Canada Ping!
Posted on 04/26/2013 8:00:06 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
Almost 150 years before the rail corridor between Toronto and New York City became the centrepiece to an alleged plot by Islamic terrorists to derail a VIA Rail train, it was the staging ground to terrorism of a different kind: An 1864 hatched-in-Canada conspiracy to burn down Manhattan and change the course of the American Civil War.
But it would not be sharp-eyed Mounties or an alert Imam that would thwart this 19th century bid at cross-border sabotage — but the “bungling manner” of the Toronto-based men tasked with carrying it out.
It was among “the most fiendish and inhuman acts known in modern times,” declared The New York Times on Nov. 27, 1864, two days after the attack.
Six men, all young Southern officers handpicked by Confederate authorities in Richmond, Va., had hopped a train from Toronto to New York armed with matches and bottles of “Greek Fire,” an unstable, explosive liquid.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
Canada Ping!
Thanks to the National Post and the Ashers, for continuing with Conrad Black’s intentions for the Post, if the Ashers are still there. Very interesting, and thanks, Squawk 8888.
[And Freepers, don’t ridicule present Canada in general for that. The article was published in Canada and posted here by a Canadian. And yes, the story is more about old Britain, the Confederacy’s intents for plantations in Mexico, Central and South America, the Monroe Doctrine, which our own US leaders have reneged against, etc.]
An 1864... conspiracy to burn down Manhattan and change the course of the American Civil War... It was among “the most fiendish and inhuman acts known in modern times,” declared The New York Times on Nov. 27, 1864, two days after the attack. Six men, all young Southern officers handpicked by Confederate authorities in Richmond, Va., had hopped a train from Toronto to New York armed with matches and bottles of “Greek Fire,” an unstable, explosive liquid.
The Aspers are no longer involved. Canwest was split up a few years ago and the newspaper division was spun off as Postmedia. The CEO is Paul Godfrey, who previously was CEO of Sun Media and of the Toronto Blue Jays. Prior to that he was Municipal Chairman (equivalent to Mayor) of Toronto for 11 years.
Thanks. My knowledge was rusty and stuck in the ‘90s. ;-)
Conrad Black still has a weekly column with the Post. He also has a hilarious Twitter feed- mostly references to his Lord’s robes and tales of being tormented by the houseboy.
He’s quite a man, IMO. I read much of his work during the ‘90s.
This was about 3 months after the burning of Atlanta by the Northern invaders.
When I first read “ staging grounds for fiendish acts” , I thought , those Fenians and the battle at Ridgeway , near Fort Erie.
Fenians were my first thought, too.
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