The Halifax Connection Read online

  To the memory of my father, who could never understand why his teenaged daughter kept bringing home all those books about dead generals from another country. He would be intrigued now, I think, to see where it all led.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Cast of Characters

  A Historical Note to the Reader

  A Note on the Terminology of the Period

  Prologue

  Book One - Halifax, February 1862

  Chapter 1 - The Review

  Chapter 2 - The Old Man is Looking for Some Spies

  Book Two - The North Atlantic, Summer 1863

  Chapter 3 - The Osprey

  Chapter 4 - The Raiders

  Book Three - Montreal, October 1863

  Chapter 5 - Little Richmond

  Chapter 6 - Brownie

  Chapter 7 - The Irish Stone

  Chapter 8 - Morrison’s Party

  Chapter 9 - At the Sailors’ Church

  Chapter 10 - The Grand Conspiracy

  Chapter 11 - The Rainstorm

  Chapter 12 - Departure

  Chapter 13 - On the Saguenay

  Chapter 14 - Not Death but Love

  Book Four - Halifax, October–December 1863

  Chapter 15 - Spirit Creatures

  Chapter 16 - The Den

  Chapter 17 - Mac Nab

  Chapter 18 - Muffinry

  Chapter 19 - Queen’s Wharf

  Chapter 20 - After the Chesapeake

  Book Five - Halifax, 1864

  Chapter 21 - Spies at the Den

  Chapter 22 - To Love or Not to Love

  Chapter 23 - At the Waverley

  Chapter 24 - Best Mates

  Chapter 25 - At the Halifax Club

  Chapter 26 - Separation

  Chapter 27 - The Return

  Chapter 28 - The Letter

  Chapter 29 - The Rising Storm

  Chapter 30 - Maury Janes

  Chapter 31 - Setting the Snare

  Chapter 32 - The Vessel of Retribution

  Chapter 33 - The Nature of the Game

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Copyright

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Historical Persons Mentioned or Appearing in the Text

  Canadian and British

  John Bright, British manufacturer, member of Parliament for Birmingham

  George Brown, editor of the Toronto Globe; Liberal politician and subsequently a Father of Confederation

  William Gladstone, British Chancellor of the Exchequer

  Joseph Howe, popular Nova Scotia politician, leader of the movement for responsible government

  Lord Lyons (Richard Bickerton Pemell), British ambassador to Washington

  John A. Macdonald, Conservative politician, subsequently a Father of Confederation and first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada

  Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, commander of the British fleet in North America

  Lord Monck (Charles Stanley, Fourth Viscount Monck), governor general of British North America and subsequently of the Dominion of Canada, 1861–68

  Lord Palmerston (Henry John Temple), prime minister of England

  George Wade, a Nova Scotian recruited by the Confederates under John Braine

  Sir Fenwick Williams, commander of all British military forces in North America

  American (Union and Confederate)

  John Braine, British-born Kentuckian adventurer and petty criminal, hijacker of the ship Chesapeake

  Clement Clay, Confederate commissioner to Canada

  Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America Mortimer Jackson, United States consul in Halifax

  George Kane, former police marshal of Baltimore; Confederate agent in Canada

  Robert E. Lee, Confederate general

  Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States

  General John Hunt Morgan, Confederate cavalry commander and leader of raid into northwestern states in 1863

  Captain Raphael Semmes, captain of the Confederate raiding ship Alabama

  Jacob Thompson, Confederate commissioner to Canada

  Captain John Wilkinson, Confederate naval officer

  Important Fictional Characters Appearing in the Novel

  Bryce Amberson, English naval officer, related by marriage to Erryn Shaw

  Sylvie Bowen, English mill worker and immigrant to Canada

  Aggie Breault, housemaid at Den, a Halifax boarding house

  Jonathan Bryce, Montreal police constable and spymater

  Matt Calverley, Halifax police constable

  Daniel Carroll, Montreal businessman, Confederate supporter

  Susan Danner, mistress of the Den

  Harry Dobbs, manservant at the Den

  François Dufours, Halifax police constable

  Jackson Follett, chief Confederate agent in Montreal

  Nathaniel Foxe, captain of the U.S. merchant ship Osprey

  Frances Harris, aunt of Sylvie Bowen

  James Fitzroy Hawkins, commander of the Halifax militia

  Maury Janes, Confederate agent

  Latour, Canadian undercover agent in Montreal

  Annie MacKay, scullion at the Den

  Alexander MacNab, Halifax businessman, Confederate supporter

  Louise Mallette (“Madame”), Halifax widow

  Edmund Morrison, Montreal businessman, Confederate supporter

  Jack Murray, friend of Erryn Shaw

  Isabel Orton, daughter of James Orton

  James Orton, Halifax lawyer, Confederate supporter

  Jabin Romney, chief Union agent in Halifax

  “Captain William Ross,” alias of blockade-running English naval officer Bryce Amberson

  Emma Sanders, cook at the Den

  Erryn Shaw, exiled English aristocrat

  David Strange, friend of James Orton, Confederate supporter

  Brad Taylor, Confederate courier killed in Halifax

  Zeb Taylor, Brad Taylor’s brother

  Gideon Winslow, Erryn Shaw’s landlord

  A Historical Note to the Reader

  IN 1860, ABRAHAM LINCOLN was elected president of the United States on a platform that would have prohibited the further expansion of slavery into the nation’s western territories. Within months of this election, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Civil war broke out between the sections in April 1861, and four more border states joined the Confederacy. Its capital was established in Richmond, Virginia.

  From the very beginning, the main objective of Confederate foreign policy was to obtain European support, especially from England. Considerable hostility already existed between Britain and the United States, carried over from the American Revolution and the War of 1812. A new war between the two powers would have thrown the full weight of the British Empire into the camp of the Confederates.

  The best place to provoke such a war was Canada. It had a long, unwatched border with the United States, allowing for the possibility of Confederate raids—raids that might be followed by American retaliation and the outbreak of war. Although England was officially neutral, many Englishmen, mostly of the wealthier classes, sympathized with and aided the Confederates, both in Britain and in Canada.

  Since the Confederacy was not recognized as a nation, it did not have official diplomatic status in any country. However, many Southerners came to Canada to further the interests of the Confederacy in various ways, and the Union sent a number of intelligence operatives north to try to keep track of their activities.

  At the time, Canada was not yet a nation state. In
official documents and usage, all of the British territories on the continent were collectively known as British North America. The region that was actually called Canada comprised only small parts of what today are Ontario and Quebec. Colloquially, however, on both sides of the border, the terms “Canada” and “Canadians” were used more indiscriminately, to refer to the entire region and its inhabitants. I have chosen to follow this usage much of the time, partly in the interests of clarity and simplicity, and partly because I believe we were a nationality before we were a nation state; this was one of the reasons Confederation was possible.

  Each of the North American provinces had its own elected parliament and a measure of self-rule, but all were under the authority of the British crown, administered by the governor general, whose capital was maintained at Spencer Hall in Quebec. In late 1861, this office was taken over by Charles Stanley, Lord Monck. The governor general bore the ultimate responsibility for British North America’s security and defence. When the Civil War began, his most critical task was to prevent the use of colonial territory as a base for acts of war, and thereby to preserve its neutrality and peace.

  A Note on the Terminology of the Period

  A variety of terms were used to refer to the two sides in the American Civil War. Here are the most common:

  United States of America: the Union, the North, Northerners, Yankees, Unionist, Federal

  Confederate States of America: the Confederacy, the South, Southerners, Rebels, Rebs, Johnny Rebs, Confederate

  The term “Grey Tories” is an invention of the author, referring to those Canadians who actively supported the Confederate cause.

  Just as today, the meanings of the words “east” and “west” varied in Canada depending on one’s location. In Nova Scotia, “the West” generally referred to the settled areas west of the Maritime provinces, i.e., Quebec and Ontario. In Montreal, “the West” generally meant Ontario, not the Prairies.

  The Confederacy has its hand on the mane of the British lion, and that beast, so formidable to all the rest of the world, must crouch at her bidding.

  —The Whig (Richmond), December 1861

  The people of Canada … are not prepared to support any Government in a wanton interference in matters with which it has no concern, and more especially they have no desire to fight on behalf of the Southern slave power.

  —The Globe (Toronto), November 1862

  Of all things, at once the most unjustifiable and the most impolitic is an unsuccessful Intervention.

  —The Times (London), November 1862

  PROLOGUE

  Halifax, July 7, 1864

  We shall do such deeds within the next three months as shall make European civilization shudder.

  —Unidentified Confederate agent,

  quoted by John Cordner, Montreal, 1864

  “ANOTHER TOAST, MY FRIEND,” the Carolinian suggested, pouring generously. His name—or at least the name he chose to use here—was Maury Janes. “To the Vessel of Retribution!”

  Erryn Shaw smiled, clinked glass to glass, and drank. The vessel in question, the English Dover, was sitting down at Taylor’s Wharf at the moment, grubby and tired-looking in the late evening sun. She was, as far as he could judge, the most ordinary ship imaginable, laden as usual with ordinary goods. All day she had rested at anchor, yielding up blankets and cast iron cookstoves and second-rate rum, while blockade-runners were slipping into Southern ports with desperately needed weapons and supplies, and Confederate commerce raiders prowled the seas, burning Yankee ships from Newfoundland to India. It was remarkable, to say the least, that anyone would call such a scruffy English freighter the Vessel of Retribution.

  Erryn knew his companion was given to strong statements, even to exaggeration sometimes, but he had no reason to believe the man was mad. And Janes was happy tonight, triumphant, a fact all the more remarkable because he rarely showed feelings of any sort; indeed, there were times when Erryn wondered if he had any. Janes had never mentioned his age, but Erryn guessed him as close to forty, a man of average height and build, with indifferent features and straight, dull brown hair—the sort of man who looked like everyone’s fourth cousin. The fine waistcoat and trousers he had bought for tonight’s celebration were appropriately expensive, but they did not give him any kind of style. They seemed, instead, an elaborate costume on an actor unsuited for his role. Janes was never going to be gentry, however hard he tried.

  Erryn regarded him thoughtfully, remembering the first time they met, back in October, the first time Janes had spoken of his unlikely mission: If this comes off like it should, it’s going to end the war. At the time Erryn considered it a reckless promise, and nothing had passed since to make him change his mind. Even as they sat together, superbly wined and dined in the mahogany-panelled confines of the Halifax Club, the war in the States went on relentlessly. The armies of Grant and Lee were dug in at Petersburg, in a brutal standoff that was likely to last for months. More Union and Confederate forces were going at it in the west. Abroad, the leaders of Europe watched and sniffed the wind, less willing than ever to intervene. Try as he might, Erryn could imagine nothing that would end the war any time soon, save a massive victory by one side or the other, or the defeat of Lincoln’s government in the fall elections. What could a nondescript North Carolina adventurer possibly ship in that might accomplish either of those things?

  Unfortunately, it was not the sort of question one agent could ask another. Nor did it help that he disliked Maury Janes, and longed to dismiss him as a self-important ass. Oh, certainly you’ll end the war, Mr. Janes … right around the time I turn into an orange salamander.

  “Mr. Shaw!”

  Erryn rose smoothly, smiling at the man who approached his table with two companions—a mountain of a man, well over six feet, and red-haired as a highland chieftain: James Dougal Orton, lawyer, businessman, philanthropist; and also, as it happened, one of the most eminent and respected Confederate supporters in Halifax.

  “I have some guests who want to meet you, Shaw,” he said. “I mentioned you were here, and nothing would do but they must come over and shake your hand.”

  There were introductions and greetings all round. One of Orton’s guests clasped Erryn’s hand warmly in both of his. “Honoured, Mr. Shaw. I’ve been hearing so much about you.”

  “I worry when people say that sort of thing,” Erryn replied, smiling. “I fear they may have heard the truth.”

  “Oh, I expect it’s all true. For instance, I’ve heard you smuggled a certain countryman of mine to safety, with the whole Yankee nation howling for his head on a plate. They say the law was closing from three sides, and the man just up and disappeared.”

  The law was closing from three sides? Bloody hell; it gets better every time I hear it.

  Erryn gave a small, self-dismissive shrug. “He must have found himself a conjuror. Do you know, I saw that sort of thing at a circus once, when I was a boy. A big skinny sod in a silk robe, lighting candles everywhere and chanting the most horrid pile of gibberish. And then, presto, he simply folded his hands and went up in smoke—and came round from the other side of the tent after, asking for money.”

  “God love you, Erryn Shaw,” Orton said, “but you do tell stories.”

  “Will you join us for a drink or two?”

  “Why, that’s good of you, lad, but no. We’re on our way out.”

  Orton clapped his shoulder lightly and wished him luck, and the trio moved on its way. Janes settled back in his chair.

  “Is it true what they’re saying?” he asked. “You were the one who got Captain Braine out?”

  Erryn’s gaze drifted briefly over the dining room. It was bright with linen and candles, quietly a-murmur with the talk and laughter of men—lawyers, doctors, businessmen, members of the government, here and there a distinguished visitor from the West or from abroad. He turned his wineglass between his fingers, wondering if he was the only man present who thought a gentlemen’s club, by definition, was a
ltogether too much of the same thing.

  “Aiding and abetting a fugitive is against the law, Janes,” he murmured. “You wouldn’t suggest that there were felons in a place like this, would you?”

  Janes stared at him a moment, and then he laughed. “No, I suppose not. The captain found himself a … what the devil did you call it?”

  “Conjuror. You know, a magician. Abracadabra and all that.” Erryn reached for the wine bottle and calmly changed the subject. “So. You’re sure there isn’t something I can do for you, now that your shipment is here? I’d be happy to help if I can.”

  “Well, I’m much obliged, Shaw, but like I said, everything’s took care of. With all the damn delays, God knows there was time enough. Since we’re celebrating, though, I wonder … that house you told me about, before? There wouldn’t be a chance we could drop by, would there? What with you knowing those fine ladies and all?”

  “Oh, I think I could be persuaded. But it’s still early. Let’s have another drink, shall we?”

  Be a robber’s moon tonight, it will …

  That was what the stableman used to say sometimes, back at the manor house in Surrey. He would smile down at Erryn like an old gnome and tell him stories of the moors where he grew up. He would certainly call this one a robber’s moon, racing as it did out of fast-moving clouds and vanishing again in moments, like a thief. It was high above the Point, and almost full; its pale light glinted off the church spires and danced wanton on the harbour. Most nights Erryn would have taken genuine pleasure from the beauty of it; tonight it only made the streets seem darker and the hours ahead of him more uncertain.