AN ENGLISH MILITARY SPY ON IRELAND AND AMERICA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 1, 26 April 1889, Page 21

AN ENGLISH MILITARY SPY ON IRELAND AND AMERICA.

(From the Irish World.)

The unmasking of Le Caron allows us to get a glimpse of the sort of agents England employs to do her work in this country. This fellow Le Oaron was well adapted for the business he was engaged in. He was a man of many resources, shrewd, intelligent, secretive, and, above all, unscrupulous in the use of means for the attainment of his ends. A man of this character would be an undesirable citizen in any community where he might take up his residence. The moral restraints that bold other men in check had no existence for this English spy. It is, therefore, not at all surprising that bis career in America has beeo what it was. Let us take a glance at that career.

Le Caron came to this country whilst the Civil War that England was doing her best to prolong was raging. He knew how the Government of his allegiance — the British Government — viewed that war. He knew that England hoped and prayed that it would end in the complete disruption of the Union. He himself has said that be never ceased to be an Englishman, and that during all those years he lived under the Stars and Stripes he considered that his first allegiance was due to England. We cannot, therefore, entertain for a moment that this British spy donned the bine uniform of a Union soldier because he was actuated by patriotic motives, in the sense that he was willing to risk his life that the Stars and Stripes might float over an undivided Republic.

We grant that Le Caron may have enlisted in the Union army from patriotic motives as he understood the term, In other words, he marched with the boys in blue, as he went with the Irish movewent for liberty, as a spy in the service of England. It is suspected that he was one of the many spies sent out by the British Government to keep it informed about a thousand and one details in connection with our armies. It will be remembered that at the time he entered the army it looked as if we should have to fight England as well as the South. Indeed, so threatening was the outlook that Russia, who was our fast friend during that struggle for national existence, sent a fleet of four or five men-of-war to New York harbour as a gentle reminder to England that if she undertook to fight the United States she would have to count on fighting Russia also. It was at this time Le Caron joined tha Union Army. The date of his joining, now that we know what sort of a man be is, goes far towards confirming the suspicion that he was at that time a paid spy in England's service. The kind of military service he intended to render may be judged fiom the fact that among the first things he did was to encourage a revolt that took place in the company that be had attached himself to.

When the war ended the English Government had no further use for him as a military spy. It was being employed in that capacity that undoubtedly suggested to him to claim that he was acting as a military sj>y all the time he was playing the part of an informer on Irish organisations in this country. It is not our intention to speak of bis career as an informer. That as already been dwelt upon at great length, and it is needless for us to refer to it now. What we set out to prove is that the agents England employs to do her work on this side of the Atlantis are apt to become a source of danger to this country.

The part Le Caron took in the revolt in hia company showed that the fellow was always on the alert to do as much mischief as ne could. This incident ia his military career is paralleled by another act performed by him whilst a civilian. It will be remembered that a few years ago there was a big Btrike on the Missouri Pacific. Le Caron thought he saw in this strike a chance to do some of his peculiar work, and he, therefore, sat down and indited the following note to General Master Workman Powderley : —

"At such a time as this a few words of advice and encouragement may be of service to you, and may possibly serve to solve the very difficult problem so suddenly thrust before you. A peaceful, larv-abiding strike will never conquer such a power as you have to deal with. Moral suasioD, so good in trivial cases, becomes of no use when applied to such a ' gold '-hearted fiend a 9 J . Gould . E ntreaty argument, and sympathy appeal to him in vain, and though they, plead with him in thunder- tones, the sound falls on leaden ears. You must touch his pockets and meet force with force. You must not be expected to publicly countenance any but peaceful measures. You will not even know that any other has been resorted to. AH that you need do will be to give me the names of a few of your lieutenants along the Missouri road, and I will attend to the rest. Name only those in whom you can place implicit confidence, and I will place in their hands the material that will, if properly handled, destroy ccenj bridge and culvert on the road. I have made a study of explosives, and can give you an unfailing remedy for the wrongs of which your members complain. All that you need to do will be to write the names I have asked tor on the blank space on thia sheet, return it to me without [your] name even, and I will manage the rest. Whatever ia to be done must be done quickly. I know you by reputation for years and can trust you. All I ask is your confidence, and in return I promise the mo9t gratifying results."

The scoundrel who wrote the above saw a new opening for himself. He had been playing spy on Irish organisations. He believed that he could torn a penny by entrapping workingtnen into acts of violence and then be rewarded for disclosing the identity of his dupes. If Mr. Powderly had been the sort of man he took him to be what would have been the result ? Sec ions of the Missouri-Pacific Road would have been destroyed, probably many lives would have been lost, and when this had happened Le Oaron would have come forward and given information that would have led to the arrest of the men who had destroyed the railroad property.

Then the rest would have followed in natural order— trial, conviction, imprisonment, and in case life had been lost, hauging, homes made desolate, and the gulf between capital and labour broadened and deepened. And all this would be the price we should have bad to pay fur harbouring on Ameiican soil one of England's agents that

she sends over here to ferret out such secrets as Le Oaron has been revealing on the witness-stand in London. We have said that England's spies in this country are a standing danger to any community that they inflict with their presence. Has not the career of Le Oaron substantiated this statement ? How many more Le Carons there may be in the United States it is impossible to say. Who knows how often these British agents have instigated strikers to have recourse to violence 1 Has not this country, tbeo, a direct interest in crushing out these reptiles, who whilst doing Eng* land's work are at the same time plotting like Le Oaron to stir up strife amongst us? Before dismissing this scoundrel we desire to call attention to one characteristic of his that he possesses in common with the great majority of Britishers who make their homes in this land. During the quarter of a century that he lived in toe United States be nevsr for one moment abandoned his allegiance to England . He recognised that she always had the first claim on him. We have the excellent authority of the N.Y. Times, a strong pro- British organ, that Le Usron is not an exceptional Englishman in the matter of never ceasing to be devoted to the interests of England. In the course of an article on the Samoa difficulty the JV. r. Times makes this significant admission : " Every emigrant who leaves the British Islands, unless indeed he is an Irishman, remains for many important purposes a Briton still." This is an admission that virtually affirms that naturalised Britishers can never become as good citizens of the Republic as Irishmen can. The career of Le Oaron in the United States fully bears out this statement of the N.T. Times.