Canadian Spy Story by David A. Wilson

Author:David A. Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Three days after the trial, James O’Reilly recommended that James Kinsella, Thomas Murphy, Michael Enright, Peter Egleson, Patrick Buckley, and John Doyle be released on bail. The evidence against Kinsella, he noted, was of a “weak character.” Henry Murphy, the Fenian head centre from Montreal, played the part of a repentant sinner and was rewarded with his release in November; Doody, Callahan, and Slattery were also let out. By the end of the month, there were no political prisoners in Canadian jails.129 The trial of Patrick Buckley took place in April 1869; it lasted less than a day, and the judge directed the jury to give an immediate acquittal.130 All other cases connected with McGee’s murder were dropped.

In explaining his decision to admit the prisoners to bail, O’Reilly wrote that the danger had passed. “Fenianism is dead in the United States,” he told Macdonald, “and the prompt action of our Government in making arrests last Spring has effectually stamped it out in this Country. It’s now perfectly harmless and no longer to be feared.”131 His statement took its place in a long line of premature obituaries for the Fenian Brotherhood, but it seemed quite reasonable in its immediate context. The secret police had information that the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States– although certainly not dead–was in no position to launch an attack on Canada in the immediate future. This information came from an impeccable source– someone who was a close friend of John O’Neill and who would rise to be the quartermaster general of the Irish Republican Army.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.