Book: Ridgeway

S >> Scian Dubh >> Ridgeway




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.

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.