Canadian Spy Story : Irish Revolutionaries and the Secret Police

On the Irish revolutionaries who set out to invade Canada and the secret police who tried to stop them. __Canadian Spy Story__ takes readers into a dark and dangerous world of betrayal and deception, spies and informers, invasion and assassination. David A. Wilson tells the tale of the Fenians – Irishmen who wished to liberate their country from British rule – and the Canadian secret police who infiltrated their revolutionary cells. Cover 1 CANADIAN SPY STORY 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Maps and Figures 10 Acknowledgments 14 Timeline: 1782–1921 20 Prologue: “A Patriotic Irishman” 28 PART ONE REVOLUTIONARIES 34 1 “Such a Prospect of Success”: Ireland and America, 1858–66 36 2 “A Strange Fact”: History and Historiography 57 3 “Relatively Obscure Men”: Finding the Fenians in Canada 71 4 “The Foremost City of America”: St Patrick’s Day, Toronto, 1858 91 5 “A Regular Fenian Organization”: Extending the Brotherhood in Canada 107 PART TWO SECRET POLICE 134 6 “An Air of Mystery”: Intelligence Efforts, Intelligence Failures 136 7 “Imminent Danger”: The Threat of Invasion, 1865–66 157 8 “The Republic of Emmetta”: Fenian Designs on New Brunswick 178 9 “The Irish Army of Liberation”: Secret Operations and the Battle of Ridgeway 198 PART THREE REACTIONS TO RIDGEWAY 220 10 “Known Rebbles”: Challenges and Opportunities 222 11 “Best-Laid Schemes”: Infiltrating the Fenian Brotherhood 241 12 “Gang Aft Agley”: Charles Clarke’s Downfall 254 13 “Bitterness and Deadly Hatred”: The Crackdown on Fenians in Canada 274 PART FOUR INFILTRATION 300 14 “The Best ‘Card’ We Have Got Yet”: Henri Le Caron 302 15 “Practical Evidence of Our Sincerity”: Eccles Hill and Trout River, 1870 326 16 “His Wild Enterprize”: Red River 341 PART FIVE AFTERMATH 362 17 “The True and Faithful Few” 364 18 “Contrary to All Expectations” 395 Dramatis Personae 415 Notes 428 Bibliography 524 Index 546 "In the mid-nineteenth century a group of Irish revolutionaries, known as the Fenians, set out to destroy Britain's North American empire. Between 1866 and 1871 they launched a series of armed raids into Canadian territory. In Canadian Spy Story David A. Wilson takes readers into a dark and dangerous world of betrayal and deception, spies and informers, invasion and assassination, spanning Canada, the United States, Ireland, and Britain. In Canada there were Fenian secret societies in urban areas, including Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, and in some rural townships, all part of a wider North American network. Wilson tells the tale of Irishmen who attempted to liberate their country from British rule, and the Canadian secret police who infiltrated their revolutionary cells and worked their way to the top of the organization. With surprises at every turn, the story includes a sex scandal that nearly brought Canadian spy operations crashing down, as well as reports from Toronto about a plot to assassinate Queen Victoria. Featuring a cast of idealists, patriots, cynics, manipulators and liars, Canadian Spy Story raises fundamental questions about state security and civil liberty, with important lessons for our own time."-- Provided by publisher