The Portland daily press., 1866-06-05
The soeno of the Fenian Operations.

Tho Sccno of the Fentan Operations.
The Canadian territory upon which the
Fenians have gained footing is the tongue
OF land. or peninsula, formed by Lake Erie,
Lake Ontario and the Niagara river, known
as Welland Parish. rne length OF this par
ish Is about ftty miles. and It's greatest breadth
about forty miles. Itis bisecten Dy tle nei-
land canal. Near the shore oil the niagara
river are the battle-felds OF Chippewa aho
Lupdy's Lane, famous in the war OF ISL:
The Fenian vanguard made its first iodg-
ment in Fort Erie, ruined work thrown up
by the British during the war, situated one
mile from the little village OF Waterloo, which
T. A. he head of the Niagara river, opposite
Rlack Rock. a suburb Of Buffalo. From Fort
Frie they marched towards Chippewa, place
twenty miles be.Ow Buffalo and two mites
above the falls. Ten miles west OF Chippewa,
an Chippewa Creek, Is the village Of Port
Robinson, situated on the line Of the Welland
Canal.
A is possible that the Fenians, with their
usual facility In laundering, may be guilty OF
the folly and crime OF destroying some of the
locks Of the Welland canal, which is within a
days march Of the invaders. III they should
do 50, the ridicule which has been so deserved
~ poured out on their previous movements
win be speedily turned into indignation, Inere
Is no adequate military reason or JusilhcatIon
for such proceeding, and its mann result
would be that the grain producers OF the
northwestern States would be deprived OF one
OF the best channels for the transmission oi
their products, and the people OF the seaooard
States would have to pay an enhanced price
for the necessaries OF life. The WeHano Is
the avenue by which very large proportion
of the corn and wheat shipped from the lake
cities finds its way 10 market. During the
season of lake navigation nearly half of the
smaller Grain vessels leaving Chicago and Mil
waukie pass through this canal on their way
TO Oswego. 1t would be serious disaster to
the large shipping interests on the lakes, as
well as to the country at large, were this canal
10 be rendered useless.
Three railroad lines are also threatened by
this movement. The Grand Trunk line,
skirting the southern shore of the peninsula,
is reported to have been already severed; the
Erie and Ontario line Seventeen miles in
lengthy is on the present line Of march of the
Fenians; and ii they succeed in advancing to
the shore of Lake Ontario they can cut the
Great Western line, thus stopping all direct
railroad communication between Canada
West and the United States. 1t is possible
that the objective point of the movement is
Toronto, where another great artery of rail-
road communication exists.
News is received of fight between the
Canadian volunteers and Fenian detachment
at Ridgeway, little place on the Buffalo and
Brantford railroad (part of the Grand Trunk
line.) This place is about ten miles west of
Fort Erie, on the route to the Weland canal !;
so that the threat of destroying that work
seems to have been serious The sudden in
terpositi0n of the Canadian force may prevent
the disaster, at the same time teaching the
Fenians that their invasion is perilous I'M
dertaking. Post.