Ireland that wiped out the potato, pretty much the only food there was to eat, and over a million of the population died. There are some people in the Republic who still believe that blight was a bit of British biological warfare.’
‘No, I don’t believe it.’
‘I said some people believe it. There’s no evidence it’s true.’
‘I can’t believe we’d do that.’
‘Well, maybe not, but they did refuse to lift a finger to help the starving families and continued exporting as much food as they could out of the country. That’s when a secret society known as the Young Irelanders was formed and they led the great rising of 1848. Have you heard of that?’
‘No.’
‘Well. Thomas Meagher was about your age at the time and he went around giving speeches stirring up anti-British sentiment. He was arrested along with several others for putting up barricades in Tipperary, the rising came to an end and Meagher and his pals were all tried and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered.’
‘Just for putting up a barricade?’
‘Well, they’d done a few other things, but not much more than that. There was an informer in their ranks who told the British that they were up to all kinds of revolutionary things.’
‘A tout? Some things never change.’
‘Right,’ Bill said. ‘Well, there was an uproar and Queen Victoria stepped in—’
‘I’ve heard of her,’ she interrupted.
‘I’m impressed,’ he said. ‘Well, the old girl decided to change the nine men’s sentences to life in prison in a penal colony in Australia. Now, I said there were some great Irishmen in those days, didn’t I? Well listen to this. All nine of those men escaped within a few years and you won’t believe what they then went on to achieve.’ Bill leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner.‘One went on to become Prime Minister of Australia . . . ’
‘Prime Minister of the country he was sent to spend the rest of his life in prison?’ Aggy said.
‘Yes. Charles Duffy was his name.’
‘That’s amazing.’
‘I haven’t finished yet.Another became Governor General of Newfoundland. Another became Attorney General of Australia, another Minister of Agriculture and President of the Council for Canada, another a prominent New York politician, two served in the United States Army and both became Brigadier Generals, and Thomas Meagher became General of the 69th Irish Brigade, one of the most successful and feared units in the American Civil War on the Union side, and later he became Secretary of State and acting Governor of Montana.What do you think about that then?’
‘That’s amazing,’ she said again sincerely. ‘I mean, that’s unbelievable.’
‘There you go.And that’s just a handful of great Irishmen.’
‘Tell me some more.’
‘Get a book.’
‘No, go on. It’s interesting. How did Meagher escape?’
‘From Australia?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, he was a brash adventurer, and a very honourable man. He wrote a letter to his district magistrate and simply told him he intended to set himself free because he did not respect the law that imprisoned him. But he didn’t run off right away. He waited until the magistrate had received the letter and sent the police after him. As they arrived at his house to arrest him he galloped away, lost them, hopped on to a boat and sailed to New York City.’
‘What happened then?’
‘I’m not going to spend the entire evening talking about the history of Ireland.’
‘Just Meagher. What happened to him next?’
Bill sighed and looked at her with a mock frown. He was truthfully enjoying telling her the story. ‘Okay,’ he continued.
‘Wait a minute. Where are we? I mean what year?’
‘The 1860s. When the American Civil War started the Irish Americans had little interest in fighting at first. When Meagher arrived in America he continued his struggle for the freedom of Ireland and became a prominent leader within the IRB. That’s when Abraham Lincoln stepped in and made a deal with him and other members of the IRB to get the Irish to fight in the war. Meagher saw it as a way to raise an army to eventually fight the British. He agreed to fight on the Union side if Lincoln agreed that after the war his men could keep their arms. And basically, that’s what happened, and a great deal of credit for the winning of the American Civil War had to go to the Irish soldiers who fought in it.’
‘But how could the Irish attack the British from America?’ she asked.
‘They invaded Canada.’
‘No way,’ she said.
‘They did.After the civil war Meagher’s army was allowed to camp along the Canadian border. The idea being that if the Irish could invade Canada they could use it as a barter to win home rule in Ireland.’
‘Wait a minute,’ she said with a chuckle. ‘The Irish actually invaded Canada?’
‘Don’t laugh too soon,’ he said.‘They invaded it and more than once.The most famous fight was the battle of Ridgeway, where they actually routed the British.’
‘No.’
‘Well, to be honest, it wasn’t a British army as such. It was a garrison. And it wasn’t quite like any of the big battles of the Civil War, but people were killed and the British were routed. Unfortunately the Irish couldn’t hold on to the land and they were kicked out a few days later.’
‘What happened next?’
‘Lincoln was assassinated and the new President, Johnson, turned against the Irish, or at least no longer helped the cause, and it all went downhill from then on.’
‘That’s astonishing.’
‘Do you want to hear something else some old Irish Americans believe?
‘What?’
‘Well, they believe the British killed Abraham Lincoln.’
‘Now you’re totally bullshitting me.’
‘I didn’t say it was true, I just said there are those who believe it.What is true is that there was no love lost between the Brits and the Yanks in those days. They were always close to having another war with each other. Don’t forget the Brits were helping the Confederate army defeat the Union at the time. And they also knew Lincoln was helping the Irish and had made a deal with them that would help start a war in Ireland. And Lincoln also had his eye on Canada and wanted to link Alaska with the rest of North America.’
‘My God.’
‘Exactly. There, now, is that a story or what?’
‘What happened to Meagher?’
‘Ahh, funny you should ask because that’s another interesting part of the story. Before the last invasion of Canada, which was nixed by another bloody British spy - the guy who actually planned the invasion for the Irish, would you believe - Meagher, was, as I’ve said, made Secretary of State for Montana and became acting Governor. Not long after he mysteriously disappeared off a paddle steamer one night. His body was never found.’
‘But there are those who believe it was the work of the dastardly British,’ she said, mimicking him.
‘Are you making fun of this?’
‘I’m not, really. I think it’s great, well, you know what I mean.’
‘Actually that just so happens to be true.’
‘There’s evidence?’
‘No. But there are those who believe it.’
‘Why would the British want to kill him?’
‘Maybe they were settling old scores. Or perhaps it was because Montana is on the border of Canada and Meagher was planning another invasion. No one will ever know. And that’s it. No more stories about Ireland, not tonight anyway.’
‘Did he have any children?’ she asked.
