Exactly so. It's hard to deny the role of Schadenfreude when this very article has stuff like "Wolseley later told a friend that his good wishes for the South stemmed from 'my dislike of the people of the United States and my delight at seeing their swagger and bunkum rudely kicked out of them.' "
The Canadian elite, like the British upper-class, saw Southerners as having the same right to leave the Union as the original Thirteen Colonies had to break away from the British Empire.
Then what the hell were they doing in Canada? Weren't they in Canada precisely because they disputed the notion that the colonies had the right to break away?
Wait, I know - we can tell that they were serious about that right, because of the fact that they themselves shed the trappings of the British empire when they revolted for their own independence. Lemme just look that one up real quick. Hmmm. My sources must be incomplete or something - I can't find a date for the Canadian revolution, just a date when Canada became an autonomous federal state. By act of Parliament. With Royal approval, of course.
Essentially, what this article would have you believe is that Canadians believed in some sort of vague right to revolt if they wished - they just didn't wish to. But I highly doubt that any significant Canadian writers, politicians, or what-have-you of the period could be found expressing such sentiments. And why should they have? By 1864, the movement to Canadian confederation was underway, revolution was unecessary, and such talk would have been inflammatory to the very Parliament whose approval Canadians sought.
The reality is that the Canadians at the time didn't care about any such thing, particularly insofar as non-Canadians were concerned. Initially, sentiment was both anti-slavery and pro-North, but as the war dragged on, fear of annexation began growing in Canada. Any pro-South sentiments grew out of that, a simple fear for their own destiny - supporting the South was simply a way to counterbalance the North and preserve their own independence from the United States. It certainly wasn't because they were predisposed to the South, or to Southerners, or to secession, or any of that stuff - it was a simple political calculation on their part. Like so:
Britain sensed a strategic advantage for her five North American colonies in a divided Union. Canada might emerge as a dominant player if the Union dissolved into two smaller powers. Col. Garnet Wolseley was quick to see that during a tour of Canada as part of a general reinforcement of its defences.
Wolseley later became commander-in-chief of the British army. In 1862, he spent a month visiting the Confederacy. He argued in a letter to his superiors that Britain should grant the Confederate States diplomatic status because the division of the republic into two weak countries would strengthen Britain's North American hand.
Yep, that's your classic Canadian secessionist talk, isn't it? ;)
Just like Ft. Sumter, and the E.P.