generous offer of Greaves, who, as + it seemed, had abundance of means at his command to further any project + that he might think proper to undertake relative to the escape of the + deserter, or those who had now determined to join him. + </p> + <p> + In this way, then, matters stood on the very evening which was to close in + the night selected by the intending fugitives, to put their designs into + execution. Everything was ready, and as the clock struck twelve and the + streets of the city were partially deserted, a cab rumbled up to the door + of The Harp, and Greaves and a stranger, muffled to the eyes, stepping + from it, entered the establishment and passed through the bar into Tom’s + little parlor. Greaves had kept his faith—the stranger was the + deserter! + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. + </h2> + <p> + As might be presumed, from what we have already said regarding Kate + McCarthy, from the moment she took up her abode with her relatives at + Buffalo, she resumed her industrious habits, and set to work, in real + earnest, to add something to whatever young Barry had realized from his + own abilities and steady conduct on both sides of the Atlantic; for, since + his arrival in Canada, he had plied his pen amongst his comrades, and in + other quarters, copying papers and instructing the children of the + soldiers where he was stationed. She consequently soon found her little + store increased, and her time fully occupied. In music and the earlier + branches of English, she had several young pupils; while for some of the + fancy millinery stores of the city, she occasionally employed her needle + on some of those delicate and exquisite ornaments of female dress which + are at once so expensive and attractive. Her labors were, of course, + cheered through constant intercourse by letter with Barry; and so the time + rolled on up to the very point when Nicholas first applied for his + discharge. It may be considered strange, that Barry had not left the + service on his first arrival in Canada; but, then, let it be understood, + that neither he nor Kate had yet acquired sufficient means with which to + begin the world; while both were steadily accumulating a little, slowly + but safely; and when, besides, he felt assured, that having the means at + his command, he could, at any moment, procure his discharge. We have + already said, that owing to his proud and unyielding nature, he was not a + favorite with his officers, and that such being the case, he never ‘rose + above the ranks; but, then, after all, the most of his superiors had, at + times, recourse to his pen and excellent education in various matters + connected with the regiment, requiting him for his services handsomely + enough; but still at enmity with his Irish blood, and what they feared + was, his anti-British tendencies. Such inducements as these, although + accompanied with drawbacks, moved him to remain in the service for a + longer period than he should have done under other circumstances, and + reconciled his lover to an absence which she believed could be terminated + at any moment. And so time sped with her, until the eve of the very day, + on the night of which Barry and his comrades were to leave the Fort, when + returning towards her home in the direction of Black Bock, from the city, + just as it began to get dusk, she was met by an over-dressed stranger, who + accosting her in a most respectful manner, begged to know if she could + direct him to the residence of Miss Kate McCarthy. + </p> + <p> + After recovering her surprise, and casting a searching glance at her + interrogator, she replied, that she was, herself, Miss McCarthy, and + begged to know what was his business with her. The man appeared to + hesitate, as if not crediting her assertion, and proceeded to say, that he + had a message for Miss McCarthy, but that he was led to believe that that + lady was a much older person than the one whom he now addressed. + </p> + <p> + “Possibly,” returned Kate, “there is some other lady of my name here; but + if such be the case, I am totally unaware of it. However,” she continued, + “as I expect no message from any person of my acquaintance, doubtless I am + not the person you seek,” and bowing slightly to the stranger, she turned + to pursue her way in the direction of her home. + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon for attempting to delay you,” rejoined the stranger, + “but after all, you may be the lady I seek. If you are,” he went on to + say, “you will be apt to recognize this token;” holding something in his + hand, which he now thrust out towards her. + </p> + <p> + In an instant, her whole manner altered, her cheeks flushed, and a strange + light burned in her eyes, as she exclaimed hurriedly, and while greatly + agitated: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am the person; let us walk towards the house. It is but a short + distance from where we stand.” + </p> + <p> + In a few moments, they were both engaged in the most earnest conversation, + and evidently entering into some stipulation that was to be carried out + without delay. On nearing her residence, however, the stranger expressed + his opinion, that it were better that he should return to the city at + once, and make some arrangements in connection with the subject of their + conversation, whatever that was; enforcing upon her, in the meantime, the + most profound secrecy, and the strange necessity, above all things, of not + informing any of her friends or relations of the project upon which they + had decided. + </p> + <p> + “Twelve o’clock, at the Lower Ferry, then!” observed the stranger, as he + turned his face towards the city. + </p> + <p> + “Twelve o’clock!” she returned. “No fear! I shall be awaiting you!” + </p> + <p> + When she entered the house, with a view to concealing her emotions and + making some secret preparations for the accomplishment of the sudden + project foreshadowed by the words of the stranger, she hastily gained her + chamber. When alone, she gazed confused yet enraptured on the unexpected + talisman that had been given her, and which she still held firmly in her + grasp. Soon, however, becoming more calm, she set about making such + arrangements for her midnight tryst as she conceived necessary; upon the + completion of which, she penned a few lines to her kind relatives, begging + them to make no inquiries after her, as she was safe; although, for + reasons afterwards to be explained, she was obliged to leave their roof by + stealth, and for the moment in utter darkness as to her destination. She + assured them, nevertheless, that although her conduct was for the present + suspicious and inexplicable, she was free from any taint of wrong, and was + only obeying a voice that would soon justify to the fullest, and before + them personally, the step she was now about to take. This note was left + upon her bed-room table, where she knew it would be discovered; so, after + declining to join the family at tea, on the plea of slight indisposition, + she filled a traveling satchel with what necessaries she thought she might + require for the few days she presumed she should be absent, and + extinguishing her lamp at the hour she usually retired to rest, awaited, + alone and in silence, for the clock to strike eleven; at which time she + knew the family would have all sought their couch and be sunk in slumber. + </p> + <p> + From her chamber window she perceived that the lights soon began to + disappear from the casements of the few dwellings that were in the + immediate vicinity of her habitation, and that the quiet of repose was + stealing over the neighborhood. Busied with her own thoughts, and anxious + for the future, the time for her departure drew nigh more rapidly than she + had anticipated; so, when the last stroke of eleven had died away through + the house, she, having previously attired herself for her journey, and + secured, about her person, whatever money she possessed, took up her + satchel, and cautiously descending the stairs, soon emerged out into the + gloomy night, hastily bending her footsteps towards the place of + rendezvouz. + </p> + <p> + Here, besides encountering the individual already introduced to the + reader, who was waiting for her, she having had to travel a considerable + distance, and it being now close on midnight, she found a second party + stationed by the side of a good sized boat, into which all three stepped + upon her arrival; the two strangers seizing the oars and striking boldly + out for the Canadian side of the river. Although rapid the current at the + point of their crossing, so admirably did they manage their craft and + lustily did they pull, they did not deviate much from the light on the + opposite shore, which seemed to gleam from some cottage window, and which + they took as a beacon and guide to their course. In the space of about + half an hour, they landed at the point they expected to make, where they + found a team waiting, with a lantern so ingeniously fixed in the wagon as + to be discernible from the American side of the river only; this being the + light by which the two boatmen had steered. + </p> + <p> + As they all stepped ashore, Kate had a full opportunity of scrutinizing + the appearance of the second stranger, who aided her in crossing the + river. He was a short, thick-set, heavy man, of a most forbidding aspect, + with a huge mouth and a broad, flat nose, without a bridge. He wore a blue + flannel shirt and a heavy, short over-coat and slouched hat, and was, + taking him all and all, about as villainous a looking specimen of humanity + as one could well meet in a day’s walk. Nor was the driver of the wagon + into which she now was lifted, a very decided improvement in this + relation. He, also, was a most suspicions looking fellow, although civil + enough in his way. Kate felt relieved, however, when her earliest + acquaintance of the evening took his seat beside her, and when she + perceived the man with the blue shirt re-entering the boat and pushing off + for the American shore once again. + </p> + <p> + The driver now having adjusted himself in his place in front of Kate and + her polite companion, the whip was laid to the horses, and the party moved + briskly along the bank of the river, until they struck into a road which + evidently led into the interior of the country. This road they pursued at + a slow pace until the first gray streaks of dawn were visible in the + eastern horizon; Kate’s companion, from time to time, making such + commonplace observations as the necessity of the case required; she + supposing that the presence of the driver prevented him from offering her + any farther explanation on the subject of her singular adventure. Just as + surrounding objects were becoming more distinct, they pulled up before an + isolated building, in what appeared to be a country place, and in which, + early as it was, there was some person already astir, as was evident from + the light which shone from one of the windows. + </p> + <p> + Here they all alighted and were received at the door of the dwelling by a + middle aged woman, with a strip of red silk bound round her head and drawn + down over one of her eyes. She was dressed in a plain but neat manner, and + exhibited sufficient traits of feminine beauty to recommend her to either + sex. The driver was evidently her husband, and no very affectionate one + either, if the coarse, cold manner in which he received her welcome could + be taken as any indication on this head. However, as Kate was cold and + weary, she gladly accepted an invitation to alight and enter the building, + where she found a large fire blazing and crackling upon the hearth, in an + apartment that was used as a dining-room and kitchen; although the house + was a large one and clearly contained many apartments. When seated by the + fire, and while the driver was seeing to his horses, her companion, who + also seated himself by the warm blaze, informed her that, for the present, + she was at the end of her journey—that the driver, his wife and a + grown up niece or daughter, were the only inhabitants of the house, and + that the place was selected as her retreat for the time being, for reasons + that would doubtless be explained to her in due time. Although surprised + and mystified at all she had already experienced, she, of course, had not + one word to say in opposition to the disposition that had been made of + her; for had she not in her bosom the guarantee that all was right; so, + professing her willingness to remain in her temporary abode until the + period for her release arrived, and promising to be as patient as + possible, under the circumstances, she begged the woman of the house to + show her to her room, as she needed a few hours rest, to which request her + hostess readily acceded, having first, though in vain, endeavored to + prevail upon her to take some refreshments after her journey. + </p> + <p> + The room to which Kate was shown was far from a despicable one, and + possessed many articles of furniture infinitely superior to those in the + department she had first entered. The floor was carpeted, and the chairs + and tables of quite a superior quality; the bed, also, seemed invitingly + clean and comfortable, while some excellent books were to be found in a + small, neat case, standing in one corner of the apartment. On the table + there burned a handsome lamp, and a fire blazed cheerfully in a small, + open stove, as though her arrival had been expected and well cared for. + When her hostess left her, she examined her chamber door and windows, and + found the latter quite secure, while in the lock of the former was a key, + one turn of which would cut her off completely from any intrusion + whatever. Seating herself beside her lamp, she reviewed rapidly the events + of the night, and finding no solution for them, she slowly undressed, and + consigning herself to the care of heaven, was soon lost in a calm and + refreshing slumber, from which she did not awake until the sun had nearly + attained his meridian glory. + </p> + <p> + When she opened her eyes and collected her scattered senses, she hastily + arose, and dressing herself, rang a small bell that lay on her table, and + which her hostess desired she should use when she required any attendance. + Immediately a gentle tap was heard at her chamber door, upon opening + which, a young girl, about sixteen years of age, presented herself with a + pitcher of fresh water, begging to know, as she placed it on the + wash-stand, at what period she should bring up breakfast; setting about + opening the windows as she spoke, and otherwise busying herself in + arranging the room. There was something in the appearance of this young + creature, that at once enlisted the sympathy and kindly feelings of Kate. + Her features were strangely handsome and prepossessing, and her form of + the very finest proportions. Her hands, although rough with hard work, + were, nevertheless, small and delicately shaped, while her feet, + notwithstanding that they were encased in a pair of over-large slippers, + were obviously very beautiful. She was tall for her age, and apparently + better educated than her seeming condition in life might warrant. But what + was most peculiar about her, was an air of sadness, that seemed native to + her expressive countenance, and which pervaded her smiles even, with a + strange, subduing power, that nearly allied them to gentle tears. Her + voice, too, was singularly sweet, low and melodious; while her whole + demeanor was so tinged with what might be termed some lone, hidden sorrow, + that Kate felt drawn towards her in a manner the most unaccountable. In + answer to a query put to her, she said she was not, as was generally + supposed, the daughter of the owners of the establishment, but their + niece, as she believed; and that she had now been residing in the locality + for over five years. That her uncle did a great deal of teaming, and was + often from home; and that, in his absence, she and her aunt took care of a + small patch of ground that lay at the back of the house. She was almost + glad, she said, that the lady had come to stay sometime with them, and + hoped that she would allow her to often sit by her and read during the + times her uncle would be away; as it might tend to beguile many a weary + hour; that is, provided the lady would have to remain any length of time + with them. + </p> + <p> + There was something in all this which seemed to move Kate strangely. The + expression “almost glad” sounded curiously in her ears, and awakened in + her feelings of a no very pleasurable character. However, she determined, + upon so slight an acquaintance, not to push her inquiries further just + then; and by way of forming a friendly compact with her attendant, assured + her, that so long as she remained in the house, she should always be happy + to have her as a companion whenever she could be spared from her domestic + duties; and further, that it would afford her the greatest possible + pleasure to sit and listen to her, whenever she could find a moment’s time + to either read for her or while away a few minutes in friendly + conversation. This condescension seemed to light up the face of the + interesting young creature with a flush of gratitude the most ardent; and + with a lighter step than that with which she had entered the chamber, she + tripped away, for the purpose of bringing up the breakfast to which she + had already referred. + </p> + <p> + When Martha, as Kate’s new acquaintance was called, again entered the + apartment, she was accompanied by her aunt, who was dressed just as she + had been the night before, with the exception that the strip of red silk + had been replaced by a purple band of the same material. As the breakfast, + which was excellent for a country place, was being placed upon the table, + Kate perceived that one side of the woman’s face was discolored, and being + moved to make some inquiries regarding the cause, was informed, that while + breaking up some kindling wood, a splinter had accidentally struck her + face. This went to satisfy her, of course, although she thought the large, + black patch which fell down along the cheek was singularly dark and wide + to be traceable to the small splinter that the woman asserted to be the + cause of it. A strange look from Martha, too, aroused a suspicion that the + origin of the disfigurement was not that named; so here the matter rested + for the present. + </p> + <p> + During her repast, she learned from Martha, who remained with her, that + the name of the people of the house was Wilson; that they were English, + and that the person who had arrived in company with her uncle, who was + also English, was called Stephen Smith; but where he resided she was + unable to say. This she knew, however, that he made occasional visits to + the family, and was sometimes accompanied by a very ill-looking man, who + remained a day or two, after having left some boxes or cases in charge of + her uncle, who subsequently disposed of them in some manner unknown to + her. + </p> + <p> + “But,” she continued, “I don’t like these men. They always come in the + night, and go away in the night, and are ever whispering; you must not, + however,” she went on to say, “mention this to either my aunt or my uncle; + for, if they should know I had said so much, they would doubtless be very + angry with me.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” returned Kate, “you may rely upon it, that whatever you may choose + to say in relation to the men in question, or anything else, shall remain + in my bosom; for to betray any confidence of the kind, would, in my eyes, + be criminal in the last degree.” + </p> + <p> + “What brought you here, then!—what brought you here!” ejaculated + Martha, in an anxious, nervous tone. “There must be something wrong!—some + treachery, or I am sure a lady so good and pure as you seem to be, would + never cross this threshold.” + </p> + <p> + Kate, becoming instantly alarmed, broke off suddenly in her repast, and + begged the young girl, for Heaven’s sake, to be more explicit. + </p> + <p> + “I really don’t know what more to say than I have already said,” replied + the girl; “but, as I feel drawn towards you by some invisible power, short + as our acquaintance has been, I will say, that I fear my uncle’s + associates are lawless men, and believe that my aunt knows it, and regrets + it, too. But a few nights ago, when Smith came here to make arrangements + about your arrival, as I suppose, I heard high words between my relatives + after his departure, and, the next morning, found my aunt’s face just as + you have seen it. But we dare not say much in opposition to any + proposition that my uncle might choose to make in any connection, so + violent and brutal is his temper at times. For my own part, however,” she + proceeded, “so soon as I can escape from such thraldom and associations, I + shall try and make my own way in the world; for my impression is, my uncle + has some idea of a union between me and the detestable creature, Smith, + who accompanied you here last night, and who, after an hour’s rest, was + again driven off by my uncle, doubtless to whatever point he came from.” + </p> + <p> + This intelligence, as may be supposed, caused poor Kate the greatest + possible anxiety; but what had she to fear so long as she took the + talisman for her guide? Here there could be no mistake, anyway; for had + she not it in her bosom, and was it not from <i>him</i>? Still, that there + was something perfectly mysterious about the whole affair, she was quite + ready to admit; but as she had received the strictest injunctions from + Smith not to permit herself to be seen for the present in the vicinity of + the place, or outside the dwelling, she determined to obey one to whom no + small power in her case had unquestionably been delegated by her lover. + </p> + <p> + During the day Martha and Kate were frequently together—the poor + young girl disclosing her history scrap by scrap, until at last Kate + learned that she was in reality an orphan; that both her parents died when + she was yet quite young; that her aunt, who was possessed of an excellent + education, had been twice married—once to her own mother’s brother, + and subsequently to the man whom she now called uncle; that her own + parents had been Irish, and that on their death, her real uncle became her + guardian and true friend until his death; when, on this second, + unfortunate marriage, the affairs of the family becoming hopelessly + embarrassed, she and her relatives embarked for America, taking up their + abode first in Toronto, and subsequently in the place where they now + resided. In addition, she stated that her opportunities of education had + been good, and that, somehow or other, since she had crossed the Atlantic, + she managed to keep a few choice books about her, and avail herself of the + assistance of her aunt, whenever they could, in the absence of her uncle, + devote an hour to study or the perusal of some new work. + </p> + <p> + The small clearing, on the verge of which the house occupied by the + Wilsons stood, was surrounded with woods, and no other habitation was to + be found in its immediate vicinity. From the morose disposition and + suspicious character of the proprietor himself, but few of the neighbors + were on visiting terms with the family; so that they might be said to lead + a completely sequestered life. From time to time only, an occasional visit + was paid him by some one who stood in need of the services of his team; + and thus his standing in the neighborhood was that of a suspected or + banned man—the general impression being, that he was neither more + nor less than a dangerous and daring smuggler, who was constantly engaged + in the interests of unprincipled merchants on both sides of the lines. + This idea obtained footing from the circumstance that he had been observed + returning late one night from the frontier with his wagon laden down with + suspicious looking boxes and bales; and from the further fact, that his + absences from home were frequently lengthy and mysterious—no one + knowing the precise nature of his business, or the points to which his + journeys were made so often. + </p> + <p> + The clearing, itself, was under good cultivation, the spring crops giving + fine promise of an abundant harvest. A short distance from the house + flowed a beautiful brook, whose murmurs occasionally reached the ears of + the inmates; while the thickening foliage of the surrounding groves, as + they might be termed, gave shelter to various birds, amongst which might + now be heard, at early morn and throughout the day, the clear, round notes + of the robin. + </p> + <p> + “The robin!”—what on earth has, we should like to know, bewitched + ornithologists to designate the great, coarse, tuneless bird, that visits + us in the earliest dawn of spring, in this far off America, “the robin?” + Neither in throat nor plumage is it even a thirty-first cousin of the + sweet, timid, little, brown bunch of melody that haunts the hawthorn + hedges of Ireland and the sister island, when they are in bloom, or seeks + a crumb at the open casement, when winter ruffles all its russet plumes, + and sets his chill, white seal on all its stores; We have been often + struck with the great dissimilarity between these two namesakes of the + feathered kingdom; for never on these transatlantic shores have we heard + what might be termed a domestic bird sing a song so sweet as that poured + beneath our window in the soft blue haze of an Irish summer evening, by + the genuine robin-red-breast, as he sang the daylight down the west, + through a sky flushed and flecked with azure, crimson and gold, to such + extreme intensity, that the poet or painter might, at the moment, half + indulge in the idea, that the sun had fallen into curious ruins upon the + verge of the horizon. Oh! the silver thread of such a song, as it flashed + and scintillated from that trembling throat! Never shall we forget it, or + the land in which it first wound itself around our heart. + </p> + <p> + But this, we know, is inclined to be sentimental; and as we now have to do + with stern realities, we shall resume the chain of our story by saying, + that after her first day’s residence with the Wilsons, and finding that + the uncle of Martha had no intelligence for her on his return home on the + evening or night succeeding the one of her arrival, she expressed her + great anxiety to Martha, who now devoted every moment she could spare from + her other duties, to the pleasing task of rendering her solitude as + agreeable as possible. + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the second day after her arrival she ventured to ask + Wilson if he had any idea of when she was to be relieved from her + embarrassing position. In reply to her interrogatory he assured her, that + he was quite unable to give her any information on the subject, but was + led to believe that she should not be long a prisoner, as he termed it. + All he could say in relation to the matter was, that some person, with + whose name even he was unacquainted, had secured, through a third party, + his services as her host, and engaged the apartment she occupied, and + attendance, etc. In addition to this, he observed, carelessly, that he was + responsible for her safety until the arrival of those who had delegated to + him the right to watch over her and shield her from observation until the + proper moment arrived. + </p> + <p> + To all this Kate made no reply; the thought having just struck her, that + Nicholas had perhaps learned of some intended design upon her by Lauder, + and that he took this method of transporting her to some point unknown to + that person, until he himself could offer her his full and unembarrassed + protection. Yet she wondered why it was that he had left her in such + dreadful uncertainty, and did not write her explicitly upon the subject + Again, she was perplexed at the idea that he was in no position to learn + anything of the plots or plans of her rejected suitor, if he entertained + any; so that, upon the whole, she was in no very comfortable state of mind + when she rejoined Martha whom she had left in her chamber, and whom she + now induced to make up a bed upon a sofa and consent to sleep in her + apartment during her stay. + </p> + <p> + Martha, on her part, moved by this token of friendship, and while sitting + up late on the very night of the conversation with Wilson, became + mysteriously nervous and, through various vague hints and insinuations, so + far alarmed Kate at last, that the poor girl implored her new acquaintance + to tell her frankly if she knew anything that bore upon her ease, or the + reasons for her being so singularly circumstanced. + </p> + <p> + To this solicitation Martha made no direct reply; but rising cautiously, + she stepped lightly towards the chamber door, and opening it softly put + out her head into the passage and listened for a few moments. Then gently + closing the door, she again noiselessly retraced her steps, and drawing + her seat close beside that of Kate, began thus, in a low, trembling voice, + in which fear and agitation were distinctly traceable: + </p> + <p> + “Oh! Miss McCarthy, horrible as the disclosure is, I believe that, instead + of a smuggler, which my aunt and I long supposed him to be, my uncle is a + robber, or leagued with robbers! This, for the first-time, came to our + knowledge last night, after his return from wherever he had been. We had + been always accustomed to his bringing here, during the night, mysterious + packages; but as he informed us that they were goods for merchants who, as + he asserted, resided at some distance, we took him at his word, and when + he removed the goods again were, of course, under the firm impression that + he carried them to their owners. However, as I have observed, on returning + last night, when my aunt and I were assisting him to remove a heavy case + from his wagon, while carrying it into the stable to place it under the + hay beneath which he invariably concealed such things, my aunt and I + perceived that, this time, it was a large trunk that he had brought, and + that the lock had given way, disclosing gleams within it, as though it + contained some bright objects. He did not notice the circumstance of the + fastening having failed, and we did not call his attention to the fact; + but permitted him to shake the hay over it as usual. Subsequently, + however, my aunt and I referred to the matter, when she, taking advantage + of my uncle’s sound slumbers, he having retired to rest before her, went + out again and, re-lighting the stable lantern, removed the covering from + the lid of the great trunk, and raising it, perceived that it contained + many valuable articles of silver and dress; but all evidently old, and + huddled together in a manner the most confused. This almost paralysed the + poor woman, and as I subsequently inspected the package, on her retiring + for the night, I arrived at the conclusion which she had, as she informed + me, herself previously adopted; namely, that the goods were stolen, and + that Smith was in some way mixed up with the robbery.” + </p> + <p> + Now, indeed, Kate felt her situation alarming in the truest sense of the + term, and sat looking at her companion in speechless horror and amazement. + Mystery upon mystery it was; but as the dangers that appeared to surround + her, though gloomy, were indistinct, she once more had recourse to her + panacea of the token, and seeking her couch with a fervent prayer on her + lip, was soon, like her young friend on the sofa, lost in uneasy slumbers. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. + </h2> + <p> + It was on the night of Sunday the 27th of May, 1866, that Barry and his + comrades were to attempt their escape from the Fort; and, as already seen, + it was on the same night that the deserter was conveyed in a cab to The + Harp, by Greaves. Two o’clock in the morning was the time decided upon, + and a rendezvous having been appointed, our hero, who was on guard, saw, + without challenging them, six figures steal by him into the darkness and + immediately disappear. No sooner had the last of them vanished, than he + placed his musket bolt upright in his sentry box, and the next moment was + lost also in the gloom, and in the direction in which the figures had + melted from his vision. Soon he reached the side of the river, where he + found Tom with a boat, beside which stood his six companions. On + recognizing him, they all leaped into the boat, and, although the moon was + in the heavens, sheltered by the dark overhanging clouds that fortunately + filled the sky, they dropped down the river, and landing Tom at a point + previously decided upon, they all wrung his hand in silence, and once more + put forth into the gloom, heading their craft towards the American shore, + under the guidance of a pilot who knew every island and turn in the + channel, and who joined them at the spot where O’Brien bid them farewell. + With muffled oars and in the most profound silence, they moved along until + they arrived at a turn in the channel, where they were instructed to bend + to their work by the stranger who held the tiller; when, taking heart from + their good fortune, for so far, they made their willing craft almost leap + out of the water, as they gave a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull + altogether. + </p> + <p> + As day was beginning to shape the world around them, they found themselves + nearing the American shore, and now perceiving themselves beyond the reach + of danger and out of the jurisdiction of the flag they had so long and so + cordially detested, they rested on their oars, and giving three hearty + cheers for the land they were fast approaching, again set to with a will, + and soon found themselves beneath the Stars and Stripes of the glorious + Republic before which all the nations of the earth now bow, however + reluctantly. On leaping ashore, they discovered a short distance from the + water a small village to which, on securing their boat, they all posted; + and having gained a neat little tavern, the shutters of which were just + being opened, they explained their situation to the proprietor, and + ordered breakfast, determined to rest themselves for a period, and + deliberate upon their future movements, although the destination of Barry + had, of course, long been decided upon. + </p> + <p> + On hearing that they were deserters from the British army, and that, + without an exception, they were all Irishmen, who had come to the United + States with a view to aiding in any project that had for its object the + humiliation of England, and the freedom of Ireland, the landlord, who was + a six-footer from Tipperary—one of the Cummingses—gave “a yell + out of him” that brought his wife and children in <i>deshabille</i> to the + bar-room door, proceeded by a boy of all work, who evidently shared their + alarm and surprise to the fullest extent; but when, instead of a bar-room + disturbance, they perceived the master of the premises shaking hands over + and over again with the new arrivals, and bidding them welcome to the land + of the free, they soon disappeared from the hall and regained their + chambers, from which they had been so unceremoniously summoned. Cummings + was literally in his glory, and instantly had his counter be-littered with + glasses, bottles and decanters; while, with genuine hospitality, he made + the fugitives partake more than once of some one of the beverages that he + had placed before them. Ere long a smoking, hot breakfast was in readiness + for them, prepared by the mistress of the house,—herself a comely + Irishwoman, with a set of teeth that you’d almost let bite you, they were + so white and sunny, and a handsome, fair face, with a <i>cead mille failte</i> + in every line and dimple of it. Already the poor adventurers began to feel + the exhilarating effects of freedom, and, as soon as they had satisfied + their appetites, each set about changing his soldier’s coat for a rough, + plain one, which had been provided by O’Brien and his friends, and which + they found awaiting them when they first entered the boat. + </p> + <p> + As Barry, who was regarded as chief of the little party, avowed his + intention of pushing on direct for Buffalo, the others, who had no fixed + point in view, determined to join him; so, when they had taken a few hours + repose, they parted from their kind host and hostess, who would not permit + them to pay a single shilling for anything they had drank or eaten since + they entered the friendly hostel. During the time they were waiting at the + railway station, they heard various rumors as to the intended invasion of + the Province they had but just left; and from numerous significant hints + which they had received, they were fully convinced that some important + movement was on foot, which would soon develope itself in bolder outline. + On entering the cars that were to take them west, they found the subject + of Fenianism freely discussed, and in many cases with a friendliness that + showed there was, in some instances at least, a feeling hostile to England + among the American people. As they pursued their journey and received + other accessions to their numbers as travellers, they found that this + aversion was both widely spread and deeply rooted, so that by the time + they reached their destination, they were fully satisfied that the people + of America, and those of the adjoining English Colony, could never become + true friends so long as the latter adheared to the standard of Great + Britain, or remained part and parcel of the British empire. The antagonism + of institutions, the infamous conduct of England during the late civil + war, and the fixed impression of every true American, that the Canadas + belong of right to the great people who now rule the continent, made it + strikingly apparant that England had but a precarious foot-hold upon the + shores of the New World. + </p> + <p> + On the arrival of the train at Black Rock, Barry, who had been previously + informed as to the precise locality in which the relatives of Kate were to + be found, stepped off the cars, informing his comrades that he would join + them in the city during the day. With but little difficulty he found the + dwelling of his friends, and entering it, was received with open arms, and + was instantly asked as to where he left Kate. For a moment he did not + comprehend the question, but when by degrees he heard the fearful + disclosure, that she had secretly left the house, by night, about a week + previously, he fell into a chair, almost fainting, while the greatest + consternation seized all those about him. Slowly, and with their hearts + sinking within them, they recounted the circumstance of the note that had + been written and left for them on her bedroom table, and the fact of her + having taken some of her wearing apparel with her, but as to where she had + gone, or with whom, they were in the most profound darkness. No one had + called at the house,—no previous intimation had been given them by + her as to her intentions; and, in so far as they were concerned, all was + darkness. Lauder, they knew, had been in the vicinity of the Rock, but + then, of course, he could have had no hand in the strange transaction, as + her detestation of him precluded, as they thought, the possibility of his + exercising the slightest influence over any of her actions. However, she + was gone, and now, as it appeared, was the victim of some horrible plot or + mistake beyond the reach of any elucidation, for the present at least. + </p> + <p> + Never was a strong man so bowed to the dust as the poor young fellow who + now found all his hopes so rudely and unexpectedly dashed to the earth. + With a face pale as death he shook throughout every limb in a manner + fearful to behold. In vain he looked from one face to another for some + explanation of the dreadful calamity that had befallen him—all was + dark and blank and silent around him. Even conjecture was paralysed, so + completely was the disappearance of his betrothed enveloped in mystery. As + a preliminary step, to gain even the feeblest information of her, he did + not know how, or when or where to move. Could he get even the slightest + glimpse of any link in the chain, he could set about unravelling the + tangled and gloomy skein; but as it was, he was as helpless as a child. + Secure in her fidelity, however, and trusting to Providence, crushed as he + was, his young heart, after the first blow, began to rise within him, and + collecting himself, he set about making such enquiries in the neighborhood + as he thought were likely to throw some light upon the subject. In this he + was warmly aided by the alarmed wife of his friend, who learned that on + the very evening of the night of her disappearance, after having given her + last music lesson in the house of one of her pupils, she was seen in + company with a man, who was recognized as no very respectable character, + by one of the hands employed in the rolling mills, who happened to catch a + glimpse of them in conversation as he was returning from his work. The + name of this latter individual having been ascertained, Barry at once + visited the mills and heard, to his consternation, that the suspicious + person seen in company with Kate on the evening referred to, was neither + more nor less than the Kid, previously introduced to the reader, as one of + the keepers of the low gambling house already mentioned, where we first + met him and his partner of the blue shirt, alluded to also as a burglar + and robber. + </p> + <p> + This much ascertained, Nicholas prevailed upon the workman to accompany + him to the den in question, into which they accidentally dropped as it + were. The person they sought was, as usual, about the premises; but from + him Barry could gain no information whatever, beyond the circumstance, + that he did remember, about a week ago, accosting a lady near Black Bock, + having taken the liberty of enquiring of her, whether a certain person + whom he was anxious to find resided in the neighborhood. + </p> + <p> + “I know that’s a lie,” said the workman, when he and Nicholas had gained + the street once more, “for as I happened to come upon them just as they + were separating, I heard the lady say, before she perceived me, and as I + was turning a corner of the road, ‘I’ll not fail to be there,’ or words to + that effect.” + </p> + <p> + To Nicholas this was more perplexing than ever; although he now arrived at + the conclusion, that Kate was the victim of some infamous and deep-laid + plot, and that Lauder was at the bottom of it. But here again he was + embarrassed by the circumstance, that he had never, so far as he knew, + seen her rejected suitor, nor was he known to any of his friends at the + Rock; from the fact that they had left Toronto before his arrival there, + and that, notwithstanding his visits to Buffalo, he had never crossed + their path. All, then, that Nicholas had to stand upon was the + circumstance that she had actually been seen in conversation with the Kid, + and that that worthy had evidently misrepresented the tenor of that + conversation, whatever it might have been. + </p> + <p> + The next day after his arrival, Barry, with a heart sore and dark enough, + went in search of his comrades, informing such of them as he thought + proper to admit to his confidence, of the dreadful condition of his + affairs and mind. While sympathising with him sincerely, however, and + offering him all the assistance in their power, they seemed absorbed with + some new subject of importance which appeared to engross no ordinary share + of their attention. Since their arrival, they had learned that it was a + fact and beyond all doubt, that the Fenians were gathering along the + frontier for the purpose of making a descent upon Canada and securing a + foothold upon its shores, with a view to making it the basis of operations + against England in their attempt to secure the independence of Ireland. + One and all they had determined to join the expedition as volunteers, and + Nicholas, who entertained a lurking suspicion that Kate had crossed the + American frontier under some mysterious impulse or influence, half made up + his mind to make one of the invading army also. This suspicion was based + upon the fact of Kate’s having no friends or relatives in the States, save + those at the Rock, while she had several in Canada in the direction of + which she might have been attracted by letters or representations now a + mystery to him. However, he felt assured that, under any circumstance, she + was not to be found in Buffalo or its vicinity; so, moved by both love and + patriotism, before the evening had set in, he came to the conclusion to + join his comrades in the approaching struggle. + </p> + <p> + This resolution once taken, he made instant application to some of the + Fenian authorities of the city, stating the circumstance of his recent + arrival, and quickly found himself surrounded by a host of friends who + were ready to share their last mouthful or dollar with him. During this + juncture, the Irish spirit of Buffalo, strongly impregnated with the + generous national sentiment of America, was discernible upon every side. + The groups of patriots quietly at first arriving from almost every point + of the compass, were received with open arms and the sincerest hospitality + by those who had an interest in the cause of freedom and the humiliation + of the tyrant England. There were, of course, a few British sympathisers + among the people and press who, ignoring their allegiance to the Union, or + the principles for which the heroes of the Revolution laid down their + lives, threw their voice and influence into the scale on the side of + England, but they were in a hopeless minority; as the great heart of the + nation beat steadily in the interests of liberty, and inspired its sons + with all the confidence necessary to the most complete success. + </p> + <p> + To decide, with Barry, was to act. Consequently, now that he had made up + his mind to join the expedition, he at once acquainted his friends at the + Rock, and gave them such information and instructions relative to Kate as + he thought desirable; intimating to them, at the same time, that he was of + the fixed impression that she had, by some means or other, been lured into + Canada; although a telegram, in reply to one dispatched to Toronto, + informed his friends that she had not visited that city since she left it. + Upon further inquiry, however, regarding the Kid, he learned that that + respectable personage, together with his worthy coadjutor, Black Jack, + were in the habit of paying frequent visits to Canada on the sly; it being + thought that they were employed by persons who were engaged in smuggling. + This information he gained while walking near the breakwater with a new + acquaintance well versed in city notorieties, and who, at the moment, + happened to espy a boat known to belong to the doubtful firm of Jack and + the Kid, lying drawn up on the shore. + </p> + <p> + This craft, of course, engaged the attention of our hero, as belonging, in + part, to the individual who seemed to be mixed up in some mysterious + manner with the fate of his beloved. Consequently, he stepped over to it + and casting a glance of scrutiny at the interior, saw something sparkle + among a little sand, that had accumulated at the bottom near one of the + stretchers. Picking it up, he found that it was a handsome button that had + apparently dropped from the dress of some lady. This he examined with the + most intense eagerness; when the thought struck him that it was very like + some buttons that belonged to a dress occasionally worn by Kate. Of this, + however, he was not sufficiently certain; so, thrusting it into his + pocket, he turned away, more perplexed than ever with the mystery that + surrounded him. Hurrying to the Rock with the waif as soon as he could, he + submitted it to his friends, when it was at once recognized as being + similar to a set of buttons worn by Kate, and which belonged to a dress + that, it was believed, she wore on the night of her disappearance. + Corroborative as this evidence was, it availed him but little for the time + being; although it strengthened his resolve to move with the army of + invasion; being convinced that his betrothed had, by some foul means, been + spirited across the borders, and all through the machinations of her + rejected suitor, Lauder. + </p> + <p> + And now how he cursed the procrastination that had kept him from applying + for his discharge long since, when he might have procured it without any + difficulty, and have placed her he loved beyond the power of any villain. + Again, he was no longer free to search for her in the Province; for he was + under the ban of military law there, and, unless supported by a sufficient + number of bayonets, could not stem the torrent that should soon overwhelm + him if he re-entered the territories of the Queen and was discovered. Yet, + even death were preferable to the state of mind in which he now found + himself; he therefore at once set to work to prepare himself for the + coming contest, in the hope that when once across the borders, if even + amid the din of war, he might gain some clue to the fate of all that he + now cared to live for. + </p> + <p> + As may be supposed, the service of such men as Nicholas and his comrades + were, at a moment so critical, accepted with alacrity by the military + authorities of the Fenian organization of the city. Amongst the various + sterling patriots in power here, both he and his comrades were instantly + taken by the hand and placed in positions where their knowledge of arms + could be made most serviceable to the grand cause in which they had + resolved to embark. They were all Irish, and of that stamp that never + loses color, how fierce soever the scorching fires to which they might be + subjected. Under a special provision, and at Barry’s request, they were + attached to the same company; while he, from his evident superiority in + education and address, as well as from his thorough knowledge of drill and + military tactics, was presented, upon joining the organization, with a + captain’s commission. In the hurry and bustle attending the note of + preparation, he found some slight relief from the great and overshadowing + trouble that darkened all around him; and finding how necessary it was to + keep both mind and body employed, if he was to retain either health or + energy to aid him in any of the important projects that now loomed before + him, he gave no place to useless repinings, but busily engaged with the + necessities of his new avocation, found the hours slipping by which + intervened between the period when he swore the true fealty of his soul to + the flag of his love, and that which was to see him a hostile invader upon + the shores he had so recently left. + </p> + <p> + As the men steadily poured into the city for a short period before the + invasion, and filled the streets and suburbs in groups of various sizes, + it became a matter of general conversation and surprise that, in bodies so + peculiarly situated, and under such seemingly slight restraint, many of + them being far distant from their homes, not a single individual was to be + found who suffered in the slightest degree from even the appearance of + intoxication. Look where you might, there was nothing but the utmost + sobriety and good behaviour. Although the men were, for the most part, + young, and many of them just from the bloodiest fields of the South, there + hung about them an air of serious decorum that argued well for the mission + in which they were about to engage. In addition, notwithstanding that, in + some cases, they were badly housed and provisioned, a murmur never escaped + their lips; nor could the most bitter of their enemies point to a single + act where the law was violated by any of them, or show that even to the + value of one mouthful of bread had been appropriated to their use without + being paid for honestly, or given to them freely by those who felt for + their position. This is so well known that, even at the period at which we + write, upwards of two years after the occurrence of these scenes, not a + solitary fact has come to light reflecting in any degree upon the honesty, + sobriety and good conduct of these noble patriots, many of whom had left + home penniless, to wage war against a power that had almost every resource + at its command, and which they knew they should meet under circumstances + that could not fail to be disadvantageous to them. + </p> + <p> + And here we may observe, history does not record a more daring or + chivalrous project than that entertained by the brave fellows who made the + night of Thursday the 31st of May, 1866, memorable in the annals of this + continent, as well as in those of Ireland. Although laboring under + embarrassments from the most fearful mistakes and criminal neglect of an + individual to whom the grand project of the redemption of Ireland from the + yoke of the oppressor was, in its strictly military aspect, entrusted in + this country—although badly provisioned, uniformed and equipped—although + perplexed with mysterious, contradictory and imperfect orders, and + although, at the very moment of their destiny, left without the leader + whom they were led to expect should command them, they never lost heart + for a moment; feeling that heaven would raise up amongst them a chief not + only competent to meet the emergency of the moment, but one in whom they + should be able to place the fullest and most enthusiastic confidence. + </p> + <p> + And heaven did not disappoint their noble and confiding aspirations; for, + when all looked dark and dreary to the more uneasy of their numbers, the + gallant O’Neill, crowned with the laurels which he had so nobly won during + the war that had then just closed, and true to the genius of his ancient + name and house, stepped in upon the stage, and grasping the drooping + standard of the Irish Republic, held it aloft; and, fired with the spirit + of the “Red Hand” of yore, raised the war-cry of his race, before which + many a Saxon tyrant and slave had trembled in the days long past. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. + </h2> + <p> + When Philip Greaves received the note from Barry, to the deserter who was + secreted in the suburbs of the city, he proceeded, towards evening, to the + point where the soldier lay concealed, and to which he had been directed + with unerring accuracy. On reaching the house in which the fugitive was + said to be hidden, he found but an old woman, who seemed neither alarmed + nor surprised at his arrival. Upon whispering a word in her ear, however, + a look of intelligence stole into her eyes, and putting on her bonnet and + cloak, in the deep dusk, she motioned him to follow her, having closed and + locked to door behind her. After leading him but a short distance, among a + number of small though clean huts, she gained one in which the family were + seated at their plain evening repast. As they entered the dwelling, he + perceived that there was one vacant seat at the table, from which some + person had evidently arisen hastily and disappeared from the apartment In + the course of a few moments, however, and on the head of the family having + been called aside by the old woman, Philip was greeted with a hearty + welcome, and instantly led into a little back room, where he found the + person whom he sought, gazing about him with a distrustful if not an + alarmed air. To this individual he showed Barry’s note, which he had + previously abstracted from the envelope, requesting him, as he perused it, + to return it to him again, as he wished to destroy it himself, lest, by + accident, it should fall into other hands, and as he desired to say to + Nicholas that he was personally cognizant of the fact of its being put out + of the way. To this request the deserter readily acceded, as he would have + to any other of a reasonable character, so delighted was he to receive the + assurance that the hour of his deliverance drew nigh. Here, then, were the + particulars of the plan of his escape settled upon. He was to remain still + concealed, until Greaves called for him with a cab, but was to hold + himself ready to quit his hiding place at a moment’s notice. + </p> + <p> + These preliminaries being arranged, Philip left the house and speedily + proceeded to a neighboring hotel, where he procured a private room, and, + calling for pen, ink and paper, at once addressed himself to writing a + letter. Various were the rubbings of hands and sinister smiles which + punctuated this epistle, until at last, on its being finished, he + carefully folded it, and taking from his pocket-book a sealed envelope, + one end of which had been previously opened with great care, and the + superscription completely removed by a cunning process, he took from + another compartment of his book a small note and introduced it into the + envelope, adroitly closing the apperture with a little mucilage, so as to + completely conceal the incision that had been made, and obliterate every + evidence of the envelope’s having been tampered with. This done, he + slowly, and with apparent great caution as to the conformation of the + letters, directed it, and when he found the ink to be completely dried, + enclosed the whole in the letter that he had just written; placing it, in + turn, in a larger envelope which he hastily directed to some party, from + whom he apparently cared but little to conceal his hand-writing. This + accomplished, he called for some brandy, and after paying liberally for it + and the use of the room, directed his steps towards a stationer’s shop + where he purchased a postage stamp which he attached to his letter. Here, + also, he heard the subject of the threatened invasion of the Province + discussed in all its bearings and probable results; and here, too, the + bitter murmurs of discontent regarding the criminal conduct of the + individual to whom the whole interests of the country were entrusted by + the people and the Crown, and who was said to have been already for weeks + in a condition of mind and body absolutely loathsome. Not wishing, + however, to delay the mailing of his letter, he soon found himself wending + his way to the Post-office, where, with his own hand, he consigned the + missive to the care of her Majesty the Queen, by putting it in the + apperture that opened into the letter-box from the street—the office + being already closed. On this, he retraced his steps towards The Harp, + where he so managed to thrust himself in among the struggling suspicions + of O’Brien, as to almost gain the full confidence of that generous patriot + and banish the last doubt from his breast. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Tom, when he found a fitting opportunity, “how did you find + the poor fellow?” + </p> + <p> + “Willing enough to leave the Province,” whispered Philip, “if he could + only manage to get away; but I think that will be easily arranged now, as + the storm about his desertion has blown over.”. + </p> + <p> + “On the night after that of to-morrow, then,” returned Tom, “they will + make the attimpt; and as I can get a man to help them who knows every turn + and crank of the river, I have hopes of their success; besides it will be + Nick’s night for guard, and there’s somethin in that, you know; as they + can get out at the point where he stands, without much throuble to + themselves or anyone else. However,” he observed farther, “I hope no one + will let the cat out of the bag, as it would be a cryin sin to have the + poor fellows ‘nabbed’ at the very moment when they fancied themselves + about to brathe the purest air that ever floated benathe the canopy of + heaven.” + </p> + <p> + “There’s no fear of that,” replied Greaves, “for you and I only know of + their intentions; although I feel that you are not exactly at home with me + yet, for all your friendly conduct and information; but recollect, that + I’ll perform my part of the contract, and it is for you and them to do the + rest.” + </p> + <p> + This speech made Tom feel a little awkward; and he was about to make a + suitable reply, when he was happily relieved by some parties who dropped + in, to command the attention he so willingly accorded at the moment. + </p> + <p> + That Greaves puzzled and perplexed him there could be no doubt; but at no + period could that individual elicit from him any information, if he + possessed such, in relation to Fenianism. He, of course, knew that Philip + learned from Barry that there were many soldiers in the Fort who + sympathised warmly with Ireland; but this was as far as he was informed in + the matter. It was obvious, however, that for some reason or other, he was + anxious to fathom the depths of the actual Organization, if such existed + in or about the city; but in every attempt he was foiled; for, + notwithstanding his most subtle attacks, he was met at each turn by a + spirit of reticence which baffled all his ingenuity and led him to the + conclusion that, after all, there were perhaps but slight grounds for + believing that the Brotherhood had any very extensive footing in the + colony. + </p> + <p> + Tom sometimes reasoned, that his solicitude on this head was prompted by + patriotic motives; and then, again, the idea used to creep in upon him + that he sought this information for sinister purposes; and thus the worthy + host, trembling in the balance between the two impressions, kicked the + beam on the side of prudence, and if he knew anything of the movements and + intentions of the Organization, kept it to himself; although the letter in + the possession of Greaves might, were he less cautious, have drawn from + him some serious information; for Tom O’Brien was, at that moment, the + Centre of a Fenian Circle, with three hundred armed men at his command, + ready to join the invaders the instant they entered the Province and + planted their standard near him upon British soil. This being the case, he + was well aware of the intentions of the Brotherhood in the United States; + and thus it was, that when he found Barry could not procure his discharge + before the invaders were upon them, he instantly endorsed the project of + his desertion; well knowing that, should he fail to escape before the hour + of the movement arrived, he should be called to take the field against his + countrymen and against Ireland; and, perhaps, under circumstances that + might preclude the possibility of his acting otherwise than as their + enemy. Nor did he relax in his watchfulness and caution when Greaves even + brought the deserter to The Harp in redemption of his word, or, more + remarkable still, when he learned, on the morning succeeding the night of + their escape from the Fort, that seven soldiers of the Regiment had bid + their commanding officer an unexpected and unceremonious adieu; and + notwithstanding that the garrison was all but alive with sentries and + guards patroling every avenue which led from it, made good their escape to + the American shore, where they were now beyond the reach of the Canadian + or Imperial authorities. + </p> + <p> + No sooner had Philip ascertained that the party had made good their + escape, than he himself prepared to bid good-bye to The Harp. O’Brien was + not at all surprised at this sudden resolution, as Greaves had professed + to be daily transacting business; which he asserted might be brought to a + close at any moment. And so he had been transacting business; for he might + have been seen occasionally entering, by stealth, a certain dwelling in + the outskirts of the city where Fenianism and all Irish Nationalists had + their deadliest enemy; but, as already intimated, this enemy had been + rendered powerless by the wine cup for some time past, so that if there + had been any matter of importance to transact between them, it would have + been useless to have even approached it. Still Philip called and called, + but to no purpose; so finding that he had pressing matters in another + direction to claim his immediate attention, he left the mystified + functionary in disgust, casting a glance at the numerous unopened + dispatches on his table, and congratulating Canada on the possession of + such a creditable and efficient, leading officer. + </p> + <p> + Shaking hands with Tom, then, after having honestly liquidated his bill, + our mysterious friend soon found himself on board a train bound direct for + Toronto, where he arrived in due course, amid hosts of rumors, and + military movements which were being accomplished in that reckless and + inefficient haste, that went to prove a screw loose somewhere. Here he + found himself on the evening of the 29th, and being obliged to remain in + the city all the next day, he started the following morning for the West, + when he learned, while journeying onwards, that the Fenian forces were + massed at Buffalo and along the American frontier, and that a descent upon + Fort Erie was sure to take place within a very few hours. Although he had + intended to reach his destination before night, he was delayed at the + various stations, by rumors which tended to make it important for the + train not to proceed in haste, it having been alleged, more than once, + that the Fenian army was already in the Province, and burning and + destroying all before it, In turn, however, each of these rumors was + contradicted; and so the cars proceeded until another was encountered. In + this way the morning of the first of June overtook him before he had yet + reached the point for which he was bound. Now, however, he ascertained + that the Province was, without any manner of doubt, invaded by the army of + the Irish Republic, and that even then the “Sunburst” was flying over the + village of Fort Erie. + </p> + <p> + This intelligence seemed to confound him, and to have exceeded anything + that he could have anticipated. He hod fancied that, notwithstanding all + the rumors he had heard within the last few months, there was no real + intention on the part of the Irish Nationalists of the United States to + actually invade the Province; and believed the reports of their having + congregated upon the American frontier as either unfounded or tremendously + exaggerated. Now, nevertheless, they were within a very few miles of him, + and might be upon him and the neighborhood he was approaching, at any + moment. + </p> + <p> + There was something in this latter conviction that appeared to move him + greatly as he stepped off the train at Port Colborne, where he found the + inhabitants in a state of the direst alarm. Being a stranger, and unable + or unwilling to account very clearly for his sudden presence here, and at + a juncture when suspicion was so rife and every new comer subjected to the + closest scrutiny, he was put under surveillance and not permitted to leave + the village, as he was about to do, until he had explained his business to + the authorities. Chafing with disappointment and anger, he was taken into + custody and confined in one of the rooms of his hotel, until a magistrate + could be found to look into his case. Here, notwithstanding his + protestations and willingness to prove that he was a loyal British subject + and one of importance too, he was detained nearly the whole day; tormented + by the uncomfortable misgiving that perhaps, after all his generalship, + Nicholas Barry might again be in the Province and at a point, too, where + he should be able to frustrate all the plans he had laid so deeply and + executed for so far with the utmost secrecy and success. At last, however, + a magistrate was found and a private investigation of his case granted. + The examination was brief; for scarcely had that functionary been closeted + five minutes with him, before he was set at liberty and again stepped + forth a free man. + </p> + <p> + So utterly helpless were the people of the section of the country in which + he now was, that they must have fallen before any considerable force of + the invaders, had such entered the Province. The greatest distrust + obtained among themselves; there being a strong body of Irish and Irish + sympathisers in their midst, who scarcely cared to hide their sentiments. + And although there was an element in the little town that was truly loyal + to the Crown, yet it is still a matter of doubt as to its having been in + the ascendant, in so far as numbers were concerned. True, that if the + census of the place had been taken at the moment, and the tendencies of + every man registered according to a public statement, extracted from his + own lips, England should have carried the day by an overwhelming majority, + as, on the same basis, she should at this present hour throughout the + whole of the New Dominion. But had one glimpse of a victorious Irish army + been caught in the distance, the case would have been widely different, + indeed; and those who were constrained, through the force of + circumstances, to fall into line with the paid, official squad who ruled + the roast for the time being, would soon hoist their true colors and step + out beneath the folds of that glorious banner of green and gold before + which, with all her boasting armaments, the tyrant power of England now + trembles to its very base. And so it will be throughout the Colony at + large, whenever the Irish Nationalists, or any other people inimical to + England, enter it with a view to tearing down the skull and cross-bones of + St. George, and ultimately replacing it with the proud and invincible + banner of the United States of America. Not a single doubt obtains in well + informed quarters on this head; so that the tyrant England cannot fail to + be swept ultimately from this continent, never to lift her dishonored head + upon its free, historic shores again. + </p> + <p> + And what wonder that the thinking portion of the people of Canada—men + who have its material prosperity and its happiness at heart—should + long for a union with this Republic, with which their interests are so + intimately identified, and upon which they are almost solely dependant for + a market and that good will that is not only necessary to their peace, but + to their very existence? Shut out from the ocean, that great highway of + nations, for six months of the year, they are, almost daily, at the mercy + of the United States for any description of commercial intercourse, or + exchange of thought, in relation to the material condition of the + continent or their own probable future. Lying a frozen strip against the + North pole, with all their available lands settled, if we are to credit + the assertions made by their own statesmen, were this great Republic to + close its doors against them, they should be obviously cut off, in a + measure, from all civilization, and dwarfed both mentally and physically + into the most contemptible dimensions. As it is, they are depending upon + America for every refining and practical influence that warms their + partial life, or gives any value whatever to their social status. American + literature, tastes, habits, inventions and even foibles color all their + internal intercourse; although the fact does not seem apparent to those + who are interested in perpetuating British rule amongst them, and is + denied by others from motives of envy or vanity. Add to this the + circumstance that their government is the most wretched that could + possibly be found among a people professing to be free. Scarce a single + department of it but is stained with fraud of the vilest description to + the very lips, and neither more nor less than an instrument of public + plunder in the hands of corrupt officials. Even while we write, and for + years back, a charge lies in the department of the Minister of Finance, + against the present Premier of the Dominion, accusing that unscrupulous + individual of conspiring with a whisky dealer, <i>while he himself was + First Minister of the Crown</i>, to defraud the revenue—a charge + made by the present Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise, whom + this same Premier has been obliged to retain in office to the present + hour, with a view to saving himself from disclosures calculated to drive + him from office in disgrace. So dreadful have been the circumstances of + this case, that when an offer was made subsequently, through the public + press, to produce bank, official and mercantile evidence that the + government functionary who preferred this frightful accusation was + dishonest and incompetent, and that he had purloined public documents and + destroyed them with a view to concealing his crimes, still this Premier + dared not summon him to trial, although, times without number, he gave + assurances, as did the then Inspector General, that the culprit should be + brought before the proper tribunal, and justice done in the premises. But + why need we complain, when Canada takes the matter so coolly; for will it + be believed, that these two worthies—both the accused and the + accuser—both disfigured by the most damning accusations, are still + in the pay of the Canadian people, and have been so ever since the + circumstances of their official character were laid through the daily + press before the world. Not a single move has yet been made in the + direction of justice, nor an inquiry instituted as to the truth or + falsehood of these frightful charges. The Premier still carries the filthy + load upon his shoulders, while his subordinate, of the stolen bank + receipts and false report, laughs in his sleeve at the rod that he holds + over his naked shoulders. + </p> + <p> + Nor is this more than an individual case amongst others of a similar + class. What of the tens of thousands of the people’s money given, without + the sanction of Parliament, to the Grand Trunk Railway in the interest of + English stockholders; and the postal subsidies handed over to the same + line, in excess of the tender made by the Managing Director for the + carrying of her Majesty’s mails? Was not the government liberal with the + hard earnings of their poor dupes throughout the land, when they virtually + informed the authorities of the Grand Trunk that they were altogether too + modest in their estimates, and that the country ought not to take + advantage of such nice young men, but give them more than they asked for + performing the service mentioned? Glorious! wasn’t it? We might also + allude to the manner in which Sir John A. taxed the struggling industry of + the Province, millions to build up his pet Parliament Houses at the back + of God speed—buildings that almost rival those of England—and + refer also to the delightful manner in which the Crown Lands were dealt + with by another member of this happy family: citing the case of the + Wallace Mine Claim, in which the Commissioner managed to dispose, at a + mere nominal figure, of a portion of the public domain by private sale + among a few of his friends, including a gentleman presumed to be his own + agent, and that, too, in the face of a law which made it imperative upon + the government to advertise all lands in the <i>Canada Gazette</i> before + they were put upon the market. For appearance sake, the lands were + advertised in the <i>Gazette</i>; but when a purchaser dropped in to make + inquiries, it leaked out that they had been all disposed of previously. In + this way the business of the people has been conducted for years; and what + is the result? To-day they are without immigration, trade or commerce—to-day + there is no public confidence existing in any portion of the Dominion; for + the government seem to grasp the purse-strings with one hand while they + hold a drawn sword in the other. There is no security to be found in any + corner of the State; and no projects, formed for the future of its people. + To be sure, certain parties prate and jabber about the Volunteer Service + and national defenses; but what have they to defend? If their frontier + were bristling to-morrow with forts and bayonets, all they could hope to + accomplish would be the shutting out of American liberty and national + prosperity from the people. This must be self-evident to any individual + who is at all conversant with the true nature of the case, or cognizant of + the fact, that there cannot possibly be any hope for Canada so long as she + holds herself aloof from the great social and political compact of this + Union, upon the pulses of which, in her present helpless and isolated + position, she will always have to dance attendance and pay the piper + besides. Either the sunlight or the shadow of the Republic must fall on + her without intermission. If she choose the former, well and good; let her + cut herself free of the despotic tyrant that now holds her in cunning + thrall, and step into the broad effulgence of American freedom, or if she + will it, until circumstances of themselves precipitate her into the arms + of the Commonwealth with less grace than she might otherwise have fallen + into them, let her feel the blighting influence of the cold clouds that + cannot fail to envelope her and paralyze all her energies in the interim. + There is no need of mincing the matter—Canada beneath the skull and + cross-bones of St. George, must ever remain a poor, puny starveling; while + under the proud and ample folds of the glorious flag of this mighty + Republic, she should at once become great, powerful and prosperous, as yet + another star added to the refulgent galaxy that now rides high amid the + noontide of nations. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. + </h2> + <p> + One grand evidence of the deep rooted sentiment that actuates Fenianism in + the great Irish American heart, is to be found in the fact, that at the + time of the Pittsburgh Convention, the Organization was in debt, and that + within the brief space intervening between that period and the invasion of + Canada, the Brotherhood armed and equipped thousands upon thousands of + their number, and still had not expended the last dollar in their + treasury. This is, of itself, a most significant fact, and one that goes + far to exalt the Irish element on this continent in the eyes of both + soldiers, citizens and statesmen. The abiding faith of our people in the + justice of their cause, and the fixed conviction that it shall one day + triumph, enable them to deal with reverses and opposition in a manner at + once intelligent, dignified and philosophic. They know that repeated + failures have been the crucible in which the holiest and the most + successful projects have been tried in all ages; and, like that of the + spider of Bruce, the heart never fails within them. Amongst them, too, + were found upon the eve of their descent upon the Province, as well as + long previous to it, men of undoubted patriotism, genius and chivalry. And + at no point was this more obvious than at Buffalo. We say, more obvious, + for we know that scarce a city, town or village in the State, and far and + wide outside it, but contained just us good men and true as were possessed + by Buffalo; but we refer to it thus particularly, as it is more + immediately connected with our tale. We could mention many names as + sterling in every relation as those we now introduce; but none, we + apprehend, more intimately blended with the actual descent of the brave + O’Neill upon Canada, save the handful of heroes who joined him in that + proud and daring expedition; and none which, in the hour of the sorest + need of the Organization, sacrificed more for the sake of Ireland. + </p> + <p> + When the moment was considered ripe for the movement, then, the eyes of + the Fenian authorities were turned towards Buffalo, and other points on + the frontier lying close upon the Canadian borders. In this city, Francis + B. Gallagher, Esq., and five or six others were regarded as marked + personages towards which a peculiar portion of the movement should + gravitate before finally crossing the lines. These gentlemen, from their + independent circumstances, excellent social standing and undoubted + patriotism, were regarded as pillars of strength upon which the expedition + might properly lean for a moment, and adjust itself before attempting to + cross the Rubicon and enter the country of the enemy. There were more, + also, in this city, who evinced a spirit of the truest love of Ireland + upon that occasion, as upon all previous once, and who assisted in + forwarding the grand objects of the organization to the utmost stretch of + their abilities, but as their names are too numerous to mention here, and + as they had their counterpart, as they have to-day, in various localities + throughout the Union, we shall merely note the circumstance of their + existence. As to the Brotherhood in its military aspect here, no portion + of the State or Union was better represented in this connection, or more + competent to distinguish itself upon the field. Its civil relations, also, + were equally creditable; Mr. Gallagher, as the period for action + approached, becoming active, anxious and restless; devoting his time + assiduously to the affairs of the Brotherhood, and constantly + communicating with headquarters on some point of importance. And thus + affairs stood when the first draft of men arrived in the city under + Senator Bannon, of Louisville, Ky., and Senator Fitzgerald, of Cincinnati, + and when the movement on Canada might be said to have fairly commenced. + </p> + <p> + Soon, however, it began to be discovered that, although Buffalo, and other + places, were alive to their duty and ready to contribute their quota to + the expedition, there was a screw loose somewhere; and on the evening of + the thirty-first of May, it was ascertained that, although numbers of + volunteers had arrived from various points, through the unfortunate + neglect or incapacity of the then Secretary of War, there was no one to + command them. This was a dreadful state of affairs indeed, and one which + admits of no palliation. It was expected that General Lynch, or some other + distinguished officer, would take charge of the expedition from this + point; but that gallant and experienced soldier, owing to the receipt of + incorrect orders, did not arrive in time to assume the command. Up to this + point, and for some time previously, matters had been conducted in a + manner so careless by the War Department, that the mere casual observer + might reasonably presume some parties connected with it courted failure. + Arms and ammunition had been despatched to the frontier without due + precaution, and to parties to whom they ought not have been transmitted, + for various reasons. Again, the massing of forces at the various points of + debarkation was neither compact nor simultaneous,—a circumstance + which occasioned so much delay, that the American government could not + possibly close their eyes to the fact of the invasion, without + compromising themselves before the world. Had one simultaneous and compact + movement characterized the expedition, the American authorities would + never have interfered with it; but when it was rubbed under their nose for + days, through the blundering or criminality of those who undertook to + direct it from the War Department, what was to have been expected other + than is now known to have occurred? + </p> + <p> + In addition to this, no transport had been actually secured for the troops + that had arrived at Buffalo, and the dilemma was intensified to the + extremest pitch. What ship-owner, in the face of such bungling, would run + the risk of placing any of his vessels at the disposal of a party so + uncomfortably situated? That was a question which presented itself at the + last moment, and which was more easily put than answered. + </p> + <p> + When all was dark and uncertain, however, and when the heart of many began + to fail, in stepped the gallant O’Neill upon the platform, offering to + command the expedition. He had arrived previously from Nashville, Tenn., + with his contingent, and felt how dreadful the position in which the + project was placed. A council of war was held, at which Captain Hynes was + present; and as this latter gentleman had delegated authority from Gen. + Sweeney, Colonel O’Neill—now General—was at once placed in + command. So far so good; but how were the troops to get across the river? + The interrogatory, as already observed, was a perplexing one; but it was + instantly solved by Mr. Gallagher and one or two other gentlemen, who + voluntarily, and at the imminent risk of every dollar they possessed, + pledged all they were worth in the world, and procured the necessary means + for crossing the river, and landing the first instalment of the army of + the Irish Republic upon British soil. + </p> + <p> + The number of men assembled at Buffalo on the night already mentioned was + about eight hundred,—being detachments from the following regiments:—13th + Infantry, Colonel John O’Neill; 17th Infantry, Colonel Owen Stan; 18th + Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Grace; 7th Infantry, Colonel John Hoy, and + two companies from Indiana, under Captain Haggerty; but the number of men + that could be gotten together when the expedition crossed did not exceed + six hundred. + </p> + <p> + An authentic report of this brief but glorious campaign will be found at + the close of this work. We introduce it as historical information, from a + most unerring source. The subject, it will be perceived, is treated in the + most impartial and unimpassioned manner; dealing simply in dry details, + and in that curt, soldier-like matter of fact style, which aims at nothing + like effect, and seeks only to recount circumstances as they occurred, and + that, too, in the briefest possible manner. + </p> + <p> + Scarcely had the last boat, with the invading expedition, pushed off from + the American shore, on the night of the 31st of May, already mentioned, + when another craft, pulled by two men, its only occupants, followed in the + wake of the receding troops, dropping a little further down the river, as + it neared the Canadian side. From their dress and appearance, the rowers + might have been recognized by many a Buffalonian, as Black Jack and the + Kid, who were evidently bent upon dogging the invaders, and, while keeping + at a safe distance, dealing in such plunder on their outskirts as might + swell their own villainous coffers, while the criminality should attach to + the Fenians. This course was prompted on their part by a sort of blind, + bull-dog adherence to everything English, and a hope of picking up in the + red trail of the campaign such valuables as would increase their already + large though ill-gotten store. + </p> + <p> + On reaching the Canadian shore, both these worthies, who had but a few + nights previously conveyed Kate across the Niagara, set out for the + village of Fort Erie, which lay about four miles up the river, and which + they did not wish to approach directly from the American side, but creep + towards in the rear of the moving mass. + </p> + <p> + Under no circumstances does the human wolf exhibit itself to such + monstrous intensity as under those of war. Not the wolf in the uniform of + the soldier, for, let him be as blood-thirsty as he may, he buys, on the + field, to some extent at least, the right to be savage. The current coin + in which he deals is human gore; and in this relation he freely exchanges + with his antagonist the circulating medium, and gives or takes, as the + necessities of the moment may demand. He stands a nine-pin on the great + bowling-alley of the field, and takes his chance of being knocked down in + common with his opponent, who occupies a precisely similar position. He + offers life for life; and, lamentable as the doctrine may be, he seems + licensed to plunder, and, if needs be, kill. Here, of course, we speak of + the mere hireling, who has no higher object before him than that of simple + gain—who is actuated solely by a sordid love of gold—whose + soul and body are as purchasable as a pound of beef in the shambles, and + who is moved by the wretched pulses of mammon only. Such an one, although + low in the scale of humanity, and unworthy of being mentioned in the same + breath with the glorious patriot who unsheathes his sword for Father-land, + Liberty and Heaven, is an angel of light compared with the lynx-eyed, + dastardly prowler, who, when the heart of his quarry has been stilled by + some other hand, gropes, gloved with clotted sore, among the mangled + remains for the booty he never earned; or who, when the thunder of the + field, or the onward course of a victorious army lays waste the fair land, + takes advantage of the dread and confusion of the inhabitants, and gorges + himself with plunder, as though he were a victor to whom should belong the + spoils. Such wreckers of the dead are the ghouls of our race; and never + had they more faithful representatives than the two villains who, in due + course, mingled with the invaders in the village, anxious to commence + their depredations before even a single shot was fired. + </p> + <p> + Barry, as already intimated, joined the expedition, and was now numbered + among the invaders. Of course he perceived that with such a mere handful + of men, nothing could be effected in the Province; but, then, he never + supposed for a moment, that they were other than the simple advance-guard + of a numerous following close upon their rear. In addition, it was + anticipated that the landing of troops upon the Canadian shore would be + effected simultaneously along the frontier at different points. This was + the settled conviction of O’Neill, and of his officers also, as the scheme + formed a leading feature of the programme of the campaign. But here the + fates were against them; for transportation, as we are led to believe, was + not secured effectively at any point save Buffalo. In fact, this city + appears to have acquitted itself with regard to the invasion, in a manner + that reflects the highest credit upon the Fenian authorities of the + district; for even when the expedition, on finding that the American + Government had interfered with the transport of reinforcements, had + considered it prudent to return, the means of reaching the American shore + were placed at its command by the patriotic gentlemen already alluded to; + while, farther still, when the United States authorities were seizing the + arms of the Brotherhood in every direction, Buffalo, through the admirable + management of these persons, contrived to keep its quota intact. + </p> + <p> + During the morning of the landing, Nicholas happened to get a glimpse of + the Kid and big dark companion in the village; and the circumstance awoke + strong hopes in his bosom in relation to gaining some intelligence of + Kate. From all he had heard, and from having found the trinket in their + boat, he felt convinced that either one or the other of these scoundrels + knew something of her. He, therefore, kept track of them until a fitting + opportunity, when he accosted the Kid, as a sort of half acquaintance, + and, by way of attempting to surprise him into a confession of some + knowledge of Kate, produced the silver chased button already referred to, + and asked him if he knew the name of the lady that had recently dropped it + in his boat. For a moment the villain, who was, of course, none other than + the Stephen Smith that was in the habit of visiting the Wilsons, seemed + taken aback; but instantly recovering himself, replied, that his boat was + so often hired by fishing parties, it would be difficult to tell the name + of the lady from whose dress it might have dropped—that was, + “provided it had dropped from a lady’s dress, at all.” + </p> + <p> + Although the thrust was adroitly parried, Nicholas, who was on the <i>qui + vive</i>, noticed his momentary confusion, and determined to keep his eye + upon him, in the hope that something might soon turn up that would throw + the villain more completely into his power, and enable him to extract from + him the intelligence which he still felt satisfied was in his possession. + With this end in view, he set one of his comrades, who had escaped from + the Fort with him, to watch with the utmost caution and secrecy every + manoeuvre of the wretch and his companion; fully satisfied, as he was, + that both the rascals were determined to follow in the wake of the army, + for purposes already mentioned. + </p> + <p> + The conduct of the Invaders at Fort Erie was of such general excellence, + that the inhabitants of that place speak of them, up to the present hour, + in terms of such admiration as to excite the jealous animadversions of + many of the Canadian people themselves. Notwithstanding that the village + and its vicinity lay helplessly at their disposal, and was, for the + moment, theirs by right of conquest, they entered it rather in the + character of guests than in that of masters. Although the usages of war + placed all that it contained at their feet, they never appropriated to + their use even one solitary loaf of bread or glass of ale without having + first paid for it. As to their generosity and chivalry in this connection, + let us quote from the work of Major George T. Denison, Jun’r, commanding + “the Governor General’s Body Guard,” Upper Canada; author of “Manual and + Outpost Duties,” “Observations on the best Defensive Force for Canada, + &c.”—an officer who took part in the campaign against the + Fenians, and who cannot be charged with partiality to the invaders. In + this work, published in June, 1866, by Rollo & Adam, Toronto, and + entitled “The Fenian Raid on Fort Erie, with an account of the Battle of + Ridgeway,” the author, page 62, observes, first, as to the disastrous + result of the collision between both armies, to the Canadians:— + </p> + <p> + “The loss of this fight was the loss of the whole expedition. The two + Commanding Officers were wandering about the country, the main body of the + men captured or lying wounded about the village; the Captain of the + Artillery struck down with the loss of a leg, and the Tug almost denuded + of men, and the few left so hampered with a lot of useless prisoners, as + to be unable to undertake anything.” + </p> + <p> + And again, after having complimented the invaders on some instances of + personal bravery, he remarks, page 69: + </p> + <p> + “Before closing this chapter, I must mention that, from all accounts, the + Fenians, except in so far as they were wrong in invading a peaceful + country, in carrying on an unjustifiable war, behaved remarkably well to + the inhabitants. I spent three weeks in Fort Erie, and conversed with + dozens of the people of the place, and was astonished at the universal + testimony borne by them to their unvarying good conduct. They have been + called plunderers, robbers and marauders; yet, no matter how unwilling we + may be to admit it, the positive fact remains, that THEY STOLE BUT FEW + VALUABLES; THAT THEY DESTROYED, COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, LITTLE OR NOTHING, + AND THAT THEY COMMITTED NO OUTRAGES UPON THE INHABITANTS, BUT TREATED + EVERYONE WITH UNVARYING COURTESY. On taking a number of the Welland + Battery and the Naval Company prisoners, THEY TREATED THEM WITH THE + GREATEST KINDNESS, putting the officers under their parole and RETURNING + TO THEM THEIR SIDE ARMS; taking them down to the wharf on their departure, + and releasing them, bidding them adieu with EXPRESSIONS OF GOOD WILL.” + </p> + <p> + “Another incident,” he goes on to say, same page, “occurred, worth + mentioning: A number of them went to a widow lady’s house, near Fort Erie, + and asked her for something to eat. They were about going into the kitchen + to sit down, and she told them she would not let them in,—they + laughingly replied, ‘very well, ma’am, we’ll do here very well, it is a + very nice yard;’ and accordingly they sat down on the grass and ate the + bread and butter and milk she gave them. Another squad in the same way + took breakfast there. In the evening a man came, ragged and tired, looking + for something to eat. Seeing a loaf of bread on the table he took it up. + The lady said: ‘That is the last loaf I have.’ The man looked at her and + said slowly: ‘Is that the last loaf of bread that you have? then I’ll not + take it,’ and laid it on the window-sill. Seeing this, she asked him to + take half. After pressing it upon him, he at length took a portion of it. + This story is undoubtly true, as I obtained it from the lady herself, with + whom I am intimately acquainted.” + </p> + <p> + “It perhaps,” he continues in the next paragraph, page 70, “does not come + with a good grace from a Canadian to give any credit to the Fenians, who, + without any ground of complaint against us, invade our country and cause + the loss of valuable lives among us; but as a truthful narrator of facts, + I must give them credit on the only ground on which they can claim it.” + </p> + <p> + This is honest and soldierly on the part of Major Denison; but should + these pages chance to meet his eye, he will find his theory untenable in + relation to the immunity of Canada from the consequences of any acts for + which England may seemingly be responsible only. The war of 1812 was not a + war against Canada, but against Great Britain, and yet Canada was invaded + by the Americans and made the principal theatre of the conflict. How + multifarious soever, or widely scattered its colonies or dependencies, + every nation is a unit, and consequently amenable as well in detail as in + the aggregate, for any offence committed against public justice or + humanity. When you quarrel with a man, you don’t quarrel in particular + with his eye, his foot, or his nose, although you may punish him as a + whole by inflicting injury upon all or any of these organs; and thus it is + in the case under consideration; the New Dominion is the foot or the eye + or the nose of John Bull, and as such, any enemy of England is justifiable + in maiming him in any or all of these parts. This is the hard logic of the + point; and if Canada wishes to escape its consequences, she must + demonstrate to the Irish people, or to any other who may be at enmity with + England, that she is neither part nor parcel of the British Empire. How + ridiculous the plea set up by Canada, that because she was not forsooth an + active individual agent of gross tyranny and injustice towards Ireland, + she ought to be exempt from any of the consequences arising to the real + culprit in the case. The same argument might be urged with as much reason, + by half the population of England herself, who are just as innocent in + this respect as the people of Canada; they having never been consciously + concerned in any oppression of Ireland, either individually or + collectively. But they are the friends, allies and abettors of the + government which has perpetrated such crimes in relation to Ireland,—nay, + more, they create and sustain the agencies through which these wrongs are + committed; and in this they are joined heart, hand and soul, by the people + of Canada or the representatives of that people. Canada, then, having + sworn allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, is constructively, as well + as virtually, as much an enemy of Ireland as England is. The Firm, + comprising Great Britain and all its colonies and dependencies throughout + the world, is known as John Bull & Co., and the distinctive sign of + the house, in all its ramifications, is the Union Jack or some adaptation + of the red cross of St. George to local predilections. As in ordinary + mercantile transactions, a debt incurred by any branch of the + establishment involves the responsibility of the whole, and can be levied + for in London or Hokitika. This is the true state of the case, and any + individual who would advance a doctrine contrary to it, is either a + simpleton or a knave. + </p> + <p> + Black Jack and his companion were astonished to find such order reign in + the midst of an invading army, and to perceive that the inhabitants of the + village were not subjected to instant plunder, if not fire and sword, by + the troops now in possession of the place. They had come over in the hope + of being able to make some bold strokes in the wake of the soldiery, and + the confusion that they had fancied should obtain among the people; but + finding that they were foiled in this direction, they cast their eyes + about them to see what was best to be done under the circumstances. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll be blowed,” growled Jack, as they both rambled in the outskirts of + the village the morning of their arrival, “if this ain’t a go. Honly + fancy, Kid, vot a set of spoonies these ‘ere fellows har, not to be goin + it like the Hinglish in Hindia, or in the Peninsoola under the Duke. I + ‘eard a fellow as vos there say, that they used to steal hoff at night and + ‘av hodd sport and leave none to tell the tale in the mornin. Glorious, + vosn’t it? And then ven they gathered hup the svag, they made it hall + right vith the sentries and sometimes vith the hofficers themselves.” + </p> + <p> + “Jack, I’ll never make anything of you,” returned the Kid; “your language + is so vulgar, and your address altogether so ungentlemanlike, that you at + once peach on yourself; for anybody, with even half an eye, that either + sees you or hears you speak, would take you for the villain you + unquestionably are.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! bless’ee, but you’re a sveet cove,” rejoined Jack, “and no vun vould + suppose for a moment that you cut Sal Gordon’s throat, the night you + coaxed her hoff to marry her, just because you took a fancy to a couple of + five-pun notes she had in her trash-bag that she refused to give hup afore + the knot vos tied.” + </p> + <p> + “Come, come,” winced the Kid, “no more of that, but let us see if we can’t + do a little business here, or, at least, before we return, which I venture + to say we shall manage if we keep in the wake of these fellows without + arousing the suspicions of any of them.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes!” said Jack, “but vot hif ve should run foul of the henemy and + be taken hup as belongin to these ‘ere chaps, hif so be they’re beaten, as + I hope they vill?” + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what, there’s but one chap among them all that’ll keep his eye + on us,” replied the Kid, “and that’s the fellow who thought to surprise me + into a confession, by suddenly producing a button that, I apprehend, + dropped off the dress of the lady that we, recently ran over here for our + new employer. I have found out his name, and learned that he was engaged + to be married to this same beauty, who is now safely caged at Wilson’s, + where she’ll soon be apt to learn that she’s in about as nice a fix as + ever she was in during her life. But,” he continued, “I don’t know what to + make of that Martha. All I can do or say, whenever I happen to be at the + house, has no other effect than that of apparently making her more and + more opposed to her uncle’s wishes, until I am convinced shell never be + mine, willingly at least. And after all, I love the girl well enough; + although I feel I should kill her before she was mine a month.” + </p> + <p> + Thus baffled and circumscribed, these two scoundrels prowled about the + village until near ten o’clock, when the troops moved down the river about + four miles, and went into camp at Newbiggin’s farm. At this period the + gallant O’Neill was in great uncertainty. Here he was in an enemy’s + country with but a handful of men, and in utter darkness as to what was + going on at other points. Already, at Buffalo, he had a taste of the + manner in which the War Department had conducted the expedition to that + point; and was, of course, afraid that the inefficiency of that department + would make itself apparent in more relations than one. In the ability, + activity and devotion of President Roberts, Vice-President Gibbons and the + Senate, he had the fullest confidence; but Col. Roberts did not take it + upon himself to dictate to a department that was in charge of what was + believed to be an old and experienced military officer, and one on whose + judgment and practical skill he placed the fullest reliance. The position + was a desperate one; but O’Neill was determined to maintain his ground on + British soil, until satisfied that failure had obtained elsewhere, and + that there was no probability of his being reinforced. He had long burned + for an opportunity of meeting the enemies of the land of his birth in open + fight; and now, although all around looked dark and uncertain, he was + determined to join issue with any force that was brought against him. His + men for the most part, too, shared this sentiment. True, that a few + cowardly hounds had deserted his standard almost as soon as it had been + unfurled on the enemy’s shore; but then these were of that miserable breed + that always attach themselves to expeditions of this sort without + measuring their motives or the strength of their principles. However, be + this as it may, they have forever forfeited their claims to the name of + Irishmen, if such they were; while the very recollection will be painful + to many, that so dastardly and worthless a crew tainted, even for a single + moment, the pure atmosphere in which such men breathed as the following, + not to speak of the noble rank and file whose names we are unable, for + obvious reasons, to give here, and who, like them, led by the gallant + O’NEILL, immortalized themselves on the field of Ridgeway: + </p> + <h3> + <i>OFFICERS OF THE I.R.A., PRESENT AT RIDGEWAY</i>. + </h3> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Lieutenant RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK, Aid-de-Camp to O’NEILL. + + Colonel OWEN STARR, commanding Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant Colonel JOHN SPAULDING, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Captain TIMOTHY O’LEARY, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Captain JOHN GEARY, Lexington, Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant PATK J. TYRRELL. Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant MICH’L BOLAND, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + + Colonel JOHN HOY, Buffalo, commanding 7th Regiment I.R.A. + Lieutenant Colonel MICH’L BAILEY, Buffalo, 7th Regiment I.R.A. + Captain JOHN M. FOGARTY, Buffalo. + Captain WM. B. SMITH, Buffalo. + Lieutenant EDW’D LONERGAN, Buffalo. + + Colonel JOHN GRACE, Cincinnati; commanding Ohio troops. + Captain SAM SULLIVAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. + Lieutenant JOHN J. GEOGHAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. + + Captain —— BUCKLEY, Cleveland, Ohio troops. + Lieutenant TIMOTHY LAVAN, Cleveland, Ohio. + + Captain —— McDONALD, Pulaski, Tennessee. + + Captain LAWRENCE SHIELDS, Nashville, commanding Tennessee troops. + Captain PHILIP MUNDY, Chattanooga, Tenn. + Lieutenant JAMES J. ROACH, Nashville, Tenn. + Lieutenant JOHN MAGUIRE, Nashville, Tenn. + + Captain MICH’L CONLON, Memphis, Tennessee. + + Captain —— HAGGERTY, Indianapolis, Indiana. + + Major JOHN C. CANTY, Fort Erie, C.W. +</pre> + <p> + We trust that we have not omitted here the name of any officer present at + Ridgeway. If it should ever appear that we have done so, it will be a + source of great pain to us, although we can plead in apology that every + effort was made on our part to procure a complete list. + </p> + <p> + Seeing that there was not much to be made out of Fort Erie, the two + comrades, Black Jack and the Kid, moved cautiously in the rear of the + troops as they fell down the river; their intention being to remain + concealed in the vicinity of any point at which an engagement might take + place, and then trust to chance for an opportunity of rifling the dead or + picking up whatever spoils happened to drop in their way. While + deliberating upon this creditable resolve, about noon, as they had made a + detour and pushed ahead of the troops, who were going into camp, their + attention was arrested by the noise of some vehicle coming up a side road + across which they were wending their way. In the course of a few moments + they discovered that it was the wagon of Wilson, driven by that worthy, in + the direction of the village of Waterloo; he evidently not having, as yet, + heard of the Province being invaded. Immediately a conference took place + between the three friends, when it was agreed that Wilson’s wagon should + be concealed in a wooded hollow close by, and that it should be made the + receptacle of whatever plunder might be secured during the struggle that + they all felt must soon take place. Consequently, the team was turned + aside, and, after being unhitched, was secured in a close clump of trees, + that was not likely to be visited by any persons in the vicinity; and more + particularly so, when the country was now being alarmed throughout, and + people were securing themselves in their habitations. + </p> + <p> + After this being arranged, and the horses fed and watered, the party again + sallied forth towards the main road, with a view to getting as near as was + safe to the camp of the invaders, and gleaning some information as to + their future movements. They had been hovering about in this way for some + time, when they came to a point where two roads met, and where they + perceived two wagons in which were a number of people, all standing and + reconoitering something, in alarm or surprise, through a field-glass, + which they were passing from one to the other. At a glance the trio saw + that these persons were Canadians; and, fearing nothing, they made + instantly towards them, and as though in ignorance of what had taken + place, made inquiries as to what they were inspecting. + </p> + <p> + While engaged in conversation upon this point, and learning that those in + the wagons were observing a body of armed men who were moving at some + distance from them, but whom they could not identify as either friends or + foes, the whole party perceived an officer riding towards them with the + greatest apparent coolness and confidence. On coming up, he informed them + that the body of men in the distance were some volunteers who were not + very well acquainted with the roads about there, and that he would feel + obliged if they would just drive down and give the commanding officer + whatever information was in their power upon the subject of the best route + to be taken to a certain point, naming it. To this request they all gladly + acceded, the Kid and Jack not daring to say a word, and not one of them + suspecting anything from the peculiar uniform of the officer; from the + fact that they were not aware the hat indicated that he did not belong to + any Canadian force; believing, as they did, that the uniforms of the + volunteers were of various descriptions. When, however, they arrived at + the point where the men were stationed, they quickly found out their + mistake, and, to their utter consternation, were all made prisoners, + Wilson and his two companions included. The body that made this capture + was a reconnoitering force commanded by Col. John Hoy; and no sooner was + it made, than the prisoners and the two wagons were at once forwarded + under an escort to O’Neill’s camp, where, on the Kid and Black Jack being + recognized as belonging to Buffalo, they were released at once; the others + being held for a short period with a view to gaining some information from + them, relative to the movements or whereabouts of the enemy, of which, as + it subsequently turned out, they knew nothing whatever. + </p> + <p> + This introduction to the camp was considered fortunate by the Kid and his + comrade, who now, on being acknowledged by some of the men who knew + nothing of their real character, seemed anxious to remain under the + protection of the Irish flag until, as they stated, they could effect + their escape across the river; as they now averred that, should they + attempt to regain Buffalo alone, they could not fail to fall into the + hands of the Canadian forces, who, it was rumored, were gathering on every + side of the Fenian army, with the design of surrounding it and cutting off + its retreat. This all seemed natural and reasonable enough; and more + particularly as the two villains asserted that they were on their way to + Chippewa on business of importance, but should now get back to their home + as soon as practicable; they not having had any idea that the invasion was + about to take place; and having crossed to the Canadian side early the + evening before; that finding they could not get any one to recross the + river with them, as things stood, they thought it better to keep in the + wake of the army until they had reached some point where they could effect + a crossing; not wishing to entrust themselves to the people of Fort Erie, + after the troops had evacuated that place, as they felt certain that the + inhabitants regarded them as Fenians, and would treat them as such if an + opportunity was afforded them to do so. + </p> + <p> + During the day nothing of interest transpired, until towards evening, when + Barry, with two of his old comrades and four others of his company, who + were thoroughly acquainted with the locality, were despatched from the + camp, as were similar squads in other directions, to make reconnoissances + of the enemy, if they were anywhere near the main body of the army. After + proceeding cautiously for a couple of miles, and pausing, from time to + time, to reconnoitre, on gaining the verge of a small piece of wooded + land, they suddenly found themselves almost face to face with ten or + twelve armed soldiers, in British uniform, who seemed to be an outpost + lying in wait among some pine shrubs, on the opposite side of a narrow + ravine. Fortunately for our hero, he was the first to discover the red + coats, upon whom the sun was pouring its declining rays, revealing them to + the green coats, while at the same time it dazzled and obscured their + vision, from the fact that the light flashed full in their faces, while it + fell on the backs of their advancing adversaries. A few hundred yards + towards the upper end of the ravine, there was a small patch of wood, + through which Barry instantly determined to move towards the point + occupied by the enemy; hoping to be able to surprise them before they were + aware of his proximity. This manoeuvre was accomplished rapidly, and with + the utmost caution; but as an open space yet intervened between him and + them, when he had gained the verge of the grove, he determined to remain + under cover, with a view to ascertaining the strength of the force he + might have to cope with; not knowing but it was larger than it seemed to + be from the opposite side of the glen. + </p> + <p> + Here, however, he had scarcely halted when he was discovered by the enemy, + who took alarm; but, after a moment’s pause, during which a good deal of + coolness was observed amongst their ranks, they deliberately poured a + volley into the grove where he and his little band stood under shelter, + although discernible among the trees. No sooner had the music of the + bullets ceased, and as a full view was had of the force of the enemy, than + the Fenians dashed across the open space already mentioned, and charged in + a spirited manner, although received by the foe with the utmost + intrepidity, and an evident intention to work some mischief before they + retired from the spot. Barry, however, instructed his little band not to + fire until within a few yards of their antagonists, who were now coolly + reloading; so, before the redcoats were again prepared to give another + volley, one simultaneous crash of the Fenian rifles threw them into + momentary confusion; and, the next instant, both parties were closely + engaged in a life and death struggle. + </p> + <p> + The fire of the Fenians had made sad havoc amongst the small force, which + was now cut down to the proportions of that of their own; still those that + remained never swerved an inch, but joined with their adversaries, hip and + thigh. There was but one volley fired on either side; and, now that the + shrubbery was so thick and withal so inconveniently high, both parties had + recourse to their side arms to decide the day. Hand to hand, and + desperately they fought, without much indication of the mortal strife, + save the low groan of the dying and the thick breathing of those who + struggled upon the green sward among the roots of the young pines that so + thickly studded the place. Already had Barry silenced forever the pulses + of more than one of his antagonists, when their leader, a powerful man of + about thirty-five, made a sudden bound towards him, after having in turn + brought his own assailant to the ground, and instantly both their swords + were crossed, as they stood, alone, in an open space of a few feet square, + while the deadly conflict still half silently raged around them among the + three or four who now survived to battle for their respective flags. + </p> + <p> + Barry, although but a private soldier when in the British service, was + regarded as one of the best swordsmen in his regiment. In fact, he was + that sort of person who took delight in excelling in every military + exercise, so that his task-masters should have no grounds for wounding his + feelings or his pride in any matter connected with the discipline of a + soldier. So skillful was he in this connection, that the moment he caught + sight of the manner in which his enemy grasped his weapon, he looked for + but one issue touching the encounter, and that was, the probable + destruction of both. He felt that he had an antagonist before him worthy + the occasion, and braced himself for the work with all the energy of his + being. Swift as lightning, both weapons flashed in the sunlight, and the + next instant lay pressing uneasily against each other in mid-air; forming + a shifting and glittering arch of death, beneath which either its crimson + or emerald pillar was soon to fall in ensanguined ruins. Not a word was + spoken on either side; each believing that his hour or that of the other + had come! The conflict in the surrounding shrubbery had already almost + ceased. Brief as the period was, the remaining few of the enemy were + vanquished and soon had fled, pursued by a victorious two or three, being + scarcely themselves more than that number, having suffered severely, + although they fought with great bravery. It was the seven hundred years of + hate and the red blood of Ireland, that decided the conquest for so far in + favor of the green; and now, face to face, with lips compressed and + glaring eye, stood the two representatives of the individual antagonisms, + which had been pitted against each other for ages, and which never can + breathe in peace the same vital air. As if understanding, thoroughly, the + power, agility and skill of his antagonist, the opponent of Barry, who was + an Englishman by birth, and had been in the British service, never sought + for a moment to gain any advantage of the ground. In this relation, he + seemed satisfied to fight his adversary on equal terms; being well aware + that a single move might be fatal, inasmuch as it could not fail to + distract his attention to some extent from his watchful enemy. The sward + sloped down rapidly to the ravine; so that he who occupied the most + elevated position would have his adversary at an advantage; but, although + this conviction was impressed upon the minds of both, neither seemed + anxious to avail himself of it; and thus they stood upon equal terms, in + every way antagonists worthy of each other. In height, the Englishman had + it somewhat in his favor; but, then, not above an inch or so; while Barry, + in agility and compactness, seemed to be vastly his superior. And such + they were, when the first thrust and parry told that the work had begun. + This was immediately succeeded by a furious clashing, that evidenced a + rising tempest of anger in the breast of either, or both, and which gave + promise of being speedily followed by some fatal stroke that was sure to + terminate the encounter. During this ominous flurry, Barry stood on the + defensive, coolly eyeing his brave adversary, and watching for the + unguarded moment when he could either kill or disarm him; but this was not + so easily found, as the Englishman was every inch a soldier and a superb + swordsman; and Barry knew it well. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding the violence of the attack, so adroitly was it met, and so + firmly was it withstood, that our hero never gave way a hair’s breadth of + ground, or suffered a single scratch; and now only, in reality, the + murderous conflict commenced. The Englishman perceiving that our hero was + not to be moved or thrown off his guard for an instant, became more fully + satisfied that he had a dangerous antagonist to deal with, and so + commenced to be himself more cautions and guarded. Seeing that mere + personal strength availed him but little, he fell back on his admirable + swordsmanship and fought with coolness the most undaunted. Barry now, in + turn, became the assailant, and pressing his antagonist with great skill + and courage, gave him a slight flesh wound, followed rapidly by another in + the sword arm, from which the blood began to flow copiously. Perceiving + that the conflict must be decided at once, as he should soon become faint + from loss of blood, once more the red coat became the assailing party; but + this time, as he was pressing our hero, but somewhat more feebly than + before, his foot caught beneath the tough, fibrous roots of one of the + pine shrubs by which they were surrounded, and the next instant he was + thrown headlong towards Barry, while his sword flew out of his hand far + beyond his reach. + </p> + <p> + The fight was over; and fortunate it was for the prostrate soldier that it + was brought to so singular a determination; for, from the manner in which + he was bleeding, if from nothing else, the day was sure to be decided in + Barry’s favor. Regaining his feet, as soon as possible, he looked aghast + for a moment, as if expecting his death blow; but found his antagonist not + only presenting him his sword, but begging him not to continue the + conflict, as from his wound he was in no situation to keep it up longer + with any show of success. + </p> + <p> + “By my faith,” he replied in return, “I believe, under any circumstances, + the fates were against me; so, understanding what is due to a brave man, + keep my sword and find me some water, as I begin to feel a little shakey + about the knees.” + </p> + <p> + Just at the foot of the slope, and but a few yards distant, there was a + brook, to which our hero now led his prisoner, and where, after bathing + his temples and bandaging his wound with a handkerchief, he left him for a + moment to look after those who might need his aid more urgently, hard by. + He found, after all, that but one of his party was killed, although two + others, who managed to creep in amongst the shrubbery, were severely + wounded. Not knowing how the contest was going, and seeing themselves + completely <i>hors de combat</i>, they waited in silence the result, + fearing to call out, lest the enemy might be upon them and despatch them. + The red coats suffered most severely; six of their number having been + killed outright. Strange to say, however, that there appeared to have been + none of them simply wounded; for, although groans were heard to proceed + from the point where they lay, they must have been uttered in their death + agonies, so mortal was the damage dealt them. + </p> + <p> + When this much was ascertained, Barry was deliberating as to what had + become of the remaining three of his party, when they returned to the + scene of conflict, weary with a fruitless chase. These men instantly took + up their comrades and bore them down to the brook, where they were + refreshed with a cooling draught. Barry, finding that it would be + dangerous for them to remain to bury the dead, as the noise of their + rifles might have attracted the attention of some other body of the enemy + that might possibly be somewhere in the vicinity of the ravine, determined + to retrace his steps at once. His two wounded companions, like his + prisoner, were able to walk slowly towards the camp; so, collecting the + enemy’s dead into one place, and covering them with branches of + evergreens, they took up the body of their fallen comrade and, placing it + on a litter hastily formed of boughs gathered on the spot, slowly wended + their way with it towards the point occupied by the main body of the army—Barry + and his prisoner moving in the same direction, some distance in the rear. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. + </h2> + <p> + In the morning that Greaves visited the Fort in Canada, garrisoned by + Barry’s regiment, it will be remembered that he had a brief interview with + the Colonel. Momentary as it was, however, it was sufficient to prevent + Barry from getting his discharge; for the Colonel was then and there + apprised that our hero sought to leave the army for the purpose only of + joining the anticipated Fenian invasion, giving it the advantage of his + military skill, and aiding it with his knowledge of the fortifications + that the invaders might attempt to posses themselves of. On being + persuaded, through a glance at a certain document placed in his hands, + that Greaves was to be trusted, he at once decided as to the course that + he himself ought to pursue, and the reader has already seen the result. + Strange as it may appear for the present, it was Greaves’ object to induce + Barry to desert, and thereby shut himself out from ever revisiting the + British dominions again. He felt that it would be better, too, that he + should not be taken while in the act of deserting; as his punishment could + be but light, owing to the circumstance, that he had endeavored, though in + vain, to obtain his discharge honorably; so he determined to aid his + escape from the Fort, and secure his outlawry beyond any possibility of + mistake. Why he was prompted to an act so gratuitous and so apparently + undeserved, remains for future explanation; but, at present, all we have + to do with is the simple fact, that owing to his mysterious machinations, + our young hero was driven to the step he had taken. + </p> + <p> + It is, we perceive, a fact, that O’Brien was correct in his first estimate + of Greaves; as that smooth-tongued traitor was the notorious spy in the + pay of the English government, sent out to Canada with a view to learning + the particulars of the power and intentions of Fenianism in the Provinces, + as well as in the adjoining Republic. In this connection, he had such + papers in his possession as recommended him to the Canadian Minister who + gave him, on his arrival in the city where we first encountered him, such + assistance and direction as his maudlin state of mind could afford. He + recommended him to the confidence of many persons in the upper part of the + Province, where he had been staying for some time previous to his + appearance at The Harp. Among these was the Hon. J. R——-, of + Toronto—a Patrick’s Day Son of the Sod, who has often nailed Ireland + to the cross for place and power; and who regards every body as his “dear + friend” who can help him up the ladder—a man with no more human + flesh about his bones or heart within him, than is possessed by the + veriest skeleton that has ever served the purposes of a college of + surgeons, after having reposed for a whole generation in the silence of + the grave. Oh! how we long for the day when we shall meet such miserable + Judases face to face, and spit upon them before the nations; and how + willing we are to admit that we should rather tomorrow shake the manly + hand of the English Joe Sheard of Toronto, open enemy and all as he is, + than touch the vile, clammy paw of such repulsive creatures as compose the + snake-like breed of which this same paltry and sordid trimmer is a true + representative. Of course, Greaves and he understood each other at once—they + were both traitors alike; only that the former was lavish of money in + attaining his nefarious ends, while the latter would crawl to whatever + goal he had in view, through any description of filth provided it would + obviate the necessity of relaxing his gripe upon his ill-gotten gain. It + is to such men as he, that Ireland owes all her misfortunes, and that the + people of Canada owe the curse of the great embarrassments that now sorely + beset them. For so far, not a single Irishman who has ever been + prominently identified with the Government of Canada, if we are at all + able to judge, has possessed a spark of honest or true patriotism. From + first to last, every man Jack of them has fleeced the poor Canucks + unmercifully, and played the toady to England in the most fulsome and + sickening manner. Even the best of them were rotten to the core, and but + mere adventurers. Look at the case of the “Hyena,” as he was called in his + prime. One day we find him out at the elbows peddling samples of wine + around the Province, and the next, wallowing in wealth through his Point + Levi and other gouges at the expense of the people; until, at last, he + became sufficiently corrupt for England to send him to take charge of her + interests in one of her dependencies: where, as it is asserted, he, from + time to time, is carried from boating parties, etc., to his palatial + residence dead drunk, in open daylight. But why spend a single breath in + referring to such miserable specimens of humanity? The world knows what + they are; and Canada ought to have some slight acquaintance with them: as + they built her into the worthless Grand Trunk at a ruinous figure, and, + like her present, leading, political juggler, Sir John A., fleeced her in + every direction that a collop could be cut out of her. + </p> + <p> + It was amongst such tricksters, English, Irish and Scotch, that Greaves, + for the most part, moved secretly from the moment of his arrival in the + Province up to the date at which we find him at Port Colborne. He was, + however, surprised to learn that men so high in power, and that had been + so high in power, really knew so little of the great impending movement + which overshadowed the Provinces and bid fair to wrest them from the hands + of England. But few papers in Upper Canada appeared to know anything of + what was really going on in this relation, besides the <i>Globe</i>, of + Toronto. Nearly all the others, like the leader of the government and his + satellites, seemed to be at sea upon the subject. This fact Greaves took + care to mention in the dispatches which he sent home to Ireland, from time + to time; giving it as his opinion, that the Prime Minister of Canada was a + dangerous man to entrust with any large interests, civil or military. + </p> + <p> + How the spy had become possessed of the letter or paper which so staggered + O’Brien, is easily accounted for. One of the Organization in Ireland, + named Greaves, who had been purchased by the government while on a mission + of trust, and who had sworn his way into the Brotherhood with a view to + making merchandise of it, gave up his credentials for a certain sum; and + thus it was that they had fallen into the hands of the Castle of Dublin + and subsequently into those of the spy. Cunning as O’Brien was, the spy + read his connection with the Organization through exhibiting this document + to him on the morning succeeding the night of our first introduction to + The Harp; for he perceived, at once, that were O’Brien not, is some way, + identified with the Brotherhood, he would have been unable to recognize + the meaning of certain expressions contained in the paper, which, as + already observed, seemed to impress him so suddenly and so forcibly. + </p> + <p> + Now, however, that the Provinces were actually invaded, Greaves, as we + shall yet continue to call him, found that his mission had suddenly been + brought to a close. As the cat was out of the bag, however, he instantly + turned his undivided attention to some private matters of his own, and + which, after all, was the only thing that induced him to move so rapidly + west, after the escape of Barry and his comrades from the Fort. But with + all his deeply laid schemes, he began to feel a strange presentiment that + he had overreached himself, and that, notwithstanding the supposition that + he had shut out our hero from Canada for all time to come, it was more + than likely he was in the Province again, and that, too, as an invader, + and but a very short distance from the village in which he now found + himself. This surmise maddened him, for reasons to be disclosed in due + course; and, as if urged by some unseen power, he was determined to make + his way towards the camp of the invaders; well knowing that had Barry + joined it, he would vouch for his friendliness; while, had he not + re-entered the Province, he himself could make his way among the + Brotherhood as a friend, by the same means that he had stepped into the + good graces, or rather escaped the detection, of O’Brien. + </p> + <p> + Early on the morning of the second of June, then, he set out from Port + Colborne, with a force under the command of Lieut. Col. Booker, anxious to + witness, and if necessary, take part in the first encounter between the + invaders and the Provincial troops. How did he know—perhaps a chance + bullet fired by himself might find its billet in the heart of Barry, had + the latter joined the Fenians; and if it did, then all would be right, and + his triumph secured. Still he had his misgivings as to the success of the + Canadians, notwithstanding their reputed superior numbers, and the + presence of the regulars to strengthen and inspirit the volunteers. He saw + that all was uncertainty and confusion. Col. Peacock, of the 16th + regulars, chief in command of the united forces, was at “sixes and sevens” + with the commanding officer of the volunteers, while General Napier, + commanding the regular troops in the whole of Upper Canada, was so + perplexed with rumors of invasion at various points, as to be absolutely + lost in a maze of bewilderment, and utterly incapable of meeting the + crisis in a soldierly and intelligent manner. + </p> + <p> + Thus the confusion ran amongst the Canadians, when Col. Booker, on the + morning just alluded to, set out with his command from Port Colborne, to + attack the Irish Republican forces, encamped at Newbiggin’s Farm, and with + the further intention of forming a junction with the regulars under Col. + Peacock, coming from Chippewa—the invaders being absolutely hemmed + in on all sides; as a steamer with a field battery occupied the river in + their rear, with a view to cutting off their retreat, when they were, as + it was expected they should be, defeated by the large number of forces + that were being steadily brought down upon them. + </p> + <p> + Arriving at the village of Ridgeway, the troops left the cars and + proceeded cautiously in the direction of Stevensville, at or near which + point they hoped to form the junction with Col. Peacock, who was on his + way from Chippewa, where he had bivouacked the night before. The village + of Ridgeway is on the line of the Grand Trunk Railway, which connects it + with Port Colborne on Lake Erie on the one side, and Fort Erie on the same + lake, at the mouth of the Niagara River, on the other. It is situated + about eleven miles from the former place, and something like eight from + the latter; leaving the extreme points distant from each other about + nineteen miles. At this little place, then, Lieut. Col. Booker found + himself, in command of a force which has been variously estimated at from + twelve to eighteen hundred men, composed of the crack volunteers of the + country, and, as a general thing, commanded by brave and experienced + officers. It has, however, been asserted by some that there were not more + than one thousand British engaged at Ridgeway; but we fear that this is + under the mark, and are inclined to believe, that, at an honest + computation, their force amounted to between thirteen and fourteen + hundred. This we give on what we consider to be reliable authority, and + can, at once, presume that the division under Col. Booker stood something + more than three to one against the invaders, as the handful under the + gallant O’Neill did not exceed four hundred on the actual field of + Ridgeway. + </p> + <p> + Stevensville lies in the direction of Chippewa, on a wagon road branching + off at right angles from the Grand Trunk at Ridgeway village, and here it + was that Col. Peacock ordered Col. Booker to meet him, with the men under + his command, with the design of forming a junction and attacking O’Neill + with a combined force of volunteers and regulars amounting to between two + and three thousand men. This junction O’Neill was determined to defeat, + and did defeat it;—but let us not anticipate. + </p> + <p> + When Greaves stepped from the cars at Ridgeway, the first man he + encountered was the Kid; and, strange as it may appear, a sign of + recognition passed between them instantaneously. In a few moments they + managed to extricate themselves from the crowds that thronged the place, + and move off to an unfrequented spot, where they could converse unheard + and unobserved. Here they were soon engaged on a subject which seemed to + excite Greaves to the highest pitch, and elicit from him sundry + ejaculations of surprise mixed with anger. Becoming cooler, however, he + led his companion into a spot even more sequestered, and then fell into a + low and earnest conversation with him, in which the name of Barry might be + heard pronounced with a deadly, hissing vehemence, indicative of the most + frightful passion and hate. All this time the Kid remained quite calm, + answering the interrogatories of his employer, for such Greaves appeared + to be, until, at last, the plot or contract, whatever it was, was + completed, and the parties had again bent their steps to the railway + station by different paths. + </p> + <p> + Had the gallant O’Neill two thousand men at his command on the morning of + the 2d of June, 1866, with the certainty of reinforcements, <i>Canada + would, ere this, have been part and parcel of the United States, and + Ireland an independent Republic</i>, modeled after that of the American + Union. No officer was better calculated to accomplish the overthrow of + British power in the Dominion, than he. A thorough and practiced soldier—a + man of great personal courage and daring, and above all, a genuine Celt, + fired with the hereditary hatred of England so characteristic of his name + and race, he was in himself a host. With two thousand men, composed of + such stuff as he commanded at Ridgeway, he could have swept the road + before him to Toronto; for there can be no doubt that his numbers would + have been largely augmented on the way by Irish Nationalists and American + sympathisers, who then, as now, pine for annexation. In addition, when it + became once known, that a victorious army of the Republic of Ireland was + marching on Toronto, a demonstration favorable to the invaders would have + been made in that city, or such indications of friendship evinced by the + Irish portion of the inhabitants, as would paralyze the energies of all + those within its borders who were determined to stand by the flag of the + tyrant. This, we are certain, would have been the real result of a march + upon that city; for, all that thousands upon thousands of the people of + Canada, who are now muzzled by the government, require at any moment to + range them on the side of Ireland, is the assurance of success on the part + of any invader, whether Irish or American, who makes a descent upon their + shores. What a dreadful calamity, then, it was, that the War Department of + the Irish Republic had fallen into such careless or incompetent hands, and + that some man was not at its head who could have managed to have thrown + upon Canadian soil, at Fort Erie and one or two other points, a force to + act separately or in conjunction with sufficient effect to completely + paralyse all opposition in Western Canada, among an already excited and + incongruous host, who could have been easily swept before a compact + handful of troops fired by a spirit so lofty and a resolve so + unconquerable as that which actuated the brave little band of patriots who + have made the 2d day of June, 1866, famous in the annals of the Irish race + on this continent and on the other side of the Atlantic. + </p> + <p> + Let it be thoroughly understood, that although the fortress of Quebec is + considered the Gibraltar of this continent, it is in the midst of an Irish + and French population absolutely hostile to British rule. The French, like + the children of Ireland, never were and never can be loyal to England; and + there are but few men in Lower Canada to-day, who would not rather see the + American flag floating over Cape Diamond at the present moment, than the + blood-stained standard which proclaims it in the grasp of a tyrant. From + this we infer, that had Toronto, Kingston and Montreal fallen into the + hands of the invaders, Quebec could not fail to soon follow; and then for + the fitting out of Irish Republican privateers that would requite all the + depredations of the Alabama ten-fold, and cripple the commerce of England, + as she had destroyed that of the United States during the last war. + General O’Neill had all this in his eye, and was ready to push the case to + the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and there commence active operations + against the merchant service of the common enemy of both Ireland and + America; sweeping it from the high seas, and striking the tyrant in her + Counting House, as one of her most vulnerable points. There could have + been no difficulty in managing all this, had a sufficient force been + thrown into the Province at the time already mentioned; nor can it be + attended with much difficulty at any moment, provided the right men are + placed at the head of the Fenian War Department. Canada is doomed, + whomsoever her conqueror may be; so the sooner her people experience the + change which is sure to overtake her, the sooner shall she be restored to + internal peace, prosperity and security; from all of which she is now + excluded, and must remain so, as long as she continues part and parcel of + the British Empire. + </p> + <p> + As by this time, the invading army had been in the Province for a portion + of two days and two nights, the country generally was pretty well excited; + but particularly in and about the section where the invaders had taken up + their position, as well as along the line of Col. Peacock’s march. Still + there did not appear any very marked disposition on the part of the actual + settlers in these quarters to take a decided part in stemming the + invasion. It appears to us, that it was simply the government that moved + through agencies, in this connection, which could not well disregard or + resist their commands, rather than any antagonistic, out-spoken sentiment + of the people, that had developed itself into active hostility against the + Fenian forces. Be this as it may, the numbers hastily brought against the + invaders were large in comparison with their own rank and file; and had + they been actuated by a spirit similar to that which made a host of each + individual Fenian, the fortunes of the day could not have failed to have + been otherwise than they subsequently turned out to be. Again, let it be + understood, that the majority of the little band who withstood the tempest + shock at Ridgeway, were fresh from the fields of the South and used to the + song of the bullet and the roar of artillery, as the great bulk of the + army of the Irish Republic in America is to-day; while even the British + regulars who were marching on Ridgeway were, with all their pretensions, + but feather-bed soldiers who were totally out of practice of the real + field, and had for many a day exhibited their pluck and discipline at + general reviews or sham battles only. This we hold to weigh heavily on the + side of the Irish National forces, and to decide in their favor, in + advance, in any fight with treble their number of such an enemy—that + is, we are of the fixed impression, that any hundred picked men from the + force now under the gallant O’Neill, will beat, in open fight, any three + hundred of the British army brought against them, all things being equal, + with the exception of numbers. And why?—simply because in one case + the belligerents would be fighting for the traditions and independence of + the land of their love, while in the other they would, as a general, + thing, be fighting for about six-pence a day. + </p> + <p> + As soon as Colonel Booker and his command took the road towards + Stevensville, Greaves, who was as daring as a man could be, and who was + besides well acquainted with military tactics, procured a rifle, a + soldiers jacket, cap and accoutrements, and started forth in the wake of + the volunteers, with the rear guard of which he soon came up. The + accoutrements he wore belonged to one of the volunteers who, like many of + the men under Colonel Peacock, took suddenly ill as they approached the + Fenian lines, and fell out of the ranks. Fortunately for the spy, he found + in this guard the very comrade of the man who was left behind at the + village, and having received permission from the officer in charge, fell + into the ranks with him and held on his way, as though he were an ordinary + member of the force. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, the Kid, on parting with Greaves, took his way in the + direction in which he knew the invaders were slowly and cautiously moving, + in order to get between Booker and Peacock, and defeat one command before + it could form a juncture with the other. On approaching their lines, the + steady tramp of which he could hear, he fell rapidly in the rear, where, + true to their instincts, he found Black Jack and Wilson following in the + team of the latter at a respectable distance, and anxiously waiting for + the first volley that should give intimation that an engagement had + commenced. + </p> + <p> + “By ——,” exclaimed Wilson, as his acquaintance jumped into the + wagon, “this is coming to rather close quarters.” + </p> + <p> + “If so be,” replied Jack, “as there vos henny har tillery in the vay, it + might urt the missuses jam pots, seein as ‘ow we can’t be much hover a + mile from them, from this ‘ere place.” + </p> + <p> + “Scarcely that,” returned the Kid, “and what’s more, from the course the + Fenians are taking, they must soon be into it against three or four times + their number, and serve them right; but what luck have you had during the + night?” he continued, turning to Jack, “although I suspect there was not + much chance in the direction in which you spent it.” + </p> + <p> + “Call this a hinvasion?” retorted Jack, “vy these coves ‘av only a come + hover to show their good breedin and spend their money amongst the + Canadians, instead of doin the decent thing like as ow it vos done in + Hindia and the Peninsoola, veh the real harmy cut, burned and plundered + hall afore ‘em, ‘and carried hoff, from old and young, bags of the most + precious svag. This is disgustin. Honly fancy the fellows a behavin as if + they vos on knight herranty of the hancient times, instead of givin a cove + a chance of to do a little business among the walluables of Fort Erie, or + hany hother place in the wicinity. I tell ‘ee what, Kid, I’m sorry as vee + hever comed hover—that I be; and I vish I vos veil back again behind + my hown counter.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t be down-hearted,” replied the Kid, “for there will be fun somewhere + soon, when these invaders will have to fall back on Fort Erie, where there + may be a muss, or else the Canadians will have to retreat towards the + village I have but recently left, so that in either case there may yet be + a chance to throw something into the bottom of the wagon, and then in our + turn fall back on friend Wilson’s, here.” + </p> + <p> + In this way the conversation was continued, while the horses moved slowly + along the road taken by the invaders, and at such a distance from the rear + of the force, as not to be visible to any of the soldiers; until, just as + the three companions we’re passing through a patch of woods about a + quarter of a mile from the rear guard of the invaders, they were suddenly + startled by the report of firearms in the direction of the troops, just + ahead of them. This report was followed by another, and yet another, and + now by one continuous volley. The famous battle of Ridgeway had commenced! + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. + </h2> + <p> + Kate McCarthy, after having heard the disclosure of Martha, regarding the + character of her uncle, and the dangerous and nefarious practices in which + he and Smith, or the Kid, were engaged, arrived, by degrees, at the + conclusion, that she was the victim of some horrible and mysterious plot, + in which Nicholas, too, was involved unconsciously. This idea having taken + full possession of her, she immediately communicated it to her friend, who + also seemed to share her apprehension. Of course, she had no means of + accounting for the existence of the talisman upon which, at the time she + received it, she could have staked her life; but, now, it was too plain, + that even about this there was something strange and unsatisfactory; + because, from her frequent inspection of it, although it had evidently + come from the hand of Nicholas, it appeared to have not been so clearly + intended for her, as she could have desired. Yet for whom else could it + have been designed? This was the question; and it necessarily remained + unanswered, while the conviction still obtained, that, notwithstanding + there was enough in the mysterious token to justify the course she had + taken, she was nevertheless in most dangerous toils, with the existence of + which her lover was totally unacquainted. + </p> + <p> + This once settled in her mind, her first impulse was to flee the house + immediately; but, on second consideration, she felt it were better to + await results, as she was certain that Martha was her true friend, and + believed that no actual violence would be offered to her while under + Wilson’s roof. Were she to effect her escape she had neither acquaintance + nor guide to direct her steps, and was totally uninformed as to the + character and people of the locality in which she found herself. Again, + Wilson had no doubt, placed eyes upon her that would arrest her footsteps, + or so embarrass her that she should again fall into the hands from which + she sought to escape. The region around her, as she now learned, was + addicted to smuggling, and so marked was this truth, that a house of + entertainment in the neighborhood was called the Smuggler’s Home; where, + it was said, bold and reckless men were to be found constantly. There was + one thing, however, she was determined upon, and that was to procure, if + possible, some weapon of defence in case any attempt were made to further + jeopardize her person or liberty; and in this she was promptly aided by + her young friend. + </p> + <p> + She had now been nearly a week from home, and yet not an additional word + or line had arrived from her lover. It was fortunate, however, that in her + present perilous condition she had one in whom she could confide, and whom + she knew sympathised with her. This was a solace to her, as it enabled her + from time to time, to ease her burdened heart of the heavy load that + pressed upon it, and converse upon the probable designs of those into + whose toils she hod been betrayed. Smith, she was well aware, knew all the + circumstances of her case; but he was in the employment of her persecutor + or persecutors, and nothing, she was certain, was to be gleaned from him. + However, as he had some design on the hand of Martha, the thought struck + her that if opportunity served, her young friend might be able to extract + from him even a hint as to the real state of her case; and this idea she + at once communicated to her. Martha, on her part, expressed herself + willing to befriend her to the utmost of her power; but still evinced a + repugnance to be under any obligation to Smith, or enter into relations + with him that could aim at anything like confidence between them. Yet she + confessed herself ready to sacrifice her feelings as far as she could + properly do so, for the purpose of fathoming the plot that surrounded her + companion; but, then, where was Smith to begin with; and when was it + probable that he should again make his appearance in that locality? These + were points more easily entertained than disposed of; and thus matters + stood when circumstances threw in their way the very individual they both + desired to see. + </p> + <p> + When the Kid, Jack and Wilson were liberated on the evening of the day on + which they had been captured with others, and sent into the headquarters + of Gen. O’Neill, it was decided that the first named of these worthies + should proceed at once to Wilson’s, and apprise the family of the presence + of a hostile army, and the necessity of keeping close and barricading the + house in case the tide of war should roll in that direction. The + habitation, as already mentioned, stood in an isolated spot surrounded + with woods, and the proprietor was of the impression, that it would escape + notice or molestation; from the fact that the Fenians seemed to eschew + everything that savored, in even the slightest degree, of the destruction + of private property or of gratuitous pillage. Besides, he perceived that + for the purpose of meeting some of the necessities of the invaders, a few + horses had been already impressed into their service, and felt, + consequently, that were his discovered on the road leading to his home, + they could not fail to share the same fate. He therefore, as just + intimated, begged the Kid to make the best of his way to Limestone Ridge, + beside which his domicile stood. To this request the Kid willingly + acceded, as it would afford him another opportunity of seeing Martha; so, + when evening was about to set in, he commenced his journey. + </p> + <p> + Earlier in the day, the brave Captain O’Donohue, of the 18th, white out on + a foraging party towards Chippewa, came up with some outposts of the + enemy, who, noticing his dauntless bearing, and the steady, onward tramp + of his handful of men, fled at his approach without firing a single shot. + </p> + <p> + When passing out of the camp to the main road, the Kid learned that the + whole force was to move off at about ten o’clock in the direction of + Chippewa; it being the intention of the commander, as previously observed, + to get between the body of regulars about proceeding from that point, and + that of the volunteers, to move forward, and form a junction with them, + from Port Colborne; intending to attack and defeat the one before the + other came up. At this time O’Neill’s troops did not, as is confidently + asserted, number as many as five hundred men; while the force of the enemy + surrounding him on every side, was estimated at an aggregate of some + thousands. This he well knew, but he had invaded the territories of the + ancient and implacable antagonist of his country and his name, and he was + determined to make another Thermopylae of any pass in which he happened to + meet the foe, no matter how overwhelming their numbers. + </p> + <p> + This intelligence impressed the Kid with the idea that a battle might + possibly take place somewhere in the vicinity of Stevensville or Ridgeway; + as he knew that the leader of the Irish Republican Army, or forlorn hope, + as so small a body of men might be termed, would attempt to intercept a + junction of the enemy somewhere near one or the other of these points, as + both lay on the line between Chippewa and Port Colborne, taking the Sodom + Road and the Grand Trunk Railway as the surest and speediest route between + both these latter places. So pushing forward, with speed that never + slackened, just at the period that O’Neill was about to break camp, under + the pretence of attacking Chippewa, Mr. Stephen Smith arrived at Wilson’s + door, and after a polite double knock was admitted by the mistress of that + suspicious dwelling. + </p> + <p> + Martha was soon apprised of his arrival, and while her companion trembled + throughout every limb with anxiety for the fate of the important enquiries + which she had kindly consented to make, she hastily left the apartment + where both had been long seated, conversing upon their future and the + chances of escape from such a den. On perceiving the Kid, although her + very soul revolted against the touch of his cold, clammy hand, she seemed + to welcome him with more than ordinary cordiality. She was, of course, + both surprised and alarmed at the intelligence of the invasion, and the + proximity of the two armies; for, as yet, not a whisper of it had reached + her, so secluded the place. He spoke of the necessity of putting the house + in a state of defence, so as to be ready to meet any contingency; + although, as he himself averred, he did not apprehend the slightest danger + so long as the inmates remained within their doors, in case the din of + battle was heard in the vicinity. As it was, however, the windows were + well secured, and the heavy, oaken front-door was capable of being + rendered all but invulnerable by a huge iron bar that could be speedily + thrown across it into two deep grooves in the posts. + </p> + <p> + All this having been seen to, some trifling inquiry was made as to their + lodger, when Mrs. Wilson, understanding previously the intention of + Martha, and sympathizing with the case of poor Kate, left the apartment, + as if on some ordinary household affair. Martha now set about gaining the + information she sought; but with all her art, could only ascertain from + her suitor, that Kate was in the power of an individual who, for some + reason unknown to him, had betrayed her into Canada, and consigned her, + for a time at least, to the place where she was now domiciled. + </p> + <p> + “And were you a party to the abduction of this innocent creature?” + exclaimed Martha, the blood mounting to her cheeks in real anger and + disgust. + </p> + <p> + “Oh! it was all in the way of business,” replied the other, “and + perceiving that it would result in the most pleasant companionship for one + I so admire, I had the less scruples in furthering the design of a good + employer.” + </p> + <p> + Let it be understood that this villain had not even the most remote idea + of the pure nature and true character of Martha. Having seen her but a few + times, he subjected her moral worth to the standard of that of her uncle, + and thought, consequently, that the disclosure he now made would enhance + him in her estimation. In this he was mistaken; for, no sooner had he made + her thoroughly cognizant of the fact that he was not an innocent, but a + willing, instrument in the abduction of poor Kate, than she sprang to her + feet, and with a glance the most withering, and full of unconquerable hate + and aversion, without a single other word, left the apartment and ascended + to that of her friend. + </p> + <p> + No sooner had she disappeared than an expression the most demoniacal stole + over the countenance of Smith. The very devil sat on his brow, while his + eyes turned absolutely green in their sockets. His thin, pale lips + glistened again, as he drew them across his sharp, white teeth, in an + attempt to smile. Looking stealthily about him, while a curious + expression, still more horrible, replaced the one already described, he + hastily drew a long knife from a sheath concealed beneath his vest, and + regarded it for a moment in the light of the lamp before him. He knew that + every hope of obtaining the hand of Martha was lost, and forever; and now + for a terrible revenge. + </p> + <p> + “They are helpless and alone,” he muttered, slowly rising to his feet. + “There is wealth, too, somewhere here; and should I silence them all, it + will be mine, and their death will be laid at the door of the invaders. + Besides,” he growled, “no suspicion can rest upon me, as I am the known + friend of Wilson and the family. Nobody saw me come—no person shall + see me leave. I shall fire the house after having rifled it; and conceal + whatever I may obtain, in some convenient spot until the affair has blown + over. Jack and Wilson know too much of me: I am tired of them. If needs + be, I shall silence them also. I have rare work before me. Barry must die; + but what shall I profit by killing him if I kill this woman also? Who + cares! The devil is working with me; and now for it! To the foot of the + stairs, then; where, as they descend, they shall fall one by one without a + groan until the rare bird of a prisoner is left alone in her room. Then + for some wild sport and the final blow!” + </p> + <p> + Having muttered all this to himself, the demon in human shape, + extinguishing the lamp, sprang forward in the direction of the stairs, to + await the first who happened to descend: but scarcely had he assumed his + post of death, before the large oaken door was thrust rudely open and two + strapping young fellows, armed with a revolver and a dirk each, rushed + into the apartment, and alarmed all the party up stairs by calling aloud + for a light, the gleam from the hearth being feeble and uncertain. + </p> + <p> + Instantly the knife of Smith was returned to its sheath, while he stepped + forward, saying that he had just accidently extinguished the lamp in the + absence of Mrs. Wilson and Martha, who had run up stairs to acquaint a + lady friend with the intelligence that he had but that moment brought her + from Mr. Wilson, regarding the invasion of the Province and the proximity, + as he had no doubt, of the Fenian and Canadian forces. + </p> + <p> + “That is just the mission we have come on ourselves,” returned one of the + new comers, “as we were apprised that Mr. Wilson was from home, and + thought that his family would like to know of the dangers that possibly + surrounded them.” + </p> + <p> + The manly voice of the speaker soon brought Martha and her aunt down + stairs; and the lamp being speedily relighted, the former advanced towards + the speaker and taking his extended hand, with a bright eye and a flushed + cheek, heard all he had to say on the subject which occasioned his + unceremonious visit. + </p> + <p> + “One of us will stay with you,” he continued, while she thanked him for + his goodness, “until Mr. Wilson arrives; and although he is not over + social in his habits, I am sure he will not misconstrue the anxiety we + feel for the safety of his family.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank you! thank you, Mr. Evans,” returned Martha; “we shall feel so + grateful for your protection; and as to my uncle, I am satisfied he cannot + be otherwise than obliged to you for this great kindness.” + </p> + <p> + “You stay then, Harry,” observed the other stranger, “for I shall move on + to Ridgeway, as I want to hear what’s afloat there. There are troops, I + know, at Port Colborne, and they ought to be apprised of the whereabouts + of the enemy, and so should the inhabitants of this neighborhood. Mr. + Graham, the Collector of Fort Erie, has, I am informed, proceeded with + information of the enemy to Port Colborne; but still there is not yet + anything known of their precise location, so contradictory are the rumors, + not only as to where they are encamped, but in relation to their numbers.” + </p> + <p> + “I can satisfy you as to both these circumstances,” broke in the Kid, with + a voice as bland as if murder had not visited his heart for an age, “for I + heard this evening that they were encamped about four hundred strong at + Newbiggin’s farm, four or five miles down the river from Fort Erie; and + that they intended to move on towards Chippewa about ten o’clock; + branching off in the direction of Ridgeway, in the hope of meeting the + troops coming from Port Colborne, and defeating them before they formed a + junction with those expected from Chippewa.” + </p> + <p> + “As my cousin Harry will sit up with the family for the remainder of the + night, then, perhaps you would not mind walking as far as Ridgeway,” + replied the young fellow who had last spoken, “as we are sure to have news + there; from the fact of the village being on the line of the Grand Trunk.” + </p> + <p> + Seeing that his murderous plot was for the time defeated, the Kid made no + objection to this request; feeling that the darkness and the night, as + well as any whirl of excitement or debauch, were more in accordance with + the infernal tone of his spirit, than the conversation of two beings, + Martha and Evans, whom his keen eye at once discovered to be lovers. So + bidding the family good night, and not waiting to partake of the + refreshments offered him after his journey from the Fenian camp, he + sallied forth with his new acquaintance on the road leading to the + village. + </p> + <p> + “Henry,” said Martha, when the sound of their receding footsteps had died + in the distance, “do you know anything of the man Smith who has just left + us, for you seemed to eye him very intently from the moment the lamp was + relighted until the door closed behind him this moment? We know now, and + have often suspected, him to be a villain; but circumstances over which we + had no control—that is, my aunt and myself—have thrown us + occasionally into the society of the wretch, whom we both loathe and + detest.” + </p> + <p> + This interrogatory was put in the absence of Mrs. Wilson, who had again + sought the apartment of Kate to tell her all that had just transpired. It + seemed to embarrass the young man for a moment; but recovering himself, he + frankly replied— + </p> + <p> + “I have seen that man frequently in Buffalo. Not long since, he was + pointed out to me as a most dangerous character who was under the + surveillance of the police; and, as you may be well assured, I was + astounded to find him here and at such an hour.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” returned Martha, “he has been here often, Henry, and what I now fear + is, that my uncle is leagued with him, not only in the most frightfully + dishonest practices, but in the abduction, at the instance of some other + villain, of a good and pure young creature who, a few nights ago, was + brought here by them under the pretense that it was the wish of her lover + that she should accompany them where this wretch would—a pretense + that disguised itself under a veritable token procured in some way from + her betrothed, and evidently used without his sanction or knowledge.” + </p> + <p> + “I believe your uncle to be a bad man, Martha,” returned Evans, “but the + fault is not yours; and besides, there is not a single drop of his blood + in your veins. I am convinced, also, that your aunt knows it, and that it + is that which so wastes her away and destroys the whole sunshine of her + life. I have long felt it; and were it not for the dread of paining you + through exposure, I should ere this have directed the attention of the + authorities to some circumstances affecting his character and honesty, + that came under my own notice; for, Martha, dear, but a few hours since, + as I may say, I was an accidental witness of an incident which more than + confirms all the suspicions that have so long rested on him.” + </p> + <p> + “I know! I know?” interrupted Martha, while she hid her face in her hands + and wept in bitter agony, “but go on!” + </p> + <p> + “When,” resumed Evans, “two or three nights ago, believing Wilson to be + from home—for I shall no longer call him your uncle, he being, in + truth, no relation whatever of yours,—I stole up from our place to + say a few words to you and urge you to quit this house and become my wife. + I was astonished to see a light in the stable as I crept by it; and + looking into one of the windows. I perceived this man leaning over a large + case filled with valuables that had evidently been stolen by him, or by + some of his accomplices, who had entrusted them to his safe keeping until + the noise of the robbery had blown over. I saw this, I saw with my own + eyes; and now that you are aware of it, can you longer remain beneath this + roof?” + </p> + <p> + “It is true! alas! too true,” sobbed Martha, “for I myself saw the very + same case; and then it was, that for the first time, a full sense of his + horrible vocation fell upon me and the poor woman that he calls his wife. + Of course, Henry, I shall quit this place, and forever; but until this + horrible din is over, and the poor creature up stairs placed in some safe + hands, I shall bear my terrible lot as best I can.” + </p> + <p> + “Rightly spoken, dear Martha,” returned Henry, kissing off her tears, “and + I trust that this lady of whom you speak, will prove herself worthy your + kindness and esteem.” + </p> + <p> + “No fear of that, dear Henry,” returned the maiden, “my heart tells me + that she is as good as she is beautiful, and I know, not only from her own + lips, but from what has transpired this very night, that she is the victim + of some foul plot yet to be punished and explained.” + </p> + <p> + “And where has she come from, and what is her name?” rejoined Henry, + evidently becoming interested in the fate of our heroine. + </p> + <p> + “Her home is in Buffalo,” replied Martha, “and her name is Kate M’Carthy.” + </p> + <p> + “By heaven!” exclaimed Evans, leaping to his feet as if the house were + falling, “where is she? where is she? Lead me to her at once!” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV. + </h2> + <p> + Had General O’Neill not entertained strong hopes he should be re-inforced, + knowing, as he did, that a large body of Fenian troops were scattered + along the American frontier, under the command of brave and true men, he + would have broken camp with a sad heart on the night of the first. No man + in existence was more thoroughly aware than he, that, ‘though brave as + lions, the force at his command was altogether too small to effect + anything permanent upon the soil of the enemy. The most he hoped to + achieve, was a footing, until his command had acquired sufficient strength + to enable him to move upon some of the important towns of the Upper + Province. Of the dangers and perils that surrounded him he was fully + aware; but he knew, also, that, now that he had crossed the Rubicon, how + fatal it would be to the prestige of the cause of Ireland, to retreat + again to the American shore without measuring swords with the foe, no + matter what their numbers, and, if needs be, illustrating, with a handful + of men, the spirit resolve and bravery which, long previously, fostered by + the noble Roberts and Gibbons, etc., fired the whole Organization on this + great continent, and placed the ultimate independence of Ireland beyond + any possible contingency. O’Neill was just the man to make this + impression, and to seize upon every circumstance calculated to aid him in + the attempt. Fresh from the fields of the South, where his sword and name + were a watchword and a tower of strength when danger was to be met in the + gap, he was used to war in all its phases; while the fierce leaven of his + patriotism and the mighty promptings of his ancient name, now that he had + made a descent upon the enemy of his country and his race, rendered him + almost invincible. Though small his band, he knew that each man who had + accompanied him thus far was a host in himself, and ennobled by a spirit + identical with that which prompted him in the main. And now the hour had + arrived when he should show the enemy and the world that numbers were as + nothing in the sight of the God of battles. Besides, he felt it, as a mere + matter of generalship, incumbent upon him to maintain, if possible, a + foothold or rallying point for whatever reinforcements might follow him, + as well as keep open the line of communication with the shores he had but + just left. In short, critically as he was placed, and regarding his little + host as the vanguard of freedom, he determined to sacrifice himself and + them to a man, if necessary, in maintaining his ground until thoroughly + satisfied of the truth of his fears that President Roberts, deceived, like + the Organization generally, in the capacity of the Secretary of War, was + no longer able to send reinforcements or further a movement calculated to + sweep the Province from Sandwich to Quebec. In this way matters stood with + him on the night that he left his camp at Newbiggin’s Farm. He was aware + that two large bodies of the enemy’s troops were marching upon him from + two opposite points, and that to permit them to form a junction would be + to court utter annihilation. As before observed, then, he set out at the + hour already named, with a view to getting between them and defeating the + one before the other came up. In his sublime enthusiasm he invested each + individual of his command with the purposes and attributes of a hero, and + felt that a body so constituted, so compact and so easily handled, could + be slung with fearful effect against almost any number of men who had no + heart in the fight, save that which was engendered by an uneasy and + uncomfortable sentiment of badly founded loyalty to the flag of a tyrant, + or that degrading spirit of hireling hostility, which changed its force + and direction, in accordance with the amount of gold offered by the + subsidizing party. + </p> + <p> + Moved by impulses so noble and disinterested, the whole camp now marched + away in the direction of Chippewa, burning the bridges behind them, to a + point some five or six miles distant, where the reconnoitering party, + under the command of Col. Hoy, had been ordered to wait until the main + body of the troops came up, and to the left of which Gen. O’Neill hoped to + intercept some one of the two hostile forces that were, as he was + perfectly convinced, moving against him from opposite points of the + compass. + </p> + <p> + In the rear of the moving camp followed Black Jack and Wilson, at a very + respectful distance; they being comfortably seated in the wagon of the + latter, that had been brought cautiously from its hiding place, when the + steady tramp of the rear guard of the army had died away. + </p> + <p> + “What a pity it is,” said Wilson, as the team crawled slowly along, “that + we have no chance to take the number of a few of those self-same invaders + from behind a tree or log; for I find the English blood beginning to stir + within me.” + </p> + <p> + “Vot’s to be gained by it,” returned Black Jack, “seein as ‘ow there’s no + use in cuttin a vizzen or scuttlin a nob, unless there’s some svag at the + end on it? For my own part,” he continued, “I’d rather that ve should try + our luck among some of the farmers or gentry about here; although I’m + certain they’re purty vide avake seem as vot’s afoot just now.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes! yes!” returned the other, “that’s all well enough in its way; but as + we can’t hope to accomplish much until there’s a fight between the + invaders and the invaded, I should like, if an opportunity turned up, to + thin out a few of those green jackets while we hid the horses hard by and + waited the result of the conflict.” + </p> + <p> + “Vell! vell!” replied Jack, “there vouldn’t be much ‘arm in tryin our ‘and + in that vay, as ven ve got a chance ve might step into the ranks of the + Hinglish and give them a lift; ven, if needs be, ve could slip out again + and take our luck in the trail of the fight, pickin hup votever might drop + in the vay.” + </p> + <p> + About midnight the troops came up with Col. Hoy’s party, and after + marching a considerable distance and then taking a couple of hours rest, + the whole force made a cautious detour towards the direct line leading + from Ridgeway to Chippewa; O’Neill being satisfied that he had already + intercepted the junction of the British, and should be able to engage and + defeat either one party or the other before they could both unite. + </p> + <p> + In this way the night was passed; every precaution being taken to guard + against ambush or surprise, until morning became well advanced, and the + invaders, after having emerged from a swamp through which they had + marched, found themselves within three or four miles of Ridgeway. + </p> + <p> + It was at this point and period that the Kid, after leaving Greaves, had + come up with, or rather encountered, the wagon with Black Jack and Wilson, + who, as usual, kept moving slowly in the rear of the troops and sniffing, + like blood-hounds or vultures, their prey in the distance. + </p> + <p> + As observed in a previous chapter, the two worthies had scarcely welcomed + their companion or seen him comfortably seated beside them, before they + were all aroused by the report of fire-arms, apparently ahead of the main + body of the troops, which, as near as they could calculate, was about half + a mile in advance. It was at this moment that the brave Col. Starr, who + commanded the advance, got the first glimpse of the outposts of the enemy, + which he at once charged and drove in like so many sheep; and this was the + music heard by Wilson and his companions. Shortly afterwards, the main + body of the enemy, commanded by Lieut. Col. Booker, from Port Colborne, + were discovered, and the battle was opened by a speedy and judicious + disposition of the Fenian forces, and the hasty throwing up of a rail + barricade from behind which some of the Boys in Green commenced their work + of destruction; while others of them kept the British skirmishers in hand + in the woods hard by, and in a manner the most cool and artistic. + </p> + <p> + Any person who gets a view of Major Dennison’s map, in the work already + mentioned, representing the disposition of the two antagonistic forces at + Ridgeway, will at once be struck with the overwhelming numbers of that + under the command of Col. Booker, compared with the compactness and + fewness of the troops commanded by General O’Neill. In this chart we have + the whole field studded, on the British side, with Highlanders, York + Rifles, Trinity College Companies, University Rifles, the Queen’s Own and + the 13th Field Battery, etc.; while on the side of the Army of the Irish + Republic, as the diagram shows, we have but a handful of men, without + artillery, and with but very few mounted officers. The circumstances under + which the forces met, were favorable to Col. Booker, also; for not only + had the British the advantage of a great superiority in numbers, stores + and equipments, but they were engaged at their own doors, in the midst of + a passive or friendly element, and with unlimited supplies and resources + at their command; while, on the contrary, the men under General O’Neill + were but poorly equipped, without supplies or proper ammunition—their + bullets having, in some instances, to be pared on the field with a knife + before they fitted the bore of their rifles—and were in the midst of + an enemy’s country, surrounded on all sides by hostile battalions, and + with but a slight hope of being reinforced before the enemy came down in + overwhelming numbers upon them. This was a critical position, and well + calculated to dismay any man less bold and courageous than O’Neill; but + frightful as it was, he saw the necessity of accepting the situation. He + remembered having, on the battle fields of the South, with but twenty men, + defeated two hundred of a force under Hamilton, and run them in helpless + disorder for a distance of thirteen miles; killing five of them with his + own hand. He remembered, in addition, having, with a command of but fifty, + charged, on the same fields, in defence of the American Union, two + different regiments of the enemy, routed them, and recaptured the officers + and guns of the Republic that had been previously taken by them; and + remembering all this, his heart rose within him, and he felt that with his + little band of Spartans, few as they were in number, he could work a + double miracle when he met the tyrant of his name, his country and his + race face to face. And so he did not stoop to measure the forces that were + surrounding him; well knowing that, if all came to all, and that, if it + were necessary for him to fall back upon the American shore, he could cut + his way through them; as he was inclined to regard their numbers as but + simple encumbrances to themselves; feeling, as he did, that they could be + neither disciplined nor actuated by any proud impulses such as fired his + own troops and his own bosom. + </p> + <p> + Buoyed with this spirit, and moved by the conviction that the eyes of the + world were upon him, the first glimpse of the enemy was as one of sunshine + to him; and as he looked around him and saw his brave officers and men + towering and immoveable as cliffs in the presence of the angry deep, the + strange fire so noticeable sometimes in his eye, blazed forth as though + his soul went out in flame through each glaring orb; and the work of death + had begun. + </p> + <p> + The battle of Ridgeway was commenced by skirmishers who were posted on + both sides, among the woods and orchards with which that locality abounds; + and although for some short period but little life was lost on the part of + either the British or the Fenians, the daring of the latter had evidently + confused and, in a degree, paralyzed the former from the first. In the + woods, they gave the Highlanders a dreadful overhauling, and when pressed + by numbers they steadily fell back upon the main body, with advantage to + themselves and with loss to their opponents. When once aware of their + position, and the great odds against them, in the incredible space of ten + minutes, they threw up a breastwork of rails, from behind which they now + began to deal the most deadly havoc amongst the enemy. The men engaged in + more exposed positions, performed absolute miracles of valor, and charged + the foe in the face of the most galling fire, until they actually touched + their bayonets, and then poured in the murderous volley that shattered + their ranks and strewed the field with their wounded and dying. As we + learn from Major Denison, of the British forces, the Fenian officers were + ever in front of their men, cheering them on to death or victory, and + evincing such instances of true bravery as commanded the admiration of + even those against whom they fought. Individual acts of the most terrible + daring were performed by them, and so generally did the whole of O’Neil’s + staff, including his gallant Aid-de-Camp, Lieut. Rudolph Fitzpatrick, as + well as all the officers of the various companies, participate in the + dreadful struggle, that even to this hour no writer has attempted to give + any one of them pre-eminence over the other. And so of the rank and file, + also. Scarce a single man of them, at one period, but was spattered with + the blood of the enemy; and never did a solitary knot of them give way, + for an instant, before any force that they were ordered to withstand. + Wherever they moved the dead and wounded tumbled before them, until, + fatigued by the frightful heat of the weather, they were, from time to + time, constrained to pause in their dreadful work. + </p> + <p> + The engagement had continued for about an hour, when the brave Lieut. + Lonergan bit the dust, while a cheer for Ireland struggled through the + death rattle in his throat. He fell, a true hero and patriot, and well was + his death avenged; for no sooner had its intelligence spread through his + company, than its members became absolute tigers, and literally glutted + themselves with blood. Then it was, that the Sun-burst carried through + that hot field, from beginning to end, by Sergeant John Smith, of the 7th + I.R.A., company G, might be seen flying where the enemy was thickest, + surrounded by a struggling band, each of which was a host himself. Then it + was, that the wild cry of “Erin go bragh!” smote on the ear of the foe + like a death knell, paralyzed all their energies, and froze the warm + current in their heart. At that moment a dozen men in green were worth a + regiment of the material he fought against; and thus it was, that the + enemy determined to mass all their forces against the gallant O’Neill, who + stood like a rock amid the dreadful conflict, giving his orders with as + much coolness as if he were dictating a letter; and, while the bullets + whistled about him like hail, applauding the noble deeds of his men and + officers, the next moment to be whirled into the dreadful <i>melee</i> + himself. + </p> + <p> + With the keen, quick eye of a soldier, O’Neill perceived the intention of + his adversary, who had, now, as he saw clearly, made up his mind to mass + all his force against the Fenian troops and flank them. At this point the + Boys in Green were ordered to fall steadily back and take up a new + position, some distance in the rear of their rail barricade. The movement + was performed in the most masterly manner; while the enemy continued to + extend his wings—both right and left. On perceiving it, however, he + construed it, as it was intended he should, into a retreat, and paused for + a moment to consider what was best to be done. While deliberating, + however, O’Neill, who had in vain been for some time endeavoring to draw + out his centre, perceiving that the moment had arrived, sounded the + charge, and, the next instant, the whole compact body of the invaders, + with himself and his officers at their head, were thundering down, with + the sweep of the Cyclone, upon the weak and startled centre of the foe, + crashing through it like a cavalcade of thunder bolts, and scattering the + whole of the English forces like chaff before the wind! + </p> + <p> + In the twinkling of an eye the enemy was flying in every direction before + the victorious army of the Irish Republic! In their ignoble flight they + divested themselves of all the clothing they could decently spare, and of + everything that could tend to impede their progress! The field was strown + with their great coats, knapsacks, rifles, and musical instruments + belonging to their bands. Their dead and dying were left unheeded, and in + every direction lay the unmistakable evidences of their sudden disaster + and hopeless defeat. The compactness and dreadful resolve of the force + slung against them by O’Neill, and the masterly way in which the bolt was + hurled, at once bid defiance to all their pre-conceived ideas of fighting, + or of the wonders that could be attained by a handful of brave men, + commanded by a dauntless and experienced soldier; so, that their rumored + attempt at rallying is supposed to have originated in a desire on the part + of their historian, to lessen the disgrace of their defeat in the eyes of + the people of Canada; for it is well known, that so hot and heavy was the + pursuit, that they not only had no time to rally, but so intent was each + one of them on effecting his own personal safety, that all discipline was + at an end; until the Fenians, on perceiving that they were not yet + reinforced, felt it advisable, notwithstanding their success, to fall back + on Fort Erie, for the purpose of keeping their line of communication open + with the American shore. + </p> + <p> + And yet until this disaster had overtaken them, the British troops fought + well, considering the incentives they had to stake their lives on the + field of battle. Nor were the Queen’s Own, who suffered so severely in + this tremendous charge, and who fled so panic-stricken before it, a whit + behind, in courage, some of the companies who appear to have escaped with + less censure from the Canadian public, in relation to the loss of this + important field. The Queen’s Own, as we are creditably informed, came up + well to the mark on more than one occasion; and only gave way before such + a charge as that which carried the day at Fontenoy, and which was, at the + period, absolutely irresistible. + </p> + <p> + Barry and his comrades of the Canadian Fort fought throughout the whole + morning with the most heroic courage. In several hand to hand encounters + he performed prodigies of valor, and once thought he perceived the Kid and + Black Jack, together with Wilson whom he saw in their company at + Newbiggin’s farm, fighting on the English side. In this he was not + mistaken; for these three worthies, on discovering the superior force of + the British, at once concealed their horses and wagon in a sheltered + hollow hard by the field, and making a detour through the woods on the + verge of which they were passing, joined in the engagement, against the + men who had treated them so well but a few hours previously. This they + accomplished immediately after Col. Starr had driven in the outposts of + the enemy, and when they had ascertained that the English forces + outnumbered the invaders to an extent which, as they supposed, rendered + the success of the latter totally out of the question. + </p> + <p> + While on one occasion, Nicholas was engaged with a Highlander whom he was + pressing hard, a ball grazed his shoulder, evidently fired stealthily from + behind a neighboring tree. A glance in the direction revealed the form of + the Kid retreating from the spot and seeking shelter behind another, + around which were gathered a few of the enemy who were paying some + attention to a wounded officer. This struck him as strange; but as he had + other work in hand, he permitted his cowardly assailant to escape for the + moment. Later in the day, however, he caught yet another sight of him, and + was satisfied that he had made a second deadly attempt upon his life. In + this way the matter stood touching this peculiar case, until the total + rout of the forces and their retreat towards Ridgeway village; when Barry, + left with a few men to look after the dead and wounded while the main body + pursued the fugitives, had yet another opportunity of testing the kindly + intentions of Smith; for while he and four or five others were collecting + the dead into one particular spot beneath a huge elm, in the vicinity of a + house near which the greatest carnage had taken place, another ball + whizzed by his ear; and the next moment the door of the building opened + and out rushed half a dozen men, armed to the teeth, and laying one of his + party dead at his feet with the only bullet that had taken effect out of a + volley that had been fired as they rushed forward to overwhelm him in a + hand to hand struggle. + </p> + <p> + The assailants were now six to five, but Barry soon made the numbers more + equal, and the fight becoming desperate, two of his antagonists closed + with him, who appeared to be men of tremendous activity and great personal + courage. What seemed strangest, however, in the whole of this sudden + attack, was, all the party that rushed from the house were masked, + although he was satisfied that one of them, at least, was the Kid. The + contest had continued for about eight or ten minutes when one of his + assailants was stretched at his feet by an unseen hand; the other taking + immediate flight. He looked around,—a stranger stood by his side. He + was a handsome young man dressed in the plain garb of a farmer. Anxious to + learn how the rest of his comrades fared, while thanking his new ally for + his timely assistance, he glanced in the direction in which they fought; + all save one was wounded but their antagonists lay beside them dead or + dying. Begging the stranger to render him some assistance in staunching + the blood of those who still survived, and removing them to a shed + belonging to the house hard by, he discovered that his fallen adversary, + who lay quite senseless from the blow he had received, now seemed to be + bleeding profusely from some wound inflicted by himself; although until + that moment he had not noticed it. His enemy had fought with a long, keen + dagger after he had discharged his rifle and thrown it away, while the + fugitive used one of the ordinary rifle-bayonets in his attack. The superb + swordsmanship of their intended victim, however, was more than a match for + them, and would, in all probability have triumphed of itself had not the + contest been broken in upon in the manner already described. + </p> + <p> + In the course of a very few moments, the sufferers were removed from out + the broiling sun to the shed just mentioned, where they were cared for as + well as circumstances would permit—the stranger passing to and from + the adjoining house with the necessary bandages, water, etc. + </p> + <p> + While removing the masks of two of the assailing party, who appeared to be + mortally wounded, for the purpose of giving them the draft of water they + had so earnestly though feebly implored, as Barry suspected, one of them + was the Kid. The other was Wilson, whose last midnight journey had + evidently been performed, as he was sinking fast, and that, too, without + having gratified his love of plunder in a single instance connected with + the invasion from which he and his two companions had anticipated so much. + Outside, beneath a huge elm, lay Black Jack stone dead, from a frightful + bayonet wound in his throat. His mask had fallen off in his death + struggles, which must have been frightful, judging from the manner in + which his clothes were covered with dust and the way in which the earth + was kicked up all around him. Never was a more horrible face turned in + such hideous blindness on the sun. His eyes were staring wide open, and + his huge mouth, fringed with blood-stained froth, seemed stretched in + demoniacal laughter at some horrid and unearthly orgy in which he was + about to join. The sight was actually appalling; and Barry turned away + from it in utter loathing to minister to those who were yet within the + reach of human aid. + </p> + <p> + Although, dangerously wounded, he found that, unlike the same number of + their comrades who lay stretched on the green sward without, his two + companions who had been brought to the earth without being killed, were + not beyond the reach of hope. With their antagonists, however, it was + different; and now that Barry perceived the Kid; or Smith as we shall now + call him, was fast approaching his end, in the great anxiety that he felt + concerning the fate of his beloved, he knelt beside him and implored him + to give him any information that he might possess regarding her, and so + atone, before he crossed the threshold of the grave, for any wrong that he + might have been instrumental in doing her through the machinations of + others. + </p> + <p> + The dying man raised his heavy eyelids for a moment and ere they dropped + again, managed, as if by one last effort, to point towards the prostrate + form of the principal antagonist of our hero, who still lay insensible a + short distance from him. His chest labored wildly for a few seconds, but + before he could ejaculate a single word, a sudden spirt of blood leaped + from his mouth and he was dead. Wilson had passed away more slowly and + less perceptibly. From the moment he had been removed to the shed he spoke + but once; and that was when he uttered a feeble cry for water. On + beholding the latter dead, the stranger, who had lent such timely aid to + our hero, regarded the silent form with a curious expression of + countenance, and then turned away towards the house. In the meantime, the + man who had for so far lain insensible, began to recover slowly. Hitherto, + his mask which hid but half his face, leaving his mouth and chin + uncovered, had not been removed; but now, as if in some uneasy dream, his + trembling hand tore it mechanically away, revealing, to the utter + astonishment of Barry, the hooked nose and ghastly countenance of Greaves! + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI. + </h2> + <p> + Had O’Neill a single troop of cavalry when he broke the British lines at + Ridgeway, the 2d day of June, 1866, would have been the darkest that had + ever occurred in the annals of Canada. He would have literally annihilated + all the forces that were brought against him on that field, and struck + such terror to the heart of the enemy, as to have still farther paralysed + their volunteer service and destroyed the confidence of the Canadian + people in the vaunted invincibility of the arms of England for many a long + day, if not for all time to come. But owing to circumstances already + referred to, he fought under every disadvantage possible to an invading + army. Still, as the case stood, his triumph was not the less brilliant or + decisive. He routed the enemy, horse and foot; and had he been in a + position to dispose of prisoners, he could have taken a very large number + with scarcely any effort; from the fact, that after the fearful charge + that had broken through their lines, they became completely panic stricken + and demoralized. As he pursued the flying forces towards Ridgeway, what he + would have given for a few mounted riflemen or dragoons; but as a signal + and glorious defeat was more his object than the spilling of blood, he now + felt, unsustained as he was, it would be wise to fall back upon Fort Erie, + in the hope that reinforcements had arrived there, although he was unable + to leave even the smallest handful of a garrison to maintain the foothold + he had so far achieved. Seeing there was nothing further to gain but + everything to lose by remaining longer in a position he could not by any + possibility maintain, in view of the hostile forces that he knew would + soon be pouring down upon him from other quarters, he paused on the verge + of the carnage that he might have wrought still further, and addressed + himself to securing the safety of his little band of heroes and occupying + some position on the frontier from whence he could, if hard set, effect + his transit across the river, or take up a final stand, fighting until the + last man fell in his ranks, if necessary to the success of any landings + that he might learn of as having taken place on the Canadian shore at + other points, or in view of the intention of the authorities at Buffalo to + reinforce him, and enable him to pursue the campaign, so gloriously + opened, with renewed hope and vigor. + </p> + <p> + The news of the disastrous defeat of the British arms spread like + wild-fire; throwing the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of Ridgeway, + as well as those of the village itself, into a state of the most fearful + consternation. Houses were barricaded and property concealed in the full + anticipation that the conquerors would act upon the world-wide maxim, “to + the victors belong the spoils.” But, as we have already seen, it was the + government and not the peasantry or people of the country that O’Neill had + come to overthrow. No better evidence of this could be afforded than that + shown by the circumstance, that, although two infamous and relentless + robbers, and their scarcely less culpable acquaintance and friend, Wilson, + had, for two days and two nights, followed in the wake of his army, not a + single opportunity was afforded them of joining any portion of his command + in a stealthy raid upon the habitations or any of the people, or of taking + an advantage of the confusion and lawlessness which almost invariably + surround the camp of an invader. From first to last, his troops observed + with singular fidelity, his order that the lives and property of the + Canadians not found in arms against him, should be held as most sacred. + And in no instance, although the temptations were various and marked, was + this injunction violated. On this head, Major Denison himself is most + explicit; and when we have the testimony of an enemy upon the subject, the + most exacting incredulity cannot look for more conclusive evidence in the + premises. + </p> + <p> + As already observed, when the rout and confusion of the English commenced, + they fled in all directions; but their main body set off, at full speed, + for Ridgeway, through which village, and for a mile beyond it, they were + pursued by the Irish forces. As was to be expected, their wounded and + dying strewed the way; while those who were thoroughly acquainted with the + locality made their escape to the shelter of whatever woods or dwellings + were to be found along the line of retreat, without actually bordering + upon it. Amongst these latter were Greaves and the persons who made such a + sudden and deadly attack upon Barry while engaged in looking after the + dead and wounded that were found convenient to the house already referred + to. This habitation ought to have been well known to one of the party at + least; for it was neither more nor less than the residence of Wilson, in + which Kate M’Carthy and Martha and her aunt had barricaded themselves, in + the apartment of the former, after having secured the outer doors, when + they heard the tide of war rolling towards them. Wilson, understanding how + the case stood with them, when he found he could not gain admission, and + being sensible that they could not hear his voice, hastily effected an + entrance by a window in a sort of out kitchen, attached to the rear of the + building, and soon admitted his companions; re-bolting the door, and + running up stairs to warn the other inmates of the house not to speak or + stir, but remain barricaded as they were, until they heard from him again. + This done, he descended to where his comrades were, and was about to make + some observation, when the Kid instantly drew the attention of Greaves to + the party who were collecting the dead and wounded hard by, among whom he + at once recognized Barry. In the twinkling of an eye, the countenance of + Greaves was lit with an expression the most revolting; and turning to his + companions he exclaimed in a low, hissing voice— + </p> + <p> + “Now, my countrymen, we can avenge ourselves in part, at least, for the + disasters of the morning. There stand some of the most active and + dangerous of the army of the invader, and it is for us to take signal + vengeance on them, and not permit a single one of them to escape out of + our hands. We must not risk firing upon them at a distance so great; as + should we chance to miss a single shot, they would be sure to slip beyond + our reach. Let us rush out upon them then, with such arms as we have at + our command; and after giving them a volley pounce upon them knife in + hand, for they appear quite unconscious of any impending danger. Above all + things, do not let that officer escape. He is the most deadly enemy we + have had to encounter to-day. Let him, at least, be despatched without + fail, and one thousand dollars shall be distributed amongst you the moment + I find him a corpse before my eyes.” + </p> + <p> + The Kid, Jack and Wilson understood all this; for the first of the + villains had explained previously to the latter two, that Greaves was + interested to an unaccountable extent, in the death of Barry; and had, on + that very morning, before he left Ridgeway, promised him a round sum if he + managed to despatch him in any way; whether by stealth, or otherwise. This + he attempted, as we have already seen; but hitherto without the desired + effect; so that, now, when his game was within his reach, and where he + felt that he should be the gainer, no matter by whom our hero was laid + low, he immediately fell into this second proposition, as did all the + others who stood around him. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments, then, Wilson procured the masks already noticed; they + being a portion of his stock in trade, and loading the three rifles they + had at their command, the door was stealthily opened and the assault made, + which had resulted in such disaster to themselves. + </p> + <p> + When Barry had recovered from the utter surprise occasioned by the + presence of Greaves, and overcome the speechless astonishment into which + it had thrown him, he knelt down beside the wounded man, and began to + examine into the extent of his injuries. At first a few flesh wounds about + the shoulders and arms were all that he could discover; and as these had + bled freely, he fancied that the feeble condition of the wretch, was + attributable simply to a loss of blood; and, now, that his wounds had been + staunched, he believed he should gradually recover strength, so as to be + able to offer some explanation of his presence in that part of the + Province, as well as of the circumstances in which he now found himself. + On a closer examination, however, and just about half an inch below the + nipple of his left breast, the young soldier perceived a small discolored + wound, evidently made with the point of his own sword during the struggle + that had just terminated, and from which not a single drop of blood had + flowed, outwardly at least. Here, without a doubt, all the danger lay; and + as our hero was not versed in injuries, beyond the reach of external + applications, all he could do was to bathe the bitter, little, blue or + discolored orifice—the lips of which seemed to be pressed together + in a vicious sort of manner—in some of the water that had been + previously procured at the adjoining house, when the wounded men were + removed from the open field. During this operation the eyes of Greaves + were steadily fixed upon him, and when he had again bathed the wound and + adjusted the head of the unfortunate sufferer on a pillow made of some hay + found in one corner of the shed, the lips of the patient became as it were + suddenly unsealed, while the light of a larger intelligence, rushed full + into his eyes. At this period the wounded companions of our hero were + comparatively easy, on the temporary couch made for them by the stranger, + just before he disappeared and entered the dwelling a second time; so + that, for the moment, there was not much to distract his attention from + anything that Greaves might vouchsafe to say, some terrible foreboding + having just rushed into his mind, based upon the dying intimation of + Smith, that the man who lay thus helpless and for aught he knew dying + before him, was in some way connected with the fate of his betrothed. + </p> + <p> + Scarcely had the conviction seized upon him, when Greaves motioned him to + draw nearer. On eagerly complying with the request, he bent his ear almost + to the lips of the sufferer, who breathed with great difficulty, and whose + voice was scarcely audible, so weak had he become. As though by some + effort of his indomitable will, however, he managed to collect all his + energies into his tongue and throat; and after whispering through his + compressed and pallid lips the single word “listen!” began slowly as + follows: + </p> + <p> + “I am Edward Philip Darcy. I have lost, for I know that my hour has come!” + </p> + <p> + At the mention of the name “Darcy,” Barry sprang to his feet! Before him + lay the son of the man to whose machinations all Kate’s poverty and + hardships were clearly traceable. He it was that was now concerned in the + Chancery suit, the decision of which was to be replete with such serious + results, as he presumed, to Kate. His father had been dead for some time, + and had bequeathed his interest in the case to him! He was the only person + living who could stand in the way of the property it involved being placed + in the hands of its lawful heir; for the claims of Darcy, whatever they + might be, expired with this, his only son, and the last of his name and + race. The consideration was startling in the extreme; but as our hero saw + how necessary it was to command his feelings, and listen to whatever + Greaves, or Darcy, as we shall now call him, intended to say, he resumed + his position and listened, as the wounded man continued:— + </p> + <p> + “I worshipped gold and power; and as there was some fear of the suit, of + which you have often heard, being decided against as, on the death of my + father, I stepped into his shoes, as a man who could make himself useful + to the Government, and as one, in these troublous times, pre-eminently + calculated to dip into the secrets of Fenianism at home and abroad, and + apprise the British authorities of its power, aims and objects, as well as + make them acquainted with all its plans and prospects. Although I now + surmise I had really to do with the Privy Council itself, I was ostensibly + employed by an important official connected with the Castle of Dublin, + who, besides paying me liberally for my services, promised to influence + the Court of Chancery in my favor, touching the decision now pending; + provided that, after doing all I could to unearth the leaders and plans of + Fenianism in Ireland, I crossed the Atlantic and commenced operations upon + the Brotherhood in America, of which the Canadian government seemed unable + to say much that was definite, however they might have apprehended + mischief from this quarter. It was known at home, that but little + confidence could be placed in the efficiency and honesty of a Cabinet that + tolerated a shuffling inebriate at its head; so that from the + contradictory official documents reaching the Castle from Canada, through + the Imperial authorities, it was, I suppose, deemed advisable to send me + out to learn something of the true state of the case. Influenced thus, I + set about my work with right good will; and after doing what I could in + Ireland, started for this country, with Fenian credentials that, I need + not inform you, were obtained through the treason of one of the + Organization who had gained admission into the Brotherhood for the simple + purpose of betraying it; but who was not sufficiently deep in its plans + and confidence to damage it mortally. + </p> + <p> + “But the strongest inducement I had to visit America was the circumstance + of Kate McCarthy’s having emigrated to that country, and a desire which I + had long felt of gaining her affections and, if possible, making her my + wife; for notwithstanding all the promises of the Castle, I was fearful + that the Chancery suit would go against me—a suspicion heightened by + the conviction of my lawyer. I knew, of course, all about your engagement + to her, but being aware of your having entered the army, and of your + having, through an adverse fate, been separated from her by two seas, I + thought that I should be able to estrange her feelings and love from you, + and make her mine before you again saw her face. But here I had deceived + myself. She was not to be moved, and I was repulsed at every point, until, + maddened by repeated failures, I determined to make her mine by force. + Under the name of Edward Lauder, I first was introduced to her, having + managed to trace her from Quebec to Toronto, after rendering good service + to the home government in the former city. From the first moment she + beheld me, she seemed to entertain an aversion towards me; and when she + became aware of my intentions regarding herself, and heard my repeated + insinuations touching the general faithlessness and bad character of + private soldiers on foreign service, all semblance of cordiality was at an + end between us; and soon, perceiving that her friends favored my suit, she + left Toronto and took up her abode with some relatives in Buffalo.” + </p> + <p> + Here the wounded man became faint and silent; but Nicholas, anxious to + hear all he had to say, bathed his brow and moistened his lips with the + water which still stood in a large wooden vessel by his side. This seemed + to refresh and revive his spirits; so that he soon continued, although + with increasing difficulty. + </p> + <p> + “I knew that your regiment was stationed in the city where I first met + you; and the thought struck me, that if I could separate you both forever, + by betraying you into some act that would consign you to a dungeon or + penal servitude for life, or else make away with you secretly, I should + have some hope of accomplishing my designs regarding her; and, in case the + Chancery suit was decided against me, reap the full advantages of it after + all. + </p> + <p> + “With this scheme deep within me, I followed her to Buffalo, and there + became acquainted with the two men that I saw fall a short time since, who + had engaged with me, for a certain sum, to keep their eyes upon all her + movements whenever I was absent from that city, and obey me in everything, + even to her forcible abduction into Canada, if necessary. These men I knew + to be desperate characters; so when I made this arrangement with them, and + was well assured that they would carry it out if needs be, I started at + once in your direction to see what opportunities might there present + themselves in furtherance of the design that now seemed to absorb my whole + being. + </p> + <p> + “A man like me, easily found out your city-whereabouts; and, as you are + already aware, shortly after my arrival I formed your acquaintance and + that of O’Brien, whom I previously learned to be a relative of Miss + McCarthy, to whom, since you had been quartered in the Fort, she had + already paid a couple of visits. Soon learning your Fenian tendencies, and + hearing that you had applied for your discharge and expected to receive it + immediately, I determined if possible, to prevent your becoming a freeman + on British soil, and to goad you into desertion; as it was rumored, that + your regiment was soon to be called home, and knowing that you would never + accompany it, even though your discharge were denied you. My object then + was, to do, what I actually did do the morning I accompanied you to the + Fort. While you were getting ready for parade I managed to exchange a few + words with your commanding officer, showed him my credentials from the + Castle, and told him that you sought your discharge only for the purpose + of joining a Fenian army now about to invade the province; with the + further view of placing them in possession of all you knew of the weak + points of the Fort. The theory worked like a charm,—you were denied + your discharge; and now I knew you would desert. In this, however, I was + determined to help you; and, at the same time, cause your betrothed to be + lured in some way into Canada, and consigned to some safe, out-of-the-way + keeping, where no one should know of her, until I made my appearance as if + by accident before her; and where I knew you would not be likely to seek + her, from the fact, that once you were a deserter you would be out-lawed + forever from British soil. + </p> + <p> + “You yourself furnished the means of this abduction in a manner the most + innocent. You will recollect the note sealed with a peculiar device, that + you gave me to the deserter concealed in the city in which you were + stationed, telling him to entrust himself wholly, and without question to + whomsoever presented it. This note, after exhibiting it to your friend, I + retained and perceiving that it would answer my purpose, as it mentioned + no names, I enclosed it at once to my agents in Buffalo, instructing them + to present it to Miss McCarthy, and without a moment’s delay, convey her + across the river to some secluded spot, where she was to be held at all + hazards, until further orders from me, or until I was able to visit her + myself. My injunctions were obeyed, and all was well—you had + deserted and Kate McCarthy was in my power!” + </p> + <p> + At this point of the infamous revelation, Barry writhed in the most + fearful agony, and was on the eve of strangling the villain that lay + helpless before him; but his good angel, rushing to the rescue, restored + him to reason once more; and while great beads of perspiration stood on + his brow, he endeavored to compose himself to hear the terrible recital to + its close. + </p> + <p> + “But,” continued Darcy, “after all my generalship you are master of the + field, and she cannot fail to become the possessor of the property justly + or otherwise so long estranged from her, although I fear it is already + embarrassed with heavy costs.” + </p> + <p> + “But where is she now?” exclaimed Barry, as the gasping man finished his + terrible narrative. + </p> + <p> + “I know not,” whispered the other with an effort. “As I had not an + opportunity of paying the stipulated sum to the men who undertook her + abduction, they kept the place of her concealment secret from me until I + should perform my part of the contract, which I could have done this day, + only for the fate that has overtaken us. There is, however, no doubt of + her being in the Province, and, likely, somewhere in the very region where + we now are.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” he whispered, with increasing difficulty and spasmodic + interruptions, “I feel as if I were suffocating! Water! Water! Oh! God!” + And with a bound that almost brought him to his feet, he sprang clean from + the ground on which he lay; and the next moment fell back heavily, a + corpse! + </p> + <p> + And so perished the four men, who scarce an hour previously were as full + of life and vigor as their hearts were of evil thoughts and designs. There + can be no doubt, that they fell through the instrumentality, unconscious + as it was, of the very individuals whom they had injured; differing only + in their shades of criminality. In other relations, besides the one to + which their fate may be mainly attributed, they were doubtless guilty to + an enormous extent. Black Jack, Smith and Wilson were unquestionably old + offenders; the two former having the heavy scent of blood about them; + while Darcy or the pretended Lauder or Greaves, whatever his antecedents + may have been, showed himself capable of any atrocity known to the history + of crime. The cup of their iniquity was full; or they had not fallen so + signally, thus. How steadily the avenging angel follows in the footsteps + of the wretch who makes war upon humanity or does continual violence to + the divine spark which, in a greater or less degree, illumes the breast of + every human being born into the world. Throughout the whole of their + infamous career, these men were well apprised of the fact, that they were + engaged in open rebellion against God and Nature, and thus it was, that + they were cut off in their prime, without one sympathetic tear, to soothe + their last moments or hallow their graves. + </p> + <p> + Such were the meditations of Barry, as he stood over the inanimate frame + of his implacable foe; but soon awaking from his revery, he felt how + dreadful to know that his beloved was, perhaps at that very moment, + suffering in captivity or exposed to dangers consequent upon the disturbed + state of the country at some point, where, now that her persecutors, who + had at least provided for her daily sustenance, were dead, she might, on + this fact becoming known, be subjected to further injuries, or wrongs that + might be irreparable. The thought maddened him; and he was groaning aloud, + in the agony of his spirit, when his ears were arrested with the returning + tumult of O’Neill’s forces, after their having made the second of June, + 1866, memorable in the annals of Canada, and those of Irish Independence. + Gazing steadily for a moment on the terribly distorted features of his + fallen enemy, he turned towards the wide shed-door to make some + arrangements regarding the removal of his wounded comrades, when his + opportune friend again emerged from the house, and rejoined him as he was + stepping across the threshold. + </p> + <p> + “How fares it with your antagonist, now?” enquired the stranger as he cast + a hurried glance towards the body of Darcy, not knowing that its spirit + had already taken its flight forever. + </p> + <p> + “Dead!” returned Barry. “They who assailed us but a short time ago are all + gone to their last home, save the man who made his escape on your arrival + and interference, whoever he may be.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s sharp practice,” rejoined the other; “but in my opinion they + richly deserved what they got, for they fought as murderers and not as + men.” + </p> + <p> + “Would to heaven,” returned Nicholas, “that one of them at least had + escaped the fearful chastisement inflicted upon him; for his death has + enshrouded in darkness a question which presses heavily upon my heart, and + one that I have no means of solving. But pray, sir,” he continued, “do you + reside in this vicinity, and if you do, perhaps you would be kind enough + to say, whether you have heard, recently, of the arrival of a strange lady + in this locality, who had been lured from her home and friends under false + pretenses; and who is, as I now have every reason to believe, in + questionable hands?” + </p> + <p> + “May I ask your name?” returned the stranger, without replying to the + question, and eyeing Barry from head to foot, “and may I, in addition, + inquire what is the name of the lady to whom you allude?” + </p> + <p> + “My name,” replied our hero, “is Nicholas Barry, and the name of the lady + is Miss Kate M’Carthy.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Barry,” hastily observed the stranger, extending his hand, “my name + is Henry Evans, and my kinswoman, Kate M’Carthy, is well and now in safe + keeping.” + </p> + <p> + At the mention of the name, Evans, and the assurance that his betrothed + was safe and well, the heart of Berry so bounded within him, that after + the blood had poured itself in one mighty torrent through his whole frame + and blazed over his face and brow for a moment, he became as pale as + death, and had not his newly found friend leaped forward and caught him in + his arms, he should have fallen fainting to the ground. Recovering himself + speedily, however, he leaned against the huge door-post at his side, and, + breathing with more regularity, soon became cool and collected. + </p> + <p> + Evans could well understand this sudden emotion. His own heart was just in + the vein to sympathize with it; so, in a moment the subtle freemasonry of + kindred spirits was established between them. + </p> + <p> + Who can explain it? Here was a brave, young fellow, with the heart of a + lion, who had faced death in various shapes but an hour or so previously—who + had within the brief space of two days engaged hand to hand in the most + dreadful encounters with the enemy, without experiencing the slightest + sense of fear, or condescending to yield a single inch of ground where he + had set down his foot—here, we say, we see him succumb at once, and + rendered as helpless as a child at the mere mention of a woman, and the + assurance of her safety, although not by any means thoroughly satisfied of + her being in anything like imminent danger. We shall not attempt to + analyse the subtle and powerful influences at work in such mysterious + cases; but simply content ourselves with the observation, that men who are + susceptible of such influences, and who strike at once to the first tap of + their drum, are not notorious for any great deficiency when brought face + to face with a more tangible and terrible enemy. And so thought Henry + Evans as both he and Nicholas sallied forth; the former to report to the + gallant O’Neill, and the latter to re-enter the house already so often + referred to, where Barry agreed to join him when he had seen the hero of + Ridgeway. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII. + </h2> + <p> + As remarked in a preceding chapter, Kate M’Carthy had some distant + relatives in the vicinity of Fort Erie; and, as fortune would have it, the + two strangers who, on the night before the battle of Ridgeway, interrupted + the murderous designs of Smith, belonged to the family with whom she + claimed kindred. One of these, Henry Evans, who had once met her in + Toronto, on hearing from Martha of her presence in Wilson’s house and the + circumstances that surrounded her, instantly requested to be conducted to + her, with a view to reassuring her and offering her the protection of + which he was satisfied she stood so much in need. The recognition was + mutually exciting, and on the part of Kate appreciated with heartfelt + gratitude. Explanations ensued which placed her friend in possession of + all that was, for the present, necessary for him to know; and it was at + once agreed upon, that she should accompany him on the ensuing morning to + the residence of his widowed mother, not far distant, where she was to + remain until Barry or her friends in Buffalo could be communicated with; + as her return to the United States, at a period so disturbed and critical, + was, of course, out of the question. New life and hope welled up through + this arrangement; and the poor girl, who but a few moments previously + believed herself in a position the most dangerous and difficult, now found + herself under the protection of her own stalwart kinsman. + </p> + <p> + Martha, also, was delighted that the being she herself so loved had made a + discovery that not only quieted the painful anticipations and reflections + of her new friend, but gave herself an opportunity of speedily abandoning + forever a roof that had now become loathsome to her, as she had already + made up her mind to accompany Kate to the house of old Mrs. Evans, who, + notwithstanding her suspicious associations, loved her for her own sake, + and desired that she should forgo all further intimacy with her uncle, and + become the wife of young Henry. In this way matters stood until the + morning of the second of June—Henry remaining throughout the night + with the alarmed family; there being nothing to fear in the direction of + his own residence, which lay quite out of the line of the two armies that + were now about to close in mortal strife. + </p> + <p> + The Kid and the cousin of Henry had, as already shown, gone in the + direction of the village, where, on arriving in due course, they found the + inhabitants in a state of the greatest consternation. As in Port Colborne, + here, also, was to be observed that spirit of disaffection towards the + British Crown which led to the hoisting of the American flag over a public + building at the former place, when it was ascertained that the Province + had actually been invaded. As yet, the troops under Lieutenant Colonel + Booker had not arrived, and as there was no opportunity for Smith to ply + his vocation, that worthy, emulating the course pursued by his companion, + rested quietly on his oars, until the cars arrived with the army that was + to contest the field of Ridgeway with the soldiers of O’Neill. + </p> + <p> + On the arrival of this train, Smith, as we have already perceived, + encountered Darcy, and had a conversation with him, the substance of which + is already known to the reader, as well as his subsequent falling in with + Wilson and Black Jack in the immediate rear of the Fenian forces. Before + the British had proceeded from Ridgeway towards Chippewa, for the purpose + of forming the junction with Colonel Peacock, the cousin of Evans had + returned to Wilson’s with the intelligence that the command of Booker was + about to move along the Sodom Road; upon which he was begged, by Henry, to + start off and inform the widow, his mother, of the approaching storm, and + assure her that he should not take up arms against the invaders, nor + approach the scene of conflict, if the contending armies joined issue at + any point in the neighborhood. These two young men, although born in + Canada, were, yet, the sons of Irishmen, and felt that it would be + criminal in them to raise their hand against the freedom of the land of + their fathers, or in behalf of a government that had for centuries + subjected it to every wrong and insult that could be heaped upon it. This + they felt; and entered into a mutual compact to remain passive at least, + should the tide of the conflict surge their way—hoping only for the + success of the cause of poor, down-trodden Erin, without feeling + themselves impelled to raise an arm in her defense against a body of men + made up in part of their friends and acquaintances. + </p> + <p> + This was not genuine patriotism, we know; but, still, under the + circumstances, it had its merits. In addition, it had enough of the real + stuff about it to be capable of being shaped readily, under certain not + unreasonable conditions, into a most useful and active element in the + cause. Where a sentiment is not absolutely hostile, but on the contrary + even imbued with some slight degree of friendliness, it is easily brought + into line with the cause towards which it leans. And thus it is with a + vast body of the people of Canada, who do not take any active part in the + great question that now so agitates the Empire and shakes the tyrant + England to her very foundations. They would like to see Ireland free; but + they do not care to come into collision with the British authorities on + the subject. Could they lend her a helping hand in secret and without + detection, they would extend it cheerfully; but they have not the nerve or + moral courage to give her three cheers in the market place. To this + numerous class, these two young men belonged; and, singular as it may + appear, we count on it for real support in the final struggle that must + take place between us and England upon this continent, one day or other. + We think, also, that in the hands and under the fostering care of the + out-and-out Irish Nationalists of Canada, who are ready to mount the + scaffold at any moment, this friendly element could be fostered into a + great and irresistible power; for we have been always of the opinion, that + nine-tenths of those who have even one, single drop of Irish blood in + their veins, can, by judicious treatment, be developed into the deadliest + enemies of our ancient and implacable foe. Let these people be educated in + the history and the wrongs of Ireland, as well as the extent to which + England is indebted to that unfortunate country for an that she now is. + Let them take the Penal Laws for a text-book, and the murders and + confiscations of Elizabeth, Cromwell and the Georges, for their “Reading + Made Easy,” and no fear but they will soon fall into the ranks from which + they now, alas! keep aloof. Let them dwell upon the ages of famine, fire + and sword to which we have been subjected by a wretch who in the days of + her gross darkness came begging to our door in her breeches of blue paint + and asked us for an alphabet, while we were yet the day star of European + civilization and Christianity, and then they will be enabled to justify in + their own bosoms any act that would tend to her humiliation, and + comprehend fully how bitter and eternal the enmity between us, and how + just, whatever stroke should seal her doom at our hands. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Seek music in the wolf’s fierce howl, + Or pity In his Wood-shot eye, + When hanger drives him out to prowl + Beneath a rayless northern sky. + + But seek not that we shall forgive + The hand that strikes as to the heart, + And yet in mock’ry bids us live + To count our stars as they depart. + + We’ve fed the tyrant with our blood,— + Won all her battles!—built her throne!— + Established her on land and flood, + And sought her glory, next our own. + + We raised her from her low estate + And plucked her pagan soul from hell. + And led her up to heaven’s own gate, + Till she for gold, like Judas, fell. + + And when in one long soulless night + She lay unknown to wealth or fame. + We gave her empire—-riches—light, + And taught her how to spell her name. + + But, now, ungenerous and unjust, + Forgetful of our old renown, + She bows us to the very dust, + But wears our jewels in her Crown! +</pre> + <p> + This is the sentiment that fires the heart of every true son and daughter + of Ireland; and all that is necessary to its general adoption on the part + of those related to us by even the most distant ties of country, is the + constant promulgation throughout the length and breadth of the New + Dominion, etc., of sound information regarding the past and present of our + native land, and the true history of English legislation affecting us. + </p> + <p> + Scarcely had the cousin of Evans disappeared from Wilson’s on his mission + to the house of the widow, when the echoing woods in the vicinity of the + place gave evidence of the meeting of the two hostile forces. The first + discharge of the Fenian rifles, after Col. Starr had driven in the advance + posts of the enemy, brought Kate to her feet, and kindled in her eye a + flame so intense, while her white teeth glistened through her parted lips, + that she seemed the very personification of female courage and patriotism. + As she listened through her open casement, and caught the distant cheer of + her countrymen, the wild music of which she thoroughly recognized, her + bosom rose and fell with terrible emotion, while her delicate nostrils + were distended in a sort of passionate ecstasy that might be termed the + climax of the most sublime enthusiasm. Once more the Saxon and the Celt + had joined in the death struggle; and she felt as though she herself ought + to be in some way identified then and there with the conflict. Thoroughly + appreciating the mighty issues at stake, she implored heaven, in language + the most fervent, to crown with victory the standard of Ireland, and nerve + the arm of O’Neill in this the hour of his need. And as the moments rolled + by, and the tide of the contest ebbed and flowed upon her ear, her + excitement became so intense, that she begged of Henry to venture out to + some point where, without personal danger to himself, he might learn + something of the actual state of the battle and the prospects of her + gallant countrymen. + </p> + <p> + More than an hour had elapsed since the action began, when Evans sallied + forth to gratify not only the wishes of his kinswoman, but to satisfy his + own mind as to how affairs stood. He was armed with his revolver and dirk + only; and felt, notwithstanding his former resolve, a strange inclination + to use them on the side of Ireland. A cowardly shot, however, he could not + fire; and as he knew nothing whatever of military tactics, he at once + dismissed from his mind the idea of participating in the contest. + Perceiving that the conflict did not verge towards his own dwelling, he + was determined to keep his eye upon that which he had just left, and yet + venture as near the field where the battle was raging as a brave man + might. Once he retraced his steps to inform Kate that so far as he could + perceive, both armies were holding their own; returning again to the edge + of a patch of wood close by. Here he had remained for some time + endeavoring to form an idea as to the probable issue of the struggle, and + occasionally warned of the perilousness of his position by the rifle + bullets that now and then sang around him, when suddenly the red cross of + St. George was seen to waver, and the next moment the British lines were + broken and scattered like chaff before the gallant O’Neill and the + victorious charge of his brave handful of heroes. + </p> + <p> + The pulses of Evans beat quick with a sort of strange, wild joy, when he + heard the shout of triumph which burst from the ranks of the Irish, as + they swept like a whirlwind in the wake of their retreating foes, some of + whom stood at bay but to be instantly overthrown by their pursuers. A + desperate encounter between a knot of both forces took place quite near to + where he stood concealed: and here, also, the enemy bit the dust; although + at this precise point, they were not outnumbered. It was here that Barry + and his comrades were ordered to look after the dead and wounded; the + point being convenient to Wilson’s, and discernible from it, although a + clump of trees shut out the house from Evans. + </p> + <p> + When Wilson saw that the day was lost, as quickly as possible, both he and + his comrades, including Darcy and two or three others of a similar stamp, + who joined them in the field, fled and took shelter in his house, + unperceived by Evans or the victorious Irish. From this dwelling, as + already described, they sallied forth in a murderous assault upon Nicholas + and his party; with what success has been already seen. To account for + Evan’s opportune appearance at the time of Barry’s being sorely pressed, + we have only to observe, that he witnessed the attack without knowing the + point from whence it proceeded, or recognizing the persons who made it; + and only hastened to the scene of action when he perceived that the + assailing party was masked and that Barry was being overwhelmed by unequal + numbers. Having gained the point where the struggle was being carried on, + the butt-end of his revolver placed Barry on an equal footing with his + antagonists; although as already observed, the young soldier had + previously inflicted a mortal wound upon the most important of his + assailants. + </p> + <p> + Kate and Martha were eye-witnesses from their chamber window of the whole + of this supplementary fight; the former little dreaming, that the officer + attacked by the two ruffianly masks, was the man that was all the world to + her. She perceived, however, that he belonged to the invading army, and + such being the case, she viewed the contest with breathless anxiety; + looking every moment for the fatal stroke that was to lay him low in the + dust forever, until the sudden appearance of Henry on the spot, decided + the day in his favor. The relief that she experienced was so unutterable + that she burst into tears; and when a few moments subsequently, she + learned from the lips of her kinsman himself that the Irish were every + where victorious and the British forces totally routed and in full retreat + upon Ridgeway, the intelligence was too much for her, and she swooned away + into the arms of Martha, while an expression of ineffable joy overspread + her beautiful face. + </p> + <p> + The death of Wilson was broken to his wife as feelingly as might be by + Henry. For a moment the poor woman was paralysed, and then gave vent to a + flood of tears of a character so strange, that we shall not pause to + analyse it here. Her life had, indeed, been, for so far, a hard one, with + him; and now that she had discovered his real character, she almost felt + grateful to heaven for removing him from the world he was so dishonoring + and the heart that he had already broken. Yet he had been her husband, and + she remembered that she had loved him once; and here the woman was touched + within her. The die was cast, however; and now it only devolved upon her + to see his remains quietly consigned to their last resting place. She saw + him where he lay, kissed his cold lips and wept afresh for all his long + years of cruelty towards her; and then turned away to her lonely chamber + to which the body was removed subsequently. Martha was horrified only at + the slaughter that surrounded her; and had no place for grief in a bosom + where affection for the husband of her aunt had never existed. All she saw + before her was her beloved Henry, alive and safe after the conflict had + ceased between the contending armies; while her heart thrilled with the + purest delight on learning from her lover, that which she was as yet to + keep secret, namely, that the officer who had been attacked by the two + masks opposite the house, was the betrothed of Kate who had joined the + invaders with the two-fold purpose of striking for the freedom of his + native land, and unraveling, if possible, the mystery of her sudden + disappearance from Buffalo. + </p> + <p> + When our hero presented himself before the gallant O’Neill, that + distinguished soldier, who was already aware of the services rendered by + Nicholas, complimented him on his bravery and informed him, that he should + now fall back on Fort Erie with his remaining forces; fearing momently the + approach not only of Peacock’s army but that of the numerous other bodies + of men that were being concentrated against him from more than one + quarter. Orders were therefore given to dispose as hastily as possible of + the dead and wounded: some prisoners that were taken having been already + paroled; among whom was the officer taken by Barry on the preceeding day. + </p> + <p> + When Kate opened her eyes to consciousness again, she found herself in + arms other than those of Martha; and looking up in a state of startled + amazement encountered the radiant face of Nicholas as he pressed her in + ecstasy to his bosom. A cry of joy escaped her lips, as she clung to him + with an embrace as wild as though she feared some adverse fate should + again separate them; and a second time became unconscious. Soon, + nevertheless, she was revived through restoratives used by Martha; but yet + in a state so confused that she could scarcely bring herself to believe + that all was real that was transpiring around her. By degrees, however, + she became convinced that it was in reality her lover who enfolded her to + his heart; and all was well. In due time, explanations were given, when it + was determined that she should at once return with him to her friends in + Buffalo, under the protection of the victorious army and in a vehicle that + Henry volunteered to furnish for the occasion, and drive in person. The + distance to the frontier was but short; and as Henry’s cousin had come up + from the widow’s to learn the result of the battle, it was agreed that the + one should remain in the house of death with Martha and her aunt until the + return of the other from Fort Erie; and that, in the interim, he should + collect such of the neighbors as were within reach, and have the body of + Wilson and that of Darcy and the others interred as speedily as possible. + </p> + <p> + This once decided upon, Barry possessed himself of such papers and + documents as were on the body of Darcy, hoping thereby, to gain some + insight not only into the Chancery case, but into the intentions of the + Government or their plans in relation to Fenianism. To him belonged of + right any information of this character that could be realized from a + dastardly foe who had been vanquished by his sword. But little, however, + was gleaned from this source, beyond the fact gathered from a letter + received by Darcy from his lawyer a short time previously, announcing that + there was no hope of his winning the suit, as some private opinions + expressed by those who composed the Court, went to convey the idea that + the claims of Kate McCarthy were of a character not to be set aside or + ignored even under the pressure of the Castle; and further, that the + opposing counsel, who was a sterling lawyer and a man of influence, was + pressing the matter so, that a decision favorable to his client could not + fail to be given at no distant day. + </p> + <p> + This was, of course, cheering to our hero, although Darcy, just before his + death, had placed him in possession of the contents of the epistle, and + prepared him for the intelligence it contained. Kate received the + information without evincing any great degree of excitement Her mind had + been so perplexed and agitated for the last few days, that her sudden good + fortune, in a pecuniary sense, seemed lost sight of in the other events + that had already transpired, and her unexpected restoration to her lover. + She was certainly surprised at the fate and the machinations of the + pretended Lauder; and felt relieved by the conviction that the murderous + and unprincipled wretch who had wrought her and Nicholas so much wrong and + hardship, and who had attempted the assassination of her betrothed, and + her own ruin, was no more. This was a great relief to her overburdened + heart; as she now knew, that a man so desperate as he, were he still + alive, might manage, even yet, to work them some further mischief. + </p> + <p> + Among the papers belonging to Darcy there was found a small memorandum + book or diary, which, although a riddle to Barry, is worth noting here, as + it contained some entries that may possibly find elucidation outside the + recognition of our hero. One of them was as follows: “Toronto, April 20th, + 1866—Paid to J.G. M—— $20, for information regarding + Hib. Benev. Society.” And again: “April 23d—saw Hon. J. R——; + willing to do all he can, but wants to be paid for it. Mean fellow, whose + tenderest passion is absolutely scrofulous, they say.” The other entries + related to mere travelling expenses, etc., and to some transactions which + took place in Kingston and other points where Darcy had been conducting + his operations in the interest of the English, as well as the Canadian + government In addition to this, there was a draft for a considerable + amount; but as it needed the signature of the deceased, it was regarded as + valueless and permitted to remain in the pocket of the dead man—our + hero, however it fared afterwards, feeling a singular repugnance to + possessing himself of any property of this kind, or retaining a single + shilling of the current funds found upon the corpse. These latter were + subsequently devoted to defraying the burial expenses of the deceased, as + well as those of his companions. + </p> + <p> + When matters were so far arranged as to permit of the departure of our + hero and heroine, Henry was about to leave the premises with a view to + procuring the vehicle that was to carry them to the frontier, when + Wilson’s team, that was discovered by a neighbor in the place where it had + been concealed, was driven up to the door. This was opportune, as Evans, + on perceiving the horses and knowing that there was a light carriage under + the shed, determined to put them into requisition at once. Soon, + therefore, the three friends were bringing up the rear of O’Neill’s troops + as the latter fell steadily back upon Fort Erie, with the intention, as + before stated, of learning whether landings had been made at any other + point, or whether there were the slightest hopes of reinforcements + crossing the river from Buffalo. + </p> + <p> + Kate parted from Martha with a warm embrace, and an assurance of lasting + friendship; while on her part, the betrothed of Evans promised to visit + our hero and heroine in Buffalo at no distant day, and there renew the + intimacy that had begun amid such clouds, although now surrounded with + sunshine. On the departure of our little party, then, Barry’s wounded + comrades being previously cared for under the instructions of O’Neill, the + bodies of the four accomplices—Wilson, Darcy, Black Jack and the Kid—were + interred with infinitely more decent observances than their career in life + seemed to warrant. The scruples of Nicholas, however, regarding Darcy’s + draft, were not shared by some of those who disposed of his remains; as it + was taken charge of by an individual who fancied it might, one day, be + turned to account by some person authorised to receive it. Of the mask who + had escaped from the conflict opposite Wilson’s, we may have occasion to + speak in some future volume; although Evans surmised him simply some + villain who had joined Darcy or the Kid for the purposes of murder or + plunder. Be this as it may, the fugitive had made good his escape, while + those with whom he had acted for the time being, suffered to the extent of + their crimes. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII. + </h2> + <p> + It will be remembered that when the brave O’Neill and his handful of + troops fell down the river from Fort Erie on the night of the first of + June, to go into camp at Newbiggin’s Farm, preparations were being made by + the British not only to overpower him with superior numbers but to cut off + his retreat upon the American shore and capture his whole command. In view + of this, troops were being despatched against him from all points; while + the tug Robb, black with artillery and men, came round from Dunville and + patrolled the Niagara River between Fort Erie and Black Creek, under + command of Capt. L. McCallum. This craft was manned by the Dunville Naval + Brigade and the Welland Field Battery, under Capt. R.S. King, all armed to + the teeth with Enfield rifles. On this vessel there was, we learn, so much + mirth when it was found that the Fenians were cut off from the American + shore, that the force aboard it assumed the air of a sort of military + pic-nic party. They laughed at the dilemma in which they considered the + invaders placed; and landed some of their men at one point on the river to + make a pleasant reconnoisance of the enemy, and give them a warm reception + as they came flying back towards Fort Erie before the victorious Queen’s + Own or the University Rifles—either corps being considered quite + sufficient to snuff out the little band of patriots who dared to beard the + British Lion in his den. The wine and the jest passed gaily round, until + so secure were they of their position and the defeat of the invaders, a + landing was effected At Fort Erie where the skull and cross-bones of St. + George once again floated over the village, and assured the inhabitants + that they were not yet lost to wheezy old England. Lieut. Col. Denis was + absolutely in ecstasies and evinced such instances of personal bravery + over his brandy and water, that no one could have imagined, that, in the + space of a couple of hours or so, he should be found in a hay-loft, shorn + of his fierce moustachois, and endeavoring to imitate the Irish brogue, in + the slouched caubeen and coarse, gray habiliments of some poor, plundered + Son of the Sod. Those who caught a glimpse of the brave commander as he + fled before the dangers that threatened him, report him as presenting the + most ludicrous appearance imaginable, and scarcely worth sending to his + account in a respectable manner. To this disguise alone, we learn, he owed + his escape after the second carnage of the British by the Irish troops on + the memorable day already named, and on their return from Limestone Ridge. + </p> + <p> + When O’Neill left Ridgeway, after pursuing the routed English forces + through and beyond the village, he took the Garrison Road and, as already + mentioned, fell back on Fort Erie. Here he came upon the Welland Field + Battery and Dunville Naval Brigade just referred to. Flushed with the + victory of the morning, he was upon them like a whirlwind, and, in the + twinkling of an eye sent them flying to cover in every direction. His + horse being much jaded with the march of the previous night, and the + dreadful fatigues of the battle of the morning, he could scarcely get him + to move a leg when he entered the village; and this circumstance was near + leading to the most fatal results; for, in passing a house in which a + number of the enemy had taken shelter, one of them came to the door, and + seeing the animal going at so slow a pace, took deliberate aim with a + rifle, and fired, in the hope of bringing down his rider. The all but + murderous ball displaced the hair just over the right temple of O’Neill, + lodging in a building opposite; the hero escaping all the dangers of the + day, to the amazement of those who had marked him galloping among the + carnage and bullets of the morning, in what might be termed a constant + hand to hand struggle with death. It is sometimes thus with the men who + show the most daring front in battle, and at the call of duty expose + themselves to dangers the most appalling; while such as are more cautious + often fall in their first encounter with the enemy. + </p> + <p> + The British forces at Fort Erie, from the very nature of things, had the + Fenians at great advantage on the return of the latter from Ridgeway. The + troops under O’Neill were fatigued and hungry, and after a desperate + battle and a long march, while the English had been resting on their oars + and feasting all day long, or at least for many hours. Still, with all + these advantages in their favor, they were whipped instantly a second + time; many of them being killed and wounded; Captain King of the Welland + Battery losing a leg upon the occasion, and others being terribly maimed. + In addition, some of them were so terror-stricken as to roll from the bank + into the river, and conceal themselves as best they could, with their + heads just over the water, and sheltered by whatever chanced to float + against them or project into the flood. In one case they fought for a few + minutes from behind some cord-wood: but from this they were soon dislodged + by the terrible bayonets of their enemies, and scattered like sheep in and + about the village. It was here that the brave Colonel Michael Bailey was + dangerously wounded by a rifle ball from a house where the enemy had + already hung out a flag of truce. He was riding at the head of his men + when he was tumbled from his horse, the ball having entered his left + breast, damaging the breast bone and passing out just under his right + nipple. The wound was at the time considered mortal; but the gallant + soldier survived it for upwards of a year. Still it was the occasion of + his death ultimately; for, from the hour that he received it, he drooped + gradually into his grave. Only for the timely interference of O’Neill, the + house from which this treacherous shot was fired, like that from which he + himself had nigh received his death, would have been burned to the ground. + He saw, of course, how cowardly the act, to first hang out a flag of truce + and then follow the white emblem with so diabolical an attack; but he + perceived, also, that if one building chanced to be fired, Fort Erie might + be burned to the ground. He therefore quelled the rising tempest at this + foul play, and with his iron will held the whole command in the hollow of + his hand and made those who composed it trample on their feelings and curb + their just anger for the good of the cause—a noble sentiment + emulated by the brave Dr. Edward Donnelly, of Pittsburgh, who at the risk + of his life and liberty, remained among the wounded of both parties and + assisted by the humane Drs. Blanchard and Trowbridge, of Buffalo, attended + upon the sufferers even after the troops had recrossed the river, and the + British had again taken possession of Fort Erie. + </p> + <p> + If we except the death of the brave Lonergan and that of half a dozen + other noble fellows, whose names are unfortunately not at our command at + this moment, and take into consideration the capture by the British of the + Christian and chivalrous Father McMahon, who, regardless of his own + personal safety, remained with the dead and dying, after the forces of + O’Neill had recrossed the river, the victory of Ridgeway was completely + unclouded. This patriotic priest and some other friends of Ireland are now + suffering for their love of Fatherland in an English bastile at Kingston, + in the New Dominion; but the thought strikes us, the hour of their + redemption draws nigh. Subsequently, one or two others, including the + gallant Bailey, died from the effects of their wounds upon that memorable + field; but such are the contingencies of war, and such the fate of some of + the truest of our race. + </p> + <p> + When O’Neill conquered and captured all the British force at Fort Erie, he + at once sent a despatch to Buffalo asking for reinforcements and stating + that if it were necessary to the success of any movement that might be + going on at some other point, he would hold Fort Erie and make it a + slaughter-pen to the last man of his command. General Lynch having arrived + at Buffalo some short time previously, it was decided to send + reinforcements; but on its being found, subsequently, that a sufficient + number to be of real service could not be then sent to the Canada side, + the idea was abandoned and transportation prepared for the victorious + troops to re-cross the river. + </p> + <p> + When the British entered Fort Erie in the morning, they captured some + Fenian stragglers who were, of course, set free on the arrival of O’Neill + from Ridgeway; and now after being themselves captured in turn they were + released on their parole; O’Neill having no other means of disposing of + them. Nicholas was not engaged in this latter affair; as, not anticipating + it, he had kept in the rear of the army with Kate and Evans; so that now + when he came up, he was both ashamed and mortified that even an engagement + so trifling, when compared with that of the morning, was fought without + his having participated in it. However, the day was doubly won, and as he + explained to his gallant Commander, the peculiarity of his position, with + a smile and a hearty shake of the hand, he got permission to re-cross the + river with his betrothed. This much accomplished, Henry turned his horses + and drove down the bank at a quick pace, until he arrived at the house of + a friend who kept a boat; and prevailing on him to take our hero and + heroine to the American side a little below the Lower Rock, he made his + warm <i>adieux</i>, with a promise soon to visit Buffalo with Martha, + where, meeting an express desire from the lips of Kate, he agreed that + they should be made man and wife. And so the friends parted for the time + being—Nicholas and Kate, in the course of an hour, finding + themselves under the Stars and Stripes once more, and beneath the + hospitable roof that had so long sheltered her. + </p> + <p> + Here to their utter astonishment they found Big Tom who had just arrived + from Canada; he having been obliged to turn over his establishment hastily + to his trusty friend, Burk, and fly the Province; as through some + successful espionage, his connection with the Brotherhood had been + discovered. From a friendly detective who had learned the true state of + the case and the danger that threatened him, he received the hint that + urged him to make his escape, and which doubtless saved him from the + horrors of a dungeon if not from death. His sister was to follow him as + soon as a sale of his establishment could be effected, and then, as he + said himself, “good bye to the tyrant until we meet on the battle field.” + He was astounded at the disclosures regarding the pretended Greaves, and + all but paralysed at the frightful position from which Kate had so + miraculously escaped. When, however, he heard of the glorious victory of + the arms of the Irish Republic at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, under O’Neill, + he forgot everything else and leaped to his feet with a cheer that shook + the house to its very foundation. In the ecstasy of joy that seized him, + he took everybody near him by the hand ten times over, and added cheer to + cheer until it was deemed expedient to recall him to something like + reason. A more genuine display of heartfelt pleasure and patriotic feeling + was never witnessed or experienced by any individual or indulged in a + manner more original or unsophisticated. + </p> + <p> + “Tell it to me again, Nick! Tell it to me again!” he exclaimed for the + twentieth time; “and did you see them run, and how many of them are kilt? + Have you a soord or a gun or anythin belongin to them? for if you have + I’ll give you tin times the value of it for a keepsake.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” replied Barry, amused at this unusual display on the part of the + sedate and phlegmatic Tom, “there will be no lack of keepsakes in Buffalo + to-morrow; for the field was covered with their coats, arms, and + knapsacks; and some of these, I am sure, will be got for a mere song.” + </p> + <p> + This seemed to satisfy O’Brien, who soon flowed into conversation touching + all that had transpired regarding Kate and Darcy, as well as in relation + to Nicholas himself. During the narrative, he referred to the doubts that + he had from the first entertained regarding the spy; although he confessed + he was not altogether clear at times upon the subject. + </p> + <p> + After the fight at Fort Erie, many of the Fenians, understanding that they + were not to be reinforced and that the enemy was about coming down on them + in force and hemming them in on all sides, made the best of their way + across the river. The great bulk of the command, however, stood by + O’Neill; until about midnight, when a large scow attached to a steam tug + approached the Canadian shore and took the whole of the remaining forces + on board. Laden thus, they steamed out into the middle of the river, when + a 12-pound shot fired across their bows, from the tug Harrison, belonging + to the U.S. Steamer Michigan, brought them to—doubtless to the + extreme delight of Acting Sailing-Master Morris who seemed anxious enough + to fire the gun and make the capture; although they would at the moment + have stuck to a child hearing the authority of the United States. It is + significant, however, that the over-officiousness of Mr. Morris has not + tended much to his advantage as he no longer belongs to the United States + Navy; he having been quite as unfortunate as a certain District Attorney, + who, also, endeavored to impress the Government as to his undoubted + unfriendliness to the cause of Irish freedom. The lesson may be profitable + to Government officials at some future period; and prevent them from + exceeding the simple and unprejudiced bounds of their duty. Be this as it + may, about two o’clock on the morning of the third of June the scow was + brought along side the Michigan and the officers taken on board that + vessel and handed over to the urbane and gentlemanly Capt. Bryson, its + commander, as prisoners under the authority of the United States; while + the men were detained in the same character aboard the scow. + </p> + <p> + We are unable to trace to any particular source, the cruelty inflicted + upon these latter noble fellows, in keeping them for days in that open + vessel huddled together, and with the rain for a portion of that period, + descending upon them in torrents. The disgrace of such a proceeding has + been so often denounced, that we dismiss this part of the subject without + further comment. Ultimately, they were all liberated on their own + recognizance, to appear about the middle of the month at Canaudaigua, to + answer for a breach of the Neutrality Laws; and there the matter ended. + </p> + <p> + Now, however, the arms and ammunition belonging to the Brotherhood had + been seized at every point except Buffalo. In addition, the volunteers who + poured to the frontier from every side found themselves helpless, being + without weapons or a commissariat: although the brave General Spear, with + but a handful of men, made a descent subsequently upon the enemy at St. + Albans, and put them to a most ignominious flight. According to General + Meade, of the United States Army, between thirty and forty thousand of + these brave fellows were furnished with transportation back to their homes + at the expense of the Government; while the arms that were seized were + subsequently returned to the authorities of the Organization on certain + conditions that have been for so far complied with. + </p> + <p> + Thus ended the first invasion of Canada under the gallant O’Neill, who, on + his return from the campaign, was made a General and Commander-in-chief of + the Army of the Irish Republic, and who, in addition, was subsequently + elevated, to the position of President of the Fenian Organization + throughout the world. What his next move may be, we are unable to say; but + this we know, it will be in the right direction and likely to succeed. He + had no doubt been spared on the numerous battle-fields on which he fought + so bravely, for some wise purpose: and this purpose, we feel, is in + connection with the freedom of Ireland. For the present, then, we bid him + and his noble comrades adieu; hoping the next time we shall have occasion + to refer to them, the power of England may be broken on this continent, + and the green flag of old Ireland floating over the Castle of Dublin. Our + hopes of success were never brighter than they appear to be at this, the + moment of our writing. We have an immense army in preparation for the + field, and a noble and self-sacrificing Senate and band of Organizers that + may well command his confidence and that of every Irish Nationalist in the + world. For the benefit of our readers, we here give the names of the + members of both these bodies, so that they shall be known and cherished + throughout the globe. We might single out from amongst them, that of the + able and patriotic P.J. Meehan, Esq., editor of the <i>Irish American</i>, + and bold it up to the admiration of our countrymen everywhere: but where + all have acted so nobly we shall include all as worthy of praise alike; + although we could point out D. O’Sullivan, Esq., Secretary of Civil + Affairs, A.L. Morrison, Esq., of Chicago, and a host of others, as + eminently entitled to our love and admiration; while, were we permitted to + do so, we could illumine our pages with the names of thousands of our fair + countrywomen and their beautiful American sisters who have laid their + hands to the good work with all the passion and nobility of their pure and + generous natures: but we must for the present content ourselves with the + following list and its recent modifications, at the Seventh National + Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood, which assembled at Philadelphia on + Tuesday, November 24th. 1868: + </p> + <h3> + <i>NAMES OF SENATORS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD</i>. + </h3> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + JAMES GIBBONS, ESQ., Vice President, F.B. 333 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. + THOMAS LAVAN, ESQ., 13 Superior Street, Cleveland, Ohio. + T.J. QUINN, ESQ., Albany, N.Y. + MILES D. SWEENEY, ESQ., San Francisco. Cal. + JOHN CARLETON, ESQ., Bordentown, N.J. + F.B. GALLAGHER, ESQ., Buffalo, N.Y. + P.W. DUNNE, ESQ., Peoria. Ill. + EDWARD L. CAREY, ESQ., New York City. + PATRICK J. MEEHAN, ESQ., Hudson City, N.J. + PETER CUNNINGHAM, ESQ., Utica, N.Y. + MICHAEL FINNEGAN, ESQ., Houghton, Mich. + J.C. O’BRIEN, ESQ., Rochester, N.Y. + WM. FLEMING, ESQ., 16 Congress Street Troy, N.Y. + HON. J.W. FITZGERALD, Ellen Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. + PATRICK SWEENEY, ESQ., Newburgh Street, Lawrence, Mass. +</pre> + <h3> + <i>NAMES OF ORGANIZERS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD</i>{1} + </h3> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + JOHN F. FINNERTY, ESQ. + JAMES BRENNAN, ESQ. + COLONEL P.F. WALSH. + MAJOR WM. McWILLIAMS. + H.M. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + HENRY LE CARON, ESQ. + MAJOR TIMOTHY O’LEARY. + JOSEPH SMOLENSKI, ESQ. + E.C. LEWIS, ESQ. + COLONEL WM. CLINGEN. + FRED. O’DONNELL, ESQ. + H.M. SULLIVAN, ESQ. +</pre> + <h3> + (FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCHES) + </h3> + <h3> + PHILADELPHIA. NOVEMBER 29, 1868. + </h3> + <p> + “The Seventh National Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood adjourned <i>sine + die</i> at six o’clock this morning, the delegates having sat from three + o’clock P.M., on Saturday, determined to finish their business in one + session. General JOHN O’NEILL was unanimously re-elected President, and + resolutions were adopted, approving his administration of the affairs of + the Brotherhood. + </p> + <p> + “The following named Senators, nine in number, were elected to fill + vacancies:— + </p> + <p> + “J.C. O’Brien, Rochester, N.Y.; J.W. Fitzgerald, Cincinnati, Ohio; Major + J. McKinley, Nashville, Tenn.; R. McCloud, Norwich, Conn.; J.E. Downey, + Providence, R.I.; P. Bannon, Louisville, Ky.; W.J. Hynes, Washington, + D.C.; P.J. Meehan, New York; Colonel John O’Neill, Dubuque, Iowa. + </p> + <p> + “The following named Senators hold over under the Constitutional rule, + having been elected for two years at the Cleveland Congress:— + </p> + <p> + “James Gibbons, of Philadelphia; Miles D. Sweeney, of San Francisco; T.J. + Quinn, of Albany, N.Y.; E.L. Carey, of New York; P.W. Dunne, of Peoria, + Ill.; Frank B. Gallagher, of Buffalo, N.Y. + </p> + <p> + “What may be termed the central authority of the Brotherhood, within the + Senate, stands thus, Dec., 1868: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “PRESIDENT—GENERAL JOHN O’NEILL. + <i>Executive Committee</i>—VICE PRESIDENT GIBBONS, P.J. MEEHAN and E.L. CAREY. + <i>Acting Sec. of War</i>—P.J. MEEHAN. + <i>Assistant Treasurer</i>—JOHN P. BROPHY. + <i>Sec. of Civil Affairs</i>—DAN. O’SULLIVAN, of Auburn. + <i>Assistant Secretaries</i>—FRANK RUNEHAN and RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK. + <i>Treasurer</i>—PATRICK KEENAN.” + </pre> + <p> + As we have referred to the recent Congress at Philadelphia, the following + article from the Philadelphia <i>Age</i> November 27, 1868, will be + interesting to our readers as indicative of the present standing and + prospects of the Brotherhood on this continent: + </p> + <p> + “One of the great events of Thanksgiving Day, outside of the festivities + of the home circle and the attendance on public worship, was the grand + demonstration by the Irishmen of Philadelphia in honor of the assembling + of the Fenian Congress in this city. This body, which consists of + delegates from all parts of the world, has been holding secret sessions at + the Assembly Buildings during the week, and important results have been + anticipated by the friends of Ireland all over the world. + </p> + <p> + “The parade was quite a success, and reflected great credit on the + managers. Mr. John Brennan was Chief Marshal, assisted by Frank McDonald, + Marshal First Division; Michael Moane, Second Division; James Carr, Third + Division; John McAtee, Fourth Division; Michael D. Kelly, Fifth Cavalcade, + with the following Aids—John A. Keenan, R.J. Keenan, Andrew Wynne, + Thomas N. Stack, Capt. F. Quinlan. + </p> + <p> + “The line commenced moving about half-past three o’clock, in the following + order, the military having the right of the line: + </p> + <p> + “Gen. John O’Neill, President of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the following + Staff—Gen. J. Smolenski, Chief-of-Staff; Col. John W. Byron, Asst. + Adjt.-General; Col. J.J. Donnelly, of Engineers; Major T. O’Leary, of + Ordnance; Major Henry LeCaron, Com. Subsistence; Dr. Donnelly, Surgeon; + Capt. Wm. J. Hynes, Assistant Inspector; Lieut.-Col. Sullivan, + Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. Atkinson, Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. John W. + Dunne, Aid-de-Camp; Capt. J. Smolenski, Aide-de-Camp; Capt. J. Driscoll, + Aide-de-Camp. + </p> + <p> + “There were three regiments of the Irish Republican Army in line; they + numbered fully two thousand men, and were clad in their new uniform. The + three regiments parading were the Eighth, Ninth and Twenty-fourth. The + brigade was commanded by Col. William Clingen, Major Daniel A. Moore, + Asst. Adj’t-Gen. + </p> + <p> + “The Eighth Regiment was commanded by Col. P.S. Tinah, the Ninth by Col. + J. O’Reilly, and the Twenty-fourth by Col. Michael Kirwan. The military + was followed by numerous civic societies. There were nineteen Circles of + the Fenian Brotherhood and three hundred delegates to the Fenian Congress, + besides the Charles Carroll Beneficial Society and the Buchanan Beneficial + Society. The civic portion of the parade numbered about five thousand men. + The participants wore dark suits and badges, and pieces of green ribbon + tied in the button-holes of their coats. + </p> + <p> + “In the line of the procession was a handsome chariot drawn by six gray + horses. It was painted green and gold; the platform was covered with + beautiful oilcloth, and on it was placed a large brass bell, supported on + a green framework. This bell was kept tolling over the whole route of the + procession. In the rear of the chariot was a raised platform, on which sat + a beautiful daughter of Erin, dressed as a Goddess of Liberty, holding a + beautiful silk banner. She was seated underneath an arch of gold stars, + set on a field of white satin, and the top of the arch was covered with + holly and evergreen. The rear of the arch and the back of the chariot were + covered by a beautiful anchor of hope, made entirely of flowers. The + horses were decked with red, white and blue plumes and large silk + pennants. The whole arrangement made a very fine display, and elicited + much applause along the route. + </p> + <p> + “A banner was carried in the line of the civic societies, containing the + following, in gold letters on a field of green satin: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Delegates—remember the words of our martyred O’Brien, to unite in + God’s name, for Ireland and liberty. God save Ireland. +</pre> + <p> + “An outline cross in gold covered the front of the banner. + </p> + <p> + “Along the route advertised, the sidewalks were lined by expectant + watchers, in some instances three or four abreast. They waited patiently + for nearly three long hours before the head of the line appeared. Green + flags, with yellow harps and the words ‘Erin go Bragh,’ were plentifully + distributed throughout the crowd. The universal color was green; green + ribbons in button-holes, green neckties, green badges, green flags, green + coats, green sashes and green uniforms. The bands played ‘Wearing of the + Green,’ continually. ‘Green grow the Rushes, O,’ ‘The Green above the + Red,’ and ‘Garry-owen’ were the only substitutes. + </p> + <p> + “There was a great deal of enthusiasm manifested all along the route, and + the procession did not cease marching until the shades of evening had + approached.” + </p> + <p> + But to resume, once more, the thread of our story:—In due time the + establishment of The Harp was disposed of to advantage, and the sum + realized from it placed in the hands of O’Brien by his sister who had made + her way to Buffalo according to his directions. When matters quieted down + in the vicinity of Ridgeway, Martha paid a visit to her friend Kate, and + was soon followed by Henry with a view to keeping his word in relation to + their marriage which took place on the same evening and under the same + roof with that of Kate and Nicholas. The joint affair was a grand one; + many guests having been invited to the wedding; among whom were some + officers of the I.R.A., and all that survived of Barry’s comrades. Tom, + was in his glory; and as all the military men present had been at + Ridgeway, the <i>pros</i> and <i>cons</i> of that important battle were + discussed in a manner the most lively and entertaining. Then and there, it + was voted, that although the invasion of the Provinces had not at the + moment, resulted in any immediate benefits to the Irish, it had given a + prestige to the arms of Ireland in an individual and national sense, not + realized by that country for ages. Not since the palmy days of our early + chivalry, had British soil been invaded by a hostile Irish army, until + O’Neill broke the ice at Ridgeway; and at no period in the history of the + nation had a mere handful of men performed greater miracles of valor or + been handled with more consummate judgment and daring. + </p> + <p> + In the course of a few days, Mr. and Mrs. Evans returned to their home + near Ridgeway; and prevailed upon Mrs., now the widow Wilson, to dispose + of the house and property identified with so many unhappy associations, + and near which the young wife could not now be induced to venture. In the + roomy and commodious dwelling of the Evans’ she found a home; and in the + course of time began to wear a more cheerful aspect, and forget, in a + measure, the dreadful ordeal through which she had passed. Nevertheless, + no real sunshine visited her brow, as the shadow that had fallen on it was + too deep and sorrowful for even the peace and quiet now promised her in + the decline of her years. + </p> + <p> + Six months after their marriage, the Barrys were apprised of their success + regarding the Chancery-suit; but so enormous were the expenses attending + it, that, after all, the benefits accruing from it were something similar + to those experienced by Gulliver after his having encountered and overcome + all the difficulties that could have possibly beset humanity. Still they + were richer through its having been decided in their favor; and were + enabled on the strength of it to purchase a handsome dwelling near their + friends of the Rock, where they still reside in comfortable if not + affluent circumstances. Tom and his sister, old bachelor and old maid, are + once again in business, but this time not in the restaurant line; and had + we not given assumed names throughout our whole story in so far as he and + Barry are concerned, his establishment might be recognized at any period + by those acquainted with Buffalo and its vicinity, or such as have passed + along a certain well-known thoroughfare to Black Rock. His faith never + falters in relation to the independence of Ireland; and he still keeps up + his connection with the Brotherhood on both sides of the line; often + receiving from Canada lengthy and mysterious epistles written by Burk, + over which he pores, from time to time, with sundry nods, winks and + significant smiles. + </p> + <p> + Henry and Martha are now occasionally to be seen at the Rock; the former + wearing a green necktie, and the latter as happy as the day is long. In + the arms of both Kate and Martha are now two sweet prattlers—one + christened, John O’Neill Barry, and the other, Martha Ridgeway Evans. + Perhaps in after years they in turn may plight their vows on the banks of + the Niagara, as Kate and Nicholas had done by those of the Shannon. Kate + now and then visits her friends at their residence on the Canadian side of + the lakes; but Nicholas is of the impression, that he is quite as well off + in judiciously remaining at home to look after the affairs of their + establishment. Sometimes, however, he gazes across the river and wonders + how soon again he shall have an opportunity of measuring swords with the + ancient enemy of his race; while Tom has made up his mind to handle a + rifle himself, the next time that O’Neill sounds “to horse!” + </p> + <p> + And so ends our story of Ridgeway, with all the difficulties, loves, hopes + and fears connected with it. Throughout the whole of our narrative we have + been faithful to circumstances where the interests of the truth required + that we should be just and impartial. In this connection we have been + guided solely by personal knowledge and the evidence of respectable + eye-witnesses; and by official documents of the campaign, the veracity of + which are beyond any question whatever. Here, then, we bid our readers + good-bye for the present; trusting that we may soon again renew our + acquaintance, and that we have not done injustice to any party; for, + notwithstanding the slight tinge of romance with which our facts are + interwoven, we have, after all, presented nothing for their perusal at + variance with truth, or, we hope, prejudicial to society. + </p> + <h3> + <i>THE END</i>. + </h3> + <p> + [1] + Although we are under the impression that others of these gentlemen than + those designated belong to the I.R.A. yet we are unable to give their + military rank, from the fact of our not being able, at the time of our + writing, to obtain proper intelligence on the subject. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AUTHENTIC REPORT OF THE INVASION OF CANADA, AND THE BATTLE OF RIDGEWAY, + </h2> + <h3> + By the Army of the Irish Republic, under General O’NEILL, June, 1866. + </h3> + <p> + About midnight, on the 31st May, the men commenced moving from Buffalo to + Lower Black Rock, about three miles down the river, and at 3:30 A.M., on + the 1st of June, all of the men, with the arms and ammunition, were on + board four canal boats, and towed across the Niagara River, to a point on + the Canadian side called Waterloo, and at 4 o’clock A.M., the Irish flag + was planted on British soil, by Colonel Starr, who had command of the + first two boats. + </p> + <p> + On landing, O’Neill immediately ordered the telegraph wires leading from + the town to be cut down; and sent a party to destroy the railroad bridge + leading to Port Colborne. + </p> + <p> + Colonel Starr, in command of the Kentucky and Indiana troops, proceeded + through the town of Fort Erie to the old Fort, some three miles distant up + the river, and occupied it for a short time, hoisting the Irish flag. + </p> + <p> + O’Neill then waited on the Reeve of Fort Erie, and requested him to see + some of the citizens of the place, and have them furnish rations for the + men, at the same time assuring him that no depredations on the citizens + would be permitted, as he had come to drive out British authority from the + soil, and not for the purpose of pillaging the citizens. The request for + provisions was cheerfully complied with. + </p> + <p> + About 10 o’clock A.M., he moved into camp on Newbiggin’s Farm, situated on + Frenchman’s Creek, four miles down the river from Fort Erie, where he + remained till 10 o’clock P.M. + </p> + <p> + During the afternoon, Capt. Donohue, of the 18th, while out in command of + a foraging party, on the road leading to Chippewa, came up with the + enemy’s scouts, who fled at his approach. + </p> + <p> + Later in the afternoon, Col. Hoy was sent with one hundred men in the same + road. He also came up with some scouts about six miles from camp. Here he + was ordered to halt. + </p> + <p> + By this time—8 o’clock P.M.—information was received that a + large force of the enemy, said to be five thousand strong, with artillery, + were advancing in two columns; one from the direction of Chippewa, and the + other from Port Colborne; also, that troops from Port Colborne were to + make an attack from the lake side. + </p> + <p> + Here truth compels me to make an admission that I would fain have kept + from the public. Some of the men who crossed over with us the night + before, managed to leave the command during the day, and recross to + Buffalo, while others remained in houses around Fort Erie. This I record + to their lasting disgrace. + </p> + <p> + On account of this shameful desertion, and the fact that arms had been + sent out for eight hundred men, O’Neill had to destroy three hundred + stand, to prevent them falling into the bands of the enemy. At this time + he could not depend on more than five hundred men, about one-tenth of the + reputed number of the enemy, which he knew were surrounding him. Rather a + critical position, but he had been sent to accomplish a certain object, + and he was determined to accomplish it. + </p> + <p> + At 10 o’clock P.M., he broke camp, and marched towards Chippewa, and at + midnight changed direction, and moved on the Limestone Ridge road, leading + toward Ridgeway; halting a few hours on the way to rest the men;—this + for the purpose of meeting the column advancing from Port Colborne. His + object was to get between the two columns, and, if possible, defeat one of + them before the other could come to its assistance. + </p> + <p> + At about 7 o’clock A.M., 2d of June, when within three miles of Ridgeway, + Col. Owen Starr in command of the advanced guard, came up with the advance + of the enemy, mounted, and drove them some distance, till he got within + sight of their skirmish line, which extended on both sides of the road + about half a mile. By this time, O’Neill could hear the whistle of the + railroad cars which brought the enemy from Port Colborne. He immediately + advanced his skirmishers, and formed line of battle behind temporary + breastworks made of rails, on a road leading to Fort Erie, and running + parallel with the enemy’s line. The skirmishing was kept up over half an + hour, when, perceiving the enemy flanking him on both aides, and not being + able to draw out their centre, which was partially protected by thick + timber, befell back a few hundred yards, and formed a new line. The enemy + seeing he had only a few men—about four hundred—and supposing + that he had commenced a retreat, advanced rapidly in pursuit. When they + got close enough, he gave them a volley, and then charged them, driving + them nearly three miles, through the town of Ridgeway. In their hasty + retreat they threw away knapsacks, guns, and everything that was likely to + retard their speed, and left some ten or twelve killed and twenty-five or + thirty wounded, with twelve prisoners, in his hands. Amongst the killed + was Lieut. McEachern, and amongst the wounded Lieut. Ruth, both of the + “Queen’s Own.” The pursuit was given up about a mile beyond Ridgeway. + </p> + <p> + Although he had met and defeated the enemy, yet his position was still a + very critical one. The reputed strength of the enemy engaged in the fight + was fourteen hundred, composed of the “Queen’s Own,” the 13th Hamilton + Battalion, and other troops. A regiment which had left Fort Colburne was + said to be on the road to reinforce them. He also knew that the column + from Chippewa would hear of the fight, and in all probability move up in + his rear. + </p> + <p> + Thus situated, and not knowing what was going on elsewhere, he decided + that his best policy was to return to Fort Erie, and ascertain if + crossings had been made at other points, and if so, he was willing to + sacrifice himself and his noble little command, for the sake of leaving + the way open, as he felt satisfied that a large proportion of the enemy’s + forces had been concentrated against him. + </p> + <p> + He collected a few of his own wounded, and put them in wagons, and for + want of transportation had to leave six others in charge of the citizens, + who promised to look after them and bury the dead of both sides. He then + divided his command, and sent one half, under Col. Starr, down the + railroad, to destroy it and burn the bridges, and with the other half took + the pike road leading to Fort Erie. Col. Starr got to the old Fort about + the same time that he himself did to the village of Fort Erie, 4 o’clock + P.M. He (Starr) left the men there under the command of Lieut. Col. + Spaulding, and joined O’Neill in a skirmish with a company of the Welland + Battery, which had arrived there from Port Colborne in the morning, and + which picked up a few of the men who had straggled from the command the + day before. They had these men prisoners on board the steamer “Robb.” The + skirmish lasted about fifteen minutes, the enemy firing from the houses. + Three or four were killed, and some eight or ten wounded, on each side. + </p> + <p> + It was here that Lieut. Col. Bailey was wounded, while gallantly leading + the advance on this side of the town. Here forty-five of the enemy were + taken prisoners, among them Capt. King, who was wounded, (leg since + amputated,) Lieut. McDonald, Royal Navy, and Commander of the steamer + “Robb,” and Lieut. Nemo, Royal Artillery. O’Neill then collected his men, + and posted Lieut. Col. Grace, with one hundred men, on the outskirts of + the town, guarding the road leading to Chippewa, while with the remainder + of the command he proceeded to the old Fort. + </p> + <p> + About six o’clock A.M., he sent word to Capt. Hynes and his friends at + Buffalo that the enemy could surround him before morning with five + thousand men, fully provided with artillery, and that his little command, + which had by this time considerably decreased, could not hold out long, + but that if a movement was going on elsewhere, he was perfectly willing to + make the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which he knew it would be the next day + if he remained. FOR HE WOULD NEVER HAVE SURRENDERED. + </p> + <p> + Many of the men had not a mouthful to eat since Friday morning, and none + of them had eaten anything since the night before, and all after marching + forty miles and fighting two battles, though the last could only properly + be called a skirmish. They were completely worn out with hunger and + fatigue. + </p> + <p> + On receiving information that no crossing had been effected elsewhere, he + sent word to have transportation furnished immediately; and about ten + o’clock P.M. Capt. Hynes came from Buffalo and informed him that + arrangements had been made to recross the river. + </p> + <p> + Previous to this time some of the officers and men, realizing the danger + of their position, availed themselves of small boats and recrossed the + river, but the greater portion remained until the transportation arrived, + which was about 12 o’clock on the night of June 2, and about 2 o’clock + A.M. on the morning of the 3d, all except a few wounded men were safely on + board a large scow attached to a tug boat which hauled into American + waters. Here they were hailed by the tug Harrison, belonging to the U.S. + steamer Michigan, having on board one 12-pounder pivot gun, which fired + across their bows and threatened to sink them unless they hauled to and + surrendered. With this request they complied; not because they feared the + 12-pounder, or the still more powerful guns of the Michigan, which lay + close by, but because they respected the authority of the United States, + in defence of which many of them had fought and bled during the late war. + They would have as readily surrendered to an infant bearing the authority + of the Union, as to Acting Master Morris of the tug Harrison, who is + himself an Englishman. The number thus surrendered was three hundred and + seventeen men, including officers. + </p> + <p> + The officers were taken on board the Michigan, and were well treated by + Capt Bryson and the gentlemanly officers of his ship, while the men were + kept on the open scow, which was very filthy, without any accommodation + whatever, and barely large enough for them to turn round in. Part of the + time the rain poured down on them in torrents. I am not certain who is to + blame for this cruel treatment; but whoever the guilty parties are they + should be loathed and despised by all men. The men were kept on board the + scow for four days and then discharged on their own recognizances to + appear at Canandaigna on the 19th of June, to answer to the charge of + having violated the Neutrality Laws. The officers were admitted to bail. + The report generally circulated, and, I might say, generally believed, + that the pickets were left behind, and that they were captured by the + enemy, is entirely false. Every man who remained with the command, + excepting a few wounded, had the same chance of escaping that O’Neill + himself had. + </p> + <p> + To the extraordinary exertions of our friends of Buffalo, F.B. Gallagher, + Wm. Burk, Hugh Mooney, James Whelan, Capt. James Doyle, John Conners, + Edward Frawley, James J. Crawley, M.T. Lynch, James Cronin, and Michael + Donahue, the command were indebted for being able to escape from the + Canadian side. Col. H.R. Stagg and Capt. McConvey, of Buffalo, were also + very assiduous in doing everything in their power. Col. Stagg had started + from Buffalo with about two hundred and fifty men, to reinforce O’Neill, + but the number was too small to be of any use, and he was ordered to + return. Much praise is due to Drs. Trowbridge and Blanchard, of Buffalo, + and Surgeon Donnelly, of Pittsburg, for their untiring attendance to the + wounded. + </p> + <p> + All who were with the command acted their parts so nobly that I feel a + little delicacy in making special mention of any, and shall not do so + except in two instances: One is Michael Cochrane, Color Sergeant of the + Indianapolis Company, whose gallantry and daring were conspicuous + throughout the fight at Ridgeway. He was seriously wounded, and fell into + the hands of the enemy. The other is Major John C. Canty, who lived at + Fort Erie. He risked everything he possessed on earth, and acted his part + gallantly in the field. + </p> + <p> + In the fight at Ridgeway, and the skirmish at Fort Erie, as near as can be + ascertained, the Fenian loss was eight killed and fifteen wounded. Among + the killed was Lieut. E.R. Lonergan, a brave young officer, of Buffalo. Of + the enemy, thirty were killed and one hundred wounded. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ridgeway, by Scian Dubh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDGEWAY *** + +***** This file should be named 9476-h.htm or 9476-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/7/9476/ + + +Text file produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beth Trapaga and PG +Distributed Proofreaders. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ridgeway + An Historical Romance of the Fenian Invasion of Canada + +Author: Scian Dubh + + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9476] +This file was first posted on October 4, 2003 +Last Updated: July 5, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDGEWAY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beth Trapaga and PG +Distributed Proofreaders. This file was produced from +images generously made available by the Canadian Institute +for Historical Microreproductions + + + + + + + +RIDGEWAY + +AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA + + +By Scian Dubh + + +"On our side is virtue and Erin; On theirs' is the Saxon and +guilt."--MOORE. + + +1868 + + +[Transcriber's Note: The nonstandard spellings of the original have been +retained in this etext.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In the dark, English crucible of seven hundred years of famine, fire and +sword, the children of Ireland have been tested to an intensity unknown +to the annals of any other people. From the days of the second Henry +down to those of the last of the Georges, every device that human +ingenuity could encompass or the most diabolical spirit entertain, was +brought to bear upon them, not only with a view to insuring their speedy +degradation, but with the further design of accomplishing ultimately the +utter extinction of their race. Yet notwithstanding that +confiscation, exile and death, have been their bitter portion for +ages--notwithstanding that their altars, their literature and their flag +have been trampled in the dust, beneath the iron heel of the invader, +the pure, crimson ore of their nationality and patriotism still flashes +and scintillates before the world; while the fierce heart of "Brien of +the Cow Tax," bounding in each and every of them as of yore, yearns +for yet another Clontarf, when hoarse with the pent-up vengeance of +centuries, they shall burst like unlaired tigers upon their ancient, +and implacable enemy, and, with one, long, wild cry, hurl her bloody and +broken from their shores forever. + +Had England been simply actuated by a chivalrous spirit of conquest, +alone, or moved by a desire to blend the sister islands into one +harmonious whole, even then her descent upon Ireland could not be +justified in any degree whatever. Ireland had been her _Alma Mater_. +According to the venerable Bode and others, her noble and second rank +flocked thither in the seventh century, where they were "hospitably +received and educated, and furnished with books _without fee or +reward_." Even at the present moment, the Irish or Celtic tongue is +the only key to her remote antiquities and ancient nomenclature. The +distinguished Lhuyd, in his Archaelogia Britannica, and the celebrated +Leibnitz himself, place this latter beyond any possible shadow of doubt. +Scarcely a ruined fane or classic pile of any remote date within her +borders but is identified with the name of some eminent Irish missionary +long since passed away. What would Oxford have been without Joannes +Erigena, or Cambridge, deprived of the celebrated Irish monk that stood +by the first stone laid in its foundation? The fact is every impartial +writer, from the "father of English history" down to the present +day, admits, that in the early ages, when darkness brooded over the +surrounding nations, Ireland, learned, philanthropic and chivalrous, +blazed a very conflagration on the ocean, and stretched forth her +jewelled and generous hand to poor, benighted England, and fostered, in +addition, the intellectual infancy of Germany, France and Switzerland, +as well as the early civilization of regions more remote still. Then it +was that the milk and honey of her ancient tongue and lore flowed out +from her in rivers to wash the stains from the soul and brow of the +stolid and unintellectual Saxon. Then it was, that her very zone gave +way in her eagerness to pluck his Pagan life from gloom, and wed her day +unto his night. But what of all this now?--The sin that is "worse than +witchcraft" is upon him! His hands are stained with innocent blood! +He has spurned his benefactress with the foot of Nero, "removed her +candlestick", and left her in hunger, cold and darkness upon her own +hearthstone. + +Had not Ireland, at the time of the invasion, been cut up through the +fierce pride and petty jealousies of her rulers, the English could +never have effected a permanent footing upon her shores. Contemptible in +numbers, shipping and appointments, the concentrated opposition of even +a few petty chiefs could have scattered them to the winds, or sent them +"howling to their gods". But, wanting in that homogeneity without which +a nation must always remain powerless, the invasion of the territory +of one individual ruler was often regarded as a matter of no very grave +importance to those who were not his immediate subjects; so that from +this cause, as well as from, the unhappy dissentions which harrassed the +country at the period, the new colony found the means of establishing +themselves upon the eastern borders of the island, and of possessing +themselves of some of the walled towns, which they subsequently turned +to such good account in fortifying themselves against surprise and +baffling the pursuit of the natives, when worsted in the open field. + +Whether the subtle influences of a common nationality moved Pope Adrian +the Fourth--who was an Englishman named Nicholas Breakspear,--to issue +the famous Bull granting Ireland to his fellow countryman, Henry the +Second of England, or whether, as it has been alleged, no such Bull was +ever issued, and that the one still extant is a forgery, it matters but +little now. The Pope's claims extended to the spiritual jurisdiction of +Ireland only; and even had he granted the Bull in question, and assumed +the right of conveying the whole island to the English king, the +transfer was obtained under false pretenses for, from the very wording +of the document itself, it is palpable that Henry led the Sovereign +Pontiff, to believe that Ireland was sunk in the grossest ignorance and +superstition, and that, in making a descent upon it, he had only the +glory and honor of the Church in view. So terrible a distortion of the +facts of the case on his part, necessarily rendered all action based +upon his statement morally invalid at least; and thus it is, that even +those who have confidence in the genuineness of this Bull, regard it as +utterly worthless, and at not all admissable into any pleadings which +ingenious English politicians may choose to advance on the subject. + +So inveterate the hostility that manifested itself on the part of the +Irish towards the invader from the moment that his foul and sacrilegious +foot first desecrated their soil, a reign of terror was at once +inaugurated in the vicinage of his camp or stronghold, by those +chieftains with whom he came into more immediate contact, and upon whose +territories he more directly impinged. In the track of both peoples, +"death follows like a squire." Neither truce nor oath was kept by the +English; while their fiery adversaries, necessarily stung to frenzy +at the presence of yet another invader in their midst, made sudden +reprisals in a manner so unexpected and daring, that the laws of the +hour like those of Draco, were literally written in blood. While the +dash and chivalry of the Irish prevented them from adopting the stealthy +dagger of the assassin, and prompted them rather, to bold and open deeds +of death, the enactments of "The Pale" as the English patch or district +was termed, were absolutely of a character the most demonical. According +to their provisions, the murder of an Irish man or woman was no offence +whatever; while the slaughter of a native who had made submission to the +Pale, was visited with a slight fine only--not for the crime _per se_, +but for the murderer's having deprived the king of a servant. From this +it can be easily perceived, that a cowardly system of warfare obtained +on the part of the English, which, were it not for the quick eye and +fierce agility of the inhabitants, would soon have resulted in their +total annihilation. + +This foul and dastardly system of assassination was but simply a leading +expression of the bastard nationality of the invader. Not one, single +drop of proud, pure blood coursed through his veins. His degraded +country had been in turn the mistress of the Roman, the Saxon, the Dane +and the Norman, and he was the hybrid offspring of her incontinence. +Consequently, he had neither a history nor a past of his own, calculated +to prompt even one exalted aspiration. He was a mongrel of the most +inveterate character, and was therefore, and inevitably, treacherous, +cowardly; and cunning. Not so the brave sons of the land he so ardently +coveted. Ere the mighty gnomon of "The Great Pyramid" had thrown its +gigantic shadow o'er the red dial of the desert, they had filled the +long gallery of a glorious past with an array of portraits, the most +superb presented by antiquity. Before the Vocal Memnon poured forth +his hidden melody at sunrise, or "The City of a Hundred Gates" had sent +forth her chariots to battle, they had a local habitation and a name, +and had stamped their impress upon many a shore. No people in existence, +to-day, can look back to an origin more remote or clearly traceable +through a countless lapse of ages than the Irish: and hence it was, +that at the period of the Anglo-Norman descent upon their borders, the +chivalry of a stupendous past was upon them: and having its traditions +and its glories to maintain and emulate, and being, besides, inspired +by the pure and unadulterated crimson tide that had flowed in one +uninterrupted stream through their fiery veins for the space of +two thousand years previously, they shrank from the treacherous and +dastardly system of assassination introduced by the ignoble and cowardly +Saxon, and struck only to the dread music of their own war cry. + +Still, although in detail hostile to the invader, no great, united +effort appears to have been made to rout him out root and branch, until +he had become so powerful as to make any attack upon him a matter of the +most serious moment, and had, in addition, enlarged his borders through +sundry reinforcements from his own shores. The few more purely Norman +leaders that were inspired with some desire at least for a more +honorable mode of warfare, were utterly powerless among the overwhelming +throng of their followers who had been long brutalized on the other side +of the channel. In this connection the proud, revengeful and chivalrous +natives were had at a sad disadvantage; for then, as to-day, they were +characterized by a spirit of knight-errantry, which disdained to take an +enemy unawares. + +As an evidence that Henry had the spiritual welfare only of the people +of Ireland at heart, and that the building up of the Church there +was his sole object, no sooner did he land in that country, than he +parcelled out the entire island among ten Englishmen--Earl Strongbow, +Robert Fitzstephens, Miles de Cogan, Philip Bruce, Sir Hugh de Lacy, Sir +John de Courcy, William Burk Fitz Andelm, Sir Thomas de Clare, Otho de +Grandison and Robert le Poer. At one sweep, in so far as a royal grant +could go, he confiscated every foot of land from Cape Clear to the +Giant's Causeway, denied the right of the inhabitants to a single square +yard of their native soil, and made the whole country a present to +the persons just named. Perhaps history does not record another such +outrageous and infamous act, and one so antagonistic to every principle +of right and justice. Had there been a preceding series of expensive +and bloody wars between both countries, in which Ireland, after years of +fruitless resistance, fell at last beneath the yoke of the conqueror, +it could be readily understood, that the victor would seek to indemnify +himself for his losses, on terms the most exacting and relentless if you +will; but in the case under consideration, no animosity existed between +the two nations until the ruler of one, without even a shadow of +provocation on the part of the inhabitants of the other, made a +deliberate descent upon them, and ignoring the benefits conferred +gratuitously by them, previously, on his own ungrateful land, subjected +them to every barbarity and wrong known to the history of crime. + +For upwards of four hundred years of the English occupation--that is, +from the landing of Strongbow down to the period of James the First, +there was no legal redress for the plunder or murder of an Irishman, by +any of the invaders, or for the violation of his wife or daughter. The +laws of the Pale, enacted under the sanction of the King and the people +of England, subsidized, in effect, a horde of ruthless assassins and +robbers, with a view to striking terror to the hearts of the natives, +and driving them into a recognition of the right of the usurper to rule +over them, and dispose as he saw fit of their property and persons. This +right, however, was never conceded in even the most remote degree; for, +notwithstanding that the colony of foreign spears and battle-axes waxed +stronger daily, the Irish element, disunited though it was, fought it +constantly. True, that an occasional lull characterized the tempest as +it swept and eddied through each successive generation; but never did +Ireland assume the yoke of the oppressor voluntarily, or bow, for even a +single moment, in meek submission to his unauthorized sway. + +It would require volumes to recount a tithe of the frightful atrocities +practiced by the invaders upon the rightful and unoffending owners of +the soil during the long period just referred to, and especially towards +its close, when that lewd monster, Elizabeth, disgraced her sex and the +age. No language can describe adequately the various diabolical modes +of extermination practiced against all those who refused to bow the knee +and kiss the English rod. No code of laws ever enacted in even the most +barbarous age of the world, could compare in fiendish cruelty with the +early penal enactments of the Pale--so forcibly supplemented in after +years by the perjured "Dutch boor" and the inhuman Georges. The foul +fiend himself could not have devised laws more diabolical in their +character or destructive in their application. So close were their +meshes and sweeping their folds, that the possibility of escape was +obviously out of the question; as their victim was met and entangled +at every turn, until at last the fatal blow descended, and the unequal +contest was ended. But more infamous and unjustifiable still, when "the +foul invader" found himself occasionally unable to cope successfully +with his brave and chivalrous antagonists, he had recourse to a darker +and deeper treachery than even that which characterized the stealthy +and unexpected stroke of his midnight dagger. He adopted the guise of +friendship; and professing to forget the past, lured into his power +with festive blandishments the chiefs of many a noble following, whom he +dared not meet in open fight, but who, at a given signal, and while the +brimming goblet circled through the feast, were suddenly set upon and +foully murdered ere they could draw a dagger or leap to their feet. In +corroboration of this assertion, we have only to refer to Mullaghmast, +where a deed of this description was perpetrated; and of a character so +cruel and dastardly, that the names of those concerned in the inhuman +plot are now desecrated by every individual raised above the brute, or +inspired with the hope of heaven. + +Nor was there any mode of propitiating the satanic spirit which seemed +to actuate the English against their opponents, from the first moment +that they set their foot upon Irish soil; for, when, in the lapse +of years, a portion of the inhabitants in the vicinity of the Pale, +professed their readiness to conform to the manners, laws and customs of +the invader, their overtures were rejected, and they were still held at +the point of the sword, as "the Irish enemy," and denied the protection +of the laws that they were ready to obey. In short, every move of the +English, established beyond any possibility of doubt, that their sole +object was the utter and complete extirpation of the natives, and the +subsequent establishment upon their conquered shores of a dynasty from +which every drop of pure, Celtic blood should be excluded forever. + +But that day never arrived, and with God's help never shall. However she +might have suffered or failed through an occasional traitor, Ireland, +as a whole, fought against English usurpation from the moment that she +became aware of its ultimate aims, and felt its growing power within +her borders. There was, besides, in the two races, those opposites of +character--those natural antagonisms which repelled each other with +a force and vehemence not to be neutralized or unified by any process +within the reach of even the most humane or astute ruler. They were too +different peoples, with habits of thought, moral perceptions, and ideas +of chivalry at total variance with each other as entertained by them +individually. The great bulk of the English colony was composed of +unprincipled freebooters and degraded Saxon serfs; the Conqueror having, +a century previously, turned the masses of the English into swine-herds, +banished their language from court, and reduced them to a condition of +the most abject slavery. Hence their stolid brutality, the low plane of +their intelligence, and their systematic murders. But, how different +the condition of the Irish in this respect. Far ages previous, both +learning, refinement, and the chivalrous use of arms, pervaded their +shores. Evidences of the truth of this assertion lie scattered around +us in every direction. Girald Barry--the English Cambrensis, William +Camden, Archbishop Usher, Vallancey, Lord Lyttleton, and a host of +others, all bear witness to the profound learning and noble chivalry +of the Irish from the earliest periods; while the various educational +institutions throughout the continent, founded shortly after the +introduction of Christianity into Ireland, establish, upon a basis the +most immovable, the truth of an assertion made by one of the authors +just mentioned, namely, that "most of the lights that illumined those +times of thick darkness proceeded out of Ireland". As may be presumed, +then, a people so refined and chivalrous--so sensitive to all that was +noble and elevated--a people who, as in the case of Alfred, had educated +the very kings of the invaders, as well as plucked their subjects +from Paganism, were averse to meeting the usurper on his own plane of +warfare, and that consequently, the very pride and dignity of their arms +walled in, as it were, the tyrant from any of those cold-blooded and +dastardly atrocities which so disfigured his own career. + +Notwithstanding that, after four hundred and twenty years of outlawry +the most cruel and unrelenting, the Irish were, (12th James I. 1614.) at +last, admitted within the pale of English law, and recognized nominally +as subjects at least, so long had they been subjected to the grinding +heel of oppression, and the baneful influences of continuous warfare, +and so long, also, had the usurper been accustomed to treat them as +enemies, that this recognition of their claims upon humanity availed +them but very little. Under the new regime, their freedom was merely +technical only; for now the terrible ban of the Reformation, intensified +by the cruel spirit evinced throughout the whole of Elizabeth's infamous +reign, was upon them, and their persecution, which had so long been +regarded as a matter of course, experienced but little diminution +through the attempted toleration of her weak and pedantic successor. +Still, frightful and unprecedented as was the ordeal through which +they had passed, they preserved their nationality, and clung to their +traditions, hoping one day to rid themselves of their oppressors, as +they had already done in the case of the Danes; and in this way has the +case stood between both parties up to the present hour. + +Although long previous to the Reformation, the atrocities practiced +upon Catholic Ireland by Catholic England were of a character the most +revolting, and although the murderous hand of the invader was never +stayed by the knowledge or conviction, that both parties professed +a common creed and knelt at a common altar, yet the intensity of the +sufferings of the Irish, or what may be termed their studious, refined, +and systematic persecution, began with the _civilisation_ of Elizabeth. +The new creed of the three preceding reigns had not, up to that period, +acquired sufficient strength to exert its deadliest influence against +the ancient faith of the people, or to be introduced as a new agency of +oppression in the case of Ireland; but now, no sooner had the "Virgin +Queen" ascended the throne, than the heart of the tigress leaped within +her; and, breaking loose from every restraint, human and divine, she +at once pounced upon the unfortunate Irish, and sought to bury her +merciless fangs, with one deadly and final crash, in their already +bleeding and lacerated vitals. The coarse, cruel fibre of an apostate +and libertine father, and the impure blood of a lewd mother, had done +their work in her case. From the first to the last moment of her reign, +she combined the courtesan with the assassin. She was the murderer of +Essex, said to have been her own son and paramour; and was, at the same +time, the mistress of more than one noble besides Leicester. According +to her own countryman, Cobbett, she spilled more blood during her +occupancy of the throne, than any other single agency in the world for +a commensurate period; while her treatment of Ireland, under the "humane +guidance" and advice of such cruel wretches as Spenser, was neither +more nor less than absolutely satanic. For fifteen long years she never +ceased to subject that unhappy land to famine, fire and sword. Every +device that her hellish nature or that of her agents could concoct for +the total extirpation of the people, was put into the most relentless +requisition by her. Under the guise of the most sincere friendship, +her deputies, times without number, betrayed many of the leaders of the +Irish into accepting their hospitality, and then foully set upon them +and murdered them while they sat unsuspecting guests at their festive +board. And yet, notwithstanding her penal laws, her blood-thirsty +soldiery, and all her revolting persecutions, the Irish were more than +a match for her in the open field, and ultimately embittered the +closing years of her life. From the first moment of the invasion, the +O'Neills--Kings and Princes of Aileach, Kings of Ulster and Princes +of Tir-Eogain--as well as other chiefs and leaders, fought the Pale +incessantly: and now, after a lapse of nearly four hundred years, again +evinced to the world, that Ireland was still unconquered, and regarded +England as a tyrant and usurper. And yet the opposition of those chiefs +and rulers to the hirelings and paid assassins of this infamous woman +and her corrupt associates, was of a character the most chivalrous. +Unaccustomed to cowardly deeds of blood, these proud warriors preferred +to meet the enemy face to face, and decide the issues of the hour in +fair, open fight. They could not entertain the Saxon idea of disposing +of an adversary by the stealthy knife of the professional murderer; and +hence it was that their pride and chivalry had ever been taken advantage +of: the invaders being convinced that no reprisals of a character +sufficiently dastardly or atrocious to meet their own depredations, +would be indulged in by their chivalrous opponents. In evidence of the +spirit that actuated both parting individually in this connection, we +may refer to the massacre of Mullaghmast, on the one hand, where the +English, under professions of the purest friendship, lured many of the +Irish chiefs and nobles to a conference or council, and then suddenly +pouncing on them, murdered every single soul of them in cold blood; +while, on the other hand, we may contrast with this cowardly act--which +is but one of a series of the same sort--the noble and generous conduct +of Tir-Oen, at the battle of the Yellow Ford, in 1598, where, after +defeating the Queen's troops with terrible slaughter, taking all their +artillery and baggage, as well as twelve thousand pieces of gold, the +remainder of the shattered army was totally at his mercy, when he might +have put every soul that composed it to death. Unlike the cowardly +invader, the field once won, he sheathed his sword, and ordered the +remnant of the enemy to be spared, as they were unable to fight longer, +and commanded that they should be conducted in safety to the Pale. In +these two instances we have a thorough insight into the character of the +invader and the invaded: so that not another word need be said upon this +part of the subject. + +And in this manner have the O'Neills and the Irish fought the English +up to the present hour. Circumstances have, we know, from time to time, +caused a lull in the tempest of arms, but the moment opportunity served +the smouldering fires burst forth anew. Not a single day of pure and +happy sunshine has ever obtained between England and Ireland, since the +flag of the former first flew over the latter. Throughout every single +hour of seven hundred long years, Ireland has been secretly plotting or +openly fighting against England. Not one solitary reign, from Henry II +down to Victoria I, but has been marked with Irish dissatisfaction of +English rule. Either in the aggregate or in detail, the Irish people +have, throughout that long period, been constantly asserting their right +to independence, and their unalterable antipathy to the presence of a +foreign power upon their shores. And the same spirit that fought the +Henrys, Elizabeth, William and the Georges, is alive still, and lighting +their descendants to-day; 1688, 1798, 1848, and 1868 are all episodes of +the same history; and the volume now must soon be closed. Humanity and +civilisation, common justice and the laws of nations, demand that +a people who have battled against tyranny and usurpation for seven +successive centuries, and who have still preserved intact their +identity, their traditions and their altars, shall be no longer +subjected to the brute force and infamous exactions of a freebooter who +has so long played false to every principle of honor, and who has been +the highwayman of powers and principalities for countless generations. + +The record of England in relation to Ireland, is one of the most +atrocious known to the history of mankind. It is fraught with the +blackest ingratitude, the vilest injustice, and the direst oppression. +Notwithstanding that Ireland first gave her an alphabet, and taught +her how to spell her name--notwithstanding that Irish missionaries +had nurtured her early educational institutions and reclaimed her from +Paganism, she misrepresented their religion and their learning in high +places, stole in upon them while they slept, and turning upon them like +the frozen snake in the fable, robbed them of their independence, and +loaded them with chains. Every year of her accursed dominion upon their +shores has been marked with some new and overwhelming oppression. She +has spit upon their creed, broken their altars, hunted them down with +blood-hounds, robbed them of their estates, exiled them penniless +to foreign shores, banned their language, murdered their offspring, +destroyed their trade and commerce, ruined their manufactures, plundered +their exchequer, robbed them of their flag, deprived them of their civil +rights, and left them, houseless wanderers, a prey to hunger, cold and +rags, upon their own soil. Of all this she stands convicted before the +world; and for all this she must alone, so sure as there is a God +above her. Ireland still lives, and so do her wrongs. The O'Neills and +thousands of brave scions of the past, are still with her, while the +rank and file of her sons are as bitterly opposed to English usurpation +to-day as they were seven hundred years ago. Besides, at the present +hour, the approaches to their final triumph are made luminous with the +generous countenance of free America, and the glorious conviction that +heaven bends benignly over them; and thus it is that they now stand +shoulder to shoulder in eager anticipation of the coming hour, when +their banners shall yet once more be flung to the winds, as, with a +cry that rends the very earth, they dash down upon their deadly and +relentless foe, and smite her hip and thigh as of yore; dealing her the +last fatal blow that forever seals her infamous doom. + +In the order of Providence, a great corrective, or reactionary +principle, attends the misdoings of nations, that, sooner or later, +exerts itself in restoring the equilibrium of justice, and avenging the +infringement of any of those laws, human or divine, constituted for the +welfare and guidance of our race. Whether on the part of governments or +individuals, no act of palpable cruelty or barbarity, has ever escaped +the censure and reprobation of all good and true peoples since the world +became civilized; so that in this connection, the oppressed or injured +party has always had the countenance and sympathy of humanity, at least. +True, that an effective expression of this sympathy may have often been +chilled or embarrassed in individual cases by political considerations +or unworthy interests; but then the tendency to illustrate it was +there, and in this sense alone, it has often exerted a benign influence. +Hungary, Greece, Poland, &c., have all, in turn, had the sympathy of +mankind; and so have had the oppressed colonies and people of Great +Britain. The cruel treatment, treachery and fraud practiced in the +name of justice and religion upon the Sepoys of India, by England, have +awakened the deepest commiseration in the bosom of all good and true +governments, and aroused, at the same time, the strongest indignation +even on the part of nations not over-scrupulous of chains themselves. In +like manner, the condition of Ireland has, from time to time, commanded +the attention of the world; and, through the cruel expatriation of her +children, made itself felt more widely perhaps than that of any other +nation. When England perjured herself for the hundredth time, and +violated the Treaty of Limerick, she exiled to France a host of our +countrymen, who afterwards met her at Fontenoy, as the Irish Brigade, +and trailed her bloody and broken in the dust. The wrongs of the past +were with them. The cruelties of the Henrys, the murders of Elizabeth, +the confiscations of Cromwell, and the perfidy of William, so nerved +their arm at the period, that their charge upon the English is mentioned +as one of the most memorable and destructive on record. But if they had +more than sufficient grounds for dealing a death blow to the power of +the tyrant then, how must this debt of vengeance have accumulated since; +when, to the wrongs already enumerated are to be added the atrocities of +the Georges, as well as those of their worthy descendant--that traitress +to humanity, whose hands have been just imbrued in the innocent blood of +Allen, O'Brien and Larkin, and who now holds in thrall, within the gloom +of her noisome dungeons, some of the noblest spirits that have ever +breathed the vital air in this or any age of the world? How, we say, +must this debt of vengeance have been heaped up since; and may we +not, under its terrible pressure, the next time that we have a fair +opportunity of meeting the enemy face to face, anticipate a repetition +of that glorious charge in every individual descent we make upon her +ranks, until we shall have ground her into pulp, and avenged the blood +of our martyrs, which has for ages been crying aloud from the ground, +"how long, Oh! Lord?" + +We have said that the misdoings of nations are, in the order of +Providence, attended with a corrective or reactionary principle, which, +sooner or later, exerts itself in restoring the equilibrium of justice; +and in no case has this been made more apparent than in that of Ireland. +When under the frightful pressure of famine, murder and robbery, her +children fled her shores, and sought refuge in the open arms of free +America, the tyrant who had caused their exile, never fancied, for a +moment, that she was laying the foundation stone of her own ultimate +destruction, and gradually forming an Irish Brigade on this continent, +which should, one day, with a terrible rebound, repay all the +cruelties and wrongs to which she had subjected them from generation to +generation. She little fancied, that in each individual Irishman that +she had driven from his native shores to seek an asylum beyond the seas, +she had sent forth an agent of her own destruction, that would colonize, +in common with his exiled brethren, the whole world with a sense of +her infamy, and build up, on this free continent, an opposition so +tremendous to her interests in every connection, that it should command +the attention of every civilized people under the sun, and shake her +institutions and existence to their very centre. As is invariable +in such cases, she administered the antidote with the poison; and +transformed the victims of her wrongs and cruelties into enemies and +soldiers; and now that, in the aggregate, they assume the proportions of +a powerful and antagonistic nation outside her borders, they only await +the hour when they shall descend upon her to the hoarse music of +their ancient war cry, and, on the banks of the Shannon, and by the +Blackwater, smite her hip and thigh, as of old; but this time without +generously escorting her broken and disabled ranks to the borders of +the Pale, or permitting them, in the hour of defeat, to recruit their +exhausted forces, so that the fight may become more equal. + +From the landing of Strongbow, in 1171, at Port Largi, then on +subsequently called also the Harbor of the Sun, near Waterford, down to +the sacking and burning of Magdala, the capital of King Theodoras, +in the present year of grace 1808, the history of English rule and +conquests has been one of bloodshed, perjury and crime. Look where you +may, and you encounter continuous atrocities similar to the massacres of +Elizabeth and Cromwell, or the blowing of the Sepoys of India from the +mouth of the cannon of the invader. Well may the ensign of England wear +an encrimsoned hue; for, from time immemorial, it has been stooped in +the blood of the nations: and that too, without her people having ever +fought a proud or decisive battle single-handed. Her fame, in this +connection, rests solely upon the influence of her gold and the power +of foreign bayonets. Scotland and Ireland have been the main stay of her +armies; her native element, _per se_, affecting their composition in +but a secondary degree. The muster rolls of the Peninsula, and the +supplementary field of Waterloo, have attested this assertion to the +fullest. The fact is, her laurels, for the most part, have been gathered +by Irish hands. Taking advantage of the proud daring and chivalry of +our people, in connection with the poverty and oppression which she had +wrought among them, she shook her gold in their half-starved faces, +as she does to-day, and lured them into her service whenever she had +a point to attain in the field. Through this channel, and through it +alone, the fame of her arms became established; the true aspirations of +her own sons seldom exceeding the exalted limits of a bread riot, or +the sudden exploits incident to some poaching expedition. As a general +thing, the English are traders and diplomats, rather than soldiers. +Their character for bravery has been won through the lavish use of their +subsidizing gold, rather than through any innate warlike propensities +on their part. They have never fought for a myth, or an abstract, +chivalrous idea; but always for some bread and beef object, however +apparently unconnected with the project said to be had in view. In the +exemplification of their Christian missionary spirit, too, this feature +of their character is abundantly set forth. Wherever they have succeeded +in introducing the Gospel among the heathen, they have subsequently +inserted the wedge of civil discord, to be followed on their part by the +sword of conquest. No more forcible illustration of this can be found +than that presented by India, and other of their dependencies that we +could name. In Ireland, also, the same spirit has been evinced; +but under different circumstances. She was already civilized and +Christianized when the invader first landed upon her shores; but in no +way was he enabled to totally overthrow her independence, except through +the instrumentality of the brand of religious discord, which, for +upwards of two hundred years, he had kept flaming at the foundations +of her nationality. It was the hostility bitterly fomented between the +Protestants and the Catholics of Ireland, from 1782 to the year 1800, +that led to the so-called Union, and from this latter period left her, +to the present hour, at the mercy of one of the most relentless and +unprincipled despotisms that has ever disfigured the annals of the human +race. + +Edmund Burk was right when he declared in his place in Parliament, if +we remember correctly, that the Penal Laws enacted by England against +Ireland, were characterized by an ingenuity the most fiendish on record, +and an attempt to oppress, degrade and demoralize a people, without a +parallel in the history of even the most barbarious ages. Within the +recollection of persons now living, nine-tenths of the population were +held in a condition of the most abject slavery, and treated as aliens +and enemies at their own doors. Add to this the fact, that, previous to +the granting of Emancipation, scarce a generation had passed away since +their priests were murdered at the altar, or hunted down with dogs, like +wild beasts; their goods and chattels seized upon by any emissary of +the government, and at a nominal valuation appropriated to his own use; +their creed and language denounced and outlawed; their children deprived +of the light of learning under a penalty the most fearful; and, wherever +the tyrant had the power, their lands confiscated and handed over to +their oppressors. The wonder has long been, that, under such a terrible +regime, Ireland had not sunk into the most hopeless barbarism, or that +England had not absorbed her, until, as Lord Byron once observed on the +subject, they had become one and indivisible, as "the shark with his +prey." No more desperate attempt has ever been made to blot out a +nation, and none has ever failed more signally; for, notwithstanding +this dreadful cannonade of ages, backed up with the final and murderous +assault of the Reformation and the Georges, Ireland, to-day, is more +powerful and united than she has ever been since the sceptre of the Dane +was broken upon her historic shores. This fact is sustained by evidences +teeming upon us from every point of the compass. A great and mysterious +embodiment of her influence, and a vague and oppressive sense of +her unseen presence, hang ominously over all the councils of her +task-masters, and build up strange dynasties in the disturbed slumbers +of even royalty itself. Nor bolt nor bar can shut out the low mutterings +of her approaching thunder, or exclude her ubiquitous hand from tracing, +in letters of blood, the impending doom of her infamous oppressor upon +the wall. Heaven has decreed it; and thus it is, that, in more than +one quarter of the globe the exiled children of her matchless hills and +vales have multiplied into a positive power, that, inflamed with the +memories of her undeserved sufferings, shall, one day, be precipitated +upon her enemies with the most destructive and overwhelming effect, and +humble them forever in the dust. + +To avert this blow has now become a desideratum so great with England, +that all her cunning and genius are brought to bear upon the subject. +So long as Ireland was dependent solely upon her own resources, and the +spirit of revolution confined strictly within her borders, England +felt herself competent to avert the evil day, for an indefinite period, +through the instrumentality of the rope and the bayonet; but now that +beyond the seas, the terrible war cloud of Fenianism fills the whole +west, surcharged with vengeance and the great, broad lightnings of +American freedom, she reels to her very centre, and begins to loosen her +hold, claw by claw, upon her victim, in the hope that her lacerated +and bleeding prey may be satisfied with a partial release from its +sufferings, and still permit her to hold it in her modified clutch. Here +she shall fail, however; for the people of Ireland know her too well +to permit her to breathe the same atmosphere with them, or preserve the +slightest footing on their soil. They know her to have been a traitor, a +perjurer, a robber and an assassin, throughout the whole of her infamous +career. Besides remembering her at Mullaghmaston and Limerick, they +had a taste of her quality in 1782, when, under the pressure of the +Protestant bayonets of the famous "Volunteers," she, by a solemn act of +her King, Lords and Commons, in Parliament assembled, swept Poyning's +despotic Law from her Statute Books, and relinquished FOREVER all right +and title to interfere in the local affairs of Ireland, only to perjure +herself subsequently, by creating rotten boroughs and dispensing titles +and millions of gold, for the purpose of controlling those very same +affairs, not only more effectually than ever, but with the further view +of diverting all the resources of the country out of their legitimate +channels into her own hands, so that she should be at once the tyrant, +and the purse and conscience keeper of our race. They remember all this, +we say, and now they are about to call upon her for an account of her +stewardship, and make her foot the bill, and that, too, to the very last +farthing. + +Of course, we are aware that much of the elevated mind and strength +which invigorate the Irish element on this continent, in this +connection, is to be attributed, unquestionably, to the sublime lessons +of the great American people, and the generous sympathy they evince +invariably in regard to nations deprived of the blessings of freedom. +Time was, we are aware, when the children of Ireland had no such exalted +idea of human liberty as they possess to-day, and when they would have +hailed the return of kingcraft to their shores, on the restitution +of their independence, with every demonstration of pleasure; but that +period has passed away, and forever. Having once tasted the blessings, +and imbibed the idea of American institutions, they have now cast aside +every sentiment of barbarism in this relation, and stepped out on the +broad platform of justice and common sense; ignoring the mere accident +of birth, and paying homage only to those attributes and characteristics +which, in themselves, tend to the elevation of the human family, and +which are not confined to any peculiar class or people. + +When it becomes understood, that ever since the introduction of +printing, and the consequent diffusion of book and newspaper literature +throughout Europe, the history and people of Ireland have been subjected +by the invader to every description of the grossest misrepresentation, +it will create no small degree of surprise, that the country +has survived the assault, or that she presents to-day a compact +individuality, that commands the sympathy and respect of most of the +nations of the earth. Heaven, itself, must have inspired the vigor, +truth and heroism which, through a lapse of seven hundred years, have +battled for the right against the most fearful odds, and that now arms +her, on both sides of the Atlantic, with the mighty resolve which cannot +fail to result in her final redemption from the chains of the oppressor. +Her vitality in this connection has scarcely a parallel in the history +of the past; from the fact, that she has been subjected to a twofold +persecution--that of semi-barbarism, and that of civilization also. +The atrocities of the hybrid freebooters that invaded her shores in the +twelfth century, were not more revolting than those which characterized +her rulers six hundred years subsequently, when they were engaged +in founding educational institutions, and printing whole cargoes of +ten-penny Bibles, for the purpose of pandering to the whims of the age, +and doing honor to the spirit of the royal Pacha who moulded his +creed to his lusts, and left his rottenness a loathsome legacy to his +successors. Yes, the wonder is, that she has survived all this, and, +instead of falling into the vortex prepared for her, now stands with her +uplifted arm, awaiting the propitious moment, when she can deal a final +and irresistible blow to the ingrate that, in days of yore, she had +warmed into intellectual life on her own hearthstone. + +If there had been anything in the climate, soil, people or geographical +position of Ireland, to operate against her prosperity as a nation, +or calculated to retard her progress in any connection whatever, there +might be some misgivings in relation to the causes of her poverty and +degradation; but as the most reliable political economists, and +even those unfriendly to the Irish name and race, admit that no such +drawbacks exist, we look, of course, to the system of government to +which the country has been so long subjected, as the source of all the +evils that have so cruelly and pertinaciously beset it. McCollough, +Wakefield, Foster, and other English writers, bear the highest testimony +to the richness of its soil, the salubrity of its air, and its other +great natural advantages. Its harbors, bays, lakes and rivers are among +the finest in the world, while its neglected mineral wealth is presumed +to be all but inexhaustible. In addition to this, it is stated by +Dr. Forbes--one of the Court physicians, who had made a tour of the +kingdom--that the inhabitants are of a character the most industrious, +and bear up under the oppressive system which weighs upon them in a +manner the most heroic. It is to opinions from such sources as these we +point, with every degree of confidence, as they cannot be charged with +being prejudiced in our favor; and were we inclined to be more diffuse +upon the subject, we might quote author after author, and all of English +proclivities too, who bear evidence to the suggestive character of the +elements of material wealth which we possess in every relation, and +which, through the disastrous policy pursued towards us from generation +to generation, have been paralyzed and prostituted to an extent that +almost defies comprehension. + +Why did England violate a solemn pledge, given in 1782, to the effect, +that she relinquished all claim to interfere in the management of the +local affairs of Ireland, and conceded to the people of that country the +undoubted and inalienable right of conducting their own internal +affairs upon any basis they thought proper? After having experienced the +beneficial results of this policy upon the sister kingdom for a space +of eighteen years, why did she revoke the act establishing it, and +force the hated Union upon a people, a majority of whom were not free to +express an opinion upon the subject, or to resist a measure thrust upon +them through perjury, intimidation, bribery and fraud? The reason has +long been quite obvious to the world--the manufacturing interests and +the trade and commerce of Ireland have ever been and must ever remain +antagonistic to those of England. This fact has always influenced the +legislation of the latter country, and brought it to bear heavily and +unjustly upon almost every Irish project that has been undertaken for +the last three hundred years. When any particular Irish manufacture +was found to interfere with the interests of a similar one in England, +instantly devices were set on foot by the enemy to crush it, or so +embarrass it that its destruction could not fail to follow. It was +banned and taxed out of the market until it died. In this way, the silk, +glass and woolen manufactures of the country were destroyed; the latter +having so injured the English manufacturers in the time of William the +Third, that they presented a memorial to this dignified and affectionate +son-in-law of James, praying that the manufacture in Ireland might be +suppressed, as it was interfering with the success of the woolen trade +in England; which prayer the king entertained favorably, and promised +to grant. In this way, from the earliest days of the invasion, the +interests of Ireland have been trodden under the feet of the oppressor; +while, in a religious point of view, her people have been held for +generations in the most frightful bondage, and constrained to contribute +to the maintenance of a Church which nineteen-twentieths of them +believed to be heretical, and which had been thrust upon them in +violation of every right, human and divine. + +Now, however, it is brightening up on the verge of the horizon, and, +like chickens, England's untold acts of infamy and oppression, in +regard to Ireland, are coming home to roost. In every city and hamlet, +throughout the great Republic of the United States, and in every town +and village in Ireland, as well as throughout the rural districts, there +exists a regiment or detachment of the vast army of the Irish Republic. +No matter how invisible the force may be at any particular point, yet +there it exists, awaiting the signal to pounce upon the enemy, and +avenge the wrongs of ages; each member of it feeling, within his heart +of hearts, that those injuries have reached him individually, and that, +without the opportunity of wiping them out, even at the expense of the +last drop of his heart's blood, the conquest, when achieved, would be +almost worthless in his eyes. It is with this element that England, at +the present juncture, has to deal at home and abroad; and now that the +avalanche, after rolling down the steep of seven successive centuries, +has accumulated in magnitude and force most tremendously, and +sufficiently to overcome every obstacle that happens to lie in its +path, ere long we shall find it leaping in thunder upon the plain, and +overwhelming those who so long mocked at its approach, and who now so +vainly attempt to stay its resistless course. + + + + + +RIDGEWAY + +AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF THE FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +On a gloomy evening in the early part of May, 1866, and while astute +politicians were struck with the formidable aspect of Fenianism in both +hemispheres, a solitary soldier, in the muddy, red jacket of a private +in the English army, might be seen hastily wending his way across a +bridge which led from one of the most important strongholds in Canada, +to a town of considerable pretensions, that lay directly opposite, and +to which he was now bending his steps. Although the weather, from the +season of the year, might be presumed to be somewhat genial, yet it +was raw and gusty; and as the pedestrian was without an overcoat, the +uncomfortable and antagonistic shrug of his shoulders, as the chill, +fitful blast swept past him, was quite discernible to any eye that +happened to catch his figure at the period. Soon, however, he left +the bridge and river behind him, and, stepping on terra firma, turned +hastily down one of the unpretending streets of the town, and entered a +restaurant, out of the drinking saloon of which, several narrow passages +led to small convivial apartments, or rather compartments, in which the +landlord, or "mine host" professed to work culinary miracles, of every +possible shade, in the interest of his patrons. The establishment, +although not the most fashionable in the place, was still regarded +as respectable, and was, consequently, the frequent resort of many +well-to-do tradesmen, and others, who, after the cares of the day had +been laid by, generally repaired thither to slake their thirst with a +flowing tankard, or indulge in "a stew," a quiet game of billiards or +a cigar, as the case might be. From the description of the various +pictures which adorned or decorated the bar-room, the nationality of the +proprietor was easily discerned. Just over a goodly and shining away of +handsome mirrors that, inside the counter, reflected a maze of graceful +bottles, cut glass and various ornaments appropriate to the profession, +hung a large map of Ireland, very beautifully gotten up: while on either +side of it, a neat, gilt frame, enclosing a most excellent likeness of +Daniel O'Connell and Robert Emmet, respectively, harmonized in every +relation with the map itself. Around the walls of the room, and +throughout the whole establishment, kindred prints and paintings were +somewhat profusely scattered; presenting unmistakable evidences, that +the proprietor hailed from the Emerald Isle, and had no inclination, +whatever, to disguise the fact from either his customers or the world. + +At the period that the soldier entered the premises, there were some +half dozen persons seated in the bar; each discussing his favorite +beverage or enjoying his peculiar "weed." Among these there was one +individual, however, whose appearance was singularly striking, and who +was taking part in the general conversation with an easy flippancy +and keenness of observation that showed he was a person of no ordinary +information or experience. There was something about him, nevertheless, +that, notwithstanding all his efforts to be attractive, was strangely +repellent. His small, grey eyes, thin, blue lips and hooked nose, gave +an expression to his countenance which was far from prepossessing; while +his soft, low, purring chuckle of a laugh, whenever he made a point +in his favor through some facile observation that interfered with the +deductions of those around him, evoked the idea, that he was some huge, +human mouser that was congratulating himself on having disposed of some +unfortunate and unsuspecting canary. He was, withal, shapely, and had +an air of refinement about him, the most decided, and, quite beyond the +ordinary run of saloon habitues. His complexion though somewhat dark and +out of keeping with the color of his eyes, was yet pure; while his teeth +were remarkably white and brilliant, and apparently as sharp as lancets. +In height he was about five feet ten inches; and in age, somewhere in +the vicinity of thirty. He was dressed in plain gray clothes; and, +from all one might gather from his external appearance, was a person in +comfortable circumstances. He was unknown not only to "mine host," but +to every one present; having, as he informed them in the ordinary flow +of conversation, but just arrived in town, where he had business to +transact which might detain him for a few days, or possibly longer. This +information had been volunteered before the arrival of the soldier; +so that when the latter had taken his seat, he was literally a greater +stranger as to the name or intentions of the hook-nosed gentleman than +any one present--the former having been communicated to the landlord +as Philip Greaves, and the latter, as already intimated, quite freely +disclosed during the natural flow of the conversation in which he had +taken and still took part. + +Perhaps there were no two beings on earth so dissimilar in every +relation, as were he and the red coat who now ensconsed himself in one +of the chairs, and accepted the invitation to take a friendly glass with +the stranger. He, humble as the rank he bore in the service, was a young +man of most prepossessing appearance and excellent address. His figure, +although slight, was beautifully symmetrical and finely knit. In stature +he was about five feet eleven inches, and was apparently as agile as a +leopard. The whole volume of his heart was laid open in his broad, manly +brow and clear dark eyes; and his laughter rang out now and then, at +the brilliant wit or searching sarcasm of his neighbor, in such pure and +joyous tones, as to be infectious even amongst those who were paying +but little attention to what had provoked it. He could not have numbered +more than twenty-five or twenty-six summers; and it was almost painful, +in the presence of such manly beauty and so light a heart, to dwell +on the fact, that the possessor of both, was in absolute slavery, how +carelessly soever he wore his shackles. While both these individuals +differed the one from the other to the extent already mentioned, the +proprietor of the saloon, in turn, presented an appearance as dissimilar +to that of either of his customers as did that of the one to the other. +He was a man of herculean proportions, and blessed with as commonplace +features as you could find in a day's walk. Every fibre of his frame +bespoke the most gigantic strength, while his full, round face glowed +with the most refreshing health, and presented at the same time as +stolid an expression as could well be imagined in connection with his +vocation. Still, there was something in his keen, gray eye and about his +mouth, that bid you beware of taking the book by the cover; while an odd +word of the conversation that now and then reached his ear, called up a +strange expression of intelligence which swept across his features +with the speed of light, and then left them as quiescent and apparently +unintellectual as before. This individual whom we shall name Thomas +O'Brien, or Big Tom, as his friends were wont to call him, although +never regarded as being over brilliant, there were those who averred +that he not only possessed a fund of good, common sense, but who +stated further, that he was a man of great influence not only among the +soldiers in the fort, but among many of his countrymen both in town and +out of it. Tom spoke very slowly and always in an oracular manner; nor +were his movements behind his bar of a very demonstrative character; +as no press of custom, whatever, seemed to possess the power of +accelerating his motions or inducing him to exceed the steady formula +that he appeared to have adopted in relation to serving his customers; +still he possessed the jewel of honesty and urbanity as an offset to +all this; and, like most large men, was, on the whole, of a kind and +excellent temper. When seen standing by the river or in any elevated +position, he conveyed the idea of a sort of human lighthouse, or a +chimney on fire, so fiercely red was the tremendous shock of hair that +covered his towering head. He was still a young man, and, like the +soldier, unmarried; although the heart of the latter had gone forth and +was in the safe keeping of a charming young cousin of "mine host," who +had emigrated to America some time previously, and who now resided with +her friends in the city of Buffalo. Tom had preceded his relatives by +some years, and had sojourned, up to the period of their landing, in +the United States also; but taking a sudden notion, as it would seem, +he pulled up his stakes, and, like other adventurers, settled down, +apparently haphazard, in the town in which he now lived; and where he +had already been upwards of two years; having bought out the "Sign of +the Harp," as we shall call it, with all its appointments, from another +Son of the Sod, who had made up his mind to go West. + +Before the soldier, whom we shall name Nicholas, or Nick Barry, had +finished his glass, Greaves entered into conversation with him in +relation to the strength of the fort, and the nationality of the +regiment that garrisoned it; observing, at the same time, that, of +course, as usual, a fair sprinkling from the Emerald Isle was to be +found among them. + +"Yes," said Barry, "go where you may throughout the empire, and whenever +you meet a red coat you will be right in four cases out of six in +putting it down as belonging to an Irishman; that is, provided its +precise color and texture are like mine; but you would not be so safe +in applying the same rule wherever you chanced to encounter the clear, +bright flash of the genuine scarlet." + +"And why?" returned Greaves, with an inquiring air which seemed to +be quite at sea upon the subject; although up to that moment, his +conversation was such as to lead one to infer that he could scarcely be +in the dark upon a subject so generally understood. + +"Because," said Nick, "the Irish are only fit to do the fighting; and +that's always done, you know, by the rank and file." + +This reply, although not over satisfactory to the interrogator, seemed +to afford infinite amusement to Big Tom, who, with a perfect sledge +hammer of a laugh, exclaimed when Barry had finished: + +"Well done Nick, and the divil a betther could it be said if I said it +myself." + +This unusual and lively demonstration on the part of O'Brien, seemed +to attract the notice of Greaves, who, with the utmost good humor, +observed, while glancing in the direction of the bar: + +"From Ireland, too, I'll bet my head!" + +"Seven miles out of it," returned Tom with a slight twinkle of his eye, +"and, of coorse, a gintleman so larned as you will be able to tell where +that is." + +"Well, for the life of me," observed Greaves, "I cannot divine what you +are at, with your 'seven miles out,' but as I'm an Englishman, I suppose +that accounts for it." + +"He means by what he has said," interrupted Barry, "that he is from +Connaught, which, for some reason or other, is regarded as seven miles +out of Ireland." + +"For some raison or other did you say," returned Tom. "Faith and its +raison enough there is for that same; for it was to Connaught that +Cromwell and the rest of the blaggards banished or confined the Irish +hayros that gave the Sassenach such throuble in oulden times, and that's +the raison, you know, that the sayin, 'to h--l or Connaught,' first +got a futtin in the world, and that Connaught is regarded as bein seven +miles out, by the people who know the ins and outs of it." + +This was delivered in a quiet, oracular manner from which there was +no appeal; so the conversation continued to flow in a kindred +channel--Barry observing that the regiments then stationed in Canada +were largely _adulterated_, as he humorously termed it, with the Irish +element, which, during such times of commotion, was considered by +England safer abroad than at home. + +"How is that?" said Greaves, casting a searching glance towards the +speaker. "I should fancy that the British soldier was safe, and true to +the crown whether at home or abroad; although I am free to confess, that +the Irish, as a nation, have much to complain of." + +"And how can you separate the man from the nation; and if a people are +oppressed and wronged as a whole, are they not oppressed and wronged +individually?" replied O'Brien. + +"The inference is reasonable," returned the other; "but as England seems +sensible that something ought to be done for the amelioration of the +condition of Ireland no doubt the two nations will soon settle down in +the bonds of amity and love, and, in a better state of things, forget +all their bickerings and heartburnings." + +"There was a payriod," retorted Tom, "when England could have done +somethin to appase Ireland, but that payriod is past and gone forever! +Durin the airly days of O'Connell, the repale of the Union and the +abolition of the Church Establishment would have worked merricles. These +measures would have done away with absenteeism, an unjust and gallin +taxation, and would have given Ireland the conthrol, in some degree at +laste, of her own local affairs. If the Act of 1782 previntin England +from intherfarin in any degree in those affairs was revived, it would +have given the Irish a chance to build up their manufactures and recruit +their ruined thrade and commerce. It would have recalled the landlord to +his estates, from forrin parts, and re-inthroduced a native parliament +that understood the wants and wishes of the people, and that was +intherested in carryin them out, and givin the masses an opportunity of +developin their resources and turnin their soil to account, that is +acre for acre more fertile than that of England, to-day. It would have +gathered home from the four winds of the earth the scatthered wealth +that has followed the absentee to distant lands and made Dublin and Cork +and every city in the counthry alive with min and wimmin, that were able +to pathronise Irish manufactures, aye, and pay for them too. All this it +would have done and a thousand times more; but as I have already said, +the chance has been thrown away by England, never to be recovered by +her durin _secula seculorum_; for now the light of American freedom +has fallen upon Ireland, and, pointed out what ought to be her thrue +standin, and the insufficiency of what she once would have been +satisfied with. In the broad effulgence of its glory, the people of +Ireland now persave that so if long as they attached any importance to +the mere accident of birth, or bent the knee to hereditary monarchy, +they were but walking in the valley and shadow of death. The great moral +spectacle of American freedom built upon the broad and imperishable +basis of the voluntary and intelligent consint of a whole people, has so +upset their household gods and desthroyed the prestige of kingcraft +in their eyes, that they now look forward to the total overthrow of +monarchical institutions in their midst, and the establishment, on their +shores, of a Republic in every particular the counterpart of that which +now commands the admiration of the world, across the lines there, and +which is gradually sappin the foundation of British rule on this side of +the lakes, as well as litherally swallowin us up unknownst to ourselves. +This is how the case stands now; so that we can aisily persave, that +England has lost the power and opportunity of conciliatin the Irish +race; bekase they have no longer a feelin or sintiment in common with +her." + +These observations, which were made with a degree of ease and eloquence +regarded as totally foreign to Tom, actually electrified his hearers, +and drew a compliment from Greaves; while Barry, who knew a good deal +of him, was so astonished at his sudden and earnest volubility, he could +not resist the temptation of assuring him that he was an honor to +his country, if not to humanity at large. The other three or four +individuals present joined in the sentiment, so that, for the time +being, O'Brien was no ordinary personage in their minds, while a quiet +wink from one to the other seemed to place it beyond a shadow of doubt, +that, in their estimation, Big Tom knew more than he ever got credit +for. + +When the conversation again began to flow freely, the gentleman, with +the hooked nose, turned it imperceptibly upon Fenianism, and the rumored +intention of the Organization, in the United States, to make a descent +upon Canada at no distant day. At this point, O'Brien put in a word +or two, to the effect, that he was not so sure of the propriety of the +Brotherhood invading the Province, as its inhabitants were not in any +way answerable for the wrongs which had been inflicted by England upon +Ireland. Here Barry observed, that although he was not competent to +speak on the matter, and had no desire to endorse or countenance such an +invasion, he regarded a Fenian attack upon Canada fully as justifiable +as an assault of the same character upon England, or any other portion +of her majesty's dominions. The empire, he contended, was a unit and +no part of it could be assailed, that did not possess, in relation to +Ireland, just as inoffensive people as the Canadians were. Fenianism, +he presumed, did not pretend to make war upon individuals, but upon a +government, in any or all of its ramifications, that was alleged to be +oppressive and an enemy to civil and religious freedom; and so long as +any people chose to endorse the acts of such a government by defending +them, and adhering to the flag under which they were said to have been +committed, so long were they amenable to the party who assumed to be +aggrieved in the premises, as aiders and abettors of the offence. + +This position was so reasonable and so logical that there was but little +room for dispute upon the subject. And hence the absurdity of certain +squeamish gentlemen who, before and since the invasion of 1866, have +denounced a descent upon Canada as not so justifiable as an attack upon +the more central parts of the empire, from the assumed fact, that the +Canadians are in no way chargeable with the wrongs inflicted by the +British Government upon Ireland. Such an argument to a military man, or +astute politician, would be the very height of absurdity. The outworks +are always stormed and taken before the citadel falls; nor are those +who occupy or defend them regarded with any personal ill feeling by +the assailing party, and are only enemies in so far as they choose to +espouse the cause and defend, at the point of the sword, the acts and +existence of a government held to be corrupt and oppressive. From the +difference in population and other circumstances, there are a greater +number of inoffensive persons in England, in relation to Irish +grievances, than there are in Canada; so that, adopting the very style +of argument used by those gingerly or subsidized cavillers, there are +more causes for justifying a descent, at any time, upon the latter +than upon the former country. The truth is, the masses or people of any +country are, for the most part, inoffensive on the whole, and are merely +wielded by governments with a view to maintaining a power for good or +evil, having in many cases themselves no very clear idea of the grounds +upon which the field may have been taken; and laying down their arms +at a moment's notice, without being concerned as to the expediency +or justice of a cessation of hostilities. In truth, even amid armies +thundering down upon each other at the word of command, there are +necessarily thousands of unoffending persons who entertain not a single +feeling of animosity against their opponents individually, and who are +but simply the exponents of an idea that their rulers deem necessary to +maintain at the point of the bayonet; although they themselves may not +sympathize with it to any extent whatever. So that it is apparent, that +the invasion of Canada was never undertaken with a view to despoiling or +injuring the people _per se_ of that country; but for the simple purpose +of making a descent upon a point of the British empire most accessible +to the arms of the Republic of Ireland on this continent, in the hope +of establishing a basis that would enable Irish Nationalists to operate +successfully against a government that had for seven hundred years +subjected their country, name and race, to every injustice and +persecution known to the history of crime. Such are the contingencies +of war, that the innocent are dragged into the vortex by the guilty, +and that those who choose to adopt a flag and are found armed in its +defence, are constructively the enemies of the invaders, and according +to the usages of all nations amenable in the field for the conduct of +their rulers. Whatever may be said to the contrary, then, by English +sympathizers or weak-kneed patriots, so long as Canada is a portion of +the British empire, so long is she a legitimate point of attack for the +enemies of that empire, and no description of special pleading can make +it otherwise. And here we would advise the people of the New Dominion to +look into this matter and weigh the consequences of being influenced +by any seeming or real hostile attitude to the government of the United +States, or the mighty hosts which are now gathering in battle array in +the cause of Irish freedom. England is fallen! Her power and prestige +are gone forever! The star of Irish liberty has already emerged from the +clouds that have so long lain piled up along the horizon of the land of +the enslaved Celt, and no power on earth can obscure its growing +Lustre, until it blazes forth in the full meridian, splendor of Irish +nationality and independence! Let our neighbors, therefore, we say, not +be betrayed into raising a puny arm against the tremendous force +that cannot fail to be exerted ere long in this connection, or their +redemption from the British yoke and their consequent absorption by the +great American Commonwealth may be reddened with more blood than the +circumstances of the case really require. + +When Barry had finished his few observations on this topic, Greaves, +in further pursuance of the subject, and with the apparent view of +gathering the tone of Canadian opinion upon it, observed, that if all +the Irish population of the Provinces were as true to the sentiment of +the independence of their country, as O'Brien and his military friend, +there might be some reason for apprehending that the intended invasion +of the Canadas by the Fenian organization of the United States, would +tend to more alarming results to England than were anticipated by the +friends of that country; remarking, in addition, that the Irish element +must be very large in her majesty's Canadian possessions, if one might +judge from the recent St. Patrick's Day demonstration throughout them, +and the various St. Patrick's Societies to be found scattered from one +end of the colony to the other; all of which were, no doubt, more or +less tinged with opinions and aspirations similar to those held by the +two individuals who had just spoken. + +"Oh, yes," rejoined Big Tom, "there are St. Patrick Societies in +abundance, but let me inform you, that instead of bein national +associations, as they purport to be, they are the very sthrongholds of +England in this country, and, with scarce an exception, the deadliest +opponents to the very indepindence that we have benn jist spakin about. +For the most part, they are filled chock full of a pack of miserable +toadies to the governmint, which manages to gather into them a pack of +rottin, ladin Irishmin who can make speeches, dhrink 'the day and all +who honor it,' sing 'God save the Queen,' and talk English blatherskite +about the glory of the impire, the army and navy, and everythin else in +the world save and except the wrongs of poor, ould Ireland, and the way +to redhress them. Why, sir, barrin a word dhropped here and there, you'd +think it was in an Orange Lodge you were, if you happened to step in on +one of those societies while engaged in celebrating, as they call it, +the anniversary of their pathron Saint; for it's nothin you'd hear but +'Rule Britannia,' 'The Red, White and Blue,' and kindhered sintiments, +and if a chap did happen to give 'The harp that wanst,' why, its the +sweet, soft air they'd be admirin, and the poethry of Tom Moore, rather +than the low wail for vingeance that was smothered in the heart of the +song itself. What could you expect from sich a St Patrick's Society as +that of Toronto, with a gintleman at its head with the freedom of an +English city in his breeches pocket, and a desire to emulate English +statesmen and English institutions in his heart! Look, also, at the able +and larned Irishman who stands at the head of the University of that +same methropolis of the West, and whose eloquence so mystifies his +faithlessness to Ireland as to confuse you, and almost lade you captive, +until, on cooler deliberation, you find that his response to 'the toast +of the evenin,' is naither more nor less than a superb burst of oratory, +robed in green and goold, but with a heart as purely English as that +which throbbed within the breast of the renegade Wellington or the late +wily Lord Palmerston. Oh, no! the St. Patrick Societies of America, and +of every other portion of the globe, are simply whited sepulchres, or +false beacons erected or fosthered by the English governmint to mislade +the unsuspectin portions of our race from the allagiance due to their +own counthry, by studiously inculcatin sintimints and ideas favorable +to English supremacy, which can be paraded before the world as the thrue +expression of the Irish people, in relation to the red that governs +them, and their willinness to remain as they are, part and parcel of the +impire. Sich min as the two I have jist mintioned do more to perpetuate +the thraldom of our country than the most unfrindly and subtle statesman +that exists on the other side of the Atlantic to-day; bekase they are +powerful inemies, by their example in our own camp, and bekase there are +those amongst us who are aisily led, and who consequintly fall a victim +to their influence and example." + +"Sure, we all know, that the Scotch thricksther at the head of the +govermint here, could do but little if it was not for such people +as Ogle R., George. L., Darcy and 'the docther,' as he is called in +Toronto; and thus it is, that although the three Toronto gintlemen that +I now name, are, I honestly believe, deservedly respected and esteemed +in every other relation of life, they belong body and sowl to the +English sintimint of the counthry; and if the most favorable opportunity +was offered them to-morrow, would never raise a helpin hand to place the +green above the red. But, as this is dhry work, and as I have not had +sich a bout at it since I opened here, come, one and all, and let us +wet our whistles, for I see you have jist made spy-glasses of your +tumblers." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Although delivered in a style somewhat uncouth, there was a great deal +of truth and native eloquence about these observations of O'Brien. There +is no doubt but the St. Patrick Societies of this continent, and perhaps +of the world, are characterized, in no ordinary degree, by the spirit +and design to which he alluded. In so far as those belonging to the +British empire are concerned, he was right, almost without an exception; +for it must be admitted, that these societies are, for the most part, +filled with pseudo patriots, who discard all revolutionary theories, and +are of the opinion, that the independence of their country, if they +ever cast a glance in that direction, ought to be achieved in the most +lady-like manner, and with "white kids." Look, for instance, at some of +the members of these associations and kindred bodies in New York and +in various other parts of the Union, and analyze the spirit which finds +expression in their observance of the anniversary of Ireland's tutelar +Saint. From the moment that the cloth is removed, until the last of the +company gyrates out of the room to his carriage, we have nothing but +a war of eloquence between rival politicians who are candidates for +municipal or other lucrative honors, or a subtle bid for Irish support +through some adroit manoeuvre, by which an adversary is, for the time +being, thrown into the shade. To be sure, Mr. Richard This or Mr. John +That, may occasionally give us a taste of his research and learning, +in a re-hash from the "Annals of the Four Masters," or from some of the +leading periodicals of the day; and we may, in addition, be treated +to an _original_ poem touching Ireland from some of the various +up-hill-workers of the Muses, with whom the great mercantile centre +abounds; but as to anything practical relative to the amelioration of +the wretched condition of the country in whose name they assemble upon +such occasions, that is simply out of the question; all parties, as a +general thing, satisfying themselves with a hacknied and stereotyped +enumeration of her wrongs, and the usual bland denunciations of her +oppressors. + +And here we give an illustration of St. Patrick Societies under their +most patriotic aspect; for the power of speech which characterizes, this +great Commonwealth, and our total immunity from English persecution, +enable the spirit which actuates these societies, beneath the skull and +cross bones of St. George, to be a little more patriotic here, in its +language at least, than it dares to be in any portion of the dominions +of England. Still, its positive antagonism to Irish independence, under +the British flag, is scarcely more reprehensible than its negative +influence in the same direction under the Stars and Stripes; so that +Ireland, suffering at their hands alike, might with every degree of +justice place them in the same category. + +After all, it is the masses that free a nation, and thank God for it. +A leader may in vain look for a host to follow him, but a host never in +vain for a leader, and hence the defection of a few prominent men from +the great, Irish national idea which now so moves this continent, and +commands the attention of the world, amounts to but little save sorrow +at the stigma it casts upon our race. The rank and file of our people +are true to the spirit that fired the O'Neill's and the Geraldines of +old; and this being the case, the freedom of Ireland is secured beyond +any possible contingency--England is brought to bay at home and abroad. +The mighty embodiments of Irish power and patriotism, yclept Fenianism, +stalks forth through the empire with an uplifted glaive in its hand, and +no one can say how soon or where the swift stroke of destruction shall +fall. Its presence fills with gloomy alarm every nook and corner of +the land, and paralyzes all the energies of the oppressor. Through its +overwhelming influence, the most cherished institutions of the usurper +are being overthrown, and the crown and mace all but converted into +baubles. It has destroyed the power and prestige of a hereditary +aristocracy, and thrown, in a measure, the whole government of the land +into the hands of Commoners. The privileged classes, no longer oracular, +recede before it, and a great democratic idea occupies the ground upon +which they stood--in short, illuminated and impelled by the glorious +spirit and impulses which moved the immortal founders of this grand +Republic of the West, it has gone forth to avenge and to conquer, and +to build up upon the shores of the Old World such a grateful monument +to the genius of American freedom, as shall, from its lofty summit, +pour its radiance over the darkest valleys of Central Europe, until the +frozen grasp of despotism yields to its magic touch and the chains +shall fall from the bleeding limbs of millions, who on emerging from the +valley and shadow of death into the pure sunlight of liberty, shall sing +paeans in honor of the great American people who first taught humanity +to the nations of the earth. + +When all present had done justice to O'Brien's proffered "treat," and +when Greaves seemed to be moved to a friendly view of Irish nationality, +in a gap in some desultory conversation that happened to occur casually, +this latter worthy asked whether he could be accommodated with a room at +"The Harp," while he remained in town, as he was a stranger in a great +measure, and having accidentally, as he said, made the acquaintance +of one he believed to be an agreeable landlord. Tom replied in the +affirmative; for, in connection with the saloon business, he kept a +few boarders and had, besides, ample accommodation for more than one +occasional guest. Soon then, Greaves, who was to send the following +morning to the railroad station for his luggage, picked up a small +traveling bag by his side, asked to be shown to his room, as he +professed to be somewhat tired, and bidding the company "good night," +while shaking hands with Barry, disappeared with Tom down the long +passage which led to his sleeping apartment on the floor above. + +When O'Brien returned to the bar, half a dozen more of his usual +customers had dropped in to exchange a kindly word with him, and taste +his newest "on tap." Before reaching the counter, however, and just as +he was passing Barry, he whispered something in the ear of the latter, +which seemed to arrest his attention, and to which he appeared to answer +with a significant nod and peculiar expression of countenance. Barry +being off duty, and having received permission to remain in town all +night, paid no regard to the nine o'clock drums and fifes audible from +the garrison; and although quite an abstemious young fellow, he made +himself sufficiently social with the new comers, most of whom were +acquaintances. The remainder of the evening was passed in the usual +bar-room style; although the conversation for the most part, turned upon +the wrongs of Ireland and the mode of redressing them. Now that Greaves +had retired, there appeared to be less restraint upon the few who had +been a witness of the observations he had made upon the subject, for +they one and all seemed to flow into the common channel of sympathy, so +largely occupied by O'Brien in this connection. In addition, one of them +ventured to remark, that although Greaves pretended to be an Englishman, +he was evidently no such thing; for on more than one occasion, he gave +utterance to expressions that were not only purely Irish, but tinged +with a genuine Irish accent and native peculiarity, that no mere +accident could account for, and which was, without doubt, the genuine +thing itself peeping out at the elbows of a foreign dress. This idea +seemed to find favor with O'Brien, although Barry was not impressed +with its correctness, from the fact, no doubt, of his constant +intercommunication with the English and Irish element that was so +jumbled up in his company. + +As it became later, the party began to drop off, until about twelve +o'clock, up went the shutters and round went the heavy key in the +bar-room door--all having disappeared at the latter period, save Barry +and one of his most intimate friends who seemed loath to leave, and +inclined to take another glass. No sooner then, were the doors and +windows securely fastened, and the gas extinguished, than both these +parties accompanied by Tom with a bed-room lamp in his hand, proceeded +to a small and comfortable apartment which was sacred to the foot of +every individual who was not a tried friend of O'Brien. Here all three +seated themselves beside a comfortable coal fire that burned brightly in +the grate: when Tom, on extinguishing the lamp, after having lit the jet +of gas that hung in the centre of the room, exclaimed:-- + +"Nick, my name's not Tom O'Brien, or we have got the divil +up-stairs!--but what he's up to it's hard to say: although I thought it +was jist as well to let him take up his quarthers here, seem that I'll +be able to keep an eye on him--now that the times are becomin sarious." + +"Certainly," replied Barry, "his appearance is far from prepossessing, +but you know, Tom, it's not always safe to judge a man by this +criterion." + +"That's thrue," returned the other, "but didn't you hear the fella how +he wanted to sift you about the Irish sintiment of the garrison, as well +as lade us out upon the feelins of the Irish in gineral throughout the +Province?" + +"I did, of course," answered Nick, "but really thought that the +gentleman, being a stranger, was simply asking for information's sake +only, and had no ulterior object in view." + +"I agree with you, O'Brien," interrupted the third party, who was named +Burk, and who had been in the saloon during the period Greaves was +present, "there can be nothing good in so cunning a face; but what is +the real news to-night, and have you heard from New York or Buffalo?" + +"I have harde from both places," returned Tom, "and everythin looks +well; but how are things here, and are you all prepared to assist the +invading army when they cross the lines; and what number of men can we +fairly count upon?" + +"It has, I believe, been ascertained beyond a shadow of doubt," replied +Burk, "that there are upwards of one hundred thousand men throughout the +Provinces who would at once rush to arms if they found the flag of the +Irish Republic firmly planted at any one point within our borders; while +it is known or believed, that more than twice that number would follow +in their wake, if Toronto was once in the hands of the invaders. In +fact, Toronto and Montreal once taken, the day is ours, for we should +have the French almost to a man, no matter what Monsieur George Etienne +or Master John Alexander may say to the contrary. Canada is evidently +tired of British rule, and is only kept from kicking over the traces +by a pack of government officials who hold the purse strings, and a +subsidized press that destroys the homogeneity of the people, by making +them doubt each other, and impressing every man disaffected to the +Crown, with the idea that every other individual Colonist, or nearly +so, is opposed to him. In this way, the sentiment of independence +which underlies the nine tenths of our population is obstructed and +embarrassed, and one man prompted to look with distrust upon another, +although both may entertain precisely the same sentiments in relation +to the desirability of throwing off the British yoke. As to how the army +stands, Nick here can tell you more about that than I can." + +"The army," said Barry, "is just as you might expect it to be. The Irish +who compose it in part, are, as you know, not British soldiers from +choice, but from necessity. They had no resource between starvation and +a red coat; so that their oath of allegiance to the English Crown may be +said to have been exacted from them under pain of death. For ages, their +country had been devastated and plundered by the power that now holds +them in special thrall, and the means of existence wrested from them +through the inhuman exactions of a tyrannical government. Their name and +race had been banned, their humble homesteads razed to the ground, and +their families scattered, naked and hungry, throughout the length and +breadth of the land, or exiled to foreign shores. The stranger had +stolen in on their hearthstone, robbed them of their lands, goods and +chattles, usurped their powers of local legislation, and then closed +every door to preferment against them, leaving them without a hope or a +crust for the future, on their own shores. Under this horrible pressure, +thousands of them necessarily gave way and fell victims to those gaunt +recruiting sergeants of the government--Hunger and Rags. Unable to earn +wherewithal to keep body and soul together at their own doors, or within +their own borders, and perceiving that the commerce, the manufactures +and all the native resource of their country were crushed to the +earth, beneath the relentless heel of the oppressor, they fell into +the pit-fall dug for them by an accursed perjurer and traitor, and, +in obedience to the first law of nature, assumed her livery, and swore +allegiance to her flag. But think you that either God or man attaches +the slightest importance to an oath exacted under such circumstances? +Here am I, Nick Barry, now in the service of the usurper, and driven +into it with tears in my eyes and rebellion in my heart, and do you +suppose that I regard my oath as other than an additional incentive to +plot the downfall of the infamous tyrant and robber who hounded me +into swallowing it, and who, to-day, keeps the girl I love out of her +mother's property, that, on a mere technicality, was laid hold of, and +thrown into chancery, by a villainous and traitorous relative, long in +the secret service of the government at home, when he found the poor, +young thing an orphan, and without a wealthy friend in the world to +back her, and that too, upon a claim that hadn't a leg to stand upon, as +everybody knew? My soldier-life, and his continued absence in England, +prevented my meeting the villain before he died; but as he has left the +suit to his son, who, I learn, is no better than he was himself, and is +also a great hanger on about the Castle of Dublin, I am in hopes of one +day or other meeting this same gentleman, who purports to represent the +old villain in this case, when, no matter how the chancery suit may go, +I shall hold him to a severe reckoning for the injustice and +hardships to which she has been so long subjected through their joint +instrumentality. But why should she complain any more than Tom there, +whose father's side of the house, once powerful and wealthy, in the +west of Ireland, have been all but beggared through the same infamous +government, and their accursed agents, who had plundered them of every +acre they possessed, and exiled the bravest and best of them to these +distant shores?" + +These few observations were made with an earnestness and vehemence that +showed how fierce and hostile the blood that boiled in the veins of +the speaker. Nor was there any appeal from the inexorable logic of +his remarks. From the inhuman manner in which England has, for +seven centuries preyed upon the vitals of Ireland, and plundered and +expatriated her children, the latter are morally absolved from all +allegiance or fidelity to her, no matter what the circumstances of +their plighted faith. No man should be bound by oaths or obligations, +to maintain the supremacy or defend the interests of a tyrant, exacted +under an inhuman pressure or in the presence of such an alternative +as the poor Irish recruit is subject to, namely, that of enlisting or +starving. How can any Irish soldier, possessed of a single spark of +pride or patriotism, and wearing the queen of England's livery to-day, +be other than the deadly enemy of the representative of a people who +have laid his country waste, murdered his kindred and left him and +millions of his race without a roof to cover them on their own native +shores? How can he gaze with any degree of enthusiasm or pleasure upon +the blood-stained rag that waved over Mullaghmast, that was perjured at +Limerick, and that endorsed with its baleful glare all the demoniacal +atrocities of the Penal Laws? "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to +God"--therefore the children of Ireland who have been so long trodden in +the dust under the feet of an usurper, are but obeying the dictates of +heaven and of humanity, when, by every means within the boundaries of +civilization, they endeavor to encompass not only their own redemption +from the bonds of the oppressor, but the total destruction of his power +in every connection. Ireland owes no allegiance to England. For seven +hundred years she has been crying out against the colony of foreign +bayonets that have kept her in bondage and reduced her to beggary. For +one single hour, throughout the whole of that long period, she has +never voluntarily accepted the condition of her thraldom, or bowed +submissively beneath the British yoke. She therefore cannot be regarded +in the light of a conquered nation, but must be looked upon as still +engaged in the deadly and mortal contest, whose first field was fought +long years ago, between the Anglo-Norman freebooters and the Fenians +of Cuan-na-Groith, or the Harbor of the Sun, when Strongbow, at the +instance of the second Henry, made an unprovoked descent upon her +shores. + +"Yes," replied Tom, when Barry had finished, "both I and mine have felt +the cruel fangs of the despoiler; but, sure, where is the use of singlin +out ourselves, when the whole of the thrue native Irish--which manes the +nineteenth twintieths of the kingdoms-are jist as badly off. The quarrel +is not yours nor mine, nor the grievances naither. Both belong to every +man, woman and child possessed of a pure dhrop of Irish blood in their +veins; for all have suffered alike, as far as that is consarned. And, +now, all that has to be done on the head of it, is jist to wait the nick +of time that we are all expectin, and then, with one well directed and +united blow, dash the tyrant to the ground on this side of the Atlantic, +and thrust to Providence, the sympathy of the great American people and +our own sthrong arms and hearts for the rest." + +"Quebec and the fort beyond there," observed Burk, "may give us some +trouble; but further than this, from what has been ascertained of the +Province generally, there is little to be apprehended. The intimate +business relations and the intermarriages between the Canadians and the +people of the United States, will exercise a most powerful influence +in the case, while the manner in which both the English and Canadian +Governments fomented the recent civil war on the other side of the +lines, cannot fail to have embittered the American people against the +British Flag, wherever it is to be found. The treacherous attack of +England upon the existance of the Republic, in subsidizing the South +with arms and money, and in destroying, as she did for a considerable +period, the American carrying trade, through the instrumentality of +pirates built and fitted out in her own ship-yards and docks, will now +afford the American government an opportunity of paying her off in kind, +through permitting Fenianism to pursue its course without interruption, +until the Provinces become part and parcel of the Union, when they +have served as a basis of operation for the purpose of fitting out +expeditions against the arch enemy of Ireland and of human freedom, and +contributed to the final redemption of that oppressed country from the +bonds in which it has so long lain. Surely, what is sauce for the goose +is sauce for the gander; and if England, through the House of Commons, +cheered the Alabama when her destructive qualities were described before +that body by Mr. Laird, and, after having built the pirate, sent her out +to make war upon the North when it was in sore trouble--surely, I say, +America will not be over anxious to throw obstructions in the way of any +party who may take in hand the chastisement of such an infamous power, +no matter what the grounds of the quarrel. But when it comes to be +understood that for the last ninety years, and up to a very recent +period, England has been the deadly defamer and the secret or avowed +enemy of America and American institutions--when it comes to be +understood, that the statesmen, the business men and the wives and +daughters of the citizens of the American Commonwealth, ever since the +immortal Washington won the day for the oppressed of the whole world, +have been subjected to the sneers and jibes of the English aristocracy +and press, and held up to the ridicule of despotic Europe--when this +comes to be understood, I repeat, in connection with the fact, that +the cause of Ireland is the cause of human liberty and of republican +institutions, there will be but little fear of America stepping out of +her way to uphold the skull and cross-bones of St. George, either on +this or on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, or, in fact, in any +portion of the globe." + +"Nor will the clear-sighted children of the Republic be cajoled into a +friendly attitude towards this blood-thirsty dastard, because that, in +the feebleness and fear that have now overtaken her, she essays to gloze +over the infamous acts of which she stands convicted before the nations, +and assumes an air of friendship towards them. Had the Union fallen, +through her infernal machinations, not a city throughout her dominions +but would have blazed with joyful illuminations at the result; while her +government would again introduce the impressments of 1812. Even when the +slightest reverse was suffered by the arms of the North, the news was +heralded throughout the whole of England with tokens of the most intense +satisfaction; while both her people and statesmen took a fiendish +delight in referring to the Commonwealth as "the late United States!" +All this, I say, will influence, and ought to influence, America in +favor of the independence of Ireland, and prevent the American people +from regarding the present pusillanimous blandishments of John Bull as +other than simply the result of cowardice, and an attempt to propitiate +a great power that had survived his infernal machinations, and now looms +up a just and mighty avenger before him. So long then, as England is +permitted to hold Ireland, that is battling for her rights, in chains, +or to taint permanently the pure atmosphere of this free continent, +so long will the Stars and Stripes shine with subdued lustre, and the +memory of the immortal heroes of '76 be but half honored, by those who +are pledged to defend it to the death in the sight of both God and man." + +"As to Quebec and the other garrisons down this way," observed Barry, +"when Hamilton and Toronto are in the hands of the Army of the Irish +Republic, they will be easily managed. None of the strongholds are proof +against Irish sympathizers, in their vicinity. This I know to be true. +Every genuine Irishman within easy hailing distance of the garrison at +Quebec, has more than one tried friend within its walls; and so of the +other strongholds along the St. Lawrence and lakes. But supposing, for +argument's sake, that any of those forts should take it into its head +to stand a siege, where would it be when invested with such an army +as Fenianism can now put into the field, composed of thousands upon +thousands of veterans who are still grim with blood and smoke from the +terrible fields of the South? What, too, would your militia do, with +their holiday legs and maiden swords, against the men who fought at Cold +Harbor, Gettysburg or Bull Run? Why the one-fourth of the force which it +is said Fenianism has at its command, would sweep Canada like a tornado +from Sanwich to Gaspe, and be recruited every yard of the road, besides; +while the instant one signal victory was won by them, the government of +the United States would at once acknowledge them as belligerants. This, +I believe, is the true state of the case; and if the Fenian organization +across the lines, and here amongst us, possess honest, brave and +competent leaders, the overthrow of England in the Provinces cannot fail +to be achieved; for, after all, she has no secure footing in the hearts +of the masses, and enjoys nothing but a mere official existence here, +under the protection of her guns, and through the instrumentality of a +corrupt government and a hireling press. But as it is getting well up +in the small hours, and as I feel I need some rest, I think I'll take +another tumbler, if you only join me, and then turn in." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +When young Barry spoke of the girl of his love, he referred to Kate +McCarthy, now in her twentieth year, and certainly one of the most +beautiful Irish girls that had emigrated to America for many a long day. +Kate and he had been schoolfellows and neighbors from their infancy, +and, as they grew up, were regarded as a sort of "matter of course +match," from the fact, that they were always together, and apparently +cut out for each other. They were both natives of the county Leitrim, +and born on the banks of the Shannon, in the sweet little town of +Drumsna. It was by the beautiful waters of this noble river that they +first felt that impassioned glow that colors all the after life of man +or woman, and which is as different from the feelings that characterize +early boy or girlhood, as the noon-day solar blaze is from the cold and +placid beams of the pale new moon. There is one point at which the +true passion of love, in all great hearts, leaps into fierce and +instantaneous existence. There may be many imperceptible approaches +to it in some cases, we know, but out of these it is possible to turn +aside. When the hour arrives, however, in a single moment the storming +party, under one wild impulse, unknown before, mounts the ramparts of +the heart, and, after a moment's sweet confusion, the garrison falls and +is surrendered forever into the hands of the enemy. And thus it was with +our hero and heroine. Although they had long been the dearest of friends +and constant companions--although they had long felt that the happiness +of the one was necessary to that of the other, the great secret of their +existence was never fully revealed to them, until they felt they were +about to be separated from each other for an indefinite period; Kate +to accompany her only relatives to America and poor Barry to enter the +British army, under a pressure of poverty too dreadful to relate. As +already intimated, the prospects of both had been blighted through +oppression and villainy, brought to bear upon them by distant relatives, +who were the infamous agents of a still more infamous government. The +case of Nick, although sore enough in its way, was not so heartrending +as that of Kate. He was of a sex fitted to wrestle with the storms +of life, but she, proud and brave as she was, occupied a different +position. Fortunately for both, however, through the instrumentality +of a small pittance set aside by the Courts in her case, and a kind +relation in that of Barry, their education was far above their +pecuniary pretensions, so that at the age of twenty Kate was really an +accomplished and refined girl, while her lover, at that of twenty-five, +was a dashing young fellow, with a well stored mind and quite as capable +of acquitting himself agreeably in society as any man, no matter +what his rank, in the regiment to which he belonged. It was, then, in +consequence of his education that he was looked up to by his comrades; +although neglected and studiously kept in the back grounds by some of +the officers of his company, who, viewing his attainments through +the medium of their English spectacles, closed the door of preferment +against him, and never suffered a single stripe to appear on his jacket. +With as good blood in his veins as the best of them, and with a sense of +the wrongs inflicted upon his country by the government whose abettors +they were, he could never bring himself to stoop to the fawning and +servility through which the lower grades of rank are attainable, only +in the service; and thus, it was that, from first to last, he was +viewed with an eye of suspicion by his superiors, who regarded him as +an incorrigible young Irishman, who, notwithstanding that he wore +the uniform of a British soldier, had no love for the service or the +interests it represented. + +Barry entered the army under the most terrific pressure only. He found +that Kate and her friends were destined for America, and being himself, +at the period, totally destitute of funds and without the means of +realizing them speedily, in a moment of desperation he enlisted in a +regiment that was under sailing orders for that country, in the hope of +being stationed somewhere near the being he loved, and of being able, at +least, to keep up a constant and unbroken correspondence with her until +fortune should turn the wheel in his favor. And so he enlisted and +parted from Kate and her friends, to follow her in a short period across +the Atlantic, and renew his vows of love and affection upon another +shore. + +The ship that had borne her away from his view had been scarcely two +days at sea, when the deadly intelligence reached his ear that the +sailing orders of his regiment had been countermanded, and that instead +of proceeding to Quebec, it was to sail for Malta, where it was likely +to remain for perhaps a couple of years. This dreadful news almost +annihilated him. He had made a sacrifice to no purpose, and was now +bound hand and foot beyond the hope of redemption. Before Kate and he +parted, he had agreed to write her to Quebec, in care of a friend, if +anything should occur that might postpone the sailing of his regiment, +or that portion of it that was for foreign service; and now the dreadful +opportunity arrived, when he found himself called upon to convey to +her the intelligence, that not only was the sailing of the regiment +postponed, but its destination altered. In due course the fatal +disclosure reached her, and almost deprived her of life and reason. In +the space of one brief hour she passed through the agony of years. +The being she loved, in the burning ardor of his young soul, had +hastily--thoughtlessly sacrificed his freedom; and all for her! It +had been a sufficient dagger to her soul to see him attired in the +blood-stained uniform of the enemies of her country, yet she knew that +he had been driven by the most inexorable circumstances to assume the +hated garb. But now he was overtaken with twofold desolation--he was +a slave, and beyond the reach of one kind word of solace from her, for +whom he had sacrificed all, save and except that which might be borne to +him, through the ordinary channels, across the trackless deep. + +Racked as she was with those torturing reflections, and while the first +wild burst of grief was yet rolling down her cheeks, she determined to +begin her lone, young widowhood by instantly writing to him and bidding +him hope. In this epistle, all the nobility of her true heart and nature +blazed forth so transcendently, and with such fierce, womanly fervor, +that the moment it reached the hands of the young soldier the light was +re-kindled within him, and he at once set about procuring his discharge, +or rather realizing the means of effecting his release from the bonds +into which he had allowed his pure 'though ungovernable passion to +betray him. His education, as already observed, was most excellent, and +now, when off duty, he turned it to good account, and slowly but surely +began to add daily to what trifle he was able to save from his paltry +pay, in the hope of yet commanding a sufficient sum to purchase his +freedom and enable him, ultimately, to sail for America. In this way, +and during the two years he was stationed at Malta, he spent his spare +moments, being throughout that whole period particularly fortunate in +keeping up what was life to him, an unbroken correspondence with his +beloved. + +At the expiration of three years, having been quartered, on his return +from the Mediterranean, for the last one, in England, at length came the +welcome and startling intelligence, that the regiment, now indeed, was +to proceed forthwith to Canada, where it would be likely to remain for +a considerable period. In a delirium of joy he communicated the happy +intelligence to his love, and had just time to receive a hurried epistle +in reply, in which the very arms of the true-hearted and beautiful Kate +seemed thrown open to receive him. For some months previously, however, +she had been informing him, from time to time, of a very disagreeable +position in which she had been placed, through the persistent attentions +paid her by an Irish gentleman named Lauder, who, by some means or +other, had so ingratiated himself with her relatives, as to win them +over to urge his suit; and who was reputed to be a person of means. +These hints, however disagreeable, were always accompanied by a renewal +of the vows they had long since plighted on the banks of the Shannon, +and the fervent assurance that no one living or yet to live should ever +lead Kate McCarthy a bride to the altar, save her own Nicholas Barry. + +When Kate and her relatives arrived at Quebec, they remained in that +city but a short period, as they had friends at Toronto, as well as +near Fort Erie and at Buffalo, in the State of New York, whom they +were desirous of visiting, and near whom they had determined to settle +permanently. Unfortunately for Barry, the more intimate guardians +or relatives of Kate had become unfriendly to his suit ever since he +entered the army; impressed, as they had become, with that Irish idea, +that the red coat of a private soldier in the British service was the +most disreputable that could be worn. In this light, therefore, they +encouraged the advances of Lauder, in the hope that absence would so +weaken the first love of Kate, as to induce her to yield ultimately to +her new suitor. But they little new the girl with whom they had to deal; +for when Lauder, under their sanction, made a formal declaration of his +passion to her, she quenched his hopes, as she supposed, forever, by +informing him that both her heart and her hand were previously engaged, +and that were they even at her disposal, she should be quite unable +to bestow them upon any gentleman for whom she did not and could not +entertain a single particle of true love, although he might have secured +her esteem. This rejection, however, did not, as she supposed it would, +preclude the possibility of any further advances from such a quarter, +for Lauder, nothing daunted, kept up the siege when and wherever he +could, without giving absolute offense; so cunningly and intangibly did +he still pursue the object set before him. At last, nevertheless, so +constant were his visits at the house, and so permanent a footing was he +getting in the estimation of her friends, that, after having resided at +Toronto upwards of two years, she left it at the instance of one of the +family, who, on their first arrival in America, had settled in Buffalo, +to which city she proceeded, and in which she now took up her residence. + +While in Toronto the thought struck her that she might be able to turn +whatever abilities she had to account, in the hope of being able to +accumulate sufficient funds to aid our young hero in purchasing his +discharge, fearing, as she did, that his own opportunities, in this +relation, would be greatly restricted. So with her needle, and through +the instrumentality of a small private school, she ultimately found +herself mistress of the required amount, and was about to forward it +to Nicholas, at the very period when she received intelligence of his +regiment being ordered to America. She therefore thought it better +to wait until they met, as she had made up her mind to set out, when +apprised of his arrival, for any place in which he might happen to be +quartered, and there plan for their future and his freedom. + +In due time Barry reached Quebec, and from thence was ordered, with his +company, to the town in which we first encountered him. Here he was soon +joined by the true-hearted Kate, who remained for a few days with her +cousins, Big Tom and his sister. During this period it was decided that +Nicholas should purchase his discharge when he found that there was any +prospect of the regiment being called home. The reasons for his not +at once availing himself of the freedom he knew he could obtain at any +moment, need not now be referred to more minutely; and as Kate left him +to return to Buffalo, just four months previous to the opening of our +story, after having made more than one pilgrimage from the United States +to spend a few days with her cousins as she averred, it was settled upon +finally, that he should quit the service in the ensuing summer, when +they should become man and wife, as well as residents of the great +Republic of the United States of America. + +The intimacy, then, between Big Tom and Nick, is now accounted for in +a satisfactory manner; and thus it was, that whenever the young soldier +got leave to spend a night out of the Fort, he invariably took up his +quarters at the sign of the Harp, where he not only knew he was welcome +on his own account, but was sure to find company that was agreeable to +him, and sympathized with all his aspirations in relation to his poor, +down-trodden country. + +Kate McCarthy, as we have already said, was in her twentieth year at +the time we were first introduced to O'Brien and his customers, and +certainly, as previously intimated, a more lovely woman could scarcely +be found in a day's walk. Her face and figure were absolute mirages of +beauty, while, if there could be such a thing as black sunbeams, her +eyes and hair would have illustrated them to intensity. She was above +the medium height, with a slightly olive complexion that harmonized +superbly with the glorious orbs through which the pure light of her soul +poured forth a mellow blaze, and the dark, heavy tresses that fell in +shining masses upon her pearly shoulders. Nothing, too, could surpass +the intensified loveliness of her soft, rounded arms, and exquisitely +shaped hands and feet, while her delicious mouth and beautifully +chiseled nose and ears were really mysteries of loveliness so rare, that +few could entertain the idea that she who possessed them could have laid +her whole heart at the feet of a common soldier, and that, too, when it +was in her power to turn such charms to high account in the every day +market of society. But she knew Nicholas Barry and the nobility of his +nature, and was aware, in addition, that had he not, like herself, been +the victim of foul play and of a government that fostered crime in its +adherents, he would never have been constrained to swear allegiance to +the flag he both hated and despised, or have been obliged to exchange +the garb of the son of a true Irish gentleman for that which had so +lowered him, in the eyes of her relatives at least. But rich or poor, +in scarlet or homespun, he was all the same to her; and now that he was +almost at her side, and master, in a measure, of his own fate, she only +looked forward to the period when she should have a legal right to his +protection, and to call him by that name which, beyond all others is the +one that lies nearest a woman's heart. + +The relative and his wife with whom Kate lived in Buffalo, were, in +reality, noble and true-hearted people. They had known Nicholas from his +childhood, and had always loved him for his manliness and bold struggles +to gain some position at home in which he might be able to realize a +sufficiency to maintain both himself and the girl of his love, before he +led her to the altar. They had witnessed his repeated failures when he +applied for any vacant situation where his education could be turned to +account, and felt for his dire disappointment upon many an occasion +when he was denied even a subordinate office in connection with the +management of the large property that had once belonged to his family. +With pain and anger they saw his praiseworthy exertions baffled at every +turn, and, unlike the rest of their relations, discovered more of his +self-sacrificing spirit still, in the desperate step he took for the +purpose of joining his betrothed upon a foreign shore--a step which they +would have gladly prevented, had their own slender means been sufficient +to have transported him with them to their new home. Moved by this +spirit of kindness and esteem, these worthy people were the very +main-stay of Kate in the hour of her sorest trial, and now that Barry +was near her once more, they entered heart and hand into all her +projects, and were delighted to know that his discharge should be +purchased before his regiment was ordered to leave the colony. + +It must not be presumed, however, that Kate, since her arrival in +America, had permitted herself to be a burden, in even the slightest +degree, upon any of her friends or relations. Far from it; from the +moment that they became settled at Toronto, up to the hour of Nicholas' +arrival in the colony, she not only supported herself through her +industry and perseverence, but contributed, in a degree, to +the maintenance of some of them also. Of course, in view of the +all-absorbing object she had before her, regarding her lover, she could +not be expected to do much in this latter relation; yet she did what +she could, and so satisfied her pride and her conscience. Sometimes the +recollection of the long and weary chancery suit would obtrude itself +upon her, but only to provoke a hopeless and languid smile, prompted +by the conviction that her enemy, whom she had never seen, and who had +recently succeeded to the claims of his father--Philip Darcy, now but +a few months dead--had too much influence with the government and its +legal minions, to permit her to indulge in the slightest hope, that, +were the case decided tomorrow, it could be otherwise than against her. +Consequently, it mattered but little to her whether she was worsted +by Philip the elder or Philip the younger; so, in this way, she +now invariably disposed of the unpleasant matter. Yet, she felt, +notwithstanding, deeply and bitterly upon the subject: and knew that she +was the victim of a most diabolical plot; but she did not permit this +to interfere with her daily avocations, or induce her to sit down in +apathetic sorrow, and repine over a fate that no effort of hers could +influence in any degree whatever. + +Still, as may be readily supposed, both from her education and a +knowledge of her own personal wrongs, and those which had for centuries +been inflicted upon the unhappy land of her birth, she was no friend or +admirer of the government or people who had wrought her so much ruin in +this connection. On this head she was most inexorable, and felt that +it was the duty of every true Irishman and Irishwomen in existence, to +conspire, as best they could, against a power which had plunged their +race and country into such frightful ruin; and she believed, firmly, +that, in so far as her native land was concerned, its children were +justified in using any means by which they could rid themselves of +a tyrant and usurper, who, in violation of every law, both human and +divine, subjected them to sword and flame for ages. + +It will be perceived, then, that both Kate McCarthy and Nicholas were +influenced by the same just and deadly spirit against England; and that +neither thought it otherwise than meritorious, to hurl that tyrant +to the dust, at any time and under any circumstances. The iron had +penetrated their souls; and now that rumors were afloat touching the +intention of the great organization of Fenianism, which overspread +the American Union, to make a descent upon the Canadas, with a view +to destroying the power of England upon this continent, and ultimately +rescuing Ireland from the grasp of the oppressor, Kate's eye was lit, +from time to time, with the most patriotic fervor; while the world +could, at any moment, discover the true nature of the fame that burned +within her soul, from the emerald sheen of the silken band which +invariably bound up her raven hair, and encircled her snowy throat. + +Once or twice she happened to encounter Lauder in Buffalo, so as to +recognize him without the possibility of mistake; while on several +occasions, she could not divest herself of the idea that he had just +passed her in disguise; although she could not imagine what prompted him +to such secrecy, when she never noticed him since she had left Toronto, +or recognized him on the two occasions when she chanced to meet him in +the public street. Yet, a strange presentiment seemed to impress her +that he had not, after all her plainness with him, abandoned the idea +of obtaining her hand, notwithstanding the repugnance she had always +evinced towards him. Now, however, that Nicholas was almost within hail +of her, and that her friends, in Buffalo at least, were true to her +in every relation, she felt secure from whatever machinations her +imagination conjured up; and, therefore, whenever the subject suddenly +obtruded itself upon her thoughtful moments, she dismissed it as +summarily; reassured by the conviction that she was totally beyond the +reach of any schemes that might have been concocted in relation to her +or her future. + +For the purpose, however, of setting the matter at rest forever, she +was resolved that her lover should leave the service now as early as +possible; and, stimulated by this desire, on returning to her residence, +one evening towards the middle of April of the year in which we first +encountered him on the bridge leading from the Fort, she addressed a +letter to Nicholas, urging him to leave the army as soon as practicable, +assigning as a reason the presence of Lauder in Buffalo, whom she had, +as she felt assured, again encountered or rather discovered in the +vicinity of her residence, and adding a further reason, based upon the +rumor, that the Army of the Irish Republic would soon move upon Canada, +and that his regiment could not fail to be called out to oppose it--a +circumstance that would, as she well knew, be the cause of more actual +pain to him, than anything that could possibly occur in the discharge of +what was termed his duty. + +This letter Barry received the second day after it was written; and on +consulting with O'Brien, at once set about procuring his discharge; but +as the Colonel of his regiment had gone to the Lower Provinces, from +which he was not to return for a week or two, the matter was left in +abeyance until he should again arrive in town. In due course, however, +he did return, and the necessary application being made, no objection +was offered to granting the discharge, as Barry's conduct had always +been most unexceptionable since he entered the service. + +In this way matters stood, then, on the night on which we found Big +Tom in secret conclave with his two friends, Nick and Burk, in his own +little sanctum; Nick having got leave to stay out until morning, as the +officer in command informed him, it was probably the last request he +should have the power of granting him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +An organization so wide-spread and so numerous as that of the Fenian +Brotherhood, it was not to expected that all its members, without an +exception, were good men and true; yet so rarely were traitors found +among its ranks, that no patriotic confraternity of its magnitude had +ever, in ancient or modern times, presented so pure a record in this +relation. When we take into consideration the fact that, the insidious +and subsidizing gold of England was brought to bear upon the frightful +poverty of the masses that composed the organization in Ireland, as well +as the temptations to treason held out by the government, through their +agents in the Republic of the United States of America, the wonder is +that there were not more Corydons and Masseys to do the work of the +usurper, and betray the cause to which they had sworn fealty. However, +there were traitors sufficient at work to cause great damage in +individual cases, and send many a brave fellow into the gloomy depths +of a British dungeon. Nearly all the injury in this connection, however, +appears to have been done at home, as treason of this character was +totally powerless under any foreign flag--or at least not so capable +of direct mischief. From the first moment of the inception of the +organization, the British and the Canadian governments had their paid +spies in and outside the American press, who kept the authorities well +informed as to all the particulars that transpired within the range of +their observation or through other channels; but these disclosures were +necessarily meagre and, in many cases, totally unreliable; from the +circumstance that those disreputable parties, for the purpose of +magnifying their importance, and securing further the patronage of their +employers, colored and distorted facts so terribly, that scarce a +line from their pens or a sentence from their lips was worthy even +the slightest credence. Still, from time to time, some little rumor +struggled to the surface, which pointed to treachery somewhere; and +thus it was that the authorities of the organization were often +placed awkwardly in relation to the idle though dangerous gossip which +occasionally singled out this individual or that, as the party who had +betrayed his trust. In the various cities along the American frontier, +there was from time to time a good deal of this gossip--a circumstance +that might have been quite easily accounted for; seeing that the +inhabitants of some of these places were in what might be termed hourly +intercommunication with the people of Canada; giving, in some cases, +rise to suspicions, which were in the main without any foundation. This +distrust, although affecting the stability or growing prosperity of the +Brotherhood in scarcely any degree, had yet the effect of strengthening +the hands of British sympathizers in the Union, and inducing them +to resolve themselves into little coteries or societies--such as was +hurriedly formed not long since under the influence and guidance of +Mr. H----, of Buffalo, for the ostensible purpose of aiding destitute +Canadians, but with the real design of keeping an eye upon Fenianism, +and disclosing, as far as the members could divine, all its intentions, +hopes and prospects, to the British government. Occasionally an +emissary, direct from Great Britain, in the guise of a lecturer or +tourist, visited these associations and received their report, which, as +far as was practicable, he verified by personal observation, and +through whatever reliable channels, he believed to be open to him. These +emissaries have been supplemented by others of a somewhat different +character, but all bearing upon the interests of England. In this latter +case, however, it has been the direct unfriendly relations between the +American government and that of Great Britain, which had stimulated the +pilgrimages of certain individuals of this class to the shores of the +great Republic. England perceiving that she had Fenianism to deal with +on the one hand, and American hostility, regarding her infamous course +during the late war, on the other, in her cowardly fears for the +consequences, backed up her anti-Fenian agents, by sending out such +persons as Mr. Charles Dickens and Mr. Henry Vincent, to prove to the +citizens of the Commonwealth how friendly the sentiments that England +had always entertained for them, and how disasterous a thing it would be +to both peoples, should a war, under any circumstances, be permitted to +take place between them. Both these gentlemen, and others, distinguished +and popular in their respective literary shades, went forth preaching +peace and good will between the Saxons on the one side of the Atlantic +and their so-called American cousins on the other. With an audacity +the most barefaced and unaccountable, upon every possible occasion, +opportune or otherwise, they wore the olive branch at their button-hole, +and described in periods the most eloquent, the identity of blood and +interests which characterized both nations, and which it were heinous +to ignore. Notwithstanding that for ninety long years their infamous +government had been indulging in the most heartless sneers, insults and +injustice towards the press, the people and the executive of the United +States--notwithstanding that during the late war every reverse of the +arms of the Republic was hailed with heartfelt joy by the English party, +both at home and in Canada, and that pirates were built and fitted out +under the very eyes of the British Cabinet, and with the secret sanction +of that corrupt horde, to make war upon American commerce and destroy +the Union in the hour of its extremity--notwithstanding all this, we +say, and maugre the kindred circumstance of subsidizing the South with +money and arms so as to prolong the fratracidal conflict until both +parties lay bloody and broken at the feet of English despotism, these +able and smooth-tongued gentry had the accursed assurance to stand up in +most of the principal cities of the Democracy, and assert broadly, that +England was the true and tried friend of republican institutions and of +the people who sustained them on the free continent of America. Under +the liberal laws which accord freedom of speech to every man who touches +the shores of the Republic, these men had, we know, a right to express, +publicly or otherwise, their sentiments in this connection, how +treacherous and untenable soever; but what we could never fathom, was +the daring of any journal professing to be true to the interests of +freedom or those of the Union, in endorsing those sentiments and setting +them forth to the world as truthful and worthy the acceptance of every +genuine American, no matter what his creed or party. An attempt so +monstrous to stullify all past experience and ignore all history has +never been made in any relation whatever; and the wonder is, that, +few as they are, so many Americans have been led astray by it. To any +individual, of even the most ordinary penetration, it must be obvious, +that the present cringing and treacherous attitude assumed by England +towards the American people, is but the mask of a foul and dangerous +spirit, snatched up in a moment of mortal fear to be worn only until +some opportune moment arrives when it can be thrown aside with safety, +revealing the old, familiar, demoniacal scowl which lurked unaltered +beneath its smiling exterior. America, to be true to herself, must +beware of such false lights, of the press as these. They are for +the most part subsidized by English gold, or so imbuded with English +sentiment, that the interests of the Union are quite a secondary +consideration with them. In evidence of the truth of this assertion, we +have only to dwell upon the apathy with which these journalists regard +the building up of a dangerous despotism upon our borders, in the very +teeth of American traditions and sentiments, and in opposition to the +feelings of the masses whom it effects more immediately, and who were +not permitted by their tyrants to express a single opinion at the polls +on so grave a subject as the total disruption or remodeling of the +constitution under which they lived. Look at the expression of Nova +Scotia on this head, and see how it reflects upon the course pursued +by the great American people in relation to the confederation of the +adjoining Provinces. Not long since the inhabitants of that section of +the New Dominion set forth, in a memorial to the British government, +that this same confederation was forced upon the people of the Canadas, +through falsehood, bribery and the vilest fraud. And, yet, free and +generous America, who assumes to be the day-star of freedom on this +continent, and to the world, permitted this despotic measure to be +enforced at her own threshold, and in relation to a people, thousands +upon thousands of whom sympathized with her interests and institutions, +and looked forward with longing eyes to the hour when the Stars and +Stripes should float from every flag-staff and tower throughout the +whole of the English possessions in the New World. Surely the missionary +spirit of the Republic has not been best illustrated in this instance; +nor can we discover now, how it is, that the authorities of the Union +sit quietly playing at thumbs, while the Parliament of the Dominion +is voting millions for the defenses of the new despotism, and framing +projects that are intended to result in a line of impregnable forts +from Sandwich to Gaspe, and at every point where it is possible for +an invader to set foot upon their shores. Wait until false, foul and +treacherous England can sit beneath the shadow of the guns of her infant +monarchy, on the Canadian frontier, and then see if she does not begin +to show her cloven foot anew. Let her once get a permanent foothold +among the newly projected fortresses along the St. Lawrence and the +Lakes, with Quebec as their key, and the peace and prosperity of +America, as well as the stability of republican institutions, cannot be +counted as secure, for a single day, from petty annoyance, or perhaps +inroads of a more formidable character. This idea may, we know, be +scouted by those who have a well grounded faith in the destiny of the +American people and the power they undoubtedly possess in a naval and +military point of view; but, after all, a gun is a gun and a garrison +a garrison; and to allow an implacable and formidable enemy to possess +herself of either, within range of our fire-sides, when we can prevent +it, is what we should call courting the presence of a bombshell on our +borders, that may at any moment be thrown into our midst. + +Without dwelling further on this particular point, however, we may +observe, that through some of the channels already referred to, the +English government became aware, in 1865, that it was the intention of +the Irish Nationalists in the United States to make a descent, at no +distant day, upon Canada, and seize it as a basis of operations, with +a view to carrying out their projects for the redemption of Ireland. In +connexion with this information, they found, also, that the troops in +Canada were largely interspersed with Irishmen, and it was consequently +deemed necessary to send a secret agent to the Provinces to look into +the case and report upon it, or rather upon the sentiment of the Irish +element in the colony, whether in or out of the army, in relation to +Fenianism. This they thought could be best accomplished through the +instrumentality of a tried emissary of their own, as even from the +Provincial Cabinet conflicting accounts were arriving constantly in +relation to the all-important subject. In furtherance of this view, the +Castle of Dublin was, of course, applied to, and a creature selected +to do the work, who was not himself fully aware that his position was +recognized by the imperial Cabinet so decidedly, but simply fancied +himself in the capacity of a sort of trusty policeman, appointed by one +of the Castle authorities, who was anxious to know for himself how the +case stood on the other side of the Atlantic. This agent was one of the +cleverest of his class, and possessed of the most consummate cunning, +and a spirit of reckless daring but seldom evinced by members of his +tribe. Already he had rendered substantial service to the Viceroy and to +England, as an inveterate spy, and a scoundrel who had, on more than one +occasion, distinguished himself in the witness box. In addition to his +investigations in Canada, he was instructed to extend the line of his +observations to the United States also, and to move from point to point, +as his own judgment might dictate in the premises. He was, of course, +furnished with ample means to carry out successfully the project +intrusted to him; and although but little faith could be placed in his +integrity, so far as the disposal of the funds put in his hands were +concerned, yet, by an opportune circumstance, connected with his own +personal interest, and overriding any sum that was entrusted to him, +the Castle was enabled to hold him in check, no matter how he might be +tempted, or where he chanced to move. With his activity and fidelity +thus insured, this miserable wretch, who went in Dublin by the name +of Philip the Spy, was despatched on his mission, and, in due coarse +arriving at Quebec, set about it in his usual cautious and conning +manner. He visited the Citadel as a stranger, under the ordinary pass +from the Town Major, and soon made himself agreeable in the dark, low +canteen among the soldiers. Whenever he thought he discovered a young +and inexperienced Irishman among the rank and file, he was unusually +pleasant and communicative. With such a companion he always moved about +the garrison, descanting upon its force and power, and imperceptibly +stealing into his good graces, until he found some opportunity of +making an apparently accidental enquiry touching the information he was +desirous of obtaining. In this way he became possessed of the knowledge +that even Quebec held within its impregnable walls many a man who was +far from being the true friend of England, and who, as he surmised, +waited the opportunity of not only deserting her flag, but betraying +her stronghold into the hands of her enemies. In this state of things +he could not but discover the truthfulness of the beautiful line of +the poet, "_Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt_," for he +perceived that the mighty waters of the great Atlantic were insufficient +to wash out the blood stains from the skirts of England in relation +to Ireland, or to remove the deep hatred of the exiled children of the +latter, towards a tyrannical power that had held them in bitter thrall +so unjustly and so long. + +Satisfied of this, and of the additional fact, that the garrison was +invulnerable from the river side only, and that much of the artillery +that manned the citadel was all but worthless, on the pretense of being +a friend to the cause of Irish freedom and a deadly enemy to England, +he learned that not only were there many Fenian sympathizers within the +walls of the garrison, but that the city outside was literally alive +with similar friends, some of whom were to be found among the French +population, who had never forgotten England's treatment of the First +Napoleon, or her conquest of Canada in the days of Wolf These he knew +himself were sore points with the Lower Canadians, and likely to bear +bitter fruit in relation to English interests in America, one day or +other. He perceived also that these facts, taken in connection with the +unfriendly feeling which England had engendered in the United States, +through the Alabama piracies and secret subsidies to the South during +the war that had just closed, would, tend to both foster and embolden +Fenianism, until it grew almost into an institution in the New World, or +became, at least, a leading idea with no inconsiderable portion of both +the Canadian and American people. He knew that every civilized nation +on the face of the earth, save England herself, sympathized with the +lamentable condition of the country to which he himself was a traitor; +and such being the case, he felt how easy it would be on the part of +these sympathizers, to find a means of justifying almost any measure +that might be adopted against the usurper, by the organization at home +and abroad. He saw and felt all this, and thus it became him to be +doubly cautious, as he could not but understand, that were his mission +divined by those whom he was now hourly betraying into positions of +death or danger, it would go hard with him indeed. In fact, the idea +struck him, that England, with all her boasting, was but little better +than a camp in America; and that, as in Ireland, she was surrounded here +also, by a hostile although a less demonstrative population. + +And, certainly, a truer deduction than this has never been drawn from +any premises whatever. The nine tenths of the loyalty of Canada towards +the British Crown, is superficial and terribly unreliable. Subtract the +official and the Orange element from the masses, and they would drift at +once into the arms of the United States. The events of 1837 prove that +a strong undercurrent of American feeling exists in the colony, and +various subsequent disclosures prove that it is even now only restrained +by circumstances. When we find Canadian representatives on the floor of +the House of Assembly, threatening England with an appeal to Washington +in a certain connection, and when we see Americans filling some of the +highest offices in the Dominion, and sitting at the Council Table with +the representatives of royalty, we may be sure that the interests of +Great Britain are not in safe keeping in such an atmosphere, and that +such persons can always be brought to see how necessary it is to the +_material_ welfare of the inhabitants of the Canadas that they should +become part and parcel of the free and prosperous Republic of the +United States. They cannot fail to see, that in their present dependent +position,--lying, as they are, in the grasp of an English aristocrat, +unacquainted with their wants and wishes, and who sympathizes only with +the Crown, their trade, their commerce, and their internal resources +must suffer to a frightful extent. So long as they are outside the pale +of the Union and under the British flag, so long will a mighty war cloud +hang upon their borders, that is liable to roll in upon them at any +moment. The fact is fixed and unalterable, that the people of Ireland +have secured for all time a permanent footing on this continent, where +their numbers, wealth and influence have become irresistible, touching +any project that they may entertain within the limits of the American +Constitution. We say the American Constitution, for to this they have +sworn fealty, and its maintenance is to them a matter of the first +importance--a matter of life and death; from the fact, that it is to +its generous provisions and the liberal spirit of its framers and their +descendents, as well as to the kind sympathy of the American people in +general, that they now owe their all. Were it not for the noble stand +against tyranny taken by the heroes of 1765, and the subsequent glorious +career of the country they had freed from the grasp of the English +tyrant, Ireland should be still laden with chains the most hopeless; +but, now that free America has influenced her to higher aspirations than +she had ever felt previously in relation to human liberty and just and +enlightened government, it is probable that she shall become the first +fruits of American institutions on the despotic side of the Atlantic, +and raise her bright republican head, in the midst of the hoary +tyrannies of Europe, a glorious monument to the genius of American +liberty and power, as well as to the memory of the immortal heroes of +the war of Independence, who first taught manhood to the nations, and +hurled to the dust, beneath their feet, the foul and blood-stained +braggart who had sought to build up her despotic rule upon their virgin +shores. In no way can America so justify the purity and sincerity of +her soul in relation to her institutions, as by hurling them against the +despotisms of the old world, and diffusing amongst its peoples, +wherever she can with any degree of propriety, the blessings they are so +eminently calculated to impart. And no point stands more invitingly open +at the present moment for an experiment so indispensable to the true +prestige of her power and greatness, than Ireland. Self-evident as the +fact is, that that country has for generations been kept in slavery +at the point of the bayonet, and plundered and starved by an accursed +despot and her own deadly enemy, too, she can with the greatest +possible ease move in the direction of breaking those galling bonds, and +wreathing the poor, fleshless limbs, so long lacerated by them, with the +flowery links which so bind her own glorious children in one harmonious +and invincible whole. So long as Ireland lies groaning beneath the heel +of the usurper, so long shall America have failed in her mission, and +her duty towards God and man. She cannot be truly great, and sit down +beneath her own vine and fig tree, listlessly enjoying the blessings of +liberty, peace and plenty, while her kindred and friends lie in chains +on the opposite side of the Atlantic, or while the infamous flag of the +despot who oppresses them, and who but recently sought to stab her +to the heart, floats in triumph on her very borders. Both heaven and +humanity demand something more at her hands; and if actuated by no +higher motive than that of mere self-preservation, or of providing +against a rainy day, we would advise her, in view of the powerful +armaments and the ingrained antagonisms which characterize Europe in +every direction, to assist in establishing one friendly power at least +on the shores of the Old World, which, in the hour of need, would make +common cause with her in the interests of freedom, justice and truth. +This, and the fact of the attempt now being made by England to build +up an armed despotism in the New Dominion of Canada, are, in our humble +opinion, matters of the deepest moment to the great American people; +while we are equally convinced, that, should they neglect to avail +themselves of their right to interpose wherever human suffering of the +most heart-rending character obtains under the sway of a tyrant, or +where the peace and security of a whole continent is threatened, by +portentous and aggressive undertakings on its confines, the day +will arrive, and that speedily, when they will be afforded a bitter +opportunity of regretting their criminal apathy and neglect, without the +power of atoning for either. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Although Kate had, as we have already stated, encountered Lauder on more +than one occasion in Buffalo, without any very uneasy feeling as to his +unpleasant proximity, yet she was not totally devoid of suspicion that +she was, in some way or other, the cause of his presence in that city. +True, she had rejected his heart and hand in the most decided manner; +but then there was something about the man so obtrusive and yet so +cunning, that at times she could have wished herself totally beyond +has reach or hopes, as the wife of the noble young fellow she loved so +ardently. When in Toronto, she had been sorely tried by the insidious +attacks and insinuations of her persecutor, bearing upon the character +and vocation of Nicholas, regarding which he appeared to be exceedingly +well informed. He spoke of the uniform faithlessness of soldiers in +general--their wretched mode of life and morals, together with the +stigma that invariably attached to the wife of any individual who wore +a private's coat in the service. In addition, he seemed to be conversant +with the pecuniary embarrassments of Kate, as well as with the +circumstances of the chancery suit, and, as he averred, the settled +opinion at home, that it would be soon decided, and, without any +possible doubt, in favor of the son of Philip Darcy. All this was +heart-rending in the extreme to the poor girl; but yet her faith never +faltered for a single moment in the truth and fidelity of her lover; and +what cared she for aught else in the world, so long as he was left her +without spot or blemish. Observing the foothold that Lauder had in +the house and estimation of her relatives, she did not feel herself +at liberty to treat him with all the contempt and severity that he +deserved; so that she was too often, for appearances sake and out of +respect for the feelings of those under whose roof she was, constrained +not to notice in anger much that had escaped his lips regarding +Nicholas, or, rather, the possible character which he had turned out to +be under the baneful influence of a soldier's life. When, however, she +accepted the hospitality and kindness of that portion of the family who +had taken up their residence in Buffalo, and who were the staunchest +friends of young Barry, she, at once, cut the acquaintance of her +rejected suitor, and, as already observed, passed him once or twice in +the street without deigning to notice him. + +This probed Lauder to the quick, and aroused all the fiend within him; +and now that Barry had reached Canada, he determined to work in some way +the ruin of either the one or the other, in order to make their union +impossible, were even the most revolting crime necessary to that end. +While dwelling on this subject, every vestige of humanity disappeared +from the heart and face of the wretch who would encompass such ruin, and +that, too, in the case of two individuals who had never injured him in +thought, word or act. He was slighted and rejected by the only woman on +earth that he cared to marry, and he would be avenged at even the +risk of his life. He would dog her footsteps were she to move to the +uttermost ends of the earth, until an opportunity to put his infernal +plans in operation arrived; and as he had abundance of means at his +command, he would enlist in his service those who would not hesitate to +sell their souls for gold. Moved by this diabolical impulse, he followed +her to Buffalo, and there made the acquaintance of two unmitigated +villains who kept a low gambling house in one of the vilest streets in +the city, and who were capable of any atrocity known to the annals of +crime. These two vagabonds were already refugees from Canadian justice, +having been concerned in one of the bank robberies so frequent in the +Provinces, and had an accomplice of their own stamp on the Canadian +frontier, not far from their present den, to whom they were in the habit +of secretly forwarding goods stolen on the American side, to be +kept until the excitement regarding the robbery had subsided, and an +opportunity presented itself for disposing of them in some part of the +Province where detection would be impossible. Under the cover of night +one or the other of these wretches frequently stole across the lines +and visited this locality, where he remained concealed until a fitting +period occurred for returning to his old haunt. + +Of this stamp were the two persons whom Lauder now took into his +confidence and employment in relation to the abduction of Kate McCarthy +from her friends, and her transportation into Canada to some place of +secrecy and of safety, until he should be able to force her into an +alliance with him, or failing in this, make such a disposition of her +as should, at least, place an eternal barrier between her and Nicholas. +Among their friends and acquaintances these two villains were known as +"black Jack" and the "Kid,"--the former as forbidding a specimen of the +human race as ever breathed the vital air. He was low and thick set, +with a neck like a bull, and a frame of prodigious strength.. His nose +was broad and flat, his month large, his ears of immense size, his +forehead low and retreating, while the breadth between his ears at the +back of his head was inconceivable. + +His companion in crime, the Kid, in so far as external appearance was +concerned, was his intensified antipodes. He was slightly formed and +of rather prepossessing appearance; and were it not for a sinister +expression of his full watery, grey eyes, remarkable when excited by +anger, and some coarse and sensual lines about his mouth, perceptible +upon all occasions, he might pass unnoticed among the thousands that +crowded daily the locality in which he lived. He was the general, Jack +the army--he plotted, Jack executed; and thus it was, that, through his +consummate cunning, they had both been enabled to avoid justice so +long. They ostensibly kept a sort of drinking saloon, from which they +professed to banish all disreputable characters, and which, through the +clear-headedness of the one, and the awe in which the great personal +strength of the other was held, was unusually free from the disreputable +rows and scenes that generally characterize such places. + +If the Kid and Black Jack differed from each other in personal +appearance, they were nearly if not quite as much opposed to each other +in dress. Jack's attire was of the very coarsest description, and +always slovenly in appearance. No matter what the season of the year, +he invariably wore a dark blue flannel shirt, a short, heavy over-coat, +with huge, deep pockets, thick, iron-shod boots, coarse, loose trousers, +and a huge, greasy, slouched, hat, of black felt, invariably pulled +over his eyes when out through the city. The only difference as to the +disposition of his attire, touching winter and summer, was, that during +the former season he always served his customers with his slouched hat +and jacket on, while throughout the warmest part of the latter, he +was invariably to be found behind his dark, dingy bar, with his shirt +sleeves tucked up and his collar unbuttoned and thrown open, displaying +a pair of huge, swarthy arms, covered with coarse, black hair, and +a broad and massive chest, presenting a similar aspect, and which +exhibited all the characteristics, in this connection, of the most +savage denizens of the forest. Such, then, were the personal appearance +and the character of the two men whom Lauder now visited by stealth from +time to time, but always in a disguise which defied detection, and which +was made up with the most consummate skill. + +Unconscious of all the danger that surrounded her, Kate still kept the +even tenor of her way, happy in the prospect of soon becoming the wife +of the man she loved; while Barry, on the other hand, felt but little +apprehension as to any fears that she had expressed in relation to the +proximity of Lander; believing, as he did, that she was totally beyond +his reach or power, and that his presence in Buffalo was occasioned by +some business not in any degree connected with her. What, he argued, had +she to fear from any man whom she despised, and from whose society she +had deliberately and pointedly estranged herself? The days of feudal +abductions had passed away, and if in this practical age a woman refused +to become the wife of any man, she had a perfect right so to do, and +there the matter ended. Besides, was she not beneath the roof of her own +relatives, who loved her with the sincerest warmth, and who were able to +protect her until she could claim the shelter of his own breast, as he +stood by her side the husband of her heart. All this went to reassure +him, so that when he sat down to reply to the letter which urged him to +procure his discharge at once, he wrote in the most cheering and happy +manner, bidding her to be of good heart, that she was safe from the +importunities and machinations of any individual who sought to gain her +affections; but intimating, at the same time, that he should at once, or +as soon as practicable, leave the army and as quickly as possible join +her on the other side of the great lakes. + +In the love that exists between two true Irish hearts that have been +pledged to each other, deliberately and solemnly on the threshold of man +and womanhood, there is often something so confiding, so unreasoning +and so unselfish, as to put one in good humor with humanity. There is +no country on earth in which the love of gain intermixes with the +affections of the heart to so small an extent as in Ireland. In this +relation we, from time to time, witness in the Green Isle such genuine +and grateful glimpses of the better phases of human nature, that, no +matter to what subsequent inconvenience and embarrassments they may +tend, they, for the time being, at least, charm us into a recognition +of something that is, after all, beautiful and truthful in our souls. +Except where the inexorable tyranny of birth creeps in, our matrimonial +alliances are, for the most part, purged of the cool calculation of +Scotland, or the bread and beef considerations of the English. This may +be censurable in us, and doubtless it is; but, still, the charge +lies more against our heads than our hearts. It is a fact the most +indisputable, that in England most of the marriages in high or low life +are those of _convenance_, while in Ireland the contrary is the case. +Even the poorest Irish girl in the land gives her hand only, where she +can bestow her heart; nor, as a general thing, can any amount of wealth +induce her to ignore her pride or affections in this connection; while, +should her love be given to even the simplest peasant that ever stood by +her milking pail, she is totally beyond the reach of temptation. On the +part of both there is an out-going of souls in this direction that +may be said to be peculiar to Ireland. Completely outside all physical +accidents and circumstances, there is a commingling of spirit which +ratifies a compact for all time, and lives in the future as well as the +present. Stretching beyond the hoar, such souls are not dependent upon +mere personal contact or intercourse for the vitality of the passion +that animates them, for they are ever _en rapport_ with each other, +and clasped breast to breast wherever their individual physical +organizations may be. In this manner they bid defiance to fate and all +materiality; living on, undivided, and secure in the continuence of the +power that binds them to each other. Such individualities become one +spiritually--all their aspirations are identical--all their sentiments +are the same, and so closely do they become united, that you cannot +destroy the one without destroying the other. We know and feel, +beyond any shadow of doubt, that there are beings whose loss or total +annihilation we should be unable to survive, and if doomed to live, +whose place could never be filled in our souls, throughout the endless +ages of eternity. Hence the generous and beautiful, provision of the All +Wise and All Good. To every human heart, that interprets His Laws aright +and conforms to His will, he presents that beautiful counterpart which, +although mysteriously foreign, is yet, so delightfully and essentially, +a part and parcel of our two-fold nature. + +In no country in the world, then, does this divine law of natural +affinities prevail more than in Ireland; and in no case had it ever been +more clearly illustrated than in the case of Nicholas Barry and Kate +McCarthy; as each, if so inclined, could have sacrificed the other in +forming a matrimonial alliance respectively, identified with what was +believed, to be undoubted wealth. For the hand of Kate, long before +she left her native land, there had been more than one suitor of means; +while handsome Nick, previous to his entering the army, was an object of +the warmest admiration on the part of many a damsel whose prospects were +of the most flattering description. But all to no purpose; not one of +the wealthy women was Kate McCarthy in the one case, and not a single +well-to-do gentleman was Nick Barry, in the other. So this made all the +difference; and Nick and Kate, without pausing to cast their horoscope, +gave themselves to each other, as already described, by the banks of +the Shannon--a river whose bright murmuring waters have reflected more +beautiful eyes and manly forms than those of any other in Europe, or +perhaps the world. Without a thought for the future at the moment of +which we have already spoken, they plighted their faith for all time +and eternity; and well they kept their vows; although previous to the +arrival of Nicholas in America, they had been upwards of three years +separated from each other-the one leading the life of a soldier in a +sunny clime, and the other, on a far distant shore, hoping for the hour +when they should be once more side by side. + +When, however, our hero found himself the plighted lover of the being he +adored, and discovered himself simultaneously separated from her toy +the most cruel, unexpected and perverse fate, he bent, as previously +observed, every energy towards effecting his release from the bonds he +had assumed for her sake. He consequently, instead of wasting his hours +in sullen and useless repining, set actively to work and kept both his +mind and his body in a healthy condition; never losing confidence for a +moment, in his own ability to secure freedom or permitting the hope to +be shaken, that he should ultimately join the woman of his love in the +new world, and there realize an independence for both. And here we may +observe, that this feature in the character of Nicholas was one of the +noblest and most dignified that could possibly distinguish any member of +the race to which we belong. The world has been lost to many a man, from +the fact of his not sitting down to look circumstances fairly in the +face, with a full determination to grapple with them and give them a +tussel for if wherever a good man and true places any reasonable +and legitimate object before him, no matter how dark the clouds that +surround him, in nine cases out often he achieves it. The grave error in +this connection is, that finding our inability to move the great mass +of our difficulties out of our road _en bloc_ and at once, ignoring the +lesson taught by the constant drop that wears the stone, we sit down +overwhelmed, and never set sturdily about trying to remove it piecemeal. +The most profusely illustrated lesson that heaven has yet taught to +man, is that of industry and perseverence. Whether within the fragrant +chambers of the golden hive, or in the kingdoms of the busy ant, or mid +the curious nests that swing from forest boughs, we roam in thought, +we find what perseverence can accomplish, and that too, by steps almost +imperceptible in themselves. It is the individual atoms that build up +the mighty and effective aggregate that overawes all opposition, and +like an avalanche sweeps all resistance before it. The loftiest pyramid +that throws its shadow over the desert to-day, and that dwarfs at its +foot the beholder into the most incomparable insignificance, incapable +of being removed in fragments not larger than a pea, from its present +site to the other side of the globe; and the grandest structure ever +erected by human hands, has been built up from almost imperceptible +beginnings, into the imposing dimensions which so overshadow the admirer +and excite in his bosom feelings of almost superstitious awe. So that +look where we may, throughout the whole range of nature, of science or +of art, we find tee lesson of industry and perseverence inculcated in +the most impressive manner, and in a language that should reach and +influence our spirit struggles to the core. + +If less distinct than we have here delineated them, such were the +sentiments and convictions that influenced the actions and conduct of +our hero and heroine when fate had separated them. Moved by the same +impulses, they both set about accomplishing the same end, and in the +same manner. Barry's pen and Kate's needle flew at intervals; and the +result, as already intimated, was, that each had accumulated a sum +sufficient to effect this release from the army, and that it now was to +be brought into requisition for the purpose of accomplishing that end. + +Had Nicholas been made of that sort of stuff which, with the +greatest possible degree of coolness, lays a friend or relative under +contribution, he might have been able, through its instrumentality, to +realize a sufficient sum to have taken him to America, at the +period that Kate sailed, without having had recourse to the dreadful +alternative of enlisting in the English army; but not being built of +such questionable material, he bowed beneath the heavy yoke, believing, +as he did, that however distasteful and derogatory to his feelings, it +was more honorable and independent to be indebted to himself, even at +so great a sacrifice, for the means of joining his beloved on the other +side of the Atlantic, than to be constrained to traverse its trackless +waste, weighed down with the conviction, that, for the purpose of +accomplishing an object that could at least be honestly attained +otherwise, he had deprived those whom he had left behind of that of +which they themselves stood sorely in need. Besides, he felt satisfied +from what he knew of himself, and the prospects open to even an +industrious soldier on the shores of Canada, he should soon be able to +relieve himself of his bondage, and stand erect once more, freed from +the humiliation of the uniform he wore. But, as already seen, the fates +were against him in the first moments of his military career; and for +the time every fibre of his being was almost crushed beneath the most +frightful tension to which could have been possibly subjected. How +dreadful must have been the appalling intelligence of the countermand of +his regiment to the Mediteranean, when it first fell upon his ear; and +how sufficient was the awful announcement to crush any ordinary mortal. +Yet, with the elasticity which is ever inseparable from a true and noble +spirit, when the first crash of the news bore him almost to the earth, +he steadily began to brace himself against it, and ultimately, though by +slow and painful degrees, straightened himself beneath it, and, although +it was not the less heavy, stood erect under it at last, and bore it +squarely upon his shoulders. + +Poor Kate, although brave, too, had at first almost given up hope, +when, a few days after her arrival at Quebec, she learned the fatal +intelligence contained in the letter already referred to; but soon +perceiving, as he did, that nothing was to be achieved by useless +murmuring or hopeless inactivity, she shook herself, as free as her +strength would permit, from the dreadful incubus of the sorrow that +bowed her to the earth, and turned whatever talents she possessed to +good account; working night and day to accomplish the great and only +desire of her heart, and trusting to heaven for the rest. In this way +her constant and unwearied exertions lightened much of the load that +could not have failed under less favorable promptings, to have crushed +her completely, and have, in all human probability, consigned her to a +premature grave. + +And thus, we see, that these two brave young spirits had all but +accomplished the wish of their hearts, at the period at which our story +opens, and that they were now but simply awaiting the hour when Nicholas +should be able to exchange the hated red jacket that he wore, for a +dress more in consonance with not only his own feelings, but those of +the being he so faithfully loved. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Whatever censure may be attached to any portion of the career of the +founders of Fenianism, after the organization had become a recognized +power on both sides of the Atlantic, we cannot divest ourselves of the +settled impression, that the men who were mainly instrumental in calling +it into existence and sustaining its infancy, were actuated by the +purest motives. To be sure, Fenianism can scarcely be said to be the +embodiment of a new idea, or the exponent of new principles; but, then, +there was a masterly grouping of energies and sentiments in connection +with it, which possessed the merit of originality, and which tended so +largely, not only to popularize it, but to give it a foothold on every +Irish national hearthstone. In the selection of the name by which the +organization was to be distinguished, there was a clearness of judgment +as well as a thorough acquaintance with the necessities of the case, +that cannot fail to strike any impartial observer. Had the Brotherhood +been organized under any commonplace appelation, or under any of +the various names that had characterized the previous revolutionary +societies of Ireland, the probability is, it would have long since +fallen into line with those convivial associations, which content +themselves with an annual exposition of the grievances of Ireland, over +the short leg of a turkey, a "bumper of Burgundy," and that roar of +lip artillery, against the usurper, which dies away in a few maudlin +hiccups, about two o'clock in the morning, to be revived only at the +expiration of another twelve months. Under the burden of any commonplace +name, such, we say, might have been the fate of the organization ere +this; and so we regard the knowledge and genius which obviated the +possibility or rather the probability of failure in this relation, as +entitled to prominent consideration and respect. To the superficial +observer, this may appear of very little moment in connection with +a subject of such magnitude; but let it be understood, that we are +influenced by seeming trifles and the surface of things to an extent far +greater than we ourselves are willing to confess. Notwithstanding the +oft repeated query, "what's in a name?" there is a great deal in a name. +Let two strangers, Mr. Harold Bloomfield and Mr. John Smith send in +their cards together to an important official, of whom they expect to +get an audience separately, and the chances are nine out of ten in +favor of Mr. Bloomfield's being granted an interview first. This, we +apprehend, holds good in a thousand kindred instances, and in no way has +the supposition been more clearly verified than in relation to the name +bestowed upon the organization under consideration. + +The name "Fenian" is of very remote antiquity, and appears to be most +comprehensive in its signification, and to be peculiarly adapted to +the great confraternity of patriots which now engrosses so much of the +history of passing events. There seems to be nothing sectional in it. +It is national in the broadest sense of the term, and primative and +forcible to intensity. In some annotations to the Annals of the Four +Masters we find that the ancient Fenians were called by the Irish +writers _Fianna Eirionn_ signifying the Fenians of Ireland, and +mentioned under the name of Fene, or Feine, which, according to Dr. +O'Conor, signifies the Phenicians of Ireland, as Feine, according to Dr. +O'Brien, in his dictionary, at the word Fearmiugh, signifies Phenicians; +as they were probably called so from the tradition that Phenicians came +to Ireland in the early ages. They are also called by the Irish writers +_Clann-Ua-Baois-gine_, and so named, according to Keating and others, +from Baoisgine, who was chief commander of these warriors, and ancestor +of the famous hero Fionn, the son of Cumhall; but according to O'Conor, +in his notes to the Four Masters, they were called Baoisgine, as being +descended from the Milesians who came from Basconia, in Spain, now +Biscay, in the country anciently called Cantabria. The Fenian warriors +were a famous military force, forming the standing national militia, and +instituted in Ireland in the early ages, long before the Christian era, +but brought, to the greatest perfection in the reign of the celebrated +Cormac, monarch of Ireland in the third century. None were admitted into +this military body but select men of the greatest activity, strength, +stature, perfect form, and valor, and, when the force was complete, it +consisted of thirty-five _Catha_, that is, battalions or legions, each +battalion containing three thousand men, according to O'Halloran and +various other historians, making twenty-one thousand for each of the +five provinces, or about one hundred thousand fighting men in time of +war for the entire kingdom. The _Ardrigh_, or head king of Ireland, +had, for the time being, chief control over these forces, but they often +resisted his authority. A commander was appointed over every thousand +of these troops, and the entire force was completely armed and admirably +disciplined, and each battalion had their own bands of musicians and +bards to animate them in battle, and celebrate their feats of arms. In +the reign of the monarch Cormac, the celebrated Fionn MacCumhaill, +who was descended from the Heremonian kings of Leinster, was the chief +commander of the Fenian warriors, and his great actions, strength +and valor are celebrated in the Ossianic poems, and various other +productions of the ancient bards; he is called Fingal in MacPherson's +Poems of Ossian; but it is to be observed that these are not the real +poems of Ossian, but mostly fictions fabricated by Mac Pherson himself, +and containing some passages from the ancient poems. Fionn had his chief +residence and fortress at Almhuim, now either the hill of Allen, +near Kildare, or Ailinn, near old Kilcullen, where a great rath still +remains, which was a residence of the ancient kings of Leinster. The +Fenians were the chief troops of Leinster, and were Milesians of the +race of Heremon; and their renowned commander Fionn, according to the +Four Masters, was slain by the cast of a javelin, or, according to +others, by the shot of an arrow, at a place called _Ath Brea_, on the +river Boyne, A.D. 283, the year before the battle of Gaura, by the +Lugnians of Tara, a tribe who possessed the territory now called the +barony of Lune, near Tara, in Meath; and the place mentioned as Ath +Brea, or the Ford of Brea, was situated somewhere on the Boyne, between +Trim and Navan. + +In the reign of king Cairbre Liffeachair, son of the monarch Cormac, +the Fenian forces revolted from the service of Cairbre, and joined the +famous Mogh Corb, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians. After +the death of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the Fenians were commanded by his son +Oisin or Ossian, the celebrated warrior and bard; and at the time of +the battle of Gaura, Osgar, another famous champion, the son of Oisin, +commanded the Fenian forces. The army of Munster, commanded by Mogh +Corb, a name which signifies the Chief of the Chariot, and by his son +Fear Corb, that is, the man or warrior of the chariot, was composed of +the Clanna Deagha and Dalcassian troops, joined by the Fenians and their +Leinster forces; and it is stated in the Ossianic poems, and in Hanmer's +Chronicle, from the Book of Howth, that a great body of warriors from +North Britain. Denmark and Norway, came over and fought on the side of +the Fenians at Gaura. The army of the monarch Cairbre was composed +of the men of Heath and Ulster, together with the Clanna Morna, or +Connaught warriors, commanded by Aodh or Hugh, King of Connaught, son of +Garadh, grandson of Moraa of the Damnonian race. The Munster forces, and +Fenians, marched to Meath, where they were met by the combined troops of +the monarch Cairbre, and fought one of the most furious battles recorded +in Irish history, which continued throughout the whole length of a +summer's day. The greatest valor was displayed by the warriors on each +side, and it is difficult to say which army were victors or vanquished. +The heroic Osgar was slain in single combat by the valiant monarch +Cairbre, but Cairbre himself soon afterwards fell by the hand of +the champion Simon, the son of Ceirb, of the race of the Fotharts of +Leinster. Both armies amounted to about fifty thousand men, the greatest +part of whom were slain; of the Fenian forces, which consisted of twenty +thousand men, it is stated that eighteen thousand fell, and on both +sides, thirty thousand warriors were slain. In the following year, +Hugh, king of Connaught, according to O'Flaherty's Ogygia, defeated the +Munsters forces in battle at Spaltrach, near the mountain Senchua, in +Muscry, in which he slew Mogh Corb, king of Munster. The tremendous +battle of Gaura is considered to have led to the subsequent fall of +the Irish monarchy, for after the destruction of the Fenian forces, the +Irish kings never were able to muster a national army equal in valor +and discipline to those heroes, either to cope with foreign foes, or to +reduce to subjection the rebellious provincial kings and princes; hence +the monarchy became weak and disorganized, and the ruling powers were +unable to maintain their authority or make a sufficient stand against +the Danish and Anglo-Norman Invaders of after time. + +From what is here stated, it must be obvious, that no more appropriate +name than that of "Fenian" could be given to the organization which now +holds the destiny of Ireland in its hands, and which has ramified itself +throughout almost every portion of the habitable globe. + +We have already observed that the selection of this name was judicious +in more than one relation. In the first place, it was far removed from +that of any of the well known cognomens which had characterized so +many of the noted revolutionary associations that had already failed +in Ireland, and, in this respect, was strong; being free from any +unpleasant reminiscences; while, from the fact of its import not being +generally known to the masses, it stimulated enquiry on the part of +the curious or weak nationalists which resulted in the most salutary +consequences. The rarity of the name led to newspaper expositions of it, +and moved the inquiring patriot to look into Irish history in relation +to it; and in this manner a knowledge of much of the ancient greatness +of Ireland became the common property of those who were formerly but +slightly acquainted with such lore. The result was, thousands of the +Irish became interested in relation to the past of their race; for, in +connection with this name there was that which was calculated to arouse +the spirit of patriotism within them and lead them on to a further +perusal of the annals of their country. + +It is evident, then, that no common appelation could have been fraught +with such beneficial results; as there would have been nothing connected +with it to stimulate enquiry or research. Repealers, Irish National +Leagues, Whiteboys, Rockites, United Irishmen, &c., all had their +day, and carried their meaning upon the surface; so that it was really +necessary to give the new organization some occult, comprehensive and +characteristic name, that would separate it in this aspect from all +the Irish revolutionary bodies that had preceded it, and place it +_en rapport_ with the great past of the nation which was the grand +receptacle of its traditions and source of its pride. Here, then, we +leave this part of the subject, without presuming that we have thrown +much more light upon the matter than has already been recognized by +those who have at all looked into it; for it must, we think, be obvious +to most Irish nationalists, that the energies and sentiments of their +patriotic countrymen, could never have been grouped so successfully +under any of the appelations just named, as they have been under that +of "Fenians"--given, as we have already perceived, to the great national +army of Ireland during the days of her early glory and power, and which +alone represented the nation as a whole. + +It is not our province to dwell here upon the infancy of the +Brotherhood on either side of the Atlantic, or to enter into the various +difficulties and unpleasant circumstances to which it has been subjected +by alleged want of true patriotism and economy on the part of some +of its founders. Sufficient to say, that through all such alleged +obstructions it has struggled into the greatest and most powerful +organization that has ever existed in any age of the world, and is, +to-day, the mightiest and most invincible floating power that has ever +influenced the destinies of any people. Its friends are numbered by +millions and its members by hundreds upon hundreds of thousand. To its +ranks belong soldiers, statesmen and orators, men of large pecuniary +means and cultivated minds; cool heads and strong arms, and many guiding +spirits who need but little light save that which shines within them. In +addition, the sympathies of America and of every generous nation on the +face of the earth, are with it; so that it has triumphed in advance, in +a measure; for, backed by such influences, and actuated, as it is, by +impulses so pure and holy, not a solitary doubt can obtain in relation +to its ultimate success. True, that there are those who are thoughtless +or traitorous enough to designate it as antagonistic to religion, and +subversive, of the established order of things; but these, for the most +part, are persons who reason through their pockets or their prejudices, +and who are devoid of any thorough recognition of those great principles +which are applicable to nations as well as to individuals and which are +based upon the just doctrine, that resistence to tyrants is obedience to +God--persons who are so methodical and patient under the sufferings of +_others_, that they would pause to measure the precise length of rope +that, was necessary to reach a drowning man. In the day of Ireland's +triumph, such people, will cone to confusion; as will those who have +withheld from her, in the period of her sore travail, the pecuniary aid; +which they could have well afforded out of their ample means, with a +view to relieving their kinsmen and suffering fellow countrymen from the +grasp of a tyrant the most inexorable that ever drew breath. + +Were the Fenian organization confined entirely to Ireland, and did no +active outside sympathy obtain for that unfortunate country the day of +her redemption might be postponed to an indefinite period. So completely +are all the resources and defences of the land in the hands of the +English, that it would be difficult for the natives to make any +lengthened or effective stand against the usurper. England has her, +navy and her army to operate against any rising of the inhabitants, at +a moment's warning; while every office in the kingdom, of the slightest +importance or trust, is in the hands of her minions. Again, among some +of the recreant sons of the soil, she has, alas too ample scope for the +use of her accursed gold; and thus it is; that to cope singled handed +with her against such fearful odds, would involve oceans of blood, both +on the field and on the scaffold. When, however, we come to dwell on +the fact, that outside and beyond her control or reach, another body +of Irish, which has been aptly termed a nation within a nation--when +it comes to be understood, we say, that on the shores of free America a +mighty and invincible Brotherhood has been built up, actuated by every +sentiment of hostility which fires the breast of the most implacable of +her enemies to-day, and that has for its aim and end an object in common +with the people of Ireland at her own doors, then we begin to perceive +how harrassed and powerless she must be. Neither her famine, fire +nor sword, can avail her here. Secure beneath the ample folds of the +glorious stars and stripes of the great Republic of America, and fired +with the love of free institutions, and taught in the great principles +of freedom by the liberty loving American people, this mighty band of +exiles, in connection with their children born beneath the folds of the +American flag, are steadily preparing to join fierce issue with her and +test, upon the open field, the prowess she has so often set forth as +superior to that of any other nation. This is what now disables and +paralyses her. Ireland is, for the time being, beneath her heel; but +what of the warlike hosts that loom in the western horizon and may soon +rush down on her like a wolf on the fold, and wedge her in between two +hostile walls? This is the great strength, of Ireland at the present +moment. Her energies are not walled in by the ocean or a British fleet +She is alive and active in other lands, and so powerful outside her own +borders, that there is no such thing as circumscribing her influence or +operations in so far as they relate to her struggles for independence. +It is, then, from America that she is to obtain her most effective aid; +and such being the case, it behooves the Irish nationalists on American +soil to be true and steady to the great purpose in which they are now so +ardently engaged; for so far, fortune has smiled upon them. The American +people sympathize with them and feel that while they are aiding them to +regain the long lost freedom of their country, they are bringing to +the dust the very self-same enemy that sought, by stealth and the most +cowardly means, to overthrow their own Commonwealth, and leave the Union +a hopeless ruin before the world. It is this which now hangs a millstone +about the neck of the British government, and which must ultimately +develope itself in active sympathy with any people who have for their +object the humiliation of the skull and cross-bones of St. George, on +this side of the Atlantic at least. + +And so the ball rolls; hourly accumulating force and magnitude, and +destined, at no distant day, to sweep in upon Ireland and hurl the +invader from her shores. No power on earth can stay its onward course. +The freedom of Ireland is the creed of millions. The young lisp it; +strong men repeat it in every clime; and the old of both hemispheres +murmur it in their prayers. In short, it has taken a hold of the Irish +heart wherever a true pulse warms it to-day, and has so incorporated +itself with the hopes and aspirations of the Irish of all lands, that +fate itself must yield to its power and universality. Within the last +few years it has become part and parcel of the education of the Irish +people wherever they are found; whether beneath the burning zone, in +temperate latitudes or at the frozen poles; so that its ultimate success +is beyond any possible contingency; from the fact that there never was a +sentiment so widely spread and so religiously cultivated and cherished, +that failed to accomplish all that it would attain. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +While the children of Ireland were engaged in defending the flag of +the Union during the late civil war, and sealing with their blood their +fidelity to the great Republic, they were, also, acquiring a knowledge +of arms and a warlike hardihood, which tended, on the cessation of +hostilities, to render the Fenian organization more formidable than +it could possibly have become, had peace pervaded the land from the +inception of the Brotherhood to its triumph at Ridgeway. All through +this gigantic struggle the hand of the Irish patriot and exile was +prominently observable. Not a field had been fought from the firing of +the first gun at Fort Sumter to the surrender of Lee's army, on which +their blood had not flowed in rivers. Look at Murfreesboro, Corinth, +Perrysville, Iuka, Antietam, Chickahomany, Winchester, Fort Donaldson, +Island Ten, Shiloh, Lexington, Bull Run, Carnifex Ferry, the +Rappahannock, the Mississippi, the Cumberland, the Potomac and +Fredericksburg, "where one-half of Meagher's Brigade are still encamped +_under the sod_," and we have evidence of the truth of this assertion, +the most ample and complete. Amidst these scenes of terrific +carnage, the warlike genius and matchless personal bravery of many a +distinguished Irishman were eminently conspicuous; while the latent +fires that had previously lain dormant in the breast of others, leaped +forth into a glorious conflagration, that commanded the admiration of +every true soldier and evoked the recognition of the Commonwealth +at large. Amongst this latter class stood pre-eminently forward, +the present President of the Fenian Brotherhood throughout the +world--GENERAL JOHN O'NIELL, a brief sketch of whom we introduce here +for obvious reasons, drawn from authentic records in our possession, as +well as from the current newspaper literature of the day: + +"To the Irish reader," observes a contemporary, well informed upon +this subject, "and especially to that portion of our people, who are +conversant with the past history of their country, and feel a patriotic +pride in its glorious records, as well as a fervent hope for their +renewal in the future--there is no name fraught with memories more +inspiring than that of O'Neill--the princely house of Ulster, the +champions of the Red Hand, who, for centuries, in the struggles of +the nation against the Saxon invader, led the hosts of their people +to victory, and only succumbed at last when poison and treachery, and +chicane had accomplished what force failed to effect; for their valor +was powerless against the dagger of the assassin, as were their honesty +and open-heartedness against the bad faith of England's perjured tools. +Like many a noble and ancient Irish house, its scions are to-day to be +found scattered through the world, in every walk of life. But though its +banner no longer floats over embattled hosts, there is magic still in +its associations; and when men speak of the O'Neill, the Irish heart +leaps fondly towards the historic name and the proud recollection of the +days when Hugh and Owen stood for the rights of their people and native +land, and dealt the assailants of both those sturdy blows which so well +justified their claim to the blazon of the 'Red Hand.' + +"In our own day, too, the old blood has vindicated its inherent force +and purity, and has found a worthy representative in the subject of our +present sketch--GENERAL JOHN O'NEILL,--whose name, in the future history +of the Irish race, will be as inseparably linked with the struggles of +the present generation for national independence, as are those of +his ancestors with the efforts made by our people in the past against +English tyranny and usurpation. As this noble and patriotic Irishman is +now occupying so much of the public attention, and his political conduct +meeting with that cordial endorsement which is a just tribute to his +bravery and patriotism--whether on the bloody fields of the South, +routing a Morgan, or assuming the command of his colonel, or, with +thirty men repelling the attack of a regiment; or, with his gallant band +of Irish soldiers, chasing the 'Queen's Own' at Ridgeway--a brief +review of his career will not be devoid of interest to all who desire +to preserve a record of those who have deserved well of their country. +Within the limits of such a sketch it would be impossible to do adequate +justice to the character of a man like General O'Neill, and we can only +assume to glance at the many attestations of his bravery and gentlemanly +bearing which should have a public record, as they are from men of high +position, and are of importance in illustrating the estimation in which +he has always been held by his superior and brother officers. No man can +produce a more unsullied one, or one better calculated to confirm his +title to the high position in which his countrymen have placed him. + +"General O'Neill was born on the 8th of March, 1834, in the townland of +Drumgallon, parish of Clontibret, county Monaghan, Ireland. At his birth +he was an orphan, his father having died a few weeks previously. The +early part of his existence was spent with his grandparents in his +native place. Bred up in a country, every hill and river and plain of +which was linked in story with the deeds of the mighty men of old, it is +not to be wondered at that the mind of young O'Neill seized with avidity +every incident of the past connected with the condition and history of +his fatherland, or that the bias of his future life was given by his +meditations as he rambled along the slopes of Benburb, or traced the +victorious steps of his ancient sept, through the classic region where +his schoolboy days were passed. That it should be so is only natural; +for he is a kinsman, as well as namesake, of the great Hugh O'Neill who, +with his fearless followers, swept over Ulster and defeated so many of +England's greatest generals, and brought the heads of some of her pets +to the block. And there is no doubt but that some of her favorites of +to-day shall be made to bite the dust ere the General has done with +them. + +"General O'Neill is a man of calm temperament, but a firm will, which, +when excited, however, is stern and inflexible; uniting with this a good +education and gentlemanly address, with a mind bold, independent and +decisive. His person partakes of the character of his mind for if the +one never succumbed in the council, the other never bent in the field. +Few could imagine from his modest exterior the latent, fire and energy +which burn in his bosom. His manner is as unassuming as his mind is +noble; quiet, yet impervious to flattery or laudations, he seems at the +same time to pay due regard to popular opinion, without in the least +permitting it to influence him in the discharge of his duties. + +"While he was yet quite young, the family of General O'Neill emigrated +to the United States, and his mother settled at Elizabeth, N.J., where +she still resides. He did not follow them until 1848, when he was +fourteen years of age. Having devoted some time to the completion of his +studies here, he determined to engage in commercial pursuits, and for +some time travelled as agent for some of the leading Catholic publishing +houses. In 1855 he opened a Catholic Book Store in Richmond, Va., and +while residing there became a member of the 'Emmet Guard,' then +the leading Irish organization in that section of the country. The +inclination thus manifested for the military profession soon proved to +be the ruling passion in the mind of the young Celt,--checked only by +the repugnance of his family towards the soldier's life; for, in +1857, he gave up his business and entered the Second Regiment of U.S. +Cavalry--a regiment which has since furnished the most distinguished +officers who have figured on both sides during the late war. + +"In the Regular Army, O'Neill rose steadily by his good character, +bravery and aptitude, no less than by his education and invariable +gentlemanly conduct. But though he has since filled positions of high +responsibility, he has often declared that one of the most pleasurable +emotions of his life was experienced when, for some meritorious act, he +received, from his commanding officer, his warrant of Corporal. + +"At the outbreak of the war, the regiment with which he was serving +was recalled from California, and on the organization of the army under +McClellan, was attached to the Regular Cavalry Division, which took part +in the principal battles in the campaign of the Peninsula, during +which O'Neill was in command of Gen. Stoneman's body guard. After the +withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula, he was dispatched to Indiana, +where he was retained for some time as instructor of cavalry, drilling +the officers of the force then being raised for the defence of +that portion of the Union against the incursions of the Confederate +guerillas. He subsequently entered the 5th Indiana Cavalry as Second +Lieutenant, and served with that regiment, during 1863, in the +operations against the Southern leaders in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana +and Ohio. In these expeditions, which, whether in the nature of scouts, +reconnoisances or advances, generally took the shape of sharp running +fights, Lieut. O'Neill's skill and daring not only attracted the +attention of his commanding officers, but further enlisted the +enthusiasm of the men, insomuch that, when one of those _sorties_ +was ordered, the first question asked was always--'Is O'Neill to lead +it?'--and if the answer was in the affirmative, no matter how jaded the +men might be, volunteers in any number were ready at once. + +"There is no greater instance of personal bravery, or gallantry equal to +any emergency, than that related by Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, +in his account of O'Neill's encounter with Morgan, the famous guerilla; +and as many of our readers have not read the partial account given in +Mr. Savage's 'Fenian Heroes and Martyrs,' it may prove of interest to +them, as his encounter with Morgan is more generally spoken of than +understood. Archbishop Purcell says:-- + +'There is a remarkably brave officer suffering from diarrhoea, +contracted in a three month's chase after Morgan, now in St. John's +Hospital, in this city--Lieut. O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry. His +mother resides in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her adventurous boy enlisted +in the regular army at the time of the Mormon excitement in Utah; was +afterwards sent to California; was made Sergeant for distinguished +services on the Potomac; employed on a recruiting tour in Indiana, and +promoted to a Lieutenancy in the famous 5th Indiana cavalry. + +'Respecting his encounter with Hamilton's rebel force, in May, the +Indianapolis papers spoke of the exploit of Lieut. O'Neill, and a +detachment of his company, as one of the most daring and brilliant +achievements of the war. The Lieutenant has kindly furnished us with +the following interesting account of the part he took in the defeat of +Morgan. The authorities here have recommended him for promotion to the +rank of Major. + +'INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT WITH MORGAN, AT BUFFINGTON'S ISLAND, ON THE 20TH +OF JULY. + +'On the night of the 19th, about 10 o'clock, Gen. Judah, with his +cavalry and artillery command, left Pomeroy for Buffington. The General +sent First Lieutenant John O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana cavalry, with +fifty men, ahead, with instructions to try and open communications with +the militia, said to be in close proximity to the island. The Lieutenant +was delayed by losing the road during the night, and did not arrive +till about an hour and a half after daylight. He then learned that the +militia had been skirmishing with the enemy during the night, and that +Gen. Judah's advance had been ambushed, the morning being foggy; and the +General's Assistant Adjutant General, Capt. Rice, with some twenty-five +or thirty men and a piece of artillery, and Chief of Artillery, Capt. +Henshaw, had been captured and sent to Gen. Morgan's headquarters on the +river road, some thirty miles ahead of him, on the enemy's left flank. +The Lieutenant at once resolved to recapture what had been taken; and, +with his Spartan band, kept steadily on. Several parties tried to stop +him; but a volley from the "Sharp's" carbines of his boys invariably +drove them back. At length he came on Morgan, with two regiments and a +body guard of one hundred men. The Lieutenant halted his men suddenly, +at an angle of the road, within one hundred and fifty paces. He gave the +command "ready," and intended to have given them a volley; but seeing +some of his own men in front, he did not fire, but commanded "forward," +and dashed in amongst them. If he had fired, every shot must have told, +he was so close. Morgan, with his two regiments and body guard, ran +without firing a shot. All our prisoners were released, and about thirty +of the enemy taken. Some were killed and wounded. The Lieutenant pursued +Morgan about two miles clear off the field, and captured three pieces of +artillery, which he carried off with him. This was the last of Morgan on +the field. The Lieutenant cannot tell how many he killed or wounded, as +his fight was a running one, extending over four miles; but the surgeon +in charge of burying the dead and looking after the wounded, reported +that most of both were along the river where O'Neill had been.' + +"The above, from Archbishop Purcell, is an unquestionable testimony of +the daring and audacity of the subject of this sketch in the field. The +_National Journal_, in giving an account of the same battle, says: + +'Lieutenant O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, now appeared by +another road, with but fifty men, and charged two different regiments so +desperately that they broke and left our captured guns, officers and men +in our possession.' + +"The _Louisville Journal_, after relating an instance of O'Neill's +personal bravery, says: + +'Lieutenant O'Neill is the same who, about two weeks ago, while out with +Col. Graham, on the Tennessee side of Cumberland, with twenty men as an +advanced guard, came up with Hamilton, having two hundred men drawn +up in line--charged and ran him thirteen miles, and with his own hand, +while ahead of his men, killed five--two of them with the sabre.' + +"To go into detail, and give a minute account of the many instances +of gallantry, pluck and determination displayed by the subject of our +sketch, would be beyond the scope of our present purpose, as they, at +the same time, would only tend to multiply instances, without lending +any additional proof. But we cannot, as it directly bears on his +letter of resignation, with accompanying letters of endorsement from +distinguished Generals, pass over that singular and noble proof of +unexampled bravery--his assuming the command of his Colonel Butler, when +the latter showed signs of cowardice. + +"The affair took place at Walker's Ford, on Clinch River, in East +Tennessee, where the division to which O'Neill's regiment was attached +was stationed, to dispute the passage of the Southern troops, which in +large force occupied the adjacent country. O'Neill had only a few days +before rejoined his command, after the illness incurred in his chase +after Morgan, and was at breakfast when the alarm was given that the +enemy had surprised the advanced guard, and were attacking in force. +Springing on his horse, he rallied the company of picked men he +commanded, and for a long time held the advancing forces of the enemy +in check, to give time for others to form line of battle. But the enemy +were rapidly getting in rear of the Union troops, and O'Neill fell back +on the main body of his regiment, just in time to hear his Colonel cry +out, 'Oh, God! all is lost! save yourselves, men, the best way you can. +Nothing is left us but retreat!' 'Not by a long sight!' shouted O'Neill, +as, sword in hand, he dashed in front of the mob of soldiers, upon whom +panic and the example of their commander were rapidly doing the work of +disorganization. 'Men,' continued he, turning to them, 'all of you who +mean to _fight_, fall in with me.' The effect was almost miraculous. +About one hundred and fifty of the fugitives rallied, and with these +he drove back the advancing columns of the enemy, saved the day, and, +though severely wounded in the action, remained master of the field. + +"Of this attack, a correspondent of the Indianapolis _Daily Journal_, of +January, 1864, says: + +'The rebels, finding we were retreating, determined to drive us into +the river. About three hundred mounted men came over the hills, charging +Company "A," 65th Indiana, and three companies of the 5th, commanded by +Col. Butler and Capt. Hodge. Our boys began to waver. The Colonel tried +to rally them to no effect, when O'Neill rode up and took command. +Taking a Henry rifle from one of the 65th boys, he commenced firing, +at the same time yelling at the men to charge them, which they did. +For about five minutes it was the most frightful scene I have ever +witnessed. Out of the three hundred Confederates, only about _twenty_ +went back mounted, the balance being killed, wounded, and dismounted. A +rebel officer, afterwards taken, admitted the loss of twenty killed +and forty wounded in the charge. This so effectually checked them, and +convinced them that a charge would not pay, that we very easily held our +ground until the wagons and guns had crossed the river. But our brave +Lieutenant, O'Neill, received a wound in the thigh while we were making +our last stand. He rode out all day, never seeking shelter, cheering his +men. When other officers had given up all as lost, he replied, "Not by +a long sight." He met with a hearty response from the men. We afterwards +learned that we were fighting three brigades, among them the "Texan +Rangers."' + +"There is no nobler instance of daring or pluck, or of presence of mind, +or decisiveness of character, equal to any crisis, than this. But what +is the sequel? The Colonel, narrow minded as he was cowardly, was piqued +at young O'Neill's gallantry in repelling the attack, which at once +stamped himself with cowardice, and lowered him, as a consequence, +in the estimation of his brother officers. After the battle he sent a +report of the officers and non-commissioned officers whom he recommended +for promotion, _omitting the name of O'Neill_. This was a direct insult +to the man who displayed the most bravery, and had saved them from +a watery grave, a fiery death, or, worse than all, an ignominious +surrender. It at once aroused all that was stern in his nature--to have +such a coward offer him an insult. He went to the Colonel, and demanded +if it was true that he had sent the names of certain officers to the +Governor for promotion, and noncommissioned officers for commissions +over him, and omitted his name altogether. The Colonel replied in the +affirmative. 'Then,' said O'Neill, 'I shall never serve another day in +your regiment.' + +"We give these particulars in detail, as well as his resignation, +not only on account of its boldness, but as some people try to put a +different construction on the fact of his sending in his resignation at +that time. Conformably with his determination, he went to his quarters, +where, after a fortnight, he prepared his resignation, and sent it to +headquarters. In the interim, the Colonel sent one day to know if he +would drill the regiment. O'Neill sent back to know if it was an order +or a request; on being assured it was the latter, he complied. He was +expecting to be arrested every day; but the Colonel was too much of a +coward, as he was afraid the consequences would be rather unpleasant. +After a few weeks, his resignation was sent to headquarters, with +letters of disapproval--but endorsing his complaints, and testifying to +his bravery and efficiency--from Gens. Sturges and Stoneman. Comments +on these letters would be superfluous, as they speak forcibly for +themselves. + + "CAMP NEAR PARIS, KENTUCKY, April 7th, 1864. + + "Sir: I have the honor herewith to tender my resignation as First + Lieutenant of Company 'I,' 5th Cavalry, 90th Regiment Indiana + Volunteers, on account of promotions in the regiment, which have + placed men over me whom I cannot consistently serve under. Some of + them, Captains, have been Sergeants in the same regiment since I + have been First Lieutenant; and while I have a high regard for these + officers personally, I can never allow myself to be commanded by + them in the field. + + "I served in the regular army nearly four years, in Utah, + California, and on the Peninsula: as private, Corporal, Sergeant, + and acting-Sergeant-Major, and have been in the regiment, as + Lieutenant, sixteen months. + + "The enclosed copies of letters from Generals Hodson, Judah and + Stoneman, with others from the present Colonel of my regiment, and + the former, Colonel Graham, recommending me to Governor Morton, for + the position of field-officer in one of the regiments being + organized in Indiana, will show that I am not undeserving of + promotion in my own regiment, and that I have some cause to be + dissatisfied with not receiving it, and with having officers placed + over me whom, in point of military knowledge and experience, I + cannot regard as my superiors. + + "I certify, on honor, that I am not indebted to the United States + on any account whatever, and that I am not responsible for any + government property, except what I am prepared to turn over to the + proper officer on the acceptance of my resignation, and that I was + last paid by Major Haggerty to include the twenty-ninth of February, + 1864. + + "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + + "JOHN O'NEILL, First Lieut., Co. 'I,' 5th Ind. Cav. + +"Rather a bold epistle this! He tells his commander squarely he will +not serve under officers whom he considers his inferiors in military +knowledge. We shall now give the accompanying letters to which he +refers, from Generals Sturges, Judah and Stoneman, which furnish +unquestionable proof of his ability and military capacity. These +letters, from men of fine military experience, are very high references +of O'Neill's ability. The following is that from Major-General +Stoneman:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS 23D ARMY CORPS, March 8th, 1864. + + "I knew Lieut. O'Neill well on the Peninsula, and as a brave and + worthy officer, in whose judgment and capacity I had the greatest + confidence. I hope he will receive the promotion to which his merits + entitle him, that of a field-officer in a colored regiment. + + "GEORGE STONEMAN, Major-Gen., Com'g. Corps. + +"That from General Judah is equally as commendatory. If the one refers +to his bravery on the Peninsula, the other testifies equally to his +daring during the war:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, 23D ARMY CORPS, + In camp near Mossy Creek, Tenn., March 7th, 1864. + + "It gives me pleasure to state that, from personal observation, I + deem Lieut. John O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, one of the most + _gallant_ and _efficient_ officers it has been my duty to command. + His daring and services have been conspicuous, and I trust he may + receive what he has so ably merited--his promotion. + + "H.M. JUDAH, Brig.-Gen., Com'g. Division. + +"The following endorsement, written on the resignation by General +Sturges, when forwarded to the headquarters, shows that if merit, +military and personal, could meet with its reward, Lieut. O'Neill should +get speedy promotion:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS, + PARIS, KY., April 7th, 1864. + + "Disapproved and respectfully forwarded. + + "This is an excellent officer--too valuable, indeed, to be lost to + the service. He was severely wounded near Tazewell, under Colonel + Graham, last December, and is estimated as one of the best officers + of my command. This is not the only resignation which has been + offered on account of the promotions of inferiors having been made + in the 5th Indiana Cavalry over the heads of superiors, based upon + political or other considerations, and altogether regardless of + merit. By this system junior and meritorious officers find + themselves cut off from all hope of advancement, and compelled to + serve subordinate to others for whose qualifications they can + entertain no respect. + + "While, therefore, I disapprove his resignation for the public + good, I would respectfully urge that some policy be initiated + or recommended by which officers can see the way open for their + advancement according to merit. + + "Respectfully, + + "L.D. STURGES, Brig.-Gen. Com'g. + +"The following was the reply from Headquarters:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, + KNOXVILLE, TENN., April 16, 1864 + + "Respectfully returned from this Headquarters, Cavalry Corps, to + Lieut. John O'Neill, 5th Indiana Cavalry. + + "There appears to be no remedy for the evil referred to by General + Sturges. + + "By command of + + "MAJOR GEN. SCHOFIELD. + + "R. MOORE, Ass't. Adj't. Gen. + +"Such attestations of the bravery, military skill and high moral +character of General O'Neill, coming from his companions in arms, from +the public press, and from Generals of experience and high position, +form a record of which any man might be proud. Comment on them is +unnecessary, as they speak forcibly for themselves. Of his noble +spirit, decisiveness in the hour of danger, ability, pure character, and +gentlemanly bearing, we have produced overwhelming testimony; but as he +is now before the public in so very prominent a manner, it is necessary +that the people should know minutely his every act and the nature of the +man under whose leadership the Irish Nationalists in America are about +to renew the good old fight for loved Erin's disenthralment. No matter +whether on the field or in the drawing-room, his calmness of deportment +and gentlemanly bearing are the same. The simplest child he would no +more offend than the most powerful man. Uniting with such gentleness and +heroic bravery, precise military knowledge, and a pure patriotism, may +not Irishmen hope that in him they have found the man who is destined to +lead them on to victory and liberty. In whatever sphere he moves, he is +universally endeared to all; for + + 'In him is the heart of a woman, combined + With a heroic life and a governing mind.' + +"In the movement on Canada, in 1866, Gen. O'Neill sacrificed a business +which, in a few years, would have made him a wealthy man. But he did so +without hesitation; for he loved his country, and had pledged his life +to her service. With the contingent raised by him in Tennessee, he +proceeded to Buffalo, where, finding himself the senior officer, he +assumed command of the troops there assembled, and, in obedience to the +orders he had received, crossed the Niagara river, at the head of six +hundred men, on the night of the 31st of May, and raised the Green Flag +once more on the soil of the enemy. On the following evening, receiving +information that the British forces were marching against him to the +number of five thousand, in two distinct columns, he resolved to fight +them in detail, and by a rapid march got between them. On the morning +of the 2d of June, at Ridgeway, he struck them under Booker; and, though +the enemy out-numbered his force _four to one_, routed them signally. +Falling back on his original position at Fort Erie, he there learned +that the United States Government had stopped the movement at other +points, and arrested its leaders. Under the circumstances, nothing more +could be done, at that time; and he was reluctantly obliged to re-cross +the Niagara, and surrender to the United States forces. That he only +did so under the pressure of necessity, is attested by his offer to the +Committee in Buffalo to hold his ground, as his own report of the battle +of Ridgeway attests, in which he simply says: + +'But if a movement was going on elsewhere, I was perfectly willing to +make the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which I knew it would be the next day +if I remained; _for I would never have surrendered!_' + +"At the Cleveland Convention of the Fenian Brotherhood, in September, +1867, General O'Neill was elected a Senator of that body; and having +been chosen Vice President on the resignation of that office by James +Gibbons, Esq., he succeeded President W.R. Roberts, on the resignation +of that gentleman, Dec. 31, 1867. + +"We have thus briefly sketched the principal incidents of General +O'Neill's career, and, in conclusion, may venture to say that a more +stainless, or meritorious, could scarcely be presented to the public. +His whole history incontrovertibly illustrates as noble, determined and +daring a character as ever led a brave but enslaved people to victory. + +"We could supplement this with various other official documents and +accounts, serving, if such were possible, to illustrate still further +the proud daring and exalted spirit of this worthy son of an illustrious +past; but shall, at this particular point of our story, content +ourselves with what has just been said. We might, were we so inclined, +introduce, also, various other Irish names that shone forth with +unrivalled splendor during the late war, and point to the thousands +upon thousands of Irish rank and file that, on numerous fields, piled up +ramparts of dead around the glorious flag of the Union; but such would +not serve our purpose here, as we are restricted in relation to the task +before us; and as the fact of the exploits and the bravery of hosts +of our loyal countrymen are known to the government and people of this +Republic. Sufficient to say, however, that amongst all those of our race +who fought and bled in defence of the North, and the integrity of the +Commonwealth, there was not to be found one individual who evinced more +profound judgment than he in handling the forces at his command, or +more cool daring, or instances of personal bravery, as well as that +tremendous and overwhelming dash, which gained for Ney the proud +appellation, 'the bravest of the brave?' and placed the Marshals of +France amongst the foremost in history. + +"From out of this fierce civil contest, then, it is obvious from all +that we have just said, that Fenianism, in its military aspect, received +the largest and most important accessions. At the close of the conflict, +thousands upon thousands of veterans joined its standard; and thus, in +an incredibly short period, its warlike character became intensified, +until, at last, the organization on the American continent loomed up +before England with an aspect so threatening and a purpose so apparent, +that she instantly set about putting her house in order, and began +to glance in the direction of making some cunning, though paltry, +concessions to Ireland. + +"If, however, the military circles of the Brotherhood were distinguished +by the accession of many brave and patriotic soldiers, at the juncture +already referred to, the organization, in its civil aspect, was not +less fortunate or noticeable. Led triumphantly through some of the most +difficult phases of its existence, by such self-sacrificing and noble +patriots as Colonel W.R. Roberts, of New York, its late President, and +James Gibbons, Esq., of Philadelphia, its present Vice President--than +whom two more disinterested and sterling Sons of the Sod do not +exist--its basis enlarged and strengthened, we say, by such men as +these, and the able and truehearted Senators that surrounded them, the +Brotherhood, at the close of the war, was in a condition sufficiently +exalted to attract to its centre many of the ablest soldiers who had +fought on the side of the Union, and who, with their numerous and +respective followings, were ready to evince their love of liberty and +republican institutions further, by resuming their swords and striking +home for the freedom of poor, down-trodden Ireland, against a tyrant the +most infamous that has ever existed, and to whom America owes a debt +of vengeance, that, under any circumstances, cannot fail to be one day +repaid with tenfold interest. + +"And so this grand confraternity of patriots prospered and became the +greatest and most powerful that has ever appeared upon the theatre of +human existence. To be sure, in a body so numerous and all but ramified +throughout every portion of the habitable globe, there have been some +unworthy members, who fell before the love of gain, or British gold; +but, then, and with pride we say it, taking the gigantic proportions of +the organization into consideration, and the temptations to sin which +have been so constantly placed before it by that blood-thirsty assassin, +England, it stands, by comparison, pre-eminently pure above any other +similar revolutionary body that has ever obtained in either hemisphere, +or in any age of the world. Up to the present hour, under the protection +and guidance of a Divine providence, it has surmounted every difficulty +that has beset it. It has outlived whatever of treason or mismanagement +obtained in its own bosom; it has survived the cruel calumnies and +falsehoods of a traitorous and subsidized press, and the machinations of +that dangerous English element that sometimes steals into high places, +and which has so often interfered with the true interests of America +within her own borders, as well as touching her foreign relations. These +and many either untoward influences it has surmounted; until, now, it +stands upon a pedestal beyond the reach of danger; not only from +its great inherent strength and virtue, but from its all but +incomprehensible ubiquity, and positive existence in every land and +clime. How futile, then, the efforts of its enemies to crush it either +by ungenerous legislation, or through the propagation of falsehood. +Fenianism is a power founded upon the immutable principles of truth and +justice; and is, therefore, indestructible. Consequently, until it has +achieved the grand and holy objects that it has set before it, it must +win its way to triumph, step by step, if needs be no matter what the +magnitude or the number of the difficulties that beset it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Early as Barry was up on the morning following his introduction to the +reader, he found Tom and Greaves in the bar-room, discussing one of +O'Brien's favorite decoctions, which was averred to possess the virtue +of giving a "fillip" to the lagging appetite, and attuning it to the +healthiest possible breakfast pitch. Nicholas, although not addicted +to early potations, was prevailed upon to join the party. During, the +friendly conversation which accompanied this faithless libation to the +Goddess of Health, Greaves observed that while he did not feel himself +at liberty to speak freely in the mixed company of the preceding +evening, notwithstanding what might have been termed his unfriendly +insinuations in relation to Ireland, he was himself a true friend of +Irish freedom; and, on all befitting occasions, an humble champion of +her total and unequivocal independence of England. Here he produced a +letter, from a secret pocket in the lining of his vest, which he handed +to Tom for hasty perusal; remarking, at the same time, that he well knew +to whom he was submitting it. A hurried glance at the contents induced +O'Brien to open his eyes wider than they had been opened for some time, +and to regard his companion with an almost bewildered stare! + +"Sure enough, it's his handwritin, and it's as thrue as the sun," +ejaculated Tom, as he folded up the letter and returned it to the owner, +"and it's a different opinion both Nick and myself had of you last +night, although sorry I am for it now; and there's my hand for you." + +"What's up now?" retorted Barry, well knowing that O'Brien would never +have offered his hand to Greaves, unless there were good reasons for it. + +"Nothin' more," returned Tom, "beyond that we had formed a wrong opinion +of our frind here, last night; for, instead of his bein' what I was +half inclined to take him for, he cannot fail to be other than the right +stamp, or he never could have that letther in his pocket." + +"That's enough for me, Tom," replied Barry, extending his hand to +Greaves, "for whoever you endorse is sure to pass muster, in this place, +at least." + +The conversation here became low and confidential; being interrupted +only by an occasional customer who dropped in to take his "morning;" +until, at last, breakfast was announced, and the soldier and Greaves, +taking the hint, were soon snugly seated side by side in the little +parlor of the preceding night, at a neat and comfortable table, smoking +with some of the good things which so constantly characterized The +Harp. O'Brien, from his other avocations, was unable to join them at +the moment; so they both conversed freely on the topic that had just +commanded their attention in the bar, and which referred to neither more +nor less than the intended invasion of Canada by the army of the Irish +Republic, then said to be preparing for a descent upon the Provinces, +in the neighboring Union. Nicholas was unable to give any definite +information upon the matter; as the authorities of the organization in +the United States were very reticent regarding it, and Greaves himself +appeared but little better informed. Barry, however, expressed the +opinion that, if any man in Canada had thorough information on the +point, it was Tom; although he himself had no very tangible grounds for +making the observation, notwithstanding the strength of his surmises. + +"Do you not belong to the organization yourself, and if you do, +ought you not to be in possession of some facts on this all-important +movement?" rejoined Greaves, "and if you are not a member, surely you +are sufficiently true to Ireland to have been informed, to some extent +at least, in regard to it, by your friend O'Brien, who is, I learn, a +Centre here." + +"Well, strange as it may appear," returned the other, "I don't belong to +the Brotherhood, not having, yet had an opportunity to join it; and +as for Tom, whatever my suspicions may be, I really am unable to say +positively that he is in any degree connected with the organization; +although I am sensible that his sympathies, like my own, lie in that +direction." + +"How is your regiment situated on this point," remarked Greaves, +leisurely breaking an egg and commencing to chip the shell. + +"A good many of my way of thinking," replied the other; "but, as you +know, it is necessary to be cautious, as not only is the commanding +officer a tartar, but most of the swords and sashes are of the same +kidney. The fact of the case is, however, several of our fellows have +deserted, and no doubt will join the organization in the States, and +render good service to the cause there, in a military point of view." + +"Why don't you follow their example and do something for your poor, +down-trodden country," said Philip in reply, "seeing that now is the +time she needs the service of all her children?" + +"There is no necessity for my deserting," rejoined Barry, "for I have +already applied for my discharge, which I expect to receive this +very day; so that ere the sun sets, in all probability, I shall be a +freeman." + +Greaves became silent here for a few moments, as if revolving something +in his mind, when, lifting his head again, he resumed the conversation +by asking: + +"Are strangers permitted to visit the Fort? If so, I should be very glad +to take a peep at it this morning, as I shall have a few boars to spare +before I can do any business, or rather before the parties I have come +to see will be prepared to meet me." + +"Why, not as a general thing, just now," returned Nicholas, "but I think +you may be able to gain admittance if you are accompanied by me, who +will, of course, vouch to the sentry for you." + +"Then if you allow me," said Greaves, "I shall avail myself of your kind +invitation, and cross the bridge with you after we have breakfasted, for +I can well imagine that during a period when such rumors are afloat, the +Commandant as rather chary of permitting strangers to enter his gates." + +In this strain the conversation flowed until breakfast was ended, when +the friends proposed to sally forth from the Harp, and wend their way to +the point already mentioned. As Barry was leaving the bar-room, however, +Tom whispered something in his ear, which appeared to puzzle him for a +moment, but returning a keen glance of recognition, both he and Greaves +passed out into the cool, fresh morning-air, and began slowly wending +their way to the Fort. + +There being as yet no special order about the admission of strangers, +Greaves, with Nicholas by his side, passed the sentry without question, +and proceeded to the canteen, which, early as it was, showed some signs +of life. Here Barry introduced his new acquaintance to many of his +comrades; but in such common place terms, as to attract no attention +whatever on the part of any person. Being for parade, however, he was +obliged to leave his friend in other keeping, for a short period, and so +hastened to the barrack-room to prepare himself for his morning duties. +During the interval of his absence, Greaves stepped out of the canteen, +alone, and learning that the Colonel was speaking to some of the +officers near the parade ground, made his way towards where the group +was standing, and crossing the path of the Colonel as he was walking +towards his quarters, accosted him in a manner which soon arrested the +progress and attention of that officer, and brought him to a dead halt. +The conversation was brief and rapid, while a slip of paper thrust into +the hands of the Colonel, by Greaves, seemed to place both on a strange +footing of recognition. So brief was the interview, that it was not +observed by any individual in the garrison; and so quickly did Greaves +return to the canteen, that his absence was scarcely noticed. Here Barry +found him as he had left him, making himself agreeable to the soldiers; +being more than liberal in paying for all they drank. As the bugle +sounded for parade, he bid our young hero "good bye for the present," +and leaving the Fort, proceeded to retrace his steps towards the town, +or city, as it may be called. + +When he arrived here, instead of returning to The Harp, he bent his +steps in another direction, and entered a hotel that was in every +relation the very antipodes of the establishment in which he had passed +the night. Here, in every direction, were to be found the traces of an +English spirit and blind adhesion to wretched and exploded traditions. +In the office hung the portrait of the cruel Queen of England, and that +of her defunct consort, whose injustice and pedantry were so snubbed +by the illustrious Humboldt. Here, too, were to be seen the likeness +of the--iron-hearted, it should have been--Duke, presenting a birth-day +present, or something of the sort, to a moonfaced yonker that sat fair +and plump upon the knee of its royal mother. In another corner was to be +found a representation of the Prince of Wales, for whose head and +face the engraver had done infinitely more than nature; while directly +opposite stood, in a dark, heavy frame, the one-armed hero of the Nile, +who owed so much of his fame to poor Emma Harte--the unfortunate Lady +Hamilton, who, after having conferred the most serious benefits upon +England, was permitted to starve, with her daughter, in a garret +somewhere in or near Calais; while some of the spurious offspring of +orange and ballet girls filled many of the highest offices in the land +she had so often served. + +In this establishment the subject of Fenianism was discussed as a +leading topic, in a manner quite different from the style in which it +was treated at the Harp. Here no voice was raised in its favor--no word +of justification advanced in its behalf. Still, although its importance +was ignored ostensibly, there were a nervousness and misgiving about +some of those who conversed upon it, which showed that they were ill at +ease. There seemed, in addition, to be some vague sense of insecurity +preying upon them, which could only have originated in their want of +confidence in themselves, or in some person or persons to whom were +entrusted the gravest interests of the Province. This was the more +obvious, from the fact, that, from time to time, mysterious and +half-whispered enquiries were made, in reference to one particular +individual, whose state of health or mind seemed at the moment to +engross no ordinary share of the attention of the numerous guests that +filled the bar or office, for the apartment was used as both. + +Greaves listened with open ears to all that transpired, and, after +inspecting the hotel register, took up a morning paper and seated +himself in an arm-chair at his side. While engaged, as he feigned to +be, in perusing the news, although actually endeavoring to catch every +whisper that floated around him, he gathered, that, for the week or +ten days proceeding, one of the most important functionaries in the +Province, who, although a clever man, was sorely addicted to fits of +intemperence, was now, while the country was convulsed with gloomy +forebodings, regarding Fenianism, again passing through one of his +prolonged and fearful drinking bouts, and totally unfit to pay even the +slightest attention to the momentous business of his office. Already, it +was averred, numerous dispatches, of the most vital moment, were lying +unopened upon his table, where they were scattered, wet and stained with +wine and debauch, some of them having, as it was urged, been obviously +disfigured, in part, for the purpose, perhaps, of lighting cigars; +while, pale, wretched and half insane, the miserable creature to whom +they were addressed, reclined on a sofa by their side, jabbering to +a few bloated boon companions, obscene jests and amusing anecdotes, +through which the fire of his own native wit sometimes shot brilliantly, +though but for a single moment. This, we say. Greaves gathered from the +conversation around him, and as in one or two cases he perceived, on the +part of the speakers, scarcely any desire to preserve a tone of secrecy +on the subject, he felt pretty much assured, that the case was a bad +one indeed, and that the individual who could so far forget his own +interests for the sake of the bottle, and who could be tolerated in any +position of high trust in the State, while addicted to vices of such +a character, not to mention others, thought by the Hamilton _Quarterly +Review_ to be of a graver nature were that possible, must be sustained +by the influence of persons terribly deluded, or creatures vile in their +degree in turn, and who, like himself, were regardless of the trust +reposed in them by the people. And yet, as Greaves afterwards learned, +this same man came to Canada a poor, bare-footed, Scotch lad, with a +father whose only fortune was an old fiddle, and that inexorable but +praiseworthy characteristic of his country--a determination to collect +the bawbees at whatever shrine first presented itself on the shores of +the New World. Be this as it may, the daily press of the Province has +since verified the correctness of the whispers heard by Greaves, +and made public the accusation, that this individual, so recently +distinguished by a mark of royal favor, for three weeks previous to the +invasion of Canada, was so lost in a whirlpool of the most deplorable +intemperance, as to be utterly incapable of opening or attending to the +important dispatches which lay scattered and unheeded upon his bedroom +table. + +When Greaves returned to The Harp, he found O'Brien in a state of great +excitement. A soldier, as it appeared, had just arrived from the Fort, +with the information that the Colonel, on second consideration, did not +find it justifiable to apply for Barry's discharge, at a moment when +the country was threatened with danger; and that, as the regiment +should soon be ordered home, as he was assured, he had determined not to +recommend any discharges until it had reached England. This intelligence +had been conveyed to Nicholas by the Colonel in person, after parade, +and in a manner which precluded the slightest hope of its being reversed +by any succeeding alteration of opinion on the part of the individual +who communicated it. A thunderbolt, had it fallen at the feet of the +young soldier, could not have startled or paralyzed him more. He was +actually struck dumb by it Here was the chalice dashed from his lips +at last. He turned away in despair; but as he was for duty, he was +constrained to smother the tumultuous feelings within his breast. When +alone, however, and pacing his lonely round with his musket on his +shoulder, he had time to measure, with sufficient calmness and accuracy, +the length, breadth and depth of the great misfortunes that had befallen +him. There was but one course left open to him. He had sought to +purchase his discharge and leave the service, without the taint of +desertion attaching to his name amongst any of his comrades, although he +felt that he was not morally bound to remain in the service of England, +for a single moment longer than it served his own private ends. +Desertion, then, was the only course left open to him, and he was +determined to follow it, upon the first fitting opportunity. Another +reason why he would rather have been discharged in the ordinary manner +from the service: if he once deserted he should never again, with any +degree of security, visit any portion of the British dominions; and +as Canada lay so close beside the United States, he would gladly have +avoided the inconvenience of being shut out from it, as O'Brien and more +than one of his friends resided there. However, there was now no help +for it; to England he should never return, and so he disposed of the +matter in his own bosom. When relieved of duty, then, and with his +purpose fixed firmly in his heart, he once again visited The Harp, +where he found Tom and Greaves lamenting over the intelligence of his +misfortune, and to whom, in a moment of anxiety and excitement, he +disclosed his determination to quit the service, and gain the shores +of the neighboring Republic the first favorable moment that presented +itself. Tom appeared somewhat agitated if not alarmed; at so serious +a disclosure, made with such apparent unconcern; and it was only when +Barry remembered the hint of the morning, which O'Brien gave him as he +was about proceeding to the garrison, that he, himself, felt that he had +perhaps been too incautious and precipitate before a person who, after +all, was but a stranger to him, although apparently a kindly one. The +cat being out of the bag, however, there was now no help for it; and +as Greaves seemed to enter warmly into the project, and even offered to +share his purse with Nicholas, if there was any necessity for it, the +matter was allowed to rest as it was, and suspicion of Greaves, if any +remained in the breast of either the soldier or Tom, was driven into the +background, and constrained to remain in abeyance for the time being. + +When Barry again returned to his quarters, he freely discussed his +disappointment among his comrades, and declared his determination to +lay the matter before the Commander-in-Chief, averring, with great +earnestness, that he had always done his duty, and that he was not +accountable for the state of the country, and should not be called upon +to suffer for a condition of things outside and beyond his control, and +which he was in no manner instrumental in bringing about. His argument +seemed plausible enough, but then what, at any time, his argument, when +it ran counter to the desires or intentions of his commanding officer? +Therefore, the matter, after having been subjected to due discussion, +was allowed to fall asleep in the usual stereotyped style; although as +may be supposed, there were one or two breasts, at least, that were kept +alive and active by it. Nicholas, believing that any intelligence of his +embarrassment on the subject would but perplex and pain Kate, determined +not to write to her regarding it, but to be the first to bear her the +news himself. As already observed, she had written to him to procure +his discharge at the earliest possible moment, and now to learn that +his freedom was jeopardized for an indefinite period, involving, in +addition, his return to England first, would be a renewal of her old +agony. This he was determined to spare her; so, to those of his company +in whom he could confide, and who were themselves ripe for any project +that would tend to their total disseverment from the flag they so +detested, he cautiously communicated his intentions, finding, in return, +that more than one of them were on the eve of trying their fortune in +the same manner. Soon, then, a sturdy little band had determined to +leave the Fort, whatever night Barry should pitch upon; premising, of +course, that it should be some one on which he would be on duty, and at +a favorable point. + +This much arranged, Greaves and Tom were made acquainted with the whole +particulars of the plot; the former entering, to all appearance, heart +and soul into it, and furthering it in every manner within the limits +of his power. In fact, Greaves was actually behaving in a manner which +staggered some suspicions still entertained by Tom, notwithstanding the +letter to which reference has already been made, for he agreed to assist +in forwarding the escape of one of Nicholas' company that had deserted +sometime previously, and was still concealed in the outskirts of the +town, in a place known to Barry only, and where he was hemmed in by +detectives from his regiment that were continually traversing the city +in colored clothes, or stationed as look-outs at certain points in its +vicinity. Barry was most anxious that this poor fellow should not be +left behind, and as Greaves promised to procure a disguise for him and +have him conveyed secretly to Tom's on the night that the project of +leaving the Fort was to be put into execution, Barry, at the request of +Greaves, penned a note, which he hastily sealed with a love device well +known to the deserter, and which he had himself received at the hands of +the beautiful girl of his heart. The note ran thus:-- + + "Place the fullest confidence in the bearer. Follow his directions + implicitly. Your fate hangs in the balance. He will lead you to + where we shall meet. In great haste, &c., + + "NICHOLAS BARRY." + +This note he handed to Greaves, who immediately consigned it to his +pocket-book, and set forth, as he alleged, to reconoitre the hiding +place of the soldier, and make such arrangements in his behalf as the +necessities of the case required. + +As the brief missive just quoted was written in O'Brien's, and in the +presence of Tom himself, when Greaves left the premises, the host with +some uneasiness observed:-- + +"I don't know how it is, Nick, but somehow or other I cannot divest +myself of sartain lurkin suspicions which I have of that man; although +there is not a single Irish Nationalist in the city that would not offer +him his hand and a glass afther seein the letther that I saw. However, +you will remimber that the first night he came I didn't warm to him, +as I tould you, notwithstandin that I had to give up the next mornin. +Still, and withal he appears to be actin fair, although I can't make out +exactly what he's about here. Any way, in for a pinny in for a pound, +so we must make the best of it; but, if I find that he is playin +foul--well, God Almighty help him, and that's all I'll say. However, +three nights from this will tell the whole story, and if you all make +good your escape, you may take my word for it, I'll make a clane breast +of it to him and ask his pardon into the bargain. I think with you that +it was wise not to write to Kate about your throuble and disappointment, +or apprise her of your intintion, as it would only agonize the poor +craytshure; but should you be foiled and taken, what a dreadful thing +it would be for her to hear instead of the intelligence of your freedom, +that you were in the depths of a dungeon from which you might have no +manes of escape for years!" + +Barry absolutely shuddered at the possibility of such a _denouement_ to +the scheme that now absorbed his whole mind and soul. Although sensible +of the risk he ran, he never paused to regard the peculiar features of +the case as presented by his friend; but now that they loomed up before +him in such bold and fearful relief, he almost shrank from pushing +farther the dangerous project he had undertaken. Yet, there was no other +channel through which he could hope to become speedily the husband of +the woman he loved; while, if he abandoned it, he might probably be +separated from her forever, as he felt convinced, that should an ocean +roll once more between them, she would not long survive the calamity. In +a moment, then, the faintness of his heart had passed away, and in +its stead came the firm resolve to prosecute his design to the death; +feeling that imprisonment for any term of years on the shores trodden +by the being he adored, was preferable to freedom, such as it was, in a +land cut off from her by the trackless desert of the great deep. + +Re-assured once more, then, he continued cautiously the preparations +for his departure, attending to his duties with his usual assiduity, and +still murmuring at the decision of the Colonel. Neither he nor Tom, +of course, ever approached the hiding place of the refugee already +mentioned, although they managed to hear from him occasionally, and +to keep his spirits up. Had either, by day or night, ventured near +his retreat, they could scarcely have escaped notice--the one from his +soldier's uniform and the other from his remarkable height and personal +appearance; they were, therefore, with all their misgivings, relieved of +their embarrassment in this relation, by the generous offer of Greaves, +who, as it seemed, had abundance of means at his command to further any +project that he might think proper to undertake relative to the escape +of the deserter, or those who had now determined to join him. + +In this way, then, matters stood on the very evening which was to close +in the night selected by the intending fugitives, to put their designs +into execution. Everything was ready, and as the clock struck twelve and +the streets of the city were partially deserted, a cab rumbled up to +the door of The Harp, and Greaves and a stranger, muffled to the eyes, +stepping from it, entered the establishment and passed through the bar +into Tom's little parlor. Greaves had kept his faith--the stranger was +the deserter! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +As might be presumed, from what we have already said regarding Kate +McCarthy, from the moment she took up her abode with her relatives at +Buffalo, she resumed her industrious habits, and set to work, in real +earnest, to add something to whatever young Barry had realized from his +own abilities and steady conduct on both sides of the Atlantic; for, +since his arrival in Canada, he had plied his pen amongst his comrades, +and in other quarters, copying papers and instructing the children of +the soldiers where he was stationed. She consequently soon found her +little store increased, and her time fully occupied. In music and the +earlier branches of English, she had several young pupils; while +for some of the fancy millinery stores of the city, she occasionally +employed her needle on some of those delicate and exquisite ornaments of +female dress which are at once so expensive and attractive. Her labors +were, of course, cheered through constant intercourse by letter with +Barry; and so the time rolled on up to the very point when Nicholas +first applied for his discharge. It may be considered strange, that +Barry had not left the service on his first arrival in Canada; but, +then, let it be understood, that neither he nor Kate had yet acquired +sufficient means with which to begin the world; while both were steadily +accumulating a little, slowly but safely; and when, besides, he felt +assured, that having the means at his command, he could, at any moment, +procure his discharge. We have already said, that owing to his proud +and unyielding nature, he was not a favorite with his officers, and that +such being the case, he never 'rose above the ranks; but, then, after +all, the most of his superiors had, at times, recourse to his pen and +excellent education in various matters connected with the regiment, +requiting him for his services handsomely enough; but still at enmity +with his Irish blood, and what they feared was, his anti-British +tendencies. Such inducements as these, although accompanied with +drawbacks, moved him to remain in the service for a longer period than +he should have done under other circumstances, and reconciled his lover +to an absence which she believed could be terminated at any moment. And +so time sped with her, until the eve of the very day, on the night of +which Barry and his comrades were to leave the Fort, when returning +towards her home in the direction of Black Bock, from the city, just +as it began to get dusk, she was met by an over-dressed stranger, who +accosting her in a most respectful manner, begged to know if she could +direct him to the residence of Miss Kate McCarthy. + +After recovering her surprise, and casting a searching glance at her +interrogator, she replied, that she was, herself, Miss McCarthy, and +begged to know what was his business with her. The man appeared to +hesitate, as if not crediting her assertion, and proceeded to say, that +he had a message for Miss McCarthy, but that he was led to believe that +that lady was a much older person than the one whom he now addressed. + +"Possibly," returned Kate, "there is some other lady of my name here; +but if such be the case, I am totally unaware of it. However," she +continued, "as I expect no message from any person of my acquaintance, +doubtless I am not the person you seek," and bowing slightly to the +stranger, she turned to pursue her way in the direction of her home. + +"I beg your pardon for attempting to delay you," rejoined the stranger, +"but after all, you may be the lady I seek. If you are," he went on to +say, "you will be apt to recognize this token;" holding something in his +hand, which he now thrust out towards her. + +In an instant, her whole manner altered, her cheeks flushed, and a +strange light burned in her eyes, as she exclaimed hurriedly, and while +greatly agitated: + +"Yes, I am the person; let us walk towards the house. It is but a short +distance from where we stand." + +In a few moments, they were both engaged in the most earnest +conversation, and evidently entering into some stipulation that was to +be carried out without delay. On nearing her residence, however, the +stranger expressed his opinion, that it were better that he should +return to the city at once, and make some arrangements in connection +with the subject of their conversation, whatever that was; enforcing +upon her, in the meantime, the most profound secrecy, and the strange +necessity, above all things, of not informing any of her friends or +relations of the project upon which they had decided. + +"Twelve o'clock, at the Lower Ferry, then!" observed the stranger, as he +turned his face towards the city. + +"Twelve o'clock!" she returned. "No fear! I shall be awaiting you!" + +When she entered the house, with a view to concealing her emotions and +making some secret preparations for the accomplishment of the sudden +project foreshadowed by the words of the stranger, she hastily gained +her chamber. When alone, she gazed confused yet enraptured on the +unexpected talisman that had been given her, and which she still held +firmly in her grasp. Soon, however, becoming more calm, she set about +making such arrangements for her midnight tryst as she conceived +necessary; upon the completion of which, she penned a few lines to her +kind relatives, begging them to make no inquiries after her, as she was +safe; although, for reasons afterwards to be explained, she was obliged +to leave their roof by stealth, and for the moment in utter darkness as +to her destination. She assured them, nevertheless, that although her +conduct was for the present suspicious and inexplicable, she was free +from any taint of wrong, and was only obeying a voice that would soon +justify to the fullest, and before them personally, the step she was +now about to take. This note was left upon her bed-room table, where she +knew it would be discovered; so, after declining to join the family at +tea, on the plea of slight indisposition, she filled a traveling satchel +with what necessaries she thought she might require for the few days she +presumed she should be absent, and extinguishing her lamp at the hour +she usually retired to rest, awaited, alone and in silence, for the +clock to strike eleven; at which time she knew the family would have all +sought their couch and be sunk in slumber. + +From her chamber window she perceived that the lights soon began to +disappear from the casements of the few dwellings that were in the +immediate vicinity of her habitation, and that the quiet of repose +was stealing over the neighborhood. Busied with her own thoughts, +and anxious for the future, the time for her departure drew nigh more +rapidly than she had anticipated; so, when the last stroke of eleven had +died away through the house, she, having previously attired herself +for her journey, and secured, about her person, whatever money she +possessed, took up her satchel, and cautiously descending the stairs, +soon emerged out into the gloomy night, hastily bending her footsteps +towards the place of rendezvouz. + +Here, besides encountering the individual already introduced to the +reader, who was waiting for her, she having had to travel a considerable +distance, and it being now close on midnight, she found a second party +stationed by the side of a good sized boat, into which all three stepped +upon her arrival; the two strangers seizing the oars and striking boldly +out for the Canadian side of the river. Although rapid the current at +the point of their crossing, so admirably did they manage their craft +and lustily did they pull, they did not deviate much from the light on +the opposite shore, which seemed to gleam from some cottage window, and +which they took as a beacon and guide to their course. In the space +of about half an hour, they landed at the point they expected to make, +where they found a team waiting, with a lantern so ingeniously fixed in +the wagon as to be discernible from the American side of the river only; +this being the light by which the two boatmen had steered. + +As they all stepped ashore, Kate had a full opportunity of scrutinizing +the appearance of the second stranger, who aided her in crossing the +river. He was a short, thick-set, heavy man, of a most forbidding +aspect, with a huge mouth and a broad, flat nose, without a bridge. He +wore a blue flannel shirt and a heavy, short over-coat and slouched hat, +and was, taking him all and all, about as villainous a looking specimen +of humanity as one could well meet in a day's walk. Nor was the driver +of the wagon into which she now was lifted, a very decided improvement +in this relation. He, also, was a most suspicions looking fellow, +although civil enough in his way. Kate felt relieved, however, when her +earliest acquaintance of the evening took his seat beside her, and +when she perceived the man with the blue shirt re-entering the boat and +pushing off for the American shore once again. + +The driver now having adjusted himself in his place in front of Kate +and her polite companion, the whip was laid to the horses, and the party +moved briskly along the bank of the river, until they struck into a road +which evidently led into the interior of the country. This road they +pursued at a slow pace until the first gray streaks of dawn were visible +in the eastern horizon; Kate's companion, from time to time, making +such commonplace observations as the necessity of the case required; she +supposing that the presence of the driver prevented him from offering +her any farther explanation on the subject of her singular adventure. +Just as surrounding objects were becoming more distinct, they pulled up +before an isolated building, in what appeared to be a country place, and +in which, early as it was, there was some person already astir, as was +evident from the light which shone from one of the windows. + +Here they all alighted and were received at the door of the dwelling by +a middle aged woman, with a strip of red silk bound round her head and +drawn down over one of her eyes. She was dressed in a plain but neat +manner, and exhibited sufficient traits of feminine beauty to recommend +her to either sex. The driver was evidently her husband, and no very +affectionate one either, if the coarse, cold manner in which he received +her welcome could be taken as any indication on this head. However, as +Kate was cold and weary, she gladly accepted an invitation to alight and +enter the building, where she found a large fire blazing and crackling +upon the hearth, in an apartment that was used as a dining-room and +kitchen; although the house was a large one and clearly contained many +apartments. When seated by the fire, and while the driver was seeing to +his horses, her companion, who also seated himself by the warm +blaze, informed her that, for the present, she was at the end of her +journey--that the driver, his wife and a grown up niece or daughter, +were the only inhabitants of the house, and that the place was selected +as her retreat for the time being, for reasons that would doubtless be +explained to her in due time. Although surprised and mystified at all +she had already experienced, she, of course, had not one word to say in +opposition to the disposition that had been made of her; for had she +not in her bosom the guarantee that all was right; so, professing her +willingness to remain in her temporary abode until the period for her +release arrived, and promising to be as patient as possible, under the +circumstances, she begged the woman of the house to show her to her +room, as she needed a few hours rest, to which request her hostess +readily acceded, having first, though in vain, endeavored to prevail +upon her to take some refreshments after her journey. + +The room to which Kate was shown was far from a despicable one, and +possessed many articles of furniture infinitely superior to those in the +department she had first entered. The floor was carpeted, and the chairs +and tables of quite a superior quality; the bed, also, seemed invitingly +clean and comfortable, while some excellent books were to be found in a +small, neat case, standing in one corner of the apartment. On the table +there burned a handsome lamp, and a fire blazed cheerfully in a small, +open stove, as though her arrival had been expected and well cared for. +When her hostess left her, she examined her chamber door and windows, +and found the latter quite secure, while in the lock of the former was +a key, one turn of which would cut her off completely from any intrusion +whatever. Seating herself beside her lamp, she reviewed rapidly the +events of the night, and finding no solution for them, she slowly +undressed, and consigning herself to the care of heaven, was soon lost +in a calm and refreshing slumber, from which she did not awake until the +sun had nearly attained his meridian glory. + +When she opened her eyes and collected her scattered senses, she hastily +arose, and dressing herself, rang a small bell that lay on her table, +and which her hostess desired she should use when she required any +attendance. Immediately a gentle tap was heard at her chamber door, +upon opening which, a young girl, about sixteen years of age, presented +herself with a pitcher of fresh water, begging to know, as she placed it +on the wash-stand, at what period she should bring up breakfast; setting +about opening the windows as she spoke, and otherwise busying herself in +arranging the room. There was something in the appearance of this young +creature, that at once enlisted the sympathy and kindly feelings of +Kate. Her features were strangely handsome and prepossessing, and her +form of the very finest proportions. Her hands, although rough with hard +work, were, nevertheless, small and delicately shaped, while her feet, +notwithstanding that they were encased in a pair of over-large slippers, +were obviously very beautiful. She was tall for her age, and apparently +better educated than her seeming condition in life might warrant. But +what was most peculiar about her, was an air of sadness, that seemed +native to her expressive countenance, and which pervaded her smiles +even, with a strange, subduing power, that nearly allied them to gentle +tears. Her voice, too, was singularly sweet, low and melodious; while +her whole demeanor was so tinged with what might be termed some lone, +hidden sorrow, that Kate felt drawn towards her in a manner the most +unaccountable. In answer to a query put to her, she said she was not, as +was generally supposed, the daughter of the owners of the establishment, +but their niece, as she believed; and that she had now been residing +in the locality for over five years. That her uncle did a great deal of +teaming, and was often from home; and that, in his absence, she and her +aunt took care of a small patch of ground that lay at the back of the +house. She was almost glad, she said, that the lady had come to stay +sometime with them, and hoped that she would allow her to often sit by +her and read during the times her uncle would be away; as it might tend +to beguile many a weary hour; that is, provided the lady would have to +remain any length of time with them. + +There was something in all this which seemed to move Kate strangely. The +expression "almost glad" sounded curiously in her ears, and awakened +in her feelings of a no very pleasurable character. However, she +determined, upon so slight an acquaintance, not to push her inquiries +further just then; and by way of forming a friendly compact with her +attendant, assured her, that so long as she remained in the house, she +should always be happy to have her as a companion whenever she could be +spared from her domestic duties; and further, that it would afford her +the greatest possible pleasure to sit and listen to her, whenever she +could find a moment's time to either read for her or while away a few +minutes in friendly conversation. This condescension seemed to light up +the face of the interesting young creature with a flush of gratitude +the most ardent; and with a lighter step than that with which she had +entered the chamber, she tripped away, for the purpose of bringing up +the breakfast to which she had already referred. + +When Martha, as Kate's new acquaintance was called, again entered the +apartment, she was accompanied by her aunt, who was dressed just as she +had been the night before, with the exception that the strip of red +silk had been replaced by a purple band of the same material. As the +breakfast, which was excellent for a country place, was being placed +upon the table, Kate perceived that one side of the woman's face was +discolored, and being moved to make some inquiries regarding the cause, +was informed, that while breaking up some kindling wood, a splinter +had accidentally struck her face. This went to satisfy her, of course, +although she thought the large, black patch which fell down along the +cheek was singularly dark and wide to be traceable to the small splinter +that the woman asserted to be the cause of it. A strange look from +Martha, too, aroused a suspicion that the origin of the disfigurement +was not that named; so here the matter rested for the present. + +During her repast, she learned from Martha, who remained with her, that +the name of the people of the house was Wilson; that they were English, +and that the person who had arrived in company with her uncle, who was +also English, was called Stephen Smith; but where he resided she was +unable to say. This she knew, however, that he made occasional visits to +the family, and was sometimes accompanied by a very ill-looking man, who +remained a day or two, after having left some boxes or cases in charge +of her uncle, who subsequently disposed of them in some manner unknown +to her. + +"But," she continued, "I don't like these men. They always come in the +night, and go away in the night, and are ever whispering; you must not, +however," she went on to say, "mention this to either my aunt or my +uncle; for, if they should know I had said so much, they would doubtless +be very angry with me." + +"Oh!" returned Kate, "you may rely upon it, that whatever you may choose +to say in relation to the men in question, or anything else, shall +remain in my bosom; for to betray any confidence of the kind, would, in +my eyes, be criminal in the last degree." + +"What brought you here, then!--what brought you here!" ejaculated +Martha, in an anxious, nervous tone. "There must be something +wrong!--some treachery, or I am sure a lady so good and pure as you seem +to be, would never cross this threshold." + +Kate, becoming instantly alarmed, broke off suddenly in her repast, and +begged the young girl, for Heaven's sake, to be more explicit. + +"I really don't know what more to say than I have already said," replied +the girl; "but, as I feel drawn towards you by some invisible power, +short as our acquaintance has been, I will say, that I fear my uncle's +associates are lawless men, and believe that my aunt knows it, and +regrets it, too. But a few nights ago, when Smith came here to make +arrangements about your arrival, as I suppose, I heard high words +between my relatives after his departure, and, the next morning, found +my aunt's face just as you have seen it. But we dare not say much in +opposition to any proposition that my uncle might choose to make in any +connection, so violent and brutal is his temper at times. For my own +part, however," she proceeded, "so soon as I can escape from such +thraldom and associations, I shall try and make my own way in the world; +for my impression is, my uncle has some idea of a union between me and +the detestable creature, Smith, who accompanied you here last night, and +who, after an hour's rest, was again driven off by my uncle, doubtless +to whatever point he came from." + +This intelligence, as may be supposed, caused poor Kate the greatest +possible anxiety; but what had she to fear so long as she took the +talisman for her guide? Here there could be no mistake, anyway; for had +she not it in her bosom, and was it not from _him_? Still, that there +was something perfectly mysterious about the whole affair, she was quite +ready to admit; but as she had received the strictest injunctions from +Smith not to permit herself to be seen for the present in the vicinity +of the place, or outside the dwelling, she determined to obey one to +whom no small power in her case had unquestionably been delegated by her +lover. + +During the day Martha and Kate were frequently together--the poor young +girl disclosing her history scrap by scrap, until at last Kate learned +that she was in reality an orphan; that both her parents died when she +was yet quite young; that her aunt, who was possessed of an excellent +education, had been twice married--once to her own mother's brother, and +subsequently to the man whom she now called uncle; that her own parents +had been Irish, and that on their death, her real uncle became her +guardian and true friend until his death; when, on this second, +unfortunate marriage, the affairs of the family becoming hopelessly +embarrassed, she and her relatives embarked for America, taking up their +abode first in Toronto, and subsequently in the place where they now +resided. In addition, she stated that her opportunities of education +had been good, and that, somehow or other, since she had crossed the +Atlantic, she managed to keep a few choice books about her, and avail +herself of the assistance of her aunt, whenever they could, in the +absence of her uncle, devote an hour to study or the perusal of some new +work. + +The small clearing, on the verge of which the house occupied by the +Wilsons stood, was surrounded with woods, and no other habitation was +to be found in its immediate vicinity. From the morose disposition and +suspicious character of the proprietor himself, but few of the neighbors +were on visiting terms with the family; so that they might be said +to lead a completely sequestered life. From time to time only, an +occasional visit was paid him by some one who stood in need of the +services of his team; and thus his standing in the neighborhood was that +of a suspected or banned man--the general impression being, that he +was neither more nor less than a dangerous and daring smuggler, who was +constantly engaged in the interests of unprincipled merchants on both +sides of the lines. This idea obtained footing from the circumstance +that he had been observed returning late one night from the frontier +with his wagon laden down with suspicious looking boxes and bales; +and from the further fact, that his absences from home were frequently +lengthy and mysterious--no one knowing the precise nature of his +business, or the points to which his journeys were made so often. + +The clearing, itself, was under good cultivation, the spring crops +giving fine promise of an abundant harvest. A short distance from the +house flowed a beautiful brook, whose murmurs occasionally reached the +ears of the inmates; while the thickening foliage of the surrounding +groves, as they might be termed, gave shelter to various birds, amongst +which might now be heard, at early morn and throughout the day, the +clear, round notes of the robin. + +"The robin!"--what on earth has, we should like to know, bewitched +ornithologists to designate the great, coarse, tuneless bird, that +visits us in the earliest dawn of spring, in this far off America, "the +robin?" Neither in throat nor plumage is it even a thirty-first cousin +of the sweet, timid, little, brown bunch of melody that haunts the +hawthorn hedges of Ireland and the sister island, when they are in +bloom, or seeks a crumb at the open casement, when winter ruffles all +its russet plumes, and sets his chill, white seal on all its stores; We +have been often struck with the great dissimilarity between these two +namesakes of the feathered kingdom; for never on these transatlantic +shores have we heard what might be termed a domestic bird sing a song +so sweet as that poured beneath our window in the soft blue haze of an +Irish summer evening, by the genuine robin-red-breast, as he sang the +daylight down the west, through a sky flushed and flecked with azure, +crimson and gold, to such extreme intensity, that the poet or painter +might, at the moment, half indulge in the idea, that the sun had fallen +into curious ruins upon the verge of the horizon. Oh! the silver thread +of such a song, as it flashed and scintillated from that trembling +throat! Never shall we forget it, or the land in which it first wound +itself around our heart. + +But this, we know, is inclined to be sentimental; and as we now have +to do with stern realities, we shall resume the chain of our story +by saying, that after her first day's residence with the Wilsons, and +finding that the uncle of Martha had no intelligence for her on his +return home on the evening or night succeeding the one of her arrival, +she expressed her great anxiety to Martha, who now devoted every moment +she could spare from her other duties, to the pleasing task of rendering +her solitude as agreeable as possible. + +On the morning of the second day after her arrival she ventured to +ask Wilson if he had any idea of when she was to be relieved from her +embarrassing position. In reply to her interrogatory he assured her, +that he was quite unable to give her any information on the subject, but +was led to believe that she should not be long a prisoner, as he termed +it. All he could say in relation to the matter was, that some person, +with whose name even he was unacquainted, had secured, through a third +party, his services as her host, and engaged the apartment she occupied, +and attendance, etc. In addition to this, he observed, carelessly, that +he was responsible for her safety until the arrival of those who +had delegated to him the right to watch over her and shield her from +observation until the proper moment arrived. + +To all this Kate made no reply; the thought having just struck her, that +Nicholas had perhaps learned of some intended design upon her by Lauder, +and that he took this method of transporting her to some point +unknown to that person, until he himself could offer her his full and +unembarrassed protection. Yet she wondered why it was that he had left +her in such dreadful uncertainty, and did not write her explicitly +upon the subject Again, she was perplexed at the idea that he was in no +position to learn anything of the plots or plans of her rejected suitor, +if he entertained any; so that, upon the whole, she was in no very +comfortable state of mind when she rejoined Martha whom she had left in +her chamber, and whom she now induced to make up a bed upon a sofa and +consent to sleep in her apartment during her stay. + +Martha, on her part, moved by this token of friendship, and while +sitting up late on the very night of the conversation with Wilson, +became mysteriously nervous and, through various vague hints and +insinuations, so far alarmed Kate at last, that the poor girl implored +her new acquaintance to tell her frankly if she knew anything that bore +upon her ease, or the reasons for her being so singularly circumstanced. + +To this solicitation Martha made no direct reply; but rising cautiously, +she stepped lightly towards the chamber door, and opening it softly +put out her head into the passage and listened for a few moments. Then +gently closing the door, she again noiselessly retraced her steps, +and drawing her seat close beside that of Kate, began thus, in a low, +trembling voice, in which fear and agitation were distinctly traceable: + +"Oh! Miss McCarthy, horrible as the disclosure is, I believe that, +instead of a smuggler, which my aunt and I long supposed him to be, my +uncle is a robber, or leagued with robbers! This, for the first-time, +came to our knowledge last night, after his return from wherever he had +been. We had been always accustomed to his bringing here, during the +night, mysterious packages; but as he informed us that they were goods +for merchants who, as he asserted, resided at some distance, we took him +at his word, and when he removed the goods again were, of course, under +the firm impression that he carried them to their owners. However, as +I have observed, on returning last night, when my aunt and I were +assisting him to remove a heavy case from his wagon, while carrying it +into the stable to place it under the hay beneath which he invariably +concealed such things, my aunt and I perceived that, this time, it was +a large trunk that he had brought, and that the lock had given way, +disclosing gleams within it, as though it contained some bright objects. +He did not notice the circumstance of the fastening having failed, and +we did not call his attention to the fact; but permitted him to shake +the hay over it as usual. Subsequently, however, my aunt and I referred +to the matter, when she, taking advantage of my uncle's sound slumbers, +he having retired to rest before her, went out again and, re-lighting +the stable lantern, removed the covering from the lid of the great +trunk, and raising it, perceived that it contained many valuable +articles of silver and dress; but all evidently old, and huddled +together in a manner the most confused. This almost paralysed the poor +woman, and as I subsequently inspected the package, on her retiring for +the night, I arrived at the conclusion which she had, as she informed +me, herself previously adopted; namely, that the goods were stolen, and +that Smith was in some way mixed up with the robbery." + +Now, indeed, Kate felt her situation alarming in the truest sense of +the term, and sat looking at her companion in speechless horror and +amazement. Mystery upon mystery it was; but as the dangers that appeared +to surround her, though gloomy, were indistinct, she once more had +recourse to her panacea of the token, and seeking her couch with a +fervent prayer on her lip, was soon, like her young friend on the sofa, +lost in uneasy slumbers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It was on the night of Sunday the 27th of May, 1866, that Barry and his +comrades were to attempt their escape from the Fort; and, as already +seen, it was on the same night that the deserter was conveyed in a cab +to The Harp, by Greaves. Two o'clock in the morning was the time decided +upon, and a rendezvous having been appointed, our hero, who was on +guard, saw, without challenging them, six figures steal by him into +the darkness and immediately disappear. No sooner had the last of them +vanished, than he placed his musket bolt upright in his sentry box, +and the next moment was lost also in the gloom, and in the direction in +which the figures had melted from his vision. Soon he reached the side +of the river, where he found Tom with a boat, beside which stood his +six companions. On recognizing him, they all leaped into the boat, and, +although the moon was in the heavens, sheltered by the dark overhanging +clouds that fortunately filled the sky, they dropped down the river, and +landing Tom at a point previously decided upon, they all wrung his hand +in silence, and once more put forth into the gloom, heading their craft +towards the American shore, under the guidance of a pilot who knew every +island and turn in the channel, and who joined them at the spot where +O'Brien bid them farewell. With muffled oars and in the most profound +silence, they moved along until they arrived at a turn in the channel, +where they were instructed to bend to their work by the stranger who +held the tiller; when, taking heart from their good fortune, for so far, +they made their willing craft almost leap out of the water, as they gave +a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether. + +As day was beginning to shape the world around them, they found +themselves nearing the American shore, and now perceiving themselves +beyond the reach of danger and out of the jurisdiction of the flag they +had so long and so cordially detested, they rested on their oars, and +giving three hearty cheers for the land they were fast approaching, +again set to with a will, and soon found themselves beneath the Stars +and Stripes of the glorious Republic before which all the nations of the +earth now bow, however reluctantly. On leaping ashore, they discovered +a short distance from the water a small village to which, on securing +their boat, they all posted; and having gained a neat little tavern, the +shutters of which were just being opened, they explained their situation +to the proprietor, and ordered breakfast, determined to rest themselves +for a period, and deliberate upon their future movements, although the +destination of Barry had, of course, long been decided upon. + +On hearing that they were deserters from the British army, and that, +without an exception, they were all Irishmen, who had come to the United +States with a view to aiding in any project that had for its object the +humiliation of England, and the freedom of Ireland, the landlord, who +was a six-footer from Tipperary--one of the Cummingses--gave "a yell +out of him" that brought his wife and children in _deshabille_ to the +bar-room door, proceeded by a boy of all work, who evidently shared +their alarm and surprise to the fullest extent; but when, instead of a +bar-room disturbance, they perceived the master of the premises shaking +hands over and over again with the new arrivals, and bidding them +welcome to the land of the free, they soon disappeared from the hall +and regained their chambers, from which they had been so unceremoniously +summoned. Cummings was literally in his glory, and instantly had his +counter be-littered with glasses, bottles and decanters; while, with +genuine hospitality, he made the fugitives partake more than once of +some one of the beverages that he had placed before them. Ere long +a smoking, hot breakfast was in readiness for them, prepared by the +mistress of the house,--herself a comely Irishwoman, with a set of teeth +that you'd almost let bite you, they were so white and sunny, and a +handsome, fair face, with a _cead mille failte_ in every line and dimple +of it. Already the poor adventurers began to feel the exhilarating +effects of freedom, and, as soon as they had satisfied their appetites, +each set about changing his soldier's coat for a rough, plain one, +which had been provided by O'Brien and his friends, and which they found +awaiting them when they first entered the boat. + +As Barry, who was regarded as chief of the little party, avowed his +intention of pushing on direct for Buffalo, the others, who had no fixed +point in view, determined to join him; so, when they had taken a few +hours repose, they parted from their kind host and hostess, who would +not permit them to pay a single shilling for anything they had drank or +eaten since they entered the friendly hostel. During the time they were +waiting at the railway station, they heard various rumors as to the +intended invasion of the Province they had but just left; and from +numerous significant hints which they had received, they were fully +convinced that some important movement was on foot, which would soon +develope itself in bolder outline. On entering the cars that were to +take them west, they found the subject of Fenianism freely discussed, +and in many cases with a friendliness that showed there was, in some +instances at least, a feeling hostile to England among the American +people. As they pursued their journey and received other accessions +to their numbers as travellers, they found that this aversion was both +widely spread and deeply rooted, so that by the time they reached their +destination, they were fully satisfied that the people of America, and +those of the adjoining English Colony, could never become true friends +so long as the latter adheared to the standard of Great Britain, or +remained part and parcel of the British empire. The antagonism of +institutions, the infamous conduct of England during the late civil war, +and the fixed impression of every true American, that the Canadas +belong of right to the great people who now rule the continent, made it +strikingly apparant that England had but a precarious foot-hold upon the +shores of the New World. + +On the arrival of the train at Black Rock, Barry, who had been +previously informed as to the precise locality in which the relatives of +Kate were to be found, stepped off the cars, informing his comrades +that he would join them in the city during the day. With but little +difficulty he found the dwelling of his friends, and entering it, was +received with open arms, and was instantly asked as to where he left +Kate. For a moment he did not comprehend the question, but when by +degrees he heard the fearful disclosure, that she had secretly left the +house, by night, about a week previously, he fell into a chair, almost +fainting, while the greatest consternation seized all those about him. +Slowly, and with their hearts sinking within them, they recounted the +circumstance of the note that had been written and left for them on +her bedroom table, and the fact of her having taken some of her wearing +apparel with her, but as to where she had gone, or with whom, they +were in the most profound darkness. No one had called at the house,--no +previous intimation had been given them by her as to her intentions; +and, in so far as they were concerned, all was darkness. Lauder, they +knew, had been in the vicinity of the Rock, but then, of course, he +could have had no hand in the strange transaction, as her detestation +of him precluded, as they thought, the possibility of his exercising the +slightest influence over any of her actions. However, she was gone, and +now, as it appeared, was the victim of some horrible plot or mistake +beyond the reach of any elucidation, for the present at least. + +Never was a strong man so bowed to the dust as the poor young fellow who +now found all his hopes so rudely and unexpectedly dashed to the earth. +With a face pale as death he shook throughout every limb in a manner +fearful to behold. In vain he looked from one face to another for some +explanation of the dreadful calamity that had befallen him--all was +dark and blank and silent around him. Even conjecture was paralysed, so +completely was the disappearance of his betrothed enveloped in mystery. +As a preliminary step, to gain even the feeblest information of her, +he did not know how, or when or where to move. Could he get even +the slightest glimpse of any link in the chain, he could set about +unravelling the tangled and gloomy skein; but as it was, he was as +helpless as a child. Secure in her fidelity, however, and trusting to +Providence, crushed as he was, his young heart, after the first blow, +began to rise within him, and collecting himself, he set about making +such enquiries in the neighborhood as he thought were likely to throw +some light upon the subject. In this he was warmly aided by the alarmed +wife of his friend, who learned that on the very evening of the night of +her disappearance, after having given her last music lesson in the +house of one of her pupils, she was seen in company with a man, who +was recognized as no very respectable character, by one of the hands +employed in the rolling mills, who happened to catch a glimpse of them +in conversation as he was returning from his work. The name of this +latter individual having been ascertained, Barry at once visited the +mills and heard, to his consternation, that the suspicious person seen +in company with Kate on the evening referred to, was neither more nor +less than the Kid, previously introduced to the reader, as one of the +keepers of the low gambling house already mentioned, where we first met +him and his partner of the blue shirt, alluded to also as a burglar and +robber. + +This much ascertained, Nicholas prevailed upon the workman to accompany +him to the den in question, into which they accidentally dropped as it +were. The person they sought was, as usual, about the premises; but from +him Barry could gain no information whatever, beyond the circumstance, +that he did remember, about a week ago, accosting a lady near Black +Bock, having taken the liberty of enquiring of her, whether a certain +person whom he was anxious to find resided in the neighborhood. + +"I know that's a lie," said the workman, when he and Nicholas had gained +the street once more, "for as I happened to come upon them just as they +were separating, I heard the lady say, before she perceived me, and as I +was turning a corner of the road, 'I'll not fail to be there,' or words +to that effect." + +To Nicholas this was more perplexing than ever; although he now arrived +at the conclusion, that Kate was the victim of some infamous and +deep-laid plot, and that Lauder was at the bottom of it. But here again +he was embarrassed by the circumstance, that he had never, so far as he +knew, seen her rejected suitor, nor was he known to any of his friends +at the Rock; from the fact that they had left Toronto before his arrival +there, and that, notwithstanding his visits to Buffalo, he had never +crossed their path. All, then, that Nicholas had to stand upon was the +circumstance that she had actually been seen in conversation with the +Kid, and that that worthy had evidently misrepresented the tenor of that +conversation, whatever it might have been. + +The next day after his arrival, Barry, with a heart sore and dark +enough, went in search of his comrades, informing such of them as he +thought proper to admit to his confidence, of the dreadful condition of +his affairs and mind. While sympathising with him sincerely, however, +and offering him all the assistance in their power, they seemed absorbed +with some new subject of importance which appeared to engross no +ordinary share of their attention. Since their arrival, they had learned +that it was a fact and beyond all doubt, that the Fenians were gathering +along the frontier for the purpose of making a descent upon Canada and +securing a foothold upon its shores, with a view to making it the +basis of operations against England in their attempt to secure the +independence of Ireland. One and all they had determined to join the +expedition as volunteers, and Nicholas, who entertained a lurking +suspicion that Kate had crossed the American frontier under some +mysterious impulse or influence, half made up his mind to make one of +the invading army also. This suspicion was based upon the fact of Kate's +having no friends or relatives in the States, save those at the Rock, +while she had several in Canada in the direction of which she might +have been attracted by letters or representations now a mystery to him. +However, he felt assured that, under any circumstance, she was not to be +found in Buffalo or its vicinity; so, moved by both love and patriotism, +before the evening had set in, he came to the conclusion to join his +comrades in the approaching struggle. + +This resolution once taken, he made instant application to some of the +Fenian authorities of the city, stating the circumstance of his recent +arrival, and quickly found himself surrounded by a host of friends who +were ready to share their last mouthful or dollar with him. During this +juncture, the Irish spirit of Buffalo, strongly impregnated with the +generous national sentiment of America, was discernible upon every side. +The groups of patriots quietly at first arriving from almost every +point of the compass, were received with open arms and the sincerest +hospitality by those who had an interest in the cause of freedom and the +humiliation of the tyrant England. There were, of course, a few British +sympathisers among the people and press who, ignoring their allegiance +to the Union, or the principles for which the heroes of the Revolution +laid down their lives, threw their voice and influence into the scale on +the side of England, but they were in a hopeless minority; as the great +heart of the nation beat steadily in the interests of liberty, and +inspired its sons with all the confidence necessary to the most complete +success. + +To decide, with Barry, was to act. Consequently, now that he had made +up his mind to join the expedition, he at once acquainted his friends +at the Rock, and gave them such information and instructions relative to +Kate as he thought desirable; intimating to them, at the same time, that +he was of the fixed impression that she had, by some means or other, +been lured into Canada; although a telegram, in reply to one dispatched +to Toronto, informed his friends that she had not visited that city +since she left it. Upon further inquiry, however, regarding the Kid, +he learned that that respectable personage, together with his worthy +coadjutor, Black Jack, were in the habit of paying frequent visits to +Canada on the sly; it being thought that they were employed by persons +who were engaged in smuggling. This information he gained while +walking near the breakwater with a new acquaintance well versed in city +notorieties, and who, at the moment, happened to espy a boat known to +belong to the doubtful firm of Jack and the Kid, lying drawn up on the +shore. + +This craft, of course, engaged the attention of our hero, as belonging, +in part, to the individual who seemed to be mixed up in some mysterious +manner with the fate of his beloved. Consequently, he stepped over to it +and casting a glance of scrutiny at the interior, saw something sparkle +among a little sand, that had accumulated at the bottom near one of the +stretchers. Picking it up, he found that it was a handsome button that +had apparently dropped from the dress of some lady. This he examined +with the most intense eagerness; when the thought struck him that it +was very like some buttons that belonged to a dress occasionally worn by +Kate. Of this, however, he was not sufficiently certain; so, thrusting +it into his pocket, he turned away, more perplexed than ever with the +mystery that surrounded him. Hurrying to the Rock with the waif as +soon as he could, he submitted it to his friends, when it was at once +recognized as being similar to a set of buttons worn by Kate, and which +belonged to a dress that, it was believed, she wore on the night of her +disappearance. Corroborative as this evidence was, it availed him but +little for the time being; although it strengthened his resolve to move +with the army of invasion; being convinced that his betrothed had, by +some foul means, been spirited across the borders, and all through the +machinations of her rejected suitor, Lauder. + +And now how he cursed the procrastination that had kept him from +applying for his discharge long since, when he might have procured it +without any difficulty, and have placed her he loved beyond the power +of any villain. Again, he was no longer free to search for her in the +Province; for he was under the ban of military law there, and, unless +supported by a sufficient number of bayonets, could not stem the torrent +that should soon overwhelm him if he re-entered the territories of the +Queen and was discovered. Yet, even death were preferable to the state +of mind in which he now found himself; he therefore at once set to work +to prepare himself for the coming contest, in the hope that when once +across the borders, if even amid the din of war, he might gain some clue +to the fate of all that he now cared to live for. + +As may be supposed, the service of such men as Nicholas and his comrades +were, at a moment so critical, accepted with alacrity by the military +authorities of the Fenian organization of the city. Amongst the various +sterling patriots in power here, both he and his comrades were instantly +taken by the hand and placed in positions where their knowledge of arms +could be made most serviceable to the grand cause in which they had +resolved to embark. They were all Irish, and of that stamp that never +loses color, how fierce soever the scorching fires to which they might +be subjected. Under a special provision, and at Barry's request, +they were attached to the same company; while he, from his evident +superiority in education and address, as well as from his thorough +knowledge of drill and military tactics, was presented, upon joining +the organization, with a captain's commission. In the hurry and bustle +attending the note of preparation, he found some slight relief from +the great and overshadowing trouble that darkened all around him; and +finding how necessary it was to keep both mind and body employed, if he +was to retain either health or energy to aid him in any of the important +projects that now loomed before him, he gave no place to useless +repinings, but busily engaged with the necessities of his new avocation, +found the hours slipping by which intervened between the period when +he swore the true fealty of his soul to the flag of his love, and +that which was to see him a hostile invader upon the shores he had so +recently left. + +As the men steadily poured into the city for a short period before the +invasion, and filled the streets and suburbs in groups of various sizes, +it became a matter of general conversation and surprise that, in bodies +so peculiarly situated, and under such seemingly slight restraint, many +of them being far distant from their homes, not a single individual +was to be found who suffered in the slightest degree from even the +appearance of intoxication. Look where you might, there was nothing but +the utmost sobriety and good behaviour. Although the men were, for the +most part, young, and many of them just from the bloodiest fields of the +South, there hung about them an air of serious decorum that argued +well for the mission in which they were about to engage. In addition, +notwithstanding that, in some cases, they were badly housed and +provisioned, a murmur never escaped their lips; nor could the most +bitter of their enemies point to a single act where the law was violated +by any of them, or show that even to the value of one mouthful of bread +had been appropriated to their use without being paid for honestly, or +given to them freely by those who felt for their position. This is so +well known that, even at the period at which we write, upwards of two +years after the occurrence of these scenes, not a solitary fact has come +to light reflecting in any degree upon the honesty, sobriety and good +conduct of these noble patriots, many of whom had left home penniless, +to wage war against a power that had almost every resource at its +command, and which they knew they should meet under circumstances that +could not fail to be disadvantageous to them. + +And here we may observe, history does not record a more daring or +chivalrous project than that entertained by the brave fellows who made +the night of Thursday the 31st of May, 1866, memorable in the annals of +this continent, as well as in those of Ireland. Although laboring under +embarrassments from the most fearful mistakes and criminal neglect of an +individual to whom the grand project of the redemption of Ireland +from the yoke of the oppressor was, in its strictly military aspect, +entrusted in this country--although badly provisioned, uniformed +and equipped--although perplexed with mysterious, contradictory and +imperfect orders, and although, at the very moment of their destiny, +left without the leader whom they were led to expect should command +them, they never lost heart for a moment; feeling that heaven would +raise up amongst them a chief not only competent to meet the emergency +of the moment, but one in whom they should be able to place the fullest +and most enthusiastic confidence. + +And heaven did not disappoint their noble and confiding aspirations; +for, when all looked dark and dreary to the more uneasy of their +numbers, the gallant O'Neill, crowned with the laurels which he had +so nobly won during the war that had then just closed, and true to the +genius of his ancient name and house, stepped in upon the stage, and +grasping the drooping standard of the Irish Republic, held it aloft; +and, fired with the spirit of the "Red Hand" of yore, raised the war-cry +of his race, before which many a Saxon tyrant and slave had trembled in +the days long past. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Philip Greaves received the note from Barry, to the deserter who +was secreted in the suburbs of the city, he proceeded, towards evening, +to the point where the soldier lay concealed, and to which he had been +directed with unerring accuracy. On reaching the house in which the +fugitive was said to be hidden, he found but an old woman, who seemed +neither alarmed nor surprised at his arrival. Upon whispering a word +in her ear, however, a look of intelligence stole into her eyes, and +putting on her bonnet and cloak, in the deep dusk, she motioned him to +follow her, having closed and locked to door behind her. After leading +him but a short distance, among a number of small though clean huts, +she gained one in which the family were seated at their plain evening +repast. As they entered the dwelling, he perceived that there was one +vacant seat at the table, from which some person had evidently arisen +hastily and disappeared from the apartment In the course of a few +moments, however, and on the head of the family having been called +aside by the old woman, Philip was greeted with a hearty welcome, and +instantly led into a little back room, where he found the person whom +he sought, gazing about him with a distrustful if not an alarmed air. +To this individual he showed Barry's note, which he had previously +abstracted from the envelope, requesting him, as he perused it, to +return it to him again, as he wished to destroy it himself, lest, by +accident, it should fall into other hands, and as he desired to say to +Nicholas that he was personally cognizant of the fact of its being put +out of the way. To this request the deserter readily acceded, as he +would have to any other of a reasonable character, so delighted was he +to receive the assurance that the hour of his deliverance drew nigh. +Here, then, were the particulars of the plan of his escape settled upon. +He was to remain still concealed, until Greaves called for him with +a cab, but was to hold himself ready to quit his hiding place at a +moment's notice. + +These preliminaries being arranged, Philip left the house and speedily +proceeded to a neighboring hotel, where he procured a private room, and, +calling for pen, ink and paper, at once addressed himself to writing +a letter. Various were the rubbings of hands and sinister smiles which +punctuated this epistle, until at last, on its being finished, he +carefully folded it, and taking from his pocket-book a sealed envelope, +one end of which had been previously opened with great care, and the +superscription completely removed by a cunning process, he took from +another compartment of his book a small note and introduced it into the +envelope, adroitly closing the apperture with a little mucilage, so as +to completely conceal the incision that had been made, and obliterate +every evidence of the envelope's having been tampered with. This done, +he slowly, and with apparent great caution as to the conformation of the +letters, directed it, and when he found the ink to be completely dried, +enclosed the whole in the letter that he had just written; placing it, +in turn, in a larger envelope which he hastily directed to some party, +from whom he apparently cared but little to conceal his hand-writing. +This accomplished, he called for some brandy, and after paying liberally +for it and the use of the room, directed his steps towards a stationer's +shop where he purchased a postage stamp which he attached to his letter. +Here, also, he heard the subject of the threatened invasion of the +Province discussed in all its bearings and probable results; and here, +too, the bitter murmurs of discontent regarding the criminal conduct of +the individual to whom the whole interests of the country were entrusted +by the people and the Crown, and who was said to have been already for +weeks in a condition of mind and body absolutely loathsome. Not wishing, +however, to delay the mailing of his letter, he soon found himself +wending his way to the Post-office, where, with his own hand, he +consigned the missive to the care of her Majesty the Queen, by putting +it in the apperture that opened into the letter-box from the street--the +office being already closed. On this, he retraced his steps towards +The Harp, where he so managed to thrust himself in among the struggling +suspicions of O'Brien, as to almost gain the full confidence of that +generous patriot and banish the last doubt from his breast. + +"Well," said Tom, when he found a fitting opportunity, "how did you find +the poor fellow?" + +"Willing enough to leave the Province," whispered Philip, "if he could +only manage to get away; but I think that will be easily arranged now, +as the storm about his desertion has blown over.". + +"On the night after that of to-morrow, then," returned Tom, "they will +make the attimpt; and as I can get a man to help them who knows every +turn and crank of the river, I have hopes of their success; besides it +will be Nick's night for guard, and there's somethin in that, you know; +as they can get out at the point where he stands, without much throuble +to themselves or anyone else. However," he observed farther, "I hope no +one will let the cat out of the bag, as it would be a cryin sin to +have the poor fellows 'nabbed' at the very moment when they fancied +themselves about to brathe the purest air that ever floated benathe the +canopy of heaven." + +"There's no fear of that," replied Greaves, "for you and I only know of +their intentions; although I feel that you are not exactly at home with +me yet, for all your friendly conduct and information; but recollect, +that I'll perform my part of the contract, and it is for you and them to +do the rest." + +This speech made Tom feel a little awkward; and he was about to make a +suitable reply, when he was happily relieved by some parties who dropped +in, to command the attention he so willingly accorded at the moment. + +That Greaves puzzled and perplexed him there could be no doubt; but at +no period could that individual elicit from him any information, if +he possessed such, in relation to Fenianism. He, of course, knew that +Philip learned from Barry that there were many soldiers in the Fort who +sympathised warmly with Ireland; but this was as far as he was informed +in the matter. It was obvious, however, that for some reason or other, +he was anxious to fathom the depths of the actual Organization, if such +existed in or about the city; but in every attempt he was foiled; for, +notwithstanding his most subtle attacks, he was met at each turn by a +spirit of reticence which baffled all his ingenuity and led him to the +conclusion that, after all, there were perhaps but slight grounds for +believing that the Brotherhood had any very extensive footing in the +colony. + +Tom sometimes reasoned, that his solicitude on this head was prompted by +patriotic motives; and then, again, the idea used to creep in upon him +that he sought this information for sinister purposes; and thus the +worthy host, trembling in the balance between the two impressions, +kicked the beam on the side of prudence, and if he knew anything of +the movements and intentions of the Organization, kept it to himself; +although the letter in the possession of Greaves might, were he less +cautious, have drawn from him some serious information; for Tom O'Brien +was, at that moment, the Centre of a Fenian Circle, with three hundred +armed men at his command, ready to join the invaders the instant they +entered the Province and planted their standard near him upon British +soil. This being the case, he was well aware of the intentions of the +Brotherhood in the United States; and thus it was, that when he found +Barry could not procure his discharge before the invaders were upon +them, he instantly endorsed the project of his desertion; well knowing +that, should he fail to escape before the hour of the movement arrived, +he should be called to take the field against his countrymen and against +Ireland; and, perhaps, under circumstances that might preclude the +possibility of his acting otherwise than as their enemy. Nor did he +relax in his watchfulness and caution when Greaves even brought the +deserter to The Harp in redemption of his word, or, more remarkable +still, when he learned, on the morning succeeding the night of their +escape from the Fort, that seven soldiers of the Regiment had bid +their commanding officer an unexpected and unceremonious adieu; and +notwithstanding that the garrison was all but alive with sentries and +guards patroling every avenue which led from it, made good their escape +to the American shore, where they were now beyond the reach of the +Canadian or Imperial authorities. + +No sooner had Philip ascertained that the party had made good their +escape, than he himself prepared to bid good-bye to The Harp. O'Brien +was not at all surprised at this sudden resolution, as Greaves had +professed to be daily transacting business; which he asserted might +be brought to a close at any moment. And so he had been transacting +business; for he might have been seen occasionally entering, by stealth, +a certain dwelling in the outskirts of the city where Fenianism and all +Irish Nationalists had their deadliest enemy; but, as already intimated, +this enemy had been rendered powerless by the wine cup for some time +past, so that if there had been any matter of importance to transact +between them, it would have been useless to have even approached it. +Still Philip called and called, but to no purpose; so finding that +he had pressing matters in another direction to claim his immediate +attention, he left the mystified functionary in disgust, casting +a glance at the numerous unopened dispatches on his table, and +congratulating Canada on the possession of such a creditable and +efficient, leading officer. + +Shaking hands with Tom, then, after having honestly liquidated his bill, +our mysterious friend soon found himself on board a train bound direct +for Toronto, where he arrived in due course, amid hosts of rumors, and +military movements which were being accomplished in that reckless and +inefficient haste, that went to prove a screw loose somewhere. Here he +found himself on the evening of the 29th, and being obliged to remain +in the city all the next day, he started the following morning for the +West, when he learned, while journeying onwards, that the Fenian forces +were massed at Buffalo and along the American frontier, and that a +descent upon Fort Erie was sure to take place within a very few hours. +Although he had intended to reach his destination before night, he +was delayed at the various stations, by rumors which tended to make it +important for the train not to proceed in haste, it having been alleged, +more than once, that the Fenian army was already in the Province, and +burning and destroying all before it, In turn, however, each of these +rumors was contradicted; and so the cars proceeded until another was +encountered. In this way the morning of the first of June overtook +him before he had yet reached the point for which he was bound. Now, +however, he ascertained that the Province was, without any manner of +doubt, invaded by the army of the Irish Republic, and that even then the +"Sunburst" was flying over the village of Fort Erie. + +This intelligence seemed to confound him, and to have exceeded anything +that he could have anticipated. He hod fancied that, notwithstanding all +the rumors he had heard within the last few months, there was no real +intention on the part of the Irish Nationalists of the United States to +actually invade the Province; and believed the reports of their +having congregated upon the American frontier as either unfounded or +tremendously exaggerated. Now, nevertheless, they were within a very +few miles of him, and might be upon him and the neighborhood he was +approaching, at any moment. + +There was something in this latter conviction that appeared to move him +greatly as he stepped off the train at Port Colborne, where he found the +inhabitants in a state of the direst alarm. Being a stranger, and unable +or unwilling to account very clearly for his sudden presence here, and +at a juncture when suspicion was so rife and every new comer subjected +to the closest scrutiny, he was put under surveillance and not permitted +to leave the village, as he was about to do, until he had explained his +business to the authorities. Chafing with disappointment and anger, he +was taken into custody and confined in one of the rooms of his +hotel, until a magistrate could be found to look into his case. Here, +notwithstanding his protestations and willingness to prove that he was a +loyal British subject and one of importance too, he was detained nearly +the whole day; tormented by the uncomfortable misgiving that perhaps, +after all his generalship, Nicholas Barry might again be in the Province +and at a point, too, where he should be able to frustrate all the plans +he had laid so deeply and executed for so far with the utmost secrecy +and success. At last, however, a magistrate was found and a private +investigation of his case granted. The examination was brief; for +scarcely had that functionary been closeted five minutes with him, +before he was set at liberty and again stepped forth a free man. + +So utterly helpless were the people of the section of the country in +which he now was, that they must have fallen before any considerable +force of the invaders, had such entered the Province. The greatest +distrust obtained among themselves; there being a strong body of Irish +and Irish sympathisers in their midst, who scarcely cared to hide their +sentiments. And although there was an element in the little town that +was truly loyal to the Crown, yet it is still a matter of doubt as to +its having been in the ascendant, in so far as numbers were concerned. +True, that if the census of the place had been taken at the moment, and +the tendencies of every man registered according to a public statement, +extracted from his own lips, England should have carried the day by an +overwhelming majority, as, on the same basis, she should at this present +hour throughout the whole of the New Dominion. But had one glimpse of a +victorious Irish army been caught in the distance, the case would have +been widely different, indeed; and those who were constrained, through +the force of circumstances, to fall into line with the paid, official +squad who ruled the roast for the time being, would soon hoist their +true colors and step out beneath the folds of that glorious banner of +green and gold before which, with all her boasting armaments, the +tyrant power of England now trembles to its very base. And so it will be +throughout the Colony at large, whenever the Irish Nationalists, or any +other people inimical to England, enter it with a view to tearing down +the skull and cross-bones of St. George, and ultimately replacing it +with the proud and invincible banner of the United States of America. +Not a single doubt obtains in well informed quarters on this head; so +that the tyrant England cannot fail to be swept ultimately from this +continent, never to lift her dishonored head upon its free, historic +shores again. + +And what wonder that the thinking portion of the people of Canada--men +who have its material prosperity and its happiness at heart--should +long for a union with this Republic, with which their interests are so +intimately identified, and upon which they are almost solely dependant +for a market and that good will that is not only necessary to their +peace, but to their very existence? Shut out from the ocean, that great +highway of nations, for six months of the year, they are, almost daily, +at the mercy of the United States for any description of commercial +intercourse, or exchange of thought, in relation to the material +condition of the continent or their own probable future. Lying a frozen +strip against the North pole, with all their available lands settled, if +we are to credit the assertions made by their own statesmen, were this +great Republic to close its doors against them, they should be obviously +cut off, in a measure, from all civilization, and dwarfed both mentally +and physically into the most contemptible dimensions. As it is, they are +depending upon America for every refining and practical influence that +warms their partial life, or gives any value whatever to their social +status. American literature, tastes, habits, inventions and even foibles +color all their internal intercourse; although the fact does not seem +apparent to those who are interested in perpetuating British rule +amongst them, and is denied by others from motives of envy or vanity. +Add to this the circumstance that their government is the most wretched +that could possibly be found among a people professing to be free. +Scarce a single department of it but is stained with fraud of the +vilest description to the very lips, and neither more nor less than an +instrument of public plunder in the hands of corrupt officials. Even +while we write, and for years back, a charge lies in the department of +the Minister of Finance, against the present Premier of the Dominion, +accusing that unscrupulous individual of conspiring with a whisky +dealer, _while he himself was First Minister of the Crown_, to defraud +the revenue--a charge made by the present Assistant Commissioner of +Customs and Excise, whom this same Premier has been obliged to retain +in office to the present hour, with a view to saving himself from +disclosures calculated to drive him from office in disgrace. So dreadful +have been the circumstances of this case, that when an offer was made +subsequently, through the public press, to produce bank, official and +mercantile evidence that the government functionary who preferred this +frightful accusation was dishonest and incompetent, and that he had +purloined public documents and destroyed them with a view to concealing +his crimes, still this Premier dared not summon him to trial, although, +times without number, he gave assurances, as did the then Inspector +General, that the culprit should be brought before the proper tribunal, +and justice done in the premises. But why need we complain, when Canada +takes the matter so coolly; for will it be believed, that these two +worthies--both the accused and the accuser--both disfigured by the most +damning accusations, are still in the pay of the Canadian people, and +have been so ever since the circumstances of their official character +were laid through the daily press before the world. Not a single move +has yet been made in the direction of justice, nor an inquiry instituted +as to the truth or falsehood of these frightful charges. The Premier +still carries the filthy load upon his shoulders, while his subordinate, +of the stolen bank receipts and false report, laughs in his sleeve at +the rod that he holds over his naked shoulders. + +Nor is this more than an individual case amongst others of a similar +class. What of the tens of thousands of the people's money given, +without the sanction of Parliament, to the Grand Trunk Railway in the +interest of English stockholders; and the postal subsidies handed over +to the same line, in excess of the tender made by the Managing Director +for the carrying of her Majesty's mails? Was not the government liberal +with the hard earnings of their poor dupes throughout the land, when +they virtually informed the authorities of the Grand Trunk that they +were altogether too modest in their estimates, and that the country +ought not to take advantage of such nice young men, but give them more +than they asked for performing the service mentioned? Glorious! wasn't +it? We might also allude to the manner in which Sir John A. taxed +the struggling industry of the Province, millions to build up his pet +Parliament Houses at the back of God speed--buildings that almost rival +those of England--and refer also to the delightful manner in which the +Crown Lands were dealt with by another member of this happy family: +citing the case of the Wallace Mine Claim, in which the Commissioner +managed to dispose, at a mere nominal figure, of a portion of the public +domain by private sale among a few of his friends, including a gentleman +presumed to be his own agent, and that, too, in the face of a law which +made it imperative upon the government to advertise all lands in the +_Canada Gazette_ before they were put upon the market. For appearance +sake, the lands were advertised in the _Gazette_; but when a purchaser +dropped in to make inquiries, it leaked out that they had been all +disposed of previously. In this way the business of the people has been +conducted for years; and what is the result? To-day they are without +immigration, trade or commerce--to-day there is no public confidence +existing in any portion of the Dominion; for the government seem to +grasp the purse-strings with one hand while they hold a drawn sword in +the other. There is no security to be found in any corner of the State; +and no projects, formed for the future of its people. To be sure, +certain parties prate and jabber about the Volunteer Service and +national defenses; but what have they to defend? If their frontier were +bristling to-morrow with forts and bayonets, all they could hope to +accomplish would be the shutting out of American liberty and national +prosperity from the people. This must be self-evident to any individual +who is at all conversant with the true nature of the case, or cognizant +of the fact, that there cannot possibly be any hope for Canada so long +as she holds herself aloof from the great social and political compact +of this Union, upon the pulses of which, in her present helpless and +isolated position, she will always have to dance attendance and pay the +piper besides. Either the sunlight or the shadow of the Republic must +fall on her without intermission. If she choose the former, well and +good; let her cut herself free of the despotic tyrant that now holds +her in cunning thrall, and step into the broad effulgence of American +freedom, or if she will it, until circumstances of themselves +precipitate her into the arms of the Commonwealth with less grace than +she might otherwise have fallen into them, let her feel the blighting +influence of the cold clouds that cannot fail to envelope her and +paralyze all her energies in the interim. There is no need of mincing +the matter--Canada beneath the skull and cross-bones of St. George, must +ever remain a poor, puny starveling; while under the proud and ample +folds of the glorious flag of this mighty Republic, she should at once +become great, powerful and prosperous, as yet another star added to the +refulgent galaxy that now rides high amid the noontide of nations. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +One grand evidence of the deep rooted sentiment that actuates Fenianism +in the great Irish American heart, is to be found in the fact, that at +the time of the Pittsburgh Convention, the Organization was in debt, +and that within the brief space intervening between that period and the +invasion of Canada, the Brotherhood armed and equipped thousands upon +thousands of their number, and still had not expended the last dollar +in their treasury. This is, of itself, a most significant fact, and one +that goes far to exalt the Irish element on this continent in the eyes +of both soldiers, citizens and statesmen. The abiding faith of our +people in the justice of their cause, and the fixed conviction that it +shall one day triumph, enable them to deal with reverses and opposition +in a manner at once intelligent, dignified and philosophic. They know +that repeated failures have been the crucible in which the holiest and +the most successful projects have been tried in all ages; and, like that +of the spider of Bruce, the heart never fails within them. Amongst them, +too, were found upon the eve of their descent upon the Province, as +well as long previous to it, men of undoubted patriotism, genius and +chivalry. And at no point was this more obvious than at Buffalo. We say, +more obvious, for we know that scarce a city, town or village in the +State, and far and wide outside it, but contained just us good men and +true as were possessed by Buffalo; but we refer to it thus particularly, +as it is more immediately connected with our tale. We could mention many +names as sterling in every relation as those we now introduce; but none, +we apprehend, more intimately blended with the actual descent of the +brave O'Neill upon Canada, save the handful of heroes who joined him +in that proud and daring expedition; and none which, in the hour of +the sorest need of the Organization, sacrificed more for the sake of +Ireland. + +When the moment was considered ripe for the movement, then, the eyes of +the Fenian authorities were turned towards Buffalo, and other points +on the frontier lying close upon the Canadian borders. In this city, +Francis B. Gallagher, Esq., and five or six others were regarded as +marked personages towards which a peculiar portion of the movement +should gravitate before finally crossing the lines. These gentlemen, +from their independent circumstances, excellent social standing and +undoubted patriotism, were regarded as pillars of strength upon which +the expedition might properly lean for a moment, and adjust itself +before attempting to cross the Rubicon and enter the country of the +enemy. There were more, also, in this city, who evinced a spirit of the +truest love of Ireland upon that occasion, as upon all previous once, +and who assisted in forwarding the grand objects of the organization +to the utmost stretch of their abilities, but as their names are too +numerous to mention here, and as they had their counterpart, as they +have to-day, in various localities throughout the Union, we shall merely +note the circumstance of their existence. As to the Brotherhood in +its military aspect here, no portion of the State or Union was better +represented in this connection, or more competent to distinguish itself +upon the field. Its civil relations, also, were equally creditable; Mr. +Gallagher, as the period for action approached, becoming active, anxious +and restless; devoting his time assiduously to the affairs of the +Brotherhood, and constantly communicating with headquarters on some +point of importance. And thus affairs stood when the first draft of +men arrived in the city under Senator Bannon, of Louisville, Ky., and +Senator Fitzgerald, of Cincinnati, and when the movement on Canada might +be said to have fairly commenced. + +Soon, however, it began to be discovered that, although Buffalo, and +other places, were alive to their duty and ready to contribute their +quota to the expedition, there was a screw loose somewhere; and on the +evening of the thirty-first of May, it was ascertained that, although +numbers of volunteers had arrived from various points, through the +unfortunate neglect or incapacity of the then Secretary of War, there +was no one to command them. This was a dreadful state of affairs indeed, +and one which admits of no palliation. It was expected that General +Lynch, or some other distinguished officer, would take charge of the +expedition from this point; but that gallant and experienced soldier, +owing to the receipt of incorrect orders, did not arrive in time to +assume the command. Up to this point, and for some time previously, +matters had been conducted in a manner so careless by the War +Department, that the mere casual observer might reasonably presume some +parties connected with it courted failure. Arms and ammunition had been +despatched to the frontier without due precaution, and to parties to +whom they ought not have been transmitted, for various reasons. Again, +the massing of forces at the various points of debarkation was neither +compact nor simultaneous,--a circumstance which occasioned so much +delay, that the American government could not possibly close their eyes +to the fact of the invasion, without compromising themselves before +the world. Had one simultaneous and compact movement characterized the +expedition, the American authorities would never have interfered with +it; but when it was rubbed under their nose for days, through the +blundering or criminality of those who undertook to direct it from the +War Department, what was to have been expected other than is now known +to have occurred? + +In addition to this, no transport had been actually secured for the +troops that had arrived at Buffalo, and the dilemma was intensified +to the extremest pitch. What ship-owner, in the face of such bungling, +would run the risk of placing any of his vessels at the disposal of a +party so uncomfortably situated? That was a question which presented +itself at the last moment, and which was more easily put than answered. + +When all was dark and uncertain, however, and when the heart of many +began to fail, in stepped the gallant O'Neill upon the platform, +offering to command the expedition. He had arrived previously from +Nashville, Tenn., with his contingent, and felt how dreadful the +position in which the project was placed. A council of war was held, +at which Captain Hynes was present; and as this latter gentleman had +delegated authority from Gen. Sweeney, Colonel O'Neill--now General--was +at once placed in command. So far so good; but how were the troops to +get across the river? The interrogatory, as already observed, was a +perplexing one; but it was instantly solved by Mr. Gallagher and one or +two other gentlemen, who voluntarily, and at the imminent risk of every +dollar they possessed, pledged all they were worth in the world, and +procured the necessary means for crossing the river, and landing the +first instalment of the army of the Irish Republic upon British soil. + +The number of men assembled at Buffalo on the night already mentioned +was about eight hundred,--being detachments from the following +regiments:--13th Infantry, Colonel John O'Neill; 17th Infantry, Colonel +Owen Stan; 18th Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Grace; 7th Infantry, +Colonel John Hoy, and two companies from Indiana, under Captain +Haggerty; but the number of men that could be gotten together when the +expedition crossed did not exceed six hundred. + +An authentic report of this brief but glorious campaign will be found at +the close of this work. We introduce it as historical information, from +a most unerring source. The subject, it will be perceived, is treated +in the most impartial and unimpassioned manner; dealing simply in dry +details, and in that curt, soldier-like matter of fact style, which aims +at nothing like effect, and seeks only to recount circumstances as they +occurred, and that, too, in the briefest possible manner. + +Scarcely had the last boat, with the invading expedition, pushed off +from the American shore, on the night of the 31st of May, already +mentioned, when another craft, pulled by two men, its only occupants, +followed in the wake of the receding troops, dropping a little further +down the river, as it neared the Canadian side. From their dress and +appearance, the rowers might have been recognized by many a Buffalonian, +as Black Jack and the Kid, who were evidently bent upon dogging the +invaders, and, while keeping at a safe distance, dealing in such plunder +on their outskirts as might swell their own villainous coffers, while +the criminality should attach to the Fenians. This course was prompted +on their part by a sort of blind, bull-dog adherence to everything +English, and a hope of picking up in the red trail of the campaign such +valuables as would increase their already large though ill-gotten store. + +On reaching the Canadian shore, both these worthies, who had but a few +nights previously conveyed Kate across the Niagara, set out for the +village of Fort Erie, which lay about four miles up the river, and which +they did not wish to approach directly from the American side, but creep +towards in the rear of the moving mass. + +Under no circumstances does the human wolf exhibit itself to such +monstrous intensity as under those of war. Not the wolf in the uniform +of the soldier, for, let him be as blood-thirsty as he may, he buys, on +the field, to some extent at least, the right to be savage. The current +coin in which he deals is human gore; and in this relation he freely +exchanges with his antagonist the circulating medium, and gives or +takes, as the necessities of the moment may demand. He stands a nine-pin +on the great bowling-alley of the field, and takes his chance of being +knocked down in common with his opponent, who occupies a precisely +similar position. He offers life for life; and, lamentable as the +doctrine may be, he seems licensed to plunder, and, if needs be, kill. +Here, of course, we speak of the mere hireling, who has no higher object +before him than that of simple gain--who is actuated solely by a sordid +love of gold--whose soul and body are as purchasable as a pound of beef +in the shambles, and who is moved by the wretched pulses of mammon only. +Such an one, although low in the scale of humanity, and unworthy +of being mentioned in the same breath with the glorious patriot who +unsheathes his sword for Father-land, Liberty and Heaven, is an angel +of light compared with the lynx-eyed, dastardly prowler, who, when the +heart of his quarry has been stilled by some other hand, gropes, gloved +with clotted sore, among the mangled remains for the booty he never +earned; or who, when the thunder of the field, or the onward course of +a victorious army lays waste the fair land, takes advantage of the dread +and confusion of the inhabitants, and gorges himself with plunder, as +though he were a victor to whom should belong the spoils. Such wreckers +of the dead are the ghouls of our race; and never had they more faithful +representatives than the two villains who, in due course, mingled with +the invaders in the village, anxious to commence their depredations +before even a single shot was fired. + +Barry, as already intimated, joined the expedition, and was now numbered +among the invaders. Of course he perceived that with such a mere handful +of men, nothing could be effected in the Province; but, then, he +never supposed for a moment, that they were other than the simple +advance-guard of a numerous following close upon their rear. In +addition, it was anticipated that the landing of troops upon the +Canadian shore would be effected simultaneously along the frontier at +different points. This was the settled conviction of O'Neill, and of his +officers also, as the scheme formed a leading feature of the +programme of the campaign. But here the fates were against them; for +transportation, as we are led to believe, was not secured effectively +at any point save Buffalo. In fact, this city appears to have acquitted +itself with regard to the invasion, in a manner that reflects the +highest credit upon the Fenian authorities of the district; for even +when the expedition, on finding that the American Government had +interfered with the transport of reinforcements, had considered it +prudent to return, the means of reaching the American shore were placed +at its command by the patriotic gentlemen already alluded to; while, +farther still, when the United States authorities were seizing the arms +of the Brotherhood in every direction, Buffalo, through the admirable +management of these persons, contrived to keep its quota intact. + +During the morning of the landing, Nicholas happened to get a glimpse +of the Kid and big dark companion in the village; and the circumstance +awoke strong hopes in his bosom in relation to gaining some intelligence +of Kate. From all he had heard, and from having found the trinket in +their boat, he felt convinced that either one or the other of these +scoundrels knew something of her. He, therefore, kept track of them +until a fitting opportunity, when he accosted the Kid, as a sort of +half acquaintance, and, by way of attempting to surprise him into a +confession of some knowledge of Kate, produced the silver chased button +already referred to, and asked him if he knew the name of the lady that +had recently dropped it in his boat. For a moment the villain, who was, +of course, none other than the Stephen Smith that was in the habit +of visiting the Wilsons, seemed taken aback; but instantly recovering +himself, replied, that his boat was so often hired by fishing parties, +it would be difficult to tell the name of the lady from whose dress it +might have dropped--that was, "provided it had dropped from a lady's +dress, at all." + +Although the thrust was adroitly parried, Nicholas, who was on the _qui +vive_, noticed his momentary confusion, and determined to keep his eye +upon him, in the hope that something might soon turn up that would throw +the villain more completely into his power, and enable him to extract +from him the intelligence which he still felt satisfied was in his +possession. With this end in view, he set one of his comrades, who had +escaped from the Fort with him, to watch with the utmost caution +and secrecy every manoeuvre of the wretch and his companion; fully +satisfied, as he was, that both the rascals were determined to follow in +the wake of the army, for purposes already mentioned. + +The conduct of the Invaders at Fort Erie was of such general excellence, +that the inhabitants of that place speak of them, up to the +present hour, in terms of such admiration as to excite the +jealous animadversions of many of the Canadian people themselves. +Notwithstanding that the village and its vicinity lay helplessly at +their disposal, and was, for the moment, theirs by right of conquest, +they entered it rather in the character of guests than in that of +masters. Although the usages of war placed all that it contained at +their feet, they never appropriated to their use even one solitary loaf +of bread or glass of ale without having first paid for it. As to their +generosity and chivalry in this connection, let us quote from the work +of Major George T. Denison, Jun'r, commanding "the Governor General's +Body Guard," Upper Canada; author of "Manual and Outpost Duties," +"Observations on the best Defensive Force for Canada, &c."--an officer +who took part in the campaign against the Fenians, and who cannot be +charged with partiality to the invaders. In this work, published in +June, 1866, by Rollo & Adam, Toronto, and entitled "The Fenian Raid on +Fort Erie, with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway," the author, +page 62, observes, first, as to the disastrous result of the collision +between both armies, to the Canadians:-- + +"The loss of this fight was the loss of the whole expedition. The two +Commanding Officers were wandering about the country, the main body of +the men captured or lying wounded about the village; the Captain of the +Artillery struck down with the loss of a leg, and the Tug almost denuded +of men, and the few left so hampered with a lot of useless prisoners, as +to be unable to undertake anything." + +And again, after having complimented the invaders on some instances of +personal bravery, he remarks, page 69: + +"Before closing this chapter, I must mention that, from all accounts, +the Fenians, except in so far as they were wrong in invading a peaceful +country, in carrying on an unjustifiable war, behaved remarkably well +to the inhabitants. I spent three weeks in Fort Erie, and conversed with +dozens of the people of the place, and was astonished at the universal +testimony borne by them to their unvarying good conduct. They have been +called plunderers, robbers and marauders; yet, no matter how unwilling +we may be to admit it, the positive fact remains, that THEY STOLE BUT +FEW VALUABLES; THAT THEY DESTROYED, COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, LITTLE OR +NOTHING, AND THAT THEY COMMITTED NO OUTRAGES UPON THE INHABITANTS, BUT +TREATED EVERYONE WITH UNVARYING COURTESY. On taking a number of the +Welland Battery and the Naval Company prisoners, THEY TREATED THEM +WITH THE GREATEST KINDNESS, putting the officers under their parole +and RETURNING TO THEM THEIR SIDE ARMS; taking them down to the wharf on +their departure, and releasing them, bidding them adieu with EXPRESSIONS +OF GOOD WILL." + +"Another incident," he goes on to say, same page, "occurred, worth +mentioning: A number of them went to a widow lady's house, near Fort +Erie, and asked her for something to eat. They were about going into the +kitchen to sit down, and she told them she would not let them in,--they +laughingly replied, 'very well, ma'am, we'll do here very well, it is a +very nice yard;' and accordingly they sat down on the grass and ate the +bread and butter and milk she gave them. Another squad in the same +way took breakfast there. In the evening a man came, ragged and tired, +looking for something to eat. Seeing a loaf of bread on the table he +took it up. The lady said: 'That is the last loaf I have.' The man +looked at her and said slowly: 'Is that the last loaf of bread that you +have? then I'll not take it,' and laid it on the window-sill. Seeing +this, she asked him to take half. After pressing it upon him, he at +length took a portion of it. This story is undoubtly true, as I obtained +it from the lady herself, with whom I am intimately acquainted." + +"It perhaps," he continues in the next paragraph, page 70, "does +not come with a good grace from a Canadian to give any credit to the +Fenians, who, without any ground of complaint against us, invade our +country and cause the loss of valuable lives among us; but as a truthful +narrator of facts, I must give them credit on the only ground on which +they can claim it." + +This is honest and soldierly on the part of Major Denison; but should +these pages chance to meet his eye, he will find his theory untenable in +relation to the immunity of Canada from the consequences of any acts for +which England may seemingly be responsible only. The war of 1812 was +not a war against Canada, but against Great Britain, and yet Canada was +invaded by the Americans and made the principal theatre of the +conflict. How multifarious soever, or widely scattered its colonies or +dependencies, every nation is a unit, and consequently amenable as well +in detail as in the aggregate, for any offence committed against public +justice or humanity. When you quarrel with a man, you don't quarrel in +particular with his eye, his foot, or his nose, although you may punish +him as a whole by inflicting injury upon all or any of these organs; and +thus it is in the case under consideration; the New Dominion is the foot +or the eye or the nose of John Bull, and as such, any enemy of England +is justifiable in maiming him in any or all of these parts. This is +the hard logic of the point; and if Canada wishes to escape its +consequences, she must demonstrate to the Irish people, or to any other +who may be at enmity with England, that she is neither part nor parcel +of the British Empire. How ridiculous the plea set up by Canada, that +because she was not forsooth an active individual agent of gross tyranny +and injustice towards Ireland, she ought to be exempt from any of the +consequences arising to the real culprit in the case. The same argument +might be urged with as much reason, by half the population of England +herself, who are just as innocent in this respect as the people of +Canada; they having never been consciously concerned in any oppression +of Ireland, either individually or collectively. But they are the +friends, allies and abettors of the government which has perpetrated +such crimes in relation to Ireland,--nay, more, they create and sustain +the agencies through which these wrongs are committed; and in this +they are joined heart, hand and soul, by the people of Canada or the +representatives of that people. Canada, then, having sworn allegiance to +the Crown of Great Britain, is constructively, as well as virtually, +as much an enemy of Ireland as England is. The Firm, comprising Great +Britain and all its colonies and dependencies throughout the world, is +known as John Bull & Co., and the distinctive sign of the house, in all +its ramifications, is the Union Jack or some adaptation of the red +cross of St. George to local predilections. As in ordinary mercantile +transactions, a debt incurred by any branch of the establishment +involves the responsibility of the whole, and can be levied for +in London or Hokitika. This is the true state of the case, and any +individual who would advance a doctrine contrary to it, is either a +simpleton or a knave. + +Black Jack and his companion were astonished to find such order reign in +the midst of an invading army, and to perceive that the inhabitants +of the village were not subjected to instant plunder, if not fire and +sword, by the troops now in possession of the place. They had come over +in the hope of being able to make some bold strokes in the wake of the +soldiery, and the confusion that they had fancied should obtain among +the people; but finding that they were foiled in this direction, they +cast their eyes about them to see what was best to be done under the +circumstances. + +"I'll be blowed," growled Jack, as they both rambled in the outskirts +of the village the morning of their arrival, "if this ain't a go. Honly +fancy, Kid, vot a set of spoonies these 'ere fellows har, not to be goin +it like the Hinglish in Hindia, or in the Peninsoola under the Duke. I +'eard a fellow as vos there say, that they used to steal hoff at night +and 'av hodd sport and leave none to tell the tale in the mornin. +Glorious, vosn't it? And then ven they gathered hup the svag, they +made it hall right vith the sentries and sometimes vith the hofficers +themselves." + +"Jack, I'll never make anything of you," returned the Kid; "your +language is so vulgar, and your address altogether so ungentlemanlike, +that you at once peach on yourself; for anybody, with even half an eye, +that either sees you or hears you speak, would take you for the villain +you unquestionably are." + +"Oh! bless'ee, but you're a sveet cove," rejoined Jack, "and no vun +vould suppose for a moment that you cut Sal Gordon's throat, the night +you coaxed her hoff to marry her, just because you took a fancy to a +couple of five-pun notes she had in her trash-bag that she refused to +give hup afore the knot vos tied." + +"Come, come," winced the Kid, "no more of that, but let us see if we +can't do a little business here, or, at least, before we return, which +I venture to say we shall manage if we keep in the wake of these fellows +without arousing the suspicions of any of them." + +"Yes, yes!" said Jack, "but vot hif ve should run foul of the henemy and +be taken hup as belongin to these 'ere chaps, hif so be they're beaten, +as I hope they vill?" + +"I tell you what, there's but one chap among them all that'll keep +his eye on us," replied the Kid, "and that's the fellow who thought to +surprise me into a confession, by suddenly producing a button that, I +apprehend, dropped off the dress of the lady that we, recently ran over +here for our new employer. I have found out his name, and learned that +he was engaged to be married to this same beauty, who is now safely +caged at Wilson's, where she'll soon be apt to learn that she's in about +as nice a fix as ever she was in during her life. But," he continued, "I +don't know what to make of that Martha. All I can do or say, whenever I +happen to be at the house, has no other effect than that of apparently +making her more and more opposed to her uncle's wishes, until I am +convinced shell never be mine, willingly at least. And after all, I love +the girl well enough; although I feel I should kill her before she was +mine a month." + +Thus baffled and circumscribed, these two scoundrels prowled about the +village until near ten o'clock, when the troops moved down the river +about four miles, and went into camp at Newbiggin's farm. At this period +the gallant O'Neill was in great uncertainty. Here he was in an enemy's +country with but a handful of men, and in utter darkness as to what was +going on at other points. Already, at Buffalo, he had a taste of the +manner in which the War Department had conducted the expedition to +that point; and was, of course, afraid that the inefficiency of that +department would make itself apparent in more relations than one. In +the ability, activity and devotion of President Roberts, Vice-President +Gibbons and the Senate, he had the fullest confidence; but Col. Roberts +did not take it upon himself to dictate to a department that was in +charge of what was believed to be an old and experienced military +officer, and one on whose judgment and practical skill he placed the +fullest reliance. The position was a desperate one; but O'Neill was +determined to maintain his ground on British soil, until satisfied that +failure had obtained elsewhere, and that there was no probability of his +being reinforced. He had long burned for an opportunity of meeting the +enemies of the land of his birth in open fight; and now, although all +around looked dark and uncertain, he was determined to join issue with +any force that was brought against him. His men for the most part, too, +shared this sentiment. True, that a few cowardly hounds had deserted his +standard almost as soon as it had been unfurled on the enemy's +shore; but then these were of that miserable breed that always attach +themselves to expeditions of this sort without measuring their motives +or the strength of their principles. However, be this as it may, they +have forever forfeited their claims to the name of Irishmen, if such +they were; while the very recollection will be painful to many, that so +dastardly and worthless a crew tainted, even for a single moment, the +pure atmosphere in which such men breathed as the following, not to +speak of the noble rank and file whose names we are unable, for obvious +reasons, to give here, and who, like them, led by the gallant O'NEILL, +immortalized themselves on the field of Ridgeway: + +_OFFICERS OF THE I.R.A., PRESENT AT RIDGEWAY_. + + Lieutenant RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK, Aid-de-Camp to O'NEILL. + + Colonel OWEN STARR, commanding Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant Colonel JOHN SPAULDING, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Captain TIMOTHY O'LEARY, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Captain JOHN GEARY, Lexington, Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant PATK J. TYRRELL. Louisville, Kentucky troops. + Lieutenant MICH'L BOLAND, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + + Colonel JOHN HOY, Buffalo, commanding 7th Regiment I.R.A. + Lieutenant Colonel MICH'L BAILEY, Buffalo, 7th Regiment I.R.A. + Captain JOHN M. FOGARTY, Buffalo. + Captain WM. B. SMITH, Buffalo. + Lieutenant EDW'D LONERGAN, Buffalo. + + Colonel JOHN GRACE, Cincinnati; commanding Ohio troops. + Captain SAM SULLIVAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. + Lieutenant JOHN J. GEOGHAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. + + Captain ---- BUCKLEY, Cleveland, Ohio troops. + Lieutenant TIMOTHY LAVAN, Cleveland, Ohio. + + Captain ---- McDONALD, Pulaski, Tennessee. + + Captain LAWRENCE SHIELDS, Nashville, commanding Tennessee troops. + Captain PHILIP MUNDY, Chattanooga, Tenn. + Lieutenant JAMES J. ROACH, Nashville, Tenn. + Lieutenant JOHN MAGUIRE, Nashville, Tenn. + + Captain MICH'L CONLON, Memphis, Tennessee. + + Captain ---- HAGGERTY, Indianapolis, Indiana. + + Major JOHN C. CANTY, Fort Erie, C.W. + +We trust that we have not omitted here the name of any officer present +at Ridgeway. If it should ever appear that we have done so, it will be a +source of great pain to us, although we can plead in apology that every +effort was made on our part to procure a complete list. + +Seeing that there was not much to be made out of Fort Erie, the two +comrades, Black Jack and the Kid, moved cautiously in the rear of the +troops as they fell down the river; their intention being to remain +concealed in the vicinity of any point at which an engagement might take +place, and then trust to chance for an opportunity of rifling the dead +or picking up whatever spoils happened to drop in their way. While +deliberating upon this creditable resolve, about noon, as they had made +a detour and pushed ahead of the troops, who were going into camp, their +attention was arrested by the noise of some vehicle coming up a side +road across which they were wending their way. In the course of a few +moments they discovered that it was the wagon of Wilson, driven by that +worthy, in the direction of the village of Waterloo; he evidently not +having, as yet, heard of the Province being invaded. Immediately a +conference took place between the three friends, when it was agreed that +Wilson's wagon should be concealed in a wooded hollow close by, and that +it should be made the receptacle of whatever plunder might be +secured during the struggle that they all felt must soon take place. +Consequently, the team was turned aside, and, after being unhitched, was +secured in a close clump of trees, that was not likely to be visited by +any persons in the vicinity; and more particularly so, when the country +was now being alarmed throughout, and people were securing themselves in +their habitations. + +After this being arranged, and the horses fed and watered, the party +again sallied forth towards the main road, with a view to getting +as near as was safe to the camp of the invaders, and gleaning some +information as to their future movements. They had been hovering about +in this way for some time, when they came to a point where two roads +met, and where they perceived two wagons in which were a number of +people, all standing and reconoitering something, in alarm or surprise, +through a field-glass, which they were passing from one to the other. +At a glance the trio saw that these persons were Canadians; and, fearing +nothing, they made instantly towards them, and as though in ignorance of +what had taken place, made inquiries as to what they were inspecting. + +While engaged in conversation upon this point, and learning that those +in the wagons were observing a body of armed men who were moving at some +distance from them, but whom they could not identify as either friends +or foes, the whole party perceived an officer riding towards them with +the greatest apparent coolness and confidence. On coming up, he informed +them that the body of men in the distance were some volunteers who were +not very well acquainted with the roads about there, and that he would +feel obliged if they would just drive down and give the commanding +officer whatever information was in their power upon the subject of the +best route to be taken to a certain point, naming it. To this request +they all gladly acceded, the Kid and Jack not daring to say a word, and +not one of them suspecting anything from the peculiar uniform of the +officer; from the fact that they were not aware the hat indicated that +he did not belong to any Canadian force; believing, as they did, that +the uniforms of the volunteers were of various descriptions. When, +however, they arrived at the point where the men were stationed, they +quickly found out their mistake, and, to their utter consternation, were +all made prisoners, Wilson and his two companions included. The body +that made this capture was a reconnoitering force commanded by Col. John +Hoy; and no sooner was it made, than the prisoners and the two wagons +were at once forwarded under an escort to O'Neill's camp, where, on the +Kid and Black Jack being recognized as belonging to Buffalo, they were +released at once; the others being held for a short period with a view +to gaining some information from them, relative to the movements or +whereabouts of the enemy, of which, as it subsequently turned out, they +knew nothing whatever. + +This introduction to the camp was considered fortunate by the Kid and +his comrade, who now, on being acknowledged by some of the men who knew +nothing of their real character, seemed anxious to remain under the +protection of the Irish flag until, as they stated, they could effect +their escape across the river; as they now averred that, should they +attempt to regain Buffalo alone, they could not fail to fall into the +hands of the Canadian forces, who, it was rumored, were gathering on +every side of the Fenian army, with the design of surrounding it and +cutting off its retreat. This all seemed natural and reasonable enough; +and more particularly as the two villains asserted that they were on +their way to Chippewa on business of importance, but should now get back +to their home as soon as practicable; they not having had any idea that +the invasion was about to take place; and having crossed to the Canadian +side early the evening before; that finding they could not get any one +to recross the river with them, as things stood, they thought it better +to keep in the wake of the army until they had reached some point where +they could effect a crossing; not wishing to entrust themselves to the +people of Fort Erie, after the troops had evacuated that place, as they +felt certain that the inhabitants regarded them as Fenians, and would +treat them as such if an opportunity was afforded them to do so. + +During the day nothing of interest transpired, until towards evening, +when Barry, with two of his old comrades and four others of his company, +who were thoroughly acquainted with the locality, were despatched +from the camp, as were similar squads in other directions, to make +reconnoissances of the enemy, if they were anywhere near the main body +of the army. After proceeding cautiously for a couple of miles, and +pausing, from time to time, to reconnoitre, on gaining the verge of a +small piece of wooded land, they suddenly found themselves almost face +to face with ten or twelve armed soldiers, in British uniform, who +seemed to be an outpost lying in wait among some pine shrubs, on the +opposite side of a narrow ravine. Fortunately for our hero, he was +the first to discover the red coats, upon whom the sun was pouring its +declining rays, revealing them to the green coats, while at the same +time it dazzled and obscured their vision, from the fact that the +light flashed full in their faces, while it fell on the backs of their +advancing adversaries. A few hundred yards towards the upper end of the +ravine, there was a small patch of wood, through which Barry instantly +determined to move towards the point occupied by the enemy; hoping to +be able to surprise them before they were aware of his proximity. This +manoeuvre was accomplished rapidly, and with the utmost caution; but as +an open space yet intervened between him and them, when he had gained +the verge of the grove, he determined to remain under cover, with a view +to ascertaining the strength of the force he might have to cope with; +not knowing but it was larger than it seemed to be from the opposite +side of the glen. + +Here, however, he had scarcely halted when he was discovered by the +enemy, who took alarm; but, after a moment's pause, during which a good +deal of coolness was observed amongst their ranks, they deliberately +poured a volley into the grove where he and his little band stood under +shelter, although discernible among the trees. No sooner had the music +of the bullets ceased, and as a full view was had of the force of the +enemy, than the Fenians dashed across the open space already mentioned, +and charged in a spirited manner, although received by the foe with +the utmost intrepidity, and an evident intention to work some mischief +before they retired from the spot. Barry, however, instructed his little +band not to fire until within a few yards of their antagonists, who were +now coolly reloading; so, before the redcoats were again prepared to +give another volley, one simultaneous crash of the Fenian rifles threw +them into momentary confusion; and, the next instant, both parties were +closely engaged in a life and death struggle. + +The fire of the Fenians had made sad havoc amongst the small force, +which was now cut down to the proportions of that of their own; still +those that remained never swerved an inch, but joined with their +adversaries, hip and thigh. There was but one volley fired on +either side; and, now that the shrubbery was so thick and withal so +inconveniently high, both parties had recourse to their side arms to +decide the day. Hand to hand, and desperately they fought, without much +indication of the mortal strife, save the low groan of the dying and the +thick breathing of those who struggled upon the green sward among the +roots of the young pines that so thickly studded the place. Already had +Barry silenced forever the pulses of more than one of his antagonists, +when their leader, a powerful man of about thirty-five, made a sudden +bound towards him, after having in turn brought his own assailant to +the ground, and instantly both their swords were crossed, as they stood, +alone, in an open space of a few feet square, while the deadly conflict +still half silently raged around them among the three or four who now +survived to battle for their respective flags. + +Barry, although but a private soldier when in the British service, was +regarded as one of the best swordsmen in his regiment. In fact, he was +that sort of person who took delight in excelling in every military +exercise, so that his task-masters should have no grounds for wounding +his feelings or his pride in any matter connected with the discipline +of a soldier. So skillful was he in this connection, that the moment +he caught sight of the manner in which his enemy grasped his weapon, +he looked for but one issue touching the encounter, and that was, the +probable destruction of both. He felt that he had an antagonist before +him worthy the occasion, and braced himself for the work with all the +energy of his being. Swift as lightning, both weapons flashed in the +sunlight, and the next instant lay pressing uneasily against each other +in mid-air; forming a shifting and glittering arch of death, beneath +which either its crimson or emerald pillar was soon to fall in +ensanguined ruins. Not a word was spoken on either side; each believing +that his hour or that of the other had come! The conflict in the +surrounding shrubbery had already almost ceased. Brief as the period +was, the remaining few of the enemy were vanquished and soon had fled, +pursued by a victorious two or three, being scarcely themselves more +than that number, having suffered severely, although they fought with +great bravery. It was the seven hundred years of hate and the red blood +of Ireland, that decided the conquest for so far in favor of the green; +and now, face to face, with lips compressed and glaring eye, stood the +two representatives of the individual antagonisms, which had been pitted +against each other for ages, and which never can breathe in peace the +same vital air. As if understanding, thoroughly, the power, agility and +skill of his antagonist, the opponent of Barry, who was an Englishman by +birth, and had been in the British service, never sought for a moment to +gain any advantage of the ground. In this relation, he seemed satisfied +to fight his adversary on equal terms; being well aware that a single +move might be fatal, inasmuch as it could not fail to distract his +attention to some extent from his watchful enemy. The sward sloped +down rapidly to the ravine; so that he who occupied the most elevated +position would have his adversary at an advantage; but, although this +conviction was impressed upon the minds of both, neither seemed anxious +to avail himself of it; and thus they stood upon equal terms, in every +way antagonists worthy of each other. In height, the Englishman had it +somewhat in his favor; but, then, not above an inch or so; while Barry, +in agility and compactness, seemed to be vastly his superior. And such +they were, when the first thrust and parry told that the work had begun. +This was immediately succeeded by a furious clashing, that evidenced a +rising tempest of anger in the breast of either, or both, and which gave +promise of being speedily followed by some fatal stroke that was sure to +terminate the encounter. During this ominous flurry, Barry stood on +the defensive, coolly eyeing his brave adversary, and watching for the +unguarded moment when he could either kill or disarm him; but this was +not so easily found, as the Englishman was every inch a soldier and a +superb swordsman; and Barry knew it well. + +Notwithstanding the violence of the attack, so adroitly was it met, +and so firmly was it withstood, that our hero never gave way a hair's +breadth of ground, or suffered a single scratch; and now only, in +reality, the murderous conflict commenced. The Englishman perceiving +that our hero was not to be moved or thrown off his guard for an +instant, became more fully satisfied that he had a dangerous antagonist +to deal with, and so commenced to be himself more cautions and guarded. +Seeing that mere personal strength availed him but little, he fell +back on his admirable swordsmanship and fought with coolness the most +undaunted. Barry now, in turn, became the assailant, and pressing his +antagonist with great skill and courage, gave him a slight flesh wound, +followed rapidly by another in the sword arm, from which the blood began +to flow copiously. Perceiving that the conflict must be decided at once, +as he should soon become faint from loss of blood, once more the red +coat became the assailing party; but this time, as he was pressing our +hero, but somewhat more feebly than before, his foot caught beneath +the tough, fibrous roots of one of the pine shrubs by which they were +surrounded, and the next instant he was thrown headlong towards Barry, +while his sword flew out of his hand far beyond his reach. + +The fight was over; and fortunate it was for the prostrate soldier that +it was brought to so singular a determination; for, from the manner +in which he was bleeding, if from nothing else, the day was sure to be +decided in Barry's favor. Regaining his feet, as soon as possible, he +looked aghast for a moment, as if expecting his death blow; but found +his antagonist not only presenting him his sword, but begging him not to +continue the conflict, as from his wound he was in no situation to keep +it up longer with any show of success. + +"By my faith," he replied in return, "I believe, under any +circumstances, the fates were against me; so, understanding what is due +to a brave man, keep my sword and find me some water, as I begin to feel +a little shakey about the knees." + +Just at the foot of the slope, and but a few yards distant, there was a +brook, to which our hero now led his prisoner, and where, after bathing +his temples and bandaging his wound with a handkerchief, he left him for +a moment to look after those who might need his aid more urgently, hard +by. He found, after all, that but one of his party was killed, although +two others, who managed to creep in amongst the shrubbery, were severely +wounded. Not knowing how the contest was going, and seeing themselves +completely _hors de combat_, they waited in silence the result, fearing +to call out, lest the enemy might be upon them and despatch them. The +red coats suffered most severely; six of their number having been killed +outright. Strange to say, however, that there appeared to have been none +of them simply wounded; for, although groans were heard to proceed from +the point where they lay, they must have been uttered in their death +agonies, so mortal was the damage dealt them. + +When this much was ascertained, Barry was deliberating as to what had +become of the remaining three of his party, when they returned to the +scene of conflict, weary with a fruitless chase. These men instantly +took up their comrades and bore them down to the brook, where they +were refreshed with a cooling draught. Barry, finding that it would be +dangerous for them to remain to bury the dead, as the noise of their +rifles might have attracted the attention of some other body of the +enemy that might possibly be somewhere in the vicinity of the ravine, +determined to retrace his steps at once. His two wounded companions, +like his prisoner, were able to walk slowly towards the camp; so, +collecting the enemy's dead into one place, and covering them with +branches of evergreens, they took up the body of their fallen comrade +and, placing it on a litter hastily formed of boughs gathered on the +spot, slowly wended their way with it towards the point occupied by +the main body of the army--Barry and his prisoner moving in the same +direction, some distance in the rear. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +In the morning that Greaves visited the Fort in Canada, garrisoned by +Barry's regiment, it will be remembered that he had a brief interview +with the Colonel. Momentary as it was, however, it was sufficient to +prevent Barry from getting his discharge; for the Colonel was then and +there apprised that our hero sought to leave the army for the purpose +only of joining the anticipated Fenian invasion, giving it the +advantage of his military skill, and aiding it with his knowledge of the +fortifications that the invaders might attempt to posses themselves of. +On being persuaded, through a glance at a certain document placed in +his hands, that Greaves was to be trusted, he at once decided as to the +course that he himself ought to pursue, and the reader has already seen +the result. Strange as it may appear for the present, it was Greaves' +object to induce Barry to desert, and thereby shut himself out from ever +revisiting the British dominions again. He felt that it would be better, +too, that he should not be taken while in the act of deserting; as his +punishment could be but light, owing to the circumstance, that he had +endeavored, though in vain, to obtain his discharge honorably; so he +determined to aid his escape from the Fort, and secure his outlawry +beyond any possibility of mistake. Why he was prompted to an act so +gratuitous and so apparently undeserved, remains for future explanation; +but, at present, all we have to do with is the simple fact, that owing +to his mysterious machinations, our young hero was driven to the step he +had taken. + +It is, we perceive, a fact, that O'Brien was correct in his first +estimate of Greaves; as that smooth-tongued traitor was the notorious +spy in the pay of the English government, sent out to Canada with a view +to learning the particulars of the power and intentions of Fenianism in +the Provinces, as well as in the adjoining Republic. In this connection, +he had such papers in his possession as recommended him to the Canadian +Minister who gave him, on his arrival in the city where we first +encountered him, such assistance and direction as his maudlin state of +mind could afford. He recommended him to the confidence of many persons +in the upper part of the Province, where he had been staying for some +time previous to his appearance at The Harp. Among these was the Hon. J. +R-----, of Toronto--a Patrick's Day Son of the Sod, who has often nailed +Ireland to the cross for place and power; and who regards every body +as his "dear friend" who can help him up the ladder--a man with no more +human flesh about his bones or heart within him, than is possessed by +the veriest skeleton that has ever served the purposes of a college of +surgeons, after having reposed for a whole generation in the silence of +the grave. Oh! how we long for the day when we shall meet such miserable +Judases face to face, and spit upon them before the nations; and how +willing we are to admit that we should rather tomorrow shake the manly +hand of the English Joe Sheard of Toronto, open enemy and all as he is, +than touch the vile, clammy paw of such repulsive creatures as compose +the snake-like breed of which this same paltry and sordid trimmer is a +true representative. Of course, Greaves and he understood each other at +once--they were both traitors alike; only that the former was lavish of +money in attaining his nefarious ends, while the latter would crawl to +whatever goal he had in view, through any description of filth provided +it would obviate the necessity of relaxing his gripe upon his ill-gotten +gain. It is to such men as he, that Ireland owes all her misfortunes, +and that the people of Canada owe the curse of the great embarrassments +that now sorely beset them. For so far, not a single Irishman who has +ever been prominently identified with the Government of Canada, if +we are at all able to judge, has possessed a spark of honest or true +patriotism. From first to last, every man Jack of them has fleeced the +poor Canucks unmercifully, and played the toady to England in the most +fulsome and sickening manner. Even the best of them were rotten to the +core, and but mere adventurers. Look at the case of the "Hyena," as he +was called in his prime. One day we find him out at the elbows peddling +samples of wine around the Province, and the next, wallowing in wealth +through his Point Levi and other gouges at the expense of the people; +until, at last, he became sufficiently corrupt for England to send him +to take charge of her interests in one of her dependencies: where, as +it is asserted, he, from time to time, is carried from boating parties, +etc., to his palatial residence dead drunk, in open daylight. But +why spend a single breath in referring to such miserable specimens of +humanity? The world knows what they are; and Canada ought to have some +slight acquaintance with them: as they built her into the worthless +Grand Trunk at a ruinous figure, and, like her present, leading, +political juggler, Sir John A., fleeced her in every direction that a +collop could be cut out of her. + +It was amongst such tricksters, English, Irish and Scotch, that Greaves, +for the most part, moved secretly from the moment of his arrival in the +Province up to the date at which we find him at Port Colborne. He was, +however, surprised to learn that men so high in power, and that had been +so high in power, really knew so little of the great impending movement +which overshadowed the Provinces and bid fair to wrest them from the +hands of England. But few papers in Upper Canada appeared to know +anything of what was really going on in this relation, besides the +_Globe_, of Toronto. Nearly all the others, like the leader of the +government and his satellites, seemed to be at sea upon the subject. +This fact Greaves took care to mention in the dispatches which he sent +home to Ireland, from time to time; giving it as his opinion, that the +Prime Minister of Canada was a dangerous man to entrust with any large +interests, civil or military. + +How the spy had become possessed of the letter or paper which so +staggered O'Brien, is easily accounted for. One of the Organization in +Ireland, named Greaves, who had been purchased by the government while +on a mission of trust, and who had sworn his way into the Brotherhood +with a view to making merchandise of it, gave up his credentials for a +certain sum; and thus it was that they had fallen into the hands of +the Castle of Dublin and subsequently into those of the spy. Cunning as +O'Brien was, the spy read his connection with the Organization through +exhibiting this document to him on the morning succeeding the night of +our first introduction to The Harp; for he perceived, at once, that were +O'Brien not, is some way, identified with the Brotherhood, he would have +been unable to recognize the meaning of certain expressions contained in +the paper, which, as already observed, seemed to impress him so suddenly +and so forcibly. + +Now, however, that the Provinces were actually invaded, Greaves, as we +shall yet continue to call him, found that his mission had suddenly been +brought to a close. As the cat was out of the bag, however, he instantly +turned his undivided attention to some private matters of his own, and +which, after all, was the only thing that induced him to move so rapidly +west, after the escape of Barry and his comrades from the Fort. But with +all his deeply laid schemes, he began to feel a strange presentiment +that he had overreached himself, and that, notwithstanding the +supposition that he had shut out our hero from Canada for all time to +come, it was more than likely he was in the Province again, and that, +too, as an invader, and but a very short distance from the village in +which he now found himself. This surmise maddened him, for reasons to be +disclosed in due course; and, as if urged by some unseen power, he +was determined to make his way towards the camp of the invaders; well +knowing that had Barry joined it, he would vouch for his friendliness; +while, had he not re-entered the Province, he himself could make his way +among the Brotherhood as a friend, by the same means that he had stepped +into the good graces, or rather escaped the detection, of O'Brien. + +Early on the morning of the second of June, then, he set out from Port +Colborne, with a force under the command of Lieut. Col. Booker, anxious +to witness, and if necessary, take part in the first encounter between +the invaders and the Provincial troops. How did he know--perhaps a +chance bullet fired by himself might find its billet in the heart of +Barry, had the latter joined the Fenians; and if it did, then all would +be right, and his triumph secured. Still he had his misgivings as to +the success of the Canadians, notwithstanding their reputed superior +numbers, and the presence of the regulars to strengthen and inspirit the +volunteers. He saw that all was uncertainty and confusion. Col. Peacock, +of the 16th regulars, chief in command of the united forces, was at +"sixes and sevens" with the commanding officer of the volunteers, while +General Napier, commanding the regular troops in the whole of Upper +Canada, was so perplexed with rumors of invasion at various points, as +to be absolutely lost in a maze of bewilderment, and utterly incapable +of meeting the crisis in a soldierly and intelligent manner. + +Thus the confusion ran amongst the Canadians, when Col. Booker, on the +morning just alluded to, set out with his command from Port Colborne, +to attack the Irish Republican forces, encamped at Newbiggin's Farm, and +with the further intention of forming a junction with the regulars under +Col. Peacock, coming from Chippewa--the invaders being absolutely hemmed +in on all sides; as a steamer with a field battery occupied the river in +their rear, with a view to cutting off their retreat, when they were, as +it was expected they should be, defeated by the large number of forces +that were being steadily brought down upon them. + +Arriving at the village of Ridgeway, the troops left the cars and +proceeded cautiously in the direction of Stevensville, at or near which +point they hoped to form the junction with Col. Peacock, who was on his +way from Chippewa, where he had bivouacked the night before. The village +of Ridgeway is on the line of the Grand Trunk Railway, which connects +it with Port Colborne on Lake Erie on the one side, and Fort Erie on +the same lake, at the mouth of the Niagara River, on the other. It is +situated about eleven miles from the former place, and something like +eight from the latter; leaving the extreme points distant from each +other about nineteen miles. At this little place, then, Lieut. Col. +Booker found himself, in command of a force which has been variously +estimated at from twelve to eighteen hundred men, composed of the crack +volunteers of the country, and, as a general thing, commanded by brave +and experienced officers. It has, however, been asserted by some that +there were not more than one thousand British engaged at Ridgeway; but +we fear that this is under the mark, and are inclined to believe, that, +at an honest computation, their force amounted to between thirteen +and fourteen hundred. This we give on what we consider to be reliable +authority, and can, at once, presume that the division under Col. Booker +stood something more than three to one against the invaders, as the +handful under the gallant O'Neill did not exceed four hundred on the +actual field of Ridgeway. + +Stevensville lies in the direction of Chippewa, on a wagon road +branching off at right angles from the Grand Trunk at Ridgeway village, +and here it was that Col. Peacock ordered Col. Booker to meet him, with +the men under his command, with the design of forming a junction and +attacking O'Neill with a combined force of volunteers and regulars +amounting to between two and three thousand men. This junction O'Neill +was determined to defeat, and did defeat it;--but let us not anticipate. + +When Greaves stepped from the cars at Ridgeway, the first man he +encountered was the Kid; and, strange as it may appear, a sign of +recognition passed between them instantaneously. In a few moments they +managed to extricate themselves from the crowds that thronged the place, +and move off to an unfrequented spot, where they could converse unheard +and unobserved. Here they were soon engaged on a subject which seemed +to excite Greaves to the highest pitch, and elicit from him sundry +ejaculations of surprise mixed with anger. Becoming cooler, however, he +led his companion into a spot even more sequestered, and then fell into +a low and earnest conversation with him, in which the name of Barry +might be heard pronounced with a deadly, hissing vehemence, indicative +of the most frightful passion and hate. All this time the Kid remained +quite calm, answering the interrogatories of his employer, for such +Greaves appeared to be, until, at last, the plot or contract, whatever +it was, was completed, and the parties had again bent their steps to the +railway station by different paths. + +Had the gallant O'Neill two thousand men at his command on the morning +of the 2d of June, 1866, with the certainty of reinforcements, _Canada +would, ere this, have been part and parcel of the United States, and +Ireland an independent Republic_, modeled after that of the American +Union. No officer was better calculated to accomplish the overthrow +of British power in the Dominion, than he. A thorough and practiced +soldier--a man of great personal courage and daring, and above all, +a genuine Celt, fired with the hereditary hatred of England so +characteristic of his name and race, he was in himself a host. With two +thousand men, composed of such stuff as he commanded at Ridgeway, he +could have swept the road before him to Toronto; for there can be no +doubt that his numbers would have been largely augmented on the way by +Irish Nationalists and American sympathisers, who then, as now, pine for +annexation. In addition, when it became once known, that a victorious +army of the Republic of Ireland was marching on Toronto, a demonstration +favorable to the invaders would have been made in that city, or +such indications of friendship evinced by the Irish portion of the +inhabitants, as would paralyze the energies of all those within its +borders who were determined to stand by the flag of the tyrant. This, we +are certain, would have been the real result of a march upon that city; +for, all that thousands upon thousands of the people of Canada, who are +now muzzled by the government, require at any moment to range them on +the side of Ireland, is the assurance of success on the part of any +invader, whether Irish or American, who makes a descent upon their +shores. What a dreadful calamity, then, it was, that the War Department +of the Irish Republic had fallen into such careless or incompetent +hands, and that some man was not at its head who could have managed +to have thrown upon Canadian soil, at Fort Erie and one or two other +points, a force to act separately or in conjunction with sufficient +effect to completely paralyse all opposition in Western Canada, among an +already excited and incongruous host, who could have been easily swept +before a compact handful of troops fired by a spirit so lofty and a +resolve so unconquerable as that which actuated the brave little band of +patriots who have made the 2d day of June, 1866, famous in the annals of +the Irish race on this continent and on the other side of the Atlantic. + +Let it be thoroughly understood, that although the fortress of Quebec +is considered the Gibraltar of this continent, it is in the midst of +an Irish and French population absolutely hostile to British rule. The +French, like the children of Ireland, never were and never can be loyal +to England; and there are but few men in Lower Canada to-day, who would +not rather see the American flag floating over Cape Diamond at the +present moment, than the blood-stained standard which proclaims it in +the grasp of a tyrant. From this we infer, that had Toronto, Kingston +and Montreal fallen into the hands of the invaders, Quebec could not +fail to soon follow; and then for the fitting out of Irish Republican +privateers that would requite all the depredations of the Alabama +ten-fold, and cripple the commerce of England, as she had destroyed that +of the United States during the last war. General O'Neill had all this +in his eye, and was ready to push the case to the mouth of the St. +Lawrence, and there commence active operations against the merchant +service of the common enemy of both Ireland and America; sweeping it +from the high seas, and striking the tyrant in her Counting House, as +one of her most vulnerable points. There could have been no difficulty +in managing all this, had a sufficient force been thrown into the +Province at the time already mentioned; nor can it be attended with much +difficulty at any moment, provided the right men are placed at the head +of the Fenian War Department. Canada is doomed, whomsoever her conqueror +may be; so the sooner her people experience the change which is sure +to overtake her, the sooner shall she be restored to internal peace, +prosperity and security; from all of which she is now excluded, and +must remain so, as long as she continues part and parcel of the British +Empire. + +As by this time, the invading army had been in the Province for a +portion of two days and two nights, the country generally was pretty +well excited; but particularly in and about the section where the +invaders had taken up their position, as well as along the line of Col. +Peacock's march. Still there did not appear any very marked disposition +on the part of the actual settlers in these quarters to take a decided +part in stemming the invasion. It appears to us, that it was simply the +government that moved through agencies, in this connection, which +could not well disregard or resist their commands, rather than any +antagonistic, out-spoken sentiment of the people, that had developed +itself into active hostility against the Fenian forces. Be this as it +may, the numbers hastily brought against the invaders were large in +comparison with their own rank and file; and had they been actuated by a +spirit similar to that which made a host of each individual Fenian, the +fortunes of the day could not have failed to have been otherwise than +they subsequently turned out to be. Again, let it be understood, that +the majority of the little band who withstood the tempest shock at +Ridgeway, were fresh from the fields of the South and used to the song +of the bullet and the roar of artillery, as the great bulk of the army +of the Irish Republic in America is to-day; while even the British +regulars who were marching on Ridgeway were, with all their pretensions, +but feather-bed soldiers who were totally out of practice of the real +field, and had for many a day exhibited their pluck and discipline at +general reviews or sham battles only. This we hold to weigh heavily on +the side of the Irish National forces, and to decide in their favor, in +advance, in any fight with treble their number of such an enemy--that +is, we are of the fixed impression, that any hundred picked men from the +force now under the gallant O'Neill, will beat, in open fight, any +three hundred of the British army brought against them, all things being +equal, with the exception of numbers. And why?--simply because in +one case the belligerents would be fighting for the traditions and +independence of the land of their love, while in the other they would, +as a general, thing, be fighting for about six-pence a day. + +As soon as Colonel Booker and his command took the road towards +Stevensville, Greaves, who was as daring as a man could be, and who +was besides well acquainted with military tactics, procured a rifle, a +soldiers jacket, cap and accoutrements, and started forth in the wake +of the volunteers, with the rear guard of which he soon came up. The +accoutrements he wore belonged to one of the volunteers who, like many +of the men under Colonel Peacock, took suddenly ill as they approached +the Fenian lines, and fell out of the ranks. Fortunately for the spy, he +found in this guard the very comrade of the man who was left behind at +the village, and having received permission from the officer in charge, +fell into the ranks with him and held on his way, as though he were an +ordinary member of the force. + +On the other hand, the Kid, on parting with Greaves, took his way in +the direction in which he knew the invaders were slowly and cautiously +moving, in order to get between Booker and Peacock, and defeat one +command before it could form a juncture with the other. On approaching +their lines, the steady tramp of which he could hear, he fell rapidly in +the rear, where, true to their instincts, he found Black Jack and Wilson +following in the team of the latter at a respectable distance, and +anxiously waiting for the first volley that should give intimation that +an engagement had commenced. + +"By ----," exclaimed Wilson, as his acquaintance jumped into the wagon, +"this is coming to rather close quarters." + +"If so be," replied Jack, "as there vos henny har tillery in the vay, it +might urt the missuses jam pots, seein as 'ow we can't be much hover a +mile from them, from this 'ere place." + +"Scarcely that," returned the Kid, "and what's more, from the course +the Fenians are taking, they must soon be into it against three or four +times their number, and serve them right; but what luck have you had +during the night?" he continued, turning to Jack, "although I suspect +there was not much chance in the direction in which you spent it." + +"Call this a hinvasion?" retorted Jack, "vy these coves 'av only a +come hover to show their good breedin and spend their money amongst the +Canadians, instead of doin the decent thing like as ow it vos done in +Hindia and the Peninsoola, veh the real harmy cut, burned and plundered +hall afore 'em, 'and carried hoff, from old and young, bags of the most +precious svag. This is disgustin. Honly fancy the fellows a behavin as +if they vos on knight herranty of the hancient times, instead of givin +a cove a chance of to do a little business among the walluables of Fort +Erie, or hany hother place in the wicinity. I tell 'ee what, Kid, I'm +sorry as vee hever comed hover--that I be; and I vish I vos veil back +again behind my hown counter." + +"Don't be down-hearted," replied the Kid, "for there will be fun +somewhere soon, when these invaders will have to fall back on Fort Erie, +where there may be a muss, or else the Canadians will have to retreat +towards the village I have but recently left, so that in either case +there may yet be a chance to throw something into the bottom of the +wagon, and then in our turn fall back on friend Wilson's, here." + +In this way the conversation was continued, while the horses moved +slowly along the road taken by the invaders, and at such a distance +from the rear of the force, as not to be visible to any of the soldiers; +until, just as the three companions we're passing through a patch of +woods about a quarter of a mile from the rear guard of the invaders, +they were suddenly startled by the report of firearms in the direction +of the troops, just ahead of them. This report was followed by another, +and yet another, and now by one continuous volley. The famous battle of +Ridgeway had commenced! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Kate McCarthy, after having heard the disclosure of Martha, regarding +the character of her uncle, and the dangerous and nefarious practices +in which he and Smith, or the Kid, were engaged, arrived, by degrees, at +the conclusion, that she was the victim of some horrible and mysterious +plot, in which Nicholas, too, was involved unconsciously. This idea +having taken full possession of her, she immediately communicated it to +her friend, who also seemed to share her apprehension. Of course, she +had no means of accounting for the existence of the talisman upon which, +at the time she received it, she could have staked her life; but, now, +it was too plain, that even about this there was something strange and +unsatisfactory; because, from her frequent inspection of it, although +it had evidently come from the hand of Nicholas, it appeared to have +not been so clearly intended for her, as she could have desired. Yet +for whom else could it have been designed? This was the question; and +it necessarily remained unanswered, while the conviction still obtained, +that, notwithstanding there was enough in the mysterious token to +justify the course she had taken, she was nevertheless in most dangerous +toils, with the existence of which her lover was totally unacquainted. + +This once settled in her mind, her first impulse was to flee the house +immediately; but, on second consideration, she felt it were better to +await results, as she was certain that Martha was her true friend, and +believed that no actual violence would be offered to her while +under Wilson's roof. Were she to effect her escape she had neither +acquaintance nor guide to direct her steps, and was totally uninformed +as to the character and people of the locality in which she found +herself. Again, Wilson had no doubt, placed eyes upon her that would +arrest her footsteps, or so embarrass her that she should again fall +into the hands from which she sought to escape. The region around her, +as she now learned, was addicted to smuggling, and so marked was this +truth, that a house of entertainment in the neighborhood was called the +Smuggler's Home; where, it was said, bold and reckless men were to be +found constantly. There was one thing, however, she was determined upon, +and that was to procure, if possible, some weapon of defence in case any +attempt were made to further jeopardize her person or liberty; and in +this she was promptly aided by her young friend. + +She had now been nearly a week from home, and yet not an additional word +or line had arrived from her lover. It was fortunate, however, that in +her present perilous condition she had one in whom she could confide, +and whom she knew sympathised with her. This was a solace to her, as it +enabled her from time to time, to ease her burdened heart of the heavy +load that pressed upon it, and converse upon the probable designs of +those into whose toils she hod been betrayed. Smith, she was well aware, +knew all the circumstances of her case; but he was in the employment of +her persecutor or persecutors, and nothing, she was certain, was to be +gleaned from him. However, as he had some design on the hand of Martha, +the thought struck her that if opportunity served, her young friend +might be able to extract from him even a hint as to the real state of +her case; and this idea she at once communicated to her. Martha, on her +part, expressed herself willing to befriend her to the utmost of her +power; but still evinced a repugnance to be under any obligation to +Smith, or enter into relations with him that could aim at anything like +confidence between them. Yet she confessed herself ready to sacrifice +her feelings as far as she could properly do so, for the purpose of +fathoming the plot that surrounded her companion; but, then, where was +Smith to begin with; and when was it probable that he should again +make his appearance in that locality? These were points more easily +entertained than disposed of; and thus matters stood when circumstances +threw in their way the very individual they both desired to see. + +When the Kid, Jack and Wilson were liberated on the evening of the +day on which they had been captured with others, and sent into the +headquarters of Gen. O'Neill, it was decided that the first named of +these worthies should proceed at once to Wilson's, and apprise the +family of the presence of a hostile army, and the necessity of keeping +close and barricading the house in case the tide of war should roll +in that direction. The habitation, as already mentioned, stood in an +isolated spot surrounded with woods, and the proprietor was of the +impression, that it would escape notice or molestation; from the fact +that the Fenians seemed to eschew everything that savored, in even +the slightest degree, of the destruction of private property or of +gratuitous pillage. Besides, he perceived that for the purpose of +meeting some of the necessities of the invaders, a few horses had been +already impressed into their service, and felt, consequently, that were +his discovered on the road leading to his home, they could not fail to +share the same fate. He therefore, as just intimated, begged the Kid to +make the best of his way to Limestone Ridge, beside which his domicile +stood. To this request the Kid willingly acceded, as it would afford him +another opportunity of seeing Martha; so, when evening was about to set +in, he commenced his journey. + +Earlier in the day, the brave Captain O'Donohue, of the 18th, white out +on a foraging party towards Chippewa, came up with some outposts of the +enemy, who, noticing his dauntless bearing, and the steady, onward tramp +of his handful of men, fled at his approach without firing a single +shot. + +When passing out of the camp to the main road, the Kid learned that the +whole force was to move off at about ten o'clock in the direction +of Chippewa; it being the intention of the commander, as previously +observed, to get between the body of regulars about proceeding from that +point, and that of the volunteers, to move forward, and form a junction +with them, from Port Colborne; intending to attack and defeat the one +before the other came up. At this time O'Neill's troops did not, as +is confidently asserted, number as many as five hundred men; while the +force of the enemy surrounding him on every side, was estimated at an +aggregate of some thousands. This he well knew, but he had invaded the +territories of the ancient and implacable antagonist of his country and +his name, and he was determined to make another Thermopylae of any pass +in which he happened to meet the foe, no matter how overwhelming their +numbers. + +This intelligence impressed the Kid with the idea that a battle might +possibly take place somewhere in the vicinity of Stevensville or +Ridgeway; as he knew that the leader of the Irish Republican Army, or +forlorn hope, as so small a body of men might be termed, would attempt +to intercept a junction of the enemy somewhere near one or the other +of these points, as both lay on the line between Chippewa and Port +Colborne, taking the Sodom Road and the Grand Trunk Railway as the +surest and speediest route between both these latter places. So pushing +forward, with speed that never slackened, just at the period that +O'Neill was about to break camp, under the pretence of attacking +Chippewa, Mr. Stephen Smith arrived at Wilson's door, and after a polite +double knock was admitted by the mistress of that suspicious dwelling. + +Martha was soon apprised of his arrival, and while her companion +trembled throughout every limb with anxiety for the fate of the +important enquiries which she had kindly consented to make, she hastily +left the apartment where both had been long seated, conversing upon +their future and the chances of escape from such a den. On perceiving +the Kid, although her very soul revolted against the touch of his +cold, clammy hand, she seemed to welcome him with more than ordinary +cordiality. She was, of course, both surprised and alarmed at the +intelligence of the invasion, and the proximity of the two armies; for, +as yet, not a whisper of it had reached her, so secluded the place. He +spoke of the necessity of putting the house in a state of defence, so as +to be ready to meet any contingency; although, as he himself averred, he +did not apprehend the slightest danger so long as the inmates remained +within their doors, in case the din of battle was heard in the vicinity. +As it was, however, the windows were well secured, and the heavy, oaken +front-door was capable of being rendered all but invulnerable by a huge +iron bar that could be speedily thrown across it into two deep grooves +in the posts. + +All this having been seen to, some trifling inquiry was made as to their +lodger, when Mrs. Wilson, understanding previously the intention of +Martha, and sympathizing with the case of poor Kate, left the apartment, +as if on some ordinary household affair. Martha now set about gaining +the information she sought; but with all her art, could only ascertain +from her suitor, that Kate was in the power of an individual who, for +some reason unknown to him, had betrayed her into Canada, and consigned +her, for a time at least, to the place where she was now domiciled. + +"And were you a party to the abduction of this innocent creature?" +exclaimed Martha, the blood mounting to her cheeks in real anger and +disgust. + +"Oh! it was all in the way of business," replied the other, "and +perceiving that it would result in the most pleasant companionship for +one I so admire, I had the less scruples in furthering the design of a +good employer." + +Let it be understood that this villain had not even the most remote idea +of the pure nature and true character of Martha. Having seen her but a +few times, he subjected her moral worth to the standard of that of her +uncle, and thought, consequently, that the disclosure he now made would +enhance him in her estimation. In this he was mistaken; for, no sooner +had he made her thoroughly cognizant of the fact that he was not an +innocent, but a willing, instrument in the abduction of poor Kate, than +she sprang to her feet, and with a glance the most withering, and full +of unconquerable hate and aversion, without a single other word, left +the apartment and ascended to that of her friend. + +No sooner had she disappeared than an expression the most demoniacal +stole over the countenance of Smith. The very devil sat on his brow, +while his eyes turned absolutely green in their sockets. His thin, pale +lips glistened again, as he drew them across his sharp, white teeth, +in an attempt to smile. Looking stealthily about him, while a curious +expression, still more horrible, replaced the one already described, he +hastily drew a long knife from a sheath concealed beneath his vest, and +regarded it for a moment in the light of the lamp before him. He knew +that every hope of obtaining the hand of Martha was lost, and forever; +and now for a terrible revenge. + +"They are helpless and alone," he muttered, slowly rising to his feet. +"There is wealth, too, somewhere here; and should I silence them all, it +will be mine, and their death will be laid at the door of the invaders. +Besides," he growled, "no suspicion can rest upon me, as I am the known +friend of Wilson and the family. Nobody saw me come--no person shall +see me leave. I shall fire the house after having rifled it; and conceal +whatever I may obtain, in some convenient spot until the affair has +blown over. Jack and Wilson know too much of me: I am tired of them. If +needs be, I shall silence them also. I have rare work before me. Barry +must die; but what shall I profit by killing him if I kill this woman +also? Who cares! The devil is working with me; and now for it! To the +foot of the stairs, then; where, as they descend, they shall fall one by +one without a groan until the rare bird of a prisoner is left alone in +her room. Then for some wild sport and the final blow!" + +Having muttered all this to himself, the demon in human shape, +extinguishing the lamp, sprang forward in the direction of the stairs, +to await the first who happened to descend: but scarcely had he assumed +his post of death, before the large oaken door was thrust rudely open +and two strapping young fellows, armed with a revolver and a dirk +each, rushed into the apartment, and alarmed all the party up stairs by +calling aloud for a light, the gleam from the hearth being feeble and +uncertain. + +Instantly the knife of Smith was returned to its sheath, while he +stepped forward, saying that he had just accidently extinguished the +lamp in the absence of Mrs. Wilson and Martha, who had run up stairs to +acquaint a lady friend with the intelligence that he had but that moment +brought her from Mr. Wilson, regarding the invasion of the Province and +the proximity, as he had no doubt, of the Fenian and Canadian forces. + +"That is just the mission we have come on ourselves," returned one of +the new comers, "as we were apprised that Mr. Wilson was from home, and +thought that his family would like to know of the dangers that possibly +surrounded them." + +The manly voice of the speaker soon brought Martha and her aunt down +stairs; and the lamp being speedily relighted, the former advanced +towards the speaker and taking his extended hand, with a bright eye and +a flushed cheek, heard all he had to say on the subject which occasioned +his unceremonious visit. + +"One of us will stay with you," he continued, while she thanked him for +his goodness, "until Mr. Wilson arrives; and although he is not over +social in his habits, I am sure he will not misconstrue the anxiety we +feel for the safety of his family." + +"Thank you! thank you, Mr. Evans," returned Martha; "we shall feel so +grateful for your protection; and as to my uncle, I am satisfied he +cannot be otherwise than obliged to you for this great kindness." + +"You stay then, Harry," observed the other stranger, "for I shall move +on to Ridgeway, as I want to hear what's afloat there. There are +troops, I know, at Port Colborne, and they ought to be apprised of +the whereabouts of the enemy, and so should the inhabitants of this +neighborhood. Mr. Graham, the Collector of Fort Erie, has, I am +informed, proceeded with information of the enemy to Port Colborne; +but still there is not yet anything known of their precise location, so +contradictory are the rumors, not only as to where they are encamped, +but in relation to their numbers." + +"I can satisfy you as to both these circumstances," broke in the Kid, +with a voice as bland as if murder had not visited his heart for an age, +"for I heard this evening that they were encamped about four hundred +strong at Newbiggin's farm, four or five miles down the river from +Fort Erie; and that they intended to move on towards Chippewa about +ten o'clock; branching off in the direction of Ridgeway, in the hope of +meeting the troops coming from Port Colborne, and defeating them before +they formed a junction with those expected from Chippewa." + +"As my cousin Harry will sit up with the family for the remainder of +the night, then, perhaps you would not mind walking as far as Ridgeway," +replied the young fellow who had last spoken, "as we are sure to have +news there; from the fact of the village being on the line of the Grand +Trunk." + +Seeing that his murderous plot was for the time defeated, the Kid made +no objection to this request; feeling that the darkness and the night, +as well as any whirl of excitement or debauch, were more in accordance +with the infernal tone of his spirit, than the conversation of two +beings, Martha and Evans, whom his keen eye at once discovered to be +lovers. So bidding the family good night, and not waiting to partake of +the refreshments offered him after his journey from the Fenian camp, +he sallied forth with his new acquaintance on the road leading to the +village. + +"Henry," said Martha, when the sound of their receding footsteps had +died in the distance, "do you know anything of the man Smith who has +just left us, for you seemed to eye him very intently from the moment +the lamp was relighted until the door closed behind him this moment? +We know now, and have often suspected, him to be a villain; but +circumstances over which we had no control--that is, my aunt and +myself--have thrown us occasionally into the society of the wretch, whom +we both loathe and detest." + +This interrogatory was put in the absence of Mrs. Wilson, who had again +sought the apartment of Kate to tell her all that had just transpired. +It seemed to embarrass the young man for a moment; but recovering +himself, he frankly replied-- + +"I have seen that man frequently in Buffalo. Not long since, he was +pointed out to me as a most dangerous character who was under the +surveillance of the police; and, as you may be well assured, I was +astounded to find him here and at such an hour." + +"Oh!" returned Martha, "he has been here often, Henry, and what I +now fear is, that my uncle is leagued with him, not only in the most +frightfully dishonest practices, but in the abduction, at the instance +of some other villain, of a good and pure young creature who, a few +nights ago, was brought here by them under the pretense that it was +the wish of her lover that she should accompany them where this wretch +would--a pretense that disguised itself under a veritable token procured +in some way from her betrothed, and evidently used without his sanction +or knowledge." + +"I believe your uncle to be a bad man, Martha," returned Evans, "but the +fault is not yours; and besides, there is not a single drop of his blood +in your veins. I am convinced, also, that your aunt knows it, and that +it is that which so wastes her away and destroys the whole sunshine of +her life. I have long felt it; and were it not for the dread of paining +you through exposure, I should ere this have directed the attention +of the authorities to some circumstances affecting his character and +honesty, that came under my own notice; for, Martha, dear, but a few +hours since, as I may say, I was an accidental witness of an incident +which more than confirms all the suspicions that have so long rested on +him." + +"I know! I know?" interrupted Martha, while she hid her face in her +hands and wept in bitter agony, "but go on!" + +"When," resumed Evans, "two or three nights ago, believing Wilson to +be from home--for I shall no longer call him your uncle, he being, in +truth, no relation whatever of yours,--I stole up from our place to say +a few words to you and urge you to quit this house and become my wife. +I was astonished to see a light in the stable as I crept by it; and +looking into one of the windows. I perceived this man leaning over a +large case filled with valuables that had evidently been stolen by +him, or by some of his accomplices, who had entrusted them to his safe +keeping until the noise of the robbery had blown over. I saw this, I +saw with my own eyes; and now that you are aware of it, can you longer +remain beneath this roof?" + +"It is true! alas! too true," sobbed Martha, "for I myself saw the very +same case; and then it was, that for the first time, a full sense of +his horrible vocation fell upon me and the poor woman that he calls his +wife. Of course, Henry, I shall quit this place, and forever; but until +this horrible din is over, and the poor creature up stairs placed in +some safe hands, I shall bear my terrible lot as best I can." + +"Rightly spoken, dear Martha," returned Henry, kissing off her tears, +"and I trust that this lady of whom you speak, will prove herself worthy +your kindness and esteem." + +"No fear of that, dear Henry," returned the maiden, "my heart tells me +that she is as good as she is beautiful, and I know, not only from her +own lips, but from what has transpired this very night, that she is the +victim of some foul plot yet to be punished and explained." + +"And where has she come from, and what is her name?" rejoined Henry, +evidently becoming interested in the fate of our heroine. + +"Her home is in Buffalo," replied Martha, "and her name is Kate +M'Carthy." + +"By heaven!" exclaimed Evans, leaping to his feet as if the house were +falling, "where is she? where is she? Lead me to her at once!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Had General O'Neill not entertained strong hopes he should be +re-inforced, knowing, as he did, that a large body of Fenian troops were +scattered along the American frontier, under the command of brave and +true men, he would have broken camp with a sad heart on the night of +the first. No man in existence was more thoroughly aware than he, that, +'though brave as lions, the force at his command was altogether too +small to effect anything permanent upon the soil of the enemy. The +most he hoped to achieve, was a footing, until his command had acquired +sufficient strength to enable him to move upon some of the important +towns of the Upper Province. Of the dangers and perils that surrounded +him he was fully aware; but he knew, also, that, now that he had crossed +the Rubicon, how fatal it would be to the prestige of the cause of +Ireland, to retreat again to the American shore without measuring +swords with the foe, no matter what their numbers, and, if needs be, +illustrating, with a handful of men, the spirit resolve and bravery +which, long previously, fostered by the noble Roberts and Gibbons, etc., +fired the whole Organization on this great continent, and placed the +ultimate independence of Ireland beyond any possible contingency. +O'Neill was just the man to make this impression, and to seize upon +every circumstance calculated to aid him in the attempt. Fresh from the +fields of the South, where his sword and name were a watchword and a +tower of strength when danger was to be met in the gap, he was used to +war in all its phases; while the fierce leaven of his patriotism and the +mighty promptings of his ancient name, now that he had made a descent +upon the enemy of his country and his race, rendered him almost +invincible. Though small his band, he knew that each man who had +accompanied him thus far was a host in himself, and ennobled by a spirit +identical with that which prompted him in the main. And now the hour had +arrived when he should show the enemy and the world that numbers were +as nothing in the sight of the God of battles. Besides, he felt it, as a +mere matter of generalship, incumbent upon him to maintain, if possible, +a foothold or rallying point for whatever reinforcements might follow +him, as well as keep open the line of communication with the shores he +had but just left. In short, critically as he was placed, and regarding +his little host as the vanguard of freedom, he determined to sacrifice +himself and them to a man, if necessary, in maintaining his ground until +thoroughly satisfied of the truth of his fears that President Roberts, +deceived, like the Organization generally, in the capacity of the +Secretary of War, was no longer able to send reinforcements or further +a movement calculated to sweep the Province from Sandwich to Quebec. In +this way matters stood with him on the night that he left his camp at +Newbiggin's Farm. He was aware that two large bodies of the enemy's +troops were marching upon him from two opposite points, and that to +permit them to form a junction would be to court utter annihilation. As +before observed, then, he set out at the hour already named, with a view +to getting between them and defeating the one before the other came up. +In his sublime enthusiasm he invested each individual of his command +with the purposes and attributes of a hero, and felt that a body so +constituted, so compact and so easily handled, could be slung with +fearful effect against almost any number of men who had no heart in the +fight, save that which was engendered by an uneasy and uncomfortable +sentiment of badly founded loyalty to the flag of a tyrant, or that +degrading spirit of hireling hostility, which changed its force +and direction, in accordance with the amount of gold offered by the +subsidizing party. + +Moved by impulses so noble and disinterested, the whole camp now marched +away in the direction of Chippewa, burning the bridges behind them, to +a point some five or six miles distant, where the reconnoitering party, +under the command of Col. Hoy, had been ordered to wait until the main +body of the troops came up, and to the left of which Gen. O'Neill hoped +to intercept some one of the two hostile forces that were, as he was +perfectly convinced, moving against him from opposite points of the +compass. + +In the rear of the moving camp followed Black Jack and Wilson, at a very +respectful distance; they being comfortably seated in the wagon of the +latter, that had been brought cautiously from its hiding place, when the +steady tramp of the rear guard of the army had died away. + +"What a pity it is," said Wilson, as the team crawled slowly along, +"that we have no chance to take the number of a few of those self-same +invaders from behind a tree or log; for I find the English blood +beginning to stir within me." + +"Vot's to be gained by it," returned Black Jack, "seein as 'ow there's +no use in cuttin a vizzen or scuttlin a nob, unless there's some svag +at the end on it? For my own part," he continued, "I'd rather that ve +should try our luck among some of the farmers or gentry about here; +although I'm certain they're purty vide avake seem as vot's afoot just +now." + +"Yes! yes!" returned the other, "that's all well enough in its way; but +as we can't hope to accomplish much until there's a fight between the +invaders and the invaded, I should like, if an opportunity turned up, +to thin out a few of those green jackets while we hid the horses hard by +and waited the result of the conflict." + +"Vell! vell!" replied Jack, "there vouldn't be much 'arm in tryin our +'and in that vay, as ven ve got a chance ve might step into the ranks of +the Hinglish and give them a lift; ven, if needs be, ve could slip out +again and take our luck in the trail of the fight, pickin hup votever +might drop in the vay." + +About midnight the troops came up with Col. Hoy's party, and after +marching a considerable distance and then taking a couple of hours rest, +the whole force made a cautious detour towards the direct line leading +from Ridgeway to Chippewa; O'Neill being satisfied that he had already +intercepted the junction of the British, and should be able to engage +and defeat either one party or the other before they could both unite. + +In this way the night was passed; every precaution being taken to guard +against ambush or surprise, until morning became well advanced, and +the invaders, after having emerged from a swamp through which they had +marched, found themselves within three or four miles of Ridgeway. + +It was at this point and period that the Kid, after leaving Greaves, +had come up with, or rather encountered, the wagon with Black Jack and +Wilson, who, as usual, kept moving slowly in the rear of the troops and +sniffing, like blood-hounds or vultures, their prey in the distance. + +As observed in a previous chapter, the two worthies had scarcely +welcomed their companion or seen him comfortably seated beside them, +before they were all aroused by the report of fire-arms, apparently +ahead of the main body of the troops, which, as near as they could +calculate, was about half a mile in advance. It was at this moment that +the brave Col. Starr, who commanded the advance, got the first glimpse +of the outposts of the enemy, which he at once charged and drove in +like so many sheep; and this was the music heard by Wilson and his +companions. Shortly afterwards, the main body of the enemy, commanded by +Lieut. Col. Booker, from Port Colborne, were discovered, and the battle +was opened by a speedy and judicious disposition of the Fenian forces, +and the hasty throwing up of a rail barricade from behind which some of +the Boys in Green commenced their work of destruction; while others of +them kept the British skirmishers in hand in the woods hard by, and in a +manner the most cool and artistic. + +Any person who gets a view of Major Dennison's map, in the work already +mentioned, representing the disposition of the two antagonistic forces +at Ridgeway, will at once be struck with the overwhelming numbers of +that under the command of Col. Booker, compared with the compactness +and fewness of the troops commanded by General O'Neill. In this chart +we have the whole field studded, on the British side, with Highlanders, +York Rifles, Trinity College Companies, University Rifles, the Queen's +Own and the 13th Field Battery, etc.; while on the side of the Army of +the Irish Republic, as the diagram shows, we have but a handful of +men, without artillery, and with but very few mounted officers. The +circumstances under which the forces met, were favorable to Col. Booker, +also; for not only had the British the advantage of a great superiority +in numbers, stores and equipments, but they were engaged at their own +doors, in the midst of a passive or friendly element, and with unlimited +supplies and resources at their command; while, on the contrary, the +men under General O'Neill were but poorly equipped, without supplies or +proper ammunition--their bullets having, in some instances, to be +pared on the field with a knife before they fitted the bore of their +rifles--and were in the midst of an enemy's country, surrounded on +all sides by hostile battalions, and with but a slight hope of being +reinforced before the enemy came down in overwhelming numbers upon them. +This was a critical position, and well calculated to dismay any man less +bold and courageous than O'Neill; but frightful as it was, he saw the +necessity of accepting the situation. He remembered having, on the +battle fields of the South, with but twenty men, defeated two hundred of +a force under Hamilton, and run them in helpless disorder for a +distance of thirteen miles; killing five of them with his own hand. He +remembered, in addition, having, with a command of but fifty, charged, +on the same fields, in defence of the American Union, two different +regiments of the enemy, routed them, and recaptured the officers +and guns of the Republic that had been previously taken by them; and +remembering all this, his heart rose within him, and he felt that with +his little band of Spartans, few as they were in number, he could work +a double miracle when he met the tyrant of his name, his country and his +race face to face. And so he did not stoop to measure the forces that +were surrounding him; well knowing that, if all came to all, and that, +if it were necessary for him to fall back upon the American shore, +he could cut his way through them; as he was inclined to regard their +numbers as but simple encumbrances to themselves; feeling, as he +did, that they could be neither disciplined nor actuated by any proud +impulses such as fired his own troops and his own bosom. + +Buoyed with this spirit, and moved by the conviction that the eyes of +the world were upon him, the first glimpse of the enemy was as one of +sunshine to him; and as he looked around him and saw his brave officers +and men towering and immoveable as cliffs in the presence of the angry +deep, the strange fire so noticeable sometimes in his eye, blazed forth +as though his soul went out in flame through each glaring orb; and the +work of death had begun. + +The battle of Ridgeway was commenced by skirmishers who were posted +on both sides, among the woods and orchards with which that locality +abounds; and although for some short period but little life was lost on +the part of either the British or the Fenians, the daring of the latter +had evidently confused and, in a degree, paralyzed the former from the +first. In the woods, they gave the Highlanders a dreadful overhauling, +and when pressed by numbers they steadily fell back upon the main body, +with advantage to themselves and with loss to their opponents. When +once aware of their position, and the great odds against them, in the +incredible space of ten minutes, they threw up a breastwork of rails, +from behind which they now began to deal the most deadly havoc amongst +the enemy. The men engaged in more exposed positions, performed absolute +miracles of valor, and charged the foe in the face of the most galling +fire, until they actually touched their bayonets, and then poured in the +murderous volley that shattered their ranks and strewed the field with +their wounded and dying. As we learn from Major Denison, of the British +forces, the Fenian officers were ever in front of their men, cheering +them on to death or victory, and evincing such instances of true bravery +as commanded the admiration of even those against whom they fought. +Individual acts of the most terrible daring were performed by them, +and so generally did the whole of O'Neil's staff, including his gallant +Aid-de-Camp, Lieut. Rudolph Fitzpatrick, as well as all the officers of +the various companies, participate in the dreadful struggle, that +even to this hour no writer has attempted to give any one of them +pre-eminence over the other. And so of the rank and file, also. Scarce +a single man of them, at one period, but was spattered with the blood +of the enemy; and never did a solitary knot of them give way, for an +instant, before any force that they were ordered to withstand. Wherever +they moved the dead and wounded tumbled before them, until, fatigued +by the frightful heat of the weather, they were, from time to time, +constrained to pause in their dreadful work. + +The engagement had continued for about an hour, when the brave Lieut. +Lonergan bit the dust, while a cheer for Ireland struggled through the +death rattle in his throat. He fell, a true hero and patriot, and well +was his death avenged; for no sooner had its intelligence spread through +his company, than its members became absolute tigers, and literally +glutted themselves with blood. Then it was, that the Sun-burst carried +through that hot field, from beginning to end, by Sergeant John Smith, +of the 7th I.R.A., company G, might be seen flying where the enemy was +thickest, surrounded by a struggling band, each of which was a host +himself. Then it was, that the wild cry of "Erin go bragh!" smote on +the ear of the foe like a death knell, paralyzed all their energies, +and froze the warm current in their heart. At that moment a dozen men in +green were worth a regiment of the material he fought against; and thus +it was, that the enemy determined to mass all their forces against +the gallant O'Neill, who stood like a rock amid the dreadful conflict, +giving his orders with as much coolness as if he were dictating a +letter; and, while the bullets whistled about him like hail, applauding +the noble deeds of his men and officers, the next moment to be whirled +into the dreadful _melee_ himself. + +With the keen, quick eye of a soldier, O'Neill perceived the intention +of his adversary, who had, now, as he saw clearly, made up his mind to +mass all his force against the Fenian troops and flank them. At this +point the Boys in Green were ordered to fall steadily back and take up +a new position, some distance in the rear of their rail barricade. The +movement was performed in the most masterly manner; while the enemy +continued to extend his wings--both right and left. On perceiving it, +however, he construed it, as it was intended he should, into a retreat, +and paused for a moment to consider what was best to be done. While +deliberating, however, O'Neill, who had in vain been for some time +endeavoring to draw out his centre, perceiving that the moment had +arrived, sounded the charge, and, the next instant, the whole compact +body of the invaders, with himself and his officers at their head, +were thundering down, with the sweep of the Cyclone, upon the weak and +startled centre of the foe, crashing through it like a cavalcade of +thunder bolts, and scattering the whole of the English forces like chaff +before the wind! + +In the twinkling of an eye the enemy was flying in every direction +before the victorious army of the Irish Republic! In their ignoble +flight they divested themselves of all the clothing they could decently +spare, and of everything that could tend to impede their progress! The +field was strown with their great coats, knapsacks, rifles, and musical +instruments belonging to their bands. Their dead and dying were left +unheeded, and in every direction lay the unmistakable evidences of +their sudden disaster and hopeless defeat. The compactness and dreadful +resolve of the force slung against them by O'Neill, and the masterly +way in which the bolt was hurled, at once bid defiance to all their +pre-conceived ideas of fighting, or of the wonders that could be +attained by a handful of brave men, commanded by a dauntless and +experienced soldier; so, that their rumored attempt at rallying is +supposed to have originated in a desire on the part of their historian, +to lessen the disgrace of their defeat in the eyes of the people of +Canada; for it is well known, that so hot and heavy was the pursuit, +that they not only had no time to rally, but so intent was each one of +them on effecting his own personal safety, that all discipline was at an +end; until the Fenians, on perceiving that they were not yet reinforced, +felt it advisable, notwithstanding their success, to fall back on Fort +Erie, for the purpose of keeping their line of communication open with +the American shore. + +And yet until this disaster had overtaken them, the British troops +fought well, considering the incentives they had to stake their lives on +the field of battle. Nor were the Queen's Own, who suffered so severely +in this tremendous charge, and who fled so panic-stricken before it, +a whit behind, in courage, some of the companies who appear to have +escaped with less censure from the Canadian public, in relation to the +loss of this important field. The Queen's Own, as we are creditably +informed, came up well to the mark on more than one occasion; and only +gave way before such a charge as that which carried the day at Fontenoy, +and which was, at the period, absolutely irresistible. + +Barry and his comrades of the Canadian Fort fought throughout the whole +morning with the most heroic courage. In several hand to hand encounters +he performed prodigies of valor, and once thought he perceived the Kid +and Black Jack, together with Wilson whom he saw in their company at +Newbiggin's farm, fighting on the English side. In this he was not +mistaken; for these three worthies, on discovering the superior force +of the British, at once concealed their horses and wagon in a sheltered +hollow hard by the field, and making a detour through the woods on the +verge of which they were passing, joined in the engagement, against the +men who had treated them so well but a few hours previously. This they +accomplished immediately after Col. Starr had driven in the outposts +of the enemy, and when they had ascertained that the English forces +outnumbered the invaders to an extent which, as they supposed, rendered +the success of the latter totally out of the question. + +While on one occasion, Nicholas was engaged with a Highlander whom +he was pressing hard, a ball grazed his shoulder, evidently fired +stealthily from behind a neighboring tree. A glance in the direction +revealed the form of the Kid retreating from the spot and seeking +shelter behind another, around which were gathered a few of the enemy +who were paying some attention to a wounded officer. This struck him +as strange; but as he had other work in hand, he permitted his cowardly +assailant to escape for the moment. Later in the day, however, he caught +yet another sight of him, and was satisfied that he had made a second +deadly attempt upon his life. In this way the matter stood touching +this peculiar case, until the total rout of the forces and their retreat +towards Ridgeway village; when Barry, left with a few men to look after +the dead and wounded while the main body pursued the fugitives, had yet +another opportunity of testing the kindly intentions of Smith; for while +he and four or five others were collecting the dead into one particular +spot beneath a huge elm, in the vicinity of a house near which the +greatest carnage had taken place, another ball whizzed by his ear; and +the next moment the door of the building opened and out rushed half a +dozen men, armed to the teeth, and laying one of his party dead at his +feet with the only bullet that had taken effect out of a volley that +had been fired as they rushed forward to overwhelm him in a hand to hand +struggle. + +The assailants were now six to five, but Barry soon made the numbers +more equal, and the fight becoming desperate, two of his antagonists +closed with him, who appeared to be men of tremendous activity and great +personal courage. What seemed strangest, however, in the whole of +this sudden attack, was, all the party that rushed from the house were +masked, although he was satisfied that one of them, at least, was the +Kid. The contest had continued for about eight or ten minutes when one +of his assailants was stretched at his feet by an unseen hand; the other +taking immediate flight. He looked around,--a stranger stood by his +side. He was a handsome young man dressed in the plain garb of a farmer. +Anxious to learn how the rest of his comrades fared, while thanking his +new ally for his timely assistance, he glanced in the direction in which +they fought; all save one was wounded but their antagonists lay beside +them dead or dying. Begging the stranger to render him some assistance +in staunching the blood of those who still survived, and removing them +to a shed belonging to the house hard by, he discovered that his fallen +adversary, who lay quite senseless from the blow he had received, now +seemed to be bleeding profusely from some wound inflicted by himself; +although until that moment he had not noticed it. His enemy had fought +with a long, keen dagger after he had discharged his rifle and thrown it +away, while the fugitive used one of the ordinary rifle-bayonets in his +attack. The superb swordsmanship of their intended victim, however, was +more than a match for them, and would, in all probability have triumphed +of itself had not the contest been broken in upon in the manner already +described. + +In the course of a very few moments, the sufferers were removed from out +the broiling sun to the shed just mentioned, where they were cared for +as well as circumstances would permit--the stranger passing to and from +the adjoining house with the necessary bandages, water, etc. + +While removing the masks of two of the assailing party, who appeared to +be mortally wounded, for the purpose of giving them the draft of water +they had so earnestly though feebly implored, as Barry suspected, one of +them was the Kid. The other was Wilson, whose last midnight journey had +evidently been performed, as he was sinking fast, and that, too, without +having gratified his love of plunder in a single instance connected with +the invasion from which he and his two companions had anticipated so +much. Outside, beneath a huge elm, lay Black Jack stone dead, from a +frightful bayonet wound in his throat. His mask had fallen off in his +death struggles, which must have been frightful, judging from the manner +in which his clothes were covered with dust and the way in which the +earth was kicked up all around him. Never was a more horrible face +turned in such hideous blindness on the sun. His eyes were staring +wide open, and his huge mouth, fringed with blood-stained froth, seemed +stretched in demoniacal laughter at some horrid and unearthly orgy in +which he was about to join. The sight was actually appalling; and Barry +turned away from it in utter loathing to minister to those who were yet +within the reach of human aid. + +Although, dangerously wounded, he found that, unlike the same number +of their comrades who lay stretched on the green sward without, his two +companions who had been brought to the earth without being killed, were +not beyond the reach of hope. With their antagonists, however, it was +different; and now that Barry perceived the Kid; or Smith as we shall +now call him, was fast approaching his end, in the great anxiety that +he felt concerning the fate of his beloved, he knelt beside him and +implored him to give him any information that he might possess regarding +her, and so atone, before he crossed the threshold of the grave, for +any wrong that he might have been instrumental in doing her through the +machinations of others. + +The dying man raised his heavy eyelids for a moment and ere they dropped +again, managed, as if by one last effort, to point towards the prostrate +form of the principal antagonist of our hero, who still lay insensible a +short distance from him. His chest labored wildly for a few seconds, but +before he could ejaculate a single word, a sudden spirt of blood leaped +from his mouth and he was dead. Wilson had passed away more slowly and +less perceptibly. From the moment he had been removed to the shed he +spoke but once; and that was when he uttered a feeble cry for water. On +beholding the latter dead, the stranger, who had lent such timely aid +to our hero, regarded the silent form with a curious expression of +countenance, and then turned away towards the house. In the meantime, +the man who had for so far lain insensible, began to recover slowly. +Hitherto, his mask which hid but half his face, leaving his mouth and +chin uncovered, had not been removed; but now, as if in some uneasy +dream, his trembling hand tore it mechanically away, revealing, to the +utter astonishment of Barry, the hooked nose and ghastly countenance of +Greaves! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Had O'Neill a single troop of cavalry when he broke the British lines at +Ridgeway, the 2d day of June, 1866, would have been the darkest that +had ever occurred in the annals of Canada. He would have literally +annihilated all the forces that were brought against him on that field, +and struck such terror to the heart of the enemy, as to have still +farther paralysed their volunteer service and destroyed the confidence +of the Canadian people in the vaunted invincibility of the arms of +England for many a long day, if not for all time to come. But owing to +circumstances already referred to, he fought under every disadvantage +possible to an invading army. Still, as the case stood, his triumph was +not the less brilliant or decisive. He routed the enemy, horse and foot; +and had he been in a position to dispose of prisoners, he could have +taken a very large number with scarcely any effort; from the fact, +that after the fearful charge that had broken through their lines, they +became completely panic stricken and demoralized. As he pursued the +flying forces towards Ridgeway, what he would have given for a few +mounted riflemen or dragoons; but as a signal and glorious defeat was +more his object than the spilling of blood, he now felt, unsustained as +he was, it would be wise to fall back upon Fort Erie, in the hope that +reinforcements had arrived there, although he was unable to leave even +the smallest handful of a garrison to maintain the foothold he had so +far achieved. Seeing there was nothing further to gain but everything to +lose by remaining longer in a position he could not by any possibility +maintain, in view of the hostile forces that he knew would soon be +pouring down upon him from other quarters, he paused on the verge of the +carnage that he might have wrought still further, and addressed himself +to securing the safety of his little band of heroes and occupying some +position on the frontier from whence he could, if hard set, effect his +transit across the river, or take up a final stand, fighting until the +last man fell in his ranks, if necessary to the success of any landings +that he might learn of as having taken place on the Canadian shore at +other points, or in view of the intention of the authorities at Buffalo +to reinforce him, and enable him to pursue the campaign, so gloriously +opened, with renewed hope and vigor. + +The news of the disastrous defeat of the British arms spread like +wild-fire; throwing the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of +Ridgeway, as well as those of the village itself, into a state of +the most fearful consternation. Houses were barricaded and property +concealed in the full anticipation that the conquerors would act upon +the world-wide maxim, "to the victors belong the spoils." But, as we +have already seen, it was the government and not the peasantry or people +of the country that O'Neill had come to overthrow. No better evidence +of this could be afforded than that shown by the circumstance, that, +although two infamous and relentless robbers, and their scarcely less +culpable acquaintance and friend, Wilson, had, for two days and two +nights, followed in the wake of his army, not a single opportunity was +afforded them of joining any portion of his command in a stealthy raid +upon the habitations or any of the people, or of taking an advantage of +the confusion and lawlessness which almost invariably surround the camp +of an invader. From first to last, his troops observed with singular +fidelity, his order that the lives and property of the Canadians not +found in arms against him, should be held as most sacred. And in no +instance, although the temptations were various and marked, was this +injunction violated. On this head, Major Denison himself is most +explicit; and when we have the testimony of an enemy upon the subject, +the most exacting incredulity cannot look for more conclusive evidence +in the premises. + +As already observed, when the rout and confusion of the English +commenced, they fled in all directions; but their main body set off, at +full speed, for Ridgeway, through which village, and for a mile beyond +it, they were pursued by the Irish forces. As was to be expected, their +wounded and dying strewed the way; while those who were thoroughly +acquainted with the locality made their escape to the shelter of +whatever woods or dwellings were to be found along the line of retreat, +without actually bordering upon it. Amongst these latter were Greaves +and the persons who made such a sudden and deadly attack upon Barry +while engaged in looking after the dead and wounded that were found +convenient to the house already referred to. This habitation ought to +have been well known to one of the party at least; for it was neither +more nor less than the residence of Wilson, in which Kate M'Carthy and +Martha and her aunt had barricaded themselves, in the apartment of the +former, after having secured the outer doors, when they heard the tide +of war rolling towards them. Wilson, understanding how the case stood +with them, when he found he could not gain admission, and being sensible +that they could not hear his voice, hastily effected an entrance by a +window in a sort of out kitchen, attached to the rear of the building, +and soon admitted his companions; re-bolting the door, and running up +stairs to warn the other inmates of the house not to speak or stir, but +remain barricaded as they were, until they heard from him again. This +done, he descended to where his comrades were, and was about to make +some observation, when the Kid instantly drew the attention of Greaves +to the party who were collecting the dead and wounded hard by, among +whom he at once recognized Barry. In the twinkling of an eye, the +countenance of Greaves was lit with an expression the most revolting; +and turning to his companions he exclaimed in a low, hissing voice-- + +"Now, my countrymen, we can avenge ourselves in part, at least, for +the disasters of the morning. There stand some of the most active and +dangerous of the army of the invader, and it is for us to take signal +vengeance on them, and not permit a single one of them to escape out of +our hands. We must not risk firing upon them at a distance so great; +as should we chance to miss a single shot, they would be sure to slip +beyond our reach. Let us rush out upon them then, with such arms as we +have at our command; and after giving them a volley pounce upon them +knife in hand, for they appear quite unconscious of any impending +danger. Above all things, do not let that officer escape. He is the +most deadly enemy we have had to encounter to-day. Let him, at least, be +despatched without fail, and one thousand dollars shall be distributed +amongst you the moment I find him a corpse before my eyes." + +The Kid, Jack and Wilson understood all this; for the first of the +villains had explained previously to the latter two, that Greaves was +interested to an unaccountable extent, in the death of Barry; and had, +on that very morning, before he left Ridgeway, promised him a round +sum if he managed to despatch him in any way; whether by stealth, or +otherwise. This he attempted, as we have already seen; but hitherto +without the desired effect; so that, now, when his game was within his +reach, and where he felt that he should be the gainer, no matter by whom +our hero was laid low, he immediately fell into this second proposition, +as did all the others who stood around him. + +In a few moments, then, Wilson procured the masks already noticed; they +being a portion of his stock in trade, and loading the three rifles they +had at their command, the door was stealthily opened and the assault +made, which had resulted in such disaster to themselves. + +When Barry had recovered from the utter surprise occasioned by the +presence of Greaves, and overcome the speechless astonishment into which +it had thrown him, he knelt down beside the wounded man, and began to +examine into the extent of his injuries. At first a few flesh wounds +about the shoulders and arms were all that he could discover; and as +these had bled freely, he fancied that the feeble condition of the +wretch, was attributable simply to a loss of blood; and, now, that +his wounds had been staunched, he believed he should gradually recover +strength, so as to be able to offer some explanation of his presence in +that part of the Province, as well as of the circumstances in which he +now found himself. On a closer examination, however, and just about half +an inch below the nipple of his left breast, the young soldier perceived +a small discolored wound, evidently made with the point of his own +sword during the struggle that had just terminated, and from which not +a single drop of blood had flowed, outwardly at least. Here, without a +doubt, all the danger lay; and as our hero was not versed in injuries, +beyond the reach of external applications, all he could do was to bathe +the bitter, little, blue or discolored orifice--the lips of which seemed +to be pressed together in a vicious sort of manner--in some of the +water that had been previously procured at the adjoining house, when the +wounded men were removed from the open field. During this operation +the eyes of Greaves were steadily fixed upon him, and when he had again +bathed the wound and adjusted the head of the unfortunate sufferer on a +pillow made of some hay found in one corner of the shed, the lips of the +patient became as it were suddenly unsealed, while the light of a larger +intelligence, rushed full into his eyes. At this period the wounded +companions of our hero were comparatively easy, on the temporary couch +made for them by the stranger, just before he disappeared and entered +the dwelling a second time; so that, for the moment, there was not much +to distract his attention from anything that Greaves might vouchsafe to +say, some terrible foreboding having just rushed into his mind, based +upon the dying intimation of Smith, that the man who lay thus helpless +and for aught he knew dying before him, was in some way connected with +the fate of his betrothed. + +Scarcely had the conviction seized upon him, when Greaves motioned him +to draw nearer. On eagerly complying with the request, he bent his ear +almost to the lips of the sufferer, who breathed with great difficulty, +and whose voice was scarcely audible, so weak had he become. As though +by some effort of his indomitable will, however, he managed to collect +all his energies into his tongue and throat; and after whispering +through his compressed and pallid lips the single word "listen!" began +slowly as follows: + +"I am Edward Philip Darcy. I have lost, for I know that my hour has +come!" + +At the mention of the name "Darcy," Barry sprang to his feet! Before +him lay the son of the man to whose machinations all Kate's poverty and +hardships were clearly traceable. He it was that was now concerned in +the Chancery suit, the decision of which was to be replete with such +serious results, as he presumed, to Kate. His father had been dead for +some time, and had bequeathed his interest in the case to him! He was +the only person living who could stand in the way of the property it +involved being placed in the hands of its lawful heir; for the claims of +Darcy, whatever they might be, expired with this, his only son, and +the last of his name and race. The consideration was startling in +the extreme; but as our hero saw how necessary it was to command his +feelings, and listen to whatever Greaves, or Darcy, as we shall now +call him, intended to say, he resumed his position and listened, as the +wounded man continued:-- + +"I worshipped gold and power; and as there was some fear of the suit, of +which you have often heard, being decided against as, on the death of my +father, I stepped into his shoes, as a man who could make himself useful +to the Government, and as one, in these troublous times, pre-eminently +calculated to dip into the secrets of Fenianism at home and abroad, and +apprise the British authorities of its power, aims and objects, as well +as make them acquainted with all its plans and prospects. Although I +now surmise I had really to do with the Privy Council itself, I was +ostensibly employed by an important official connected with the Castle +of Dublin, who, besides paying me liberally for my services, promised to +influence the Court of Chancery in my favor, touching the decision now +pending; provided that, after doing all I could to unearth the leaders +and plans of Fenianism in Ireland, I crossed the Atlantic and commenced +operations upon the Brotherhood in America, of which the Canadian +government seemed unable to say much that was definite, however they +might have apprehended mischief from this quarter. It was known at home, +that but little confidence could be placed in the efficiency and honesty +of a Cabinet that tolerated a shuffling inebriate at its head; so that +from the contradictory official documents reaching the Castle from +Canada, through the Imperial authorities, it was, I suppose, deemed +advisable to send me out to learn something of the true state of the +case. Influenced thus, I set about my work with right good will; and +after doing what I could in Ireland, started for this country, with +Fenian credentials that, I need not inform you, were obtained through +the treason of one of the Organization who had gained admission into +the Brotherhood for the simple purpose of betraying it; but who was not +sufficiently deep in its plans and confidence to damage it mortally. + +"But the strongest inducement I had to visit America was the +circumstance of Kate McCarthy's having emigrated to that country, and a +desire which I had long felt of gaining her affections and, if possible, +making her my wife; for notwithstanding all the promises of the Castle, +I was fearful that the Chancery suit would go against me--a suspicion +heightened by the conviction of my lawyer. I knew, of course, all about +your engagement to her, but being aware of your having entered the army, +and of your having, through an adverse fate, been separated from her by +two seas, I thought that I should be able to estrange her feelings and +love from you, and make her mine before you again saw her face. But here +I had deceived myself. She was not to be moved, and I was repulsed at +every point, until, maddened by repeated failures, I determined to +make her mine by force. Under the name of Edward Lauder, I first was +introduced to her, having managed to trace her from Quebec to Toronto, +after rendering good service to the home government in the former city. +From the first moment she beheld me, she seemed to entertain an aversion +towards me; and when she became aware of my intentions regarding +herself, and heard my repeated insinuations touching the general +faithlessness and bad character of private soldiers on foreign service, +all semblance of cordiality was at an end between us; and soon, +perceiving that her friends favored my suit, she left Toronto and took +up her abode with some relatives in Buffalo." + +Here the wounded man became faint and silent; but Nicholas, anxious to +hear all he had to say, bathed his brow and moistened his lips with +the water which still stood in a large wooden vessel by his side. This +seemed to refresh and revive his spirits; so that he soon continued, +although with increasing difficulty. + +"I knew that your regiment was stationed in the city where I first +met you; and the thought struck me, that if I could separate you both +forever, by betraying you into some act that would consign you to +a dungeon or penal servitude for life, or else make away with you +secretly, I should have some hope of accomplishing my designs regarding +her; and, in case the Chancery suit was decided against me, reap the +full advantages of it after all. + +"With this scheme deep within me, I followed her to Buffalo, and there +became acquainted with the two men that I saw fall a short time since, +who had engaged with me, for a certain sum, to keep their eyes upon +all her movements whenever I was absent from that city, and obey me in +everything, even to her forcible abduction into Canada, if necessary. +These men I knew to be desperate characters; so when I made this +arrangement with them, and was well assured that they would carry it +out if needs be, I started at once in your direction to see what +opportunities might there present themselves in furtherance of the +design that now seemed to absorb my whole being. + +"A man like me, easily found out your city-whereabouts; and, as you are +already aware, shortly after my arrival I formed your acquaintance and +that of O'Brien, whom I previously learned to be a relative of Miss +McCarthy, to whom, since you had been quartered in the Fort, she had +already paid a couple of visits. Soon learning your Fenian tendencies, +and hearing that you had applied for your discharge and expected to +receive it immediately, I determined if possible, to prevent your +becoming a freeman on British soil, and to goad you into desertion; +as it was rumored, that your regiment was soon to be called home, and +knowing that you would never accompany it, even though your discharge +were denied you. My object then was, to do, what I actually did do the +morning I accompanied you to the Fort. While you were getting ready for +parade I managed to exchange a few words with your commanding officer, +showed him my credentials from the Castle, and told him that you sought +your discharge only for the purpose of joining a Fenian army now +about to invade the province; with the further view of placing them in +possession of all you knew of the weak points of the Fort. The theory +worked like a charm,--you were denied your discharge; and now I knew you +would desert. In this, however, I was determined to help you; and, at +the same time, cause your betrothed to be lured in some way into Canada, +and consigned to some safe, out-of-the-way keeping, where no one should +know of her, until I made my appearance as if by accident before her; +and where I knew you would not be likely to seek her, from the fact, +that once you were a deserter you would be out-lawed forever from +British soil. + +"You yourself furnished the means of this abduction in a manner the most +innocent. You will recollect the note sealed with a peculiar device, +that you gave me to the deserter concealed in the city in which you were +stationed, telling him to entrust himself wholly, and without question +to whomsoever presented it. This note, after exhibiting it to your +friend, I retained and perceiving that it would answer my purpose, as +it mentioned no names, I enclosed it at once to my agents in Buffalo, +instructing them to present it to Miss McCarthy, and without a moment's +delay, convey her across the river to some secluded spot, where she was +to be held at all hazards, until further orders from me, or until I +was able to visit her myself. My injunctions were obeyed, and all was +well--you had deserted and Kate McCarthy was in my power!" + +At this point of the infamous revelation, Barry writhed in the most +fearful agony, and was on the eve of strangling the villain that lay +helpless before him; but his good angel, rushing to the rescue, restored +him to reason once more; and while great beads of perspiration stood on +his brow, he endeavored to compose himself to hear the terrible recital +to its close. + +"But," continued Darcy, "after all my generalship you are master of +the field, and she cannot fail to become the possessor of the property +justly or otherwise so long estranged from her, although I fear it is +already embarrassed with heavy costs." + +"But where is she now?" exclaimed Barry, as the gasping man finished his +terrible narrative. + +"I know not," whispered the other with an effort. "As I had not an +opportunity of paying the stipulated sum to the men who undertook her +abduction, they kept the place of her concealment secret from me until +I should perform my part of the contract, which I could have done this +day, only for the fate that has overtaken us. There is, however, no +doubt of her being in the Province, and, likely, somewhere in the very +region where we now are." + +"But," he whispered, with increasing difficulty and spasmodic +interruptions, "I feel as if I were suffocating! Water! Water! Oh! God!" +And with a bound that almost brought him to his feet, he sprang clean +from the ground on which he lay; and the next moment fell back heavily, +a corpse! + +And so perished the four men, who scarce an hour previously were as full +of life and vigor as their hearts were of evil thoughts and designs. +There can be no doubt, that they fell through the instrumentality, +unconscious as it was, of the very individuals whom they had injured; +differing only in their shades of criminality. In other relations, +besides the one to which their fate may be mainly attributed, they were +doubtless guilty to an enormous extent. Black Jack, Smith and Wilson +were unquestionably old offenders; the two former having the heavy scent +of blood about them; while Darcy or the pretended Lauder or Greaves, +whatever his antecedents may have been, showed himself capable of any +atrocity known to the history of crime. The cup of their iniquity +was full; or they had not fallen so signally, thus. How steadily the +avenging angel follows in the footsteps of the wretch who makes war +upon humanity or does continual violence to the divine spark which, in +a greater or less degree, illumes the breast of every human being born +into the world. Throughout the whole of their infamous career, these men +were well apprised of the fact, that they were engaged in open rebellion +against God and Nature, and thus it was, that they were cut off in their +prime, without one sympathetic tear, to soothe their last moments or +hallow their graves. + +Such were the meditations of Barry, as he stood over the inanimate frame +of his implacable foe; but soon awaking from his revery, he felt how +dreadful to know that his beloved was, perhaps at that very moment, +suffering in captivity or exposed to dangers consequent upon the +disturbed state of the country at some point, where, now that her +persecutors, who had at least provided for her daily sustenance, were +dead, she might, on this fact becoming known, be subjected to further +injuries, or wrongs that might be irreparable. The thought maddened him; +and he was groaning aloud, in the agony of his spirit, when his ears +were arrested with the returning tumult of O'Neill's forces, after their +having made the second of June, 1866, memorable in the annals of Canada, +and those of Irish Independence. Gazing steadily for a moment on the +terribly distorted features of his fallen enemy, he turned towards the +wide shed-door to make some arrangements regarding the removal of his +wounded comrades, when his opportune friend again emerged from the +house, and rejoined him as he was stepping across the threshold. + +"How fares it with your antagonist, now?" enquired the stranger as he +cast a hurried glance towards the body of Darcy, not knowing that its +spirit had already taken its flight forever. + +"Dead!" returned Barry. "They who assailed us but a short time ago are +all gone to their last home, save the man who made his escape on your +arrival and interference, whoever he may be." + +"That's sharp practice," rejoined the other; "but in my opinion they +richly deserved what they got, for they fought as murderers and not as +men." + +"Would to heaven," returned Nicholas, "that one of them at least had +escaped the fearful chastisement inflicted upon him; for his death has +enshrouded in darkness a question which presses heavily upon my heart, +and one that I have no means of solving. But pray, sir," he continued, +"do you reside in this vicinity, and if you do, perhaps you would be +kind enough to say, whether you have heard, recently, of the arrival of +a strange lady in this locality, who had been lured from her home and +friends under false pretenses; and who is, as I now have every reason to +believe, in questionable hands?" + +"May I ask your name?" returned the stranger, without replying to the +question, and eyeing Barry from head to foot, "and may I, in addition, +inquire what is the name of the lady to whom you allude?" + +"My name," replied our hero, "is Nicholas Barry, and the name of the +lady is Miss Kate M'Carthy." + +"Mr. Barry," hastily observed the stranger, extending his hand, "my name +is Henry Evans, and my kinswoman, Kate M'Carthy, is well and now in safe +keeping." + +At the mention of the name, Evans, and the assurance that his betrothed +was safe and well, the heart of Berry so bounded within him, that after +the blood had poured itself in one mighty torrent through his whole +frame and blazed over his face and brow for a moment, he became as pale +as death, and had not his newly found friend leaped forward and +caught him in his arms, he should have fallen fainting to the ground. +Recovering himself speedily, however, he leaned against the huge +door-post at his side, and, breathing with more regularity, soon became +cool and collected. + +Evans could well understand this sudden emotion. His own heart was +just in the vein to sympathize with it; so, in a moment the subtle +freemasonry of kindred spirits was established between them. + +Who can explain it? Here was a brave, young fellow, with the heart of +a lion, who had faced death in various shapes but an hour or so +previously--who had within the brief space of two days engaged hand +to hand in the most dreadful encounters with the enemy, without +experiencing the slightest sense of fear, or condescending to yield a +single inch of ground where he had set down his foot--here, we say, we +see him succumb at once, and rendered as helpless as a child at the mere +mention of a woman, and the assurance of her safety, although not by +any means thoroughly satisfied of her being in anything like imminent +danger. We shall not attempt to analyse the subtle and powerful +influences at work in such mysterious cases; but simply content +ourselves with the observation, that men who are susceptible of such +influences, and who strike at once to the first tap of their drum, are +not notorious for any great deficiency when brought face to face with a +more tangible and terrible enemy. And so thought Henry Evans as both he +and Nicholas sallied forth; the former to report to the gallant O'Neill, +and the latter to re-enter the house already so often referred to, where +Barry agreed to join him when he had seen the hero of Ridgeway. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +As remarked in a preceding chapter, Kate M'Carthy had some distant +relatives in the vicinity of Fort Erie; and, as fortune would have +it, the two strangers who, on the night before the battle of Ridgeway, +interrupted the murderous designs of Smith, belonged to the family with +whom she claimed kindred. One of these, Henry Evans, who had once met +her in Toronto, on hearing from Martha of her presence in Wilson's house +and the circumstances that surrounded her, instantly requested to be +conducted to her, with a view to reassuring her and offering her the +protection of which he was satisfied she stood so much in need. The +recognition was mutually exciting, and on the part of Kate appreciated +with heartfelt gratitude. Explanations ensued which placed her friend in +possession of all that was, for the present, necessary for him to know; +and it was at once agreed upon, that she should accompany him on the +ensuing morning to the residence of his widowed mother, not far distant, +where she was to remain until Barry or her friends in Buffalo could be +communicated with; as her return to the United States, at a period so +disturbed and critical, was, of course, out of the question. New life +and hope welled up through this arrangement; and the poor girl, who +but a few moments previously believed herself in a position the most +dangerous and difficult, now found herself under the protection of her +own stalwart kinsman. + +Martha, also, was delighted that the being she herself so loved had +made a discovery that not only quieted the painful anticipations and +reflections of her new friend, but gave herself an opportunity of +speedily abandoning forever a roof that had now become loathsome to her, +as she had already made up her mind to accompany Kate to the house of +old Mrs. Evans, who, notwithstanding her suspicious associations, loved +her for her own sake, and desired that she should forgo all further +intimacy with her uncle, and become the wife of young Henry. In this way +matters stood until the morning of the second of June--Henry remaining +throughout the night with the alarmed family; there being nothing to +fear in the direction of his own residence, which lay quite out of the +line of the two armies that were now about to close in mortal strife. + +The Kid and the cousin of Henry had, as already shown, gone in the +direction of the village, where, on arriving in due course, they found +the inhabitants in a state of the greatest consternation. As in Port +Colborne, here, also, was to be observed that spirit of disaffection +towards the British Crown which led to the hoisting of the American flag +over a public building at the former place, when it was ascertained +that the Province had actually been invaded. As yet, the troops +under Lieutenant Colonel Booker had not arrived, and as there was no +opportunity for Smith to ply his vocation, that worthy, emulating the +course pursued by his companion, rested quietly on his oars, until the +cars arrived with the army that was to contest the field of Ridgeway +with the soldiers of O'Neill. + +On the arrival of this train, Smith, as we have already perceived, +encountered Darcy, and had a conversation with him, the substance of +which is already known to the reader, as well as his subsequent falling +in with Wilson and Black Jack in the immediate rear of the Fenian +forces. Before the British had proceeded from Ridgeway towards Chippewa, +for the purpose of forming the junction with Colonel Peacock, the cousin +of Evans had returned to Wilson's with the intelligence that the command +of Booker was about to move along the Sodom Road; upon which he was +begged, by Henry, to start off and inform the widow, his mother, of +the approaching storm, and assure her that he should not take up +arms against the invaders, nor approach the scene of conflict, if the +contending armies joined issue at any point in the neighborhood. These +two young men, although born in Canada, were, yet, the sons of Irishmen, +and felt that it would be criminal in them to raise their hand against +the freedom of the land of their fathers, or in behalf of a government +that had for centuries subjected it to every wrong and insult that could +be heaped upon it. This they felt; and entered into a mutual compact +to remain passive at least, should the tide of the conflict surge their +way--hoping only for the success of the cause of poor, down-trodden +Erin, without feeling themselves impelled to raise an arm in her +defense against a body of men made up in part of their friends and +acquaintances. + +This was not genuine patriotism, we know; but, still, under the +circumstances, it had its merits. In addition, it had enough of the real +stuff about it to be capable of being shaped readily, under certain not +unreasonable conditions, into a most useful and active element in the +cause. Where a sentiment is not absolutely hostile, but on the contrary +even imbued with some slight degree of friendliness, it is easily +brought into line with the cause towards which it leans. And thus it +is with a vast body of the people of Canada, who do not take any active +part in the great question that now so agitates the Empire and shakes +the tyrant England to her very foundations. They would like to see +Ireland free; but they do not care to come into collision with the +British authorities on the subject. Could they lend her a helping hand +in secret and without detection, they would extend it cheerfully; but +they have not the nerve or moral courage to give her three cheers in the +market place. To this numerous class, these two young men belonged; and, +singular as it may appear, we count on it for real support in the +final struggle that must take place between us and England upon this +continent, one day or other. We think, also, that in the hands and under +the fostering care of the out-and-out Irish Nationalists of Canada, who +are ready to mount the scaffold at any moment, this friendly element +could be fostered into a great and irresistible power; for we have been +always of the opinion, that nine-tenths of those who have even one, +single drop of Irish blood in their veins, can, by judicious treatment, +be developed into the deadliest enemies of our ancient and implacable +foe. Let these people be educated in the history and the wrongs of +Ireland, as well as the extent to which England is indebted to that +unfortunate country for an that she now is. Let them take the Penal +Laws for a text-book, and the murders and confiscations of Elizabeth, +Cromwell and the Georges, for their "Reading Made Easy," and no fear +but they will soon fall into the ranks from which they now, alas! keep +aloof. Let them dwell upon the ages of famine, fire and sword to which +we have been subjected by a wretch who in the days of her gross darkness +came begging to our door in her breeches of blue paint and asked us for +an alphabet, while we were yet the day star of European civilization +and Christianity, and then they will be enabled to justify in their own +bosoms any act that would tend to her humiliation, and comprehend fully +how bitter and eternal the enmity between us, and how just, whatever +stroke should seal her doom at our hands. + + Seek music in the wolf's fierce howl, + Or pity In his Wood-shot eye, + When hanger drives him out to prowl + Beneath a rayless northern sky. + + But seek not that we shall forgive + The hand that strikes as to the heart, + And yet in mock'ry bids us live + To count our stars as they depart. + + We've fed the tyrant with our blood,-- + Won all her battles!--built her throne!-- + Established her on land and flood, + And sought her glory, next our own. + + We raised her from her low estate + And plucked her pagan soul from hell. + And led her up to heaven's own gate, + Till she for gold, like Judas, fell. + + And when in one long soulless night + She lay unknown to wealth or fame. + We gave her empire---riches--light, + And taught her how to spell her name. + + But, now, ungenerous and unjust, + Forgetful of our old renown, + She bows us to the very dust, + But wears our jewels in her Crown! + +This is the sentiment that fires the heart of every true son and +daughter of Ireland; and all that is necessary to its general adoption +on the part of those related to us by even the most distant ties of +country, is the constant promulgation throughout the length and breadth +of the New Dominion, etc., of sound information regarding the past and +present of our native land, and the true history of English legislation +affecting us. + +Scarcely had the cousin of Evans disappeared from Wilson's on his +mission to the house of the widow, when the echoing woods in the +vicinity of the place gave evidence of the meeting of the two hostile +forces. The first discharge of the Fenian rifles, after Col. Starr had +driven in the advance posts of the enemy, brought Kate to her feet, and +kindled in her eye a flame so intense, while her white teeth glistened +through her parted lips, that she seemed the very personification +of female courage and patriotism. As she listened through her open +casement, and caught the distant cheer of her countrymen, the wild +music of which she thoroughly recognized, her bosom rose and fell with +terrible emotion, while her delicate nostrils were distended in a +sort of passionate ecstasy that might be termed the climax of the most +sublime enthusiasm. Once more the Saxon and the Celt had joined in the +death struggle; and she felt as though she herself ought to be in some +way identified then and there with the conflict. Thoroughly appreciating +the mighty issues at stake, she implored heaven, in language the most +fervent, to crown with victory the standard of Ireland, and nerve the +arm of O'Neill in this the hour of his need. And as the moments rolled +by, and the tide of the contest ebbed and flowed upon her ear, her +excitement became so intense, that she begged of Henry to venture out +to some point where, without personal danger to himself, he might learn +something of the actual state of the battle and the prospects of her +gallant countrymen. + +More than an hour had elapsed since the action began, when Evans sallied +forth to gratify not only the wishes of his kinswoman, but to satisfy +his own mind as to how affairs stood. He was armed with his revolver +and dirk only; and felt, notwithstanding his former resolve, a strange +inclination to use them on the side of Ireland. A cowardly shot, +however, he could not fire; and as he knew nothing whatever of military +tactics, he at once dismissed from his mind the idea of participating in +the contest. Perceiving that the conflict did not verge towards his own +dwelling, he was determined to keep his eye upon that which he had just +left, and yet venture as near the field where the battle was raging as +a brave man might. Once he retraced his steps to inform Kate that so +far as he could perceive, both armies were holding their own; returning +again to the edge of a patch of wood close by. Here he had remained for +some time endeavoring to form an idea as to the probable issue of the +struggle, and occasionally warned of the perilousness of his position by +the rifle bullets that now and then sang around him, when suddenly +the red cross of St. George was seen to waver, and the next moment the +British lines were broken and scattered like chaff before the gallant +O'Neill and the victorious charge of his brave handful of heroes. + +The pulses of Evans beat quick with a sort of strange, wild joy, when he +heard the shout of triumph which burst from the ranks of the Irish, as +they swept like a whirlwind in the wake of their retreating foes, some +of whom stood at bay but to be instantly overthrown by their pursuers. A +desperate encounter between a knot of both forces took place quite near +to where he stood concealed: and here, also, the enemy bit the dust; +although at this precise point, they were not outnumbered. It was here +that Barry and his comrades were ordered to look after the dead and +wounded; the point being convenient to Wilson's, and discernible from +it, although a clump of trees shut out the house from Evans. + +When Wilson saw that the day was lost, as quickly as possible, both he +and his comrades, including Darcy and two or three others of a similar +stamp, who joined them in the field, fled and took shelter in his house, +unperceived by Evans or the victorious Irish. From this dwelling, +as already described, they sallied forth in a murderous assault upon +Nicholas and his party; with what success has been already seen. To +account for Evan's opportune appearance at the time of Barry's being +sorely pressed, we have only to observe, that he witnessed the attack +without knowing the point from whence it proceeded, or recognizing the +persons who made it; and only hastened to the scene of action when he +perceived that the assailing party was masked and that Barry was being +overwhelmed by unequal numbers. Having gained the point where the +struggle was being carried on, the butt-end of his revolver placed Barry +on an equal footing with his antagonists; although as already observed, +the young soldier had previously inflicted a mortal wound upon the most +important of his assailants. + +Kate and Martha were eye-witnesses from their chamber window of the +whole of this supplementary fight; the former little dreaming, that the +officer attacked by the two ruffianly masks, was the man that was +all the world to her. She perceived, however, that he belonged to the +invading army, and such being the case, she viewed the contest with +breathless anxiety; looking every moment for the fatal stroke that was +to lay him low in the dust forever, until the sudden appearance of +Henry on the spot, decided the day in his favor. The relief that she +experienced was so unutterable that she burst into tears; and when a few +moments subsequently, she learned from the lips of her kinsman himself +that the Irish were every where victorious and the British forces +totally routed and in full retreat upon Ridgeway, the intelligence was +too much for her, and she swooned away into the arms of Martha, while an +expression of ineffable joy overspread her beautiful face. + +The death of Wilson was broken to his wife as feelingly as might be by +Henry. For a moment the poor woman was paralysed, and then gave vent to +a flood of tears of a character so strange, that we shall not pause to +analyse it here. Her life had, indeed, been, for so far, a hard one, +with him; and now that she had discovered his real character, she +almost felt grateful to heaven for removing him from the world he was +so dishonoring and the heart that he had already broken. Yet he had been +her husband, and she remembered that she had loved him once; and here +the woman was touched within her. The die was cast, however; and now +it only devolved upon her to see his remains quietly consigned to their +last resting place. She saw him where he lay, kissed his cold lips and +wept afresh for all his long years of cruelty towards her; and then +turned away to her lonely chamber to which the body was removed +subsequently. Martha was horrified only at the slaughter that surrounded +her; and had no place for grief in a bosom where affection for the +husband of her aunt had never existed. All she saw before her was her +beloved Henry, alive and safe after the conflict had ceased between the +contending armies; while her heart thrilled with the purest delight +on learning from her lover, that which she was as yet to keep secret, +namely, that the officer who had been attacked by the two masks opposite +the house, was the betrothed of Kate who had joined the invaders with +the two-fold purpose of striking for the freedom of his native land, and +unraveling, if possible, the mystery of her sudden disappearance from +Buffalo. + +When our hero presented himself before the gallant O'Neill, that +distinguished soldier, who was already aware of the services rendered +by Nicholas, complimented him on his bravery and informed him, that he +should now fall back on Fort Erie with his remaining forces; fearing +momently the approach not only of Peacock's army but that of the +numerous other bodies of men that were being concentrated against him +from more than one quarter. Orders were therefore given to dispose as +hastily as possible of the dead and wounded: some prisoners that were +taken having been already paroled; among whom was the officer taken by +Barry on the preceeding day. + +When Kate opened her eyes to consciousness again, she found herself in +arms other than those of Martha; and looking up in a state of startled +amazement encountered the radiant face of Nicholas as he pressed her in +ecstasy to his bosom. A cry of joy escaped her lips, as she clung to him +with an embrace as wild as though she feared some adverse fate should +again separate them; and a second time became unconscious. Soon, +nevertheless, she was revived through restoratives used by Martha; but +yet in a state so confused that she could scarcely bring herself to +believe that all was real that was transpiring around her. By degrees, +however, she became convinced that it was in reality her lover who +enfolded her to his heart; and all was well. In due time, explanations +were given, when it was determined that she should at once return with +him to her friends in Buffalo, under the protection of the victorious +army and in a vehicle that Henry volunteered to furnish for the +occasion, and drive in person. The distance to the frontier was but +short; and as Henry's cousin had come up from the widow's to learn the +result of the battle, it was agreed that the one should remain in the +house of death with Martha and her aunt until the return of the other +from Fort Erie; and that, in the interim, he should collect such of the +neighbors as were within reach, and have the body of Wilson and that of +Darcy and the others interred as speedily as possible. + +This once decided upon, Barry possessed himself of such papers and +documents as were on the body of Darcy, hoping thereby, to gain some +insight not only into the Chancery case, but into the intentions of the +Government or their plans in relation to Fenianism. To him belonged of +right any information of this character that could be realized from a +dastardly foe who had been vanquished by his sword. But little, however, +was gleaned from this source, beyond the fact gathered from a letter +received by Darcy from his lawyer a short time previously, announcing +that there was no hope of his winning the suit, as some private opinions +expressed by those who composed the Court, went to convey the idea that +the claims of Kate McCarthy were of a character not to be set aside or +ignored even under the pressure of the Castle; and further, that the +opposing counsel, who was a sterling lawyer and a man of influence, was +pressing the matter so, that a decision favorable to his client could +not fail to be given at no distant day. + +This was, of course, cheering to our hero, although Darcy, just before +his death, had placed him in possession of the contents of the epistle, +and prepared him for the intelligence it contained. Kate received the +information without evincing any great degree of excitement Her mind had +been so perplexed and agitated for the last few days, that her sudden +good fortune, in a pecuniary sense, seemed lost sight of in the other +events that had already transpired, and her unexpected restoration to +her lover. She was certainly surprised at the fate and the machinations +of the pretended Lauder; and felt relieved by the conviction that the +murderous and unprincipled wretch who had wrought her and Nicholas so +much wrong and hardship, and who had attempted the assassination of her +betrothed, and her own ruin, was no more. This was a great relief to her +overburdened heart; as she now knew, that a man so desperate as he, +were he still alive, might manage, even yet, to work them some further +mischief. + +Among the papers belonging to Darcy there was found a small memorandum +book or diary, which, although a riddle to Barry, is worth noting here, +as it contained some entries that may possibly find elucidation outside +the recognition of our hero. One of them was as follows: "Toronto, +April 20th, 1866--Paid to J.G. M---- $20, for information regarding Hib. +Benev. Society." And again: "April 23d--saw Hon. J. R----; willing to +do all he can, but wants to be paid for it. Mean fellow, whose tenderest +passion is absolutely scrofulous, they say." The other entries related +to mere travelling expenses, etc., and to some transactions which took +place in Kingston and other points where Darcy had been conducting +his operations in the interest of the English, as well as the Canadian +government In addition to this, there was a draft for a considerable +amount; but as it needed the signature of the deceased, it was regarded +as valueless and permitted to remain in the pocket of the dead man--our +hero, however it fared afterwards, feeling a singular repugnance to +possessing himself of any property of this kind, or retaining a single +shilling of the current funds found upon the corpse. These latter were +subsequently devoted to defraying the burial expenses of the deceased, +as well as those of his companions. + +When matters were so far arranged as to permit of the departure of our +hero and heroine, Henry was about to leave the premises with a view +to procuring the vehicle that was to carry them to the frontier, when +Wilson's team, that was discovered by a neighbor in the place where it +had been concealed, was driven up to the door. This was opportune, +as Evans, on perceiving the horses and knowing that there was a light +carriage under the shed, determined to put them into requisition at +once. Soon, therefore, the three friends were bringing up the rear of +O'Neill's troops as the latter fell steadily back upon Fort Erie, with +the intention, as before stated, of learning whether landings had been +made at any other point, or whether there were the slightest hopes of +reinforcements crossing the river from Buffalo. + +Kate parted from Martha with a warm embrace, and an assurance of lasting +friendship; while on her part, the betrothed of Evans promised to visit +our hero and heroine in Buffalo at no distant day, and there renew the +intimacy that had begun amid such clouds, although now surrounded with +sunshine. On the departure of our little party, then, Barry's wounded +comrades being previously cared for under the instructions of O'Neill, +the bodies of the four accomplices--Wilson, Darcy, Black Jack and the +Kid--were interred with infinitely more decent observances than their +career in life seemed to warrant. The scruples of Nicholas, however, +regarding Darcy's draft, were not shared by some of those who disposed +of his remains; as it was taken charge of by an individual who fancied +it might, one day, be turned to account by some person authorised to +receive it. Of the mask who had escaped from the conflict opposite +Wilson's, we may have occasion to speak in some future volume; although +Evans surmised him simply some villain who had joined Darcy or the Kid +for the purposes of murder or plunder. Be this as it may, the fugitive +had made good his escape, while those with whom he had acted for the +time being, suffered to the extent of their crimes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +It will be remembered that when the brave O'Neill and his handful of +troops fell down the river from Fort Erie on the night of the first of +June, to go into camp at Newbiggin's Farm, preparations were being made +by the British not only to overpower him with superior numbers but +to cut off his retreat upon the American shore and capture his whole +command. In view of this, troops were being despatched against him from +all points; while the tug Robb, black with artillery and men, came round +from Dunville and patrolled the Niagara River between Fort Erie and +Black Creek, under command of Capt. L. McCallum. This craft was manned +by the Dunville Naval Brigade and the Welland Field Battery, under Capt. +R.S. King, all armed to the teeth with Enfield rifles. On this vessel +there was, we learn, so much mirth when it was found that the Fenians +were cut off from the American shore, that the force aboard it assumed +the air of a sort of military pic-nic party. They laughed at the dilemma +in which they considered the invaders placed; and landed some of their +men at one point on the river to make a pleasant reconnoisance of the +enemy, and give them a warm reception as they came flying back +towards Fort Erie before the victorious Queen's Own or the University +Rifles--either corps being considered quite sufficient to snuff out the +little band of patriots who dared to beard the British Lion in his den. +The wine and the jest passed gaily round, until so secure were they of +their position and the defeat of the invaders, a landing was effected +At Fort Erie where the skull and cross-bones of St. George once again +floated over the village, and assured the inhabitants that they were +not yet lost to wheezy old England. Lieut. Col. Denis was absolutely in +ecstasies and evinced such instances of personal bravery over his brandy +and water, that no one could have imagined, that, in the space of a +couple of hours or so, he should be found in a hay-loft, shorn of his +fierce moustachois, and endeavoring to imitate the Irish brogue, in the +slouched caubeen and coarse, gray habiliments of some poor, plundered +Son of the Sod. Those who caught a glimpse of the brave commander as he +fled before the dangers that threatened him, report him as presenting +the most ludicrous appearance imaginable, and scarcely worth sending to +his account in a respectable manner. To this disguise alone, we learn, +he owed his escape after the second carnage of the British by the Irish +troops on the memorable day already named, and on their return from +Limestone Ridge. + +When O'Neill left Ridgeway, after pursuing the routed English forces +through and beyond the village, he took the Garrison Road and, as +already mentioned, fell back on Fort Erie. Here he came upon the Welland +Field Battery and Dunville Naval Brigade just referred to. Flushed with +the victory of the morning, he was upon them like a whirlwind, and, in +the twinkling of an eye sent them flying to cover in every direction. +His horse being much jaded with the march of the previous night, and the +dreadful fatigues of the battle of the morning, he could scarcely get +him to move a leg when he entered the village; and this circumstance was +near leading to the most fatal results; for, in passing a house in which +a number of the enemy had taken shelter, one of them came to the door, +and seeing the animal going at so slow a pace, took deliberate aim with +a rifle, and fired, in the hope of bringing down his rider. The all but +murderous ball displaced the hair just over the right temple of O'Neill, +lodging in a building opposite; the hero escaping all the dangers of the +day, to the amazement of those who had marked him galloping among the +carnage and bullets of the morning, in what might be termed a constant +hand to hand struggle with death. It is sometimes thus with the men who +show the most daring front in battle, and at the call of duty expose +themselves to dangers the most appalling; while such as are more +cautious often fall in their first encounter with the enemy. + +The British forces at Fort Erie, from the very nature of things, had the +Fenians at great advantage on the return of the latter from Ridgeway. +The troops under O'Neill were fatigued and hungry, and after a desperate +battle and a long march, while the English had been resting on their +oars and feasting all day long, or at least for many hours. Still, +with all these advantages in their favor, they were whipped instantly a +second time; many of them being killed and wounded; Captain King of +the Welland Battery losing a leg upon the occasion, and others being +terribly maimed. In addition, some of them were so terror-stricken as to +roll from the bank into the river, and conceal themselves as best they +could, with their heads just over the water, and sheltered by whatever +chanced to float against them or project into the flood. In one case +they fought for a few minutes from behind some cord-wood: but from this +they were soon dislodged by the terrible bayonets of their enemies, +and scattered like sheep in and about the village. It was here that the +brave Colonel Michael Bailey was dangerously wounded by a rifle ball +from a house where the enemy had already hung out a flag of truce. He +was riding at the head of his men when he was tumbled from his horse, +the ball having entered his left breast, damaging the breast bone and +passing out just under his right nipple. The wound was at the time +considered mortal; but the gallant soldier survived it for upwards of a +year. Still it was the occasion of his death ultimately; for, from the +hour that he received it, he drooped gradually into his grave. Only +for the timely interference of O'Neill, the house from which this +treacherous shot was fired, like that from which he himself had nigh +received his death, would have been burned to the ground. He saw, of +course, how cowardly the act, to first hang out a flag of truce and then +follow the white emblem with so diabolical an attack; but he perceived, +also, that if one building chanced to be fired, Fort Erie might be +burned to the ground. He therefore quelled the rising tempest at this +foul play, and with his iron will held the whole command in the hollow +of his hand and made those who composed it trample on their feelings +and curb their just anger for the good of the cause--a noble sentiment +emulated by the brave Dr. Edward Donnelly, of Pittsburgh, who at the +risk of his life and liberty, remained among the wounded of both parties +and assisted by the humane Drs. Blanchard and Trowbridge, of Buffalo, +attended upon the sufferers even after the troops had recrossed the +river, and the British had again taken possession of Fort Erie. + +If we except the death of the brave Lonergan and that of half a dozen +other noble fellows, whose names are unfortunately not at our command at +this moment, and take into consideration the capture by the British of +the Christian and chivalrous Father McMahon, who, regardless of his own +personal safety, remained with the dead and dying, after the forces of +O'Neill had recrossed the river, the victory of Ridgeway was completely +unclouded. This patriotic priest and some other friends of Ireland are +now suffering for their love of Fatherland in an English bastile at +Kingston, in the New Dominion; but the thought strikes us, the hour of +their redemption draws nigh. Subsequently, one or two others, including +the gallant Bailey, died from the effects of their wounds upon that +memorable field; but such are the contingencies of war, and such the +fate of some of the truest of our race. + +When O'Neill conquered and captured all the British force at Fort Erie, +he at once sent a despatch to Buffalo asking for reinforcements and +stating that if it were necessary to the success of any movement that +might be going on at some other point, he would hold Fort Erie and make +it a slaughter-pen to the last man of his command. General Lynch having +arrived at Buffalo some short time previously, it was decided to send +reinforcements; but on its being found, subsequently, that a sufficient +number to be of real service could not be then sent to the Canada side, +the idea was abandoned and transportation prepared for the victorious +troops to re-cross the river. + +When the British entered Fort Erie in the morning, they captured some +Fenian stragglers who were, of course, set free on the arrival of +O'Neill from Ridgeway; and now after being themselves captured in turn +they were released on their parole; O'Neill having no other means of +disposing of them. Nicholas was not engaged in this latter affair; as, +not anticipating it, he had kept in the rear of the army with Kate and +Evans; so that now when he came up, he was both ashamed and mortified +that even an engagement so trifling, when compared with that of the +morning, was fought without his having participated in it. However, the +day was doubly won, and as he explained to his gallant Commander, the +peculiarity of his position, with a smile and a hearty shake of the +hand, he got permission to re-cross the river with his betrothed. This +much accomplished, Henry turned his horses and drove down the bank at a +quick pace, until he arrived at the house of a friend who kept a boat; +and prevailing on him to take our hero and heroine to the American side +a little below the Lower Rock, he made his warm _adieux_, with a promise +soon to visit Buffalo with Martha, where, meeting an express desire from +the lips of Kate, he agreed that they should be made man and wife. And +so the friends parted for the time being--Nicholas and Kate, in the +course of an hour, finding themselves under the Stars and Stripes once +more, and beneath the hospitable roof that had so long sheltered her. + +Here to their utter astonishment they found Big Tom who had just arrived +from Canada; he having been obliged to turn over his establishment +hastily to his trusty friend, Burk, and fly the Province; as through +some successful espionage, his connection with the Brotherhood had been +discovered. From a friendly detective who had learned the true state of +the case and the danger that threatened him, he received the hint that +urged him to make his escape, and which doubtless saved him from the +horrors of a dungeon if not from death. His sister was to follow him as +soon as a sale of his establishment could be effected, and then, as +he said himself, "good bye to the tyrant until we meet on the battle +field." He was astounded at the disclosures regarding the pretended +Greaves, and all but paralysed at the frightful position from which Kate +had so miraculously escaped. When, however, he heard of the glorious +victory of the arms of the Irish Republic at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, +under O'Neill, he forgot everything else and leaped to his feet with a +cheer that shook the house to its very foundation. In the ecstasy of joy +that seized him, he took everybody near him by the hand ten times over, +and added cheer to cheer until it was deemed expedient to recall him to +something like reason. A more genuine display of heartfelt pleasure and +patriotic feeling was never witnessed or experienced by any individual +or indulged in a manner more original or unsophisticated. + +"Tell it to me again, Nick! Tell it to me again!" he exclaimed for the +twentieth time; "and did you see them run, and how many of them are +kilt? Have you a soord or a gun or anythin belongin to them? for if you +have I'll give you tin times the value of it for a keepsake." + +"Oh!" replied Barry, amused at this unusual display on the part of +the sedate and phlegmatic Tom, "there will be no lack of keepsakes in +Buffalo to-morrow; for the field was covered with their coats, arms, and +knapsacks; and some of these, I am sure, will be got for a mere song." + +This seemed to satisfy O'Brien, who soon flowed into conversation +touching all that had transpired regarding Kate and Darcy, as well as in +relation to Nicholas himself. During the narrative, he referred to +the doubts that he had from the first entertained regarding the spy; +although he confessed he was not altogether clear at times upon the +subject. + +After the fight at Fort Erie, many of the Fenians, understanding that +they were not to be reinforced and that the enemy was about coming down +on them in force and hemming them in on all sides, made the best of +their way across the river. The great bulk of the command, however, +stood by O'Neill; until about midnight, when a large scow attached to +a steam tug approached the Canadian shore and took the whole of the +remaining forces on board. Laden thus, they steamed out into the middle +of the river, when a 12-pound shot fired across their bows, from the +tug Harrison, belonging to the U.S. Steamer Michigan, brought them +to--doubtless to the extreme delight of Acting Sailing-Master Morris +who seemed anxious enough to fire the gun and make the capture; although +they would at the moment have stuck to a child hearing the authority +of the United States. It is significant, however, that the +over-officiousness of Mr. Morris has not tended much to his advantage as +he no longer belongs to the United States Navy; he having been quite +as unfortunate as a certain District Attorney, who, also, endeavored to +impress the Government as to his undoubted unfriendliness to the cause +of Irish freedom. The lesson may be profitable to Government officials +at some future period; and prevent them from exceeding the simple and +unprejudiced bounds of their duty. Be this as it may, about two o'clock +on the morning of the third of June the scow was brought along side the +Michigan and the officers taken on board that vessel and handed over +to the urbane and gentlemanly Capt. Bryson, its commander, as prisoners +under the authority of the United States; while the men were detained in +the same character aboard the scow. + +We are unable to trace to any particular source, the cruelty inflicted +upon these latter noble fellows, in keeping them for days in that open +vessel huddled together, and with the rain for a portion of that period, +descending upon them in torrents. The disgrace of such a proceeding +has been so often denounced, that we dismiss this part of the subject +without further comment. Ultimately, they were all liberated on +their own recognizance, to appear about the middle of the month at +Canaudaigua, to answer for a breach of the Neutrality Laws; and there +the matter ended. + +Now, however, the arms and ammunition belonging to the Brotherhood had +been seized at every point except Buffalo. In addition, the volunteers +who poured to the frontier from every side found themselves helpless, +being without weapons or a commissariat: although the brave General +Spear, with but a handful of men, made a descent subsequently upon +the enemy at St. Albans, and put them to a most ignominious flight. +According to General Meade, of the United States Army, between +thirty and forty thousand of these brave fellows were furnished with +transportation back to their homes at the expense of the Government; +while the arms that were seized were subsequently returned to the +authorities of the Organization on certain conditions that have been for +so far complied with. + +Thus ended the first invasion of Canada under the gallant O'Neill, +who, on his return from the campaign, was made a General and +Commander-in-chief of the Army of the Irish Republic, and who, in +addition, was subsequently elevated, to the position of President of the +Fenian Organization throughout the world. What his next move may be, we +are unable to say; but this we know, it will be in the right direction +and likely to succeed. He had no doubt been spared on the numerous +battle-fields on which he fought so bravely, for some wise purpose: and +this purpose, we feel, is in connection with the freedom of Ireland. For +the present, then, we bid him and his noble comrades adieu; hoping the +next time we shall have occasion to refer to them, the power of England +may be broken on this continent, and the green flag of old Ireland +floating over the Castle of Dublin. Our hopes of success were never +brighter than they appear to be at this, the moment of our writing. +We have an immense army in preparation for the field, and a noble and +self-sacrificing Senate and band of Organizers that may well command +his confidence and that of every Irish Nationalist in the world. For the +benefit of our readers, we here give the names of the members of both +these bodies, so that they shall be known and cherished throughout +the globe. We might single out from amongst them, that of the able and +patriotic P.J. Meehan, Esq., editor of the _Irish American_, and bold +it up to the admiration of our countrymen everywhere: but where all have +acted so nobly we shall include all as worthy of praise alike; although +we could point out D. O'Sullivan, Esq., Secretary of Civil Affairs, A.L. +Morrison, Esq., of Chicago, and a host of others, as eminently entitled +to our love and admiration; while, were we permitted to do so, we could +illumine our pages with the names of thousands of our fair countrywomen +and their beautiful American sisters who have laid their hands to the +good work with all the passion and nobility of their pure and generous +natures: but we must for the present content ourselves with the +following list and its recent modifications, at the Seventh National +Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood, which assembled at Philadelphia on +Tuesday, November 24th. 1868: + +_NAMES OF SENATORS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD_. + + JAMES GIBBONS, ESQ., Vice President, F.B. 333 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. + THOMAS LAVAN, ESQ., 13 Superior Street, Cleveland, Ohio. + T.J. QUINN, ESQ., Albany, N.Y. + MILES D. SWEENEY, ESQ., San Francisco. Cal. + JOHN CARLETON, ESQ., Bordentown, N.J. + F.B. GALLAGHER, ESQ., Buffalo, N.Y. + P.W. DUNNE, ESQ., Peoria. Ill. + EDWARD L. CAREY, ESQ., New York City. + PATRICK J. MEEHAN, ESQ., Hudson City, N.J. + PETER CUNNINGHAM, ESQ., Utica, N.Y. + MICHAEL FINNEGAN, ESQ., Houghton, Mich. + J.C. O'BRIEN, ESQ., Rochester, N.Y. + WM. FLEMING, ESQ., 16 Congress Street Troy, N.Y. + HON. J.W. FITZGERALD, Ellen Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. + PATRICK SWEENEY, ESQ., Newburgh Street, Lawrence, Mass. + +_NAMES OF ORGANIZERS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD_{1} + + JOHN F. FINNERTY, ESQ. + JAMES BRENNAN, ESQ. + COLONEL P.F. WALSH. + MAJOR WM. McWILLIAMS. + H.M. WILLIAMS, ESQ. + HENRY LE CARON, ESQ. + MAJOR TIMOTHY O'LEARY. + JOSEPH SMOLENSKI, ESQ. + E.C. LEWIS, ESQ. + COLONEL WM. CLINGEN. + FRED. O'DONNELL, ESQ. + H.M. SULLIVAN, ESQ. + +(FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCHES) + +PHILADELPHIA. NOVEMBER 29, 1868. + +"The Seventh National Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood adjourned _sine +die_ at six o'clock this morning, the delegates having sat from three +o'clock P.M., on Saturday, determined to finish their business in one +session. General JOHN O'NEILL was unanimously re-elected President, and +resolutions were adopted, approving his administration of the affairs of +the Brotherhood. + +"The following named Senators, nine in number, were elected to fill +vacancies:-- + +"J.C. O'Brien, Rochester, N.Y.; J.W. Fitzgerald, Cincinnati, Ohio; Major +J. McKinley, Nashville, Tenn.; R. McCloud, Norwich, Conn.; J.E. Downey, +Providence, R.I.; P. Bannon, Louisville, Ky.; W.J. Hynes, Washington, +D.C.; P.J. Meehan, New York; Colonel John O'Neill, Dubuque, Iowa. + +"The following named Senators hold over under the Constitutional rule, +having been elected for two years at the Cleveland Congress:-- + +"James Gibbons, of Philadelphia; Miles D. Sweeney, of San Francisco; +T.J. Quinn, of Albany, N.Y.; E.L. Carey, of New York; P.W. Dunne, of +Peoria, Ill.; Frank B. Gallagher, of Buffalo, N.Y. + +"What may be termed the central authority of the Brotherhood, within the +Senate, stands thus, Dec., 1868: + + "PRESIDENT--GENERAL JOHN O'NEILL. + _Executive Committee_--VICE PRESIDENT GIBBONS, P.J. MEEHAN and E.L. CAREY. + _Acting Sec. of War_--P.J. MEEHAN. + _Assistant Treasurer_--JOHN P. BROPHY. + _Sec. of Civil Affairs_--DAN. O'SULLIVAN, of Auburn. + _Assistant Secretaries_--FRANK RUNEHAN and RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK. + _Treasurer_--PATRICK KEENAN." + +As we have referred to the recent Congress at Philadelphia, the +following article from the Philadelphia _Age_ November 27, 1868, will +be interesting to our readers as indicative of the present standing and +prospects of the Brotherhood on this continent: + +"One of the great events of Thanksgiving Day, outside of the festivities +of the home circle and the attendance on public worship, was the grand +demonstration by the Irishmen of Philadelphia in honor of the assembling +of the Fenian Congress in this city. This body, which consists of +delegates from all parts of the world, has been holding secret sessions +at the Assembly Buildings during the week, and important results have +been anticipated by the friends of Ireland all over the world. + +"The parade was quite a success, and reflected great credit on the +managers. Mr. John Brennan was Chief Marshal, assisted by Frank +McDonald, Marshal First Division; Michael Moane, Second Division; James +Carr, Third Division; John McAtee, Fourth Division; Michael D. Kelly, +Fifth Cavalcade, with the following Aids--John A. Keenan, R.J. Keenan, +Andrew Wynne, Thomas N. Stack, Capt. F. Quinlan. + +"The line commenced moving about half-past three o'clock, in the +following order, the military having the right of the line: + +"Gen. John O'Neill, President of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the +following Staff--Gen. J. Smolenski, Chief-of-Staff; Col. John W. Byron, +Asst. Adjt.-General; Col. J.J. Donnelly, of Engineers; Major T. O'Leary, +of Ordnance; Major Henry LeCaron, Com. Subsistence; Dr. Donnelly, +Surgeon; Capt. Wm. J. Hynes, Assistant Inspector; Lieut.-Col. Sullivan, +Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. Atkinson, Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. John W. +Dunne, Aid-de-Camp; Capt. J. Smolenski, Aide-de-Camp; Capt. J. Driscoll, +Aide-de-Camp. + +"There were three regiments of the Irish Republican Army in line; they +numbered fully two thousand men, and were clad in their new uniform. The +three regiments parading were the Eighth, Ninth and Twenty-fourth. The +brigade was commanded by Col. William Clingen, Major Daniel A. Moore, +Asst. Adj't-Gen. + +"The Eighth Regiment was commanded by Col. P.S. Tinah, the Ninth by Col. +J. O'Reilly, and the Twenty-fourth by Col. Michael Kirwan. The military +was followed by numerous civic societies. There were nineteen Circles +of the Fenian Brotherhood and three hundred delegates to the Fenian +Congress, besides the Charles Carroll Beneficial Society and the +Buchanan Beneficial Society. The civic portion of the parade numbered +about five thousand men. The participants wore dark suits and badges, +and pieces of green ribbon tied in the button-holes of their coats. + +"In the line of the procession was a handsome chariot drawn by six gray +horses. It was painted green and gold; the platform was covered with +beautiful oilcloth, and on it was placed a large brass bell, supported +on a green framework. This bell was kept tolling over the whole route +of the procession. In the rear of the chariot was a raised platform, on +which sat a beautiful daughter of Erin, dressed as a Goddess of Liberty, +holding a beautiful silk banner. She was seated underneath an arch of +gold stars, set on a field of white satin, and the top of the arch was +covered with holly and evergreen. The rear of the arch and the back of +the chariot were covered by a beautiful anchor of hope, made entirely +of flowers. The horses were decked with red, white and blue plumes and +large silk pennants. The whole arrangement made a very fine display, and +elicited much applause along the route. + +"A banner was carried in the line of the civic societies, containing the +following, in gold letters on a field of green satin: + + "Delegates--remember the words of our martyred O'Brien, to unite in + God's name, for Ireland and liberty. God save Ireland. + +"An outline cross in gold covered the front of the banner. + +"Along the route advertised, the sidewalks were lined by expectant +watchers, in some instances three or four abreast. They waited patiently +for nearly three long hours before the head of the line appeared. Green +flags, with yellow harps and the words 'Erin go Bragh,' were plentifully +distributed throughout the crowd. The universal color was green; green +ribbons in button-holes, green neckties, green badges, green flags, +green coats, green sashes and green uniforms. The bands played 'Wearing +of the Green,' continually. 'Green grow the Rushes, O,' 'The Green above +the Red,' and 'Garry-owen' were the only substitutes. + +"There was a great deal of enthusiasm manifested all along the route, +and the procession did not cease marching until the shades of evening +had approached." + +But to resume, once more, the thread of our story:--In due time the +establishment of The Harp was disposed of to advantage, and the sum +realized from it placed in the hands of O'Brien by his sister who +had made her way to Buffalo according to his directions. When matters +quieted down in the vicinity of Ridgeway, Martha paid a visit to her +friend Kate, and was soon followed by Henry with a view to keeping his +word in relation to their marriage which took place on the same evening +and under the same roof with that of Kate and Nicholas. The joint affair +was a grand one; many guests having been invited to the wedding; among +whom were some officers of the I.R.A., and all that survived of Barry's +comrades. Tom, was in his glory; and as all the military men present had +been at Ridgeway, the _pros_ and _cons_ of that important battle were +discussed in a manner the most lively and entertaining. Then and there, +it was voted, that although the invasion of the Provinces had not at the +moment, resulted in any immediate benefits to the Irish, it had given a +prestige to the arms of Ireland in an individual and national sense, not +realized by that country for ages. Not since the palmy days of our early +chivalry, had British soil been invaded by a hostile Irish army, until +O'Neill broke the ice at Ridgeway; and at no period in the history of +the nation had a mere handful of men performed greater miracles of valor +or been handled with more consummate judgment and daring. + +In the course of a few days, Mr. and Mrs. Evans returned to their home +near Ridgeway; and prevailed upon Mrs., now the widow Wilson, to dispose +of the house and property identified with so many unhappy associations, +and near which the young wife could not now be induced to venture. In +the roomy and commodious dwelling of the Evans' she found a home; and in +the course of time began to wear a more cheerful aspect, and forget, +in a measure, the dreadful ordeal through which she had passed. +Nevertheless, no real sunshine visited her brow, as the shadow that had +fallen on it was too deep and sorrowful for even the peace and quiet now +promised her in the decline of her years. + +Six months after their marriage, the Barrys were apprised of their +success regarding the Chancery-suit; but so enormous were the expenses +attending it, that, after all, the benefits accruing from it were +something similar to those experienced by Gulliver after his having +encountered and overcome all the difficulties that could have possibly +beset humanity. Still they were richer through its having been decided +in their favor; and were enabled on the strength of it to purchase +a handsome dwelling near their friends of the Rock, where they still +reside in comfortable if not affluent circumstances. Tom and his sister, +old bachelor and old maid, are once again in business, but this time not +in the restaurant line; and had we not given assumed names throughout +our whole story in so far as he and Barry are concerned, his +establishment might be recognized at any period by those acquainted +with Buffalo and its vicinity, or such as have passed along a certain +well-known thoroughfare to Black Rock. His faith never falters in +relation to the independence of Ireland; and he still keeps up his +connection with the Brotherhood on both sides of the line; often +receiving from Canada lengthy and mysterious epistles written by Burk, +over which he pores, from time to time, with sundry nods, winks and +significant smiles. + +Henry and Martha are now occasionally to be seen at the Rock; the former +wearing a green necktie, and the latter as happy as the day is long. +In the arms of both Kate and Martha are now two sweet prattlers--one +christened, John O'Neill Barry, and the other, Martha Ridgeway Evans. +Perhaps in after years they in turn may plight their vows on the banks +of the Niagara, as Kate and Nicholas had done by those of the Shannon. +Kate now and then visits her friends at their residence on the Canadian +side of the lakes; but Nicholas is of the impression, that he is quite +as well off in judiciously remaining at home to look after the affairs +of their establishment. Sometimes, however, he gazes across the river +and wonders how soon again he shall have an opportunity of measuring +swords with the ancient enemy of his race; while Tom has made up his +mind to handle a rifle himself, the next time that O'Neill sounds "to +horse!" + +And so ends our story of Ridgeway, with all the difficulties, loves, +hopes and fears connected with it. Throughout the whole of our narrative +we have been faithful to circumstances where the interests of the truth +required that we should be just and impartial. In this connection +we have been guided solely by personal knowledge and the evidence of +respectable eye-witnesses; and by official documents of the campaign, +the veracity of which are beyond any question whatever. Here, then, +we bid our readers good-bye for the present; trusting that we may soon +again renew our acquaintance, and that we have not done injustice to any +party; for, notwithstanding the slight tinge of romance with which our +facts are interwoven, we have, after all, presented nothing for their +perusal at variance with truth, or, we hope, prejudicial to society. + +_THE END_. + + +[1] Although we are under the impression that others of these gentlemen +than those designated belong to the I.R.A. yet we are unable to give +their military rank, from the fact of our not being able, at the time of +our writing, to obtain proper intelligence on the subject. + + + + +AUTHENTIC REPORT OF THE INVASION OF CANADA, AND THE BATTLE OF RIDGEWAY, + +By the Army of the Irish Republic, under General O'NEILL, June, 1866. + +About midnight, on the 31st May, the men commenced moving from Buffalo +to Lower Black Rock, about three miles down the river, and at 3:30 A.M., +on the 1st of June, all of the men, with the arms and ammunition, were +on board four canal boats, and towed across the Niagara River, to a +point on the Canadian side called Waterloo, and at 4 o'clock A.M., +the Irish flag was planted on British soil, by Colonel Starr, who had +command of the first two boats. + +On landing, O'Neill immediately ordered the telegraph wires leading from +the town to be cut down; and sent a party to destroy the railroad bridge +leading to Port Colborne. + +Colonel Starr, in command of the Kentucky and Indiana troops, proceeded +through the town of Fort Erie to the old Fort, some three miles distant +up the river, and occupied it for a short time, hoisting the Irish flag. + +O'Neill then waited on the Reeve of Fort Erie, and requested him to see +some of the citizens of the place, and have them furnish rations for the +men, at the same time assuring him that no depredations on the citizens +would be permitted, as he had come to drive out British authority from +the soil, and not for the purpose of pillaging the citizens. The request +for provisions was cheerfully complied with. + +About 10 o'clock A.M., he moved into camp on Newbiggin's Farm, situated +on Frenchman's Creek, four miles down the river from Fort Erie, where he +remained till 10 o'clock P.M. + +During the afternoon, Capt. Donohue, of the 18th, while out in command +of a foraging party, on the road leading to Chippewa, came up with the +enemy's scouts, who fled at his approach. + +Later in the afternoon, Col. Hoy was sent with one hundred men in the +same road. He also came up with some scouts about six miles from camp. +Here he was ordered to halt. + +By this time--8 o'clock P.M.--information was received that a large +force of the enemy, said to be five thousand strong, with artillery, +were advancing in two columns; one from the direction of Chippewa, and +the other from Port Colborne; also, that troops from Port Colborne were +to make an attack from the lake side. + +Here truth compels me to make an admission that I would fain have kept +from the public. Some of the men who crossed over with us the night +before, managed to leave the command during the day, and recross to +Buffalo, while others remained in houses around Fort Erie. This I record +to their lasting disgrace. + +On account of this shameful desertion, and the fact that arms had been +sent out for eight hundred men, O'Neill had to destroy three hundred +stand, to prevent them falling into the bands of the enemy. At this time +he could not depend on more than five hundred men, about one-tenth of +the reputed number of the enemy, which he knew were surrounding him. +Rather a critical position, but he had been sent to accomplish a certain +object, and he was determined to accomplish it. + +At 10 o'clock P.M., he broke camp, and marched towards Chippewa, and +at midnight changed direction, and moved on the Limestone Ridge road, +leading toward Ridgeway; halting a few hours on the way to rest the +men;--this for the purpose of meeting the column advancing from Port +Colborne. His object was to get between the two columns, and, if +possible, defeat one of them before the other could come to its +assistance. + +At about 7 o'clock A.M., 2d of June, when within three miles of +Ridgeway, Col. Owen Starr in command of the advanced guard, came up with +the advance of the enemy, mounted, and drove them some distance, till he +got within sight of their skirmish line, which extended on both sides of +the road about half a mile. By this time, O'Neill could hear the whistle +of the railroad cars which brought the enemy from Port Colborne. He +immediately advanced his skirmishers, and formed line of battle behind +temporary breastworks made of rails, on a road leading to Fort Erie, and +running parallel with the enemy's line. The skirmishing was kept up over +half an hour, when, perceiving the enemy flanking him on both aides, and +not being able to draw out their centre, which was partially protected +by thick timber, befell back a few hundred yards, and formed a new +line. The enemy seeing he had only a few men--about four hundred--and +supposing that he had commenced a retreat, advanced rapidly in pursuit. +When they got close enough, he gave them a volley, and then charged +them, driving them nearly three miles, through the town of Ridgeway. In +their hasty retreat they threw away knapsacks, guns, and everything that +was likely to retard their speed, and left some ten or twelve killed +and twenty-five or thirty wounded, with twelve prisoners, in his hands. +Amongst the killed was Lieut. McEachern, and amongst the wounded Lieut. +Ruth, both of the "Queen's Own." The pursuit was given up about a mile +beyond Ridgeway. + +Although he had met and defeated the enemy, yet his position was still +a very critical one. The reputed strength of the enemy engaged in the +fight was fourteen hundred, composed of the "Queen's Own," the 13th +Hamilton Battalion, and other troops. A regiment which had left Fort +Colburne was said to be on the road to reinforce them. He also knew that +the column from Chippewa would hear of the fight, and in all probability +move up in his rear. + +Thus situated, and not knowing what was going on elsewhere, he decided +that his best policy was to return to Fort Erie, and ascertain if +crossings had been made at other points, and if so, he was willing to +sacrifice himself and his noble little command, for the sake of leaving +the way open, as he felt satisfied that a large proportion of the +enemy's forces had been concentrated against him. + +He collected a few of his own wounded, and put them in wagons, and +for want of transportation had to leave six others in charge of the +citizens, who promised to look after them and bury the dead of both +sides. He then divided his command, and sent one half, under Col. Starr, +down the railroad, to destroy it and burn the bridges, and with the +other half took the pike road leading to Fort Erie. Col. Starr got to +the old Fort about the same time that he himself did to the village +of Fort Erie, 4 o'clock P.M. He (Starr) left the men there under the +command of Lieut. Col. Spaulding, and joined O'Neill in a skirmish with +a company of the Welland Battery, which had arrived there from Port +Colborne in the morning, and which picked up a few of the men who had +straggled from the command the day before. They had these men prisoners +on board the steamer "Robb." The skirmish lasted about fifteen minutes, +the enemy firing from the houses. Three or four were killed, and some +eight or ten wounded, on each side. + +It was here that Lieut. Col. Bailey was wounded, while gallantly leading +the advance on this side of the town. Here forty-five of the enemy were +taken prisoners, among them Capt. King, who was wounded, (leg since +amputated,) Lieut. McDonald, Royal Navy, and Commander of the steamer +"Robb," and Lieut. Nemo, Royal Artillery. O'Neill then collected +his men, and posted Lieut. Col. Grace, with one hundred men, on the +outskirts of the town, guarding the road leading to Chippewa, while with +the remainder of the command he proceeded to the old Fort. + +About six o'clock A.M., he sent word to Capt. Hynes and his friends +at Buffalo that the enemy could surround him before morning with +five thousand men, fully provided with artillery, and that his little +command, which had by this time considerably decreased, could not +hold out long, but that if a movement was going on elsewhere, he was +perfectly willing to make the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which he knew +it would be the next day if he remained. FOR HE WOULD NEVER HAVE +SURRENDERED. + +Many of the men had not a mouthful to eat since Friday morning, and +none of them had eaten anything since the night before, and all after +marching forty miles and fighting two battles, though the last could +only properly be called a skirmish. They were completely worn out with +hunger and fatigue. + +On receiving information that no crossing had been effected elsewhere, +he sent word to have transportation furnished immediately; and about +ten o'clock P.M. Capt. Hynes came from Buffalo and informed him that +arrangements had been made to recross the river. + +Previous to this time some of the officers and men, realizing the danger +of their position, availed themselves of small boats and recrossed +the river, but the greater portion remained until the transportation +arrived, which was about 12 o'clock on the night of June 2, and about 2 +o'clock A.M. on the morning of the 3d, all except a few wounded men were +safely on board a large scow attached to a tug boat which hauled into +American waters. Here they were hailed by the tug Harrison, belonging +to the U.S. steamer Michigan, having on board one 12-pounder pivot gun, +which fired across their bows and threatened to sink them unless they +hauled to and surrendered. With this request they complied; not because +they feared the 12-pounder, or the still more powerful guns of the +Michigan, which lay close by, but because they respected the authority +of the United States, in defence of which many of them had fought and +bled during the late war. They would have as readily surrendered to an +infant bearing the authority of the Union, as to Acting Master Morris +of the tug Harrison, who is himself an Englishman. The number thus +surrendered was three hundred and seventeen men, including officers. + +The officers were taken on board the Michigan, and were well treated by +Capt Bryson and the gentlemanly officers of his ship, while the men were +kept on the open scow, which was very filthy, without any accommodation +whatever, and barely large enough for them to turn round in. Part of the +time the rain poured down on them in torrents. I am not certain who is +to blame for this cruel treatment; but whoever the guilty parties are +they should be loathed and despised by all men. The men were kept +on board the scow for four days and then discharged on their own +recognizances to appear at Canandaigna on the 19th of June, to answer +to the charge of having violated the Neutrality Laws. The officers were +admitted to bail. The report generally circulated, and, I might say, +generally believed, that the pickets were left behind, and that they +were captured by the enemy, is entirely false. Every man who remained +with the command, excepting a few wounded, had the same chance of +escaping that O'Neill himself had. + +To the extraordinary exertions of our friends of Buffalo, F.B. +Gallagher, Wm. Burk, Hugh Mooney, James Whelan, Capt. James Doyle, John +Conners, Edward Frawley, James J. Crawley, M.T. Lynch, James Cronin, and +Michael Donahue, the command were indebted for being able to escape from +the Canadian side. Col. H.R. Stagg and Capt. McConvey, of Buffalo, were +also very assiduous in doing everything in their power. Col. Stagg had +started from Buffalo with about two hundred and fifty men, to reinforce +O'Neill, but the number was too small to be of any use, and he was +ordered to return. Much praise is due to Drs. Trowbridge and Blanchard, +of Buffalo, and Surgeon Donnelly, of Pittsburg, for their untiring +attendance to the wounded. + +All who were with the command acted their parts so nobly that I feel a +little delicacy in making special mention of any, and shall not do so +except in two instances: One is Michael Cochrane, Color Sergeant of +the Indianapolis Company, whose gallantry and daring were conspicuous +throughout the fight at Ridgeway. He was seriously wounded, and fell +into the hands of the enemy. The other is Major John C. Canty, who lived +at Fort Erie. He risked everything he possessed on earth, and acted his +part gallantly in the field. + +In the fight at Ridgeway, and the skirmish at Fort Erie, as near as can +be ascertained, the Fenian loss was eight killed and fifteen wounded. +Among the killed was Lieut. E.R. Lonergan, a brave young officer, of +Buffalo. Of the enemy, thirty were killed and one hundred wounded. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ridgeway, by Scian Dubh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDGEWAY *** + +***** This file should be named 9476.txt or 9476.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/7/9476/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beth Trapaga and PG +Distributed Proofreaders. 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This file was produced from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: The nonstandard spellings of the original have been +retained in this etext.] + +RIDGEWAY. + + +AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE + +OF THE + +FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA + + +By SCIAN DUBH. + + +"_On our side is virtue and Erin; On theirs' is the Saxon and +guilt_."--MOORE. + + +1868. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In the dark, English crucible of seven hundred years of famine, fire +and sword, the children of Ireland have been tested to an intensity +unknown to the annals of any other people. From the days of the +second Henry down to those of the last of the Georges, every device +that human ingenuity could encompass or the most diabolical spirit +entertain, was brought to bear upon them, not only with a view to +insuring their speedy degradation, but with the further design of +accomplishing ultimately the utter extinction of their race. Yet +notwithstanding that confiscation, exile and death, have been their +bitter portion for ages--notwithstanding that their altars, their +literature and their flag have been trampled in the dust, beneath the +iron heel of the invader, the pure, crimson ore of their nationality +and patriotism still flashes and scintillates before the world; while +the fierce heart of "Brien of the Cow Tax," bounding in each and +every of them as of yore, yearns for yet another Clontarf, when +hoarse with the pent-up vengeance of centuries, they shall burst like +unlaired tigers upon their ancient, and implacable enemy, and, with +one, long, wild cry, hurl her bloody and broken from their shores +forever. + +Had England been simply actuated by a chivalrous spirit of conquest, +alone, or moved by a desire to blend the sister islands into one +harmonious whole, even then her descent upon Ireland could not be +justified in any degree whatever. Ireland had been her _Alma Mater_. +According to the venerable Bode and others, her noble and second rank +flocked thither in the seventh century, where they were "hospitably +received and educated, and furnished with books _without fee or +reward_." Even at the present moment, the Irish or Celtic tongue is +the only key to her remote antiquities and ancient nomenclature. The +distinguished Lhuyd, in his Archaelogia Britannica, and the +celebrated Leibnitz himself, place this latter beyond any possible +shadow of doubt. Scarcely a ruined fane or classic pile of any remote +date within her borders but is identified with the name of some +eminent Irish missionary long since passed away. What would Oxford +have been without Joannes Erigena, or Cambridge, deprived of the +celebrated Irish monk that stood by the first stone laid in its +foundation? The fact is every impartial writer, from the "father of +English history" down to the present day, admits, that in the early +ages, when darkness brooded over the surrounding nations, Ireland, +learned, philanthropic and chivalrous, blazed a very conflagration on +the ocean, and stretched forth her jewelled and generous hand to +poor, benighted England, and fostered, in addition, the intellectual +infancy of Germany, France and Switzerland, as well as the early +civilization of regions more remote still. Then it was that the milk +and honey of her ancient tongue and lore flowed out from her in +rivers to wash the stains from the soul and brow of the stolid and +unintellectual Saxon. Then it was, that her very zone gave way in her +eagerness to pluck his Pagan life from gloom, and wed her day unto +his night. But what of all this now?--The sin that is "worse than +witchcraft" is upon him! His hands are stained with innocent blood! +He has spurned his benefactress with the foot of Nero, "removed her +candlestick", and left her in hunger, cold and darkness upon her own +hearthstone. + +Had not Ireland, at the time of the invasion, been cut up through the +fierce pride and petty jealousies of her rulers, the English could +never have effected a permanent footing upon her shores. Contemptible +in numbers, shipping and appointments, the concentrated opposition of +even a few petty chiefs could have scattered them to the winds, or +sent them "howling to their gods". But, wanting in that homogeneity +without which a nation must always remain powerless, the invasion of +the territory of one individual ruler was often regarded as a matter +of no very grave importance to those who were not his immediate +subjects; so that from this cause, as well as from, the unhappy +dissentions which harrassed the country at the period, the new colony +found the means of establishing themselves upon the eastern borders +of the island, and of possessing themselves of some of the walled +towns, which they subsequently turned to such good account in +fortifying themselves against surprise and baffling the pursuit of +the natives, when worsted in the open field. + +Whether the subtle influences of a common nationality moved Pope Adrian +the Fourth--who was an Englishman named Nicholas Breakspear,--to issue +the famous Bull granting Ireland to his fellow countryman, Henry the +Second of England, or whether, as it has been alleged, no such Bull was +ever issued, and that the one still extant is a forgery, it matters but +little now. The Pope's claims extended to the spiritual jurisdiction of +Ireland only; and even had he granted the Bull in question, and assumed +the right of conveying the whole island to the English king, the +transfer was obtained under false pretenses for, from the very wording +of the document itself, it is palpable that Henry led the Sovereign +Pontiff, to believe that Ireland was sunk in the grossest ignorance and +superstition, and that, in making a descent upon it, he had only the +glory and honor of the Church in view. So terrible a distortion of the +facts of the case on his part, necessarily rendered all action based +upon his statement morally invalid at least; and thus it is, that even +those who have confidence in the genuineness of this Bull, regard it as +utterly worthless, and at not all admissable into any pleadings which +ingenious English politicians may choose to advance on the subject. + +So inveterate the hostility that manifested itself on the part of the +Irish towards the invader from the moment that his foul and sacrilegious +foot first desecrated their soil, a reign of terror was at once +inaugurated in the vicinage of his camp or stronghold, by those +chieftains with whom he came into more immediate contact, and upon whose +territories he more directly impinged. In the track of both peoples, +"death follows like a squire." Neither truce nor oath was kept by the +English; while their fiery adversaries, necessarily stung to frenzy at +the presence of yet another invader in their midst, made sudden +reprisals in a manner so unexpected and daring, that the laws of the +hour like those of Draco, were literally written in blood. While the +dash and chivalry of the Irish prevented them from adopting the stealthy +dagger of the assassin, and prompted them rather, to bold and open deeds +of death, the enactments of "The Pale" as the English patch or district +was termed, were absolutely of a character the most demonical. According +to their provisions, the murder of an Irish man or woman was no offence +whatever; while the slaughter of a native who had made submission to the +Pale, was visited with a slight fine only--not for the crime _per se_, +but for the murderer's having deprived the king of a servant. From this +it can be easily perceived, that a cowardly system of warfare obtained +on the part of the English, which, were it not for the quick eye and +fierce agility of the inhabitants, would soon have resulted in their +total annihilation. + +This foul and dastardly system of assassination was but simply a +leading expression of the bastard nationality of the invader. Not +one, single drop of proud, pure blood coursed through his veins. His +degraded country had been in turn the mistress of the Roman, the +Saxon, the Dane and the Norman, and he was the hybrid offspring of +her incontinence. Consequently, he had neither a history nor a past +of his own, calculated to prompt even one exalted aspiration. He was +a mongrel of the most inveterate character, and was therefore, and +inevitably, treacherous, cowardly; and cunning. Not so the brave sons +of the land he so ardently coveted. Ere the mighty gnomon of "The +Great Pyramid" had thrown its gigantic shadow o'er the red dial of +the desert, they had filled the long gallery of a glorious past with +an array of portraits, the most superb presented by antiquity. Before +the Vocal Memnon poured forth his hidden melody at sunrise, or "The +City of a Hundred Gates" had sent forth her chariots to battle, they +had a local habitation and a name, and had stamped their impress +upon many a shore. No people in existence, to-day, can look back to +an origin more remote or clearly traceable through a countless lapse +of ages than the Irish: and hence it was, that at the period of the +Anglo-Norman descent upon their borders, the chivalry of a stupendous +past was upon them: and having its traditions and its glories to +maintain and emulate, and being, besides, inspired by the pure and +unadulterated crimson tide that had flowed in one uninterrupted +stream through their fiery veins for the space of two thousand years +previously, they shrank from the treacherous and dastardly system of +assassination introduced by the ignoble and cowardly Saxon, and +struck only to the dread music of their own war cry. + +Still, although in detail hostile to the invader, no great, united +effort appears to have been made to rout him out root and branch, +until he had become so powerful as to make any attack upon him a +matter of the most serious moment, and had, in addition, enlarged +his borders through sundry reinforcements from his own shores. The +few more purely Norman leaders that were inspired with some desire +at least for a more honorable mode of warfare, were utterly powerless +among the overwhelming throng of their followers who had been long +brutalized on the other side of the channel. In this connection +the proud, revengeful and chivalrous natives were had at a sad +disadvantage; for then, as to-day, they were characterized by a spirit +of knight-errantry, which disdained to take an enemy unawares. + +As an evidence that Henry had the spiritual welfare only of the people +of Ireland at heart, and that the building up of the Church there was +his sole object, no sooner did he land in that country, than he +parcelled out the entire island among ten Englishmen--Earl Strongbow, +Robert Fitzstephens, Miles de Cogan, Philip Bruce, Sir Hugh de Lacy, Sir +John de Courcy, William Burk Fitz Andelm, Sir Thomas de Clare, Otho de +Grandison and Robert le Poer. At one sweep, in so far as a royal grant +could go, he confiscated every foot of land from Cape Clear to the +Giant's Causeway, denied the right of the inhabitants to a single square +yard of their native soil, and made the whole country a present to the +persons just named. Perhaps history does not record another such +outrageous and infamous act, and one so antagonistic to every principle +of right and justice. Had there been a preceding series of expensive and +bloody wars between both countries, in which Ireland, after years of +fruitless resistance, fell at last beneath the yoke of the conqueror, it +could be readily understood, that the victor would seek to indemnify +himself for his losses, on terms the most exacting and relentless if +you will; but in the case under consideration, no animosity existed +between the two nations until the ruler of one, without even a shadow +of provocation on the part of the inhabitants of the other, made a +deliberate descent upon them, and ignoring the benefits conferred +gratuitously by them, previously, on his own ungrateful land, subjected +them to every barbarity and wrong known to the history of crime. + +For upwards of four hundred years of the English occupation--that is, +from the landing of Strongbow down to the period of James the First, +there was no legal redress for the plunder or murder of an Irishman, +by any of the invaders, or for the violation of his wife or daughter. +The laws of the Pale, enacted under the sanction of the King and the +people of England, subsidized, in effect, a horde of ruthless +assassins and robbers, with a view to striking terror to the hearts +of the natives, and driving them into a recognition of the right of +the usurper to rule over them, and dispose as he saw fit of their +property and persons. This right, however, was never conceded in even +the most remote degree; for, notwithstanding that the colony of +foreign spears and battle-axes waxed stronger daily, the Irish +element, disunited though it was, fought it constantly. True, that an +occasional lull characterized the tempest as it swept and eddied +through each successive generation; but never did Ireland assume the +yoke of the oppressor voluntarily, or bow, for even a single moment, +in meek submission to his unauthorized sway. + +It would require volumes to recount a tithe of the frightful atrocities +practiced by the invaders upon the rightful and unoffending owners of +the soil during the long period just referred to, and especially towards +its close, when that lewd monster, Elizabeth, disgraced her sex and the +age. No language can describe adequately the various diabolical modes of +extermination practiced against all those who refused to bow the knee +and kiss the English rod. No code of laws ever enacted in even the most +barbarous age of the world, could compare in fiendish cruelty with the +early penal enactments of the Pale--so forcibly supplemented in after +years by the perjured "Dutch boor" and the inhuman Georges. The foul +fiend himself could not have devised laws more diabolical in their +character or destructive in their application. So close were their +meshes and sweeping their folds, that the possibility of escape was +obviously out of the question; as their victim was met and entangled at +every turn, until at last the fatal blow descended, and the unequal +contest was ended. But more infamous and unjustifiable still, when "the +foul invader" found himself occasionally unable to cope successfully +with his brave and chivalrous antagonists, he had recourse to a darker +and deeper treachery than even that which characterized the stealthy and +unexpected stroke of his midnight dagger. He adopted the guise of +friendship; and professing to forget the past, lured into his power with +festive blandishments the chiefs of many a noble following, whom he +dared not meet in open fight, but who, at a given signal, and while the +brimming goblet circled through the feast, were suddenly set upon and +foully murdered ere they could draw a dagger or leap to their feet. In +corroboration of this assertion, we have only to refer to Mullaghmast, +where a deed of this description was perpetrated; and of a character so +cruel and dastardly, that the names of those concerned in the inhuman +plot are now desecrated by every individual raised above the brute, or +inspired with the hope of heaven. + +Nor was there any mode of propitiating the satanic spirit which seemed +to actuate the English against their opponents, from the first moment +that they set their foot upon Irish soil; for, when, in the lapse of +years, a portion of the inhabitants in the vicinity of the Pale, +professed their readiness to conform to the manners, laws and customs +of the invader, their overtures were rejected, and they were still held +at the point of the sword, as "the Irish enemy," and denied the +protection of the laws that they were ready to obey. In short, every +move of the English, established beyond any possibility of doubt, that +their sole object was the utter and complete extirpation of the +natives, and the subsequent establishment upon their conquered shores +of a dynasty from which every drop of pure, Celtic blood should be +excluded forever. + +But that day never arrived, and with God's help never shall. However +she might have suffered or failed through an occasional traitor, +Ireland, as a whole, fought against English usurpation from the moment +that she became aware of its ultimate aims, and felt its growing power +within her borders. There was, besides, in the two races, those +opposites of character--those natural antagonisms which repelled each +other with a force and vehemence not to be neutralized or unified by +any process within the reach of even the most humane or astute ruler. +They were too different peoples, with habits of thought, moral +perceptions, and ideas of chivalry at total variance with each other as +entertained by them individually. The great bulk of the English colony +was composed of unprincipled freebooters and degraded Saxon serfs; the +Conqueror having, a century previously, turned the masses of the +English into swine-herds, banished their language from court, and +reduced them to a condition of the most abject slavery. Hence their +stolid brutality, the low plane of their intelligence, and their +systematic murders. But, how different the condition of the Irish in +this respect. Far ages previous, both learning, refinement, and the +chivalrous use of arms, pervaded their shores. Evidences of the truth +of this assertion lie scattered around us in every direction. Girald +Barry--the English Cambrensis, William Camden, Archbishop Usher, +Vallancey, Lord Lyttleton, and a host of others, all bear witness to +the profound learning and noble chivalry of the Irish from the earliest +periods; while the various educational institutions throughout the +continent, founded shortly after the introduction of Christianity into +Ireland, establish, upon a basis the most immovable, the truth of an +assertion made by one of the authors just mentioned, namely, that "most +of the lights that illumined those times of thick darkness proceeded +out of Ireland". As may be presumed, then, a people so refined and +chivalrous--so sensitive to all that was noble and elevated--a people +who, as in the case of Alfred, had educated the very kings of the +invaders, as well as plucked their subjects from Paganism, were +averse to meeting the usurper on his own plane of warfare, and that +consequently, the very pride and dignity of their arms walled in, as +it were, the tyrant from any of those cold-blooded and dastardly +atrocities which so disfigured his own career. + +Notwithstanding that, after four hundred and twenty years of outlawry +the most cruel and unrelenting, the Irish were, (12th James I. 1614.) +at last, admitted within the pale of English law, and recognized +nominally as subjects at least, so long had they been subjected to the +grinding heel of oppression, and the baneful influences of continuous +warfare, and so long, also, had the usurper been accustomed to treat +them as enemies, that this recognition of their claims upon humanity +availed them but very little. Under the new regime, their freedom was +merely technical only; for now the terrible ban of the Reformation, +intensified by the cruel spirit evinced throughout the whole of +Elizabeth's infamous reign, was upon them, and their persecution, which +had so long been regarded as a matter of course, experienced but little +diminution through the attempted toleration of her weak and pedantic +successor. Still, frightful and unprecedented as was the ordeal through +which they had passed, they preserved their nationality, and clung to +their traditions, hoping one day to rid themselves of their oppressors, +as they had already done in the case of the Danes; and in this way has +the case stood between both parties up to the present hour. + +Although long previous to the Reformation, the atrocities practiced +upon Catholic Ireland by Catholic England were of a character the most +revolting, and although the murderous hand of the invader was never +stayed by the knowledge or conviction, that both parties professed a +common creed and knelt at a common altar, yet the intensity of the +sufferings of the Irish, or what may be termed their studious, refined, +and systematic persecution, began with the _civilisation_ of Elizabeth. +The new creed of the three preceding reigns had not, up to that period, +acquired sufficient strength to exert its deadliest influence against +the ancient faith of the people, or to be introduced as a new agency of +oppression in the case of Ireland; but now, no sooner had the "Virgin +Queen" ascended the throne, than the heart of the tigress leaped within +her; and, breaking loose from every restraint, human and divine, she at +once pounced upon the unfortunate Irish, and sought to bury her +merciless fangs, with one deadly and final crash, in their already +bleeding and lacerated vitals. The coarse, cruel fibre of an apostate +and libertine father, and the impure blood of a lewd mother, had done +their work in her case. From the first to the last moment of her reign, +she combined the courtesan with the assassin. She was the murderer of +Essex, said to have been her own son and paramour; and was, at the same +time, the mistress of more than one noble besides Leicester. According +to her own countryman, Cobbett, she spilled more blood during her +occupancy of the throne, than any other single agency in the world for +a commensurate period; while her treatment of Ireland, under the +"humane guidance" and advice of such cruel wretches as Spenser, was +neither more nor less than absolutely satanic. For fifteen long years +she never ceased to subject that unhappy land to famine, fire and +sword. Every device that her hellish nature or that of her agents could +concoct for the total extirpation of the people, was put into the most +relentless requisition by her. Under the guise of the most sincere +friendship, her deputies, times without number, betrayed many of the +leaders of the Irish into accepting their hospitality, and then foully +set upon them and murdered them while they sat unsuspecting guests at +their festive board. And yet, notwithstanding her penal laws, her +blood-thirsty soldiery, and all her revolting persecutions, the Irish +were more than a match for her in the open field, and ultimately +embittered the closing years of her life. From the first moment of the +invasion, the O'Neills--Kings and Princes of Aileach, Kings of Ulster +and Princes of Tir-Eogain--as well as other chiefs and leaders, fought +the Pale incessantly: and now, after a lapse of nearly four hundred +years, again evinced to the world, that Ireland was still unconquered, +and regarded England as a tyrant and usurper. And yet the opposition of +those chiefs and rulers to the hirelings and paid assassins of this +infamous woman and her corrupt associates, was of a character the most +chivalrous. Unaccustomed to cowardly deeds of blood, these proud +warriors preferred to meet the enemy face to face, and decide the +issues of the hour in fair, open fight. They could not entertain the +Saxon idea of disposing of an adversary by the stealthy knife of the +professional murderer; and hence it was that their pride and chivalry +had ever been taken advantage of: the invaders being convinced that no +reprisals of a character sufficiently dastardly or atrocious to meet +their own depredations, would be indulged in by their chivalrous +opponents. In evidence of the spirit that actuated both parting +individually in this connection, we may refer to the massacre of +Mullaghmast, on the one hand, where the English, under professions of +the purest friendship, lured many of the Irish chiefs and nobles to a +conference or council, and then suddenly pouncing on them, murdered +every, single soul of them in cold blood; while, on the other hand, we +may contrast with this cowardly act--which is but one of a series of +the same sort--the noble and generous conduct of Tir-Oen, at the battle +of the Yellow Ford, in 1598, where, after defeating the Queen's troops +with terrible slaughter, taking all their artillery and baggage, as +well as twelve thousand pieces of gold, the remainder of the shattered +army was totally at his mercy, when he might have put every soul that +composed it to death. Unlike the cowardly invader, the field once won, +he sheathed his sword, and ordered the remnant of the enemy to be +spared, as they were unable to fight longer, and commanded that they +should be conducted in safety to the Pale. In these two instances we +have a thorough insight into the character of the invader and the +invaded: so that not another word need be said upon this part of the +subject. + +And in this manner have the O'Neills and the Irish fought the English +up to the present hour. Circumstances have, we know, from time to +time, caused a lull in the tempest of arms, but the moment +opportunity served the smouldering fires burst forth anew. Not a +single day of pure and happy sunshine has ever obtained between +England and Ireland, since the flag of the former first flew over the +latter. Throughout every single hour of seven hundred long years, +Ireland has been secretly plotting or openly fighting against +England. Not one solitary reign, from Henry II down to Victoria I, +but has been marked with Irish dissatisfaction of English rule. +Either in the aggregate or in detail, the Irish people have, +throughout that long period, been constantly asserting their right to +independence, and their unalterable antipathy to the presence of a +foreign power upon their shores. And the same spirit that fought the +Henrys, Elizabeth, William and the Georges, is alive still, and +lighting their descendants to-day; 1688, 1798, 1848, and 1868 are all +episodes of the same history; and the volume now must soon be closed. +Humanity and civilisation, common justice and the laws of nations, +demand that a people who have battled against tyranny and usurpation +for seven successive centuries, and who have still preserved intact +their identity, their traditions and their altars, shall be no longer +subjected to the brute force and infamous exactions of a freebooter +who has so long played false to every principle of honor, and who has +been the highwayman of powers and principalities for countless +generations. + +The record of England in relation to Ireland, is one of the most +atrocious known to the history of mankind. It is fraught with the +blackest ingratitude, the vilest injustice, and the direst +oppression. Notwithstanding that Ireland first gave her an alphabet, +and taught her how to spell her name--notwithstanding that Irish +missionaries had nurtured her early educational institutions and +reclaimed her from Paganism, she misrepresented their religion and +their learning in high places, stole in upon them while they slept, +and turning upon them like the frozen snake in the fable, robbed them +of their independence, and loaded them with chains. Every year of her +accursed dominion upon their shores has been marked with some new and +overwhelming oppression. She has spit upon their creed, broken their +altars, hunted them down with blood-hounds, robbed them of their +estates, exiled them penniless to foreign shores, banned their +language, murdered their offspring, destroyed their trade and +commerce, ruined their manufactures, plundered their exchequer, +robbed them of their flag, deprived them of their civil rights, and +left them, houseless wanderers, a prey to hunger, cold and rags, upon +their own soil. Of all this she stands convicted before the world; +and for all this she must alone, so sure as there is a God above her. +Ireland still lives, and so do her wrongs. The O'Neills and thousands +of brave scions of the past, are still with her, while the rank and +file of her sons are as bitterly opposed to English usurpation to-day +as they were seven hundred years ago. Besides, at the present hour, +the approaches to their final triumph are made luminous with the +generous countenance of free America, and the glorious conviction +that heaven bends benignly over them; and thus it is that they now +stand shoulder to shoulder in eager anticipation of the coming hour, +when their banners shall yet once more be flung to the winds, as, +with a cry that rends the very earth, they dash down upon their +deadly and relentless foe, and smite her hip and thigh as of yore; +dealing her the last fatal blow that forever seals her infamous doom. + +In the order of Providence, a great corrective, or reactionary +principle, attends the misdoings of nations, that, sooner or later, +exerts itself in restoring the equilibrium of justice, and avenging +the infringement of any of those laws, human or divine, constituted +for the welfare and guidance of our race. Whether on the part of +governments or individuals, no act of palpable cruelty or barbarity, +has ever escaped the censure and reprobation of all good and true +peoples since the world became civilized; so that in this connection, +the oppressed or injured party has always had the countenance and +sympathy of humanity, at least. True, that an effective expression of +this sympathy may have often been chilled or embarrassed in +individual cases by political considerations or unworthy interests; +but then the tendency to illustrate it was there, and in this sense +alone, it has often exerted a benign influence. Hungary, Greece, +Poland, &c., have all, in turn, had the sympathy of mankind; and so +have had the oppressed colonies and people of Great Britain. The +cruel treatment, treachery and fraud practiced in the name of justice +and religion upon the Sepoys of India, by England, have awakened the +deepest commiseration in the bosom of all good and true governments, +and aroused, at the same time, the strongest indignation even on the +part of nations not over-scrupulous of chains themselves. In like +manner, the condition of Ireland has, from time to time, commanded +the attention of the world; and, through the cruel expatriation of +her children, made itself felt more widely perhaps than that of any +other nation. When England perjured herself for the hundredth time, +and violated the Treaty of Limerick, she exiled to France a host of +our countrymen, who afterwards met her at Fontenoy, as the Irish +Brigade, and trailed her bloody and broken in the dust. The wrongs of +the past were with them. The cruelties of the Henrys, the murders of +Elizabeth, the confiscations of Cromwell, and the perfidy of William, +so nerved their arm at the period, that their charge upon the English +is mentioned as one of the most memorable and destructive on record. +But if they had more than sufficient grounds for dealing a death blow +to the power of the tyrant then, how must this debt of vengeance have +accumulated since; when, to the wrongs already enumerated are to be +added the atrocities of the Georges, as well as those of their worthy +descendant--that traitress to humanity, whose hands have been just +imbrued in the innocent blood of Allen, O'Brien and Larkin, and who +now holds in thrall, within the gloom of her noisome dungeons, some +of the noblest spirits that have ever breathed the vital air in this +or any age of the world? How, we say, must this debt of vengeance +have been heaped up since; and may we not, under its terrible +pressure, the next time that we have a fair opportunity of meeting +the enemy face to face, anticipate a repetition of that glorious +charge in every individual descent we make upon her ranks, until we +shall have ground her into pulp, and avenged the blood of our +martyrs, which has for ages been crying aloud from the ground, "how +long, Oh! Lord?" + +We have said that the misdoings of nations are, in the order of +Providence, attended with a corrective or reactionary principle, +which, sooner or later, exerts itself in restoring the equilibrium of +justice; and in no case has this been made more apparent than in that +of Ireland. When under the frightful pressure of famine, murder and +robbery, her children fled her shores, and sought refuge in the open +arms of free America, the tyrant who had caused their exile, never +fancied, for a moment, that she was laying the foundation stone of +her own ultimate destruction, and gradually forming an Irish Brigade +on this continent, which should, one day, with a terrible rebound, +repay all the cruelties and wrongs to which she had subjected them +from generation to generation. She little fancied, that in each +individual Irishman that she had driven from his native shores to +seek an asylum beyond the seas, she had sent forth an agent of her +own destruction, that would colonize, in common with his exiled +brethren, the whole world with a sense of her infamy, and build up, +on this free continent, an opposition so tremendous to her interests +in every connection, that it should command the attention of every +civilized people under the sun, and shake her institutions and +existence to their very centre. As is invariable in such cases, she +administered the antidote with the poison; and transformed the +victims of her wrongs and cruelties into enemies and soldiers; and +now that, in the aggregate, they assume the proportions of a powerful +and antagonistic nation outside her borders, they only await the hour +when they shall descend upon her to the hoarse music of their ancient +war cry, and, on the banks of the Shannon, and by the Blackwater, +smite her hip and thigh, as of old; but this time without generously +escorting her broken and disabled ranks to the borders of the Pale, +or permitting them, in the hour of defeat, to recruit their exhausted +forces, so that the fight may become more equal. + +From the landing of Strongbow, in 1171, at Port Largi, then on +subsequently called also the Harbor of the Sun, near Waterford, down +to the sacking and burning of Magdala, the capital of King Theodoras, +in the present year of grace 1808, the history of English rule and +conquests has been one of bloodshed, perjury and crime. Look where +you may, and you encounter continuous atrocities similar to the +massacres of Elizabeth and Cromwell, or the blowing of the Sepoys of +India from the mouth of the cannon of the invader. Well may the +ensign of England wear an encrimsoned hue; for, from time immemorial, +it has been stooped in the blood of the nations: and that too, +without her people having ever fought a proud or decisive battle +single-handed. Her fame, in this connection, rests solely upon the +influence of her gold and the power of foreign bayonets. Scotland and +Ireland have been the main stay of her armies; her native element, +_per se_, affecting their composition in but a secondary degree. The +muster rolls of the Peninsula, and the supplementary field of Waterloo, +have attested this assertion to the fullest. The fact is, her laurels, +for the most part, have been gathered by Irish hands. Taking advantage +of the proud daring and chivalry of our people, in connection with the +poverty and oppression which she had wrought among them, she shook her +gold in their half-starved faces, as she does to-day, and lured them +into her service whenever she had a point to attain in the field. +Through this channel, and through it alone, the fame of her arms became +established; the true aspirations of her own sons seldom exceeding the +exalted limits of a bread riot, or the sudden exploits incident to some +poaching expedition. As a general thing, the English are traders and +diplomats, rather than soldiers. Their character for bravery has been +won through the lavish use of their subsidizing gold, rather than +through any innate warlike propensities on their part. They have never +fought for a myth, or an abstract, chivalrous idea; but always for some +bread and beef object, however apparently unconnected with the project +said to be had in view. In the exemplification of their Christian +missionary spirit, too, this feature of their character is abundantly +set forth. Wherever they have succeeded in introducing the Gospel +among the heathen, they have subsequently inserted the wedge of civil +discord, to be followed on their part by the sword of conquest. No +more forcible illustration of this can be found than that presented +by India, and other of their dependencies that we could name. In +Ireland, also, the same spirit has been evinced; but under different +circumstances. She was already civilized and Christianized when the +invader first landed upon her shores; but in no way was he enabled to +totally overthrow her independence, except through the instrumentality +of the brand of religious discord, which, for upwards of two hundred +years, he had kept flaming at the foundations of her nationality. It +was the hostility bitterly fomented between the Protestants and the +Catholics of Ireland, from 1782 to the year 1800, that led to the +so-called Union, and from this latter period left her, to the present +hour, at the mercy of one of the most relentless and unprincipled +despotisms that has ever disfigured the annals of the human race. + +Edmund Burk was right when he declared in his place in Parliament, if +we remember correctly, that the Penal Laws enacted by England against +Ireland, were characterized by an ingenuity the most fiendish on +record, and an attempt to oppress, degrade and demoralize a people, +without a parallel in the history of even the most barbarious ages. +Within the recollection of persons now living, nine-tenths of the +population were held in a condition of the most abject slavery, and +treated as aliens and enemies at their own doors. Add to this the +fact, that, previous to the granting of Emancipation, scarce a +generation had passed away since their priests were murdered at the +altar, or hunted down with dogs, like wild beasts; their goods and +chattels seized upon by any emissary of the government, and at a +nominal valuation appropriated to his own use; their creed and +language denounced and outlawed; their children deprived of the light +of learning under a penalty the most fearful; and, wherever the +tyrant had the power, their lands confiscated and handed over to +their oppressors. The wonder has long been, that, under such a +terrible regime, Ireland had not sunk into the most hopeless +barbarism, or that England had not absorbed her, until, as Lord Byron +once observed on the subject, they had become one and indivisible, as +"the shark with his prey." No more desperate attempt has ever been +made to blot out a nation, and none has ever failed more signally; +for, notwithstanding this dreadful cannonade of ages, backed up with +the final and murderous assault of the Reformation and the Georges, +Ireland, to-day, is more powerful and united than she has ever been +since the sceptre of the Dane was broken upon her historic shores. +This fact is sustained by evidences teeming upon us from every point +of the compass. A great and mysterious embodiment of her influence, +and a vague and oppressive sense of her unseen presence, hang +ominously over all the councils of her task-masters, and build up +strange dynasties in the disturbed slumbers of even royalty itself. +Nor bolt nor bar can shut out the low mutterings of her approaching +thunder, or exclude her ubiquitous hand from tracing, in letters of +blood, the impending doom of her infamous oppressor upon the wall. +Heaven has decreed it; and thus it is, that, in more than one quarter +of the globe the exiled children of her matchless hills and vales +have multiplied into a positive power, that, inflamed with the +memories of her undeserved sufferings, shall, one day, be +precipitated upon her enemies with the most destructive and +overwhelming effect, and humble them forever in the dust. + +To avert this blow has now become a desideratum so great with +England, that all her cunning and genius are brought to bear upon the +subject. So long as Ireland was dependent solely upon her own +resources, and the spirit of revolution confined strictly within her +borders, England felt herself competent to avert the evil day, for an +indefinite period, through the instrumentality of the rope and the +bayonet; but now that beyond the seas, the terrible war cloud of +Fenianism fills the whole west, surcharged with vengeance and the +great, broad lightnings of American freedom, she reels to her very +centre, and begins to loosen her hold, claw by claw, upon her victim, +in the hope that her lacerated and bleeding prey may be satisfied +with a partial release from its sufferings, and still permit her to +hold it in her modified clutch. Here she shall fail, however; for the +people of Ireland know her too well to permit her to breathe the same +atmosphere with them, or preserve the slightest footing on their +soil. They know her to have been a traitor, a perjurer, a robber and +an assassin, throughout the whole of her infamous career. Besides +remembering her at Mullaghmaston and Limerick, they had a taste of +her quality in 1782, when, under the pressure of the Protestant +bayonets of the famous "Volunteers," she, by a solemn act of her +King, Lords and Commons, in Parliament assembled, swept Poyning's +despotic Law from her Statute Books, and relinquished FOREVER all +right and title to interfere in the local affairs of Ireland, only to +perjure herself subsequently, by creating rotten boroughs and +dispensing titles and millions of gold, for the purpose of +controlling those very same affairs, not only more effectually than +ever, but with the further view of diverting all the resources of the +country out of their legitimate channels into her own hands, so that +she should be at once the tyrant, and the purse and conscience keeper +of our race. They remember all this, we say, and now they are about +to call upon her for an account of her stewardship, and make her foot +the bill, and that, too, to the very last farthing. + +Of course, we are aware that much of the elevated mind and strength +which invigorate the Irish element on this continent, in this +connection, is to be attributed, unquestionably, to the sublime +lessons of the great American people, and the generous sympathy they +evince invariably in regard to nations deprived of the blessings of +freedom. Time was, we are aware, when the children of Ireland had no +such exalted idea of human liberty as they possess to-day, and when +they would have hailed the return of kingcraft to their shores, on +the restitution of their independence, with every demonstration of +pleasure; but that period has passed away, and forever. Having once +tasted the blessings, and imbibed the idea of American institutions, +they have now cast aside every sentiment of barbarism in this +relation, and stepped out on the broad platform of justice and common +sense; ignoring the mere accident of birth, and paying homage only to +those attributes and characteristics which, in themselves, tend to +the elevation of the human family, and which are not confined to any +peculiar class or people. + +When it becomes understood, that ever since the introduction of +printing, and the consequent diffusion of book and newspaper +literature throughout Europe, the history and people of Ireland have +been subjected by the invader to every description of the grossest +misrepresentation, it will create no small degree of surprise, that +the country has survived the assault, or that she presents to-day a +compact individuality, that commands the sympathy and respect of most +of the nations of the earth. Heaven, itself, must have inspired the +vigor, truth and heroism which, through a lapse of seven hundred +years, have battled for the right against the most fearful odds, and +that now arms her, on both sides of the Atlantic, with the mighty +resolve which cannot fail to result in her final redemption from the +chains of the oppressor. Her vitality in this connection has scarcely +a parallel in the history of the past; from the fact, that she has +been subjected to a twofold persecution--that of semi-barbarism, and +that of civilization also. The atrocities of the hybrid freebooters +that invaded her shores in the twelfth century, were not more +revolting than those which characterized her rulers six hundred years +subsequently, when they were engaged in founding educational +institutions, and printing whole cargoes of ten-penny Bibles, for the +purpose of pandering to the whims of the age, and doing honor to the +spirit of the royal Pacha who moulded his creed to his lusts, and +left his rottenness a loathsome legacy to his successors. Yes, the +wonder is, that she has survived all this, and, instead of falling +into the vortex prepared for her, now stands with her uplifted arm, +awaiting the propitious moment, when she can deal a final and +irresistible blow to the ingrate that, in days of yore, she had +warmed into intellectual life on her own hearthstone. + +If there had been anything in the climate, soil, people or +geographical position of Ireland, to operate against her prosperity +as a nation, or calculated to retard her progress in any connection +whatever, there might be some misgivings in relation to the causes of +her poverty and degradation; but as the most reliable political +economists, and even those unfriendly to the Irish name and race, +admit that no such drawbacks exist, we look, of course, to the system +of government to which the country has been so long subjected, as the +source of all the evils that have so cruelly and pertinaciously beset +it. McCollough, Wakefield, Foster, and other English writers, bear +the highest testimony to the richness of its soil, the salubrity of +its air, and its other great natural advantages. Its harbors, bays, +lakes and rivers are among the finest in the world, while its +neglected mineral wealth is presumed to be all but inexhaustible. In +addition to this, it is stated by Dr. Forbes--one of the Court +physicians, who had made a tour of the kingdom--that the inhabitants +are of a character the most industrious, and bear up under the +oppressive system which weighs upon them in a manner the most heroic. +It is to opinions from such sources as these we point, with every +degree of confidence, as they cannot be charged with being prejudiced +in our favor; and were we inclined to be more diffuse upon the +subject, we might quote author after author, and all of English +proclivities too, who bear evidence to the suggestive character of +the elements of material wealth which we possess in every relation, +and which, through the disastrous policy pursued towards us from +generation to generation, have been paralyzed and prostituted to an +extent that almost defies comprehension. + +Why did England violate a solemn pledge, given in 1782, to the +effect, that she relinquished all claim to interfere in the +management of the local affairs of Ireland, and conceded to the +people of that country the undoubted and inalienable right of +conducting their own internal affairs upon any basis they thought +proper? After having experienced the beneficial results of this +policy upon the sister kingdom for a space of eighteen years, why did +she revoke the act establishing it, and force the hated Union upon a +people, a majority of whom were not free to express an opinion upon +the subject, or to resist a measure thrust upon them through perjury, +intimidation, bribery and fraud? The reason has long been quite +obvious to the world--the manufacturing interests and the trade and +commerce of Ireland have ever been and must ever remain antagonistic +to those of England. This fact has always influenced the legislation +of the latter country, and brought it to bear heavily and unjustly +upon almost every Irish project that has been undertaken for the last +three hundred years. When any particular Irish manufacture was found +to interfere with the interests of a similar one in England, +instantly devices were set on foot by the enemy to crush it, or so +embarrass it that its destruction could not fail to follow. It was +banned and taxed out of the market until it died. In this way, the +silk, glass and woolen manufactures of the country were destroyed; +the latter having so injured the English manufacturers in the time of +William the Third, that they presented a memorial to this dignified +and affectionate son-in-law of James, praying that the manufacture in +Ireland might be suppressed, as it was interfering with the success +of the woolen trade in England; which prayer the king entertained +favorably, and promised to grant. In this way, from the earliest days +of the invasion, the interests of Ireland have been trodden under the +feet of the oppressor; while, in a religious point of view, her +people have been held for generations in the most frightful bondage, +and constrained to contribute to the maintenance of a Church which +nineteen-twentieths of them believed to be heretical, and which had +been thrust upon them in violation of every right, human and divine. + +Now, however, it is brightening up on the verge of the horizon, and, +like chickens, England's untold acts of infamy and oppression, in +regard to Ireland, are coming home to roost. In every city and +hamlet, throughout the great Republic of the United States, and in +every town and village in Ireland, as well as throughout the rural +districts, there exists a regiment or detachment of the vast army of +the Irish Republic. No matter how invisible the force may be at any +particular point, yet there it exists, awaiting the signal to pounce +upon the enemy, and avenge the wrongs of ages; each member of it +feeling, within his heart of hearts, that those injuries have reached +him individually, and that, without the opportunity of wiping them +out, even at the expense of the last drop of his heart's blood, the +conquest, when achieved, would be almost worthless in his eyes. It is +with this element that England, at the present juncture, has to deal +at home and abroad; and now that the avalanche, after rolling down +the steep of seven successive centuries, has accumulated in magnitude +and force most tremendously, and sufficiently to overcome every +obstacle that happens to lie in its path, ere long we shall find it +leaping in thunder upon the plain, and overwhelming those who so long +mocked at its approach, and who now so vainly attempt to stay its +resistless course. + + +* * * * * + + +RIDGEWAY. + +AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE + +OF THE + +FENIAN INVASION OF CANADA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +On a gloomy evening in the early part of May, 1866, and while astute +politicians were struck with the formidable aspect of Fenianism in +both hemispheres, a solitary soldier, in the muddy, red jacket of a +private in the English army, might be seen hastily wending his way +across a bridge which led from one of the most important strongholds +in Canada, to a town of considerable pretensions, that lay directly +opposite, and to which he was now bending his steps. Although the +weather, from the season of the year, might be presumed to be +somewhat genial, yet it was raw and gusty; and as the pedestrian was +without an overcoat, the uncomfortable and antagonistic shrug of his +shoulders, as the chill, fitful blast swept past him, was quite +discernible to any eye that happened to catch his figure at the +period. Soon, however, he left the bridge and river behind him, and, +stepping on terra firma, turned hastily down one of the unpretending +streets of the town, and entered a restaurant, out of the drinking +saloon of which, several narrow passages led to small convivial +apartments, or rather compartments, in which the landlord, or "mine +host" professed to work culinary miracles, of every possible shade, +in the interest of his patrons. The establishment, although not the +most fashionable in the place, was still regarded as respectable, and +was, consequently, the frequent resort of many well-to-do tradesmen, +and others, who, after the cares of the day had been laid by, +generally repaired thither to slake their thirst with a flowing +tankard, or indulge in "a stew," a quiet game of billiards or a +cigar, as the case might be. From the description of the various +pictures which adorned or decorated the bar-room, the nationality of +the proprietor was easily discerned. Just over a goodly and shining +away of handsome mirrors that, inside the counter, reflected a maze +of graceful bottles, cut glass and various ornaments appropriate to +the profession, hung a large map of Ireland, very beautifully gotten +up: while on either side of it, a neat, gilt frame, enclosing a most +excellent likeness of Daniel O'Connell and Robert Emmet, +respectively, harmonized in every relation with the map itself. +Around the walls of the room, and throughout the whole establishment, +kindred prints and paintings were somewhat profusely scattered; +presenting unmistakable evidences, that the proprietor hailed from +the Emerald Isle, and had no inclination, whatever, to disguise the +fact from either his customers or the world. + +At the period that the soldier entered the premises, there were some +half dozen persons seated in the bar; each discussing his favorite +beverage or enjoying his peculiar "weed." Among these there was one +individual, however, whose appearance was singularly striking, and +who was taking part in the general conversation with an easy +flippancy and keenness of observation that showed he was a person of +no ordinary information or experience. There was something about him, +nevertheless, that, notwithstanding all his efforts to be attractive, +was strangely repellent. His small, grey eyes, thin, blue lips and +hooked nose, gave an expression to his countenance which was far from +prepossessing; while his soft, low, purring chuckle of a laugh, +whenever he made a point in his favor through some facile observation +that interfered with the deductions of those around him, evoked the +idea, that he was some huge, human mouser that was congratulating +himself on having disposed of some unfortunate and unsuspecting +canary. He was, withal, shapely, and had an air of refinement about +him, the most decided, and, quite beyond the ordinary run of saloon +habitues. His complexion though somewhat dark and out of keeping with +the color of his eyes, was yet pure; while his teeth were remarkably +white and brilliant, and apparently as sharp as lancets. In height he +was about five feet ten inches; and in age, somewhere in the vicinity +of thirty. He was dressed in plain gray clothes; and, from all one +might gather from his external appearance, was a person in +comfortable circumstances. He was unknown not only to "mine host," +but to every one present; having, as he informed them in the ordinary +flow of conversation, but just arrived in town, where he had business +to transact which might detain him for a few days, or possibly +longer. This information had been volunteered before the arrival of +the soldier; so that when the latter had taken his seat, he was +literally a greater stranger as to the name or intentions of the +hook-nosed gentleman than any one present--the former having been +communicated to the landlord as Philip Greaves, and the latter, as +already intimated, quite freely disclosed during the natural flow of +the conversation in which he had taken and still took part. + +Perhaps there were no two beings on earth so dissimilar in every +relation, as were he and the red coat who now ensconsed himself in +one of the chairs, and accepted the invitation to take a friendly +glass with the stranger. He, humble as the rank he bore in the +service, was a young man of most prepossessing appearance and +excellent address. His figure, although slight, was beautifully +symmetrical and finely knit. In stature he was about five feet eleven +inches, and was apparently as agile as a leopard. The whole volume of +his heart was laid open in his broad, manly brow and clear dark eyes; +and his laughter rang out now and then, at the brilliant wit or +searching sarcasm of his neighbor, in such pure and joyous tones, as +to be infectious even amongst those who were paying but little +attention to what had provoked it. He could not have numbered more +than twenty-five or twenty-six summers; and it was almost painful, in +the presence of such manly beauty and so light a heart, to dwell on +the fact, that the possessor of both, was in absolute slavery, how +carelessly soever he wore his shackles. While both these individuals +differed the one from the other to the extent already mentioned, the +proprietor of the saloon, in turn, presented an appearance as +dissimilar to that of either of his customers as did that of the one +to the other. He was a man of herculean proportions, and blessed with +as commonplace features as you could find in a day's walk. Every +fibre of his frame bespoke the most gigantic strength, while his +full, round face glowed with the most refreshing health, and +presented at the same time as stolid an expression as could well be +imagined in connection with his vocation. Still, there was something +in his keen, gray eye and about his mouth, that bid you beware of +taking the book by the cover; while an odd word of the conversation +that now and then reached his ear, called up a strange expression of +intelligence which swept across his features with the speed of light, +and then left them as quiescent and apparently unintellectual as +before. This individual whom we shall name Thomas O'Brien, or Big +Tom, as his friends were wont to call him, although never regarded as +being over brilliant, there were those who averred that he not only +possessed a fund of good, common sense, but who stated further, that +he was a man of great influence not only among the soldiers in the +fort, but among many of his countrymen both in town and out of it. +Tom spoke very slowly and always in an oracular manner; nor were his +movements behind his bar of a very demonstrative character; as no +press of custom, whatever, seemed to possess the power of +accelerating his motions or inducing him to exceed the steady formula +that he appeared to have adopted in relation to serving his +customers; still he possessed the jewel of honesty and urbanity as an +offset to all this; and, like most large men, was, on the whole, of a +kind and excellent temper. When seen standing by the river or in any +elevated position, he conveyed the idea of a sort of human +lighthouse, or a chimney on fire, so fiercely red was the tremendous +shock of hair that covered his towering head. He was still a young +man, and, like the soldier, unmarried; although the heart of the +latter had gone forth and was in the safe keeping of a charming young +cousin of "mine host," who had emigrated to America some time +previously, and who now resided with her friends in the city of +Buffalo. Tom had preceded his relatives by some years, and had +sojourned, up to the period of their landing, in the United States +also; but taking a sudden notion, as it would seem, he pulled up his +stakes, and, like other adventurers, settled down, apparently +haphazard, in the town in which he now lived; and where he had +already been upwards of two years; having bought out the "Sign of the +Harp," as we shall call it, with all its appointments, from another +Son of the Sod, who had made up his mind to go West. + +Before the soldier, whom we shall name Nicholas, or Nick Barry, had +finished his glass, Greaves entered into conversation with him in +relation to the strength of the fort, and the nationality of the +regiment that garrisoned it; observing, at the same time, that, of +course, as usual, a fair sprinkling from the Emerald Isle was to be +found among them. + +"Yes," said Barry, "go where you may throughout the empire, and +whenever you meet a red coat you will be right in four cases out of +six in putting it down as belonging to an Irishman; that is, provided +its precise color and texture are like mine; but you would not be so +safe in applying the same rule wherever you chanced to encounter the +clear, bright flash of the genuine scarlet." + +"And why?" returned Greaves, with an inquiring air which seemed to be +quite at sea upon the subject; although up to that moment, his +conversation was such as to lead one to infer that he could scarcely +be in the dark upon a subject so generally understood. + +"Because," said Nick, "the Irish are only fit to do the fighting; and +that's always done, you know, by the rank and file." + +This reply, although not over satisfactory to the interrogator, +seemed to afford infinite amusement to Big Tom, who, with a perfect +sledge hammer of a laugh, exclaimed when Barry had finished: + +"Well done Nick, and the divil a betther could it be said if I said +it myself." + +This unusual and lively demonstration on the part of O'Brien, seemed +to attract the notice of Greaves, who, with the utmost good humor, +observed, while glancing in the direction of the bar: + +"From Ireland, too, I'll bet my head!" + +"Seven miles out of it," returned Tom with a slight twinkle of his +eye, "and, of coorse, a gintleman so larned as you will be able to +tell where that is." + +"Well, for the life of me," observed Greaves, "I cannot divine what +you are at, with your 'seven miles out,' but as I'm an Englishman, I +suppose that accounts for it." + +"He means by what he has said," interrupted Barry, "that he is from +Connaught, which, for some reason or other, is regarded as seven +miles out of Ireland." + +"For some raison or other did you say," returned Tom. "Faith and its +raison enough there is for that same; for it was to Connaught that +Cromwell and the rest of the blaggards banished or confined the Irish +hayros that gave the Sassenach such throuble in oulden times, and +that's the raison, you know, that the sayin, 'to h--l or Connaught,' +first got a futtin in the world, and that Connaught is regarded as +bein seven miles out, by the people who know the ins and outs of it." + +This was delivered in a quiet, oracular manner from which there was +no appeal; so the conversation continued to flow in a kindred +channel--Barry observing that the regiments then stationed in Canada +were largely _adulterated_, as he humorously termed it, with the +Irish element, which, during such times of commotion, was considered +by England safer abroad than at home. + +"How is that?" said Greaves, casting a searching glance towards the +speaker. "I should fancy that the British soldier was safe, and true +to the crown whether at home or abroad; although I am free to +confess, that the Irish, as a nation, have much to complain of." + +"And how can you separate the man from the nation; and if a people +are oppressed and wronged as a whole, are they not oppressed and +wronged individually?" replied O'Brien. + +"The inference is reasonable," returned the other; "but as England +seems sensible that something ought to be done for the amelioration +of the condition of Ireland no doubt the two nations will soon settle +down in the bonds of amity and love, and, in a better state of +things, forget all their bickerings and heartburnings." + +"There was a payriod," retorted Tom, "when England could have done +somethin to appase Ireland, but that payriod is past and gone +forever! Durin the airly days of O'Connell, the repale of the Union +and the abolition of the Church Establishment would have worked +merricles. These measures would have done away with absenteeism, an +unjust and gallin taxation, and would have given Ireland the +conthrol, in some degree at laste, of her own local affairs. If the +Act of 1782 previntin England from intherfarin in any degree in those +affairs was revived, it would have given the Irish a chance to build +up their manufactures and recruit their ruined thrade and commerce. +It would have recalled the landlord to his estates, from forrin +parts, and re-inthroduced a native parliament that understood the +wants and wishes of the people, and that was intherested in carryin +them out, and givin the masses an opportunity of developin their +resources and turnin their soil to account, that is acre for acre +more fertile than that of England, to-day. It would have gathered +home from the four winds of the earth the scatthered wealth that has +followed the absentee to distant lands and made Dublin and Cork and +every city in the counthry alive with min and wimmin, that were able +to pathronise Irish manufactures, aye, and pay for them too. All this +it would have done and a thousand times more; but as I have already +said, the chance has been thrown away by England, never to be +recovered by her durin _secula seculorum_; for now the light of +American freedom has fallen upon Ireland, and, pointed out what ought +to be her thrue standin, and the insufficiency of what she once would +have been satisfied with. In the broad effulgence of its glory, the +people of Ireland now persave that so if long as they attached any +importance to the mere accident of birth, or bent the knee to +hereditary monarchy, they were but walking in the valley and shadow +of death. The great moral spectacle of American freedom built upon +the broad and imperishable basis of the voluntary and intelligent +consint of a whole people, has so upset their household gods and +desthroyed the prestige of kingcraft in their eyes, that they now +look forward to the total overthrow of monarchical institutions in +their midst, and the establishment, on their shores, of a Republic in +every particular the counterpart of that which now commands the +admiration of the world, across the lines there, and which is +gradually sappin the foundation of British rule on this side of the +lakes, as well as litherally swallowin us up unknownst to ourselves. +This is how the case stands now; so that we can aisily persave, that +England has lost the power and opportunity of conciliatin the Irish +race; bekase they have no longer a feelin or sintiment in common with +her." + +These observations, which were made with a degree of ease and +eloquence regarded as totally foreign to Tom, actually electrified +his hearers, and drew a compliment from Greaves; while Barry, who +knew a good deal of him, was so astonished at his sudden and earnest +volubility, he could not resist the temptation of assuring him that +he was an honor to his country, if not to humanity at large. The +other three or four individuals present joined in the sentiment, so +that, for the time being, O'Brien was no ordinary personage in their +minds, while a quiet wink from one to the other seemed to place it +beyond a shadow of doubt, that, in their estimation, Big Tom knew +more than he ever got credit for. + +When the conversation again began to flow freely, the gentleman, with +the hooked nose, turned it imperceptibly upon Fenianism, and the +rumored intention of the Organization, in the United States, to make +a descent upon Canada at no distant day. At this point, O'Brien put +in a word or two, to the effect, that he was not so sure of the +propriety of the Brotherhood invading the Province, as its +inhabitants were not in any way answerable for the wrongs which had +been inflicted by England upon Ireland. Here Barry observed, that +although he was not competent to speak on the matter, and had no +desire to endorse or countenance such an invasion, he regarded a +Fenian attack upon Canada fully as justifiable as an assault of the +same character upon England, or any other portion of her majesty's +dominions. The empire, he contended, was a unit and no part of it +could be assailed, that did not possess, in relation to Ireland, just +as inoffensive people as the Canadians were. Fenianism, he presumed, +did not pretend to make war upon individuals, but upon a government, +in any or all of its ramifications, that was alleged to be oppressive +and an enemy to civil and religious freedom; and so long as any +people chose to endorse the acts of such a government by defending +them, and adhering to the flag under which they were said to have +been committed, so long were they amenable to the party who assumed +to be aggrieved in the premises, as aiders and abettors of the +offence. + +This position was so reasonable and so logical that there was but +little room for dispute upon the subject. And hence the absurdity of +certain squeamish gentlemen who, before and since the invasion of +1866, have denounced a descent upon Canada as not so justifiable as +an attack upon the more central parts of the empire, from the assumed +fact, that the Canadians are in no way chargeable with the wrongs +inflicted by the British Government upon Ireland. Such an argument to +a military man, or astute politician, would be the very height of +absurdity. The outworks are always stormed and taken before the +citadel falls; nor are those who occupy or defend them regarded with +any personal ill feeling by the assailing party, and are only enemies +in so far as they choose to espouse the cause and defend, at the +point of the sword, the acts and existence of a government held to be +corrupt and oppressive. From the difference in population and other +circumstances, there are a greater number of inoffensive persons in +England, in relation to Irish grievances, than there are in Canada; +so that, adopting the very style of argument used by those gingerly +or subsidized cavillers, there are more causes for justifying a +descent, at any time, upon the latter than upon the former country. +The truth is, the masses or people of any country are, for the most +part, inoffensive on the whole, and are merely wielded by governments +with a view to maintaining a power for good or evil, having in many +cases themselves no very clear idea of the grounds upon which the +field may have been taken; and laying down their arms at a moment's +notice, without being concerned as to the expediency or justice of a +cessation of hostilities. In truth, even amid armies thundering down +upon each other at the word of command, there are necessarily +thousands of unoffending persons who entertain not a single feeling +of animosity against their opponents individually, and who are but +simply the exponents of an idea that their rulers deem necessary to +maintain at the point of the bayonet; although they themselves may +not sympathize with it to any extent whatever. So that it is +apparent, that the invasion of Canada was never undertaken with a +view to despoiling or injuring the people _per se_ of that country; +but for the simple purpose of making a descent upon a point of the +British empire most accessible to the arms of the Republic of Ireland +on this continent, in the hope of establishing a basis that would +enable Irish Nationalists to operate successfully against a +government that had for seven hundred years subjected their country, +name and race, to every injustice and persecution known to the +history of crime. Such are the contingencies of war, that the +innocent are dragged into the vortex by the guilty, and that those +who choose to adopt a flag and are found armed in its defence, are +constructively the enemies of the invaders, and according to the +usages of all nations amenable in the field for the conduct of their +rulers. Whatever may be said to the contrary, then, by English +sympathizers or weak-kneed patriots, so long as Canada is a portion +of the British empire, so long is she a legitimate point of attack +for the enemies of that empire, and no description of special +pleading can make it otherwise. And here we would advise the people +of the New Dominion to look into this matter and weigh the +consequences of being influenced by any seeming or real hostile +attitude to the government of the United States, or the mighty hosts +which are now gathering in battle array in the cause of Irish +freedom. England is fallen! Her power and prestige are gone forever! +The star of Irish liberty has already emerged from the clouds that +have so long lain piled up along the horizon of the land of the +enslaved Celt, and no power on earth can obscure its growing Lustre, +until it blazes forth in the full meridian, splendor of Irish +nationality and independence! Let our neighbors, therefore, we say, +not be betrayed into raising a puny arm against the tremendous force +that cannot fail to be exerted ere long in this connection, or their +redemption from the British yoke and their consequent absorption by +the great American Commonwealth may be reddened with more blood than +the circumstances of the case really require. + +When Barry had finished his few observations on this topic, Greaves, +in further pursuance of the subject, and with the apparent view of +gathering the tone of Canadian opinion upon it, observed, that if all +the Irish population of the Provinces were as true to the sentiment +of the independence of their country, as O'Brien and his military +friend, there might be some reason for apprehending that the intended +invasion of the Canadas by the Fenian organization of the United +States, would tend to more alarming results to England than were +anticipated by the friends of that country; remarking, in addition, +that the Irish element must be very large in her majesty's Canadian +possessions, if one might judge from the recent St. Patrick's Day +demonstration throughout them, and the various St. Patrick's +Societies to be found scattered from one end of the colony to the +other; all of which were, no doubt, more or less tinged with opinions +and aspirations similar to those held by the two individuals who had +just spoken. + +"Oh, yes," rejoined Big Tom, "there are St. Patrick Societies in +abundance, but let me inform you, that instead of bein national +associations, as they purport to be, they are the very sthrongholds +of England in this country, and, with scarce an exception, the +deadliest opponents to the very indepindence that we have benn jist +spakin about. For the most part, they are filled chock full of a pack +of miserable toadies to the governmint, which manages to gather into +them a pack of rottin, ladin Irishmin who can make speeches, dhrink +'the day and all who honor it,' sing 'God save the Queen,' and talk +English blatherskite about the glory of the impire, the army and +navy, and everythin else in the world save and except the wrongs of +poor, ould Ireland, and the way to redhress them. Why, sir, barrin a +word dhropped here and there, you'd think it was in an Orange Lodge +you were, if you happened to step in on one of those societies while +engaged in celebrating, as they call it, the anniversary of their +pathron Saint; for it's nothin you'd hear but 'Rule Britannia,' 'The +Red, White and Blue,' and kindhered sintiments, and if a chap did +happen to give 'The harp that wanst,' why, its the sweet, soft air +they'd be admirin, and the poethry of Tom Moore, rather than the low +wail for vingeance that was smothered in the heart of the song +itself. What could you expect from sich a St Patrick's Society as +that of Toronto, with a gintleman at its head with the freedom of an +English city in his breeches pocket, and a desire to emulate English +statesmen and English institutions in his heart! Look, also, at the +able and larned Irishman who stands at the head of the University of +that same methropolis of the West, and whose eloquence so mystifies +his faithlessness to Ireland as to confuse you, and almost lade you +captive, until, on cooler deliberation, you find that his response to +'the toast of the evenin,' is naither more nor less than a superb +burst of oratory, robed in green and goold, but with a heart as +purely English as that which throbbed within the breast of the +renegade Wellington or the late wily Lord Palmerston. Oh, no! the St. +Patrick Societies of America, and of every other portion of the +globe, are simply whited sepulchres, or false beacons erected or +fosthered by the English governmint to mislade the unsuspectin +portions of our race from the allagiance due to their own counthry, +by studiously inculcatin sintimints and ideas favorable to English +supremacy, which can be paraded before the world as the thrue +expression of the Irish people, in relation to the red that governs +them, and their willinness to remain as they are, part and parcel of +the impire. Sich min as the two I have jist mintioned do more to +perpetuate the thraldom of our country than the most unfrindly and +subtle statesman that exists on the other side of the Atlantic +to-day; bekase they are powerful inemies, by their example in our own +camp, and bekase there are those amongst us who are aisily led, and +who consequintly fall a victim to their influence and example." + +"Sure, we all know, that the Scotch thricksther at the head of the +govermint here, could do but little if it was not for such people as +Ogle R., George. L., Darcy and 'the docther,' as he is called in +Toronto; and thus it is, that although the three Toronto gintlemen +that I now name, are, I honestly believe, deservedly respected and +esteemed in every other relation of life, they belong body and sowl +to the English sintimint of the counthry; and if the most favorable +opportunity was offered them to-morrow, would never raise a helpin +hand to place the green above the red. But, as this is dhry work, and +as I have not had sich a bout at it since I opened here, come, one +and all, and let us wet our whistles, for I see you have jist made +spy-glasses of your tumblers." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Although delivered in a style somewhat uncouth, there was a great +deal of truth and native eloquence about these observations of +O'Brien. There is no doubt but the St. Patrick Societies of this +continent, and perhaps of the world, are characterized, in no +ordinary degree, by the spirit and design to which he alluded. In so +far as those belonging to the British empire are concerned, he was +right, almost without an exception; for it must be admitted, that +these societies are, for the most part, filled with pseudo patriots, +who discard all revolutionary theories, and are of the opinion, that +the independence of their country, if they ever cast a glance in that +direction, ought to be achieved in the most lady-like manner, and +with "white kids." Look, for instance, at some of the members of +these associations and kindred bodies in New York and in various +other parts of the Union, and analyze the spirit which finds +expression in their observance of the anniversary of Ireland's +tutelar Saint. From the moment that the cloth is removed, until the +last of the company gyrates out of the room to his carriage, we have +nothing but a war of eloquence between rival politicians who are +candidates for municipal or other lucrative honors, or a subtle bid +for Irish support through some adroit manoeuvre, by which an +adversary is, for the time being, thrown into the shade. To be sure, +Mr. Richard This or Mr. John That, may occasionally give us a taste +of his research and learning, in a re-hash from the "Annals of the +Four Masters," or from some of the leading periodicals of the day; +and we may, in addition, be treated to an _original_ poem touching +Ireland from some of the various up-hill-workers of the Muses, with +whom the great mercantile centre abounds; but as to anything +practical relative to the amelioration of the wretched condition of +the country in whose name they assemble upon such occasions, that is +simply out of the question; all parties, as a general thing, +satisfying themselves with a hacknied and stereotyped enumeration of +her wrongs, and the usual bland denunciations of her oppressors. + +And here we give an illustration of St. Patrick Societies under their +most patriotic aspect; for the power of speech which characterizes, +this great Commonwealth, and our total immunity from English +persecution, enable the spirit which actuates these societies, +beneath the skull and cross bones of St. George, to be a little more +patriotic here, in its language at least, than it dares to be in any +portion of the dominions of England. Still, its positive antagonism +to Irish independence, under the British flag, is scarcely more +reprehensible than its negative influence in the same direction under +the Stars and Stripes; so that Ireland, suffering at their hands +alike, might with every degree of justice place them in the same +category. + +After all, it is the masses that free a nation, and thank God for it. +A leader may in vain look for a host to follow him, but a host never +in vain for a leader, and hence the defection of a few prominent men +from the great, Irish national idea which now so moves this +continent, and commands the attention of the world, amounts to but +little save sorrow at the stigma it casts upon our race. The rank and +file of our people are true to the spirit that fired the O'Neill's +and the Geraldines of old; and this being the case, the freedom of +Ireland is secured beyond any possible contingency--England is +brought to bay at home and abroad. The mighty embodiments of Irish +power and patriotism, yclept Fenianism, stalks forth through the +empire with an uplifted glaive in its hand, and no one can say how +soon or where the swift stroke of destruction shall fall. Its +presence fills with gloomy alarm every nook and corner of the land, +and paralyzes all the energies of the oppressor. Through its +overwhelming influence, the most cherished institutions of the +usurper are being overthrown, and the crown and mace all but +converted into baubles. It has destroyed the power and prestige of a +hereditary aristocracy, and thrown, in a measure, the whole +government of the land into the hands of Commoners. The privileged +classes, no longer oracular, recede before it, and a great democratic +idea occupies the ground upon which they stood--in short, illuminated +and impelled by the glorious spirit and impulses which moved the +immortal founders of this grand Republic of the West, it has gone +forth to avenge and to conquer, and to build up upon the shores of +the Old World such a grateful monument to the genius of American +freedom, as shall, from its lofty summit, pour its radiance over the +darkest valleys of Central Europe, until the frozen grasp of +despotism yields to its magic touch and the chains shall fall from +the bleeding limbs of millions, who on emerging from the valley and +shadow of death into the pure sunlight of liberty, shall sing paeans +in honor of the great American people who first taught humanity to +the nations of the earth. + +When all present had done justice to O'Brien's proffered "treat," and +when Greaves seemed to be moved to a friendly view of Irish +nationality, in a gap in some desultory conversation that happened to +occur casually, this latter worthy asked whether he could be +accommodated with a room at "The Harp," while he remained in town, as +he was a stranger in a great measure, and having accidentally, as he +said, made the acquaintance of one he believed to be an agreeable +landlord. Tom replied in the affirmative; for, in connection with the +saloon business, he kept a few boarders and had, besides, ample +accommodation for more than one occasional guest. Soon then, Greaves, +who was to send the following morning to the railroad station for his +luggage, picked up a small traveling bag by his side, asked to be +shown to his room, as he professed to be somewhat tired, and bidding +the company "good night," while shaking hands with Barry, disappeared +with Tom down the long passage which led to his sleeping apartment on +the floor above. + +When O'Brien returned to the bar, half a dozen more of his usual +customers had dropped in to exchange a kindly word with him, and +taste his newest "on tap." Before reaching the counter, however, and +just as he was passing Barry, he whispered something in the ear of +the latter, which seemed to arrest his attention, and to which he +appeared to answer with a significant nod and peculiar expression of +countenance. Barry being off duty, and having received permission to +remain in town all night, paid no regard to the nine o'clock drums +and fifes audible from the garrison; and although quite an abstemious +young fellow, he made himself sufficiently social with the new +comers, most of whom were acquaintances. The remainder of the evening +was passed in the usual bar-room style; although the conversation for +the most part, turned upon the wrongs of Ireland and the mode of +redressing them. Now that Greaves had retired, there appeared to be +less restraint upon the few who had been a witness of the +observations he had made upon the subject, for they one and all +seemed to flow into the common channel of sympathy, so largely +occupied by O'Brien in this connection. In addition, one of them +ventured to remark, that although Greaves pretended to be an +Englishman, he was evidently no such thing; for on more than one +occasion, he gave utterance to expressions that were not only purely +Irish, but tinged with a genuine Irish accent and native peculiarity, +that no mere accident could account for, and which was, without +doubt, the genuine thing itself peeping out at the elbows of a +foreign dress. This idea seemed to find favor with O'Brien, although +Barry was not impressed with its correctness, from the fact, no +doubt, of his constant intercommunication with the English and Irish +element that was so jumbled up in his company. + +As it became later, the party began to drop off, until about twelve +o'clock, up went the shutters and round went the heavy key in the +bar-room door--all having disappeared at the latter period, save +Barry and one of his most intimate friends who seemed loath to leave, +and inclined to take another glass. No sooner then, were the doors +and windows securely fastened, and the gas extinguished, than both +these parties accompanied by Tom with a bed-room lamp in his hand, +proceeded to a small and comfortable apartment which was sacred to +the foot of every individual who was not a tried friend of O'Brien. +Here all three seated themselves beside a comfortable coal fire that +burned brightly in the grate: when Tom, on extinguishing the lamp, +after having lit the jet of gas that hung in the centre of the room, +exclaimed:-- + +"Nick, my name's not Tom O'Brien, or we have got the divil up-stairs!--but + what he's up to it's hard to say: although I thought it was jist as +well to let him take up his quarthers here, seem that I'll be able to +keep an eye on him--now that the times are becomin sarious." + +"Certainly," replied Barry, "his appearance is far from prepossessing, +but you know, Tom, it's not always safe to judge a man by this criterion." + +"That's thrue," returned the other, "but didn't you hear the fella how +he wanted to sift you about the Irish sintiment of the garrison, as +well as lade us out upon the feelins of the Irish in gineral throughout +the Province?" + +"I did, of course," answered Nick, "but really thought that the +gentleman, being a stranger, was simply asking for information's sake +only, and had no ulterior object in view." + +"I agree with you, O'Brien," interrupted the third party, who was +named Burk, and who had been in the saloon during the period Greaves +was present, "there can be nothing good in so cunning a face; but +what is the real news to-night, and have you heard from New York or +Buffalo?" + +"I have harde from both places," returned Tom, "and everythin looks +well; but how are things here, and are you all prepared to assist the +invading army when they cross the lines; and what number of men can +we fairly count upon?" + +"It has, I believe, been ascertained beyond a shadow of doubt," +replied Burk, "that there are upwards of one hundred thousand men +throughout the Provinces who would at once rush to arms if they found +the flag of the Irish Republic firmly planted at any one point within +our borders; while it is known or believed, that more than twice that +number would follow in their wake, if Toronto was once in the hands +of the invaders. In fact, Toronto and Montreal once taken, the day is +ours, for we should have the French almost to a man, no matter what +Monsieur George Etienne or Master John Alexander may say to the +contrary. Canada is evidently tired of British rule, and is only kept +from kicking over the traces by a pack of government officials who +hold the purse strings, and a subsidized press that destroys the +homogeneity of the people, by making them doubt each other, and +impressing every man disaffected to the Crown, with the idea that +every other individual Colonist, or nearly so, is opposed to him. In +this way, the sentiment of independence which underlies the nine +tenths of our population is obstructed and embarrassed, and one man +prompted to look with distrust upon another, although both may +entertain precisely the same sentiments in relation to the +desirability of throwing off the British yoke. As to how the army +stands, Nick here can tell you more about that than I can." + +"The army," said Barry, "is just as you might expect it to be. The +Irish who compose it in part, are, as you know, not British soldiers +from choice, but from necessity. They had no resource between +starvation and a red coat; so that their oath of allegiance to the +English Crown may be said to have been exacted from them under pain +of death. For ages, their country had been devastated and plundered +by the power that now holds them in special thrall, and the means of +existence wrested from them through the inhuman exactions of a +tyrannical government. Their name and race had been banned, their +humble homesteads razed to the ground, and their families scattered, +naked and hungry, throughout the length and breadth of the land, or +exiled to foreign shores. The stranger had stolen in on their +hearthstone, robbed them of their lands, goods and chattles, usurped +their powers of local legislation, and then closed every door to +preferment against them, leaving them without a hope or a crust for +the future, on their own shores. Under this horrible pressure, +thousands of them necessarily gave way and fell victims to those +gaunt recruiting sergeants of the government--Hunger and Rags. +Unable to earn wherewithal to keep body and soul together at their +own doors, or within their own borders, and perceiving that the +commerce, the manufactures and all the native resource of their +country were crushed to the earth, beneath the relentless heel of the +oppressor, they fell into the pit-fall dug for them by an accursed +perjurer and traitor, and, in obedience to the first law of nature, +assumed her livery, and swore allegiance to her flag. But think you +that either God or man attaches the slightest importance to an oath +exacted under such circumstances? Here am I, Nick Barry, now in the +service of the usurper, and driven into it with tears in my eyes and +rebellion in my heart, and do you suppose that I regard my oath as +other than an additional incentive to plot the downfall of the +infamous tyrant and robber who hounded me into swallowing it, and +who, to-day, keeps the girl I love out of her mother's property, +that, on a mere technicality, was laid hold of, and thrown into +chancery, by a villainous and traitorous relative, long in the secret +service of the government at home, when he found the poor, young +thing an orphan, and without a wealthy friend in the world to back +her, and that too, upon a claim that hadn't a leg to stand upon, as +everybody knew? My soldier-life, and his continued absence in +England, prevented my meeting the villain before he died; but as he +has left the suit to his son, who, I learn, is no better than he was +himself, and is also a great hanger on about the Castle of Dublin, I +am in hopes of one day or other meeting this same gentleman, who +purports to represent the old villain in this case, when, no matter +how the chancery suit may go, I shall hold him to a severe reckoning +for the injustice and hardships to which she has been so long +subjected through their joint instrumentality. But why should she +complain any more than Tom there, whose father's side of the house, +once powerful and wealthy, in the west of Ireland, have been all but +beggared through the same infamous government, and their accursed +agents, who had plundered them of every acre they possessed, and +exiled the bravest and best of them to these distant shores?" + +These few observations were made with an earnestness and vehemence +that showed how fierce and hostile the blood that boiled in the veins +of the speaker. Nor was there any appeal from the inexorable logic of +his remarks. From the inhuman manner in which England has, for seven +centuries preyed upon the vitals of Ireland, and plundered and +expatriated her children, the latter are morally absolved from all +allegiance or fidelity to her, no matter what the circumstances of +their plighted faith. No man should be bound by oaths or obligations, +to maintain the supremacy or defend the interests of a tyrant, +exacted under an inhuman pressure or in the presence of such an +alternative as the poor Irish recruit is subject to, namely, that of +enlisting or starving. How can any Irish soldier, possessed of a +single spark of pride or patriotism, and wearing the queen of +England's livery to-day, be other than the deadly enemy of the +representative of a people who have laid his country waste, murdered +his kindred and left him and millions of his race without a roof to +cover them on their own native shores? How can he gaze with any +degree of enthusiasm or pleasure upon the blood-stained rag that +waved over Mullaghmast, that was perjured at Limerick, and that +endorsed with its baleful glare all the demoniacal atrocities of the +Penal Laws? "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God"--therefore +the children of Ireland who have been so long trodden in the dust +under the feet of an usurper, are but obeying the dictates of heaven +and of humanity, when, by every means within the boundaries of +civilization, they endeavor to encompass not only their own +redemption from the bonds of the oppressor, but the total destruction +of his power in every connection. Ireland owes no allegiance to +England. For seven hundred years she has been crying out against the +colony of foreign bayonets that have kept her in bondage and reduced +her to beggary. For one single hour, throughout the whole of that +long period, she has never voluntarily accepted the condition of her +thraldom, or bowed submissively beneath the British yoke. She +therefore cannot be regarded in the light of a conquered nation, but +must be looked upon as still engaged in the deadly and mortal +contest, whose first field was fought long years ago, between the +Anglo-Norman freebooters and the Fenians of Cuan-na-Groith, or the +Harbor of the Sun, when Strongbow, at the instance of the second +Henry, made an unprovoked descent upon her shores. + +"Yes," replied Tom, when Barry had finished, "both I and mine have +felt the cruel fangs of the despoiler; but, sure, where is the use of +singlin out ourselves, when the whole of the thrue native +Irish--which manes the nineteenth twintieths of the kingdoms-are jist +as badly off. The quarrel is not yours nor mine, nor the grievances +naither. Both belong to every man, woman and child possessed of a +pure dhrop of Irish blood in their veins; for all have suffered +alike, as far as that is consarned. And, now, all that has to be done +on the head of it, is jist to wait the nick of time that we are all +expectin, and then, with one well directed and united blow, dash the +tyrant to the ground on this side of the Atlantic, and thrust to +Providence, the sympathy of the great American people and our own +sthrong arms and hearts for the rest." + +"Quebec and the fort beyond there," observed Burk, "may give us some +trouble; but further than this, from what has been ascertained of the +Province generally, there is little to be apprehended. The intimate +business relations and the intermarriages between the Canadians and +the people of the United States, will exercise a most powerful +influence in the case, while the manner in which both the English and +Canadian Governments fomented the recent civil war on the other side +of the lines, cannot fail to have embittered the American people +against the British Flag, wherever it is to be found. The treacherous +attack of England upon the existance of the Republic, in subsidizing +the South with arms and money, and in destroying, as she did for a +considerable period, the American carrying trade, through the +instrumentality of pirates built and fitted out in her own ship-yards +and docks, will now afford the American government an opportunity of +paying her off in kind, through permitting Fenianism to pursue its +course without interruption, until the Provinces become part and +parcel of the Union, when they have served as a basis of operation +for the purpose of fitting out expeditions against the arch enemy of +Ireland and of human freedom, and contributed to the final redemption +of that oppressed country from the bonds in which it has so long +lain. Surely, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander; +and if England, through the House of Commons, cheered the Alabama +when her destructive qualities were described before that body by Mr. +Laird, and, after having built the pirate, sent her out to make war +upon the North when it was in sore trouble--surely, I say, America +will not be over anxious to throw obstructions in the way of any +party who may take in hand the chastisement of such an infamous +power, no matter what the grounds of the quarrel. But when it comes +to be understood that for the last ninety years, and up to a very +recent period, England has been the deadly defamer and the secret or +avowed enemy of America and American institutions--when it comes to +be understood, that the statesmen, the business men and the wives and +daughters of the citizens of the American Commonwealth, ever since +the immortal Washington won the day for the oppressed of the whole +world, have been subjected to the sneers and jibes of the English +aristocracy and press, and held up to the ridicule of despotic +Europe--when this comes to be understood, I repeat, in connection +with the fact, that the cause of Ireland is the cause of human +liberty and of republican institutions, there will be but little fear +of America stepping out of her way to uphold the skull and +cross-bones of St. George, either on this or on the other side of the +Atlantic ocean, or, in fact, in any portion of the globe." + +"Nor will the clear-sighted children of the Republic be cajoled into a +friendly attitude towards this blood-thirsty dastard, because that, +in the feebleness and fear that have now overtaken her, she essays to +gloze over the infamous acts of which she stands convicted before the +nations, and assumes an air of friendship towards them. Had the Union +fallen, through her infernal machinations, not a city throughout her +dominions but would have blazed with joyful illuminations at the +result; while her government would again introduce the impressments +of 1812. Even when the slightest reverse was suffered by the arms of +the North, the news was heralded throughout the whole of England with +tokens of the most intense satisfaction; while both her people and +statesmen took a fiendish delight in referring to the Commonwealth as +"the late United States!" All this, I say, will influence, and ought +to influence, America in favor of the independence of Ireland, and +prevent the American people from regarding the present pusillanimous +blandishments of John Bull as other than simply the result of +cowardice, and an attempt to propitiate a great power that had +survived his infernal machinations, and now looms up a just and +mighty avenger before him. So long then, as England is permitted to +hold Ireland, that is battling for her rights, in chains, or to taint +permanently the pure atmosphere of this free continent, so long will +the Stars and Stripes shine with subdued lustre, and the memory of +the immortal heroes of '76 be but half honored, by those who are +pledged to defend it to the death in the sight of both God and man." + +"As to Quebec and the other garrisons down this way," observed Barry, +"when Hamilton and Toronto are in the hands of the Army of the Irish +Republic, they will be easily managed. None of the strongholds are +proof against Irish sympathizers, in their vicinity. This I know to +be true. Every genuine Irishman within easy hailing distance of the +garrison at Quebec, has more than one tried friend within its walls; +and so of the other strongholds along the St. Lawrence and lakes. But +supposing, for argument's sake, that any of those forts should take +it into its head to stand a siege, where would it be when invested +with such an army as Fenianism can now put into the field, composed +of thousands upon thousands of veterans who are still grim with blood +and smoke from the terrible fields of the South? What, too, would +your militia do, with their holiday legs and maiden swords, against +the men who fought at Cold Harbor, Gettysburg or Bull Run? Why the +one-fourth of the force which it is said Fenianism has at its +command, would sweep Canada like a tornado from Sanwich to Gaspe, and +be recruited every yard of the road, besides; while the instant one +signal victory was won by them, the government of the United States +would at once acknowledge them as belligerants. This, I believe, is +the true state of the case; and if the Fenian organization across the +lines, and here amongst us, possess honest, brave and competent +leaders, the overthrow of England in the Provinces cannot fail to be +achieved; for, after all, she has no secure footing in the hearts of +the masses, and enjoys nothing but a mere official existence here, +under the protection of her guns, and through the instrumentality of +a corrupt government and a hireling press. But as it is getting well +up in the small hours, and as I feel I need some rest, I think I'll +take another tumbler, if you only join me, and then turn in." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +When young Barry spoke of the girl of his love, he referred to Kate +McCarthy, now in her twentieth year, and certainly one of the most +beautiful Irish girls that had emigrated to America for many a long +day. Kate and he had been schoolfellows and neighbors from their +infancy, and, as they grew up, were regarded as a sort of "matter of +course match," from the fact, that they were always together, and +apparently cut out for each other. They were both natives of the +county Leitrim, and born on the banks of the Shannon, in the sweet +little town of Drumsna. It was by the beautiful waters of this noble +river that they first felt that impassioned glow that colors all the +after life of man or woman, and which is as different from the +feelings that characterize early boy or girlhood, as the noon-day +solar blaze is from the cold and placid beams of the pale new moon. +There is one point at which the true passion of love, in all great +hearts, leaps into fierce and instantaneous existence. There may be +many imperceptible approaches to it in some cases, we know, but out +of these it is possible to turn aside. When the hour arrives, +however, in a single moment the storming party, under one wild +impulse, unknown before, mounts the ramparts of the heart, and, after +a moment's sweet confusion, the garrison falls and is surrendered +forever into the hands of the enemy. And thus it was with our hero +and heroine. Although they had long been the dearest of friends and +constant companions--although they had long felt that the happiness +of the one was necessary to that of the other, the great secret of +their existence was never fully revealed to them, until they felt +they were about to be separated from each other for an indefinite +period; Kate to accompany her only relatives to America and poor +Barry to enter the British army, under a pressure of poverty too +dreadful to relate. As already intimated, the prospects of both had +been blighted through oppression and villainy, brought to bear upon +them by distant relatives, who were the infamous agents of a still +more infamous government. The case of Nick, although sore enough in +its way, was not so heartrending as that of Kate. He was of a sex +fitted to wrestle with the storms of life, but she, proud and brave +as she was, occupied a different position. Fortunately for both, +however, through the instrumentality of a small pittance set aside by +the Courts in her case, and a kind relation in that of Barry, their +education was far above their pecuniary pretensions, so that at the +age of twenty Kate was really an accomplished and refined girl, while +her lover, at that of twenty-five, was a dashing young fellow, with a +well stored mind and quite as capable of acquitting himself agreeably +in society as any man, no matter what his rank, in the regiment to +which he belonged. It was, then, in consequence of his education +that he was looked up to by his comrades; although neglected and +studiously kept in the back grounds by some of the officers of his +company, who, viewing his attainments through the, medium of their +English spectacles, closed the door of preferment against him, and +never suffered a single stripe to appear on his jacket. With as good +blood in his veins as the best of them, and with a sense of the +wrongs inflicted upon his country by the government whose abettors +they were, he could never bring himself to stoop to the fawning and +servility through which the lower grades of rank are attainable, only +in the service; and thus, it was that, from first to last, he was +viewed with an eye of suspicion by his superiors, who regarded him as +an incorrigible young Irishman, who, notwithstanding that he wore the +uniform of a British soldier, had no love for the service or the +interests it represented. + +Barry entered the army under the most terrific pressure only. He +found that Kate and her friends were destined for America, and being +himself, at the period, totally destitute of funds and without the +means of realizing them speedily, in a moment of desperation he +enlisted in a regiment that was under sailing orders for that +country, in the hope of being stationed somewhere near the being he +loved, and of being able, at least, to keep up a constant and +unbroken correspondence with her until fortune should turn the wheel +in his favor. And so he enlisted and parted from Kate and her +friends, to follow her in a short period across the Atlantic, and +renew his vows of love and affection upon another shore. + +The ship that had borne her away from his view had been scarcely two +days at sea, when the deadly intelligence reached his ear that the +sailing orders of his regiment had been countermanded, and that +instead of proceeding to Quebec, it was to sail for Malta, where it +was likely to remain for perhaps a couple of years. This dreadful +news almost annihilated him. He had made a sacrifice to no purpose, +and was now bound hand and foot beyond the hope of redemption. Before +Kate and he parted, he had agreed to write her to Quebec, in care of +a friend, if anything should occur that might postpone the sailing of +his regiment, or that portion of it that was for foreign service; and +now the dreadful opportunity arrived, when he found himself called +upon to convey to her the intelligence, that not only was the sailing +of the regiment postponed, but its destination altered. In due course +the fatal disclosure reached her, and almost deprived her of life and +reason. In the space of one brief hour she passed through the agony +of years. The being she loved, in the burning ardor of his young +soul, had hastily--thoughtlessly sacrificed his freedom; and all for +her! It had been a sufficient dagger to her soul to see him attired +in the blood-stained uniform of the enemies of her country, yet she +knew that he had been driven by the most inexorable circumstances to +assume the hated garb. But now he was overtaken with twofold +desolation--he was a slave, and beyond the reach of one kind word of +solace from her, for whom he had sacrificed all, save and except that +which might be borne to him, through the ordinary channels, across +the trackless deep. + +Racked as she was with those torturing reflections, and while the +first wild burst of grief was yet rolling down her cheeks, she +determined to begin her lone, young widowhood by instantly writing to +him and bidding him hope. In this epistle, all the nobility of her +true heart and nature blazed forth so transcendently, and with such +fierce, womanly fervor, that the moment it reached the hands of the +young soldier the light was re-kindled within him, and he at once set +about procuring his discharge, or rather realizing the means of +effecting his release from the bonds into which he had allowed his +pure 'though ungovernable passion to betray him. His education, as +already observed, was most excellent, and now, when off duty, he +turned it to good account, and slowly but surely began to add daily +to what trifle he was able to save from his paltry pay, in the hope +of yet commanding a sufficient sum to purchase his freedom and enable +him, ultimately, to sail for America. In this way, and during the two +years he was stationed at Malta, he spent his spare moments, being +throughout that whole period particularly fortunate in keeping up +what was life to him, an unbroken correspondence with his beloved. + +At the expiration of three years, having been quartered, on his +return from the Mediterranean, for the last one, in England, at +length came the welcome and startling intelligence, that the +regiment, now indeed, was to proceed forthwith to Canada, where it +would be likely to remain for a considerable period. In a delirium of +joy he communicated the happy intelligence to his love, and had just +time to receive a hurried epistle in reply, in which the very arms of +the true-hearted and beautiful Kate seemed thrown open to receive +him. For some months previously, however, she had been informing him, +from time to time, of a very disagreeable position in which she had +been placed, through the persistent attentions paid her by an Irish +gentleman named Lauder, who, by some means or other, had so +ingratiated himself with her relatives, as to win them over to urge +his suit; and who was reputed to be a person of means. These hints, +however disagreeable, were always accompanied by a renewal of the +vows they had long since plighted on the banks of the Shannon, and +the fervent assurance that no one living or yet to live should ever +lead Kate McCarthy a bride to the altar, save her own Nicholas Barry. + +When Kate and her relatives arrived at Quebec, they remained in that +city but a short period, as they had friends at Toronto, as well as +near Fort Erie and at Buffalo, in the State of New York, whom they +were desirous of visiting, and near whom they had determined to +settle permanently. Unfortunately for Barry, the more intimate +guardians or relatives of Kate had become unfriendly to his suit ever +since he entered the army; impressed, as they had become, with that +Irish idea, that the red coat of a private soldier in the British +service was the most disreputable that could be worn. In this light, +therefore, they encouraged the advances of Lauder, in the hope that +absence would so weaken the first love of Kate, as to induce her to +yield ultimately to her new suitor. But they little new the girl with +whom they had to deal; for when Lauder, under their sanction, made a +formal declaration of his passion to her, she quenched his hopes, as +she supposed, forever, by informing him that both her heart and her +hand were previously engaged, and that were they even at her +disposal, she should be quite unable to bestow them upon any +gentleman for whom she did not and could not entertain a single +particle of true love, although he might have secured her esteem. +This rejection, however, did not, as she supposed it would, preclude +the possibility of any further advances from such a quarter, for +Lauder, nothing daunted, kept up the siege when and wherever he +could, without giving absolute offense; so cunningly and intangibly +did he still pursue the object set before him. At last, nevertheless, +so constant were his visits at the house, and so permanent a footing +was he getting in the estimation of her friends, that, after having +resided at Toronto upwards of two years, she left it at the instance +of one of the family, who, on their first arrival in America, had +settled in Buffalo, to which city she proceeded, and in which she now +took up her residence. + +While in Toronto the thought struck her that she might be able to +turn whatever abilities she had to account, in the hope of being able +to accumulate sufficient funds to aid our young hero in purchasing +his discharge, fearing, as she did, that his own opportunities, in +this relation, would be greatly restricted. So with her needle, and +through the instrumentality of a small private school, she ultimately +found herself mistress of the required amount, and was about to +forward it to Nicholas, at the very period when she received +intelligence of his regiment being ordered to America. She therefore +thought it better to wait until they met, as she had made up her mind +to set out, when apprised of his arrival, for any place in which he +might happen to be quartered, and there plan for their future and his +freedom. + +In due time Barry reached Quebec, and from thence was ordered, with +his company, to the town in which we first encountered him. Here he +was soon joined by the true-hearted Kate, who remained for a few days +with her cousins, Big Tom and his sister. During this period it was +decided that Nicholas should purchase his discharge when he found +that there was any prospect of the regiment being called home. The +reasons for his not at once availing himself of the freedom he knew +he could obtain at any moment, need not now be referred to more +minutely; and as Kate left him to return to Buffalo, just four months +previous to the opening of our story, after having made more than one +pilgrimage from the United States to spend a few days with her +cousins as she averred, it was settled upon finally, that he should +quit the service in the ensuing summer, when they should become man +and wife, as well as residents of the great Republic of the United +States of America. + +The intimacy, then, between Big Tom and Nick, is now accounted for in +a satisfactory manner; and thus it was, that whenever the young +soldier got leave to spend a night out of the Fort, he invariably +took up his quarters at the sign of the Harp, where he not only knew +he was welcome on his own account, but was sure to find company that +was agreeable to him, and sympathized with all his aspirations in +relation to his poor, down-trodden country. + +Kate McCarthy, as we have already said, was in her twentieth year at +the time we were first introduced to O'Brien and his customers, and +certainly, as previously intimated, a more lovely woman could +scarcely be found in a day's walk. Her face and figure were absolute +mirages of beauty, while, if there could be such a thing as black +sunbeams, her eyes and hair would have illustrated them to intensity. +She was above the medium height, with a slightly olive complexion +that harmonized superbly with the glorious orbs through which the +pure light of her soul poured forth a mellow blaze, and the dark, +heavy tresses that fell in shining masses upon her pearly shoulders. +Nothing, too, could surpass the intensified loveliness of her soft, +rounded arms, and exquisitely shaped hands and feet, while her +delicious mouth and beautifully chiseled nose and ears were really +mysteries of loveliness so rare, that few could entertain the idea +that she who possessed them could have laid her whole heart at the +feet of a common soldier, and that, too, when it was in her power to +turn such charms to high account in the every day market of society. +But she knew Nicholas Barry and the nobility of his nature, and was +aware, in addition, that had he not, like herself, been the victim of +foul play and of a government that fostered crime in its adherents, +he would never have been constrained to swear allegiance to the flag +he both hated and despised, or have been obliged to exchange the garb +of the son of a true Irish gentleman for that which had so lowered +him, in the eyes of her relatives at least. But rich or poor, in +scarlet or homespun, he was all the same to her; and now that he was +almost at her side, and master, in a measure, of his own fate, she +only looked forward to the period when she should have a legal right +to his protection, and to call him by that name which, beyond all +others is the one that lies nearest a woman's heart. + +The relative and his wife with whom Kate lived in Buffalo, were, in +reality, noble and true-hearted people. They had known Nicholas from +his childhood, and had always loved him for his manliness and bold +struggles to gain some position at home in which he might be able to +realize a sufficiency to maintain both himself and the girl of his +love, before he led her to the altar. They had witnessed his repeated +failures when he applied for any vacant situation where his education +could be turned to account, and felt for his dire disappointment upon +many an occasion when he was denied even a subordinate office in +connection with the management of the large property that had once +belonged to his family. With pain and anger they saw his praiseworthy +exertions baffled at every turn, and, unlike the rest of their +relations, discovered more of his self-sacrificing spirit still, in +the desperate step he took for the purpose of joining his betrothed +upon a foreign shore--a step which they would have gladly prevented, +had their own slender means been sufficient to have transported him +with them to their new home. Moved by this spirit of kindness and +esteem, these worthy people were the very main-stay of Kate in the +hour of her sorest trial, and now that Barry was near her once more, +they entered heart and hand into all her projects, and were delighted +to know that his discharge should be purchased before his regiment +was ordered to leave the colony. + +It must not be presumed, however, that Kate, since her arrival in +America, had permitted herself to be a burden, in even the slightest +degree, upon any of her friends or relations. Far from it; from the +moment that they became settled at Toronto, up to the hour of +Nicholas' arrival in the colony, she not only supported herself +through her industry and perseverence, but contributed, in a degree, +to the maintenance of some of them also. Of course, in view of the +all-absorbing object she had before her, regarding her lover, she +could not be expected to do much in this latter relation; yet she did +what she could, and so satisfied her pride and her conscience. +Sometimes the recollection of the long and weary chancery suit would +obtrude itself upon her, but only to provoke a hopeless and languid +smile, prompted by the conviction that her enemy, whom she had never +seen, and who had recently succeeded to the claims of his +father--Philip Darcy, now but a few months dead--had too much +influence with the government and its legal minions, to permit her to +indulge in the slightest hope, that, were the case decided tomorrow, +it could be otherwise than against her. Consequently, it mattered but +little to her whether she was worsted by Philip the elder or Philip +the younger; so, in this way, she now invariably disposed of the +unpleasant matter. Yet, she felt, notwithstanding, deeply and +bitterly upon the subject: and knew that she was the victim of a most +diabolical plot; but she did not permit this to interfere with her +daily avocations, or induce her to sit down in apathetic sorrow, and +repine over a fate that no effort of hers could influence in any +degree whatever. + +Still, as may be readily supposed, both from her education and a +knowledge of her own personal wrongs, and those which had for +centuries been inflicted upon the unhappy land of her birth, she was +no friend or admirer of the government or people who had wrought her +so much ruin in this connection. On this head she was most +inexorable, and felt that it was the duty of every true Irishman and +Irishwomen in existence, to conspire, as best they could, against a +power which had plunged their race and country into such frightful +ruin; and she believed, firmly, that, in so far as her native land +was concerned, its children were justified in using any means by +which they could rid themselves of a tyrant and usurper, who, in +violation of every law, both human and divine, subjected them to +sword and flame for ages. + +It will be perceived, then, that both Kate McCarthy and Nicholas were +influenced by the same just and deadly spirit against England; and +that neither thought it otherwise than meritorious, to hurl that +tyrant to the dust, at any time and under any circumstances. The iron +had penetrated their souls; and now that rumors were afloat touching +the intention of the great organization of Fenianism, which +overspread the American Union, to make a descent upon the Canadas, +with a view to destroying the power of England upon this continent, +and ultimately rescuing Ireland from the grasp of the oppressor, +Kate's eye was lit, from time to time, with the most patriotic +fervor; while the world could, at any moment, discover the true +nature of the fame that burned within her soul, from the emerald +sheen of the silken band which invariably bound up her raven hair, +and encircled her snowy throat. + +Once or twice she happened to encounter Lauder in Buffalo, so as to +recognize him without the possibility of mistake; while on several +occasions, she could not divest herself of the idea that he had just +passed her in disguise; although she could not imagine what prompted +him to such secrecy, when she never noticed him since she had left +Toronto, or recognized him on the two occasions when she chanced to +meet him in the public street. Yet, a strange presentiment seemed to +impress her that he had not, after all her plainness with him, +abandoned the idea of obtaining her hand, notwithstanding the +repugnance she had always evinced towards him. Now, however, that +Nicholas was almost within hail of her, and that her friends, in +Buffalo at least, were true to her in every relation, she felt secure +from whatever machinations her imagination conjured up; and, +therefore, whenever the subject suddenly obtruded itself upon her +thoughtful moments, she dismissed it as summarily; reassured by the +conviction that she was totally beyond the reach of any schemes that +might have been concocted in relation to her or her future. + +For the purpose, however, of setting the matter at rest forever, she +was resolved that her lover should leave the service now as early as +possible; and, stimulated by this desire, on returning to her +residence, one evening towards the middle of April of the year in +which we first encountered him on the bridge leading from the Fort, +she addressed a letter to Nicholas, urging him to leave the army as +soon as practicable, assigning as a reason the presence of Lauder in +Buffalo, whom she had, as she felt assured, again encountered or +rather discovered in the vicinity of her residence, and adding a +further reason, based upon the rumor, that the Army of the Irish +Republic would soon move upon Canada, and that his regiment could not +fail to be called out to oppose it--a circumstance that would, as +she well knew, be the cause of more actual pain to him, than anything +that could possibly occur in the discharge of what was termed his +duty. + +This letter Barry received the second day after it was written; and +on consulting with O'Brien, at once set about procuring his +discharge; but as the Colonel of his regiment had gone to the Lower +Provinces, from which he was not to return for a week or two, the +matter was left in abeyance until he should again arrive in town. In +due course, however, he did return, and the necessary application +being made, no objection was offered to granting the discharge, as +Barry's conduct had always been most unexceptionable since he entered +the service. + +In this way matters stood, then, on the night on which we found Big +Tom in secret conclave with his two friends, Nick and Burk, in his +own little sanctum; Nick having got leave to stay out until morning, +as the officer in command informed him, it was probably the last +request he should have the power of granting him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +An organization so wide-spread and so numerous as that of the Fenian +Brotherhood, it was not to expected that all its members, without an +exception, were good men and true; yet so rarely were traitors found +among its ranks, that no patriotic confraternity of its magnitude had +ever, in ancient or modern times, presented so pure a record in this +relation. When we take into consideration the fact that, the +insidious and subsidizing gold of England was brought to bear upon +the frightful poverty of the masses that composed the organization in +Ireland, as well as the temptations to treason held out by the +government, through their agents in the Republic of the United States +of America, the wonder is that there were not more Corydons and +Masseys to do the work of the usurper, and betray the cause to which +they had sworn fealty. However, there were traitors sufficient at +work to cause great damage in individual cases, and send many a brave +fellow into the gloomy depths of a British dungeon. Nearly all the +injury in this connection, however, appears to have been done at +home, as treason of this character was totally powerless under any +foreign flag--or at least not so capable of direct mischief. From the +first moment of the inception of the organization, the British and +the Canadian governments had their paid spies in and outside the +American press, who kept the authorities well informed as to all the +particulars that transpired within the range of their observation or +through other channels; but these disclosures were necessarily meagre +and, in many cases, totally unreliable; from the circumstance that +those disreputable parties, for the purpose of magnifying their +importance, and securing further the patronage of their employers, +colored and distorted facts so terribly, that scarce a line from +their pens or a sentence from their lips was worthy even the +slightest credence. Still, from time to time, some little rumor +struggled to the surface, which pointed to treachery somewhere; and +thus it was that the authorities of the organization were often +placed awkwardly in relation to the idle though dangerous gossip +which occasionally singled out this individual or that, as the party +who had betrayed his trust. In the various cities along the American +frontier, there was from time to time a good deal of this gossip--a +circumstance that might have been quite easily accounted for; seeing +that the inhabitants of some of these places were in what might be +termed hourly intercommunication with the people of Canada; giving, +in some cases, rise to suspicions, which were in the main without any +foundation. This distrust, although affecting the stability or +growing prosperity of the Brotherhood in scarcely any degree, had yet +the effect of strengthening the hands of British sympathizers in the +Union, and inducing them to resolve themselves into little coteries +or societies--such as was hurriedly formed not long since under the +influence and guidance of Mr. H----, of Buffalo, for the ostensible +purpose of aiding destitute Canadians, but with the real design of +keeping an eye upon Fenianism, and disclosing, as far as the members +could divine, all its intentions, hopes and prospects, to the British +government. Occasionally an emissary, direct from Great Britain, in +the guise of a lecturer or tourist, visited these associations and +received their report, which, as far as was practicable, he verified +by personal observation, and through whatever reliable channels, he +believed to be open to him. These emissaries have been supplemented +by others of a somewhat different character, but all bearing upon the +interests of England. In this latter case, however, it has been the +direct unfriendly relations between the American government and that +of Great Britain, which had stimulated the pilgrimages of certain +individuals of this class to the shores of the great Republic. +England perceiving that she had Fenianism to deal with on the one +hand, and American hostility, regarding her infamous course during +the late war, on the other, in her cowardly fears for the +consequences, backed up her anti-Fenian agents, by sending out such +persons as Mr. Charles Dickens and Mr. Henry Vincent, to prove to the +citizens of the Commonwealth how friendly the sentiments that England +had always entertained for them, and how disasterous a thing it would +be to both peoples, should a war, under any circumstances, be +permitted to take place between them. Both these gentlemen, and +others, distinguished and popular in their respective literary +shades, went forth preaching peace and good will between the Saxons +on the one side of the Atlantic and their so-called American cousins +on the other. With an audacity the most barefaced and unaccountable, +upon every possible occasion, opportune or otherwise, they wore the +olive branch at their button-hole, and described in periods the most +eloquent, the identity of blood and interests which characterized both +nations, and which it were heinous to ignore. Notwithstanding that for +ninety long years their infamous government had been indulging in the +most heartless sneers, insults and injustice towards the press, the +people and the executive of the United States--notwithstanding that +during the late war every reverse of the arms of the Republic was +hailed with heartfelt joy by the English party, both at home and in +Canada, and that pirates were built and fitted out under the very eyes +of the British Cabinet, and with the secret sanction of that corrupt +horde, to make war upon American commerce and destroy the Union in the +hour of its extremity--notwithstanding all this, we say, and maugre +the kindred circumstance of subsidizing the South with money and arms +so as to prolong the fratracidal conflict until both parties lay +bloody and broken at the feet of English despotism, these able and +smooth-tongued gentry had the accursed assurance to stand up in most +of the principal cities of the Democracy, and assert broadly, that +England was the true and tried friend of republican institutions and +of the people who sustained them on the free continent of America. +Under the liberal laws which accord freedom of speech to every man who +touches the shores of the Republic, these men had, we know, a right to +express, publicly or otherwise, their sentiments in this connection, +how treacherous and untenable soever; but what we could never fathom, +was the daring of any journal professing to be true to the interests +of freedom or those of the Union, in endorsing those sentiments and +setting them forth to the world as truthful and worthy the acceptance +of every genuine American, no matter what his creed or party. An +attempt so monstrous to stullify all past experience and ignore all +history has never been made in any relation whatever; and the wonder +is, that, few as they are, so many Americans have been led astray by +it. To any individual, of even the most ordinary penetration, it must +be obvious, that the present cringing and treacherous attitude assumed +by England towards the American people, is but the mask of a foul and +dangerous spirit, snatched up in a moment of mortal fear to be worn +only until some opportune moment arrives when it can be thrown aside +with safety, revealing the old, familiar, demoniacal scowl which lurked +unaltered beneath its smiling exterior. America, to be true to herself, +must beware of such false lights, of the press as these. They are for +the most part subsidized by English gold, or so imbuded with English +sentiment, that the interests of the Union are quite a secondary +consideration with them. In evidence of the truth of this assertion, +we have only to dwell upon the apathy with which these journalists +regard the building up of a dangerous despotism upon our borders, +in the very teeth of American traditions and sentiments, and in +opposition to the feelings of the masses whom it effects more +immediately, and who were not permitted by their tyrants to express +a single opinion at the polls on so grave a subject as the total +disruption or remodeling of the constitution under which they lived. +Look at the expression of Nova Scotia on this head, and see how it +reflects upon the course pursued by the great American people in +relation to the confederation of the adjoining Provinces. Not long +since the inhabitants of that section of the New Dominion set forth, +in a memorial to the British government, that this same confederation +was forced upon the people of the Canadas, through falsehood, bribery +and the vilest fraud. And, yet, free and generous America, who assumes +to be the day-star of freedom on this continent, and to the world, +permitted this despotic measure to be enforced at her own threshold, +and in relation to a people, thousands upon thousands of whom +sympathized with her interests and institutions, and looked forward +with longing eyes to the hour when the Stars and Stripes should float +from every flag-staff and tower throughout the whole of the English +possessions in the New World. Surely the missionary spirit of the +Republic has not been best illustrated in this instance; nor can we +discover now, how it is, that the authorities of the Union sit quietly +playing at thumbs, while the Parliament of the Dominion is voting +millions for the defenses of the new despotism, and framing projects +that are intended to result in a line of impregnable forts from +Sandwich to Gaspe, and at every point where it is possible for an +invader to set foot upon their shores. Wait until false, foul and +treacherous England can sit beneath the shadow of the guns of her +infant monarchy, on the Canadian frontier, and then see if she does +not begin to show her cloven foot anew. Let her once get a permanent +foothold among the newly projected fortresses along the St. Lawrence +and the Lakes, with Quebec as their key, and the peace and prosperity +of America, as well as the stability of republican institutions, +cannot be counted as secure, for a single day, from petty annoyance, +or perhaps inroads of a more formidable character. This idea may, +we know, be scouted by those who have a well grounded faith in the +destiny of the American people and the power they undoubtedly possess +in a naval and military point of view; but, after all, a gun is a gun +and a garrison a garrison; and to allow an implacable and formidable +enemy to possess herself of either, within range of our fire-sides, +when we can prevent it, is what we should call courting the presence +of a bombshell on our borders, that may at any moment be thrown into +our midst. + +Without dwelling further on this particular point, however, we may +observe, that through some of the channels already referred to, the +English government became aware, in 1865, that it was the intention +of the Irish Nationalists in the United States to make a descent, at +no distant day, upon Canada, and seize it as a basis of operations, +with a view to carrying out their projects for the redemption of +Ireland. In connexion with this information, they found, also, that +the troops in Canada were largely interspersed with Irishmen, and it +was consequently deemed necessary to send a secret agent to the +Provinces to look into the case and report upon it, or rather upon +the sentiment of the Irish element in the colony, whether in or out +of the army, in relation to Fenianism. This they thought could be +best accomplished through the instrumentality of a tried emissary of +their own, as even from the Provincial Cabinet conflicting accounts +were arriving constantly in relation to the all-important subject. In +furtherance of this view, the Castle of Dublin was, of course, +applied to, and a creature selected to do the work, who was not +himself fully aware that his position was recognized by the imperial +Cabinet so decidedly, but simply fancied himself in the capacity of a +sort of trusty policeman, appointed by one of the Castle authorities, +who was anxious to know for himself how the case stood on the other +side of the Atlantic. This agent was one of the cleverest of his +class, and possessed of the most consummate cunning, and a spirit of +reckless daring but seldom evinced by members of his tribe. Already +he had rendered substantial service to the Viceroy and to England, as +an inveterate spy, and a scoundrel who had, on more than one +occasion, distinguished himself in the witness box. In addition to +his investigations in Canada, he was instructed to extend the line of +his observations to the United States also, and to move from point to +point, as his own judgment might dictate in the premises. He was, of +course, furnished with ample means to carry out successfully the +project intrusted to him; and although but little faith could be +placed in his integrity, so far as the disposal of the funds put in +his hands were concerned, yet, by an opportune circumstance, +connected with his own personal interest, and overriding any sum that +was entrusted to him, the Castle was enabled to hold him in check, no +matter how he might be tempted, or where he chanced to move. With his +activity and fidelity thus insured, this miserable wretch, who went +in Dublin by the name of Philip the Spy, was despatched on his +mission, and, in due coarse arriving at Quebec, set about it in his +usual cautious and conning manner. He visited the Citadel as a +stranger, under the ordinary pass from the Town Major, and soon made +himself agreeable in the dark, low canteen among the soldiers. +Whenever he thought he discovered a young and inexperienced Irishman +among the rank and file, he was unusually pleasant and communicative. +With such a companion he always moved about the garrison, descanting +upon its force and power, and imperceptibly stealing into his good +graces, until he found some opportunity of making an apparently +accidental enquiry touching the information he was desirous of +obtaining. In this way he became possessed of the knowledge that even +Quebec held within its impregnable walls many a man who was far from +being the true friend of England, and who, as he surmised, waited the +opportunity of not only deserting her flag, but betraying her +stronghold into the hands of her enemies. In this state of things he +could not but discover the truthfulness of the beautiful line of the +poet, "_Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt_," for he +perceived that the mighty waters of the great Atlantic were +insufficient to wash out the blood stains from the skirts of England +in relation to Ireland, or to remove the deep hatred of the exiled +children of the latter, towards a tyrannical power that had held them +in bitter thrall so unjustly and so long. + +Satisfied of this, and of the additional fact, that the garrison was +invulnerable from the river side only, and that much of the artillery +that manned the citadel was all but worthless, on the pretense of +being a friend to the cause of Irish freedom and a deadly enemy to +England, he learned that not only were there many Fenian sympathizers +within the walls of the garrison, but that the city outside was +literally alive with similar friends, some of whom were to be found +among the French population, who had never forgotten England's +treatment of the First Napoleon, or her conquest of Canada in the +days of Wolf These he knew himself were sore points with the Lower +Canadians, and likely to bear bitter fruit in relation to English +interests in America, one day or other. He perceived also that these +facts, taken in connection with the unfriendly feeling which England +had engendered in the United States, through the Alabama piracies and +secret subsidies to the South during the war that had just closed, +would, tend to both foster and embolden Fenianism, until it grew +almost into an institution in the New World, or became, at least, a +leading idea with no inconsiderable portion of both the Canadian and +American people. He knew that every civilized nation on the face of +the earth, save England herself, sympathized with the lamentable +condition of the country to which he himself was a traitor; and such +being the case, he felt how easy it would be on the part of these +sympathizers, to find a means of justifying almost any measure that +might be adopted against the usurper, by the organization at home and +abroad. He saw and felt all this, and thus it became him to be doubly +cautious, as he could not but understand, that were his mission +divined by those whom he was now hourly betraying into positions of +death or danger, it would go hard with him indeed. In fact, the idea +struck him, that England, with all her boasting, was but little +better than a camp in America; and that, as in Ireland, she was +surrounded here also, by a hostile although a less demonstrative +population. + +And, certainly, a truer deduction than this has never been drawn from +any premises whatever. The nine tenths of the loyalty of Canada +towards the British Crown, is superficial and terribly unreliable. +Subtract the official and the Orange element from the masses, and +they would drift at once into the arms of the United States. The +events of 1837 prove that a strong undercurrent of American feeling +exists in the colony, and various subsequent disclosures prove that +it is even now only restrained by circumstances. When we find +Canadian representatives on the floor of the House of Assembly, +threatening England with an appeal to Washington in a certain +connection, and when we see Americans filling some of the highest +offices in the Dominion, and sitting at the Council Table with the +representatives of royalty, we may be sure that the interests of +Great Britain are not in safe keeping in such an atmosphere, and that +such persons can always be brought to see how necessary it is to the +_material_ welfare of the inhabitants of the Canadas that they should +become part and parcel of the free and prosperous Republic of the +United States. They cannot fail to see, that in their present +dependent position,--lying, as they are, in the grasp of an English +aristocrat, unacquainted with their wants and wishes, and who +sympathizes only with the Crown, their trade, their commerce, and +their internal resources must suffer to a frightful extent. So long +as they are outside the pale of the Union and under the British flag, +so long will a mighty war cloud hang upon their borders, that is +liable to roll in upon them at any moment. The fact is fixed and +unalterable, that the people of Ireland have secured for all time a +permanent footing on this continent, where their numbers, wealth and +influence have become irresistible, touching any project that they +may entertain within the limits of the American Constitution. We say +the American Constitution, for to this they have sworn fealty, and +its maintenance is to them a matter of the first importance--a matter +of life and death; from the fact, that it is to its generous +provisions and the liberal spirit of its framers and their +descendents, as well as to the kind sympathy of the American people +in general, that they now owe their all. Were it not for the noble +stand against tyranny taken by the heroes of 1765, and the subsequent +glorious career of the country they had freed from the grasp of the +English tyrant, Ireland should be still laden with chains the most +hopeless; but, now that free America has influenced her to higher +aspirations than she had ever felt previously in relation to human +liberty and just and enlightened government, it is probable that she +shall become the first fruits of American institutions on the +despotic side of the Atlantic, and raise her bright republican head, +in the midst of the hoary tyrannies of Europe, a glorious monument to +the genius of American liberty and power, as well as to the memory of +the immortal heroes of the war of Independence, who first taught +manhood to the nations, and hurled to the dust, beneath their feet, +the foul and blood-stained braggart who had sought to build up her +despotic rule upon their virgin shores. In no way can America so +justify the purity and sincerity of her soul in relation to her +institutions, as by hurling them against the despotisms of the old +world, and diffusing amongst its peoples, wherever she can with any +degree of propriety, the blessings they are so eminently calculated +to impart. And no point stands more invitingly open at the present +moment for an experiment so indispensable to the true prestige of her +power and greatness, than Ireland. Self-evident as the fact is, that +that country has for generations been kept in slavery at the point of +the bayonet, and plundered and starved by an accursed despot and her +own deadly enemy, too, she can with the greatest possible ease move +in the direction of breaking those galling bonds, and wreathing the +poor, fleshless limbs, so long lacerated by them, with the flowery +links which so bind her own glorious children in one harmonious and +invincible whole. So long as Ireland lies groaning beneath the heel +of the usurper, so long shall America have failed in her mission, and +her duty towards God and man. She cannot be truly great, and sit down +beneath her own vine and fig tree, listlessly enjoying the blessings +of liberty, peace and plenty, while her kindred and friends lie in +chains on the opposite side of the Atlantic, or while the infamous +flag of the despot who oppresses them, and who but recently sought to +stab her to the heart, floats in triumph on her very borders. Both +heaven and humanity demand something more at her hands; and if +actuated by no higher motive than that of mere self-preservation, or +of providing against a rainy day, we would advise her, in view of the +powerful armaments and the ingrained antagonisms which characterize +Europe in every direction, to assist in establishing one friendly +power at least on the shores of the Old World, which, in the hour of +need, would make common cause with her in the interests of freedom, +justice and truth. This, and the fact of the attempt now being made +by England to build up an armed despotism in the New Dominion of +Canada, are, in our humble opinion, matters of the deepest moment to +the great American people; while we are equally convinced, that, +should they neglect to avail themselves of their right to interpose +wherever human suffering of the most heart-rending character obtains +under the sway of a tyrant, or where the peace and security of a +whole continent is threatened, by portentous and aggressive +undertakings on its confines, the day will arrive, and that speedily, +when they will be afforded a bitter opportunity of regretting their +criminal apathy and neglect, without the power of atoning for either. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Although Kate had, as we have already stated, encountered Lauder on +more than one occasion in Buffalo, without any very uneasy feeling as +to his unpleasant proximity, yet she was not totally devoid of +suspicion that she was, in some way or other, the cause of his +presence in that city. True, she had rejected his heart and hand in +the most decided manner; but then there was something about the man so +obtrusive and yet so cunning, that at times she could have wished +herself totally beyond has reach or hopes, as the wife of the noble +young fellow she loved so ardently. When in Toronto, she had been +sorely tried by the insidious attacks and insinuations of her +persecutor, bearing upon the character and vocation of Nicholas, +regarding which he appeared to be exceedingly well informed. He spoke +of the uniform faithlessness of soldiers in general--their wretched +mode of life and morals, together with the stigma that invariably +attached to the wife of any individual who wore a private's coat in +the service. In addition, he seemed to be conversant with the +pecuniary embarrassments of Kate, as well as with the circumstances of +the chancery suit, and, as he averred, the settled opinion at home, +that it would be soon decided, and, without any possible doubt, in +favor of the son of Philip Darcy. All this was heart-rending in the +extreme to the poor girl; but yet her faith never faltered for a +single moment in the truth and fidelity of her lover; and what cared +she for aught else in the world, so long as he was left her without +spot or blemish. Observing the foothold that Lauder had in the house +and estimation of her relatives, she did not feel herself at liberty +to treat him with all the contempt and severity that he deserved; so +that she was too often, for appearances sake and out of respect for +the feelings of those under whose roof she was, constrained not to +notice in anger much that had escaped his lips regarding Nicholas, or, +rather, the possible character which he had turned out to be under the +baneful influence of a soldier's life. When, however, she accepted the +hospitality and kindness of that portion of the family who had taken +up their residence in Buffalo, and who were the staunchest friends of +young Barry, she, at once, cut the acquaintance of her rejected +suitor, and, as already observed, passed him once or twice in the +street without deigning to notice him. + +This probed Lauder to the quick, and aroused all the fiend within him; +and now that Barry had reached Canada, he determined to work in some +way the ruin of either the one or the other, in order to make their +union impossible, were even the most revolting crime necessary to that +end. While dwelling on this subject, every vestige of humanity +disappeared from the heart and face of the wretch who would encompass +such ruin, and that, too, in the case of two individuals who had never +injured him in thought, word or act. He was slighted and rejected by +the only woman on earth that he cared to marry, and he would be +avenged at even the risk of his life. He would dog her footsteps were +she to move to the uttermost ends of the earth, until an opportunity +to put his infernal plans in operation arrived; and as he had +abundance of means at his command, he would enlist in his service +those who would not hesitate to sell their souls for gold. Moved by +this diabolical impulse, he followed her to Buffalo, and there made +the acquaintance of two unmitigated villains who kept a low gambling +house in one of the vilest streets in the city, and who were capable +of any atrocity known to the annals of crime. These two vagabonds were +already refugees from Canadian justice, having been concerned in one +of the bank robberies so frequent in the Provinces, and had an +accomplice of their own stamp on the Canadian frontier, not far from +their present den, to whom they were in the habit of secretly +forwarding goods stolen on the American side, to be kept until the +excitement regarding the robbery had subsided, and an opportunity +presented itself for disposing of them in some part of the Province +where detection would be impossible. Under the cover of night one or +the other of these wretches frequently stole across the lines and +visited this locality, where he remained concealed until a fitting +period occurred for returning to his old haunt. + +Of this stamp were the two persons whom Lauder now took into his +confidence and employment in relation to the abduction of Kate +McCarthy from her friends, and her transportation into Canada to some +place of secrecy and of safety, until he should be able to force her +into an alliance with him, or failing in this, make such a disposition +of her as should, at least, place an eternal barrier between her and +Nicholas. Among their friends and acquaintances these two villains +were known as "black Jack" and the "Kid,"--the former as forbidding a +specimen of the human race as ever breathed the vital air. He was low +and thick set, with a neck like a bull, and a frame of prodigious +strength.. His nose was broad and flat, his month large, his ears of +immense size, his forehead low and retreating, while the breadth +between his ears at the back of his head was inconceivable. + +His companion in crime, the Kid, in so far as external appearance was +concerned, was his intensified antipodes. He was slightly formed and +of rather prepossessing appearance; and were it not for a sinister +expression of his full watery, grey eyes, remarkable when excited by +anger, and some coarse and sensual lines about his mouth, perceptible +upon all occasions, he might pass unnoticed among the thousands that +crowded daily the locality in which he lived. He was the general, Jack +the army--he plotted, Jack executed; and thus it was, that, through +his consummate cunning, they had both been enabled to avoid justice so +long. They ostensibly kept a sort of drinking saloon, from which they +professed to banish all disreputable characters, and which, through +the clear-headedness of the one, and the awe in which the great +personal strength of the other was held, was unusually free from the +disreputable rows and scenes that generally characterize such places. + +If the Kid and Black Jack differed from each other in personal +appearance, they were nearly if not quite as much opposed to each +other in dress. Jack's attire was of the very coarsest description, +and always slovenly in appearance. No matter what the season of the +year, he invariably wore a dark blue flannel shirt, a short, heavy +over-coat, with huge, deep pockets, thick, iron-shod boots, coarse, +loose trousers, and a huge, greasy, slouched, hat, of black felt, +invariably pulled over his eyes when out through the city. The only +difference as to the disposition of his attire, touching winter and +summer, was, that during the former season he always served his +customers with his slouched hat and jacket on, while throughout the +warmest part of the latter, he was invariably to be found behind his +dark, dingy bar, with his shirt sleeves tucked up and his collar +unbuttoned and thrown open, displaying a pair of huge, swarthy arms, +covered with coarse, black hair, and a broad and massive chest, +presenting a similar aspect, and which exhibited all the +characteristics, in this connection, of the most savage denizens of +the forest. Such, then, were the personal appearance and the character +of the two men whom Lauder now visited by stealth from time to time, +but always in a disguise which defied detection, and which was made up +with the most consummate skill. + +Unconscious of all the danger that surrounded her, Kate still kept the +even tenor of her way, happy in the prospect of soon becoming the wife +of the man she loved; while Barry, on the other hand, felt but little +apprehension as to any fears that she had expressed in relation to the +proximity of Lander; believing, as he did, that she was totally beyond +his reach or power, and that his presence in Buffalo was occasioned by +some business not in any degree connected with her. What, he argued, +had she to fear from any man whom she despised, and from whose society +she had deliberately and pointedly estranged herself? The days of +feudal abductions had passed away, and if in this practical age a +woman refused to become the wife of any man, she had a perfect right +so to do, and there the matter ended. Besides, was she not beneath the +roof of her own relatives, who loved her with the sincerest warmth, +and who were able to protect her until she could claim the shelter of +his own breast, as he stood by her side the husband of her heart. All +this went to reassure him, so that when he sat down to reply to the +letter which urged him to procure his discharge at once, he wrote in +the most cheering and happy manner, bidding her to be of good heart, +that she was safe from the importunities and machinations of any +individual who sought to gain her affections; but intimating, at the +same time, that he should at once, or as soon as practicable, leave +the army and as quickly as possible join her on the other side of the +great lakes. + +In the love that exists between two true Irish hearts that have been +pledged to each other, deliberately and solemnly on the threshold of +man and womanhood, there is often something so confiding, so +unreasoning and so unselfish, as to put one in good humor with +humanity. There is no country on earth in which the love of gain +intermixes with the affections of the heart to so small an extent as +in Ireland. In this relation we, from time to time, witness in the +Green Isle such genuine and grateful glimpses of the better phases of +human nature, that, no matter to what subsequent inconvenience and +embarrassments they may tend, they, for the time being, at least, +charm us into a recognition of something that is, after all, beautiful +and truthful in our souls. Except where the inexorable tyranny of +birth creeps in, our matrimonial alliances are, for the most part, +purged of the cool calculation of Scotland, or the bread and beef +considerations of the English. This may be censurable in us, and +doubtless it is; but, still, the charge lies more against our heads +than our hearts. It is a fact the most indisputable, that in England +most of the marriages in high or low life are those of _convenance_, +while in Ireland the contrary is the case. Even the poorest Irish girl +in the land gives her hand only, where she can bestow her heart; nor, +as a general thing, can any amount of wealth induce her to ignore her +pride or affections in this connection; while, should her love be +given to even the simplest peasant that ever stood by her milking +pail, she is totally beyond the reach of temptation. On the part of +both there is an out-going of souls in this direction that may be said +to be peculiar to Ireland. Completely outside all physical accidents +and circumstances, there is a commingling of spirit which ratifies a +compact for all time, and lives in the future as well as the present. +Stretching beyond the hoar, such souls are not dependent upon mere +personal contact or intercourse for the vitality of the passion that +animates them, for they are ever _en rapport_ with each other, and +clasped breast to breast wherever their individual physical +organizations may be. In this manner they bid defiance to fate and all +materiality; living on, undivided, and secure in the continuence of +the power that binds them to each other. Such individualities become +one spiritually--all their aspirations are identical--all their +sentiments are the same, and so closely do they become united, that +you cannot destroy the one without destroying the other. We know and +feel, beyond any shadow of doubt, that there are beings whose loss or +total annihilation we should be unable to survive, and if doomed to +live, whose place could never be filled in our souls, throughout the +endless ages of eternity. Hence the generous and beautiful, provision +of the All Wise and All Good. To every human heart, that interprets +His Laws aright and conforms to His will, he presents that beautiful +counterpart which, although mysteriously foreign, is yet, so +delightfully and essentially, a part and parcel of our two-fold +nature. + +In no country in the world, then, does this divine law of natural +affinities prevail more than in Ireland; and in no case had it ever +been more clearly illustrated than in the case of Nicholas Barry and +Kate McCarthy; as each, if so inclined, could have sacrificed the +other in forming a matrimonial alliance respectively, identified with +what was believed, to be undoubted wealth. For the hand of Kate, long +before she left her native land, there had been more than one suitor +of means; while handsome Nick, previous to his entering the army, was +an object of the warmest admiration on the part of many a damsel whose +prospects were of the most flattering description. But all to no +purpose; not one of the wealthy women was Kate McCarthy in the one +case, and not a single well-to-do gentleman was Nick Barry, in the +other. So this made all the difference; and Nick and Kate, without +pausing to cast their horoscope, gave themselves to each other, as +already described, by the banks of the Shannon--a river whose bright +murmuring waters have reflected more beautiful eyes and manly forms +than those of any other in Europe, or perhaps the world. Without a +thought for the future at the moment of which we have already spoken, +they plighted their faith for all time and eternity; and well they +kept their vows; although previous to the arrival of Nicholas in +America, they had been upwards of three years separated from each +other-the one leading the life of a soldier in a sunny clime, and the +other, on a far distant shore, hoping for the hour when they should be +once more side by side. + +When, however, our hero found himself the plighted lover of the being +he adored, and discovered himself simultaneously separated from her +toy the most cruel, unexpected and perverse fate, he bent, as +previously observed, every energy towards effecting his release from +the bonds he had assumed for her sake. He consequently, instead of +wasting his hours in sullen and useless repining, set actively to work +and kept both his mind and his body in a healthy condition; never +losing confidence for a moment, in his own ability to secure freedom or +permitting the hope to be shaken, that he should ultimately join the +woman of his love in the new world, and there realize an independence +for both. And here we may observe, that this feature in the character +of Nicholas was one of the noblest and most dignified that could +possibly distinguish any member of the race to which we belong. The +world has been lost to many a man, from the fact of his not sitting +down to look circumstances fairly in the face, with a full +determination to grapple with them and give them a tussel for if +wherever a good man and true places any reasonable and legitimate +object before him, no matter how dark the clouds that surround him, +in nine cases out often he achieves it. The grave error in this +connection is, that finding our inability to move the great mass of +our difficulties out of our road _en bloc_ and at once, ignoring the +lesson taught by the constant drop that wears the stone, we sit down +overwhelmed, and never set sturdily about trying to remove it +piecemeal. The most profusely illustrated lesson that heaven has yet +taught to man, is that of industry and perseverence. Whether within +the fragrant chambers of the golden hive, or in the kingdoms of the +busy ant, or mid the curious nests that swing from forest boughs, we +roam in thought, we find what perseverence can accomplish, and that +too, by steps almost imperceptible in themselves. It is the individual +atoms that build up the mighty and effective aggregate that overawes +all opposition, and like an avalanche sweeps all resistance before it. +The loftiest pyramid that throws its shadow over the desert to-day, +and that dwarfs at its foot the beholder into the most incomparable +insignificance, incapable of being removed in fragments not larger +than a pea, from its present site to the other side of the globe; and +the grandest structure ever erected by human hands, has been built up +from almost imperceptible beginnings, into the imposing dimensions +which so overshadow the admirer and excite in his bosom feelings of +almost superstitious awe. So that look where we may, throughout the +whole range of nature, of science or of art, we find tee lesson of +industry and perseverence inculcated in the most impressive manner, +and in a language that should reach and influence our spirit struggles +to the core. + +If less distinct than we have here delineated them, such were the +sentiments and convictions that influenced the actions and conduct of +our hero and heroine when fate had separated them. Moved by the same +impulses, they both set about accomplishing the same end, and in the +same manner. Barry's pen and Kate's needle flew at intervals; and the +result, as already intimated, was, that each had accumulated a sum +sufficient to effect this release from the army, and that it now was +to be brought into requisition for the purpose of accomplishing that +end. + +Had Nicholas been made of that sort of stuff which, with the greatest +possible degree of coolness, lays a friend or relative under +contribution, he might have been able, through its instrumentality, to +realize a sufficient sum to have taken him to America, at the period +that Kate sailed, without having had recourse to the dreadful +alternative of enlisting in the English army; but not being built of +such questionable material, he bowed beneath the heavy yoke, +believing, as he did, that however distasteful and derogatory to his +feelings, it was more honorable and independent to be indebted to +himself, even at so great a sacrifice, for the means of joining his +beloved on the other side of the Atlantic, than to be constrained to +traverse its trackless waste, weighed down with the conviction, that, +for the purpose of accomplishing an object that could at least be +honestly attained otherwise, he had deprived those whom he had left +behind of that of which they themselves stood sorely in need. Besides, +he felt satisfied from what he knew of himself, and the prospects open +to even an industrious soldier on the shores of Canada, he should soon +be able to relieve himself of his bondage, and stand erect once more, +freed from the humiliation of the uniform he wore. But, as already +seen, the fates were against him in the first moments of his military +career; and for the time every fibre of his being was almost crushed +beneath the most frightful tension to which could have been possibly +subjected. How dreadful must have been the appalling intelligence of +the countermand of his regiment to the Mediteranean, when it first +fell upon his ear; and how sufficient was the awful announcement to +crush any ordinary mortal. Yet, with the elasticity which is ever +inseparable from a true and noble spirit, when the first crash of the +news bore him almost to the earth, he steadily began to brace himself +against it, and ultimately, though by slow and painful degrees, +straightened himself beneath it, and, although it was not the less +heavy, stood erect under it at last, and bore it squarely upon his +shoulders. + +Poor Kate, although brave, too, had at first almost given up hope, +when, a few days after her arrival at Quebec, she learned the fatal +intelligence contained in the letter already referred to; but soon +perceiving, as he did, that nothing was to be achieved by useless +murmuring or hopeless inactivity, she shook herself, as free as her +strength would permit, from the dreadful incubus of the sorrow that +bowed her to the earth, and turned whatever talents she possessed to +good account; working night and day to accomplish the great and only +desire of her heart, and trusting to heaven for the rest. In this way +her constant and unwearied exertions lightened much of the load that +could not have failed under less favorable promptings, to have crushed +her completely, and have, in all human probability, consigned her to a +premature grave. + +And thus, we see, that these two brave young spirits had all but +accomplished the wish of their hearts, at the period at which our +story opens, and that they were now but simply awaiting the hour when +Nicholas should be able to exchange the hated red jacket that he wore, +for a dress more in consonance with not only his own feelings, but +those of the being he so faithfully loved. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Whatever censure may be attached to any portion of the career of the +founders of Fenianism, after the organization had become a recognized +power on both sides of the Atlantic, we cannot divest ourselves of the +settled impression, that the men who were mainly instrumental in +calling it into existence and sustaining its infancy, were actuated by +the purest motives. To be sure, Fenianism can scarcely be said to be +the embodiment of a new idea, or the exponent of new principles; but, +then, there was a masterly grouping of energies and sentiments in +connection with it, which possessed the merit of originality, and +which tended so largely, not only to popularize it, but to give it a +foothold on every Irish national hearthstone. In the selection of the +name by which the organization was to be distinguished, there was a +clearness of judgment as well as a thorough acquaintance with the +necessities of the case, that cannot fail to strike any impartial +observer. Had the Brotherhood been organized under any commonplace +appelation, or under any of the various names that had characterized +the previous revolutionary societies of Ireland, the probability is, +it would have long since fallen into line with those convivial +associations, which content themselves with an annual exposition of +the grievances of Ireland, over the short leg of a turkey, a "bumper +of Burgundy," and that roar of lip artillery, against the usurper, +which dies away in a few maudlin hiccups, about two o'clock in the +morning, to be revived only at the expiration of another twelve +months. Under the burden of any commonplace name, such, we say, might +have been the fate of the organization ere this; and so we regard the +knowledge and genius which obviated the possibility or rather the +probability of failure in this relation, as entitled to prominent +consideration and respect. To the superficial observer, this may +appear of very little moment in connection with a subject of such +magnitude; but let it be understood, that we are influenced by seeming +trifles and the surface of things to an extent far greater than we +ourselves are willing to confess. Notwithstanding the oft repeated +query, "what's in a name?" there is a great deal in a name. Let two +strangers, Mr. Harold Bloomfield and Mr. John Smith send in their +cards together to an important official, of whom they expect to get an +audience separately, and the chances are nine out of ten in favor of +Mr. Bloomfield's being granted an interview first. This, we apprehend, +holds good in a thousand kindred instances, and in no way has the +supposition been more clearly verified than in relation to the name +bestowed upon the organization under consideration. + +The name "Fenian" is of very remote antiquity, and appears to be most +comprehensive in its signification, and to be peculiarly adapted to +the great confraternity of patriots which now engrosses so much of the +history of passing events. There seems to be nothing sectional in it. +It is national in the broadest sense of the term, and primative and +forcible to intensity. In some annotations to the Annals of the Four +Masters we find that the ancient Fenians were called by the Irish +writers _Fianna Eirionn_ signifying the Fenians of Ireland, and +mentioned under the name of Fene, or Feine, which, according to Dr. +O'Conor, signifies the Phenicians of Ireland, as Feine, according to +Dr. O'Brien, in his dictionary, at the word Fearmiugh, signifies +Phenicians; as they were probably called so from the tradition that +Phenicians came to Ireland in the early ages. They are also called by +the Irish writers _Clann-Ua-Baois-gine_, and so named, according to +Keating and others, from Baoisgine, who was chief commander of these +warriors, and ancestor of the famous hero Fionn, the son of Cumhall; +but according to O'Conor, in his notes to the Four Masters, they were +called Baoisgine, as being descended from the Milesians who came from +Basconia, in Spain, now Biscay, in the country anciently called +Cantabria. The Fenian warriors were a famous military force, forming +the standing national militia, and instituted in Ireland in the early +ages, long before the Christian era, but brought, to the greatest +perfection in the reign of the celebrated Cormac, monarch of Ireland +in the third century. None were admitted into this military body but +select men of the greatest activity, strength, stature, perfect form, +and valor, and, when the force was complete, it consisted of +thirty-five _Catha_, that is, battalions or legions, each battalion +containing three thousand men, according to O'Halloran and various +other historians, making twenty-one thousand for each of the five +provinces, or about one hundred thousand fighting men in time of war +for the entire kingdom. The _Ardrigh_, or head king of Ireland, had, +for the time being, chief control over these forces, but they often +resisted his authority. A commander was appointed over every thousand +of these troops, and the entire force was completely armed and +admirably disciplined, and each battalion had their own bands of +musicians and bards to animate them in battle, and celebrate their +feats of arms. In the reign of the monarch Cormac, the celebrated +Fionn MacCumhaill, who was descended from the Heremonian kings of +Leinster, was the chief commander of the Fenian warriors, and his +great actions, strength and valor are celebrated in the Ossianic +poems, and various other productions of the ancient bards; he is +called Fingal in MacPherson's Poems of Ossian; but it is to be +observed that these are not the real poems of Ossian, but mostly +fictions fabricated by Mac Pherson himself, and containing some +passages from the ancient poems. Fionn had his chief residence and +fortress at Almhuim, now either the hill of Allen, near Kildare, or +Ailinn, near old Kilcullen, where a great rath still remains, which +was a residence of the ancient kings of Leinster. The Fenians were the +chief troops of Leinster, and were Milesians of the race of Heremon; +and their renowned commander Fionn, according to the Four Masters, was +slain by the cast of a javelin, or, according to others, by the shot +of an arrow, at a place called _Ath Brea_, on the river Boyne, A.D. +283, the year before the battle of Gaura, by the Lugnians of Tara, a +tribe who possessed the territory now called the barony of Lune, near +Tara, in Meath; and the place mentioned as Ath Brea, or the Ford of +Brea, was situated somewhere on the Boyne, between Trim and Navan. + +In the reign of king Cairbre Liffeachair, son of the monarch Cormac, +the Fenian forces revolted from the service of Cairbre, and joined the +famous Mogh Corb, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians. +After the death of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the Fenians were commanded by +his son Oisin or Ossian, the celebrated warrior and bard; and at the +time of the battle of Gaura, Osgar, another famous champion, the son +of Oisin, commanded the Fenian forces. The army of Munster, commanded +by Mogh Corb, a name which signifies the Chief of the Chariot, and by +his son Fear Corb, that is, the man or warrior of the chariot, was +composed of the Clanna Deagha and Dalcassian troops, joined by the +Fenians and their Leinster forces; and it is stated in the Ossianic +poems, and in Hanmer's Chronicle, from the Book of Howth, that a great +body of warriors from North Britain. Denmark and Norway, came over and +fought on the side of the Fenians at Gaura. The army of the monarch +Cairbre was composed of the men of Heath and Ulster, together with the +Clanna Morna, or Connaught warriors, commanded by Aodh or Hugh, King +of Connaught, son of Garadh, grandson of Moraa of the Damnonian race. +The Munster forces, and Fenians, marched to Meath, where they were met +by the combined troops of the monarch Cairbre, and fought one of the +most furious battles recorded in Irish history, which continued +throughout the whole length of a summer's day. The greatest valor was +displayed by the warriors on each side, and it is difficult to say +which army were victors or vanquished. The heroic Osgar was slain in +single combat by the valiant monarch Cairbre, but Cairbre himself soon +afterwards fell by the hand of the champion Simon, the son of Ceirb, +of the race of the Fotharts of Leinster. Both armies amounted to about +fifty thousand men, the greatest part of whom were slain; of the +Fenian forces, which consisted of twenty thousand men, it is stated +that eighteen thousand fell, and on both sides, thirty thousand +warriors were slain. In the following year, Hugh, king of Connaught, +according to O'Flaherty's Ogygia, defeated the Munsters forces in +battle at Spaltrach, near the mountain Senchua, in Muscry, in which he +slew Mogh Corb, king of Munster. The tremendous battle of Gaura is +considered to have led to the subsequent fall of the Irish monarchy, +for after the destruction of the Fenian forces, the Irish kings never +were able to muster a national army equal in valor and discipline to +those heroes, either to cope with foreign foes, or to reduce to +subjection the rebellious provincial kings and princes; hence the +monarchy became weak and disorganized, and the ruling powers were +unable to maintain their authority or make a sufficient stand against +the Danish and Anglo-Norman Invaders of after time. + +From what is here stated, it must be obvious, that no more appropriate +name than that of "Fenian" could be given to the organization which +now holds the destiny of Ireland in its hands, and which has ramified +itself throughout almost every portion of the habitable globe. + +We have already observed that the selection of this name was judicious +in more than one relation. In the first place, it was far removed from +that of any of the well known cognomens which had characterized so +many of the noted revolutionary associations that had already failed +in Ireland, and, in this respect, was strong; being free from any +unpleasant reminiscences; while, from the fact of its import not +being generally known to the masses, it stimulated enquiry on the part +of the curious or weak nationalists which resulted in the most +salutary consequences. The rarity of the name led to newspaper +expositions of it, and moved the inquiring patriot to look into Irish +history in relation to it; and in this manner a knowledge of much of +the ancient greatness of Ireland became the common property of those +who were formerly but slightly acquainted with such lore. The result +was, thousands of the Irish became interested in relation to the past +of their race; for, in connection with this name there was that which +was calculated to arouse the spirit of patriotism within them and lead +them on to a further perusal of the annals of their country. + +It is evident, then, that no common appelation could have been fraught +with such beneficial results; as there would have been nothing +connected with it to stimulate enquiry or research. Repealers, Irish +National Leagues, Whiteboys, Rockites, United Irishmen, &c., all had +their day, and carried their meaning upon the surface; so that it was +really necessary to give the new organization some occult, +comprehensive and characteristic name, that would separate it in this +aspect from all the Irish revolutionary bodies that had preceded it, +and place it _en rapport_ with the great past of the nation which was +the grand receptacle of its traditions and source of its pride. Here, +then, we leave this part of the subject, without presuming that we +have thrown much more light upon the matter than has already been +recognized by those who have at all looked into it; for it must, we +think, be obvious to most Irish nationalists, that the energies and +sentiments of their patriotic countrymen, could never have been +grouped so successfully under any of the appelations just named, as +they have been under that of "Fenians"--given, as we have already +perceived, to the great national army of Ireland during the days of +her early glory and power, and which alone represented the nation as a +whole. + +It is not our province to dwell here upon the infancy of the +Brotherhood on either side of the Atlantic, or to enter into the +various difficulties and unpleasant circumstances to which it has been +subjected by alleged want of true patriotism and economy on the part +of some of its founders. Sufficient to say, that through all such +alleged obstructions it has struggled into the greatest and most +powerful organization that has ever existed in any age of the world, +and is, to-day, the mightiest and most invincible floating power that +has ever influenced the destinies of any people. Its friends are +numbered by millions and its members by hundreds upon hundreds of +thousand. To its ranks belong soldiers, statesmen and orators, men of +large pecuniary means and cultivated minds; cool heads and strong +arms, and many guiding spirits who need but little light save that +which shines within them. In addition, the sympathies of America and +of every generous nation on the face of the earth, are with it; so +that it has triumphed in advance, in a measure; for, backed by such +influences, and actuated, as it is, by impulses so pure and holy, not +a solitary doubt can obtain in relation to its ultimate success. True, +that there are those who are thoughtless or traitorous enough to +designate it as antagonistic to religion, and subversive, of the +established order of things; but these, for the most part, are persons +who reason through their pockets or their prejudices, and who are +devoid of any thorough recognition of those great principles which are +applicable to nations as well as to individuals and which are based +upon the just doctrine, that resistence to tyrants is obedience to +God--persons who are so methodical and patient under the sufferings of +_others_, that they would pause to measure the precise length of rope +that, was necessary to reach a drowning man. In the day of Ireland's +triumph, such people, will cone to confusion; as will those who have +withheld from her, in the period of her sore travail, the pecuniary +aid; which they could have well afforded out of their ample means, +with a view to relieving their kinsmen and suffering fellow countrymen +from the grasp of a tyrant the most inexorable that ever drew breath. + +Were the Fenian organization confined entirely to Ireland, and did no +active outside sympathy obtain for that unfortunate country the day of +her redemption might be postponed to an indefinite period. So +completely are all the resources and defences of the land in the hands +of the English, that it would be difficult for the natives to make any +lengthened or effective stand against the usurper. England has her, +navy and her army to operate against any rising of the inhabitants, at +a moment's warning; while every office in the kingdom, of the +slightest importance or trust, is in the hands of her minions. Again, +among some of the recreant sons of the soil, she has, alas too ample +scope for the use of her accursed gold; and thus it is; that to cope +singled handed with her against such fearful odds, would involve +oceans of blood, both on the field and on the scaffold. When, however, +we come to dwell on the fact, that outside and beyond her control or +reach, another body of Irish, which has been aptly termed a nation +within a nation--when it comes to be understood, we say, that on the +shores of free America a mighty and invincible Brotherhood has been +built up, actuated by every sentiment of hostility which fires the +breast of the most implacable of her enemies to-day, and that has for +its aim and end an object in common with the people of Ireland at her +own doors, then we begin to perceive how harrassed and powerless she +must be. Neither her famine, fire nor sword, can avail her here. +Secure beneath the ample folds of the glorious stars and stripes of +the great Republic of America, and fired with the love of free +institutions, and taught in the great principles of freedom by the +liberty loving American people, this mighty band of exiles, in +connection with their children born beneath the folds of the American +flag, are steadily preparing to join fierce issue with her and test, +upon the open field, the prowess she has so often set forth as +superior to that of any other nation. This is what now disables and +paralyses her. Ireland is, for the time being, beneath her heel; but +what of the warlike hosts that loom in the western horizon and may +soon rush down on her like a wolf on the fold, and wedge her in +between two hostile walls? This is the great strength, of Ireland at +the present moment. Her energies are not walled in by the ocean or a +British fleet She is alive and active in other lands, and so powerful +outside her own borders, that there is no such thing as circumscribing +her influence or operations in so far as they relate to her struggles +for independence. It is, then, from America that she is to obtain her +most effective aid; and such being the case, it behooves the Irish +nationalists on American soil to be true and steady to the great +purpose in which they are now so ardently engaged; for so far, fortune +has smiled upon them. The American people sympathize with them and +feel that while they are aiding them to regain the long lost freedom +of their country, they are bringing to the dust the very self-same +enemy that sought, by stealth and the most cowardly means, to +overthrow their own Commonwealth, and leave the Union a hopeless ruin +before the world. It is this which now hangs a millstone about the +neck of the British government, and which must ultimately develope +itself in active sympathy with any people who have for their object +the humiliation of the skull and cross-bones of St. George, on this +side of the Atlantic at least. + +And so the ball rolls; hourly accumulating force and magnitude, and +destined, at no distant day, to sweep in upon Ireland and hurl the +invader from her shores. No power on earth can stay its onward course. +The freedom of Ireland is the creed of millions. The young lisp it; +strong men repeat it in every clime; and the old of both hemispheres +murmur it in their prayers. In short, it has taken a hold of the Irish +heart wherever a true pulse warms it to-day, and has so incorporated +itself with the hopes and aspirations of the Irish of all lands, that +fate itself must yield to its power and universality. Within the last +few years it has become part and parcel of the education of the Irish +people wherever they are found; whether beneath the burning zone, in +temperate latitudes or at the frozen poles; so that its ultimate +success is beyond any possible contingency; from the fact that there +never was a sentiment so widely spread and so religiously cultivated +and cherished, that failed to accomplish all that it would attain. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +While the children of Ireland were engaged in defending the flag of +the Union during the late civil war, and sealing with their blood +their fidelity to the great Republic, they were, also, acquiring a +knowledge of arms and a warlike hardihood, which tended, on the +cessation of hostilities, to render the Fenian organization more +formidable than it could possibly have become, had peace pervaded the +land from the inception of the Brotherhood to its triumph at Ridgeway. +All through this gigantic struggle the hand of the Irish patriot and +exile was prominently observable. Not a field had been fought from the +firing of the first gun at Fort Sumter to the surrender of Lee's army, +on which their blood had not flowed in rivers. Look at Murfreesboro, +Corinth, Perrysville, Iuka, Antietam, Chickahomany, Winchester, Fort +Donaldson, Island Ten, Shiloh, Lexington, Bull Run, Carnifex Ferry, +the Rappahannock, the Mississippi, the Cumberland, the Potomac and +Fredericksburg, "where one-half of Meagher's Brigade are still +encamped _under the sod_," and we have evidence of the truth of this +assertion, the most ample and complete. Amidst these scenes of +terrific carnage, the warlike genius and matchless personal bravery of +many a distinguished Irishman were eminently conspicuous; while the +latent fires that had previously lain dormant in the breast of others, +leaped forth into a glorious conflagration, that commanded the +admiration of every true soldier and evoked the recognition of the +Commonwealth at large. Amongst this latter class stood pre-eminently +forward, the present President of the Fenian Brotherhood throughout +the world--GENERAL JOHN O'NIELL, a brief sketch of whom we introduce +here for obvious reasons, drawn from authentic records in our +possession, as well as from the current newspaper literature of the +day: + +"To the Irish reader," observes a contemporary, well informed upon this +subject, "and especially to that portion of our people, who are +conversant with the past history of their country, and feel a +patriotic pride in its glorious records, as well as a fervent hope for +their renewal in the future--there is no name fraught with memories +more inspiring than that of O'Neill--the princely house of Ulster, the +champions of the Red Hand, who, for centuries, in the struggles of the +nation against the Saxon invader, led the hosts of their people to +victory, and only succumbed at last when poison and treachery, and +chicane had accomplished what force failed to effect; for their valor +was powerless against the dagger of the assassin, as were their +honesty and open-heartedness against the bad faith of England's +perjured tools. Like many a noble and ancient Irish house, its scions +are to-day to be found scattered through the world, in every walk of +life. But though its banner no longer floats over embattled hosts, +there is magic still in its associations; and when men speak of the +O'Neill, the Irish heart leaps fondly towards the historic name and +the proud recollection of the days when Hugh and Owen stood for the +rights of their people and native land, and dealt the assailants of +both those sturdy blows which so well justified their claim to the +blazon of the 'Red Hand.' + +"In our own day, too, the old blood has vindicated its inherent force +and purity, and has found a worthy representative in the subject of +our present sketch--GENERAL JOHN O'NEILL,--whose name, in the future +history of the Irish race, will be as inseparably linked with the +struggles of the present generation for national independence, as are +those of his ancestors with the efforts made by our people in the past +against English tyranny and usurpation. As this noble and patriotic +Irishman is now occupying so much of the public attention, and his +political conduct meeting with that cordial endorsement which is a +just tribute to his bravery and patriotism--whether on the bloody +fields of the South, routing a Morgan, or assuming the command of his +colonel, or, with thirty men repelling the attack of a regiment; or, +with his gallant band of Irish soldiers, chasing the 'Queen's Own' at +Ridgeway--a brief review of his career will not be devoid of interest +to all who desire to preserve a record of those who have deserved well +of their country. Within the limits of such a sketch it would be +impossible to do adequate justice to the character of a man like +General O'Neill, and we can only assume to glance at the many +attestations of his bravery and gentlemanly bearing which should have +a public record, as they are from men of high position, and are of +importance in illustrating the estimation in which he has always been +held by his superior and brother officers. No man can produce a more +unsullied one, or one better calculated to confirm his title to the +high position in which his countrymen have placed him. + +"General O'Neill was born on the 8th of March, 1834, in the townland +of Drumgallon, parish of Clontibret, county Monaghan, Ireland. At his +birth he was an orphan, his father having died a few weeks previously. +The early part of his existence was spent with his grandparents in his +native place. Bred up in a country, every hill and river and plain of +which was linked in story with the deeds of the mighty men of old, it +is not to be wondered at that the mind of young O'Neill seized with +avidity every incident of the past connected with the condition and +history of his fatherland, or that the bias of his future life was +given by his meditations as he rambled along the slopes of Benburb, or +traced the victorious steps of his ancient sept, through the classic +region where his schoolboy days were passed. That it should be so is +only natural; for he is a kinsman, as well as namesake, of the great +Hugh O'Neill who, with his fearless followers, swept over Ulster and +defeated so many of England's greatest generals, and brought the heads +of some of her pets to the block. And there is no doubt but that some +of her favorites of to-day shall be made to bite the dust ere the +General has done with them. + +"General O'Neill is a man of calm temperament, but a firm will, which, +when excited, however, is stern and inflexible; uniting with this a +good education and gentlemanly address, with a mind bold, independent +and decisive. His person partakes of the character of his mind for if +the one never succumbed in the council, the other never bent in the +field. Few could imagine from his modest exterior the latent, fire and +energy which burn in his bosom. His manner is as unassuming as his +mind is noble; quiet, yet impervious to flattery or laudations, he +seems at the same time to pay due regard to popular opinion, without +in the least permitting it to influence him in the discharge of his +duties. + +"While he was yet quite young, the family of General O'Neill emigrated +to the United States, and his mother settled at Elizabeth, N.J., where +she still resides. He did not follow them until 1848, when he was +fourteen years of age. Having devoted some time to the completion of +his studies here, he determined to engage in commercial pursuits, and +for some time travelled as agent for some of the leading Catholic +publishing houses. In 1855 he opened a Catholic Book Store in +Richmond, Va., and while residing there became a member of the 'Emmet +Guard,' then the leading Irish organization in that section of the +country. The inclination thus manifested for the military profession +soon proved to be the ruling passion in the mind of the young +Celt,--checked only by the repugnance of his family towards the +soldier's life; for, in 1857, he gave up his business and entered the +Second Regiment of U.S. Cavalry--a regiment which has since furnished +the most distinguished officers who have figured on both sides during +the late war. + +"In the Regular Army, O'Neill rose steadily by his good character, +bravery and aptitude, no less than by his education and invariable +gentlemanly conduct. But though he has since filled positions of high +responsibility, he has often declared that one of the most pleasurable +emotions of his life was experienced when, for some meritorious act, +he received, from his commanding officer, his warrant of Corporal. + +"At the outbreak of the war, the regiment with which he was serving +was recalled from California, and on the organization of the army +under McClellan, was attached to the Regular Cavalry Division, which +took part in the principal battles in the campaign of the Peninsula, +during which O'Neill was in command of Gen. Stoneman's body guard. +After the withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula, he was dispatched +to Indiana, where he was retained for some time as instructor of +cavalry, drilling the officers of the force then being raised for the +defence of that portion of the Union against the incursions of the +Confederate guerillas. He subsequently entered the 5th Indiana Cavalry +as Second Lieutenant, and served with that regiment, during 1863, in +the operations against the Southern leaders in Kentucky, Tennessee, +Indiana and Ohio. In these expeditions, which, whether in the nature +of scouts, reconnoisances or advances, generally took the shape of +sharp running fights, Lieut. O'Neill's skill and daring not only +attracted the attention of his commanding officers, but further +enlisted the enthusiasm of the men, insomuch that, when one of those +_sorties_ was ordered, the first question asked was always--'Is +O'Neill to lead it?'--and if the answer was in the affirmative, no +matter how jaded the men might be, volunteers in any number were ready +at once. + +"There is no greater instance of personal bravery, or gallantry equal +to any emergency, than that related by Archbishop Purcell, of +Cincinnati, in his account of O'Neill's encounter with Morgan, the +famous guerilla; and as many of our readers have not read the partial +account given in Mr. Savage's 'Fenian Heroes and Martyrs,' it may +prove of interest to them, as his encounter with Morgan is more +generally spoken of than understood. Archbishop Purcell says:-- + +'There is a remarkably brave officer suffering from diarrhoea, +contracted in a three month's chase after Morgan, now in St. John's +Hospital, in this city--Lieut. O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry. +His mother resides in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her adventurous boy +enlisted in the regular army at the time of the Mormon excitement in +Utah; was afterwards sent to California; was made Sergeant for +distinguished services on the Potomac; employed on a recruiting tour +in Indiana, and promoted to a Lieutenancy in the famous 5th Indiana +cavalry. + +'Respecting his encounter with Hamilton's rebel force, in May, the +Indianapolis papers spoke of the exploit of Lieut. O'Neill, and a +detachment of his company, as one of the most daring and brilliant +achievements of the war. The Lieutenant has kindly furnished us with +the following interesting account of the part he took in the defeat of +Morgan. The authorities here have recommended him for promotion to the +rank of Major. + +'INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT WITH MORGAN, AT BUFFINGTON'S ISLAND, ON THE +20TH OF JULY. + +'On the night of the 19th, about 10 o'clock, Gen. Judah, with his +cavalry and artillery command, left Pomeroy for Buffington. The +General sent First Lieutenant John O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana +cavalry, with fifty men, ahead, with instructions to try and open +communications with the militia, said to be in close proximity to the +island. The Lieutenant was delayed by losing the road during the +night, and did not arrive till about an hour and a half after +daylight. He then learned that the militia had been skirmishing with +the enemy during the night, and that Gen. Judah's advance had been +ambushed, the morning being foggy; and the General's Assistant +Adjutant General, Capt. Rice, with some twenty-five or thirty men and +a piece of artillery, and Chief of Artillery, Capt. Henshaw, had been +captured and sent to Gen. Morgan's headquarters on the river road, +some thirty miles ahead of him, on the enemy's left flank. The +Lieutenant at once resolved to recapture what had been taken; and, +with his Spartan band, kept steadily on. Several parties tried to stop +him; but a volley from the "Sharp's" carbines of his boys invariably +drove them back. At length he came on Morgan, with two regiments and a +body guard of one hundred men. The Lieutenant halted his men suddenly, +at an angle of the road, within one hundred and fifty paces. He gave +the command "ready," and intended to have given them a volley; but +seeing some of his own men in front, he did not fire, but commanded +"forward," and dashed in amongst them. If he had fired, every shot +must have told, he was so close. Morgan, with his two regiments and +body guard, ran without firing a shot. All our prisoners were +released, and about thirty of the enemy taken. Some were killed and +wounded. The Lieutenant pursued Morgan about two miles clear off the +field, and captured three pieces of artillery, which he carried off +with him. This was the last of Morgan on the field. The Lieutenant +cannot tell how many he killed or wounded, as his fight was a running +one, extending over four miles; but the surgeon in charge of burying +the dead and looking after the wounded, reported that most of both +were along the river where O'Neill had been.' + +"The above, from Archbishop Purcell, is an unquestionable testimony of +the daring and audacity of the subject of this sketch in the field. +The _National Journal_, in giving an account of the same battle, says: + +'Lieutenant O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, now appeared by +another road, with but fifty men, and charged two different regiments +so desperately that they broke and left our captured guns, officers +and men in our possession.' + +"The _Louisville Journal_, after relating an instance of O'Neill's +personal bravery, says: + +'Lieutenant O'Neill is the same who, about two weeks ago, while out +with Col. Graham, on the Tennessee side of Cumberland, with twenty men +as an advanced guard, came up with Hamilton, having two hundred men +drawn up in line--charged and ran him thirteen miles, and with his own +hand, while ahead of his men, killed five--two of them with the +sabre.' + +"To go into detail, and give a minute account of the many instances of +gallantry, pluck and determination displayed by the subject of our +sketch, would be beyond the scope of our present purpose, as they, at +the same time, would only tend to multiply instances, without lending +any additional proof. But we cannot, as it directly bears on his +letter of resignation, with accompanying letters of endorsement from +distinguished Generals, pass over that singular and noble proof of +unexampled bravery--his assuming the command of his Colonel Butler, +when the latter showed signs of cowardice. + +"The affair took place at Walker's Ford, on Clinch River, in East +Tennessee, where the division to which O'Neill's regiment was attached +was stationed, to dispute the passage of the Southern troops, which in +large force occupied the adjacent country. O'Neill had only a few days +before rejoined his command, after the illness incurred in his chase +after Morgan, and was at breakfast when the alarm was given that the +enemy had surprised the advanced guard, and were attacking in force. +Springing on his horse, he rallied the company of picked men he +commanded, and for a long time held the advancing forces of the enemy +in check, to give time for others to form line of battle. But the +enemy were rapidly getting in rear of the Union troops, and O'Neill +fell back on the main body of his regiment, just in time to hear his +Colonel cry out, 'Oh, God! all is lost! save yourselves, men, the best +way you can. Nothing is left us but retreat!' 'Not by a long sight!' +shouted O'Neill, as, sword in hand, he dashed in front of the mob of +soldiers, upon whom panic and the example of their commander were +rapidly doing the work of disorganization. 'Men,' continued he, +turning to them, 'all of you who mean to _fight_, fall in with me.' +The effect was almost miraculous. About one hundred and fifty of the +fugitives rallied, and with these he drove back the advancing columns +of the enemy, saved the day, and, though severely wounded in the +action, remained master of the field. + +"Of this attack, a correspondent of the Indianapolis _Daily Journal_, +of January, 1864, says: + +'The rebels, finding we were retreating, determined to drive us into +the river. About three hundred mounted men came over the hills, +charging Company "A," 65th Indiana, and three companies of the 5th, +commanded by Col. Butler and Capt. Hodge. Our boys began to waver. The +Colonel tried to rally them to no effect, when O'Neill rode up and +took command. Taking a Henry rifle from one of the 65th boys, he +commenced firing, at the same time yelling at the men to charge them, +which they did. For about five minutes it was the most frightful scene +I have ever witnessed. Out of the three hundred Confederates, only +about _twenty_ went back mounted, the balance being killed, wounded, +and dismounted. A rebel officer, afterwards taken, admitted the loss +of twenty killed and forty wounded in the charge. This so effectually +checked them, and convinced them that a charge would not pay, that we +very easily held our ground until the wagons and guns had crossed the +river. But our brave Lieutenant, O'Neill, received a wound in the +thigh while we were making our last stand. He rode out all day, never +seeking shelter, cheering his men. When other officers had given up +all as lost, he replied, "Not by a long sight." He met with a hearty +response from the men. We afterwards learned that we were fighting +three brigades, among them the "Texan Rangers."' + +"There is no nobler instance of daring or pluck, or of presence of +mind, or decisiveness of character, equal to any crisis, than this. +But what is the sequel? The Colonel, narrow minded as he was cowardly, +was piqued at young O'Neill's gallantry in repelling the attack, which +at once stamped himself with cowardice, and lowered him, as a +consequence, in the estimation of his brother officers. After the +battle he sent a report of the officers and non-commissioned officers +whom he recommended for promotion, _omitting the name of O'Neill_. +This was a direct insult to the man who displayed the most bravery, +and had saved them from a watery grave, a fiery death, or, worse than +all, an ignominious surrender. It at once aroused all that was stern +in his nature--to have such a coward offer him an insult. He went to +the Colonel, and demanded if it was true that he had sent the names of +certain officers to the Governor for promotion, and noncommissioned +officers for commissions over him, and omitted his name altogether. +The Colonel replied in the affirmative. 'Then,' said O'Neill, 'I shall +never serve another day in your regiment.' + +"We give these particulars in detail, as well as his resignation, not +only on account of its boldness, but as some people try to put a +different construction on the fact of his sending in his resignation +at that time. Conformably with his determination, he went to his +quarters, where, after a fortnight, he prepared his resignation, and +sent it to headquarters. In the interim, the Colonel sent one day to +know if he would drill the regiment. O'Neill sent back to know if it +was an order or a request; on being assured it was the latter, he +complied. He was expecting to be arrested every day; but the Colonel +was too much of a coward, as he was afraid the consequences would be +rather unpleasant. After a few weeks, his resignation was sent to +headquarters, with letters of disapproval--but endorsing his +complaints, and testifying to his bravery and efficiency--from Gens. +Sturges and Stoneman. Comments on these letters would be superfluous, +as they speak forcibly for themselves. + + "CAMP NEAR PARIS, KENTUCKY, April 7th, 1864. + + "Sir: I have the honor herewith to tender my resignation as First + Lieutenant of Company 'I,' 5th Cavalry, 90th Regiment Indiana + Volunteers, on account of promotions in the regiment, which have + placed men over me whom I cannot consistently serve under. Some of + them, Captains, have been Sergeants in the same regiment since I + have been First Lieutenant; and while I have a high regard for these + officers personally, I can never allow myself to be commanded by + them in the field. + + "I served in the regular army nearly four years, in Utah, + California, and on the Peninsula: as private, Corporal, Sergeant, + and acting-Sergeant-Major, and have been in the regiment, as + Lieutenant, sixteen months. + + "The enclosed copies of letters from Generals Hodson, Judah and + Stoneman, with others from the present Colonel of my regiment, and + the former, Colonel Graham, recommending me to Governor Morton, for + the position of field-officer in one of the regiments being + organized in Indiana, will show that I am not undeserving of + promotion in my own regiment, and that I have some cause to be + dissatisfied with not receiving it, and with having officers placed + over me whom, in point of military knowledge and experience, I + cannot regard as my superiors. + + "I certify, on honor, that I am not indebted to the United States + on any account whatever, and that I am not responsible for any + government property, except what I am prepared to turn over to the + proper officer on the acceptance of my resignation, and that I was + last paid by Major Haggerty to include the twenty-ninth of February, + 1864. + + "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + + "JOHN O'NEILL, First Lieut., Co. 'I,' 5th Ind. Cav. + +"Rather a bold epistle this! He tells his commander squarely he will +not serve under officers whom he considers his inferiors in military +knowledge. We shall now give the accompanying letters to which he +refers, from Generals Sturges, Judah and Stoneman, which furnish +unquestionable proof of his ability and military capacity. These +letters, from men of fine military experience, are very high references +of O'Neill's ability. The following is that from Major-General +Stoneman:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS 23D ARMY CORPS, March 8th, 1864. + + "I knew Lieut. O'Neill well on the Peninsula, and as a brave and + worthy officer, in whose judgment and capacity I had the greatest + confidence. I hope he will receive the promotion to which his merits + entitle him, that of a field-officer in a colored regiment. + + "GEORGE STONEMAN, Major-Gen., Com'g. Corps. + +"That from General Judah is equally as commendatory. If the one refers +to his bravery on the Peninsula, the other testifies equally to his +daring during the war:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS SECOND DIVISION, 23D ARMY CORPS, + In camp near Mossy Creek, Tenn., March 7th, 1864. + + "It gives me pleasure to state that, from personal observation, I + deem Lieut. John O'Neill, of the 5th Indiana Cavalry, one of the most + _gallant_ and _efficient_ officers it has been my duty to command. + His daring and services have been conspicuous, and I trust he may + receive what he has so ably merited--his promotion. + + "H.M. JUDAH, Brig.-Gen., Com'g. Division. + +"The following endorsement, written on the resignation by General +Sturges, when forwarded to the headquarters, shows that if merit, +military and personal, could meet with its reward, Lieut. O'Neill +should get speedy promotion:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS, + PARIS, KY., April 7th, 1864. + + "Disapproved and respectfully forwarded. + + "This is an excellent officer--too valuable, indeed, to be lost to + the service. He was severely wounded near Tazewell, under Colonel + Graham, last December, and is estimated as one of the best officers + of my command. This is not the only resignation which has been + offered on account of the promotions of inferiors having been made + in the 5th Indiana Cavalry over the heads of superiors, based upon + political or other considerations, and altogether regardless of + merit. By this system junior and meritorious officers find + themselves cut off from all hope of advancement, and compelled to + serve subordinate to others for whose qualifications they can + entertain no respect. + + "While, therefore, I disapprove his resignation for the public + good, I would respectfully urge that some policy be initiated + or recommended by which officers can see the way open for their + advancement according to merit. + + "Respectfully, + + "L.D. STURGES, Brig.-Gen. Com'g. + +"The following was the reply from Headquarters:-- + + "HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, + KNOXVILLE, TENN., April 16, 1864 + + "Respectfully returned from this Headquarters, Cavalry Corps, to + Lieut. John O'Neill, 5th Indiana Cavalry. + + "There appears to be no remedy for the evil referred to by General + Sturges. + + "By command of + + "MAJOR GEN. SCHOFIELD. + + "R. MOORE, Ass't. Adj't. Gen. + +"Such attestations of the bravery, military skill and high moral +character of General O'Neill, coming from his companions in arms, from +the public press, and from Generals of experience and high position, +form a record of which any man might be proud. Comment on them is +unnecessary, as they speak forcibly for themselves. Of his noble +spirit, decisiveness in the hour of danger, ability, pure character, +and gentlemanly bearing, we have produced overwhelming testimony; but +as he is now before the public in so very prominent a manner, it is +necessary that the people should know minutely his every act and the +nature of the man under whose leadership the Irish Nationalists in +America are about to renew the good old fight for loved Erin's +disenthralment. No matter whether on the field or in the drawing-room, +his calmness of deportment and gentlemanly bearing are the same. The +simplest child he would no more offend than the most powerful man. +Uniting with such gentleness and heroic bravery, precise military +knowledge, and a pure patriotism, may not Irishmen hope that in him +they have found the man who is destined to lead them on to victory and +liberty. In whatever sphere he moves, he is universally endeared to +all; for + + 'In him is the heart of a woman, combined + With a heroic life and a governing mind.' + +"In the movement on Canada, in 1866, Gen. O'Neill sacrificed a +business which, in a few years, would have made him a wealthy man. But +he did so without hesitation; for he loved his country, and had +pledged his life to her service. With the contingent raised by him in +Tennessee, he proceeded to Buffalo, where, finding himself the senior +officer, he assumed command of the troops there assembled, and, in +obedience to the orders he had received, crossed the Niagara river, at +the head of six hundred men, on the night of the 31st of May, and +raised the Green Flag once more on the soil of the enemy. On the +following evening, receiving information that the British forces were +marching against him to the number of five thousand, in two distinct +columns, he resolved to fight them in detail, and by a rapid march got +between them. On the morning of the 2d of June, at Ridgeway, he struck +them under Booker; and, though the enemy out-numbered his force _four +to one_, routed them signally. Falling back on his original position +at Fort Erie, he there learned that the United States Government had +stopped the movement at other points, and arrested its leaders. Under +the circumstances, nothing more could be done, at that time; and he +was reluctantly obliged to re-cross the Niagara, and surrender to the +United States forces. That he only did so under the pressure of +necessity, is attested by his offer to the Committee in Buffalo to +hold his ground, as his own report of the battle of Ridgeway attests, +in which he simply says: + +'But if a movement was going on elsewhere, I was perfectly willing +to make the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which I knew it would be the +next day if I remained; _for I would never have surrendered!_' + +"At the Cleveland Convention of the Fenian Brotherhood, in September, +1867, General O'Neill was elected a Senator of that body; and having +been chosen Vice President on the resignation of that office by James +Gibbons, Esq., he succeeded President W.R. Roberts, on the +resignation of that gentleman, Dec. 31, 1867. + +"We have thus briefly sketched the principal incidents of General +O'Neill's career, and, in conclusion, may venture to say that a more +stainless, or meritorious, could scarcely be presented to the public. +His whole history incontrovertibly illustrates as noble, determined +and daring a character as ever led a brave but enslaved people to +victory. + +"We could supplement this with various other official documents and +accounts, serving, if such were possible, to illustrate still further +the proud daring and exalted spirit of this worthy son of an +illustrious past; but shall, at this particular point of our story, +content ourselves with what has just been said. We might, were we so +inclined, introduce, also, various other Irish names that shone forth +with unrivalled splendor during the late war, and point to the +thousands upon thousands of Irish rank and file that, on numerous +fields, piled up ramparts of dead around the glorious flag of the +Union; but such would not serve our purpose here, as we are restricted +in relation to the task before us; and as the fact of the exploits and +the bravery of hosts of our loyal countrymen are known to the +government and people of this Republic. Sufficient to say, however, +that amongst all those of our race who fought and bled in defence of +the North, and the integrity of the Commonwealth, there was not to be +found one individual who evinced more profound judgment than he in +handling the forces at his command, or more cool daring, or instances +of personal bravery, as well as that tremendous and overwhelming dash, +which gained for Ney the proud appellation, 'the bravest of the +brave?' and placed the Marshals of France amongst the foremost in +history. + +"From out of this fierce civil contest, then, it is obvious from all +that we have just said, that Fenianism, in its military aspect, +received the largest and most important accessions. At the close of +the conflict, thousands upon thousands of veterans joined its +standard; and thus, in an incredibly short period, its warlike +character became intensified, until, at last, the organization on the +American continent loomed up before England with an aspect so +threatening and a purpose so apparent, that she instantly set about +putting her house in order, and began to glance in the direction of +making some cunning, though paltry, concessions to Ireland. + +"If, however, the military circles of the Brotherhood were +distinguished by the accession of many brave and patriotic soldiers, +at the juncture already referred to, the organization, in its civil +aspect, was not less fortunate or noticeable. Led triumphantly through +some of the most difficult phases of its existence, by such +self-sacrificing and noble patriots as Colonel W.R. Roberts, of New +York, its late President, and James Gibbons, Esq., of Philadelphia, +its present Vice President--than whom two more disinterested and +sterling Sons of the Sod do not exist--its basis enlarged and +strengthened, we say, by such men as these, and the able and +truehearted Senators that surrounded them, the Brotherhood, at the +close of the war, was in a condition sufficiently exalted to attract +to its centre many of the ablest soldiers who had fought on the side +of the Union, and who, with their numerous and respective followings, +were ready to evince their love of liberty and republican institutions +further, by resuming their swords and striking home for the freedom of +poor, down-trodden Ireland, against a tyrant the most infamous that +has ever existed, and to whom America owes a debt of vengeance, that, +under any circumstances, cannot fail to be one day repaid with tenfold +interest. + +"And so this grand confraternity of patriots prospered and became the +greatest and most powerful that has ever appeared upon the theatre of +human existence. To be sure, in a body so numerous and all but +ramified throughout every portion of the habitable globe, there have +been some unworthy members, who fell before the love of gain, or +British gold; but, then, and with pride we say it, taking the gigantic +proportions of the organization into consideration, and the +temptations to sin which have been so constantly placed before it by +that blood-thirsty assassin, England, it stands, by comparison, +pre-eminently pure above any other similar revolutionary body that has +ever obtained in either hemisphere, or in any age of the world. Up to +the present hour, under the protection and guidance of a Divine +providence, it has surmounted every difficulty that has beset it. It +has outlived whatever of treason or mismanagement obtained in its own +bosom; it has survived the cruel calumnies and falsehoods of a +traitorous and subsidized press, and the machinations of that +dangerous English element that sometimes steals into high places, and +which has so often interfered with the true interests of America +within her own borders, as well as touching her foreign relations. +These and many either untoward influences it has surmounted; until, +now, it stands upon a pedestal beyond the reach of danger; not only +from its great inherent strength and virtue, but from its all but +incomprehensible ubiquity, and positive existence in every land and +clime. How futile, then, the efforts of its enemies to crush it either +by ungenerous legislation, or through the propagation of falsehood. +Fenianism is a power founded upon the immutable principles of truth +and justice; and is, therefore, indestructible. Consequently, until it +has achieved the grand and holy objects that it has set before it, it +must win its way to triumph, step by step, if needs be no matter what +the magnitude or the number of the difficulties that beset it." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Early as Barry was up on the morning following his introduction to the +reader, he found Tom and Greaves in the bar-room, discussing one of +O'Brien's favorite decoctions, which was averred to possess the virtue +of giving a "fillip" to the lagging appetite, and attuning it to the +healthiest possible breakfast pitch. Nicholas, although not addicted +to early potations, was prevailed upon to join the party. During, the +friendly conversation which accompanied this faithless libation to the +Goddess of Health, Greaves observed that while he did not feel himself +at liberty to speak freely in the mixed company of the preceding +evening, notwithstanding what might have been termed his unfriendly +insinuations in relation to Ireland, he was himself a true friend of +Irish freedom; and, on all befitting occasions, an humble champion of +her total and unequivocal independence of England. Here he produced a +letter, from a secret pocket in the lining of his vest, which he +handed to Tom for hasty perusal; remarking, at the same time, that he +well knew to whom he was submitting it. A hurried glance at the +contents induced O'Brien to open his eyes wider than they had been +opened for some time, and to regard his companion with an almost +bewildered stare! + +"Sure enough, it's his handwritin, and it's as thrue as the sun," +ejaculated Tom, as he folded up the letter and returned it to the +owner, "and it's a different opinion both Nick and myself had of you +last night, although sorry I am for it now; and there's my hand for +you." + +"What's up now?" retorted Barry, well knowing that O'Brien would never +have offered his hand to Greaves, unless there were good reasons for +it. + +"Nothin' more," returned Tom, "beyond that we had formed a wrong +opinion of our frind here, last night; for, instead of his bein' what +I was half inclined to take him for, he cannot fail to be other than +the right stamp, or he never could have that letther in his pocket." + +"That's enough for me, Tom," replied Barry, extending his hand to +Greaves, "for whoever you endorse is sure to pass muster, in this +place, at least." + +The conversation here became low and confidential; being interrupted +only by an occasional customer who dropped in to take his "morning;" +until, at last, breakfast was announced, and the soldier and Greaves, +taking the hint, were soon snugly seated side by side in the little +parlor of the preceding night, at a neat and comfortable table, +smoking with some of the good things which so constantly characterized +The Harp. O'Brien, from his other avocations, was unable to join them +at the moment; so they both conversed freely on the topic that had +just commanded their attention in the bar, and which referred to +neither more nor less than the intended invasion of Canada by the army +of the Irish Republic, then said to be preparing for a descent upon +the Provinces, in the neighboring Union. Nicholas was unable to give +any definite information upon the matter; as the authorities of the +organization in the United States were very reticent regarding it, and +Greaves himself appeared but little better informed. Barry, however, +expressed the opinion that, if any man in Canada had thorough +information on the point, it was Tom; although he himself had no very +tangible grounds for making the observation, notwithstanding the +strength of his surmises. + +"Do you not belong to the organization yourself, and if you do, ought +you not to be in possession of some facts on this all-important +movement?" rejoined Greaves, "and if you are not a member, surely you +are sufficiently true to Ireland to have been informed, to some extent +at least, in regard to it, by your friend O'Brien, who is, I learn, a +Centre here." + +"Well, strange as it may appear," returned the other, "I don't belong +to the Brotherhood, not having, yet had an opportunity to join it; and +as for Tom, whatever my suspicions may be, I really am unable to say +positively that he is in any degree connected with the organization; +although I am sensible that his sympathies, like my own, lie in that +direction." + +"How is your regiment situated on this point," remarked Greaves, +leisurely breaking an egg and commencing to chip the shell. + +"A good many of my way of thinking," replied the other; "but, as you +know, it is necessary to be cautious, as not only is the commanding +officer a tartar, but most of the swords and sashes are of the same +kidney. The fact of the case is, however, several of our fellows have +deserted, and no doubt will join the organization in the States, and +render good service to the cause there, in a military point of view." + +"Why don't you follow their example and do something for your poor, +down-trodden country," said Philip in reply, "seeing that now is the +time she needs the service of all her children?" + +"There is no necessity for my deserting," rejoined Barry, "for I have +already applied for my discharge, which I expect to receive this very +day; so that ere the sun sets, in all probability, I shall be a +freeman." + +Greaves became silent here for a few moments, as if revolving +something in his mind, when, lifting his head again, he resumed the +conversation by asking: + +"Are strangers permitted to visit the Fort? If so, I should be very +glad to take a peep at it this morning, as I shall have a few boars to +spare before I can do any business, or rather before the parties I +have come to see will be prepared to meet me." + +"Why, not as a general thing, just now," returned Nicholas, "but I +think you may be able to gain admittance if you are accompanied by me, +who will, of course, vouch to the sentry for you." + +"Then if you allow me," said Greaves, "I shall avail myself of your +kind invitation, and cross the bridge with you after we have +breakfasted, for I can well imagine that during a period when such +rumors are afloat, the Commandant as rather chary of permitting +strangers to enter his gates." + +In this strain the conversation flowed until breakfast was ended, when +the friends proposed to sally forth from the Harp, and wend their way +to the point already mentioned. As Barry was leaving the bar-room, +however, Tom whispered something in his ear, which appeared to puzzle +him for a moment, but returning a keen glance of recognition, both he +and Greaves passed out into the cool, fresh morning-air, and began +slowly wending their way to the Fort. + +There being as yet no special order about the admission of strangers, +Greaves, with Nicholas by his side, passed the sentry without +question, and proceeded to the canteen, which, early as it was, showed +some signs of life. Here Barry introduced his new acquaintance to many +of his comrades; but in such common place terms, as to attract no +attention whatever on the part of any person. Being for parade, +however, he was obliged to leave his friend in other keeping, for a +short period, and so hastened to the barrack-room to prepare himself +for his morning duties. During the interval of his absence, Greaves +stepped out of the canteen, alone, and learning that the Colonel was +speaking to some of the officers near the parade ground, made his way +towards where the group was standing, and crossing the path of the +Colonel as he was walking towards his quarters, accosted him in a +manner which soon arrested the progress and attention of that officer, +and brought him to a dead halt. The conversation was brief and rapid, +while a slip of paper thrust into the hands of the Colonel, by +Greaves, seemed to place both on a strange footing of recognition. So +brief was the interview, that it was not observed by any individual in +the garrison; and so quickly did Greaves return to the canteen, that +his absence was scarcely noticed. Here Barry found him as he had left +him, making himself agreeable to the soldiers; being more than liberal +in paying for all they drank. As the bugle sounded for parade, he bid +our young hero "good bye for the present," and leaving the Fort, +proceeded to retrace his steps towards the town, or city, as it may be +called. + +When he arrived here, instead of returning to The Harp, he bent his +steps in another direction, and entered a hotel that was in every +relation the very antipodes of the establishment in which he had +passed the night. Here, in every direction, were to be found the +traces of an English spirit and blind adhesion to wretched and +exploded traditions. In the office hung the portrait of the cruel +Queen of England, and that of her defunct consort, whose injustice and +pedantry were so snubbed by the illustrious Humboldt. Here, too, were +to be seen the likeness of the--iron-hearted, it should have +been--Duke, presenting a birth-day present, or something of the sort, +to a moonfaced yonker that sat fair and plump upon the knee of its +royal mother. In another corner was to be found a representation of +the Prince of Wales, for whose head and face the engraver had done +infinitely more than nature; while directly opposite stood, in a dark, +heavy frame, the one-armed hero of the Nile, who owed so much of his +fame to poor Emma Harte--the unfortunate Lady Hamilton, who, after +having conferred the most serious benefits upon England, was permitted +to starve, with her daughter, in a garret somewhere in or near Calais; +while some of the spurious offspring of orange and ballet girls filled +many of the highest offices in the land she had so often served. + +In this establishment the subject of Fenianism was discussed as a +leading topic, in a manner quite different from the style in which it +was treated at the Harp. Here no voice was raised in its favor--no +word of justification advanced in its behalf. Still, although its +importance was ignored ostensibly, there were a nervousness and +misgiving about some of those who conversed upon it, which showed that +they were ill at ease. There seemed, in addition, to be some vague +sense of insecurity preying upon them, which could only have +originated in their want of confidence in themselves, or in some +person or persons to whom were entrusted the gravest interests of the +Province. This was the more obvious, from the fact, that, from time to +time, mysterious and half-whispered enquiries were made, in reference +to one particular individual, whose state of health or mind seemed at +the moment to engross no ordinary share of the attention of the +numerous guests that filled the bar or office, for the apartment was +used as both. + +Greaves listened with open ears to all that transpired, and, after +inspecting the hotel register, took up a morning paper and seated +himself in an arm-chair at his side. While engaged, as he feigned to +be, in perusing the news, although actually endeavoring to catch every +whisper that floated around him, he gathered, that, for the week or +ten days proceeding, one of the most important functionaries in the +Province, who, although a clever man, was sorely addicted to fits of +intemperence, was now, while the country was convulsed with gloomy +forebodings, regarding Fenianism, again passing through one of his +prolonged and fearful drinking bouts, and totally unfit to pay even +the slightest attention to the momentous business of his office. +Already, it was averred, numerous dispatches, of the most vital +moment, were lying unopened upon his table, where they were scattered, +wet and stained with wine and debauch, some of them having, as it was +urged, been obviously disfigured, in part, for the purpose, perhaps, +of lighting cigars; while, pale, wretched and half insane, the +miserable creature to whom they were addressed, reclined on a sofa by +their side, jabbering to a few bloated boon companions, obscene jests +and amusing anecdotes, through which the fire of his own native wit +sometimes shot brilliantly, though but for a single moment. This, we +say. Greaves gathered from the conversation around him, and as in one +or two cases he perceived, on the part of the speakers, scarcely any +desire to preserve a tone of secrecy on the subject, he felt pretty +much assured, that the case was a bad one indeed, and that the +individual who could so far forget his own interests for the sake of +the bottle, and who could be tolerated in any position of high trust +in the State, while addicted to vices of such a character, not to +mention others, thought by the Hamilton _Quarterly Review_ to be of a +graver nature were that possible, must be sustained by the influence +of persons terribly deluded, or creatures vile in their degree in +turn, and who, like himself, were regardless of the trust reposed in +them by the people. And yet, as Greaves afterwards learned, this same +man came to Canada a poor, bare-footed, Scotch lad, with a father +whose only fortune was an old fiddle, and that inexorable but +praiseworthy characteristic of his country--a determination to collect +the bawbees at whatever shrine first presented itself on the shores of +the New World. Be this as it may, the daily press of the Province has +since verified the correctness of the whispers heard by Greaves, and +made public the accusation, that this individual, so recently +distinguished by a mark of royal favor, for three weeks previous to +the invasion of Canada, was so lost in a whirlpool of the most +deplorable intemperance, as to be utterly incapable of opening or +attending to the important dispatches which lay scattered and unheeded +upon his bedroom table. + +When Greaves returned to The Harp, he found O'Brien in a state of +great excitement. A soldier, as it appeared, had just arrived from the +Fort, with the information that the Colonel, on second consideration, +did not find it justifiable to apply for Barry's discharge, at a +moment when the country was threatened with danger; and that, as the +regiment should soon be ordered home, as he was assured, he had +determined not to recommend any discharges until it had reached +England. This intelligence had been conveyed to Nicholas by the +Colonel in person, after parade, and in a manner which precluded the +slightest hope of its being reversed by any succeeding alteration of +opinion on the part of the individual who communicated it. A +thunderbolt, had it fallen at the feet of the young soldier, could not +have startled or paralyzed him more. He was actually struck dumb by it +Here was the chalice dashed from his lips at last. He turned away in +despair; but as he was for duty, he was constrained to smother the +tumultuous feelings within his breast. When alone, however, and pacing +his lonely round with his musket on his shoulder, he had time to +measure, with sufficient calmness and accuracy, the length, breadth +and depth of the great misfortunes that had befallen him. There was +but one course left open to him. He had sought to purchase his +discharge and leave the service, without the taint of desertion +attaching to his name amongst any of his comrades, although he felt +that he was not morally bound to remain in the service of England, for +a single moment longer than it served his own private ends. Desertion, +then, was the only course left open to him, and he was determined to +follow it, upon the first fitting opportunity. Another reason why he +would rather have been discharged in the ordinary manner from the +service: if he once deserted he should never again, with any degree of +security, visit any portion of the British dominions; and as Canada +lay so close beside the United States, he would gladly have avoided +the inconvenience of being shut out from it, as O'Brien and more than +one of his friends resided there. However, there was now no help for +it; to England he should never return, and so he disposed of the +matter in his own bosom. When relieved of duty, then, and with his +purpose fixed firmly in his heart, he once again visited The Harp, +where he found Tom and Greaves lamenting over the intelligence of his +misfortune, and to whom, in a moment of anxiety and excitement, he +disclosed his determination to quit the service, and gain the shores +of the neighboring Republic the first favorable moment that presented +itself. Tom appeared somewhat agitated if not alarmed; at so serious a +disclosure, made with such apparent unconcern; and it was only when +Barry remembered the hint of the morning, which O'Brien gave him as he +was about proceeding to the garrison, that he, himself, felt that he +had perhaps been too incautious and precipitate before a person who, +after all, was but a stranger to him, although apparently a kindly +one. The cat being out of the bag, however, there was now no help for +it; and as Greaves seemed to enter warmly into the project, and even +offered to share his purse with Nicholas, if there was any necessity +for it, the matter was allowed to rest as it was, and suspicion of +Greaves, if any remained in the breast of either the soldier or Tom, +was driven into the background, and constrained to remain in abeyance +for the time being. + +When Barry again returned to his quarters, he freely discussed his +disappointment among his comrades, and declared his determination to +lay the matter before the Commander-in-Chief, averring, with great +earnestness, that he had always done his duty, and that he was not +accountable for the state of the country, and should not be called +upon to suffer for a condition of things outside and beyond his +control, and which he was in no manner instrumental in bringing about. +His argument seemed plausible enough, but then what, at any time, his +argument, when it ran counter to the desires or intentions of his +commanding officer? Therefore, the matter, after having been subjected +to due discussion, was allowed to fall asleep in the usual stereotyped +style; although as may be supposed, there were one or two breasts, at +least, that were kept alive and active by it. Nicholas, believing that +any intelligence of his embarrassment on the subject would but perplex +and pain Kate, determined not to write to her regarding it, but to be +the first to bear her the news himself. As already observed, she had +written to him to procure his discharge at the earliest possible +moment, and now to learn that his freedom was jeopardized for an +indefinite period, involving, in addition, his return to England +first, would be a renewal of her old agony. This he was determined to +spare her; so, to those of his company in whom he could confide, and +who were themselves ripe for any project that would tend to their +total disseverment from the flag they so detested, he cautiously +communicated his intentions, finding, in return, that more than one of +them were on the eve of trying their fortune in the same manner. Soon, +then, a sturdy little band had determined to leave the Fort, whatever +night Barry should pitch upon; premising, of course, that it should be +some one on which he would be on duty, and at a favorable point. + +This much arranged, Greaves and Tom were made acquainted with the +whole particulars of the plot; the former entering, to all appearance, +heart and soul into it, and furthering it in every manner within the +limits of his power. In fact, Greaves was actually behaving in a +manner which staggered some suspicions still entertained by Tom, +notwithstanding the letter to which reference has already been made, +for he agreed to assist in forwarding the escape of one of Nicholas' +company that had deserted sometime previously, and was still concealed +in the outskirts of the town, in a place known to Barry only, and +where he was hemmed in by detectives from his regiment that were +continually traversing the city in colored clothes, or stationed as +look-outs at certain points in its vicinity. Barry was most anxious +that this poor fellow should not be left behind, and as Greaves +promised to procure a disguise for him and have him conveyed secretly +to Tom's on the night that the project of leaving the Fort was to be +put into execution, Barry, at the request of Greaves, penned a note, +which he hastily sealed with a love device well known to the deserter, +and which he had himself received at the hands of the beautiful girl +of his heart. The note ran thus:-- + + "Place the fullest confidence in the bearer. Follow his directions + implicitly. Your fate hangs in the balance. He will lead you to + where we shall meet. In great haste, &c., + + "NICHOLAS BARRY." + +This note he handed to Greaves, who immediately consigned it to his +pocket-book, and set forth, as he alleged, to reconoitre the hiding +place of the soldier, and make such arrangements in his behalf as the +necessities of the case required. + +As the brief missive just quoted was written in O'Brien's, and in the +presence of Tom himself, when Greaves left the premises, the host with +some uneasiness observed:-- + +"I don't know how it is, Nick, but somehow or other I cannot divest +myself of sartain lurkin suspicions which I have of that man; although +there is not a single Irish Nationalist in the city that would not +offer him his hand and a glass afther seein the letther that I saw. +However, you will remimber that the first night he came I didn't warm +to him, as I tould you, notwithstandin that I had to give up the next +mornin. Still, and withal he appears to be actin fair, although I +can't make out exactly what he's about here. Any way, in for a pinny +in for a pound, so we must make the best of it; but, if I find that he +is playin foul--well, God Almighty help him, and that's all I'll say. +However, three nights from this will tell the whole story, and if you +all make good your escape, you may take my word for it, I'll make a +clane breast of it to him and ask his pardon into the bargain. I think +with you that it was wise not to write to Kate about your throuble and +disappointment, or apprise her of your intintion, as it would only +agonize the poor craytshure; but should you be foiled and taken, what +a dreadful thing it would be for her to hear instead of the +intelligence of your freedom, that you were in the depths of a dungeon +from which you might have no manes of escape for years!" + +Barry absolutely shuddered at the possibility of such a _denouement_ +to the scheme that now absorbed his whole mind and soul. Although +sensible of the risk he ran, he never paused to regard the peculiar +features of the case as presented by his friend; but now that they +loomed up before him in such bold and fearful relief, he almost shrank +from pushing farther the dangerous project he had undertaken. Yet, +there was no other channel through which he could hope to become +speedily the husband of the woman he loved; while, if he abandoned it, +he might probably be separated from her forever, as he felt convinced, +that should an ocean roll once more between them, she would not long +survive the calamity. In a moment, then, the faintness of his heart +had passed away, and in its stead came the firm resolve to prosecute +his design to the death; feeling that imprisonment for any term of +years on the shores trodden by the being he adored, was preferable to +freedom, such as it was, in a land cut off from her by the trackless +desert of the great deep. + +Re-assured once more, then, he continued cautiously the preparations +for his departure, attending to his duties with his usual assiduity, +and still murmuring at the decision of the Colonel. Neither he nor +Tom, of course, ever approached the hiding place of the refugee +already mentioned, although they managed to hear from him +occasionally, and to keep his spirits up. Had either, by day or night, +ventured near his retreat, they could scarcely have escaped +notice--the one from his soldier's uniform and the other from his +remarkable height and personal appearance; they were, therefore, with +all their misgivings, relieved of their embarrassment in this +relation, by the generous offer of Greaves, who, as it seemed, had +abundance of means at his command to further any project that he might +think proper to undertake relative to the escape of the deserter, or +those who had now determined to join him. + +In this way, then, matters stood on the very evening which was to +close in the night selected by the intending fugitives, to put their +designs into execution. Everything was ready, and as the clock struck +twelve and the streets of the city were partially deserted, a cab +rumbled up to the door of The Harp, and Greaves and a stranger, +muffled to the eyes, stepping from it, entered the establishment and +passed through the bar into Tom's little parlor. Greaves had kept his +faith--the stranger was the deserter! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +As might be presumed, from what we have already said regarding Kate +McCarthy, from the moment she took up her abode with her relatives at +Buffalo, she resumed her industrious habits, and set to work, in real +earnest, to add something to whatever young Barry had realized from +his own abilities and steady conduct on both sides of the Atlantic; +for, since his arrival in Canada, he had plied his pen amongst his +comrades, and in other quarters, copying papers and instructing the +children of the soldiers where he was stationed. She consequently soon +found her little store increased, and her time fully occupied. In +music and the earlier branches of English, she had several young +pupils; while for some of the fancy millinery stores of the city, she +occasionally employed her needle on some of those delicate and +exquisite ornaments of female dress which are at once so expensive and +attractive. Her labors were, of course, cheered through constant +intercourse by letter with Barry; and so the time rolled on up to the +very point when Nicholas first applied for his discharge. It may be +considered strange, that Barry had not left the service on his first +arrival in Canada; but, then, let it be understood, that neither he +nor Kate had yet acquired sufficient means with which to begin the +world; while both were steadily accumulating a little, slowly but +safely; and when, besides, he felt assured, that having the means at +his command, he could, at any moment, procure his discharge. We have +already said, that owing to his proud and unyielding nature, he was +not a favorite with his officers, and that such being the case, he +never 'rose above the ranks; but, then, after all, the most of his +superiors had, at times, recourse to his pen and excellent education +in various matters connected with the regiment, requiting him for his +services handsomely enough; but still at enmity with his Irish blood, +and what they feared was, his anti-British tendencies. Such +inducements as these, although accompanied with drawbacks, moved him +to remain in the service for a longer period than he should have done +under other circumstances, and reconciled his lover to an absence +which she believed could be terminated at any moment. And so time sped +with her, until the eve of the very day, on the night of which Barry +and his comrades were to leave the Fort, when returning towards her +home in the direction of Black Bock, from the city, just as it began +to get dusk, she was met by an over-dressed stranger, who accosting +her in a most respectful manner, begged to know if she could direct +him to the residence of Miss Kate McCarthy. + +After recovering her surprise, and casting a searching glance at her +interrogator, she replied, that she was, herself, Miss McCarthy, and +begged to know what was his business with her. The man appeared to +hesitate, as if not crediting her assertion, and proceeded to say, +that he had a message for Miss McCarthy, but that he was led to +believe that that lady was a much older person than the one whom he +now addressed. + +"Possibly," returned Kate, "there is some other lady of my name here; +but if such be the case, I am totally unaware of it. However," she +continued, "as I expect no message from any person of my acquaintance, +doubtless I am not the person you seek," and bowing slightly to the +stranger, she turned to pursue her way in the direction of her home. + +"I beg your pardon for attempting to delay you," rejoined the +stranger, "but after all, you may be the lady I seek. If you are," he +went on to say, "you will be apt to recognize this token;" holding +something in his hand, which he now thrust out towards her. + +In an instant, her whole manner altered, her cheeks flushed, and a +strange light burned in her eyes, as she exclaimed hurriedly, and +while greatly agitated: + +"Yes, I am the person; let us walk towards the house. It is but a +short distance from where we stand." + +In a few moments, they were both engaged in the most earnest +conversation, and evidently entering into some stipulation that was to +be carried out without delay. On nearing her residence, however, the +stranger expressed his opinion, that it were better that he should +return to the city at once, and make some arrangements in connection +with the subject of their conversation, whatever that was; enforcing +upon her, in the meantime, the most profound secrecy, and the strange +necessity, above all things, of not informing any of her friends or +relations of the project upon which they had decided. + +"Twelve o'clock, at the Lower Ferry, then!" observed the stranger, as +he turned his face towards the city. + +"Twelve o'clock!" she returned. "No fear! I shall be awaiting you!" + +When she entered the house, with a view to concealing her emotions and +making some secret preparations for the accomplishment of the sudden +project foreshadowed by the words of the stranger, she hastily gained +her chamber. When alone, she gazed confused yet enraptured on the +unexpected talisman that had been given her, and which she still held +firmly in her grasp. Soon, however, becoming more calm, she set about +making such arrangements for her midnight tryst as she conceived +necessary; upon the completion of which, she penned a few lines to her +kind relatives, begging them to make no inquiries after her, as she +was safe; although, for reasons afterwards to be explained, she was +obliged to leave their roof by stealth, and for the moment in utter +darkness as to her destination. She assured them, nevertheless, that +although her conduct was for the present suspicious and inexplicable, +she was free from any taint of wrong, and was only obeying a voice +that would soon justify to the fullest, and before them personally, +the step she was now about to take. This note was left upon her +bed-room table, where she knew it would be discovered; so, after +declining to join the family at tea, on the plea of slight +indisposition, she filled a traveling satchel with what necessaries +she thought she might require for the few days she presumed she should +be absent, and extinguishing her lamp at the hour she usually retired +to rest, awaited, alone and in silence, for the clock to strike +eleven; at which time she knew the family would have all sought their +couch and be sunk in slumber. + +From her chamber window she perceived that the lights soon began to +disappear from the casements of the few dwellings that were in the +immediate vicinity of her habitation, and that the quiet of repose was +stealing over the neighborhood. Busied with her own thoughts, and +anxious for the future, the time for her departure drew nigh more +rapidly than she had anticipated; so, when the last stroke of eleven +had died away through the house, she, having previously attired +herself for her journey, and secured, about her person, whatever money +she possessed, took up her satchel, and cautiously descending the +stairs, soon emerged out into the gloomy night, hastily bending her +footsteps towards the place of rendezvouz. + +Here, besides encountering the individual already introduced to the +reader, who was waiting for her, she having had to travel a +considerable distance, and it being now close on midnight, she found a +second party stationed by the side of a good sized boat, into which +all three stepped upon her arrival; the two strangers seizing the oars +and striking boldly out for the Canadian side of the river. Although +rapid the current at the point of their crossing, so admirably did +they manage their craft and lustily did they pull, they did not +deviate much from the light on the opposite shore, which seemed to +gleam from some cottage window, and which they took as a beacon and +guide to their course. In the space of about half an hour, they landed +at the point they expected to make, where they found a team waiting, +with a lantern so ingeniously fixed in the wagon as to be discernible +from the American side of the river only; this being the light by +which the two boatmen had steered. + +As they all stepped ashore, Kate had a full opportunity of +scrutinizing the appearance of the second stranger, who aided her in +crossing the river. He was a short, thick-set, heavy man, of a most +forbidding aspect, with a huge mouth and a broad, flat nose, without a +bridge. He wore a blue flannel shirt and a heavy, short over-coat and +slouched hat, and was, taking him all and all, about as villainous a +looking specimen of humanity as one could well meet in a day's walk. +Nor was the driver of the wagon into which she now was lifted, a very +decided improvement in this relation. He, also, was a most suspicions +looking fellow, although civil enough in his way. Kate felt relieved, +however, when her earliest acquaintance of the evening took his seat +beside her, and when she perceived the man with the blue shirt +re-entering the boat and pushing off for the American shore once +again. + +The driver now having adjusted himself in his place in front of Kate +and her polite companion, the whip was laid to the horses, and the +party moved briskly along the bank of the river, until they struck +into a road which evidently led into the interior of the country. This +road they pursued at a slow pace until the first gray streaks of dawn +were visible in the eastern horizon; Kate's companion, from time to +time, making such commonplace observations as the necessity of the +case required; she supposing that the presence of the driver prevented +him from offering her any farther explanation on the subject of her +singular adventure. Just as surrounding objects were becoming more +distinct, they pulled up before an isolated building, in what appeared +to be a country place, and in which, early as it was, there was some +person already astir, as was evident from the light which shone from +one of the windows. + +Here they all alighted and were received at the door of the dwelling +by a middle aged woman, with a strip of red silk bound round her head +and drawn down over one of her eyes. She was dressed in a plain but +neat manner, and exhibited sufficient traits of feminine beauty to +recommend her to either sex. The driver was evidently her husband, and +no very affectionate one either, if the coarse, cold manner in which +he received her welcome could be taken as any indication on this head. +However, as Kate was cold and weary, she gladly accepted an invitation +to alight and enter the building, where she found a large fire blazing +and crackling upon the hearth, in an apartment that was used as a +dining-room and kitchen; although the house was a large one and +clearly contained many apartments. When seated by the fire, and while +the driver was seeing to his horses, her companion, who also seated +himself by the warm blaze, informed her that, for the present, she was +at the end of her journey--that the driver, his wife and a grown up +niece or daughter, were the only inhabitants of the house, and that +the place was selected as her retreat for the time being, for reasons +that would doubtless be explained to her in due time. Although +surprised and mystified at all she had already experienced, she, of +course, had not one word to say in opposition to the disposition that +had been made of her; for had she not in her bosom the guarantee that +all was right; so, professing her willingness to remain in her +temporary abode until the period for her release arrived, and +promising to be as patient as possible, under the circumstances, she +begged the woman of the house to show her to her room, as she needed a +few hours rest, to which request her hostess readily acceded, having +first, though in vain, endeavored to prevail upon her to take some +refreshments after her journey. + +The room to which Kate was shown was far from a despicable one, and +possessed many articles of furniture infinitely superior to those in +the department she had first entered. The floor was carpeted, and the +chairs and tables of quite a superior quality; the bed, also, seemed +invitingly clean and comfortable, while some excellent books were to +be found in a small, neat case, standing in one corner of the +apartment. On the table there burned a handsome lamp, and a fire +blazed cheerfully in a small, open stove, as though her arrival had +been expected and well cared for. When her hostess left her, she +examined her chamber door and windows, and found the latter quite +secure, while in the lock of the former was a key, one turn of which +would cut her off completely from any intrusion whatever. Seating +herself beside her lamp, she reviewed rapidly the events of the night, +and finding no solution for them, she slowly undressed, and consigning +herself to the care of heaven, was soon lost in a calm and refreshing +slumber, from which she did not awake until the sun had nearly +attained his meridian glory. + +When she opened her eyes and collected her scattered senses, she +hastily arose, and dressing herself, rang a small bell that lay on her +table, and which her hostess desired she should use when she required +any attendance. Immediately a gentle tap was heard at her chamber +door, upon opening which, a young girl, about sixteen years of age, +presented herself with a pitcher of fresh water, begging to know, as +she placed it on the wash-stand, at what period she should bring up +breakfast; setting about opening the windows as she spoke, and +otherwise busying herself in arranging the room. There was something +in the appearance of this young creature, that at once enlisted the +sympathy and kindly feelings of Kate. Her features were strangely +handsome and prepossessing, and her form of the very finest +proportions. Her hands, although rough with hard work, were, +nevertheless, small and delicately shaped, while her feet, +notwithstanding that they were encased in a pair of over-large +slippers, were obviously very beautiful. She was tall for her age, and +apparently better educated than her seeming condition in life might +warrant. But what was most peculiar about her, was an air of sadness, +that seemed native to her expressive countenance, and which pervaded +her smiles even, with a strange, subduing power, that nearly allied +them to gentle tears. Her voice, too, was singularly sweet, low and +melodious; while her whole demeanor was so tinged with what might be +termed some lone, hidden sorrow, that Kate felt drawn towards her in a +manner the most unaccountable. In answer to a query put to her, she +said she was not, as was generally supposed, the daughter of the +owners of the establishment, but their niece, as she believed; and +that she had now been residing in the locality for over five years. +That her uncle did a great deal of teaming, and was often from home; +and that, in his absence, she and her aunt took care of a small patch +of ground that lay at the back of the house. She was almost glad, she +said, that the lady had come to stay sometime with them, and hoped +that she would allow her to often sit by her and read during the times +her uncle would be away; as it might tend to beguile many a weary +hour; that is, provided the lady would have to remain any length of +time with them. + +There was something in all this which seemed to move Kate strangely. +The expression "almost glad" sounded curiously in her ears, and +awakened in her feelings of a no very pleasurable character. However, +she determined, upon so slight an acquaintance, not to push her +inquiries further just then; and by way of forming a friendly compact +with her attendant, assured her, that so long as she remained in the +house, she should always be happy to have her as a companion whenever +she could be spared from her domestic duties; and further, that it +would afford her the greatest possible pleasure to sit and listen to +her, whenever she could find a moment's time to either read for her or +while away a few minutes in friendly conversation. This condescension +seemed to light up the face of the interesting young creature with a +flush of gratitude the most ardent; and with a lighter step than that +with which she had entered the chamber, she tripped away, for the +purpose of bringing up the breakfast to which she had already +referred. + +When Martha, as Kate's new acquaintance was called, again entered the +apartment, she was accompanied by her aunt, who was dressed just as +she had been the night before, with the exception that the strip of +red silk had been replaced by a purple band of the same material. As +the breakfast, which was excellent for a country place, was being +placed upon the table, Kate perceived that one side of the woman's +face was discolored, and being moved to make some inquiries regarding +the cause, was informed, that while breaking up some kindling wood, a +splinter had accidentally struck her face. This went to satisfy her, +of course, although she thought the large, black patch which fell down +along the cheek was singularly dark and wide to be traceable to the +small splinter that the woman asserted to be the cause of it. A +strange look from Martha, too, aroused a suspicion that the origin of +the disfigurement was not that named; so here the matter rested for +the present. + +During her repast, she learned from Martha, who remained with her, +that the name of the people of the house was Wilson; that they were +English, and that the person who had arrived in company with her +uncle, who was also English, was called Stephen Smith; but where he +resided she was unable to say. This she knew, however, that he made +occasional visits to the family, and was sometimes accompanied by a +very ill-looking man, who remained a day or two, after having left +some boxes or cases in charge of her uncle, who subsequently disposed +of them in some manner unknown to her. + +"But," she continued, "I don't like these men. They always come in the +night, and go away in the night, and are ever whispering; you must +not, however," she went on to say, "mention this to either my aunt or +my uncle; for, if they should know I had said so much, they would +doubtless be very angry with me." + +"Oh!" returned Kate, "you may rely upon it, that whatever you may +choose to say in relation to the men in question, or anything else, +shall remain in my bosom; for to betray any confidence of the kind, +would, in my eyes, be criminal in the last degree." + +"What brought you here, then!--what brought you here!" ejaculated +Martha, in an anxious, nervous tone. "There must be something +wrong!--some treachery, or I am sure a lady so good and pure as you +seem to be, would never cross this threshold." + +Kate, becoming instantly alarmed, broke off suddenly in her repast, +and begged the young girl, for Heaven's sake, to be more explicit. + +"I really don't know what more to say than I have already said," +replied the girl; "but, as I feel drawn towards you by some invisible +power, short as our acquaintance has been, I will say, that I fear my +uncle's associates are lawless men, and believe that my aunt knows it, +and regrets it, too. But a few nights ago, when Smith came here to +make arrangements about your arrival, as I suppose, I heard high words +between my relatives after his departure, and, the next morning, found +my aunt's face just as you have seen it. But we dare not say much in +opposition to any proposition that my uncle might choose to make in +any connection, so violent and brutal is his temper at times. For my +own part, however," she proceeded, "so soon as I can escape from such +thraldom and associations, I shall try and make my own way in the +world; for my impression is, my uncle has some idea of a union between +me and the detestable creature, Smith, who accompanied you here last +night, and who, after an hour's rest, was again driven off by my +uncle, doubtless to whatever point he came from." + +This intelligence, as may be supposed, caused poor Kate the greatest +possible anxiety; but what had she to fear so long as she took the +talisman for her guide? Here there could be no mistake, anyway; for +had she not it in her bosom, and was it not from _him_? Still, that +there was something perfectly mysterious about the whole affair, she +was quite ready to admit; but as she had received the strictest +injunctions from Smith not to permit herself to be seen for the +present in the vicinity of the place, or outside the dwelling, she +determined to obey one to whom no small power in her case had +unquestionably been delegated by her lover. + +During the day Martha and Kate were frequently together--the poor +young girl disclosing her history scrap by scrap, until at last Kate +learned that she was in reality an orphan; that both her parents died +when she was yet quite young; that her aunt, who was possessed of an +excellent education, had been twice married--once to her own mother's +brother, and subsequently to the man whom she now called uncle; that +her own parents had been Irish, and that on their death, her real +uncle became her guardian and true friend until his death; when, on +this second, unfortunate marriage, the affairs of the family becoming +hopelessly embarrassed, she and her relatives embarked for America, +taking up their abode first in Toronto, and subsequently in the place +where they now resided. In addition, she stated that her opportunities +of education had been good, and that, somehow or other, since she had +crossed the Atlantic, she managed to keep a few choice books about +her, and avail herself of the assistance of her aunt, whenever they +could, in the absence of her uncle, devote an hour to study or the +perusal of some new work. + +The small clearing, on the verge of which the house occupied by the +Wilsons stood, was surrounded with woods, and no other habitation was +to be found in its immediate vicinity. From the morose disposition and +suspicious character of the proprietor himself, but few of the +neighbors were on visiting terms with the family; so that they might +be said to lead a completely sequestered life. From time to time only, +an occasional visit was paid him by some one who stood in need of the +services of his team; and thus his standing in the neighborhood was +that of a suspected or banned man--the general impression being, that +he was neither more nor less than a dangerous and daring smuggler, who +was constantly engaged in the interests of unprincipled merchants on +both sides of the lines. This idea obtained footing from the +circumstance that he had been observed returning late one night from +the frontier with his wagon laden down with suspicious looking boxes +and bales; and from the further fact, that his absences from home were +frequently lengthy and mysterious--no one knowing the precise nature +of his business, or the points to which his journeys were made so +often. + +The clearing, itself, was under good cultivation, the spring crops +giving fine promise of an abundant harvest. A short distance from the +house flowed a beautiful brook, whose murmurs occasionally reached the +ears of the inmates; while the thickening foliage of the surrounding +groves, as they might be termed, gave shelter to various birds, +amongst which might now be heard, at early morn and throughout the +day, the clear, round notes of the robin. + +"The robin!"--what on earth has, we should like to know, bewitched +ornithologists to designate the great, coarse, tuneless bird, that +visits us in the earliest dawn of spring, in this far off America, +"the robin?" Neither in throat nor plumage is it even a thirty-first +cousin of the sweet, timid, little, brown bunch of melody that haunts +the hawthorn hedges of Ireland and the sister island, when they are +in bloom, or seeks a crumb at the open casement, when winter ruffles +all its russet plumes, and sets his chill, white seal on all its +stores; We have been often struck with the great dissimilarity +between these two namesakes of the feathered kingdom; for never on +these transatlantic shores have we heard what might be termed a +domestic bird sing a song so sweet as that poured beneath our window +in the soft blue haze of an Irish summer evening, by the genuine +robin-red-breast, as he sang the daylight down the west, through a sky +flushed and flecked with azure, crimson and gold, to such extreme +intensity, that the poet or painter might, at the moment, half indulge +in the idea, that the sun had fallen into curious ruins upon the verge +of the horizon. Oh! the silver thread of such a song, as it flashed +and scintillated from that trembling throat! Never shall we forget it, +or the land in which it first wound itself around our heart. + +But this, we know, is inclined to be sentimental; and as we now have +to do with stern realities, we shall resume the chain of our story by +saying, that after her first day's residence with the Wilsons, and +finding that the uncle of Martha had no intelligence for her on his +return home on the evening or night succeeding the one of her arrival, +she expressed her great anxiety to Martha, who now devoted every +moment she could spare from her other duties, to the pleasing task of +rendering her solitude as agreeable as possible. + +On the morning of the second day after her arrival she ventured to ask +Wilson if he had any idea of when she was to be relieved from her +embarrassing position. In reply to her interrogatory he assured her, +that he was quite unable to give her any information on the subject, +but was led to believe that she should not be long a prisoner, as he +termed it. All he could say in relation to the matter was, that some +person, with whose name even he was unacquainted, had secured, through +a third party, his services as her host, and engaged the apartment she +occupied, and attendance, etc. In addition to this, he observed, +carelessly, that he was responsible for her safety until the arrival +of those who had delegated to him the right to watch over her and +shield her from observation until the proper moment arrived. + +To all this Kate made no reply; the thought having just struck her, +that Nicholas had perhaps learned of some intended design upon her by +Lauder, and that he took this method of transporting her to some point +unknown to that person, until he himself could offer her his full and +unembarrassed protection. Yet she wondered why it was that he had left +her in such dreadful uncertainty, and did not write her explicitly +upon the subject Again, she was perplexed at the idea that he was in +no position to learn anything of the plots or plans of her rejected +suitor, if he entertained any; so that, upon the whole, she was in no +very comfortable state of mind when she rejoined Martha whom she had +left in her chamber, and whom she now induced to make up a bed upon a +sofa and consent to sleep in her apartment during her stay. + +Martha, on her part, moved by this token of friendship, and while +sitting up late on the very night of the conversation with Wilson, +became mysteriously nervous and, through various vague hints and +insinuations, so far alarmed Kate at last, that the poor girl implored +her new acquaintance to tell her frankly if she knew anything that +bore upon her ease, or the reasons for her being so singularly +circumstanced. + +To this solicitation Martha made no direct reply; but rising +cautiously, she stepped lightly towards the chamber door, and opening +it softly put out her head into the passage and listened for a few +moments. Then gently closing the door, she again noiselessly retraced +her steps, and drawing her seat close beside that of Kate, began thus, +in a low, trembling voice, in which fear and agitation were distinctly +traceable: + +"Oh! Miss McCarthy, horrible as the disclosure is, I believe that, +instead of a smuggler, which my aunt and I long supposed him to be, my +uncle is a robber, or leagued with robbers! This, for the first-time, +came to our knowledge last night, after his return from wherever he +had been. We had been always accustomed to his bringing here, during +the night, mysterious packages; but as he informed us that they were +goods for merchants who, as he asserted, resided at some distance, we +took him at his word, and when he removed the goods again were, of +course, under the firm impression that he carried them to their +owners. However, as I have observed, on returning last night, when my +aunt and I were assisting him to remove a heavy case from his wagon, +while carrying it into the stable to place it under the hay beneath +which he invariably concealed such things, my aunt and I perceived +that, this time, it was a large trunk that he had brought, and that +the lock had given way, disclosing gleams within it, as though it +contained some bright objects. He did not notice the circumstance of +the fastening having failed, and we did not call his attention to +the fact; but permitted him to shake the hay over it as usual. +Subsequently, however, my aunt and I referred to the matter, when she, +taking advantage of my uncle's sound slumbers, he having retired to +rest before her, went out again and, re-lighting the stable lantern, +removed the covering from the lid of the great trunk, and raising it, +perceived that it contained many valuable articles of silver and +dress; but all evidently old, and huddled together in a manner the +most confused. This almost paralysed the poor woman, and as I +subsequently inspected the package, on her retiring for the night, I +arrived at the conclusion which she had, as she informed me, herself +previously adopted; namely, that the goods were stolen, and that Smith +was in some way mixed up with the robbery." + +Now, indeed, Kate felt her situation alarming in the truest sense of +the term, and sat looking at her companion in speechless horror and +amazement. Mystery upon mystery it was; but as the dangers that +appeared to surround her, though gloomy, were indistinct, she once +more had recourse to her panacea of the token, and seeking her couch +with a fervent prayer on her lip, was soon, like her young friend on +the sofa, lost in uneasy slumbers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It was on the night of Sunday the 27th of May, 1866, that Barry and +his comrades were to attempt their escape from the Fort; and, as +already seen, it was on the same night that the deserter was conveyed +in a cab to The Harp, by Greaves. Two o'clock in the morning was the +time decided upon, and a rendezvous having been appointed, our hero, +who was on guard, saw, without challenging them, six figures steal by +him into the darkness and immediately disappear. No sooner had the +last of them vanished, than he placed his musket bolt upright in his +sentry box, and the next moment was lost also in the gloom, and in the +direction in which the figures had melted from his vision. Soon he +reached the side of the river, where he found Tom with a boat, beside +which stood his six companions. On recognizing him, they all leaped +into the boat, and, although the moon was in the heavens, sheltered by +the dark overhanging clouds that fortunately filled the sky, they +dropped down the river, and landing Tom at a point previously decided +upon, they all wrung his hand in silence, and once more put forth into +the gloom, heading their craft towards the American shore, under the +guidance of a pilot who knew every island and turn in the channel, and +who joined them at the spot where O'Brien bid them farewell. With +muffled oars and in the most profound silence, they moved along until +they arrived at a turn in the channel, where they were instructed to +bend to their work by the stranger who held the tiller; when, taking +heart from their good fortune, for so far, they made their willing +craft almost leap out of the water, as they gave a long pull, a strong +pull, and a pull altogether. + +As day was beginning to shape the world around them, they found +themselves nearing the American shore, and now perceiving themselves +beyond the reach of danger and out of the jurisdiction of the flag +they had so long and so cordially detested, they rested on their oars, +and giving three hearty cheers for the land they were fast +approaching, again set to with a will, and soon found themselves +beneath the Stars and Stripes of the glorious Republic before which +all the nations of the earth now bow, however reluctantly. On leaping +ashore, they discovered a short distance from the water a small +village to which, on securing their boat, they all posted; and having +gained a neat little tavern, the shutters of which were just being +opened, they explained their situation to the proprietor, and ordered +breakfast, determined to rest themselves for a period, and deliberate +upon their future movements, although the destination of Barry had, of +course, long been decided upon. + +On hearing that they were deserters from the British army, and that, +without an exception, they were all Irishmen, who had come to the +United States with a view to aiding in any project that had for its +object the humiliation of England, and the freedom of Ireland, the +landlord, who was a six-footer from Tipperary--one of the +Cummingses--gave "a yell out of him" that brought his wife and +children in _deshabille_ to the bar-room door, proceeded by a boy of +all work, who evidently shared their alarm and surprise to the fullest +extent; but when, instead of a bar-room disturbance, they perceived +the master of the premises shaking hands over and over again with the +new arrivals, and bidding them welcome to the land of the free, they +soon disappeared from the hall and regained their chambers, from which +they had been so unceremoniously summoned. Cummings was literally in +his glory, and instantly had his counter be-littered with glasses, +bottles and decanters; while, with genuine hospitality, he made the +fugitives partake more than once of some one of the beverages that he +had placed before them. Ere long a smoking, hot breakfast was in +readiness for them, prepared by the mistress of the house,--herself a +comely Irishwoman, with a set of teeth that you'd almost let bite you, +they were so white and sunny, and a handsome, fair face, with a _cead +mille failte_ in every line and dimple of it. Already the poor +adventurers began to feel the exhilarating effects of freedom, and, as +soon as they had satisfied their appetites, each set about changing +his soldier's coat for a rough, plain one, which had been provided by +O'Brien and his friends, and which they found awaiting them when they +first entered the boat. + +As Barry, who was regarded as chief of the little party, avowed his +intention of pushing on direct for Buffalo, the others, who had no +fixed point in view, determined to join him; so, when they had taken a +few hours repose, they parted from their kind host and hostess, who +would not permit them to pay a single shilling for anything they had +drank or eaten since they entered the friendly hostel. During the time +they were waiting at the railway station, they heard various rumors as +to the intended invasion of the Province they had but just left; and +from numerous significant hints which they had received, they were +fully convinced that some important movement was on foot, which would +soon develope itself in bolder outline. On entering the cars that were +to take them west, they found the subject of Fenianism freely +discussed, and in many cases with a friendliness that showed there +was, in some instances at least, a feeling hostile to England among +the American people. As they pursued their journey and received other +accessions to their numbers as travellers, they found that this +aversion was both widely spread and deeply rooted, so that by the time +they reached their destination, they were fully satisfied that the +people of America, and those of the adjoining English Colony, could +never become true friends so long as the latter adheared to the +standard of Great Britain, or remained part and parcel of the British +empire. The antagonism of institutions, the infamous conduct of +England during the late civil war, and the fixed impression of every +true American, that the Canadas belong of right to the great people +who now rule the continent, made it strikingly apparant that England +had but a precarious foot-hold upon the shores of the New World. + +On the arrival of the train at Black Rock, Barry, who had been +previously informed as to the precise locality in which the relatives +of Kate were to be found, stepped off the cars, informing his comrades +that he would join them in the city during the day. With but little +difficulty he found the dwelling of his friends, and entering it, was +received with open arms, and was instantly asked as to where he left +Kate. For a moment he did not comprehend the question, but when by +degrees he heard the fearful disclosure, that she had secretly left +the house, by night, about a week previously, he fell into a chair, +almost fainting, while the greatest consternation seized all those +about him. Slowly, and with their hearts sinking within them, they +recounted the circumstance of the note that had been written and left +for them on her bedroom table, and the fact of her having taken some +of her wearing apparel with her, but as to where she had gone, or with +whom, they were in the most profound darkness. No one had called at +the house,--no previous intimation had been given them by her as to +her intentions; and, in so far as they were concerned, all was +darkness. Lauder, they knew, had been in the vicinity of the Rock, but +then, of course, he could have had no hand in the strange transaction, +as her detestation of him precluded, as they thought, the possibility +of his exercising the slightest influence over any of her actions. +However, she was gone, and now, as it appeared, was the victim of some +horrible plot or mistake beyond the reach of any elucidation, for the +present at least. + +Never was a strong man so bowed to the dust as the poor young fellow +who now found all his hopes so rudely and unexpectedly dashed to the +earth. With a face pale as death he shook throughout every limb in a +manner fearful to behold. In vain he looked from one face to another +for some explanation of the dreadful calamity that had befallen +him--all was dark and blank and silent around him. Even conjecture was +paralysed, so completely was the disappearance of his betrothed +enveloped in mystery. As a preliminary step, to gain even the feeblest +information of her, he did not know how, or when or where to move. +Could he get even the slightest glimpse of any link in the chain, he +could set about unravelling the tangled and gloomy skein; but as it +was, he was as helpless as a child. Secure in her fidelity, however, +and trusting to Providence, crushed as he was, his young heart, after +the first blow, began to rise within him, and collecting himself, he +set about making such enquiries in the neighborhood as he thought were +likely to throw some light upon the subject. In this he was warmly +aided by the alarmed wife of his friend, who learned that on the very +evening of the night of her disappearance, after having given her last +music lesson in the house of one of her pupils, she was seen in +company with a man, who was recognized as no very respectable +character, by one of the hands employed in the rolling mills, who +happened to catch a glimpse of them in conversation as he was +returning from his work. The name of this latter individual having +been ascertained, Barry at once visited the mills and heard, to his +consternation, that the suspicious person seen in company with Kate on +the evening referred to, was neither more nor less than the Kid, +previously introduced to the reader, as one of the keepers of the low +gambling house already mentioned, where we first met him and his +partner of the blue shirt, alluded to also as a burglar and robber. + +This much ascertained, Nicholas prevailed upon the workman to +accompany him to the den in question, into which they accidentally +dropped as it were. The person they sought was, as usual, about the +premises; but from him Barry could gain no information whatever, +beyond the circumstance, that he did remember, about a week ago, +accosting a lady near Black Bock, having taken the liberty of +enquiring of her, whether a certain person whom he was anxious to find +resided in the neighborhood. + +"I know that's a lie," said the workman, when he and Nicholas had +gained the street once more, "for as I happened to come upon them just +as they were separating, I heard the lady say, before she perceived +me, and as I was turning a corner of the road, 'I'll not fail to be +there,' or words to that effect." + +To Nicholas this was more perplexing than ever; although he now +arrived at the conclusion, that Kate was the victim of some infamous +and deep-laid plot, and that Lauder was at the bottom of it. But here +again he was embarrassed by the circumstance, that he had never, so +far as he knew, seen her rejected suitor, nor was he known to any of +his friends at the Rock; from the fact that they had left Toronto +before his arrival there, and that, notwithstanding his visits to +Buffalo, he had never crossed their path. All, then, that Nicholas had +to stand upon was the circumstance that she had actually been seen in +conversation with the Kid, and that that worthy had evidently +misrepresented the tenor of that conversation, whatever it might have +been. + +The next day after his arrival, Barry, with a heart sore and dark +enough, went in search of his comrades, informing such of them as he +thought proper to admit to his confidence, of the dreadful condition +of his affairs and mind. While sympathising with him sincerely, +however, and offering him all the assistance in their power, they +seemed absorbed with some new subject of importance which appeared to +engross no ordinary share of their attention. Since their arrival, +they had learned that it was a fact and beyond all doubt, that the +Fenians were gathering along the frontier for the purpose of making a +descent upon Canada and securing a foothold upon its shores, with a +view to making it the basis of operations against England in their +attempt to secure the independence of Ireland. One and all they had +determined to join the expedition as volunteers, and Nicholas, who +entertained a lurking suspicion that Kate had crossed the American +frontier under some mysterious impulse or influence, half made up his +mind to make one of the invading army also. This suspicion was based +upon the fact of Kate's having no friends or relatives in the States, +save those at the Rock, while she had several in Canada in the +direction of which she might have been attracted by letters or +representations now a mystery to him. However, he felt assured that, +under any circumstance, she was not to be found in Buffalo or its +vicinity; so, moved by both love and patriotism, before the evening +had set in, he came to the conclusion to join his comrades in the +approaching struggle. + +This resolution once taken, he made instant application to some of the +Fenian authorities of the city, stating the circumstance of his recent +arrival, and quickly found himself surrounded by a host of friends who +were ready to share their last mouthful or dollar with him. During +this juncture, the Irish spirit of Buffalo, strongly impregnated with +the generous national sentiment of America, was discernible upon every +side. The groups of patriots quietly at first arriving from almost +every point of the compass, were received with open arms and the +sincerest hospitality by those who had an interest in the cause of +freedom and the humiliation of the tyrant England. There were, of +course, a few British sympathisers among the people and press who, +ignoring their allegiance to the Union, or the principles for which +the heroes of the Revolution laid down their lives, threw their voice +and influence into the scale on the side of England, but they were in +a hopeless minority; as the great heart of the nation beat steadily in +the interests of liberty, and inspired its sons with all the +confidence necessary to the most complete success. + +To decide, with Barry, was to act. Consequently, now that he had made +up his mind to join the expedition, he at once acquainted his friends +at the Rock, and gave them such information and instructions relative +to Kate as he thought desirable; intimating to them, at the same time, +that he was of the fixed impression that she had, by some means or +other, been lured into Canada; although a telegram, in reply to one +dispatched to Toronto, informed his friends that she had not visited +that city since she left it. Upon further inquiry, however, regarding +the Kid, he learned that that respectable personage, together with his +worthy coadjutor, Black Jack, were in the habit of paying frequent +visits to Canada on the sly; it being thought that they were employed +by persons who were engaged in smuggling. This information he gained +while walking near the breakwater with a new acquaintance well versed +in city notorieties, and who, at the moment, happened to espy a boat +known to belong to the doubtful firm of Jack and the Kid, lying drawn +up on the shore. + +This craft, of course, engaged the attention of our hero, as +belonging, in part, to the individual who seemed to be mixed up in +some mysterious manner with the fate of his beloved. Consequently, he +stepped over to it and casting a glance of scrutiny at the interior, +saw something sparkle among a little sand, that had accumulated at the +bottom near one of the stretchers. Picking it up, he found that it was +a handsome button that had apparently dropped from the dress of some +lady. This he examined with the most intense eagerness; when the +thought struck him that it was very like some buttons that belonged to +a dress occasionally worn by Kate. Of this, however, he was not +sufficiently certain; so, thrusting it into his pocket, he turned +away, more perplexed than ever with the mystery that surrounded him. +Hurrying to the Rock with the waif as soon as he could, he submitted +it to his friends, when it was at once recognized as being similar to +a set of buttons worn by Kate, and which belonged to a dress that, it +was believed, she wore on the night of her disappearance. +Corroborative as this evidence was, it availed him but little for the +time being; although it strengthened his resolve to move with the army +of invasion; being convinced that his betrothed had, by some foul +means, been spirited across the borders, and all through the +machinations of her rejected suitor, Lauder. + +And now how he cursed the procrastination that had kept him from +applying for his discharge long since, when he might have procured it +without any difficulty, and have placed her he loved beyond the power +of any villain. Again, he was no longer free to search for her in the +Province; for he was under the ban of military law there, and, unless +supported by a sufficient number of bayonets, could not stem the +torrent that should soon overwhelm him if he re-entered the +territories of the Queen and was discovered. Yet, even death were +preferable to the state of mind in which he now found himself; he +therefore at once set to work to prepare himself for the coming +contest, in the hope that when once across the borders, if even amid +the din of war, he might gain some clue to the fate of all that he now +cared to live for. + +As may be supposed, the service of such men as Nicholas and his +comrades were, at a moment so critical, accepted with alacrity by the +military authorities of the Fenian organization of the city. Amongst +the various sterling patriots in power here, both he and his comrades +were instantly taken by the hand and placed in positions where their +knowledge of arms could be made most serviceable to the grand cause in +which they had resolved to embark. They were all Irish, and of that +stamp that never loses color, how fierce soever the scorching fires to +which they might be subjected. Under a special provision, and at +Barry's request, they were attached to the same company; while he, +from his evident superiority in education and address, as well as from +his thorough knowledge of drill and military tactics, was presented, +upon joining the organization, with a captain's commission. In the +hurry and bustle attending the note of preparation, he found some +slight relief from the great and overshadowing trouble that darkened +all around him; and finding how necessary it was to keep both mind and +body employed, if he was to retain either health or energy to aid him +in any of the important projects that now loomed before him, he gave +no place to useless repinings, but busily engaged with the necessities +of his new avocation, found the hours slipping by which intervened +between the period when he swore the true fealty of his soul to the +flag of his love, and that which was to see him a hostile invader upon +the shores he had so recently left. + +As the men steadily poured into the city for a short period before the +invasion, and filled the streets and suburbs in groups of various +sizes, it became a matter of general conversation and surprise that, +in bodies so peculiarly situated, and under such seemingly slight +restraint, many of them being far distant from their homes, not a +single individual was to be found who suffered in the slightest degree +from even the appearance of intoxication. Look where you might, there +was nothing but the utmost sobriety and good behaviour. Although the +men were, for the most part, young, and many of them just from the +bloodiest fields of the South, there hung about them an air of serious +decorum that argued well for the mission in which they were about to +engage. In addition, notwithstanding that, in some cases, they were +badly housed and provisioned, a murmur never escaped their lips; nor +could the most bitter of their enemies point to a single act where the +law was violated by any of them, or show that even to the value of one +mouthful of bread had been appropriated to their use without being +paid for honestly, or given to them freely by those who felt for their +position. This is so well known that, even at the period at which we +write, upwards of two years after the occurrence of these scenes, not +a solitary fact has come to light reflecting in any degree upon the +honesty, sobriety and good conduct of these noble patriots, many of +whom had left home penniless, to wage war against a power that had +almost every resource at its command, and which they knew they should +meet under circumstances that could not fail to be disadvantageous to +them. + +And here we may observe, history does not record a more daring or +chivalrous project than that entertained by the brave fellows who made +the night of Thursday the 31st of May, 1866, memorable in the annals +of this continent, as well as in those of Ireland. Although laboring +under embarrassments from the most fearful mistakes and criminal +neglect of an individual to whom the grand project of the redemption +of Ireland from the yoke of the oppressor was, in its strictly +military aspect, entrusted in this country--although badly +provisioned, uniformed and equipped--although perplexed with +mysterious, contradictory and imperfect orders, and although, at the +very moment of their destiny, left without the leader whom they were +led to expect should command them, they never lost heart for a moment; +feeling that heaven would raise up amongst them a chief not only +competent to meet the emergency of the moment, but one in whom they +should be able to place the fullest and most enthusiastic confidence. + +And heaven did not disappoint their noble and confiding aspirations; +for, when all looked dark and dreary to the more uneasy of their +numbers, the gallant O'Neill, crowned with the laurels which he had so +nobly won during the war that had then just closed, and true to the +genius of his ancient name and house, stepped in upon the stage, and +grasping the drooping standard of the Irish Republic, held it aloft; +and, fired with the spirit of the "Red Hand" of yore, raised the +war-cry of his race, before which many a Saxon tyrant and slave had +trembled in the days long past. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Philip Greaves received the note from Barry, to the deserter who +was secreted in the suburbs of the city, he proceeded, towards +evening, to the point where the soldier lay concealed, and to which he +had been directed with unerring accuracy. On reaching the house in +which the fugitive was said to be hidden, he found but an old woman, +who seemed neither alarmed nor surprised at his arrival. Upon +whispering a word in her ear, however, a look of intelligence stole +into her eyes, and putting on her bonnet and cloak, in the deep dusk, +she motioned him to follow her, having closed and locked to door +behind her. After leading him but a short distance, among a number of +small though clean huts, she gained one in which the family were +seated at their plain evening repast. As they entered the dwelling, he +perceived that there was one vacant seat at the table, from which some +person had evidently arisen hastily and disappeared from the apartment +In the course of a few moments, however, and on the head of the family +having been called aside by the old woman, Philip was greeted with a +hearty welcome, and instantly led into a little back room, where he +found the person whom he sought, gazing about him with a distrustful +if not an alarmed air. To this individual he showed Barry's note, +which he had previously abstracted from the envelope, requesting him, +as he perused it, to return it to him again, as he wished to destroy +it himself, lest, by accident, it should fall into other hands, and as +he desired to say to Nicholas that he was personally cognizant of the +fact of its being put out of the way. To this request the deserter +readily acceded, as he would have to any other of a reasonable +character, so delighted was he to receive the assurance that the hour +of his deliverance drew nigh. Here, then, were the particulars of the +plan of his escape settled upon. He was to remain still concealed, +until Greaves called for him with a cab, but was to hold himself ready +to quit his hiding place at a moment's notice. + +These preliminaries being arranged, Philip left the house and speedily +proceeded to a neighboring hotel, where he procured a private room, +and, calling for pen, ink and paper, at once addressed himself to +writing a letter. Various were the rubbings of hands and sinister +smiles which punctuated this epistle, until at last, on its being +finished, he carefully folded it, and taking from his pocket-book a +sealed envelope, one end of which had been previously opened with +great care, and the superscription completely removed by a cunning +process, he took from another compartment of his book a small note and +introduced it into the envelope, adroitly closing the apperture with a +little mucilage, so as to completely conceal the incision that had +been made, and obliterate every evidence of the envelope's having been +tampered with. This done, he slowly, and with apparent great caution +as to the conformation of the letters, directed it, and when he found +the ink to be completely dried, enclosed the whole in the letter that +he had just written; placing it, in turn, in a larger envelope which +he hastily directed to some party, from whom he apparently cared but +little to conceal his hand-writing. This accomplished, he called for +some brandy, and after paying liberally for it and the use of the +room, directed his steps towards a stationer's shop where he purchased +a postage stamp which he attached to his letter. Here, also, he heard +the subject of the threatened invasion of the Province discussed in +all its bearings and probable results; and here, too, the bitter +murmurs of discontent regarding the criminal conduct of the individual +to whom the whole interests of the country were entrusted by the +people and the Crown, and who was said to have been already for weeks +in a condition of mind and body absolutely loathsome. Not wishing, +however, to delay the mailing of his letter, he soon found himself +wending his way to the Post-office, where, with his own hand, he +consigned the missive to the care of her Majesty the Queen, by putting +it in the apperture that opened into the letter-box from the +street--the office being already closed. On this, he retraced his +steps towards The Harp, where he so managed to thrust himself in among +the struggling suspicions of O'Brien, as to almost gain the full +confidence of that generous patriot and banish the last doubt from his +breast. + +"Well," said Tom, when he found a fitting opportunity, "how did you +find the poor fellow?" + +"Willing enough to leave the Province," whispered Philip, "if he could +only manage to get away; but I think that will be easily arranged now, +as the storm about his desertion has blown over.". + +"On the night after that of to-morrow, then," returned Tom, "they will +make the attimpt; and as I can get a man to help them who knows every +turn and crank of the river, I have hopes of their success; besides it +will be Nick's night for guard, and there's somethin in that, you +know; as they can get out at the point where he stands, without much +throuble to themselves or anyone else. However," he observed farther, +"I hope no one will let the cat out of the bag, as it would be a cryin +sin to have the poor fellows 'nabbed' at the very moment when they +fancied themselves about to brathe the purest air that ever floated +benathe the canopy of heaven." + +"There's no fear of that," replied Greaves, "for you and I only know +of their intentions; although I feel that you are not exactly at home +with me yet, for all your friendly conduct and information; but +recollect, that I'll perform my part of the contract, and it is for +you and them to do the rest." + +This speech made Tom feel a little awkward; and he was about to make a +suitable reply, when he was happily relieved by some parties who +dropped in, to command the attention he so willingly accorded at the +moment. + +That Greaves puzzled and perplexed him there could be no doubt; but at +no period could that individual elicit from him any information, if he +possessed such, in relation to Fenianism. He, of course, knew that +Philip learned from Barry that there were many soldiers in the Fort +who sympathised warmly with Ireland; but this was as far as he was +informed in the matter. It was obvious, however, that for some reason +or other, he was anxious to fathom the depths of the actual +Organization, if such existed in or about the city; but in every +attempt he was foiled; for, notwithstanding his most subtle attacks, +he was met at each turn by a spirit of reticence which baffled all his +ingenuity and led him to the conclusion that, after all, there were +perhaps but slight grounds for believing that the Brotherhood had any +very extensive footing in the colony. + +Tom sometimes reasoned, that his solicitude on this head was prompted +by patriotic motives; and then, again, the idea used to creep in upon +him that he sought this information for sinister purposes; and thus +the worthy host, trembling in the balance between the two impressions, +kicked the beam on the side of prudence, and if he knew anything of +the movements and intentions of the Organization, kept it to himself; +although the letter in the possession of Greaves might, were he less +cautious, have drawn from him some serious information; for Tom +O'Brien was, at that moment, the Centre of a Fenian Circle, with three +hundred armed men at his command, ready to join the invaders the +instant they entered the Province and planted their standard near him +upon British soil. This being the case, he was well aware of the +intentions of the Brotherhood in the United States; and thus it was, +that when he found Barry could not procure his discharge before the +invaders were upon them, he instantly endorsed the project of his +desertion; well knowing that, should he fail to escape before the hour +of the movement arrived, he should be called to take the field against +his countrymen and against Ireland; and, perhaps, under circumstances +that might preclude the possibility of his acting otherwise than as +their enemy. Nor did he relax in his watchfulness and caution when +Greaves even brought the deserter to The Harp in redemption of his +word, or, more remarkable still, when he learned, on the morning +succeeding the night of their escape from the Fort, that seven +soldiers of the Regiment had bid their commanding officer an +unexpected and unceremonious adieu; and notwithstanding that the +garrison was all but alive with sentries and guards patroling every +avenue which led from it, made good their escape to the American +shore, where they were now beyond the reach of the Canadian or +Imperial authorities. + +No sooner had Philip ascertained that the party had made good their +escape, than he himself prepared to bid good-bye to The Harp. O'Brien +was not at all surprised at this sudden resolution, as Greaves had +professed to be daily transacting business; which he asserted might be +brought to a close at any moment. And so he had been transacting +business; for he might have been seen occasionally entering, by +stealth, a certain dwelling in the outskirts of the city where +Fenianism and all Irish Nationalists had their deadliest enemy; but, +as already intimated, this enemy had been rendered powerless by the +wine cup for some time past, so that if there had been any matter of +importance to transact between them, it would have been useless to +have even approached it. Still Philip called and called, but to no +purpose; so finding that he had pressing matters in another direction +to claim his immediate attention, he left the mystified functionary in +disgust, casting a glance at the numerous unopened dispatches on his +table, and congratulating Canada on the possession of such a +creditable and efficient, leading officer. + +Shaking hands with Tom, then, after having honestly liquidated his +bill, our mysterious friend soon found himself on board a train bound +direct for Toronto, where he arrived in due course, amid hosts of +rumors, and military movements which were being accomplished in that +reckless and inefficient haste, that went to prove a screw loose +somewhere. Here he found himself on the evening of the 29th, and being +obliged to remain in the city all the next day, he started the +following morning for the West, when he learned, while journeying +onwards, that the Fenian forces were massed at Buffalo and along the +American frontier, and that a descent upon Fort Erie was sure to take +place within a very few hours. Although he had intended to reach his +destination before night, he was delayed at the various stations, by +rumors which tended to make it important for the train not to proceed +in haste, it having been alleged, more than once, that the Fenian army +was already in the Province, and burning and destroying all before it, +In turn, however, each of these rumors was contradicted; and so the +cars proceeded until another was encountered. In this way the morning +of the first of June overtook him before he had yet reached the point +for which he was bound. Now, however, he ascertained that the Province +was, without any manner of doubt, invaded by the army of the Irish +Republic, and that even then the "Sunburst" was flying over the +village of Fort Erie. + +This intelligence seemed to confound him, and to have exceeded +anything that he could have anticipated. He hod fancied that, +notwithstanding all the rumors he had heard within the last few +months, there was no real intention on the part of the Irish +Nationalists of the United States to actually invade the Province; and +believed the reports of their having congregated upon the American +frontier as either unfounded or tremendously exaggerated. Now, +nevertheless, they were within a very few miles of him, and might be +upon him and the neighborhood he was approaching, at any moment. + +There was something in this latter conviction that appeared to move +him greatly as he stepped off the train at Port Colborne, where he +found the inhabitants in a state of the direst alarm. Being a +stranger, and unable or unwilling to account very clearly for his +sudden presence here, and at a juncture when suspicion was so rife and +every new comer subjected to the closest scrutiny, he was put under +surveillance and not permitted to leave the village, as he was about +to do, until he had explained his business to the authorities. Chafing +with disappointment and anger, he was taken into custody and confined +in one of the rooms of his hotel, until a magistrate could be found to +look into his case. Here, notwithstanding his protestations and +willingness to prove that he was a loyal British subject and one of +importance too, he was detained nearly the whole day; tormented by the +uncomfortable misgiving that perhaps, after all his generalship, +Nicholas Barry might again be in the Province and at a point, too, +where he should be able to frustrate all the plans he had laid so +deeply and executed for so far with the utmost secrecy and success. At +last, however, a magistrate was found and a private investigation of +his case granted. The examination was brief; for scarcely had that +functionary been closeted five minutes with him, before he was set at +liberty and again stepped forth a free man. + +So utterly helpless were the people of the section of the country in +which he now was, that they must have fallen before any considerable +force of the invaders, had such entered the Province. The greatest +distrust obtained among themselves; there being a strong body of Irish +and Irish sympathisers in their midst, who scarcely cared to hide +their sentiments. And although there was an element in the little town +that was truly loyal to the Crown, yet it is still a matter of doubt +as to its having been in the ascendant, in so far as numbers were +concerned. True, that if the census of the place had been taken at the +moment, and the tendencies of every man registered according to a +public statement, extracted from his own lips, England should have +carried the day by an overwhelming majority, as, on the same basis, +she should at this present hour throughout the whole of the New +Dominion. But had one glimpse of a victorious Irish army been caught +in the distance, the case would have been widely different, indeed; +and those who were constrained, through the force of circumstances, to +fall into line with the paid, official squad who ruled the roast for +the time being, would soon hoist their true colors and step out +beneath the folds of that glorious banner of green and gold before +which, with all her boasting armaments, the tyrant power of England +now trembles to its very base. And so it will be throughout the Colony +at large, whenever the Irish Nationalists, or any other people +inimical to England, enter it with a view to tearing down the skull +and cross-bones of St. George, and ultimately replacing it with the +proud and invincible banner of the United States of America. Not a +single doubt obtains in well informed quarters on this head; so that +the tyrant England cannot fail to be swept ultimately from this +continent, never to lift her dishonored head upon its free, historic +shores again. + +And what wonder that the thinking portion of the people of Canada--men +who have its material prosperity and its happiness at heart--should +long for a union with this Republic, with which their interests are so +intimately identified, and upon which they are almost solely dependant +for a market and that good will that is not only necessary to their +peace, but to their very existence? Shut out from the ocean, that +great highway of nations, for six months of the year, they are, almost +daily, at the mercy of the United States for any description of +commercial intercourse, or exchange of thought, in relation to the +material condition of the continent or their own probable future. +Lying a frozen strip against the North pole, with all their available +lands settled, if we are to credit the assertions made by their own +statesmen, were this great Republic to close its doors against them, +they should be obviously cut off, in a measure, from all civilization, +and dwarfed both mentally and physically into the most contemptible +dimensions. As it is, they are depending upon America for every +refining and practical influence that warms their partial life, or +gives any value whatever to their social status. American literature, +tastes, habits, inventions and even foibles color all their internal +intercourse; although the fact does not seem apparent to those who are +interested in perpetuating British rule amongst them, and is denied by +others from motives of envy or vanity. Add to this the circumstance +that their government is the most wretched that could possibly be +found among a people professing to be free. Scarce a single department +of it but is stained with fraud of the vilest description to the very +lips, and neither more nor less than an instrument of public plunder +in the hands of corrupt officials. Even while we write, and for years +back, a charge lies in the department of the Minister of Finance, +against the present Premier of the Dominion, accusing that +unscrupulous individual of conspiring with a whisky dealer, _while he +himself was First Minister of the Crown_, to defraud the revenue--a +charge made by the present Assistant Commissioner of Customs and +Excise, whom this same Premier has been obliged to retain in office to +the present hour, with a view to saving himself from disclosures +calculated to drive him from office in disgrace. So dreadful have been +the circumstances of this case, that when an offer was made +subsequently, through the public press, to produce bank, official and +mercantile evidence that the government functionary who preferred this +frightful accusation was dishonest and incompetent, and that he had +purloined public documents and destroyed them with a view to +concealing his crimes, still this Premier dared not summon him to +trial, although, times without number, he gave assurances, as did the +then Inspector General, that the culprit should be brought before the +proper tribunal, and justice done in the premises. But why need we +complain, when Canada takes the matter so coolly; for will it be +believed, that these two worthies--both the accused and the +accuser--both disfigured by the most damning accusations, are still in +the pay of the Canadian people, and have been so ever since the +circumstances of their official character were laid through the daily +press before the world. Not a single move has yet been made in the +direction of justice, nor an inquiry instituted as to the truth or +falsehood of these frightful charges. The Premier still carries the +filthy load upon his shoulders, while his subordinate, of the stolen +bank receipts and false report, laughs in his sleeve at the rod that +he holds over his naked shoulders. + +Nor is this more than an individual case amongst others of a similar +class. What of the tens of thousands of the people's money given, +without the sanction of Parliament, to the Grand Trunk Railway in the +interest of English stockholders; and the postal subsidies handed over +to the same line, in excess of the tender made by the Managing +Director for the carrying of her Majesty's mails? Was not the +government liberal with the hard earnings of their poor dupes +throughout the land, when they virtually informed the authorities of +the Grand Trunk that they were altogether too modest in their +estimates, and that the country ought not to take advantage of such +nice young men, but give them more than they asked for performing the +service mentioned? Glorious! wasn't it? We might also allude to the +manner in which Sir John A. taxed the struggling industry of the +Province, millions to build up his pet Parliament Houses at the back +of God speed--buildings that almost rival those of England--and refer +also to the delightful manner in which the Crown Lands were dealt with +by another member of this happy family: citing the case of the Wallace +Mine Claim, in which the Commissioner managed to dispose, at a mere +nominal figure, of a portion of the public domain by private sale +among a few of his friends, including a gentleman presumed to be his +own agent, and that, too, in the face of a law which made it +imperative upon the government to advertise all lands in the _Canada +Gazette_ before they were put upon the market. For appearance sake, +the lands were advertised in the _Gazette_; but when a purchaser +dropped in to make inquiries, it leaked out that they had been all +disposed of previously. In this way the business of the people has +been conducted for years; and what is the result? To-day they are +without immigration, trade or commerce--to-day there is no public +confidence existing in any portion of the Dominion; for the government +seem to grasp the purse-strings with one hand while they hold a drawn +sword in the other. There is no security to be found in any corner of +the State; and no projects, formed for the future of its people. To be +sure, certain parties prate and jabber about the Volunteer Service and +national defenses; but what have they to defend? If their frontier +were bristling to-morrow with forts and bayonets, all they could hope +to accomplish would be the shutting out of American liberty and +national prosperity from the people. This must be self-evident to any +individual who is at all conversant with the true nature of the case, +or cognizant of the fact, that there cannot possibly be any hope for +Canada so long as she holds herself aloof from the great social and +political compact of this Union, upon the pulses of which, in her +present helpless and isolated position, she will always have to dance +attendance and pay the piper besides. Either the sunlight or the +shadow of the Republic must fall on her without intermission. If she +choose the former, well and good; let her cut herself free of the +despotic tyrant that now holds her in cunning thrall, and step into +the broad effulgence of American freedom, or if she will it, until +circumstances of themselves precipitate her into the arms of the +Commonwealth with less grace than she might otherwise have fallen into +them, let her feel the blighting influence of the cold clouds that +cannot fail to envelope her and paralyze all her energies in the +interim. There is no need of mincing the matter--Canada beneath the +skull and cross-bones of St. George, must ever remain a poor, puny +starveling; while under the proud and ample folds of the glorious flag +of this mighty Republic, she should at once become great, powerful and +prosperous, as yet another star added to the refulgent galaxy that now +rides high amid the noontide of nations. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +One grand evidence of the deep rooted sentiment that actuates +Fenianism in the great Irish American heart, is to be found in the +fact, that at the time of the Pittsburgh Convention, the Organization +was in debt, and that within the brief space intervening between that +period and the invasion of Canada, the Brotherhood armed and equipped +thousands upon thousands of their number, and still had not expended +the last dollar in their treasury. This is, of itself, a most +significant fact, and one that goes far to exalt the Irish element on +this continent in the eyes of both soldiers, citizens and statesmen. +The abiding faith of our people in the justice of their cause, and the +fixed conviction that it shall one day triumph, enable them to deal +with reverses and opposition in a manner at once intelligent, +dignified and philosophic. They know that repeated failures have been +the crucible in which the holiest and the most successful projects +have been tried in all ages; and, like that of the spider of Bruce, +the heart never fails within them. Amongst them, too, were found upon +the eve of their descent upon the Province, as well as long previous +to it, men of undoubted patriotism, genius and chivalry. And at no +point was this more obvious than at Buffalo. We say, more obvious, for +we know that scarce a city, town or village in the State, and far and +wide outside it, but contained just us good men and true as were +possessed by Buffalo; but we refer to it thus particularly, as it is +more immediately connected with our tale. We could mention many names +as sterling in every relation as those we now introduce; but none, we +apprehend, more intimately blended with the actual descent of the +brave O'Neill upon Canada, save the handful of heroes who joined him +in that proud and daring expedition; and none which, in the hour of +the sorest need of the Organization, sacrificed more for the sake of +Ireland. + +When the moment was considered ripe for the movement, then, the eyes +of the Fenian authorities were turned towards Buffalo, and other +points on the frontier lying close upon the Canadian borders. In this +city, Francis B. Gallagher, Esq., and five or six others were regarded +as marked personages towards which a peculiar portion of the movement +should gravitate before finally crossing the lines. These gentlemen, +from their independent circumstances, excellent social standing and +undoubted patriotism, were regarded as pillars of strength upon which +the expedition might properly lean for a moment, and adjust itself +before attempting to cross the Rubicon and enter the country of the +enemy. There were more, also, in this city, who evinced a spirit of +the truest love of Ireland upon that occasion, as upon all previous +once, and who assisted in forwarding the grand objects of the +organization to the utmost stretch of their abilities, but as their +names are too numerous to mention here, and as they had their +counterpart, as they have to-day, in various localities throughout the +Union, we shall merely note the circumstance of their existence. As to +the Brotherhood in its military aspect here, no portion of the State +or Union was better represented in this connection, or more competent +to distinguish itself upon the field. Its civil relations, also, were +equally creditable; Mr. Gallagher, as the period for action +approached, becoming active, anxious and restless; devoting his time +assiduously to the affairs of the Brotherhood, and constantly +communicating with headquarters on some point of importance. And thus +affairs stood when the first draft of men arrived in the city under +Senator Bannon, of Louisville, Ky., and Senator Fitzgerald, of +Cincinnati, and when the movement on Canada might be said to have +fairly commenced. + +Soon, however, it began to be discovered that, although Buffalo, and +other places, were alive to their duty and ready to contribute their +quota to the expedition, there was a screw loose somewhere; and on the +evening of the thirty-first of May, it was ascertained that, although +numbers of volunteers had arrived from various points, through the +unfortunate neglect or incapacity of the then Secretary of War, there +was no one to command them. This was a dreadful state of affairs +indeed, and one which admits of no palliation. It was expected that +General Lynch, or some other distinguished officer, would take charge +of the expedition from this point; but that gallant and experienced +soldier, owing to the receipt of incorrect orders, did not arrive in +time to assume the command. Up to this point, and for some time +previously, matters had been conducted in a manner so careless by the +War Department, that the mere casual observer might reasonably presume +some parties connected with it courted failure. Arms and ammunition +had been despatched to the frontier without due precaution, and to +parties to whom they ought not have been transmitted, for various +reasons. Again, the massing of forces at the various points of +debarkation was neither compact nor simultaneous,--a circumstance +which occasioned so much delay, that the American government could not +possibly close their eyes to the fact of the invasion, without +compromising themselves before the world. Had one simultaneous and +compact movement characterized the expedition, the American +authorities would never have interfered with it; but when it was +rubbed under their nose for days, through the blundering or +criminality of those who undertook to direct it from the War +Department, what was to have been expected other than is now known to +have occurred? + +In addition to this, no transport had been actually secured for the +troops that had arrived at Buffalo, and the dilemma was intensified to +the extremest pitch. What ship-owner, in the face of such bungling, +would run the risk of placing any of his vessels at the disposal of a +party so uncomfortably situated? That was a question which presented +itself at the last moment, and which was more easily put than +answered. + +When all was dark and uncertain, however, and when the heart of many +began to fail, in stepped the gallant O'Neill upon the platform, +offering to command the expedition. He had arrived previously from +Nashville, Tenn., with his contingent, and felt how dreadful the +position in which the project was placed. A council of war was held, +at which Captain Hynes was present; and as this latter gentleman had +delegated authority from Gen. Sweeney, Colonel O'Neill--now +General--was at once placed in command. So far so good; but how were +the troops to get across the river? The interrogatory, as already +observed, was a perplexing one; but it was instantly solved by Mr. +Gallagher and one or two other gentlemen, who voluntarily, and at the +imminent risk of every dollar they possessed, pledged all they were +worth in the world, and procured the necessary means for crossing the +river, and landing the first instalment of the army of the Irish +Republic upon British soil. + +The number of men assembled at Buffalo on the night already mentioned +was about eight hundred,--being detachments from the following +regiments:--13th Infantry, Colonel John O'Neill; 17th Infantry, +Colonel Owen Stan; 18th Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Grace; 7th +Infantry, Colonel John Hoy, and two companies from Indiana, under +Captain Haggerty; but the number of men that could be gotten together +when the expedition crossed did not exceed six hundred. + +An authentic report of this brief but glorious campaign will be found +at the close of this work. We introduce it as historical information, +from a most unerring source. The subject, it will be perceived, is +treated in the most impartial and unimpassioned manner; dealing simply +in dry details, and in that curt, soldier-like matter of fact style, +which aims at nothing like effect, and seeks only to recount +circumstances as they occurred, and that, too, in the briefest +possible manner. + +Scarcely had the last boat, with the invading expedition, pushed off +from the American shore, on the night of the 31st of May, already +mentioned, when another craft, pulled by two men, its only occupants, +followed in the wake of the receding troops, dropping a little further +down the river, as it neared the Canadian side. From their dress and +appearance, the rowers might have been recognized by many a +Buffalonian, as Black Jack and the Kid, who were evidently bent upon +dogging the invaders, and, while keeping at a safe distance, dealing +in such plunder on their outskirts as might swell their own villainous +coffers, while the criminality should attach to the Fenians. This +course was prompted on their part by a sort of blind, bull-dog +adherence to everything English, and a hope of picking up in the red +trail of the campaign such valuables as would increase their already +large though ill-gotten store. + +On reaching the Canadian shore, both these worthies, who had but a few +nights previously conveyed Kate across the Niagara, set out for the +village of Fort Erie, which lay about four miles up the river, and +which they did not wish to approach directly from the American side, +but creep towards in the rear of the moving mass. + +Under no circumstances does the human wolf exhibit itself to such +monstrous intensity as under those of war. Not the wolf in the uniform +of the soldier, for, let him be as blood-thirsty as he may, he buys, +on the field, to some extent at least, the right to be savage. The +current coin in which he deals is human gore; and in this relation he +freely exchanges with his antagonist the circulating medium, and gives +or takes, as the necessities of the moment may demand. He stands a +nine-pin on the great bowling-alley of the field, and takes his chance +of being knocked down in common with his opponent, who occupies a +precisely similar position. He offers life for life; and, lamentable +as the doctrine may be, he seems licensed to plunder, and, if needs +be, kill. Here, of course, we speak of the mere hireling, who has no +higher object before him than that of simple gain--who is actuated +solely by a sordid love of gold--whose soul and body are as +purchasable as a pound of beef in the shambles, and who is moved by +the wretched pulses of mammon only. Such an one, although low in the +scale of humanity, and unworthy of being mentioned in the same breath +with the glorious patriot who unsheathes his sword for Father-land, +Liberty and Heaven, is an angel of light compared with the lynx-eyed, +dastardly prowler, who, when the heart of his quarry has been stilled +by some other hand, gropes, gloved with clotted sore, among the +mangled remains for the booty he never earned; or who, when the +thunder of the field, or the onward course of a victorious army lays +waste the fair land, takes advantage of the dread and confusion of the +inhabitants, and gorges himself with plunder, as though he were a +victor to whom should belong the spoils. Such wreckers of the dead are +the ghouls of our race; and never had they more faithful +representatives than the two villains who, in due course, mingled with +the invaders in the village, anxious to commence their depredations +before even a single shot was fired. + +Barry, as already intimated, joined the expedition, and was now +numbered among the invaders. Of course he perceived that with such a +mere handful of men, nothing could be effected in the Province; but, +then, he never supposed for a moment, that they were other than the +simple advance-guard of a numerous following close upon their rear. In +addition, it was anticipated that the landing of troops upon the +Canadian shore would be effected simultaneously along the frontier at +different points. This was the settled conviction of O'Neill, and of +his officers also, as the scheme formed a leading feature of the +programme of the campaign. But here the fates were against them; for +transportation, as we are led to believe, was not secured effectively +at any point save Buffalo. In fact, this city appears to have +acquitted itself with regard to the invasion, in a manner that +reflects the highest credit upon the Fenian authorities of the +district; for even when the expedition, on finding that the American +Government had interfered with the transport of reinforcements, had +considered it prudent to return, the means of reaching the American +shore were placed at its command by the patriotic gentlemen already +alluded to; while, farther still, when the United States authorities +were seizing the arms of the Brotherhood in every direction, Buffalo, +through the admirable management of these persons, contrived to keep +its quota intact. + +During the morning of the landing, Nicholas happened to get a glimpse +of the Kid and big dark companion in the village; and the circumstance +awoke strong hopes in his bosom in relation to gaining some +intelligence of Kate. From all he had heard, and from having found the +trinket in their boat, he felt convinced that either one or the other +of these scoundrels knew something of her. He, therefore, kept track +of them until a fitting opportunity, when he accosted the Kid, as a +sort of half acquaintance, and, by way of attempting to surprise him +into a confession of some knowledge of Kate, produced the silver +chased button already referred to, and asked him if he knew the name +of the lady that had recently dropped it in his boat. For a moment the +villain, who was, of course, none other than the Stephen Smith that +was in the habit of visiting the Wilsons, seemed taken aback; but +instantly recovering himself, replied, that his boat was so often +hired by fishing parties, it would be difficult to tell the name of +the lady from whose dress it might have dropped--that was, "provided +it had dropped from a lady's dress, at all." + +Although the thrust was adroitly parried, Nicholas, who was on the +_qui vive_, noticed his momentary confusion, and determined to keep +his eye upon him, in the hope that something might soon turn up that +would throw the villain more completely into his power, and enable him +to extract from him the intelligence which he still felt satisfied was +in his possession. With this end in view, he set one of his comrades, +who had escaped from the Fort with him, to watch with the utmost +caution and secrecy every manoeuvre of the wretch and his companion; +fully satisfied, as he was, that both the rascals were determined to +follow in the wake of the army, for purposes already mentioned. + +The conduct of the Invaders at Fort Erie was of such general +excellence, that the inhabitants of that place speak of them, up to +the present hour, in terms of such admiration as to excite the jealous +animadversions of many of the Canadian people themselves. +Notwithstanding that the village and its vicinity lay helplessly at +their disposal, and was, for the moment, theirs by right of conquest, +they entered it rather in the character of guests than in that of +masters. Although the usages of war placed all that it contained at +their feet, they never appropriated to their use even one solitary +loaf of bread or glass of ale without having first paid for it. As to +their generosity and chivalry in this connection, let us quote from +the work of Major George T. Denison, Jun'r, commanding "the Governor +General's Body Guard," Upper Canada; author of "Manual and Outpost +Duties," "Observations on the best Defensive Force for Canada, +&c."--an officer who took part in the campaign against the Fenians, +and who cannot be charged with partiality to the invaders. In this +work, published in June, 1866, by Rollo & Adam, Toronto, and entitled +"The Fenian Raid on Fort Erie, with an account of the Battle of +Ridgeway," the author, page 62, observes, first, as to the disastrous +result of the collision between both armies, to the Canadians:-- + +"The loss of this fight was the loss of the whole expedition. The two +Commanding Officers were wandering about the country, the main body of +the men captured or lying wounded about the village; the Captain of +the Artillery struck down with the loss of a leg, and the Tug almost +denuded of men, and the few left so hampered with a lot of useless +prisoners, as to be unable to undertake anything." + +And again, after having complimented the invaders on some instances of +personal bravery, he remarks, page 69: + +"Before closing this chapter, I must mention that, from all accounts, +the Fenians, except in so far as they were wrong in invading a +peaceful country, in carrying on an unjustifiable war, behaved +remarkably well to the inhabitants. I spent three weeks in Fort Erie, +and conversed with dozens of the people of the place, and was +astonished at the universal testimony borne by them to their unvarying +good conduct. They have been called plunderers, robbers and marauders; +yet, no matter how unwilling we may be to admit it, the positive fact +remains, that THEY STOLE BUT FEW VALUABLES; THAT THEY DESTROYED, +COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, LITTLE OR NOTHING, AND THAT THEY COMMITTED NO +OUTRAGES UPON THE INHABITANTS, BUT TREATED EVERYONE WITH UNVARYING +COURTESY. On taking a number of the Welland Battery and the Naval +Company prisoners, THEY TREATED THEM WITH THE GREATEST KINDNESS, +putting the officers under their parole and RETURNING TO THEM THEIR +SIDE ARMS; taking them down to the wharf on their departure, and +releasing them, bidding them adieu with EXPRESSIONS OF GOOD WILL." + +"Another incident," he goes on to say, same page, "occurred, worth +mentioning: A number of them went to a widow lady's house, near Fort +Erie, and asked her for something to eat. They were about going into +the kitchen to sit down, and she told them she would not let them +in,--they laughingly replied, 'very well, ma'am, we'll do here very +well, it is a very nice yard;' and accordingly they sat down on the +grass and ate the bread and butter and milk she gave them. Another +squad in the same way took breakfast there. In the evening a man came, +ragged and tired, looking for something to eat. Seeing a loaf of bread +on the table he took it up. The lady said: 'That is the last loaf I +have.' The man looked at her and said slowly: 'Is that the last loaf +of bread that you have? then I'll not take it,' and laid it on the +window-sill. Seeing this, she asked him to take half. After pressing +it upon him, he at length took a portion of it. This story is +undoubtly true, as I obtained it from the lady herself, with whom I am +intimately acquainted." + +"It perhaps," he continues in the next paragraph, page 70, "does not +come with a good grace from a Canadian to give any credit to the +Fenians, who, without any ground of complaint against us, invade our +country and cause the loss of valuable lives among us; but as a +truthful narrator of facts, I must give them credit on the only ground +on which they can claim it." + +This is honest and soldierly on the part of Major Denison; but should +these pages chance to meet his eye, he will find his theory untenable +in relation to the immunity of Canada from the consequences of any +acts for which England may seemingly be responsible only. The war of +1812 was not a war against Canada, but against Great Britain, and yet +Canada was invaded by the Americans and made the principal theatre of +the conflict. How multifarious soever, or widely scattered its +colonies or dependencies, every nation is a unit, and consequently +amenable as well in detail as in the aggregate, for any offence +committed against public justice or humanity. When you quarrel with a +man, you don't quarrel in particular with his eye, his foot, or his +nose, although you may punish him as a whole by inflicting injury upon +all or any of these organs; and thus it is in the case under +consideration; the New Dominion is the foot or the eye or the nose of +John Bull, and as such, any enemy of England is justifiable in maiming +him in any or all of these parts. This is the hard logic of the point; +and if Canada wishes to escape its consequences, she must demonstrate +to the Irish people, or to any other who may be at enmity with +England, that she is neither part nor parcel of the British Empire. +How ridiculous the plea set up by Canada, that because she was not +forsooth an active individual agent of gross tyranny and injustice +towards Ireland, she ought to be exempt from any of the consequences +arising to the real culprit in the case. The same argument might be +urged with as much reason, by half the population of England herself, +who are just as innocent in this respect as the people of Canada; they +having never been consciously concerned in any oppression of Ireland, +either individually or collectively. But they are the friends, allies +and abettors of the government which has perpetrated such crimes in +relation to Ireland,--nay, more, they create and sustain the agencies +through which these wrongs are committed; and in this they are joined +heart, hand and soul, by the people of Canada or the representatives +of that people. Canada, then, having sworn allegiance to the Crown of +Great Britain, is constructively, as well as virtually, as much an +enemy of Ireland as England is. The Firm, comprising Great Britain and +all its colonies and dependencies throughout the world, is known as +John Bull & Co., and the distinctive sign of the house, in all its +ramifications, is the Union Jack or some adaptation of the red cross +of St. George to local predilections. As in ordinary mercantile +transactions, a debt incurred by any branch of the establishment +involves the responsibility of the whole, and can be levied for in +London or Hokitika. This is the true state of the case, and any +individual who would advance a doctrine contrary to it, is either a +simpleton or a knave. + +Black Jack and his companion were astonished to find such order reign +in the midst of an invading army, and to perceive that the inhabitants +of the village were not subjected to instant plunder, if not fire and +sword, by the troops now in possession of the place. They had come +over in the hope of being able to make some bold strokes in the wake +of the soldiery, and the confusion that they had fancied should obtain +among the people; but finding that they were foiled in this direction, +they cast their eyes about them to see what was best to be done under +the circumstances. + +"I'll be blowed," growled Jack, as they both rambled in the outskirts +of the village the morning of their arrival, "if this ain't a go. +Honly fancy, Kid, vot a set of spoonies these 'ere fellows har, not to +be goin it like the Hinglish in Hindia, or in the Peninsoola under the +Duke. I 'eard a fellow as vos there say, that they used to steal hoff +at night and 'av hodd sport and leave none to tell the tale in the +mornin. Glorious, vosn't it? And then ven they gathered hup the svag, +they made it hall right vith the sentries and sometimes vith the +hofficers themselves." + +"Jack, I'll never make anything of you," returned the Kid; "your +language is so vulgar, and your address altogether so ungentlemanlike, +that you at once peach on yourself; for anybody, with even half an +eye, that either sees you or hears you speak, would take you for the +villain you unquestionably are." + +"Oh! bless'ee, but you're a sveet cove," rejoined Jack, "and no vun +vould suppose for a moment that you cut Sal Gordon's throat, the night +you coaxed her hoff to marry her, just because you took a fancy to a +couple of five-pun notes she had in her trash-bag that she refused to +give hup afore the knot vos tied." + +"Come, come," winced the Kid, "no more of that, but let us see if we +can't do a little business here, or, at least, before we return, which +I venture to say we shall manage if we keep in the wake of these +fellows without arousing the suspicions of any of them." + +"Yes, yes!" said Jack, "but vot hif ve should run foul of the henemy +and be taken hup as belongin to these 'ere chaps, hif so be they're +beaten, as I hope they vill?" + +"I tell you what, there's but one chap among them all that'll keep his +eye on us," replied the Kid, "and that's the fellow who thought to +surprise me into a confession, by suddenly producing a button that, I +apprehend, dropped off the dress of the lady that we, recently ran +over here for our new employer. I have found out his name, and learned +that he was engaged to be married to this same beauty, who is now +safely caged at Wilson's, where she'll soon be apt to learn that she's +in about as nice a fix as ever she was in during her life. But," he +continued, "I don't know what to make of that Martha. All I can do or +say, whenever I happen to be at the house, has no other effect than +that of apparently making her more and more opposed to her uncle's +wishes, until I am convinced shell never be mine, willingly at least. +And after all, I love the girl well enough; although I feel I should +kill her before she was mine a month." + +Thus baffled and circumscribed, these two scoundrels prowled about the +village until near ten o'clock, when the troops moved down the river +about four miles, and went into camp at Newbiggin's farm. At this +period the gallant O'Neill was in great uncertainty. Here he was in an +enemy's country with but a handful of men, and in utter darkness as to +what was going on at other points. Already, at Buffalo, he had a taste +of the manner in which the War Department had conducted the expedition +to that point; and was, of course, afraid that the inefficiency of +that department would make itself apparent in more relations than one. +In the ability, activity and devotion of President Roberts, +Vice-President Gibbons and the Senate, he had the fullest confidence; +but Col. Roberts did not take it upon himself to dictate to a +department that was in charge of what was believed to be an old and +experienced military officer, and one on whose judgment and practical +skill he placed the fullest reliance. The position was a desperate +one; but O'Neill was determined to maintain his ground on British +soil, until satisfied that failure had obtained elsewhere, and that +there was no probability of his being reinforced. He had long burned +for an opportunity of meeting the enemies of the land of his birth in +open fight; and now, although all around looked dark and uncertain, he +was determined to join issue with any force that was brought against +him. His men for the most part, too, shared this sentiment. True, that +a few cowardly hounds had deserted his standard almost as soon as it +had been unfurled on the enemy's shore; but then these were of that +miserable breed that always attach themselves to expeditions of this +sort without measuring their motives or the strength of their +principles. However, be this as it may, they have forever forfeited +their claims to the name of Irishmen, if such they were; while the +very recollection will be painful to many, that so dastardly and +worthless a crew tainted, even for a single moment, the pure +atmosphere in which such men breathed as the following, not to speak +of the noble rank and file whose names we are unable, for obvious +reasons, to give here, and who, like them, led by the gallant O'NEILL, +immortalized themselves on the field of Ridgeway: + +_OFFICERS OF THE I.R.A., PRESENT AT RIDGEWAY_. + +Lieutenant RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK, Aid-de-Camp to O'NEILL. + +Colonel OWEN STARR, commanding Kentucky troops. +Lieutenant Colonel JOHN SPAULDING, Louisville, Kentucky troops. +Captain TIMOTHY O'LEARY, Louisville, Kentucky troops. +Captain JOHN GEARY, Lexington, Kentucky troops. +Lieutenant PATK J. TYRRELL. Louisville, Kentucky troops. +Lieutenant MICH'L BOLAND, Louisville, Kentucky troops. + +Colonel JOHN HOY, Buffalo, commanding 7th Regiment I.R.A. +Lieutenant Colonel MICH'L BAILEY, Buffalo, 7th Regiment I.R.A. +Captain JOHN M. FOGARTY, Buffalo. +Captain WM. B. SMITH, Buffalo. +Lieutenant EDW'D LONERGAN, Buffalo. + +Colonel JOHN GRACE, Cincinnati; commanding Ohio troops. +Captain SAM SULLIVAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. +Lieutenant JOHN J. GEOGHAN, Cincinnati. Ohio troops. + +Captain ---- BUCKLEY, Cleveland, Ohio troops. +Lieutenant TIMOTHY LAVAN, Cleveland, Ohio. + +Captain ---- McDONALD, Pulaski, Tennessee. + +Captain LAWRENCE SHIELDS, Nashville, commanding Tennessee troops. +Captain PHILIP MUNDY, Chattanooga, Tenn. +Lieutenant JAMES J. ROACH, Nashville, Tenn. +Lieutenant JOHN MAGUIRE, Nashville, Tenn. + +Captain MICH'L CONLON, Memphis, Tennessee. + +Captain ---- HAGGERTY, Indianapolis, Indiana. + +Major JOHN C. CANTY, Fort Erie, C.W. + +We trust that we have not omitted here the name of any officer present +at Ridgeway. If it should ever appear that we have done so, it will be +a source of great pain to us, although we can plead in apology that +every effort was made on our part to procure a complete list. + +Seeing that there was not much to be made out of Fort Erie, the two +comrades, Black Jack and the Kid, moved cautiously in the rear of the +troops as they fell down the river; their intention being to remain +concealed in the vicinity of any point at which an engagement might +take place, and then trust to chance for an opportunity of rifling the +dead or picking up whatever spoils happened to drop in their way. +While deliberating upon this creditable resolve, about noon, as they +had made a detour and pushed ahead of the troops, who were going into +camp, their attention was arrested by the noise of some vehicle coming +up a side road across which they were wending their way. In the course +of a few moments they discovered that it was the wagon of Wilson, +driven by that worthy, in the direction of the village of Waterloo; he +evidently not having, as yet, heard of the Province being invaded. +Immediately a conference took place between the three friends, when it +was agreed that Wilson's wagon should be concealed in a wooded hollow +close by, and that it should be made the receptacle of whatever +plunder might be secured during the struggle that they all felt must +soon take place. Consequently, the team was turned aside, and, after +being unhitched, was secured in a close clump of trees, that was not +likely to be visited by any persons in the vicinity; and more +particularly so, when the country was now being alarmed throughout, +and people were securing themselves in their habitations. + +After this being arranged, and the horses fed and watered, the party +again sallied forth towards the main road, with a view to getting as +near as was safe to the camp of the invaders, and gleaning some +information as to their future movements. They had been hovering about +in this way for some time, when they came to a point where two roads +met, and where they perceived two wagons in which were a number of +people, all standing and reconoitering something, in alarm or +surprise, through a field-glass, which they were passing from one to +the other. At a glance the trio saw that these persons were Canadians; +and, fearing nothing, they made instantly towards them, and as though +in ignorance of what had taken place, made inquiries as to what they +were inspecting. + +While engaged in conversation upon this point, and learning that those +in the wagons were observing a body of armed men who were moving at +some distance from them, but whom they could not identify as either +friends or foes, the whole party perceived an officer riding towards +them with the greatest apparent coolness and confidence. On coming up, +he informed them that the body of men in the distance were some +volunteers who were not very well acquainted with the roads about +there, and that he would feel obliged if they would just drive down +and give the commanding officer whatever information was in their +power upon the subject of the best route to be taken to a certain +point, naming it. To this request they all gladly acceded, the Kid and +Jack not daring to say a word, and not one of them suspecting anything +from the peculiar uniform of the officer; from the fact that they were +not aware the hat indicated that he did not belong to any Canadian +force; believing, as they did, that the uniforms of the volunteers +were of various descriptions. When, however, they arrived at the point +where the men were stationed, they quickly found out their mistake, +and, to their utter consternation, were all made prisoners, Wilson and +his two companions included. The body that made this capture was a +reconnoitering force commanded by Col. John Hoy; and no sooner was it +made, than the prisoners and the two wagons were at once forwarded +under an escort to O'Neill's camp, where, on the Kid and Black Jack +being recognized as belonging to Buffalo, they were released at once; +the others being held for a short period with a view to gaining some +information from them, relative to the movements or whereabouts of the +enemy, of which, as it subsequently turned out, they knew nothing +whatever. + +This introduction to the camp was considered fortunate by the Kid and +his comrade, who now, on being acknowledged by some of the men who +knew nothing of their real character, seemed anxious to remain under +the protection of the Irish flag until, as they stated, they could +effect their escape across the river; as they now averred that, should +they attempt to regain Buffalo alone, they could not fail to fall into +the hands of the Canadian forces, who, it was rumored, were gathering +on every side of the Fenian army, with the design of surrounding it +and cutting off its retreat. This all seemed natural and reasonable +enough; and more particularly as the two villains asserted that they +were on their way to Chippewa on business of importance, but should +now get back to their home as soon as practicable; they not having had +any idea that the invasion was about to take place; and having crossed +to the Canadian side early the evening before; that finding they could +not get any one to recross the river with them, as things stood, they +thought it better to keep in the wake of the army until they had +reached some point where they could effect a crossing; not wishing to +entrust themselves to the people of Fort Erie, after the troops had +evacuated that place, as they felt certain that the inhabitants +regarded them as Fenians, and would treat them as such if an +opportunity was afforded them to do so. + +During the day nothing of interest transpired, until towards evening, +when Barry, with two of his old comrades and four others of his +company, who were thoroughly acquainted with the locality, were +despatched from the camp, as were similar squads in other directions, +to make reconnoissances of the enemy, if they were anywhere near the +main body of the army. After proceeding cautiously for a couple of +miles, and pausing, from time to time, to reconnoitre, on gaining the +verge of a small piece of wooded land, they suddenly found themselves +almost face to face with ten or twelve armed soldiers, in British +uniform, who seemed to be an outpost lying in wait among some pine +shrubs, on the opposite side of a narrow ravine. Fortunately for our +hero, he was the first to discover the red coats, upon whom the sun +was pouring its declining rays, revealing them to the green coats, +while at the same time it dazzled and obscured their vision, from the +fact that the light flashed full in their faces, while it fell on the +backs of their advancing adversaries. A few hundred yards towards the +upper end of the ravine, there was a small patch of wood, through +which Barry instantly determined to move towards the point occupied by +the enemy; hoping to be able to surprise them before they were aware +of his proximity. This manoeuvre was accomplished rapidly, and with +the utmost caution; but as an open space yet intervened between him +and them, when he had gained the verge of the grove, he determined to +remain under cover, with a view to ascertaining the strength of the +force he might have to cope with; not knowing but it was larger than +it seemed to be from the opposite side of the glen. + +Here, however, he had scarcely halted when he was discovered by the +enemy, who took alarm; but, after a moment's pause, during which a +good deal of coolness was observed amongst their ranks, they +deliberately poured a volley into the grove where he and his little +band stood under shelter, although discernible among the trees. No +sooner had the music of the bullets ceased, and as a full view was had +of the force of the enemy, than the Fenians dashed across the open +space already mentioned, and charged in a spirited manner, although +received by the foe with the utmost intrepidity, and an evident +intention to work some mischief before they retired from the spot. +Barry, however, instructed his little band not to fire until within a +few yards of their antagonists, who were now coolly reloading; so, +before the redcoats were again prepared to give another volley, one +simultaneous crash of the Fenian rifles threw them into momentary +confusion; and, the next instant, both parties were closely engaged in +a life and death struggle. + +The fire of the Fenians had made sad havoc amongst the small force, +which was now cut down to the proportions of that of their own; still +those that remained never swerved an inch, but joined with their +adversaries, hip and thigh. There was but one volley fired on either +side; and, now that the shrubbery was so thick and withal so +inconveniently high, both parties had recourse to their side arms to +decide the day. Hand to hand, and desperately they fought, without +much indication of the mortal strife, save the low groan of the dying +and the thick breathing of those who struggled upon the green sward +among the roots of the young pines that so thickly studded the place. +Already had Barry silenced forever the pulses of more than one of his +antagonists, when their leader, a powerful man of about thirty-five, +made a sudden bound towards him, after having in turn brought his own +assailant to the ground, and instantly both their swords were crossed, +as they stood, alone, in an open space of a few feet square, while the +deadly conflict still half silently raged around them among the three +or four who now survived to battle for their respective flags. + +Barry, although but a private soldier when in the British service, was +regarded as one of the best swordsmen in his regiment. In fact, he was +that sort of person who took delight in excelling in every military +exercise, so that his task-masters should have no grounds for wounding +his feelings or his pride in any matter connected with the discipline +of a soldier. So skillful was he in this connection, that the moment +he caught sight of the manner in which his enemy grasped his weapon, +he looked for but one issue touching the encounter, and that was, the +probable destruction of both. He felt that he had an antagonist before +him worthy the occasion, and braced himself for the work with all the +energy of his being. Swift as lightning, both weapons flashed in the +sunlight, and the next instant lay pressing uneasily against each +other in mid-air; forming a shifting and glittering arch of death, +beneath which either its crimson or emerald pillar was soon to fall in +ensanguined ruins. Not a word was spoken on either side; each +believing that his hour or that of the other had come! The conflict in +the surrounding shrubbery had already almost ceased. Brief as the +period was, the remaining few of the enemy were vanquished and soon +had fled, pursued by a victorious two or three, being scarcely +themselves more than that number, having suffered severely, although +they fought with great bravery. It was the seven hundred years of hate +and the red blood of Ireland, that decided the conquest for so far in +favor of the green; and now, face to face, with lips compressed and +glaring eye, stood the two representatives of the individual +antagonisms, which had been pitted against each other for ages, and +which never can breathe in peace the same vital air. As if +understanding, thoroughly, the power, agility and skill of his +antagonist, the opponent of Barry, who was an Englishman by birth, and +had been in the British service, never sought for a moment to gain any +advantage of the ground. In this relation, he seemed satisfied to +fight his adversary on equal terms; being well aware that a single +move might be fatal, inasmuch as it could not fail to distract his +attention to some extent from his watchful enemy. The sward sloped +down rapidly to the ravine; so that he who occupied the most elevated +position would have his adversary at an advantage; but, although this +conviction was impressed upon the minds of both, neither seemed +anxious to avail himself of it; and thus they stood upon equal terms, +in every way antagonists worthy of each other. In height, the +Englishman had it somewhat in his favor; but, then, not above an inch +or so; while Barry, in agility and compactness, seemed to be vastly +his superior. And such they were, when the first thrust and parry told +that the work had begun. This was immediately succeeded by a furious +clashing, that evidenced a rising tempest of anger in the breast of +either, or both, and which gave promise of being speedily followed by +some fatal stroke that was sure to terminate the encounter. During +this ominous flurry, Barry stood on the defensive, coolly eyeing his +brave adversary, and watching for the unguarded moment when he could +either kill or disarm him; but this was not so easily found, as the +Englishman was every inch a soldier and a superb swordsman; and Barry +knew it well. + +Notwithstanding the violence of the attack, so adroitly was it met, +and so firmly was it withstood, that our hero never gave way a hair's +breadth of ground, or suffered a single scratch; and now only, in +reality, the murderous conflict commenced. The Englishman perceiving +that our hero was not to be moved or thrown off his guard for an +instant, became more fully satisfied that he had a dangerous +antagonist to deal with, and so commenced to be himself more cautions +and guarded. Seeing that mere personal strength availed him but +little, he fell back on his admirable swordsmanship and fought with +coolness the most undaunted. Barry now, in turn, became the assailant, +and pressing his antagonist with great skill and courage, gave him a +slight flesh wound, followed rapidly by another in the sword arm, from +which the blood began to flow copiously. Perceiving that the conflict +must be decided at once, as he should soon become faint from loss of +blood, once more the red coat became the assailing party; but this +time, as he was pressing our hero, but somewhat more feebly than +before, his foot caught beneath the tough, fibrous roots of one of the +pine shrubs by which they were surrounded, and the next instant he was +thrown headlong towards Barry, while his sword flew out of his hand +far beyond his reach. + +The fight was over; and fortunate it was for the prostrate soldier +that it was brought to so singular a determination; for, from the +manner in which he was bleeding, if from nothing else, the day was +sure to be decided in Barry's favor. Regaining his feet, as soon as +possible, he looked aghast for a moment, as if expecting his death +blow; but found his antagonist not only presenting him his sword, but +begging him not to continue the conflict, as from his wound he was in +no situation to keep it up longer with any show of success. + +"By my faith," he replied in return, "I believe, under any +circumstances, the fates were against me; so, understanding what is +due to a brave man, keep my sword and find me some water, as I begin +to feel a little shakey about the knees." + +Just at the foot of the slope, and but a few yards distant, there was +a brook, to which our hero now led his prisoner, and where, after +bathing his temples and bandaging his wound with a handkerchief, he +left him for a moment to look after those who might need his aid more +urgently, hard by. He found, after all, that but one of his party was +killed, although two others, who managed to creep in amongst the +shrubbery, were severely wounded. Not knowing how the contest was +going, and seeing themselves completely _hors de combat_, they waited +in silence the result, fearing to call out, lest the enemy might be +upon them and despatch them. The red coats suffered most severely; six +of their number having been killed outright. Strange to say, however, +that there appeared to have been none of them simply wounded; for, +although groans were heard to proceed from the point where they lay, +they must have been uttered in their death agonies, so mortal was the +damage dealt them. + +When this much was ascertained, Barry was deliberating as to what had +become of the remaining three of his party, when they returned to the +scene of conflict, weary with a fruitless chase. These men instantly +took up their comrades and bore them down to the brook, where they +were refreshed with a cooling draught. Barry, finding that it would be +dangerous for them to remain to bury the dead, as the noise of their +rifles might have attracted the attention of some other body of the +enemy that might possibly be somewhere in the vicinity of the ravine, +determined to retrace his steps at once. His two wounded companions, +like his prisoner, were able to walk slowly towards the camp; so, +collecting the enemy's dead into one place, and covering them with +branches of evergreens, they took up the body of their fallen comrade +and, placing it on a litter hastily formed of boughs gathered on the +spot, slowly wended their way with it towards the point occupied by +the main body of the army--Barry and his prisoner moving in the same +direction, some distance in the rear. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +In the morning that Greaves visited the Fort in Canada, garrisoned by +Barry's regiment, it will be remembered that he had a brief interview +with the Colonel. Momentary as it was, however, it was sufficient to +prevent Barry from getting his discharge; for the Colonel was then and +there apprised that our hero sought to leave the army for the purpose +only of joining the anticipated Fenian invasion, giving it the +advantage of his military skill, and aiding it with his knowledge of +the fortifications that the invaders might attempt to posses +themselves of. On being persuaded, through a glance at a certain +document placed in his hands, that Greaves was to be trusted, he at +once decided as to the course that he himself ought to pursue, and the +reader has already seen the result. Strange as it may appear for the +present, it was Greaves' object to induce Barry to desert, and thereby +shut himself out from ever revisiting the British dominions again. He +felt that it would be better, too, that he should not be taken while +in the act of deserting; as his punishment could be but light, owing +to the circumstance, that he had endeavored, though in vain, to obtain +his discharge honorably; so he determined to aid his escape from the +Fort, and secure his outlawry beyond any possibility of mistake. Why +he was prompted to an act so gratuitous and so apparently undeserved, +remains for future explanation; but, at present, all we have to do +with is the simple fact, that owing to his mysterious machinations, +our young hero was driven to the step he had taken. + +It is, we perceive, a fact, that O'Brien was correct in his first +estimate of Greaves; as that smooth-tongued traitor was the notorious +spy in the pay of the English government, sent out to Canada with a +view to learning the particulars of the power and intentions of +Fenianism in the Provinces, as well as in the adjoining Republic. In +this connection, he had such papers in his possession as recommended +him to the Canadian Minister who gave him, on his arrival in the city +where we first encountered him, such assistance and direction as his +maudlin state of mind could afford. He recommended him to the +confidence of many persons in the upper part of the Province, where he +had been staying for some time previous to his appearance at The Harp. +Among these was the Hon. J. R-----, of Toronto--a Patrick's Day Son of +the Sod, who has often nailed Ireland to the cross for place and +power; and who regards every body as his "dear friend" who can help +him up the ladder--a man with no more human flesh about his bones or +heart within him, than is possessed by the veriest skeleton that has +ever served the purposes of a college of surgeons, after having +reposed for a whole generation in the silence of the grave. Oh! how we +long for the day when we shall meet such miserable Judases face to +face, and spit upon them before the nations; and how willing we are to +admit that we should rather tomorrow shake the manly hand of the +English Joe Sheard of Toronto, open enemy and all as he is, than touch +the vile, clammy paw of such repulsive creatures as compose the +snake-like breed of which this same paltry and sordid trimmer is a +true representative. Of course, Greaves and he understood each other +at once--they were both traitors alike; only that the former was +lavish of money in attaining his nefarious ends, while the latter +would crawl to whatever goal he had in view, through any description +of filth provided it would obviate the necessity of relaxing his gripe +upon his ill-gotten gain. It is to such men as he, that Ireland owes +all her misfortunes, and that the people of Canada owe the curse of +the great embarrassments that now sorely beset them. For so far, not a +single Irishman who has ever been prominently identified with the +Government of Canada, if we are at all able to judge, has possessed a +spark of honest or true patriotism. From first to last, every man Jack +of them has fleeced the poor Canucks unmercifully, and played the +toady to England in the most fulsome and sickening manner. Even the +best of them were rotten to the core, and but mere adventurers. Look +at the case of the "Hyena," as he was called in his prime. One day we +find him out at the elbows peddling samples of wine around the +Province, and the next, wallowing in wealth through his Point Levi and +other gouges at the expense of the people; until, at last, he became +sufficiently corrupt for England to send him to take charge of her +interests in one of her dependencies: where, as it is asserted, he, +from time to time, is carried from boating parties, etc., to his +palatial residence dead drunk, in open daylight. But why spend a +single breath in referring to such miserable specimens of humanity? +The world knows what they are; and Canada ought to have some slight +acquaintance with them: as they built her into the worthless Grand +Trunk at a ruinous figure, and, like her present, leading, political +juggler, Sir John A., fleeced her in every direction that a collop +could be cut out of her. + +It was amongst such tricksters, English, Irish and Scotch, that +Greaves, for the most part, moved secretly from the moment of his +arrival in the Province up to the date at which we find him at Port +Colborne. He was, however, surprised to learn that men so high in +power, and that had been so high in power, really knew so little of +the great impending movement which overshadowed the Provinces and bid +fair to wrest them from the hands of England. But few papers in Upper +Canada appeared to know anything of what was really going on in this +relation, besides the _Globe_, of Toronto. Nearly all the others, like +the leader of the government and his satellites, seemed to be at sea +upon the subject. This fact Greaves took care to mention in the +dispatches which he sent home to Ireland, from time to time; giving it +as his opinion, that the Prime Minister of Canada was a dangerous man +to entrust with any large interests, civil or military. + +How the spy had become possessed of the letter or paper which so +staggered O'Brien, is easily accounted for. One of the Organization in +Ireland, named Greaves, who had been purchased by the government while +on a mission of trust, and who had sworn his way into the Brotherhood +with a view to making merchandise of it, gave up his credentials for a +certain sum; and thus it was that they had fallen into the hands of +the Castle of Dublin and subsequently into those of the spy. Cunning +as O'Brien was, the spy read his connection with the Organization +through exhibiting this document to him on the morning succeeding the +night of our first introduction to The Harp; for he perceived, at +once, that were O'Brien not, is some way, identified with the +Brotherhood, he would have been unable to recognize the meaning of +certain expressions contained in the paper, which, as already +observed, seemed to impress him so suddenly and so forcibly. + +Now, however, that the Provinces were actually invaded, Greaves, as we +shall yet continue to call him, found that his mission had suddenly +been brought to a close. As the cat was out of the bag, however, he +instantly turned his undivided attention to some private matters of +his own, and which, after all, was the only thing that induced him to +move so rapidly west, after the escape of Barry and his comrades from +the Fort. But with all his deeply laid schemes, he began to feel a +strange presentiment that he had overreached himself, and that, +notwithstanding the supposition that he had shut out our hero from +Canada for all time to come, it was more than likely he was in the +Province again, and that, too, as an invader, and but a very short +distance from the village in which he now found himself. This surmise +maddened him, for reasons to be disclosed in due course; and, as if +urged by some unseen power, he was determined to make his way towards +the camp of the invaders; well knowing that had Barry joined it, he +would vouch for his friendliness; while, had he not re-entered the +Province, he himself could make his way among the Brotherhood as a +friend, by the same means that he had stepped into the good graces, or +rather escaped the detection, of O'Brien. + +Early on the morning of the second of June, then, he set out from Port +Colborne, with a force under the command of Lieut. Col. Booker, +anxious to witness, and if necessary, take part in the first encounter +between the invaders and the Provincial troops. How did he +know--perhaps a chance bullet fired by himself might find its billet +in the heart of Barry, had the latter joined the Fenians; and if it +did, then all would be right, and his triumph secured. Still he had +his misgivings as to the success of the Canadians, notwithstanding +their reputed superior numbers, and the presence of the regulars to +strengthen and inspirit the volunteers. He saw that all was +uncertainty and confusion. Col. Peacock, of the 16th regulars, chief +in command of the united forces, was at "sixes and sevens" with the +commanding officer of the volunteers, while General Napier, commanding +the regular troops in the whole of Upper Canada, was so perplexed with +rumors of invasion at various points, as to be absolutely lost in a +maze of bewilderment, and utterly incapable of meeting the crisis in a +soldierly and intelligent manner. + +Thus the confusion ran amongst the Canadians, when Col. Booker, on the +morning just alluded to, set out with his command from Port Colborne, +to attack the Irish Republican forces, encamped at Newbiggin's Farm, +and with the further intention of forming a junction with the regulars +under Col. Peacock, coming from Chippewa--the invaders being +absolutely hemmed in on all sides; as a steamer with a field battery +occupied the river in their rear, with a view to cutting off their +retreat, when they were, as it was expected they should be, defeated +by the large number of forces that were being steadily brought down +upon them. + +Arriving at the village of Ridgeway, the troops left the cars and +proceeded cautiously in the direction of Stevensville, at or near +which point they hoped to form the junction with Col. Peacock, who was +on his way from Chippewa, where he had bivouacked the night before. +The village of Ridgeway is on the line of the Grand Trunk Railway, +which connects it with Port Colborne on Lake Erie on the one side, and +Fort Erie on the same lake, at the mouth of the Niagara River, on the +other. It is situated about eleven miles from the former place, and +something like eight from the latter; leaving the extreme points +distant from each other about nineteen miles. At this little place, +then, Lieut. Col. Booker found himself, in command of a force which has +been variously estimated at from twelve to eighteen hundred men, +composed of the crack volunteers of the country, and, as a general +thing, commanded by brave and experienced officers. It has, however, +been asserted by some that there were not more than one thousand +British engaged at Ridgeway; but we fear that this is under the mark, +and are inclined to believe, that, at an honest computation, their +force amounted to between thirteen and fourteen hundred. This we give +on what we consider to be reliable authority, and can, at once, +presume that the division under Col. Booker stood something more than +three to one against the invaders, as the handful under the gallant +O'Neill did not exceed four hundred on the actual field of Ridgeway. + +Stevensville lies in the direction of Chippewa, on a wagon road +branching off at right angles from the Grand Trunk at Ridgeway +village, and here it was that Col. Peacock ordered Col. Booker to meet +him, with the men under his command, with the design of forming a +junction and attacking O'Neill with a combined force of volunteers and +regulars amounting to between two and three thousand men. This +junction O'Neill was determined to defeat, and did defeat it;--but let +us not anticipate. + +When Greaves stepped from the cars at Ridgeway, the first man he +encountered was the Kid; and, strange as it may appear, a sign of +recognition passed between them instantaneously. In a few moments they +managed to extricate themselves from the crowds that thronged the +place, and move off to an unfrequented spot, where they could converse +unheard and unobserved. Here they were soon engaged on a subject which +seemed to excite Greaves to the highest pitch, and elicit from him +sundry ejaculations of surprise mixed with anger. Becoming cooler, +however, he led his companion into a spot even more sequestered, and +then fell into a low and earnest conversation with him, in which the +name of Barry might be heard pronounced with a deadly, hissing +vehemence, indicative of the most frightful passion and hate. All this +time the Kid remained quite calm, answering the interrogatories of his +employer, for such Greaves appeared to be, until, at last, the plot or +contract, whatever it was, was completed, and the parties had again +bent their steps to the railway station by different paths. + +Had the gallant O'Neill two thousand men at his command on the morning +of the 2d of June, 1866, with the certainty of reinforcements, _Canada +would, ere this, have been part and parcel of the United States, and +Ireland an independent Republic_, modeled after that of the American +Union. No officer was better calculated to accomplish the overthrow of +British power in the Dominion, than he. A thorough and practiced +soldier--a man of great personal courage and daring, and above all, a +genuine Celt, fired with the hereditary hatred of England so +characteristic of his name and race, he was in himself a host. With +two thousand men, composed of such stuff as he commanded at Ridgeway, +he could have swept the road before him to Toronto; for there can be +no doubt that his numbers would have been largely augmented on the way +by Irish Nationalists and American sympathisers, who then, as now, +pine for annexation. In addition, when it became once known, that a +victorious army of the Republic of Ireland was marching on Toronto, a +demonstration favorable to the invaders would have been made in that +city, or such indications of friendship evinced by the Irish portion +of the inhabitants, as would paralyze the energies of all those within +its borders who were determined to stand by the flag of the tyrant. +This, we are certain, would have been the real result of a march upon +that city; for, all that thousands upon thousands of the people of +Canada, who are now muzzled by the government, require at any moment +to range them on the side of Ireland, is the assurance of success on +the part of any invader, whether Irish or American, who makes a +descent upon their shores. What a dreadful calamity, then, it was, +that the War Department of the Irish Republic had fallen into such +careless or incompetent hands, and that some man was not at its head +who could have managed to have thrown upon Canadian soil, at Fort Erie +and one or two other points, a force to act separately or in +conjunction with sufficient effect to completely paralyse all +opposition in Western Canada, among an already excited and incongruous +host, who could have been easily swept before a compact handful of +troops fired by a spirit so lofty and a resolve so unconquerable as +that which actuated the brave little band of patriots who have made +the 2d day of June, 1866, famous in the annals of the Irish race on +this continent and on the other side of the Atlantic. + +Let it be thoroughly understood, that although the fortress of Quebec +is considered the Gibraltar of this continent, it is in the midst of +an Irish and French population absolutely hostile to British rule. The +French, like the children of Ireland, never were and never can be +loyal to England; and there are but few men in Lower Canada to-day, +who would not rather see the American flag floating over Cape Diamond +at the present moment, than the blood-stained standard which proclaims +it in the grasp of a tyrant. From this we infer, that had Toronto, +Kingston and Montreal fallen into the hands of the invaders, Quebec +could not fail to soon follow; and then for the fitting out of Irish +Republican privateers that would requite all the depredations of the +Alabama ten-fold, and cripple the commerce of England, as she had +destroyed that of the United States during the last war. General +O'Neill had all this in his eye, and was ready to push the case to the +mouth of the St. Lawrence, and there commence active operations +against the merchant service of the common enemy of both Ireland and +America; sweeping it from the high seas, and striking the tyrant in +her Counting House, as one of her most vulnerable points. There could +have been no difficulty in managing all this, had a sufficient force +been thrown into the Province at the time already mentioned; nor can +it be attended with much difficulty at any moment, provided the right +men are placed at the head of the Fenian War Department. Canada is +doomed, whomsoever her conqueror may be; so the sooner her people +experience the change which is sure to overtake her, the sooner shall +she be restored to internal peace, prosperity and security; from all +of which she is now excluded, and must remain so, as long as she +continues part and parcel of the British Empire. + +As by this time, the invading army had been in the Province for a +portion of two days and two nights, the country generally was pretty +well excited; but particularly in and about the section where the +invaders had taken up their position, as well as along the line of +Col. Peacock's march. Still there did not appear any very marked +disposition on the part of the actual settlers in these quarters to +take a decided part in stemming the invasion. It appears to us, that +it was simply the government that moved through agencies, in this +connection, which could not well disregard or resist their commands, +rather than any antagonistic, out-spoken sentiment of the people, that +had developed itself into active hostility against the Fenian forces. +Be this as it may, the numbers hastily brought against the invaders +were large in comparison with their own rank and file; and had they +been actuated by a spirit similar to that which made a host of each +individual Fenian, the fortunes of the day could not have failed to +have been otherwise than they subsequently turned out to be. Again, +let it be understood, that the majority of the little band who +withstood the tempest shock at Ridgeway, were fresh from the fields of +the South and used to the song of the bullet and the roar of +artillery, as the great bulk of the army of the Irish Republic in +America is to-day; while even the British regulars who were marching +on Ridgeway were, with all their pretensions, but feather-bed soldiers +who were totally out of practice of the real field, and had for many a +day exhibited their pluck and discipline at general reviews or sham +battles only. This we hold to weigh heavily on the side of the Irish +National forces, and to decide in their favor, in advance, in any +fight with treble their number of such an enemy--that is, we are of +the fixed impression, that any hundred picked men from the force now +under the gallant O'Neill, will beat, in open fight, any three hundred +of the British army brought against them, all things being equal, with +the exception of numbers. And why?--simply because in one case the +belligerents would be fighting for the traditions and independence of +the land of their love, while in the other they would, as a general, +thing, be fighting for about six-pence a day. + +As soon as Colonel Booker and his command took the road towards +Stevensville, Greaves, who was as daring as a man could be, and who +was besides well acquainted with military tactics, procured a rifle, a +soldiers jacket, cap and accoutrements, and started forth in the wake +of the volunteers, with the rear guard of which he soon came up. The +accoutrements he wore belonged to one of the volunteers who, like many +of the men under Colonel Peacock, took suddenly ill as they approached +the Fenian lines, and fell out of the ranks. Fortunately for the spy, +he found in this guard the very comrade of the man who was left behind +at the village, and having received permission from the officer in +charge, fell into the ranks with him and held on his way, as though he +were an ordinary member of the force. + +On the other hand, the Kid, on parting with Greaves, took his way in +the direction in which he knew the invaders were slowly and cautiously +moving, in order to get between Booker and Peacock, and defeat one +command before it could form a juncture with the other. On approaching +their lines, the steady tramp of which he could hear, he fell rapidly +in the rear, where, true to their instincts, he found Black Jack and +Wilson following in the team of the latter at a respectable distance, +and anxiously waiting for the first volley that should give intimation +that an engagement had commenced. + +"By ----," exclaimed Wilson, as his acquaintance jumped into the +wagon, "this is coming to rather close quarters." + +"If so be," replied Jack, "as there vos henny har tillery in the vay, +it might urt the missuses jam pots, seein as 'ow we can't be much +hover a mile from them, from this 'ere place." + +"Scarcely that," returned the Kid, "and what's more, from the course +the Fenians are taking, they must soon be into it against three or +four times their number, and serve them right; but what luck have you +had during the night?" he continued, turning to Jack, "although I +suspect there was not much chance in the direction in which you spent +it." + +"Call this a hinvasion?" retorted Jack, "vy these coves 'av only a +come hover to show their good breedin and spend their money amongst +the Canadians, instead of doin the decent thing like as ow it vos done +in Hindia and the Peninsoola, veh the real harmy cut, burned and +plundered hall afore 'em, 'and carried hoff, from old and young, bags +of the most precious svag. This is disgustin. Honly fancy the fellows +a behavin as if they vos on knight herranty of the hancient times, +instead of givin a cove a chance of to do a little business among the +walluables of Fort Erie, or hany hother place in the wicinity. I tell +'ee what, Kid, I'm sorry as vee hever comed hover--that I be; and I +vish I vos veil back again behind my hown counter." + +"Don't be down-hearted," replied the Kid, "for there will be fun +somewhere soon, when these invaders will have to fall back on Fort +Erie, where there may be a muss, or else the Canadians will have to +retreat towards the village I have but recently left, so that in +either case there may yet be a chance to throw something into the +bottom of the wagon, and then in our turn fall back on friend +Wilson's, here." + +In this way the conversation was continued, while the horses moved +slowly along the road taken by the invaders, and at such a distance +from the rear of the force, as not to be visible to any of the +soldiers; until, just as the three companions we're passing through a +patch of woods about a quarter of a mile from the rear guard of the +invaders, they were suddenly startled by the report of firearms in the +direction of the troops, just ahead of them. This report was followed +by another, and yet another, and now by one continuous volley. The +famous battle of Ridgeway had commenced! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Kate McCarthy, after having heard the disclosure of Martha, regarding +the character of her uncle, and the dangerous and nefarious practices +in which he and Smith, or the Kid, were engaged, arrived, by degrees, +at the conclusion, that she was the victim of some horrible and +mysterious plot, in which Nicholas, too, was involved unconsciously. +This idea having taken full possession of her, she immediately +communicated it to her friend, who also seemed to share her +apprehension. Of course, she had no means of accounting for the +existence of the talisman upon which, at the time she received it, she +could have staked her life; but, now, it was too plain, that even +about this there was something strange and unsatisfactory; because, +from her frequent inspection of it, although it had evidently come +from the hand of Nicholas, it appeared to have not been so clearly +intended for her, as she could have desired. Yet for whom else could +it have been designed? This was the question; and it necessarily +remained unanswered, while the conviction still obtained, that, +notwithstanding there was enough in the mysterious token to justify +the course she had taken, she was nevertheless in most dangerous +toils, with the existence of which her lover was totally unacquainted. + +This once settled in her mind, her first impulse was to flee the house +immediately; but, on second consideration, she felt it were better to +await results, as she was certain that Martha was her true friend, and +believed that no actual violence would be offered to her while under +Wilson's roof. Were she to effect her escape she had neither +acquaintance nor guide to direct her steps, and was totally uninformed +as to the character and people of the locality in which she found +herself. Again, Wilson had no doubt, placed eyes upon her that would +arrest her footsteps, or so embarrass her that she should again fall +into the hands from which she sought to escape. The region around her, +as she now learned, was addicted to smuggling, and so marked was this +truth, that a house of entertainment in the neighborhood was called +the Smuggler's Home; where, it was said, bold and reckless men were to +be found constantly. There was one thing, however, she was determined +upon, and that was to procure, if possible, some weapon of defence in +case any attempt were made to further jeopardize her person or +liberty; and in this she was promptly aided by her young friend. + +She had now been nearly a week from home, and yet not an additional +word or line had arrived from her lover. It was fortunate, however, +that in her present perilous condition she had one in whom she could +confide, and whom she knew sympathised with her. This was a solace to +her, as it enabled her from time to time, to ease her burdened heart +of the heavy load that pressed upon it, and converse upon the probable +designs of those into whose toils she hod been betrayed. Smith, she +was well aware, knew all the circumstances of her case; but he was in +the employment of her persecutor or persecutors, and nothing, she was +certain, was to be gleaned from him. However, as he had some design on +the hand of Martha, the thought struck her that if opportunity served, +her young friend might be able to extract from him even a hint as to +the real state of her case; and this idea she at once communicated to +her. Martha, on her part, expressed herself willing to befriend her to +the utmost of her power; but still evinced a repugnance to be under +any obligation to Smith, or enter into relations with him that could +aim at anything like confidence between them. Yet she confessed +herself ready to sacrifice her feelings as far as she could properly +do so, for the purpose of fathoming the plot that surrounded her +companion; but, then, where was Smith to begin with; and when was it +probable that he should again make his appearance in that locality? +These were points more easily entertained than disposed of; and thus +matters stood when circumstances threw in their way the very +individual they both desired to see. + +When the Kid, Jack and Wilson were liberated on the evening of the day +on which they had been captured with others, and sent into the +headquarters of Gen. O'Neill, it was decided that the first named of +these worthies should proceed at once to Wilson's, and apprise the +family of the presence of a hostile army, and the necessity of keeping +close and barricading the house in case the tide of war should roll in +that direction. The habitation, as already mentioned, stood in an +isolated spot surrounded with woods, and the proprietor was of the +impression, that it would escape notice or molestation; from the fact +that the Fenians seemed to eschew everything that savored, in even the +slightest degree, of the destruction of private property or of +gratuitous pillage. Besides, he perceived that for the purpose of +meeting some of the necessities of the invaders, a few horses had been +already impressed into their service, and felt, consequently, that +were his discovered on the road leading to his home, they could not +fail to share the same fate. He therefore, as just intimated, begged +the Kid to make the best of his way to Limestone Ridge, beside which +his domicile stood. To this request the Kid willingly acceded, as it +would afford him another opportunity of seeing Martha; so, when +evening was about to set in, he commenced his journey. + +Earlier in the day, the brave Captain O'Donohue, of the 18th, white +out on a foraging party towards Chippewa, came up with some outposts +of the enemy, who, noticing his dauntless bearing, and the steady, +onward tramp of his handful of men, fled at his approach without +firing a single shot. + +When passing out of the camp to the main road, the Kid learned that +the whole force was to move off at about ten o'clock in the direction +of Chippewa; it being the intention of the commander, as previously +observed, to get between the body of regulars about proceeding from +that point, and that of the volunteers, to move forward, and form a +junction with them, from Port Colborne; intending to attack and defeat +the one before the other came up. At this time O'Neill's troops did +not, as is confidently asserted, number as many as five hundred men; +while the force of the enemy surrounding him on every side, was +estimated at an aggregate of some thousands. This he well knew, but he +had invaded the territories of the ancient and implacable antagonist +of his country and his name, and he was determined to make another +Thermopylae of any pass in which he happened to meet the foe, no +matter how overwhelming their numbers. + +This intelligence impressed the Kid with the idea that a battle might +possibly take place somewhere in the vicinity of Stevensville or +Ridgeway; as he knew that the leader of the Irish Republican Army, or +forlorn hope, as so small a body of men might be termed, would attempt +to intercept a junction of the enemy somewhere near one or the other +of these points, as both lay on the line between Chippewa and Port +Colborne, taking the Sodom Road and the Grand Trunk Railway as the +surest and speediest route between both these latter places. So +pushing forward, with speed that never slackened, just at the period +that O'Neill was about to break camp, under the pretence of attacking +Chippewa, Mr. Stephen Smith arrived at Wilson's door, and after a +polite double knock was admitted by the mistress of that suspicious +dwelling. + +Martha was soon apprised of his arrival, and while her companion +trembled throughout every limb with anxiety for the fate of the +important enquiries which she had kindly consented to make, she +hastily left the apartment where both had been long seated, conversing +upon their future and the chances of escape from such a den. On +perceiving the Kid, although her very soul revolted against the touch +of his cold, clammy hand, she seemed to welcome him with more than +ordinary cordiality. She was, of course, both surprised and alarmed at +the intelligence of the invasion, and the proximity of the two armies; +for, as yet, not a whisper of it had reached her, so secluded the +place. He spoke of the necessity of putting the house in a state of +defence, so as to be ready to meet any contingency; although, as he +himself averred, he did not apprehend the slightest danger so long as +the inmates remained within their doors, in case the din of battle was +heard in the vicinity. As it was, however, the windows were well +secured, and the heavy, oaken front-door was capable of being rendered +all but invulnerable by a huge iron bar that could be speedily thrown +across it into two deep grooves in the posts. + +All this having been seen to, some trifling inquiry was made as to +their lodger, when Mrs. Wilson, understanding previously the intention +of Martha, and sympathizing with the case of poor Kate, left the +apartment, as if on some ordinary household affair. Martha now set +about gaining the information she sought; but with all her art, could +only ascertain from her suitor, that Kate was in the power of an +individual who, for some reason unknown to him, had betrayed her into +Canada, and consigned her, for a time at least, to the place where she +was now domiciled. + +"And were you a party to the abduction of this innocent creature?" +exclaimed Martha, the blood mounting to her cheeks in real anger and +disgust. + +"Oh! it was all in the way of business," replied the other, "and +perceiving that it would result in the most pleasant companionship for +one I so admire, I had the less scruples in furthering the design of a +good employer." + +Let it be understood that this villain had not even the most remote +idea of the pure nature and true character of Martha. Having seen her +but a few times, he subjected her moral worth to the standard of that +of her uncle, and thought, consequently, that the disclosure he now +made would enhance him in her estimation. In this he was mistaken; +for, no sooner had he made her thoroughly cognizant of the fact that +he was not an innocent, but a willing, instrument in the abduction of +poor Kate, than she sprang to her feet, and with a glance the most +withering, and full of unconquerable hate and aversion, without a +single other word, left the apartment and ascended to that of her +friend. + +No sooner had she disappeared than an expression the most demoniacal +stole over the countenance of Smith. The very devil sat on his brow, +while his eyes turned absolutely green in their sockets. His thin, +pale lips glistened again, as he drew them across his sharp, white +teeth, in an attempt to smile. Looking stealthily about him, while a +curious expression, still more horrible, replaced the one already +described, he hastily drew a long knife from a sheath concealed +beneath his vest, and regarded it for a moment in the light of the +lamp before him. He knew that every hope of obtaining the hand of +Martha was lost, and forever; and now for a terrible revenge. + +"They are helpless and alone," he muttered, slowly rising to his feet. +"There is wealth, too, somewhere here; and should I silence them all, +it will be mine, and their death will be laid at the door of the +invaders. Besides," he growled, "no suspicion can rest upon me, as I +am the known friend of Wilson and the family. Nobody saw me come--no +person shall see me leave. I shall fire the house after having rifled +it; and conceal whatever I may obtain, in some convenient spot until +the affair has blown over. Jack and Wilson know too much of me: I am +tired of them. If needs be, I shall silence them also. I have rare +work before me. Barry must die; but what shall I profit by killing him +if I kill this woman also? Who cares! The devil is working with me; +and now for it! To the foot of the stairs, then; where, as they +descend, they shall fall one by one without a groan until the rare +bird of a prisoner is left alone in her room. Then for some wild sport +and the final blow!" + +Having muttered all this to himself, the demon in human shape, +extinguishing the lamp, sprang forward in the direction of the stairs, +to await the first who happened to descend: but scarcely had he +assumed his post of death, before the large oaken door was thrust +rudely open and two strapping young fellows, armed with a revolver and +a dirk each, rushed into the apartment, and alarmed all the party up +stairs by calling aloud for a light, the gleam from the hearth being +feeble and uncertain. + +Instantly the knife of Smith was returned to its sheath, while he +stepped forward, saying that he had just accidently extinguished the +lamp in the absence of Mrs. Wilson and Martha, who had run up stairs +to acquaint a lady friend with the intelligence that he had but that +moment brought her from Mr. Wilson, regarding the invasion of the +Province and the proximity, as he had no doubt, of the Fenian and +Canadian forces. + +"That is just the mission we have come on ourselves," returned one of +the new comers, "as we were apprised that Mr. Wilson was from home, +and thought that his family would like to know of the dangers that +possibly surrounded them." + +The manly voice of the speaker soon brought Martha and her aunt down +stairs; and the lamp being speedily relighted, the former advanced +towards the speaker and taking his extended hand, with a bright eye +and a flushed cheek, heard all he had to say on the subject which +occasioned his unceremonious visit. + +"One of us will stay with you," he continued, while she thanked him +for his goodness, "until Mr. Wilson arrives; and although he is not +over social in his habits, I am sure he will not misconstrue the +anxiety we feel for the safety of his family." + +"Thank you! thank you, Mr. Evans," returned Martha; "we shall feel so +grateful for your protection; and as to my uncle, I am satisfied he +cannot be otherwise than obliged to you for this great kindness." + +"You stay then, Harry," observed the other stranger, "for I shall move +on to Ridgeway, as I want to hear what's afloat there. There are +troops, I know, at Port Colborne, and they ought to be apprised of the +whereabouts of the enemy, and so should the inhabitants of this +neighborhood. Mr. Graham, the Collector of Fort Erie, has, I am +informed, proceeded with information of the enemy to Port Colborne; but +still there is not yet anything known of their precise location, so +contradictory are the rumors, not only as to where they are encamped, +but in relation to their numbers." + +"I can satisfy you as to both these circumstances," broke in the Kid, +with a voice as bland as if murder had not visited his heart for an +age, "for I heard this evening that they were encamped about four +hundred strong at Newbiggin's farm, four or five miles down the river +from Fort Erie; and that they intended to move on towards Chippewa +about ten o'clock; branching off in the direction of Ridgeway, in the +hope of meeting the troops coming from Port Colborne, and defeating +them before they formed a junction with those expected from Chippewa." + +"As my cousin Harry will sit up with the family for the remainder of +the night, then, perhaps you would not mind walking as far as +Ridgeway," replied the young fellow who had last spoken, "as we are +sure to have news there; from the fact of the village being on the +line of the Grand Trunk." + +Seeing that his murderous plot was for the time defeated, the Kid made +no objection to this request; feeling that the darkness and the night, +as well as any whirl of excitement or debauch, were more in accordance +with the infernal tone of his spirit, than the conversation of two +beings, Martha and Evans, whom his keen eye at once discovered to be +lovers. So bidding the family good night, and not waiting to partake +of the refreshments offered him after his journey from the Fenian +camp, he sallied forth with his new acquaintance on the road leading +to the village. + +"Henry," said Martha, when the sound of their receding footsteps had +died in the distance, "do you know anything of the man Smith who has +just left us, for you seemed to eye him very intently from the moment +the lamp was relighted until the door closed behind him this moment? +We know now, and have often suspected, him to be a villain; but +circumstances over which we had no control--that is, my aunt and +myself--have thrown us occasionally into the society of the wretch, +whom we both loathe and detest." + +This interrogatory was put in the absence of Mrs. Wilson, who had +again sought the apartment of Kate to tell her all that had just +transpired. It seemed to embarrass the young man for a moment; but +recovering himself, he frankly replied-- + +"I have seen that man frequently in Buffalo. Not long since, he was +pointed out to me as a most dangerous character who was under the +surveillance of the police; and, as you may be well assured, I was +astounded to find him here and at such an hour." + +"Oh!" returned Martha, "he has been here often, Henry, and what I now +fear is, that my uncle is leagued with him, not only in the most +frightfully dishonest practices, but in the abduction, at the instance +of some other villain, of a good and pure young creature who, a few +nights ago, was brought here by them under the pretense that it was +the wish of her lover that she should accompany them where this wretch +would--a pretense that disguised itself under a veritable token +procured in some way from her betrothed, and evidently used without +his sanction or knowledge." + +"I believe your uncle to be a bad man, Martha," returned Evans, "but +the fault is not yours; and besides, there is not a single drop of his +blood in your veins. I am convinced, also, that your aunt knows it, +and that it is that which so wastes her away and destroys the whole +sunshine of her life. I have long felt it; and were it not for the +dread of paining you through exposure, I should ere this have directed +the attention of the authorities to some circumstances affecting his +character and honesty, that came under my own notice; for, Martha, +dear, but a few hours since, as I may say, I was an accidental witness +of an incident which more than confirms all the suspicions that have +so long rested on him." + +"I know! I know?" interrupted Martha, while she hid her face in her +hands and wept in bitter agony, "but go on!" + +"When," resumed Evans, "two or three nights ago, believing Wilson to +be from home--for I shall no longer call him your uncle, he being, in +truth, no relation whatever of yours,--I stole up from our place to +say a few words to you and urge you to quit this house and become my +wife. I was astonished to see a light in the stable as I crept by it; +and looking into one of the windows. I perceived this man leaning over +a large case filled with valuables that had evidently been stolen by +him, or by some of his accomplices, who had entrusted them to his safe +keeping until the noise of the robbery had blown over. I saw this, I +saw with my own eyes; and now that you are aware of it, can you +longer remain beneath this roof?" + +"It is true! alas! too true," sobbed Martha, "for I myself saw the +very same case; and then it was, that for the first time, a full sense +of his horrible vocation fell upon me and the poor woman that he calls +his wife. Of course, Henry, I shall quit this place, and forever; but +until this horrible din is over, and the poor creature up stairs +placed in some safe hands, I shall bear my terrible lot as best I +can." + +"Rightly spoken, dear Martha," returned Henry, kissing off her tears, +"and I trust that this lady of whom you speak, will prove herself +worthy your kindness and esteem." + +"No fear of that, dear Henry," returned the maiden, "my heart tells me +that she is as good as she is beautiful, and I know, not only from her +own lips, but from what has transpired this very night, that she is +the victim of some foul plot yet to be punished and explained." + +"And where has she come from, and what is her name?" rejoined Henry, +evidently becoming interested in the fate of our heroine. + +"Her home is in Buffalo," replied Martha, "and her name is Kate +M'Carthy." + +"By heaven!" exclaimed Evans, leaping to his feet as if the house were +falling, "where is she? where is she? Lead me to her at once!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Had General O'Neill not entertained strong hopes he should be +re-inforced, knowing, as he did, that a large body of Fenian troops +were scattered along the American frontier, under the command of brave +and true men, he would have broken camp with a sad heart on the night +of the first. No man in existence was more thoroughly aware than he, +that, 'though brave as lions, the force at his command was altogether +too small to effect anything permanent upon the soil of the enemy. The +most he hoped to achieve, was a footing, until his command had +acquired sufficient strength to enable him to move upon some of the +important towns of the Upper Province. Of the dangers and perils that +surrounded him he was fully aware; but he knew, also, that, now that +he had crossed the Rubicon, how fatal it would be to the prestige of +the cause of Ireland, to retreat again to the American shore without +measuring swords with the foe, no matter what their numbers, and, if +needs be, illustrating, with a handful of men, the spirit resolve and +bravery which, long previously, fostered by the noble Roberts and +Gibbons, etc., fired the whole Organization on this great continent, +and placed the ultimate independence of Ireland beyond any possible +contingency. O'Neill was just the man to make this impression, and to +seize upon every circumstance calculated to aid him in the attempt. +Fresh from the fields of the South, where his sword and name were a +watchword and a tower of strength when danger was to be met in the +gap, he was used to war in all its phases; while the fierce leaven of +his patriotism and the mighty promptings of his ancient name, now that +he had made a descent upon the enemy of his country and his race, +rendered him almost invincible. Though small his band, he knew that +each man who had accompanied him thus far was a host in himself, and +ennobled by a spirit identical with that which prompted him in the +main. And now the hour had arrived when he should show the enemy and +the world that numbers were as nothing in the sight of the God of +battles. Besides, he felt it, as a mere matter of generalship, +incumbent upon him to maintain, if possible, a foothold or rallying +point for whatever reinforcements might follow him, as well as keep +open the line of communication with the shores he had but just left. +In short, critically as he was placed, and regarding his little host +as the vanguard of freedom, he determined to sacrifice himself and +them to a man, if necessary, in maintaining his ground until +thoroughly satisfied of the truth of his fears that President Roberts, +deceived, like the Organization generally, in the capacity of the +Secretary of War, was no longer able to send reinforcements or further +a movement calculated to sweep the Province from Sandwich to Quebec. +In this way matters stood with him on the night that he left his camp +at Newbiggin's Farm. He was aware that two large bodies of the enemy's +troops were marching upon him from two opposite points, and that to +permit them to form a junction would be to court utter annihilation. +As before observed, then, he set out at the hour already named, with a +view to getting between them and defeating the one before the other +came up. In his sublime enthusiasm he invested each individual of his +command with the purposes and attributes of a hero, and felt that a +body so constituted, so compact and so easily handled, could be slung +with fearful effect against almost any number of men who had no heart +in the fight, save that which was engendered by an uneasy and +uncomfortable sentiment of badly founded loyalty to the flag of a +tyrant, or that degrading spirit of hireling hostility, which changed +its force and direction, in accordance with the amount of gold offered +by the subsidizing party. + +Moved by impulses so noble and disinterested, the whole camp now +marched away in the direction of Chippewa, burning the bridges behind +them, to a point some five or six miles distant, where the +reconnoitering party, under the command of Col. Hoy, had been ordered +to wait until the main body of the troops came up, and to the left of +which Gen. O'Neill hoped to intercept some one of the two hostile +forces that were, as he was perfectly convinced, moving against him +from opposite points of the compass. + +In the rear of the moving camp followed Black Jack and Wilson, at a +very respectful distance; they being comfortably seated in the wagon +of the latter, that had been brought cautiously from its hiding place, +when the steady tramp of the rear guard of the army had died away. + +"What a pity it is," said Wilson, as the team crawled slowly along, +"that we have no chance to take the number of a few of those self-same +invaders from behind a tree or log; for I find the English blood +beginning to stir within me." + +"Vot's to be gained by it," returned Black Jack, "seein as 'ow there's +no use in cuttin a vizzen or scuttlin a nob, unless there's some svag +at the end on it? For my own part," he continued, "I'd rather that ve +should try our luck among some of the farmers or gentry about here; +although I'm certain they're purty vide avake seem as vot's afoot just +now." + +"Yes! yes!" returned the other, "that's all well enough in its way; +but as we can't hope to accomplish much until there's a fight between +the invaders and the invaded, I should like, if an opportunity turned +up, to thin out a few of those green jackets while we hid the horses +hard by and waited the result of the conflict." + +"Vell! vell!" replied Jack, "there vouldn't be much 'arm in tryin our +'and in that vay, as ven ve got a chance ve might step into the ranks +of the Hinglish and give them a lift; ven, if needs be, ve could slip +out again and take our luck in the trail of the fight, pickin hup +votever might drop in the vay." + +About midnight the troops came up with Col. Hoy's party, and after +marching a considerable distance and then taking a couple of hours +rest, the whole force made a cautious detour towards the direct line +leading from Ridgeway to Chippewa; O'Neill being satisfied that he had +already intercepted the junction of the British, and should be able to +engage and defeat either one party or the other before they could both +unite. + +In this way the night was passed; every precaution being taken to +guard against ambush or surprise, until morning became well advanced, +and the invaders, after having emerged from a swamp through which they +had marched, found themselves within three or four miles of Ridgeway. + +It was at this point and period that the Kid, after leaving Greaves, +had come up with, or rather encountered, the wagon with Black Jack and +Wilson, who, as usual, kept moving slowly in the rear of the troops +and sniffing, like blood-hounds or vultures, their prey in the +distance. + +As observed in a previous chapter, the two worthies had scarcely +welcomed their companion or seen him comfortably seated beside them, +before they were all aroused by the report of fire-arms, apparently +ahead of the main body of the troops, which, as near as they could +calculate, was about half a mile in advance. It was at this moment +that the brave Col. Starr, who commanded the advance, got the first +glimpse of the outposts of the enemy, which he at once charged and +drove in like so many sheep; and this was the music heard by Wilson +and his companions. Shortly afterwards, the main body of the enemy, +commanded by Lieut. Col. Booker, from Port Colborne, were discovered, +and the battle was opened by a speedy and judicious disposition of the +Fenian forces, and the hasty throwing up of a rail barricade from +behind which some of the Boys in Green commenced their work of +destruction; while others of them kept the British skirmishers in hand +in the woods hard by, and in a manner the most cool and artistic. + +Any person who gets a view of Major Dennison's map, in the work +already mentioned, representing the disposition of the two +antagonistic forces at Ridgeway, will at once be struck with the +overwhelming numbers of that under the command of Col. Booker, +compared with the compactness and fewness of the troops commanded by +General O'Neill. In this chart we have the whole field studded, on the +British side, with Highlanders, York Rifles, Trinity College +Companies, University Rifles, the Queen's Own and the 13th Field +Battery, etc.; while on the side of the Army of the Irish Republic, as +the diagram shows, we have but a handful of men, without artillery, +and with but very few mounted officers. The circumstances under which +the forces met, were favorable to Col. Booker, also; for not only had +the British the advantage of a great superiority in numbers, stores +and equipments, but they were engaged at their own doors, in the midst +of a passive or friendly element, and with unlimited supplies and +resources at their command; while, on the contrary, the men under +General O'Neill were but poorly equipped, without supplies or proper +ammunition--their bullets having, in some instances, to be pared on +the field with a knife before they fitted the bore of their +rifles--and were in the midst of an enemy's country, surrounded on all +sides by hostile battalions, and with but a slight hope of being +reinforced before the enemy came down in overwhelming numbers upon +them. This was a critical position, and well calculated to dismay any +man less bold and courageous than O'Neill; but frightful as it was, he +saw the necessity of accepting the situation. He remembered having, on +the battle fields of the South, with but twenty men, defeated two +hundred of a force under Hamilton, and run them in helpless disorder +for a distance of thirteen miles; killing five of them with his own +hand. He remembered, in addition, having, with a command of but fifty, +charged, on the same fields, in defence of the American Union, two +different regiments of the enemy, routed them, and recaptured the +officers and guns of the Republic that had been previously taken by +them; and remembering all this, his heart rose within him, and he felt +that with his little band of Spartans, few as they were in number, he +could work a double miracle when he met the tyrant of his name, his +country and his race face to face. And so he did not stoop to measure +the forces that were surrounding him; well knowing that, if all came +to all, and that, if it were necessary for him to fall back upon the +American shore, he could cut his way through them; as he was inclined +to regard their numbers as but simple encumbrances to themselves; +feeling, as he did, that they could be neither disciplined nor +actuated by any proud impulses such as fired his own troops and his +own bosom. + +Buoyed with this spirit, and moved by the conviction that the eyes of +the world were upon him, the first glimpse of the enemy was as one of +sunshine to him; and as he looked around him and saw his brave +officers and men towering and immoveable as cliffs in the presence of +the angry deep, the strange fire so noticeable sometimes in his eye, +blazed forth as though his soul went out in flame through each glaring +orb; and the work of death had begun. + +The battle of Ridgeway was commenced by skirmishers who were posted on +both sides, among the woods and orchards with which that locality +abounds; and although for some short period but little life was lost +on the part of either the British or the Fenians, the daring of the +latter had evidently confused and, in a degree, paralyzed the former +from the first. In the woods, they gave the Highlanders a dreadful +overhauling, and when pressed by numbers they steadily fell back upon +the main body, with advantage to themselves and with loss to their +opponents. When once aware of their position, and the great odds +against them, in the incredible space of ten minutes, they threw up a +breastwork of rails, from behind which they now began to deal the most +deadly havoc amongst the enemy. The men engaged in more exposed +positions, performed absolute miracles of valor, and charged the foe +in the face of the most galling fire, until they actually touched +their bayonets, and then poured in the murderous volley that shattered +their ranks and strewed the field with their wounded and dying. As we +learn from Major Denison, of the British forces, the Fenian officers +were ever in front of their men, cheering them on to death or victory, +and evincing such instances of true bravery as commanded the +admiration of even those against whom they fought. Individual acts of +the most terrible daring were performed by them, and so generally did +the whole of O'Neil's staff, including his gallant Aid-de-Camp, Lieut. +Rudolph Fitzpatrick, as well as all the officers of the various +companies, participate in the dreadful struggle, that even to this +hour no writer has attempted to give any one of them pre-eminence over +the other. And so of the rank and file, also. Scarce a single man of +them, at one period, but was spattered with the blood of the enemy; +and never did a solitary knot of them give way, for an instant, before +any force that they were ordered to withstand. Wherever they moved the +dead and wounded tumbled before them, until, fatigued by the frightful +heat of the weather, they were, from time to time, constrained to +pause in their dreadful work. + +The engagement had continued for about an hour, when the brave Lieut. +Lonergan bit the dust, while a cheer for Ireland struggled through the +death rattle in his throat. He fell, a true hero and patriot, and well +was his death avenged; for no sooner had its intelligence spread +through his company, than its members became absolute tigers, and +literally glutted themselves with blood. Then it was, that the +Sun-burst carried through that hot field, from beginning to end, by +Sergeant John Smith, of the 7th I.R.A., company G, might be seen +flying where the enemy was thickest, surrounded by a struggling band, +each of which was a host himself. Then it was, that the wild cry of +"Erin go bragh!" smote on the ear of the foe like a death knell, +paralyzed all their energies, and froze the warm current in their +heart. At that moment a dozen men in green were worth a regiment of +the material he fought against; and thus it was, that the enemy +determined to mass all their forces against the gallant O'Neill, who +stood like a rock amid the dreadful conflict, giving his orders with +as much coolness as if he were dictating a letter; and, while the +bullets whistled about him like hail, applauding the noble deeds of +his men and officers, the next moment to be whirled into the dreadful +_melee_ himself. + +With the keen, quick eye of a soldier, O'Neill perceived the intention +of his adversary, who had, now, as he saw clearly, made up his mind to +mass all his force against the Fenian troops and flank them. At this +point the Boys in Green were ordered to fall steadily back and take up +a new position, some distance in the rear of their rail barricade. The +movement was performed in the most masterly manner; while the enemy +continued to extend his wings--both right and left. On perceiving it, +however, he construed it, as it was intended he should, into a +retreat, and paused for a moment to consider what was best to be done. +While deliberating, however, O'Neill, who had in vain been for some +time endeavoring to draw out his centre, perceiving that the moment +had arrived, sounded the charge, and, the next instant, the whole +compact body of the invaders, with himself and his officers at their +head, were thundering down, with the sweep of the Cyclone, upon the +weak and startled centre of the foe, crashing through it like a +cavalcade of thunder bolts, and scattering the whole of the English +forces like chaff before the wind! + +In the twinkling of an eye the enemy was flying in every direction +before the victorious army of the Irish Republic! In their ignoble +flight they divested themselves of all the clothing they could +decently spare, and of everything that could tend to impede their +progress! The field was strown with their great coats, knapsacks, +rifles, and musical instruments belonging to their bands. Their dead +and dying were left unheeded, and in every direction lay the +unmistakable evidences of their sudden disaster and hopeless defeat. +The compactness and dreadful resolve of the force slung against them +by O'Neill, and the masterly way in which the bolt was hurled, at once +bid defiance to all their pre-conceived ideas of fighting, or of the +wonders that could be attained by a handful of brave men, commanded by +a dauntless and experienced soldier; so, that their rumored attempt at +rallying is supposed to have originated in a desire on the part of +their historian, to lessen the disgrace of their defeat in the eyes of +the people of Canada; for it is well known, that so hot and heavy was +the pursuit, that they not only had no time to rally, but so intent +was each one of them on effecting his own personal safety, that all +discipline was at an end; until the Fenians, on perceiving that they +were not yet reinforced, felt it advisable, notwithstanding their +success, to fall back on Fort Erie, for the purpose of keeping their +line of communication open with the American shore. + +And yet until this disaster had overtaken them, the British troops +fought well, considering the incentives they had to stake their lives +on the field of battle. Nor were the Queen's Own, who suffered so +severely in this tremendous charge, and who fled so panic-stricken +before it, a whit behind, in courage, some of the companies who appear +to have escaped with less censure from the Canadian public, in +relation to the loss of this important field. The Queen's Own, as we +are creditably informed, came up well to the mark on more than one +occasion; and only gave way before such a charge as that which carried +the day at Fontenoy, and which was, at the period, absolutely +irresistible. + +Barry and his comrades of the Canadian Fort fought throughout the +whole morning with the most heroic courage. In several hand to hand +encounters he performed prodigies of valor, and once thought he +perceived the Kid and Black Jack, together with Wilson whom he saw in +their company at Newbiggin's farm, fighting on the English side. In +this he was not mistaken; for these three worthies, on discovering the +superior force of the British, at once concealed their horses and +wagon in a sheltered hollow hard by the field, and making a detour +through the woods on the verge of which they were passing, joined in +the engagement, against the men who had treated them so well but a few +hours previously. This they accomplished immediately after Col. Starr +had driven in the outposts of the enemy, and when they had ascertained +that the English forces outnumbered the invaders to an extent which, +as they supposed, rendered the success of the latter totally out of +the question. + +While on one occasion, Nicholas was engaged with a Highlander whom he +was pressing hard, a ball grazed his shoulder, evidently fired +stealthily from behind a neighboring tree. A glance in the direction +revealed the form of the Kid retreating from the spot and seeking +shelter behind another, around which were gathered a few of the enemy +who were paying some attention to a wounded officer. This struck him +as strange; but as he had other work in hand, he permitted his +cowardly assailant to escape for the moment. Later in the day, +however, he caught yet another sight of him, and was satisfied that he +had made a second deadly attempt upon his life. In this way the matter +stood touching this peculiar case, until the total rout of the forces +and their retreat towards Ridgeway village; when Barry, left with a +few men to look after the dead and wounded while the main body pursued +the fugitives, had yet another opportunity of testing the kindly +intentions of Smith; for while he and four or five others were +collecting the dead into one particular spot beneath a huge elm, in +the vicinity of a house near which the greatest carnage had taken +place, another ball whizzed by his ear; and the next moment the door +of the building opened and out rushed half a dozen men, armed to the +teeth, and laying one of his party dead at his feet with the only +bullet that had taken effect out of a volley that had been fired as +they rushed forward to overwhelm him in a hand to hand struggle. + +The assailants were now six to five, but Barry soon made the numbers +more equal, and the fight becoming desperate, two of his antagonists +closed with him, who appeared to be men of tremendous activity and +great personal courage. What seemed strangest, however, in the whole +of this sudden attack, was, all the party that rushed from the house +were masked, although he was satisfied that one of them, at least, was +the Kid. The contest had continued for about eight or ten minutes when +one of his assailants was stretched at his feet by an unseen hand; the +other taking immediate flight. He looked around,--a stranger stood by +his side. He was a handsome young man dressed in the plain garb of a +farmer. Anxious to learn how the rest of his comrades fared, while +thanking his new ally for his timely assistance, he glanced in the +direction in which they fought; all save one was wounded but their +antagonists lay beside them dead or dying. Begging the stranger to +render him some assistance in staunching the blood of those who still +survived, and removing them to a shed belonging to the house hard by, +he discovered that his fallen adversary, who lay quite senseless from +the blow he had received, now seemed to be bleeding profusely from +some wound inflicted by himself; although until that moment he had not +noticed it. His enemy had fought with a long, keen dagger after he had +discharged his rifle and thrown it away, while the fugitive used one +of the ordinary rifle-bayonets in his attack. The superb swordsmanship +of their intended victim, however, was more than a match for them, and +would, in all probability have triumphed of itself had not the contest +been broken in upon in the manner already described. + +In the course of a very few moments, the sufferers were removed from +out the broiling sun to the shed just mentioned, where they were cared +for as well as circumstances would permit--the stranger passing to and +from the adjoining house with the necessary bandages, water, etc. + +While removing the masks of two of the assailing party, who appeared +to be mortally wounded, for the purpose of giving them the draft of +water they had so earnestly though feebly implored, as Barry +suspected, one of them was the Kid. The other was Wilson, whose last +midnight journey had evidently been performed, as he was sinking fast, +and that, too, without having gratified his love of plunder in a +single instance connected with the invasion from which he and his two +companions had anticipated so much. Outside, beneath a huge elm, lay +Black Jack stone dead, from a frightful bayonet wound in his throat. +His mask had fallen off in his death struggles, which must have been +frightful, judging from the manner in which his clothes were covered +with dust and the way in which the earth was kicked up all around him. +Never was a more horrible face turned in such hideous blindness on the +sun. His eyes were staring wide open, and his huge mouth, fringed with +blood-stained froth, seemed stretched in demoniacal laughter at some +horrid and unearthly orgy in which he was about to join. The sight was +actually appalling; and Barry turned away from it in utter loathing to +minister to those who were yet within the reach of human aid. + +Although, dangerously wounded, he found that, unlike the same number +of their comrades who lay stretched on the green sward without, his +two companions who had been brought to the earth without being killed, +were not beyond the reach of hope. With their antagonists, however, it +was different; and now that Barry perceived the Kid; or Smith as we +shall now call him, was fast approaching his end, in the great anxiety +that he felt concerning the fate of his beloved, he knelt beside him +and implored him to give him any information that he might possess +regarding her, and so atone, before he crossed the threshold of the +grave, for any wrong that he might have been instrumental in doing her +through the machinations of others. + +The dying man raised his heavy eyelids for a moment and ere they +dropped again, managed, as if by one last effort, to point towards the +prostrate form of the principal antagonist of our hero, who still lay +insensible a short distance from him. His chest labored wildly for a +few seconds, but before he could ejaculate a single word, a sudden +spirt of blood leaped from his mouth and he was dead. Wilson had +passed away more slowly and less perceptibly. From the moment he had +been removed to the shed he spoke but once; and that was when he +uttered a feeble cry for water. On beholding the latter dead, the +stranger, who had lent such timely aid to our hero, regarded the +silent form with a curious expression of countenance, and then turned +away towards the house. In the meantime, the man who had for so far +lain insensible, began to recover slowly. Hitherto, his mask which hid +but half his face, leaving his mouth and chin uncovered, had not been +removed; but now, as if in some uneasy dream, his trembling hand tore +it mechanically away, revealing, to the utter astonishment of Barry, +the hooked nose and ghastly countenance of Greaves! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Had O'Neill a single troop of cavalry when he broke the British lines +at Ridgeway, the 2d day of June, 1866, would have been the darkest +that had ever occurred in the annals of Canada. He would have +literally annihilated all the forces that were brought against him on +that field, and struck such terror to the heart of the enemy, as to +have still farther paralysed their volunteer service and destroyed the +confidence of the Canadian people in the vaunted invincibility of the +arms of England for many a long day, if not for all time to come. But +owing to circumstances already referred to, he fought under every +disadvantage possible to an invading army. Still, as the case stood, +his triumph was not the less brilliant or decisive. He routed the +enemy, horse and foot; and had he been in a position to dispose of +prisoners, he could have taken a very large number with scarcely any +effort; from the fact, that after the fearful charge that had broken +through their lines, they became completely panic stricken and +demoralized. As he pursued the flying forces towards Ridgeway, what he +would have given for a few mounted riflemen or dragoons; but as a +signal and glorious defeat was more his object than the spilling of +blood, he now felt, unsustained as he was, it would be wise to fall +back upon Fort Erie, in the hope that reinforcements had arrived +there, although he was unable to leave even the smallest handful of a +garrison to maintain the foothold he had so far achieved. Seeing there +was nothing further to gain but everything to lose by remaining longer +in a position he could not by any possibility maintain, in view of the +hostile forces that he knew would soon be pouring down upon him from +other quarters, he paused on the verge of the carnage that he might +have wrought still further, and addressed himself to securing the +safety of his little band of heroes and occupying some position on the +frontier from whence he could, if hard set, effect his transit across +the river, or take up a final stand, fighting until the last man fell +in his ranks, if necessary to the success of any landings that he +might learn of as having taken place on the Canadian shore at other +points, or in view of the intention of the authorities at Buffalo to +reinforce him, and enable him to pursue the campaign, so gloriously +opened, with renewed hope and vigor. + +The news of the disastrous defeat of the British arms spread like +wild-fire; throwing the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of +Ridgeway, as well as those of the village itself, into a state of the +most fearful consternation. Houses were barricaded and property +concealed in the full anticipation that the conquerors would act upon +the world-wide maxim, "to the victors belong the spoils." But, as we +have already seen, it was the government and not the peasantry or +people of the country that O'Neill had come to overthrow. No better +evidence of this could be afforded than that shown by the +circumstance, that, although two infamous and relentless robbers, and +their scarcely less culpable acquaintance and friend, Wilson, had, for +two days and two nights, followed in the wake of his army, not a +single opportunity was afforded them of joining any portion of his +command in a stealthy raid upon the habitations or any of the people, +or of taking an advantage of the confusion and lawlessness which +almost invariably surround the camp of an invader. From first to last, +his troops observed with singular fidelity, his order that the lives +and property of the Canadians not found in arms against him, should be +held as most sacred. And in no instance, although the temptations were +various and marked, was this injunction violated. On this head, Major +Denison himself is most explicit; and when we have the testimony of an +enemy upon the subject, the most exacting incredulity cannot look for +more conclusive evidence in the premises. + +As already observed, when the rout and confusion of the English +commenced, they fled in all directions; but their main body set off, +at full speed, for Ridgeway, through which village, and for a mile +beyond it, they were pursued by the Irish forces. As was to be +expected, their wounded and dying strewed the way; while those who +were thoroughly acquainted with the locality made their escape to the +shelter of whatever woods or dwellings were to be found along the line +of retreat, without actually bordering upon it. Amongst these latter +were Greaves and the persons who made such a sudden and deadly attack +upon Barry while engaged in looking after the dead and wounded that +were found convenient to the house already referred to. This +habitation ought to have been well known to one of the party at least; +for it was neither more nor less than the residence of Wilson, in +which Kate M'Carthy and Martha and her aunt had barricaded themselves, +in the apartment of the former, after having secured the outer doors, +when they heard the tide of war rolling towards them. Wilson, +understanding how the case stood with them, when he found he could not +gain admission, and being sensible that they could not hear his voice, +hastily effected an entrance by a window in a sort of out kitchen, +attached to the rear of the building, and soon admitted his +companions; re-bolting the door, and running up stairs to warn the +other inmates of the house not to speak or stir, but remain barricaded +as they were, until they heard from him again. This done, he descended +to where his comrades were, and was about to make some observation, +when the Kid instantly drew the attention of Greaves to the party who +were collecting the dead and wounded hard by, among whom he at once +recognized Barry. In the twinkling of an eye, the countenance of +Greaves was lit with an expression the most revolting; and turning to +his companions he exclaimed in a low, hissing voice-- + +"Now, my countrymen, we can avenge ourselves in part, at least, for +the disasters of the morning. There stand some of the most active and +dangerous of the army of the invader, and it is for us to take signal +vengeance on them, and not permit a single one of them to escape out +of our hands. We must not risk firing upon them at a distance so +great; as should we chance to miss a single shot, they would be sure +to slip beyond our reach. Let us rush out upon them then, with such +arms as we have at our command; and after giving them a volley pounce +upon them knife in hand, for they appear quite unconscious of any +impending danger. Above all things, do not let that officer escape. He +is the most deadly enemy we have had to encounter to-day. Let him, at +least, be despatched without fail, and one thousand dollars shall be +distributed amongst you the moment I find him a corpse before my +eyes." + +The Kid, Jack and Wilson understood all this; for the first of the +villains had explained previously to the latter two, that Greaves was +interested to an unaccountable extent, in the death of Barry; and had, +on that very morning, before he left Ridgeway, promised him a round +sum if he managed to despatch him in any way; whether by stealth, or +otherwise. This he attempted, as we have already seen; but hitherto +without the desired effect; so that, now, when his game was within his +reach, and where he felt that he should be the gainer, no matter by +whom our hero was laid low, he immediately fell into this second +proposition, as did all the others who stood around him. + +In a few moments, then, Wilson procured the masks already noticed; +they being a portion of his stock in trade, and loading the three +rifles they had at their command, the door was stealthily opened and +the assault made, which had resulted in such disaster to themselves. + +When Barry had recovered from the utter surprise occasioned by the +presence of Greaves, and overcome the speechless astonishment into +which it had thrown him, he knelt down beside the wounded man, and +began to examine into the extent of his injuries. At first a few flesh +wounds about the shoulders and arms were all that he could discover; +and as these had bled freely, he fancied that the feeble condition of +the wretch, was attributable simply to a loss of blood; and, now, that +his wounds had been staunched, he believed he should gradually recover +strength, so as to be able to offer some explanation of his presence +in that part of the Province, as well as of the circumstances in which +he now found himself. On a closer examination, however, and just about +half an inch below the nipple of his left breast, the young soldier +perceived a small discolored wound, evidently made with the point of +his own sword during the struggle that had just terminated, and from +which not a single drop of blood had flowed, outwardly at least. Here, +without a doubt, all the danger lay; and as our hero was not versed in +injuries, beyond the reach of external applications, all he could do +was to bathe the bitter, little, blue or discolored orifice--the lips +of which seemed to be pressed together in a vicious sort of manner--in +some of the water that had been previously procured at the adjoining +house, when the wounded men were removed from the open field. During +this operation the eyes of Greaves were steadily fixed upon him, and +when he had again bathed the wound and adjusted the head of the +unfortunate sufferer on a pillow made of some hay found in one corner +of the shed, the lips of the patient became as it were suddenly +unsealed, while the light of a larger intelligence, rushed full into +his eyes. At this period the wounded companions of our hero were +comparatively easy, on the temporary couch made for them by the +stranger, just before he disappeared and entered the dwelling a second +time; so that, for the moment, there was not much to distract his +attention from anything that Greaves might vouchsafe to say, some +terrible foreboding having just rushed into his mind, based upon the +dying intimation of Smith, that the man who lay thus helpless and for +aught he knew dying before him, was in some way connected with the +fate of his betrothed. + +Scarcely had the conviction seized upon him, when Greaves motioned him +to draw nearer. On eagerly complying with the request, he bent his ear +almost to the lips of the sufferer, who breathed with great +difficulty, and whose voice was scarcely audible, so weak had he +become. As though by some effort of his indomitable will, however, he +managed to collect all his energies into his tongue and throat; and +after whispering through his compressed and pallid lips the single +word "listen!" began slowly as follows: + +"I am Edward Philip Darcy. I have lost, for I know that my hour has +come!" + +At the mention of the name "Darcy," Barry sprang to his feet! Before +him lay the son of the man to whose machinations all Kate's poverty +and hardships were clearly traceable. He it was that was now concerned +in the Chancery suit, the decision of which was to be replete with +such serious results, as he presumed, to Kate. His father had been +dead for some time, and had bequeathed his interest in the case to +him! He was the only person living who could stand in the way of the +property it involved being placed in the hands of its lawful heir; for +the claims of Darcy, whatever they might be, expired with this, his +only son, and the last of his name and race. The consideration was +startling in the extreme; but as our hero saw how necessary it was to +command his feelings, and listen to whatever Greaves, or Darcy, as we +shall now call him, intended to say, he resumed his position and +listened, as the wounded man continued:-- + +"I worshipped gold and power; and as there was some fear of the suit, +of which you have often heard, being decided against as, on the death +of my father, I stepped into his shoes, as a man who could make +himself useful to the Government, and as one, in these troublous +times, pre-eminently calculated to dip into the secrets of Fenianism +at home and abroad, and apprise the British authorities of its power, +aims and objects, as well as make them acquainted with all its plans +and prospects. Although I now surmise I had really to do with the +Privy Council itself, I was ostensibly employed by an important +official connected with the Castle of Dublin, who, besides paying me +liberally for my services, promised to influence the Court of Chancery +in my favor, touching the decision now pending; provided that, after +doing all I could to unearth the leaders and plans of Fenianism in +Ireland, I crossed the Atlantic and commenced operations upon the +Brotherhood in America, of which the Canadian government seemed unable +to say much that was definite, however they might have apprehended +mischief from this quarter. It was known at home, that but little +confidence could be placed in the efficiency and honesty of a Cabinet +that tolerated a shuffling inebriate at its head; so that from the +contradictory official documents reaching the Castle from Canada, +through the Imperial authorities, it was, I suppose, deemed advisable +to send me out to learn something of the true state of the case. +Influenced thus, I set about my work with right good will; and after +doing what I could in Ireland, started for this country, with Fenian +credentials that, I need not inform you, were obtained through the +treason of one of the Organization who had gained admission into the +Brotherhood for the simple purpose of betraying it; but who was not +sufficiently deep in its plans and confidence to damage it mortally. + +"But the strongest inducement I had to visit America was the +circumstance of Kate McCarthy's having emigrated to that country, and +a desire which I had long felt of gaining her affections and, if +possible, making her my wife; for notwithstanding all the promises of +the Castle, I was fearful that the Chancery suit would go against +me--a suspicion heightened by the conviction of my lawyer. I knew, of +course, all about your engagement to her, but being aware of your +having entered the army, and of your having, through an adverse fate, +been separated from her by two seas, I thought that I should be able +to estrange her feelings and love from you, and make her mine before +you again saw her face. But here I had deceived myself. She was not to +be moved, and I was repulsed at every point, until, maddened by +repeated failures, I determined to make her mine by force. Under the +name of Edward Lauder, I first was introduced to her, having managed +to trace her from Quebec to Toronto, after rendering good service to +the home government in the former city. From the first moment she +beheld me, she seemed to entertain an aversion towards me; and when +she became aware of my intentions regarding herself, and heard my +repeated insinuations touching the general faithlessness and bad +character of private soldiers on foreign service, all semblance of +cordiality was at an end between us; and soon, perceiving that her +friends favored my suit, she left Toronto and took up her abode with +some relatives in Buffalo." + +Here the wounded man became faint and silent; but Nicholas, anxious to +hear all he had to say, bathed his brow and moistened his lips with +the water which still stood in a large wooden vessel by his side. This +seemed to refresh and revive his spirits; so that he soon continued, +although with increasing difficulty. + +"I knew that your regiment was stationed in the city where I first met +you; and the thought struck me, that if I could separate you both +forever, by betraying you into some act that would consign you to a +dungeon or penal servitude for life, or else make away with you +secretly, I should have some hope of accomplishing my designs +regarding her; and, in case the Chancery suit was decided against me, +reap the full advantages of it after all. + +"With this scheme deep within me, I followed her to Buffalo, and there +became acquainted with the two men that I saw fall a short time since, +who had engaged with me, for a certain sum, to keep their eyes upon +all her movements whenever I was absent from that city, and obey me in +everything, even to her forcible abduction into Canada, if necessary. +These men I knew to be desperate characters; so when I made this +arrangement with them, and was well assured that they would carry it +out if needs be, I started at once in your direction to see what +opportunities might there present themselves in furtherance of the +design that now seemed to absorb my whole being. + +"A man like me, easily found out your city-whereabouts; and, as you +are already aware, shortly after my arrival I formed your acquaintance +and that of O'Brien, whom I previously learned to be a relative of +Miss McCarthy, to whom, since you had been quartered in the Fort, she +had already paid a couple of visits. Soon learning your Fenian +tendencies, and hearing that you had applied for your discharge and +expected to receive it immediately, I determined if possible, to +prevent your becoming a freeman on British soil, and to goad you into +desertion; as it was rumored, that your regiment was soon to be called +home, and knowing that you would never accompany it, even though your +discharge were denied you. My object then was, to do, what I actually +did do the morning I accompanied you to the Fort. While you were +getting ready for parade I managed to exchange a few words with your +commanding officer, showed him my credentials from the Castle, and +told him that you sought your discharge only for the purpose of +joining a Fenian army now about to invade the province; with the +further view of placing them in possession of all you knew of the weak +points of the Fort. The theory worked like a charm,--you were denied +your discharge; and now I knew you would desert. In this, however, I +was determined to help you; and, at the same time, cause your +betrothed to be lured in some way into Canada, and consigned to some +safe, out-of-the-way keeping, where no one should know of her, until I +made my appearance as if by accident before her; and where I knew you +would not be likely to seek her, from the fact, that once you were a +deserter you would be out-lawed forever from British soil. + +"You yourself furnished the means of this abduction in a manner the +most innocent. You will recollect the note sealed with a peculiar +device, that you gave me to the deserter concealed in the city in +which you were stationed, telling him to entrust himself wholly, and +without question to whomsoever presented it. This note, after +exhibiting it to your friend, I retained and perceiving that it would +answer my purpose, as it mentioned no names, I enclosed it at once to +my agents in Buffalo, instructing them to present it to Miss McCarthy, +and without a moment's delay, convey her across the river to some +secluded spot, where she was to be held at all hazards, until further +orders from me, or until I was able to visit her myself. My +injunctions were obeyed, and all was well--you had deserted and Kate +McCarthy was in my power!" + +At this point of the infamous revelation, Barry writhed in the most +fearful agony, and was on the eve of strangling the villain that lay +helpless before him; but his good angel, rushing to the rescue, +restored him to reason once more; and while great beads of +perspiration stood on his brow, he endeavored to compose himself to +hear the terrible recital to its close. + +"But," continued Darcy, "after all my generalship you are master of +the field, and she cannot fail to become the possessor of the property +justly or otherwise so long estranged from her, although I fear it is +already embarrassed with heavy costs." + +"But where is she now?" exclaimed Barry, as the gasping man finished +his terrible narrative. + +"I know not," whispered the other with an effort. "As I had not an +opportunity of paying the stipulated sum to the men who undertook her +abduction, they kept the place of her concealment secret from me until +I should perform my part of the contract, which I could have done this +day, only for the fate that has overtaken us. There is, however, no +doubt of her being in the Province, and, likely, somewhere in the very +region where we now are." + +"But," he whispered, with increasing difficulty and spasmodic +interruptions, "I feel as if I were suffocating! Water! Water! Oh! +God!" And with a bound that almost brought him to his feet, he sprang +clean from the ground on which he lay; and the next moment fell back +heavily, a corpse! + +And so perished the four men, who scarce an hour previously were as +full of life and vigor as their hearts were of evil thoughts and +designs. There can be no doubt, that they fell through the +instrumentality, unconscious as it was, of the very individuals whom +they had injured; differing only in their shades of criminality. In +other relations, besides the one to which their fate may be mainly +attributed, they were doubtless guilty to an enormous extent. Black +Jack, Smith and Wilson were unquestionably old offenders; the two +former having the heavy scent of blood about them; while Darcy or the +pretended Lauder or Greaves, whatever his antecedents may have been, +showed himself capable of any atrocity known to the history of crime. +The cup of their iniquity was full; or they had not fallen so +signally, thus. How steadily the avenging angel follows in the +footsteps of the wretch who makes war upon humanity or does continual +violence to the divine spark which, in a greater or less degree, +illumes the breast of every human being born into the world. +Throughout the whole of their infamous career, these men were well +apprised of the fact, that they were engaged in open rebellion against +God and Nature, and thus it was, that they were cut off in their +prime, without one sympathetic tear, to soothe their last moments or +hallow their graves. + +Such were the meditations of Barry, as he stood over the inanimate +frame of his implacable foe; but soon awaking from his revery, he felt +how dreadful to know that his beloved was, perhaps at that very +moment, suffering in captivity or exposed to dangers consequent upon +the disturbed state of the country at some point, where, now that her +persecutors, who had at least provided for her daily sustenance, were +dead, she might, on this fact becoming known, be subjected to further +injuries, or wrongs that might be irreparable. The thought maddened +him; and he was groaning aloud, in the agony of his spirit, when his +ears were arrested with the returning tumult of O'Neill's forces, +after their having made the second of June, 1866, memorable in the +annals of Canada, and those of Irish Independence. Gazing steadily for +a moment on the terribly distorted features of his fallen enemy, he +turned towards the wide shed-door to make some arrangements regarding +the removal of his wounded comrades, when his opportune friend again +emerged from the house, and rejoined him as he was stepping across the +threshold. + +"How fares it with your antagonist, now?" enquired the stranger as he +cast a hurried glance towards the body of Darcy, not knowing that its +spirit had already taken its flight forever. + +"Dead!" returned Barry. "They who assailed us but a short time ago are +all gone to their last home, save the man who made his escape on your +arrival and interference, whoever he may be." + +"That's sharp practice," rejoined the other; "but in my opinion they +richly deserved what they got, for they fought as murderers and not as +men." + +"Would to heaven," returned Nicholas, "that one of them at least had +escaped the fearful chastisement inflicted upon him; for his death has +enshrouded in darkness a question which presses heavily upon my heart, +and one that I have no means of solving. But pray, sir," he continued, +"do you reside in this vicinity, and if you do, perhaps you would be +kind enough to say, whether you have heard, recently, of the arrival +of a strange lady in this locality, who had been lured from her home +and friends under false pretenses; and who is, as I now have every +reason to believe, in questionable hands?" + +"May I ask your name?" returned the stranger, without replying to the +question, and eyeing Barry from head to foot, "and may I, in addition, +inquire what is the name of the lady to whom you allude?" + +"My name," replied our hero, "is Nicholas Barry, and the name of the +lady is Miss Kate M'Carthy." + +"Mr. Barry," hastily observed the stranger, extending his hand, "my +name is Henry Evans, and my kinswoman, Kate M'Carthy, is well and now +in safe keeping." + +At the mention of the name, Evans, and the assurance that his +betrothed was safe and well, the heart of Berry so bounded within him, +that after the blood had poured itself in one mighty torrent through +his whole frame and blazed over his face and brow for a moment, he +became as pale as death, and had not his newly found friend leaped +forward and caught him in his arms, he should have fallen fainting to +the ground. Recovering himself speedily, however, he leaned against +the huge door-post at his side, and, breathing with more regularity, +soon became cool and collected. + +Evans could well understand this sudden emotion. His own heart was +just in the vein to sympathize with it; so, in a moment the subtle +freemasonry of kindred spirits was established between them. + +Who can explain it? Here was a brave, young fellow, with the heart of +a lion, who had faced death in various shapes but an hour or so +previously--who had within the brief space of two days engaged hand to +hand in the most dreadful encounters with the enemy, without +experiencing the slightest sense of fear, or condescending to yield a +single inch of ground where he had set down his foot--here, we say, we +see him succumb at once, and rendered as helpless as a child at the +mere mention of a woman, and the assurance of her safety, although not +by any means thoroughly satisfied of her being in anything like +imminent danger. We shall not attempt to analyse the subtle and +powerful influences at work in such mysterious cases; but simply +content ourselves with the observation, that men who are susceptible +of such influences, and who strike at once to the first tap of their +drum, are not notorious for any great deficiency when brought face to +face with a more tangible and terrible enemy. And so thought Henry +Evans as both he and Nicholas sallied forth; the former to report to +the gallant O'Neill, and the latter to re-enter the house already so +often referred to, where Barry agreed to join him when he had seen the +hero of Ridgeway. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +As remarked in a preceding chapter, Kate M'Carthy had some distant +relatives in the vicinity of Fort Erie; and, as fortune would have it, +the two strangers who, on the night before the battle of Ridgeway, +interrupted the murderous designs of Smith, belonged to the family +with whom she claimed kindred. One of these, Henry Evans, who had once +met her in Toronto, on hearing from Martha of her presence in Wilson's +house and the circumstances that surrounded her, instantly requested +to be conducted to her, with a view to reassuring her and offering her +the protection of which he was satisfied she stood so much in need. +The recognition was mutually exciting, and on the part of Kate +appreciated with heartfelt gratitude. Explanations ensued which placed +her friend in possession of all that was, for the present, necessary +for him to know; and it was at once agreed upon, that she should +accompany him on the ensuing morning to the residence of his widowed +mother, not far distant, where she was to remain until Barry or her +friends in Buffalo could be communicated with; as her return to the +United States, at a period so disturbed and critical, was, of course, +out of the question. New life and hope welled up through this +arrangement; and the poor girl, who but a few moments previously +believed herself in a position the most dangerous and difficult, now +found herself under the protection of her own stalwart kinsman. + +Martha, also, was delighted that the being she herself so loved had +made a discovery that not only quieted the painful anticipations and +reflections of her new friend, but gave herself an opportunity of +speedily abandoning forever a roof that had now become loathsome to +her, as she had already made up her mind to accompany Kate to the +house of old Mrs. Evans, who, notwithstanding her suspicious +associations, loved her for her own sake, and desired that she should +forgo all further intimacy with her uncle, and become the wife of +young Henry. In this way matters stood until the morning of the second +of June--Henry remaining throughout the night with the alarmed family; +there being nothing to fear in the direction of his own residence, +which lay quite out of the line of the two armies that were now about +to close in mortal strife. + +The Kid and the cousin of Henry had, as already shown, gone in the +direction of the village, where, on arriving in due course, they found +the inhabitants in a state of the greatest consternation. As in Port +Colborne, here, also, was to be observed that spirit of disaffection +towards the British Crown which led to the hoisting of the American +flag over a public building at the former place, when it was +ascertained that the Province had actually been invaded. As yet, the +troops under Lieutenant Colonel Booker had not arrived, and as there +was no opportunity for Smith to ply his vocation, that worthy, +emulating the course pursued by his companion, rested quietly on his +oars, until the cars arrived with the army that was to contest the +field of Ridgeway with the soldiers of O'Neill. + +On the arrival of this train, Smith, as we have already perceived, +encountered Darcy, and had a conversation with him, the substance of +which is already known to the reader, as well as his subsequent +falling in with Wilson and Black Jack in the immediate rear of the +Fenian forces. Before the British had proceeded from Ridgeway towards +Chippewa, for the purpose of forming the junction with Colonel +Peacock, the cousin of Evans had returned to Wilson's with the +intelligence that the command of Booker was about to move along the +Sodom Road; upon which he was begged, by Henry, to start off and +inform the widow, his mother, of the approaching storm, and assure her +that he should not take up arms against the invaders, nor approach the +scene of conflict, if the contending armies joined issue at any point +in the neighborhood. These two young men, although born in Canada, +were, yet, the sons of Irishmen, and felt that it would be criminal in +them to raise their hand against the freedom of the land of their +fathers, or in behalf of a government that had for centuries subjected +it to every wrong and insult that could be heaped upon it. This they +felt; and entered into a mutual compact to remain passive at least, +should the tide of the conflict surge their way--hoping only for the +success of the cause of poor, down-trodden Erin, without feeling +themselves impelled to raise an arm in her defense against a body of +men made up in part of their friends and acquaintances. + +This was not genuine patriotism, we know; but, still, under the +circumstances, it had its merits. In addition, it had enough of the +real stuff about it to be capable of being shaped readily, under +certain not unreasonable conditions, into a most useful and active +element in the cause. Where a sentiment is not absolutely hostile, but +on the contrary even imbued with some slight degree of friendliness, +it is easily brought into line with the cause towards which it leans. +And thus it is with a vast body of the people of Canada, who do not +take any active part in the great question that now so agitates the +Empire and shakes the tyrant England to her very foundations. They +would like to see Ireland free; but they do not care to come into +collision with the British authorities on the subject. Could they lend +her a helping hand in secret and without detection, they would extend +it cheerfully; but they have not the nerve or moral courage to give +her three cheers in the market place. To this numerous class, these +two young men belonged; and, singular as it may appear, we count on it +for real support in the final struggle that must take place between us +and England upon this continent, one day or other. We think, also, +that in the hands and under the fostering care of the out-and-out +Irish Nationalists of Canada, who are ready to mount the scaffold at +any moment, this friendly element could be fostered into a great and +irresistible power; for we have been always of the opinion, that +nine-tenths of those who have even one, single drop of Irish blood in +their veins, can, by judicious treatment, be developed into the +deadliest enemies of our ancient and implacable foe. Let these people +be educated in the history and the wrongs of Ireland, as well as the +extent to which England is indebted to that unfortunate country for an +that she now is. Let them take the Penal Laws for a text-book, and the +murders and confiscations of Elizabeth, Cromwell and the Georges, for +their "Reading Made Easy," and no fear but they will soon fall into +the ranks from which they now, alas! keep aloof. Let them dwell upon +the ages of famine, fire and sword to which we have been subjected by +a wretch who in the days of her gross darkness came begging to our +door in her breeches of blue paint and asked us for an alphabet, while +we were yet the day star of European civilization and Christianity, +and then they will be enabled to justify in their own bosoms any act +that would tend to her humiliation, and comprehend fully how bitter +and eternal the enmity between us, and how just, whatever stroke +should seal her doom at our hands. + + Seek music in the wolf's fierce howl, + Or pity In his Wood-shot eye, + When hanger drives him out to prowl + Beneath a rayless northern sky. + + But seek not that we shall forgive + The hand that strikes as to the heart, + And yet in mock'ry bids us live + To count our stars as they depart. + + We've fed the tyrant with our blood,-- + Won all her battles!--built her throne!-- + Established her on land and flood, + And sought her glory, next our own. + + We raised her from her low estate + And plucked her pagan soul from hell. + And led her up to heaven's own gate, + Till she for gold, like Judas, fell. + + And when in one long soulless night + She lay unknown to wealth or fame. + We gave her empire---riches--light, + And taught her how to spell her name. + + But, now, ungenerous and unjust, + Forgetful of our old renown, + She bows us to the very dust, + But wears our jewels in her Crown! + +This is the sentiment that fires the heart of every true son and +daughter of Ireland; and all that is necessary to its general adoption +on the part of those related to us by even the most distant ties of +country, is the constant promulgation throughout the length and +breadth of the New Dominion, etc., of sound information regarding the +past and present of our native land, and the true history of English +legislation affecting us. + +Scarcely had the cousin of Evans disappeared from Wilson's on his +mission to the house of the widow, when the echoing woods in the +vicinity of the place gave evidence of the meeting of the two hostile +forces. The first discharge of the Fenian rifles, after Col. Starr +had driven in the advance posts of the enemy, brought Kate to her +feet, and kindled in her eye a flame so intense, while her white +teeth glistened through her parted lips, that she seemed the very +personification of female courage and patriotism. As she listened +through her open casement, and caught the distant cheer of her +countrymen, the wild music of which she thoroughly recognized, her +bosom rose and fell with terrible emotion, while her delicate nostrils +were distended in a sort of passionate ecstasy that might be termed +the climax of the most sublime enthusiasm. Once more the Saxon and the +Celt had joined in the death struggle; and she felt as though she +herself ought to be in some way identified then and there with the +conflict. Thoroughly appreciating the mighty issues at stake, she +implored heaven, in language the most fervent, to crown with victory +the standard of Ireland, and nerve the arm of O'Neill in this the hour +of his need. And as the moments rolled by, and the tide of the contest +ebbed and flowed upon her ear, her excitement became so intense, that +she begged of Henry to venture out to some point where, without +personal danger to himself, he might learn something of the actual +state of the battle and the prospects of her gallant countrymen. + +More than an hour had elapsed since the action began, when Evans +sallied forth to gratify not only the wishes of his kinswoman, but to +satisfy his own mind as to how affairs stood. He was armed with his +revolver and dirk only; and felt, notwithstanding his former resolve, +a strange inclination to use them on the side of Ireland. A cowardly +shot, however, he could not fire; and as he knew nothing whatever of +military tactics, he at once dismissed from his mind the idea of +participating in the contest. Perceiving that the conflict did not +verge towards his own dwelling, he was determined to keep his eye upon +that which he had just left, and yet venture as near the field where +the battle was raging as a brave man might. Once he retraced his steps +to inform Kate that so far as he could perceive, both armies were +holding their own; returning again to the edge of a patch of wood +close by. Here he had remained for some time endeavoring to form an +idea as to the probable issue of the struggle, and occasionally warned +of the perilousness of his position by the rifle bullets that now and +then sang around him, when suddenly the red cross of St. George was +seen to waver, and the next moment the British lines were broken and +scattered like chaff before the gallant O'Neill and the victorious +charge of his brave handful of heroes. + +The pulses of Evans beat quick with a sort of strange, wild joy, when +he heard the shout of triumph which burst from the ranks of the Irish, +as they swept like a whirlwind in the wake of their retreating foes, +some of whom stood at bay but to be instantly overthrown by their +pursuers. A desperate encounter between a knot of both forces took +place quite near to where he stood concealed: and here, also, the +enemy bit the dust; although at this precise point, they were not +outnumbered. It was here that Barry and his comrades were ordered to +look after the dead and wounded; the point being convenient to +Wilson's, and discernible from it, although a clump of trees shut out +the house from Evans. + +When Wilson saw that the day was lost, as quickly as possible, both he +and his comrades, including Darcy and two or three others of a similar +stamp, who joined them in the field, fled and took shelter in his +house, unperceived by Evans or the victorious Irish. From this +dwelling, as already described, they sallied forth in a murderous +assault upon Nicholas and his party; with what success has been +already seen. To account for Evan's opportune appearance at the time +of Barry's being sorely pressed, we have only to observe, that he +witnessed the attack without knowing the point from whence it +proceeded, or recognizing the persons who made it; and only hastened +to the scene of action when he perceived that the assailing party was +masked and that Barry was being overwhelmed by unequal numbers. Having +gained the point where the struggle was being carried on, the butt-end +of his revolver placed Barry on an equal footing with his antagonists; +although as already observed, the young soldier had previously +inflicted a mortal wound upon the most important of his assailants. + +Kate and Martha were eye-witnesses from their chamber window of the +whole of this supplementary fight; the former little dreaming, that +the officer attacked by the two ruffianly masks, was the man that was +all the world to her. She perceived, however, that he belonged to the +invading army, and such being the case, she viewed the contest with +breathless anxiety; looking every moment for the fatal stroke that was +to lay him low in the dust forever, until the sudden appearance of +Henry on the spot, decided the day in his favor. The relief that she +experienced was so unutterable that she burst into tears; and when a +few moments subsequently, she learned from the lips of her kinsman +himself that the Irish were every where victorious and the British +forces totally routed and in full retreat upon Ridgeway, the +intelligence was too much for her, and she swooned away into the arms +of Martha, while an expression of ineffable joy overspread her +beautiful face. + +The death of Wilson was broken to his wife as feelingly as might be by +Henry. For a moment the poor woman was paralysed, and then gave vent +to a flood of tears of a character so strange, that we shall not pause +to analyse it here. Her life had, indeed, been, for so far, a hard +one, with him; and now that she had discovered his real character, she +almost felt grateful to heaven for removing him from the world he was +so dishonoring and the heart that he had already broken. Yet he had +been her husband, and she remembered that she had loved him once; and +here the woman was touched within her. The die was cast, however; and +now it only devolved upon her to see his remains quietly consigned to +their last resting place. She saw him where he lay, kissed his cold +lips and wept afresh for all his long years of cruelty towards her; +and then turned away to her lonely chamber to which the body was +removed subsequently. Martha was horrified only at the slaughter that +surrounded her; and had no place for grief in a bosom where affection +for the husband of her aunt had never existed. All she saw before her +was her beloved Henry, alive and safe after the conflict had ceased +between the contending armies; while her heart thrilled with the +purest delight on learning from her lover, that which she was as yet +to keep secret, namely, that the officer who had been attacked by the +two masks opposite the house, was the betrothed of Kate who had joined +the invaders with the two-fold purpose of striking for the freedom of +his native land, and unraveling, if possible, the mystery of her +sudden disappearance from Buffalo. + +When our hero presented himself before the gallant O'Neill, that +distinguished soldier, who was already aware of the services rendered +by Nicholas, complimented him on his bravery and informed him, that he +should now fall back on Fort Erie with his remaining forces; fearing +momently the approach not only of Peacock's army but that of the +numerous other bodies of men that were being concentrated against him +from more than one quarter. Orders were therefore given to dispose as +hastily as possible of the dead and wounded: some prisoners that were +taken having been already paroled; among whom was the officer taken by +Barry on the preceeding day. + +When Kate opened her eyes to consciousness again, she found herself in +arms other than those of Martha; and looking up in a state of startled +amazement encountered the radiant face of Nicholas as he pressed her +in ecstasy to his bosom. A cry of joy escaped her lips, as she clung +to him with an embrace as wild as though she feared some adverse fate +should again separate them; and a second time became unconscious. +Soon, nevertheless, she was revived through restoratives used by +Martha; but yet in a state so confused that she could scarcely bring +herself to believe that all was real that was transpiring around her. +By degrees, however, she became convinced that it was in reality her +lover who enfolded her to his heart; and all was well. In due time, +explanations were given, when it was determined that she should at +once return with him to her friends in Buffalo, under the protection +of the victorious army and in a vehicle that Henry volunteered to +furnish for the occasion, and drive in person. The distance to the +frontier was but short; and as Henry's cousin had come up from the +widow's to learn the result of the battle, it was agreed that the one +should remain in the house of death with Martha and her aunt until the +return of the other from Fort Erie; and that, in the interim, he +should collect such of the neighbors as were within reach, and have +the body of Wilson and that of Darcy and the others interred as +speedily as possible. + +This once decided upon, Barry possessed himself of such papers and +documents as were on the body of Darcy, hoping thereby, to gain some +insight not only into the Chancery case, but into the intentions of +the Government or their plans in relation to Fenianism. To him +belonged of right any information of this character that could be +realized from a dastardly foe who had been vanquished by his sword. +But little, however, was gleaned from this source, beyond the fact +gathered from a letter received by Darcy from his lawyer a short time +previously, announcing that there was no hope of his winning the suit, +as some private opinions expressed by those who composed the Court, +went to convey the idea that the claims of Kate McCarthy were of a +character not to be set aside or ignored even under the pressure of +the Castle; and further, that the opposing counsel, who was a sterling +lawyer and a man of influence, was pressing the matter so, that a +decision favorable to his client could not fail to be given at no +distant day. + +This was, of course, cheering to our hero, although Darcy, just before +his death, had placed him in possession of the contents of the +epistle, and prepared him for the intelligence it contained. Kate +received the information without evincing any great degree of +excitement Her mind had been so perplexed and agitated for the last +few days, that her sudden good fortune, in a pecuniary sense, seemed +lost sight of in the other events that had already transpired, and her +unexpected restoration to her lover. She was certainly surprised at +the fate and the machinations of the pretended Lauder; and felt +relieved by the conviction that the murderous and unprincipled wretch +who had wrought her and Nicholas so much wrong and hardship, and who +had attempted the assassination of her betrothed, and her own ruin, +was no more. This was a great relief to her overburdened heart; as she +now knew, that a man so desperate as he, were he still alive, might +manage, even yet, to work them some further mischief. + +Among the papers belonging to Darcy there was found a small memorandum +book or diary, which, although a riddle to Barry, is worth noting +here, as it contained some entries that may possibly find elucidation +outside the recognition of our hero. One of them was as follows: +"Toronto, April 20th, 1866--Paid to J.G. M---- $20, for information +regarding Hib. Benev. Society." And again: "April 23d--saw Hon. J. +R----; willing to do all he can, but wants to be paid for it. Mean +fellow, whose tenderest passion is absolutely scrofulous, they say." +The other entries related to mere travelling expenses, etc., and to +some transactions which took place in Kingston and other points where +Darcy had been conducting his operations in the interest of the +English, as well as the Canadian government In addition to this, there +was a draft for a considerable amount; but as it needed the signature +of the deceased, it was regarded as valueless and permitted to remain +in the pocket of the dead man--our hero, however it fared afterwards, +feeling a singular repugnance to possessing himself of any property of +this kind, or retaining a single shilling of the current funds found +upon the corpse. These latter were subsequently devoted to defraying +the burial expenses of the deceased, as well as those of his +companions. + +When matters were so far arranged as to permit of the departure of our +hero and heroine, Henry was about to leave the premises with a view to +procuring the vehicle that was to carry them to the frontier, when +Wilson's team, that was discovered by a neighbor in the place where it +had been concealed, was driven up to the door. This was opportune, as +Evans, on perceiving the horses and knowing that there was a light +carriage under the shed, determined to put them into requisition at +once. Soon, therefore, the three friends were bringing up the rear of +O'Neill's troops as the latter fell steadily back upon Fort Erie, with +the intention, as before stated, of learning whether landings had been +made at any other point, or whether there were the slightest hopes of +reinforcements crossing the river from Buffalo. + +Kate parted from Martha with a warm embrace, and an assurance of +lasting friendship; while on her part, the betrothed of Evans promised +to visit our hero and heroine in Buffalo at no distant day, and there +renew the intimacy that had begun amid such clouds, although now +surrounded with sunshine. On the departure of our little party, then, +Barry's wounded comrades being previously cared for under the +instructions of O'Neill, the bodies of the four accomplices--Wilson, +Darcy, Black Jack and the Kid--were interred with infinitely more +decent observances than their career in life seemed to warrant. The +scruples of Nicholas, however, regarding Darcy's draft, were not +shared by some of those who disposed of his remains; as it was taken +charge of by an individual who fancied it might, one day, be turned to +account by some person authorised to receive it. Of the mask who had +escaped from the conflict opposite Wilson's, we may have occasion to +speak in some future volume; although Evans surmised him simply some +villain who had joined Darcy or the Kid for the purposes of murder or +plunder. Be this as it may, the fugitive had made good his escape, +while those with whom he had acted for the time being, suffered to the +extent of their crimes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +It will be remembered that when the brave O'Neill and his handful of +troops fell down the river from Fort Erie on the night of the first of +June, to go into camp at Newbiggin's Farm, preparations were being +made by the British not only to overpower him with superior numbers +but to cut off his retreat upon the American shore and capture his +whole command. In view of this, troops were being despatched against +him from all points; while the tug Robb, black with artillery and men, +came round from Dunville and patrolled the Niagara River between Fort +Erie and Black Creek, under command of Capt. L. McCallum. This craft +was manned by the Dunville Naval Brigade and the Welland Field +Battery, under Capt. R.S. King, all armed to the teeth with Enfield +rifles. On this vessel there was, we learn, so much mirth when it was +found that the Fenians were cut off from the American shore, that the +force aboard it assumed the air of a sort of military pic-nic party. +They laughed at the dilemma in which they considered the invaders +placed; and landed some of their men at one point on the river to make +a pleasant reconnoisance of the enemy, and give them a warm reception +as they came flying back towards Fort Erie before the victorious +Queen's Own or the University Rifles--either corps being considered +quite sufficient to snuff out the little band of patriots who dared to +beard the British Lion in his den. The wine and the jest passed gaily +round, until so secure were they of their position and the defeat of +the invaders, a landing was effected At Fort Erie where the skull and +cross-bones of St. George once again floated over the village, and +assured the inhabitants that they were not yet lost to wheezy old +England. Lieut. Col. Denis was absolutely in ecstasies and evinced +such instances of personal bravery over his brandy and water, that no +one could have imagined, that, in the space of a couple of hours or +so, he should be found in a hay-loft, shorn of his fierce moustachois, +and endeavoring to imitate the Irish brogue, in the slouched caubeen +and coarse, gray habiliments of some poor, plundered Son of the Sod. +Those who caught a glimpse of the brave commander as he fled before +the dangers that threatened him, report him as presenting the most +ludicrous appearance imaginable, and scarcely worth sending to his +account in a respectable manner. To this disguise alone, we learn, he +owed his escape after the second carnage of the British by the Irish +troops on the memorable day already named, and on their return from +Limestone Ridge. + +When O'Neill left Ridgeway, after pursuing the routed English forces +through and beyond the village, he took the Garrison Road and, as +already mentioned, fell back on Fort Erie. Here he came upon the +Welland Field Battery and Dunville Naval Brigade just referred to. +Flushed with the victory of the morning, he was upon them like a +whirlwind, and, in the twinkling of an eye sent them flying to cover +in every direction. His horse being much jaded with the march of the +previous night, and the dreadful fatigues of the battle of the +morning, he could scarcely get him to move a leg when he entered the +village; and this circumstance was near leading to the most fatal +results; for, in passing a house in which a number of the enemy had +taken shelter, one of them came to the door, and seeing the animal +going at so slow a pace, took deliberate aim with a rifle, and fired, +in the hope of bringing down his rider. The all but murderous ball +displaced the hair just over the right temple of O'Neill, lodging in a +building opposite; the hero escaping all the dangers of the day, to +the amazement of those who had marked him galloping among the carnage +and bullets of the morning, in what might be termed a constant hand to +hand struggle with death. It is sometimes thus with the men who show +the most daring front in battle, and at the call of duty expose +themselves to dangers the most appalling; while such as are more +cautious often fall in their first encounter with the enemy. + +The British forces at Fort Erie, from the very nature of things, had +the Fenians at great advantage on the return of the latter from +Ridgeway. The troops under O'Neill were fatigued and hungry, and after +a desperate battle and a long march, while the English had been +resting on their oars and feasting all day long, or at least for many +hours. Still, with all these advantages in their favor, they were +whipped instantly a second time; many of them being killed and +wounded; Captain King of the Welland Battery losing a leg upon the +occasion, and others being terribly maimed. In addition, some of them +were so terror-stricken as to roll from the bank into the river, and +conceal themselves as best they could, with their heads just over the +water, and sheltered by whatever chanced to float against them or +project into the flood. In one case they fought for a few minutes from +behind some cord-wood: but from this they were soon dislodged by the +terrible bayonets of their enemies, and scattered like sheep in and +about the village. It was here that the brave Colonel Michael Bailey +was dangerously wounded by a rifle ball from a house where the enemy +had already hung out a flag of truce. He was riding at the head of his +men when he was tumbled from his horse, the ball having entered his +left breast, damaging the breast bone and passing out just under his +right nipple. The wound was at the time considered mortal; but the +gallant soldier survived it for upwards of a year. Still it was the +occasion of his death ultimately; for, from the hour that he received +it, he drooped gradually into his grave. Only for the timely +interference of O'Neill, the house from which this treacherous shot +was fired, like that from which he himself had nigh received his +death, would have been burned to the ground. He saw, of course, how +cowardly the act, to first hang out a flag of truce and then follow +the white emblem with so diabolical an attack; but he perceived, also, +that if one building chanced to be fired, Fort Erie might be burned to +the ground. He therefore quelled the rising tempest at this foul play, +and with his iron will held the whole command in the hollow of his +hand and made those who composed it trample on their feelings and curb +their just anger for the good of the cause--a noble sentiment emulated +by the brave Dr. Edward Donnelly, of Pittsburgh, who at the risk of +his life and liberty, remained among the wounded of both parties and +assisted by the humane Drs. Blanchard and Trowbridge, of Buffalo, +attended upon the sufferers even after the troops had recrossed the +river, and the British had again taken possession of Fort Erie. + +If we except the death of the brave Lonergan and that of half a dozen +other noble fellows, whose names are unfortunately not at our command +at this moment, and take into consideration the capture by the British +of the Christian and chivalrous Father McMahon, who, regardless of his +own personal safety, remained with the dead and dying, after the +forces of O'Neill had recrossed the river, the victory of Ridgeway was +completely unclouded. This patriotic priest and some other friends of +Ireland are now suffering for their love of Fatherland in an English +bastile at Kingston, in the New Dominion; but the thought strikes us, +the hour of their redemption draws nigh. Subsequently, one or two +others, including the gallant Bailey, died from the effects of their +wounds upon that memorable field; but such are the contingencies of +war, and such the fate of some of the truest of our race. + +When O'Neill conquered and captured all the British force at Fort +Erie, he at once sent a despatch to Buffalo asking for reinforcements +and stating that if it were necessary to the success of any movement +that might be going on at some other point, he would hold Fort Erie +and make it a slaughter-pen to the last man of his command. General +Lynch having arrived at Buffalo some short time previously, it was +decided to send reinforcements; but on its being found, subsequently, +that a sufficient number to be of real service could not be then sent +to the Canada side, the idea was abandoned and transportation prepared +for the victorious troops to re-cross the river. + +When the British entered Fort Erie in the morning, they captured some +Fenian stragglers who were, of course, set free on the arrival of +O'Neill from Ridgeway; and now after being themselves captured in turn +they were released on their parole; O'Neill having no other means of +disposing of them. Nicholas was not engaged in this latter affair; as, +not anticipating it, he had kept in the rear of the army with Kate and +Evans; so that now when he came up, he was both ashamed and mortified +that even an engagement so trifling, when compared with that of the +morning, was fought without his having participated in it. However, +the day was doubly won, and as he explained to his gallant Commander, +the peculiarity of his position, with a smile and a hearty shake of +the hand, he got permission to re-cross the river with his betrothed. +This much accomplished, Henry turned his horses and drove down the +bank at a quick pace, until he arrived at the house of a friend who +kept a boat; and prevailing on him to take our hero and heroine to the +American side a little below the Lower Rock, he made his warm +_adieux_, with a promise soon to visit Buffalo with Martha, where, +meeting an express desire from the lips of Kate, he agreed that they +should be made man and wife. And so the friends parted for the time +being--Nicholas and Kate, in the course of an hour, finding themselves +under the Stars and Stripes once more, and beneath the hospitable roof +that had so long sheltered her. + +Here to their utter astonishment they found Big Tom who had just +arrived from Canada; he having been obliged to turn over his +establishment hastily to his trusty friend, Burk, and fly the +Province; as through some successful espionage, his connection with +the Brotherhood had been discovered. From a friendly detective who had +learned the true state of the case and the danger that threatened him, +he received the hint that urged him to make his escape, and which +doubtless saved him from the horrors of a dungeon if not from death. +His sister was to follow him as soon as a sale of his establishment +could be effected, and then, as he said himself, "good bye to the +tyrant until we meet on the battle field." He was astounded at the +disclosures regarding the pretended Greaves, and all but paralysed at +the frightful position from which Kate had so miraculously escaped. +When, however, he heard of the glorious victory of the arms of the +Irish Republic at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, under O'Neill, he forgot +everything else and leaped to his feet with a cheer that shook the +house to its very foundation. In the ecstasy of joy that seized him, +he took everybody near him by the hand ten times over, and added cheer +to cheer until it was deemed expedient to recall him to something like +reason. A more genuine display of heartfelt pleasure and patriotic +feeling was never witnessed or experienced by any individual or +indulged in a manner more original or unsophisticated. + +"Tell it to me again, Nick! Tell it to me again!" he exclaimed for the +twentieth time; "and did you see them run, and how many of them are +kilt? Have you a soord or a gun or anythin belongin to them? for if +you have I'll give you tin times the value of it for a keepsake." + +"Oh!" replied Barry, amused at this unusual display on the part of the +sedate and phlegmatic Tom, "there will be no lack of keepsakes in +Buffalo to-morrow; for the field was covered with their coats, arms, +and knapsacks; and some of these, I am sure, will be got for a mere +song." + +This seemed to satisfy O'Brien, who soon flowed into conversation +touching all that had transpired regarding Kate and Darcy, as well as +in relation to Nicholas himself. During the narrative, he referred to +the doubts that he had from the first entertained regarding the spy; +although he confessed he was not altogether clear at times upon the +subject. + +After the fight at Fort Erie, many of the Fenians, understanding that +they were not to be reinforced and that the enemy was about coming +down on them in force and hemming them in on all sides, made the best +of their way across the river. The great bulk of the command, however, +stood by O'Neill; until about midnight, when a large scow attached to +a steam tug approached the Canadian shore and took the whole of the +remaining forces on board. Laden thus, they steamed out into the +middle of the river, when a 12-pound shot fired across their bows, +from the tug Harrison, belonging to the U.S. Steamer Michigan, +brought them to--doubtless to the extreme delight of Acting +Sailing-Master Morris who seemed anxious enough to fire the gun and +make the capture; although they would at the moment have stuck to a +child hearing the authority of the United States. It is significant, +however, that the over-officiousness of Mr. Morris has not tended much +to his advantage as he no longer belongs to the United States Navy; he +having been quite as unfortunate as a certain District Attorney, who, +also, endeavored to impress the Government as to his undoubted +unfriendliness to the cause of Irish freedom. The lesson may be +profitable to Government officials at some future period; and prevent +them from exceeding the simple and unprejudiced bounds of their duty. +Be this as it may, about two o'clock on the morning of the third of +June the scow was brought along side the Michigan and the officers +taken on board that vessel and handed over to the urbane and +gentlemanly Capt. Bryson, its commander, as prisoners under the +authority of the United States; while the men were detained in the +same character aboard the scow. + +We are unable to trace to any particular source, the cruelty inflicted +upon these latter noble fellows, in keeping them for days in that open +vessel huddled together, and with the rain for a portion of that +period, descending upon them in torrents. The disgrace of such a +proceeding has been so often denounced, that we dismiss this part of +the subject without further comment. Ultimately, they were all +liberated on their own recognizance, to appear about the middle of the +month at Canaudaigua, to answer for a breach of the Neutrality Laws; +and there the matter ended. + +Now, however, the arms and ammunition belonging to the Brotherhood had +been seized at every point except Buffalo. In addition, the volunteers +who poured to the frontier from every side found themselves helpless, +being without weapons or a commissariat: although the brave General +Spear, with but a handful of men, made a descent subsequently upon the +enemy at St. Albans, and put them to a most ignominious flight. +According to General Meade, of the United States Army, between thirty +and forty thousand of these brave fellows were furnished with +transportation back to their homes at the expense of the Government; +while the arms that were seized were subsequently returned to the +authorities of the Organization on certain conditions that have been +for so far complied with. + +Thus ended the first invasion of Canada under the gallant O'Neill, +who, on his return from the campaign, was made a General and +Commander-in-chief of the Army of the Irish Republic, and who, in +addition, was subsequently elevated, to the position of President of +the Fenian Organization throughout the world. What his next move may +be, we are unable to say; but this we know, it will be in the right +direction and likely to succeed. He had no doubt been spared on the +numerous battle-fields on which he fought so bravely, for some wise +purpose: and this purpose, we feel, is in connection with the freedom +of Ireland. For the present, then, we bid him and his noble comrades +adieu; hoping the next time we shall have occasion to refer to them, +the power of England may be broken on this continent, and the green +flag of old Ireland floating over the Castle of Dublin. Our hopes of +success were never brighter than they appear to be at this, the moment +of our writing. We have an immense army in preparation for the field, +and a noble and self-sacrificing Senate and band of Organizers that +may well command his confidence and that of every Irish Nationalist in +the world. For the benefit of our readers, we here give the names of +the members of both these bodies, so that they shall be known and +cherished throughout the globe. We might single out from amongst them, +that of the able and patriotic P.J. Meehan, Esq., editor of the _Irish +American_, and bold it up to the admiration of our countrymen +everywhere: but where all have acted so nobly we shall include all as +worthy of praise alike; although we could point out D. O'Sullivan, +Esq., Secretary of Civil Affairs, A.L. Morrison, Esq., of Chicago, and +a host of others, as eminently entitled to our love and admiration; +while, were we permitted to do so, we could illumine our pages with +the names of thousands of our fair countrywomen and their beautiful +American sisters who have laid their hands to the good work with all +the passion and nobility of their pure and generous natures: but we +must for the present content ourselves with the following list and its +recent modifications, at the Seventh National Congress of the Fenian +Brotherhood, which assembled at Philadelphia on Tuesday, November +24th. 1868: + +_NAMES OF SENATORS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD_. + +JAMES GIBBONS, ESQ., Vice President, F.B. 333 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. +THOMAS LAVAN, ESQ., 13 Superior Street, Cleveland, Ohio. +T.J. QUINN, ESQ., Albany, N.Y. +MILES D. SWEENEY, ESQ., San Francisco. Cal. +JOHN CARLETON, ESQ., Bordentown, N.J. +F.B. GALLAGHER, ESQ., Buffalo, N.Y. +P.W. DUNNE, ESQ., Peoria. Ill. +EDWARD L. CAREY, ESQ., New York City. +PATRICK J. MEEHAN, ESQ., Hudson City, N.J. +PETER CUNNINGHAM, ESQ., Utica, N.Y. +MICHAEL FINNEGAN, ESQ., Houghton, Mich. +J.C. O'BRIEN, ESQ., Rochester, N.Y. +WM. FLEMING, ESQ., 16 Congress Street Troy, N.Y. +HON. J.W. FITZGERALD, Ellen Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. +PATRICK SWEENEY, ESQ., Newburgh Street, Lawrence, Mass. + +_NAMES OF ORGANIZERS OF THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD_[1] + +JOHN F. FINNERTY, ESQ. +JAMES BRENNAN, ESQ. +COLONEL P.F. WALSH. +MAJOR WM. McWILLIAMS. +H.M. WILLIAMS, ESQ. +HENRY LE CARON, ESQ. +MAJOR TIMOTHY O'LEARY. +JOSEPH SMOLENSKI, ESQ. +E.C. LEWIS, ESQ. +COLONEL WM. CLINGEN. +FRED. O'DONNELL, ESQ. +H.M. SULLIVAN, ESQ. + +(FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCHES) + +PHILADELPHIA. NOVEMBER 29, 1868. + +"The Seventh National Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood adjourned +_sine die_ at six o'clock this morning, the delegates having sat from +three o'clock P.M., on Saturday, determined to finish their business +in one session. General JOHN O'NEILL was unanimously re-elected +President, and resolutions were adopted, approving his administration +of the affairs of the Brotherhood. + +"The following named Senators, nine in number, were elected to fill +vacancies:-- + +"J.C. O'Brien, Rochester, N.Y.; J.W. Fitzgerald, Cincinnati, Ohio; +Major J. McKinley, Nashville, Tenn.; R. McCloud, Norwich, Conn.; J.E. +Downey, Providence, R.I.; P. Bannon, Louisville, Ky.; W.J. Hynes, +Washington, D.C.; P.J. Meehan, New York; Colonel John O'Neill, +Dubuque, Iowa. + +"The following named Senators hold over under the Constitutional rule, +having been elected for two years at the Cleveland Congress:-- + +"James Gibbons, of Philadelphia; Miles D. Sweeney, of San Francisco; +T.J. Quinn, of Albany, N.Y.; E.L. Carey, of New York; P.W. Dunne, of +Peoria, Ill.; Frank B. Gallagher, of Buffalo, N.Y. + +"What may be termed the central authority of the Brotherhood, within +the Senate, stands thus, Dec., 1868: + +"PRESIDENT--GENERAL JOHN O'NEILL. +_Executive Committee_--VICE PRESIDENT GIBBONS, P.J. MEEHAN and E.L. CAREY. +_Acting Sec. of War_--P.J. MEEHAN. +_Assistant Treasurer_--JOHN P. BROPHY. +_Sec. of Civil Affairs_--DAN. O'SULLIVAN, of Auburn. +_Assistant Secretaries_--FRANK RUNEHAN and RUDOLPH FITZPATRICK. +_Treasurer_--PATRICK KEENAN." + +As we have referred to the recent Congress at Philadelphia, the +following article from the Philadelphia _Age_ November 27, 1868, will +be interesting to our readers as indicative of the present standing +and prospects of the Brotherhood on this continent: + +"One of the great events of Thanksgiving Day, outside of the +festivities of the home circle and the attendance on public worship, +was the grand demonstration by the Irishmen of Philadelphia in honor +of the assembling of the Fenian Congress in this city. This body, +which consists of delegates from all parts of the world, has been +holding secret sessions at the Assembly Buildings during the week, and +important results have been anticipated by the friends of Ireland all +over the world. + +"The parade was quite a success, and reflected great credit on the +managers. Mr. John Brennan was Chief Marshal, assisted by Frank +McDonald, Marshal First Division; Michael Moane, Second Division; +James Carr, Third Division; John McAtee, Fourth Division; Michael D. +Kelly, Fifth Cavalcade, with the following Aids--John A. Keenan, R.J. +Keenan, Andrew Wynne, Thomas N. Stack, Capt. F. Quinlan. + +"The line commenced moving about half-past three o'clock, in the +following order, the military having the right of the line: + +"Gen. John O'Neill, President of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the +following Staff--Gen. J. Smolenski, Chief-of-Staff; Col. John W. Byron, +Asst. Adjt.-General; Col. J.J. Donnelly, of Engineers; Major T. O'Leary, +of Ordnance; Major Henry LeCaron, Com. Subsistence; Dr. Donnelly, +Surgeon; Capt. Wm. J. Hynes, Assistant Inspector; Lieut.-Col. Sullivan, +Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. Atkinson, Aide-de-Camp; Lieut.-Col. John W. +Dunne, Aid-de-Camp; Capt. J. Smolenski, Aide-de-Camp; Capt. J. Driscoll, +Aide-de-Camp. + +"There were three regiments of the Irish Republican Army in line; they +numbered fully two thousand men, and were clad in their new uniform. +The three regiments parading were the Eighth, Ninth and Twenty-fourth. +The brigade was commanded by Col. William Clingen, Major Daniel A. +Moore, Asst. Adj't-Gen. + +"The Eighth Regiment was commanded by Col. P.S. Tinah, the Ninth by +Col. J. O'Reilly, and the Twenty-fourth by Col. Michael Kirwan. The +military was followed by numerous civic societies. There were nineteen +Circles of the Fenian Brotherhood and three hundred delegates to the +Fenian Congress, besides the Charles Carroll Beneficial Society and +the Buchanan Beneficial Society. The civic portion of the parade +numbered about five thousand men. The participants wore dark suits and +badges, and pieces of green ribbon tied in the button-holes of their +coats. + +"In the line of the procession was a handsome chariot drawn by six +gray horses. It was painted green and gold; the platform was covered +with beautiful oilcloth, and on it was placed a large brass bell, +supported on a green framework. This bell was kept tolling over the +whole route of the procession. In the rear of the chariot was a raised +platform, on which sat a beautiful daughter of Erin, dressed as a +Goddess of Liberty, holding a beautiful silk banner. She was seated +underneath an arch of gold stars, set on a field of white satin, and +the top of the arch was covered with holly and evergreen. The rear of +the arch and the back of the chariot were covered by a beautiful +anchor of hope, made entirely of flowers. The horses were decked with +red, white and blue plumes and large silk pennants. The whole +arrangement made a very fine display, and elicited much applause along +the route. + +"A banner was carried in the line of the civic societies, containing +the following, in gold letters on a field of green satin: + + "Delegates--remember the words of our martyred O'Brien, to unite in + God's name, for Ireland and liberty. God save Ireland. + +"An outline cross in gold covered the front of the banner. + +"Along the route advertised, the sidewalks were lined by expectant +watchers, in some instances three or four abreast. They waited +patiently for nearly three long hours before the head of the line +appeared. Green flags, with yellow harps and the words 'Erin go +Bragh,' were plentifully distributed throughout the crowd. The +universal color was green; green ribbons in button-holes, green +neckties, green badges, green flags, green coats, green sashes and +green uniforms. The bands played 'Wearing of the Green,' continually. +'Green grow the Rushes, O,' 'The Green above the Red,' and +'Garry-owen' were the only substitutes. + +"There was a great deal of enthusiasm manifested all along the route, +and the procession did not cease marching until the shades of evening +had approached." + +But to resume, once more, the thread of our story:--In due time the +establishment of The Harp was disposed of to advantage, and the sum +realized from it placed in the hands of O'Brien by his sister who had +made her way to Buffalo according to his directions. When matters +quieted down in the vicinity of Ridgeway, Martha paid a visit to her +friend Kate, and was soon followed by Henry with a view to keeping his +word in relation to their marriage which took place on the same +evening and under the same roof with that of Kate and Nicholas. The +joint affair was a grand one; many guests having been invited to the +wedding; among whom were some officers of the I.R.A., and all that +survived of Barry's comrades. Tom, was in his glory; and as all the +military men present had been at Ridgeway, the _pros_ and _cons_ of +that important battle were discussed in a manner the most lively and +entertaining. Then and there, it was voted, that although the invasion +of the Provinces had not at the moment, resulted in any immediate +benefits to the Irish, it had given a prestige to the arms of Ireland +in an individual and national sense, not realized by that country for +ages. Not since the palmy days of our early chivalry, had British soil +been invaded by a hostile Irish army, until O'Neill broke the ice at +Ridgeway; and at no period in the history of the nation had a mere +handful of men performed greater miracles of valor or been handled +with more consummate judgment and daring. + +In the course of a few days, Mr. and Mrs. Evans returned to their home +near Ridgeway; and prevailed upon Mrs., now the widow Wilson, to +dispose of the house and property identified with so many unhappy +associations, and near which the young wife could not now be induced +to venture. In the roomy and commodious dwelling of the Evans' she +found a home; and in the course of time began to wear a more cheerful +aspect, and forget, in a measure, the dreadful ordeal through which +she had passed. Nevertheless, no real sunshine visited her brow, as +the shadow that had fallen on it was too deep and sorrowful for even +the peace and quiet now promised her in the decline of her years. + +Six months after their marriage, the Barrys were apprised of their +success regarding the Chancery-suit; but so enormous were the expenses +attending it, that, after all, the benefits accruing from it were +something similar to those experienced by Gulliver after his having +encountered and overcome all the difficulties that could have possibly +beset humanity. Still they were richer through its having been decided +in their favor; and were enabled on the strength of it to purchase a +handsome dwelling near their friends of the Rock, where they still +reside in comfortable if not affluent circumstances. Tom and his +sister, old bachelor and old maid, are once again in business, but +this time not in the restaurant line; and had we not given assumed +names throughout our whole story in so far as he and Barry are +concerned, his establishment might be recognized at any period by +those acquainted with Buffalo and its vicinity, or such as have passed +along a certain well-known thoroughfare to Black Rock. His faith never +falters in relation to the independence of Ireland; and he still keeps +up his connection with the Brotherhood on both sides of the line; +often receiving from Canada lengthy and mysterious epistles written by +Burk, over which he pores, from time to time, with sundry nods, winks +and significant smiles. + +Henry and Martha are now occasionally to be seen at the Rock; the +former wearing a green necktie, and the latter as happy as the day is +long. In the arms of both Kate and Martha are now two sweet +prattlers--one christened, John O'Neill Barry, and the other, Martha +Ridgeway Evans. Perhaps in after years they in turn may plight their +vows on the banks of the Niagara, as Kate and Nicholas had done by +those of the Shannon. Kate now and then visits her friends at their +residence on the Canadian side of the lakes; but Nicholas is of the +impression, that he is quite as well off in judiciously remaining at +home to look after the affairs of their establishment. Sometimes, +however, he gazes across the river and wonders how soon again he shall +have an opportunity of measuring swords with the ancient enemy of his +race; while Tom has made up his mind to handle a rifle himself, the +next time that O'Neill sounds "to horse!" + +And so ends our story of Ridgeway, with all the difficulties, loves, +hopes and fears connected with it. Throughout the whole of our +narrative we have been faithful to circumstances where the interests +of the truth required that we should be just and impartial. In this +connection we have been guided solely by personal knowledge and the +evidence of respectable eye-witnesses; and by official documents of +the campaign, the veracity of which are beyond any question whatever. +Here, then, we bid our readers good-bye for the present; trusting that +we may soon again renew our acquaintance, and that we have not done +injustice to any party; for, notwithstanding the slight tinge of +romance with which our facts are interwoven, we have, after all, +presented nothing for their perusal at variance with truth, or, we +hope, prejudicial to society. + +_THE END_. + + +[1] Although we are under the impression that others of these +gentlemen than those designated belong to the I.R.A. yet we are unable +to give their military rank, from the fact of our not being able, at +the time of our writing, to obtain proper intelligence on the subject. + + + + +AUTHENTIC REPORT OF THE +_Invasion of Canada, and the Battle of Ridgeway_, + +By the Army of the Irish Republic, under General O'NEILL, June, 1866. + +About midnight, on the 31st May, the men commenced moving from Buffalo +to Lower Black Rock, about three miles down the river, and at 3:30 A.M., +on the 1st of June, all of the men, with the arms and ammunition, were +on board four canal boats, and towed across the Niagara River, to a +point on the Canadian side called Waterloo, and at 4 o'clock A.M., +the Irish flag was planted on British soil, by Colonel Starr, who had +command of the first two boats. + +On landing, O'Neill immediately ordered the telegraph wires leading +from the town to be cut down; and sent a party to destroy the +railroad bridge leading to Port Colborne. + +Colonel Starr, in command of the Kentucky and Indiana troops, +proceeded through the town of Fort Erie to the old Fort, some three +miles distant up the river, and occupied it for a short time, hoisting +the Irish flag. + +O'Neill then waited on the Reeve of Fort Erie, and requested him to +see some of the citizens of the place, and have them furnish rations +for the men, at the same time assuring him that no depredations on +the citizens would be permitted, as he had come to drive out British +authority from the soil, and not for the purpose of pillaging the +citizens. The request for provisions was cheerfully complied with. + +About 10 o'clock A.M., he moved into camp on Newbiggin's Farm, +situated on Frenchman's Creek, four miles down the river from Fort +Erie, where he remained till 10 o'clock P.M. + +During the afternoon, Capt. Donohue, of the 18th, while out in command +of a foraging party, on the road leading to Chippewa, came up with the +enemy's scouts, who fled at his approach. + +Later in the afternoon, Col. Hoy was sent with one hundred men in the +same road. He also came up with some scouts about six miles from camp. +Here he was ordered to halt. + +By this time--8 o'clock P.M.--information was received that a large +force of the enemy, said to be five thousand strong, with artillery, +were advancing in two columns; one from the direction of Chippewa, and +the other from Port Colborne; also, that troops from Port Colborne +were to make an attack from the lake side. + +Here truth compels me to make an admission that I would fain have kept +from the public. Some of the men who crossed over with us the night +before, managed to leave the command during the day, and recross to +Buffalo, while others remained in houses around Fort Erie. This I +record to their lasting disgrace. + +On account of this shameful desertion, and the fact that arms had been +sent out for eight hundred men, O'Neill had to destroy three hundred +stand, to prevent them falling into the bands of the enemy. At this +time he could not depend on more than five hundred men, about +one-tenth of the reputed number of the enemy, which he knew were +surrounding him. Rather a critical position, but he had been sent to +accomplish a certain object, and he was determined to accomplish it. + +At 10 o'clock P.M., he broke camp, and marched towards Chippewa, and +at midnight changed direction, and moved on the Limestone Ridge road, +leading toward Ridgeway; halting a few hours on the way to rest the +men;--this for the purpose of meeting the column advancing from Port +Colborne. His object was to get between the two columns, and, if +possible, defeat one of them before the other could come to its +assistance. + +At about 7 o'clock A.M., 2d of June, when within three miles of +Ridgeway, Col. Owen Starr in command of the advanced guard, came up +with the advance of the enemy, mounted, and drove them some distance, +till he got within sight of their skirmish line, which extended on +both sides of the road about half a mile. By this time, O'Neill could +hear the whistle of the railroad cars which brought the enemy from +Port Colborne. He immediately advanced his skirmishers, and formed +line of battle behind temporary breastworks made of rails, on a road +leading to Fort Erie, and running parallel with the enemy's line. The +skirmishing was kept up over half an hour, when, perceiving the enemy +flanking him on both aides, and not being able to draw out their +centre, which was partially protected by thick timber, befell back a +few hundred yards, and formed a new line. The enemy seeing he had only +a few men--about four hundred--and supposing that he had commenced a +retreat, advanced rapidly in pursuit. When they got close enough, he +gave them a volley, and then charged them, driving them nearly three +miles, through the town of Ridgeway. In their hasty retreat they threw +away knapsacks, guns, and everything that was likely to retard their +speed, and left some ten or twelve killed and twenty-five or thirty +wounded, with twelve prisoners, in his hands. Amongst the killed was +Lieut. McEachern, and amongst the wounded Lieut. Ruth, both of the +"Queen's Own." The pursuit was given up about a mile beyond Ridgeway. + +Although he had met and defeated the enemy, yet his position was still +a very critical one. The reputed strength of the enemy engaged in the +fight was fourteen hundred, composed of the "Queen's Own," the 13th +Hamilton Battalion, and other troops. A regiment which had left Fort +Colburne was said to be on the road to reinforce them. He also knew +that the column from Chippewa would hear of the fight, and in all +probability move up in his rear. + +Thus situated, and not knowing what was going on elsewhere, he decided +that his best policy was to return to Fort Erie, and ascertain if +crossings had been made at other points, and if so, he was willing to +sacrifice himself and his noble little command, for the sake of +leaving the way open, as he felt satisfied that a large proportion of +the enemy's forces had been concentrated against him. + +He collected a few of his own wounded, and put them in wagons, and for +want of transportation had to leave six others in charge of the +citizens, who promised to look after them and bury the dead of both +sides. He then divided his command, and sent one half, under Col. +Starr, down the railroad, to destroy it and burn the bridges, and with +the other half took the pike road leading to Fort Erie. Col. Starr got +to the old Fort about the same time that he himself did to the village +of Fort Erie, 4 o'clock P.M. He (Starr) left the men there under the +command of Lieut. Col. Spaulding, and joined O'Neill in a skirmish +with a company of the Welland Battery, which had arrived there from +Port Colborne in the morning, and which picked up a few of the men who +had straggled from the command the day before. They had these men +prisoners on board the steamer "Robb." The skirmish lasted about +fifteen minutes, the enemy firing from the houses. Three or four were +killed, and some eight or ten wounded, on each side. + +It was here that Lieut. Col. Bailey was wounded, while gallantly +leading the advance on this side of the town. Here forty-five of the +enemy were taken prisoners, among them Capt. King, who was wounded, +(leg since amputated,) Lieut. McDonald, Royal Navy, and Commander of +the steamer "Robb," and Lieut. Nemo, Royal Artillery. O'Neill then +collected his men, and posted Lieut. Col. Grace, with one hundred men, +on the outskirts of the town, guarding the road leading to Chippewa, +while with the remainder of the command he proceeded to the old Fort. + +About six o'clock A.M., he sent word to Capt. Hynes and his friends at +Buffalo that the enemy could surround him before morning with five +thousand men, fully provided with artillery, and that his little +command, which had by this time considerably decreased, could not hold +out long, but that if a movement was going on elsewhere, he was +perfectly willing to make the Old Fort a slaughter pen, which he knew +it would be the next day if he remained. FOR HE WOULD NEVER HAVE +SURRENDERED. + +Many of the men had not a mouthful to eat since Friday morning, and +none of them had eaten anything since the night before, and all after +marching forty miles and fighting two battles, though the last could +only properly be called a skirmish. They were completely worn out with +hunger and fatigue. + +On receiving information that no crossing had been effected elsewhere, +he sent word to have transportation furnished immediately; and about +ten o'clock P.M. Capt. Hynes came from Buffalo and informed him that +arrangements had been made to recross the river. + +Previous to this time some of the officers and men, realizing the +danger of their position, availed themselves of small boats and +recrossed the river, but the greater portion remained until the +transportation arrived, which was about 12 o'clock on the night of +June 2, and about 2 o'clock A.M. on the morning of the 3d, all except +a few wounded men were safely on board a large scow attached to a tug +boat which hauled into American waters. Here they were hailed by the +tug Harrison, belonging to the U.S. steamer Michigan, having on board +one 12-pounder pivot gun, which fired across their bows and threatened +to sink them unless they hauled to and surrendered. With this request +they complied; not because they feared the 12-pounder, or the still +more powerful guns of the Michigan, which lay close by, but because +they respected the authority of the United States, in defence of which +many of them had fought and bled during the late war. They would have +as readily surrendered to an infant bearing the authority of the +Union, as to Acting Master Morris of the tug Harrison, who is himself +an Englishman. The number thus surrendered was three hundred and +seventeen men, including officers. + +The officers were taken on board the Michigan, and were well treated +by Capt Bryson and the gentlemanly officers of his ship, while the men +were kept on the open scow, which was very filthy, without any +accommodation whatever, and barely large enough for them to turn round +in. Part of the time the rain poured down on them in torrents. I am +not certain who is to blame for this cruel treatment; but whoever the +guilty parties are they should be loathed and despised by all men. The +men were kept on board the scow for four days and then discharged on +their own recognizances to appear at Canandaigna on the 19th of June, +to answer to the charge of having violated the Neutrality Laws. The +officers were admitted to bail. The report generally circulated, and, +I might say, generally believed, that the pickets were left behind, +and that they were captured by the enemy, is entirely false. Every man +who remained with the command, excepting a few wounded, had the same +chance of escaping that O'Neill himself had. + +To the extraordinary exertions of our friends of Buffalo, F.B. +Gallagher, Wm. Burk, Hugh Mooney, James Whelan, Capt. James Doyle, +John Conners, Edward Frawley, James J. Crawley, M.T. Lynch, James +Cronin, and Michael Donahue, the command were indebted for being able +to escape from the Canadian side. Col. H.R. Stagg and Capt. McConvey, +of Buffalo, were also very assiduous in doing everything in their +power. Col. Stagg had started from Buffalo with about two hundred and +fifty men, to reinforce O'Neill, but the number was too small to be of +any use, and he was ordered to return. Much praise is due to Drs. +Trowbridge and Blanchard, of Buffalo, and Surgeon Donnelly, of +Pittsburg, for their untiring attendance to the wounded. + +All who were with the command acted their parts so nobly that I feel a +little delicacy in making special mention of any, and shall not do so +except in two instances: One is Michael Cochrane, Color Sergeant of +the Indianapolis Company, whose gallantry and daring were conspicuous +throughout the fight at Ridgeway. He was seriously wounded, and fell +into the hands of the enemy. The other is Major John C. Canty, who +lived at Fort Erie. He risked everything he possessed on earth, and +acted his part gallantly in the field. + +In the fight at Ridgeway, and the skirmish at Fort Erie, as near as +can be ascertained, the Fenian loss was eight killed and fifteen +wounded. Among the killed was Lieut. E.R. Lonergan, a brave young +officer, of Buffalo. Of the enemy, thirty were killed and one hundred +wounded. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ridgeway, by Scian Dubh + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDGEWAY *** + +This file should be named ridge10.txt or ridge10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ridge11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ridge10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beth Trapaga and PG Distributed +Proofreaders. 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