of Providence. So he (Thomlinson) could not see the
use of relying longer on any satisfactory result to come from the course
being pursued by their Northern friends. He said they must act
more openly, energetically and promptly, if they were to help the
Confederacy.

"There were two men present that Henry thought he had seen somewhere
before, but could not place them. One was a medium-sized man, with
rather dark complexion, dark hair, eyes and mustache. He was introduced
as a Mr. Wilkes. The other was a young man, perhaps thirty years of age,
slight, with brown hair, blue eyes and no beard, named John Page. These
two men seemed nervous and uneasy; they conversed but little. The man
Wilkes remarked that there was but one way, which was a part of every
insurrection, and he was in favor of that way. Page agreed with him,
both seeming to understand the proposition; yet it was not stated in the
conversation at that time what Wilkes meant by 'but one way.'

"Thomlinson made no answer to Wilkes or Page, but continued by saying:

"'I have called the leading men of our organization to meet again at
St. Catharines, on the first Tuesday in February, and at that time there
must be some scheme devised and agreed upon that will turn the scale, or
all will be lost, and we will all be wandering vagabonds over the face
of the earth.'

"Henry inquired if Mr. Carey was in the city. Thomlin-son said no;
that he was in Richmond, but would be at their meeting if he could
get through the lines, in doing which they had met with no trouble
heretofore. Winter-green said that the people where he had been, who
were friendly, were now very despondent and greatly alarmed for the
safety of Richmond, as well as the Confederacy; that everything seemed
to be against them of late.

"'Yes,' replied Thomlinson, 'we have much to discourage us, and at the
same time all can be regained that we have lost if our friends will
settle upon some good plan and carry it out. But it does seem that all
our plans and schemes so far have been abortive. Our first great
scheme of burning the Northern cities failed by the burning of the
Will-o'-the-Wisp and the loss of Dr. Mears and Prof. McCul-lough; and
also of the material accumulated by Dr. Black-man. We stirred up riots
in New York city and elsewhere in opposition to the draft, with a
promise from Valamburg, Strider, McMasterson, and B. Wudd that our
friends would come to the rescue and make resistance everywhere