Troublous Times in Canada | Page 6

if the resources of the garrison should be greater than the patience of
the invaders, the same heights which two Irishmen have scaled before,
will again give foothold to the columns of the brotherhood."
THE PLAN OF INVASION IN DETAIL.
"At Chicago the Fenians already possess five sailing vessels, a tug, and
two steam transports; at Buffalo they are negotiating for vessels; at Bay
City, Michigan, and at Cleveland they have other craft in process of
refitting; these will simultaneously raise the green flag and stand ready
to succor the land forces. Goderich, Sarnia and Windsor will be
simultaneously occupied; all the available rolling stock seized, and the
main line of the Grand Trunk cut at Grand River, to prevent the passage
of cars and locomotives to Hamilton. The geographical configuration of
the western half of Upper Canada will permit of a few thousand men
holding the entire section of the country between Cobourg and the

Georgian Bay. These are connected by a chain of lakes and water
courses, and the country affords subsistence for a vast army. Horses
sufficient to mount as many cavalry as the Brotherhood can muster,
quartermasters' teams in quantity, and a vast amount of lake shipping,
will at once be reduced to a grand military department, with Hamilton
for the capital, and a loan advertised for. While this is being negotiated,
Gen. Sweeny will push rapidly forward on the line of the Grand Trunk,
in time to superintend the fall of Montreal, where ocean shipping will
be found in great quantity. With the reduction of Montreal a demand
will be made upon the United States for a formal recognition of Canada,
whose name is to be changed at once to New Ireland. While this is
being urged, the green flag will scour all the bays and gulfs in Canada;
a Fenian fleet from San Francisco will carry Vancouver and the Fraser
River country, to give security to the Pacific squadron, rendezvousing
at San Juan, and the rights of belligerents will be enforced from the
British Government by prompt retaliation for the cruelties of British
courtmartials."
ABILITY OF THE FENIANS TO HOLD CANADA.
"The population of the British provinces is little above two and a half
millions, and the military resources of the united provinces fall short of
sixty thousand men. Of these nearly ten thousand are of Irish birth or
descent. The States will furnish for the subjugation of these, eighty
thousand veteran troops. With the single exception of Quebec, it is
believed the whole of the British provinces will fall in a single
campaign. During the ensuing winter diversions will be put in motion
in Ireland, and while it is believed the Brotherhood can defy the
Queen's war transports to land an army in the west, arrangements will
be developed to equip a powerful navy for aggressive operations on the
sea. Before the 1st of June, it is thought, fifty commissioned vessels of
war and privateers, carrying three hundred guns, will be afloat, and to
maintain these a tremendous moral influence will be exerted upon
every Irish-American citizen to contribute the utmost to the general
fund for the support of the war.
"By the tempting offer of a surrender of Canada to the United States,

Mr. Seward, it is hoped, will wink at connivance between American
citizens and the Fenian conquerors, and by another summer it is
thought the dominion of the Brotherhood north of the St. Lawrence will
be formally acknowledged by the United States, Russia, and each of the
American republics. The third year of Irish tenure in Canada will, it is
believed, array two of the great powers against Great Britain. John
Mitchell, at Paris, will organize the bureau of foreign agents; and
Ireland, maintaining a position of perpetual revolt, will engage for her
own suppression a considerable part of the regular British levies."
EUROPEAN OPERATIONS.
"At the present time a bureau of operations is being quietly organized
in Paris, where the opposition press has already proclaimed for Irish
nationality. It is Mr. Mitchell who sees that the funds of the
Brotherhood are distributed in Ireland; he also is in correspondence
with liberal statesmen in Great Britain, and conducts the disintegration
of the British army by touching the loyalty of the Irish troops, who
constitute one-third of the Queen's service."
THE CUNARD STEAMERS TO BE SEIZED.
"Among the earliest aggressive operations will be the overhauling of a
Cunard steamer between New York and Cape Race, with her usual
allotment of specie. In like manner the British lines of steamers
proceeding from England to Quebec, Portland, Boston and Halifax, will
be arrested and their funds secured."
THE WAR IN IRELAND.
"Military operations in Ireland must, of necessity, be confined to the
interior. Three military departments will be organized--the Shannon,
the Liffey, and the Foyle--and