Was the Killian Declaration a Pro-Confederation Ruse?

All intentions of invading New Brunswick were disclaimed, but they declared that the United States, which opposed Maximilian’s government in Mexico, would not tolerate a monarchical confederation in Canada. Furthermore, Killian and Sinnott declared that the Fenian Convention would remain in session until the matter of confederation of the British provinces was settled and that it was the duty of the Fenians to wreck it.

All this was grist to the Confederation mill and led Timothy Anglin, editor of the anti-Confederation Saint John Morning Freeman, to comment that if Killian was in the pay of the Canadians “and Mr. D’Arcy McGee wrote his speech for him, he could have rendered no greater service to Confederation.” In Montreal, the anti-Confederation Le Pays, organ of the Parti Rouge, similarly noted... “We have already called attention to this remarkable coincidence: the Killian declaration, perfectly calculated to aid the Unionists, for which, we have no doubt, he was paid by the Canadian party.”

--Hereward Senior, The Last Invasion of Canada: The Fenian Raids, 1866-1870, Canadian War Museum Historical Publication 27 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1991), 54-55.