Book: Ridgeway

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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.

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