THE REASONS WHY REBEL AGENTS WERE SENT TO CANADA, AND THEIR
DOINGS--VARIOUS PLOTS OF MISCHIEF, HARRASSING, PILLAGING, &c.--THE
WATCHWORD OF THE REBELS IN CANADA.
The United States armies being continually pressed forward, step by
step, towards the heart of the Confederacy, occupying more and more of
the soil from which their commissary was but illy and scantily supplied,
together with a desire on the part of the Southern people, to let the
people of the North see what invasion meant, to make them feel and
see the destruction and desolation following our army of invasion,
determined the Richmond government, in 1863, to send its agents to the
Canadas, well supplied with money, to endeavor to foment discord, and
to intensify the dissatisfaction already existing in certain political
circles, with the government, to such an extent that it could be made
available for their own uses and purposes. Knowing that thousands of
their soldiers were confined at Johnston's Island, and Camp Douglas near
Chicago, almost within twelve hours' travel of Canada, it was the great
object of the rebel government to release those prisoners of war, and in
the mean time having stirred up and excited a formidable conspiracy in
the North, particularly in the North-West, having in view the subversion
of the government, and the securing of material aid and assistance
to the rebels, and those rebel prisoners being released through the
instrumentality of the rebels from Canada and those of the Northern
sympathizers who could be induced to join in the expeditions for
that purpose, the conspiracy was to culminate all over the North--but
principally in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and New York,
and effect the release of the prisoners of war confined in the various
prisons in those States. The prisoners at all these places being
released, were to form a nucleus around which all the dissatisfied
people of the Northern States could rally, and endeavor to maintain
themselves and their cause here in the North, and by rallying in
formidable numbers, to cause the withdrawal of so many troops from the
field in front, to establish peace at home, that it would materially
change the whole character of the war, and remove the seat of war
from the cotton States to the Northern States--Kentucky, Tennessee and
Missouri. Upon the withdrawal of the troops in any considerable numbers
from the front, was to follow the advance of the rebel armies into
Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri.
Sterling Price would never have invaded the State of Missouri in the
fall of 1864, had it not been to give all the aid and assistance the
rebellion could afford, to the conspiracy just then ready to break
loose, and this explains the position that Hood occupied for nearly two
months in Northern Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. He would never have
placed himself in such a position, had it not been deemed absolutely
necessary by the Richmond Government, that his army should be placed
where upon the breaking out of the conspiracy he could exercise a great
influence over its prospects of success. To further the objects and
views just stated, Jacob Thompson, of Miss., formerly Secretary of the
Interior under Buchanan's administration, was made a secret agent for
the Rebel Government in the Canadas, and two hundred and fifty or three
hundred thousand dollars in specie, or its equivalent, was placed in his
hands by the Rebel Government, for the purpose of arming and equipping
any expedition he might place on foot from British America, for
the injury of the inland or ocean commerce of the United States, or
harrassing its Northern borders, and particularly for the release of the
Rebel prisoners of war at Camp Douglas and Johnston Island, and from
the beginning of Mr. Thompson's services in Canada, we may date all
the regularly organized and officered expeditions from British America
against the United States. Chief of all these expeditions were the two
attempts, during last year, to release the prisoners of war at Camp
Douglas, near Chicago, Ill., and the two different attempts to capture
the steamer "Michigan" (a United States vessel of war stationed on Lake
Erie, carrying eighteen guns), and release the prisoners on Johnston's
Island. All four of these expeditions failed totally in the objects for
which they were organized, mainly by some friendly parties having put
the military authorities on their guard soon enough to enable them
to defeat the attempts, and in some instances to capture the parties
concerned in them.
To aid Mr. Thompson in his nefarious efforts in Canada, several officers
of various ranks were detailed from the Rebel army, by the Richmond
government, most prominent among these were Col. St. Leger Grenfell,
an Englishman of great military experience and daring, and Capt. T.H.
Hines, a young officer, who having been one of Gen. John A. Morgan's
pets, was recommended by him for the position he held in Canada, but
who was possessed of no more than ordinary military talents or genius,
unless his shrewdness in getting other and better persons involved in
difficulty, and condemned either to prison or death, and getting himself
out, evidenced military prowess. In connection with these men, were a
great many citizens, of both the United States and the South, who while
they were not authorized to act in any way by the Rebel government, yet
showed their zeal in the cause of the rebellion, by aiding and advising
with Mr. Thompson, and advising and exhorting all the rebel soldiers
in Canada, and the refugees from the Northern States, to take an active
part in the different schemes there on foot, to harass the northern
border of the United States. The most prominent of this class were
George N. Sanders, C.C. Clay, formerly Representative in the United
States Congress from Alabama, Col. Steele and Daniel Hibber. There was
still another secret agent of the rebels on special duty in Canada,
viz., Judge Holcombe of Virginia, who was sent there for the purpose of
secretly establishing agencies for the returning of rebel soldiers, who
desired to go South. However much Mr. Holcombe's mission removed
him from military matters, he nevertheless approved of the different
expeditions which were then being organized, and did more perhaps, than
any one else, to cause the irritation now existing between the Canadians
and the citizens of the United States. His policy in establishing
agencies in Canada, was to get some prominent and influential citizens
of the country who sympathized with his government, to act as agents
to furnish rebel soldiers who had escaped to Canada, and who desired to
return South, with all the necessary clothing, rations and money, &c.,
to enable them to go to Montreal or Quebec, where there were regularly
established rebel agencies, who upon the arrival of such soldiers
so furnished with money, for all the money so advanced, with perhaps
interest, was returned. In this way Mr. Holcombe enlisted, besides the
feelings, the interests of a great many prominent business men, whose
means had been advanced to rebels, and all along the Grand Trunk
and Great Western railway, in all the principal towns and cities,
he succeeded in establishing such agencies, which although at first
intended only for those who were rebel soldiers, finally became nothing
more than recruiting rendezvous for the rebel army, which all the
skedadlers, refugees from the Northern and Border States who wished
to join the Southern army, were received, fed, clothed and quietly
transported to the South. Upon the departure of Mr. Holcombe south,
his business was turned over to C.C. Clay, who after that acted in this
capacity. It was during Holcombe's stay in Canada, that the speculative
brain of George N. Sanders, first originated the great humbug of
the Niagara Falls peace conference, at which there was but one rebel
official, and he was not authorized to act in any such capacity. But
the speculative Sanders, having lived like Barnum nearly his whole life,
upon humbugs, made his last and greatest effort to humbug the American
people, into the belief that the Southern people really desired peace,
and that he Clay and Holcombe, although not regularly authorized by
the Rebel government, still could speak for and influence the Southern
people. While in reality the whole conference was nothing on the part of
Sanders & Co., but the last act of a desperate political gamester, who
ventured his all upon one last throw of dice, to win or lose it all. If
Sanders, Holcombe, Clay and others, could have made the people of the
North believe the South really desired peace, and that the only obstacle
in the way was the obstinacy of the General Government, which did not
desire it, but wished to annihilate the Southern people, they could have
materially affected the then coming Presidential election in the North,
and perhaps elected a Democratic president, who would have added to the
disasters then affecting the country--general and complete ruin. The
election of such a man as Gen. McClellan, at such a time, and professing
such principles as actuated the Democratic party at that time, would
have insured to the South her independence, rather than further war
and a dismemberment of the Union. All this these parties professing
to represent Southern opinion well knew, and had they been successful,
would have reaped a rich political reward. Having endeavored to give a
correct outline of the characters of the rebel leaders in Canada, and
the different spheres in which they acted, it is now necessary to give
some idea of the different classes of individuals who were led by
such men, and prompted by them to undertake the many hair-brained
expeditions, which they first plotted and started. These persons
are rightfully and very expressively divided into four different and
distinct classes: 1st. The Rebels. 2d. The skedadlers. 3d. Refugees.
4th. Bounty jumpers and escaped criminals. The term rebel is applied
only to persons who have been or are connected with the rebel army, and
they again are subdivided into two classes; first, those rebels who have
gone to Canada as a means of escape to the South; and, secondly, those
who, having been accustomed to easy and luxurious living in times of
peace, and having become thoroughly disgusted with service in the army,
where they were subjected to strict military discipline, sought
in Canada an asylum from compulsory service of both parties. 2d.
Skedadlers, as they are called, are those persons who having been
drafted, or seeing a possibility of it, in the United States army, had
fled to Canada to avoid the service. This class consisted mostly of fast
young men, having either their own or the pockets of their parents
well lined, and accustomed to live without labor of any kind, were not
disposed to take a part on either side which would subject them to the
inconveniences, hardships or privations of a soldier's life; and partly
of persons who, while they sympathized with the rebellion, still did not
care to make their precious bodies targets for the sake of upholding the
principles which they professed to entertain. 3d. Refugees, or persons
who, for the sake of expressing their opinions and feelings against the
government, without fear of imprisonment, had removed to Canada where
they could vent their spleen and malice against all things connected
with the United States, and vaunt their pernicious principles under
the protection of the outstretched paw of the British lion. 4th. Bounty
jumpers and criminals who could not be pursued and brought back to this
country for punishment under the existing extradition treaty between the
United States and Canada. This last class exceeds by far all the others
in point of numbers, and the low degree of infamy to which they are
reduced--rebels, skedadlers, refugees and bounty jumpers, with a mixture
of escaped criminals, forming an almost indescribable mass of
people, from all nations, all climes, and of almost every imaginable
description, and chiefly distinguished for being more frequently found
in the bar-rooms, billiard saloons, gambling halls, &c.