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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtro reproduites en un seul clich6 jont filmdes & partir de I'angle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I THE f tt IRISHMAN IN CANADA, BT KICnOLAS FLOOD DAYIN. LONDON- SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON 4; CO. TORONTO, ONT.: MACLEAR AND COMPANY. u F ILD3 Entered Moording to the Act of the ParUament of Canada, In the ywr om tiunuaDd eight hundred and ceventy-seven, by Maolkab & Co., Toronto, in the Offioe of the Minister of Agriculture, F Entered at Stationers' HaU. ttUNrr.ll, ROSE k 00., «!''' PrOKTKRB AND BUfUBRS, TOHONTO. >,1 TO HIS EXOELLENOT THE RIGHT HON. \ix ^Ydttkh |cmpl^ |ktooo4 fart of K.P., K.C.B., GOVERNOR-GExVERAL OF CANADA. THIS BOOK l*in, IS, BY PERMISSlOxX, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, <^S TO ONE WHO EMBODIES, IN KARE AlfD HAPPY OOMBINATIOW. THE VARIETY OF GIFTS HAVfl BROUGHT TO ;VIC3 OF THE EMPIRE. ' i I ll M 5 PREFACE. f An old friend of mine, Mr. Joseph Hatton, writing in Tinsley's Magazine says : — " Still at the bottom of all thought and speculation as to the future, there is a strong layer of old English sentiment outside the Province of Quebec. The great pioneers of Canada, the English and the Scotch look across the broad waters of the Atlantic, and think of home. They feel proud of the flag which is not only to them a national symbol, but a link between . the far-off" settlement and the churchyard where their forefathers sleep beyond the sea." Scarcely anybody in England knows anything of Canadian history, and Mr. Hatton cannot be blamed for not being aware that the majority of people in Ontario, as compared with other nationalities, are Irish. The population of Ontario is 1,620,831 : of these 559,44? are Irish, 328,889 Scotch, 439,429 English ; and in the four Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunsw^ick and Nova Scotia, the Irish number 846,414, as compared with 706,369 English, and 549,946 Scotch. The Irishman was here as early as others ; he fought against the wilderness as well as others ; his arm was raised against the invading foe as well as that of others; and when a man who was not Irish lifted the standard of revolt, and another who was not Irish betrayed his country and his flag, who more faithful, VI PREFACE, who more heroic, than the countrymen of Baldwin and Fitzgibbon in putting down that rebellion ? That a literary man like Mr. Hatton should wholly ignore the Irish, therefore, shows that there was need of such a book as the present. Who to-day are more truly attached to British connexion than the great majority of Irishmen all over the Dominion? Amongst ourselves also, the Irish have been too much ignored ; chiefly because the follies and absurdities of a few make hundreds averse from an assertion which would be only the reasonable expression of self-respect. There is a great dissimilar- ity in culture between the Irish cotter and the Irish gentleman, between the Irish labourer and the Irish pro- fessional man, but not more than there is between the Scotch laird and the Scotch gillie, or between the Eng- lish squire and the English peasant. Why then is it that Irishmen of the more cultivated class are sometimes found to run down the less cultivated class of Irish, so that, as somebody has said, whenever an Irishman is to be roasted, another is always at hand to turn the spit ? " My grandmother," says the Earl of Beacons- field, "the beautiful daughter of a family who had suffered mucjli from persecution, had imbibed that dislike for her race which the vain are apt to adopt when they find they are born to public contempt. The indignant feeling which should be reserved for the persecutor, in the mortification of their disturbed sensibility, is too often visited on the victim." Something like this process has taken place in the minds of Irishmen of a certain class. But let any Irishman who reads these lines ponder what I say : — You can never lose your own respect and keep PREFACE. Vll the respect of others ; you can never be happy and dreas yourself solely in the glass of other men's approval ; you may as well seek to fly from your shadow as to escape from your nationality. If you find any men mistaken, or low down in type, or in popular esteem, it is your duty to raise them, especially if they have on you nation- al or family claims. I had not intended to write a preface, and I have said enough in the opening chapter to indica,te the objects 1 have kept before me. The history of Canada cannot be written withoul the history of the Scotchman, the Eng- lishman, and the German in Canada ; the Frenchman in Canada has found his historian. *' The Scotchman in Canada " is in the hands of a writer capable of doing justice to a great theme and an extraordinary race, whose deeds here as elsewhere are illustrious with such episodes as the Red River settlement, planted under the guidance of Lord Selkirk, by men with a determined bravery com- parable to that of the German troops at Gravelotte, again and again attempting the hill, studded with rifle pits, which guarded the French left. Even the Mennonite settlements will come within the purview of the histor- ian, and he will have to deal with a later American immigi^ation than the U. E Loyalist — an immigration composed mainly of men who entered Canada intending to settle in Michigan, but, who, when they saw the splen- did stretches of oak near London and the neighbouring counties, settled here. Among these settlers were the Shaws, the Dunbars, and the Goodhues. There was an eastern settlement of ^he same class, in which we find the Burnhams, the Horners, the Keelers, the Smiths, the • • • vni PREFACE. Perrys. Some of these were led to come to Canada by inducements held )ut by the Government of the day to construct roads and build mills. Hence in many instan- ces we find American immigrants the great patentees where they settled. In the index I do not give every name, but only the leading names. 1 have in the notes thanked Mr. Charles Lindsey and the Hon. C'hristopher Eraser for their assistance in plac- ing books at my disposal. I have to thank Chief Jus- tice Harrison for the loan of books, and Mr. Justice Gwynne for the loan of books and old files of newspa- papers. To Mr. Allan McLean Howard my thanks are also due foi' books which could not well have been pro- cured elsewhere. To Dr. McCaul for books and hints respecting the university, I must likewise express my obligation. My thanks are due to my friends through- out the country who sent information, and to the agents employed by my publishers. Particularly are my thanks due to Mr. Sproule, of Ottawa, who, though an Orange- man, has visited a large number of Roman Catholic pre- lates and clergymen, in regard to this book, and got me more Roman Catholic information than has come from all other sources whatsoever. In a special manner, my thanks are due to Sir Francis Hincks, who, both by word and letter, helped me to understand the great period of which he could truly say — pars magna fui. For esti- mating the character and genius of Sullivan, he gave me invaluable data. From Mr. Thomas Maclear, and Mr. Thomas A. Maclear, I have received much assist- ance in collecting infc^ ^mtion for the settler chapters, PREFACE. IX and in revising the proofs. Last though not least, Dr. Hoflgins, Deputy Minister of Education, claims my thanks for books and pamphlets connected with his department. I have in places departed from rules usually observed in books. For instance, in some cases, I have not "spellud out" figures because T thought the use of arithmetical symbols more suitab. to the subject treated at the moment. The Irishman has played so large a part in Canada that his history could not be written without, to some extent, writing the history of Canada, and iLc Allowing pages may, in the present stage of Canadian historical literature, be found useful to the student and the politi- cian. Toronto, September 22nd, 1877. «ii ERRATA. Page 127, 1. 4, for " exiet" read " exists." 163, J J from bottom, for " Walters" read " Waiters. ' 165, /. 13, for " Livingstone" read " Livingston." 177, I. 4 from bottom, for " £809" read " £800." 213, 1. 14, for "Again he" read " Acadian." 328, verses belong to note p. 327. 347, 1. 7, for " McGibbon " read " McKibbon." 349, I. 4 from bottom, for " Byson" read " Bryson." 350, l: 14 from bottom, dele " school teacher." 360, 1. 12 from bottom, for " Morsom" read " Mossom." 393, heading , read «• Baldwin's character. " 409, 1. 9, for " Catherine" read " Charlotte." 476, ;. 13, for " Vice-ChanceUor" read «' Chancellor." 577, 1. 12 from bottom, for " 1859 " read " 1849. " 596, L 7 from bottom, for " arm he drew " read " arm drew." n << I •I I V CONTENTS. ,r^ CHAPTER I. MOTIVE OF THE " IRISHMAN IN CANADA." PAOI! 1 2,3 Future of Canada Materials for the future historian Writing the HistojT of the Irishman in Canada an inviting task 'I Resources of the Dominion ^ ^ * Irishmen's position in Dominion . ' ^' ^ 6 CHAPTER II. ANTECEDENTS OF THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. Irish History The Celt in Europe . 1 ! ! ! ! ^' ^ Early Settlement of Ireland ^ The Irish coWe Scotland and South-west Britain ■.■;.■;.*.■. jo 12 Effect of the Introduction of Christianity into Ireland i , ' f Barbarizing effect of Danish Incursions . . !:' ^^ Norman invasion 15, 18 TheTudorandStuari; policy in'lreiand ".'!":! ^J'f, Wilham III and James II "^'^' 2* Ireland the great Liberaliser of the Empire ^*' ^^ statesmen, Orators, Artists, Preachers ' - '"- ^^' ^ Irish Intellect and Charact ' ^ iterary Men 34,37 '48 and the Men of '48 ; Penal Laws'and Gladstone's Legislatic.n «' f Ireland in the Eight- enth Century ^^egisiatu.n 43, 46 CHAPTER III rishm; The Founders of the United States AXXECEDENTS-CWWd-IRISHMEN IN THE NEW WOR.D AND IN AUSTRAUA. 50, 56 / Xll CONTENTS. PAGE The Struggle for Independence 56, 01 Vast Immigration of Irishmen and their Success 62, 64 The Position of Irishmen in the United States 64, 65 Their Conduct during the War. 66. 66 The Irishman in Australia, in Mexico, in California and in South America 62, 64, 66, 68 CHAPTER IV. IiAYING THE FOUNDATION OF CANADA. The French Regime. ... . , 68 Carleton, the First Iris^ Governor of Canada, and his Policy 68-74 The War, Invasion of Canada, Carleton' s Dangers, Difficulties, and Suc- cess 75-87 Carleton's Magnanimity and Administration 87, 88 Major-Geueral Haldira^nd, Governor 88 Acknowledgment of the Independence of United tStates, and the U. E. Loyalists 88-96 IV'jthodism in Canada 96-98 The Father of Anglicanism in Upper Canada 99-101 The Roman Catholic Church in Canada 101 Carleton becomes Lord Dorchester, and Retunj.;* aq Governor-General of Canada 101 State of Education 102, 103 The Constitutional Act of 1791 103, 104 Lieutenant-Governors Clarke and Simcoe open respectively the Par- liament of Lower, and the Parliament of Upper Canada 104 Colonel Talbot and the Talbot settlement 105-12f, CHAPTER V. LAYiNa THE FOUNDATION OF CANADA. — Continued. What Canada owes Irishmen and Canadian Unity 128-130 The First Settlers 130-132 Character of the Irish settler 132-135 Analysis of the Population of the Dominion 135-142 Irish settlements in Newfoundland 142-145 The Irish in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island 145-170 Irish Settlements in Lower and Upper Canada 170-173 The dawn of political life in the Canadas 173-178 Progress of the Methodist Church .... 178-186 Education 185-186 The poet Moore in Canada 187-190 CONTENTS. «— r^— — p CHAPTER VI. THE WAR OF 1812-1814. The Veterans of 1812 to-day and the Character of the War lo/tSl Circumstances leading to War J^Ji-iJ4 Two prominent heroes of the War 195-200 The First Year of the War ^^'^^^ The Second " " " 206-210 The Third " " 211-235 23G-241 CHAPTER VII. IRISH IMMIGRATION FROM 1815 TO 1837, The Results of the Great War in Ireland Irish Immigrations; what the Irishman has done L' Canada ^ what Canada has done for the Irishman ' „. 244-301 CHAPTER VIII, IBISH IMMIGRATION FROM 1815 TO 1837-ConUmi^d. The Blakes Settlement of the County of Carleton 302-308 The Irishman in Montreal 310-328 Oxford ■.■.■,■.■.■.;;. 328-336 " Sandwich ^^^ HaltonandWelland,' If'^^ the County of Victoria..."; Zl'^^ the County of Peterborough. f?: Kingston 3o5 ^^ Percy... 365 Belleville .*.V.V.".'.V.V.V.".".V.'.*.V.". ^^^"^^'^ " Dundas, Brantf ord and Hamilton ..'.'. fll the County of Middlesex V«n qoi theCounty of WelUngton ggj ggj CHAPTER IX. THE RISE OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN CANADA. Character of this History The first early stirrings of freedom ^^ Agitation of Gourlay and Mackenzie "• 386,386 Struggle to have the debates reported.".'.".".". .'.".■.■ f ^' ^'^ 387, 388 XIV CONTENTS. PAGE Doctor Baldwin in Parliament 389 Hon. Robert liUdwin ; Entrance into political life ; his character... 390-395 Got 8 to England and presses his vifaws on Lord Glenely 396 Sir Francis Bond Head 390-406 Robert Baldwin Sullivan enters public life 398, 399 The Rebellion of 1837 401-406 Sir George Arthur, Governor ; unsatisfactory condition of all British North America ; struggles for liberty 406, 407 Sir Francis Hincks 408, 409 Mr. Poulett Thompson (Lord Sydenham) Governor- General 410-473 The Union of the Canadas 409-438 The first Parliament of United Canada 438-400 Disputes regarding Responsible Government 446-459 Agitation 460 Portraits of Draper and Sir Francis Hincks 403,464 CHAPTER X. THE RISE OF RESPONSIBLE ooVERNMEXT — Continued. state of Education in Canada 473-476 Government of Sir Charles Bagot 476-483 Fall of the Draper Government and rise of the Baldwin party to power 478-482 Sir Charles (Lord) Metcalfe, Governor-General— violent agitation ... 483-503 CHAPTER XI THE RISE OP RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT — Continued. The unconstitutional interregnum 503-508 Popular agitation 609-512 Parliament Dissolved ; exciting contest 512, 513 Election of Speaker ; attack on the Ministry ; progress of Constitu- tional Governme)it ; indecency of Ministers ; Draper's Univer- sity Bill ; departure and death of Lord Metcalfe 521-532 CHAPTER XII. THE RISE OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT — Continued. Lord Cathcart, Administrator 532 Disorganisation of the Tory Party 532-534 Lord Elgin, Governor-General ; Draper's farewell ; famine immigra- tion ; the Now Ministry; death of Sullivan; effect of Free Trade j 'm CONTENTS. commercial depression ; Rebellion Losses Bill ; mob violence seals of Government ; treason ; triumph of Responsible Govern^ ment XV PAOB 634-564 CHAPTER XIII. THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION. Developing the country ; the - Clear Grits ;" Independence and An- nexation : advantages of Canadian Constitution . kh^ r^o- Parliament meets ; "Clear Grits" attack the Reform Government ' fnutful legislation; Railway Mania; Mr. Brown's hostility to' the Hmcks Government ; Coalition Opposition ; fall of Hincks and close of the Irish period (1825-1854) 572 589 CHAPTER XIV. PROGRESS OF CANADA. Irish immigration smce 1837 The Irishman as asocial force .... ^^'^^^ " asaMedicalman. ...:..::: Zf^^ " as a Journalist 'f.^'^f TheBench, the Bar, culture.... ^^^' ^^^ Canadian Art "'.'." '. C04-611 Irish poets in Canada 611-618 Volunteers 618-620 620-623 CHAPTER XV. THE IRISHMAN AS A RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL FORCE. Importance of Religion and Education The Church of England i > Canada ^o. 5^^ The Methodist Church 624-629 The Presbyterian Church ..!!! '..'.".".■ ." ^^^'^^^ The Roman Catholic Church 032-635 Education .. 635-643 643,644 CHAPTER XVI. CANADIAN HISTORY FROM 1856 TO 1877. Premiership of Mr. (now Sir) John A. Macdonald ... John Sheridan Hogan "^^ Thomas D'Arcy McGee ^*^' ^^ 646-65J "_.!_, XVI CONTENTS. Fo'ej- Til Confederation, Lord Monck, Fenianism 651-656 McGee, fierce contest, longing after repose, murder , 656-659 The Catholic League ggo Return of Sir Francis Hincks. , ^ (559 qqq Reforr '^ ty reinforced by Mr. Edward Blake 660 661 New Iris., members ggj gg2 Lord Duflferin, Governor- General ; nationality, what ; Lord Dufferin's talents ; his career 662-666 Conclusion ggir THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. CHAPTER I. It requires no such faith as Abraham's to look forward to a time when Canada wiH be a great nation. Had the aaed Hebrew, when told to count his descendants by the stars turned away incredulously and re-entered his tent, and sat down to laugh with Sarah over what might weU have seemed a mocking promise, he would surely have been excusable. It was hard for him to believe that the withered trunk would sprout and cover the land with forest. But, however strong his faith, he could not have grasped the mighty future which lay locked within his wintry loins. What human vision could have seen in the patri- arch bowed with age, the extraordinary people who were to be K) the world what the fruitful cloud and the vivifying sunshine are to the earth-a people, to whose spiritual insight that of the Greeks was bUndness, from whose sublime morality Eoman virtue diifered, as the human differs from the Divine ? But there would be no excuse whatever for doubts on our part We already count ourselves by millions ; we live in historical times • we are the heirs in possession of the moral and inteUectual wealth of centuries ; we carry in our veins the blood of races which have been prolific in martyrs and heroes, poets and states- men; m beauty, which gives sweetness to strength, and in art which renders that beauty immortal. We have seen the family THE IIUSltMi^N IN CANADA. ? and the clan expand i ito the nation, and the descendants of rob- bers and outlaws become the stern lawgivers of the world. From what rude tribec sprang Greece ; out of what a coarse chaos came the refined civilization of France and the glory of the Brito- Hibernian empire. The great Eastern shepherd had long slept in his grave when his children were the slaves of a cmel tyranny; his dust had passed through many forms when Solomon ruled at Jerusalem; ages had intervened when a greater than Solomon promulgated from Zion a kingdom which can know no decline. We, too, shall have long slept with our fathers when Canada's sun will be in the zenith. But they only play their part worthily who live for morrows whose lii;ht cannot gladden them. This is a duty which is laid on all, bat especially on young peoples. Our politics are evanescent; our ambitions, dreams; there is nothing of reality in the passing show but the qualities which assign the individual and the community their place in the moral scale, and determine the character of their successors. Humanity is immortal ; the individual, perishable. Even races disappear and give place to other races. Old forces take new forms, as in the sea the waves spend themselves, transmitting their strength to other waves, which in their turn are doomed to die. It is natural to wish to know what manner of men our fathers were. On no subject has there been more curiosity, on none has there been so much absurd speculation, as on the ethnology of nations who have taken a foremost place in the world. The foun- tains of the Nile have not been so baffling as those changes and conditions which preceded the advent and growth of nations. The sources are lost in unrecorded time. It is only yesterday that the clue from language was discovered. Hence, ignorant or uncritical historians, more enamoured of the marvellous than care- ful about truth, have allowed fancy to run riot, and taught men to reverence fabulous heroes, and sometimes to regulate their con- duct by what was no better than idle legend. When the future historian of Canada sits down to write a story which, we may hope, will be illustrious with great achieve- ments and happy discoveries, triumphs in literature and art, in ''*^* OliJECTS OF THE WORK. 8 ts of roL- d. From 'se chaos he Brito- Diig slept tyranny; . ruled at Solomon ) decline. Canada's heir part ien them, on young dreams ; J qualities ■ place in luccessors. Iven races take new nsmitting doomed ur fathers none has nology of The foun- mges and f nations, yestei'day jnorant or than care- ught men iheir con- write a t achieve- nd art, in his library, side by side with lore it has not entered into the heart of man as yet to conceive, will be found records such as the historian of Greece, or Rome, or Ireland, or Scotland, cc England looks for in vain. He will ha^e to treat of the races which laid the foundation of the great northern empire on this continent, and ho must have adequate information to his hand But those records will be incomplete, unless we take care that a class of facts, which may easily escape, are duly hoarded. The future historian will find full particulars regarding those heroic Frenchmen — the missionary and the soldier — who were the pioneers of our civilization. He ought to know all about the English settlement. He should be acquainted with all that Scotchmen have done for Canada. He should not be ignorant of the noble elements of national life one of the most brilliant of modem nations has laid at her feet. To point out this is the task I have set myself. I have another object in view : I wish, while performing this task, to sweep aside misconceptions, to explode cherished lal- lacies, to point out the truth, and so raise the self-respect of every person of Irish blood in Canada. The time has not yet arrived when we can speak of a Canadian type, and until that day arrives, whether we are born on Canadian soil, or in the mother lands, we cannot safely forego the bracing and inspiring influences which come from country and race.* Our first duty here is to Canada ; but one of the best ways efficiently to dis- charge this duty, is to be just to ourselves and true to facts. Writing the history of Irishmen in Canada, I can afford to speak in this way, for it was in great part due to the eloquence and enthusiasm of an Irishman that the scattered provinces were brought together, and men born on this soil have acknowledged • Let the miserables who would deny a country because the shadow of a vanished oppression is only passing from it, and who do not scruple to abuse their fellow-countrymen, ponder the following remarks of an Englishman : •' The moral degradation arising from this vast mass of helotage could not fail to affect the bearing even of the upper classes of Ireland. It produced in them that want of self-respect and respect for their country in their intercourse with the English which drew from Johnson the bitter remark, ' The Irish, sir, are a very candid people ; they never speak well of each other." " — "Irish History and Irish Character." By Goldwin Smith. THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. / their irulobtedness to his winged words for the most precious of gifts.* Hiippily, to write the history of Irishmen in Canada is no uninviting task. It is not merely that Ireland can advance her claim to recognition and respect as no inconsiderable contributor to the great work of laying the foundation of this young nation. She has helped to reclaim the land from barrenness ; to substi- tute for the wilderness the garden. In clearing and in counsel, her sons have done their part. Whether it was necessary to speul. or strike, they have been at the post of duty. This is not all which makes the task so pleasant. The heroism, the endur- ance, the versatile genius implied by all this may be found written on the tearful pages of the history of the motherland. What renders the task so pleasant is, that here the factious which have afflicted successive centuries exist but in shadow because the ground of quarrel is wholly absent. Whoever studies the history of Ireland, not in what are called popular histories and student's manuals, but in contemporary documents, will learn that the great bone of contention, from age to age, was not religion, nor form of government, but the land. Here, land can be no apple of discord. Ireland, nay, the three kingdoms^ might be drowned in one of our lakes. We have, too, out- lived the age of plunder and confiscation, and never can any difficulty arise on this score in a country where we open up provinces as men in the old world make a paddock. And if there can be no misgiving as to the abundance, neither can there be any as to the wealth and fruitfulness of the land. Ireland's fields are greener, but they are not as variously fruitful as those of Canada ; her hills — nothing could surpass their beauty, but they do not contain the mineral treasures which are to be found here ; her rivers have unspeakable charm, but their sands are not of gold. A glance at the physical geography of Canada will show it to be one of the richest sections of the globe. Its forests will • '• There is a name I would fain approach. . . . one who breathed into our new Dominion the spirit of a proud self-reliance, and first taught Canadians to respect themselves — Thomas D'Arcy McGee."— "Canada First; or, Our New Nationality." By W. A. Foster. I RESOURCES OF THE DOMINION. )W it to ts will build tliousiiuds of fleets and warm the hearths of many genera- tions. Already great as a wheat-growing country, it is destined to be greater, the isotherm of wheat running right across the greater portion of the whole Dominion. The red loam of Princo Edward is among the most fertile of soils. What country is so beautifully wooded and watered as New Brunswick, whose fer- tility is only surpassed by the wealth of its mines and fisheries ? Nova Scotia, variegated by lofty hills and broad valleys, by lakes and rivers, is rich in geological resources, and, while bountiful to the agricultundist, is still more bountiful to the miner. Gold and iron and copper, lead and silver and tin, abound. Shii)building is carried on extensively, as in New Brunswick and in Quebec The agricultural resources of Quebec and those of Ontario need Dot be dwelt on. It is now known that the land to the north- west of Manitoba is richer than any prairie land in the world. Our minerals held their heads high at the Centennial oi" 18 7G. Canadian horses and cattle are finding a market in England, and the gates of commerce are thrown open to us under the Southern Cross. If the eastern bounds of our Dominion, washed by the stormy Atlantic, are variously rich, so are the western bounds, wliose golden feet are laved by the calmer waters oi" the Pacific. Destined at once to be the England and the California of the future, British Columbia is as beautiful as she is richly dowered. The traveller who proceeds up the highway made where the Eraser cleaves the granite ridges of the Cascade range and enters the open valleys beyond, is face to face with " the unequalled pastoral and agricultural resources of the bunch-grass country." * From an eminence in the neighbourhood ol Kamloops he com- mands an interminable prospect of grazing lands and valleys waiting for the husbandman. He may see the mouths of the coal-pits opening into the hulls of the vessels ; here, inex- haustible supplies of iron ore ; there, the woodsman laying the axe to trees two hundred and fifty feet high and over four hundred yea.s old. Skirting the Eraser, he will see the Indian fisherman haul out a salmon on the sands, whence the miner is sifting sparkling ore. In Cariboo, in Cassiar, in the valley of the Stickeen, the precious metal is still more abundant. See Lord DuflFerin's speech at Victoria, Sept. 20th, 1876. il! } !'• 6 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. What land is more richly blessed by nature with water, whether wo consider it as a beautificr, or as a drudj^c, or as a fishing Peld ? The fisheries inland and seaward, are unequalled. No codutry in the worl ^ has such an avenue of approach as the St. Lawrence. To wind one's way through the Thousand Islands is to wander amid enchanting beauty. It is an Irish poet who writes — " There are miracles, which man, Cag'd in the bounds of Fairopc^'s pigmy span, Cau scarcely dream of — whicli his eye must p.e To know how v/onderful this world can 'd." * What variety and beauty is there up Lake Superior ! Cross the continent, and you may sail "^long the coast for a week in a vessel of two thousand tons, threading " an interminable laby- rinth of watery lanes and reaches," winding endlessly amid a maze and mystery of islands, promontories, and peninsulas for thousands of miles, the placid water undisturbed by the slighest swell from the adjoining ocean, and presenting at every turn an ever-shifting combination of rock, verdure, forest, glacier, and snow-capped mountain of unrivalled grandeur and beauty." f Those capacious and tranquil waters, capable of carrying a line of battle ship, seem gentle, as if on purpose to suit the frail canoes which skim in safety over the unrippled surface. In such a country, where the laws are equal, with everything which cau stimulate industry, J everything which can stir the heart, it would be an extraordinary thing if the Irishman did not rise to a high level. Here, all that his fathers ever struggled for he has. He is a controlling part of the present ; he is one of the architects of the future, and he has nothing to do with the disasters of the past, only so far as they teach him lessons for the present. Nothing to do with the glories of the past, .save to catch their inspiration. On those disasters and those glories it will nov^ be my duty briefly to dwell. * Moore, t liord DuJFerin. t ^ am coavinced, from what I saw in the States, and from all I bi»vre heardr that tho position of the Irishman in Canada Is better than in the Slates. FUNCTION OF HISTORY. CHixPTEIl II. No source of education opjn to a people ought to be so ruitful as the story of their owi. country. But, if it is to teach and correct and inspire, it must be true. The muse of history is the purest of 'all the Nine, and no passion should darken the clear blue of the intellectual atmosphere of her domain; no fiction warp its crisp outlines. The romancer, who gives you idle fables, and calls them history, would play a much more useful part if he appeared in his true character of novelist; while the man who distorts facts or colours them mischievously, with the view of raising or stimulating passions, is worse than a murderer, for he sows broadcast the seeds of murder. In uncriticd times, the deposit of the national fancy is easily mistaken for the gold of truth, and for the most credulous of Irish historians there is this excuse : for him the future was a vista of despair ; the present, blood and tears, and hope, in the unnatural strain, was turned to the past, giving additional warmth and boldness to imagination. He erred, too, it must be admitted, in good com- pany, but, in his case, error was fraught with serious consequences — it was used by the enemies of his country to discredit her real glory. Some Irish historians divide the history into periods ; the pre-Christian, the Irish pentarchy, the Danish period, the Nor- man, the Tudor and Stuart, and the Hanoverian.* But, perhaps, • See "The Student's Manual of Irish History." By M. F. Cusack. Until somebody does for Ireland what Mr. J. R. Green has done for England, I know no better book to recommend to those who wanr to get an outline of events. But, owing, perhaps, to the limits of space, very important facts, which should find a place even in a compendium, are omitted, and it is impossible to escape from the conviction that, here and there, the partiality of the patriot sways the balance of the historian — an unhappy thing, because calculated to make Irish- men look ridiculous, and a needless thing, for Irishmen can afford to have the truth told. But it is one of the best small histories of Ireland which can be got. 8 THE IinSHMAN IN CANADA. .?.' the facts would be brought more certainly before the mind if Irish history were divided into the Celtic period and the mixed period. The modern Irishman is not a Celt, any more than the modern Englishman is a Saxon. The name of the greatest of English historians * proves him to have been in part Celt ; the name of the latest of Irish historians -f indicates that the writer is in part Norman. But, as in England, over Celt and Norman the Saxon predominates, so in Ireland, over Saxon and Norman, the Celt predominates. We may leave antiquarians to puzzle over the five "takings" of Ireland. It is enough for every practical purpose to know as we do, by the sure test of language, that the people inhabiting Ireland, when the mists of unhistorical times are swept away from its green hills, its fertile valleys, and extensive forests, belonged to the grea.t Celtic race. That race which came before the Teuton formed the vanguard of the Aryan march to the West I and played, and still plays, a great part in the history of the world. It plays its part no longer alone, but in conjunction with one or other of its brethren. The Celt of Gaul has done great things, not merely within his own bounds, but for Europe; but he has wrought all this brilliancy speaking a Latin dialect and wearing the name of a German tribe. The Celt of Ireland of Scotia major, and his brethren among the hills of Scotia minor, 'aving learned a language composed of elements drawn from dialects of their brethren, the Teuton on the one hand, and the Eoman on the other, have done their part in building up what, if Irishmen's attention had not been directed into other / Disfigured, as Froude's history is, by deliberate misrepreflentation, his pages are the most vivid which have been devoted to Irish history, and the student could not do better than read them, if he will remember their real character and correct them by reference to more trustworthy sources bearing on the period. Mr. (Joldwin Smith's essay, "Irish History and Irish Character," should be read by every student. It is the most masterly thing ever written on Ireland, and breathes, with one or two trifling exceptions, a spirit of perfect fairness. For persona who are not students of Irish history there is no other book which will give them, on a small canvas, so true a picture, Th« canvas is small, but the treatment is the large treatment of a master-hand. * Maraulay. t Cusack. t Freeman. — "Comparative Politics," p, 50. It THE CELT IN EUROPE. channels, they would have readily and gladly recognised as the Brito-Hibernian empire. On this continent, working by the side of the Saxon, and mingling with him, the Celt has made, in a few years, one of the foremost of modern nations, and here, in C/anada, no small portion of the work of the future rests on his shouldei'8. It is impossible to say with certainty whether the Oelts separated from the Roman and the Greek in their Aryan nome, or parted company with them on their westward march. When we see them face to face with their classical brethren, it is as enemies. They poured over the Alps, and settled in the valleys of the Po, and, in vengeance for the haughty language of Roman ambassadors and some Gaulish blood spilt in a skir- mish, they raised the siege of Clusium n,nd marched on Rome, which, having put the Romans to rout at AUia, they gave to the flames. It was Celtic valour bore down the Roman in the defile of Thrasymene, on the disastrous field of Cannse ; nor was it until Csesar carried a ten years' extirminating war into the home of the Celts that the contest of four centuries was decided. They carried their arms into Greece and overran Asia Minor. They sacked Delphi ; " they met the summons of Alexander with gasconading defiance j they overthrew the phalanx in the plains of Macedon."* We may trust the traditions which assign an early date to the settlement of Ireland, while dismissing with a smile stories about Noah's children and Canaanitish emigrations. The Celt who settled in Ireland, separated by the sea from the continent, would naturally be shut out from a share in the wars and enter- prises of the members of his race on the mainland, and be kept free from influences to which they were exposed. Centuries passed away, and the civilization did not advance beyond the primitive stage of the sept and clan. Petty principalities arose, and petty kingdoms, and population was kept down by constant wars.-f There is no use in attributing virtues to the Irish Celts at this stage which are inconsistent with the infancy of a people. What they were we can very easily understand from what we know certainly of themselves, from what we know of the Gauls, Goldwin Smith. + Professor Curry. in / i ' 1- 1 10 THE lUISIFMAN IN CANADA. aud from what we know of the Greeks at a like period of growth. In art, in arms, in polity they were, up to the time of St. Patrick, about on a level with the Greeks of the time of which Homer sings ; nor need we be surprised that a resemblance has been traced between ancient Irish and ancient Greek military monuments. The bards, as in early Greece, and in Germany in early times, held an important place in society and wielded great power. If it was their profession to flatter the strong, they were often the protectors of the weak. What was thought amongst the Teutons of the bards may be gathered from Uhland's great ballad, and in Ireland the wandering poet, who was credited with divine powers, often made himself unpopular with kings and princes. The bards were the journalists, orators, and historians of those times, and, before being admitted to the sacred order, they had to pass through a long course of training. Their religion was Druidism. They worshipped the sun, and in the neighbourhood of Dublin, to this day, the student witnesses survivals of this worship. The Irish-speaking Celt still calls the 1 st of May " La Bealtinne," and throughout the island fires are lit, which are the embers of a once-living worship, the joyful greeting of the returning sun-god. There was a national code and recognised interpreters. Common ownership of land pre- cedes separate ownership.* In Kussia and Hindostan the village communities hold the land in common, and in Ireland the land was the property of the Sept. That such was the custom among the Greeks and Komans, in early times, may be gathered from the redistributions of land and the agrarian laws, from the Roman clientage and the Greek tribes, which are evidently cognate institutions of the Clan.-f- One of the most curious facts in comparative politics is, that the custom sanctioned by the Brehon laws of the creditor fasting upon the debtor exists at this hour in Hindostan, and has actually been practised within living memory in Ulster. Early in our era, the Scots of Erin colonised the west coast of Scotland and the adjacent islands. Traditions of this coloniza- • Maine's Ancient Law. + Goldwiu Smith's " Irish History and Irish Character." .1 1 IBISH COLONIZATION OF SCOTLAND. 11 tion and of frequent intercourse still linger in Scotland.* They acted with their friends in North Britain against the Roman, and in the reign of Constantine's successor the Irish and Picts pre- * The following remarkable article, which appeared in the Inverness High- lander, in reference to an Irish political question, is understood to be from the pen of an eminent Gaelic scholar : — *' There was a time when Clann nan Quidheal an guaillibha a cheile did not mean merely that a handful of Camerons, or of JIackays, or of Macdonalds, should yoke themselves firmly together in crossing? a burn or tracking a morass ; far less did it teach that a small body of Celts was to be compacted together for purposes of oflFence towards another body of Celts, And, even supposing that in remote and unchristian times this brotherhood did happen to be so limited, we have arrived at a time when, to say the very least, the bonds should embrace all the branches of the family of the Gaidheal. We are thankful to say that the tendency of the more intellectual enterprises o^ the race in oxir day is towards this wider brotherhood. Dr. MacLauchlan, Campbell of Islay, Matthew Arnold, Professor Morley, and even Professor Blackie, who is supposed to be more intense than broad, are unflinching in their declarations that Celtic learning, Celtic literature, and Celtic history to be what they ought to be, must embrace the learning and the philosophy, the history and the polity of the Scottish, the Irish, the Manx, the Cornish, the Armoric and the Welsh Celts ; that we must make careful use of the living speech and current traditions of Highlanders, of the fragments of literature found in the Isle of Man and in Cornwall, of the Cymbri, and of the vast stores of Irish MSS. which have escaped +he ravages of Teutonic destroyers. This is a valuable lesson in regard to other things, as well as being a valuable fact in itself, and it points to the duty of the different members of the great family drawing upon each other for co- operation in other departments. Even in the matter of war it is notorious how the Irish bore so brave a hand with the Highlanders in resisting the Danes ; a fact of which the mixture of Irish and Scottish names, and some of the confusion of Scottish and Irish history are the natural results. There is not a corner in our Scottish Highlands, there is hr.rdly a pedigree of an old Highland family, which does not bear out this rema.k. What are the Macdonalds, the Macdonnells, the Donnellies, the Connolies, the O'Connells, but the one grand family of Clann LomhnuiUf The Mackays, the Mackies, the Macghies, and even the Hoeys, the O'Gheochs, and the Keogas, are so many modifications of Clann Aoidh. The very Campbells, who have been so largely implicated in the work of denationalizing Scot- land, actually claim to be of the Irish stock of O'Duibhne. And, at the great battle of Ckutn-tairbh, at which the Irish under Brian Boirmhe overthrew the Danes, in the beginning of the eleventh century, Feochaibh nah-Alha are assigned an honourable position in the records of the time. Another thing, perhaps still more to the purpose, is the very curious fact, that so very large a proportion of High- land '* fiction," of legendary lore — corresponding in some measure at the time of its composition with our romances and with our more sober works of fiction — should have direct reference to Irish characters, events and scenes. No one is surprised to find this the case in Cantyre and in Wigtonshire. But it is as cer. 12 I I Ji pi) I / THE IIlISTTJfAN IN CANADA. are said to have reached London and occupied it. It required all the ability of Theodosius to save the province from destruction. He defeated Saxon, Pict, and Scot, and unless Claudian indulges in a wilder poetic license than common, the number of Scots from Ireland must have been very large. The poet describes the victorious general as pursuing them to the extremity of Britain, and slaying so many that the Orcades were stained with Saxon gore, Thule warmed with Pictish blood, and Erin left mourning over heaps of her slain Scots.* There are traces in South-west Britain of Irish occupation. Some think that Wales was invaded by the Irish.f Irish oc- cupations are referred to in Welsh traditions. One invasion is mentioned in the Triads, and it would appear that, besides the settlements in Scotland and North Wales, the Irish dominion extended over South Wales and Cornwall. In Cormac's glossary we find an envoy sent over to the south-west of England to tainly, and perhaps more generally, so in the far north Highlands. In Glen- Urquhart ; in Stratherrick ; in Cromarty even, which has been so drenched with Teutonic soporifics ; in Applecross ; in Skye ; and in parts of the Long Island, the setting up of Highland families from Irish offshoots, the marrying of High- land ladies into Irish royal and other families, et cetera, are leading facts in the pedigrees and traditions handed down from remote periods. The wide and deep hold, for example, of the story of Clann Visneach all over the Highlands is an instructive fact, and one fraught with kindly outcomings from Celt to Celt. Then there is the great Ossianic drama, which is now established to have been neither exclusively Scottish, nor exclusively Irish, but a large network over both countries — wide enough, indeed, aa is now being shr by Dr. Hately Waddell, to embrace the territory of Cymbri also. After giving illustrations in regard to our family and friendly relations with the Manx, and to the benefits which are to be derived in a variety of forms from a more intiuiate acquaintance with the Cornish, we might pass over to Brittany, trace the relationship, and then point to a still wider relationship exempl^ed by the terms of amity which subsisted so long between the French nation and that of Alban. ♦ • * What we do profess is, that there is a nationality existing among us, that there are traditions, that there are latent sentiments, that there are common interests apart from, and in addition to, those principles of justice and those sentiments of fair play, which should make Highlanders, above all men, give Cothram na Feintie to the Irish. * Maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades : incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule : Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis lerne. f Aniuals of the Caledonians. Ritson. THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY 13 collect tribute, and this is borne out by the romance of Tristan and Iseult, in which the uncle of Iseult is sent to demand tribute from Marc, King of Cornwall, uncle of Tristan. The tales of King Arthur belong to the period of the Irish occupation. With the introduction of Christianity there came a new element of civilization, and the warm Celtic nature responded with enthusiastic fervour to the pure and ennobling influences of the Gospel. Their religion burned " like a star in Western Europe."* Columba, or Columbkill, a man of the royal race of Nial, undertook to carry the glad tidings to the Gael, the Pict, the Briton and the Scandinavian, and founded the holy island of lona, whence went forth missionaries to Iceland, to the Orkneys, to Northumbria, to Man, and to South Britain.f Columbanus did a like work among the half-barbarous Franks, and in France, in • Froude, "Vol. I., p. 15. + "We must remember that before the landing of the English in Britain, the Christian Church comprised every country, save Germany, in Western Europe, as far as Ireland itself. The conquest of Britain by the pagan English thrust a wedge of heathendom into the heart >f this great communion, and broke it into two unequal parts. On the one side lay Italy, Spain and Gaul, whose churches owned obedience to the see of Rome ; on the other, the Church of Ireland. But the condition of tlie two portions of Western Christendom was very diflFerent. While the vigour oF Christianity in Italy, Gaul and Spain was exhausted in a bare struggle for life, Ireland, which remained unscourged by invaders, f iCw from its conversion an energy such as it has never known since Christianity had been received there with a burst of popular enthusiasm, and letters and arts sprang up rapidly in its train. The science and Biblical knowledge which fled from the Con- tinent took refuge in famous schools, which made Durrow and Armagh the uni- versities of the West. The new Christian life soon beat too strongly to brook confinement within the bounds of Ireland itself. Patrick, the first missionary of the island, had not been half a century dead when Irish Christianity flung itself with a fiery zeal into battle with the mass of heathenism which was rolling in upon the Christian world. Irish missionaries laboured among the Picts of the High- lands, and among the Frisians of the northern seas. An Irish missionary, Colum- ban, founded monasteries in Burgundy and the Apennines. The Canton of St. Gall still commemorates in its name another Irish missionary before whom the- spirit of flood and fell fled wailing over the waters of Lake Constance. For a time it seemed as if the course of the world's history was to be changed, as if the older Celtic race that Roman and German had swept before them had turned to the moral conauest of their conquerors, as if Celtic and not Latin Christianity wa» to mould the . stiniesof the Church of the West." History of the English People* J. R. Green, M. A., Examiner in the School of Modern History, Oxford. 14 THE IUl8liMAN IN CANADA. ! i! I ': !!'■ / 1'^ :> I Switzerland, m Italy there remaiu monuments of the sacred zeal which carried the truth to the Lombards — men, like themselves, of Celtic blood — and caused the Go;jpel star to shine on the darkness of the Main and Upper Rhine. While Columbauus was passing through Switzerland, one of his fellow-labourers was taken ill and could not proceed. The invalid on recovering;, remained with the people who had nursed him, and St. Gall commemorates * tlie work he accomplished, and, indeed, enduring traces of the Irish missions may be found in every part of Europe. It was not the sanctity only of the Irish which stood high at this time. Their scholarship was equally illustrious. Eric of Auxerre writes to Charles the Bald : " What shall I say of Ireland, which, de- spising the dangers of the deep, is migrating with her whole train of philosophers to our coast ? " Not only did Ireland send out apostles and philosophers to other countries, she welcomed pupils from every compass to her schools. Thousands of students from all parts of Europe came for instruction to the schools of Armagh, and to " that melancholy plain where the Shannon flows by the lonely ruins of Clonmacanoise."-)* Bede tells us that the pestilence of 656 found " many of the nobility and of the lower ranks of the English nation" in Ireland, who had crossed thither for purposes of study, and he adds, — " The Scots willingly re- ceived them all, and took care to supply them with food, as also to furnish them with books to read and their teaching gratis." Charlemagne welcomed Irish scholars and Irish preachers as powerful allies in the civilizing work he had to do. He promoted them to places of honour in his court; he employed them to teach the Frankish youth. Mr. Gold win Smith recalls how " Scotus li. • The progress of the Irish Columbanus at her very doors roused into new life the energies of Rome. Gregory determined to attempt the conversioi of Britain, but when the Roman mission in Kent sank into reaction, the Irish mission came forward to supply its place. " The labour of Aidan, the victories of Oswald and Oswi seemed to have annexed England to the Irish Church ; " and the monks of Lindisfarue, or of the new religious houses whose foundation followed that of Lindisfarne, looked for ecclesiastical tradition to Ireland, and quoted for guidance the instruction of Columba. — Hist, of the English People. + Goldwin Smith. ' 1 1 ST. PATRICK A STATESMAN. 15 Erigena * was sitting a familiar guest at the table ot Charles the Bald, wlieii the king asked him how far a Scot was removed from a sot, and he answered, with Irish wit, ' By a table's breadth.' During the seventh and eighth centuries," continues Mr. Smith, " and part of the ninth, Ireland played a really great part in European history. It was the bright morning of a dark day." Surely a people to whom Europe is so much indebted deserve more consideration than they have met with in the hour of their misfortunes. What glory of military conquest can equal the pure and liappy glory of those two centuries of learning and piety ? And in this glory neither Norman nor Saxon has any share ; it belongs of sole right to the Irish Celt. St. Patrick was a statesman as well as a Christian missionary. When at his request the " men of Erin " came to a Conference with him, he retained all the Brehon law which did not clash with the Word of God f ; and happy would it have been for England as well as Ireland, if English statesmen in later times had acted in the same spirit of moderation as St. Patrick. About the time that the Brehon laws were codified under the guidance of St Patrick, great changes were made in the Eoman law, which was undergoing the modifications which might be expected under the influence of Christianity, and this may have had its eiYect on the character of the work, which was a " precise and elaborate code, displaying that peculiar aptitude for the form of legislation which the French Celt has displayed in the Code Napoleon." J The authority of this code continued until the power of the Irish chieftains was finally broken in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Before the end of the seventeenth century the whole race of Brehons or judges, and Ollamhs or professors of the Irish laws, became extinct. The Danish incursions put a stop to the mental oulture and pro- gress which would infallibly have brought the Irish people forward * The profound utterances of tbis great man are living words to-day. Dean Stanley, in Lis latest work, quotes his saying — so far advanced, especially for Scotna Erigena's time— that " whatever is true Philosophy is also true Theology." History of Jewish Church. Third Series. Scribner, Preface, p. xrv. + Senchus Mor., pp. 16, 17. Goldwiu Smith. f ' '! 16 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. / III! I ! ♦iH to that stogo when they could be described as a united nation. It is vain to look back with regret on a state of things in which petty king warring with petty king could make alliances with the heathen invader. If national unity had been stronger than the clan and individual selfishness, of course the Danes never could have obtained a footing in the island. Though the Danish occupation led to the brief unity which expelled them the events leading up to the battle of Clontarf are such as could happen only in the very early stages of a people's growth.* The wife of King Brian, Gormflaith, who had two other husbands alive, was at Kincora when Ma3lmurra, her brother, the King of Leinster, came to pay tribute. Mrelmurra was also a vassal of the Danes who had helped him to his throne. His sister taunted him with being the vassal of her own husband, and a playful remark of his cousin acting on his mind like a spark on gunpowder, he left the palace in anger. Brian sent a messenger after him to pacify him, but the angry chief dashed out the braius of the messenger. His whole clan is roused to avenge an insult whic . no fire-eater of the time of duelling would have thought sufficient to warrant calling a man out. The O'Rourkes, the O'Niels, the O'Flahertys and the Kearys promised to assist him. And mark what followed on a sharp word over a game of chess. O'Niel ravaged Meath. O'Rourke attacked Malachy and slew his grand- son and heir. Soon afterwards Malachy defeated his assailants in a bloody engagement. He then divided his forces into three parties and plundered Leinster as far as Meath. Reprisals were made on each side ; Irishman slaying Irishman and the Danes in the land, nay, fighting side by side with the Leinster men, until Malachy demanded the protection to which he was entitled from Brian, who clearly was not in the proper sense of the word King of Ireland. " Brian of the tribute " properly describes his position. Brian obeyed the summons. He " ravaged Ossory " and marched on Dublin, where he was joined by his son Murrogh, " who had devastated Wicklow, burning, destroying and carrying off captives until he reached Kilmaiuham." The siege of Dublin • See for the details, " Irish Hifltory," by M. F. Cuaack, well known as "The Nun of Kenmare." m CLONTARF. THE DANES. 17 ■\s-as raised during tlie winter, and Gormflaitli,who is a sort of Irish Helen, exerts herself in collecting forces against her two husbands, Brian and Malachy. She despatched her son Sitric to bring foreign aid, and promised her hand and the kingdom of Ireland to each of two Vikings if they would come and help the Danes. In the spring Brian marched towards Dublin " with all that obeyed him of the men of Ireland." He " plundered and de- stroyed as usual,"* says the Nun of Kenmare, on his way to Dublin. After he had passed Fingal and burned Kilmainham, he sent his son Donough to plunder Leiuster. A third of the forces on the Danish side were Leinster men under Mitlmurra. Clontarf was a great battle, and on both sides prodigies of valour were performed. But what could save from conquest a people in the condition the events preceding the battle show the Irish to have been in ? Even after the victory of Clontarf dis- sensions arose, and on their way f^om the field the clans separated and drew up in order of battle ! Centuries afterwards we see the same defects break out when Baldearg O'Donnell, for a pen- sion of £500, takes over to William's side a large following of Ulster Celts. The Danes settled down in the seaport towns they had founded — Limerick, Dublin, Wexford and Waterford, — and paid tribute either to the Ard Eigh or the local prince. They sometimes had to pay blackmail. In the year 1029 Olaf, the son of Sitric, wandering outside Dublin was taken prisoner by O'Regan, lord ol Meath, who extorted for ransom twelve hundred cows, sevenscore British horses, threescore ounces of gold, and sixty ounces of silver. Now the Normans having conquered all the neighbouring nations turned their attention to Ireland. Let no one exclaim against the Irish for their want of union. We see the same thing in Greece. If the Irish had been allowed time they would have grown out of the clan into the nation. But the Irish Celtic nation was strangled in its cradle, and those conquerors with whom we have now to deal were neither Saxon nor English, but the fierce Scandinavian rovers, whose conquests extended from the Jordan to the Boyne, and under whose heavy hand the English Irish History, p. 180, 2 18 TUB IRISIIMADr m CANADA. i I / I i' ! / r ' i I I f^ I groaned for one kundred and fifty years. The Celtic blood already mixed with the Danish, and to some small extent with Saxon,* was now mingled with the Norman tide, even as it 'vas in after times in the south and west tinctured with that of Spain. With what we see going on before our eyes on the continent of Europe, it would be futile to discuss, even to-day, the morality of conquest. We have not yet arrived at that advanced stage of civilization, when nations can be expected to curb their greed and ambition, though it is as certain as human progress tliat the time will come when people will look back on the French and Germans, and the state of things leading up to Sedan, as barbarous. But if we could arraign the Normans before us they might plead that one of the Irish princes invited them to the country, and what is of still more significance, that the Irisli princes paid no attention to the new comers. In the words of the Annals, they " set nothing by the Flemings." The kingdom had not the first element of defence — watchfulness against invasion. It seemed in the ordinary course of things that troops should be brought from a foreign country to reinstate a petty king. There is this excuse to be made for Roderic, that he had to enforce his claims in the south and north, and was busy " portioning Meath between his inseparable colleague O'Eourke and himself "f He was busy in the still more useful work of founding lectorships at Armagh ; for during the Danish period, the enlightenment, the religious zeal, and enthusiasm for knowledge, which had three centuries before " burned like a star," had given place to Pagan superstition.^ Dermot MacMurrough soon found himself at the head of three thousand men, and marched on Ossory which he subdued. The monarch sum- moned a hosting of the men of Ireland at Tara, and with an army collected by the lords of Meath, Glial, Ulidia, Breffni, and some northern chiefs, proceeded to Dubli"\. But dissension broke out in the Irish camp ; the Ulster chiefs returned home, and MacMurrough's authority was acknowledged. Now, clearly here * The victims of Norman oppression fled in some cases to Ireland. McQee, 163. + D'Arcy McGee. $ Ibid, p. 145 ; see also Froude, vol. i, p. 16. THE NORMAN INVASION. 19 we are in the presence of disunion which would paralyze the most heroic bravery. The country was thinly populated ; public spirit was unknown ; the only strong sentiment was the clan- nish ; and disunited hosts could not be expected to stand against united hosts. We have shown that the Celt, like the Teuton and the Norman, comes from the Aryan stock ; we have seen the Celt measure his sword, and not unsuccessfully, with that of Rome. As between the Irish and the Norman, it was a battle between an elder and a younger brother, and the elder brother one who had long been in training i.. the best fighting schools. The Prince of Thomond, Donnell O'Brien, who had married a daughter of ])ermot, was in rebellion against Roderic, and was, of course, willing to give his assistance to Dermot. The Nor- mans, in fact, found the Irish princes engaged in a game of grab, and the blood of the people squandered by the caprices and ambitions of their chiefs, whose life, like that of the Gallic nobles in the first and second centuries, was spent in a " con- tinual whirl of faction and intrigue."* The Danes, who remem- bered how impossible it was to expel themselves once they got a footing in the country, were alive to the necessity of resisting the Normans ; and the Dano-Celts of Wexford and Waterford fought with great energy the uncle of Strongbow. Strongbow, on his arrival at a later period, laid siege to Wexford, where the Normang set a precedent for Drogheda. Having made the Dano-Celts of Waterford a fearful example, they turned their faces towards Dublin. The woods and defiles were well guarded, but the enemy made forced marches over the mountains, and reached, long before they were expected, the capital, a city at that time not the size of Hamilton to-day. Hosculf, the Danish governor of the city, encouraged by the presence of a force collected by the Irish monarch near Clondalkin, had determined to stand a siege. But when the "decision and military skill" of the invaders were recognised, and the reports of the massacre at Waterford came, it wai determined to treat. The Danish governor fled with son e of the principal citizens to the Orkneys, and Roderic, the nominal king of all Ireland, withdrew his • M. Amedee Thierry. 20 THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA. I I li forces to Meath to support his friend O'Kourke, " on whom he had bestowed a portion of that territory." Strongbow, on the death of Dermot MacMurrough, was abandoned by the Irish following of that prince, and a general rising having taken place, he throw himself into Dublin, but only to find himself sur- rounded by an army, and blockaded by a Danish fleet. While he was suffering from want of food, and negotiating with a view to capitulate, Donnell Cavanagh, an Irishman of rank, no less a person than the son of the late king of Leinster, stole into the city in disguise, and informed him that Fitzstephen was closely besieged in Wexford. It is then determined to force a passage through the besieging army. " The Irish army," says the Nun of Kenraare, " were totally unprepared for this sudden move ; they fled in panic, and lioderic," the King and Commander-in- Chief, " who was bathing in the Liffey, escaped with difficulty." The Norman, Miles de Cogan, was again left governor of Dublin, and with the exception of an attack on him which he easily repulsed, " the Irish made no attempt against the common enemy, and domestic wars were as frequent as usual."* Now it is clear that if the Irish Celts at this time were not much behind their foes in civilization, it would be impossible to account for these events. They belonged to the same great Aryan stock as the Normans, and the disunion and incapacity shown by men whose fathers did, and whose descendants have done, such great things, are to be traced to this, that thei^ civilization, as compared with the high organization of the Nor- man, was in a backward state, they having, in fact, retrograded from the intellectual advancement of the 8th century. The forces which came with Henry II. in 1171, should have been no more than a mouthful for the Irish. What should they not have done with Strongbow and his few followers ? In Henry's train came those who were to be the fathers of well-known Irish families ; and as we owe to the Danes the -f* Plunkets, Mclvers, Archbolds, Harolds, Stacks, Skiddies, Cruises, McAuliffes, we owe to the Normans the Clanrickards, the Butlers, the Le Poers (Powers), and many others who came afterwards, such as the Talbots and * Cuaack's History, p. 1C7. t McGee. THE HUSH KINGS SUBMIT TO UENllY II. 21 the Burkes, A white hare, which leaped from a neighbouring hedge, was caught and presented to the king as an omen of victory. " But," says D'Arcy McOee, " the time omen of his success he might read for himself in a constitution which had lost its force, inlaws which had ceased to be sacred, and in a chieftain i are brave indeed as mortal men could be, but envious, arrogant, revengeful, and insubordinate." The penalty paid through cen- turies of misery by the noble innocent peo])le who followed them, would be an impassable stumbling-block to faith in a Providence, were we not able to gi'asp the truth tl.at there is more bene- ficence in the operation of great general laws than there would be in fitful interference, and to hold by the hope, that all movea tx) a great justifying event in the future. The Irish nobles and kings submitted to Henry, who naturally according to the enlightenment of the time, but foolishly and cruelly according to modern ideas, administered the country as a Norman province. As soon ns Henry was gone, and the cold steel of Norman rule was felt, there would, of course, be resistance, hat, as might be expected from what we have seen, that resist- ance would not be eystematic or united, and from this time for- ward the history of Ireland is the weary annals of a half subdued dependency, in which the miseries of rebellion were aggravated by domestic broils. It is doubtful whether, if the Normans had been able to afford men to conquer Ireland as com- pletely as they conquered England, things would have been much better for the Celts than they were. But no hope whatever of happy relations could be built on a system of partial settleirent, and constant and indecisive war. It is amusing to find the deeds of the Norman attributed to Englishmen, at a time when the Englishman himself was in the house of bondage. The sentences* in which Macaulay describes the condition of English- • "The battle of Hastings and the events which followed it, not only placed a Duke of Normandy on the English throne, but gave up the whole population of England to the tyranny of the Norman race. The subjugation of a nation by a nation has seldom, even in Asia, been more complete. The country was portioned out among the captains of the invaders. Strong military institutions, closely con- nected with the institution of property, enabled the foryi(,Ti conquerors to opprew the children of the soil. A cruel penal code, cruelly enforced, guarded tho 22 THE IKISHMAN IN CANADA. men, might, with little alteration, be applied to the state of Ire- land. The cruelty on the one hand, and the irregular retaliation on the other, the aggression and resistance, are found in Ireland, with the qualification that the oppression is not so complete, and that the Irish sometimes make a stand. The statute of Kilkenny, enacted in the fourteenth century, shows that already it had become impossible to tell a man's race by his aame, and that the Norman and English settlers were mingling with the Celts. Marriage with the Celt was forbidden, as was the assumption of an Irish name. Early in the fifteenth century, the Irish of English descent began to set forth griev- ances, and the cities of Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal complained of the desolation consequent on thd strife of English noblemen. A like complaint was made by Waterford and Wexford against the Irish chieftain O'Driscoll, who is describd as an " Irish enemy to the King and to all his liege people of Ireland." We find m Henry VIII.'s day, France already interfering in Ireland, but, like the intermeddlings of after timps, "it took no effect by reason of Francis, his business in other parts." * It hastened, however the " second troubles " of the Earl of Kildare, a salutary omen, if those who looked to France could have seen it. The fact that whenever there was any revolt against England foreign aid was 1^ '] '41 / I privileges and eveu the sports of the alien tyrants. Yet the subject race, though beatnn down and trodden under foot, still made its sting felt. Some bold men, the favourite heroes of our oldest ballads, betook themselves to the woods, and there, in defiance of curfew laws and forest laws, waged a p:>'(3datory war against their oppressors. Assassination was an event of daily occurreace. Many Normans suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace. The corpses of many were found bearing the marks of violence. Death by torture was denounced against the murderers, and strict search was made for them, but geiteraHy in vain ; for the whole nation was in a conspiracy to screen them. It was at length thought necessary to lay a heavy fine on every Hundred in w hicb a person of French extraction should be found slain ; and this regulation was followed up by another regulation, providing tliat every person who was found slein should be supposed to bo e, Frenchman, unless he WW proved to be a Saxon." Macaulay's History, t/o1. i., p. 7. In tba above paragraph we find the Saxons doing the very thing Saxon writers aftevwards in- veighed against the Irish Celt for doing. • The History of England under Henry VIII. Edward Lord Herbert, p. 246. EFFORTS TO INTRODUCE PROTESTANTISM. 23 sought for, should have taught the obvious lesson. The alternative for Ireland, owing to size and geographical situation, was to be an equal in a great empire or a vassal principality to a continental country. When O'Neill revolted in 1597, and defeated the English at Blackwater, he invited over the Spaniards, and settled them in Kinsale. But what was the Spaniard against the sea-king ? And what would Ireland be as a vassal of Spain ? The history of Spain and her colonies teUs us in unmistakeable language. The struggles in Ireland down to, and even after what assumed the character of a religious war, were agrarian, and Norman aggression was succeeded by confis- cating plots under the Tudors and Stuarts, plots from v^hich Burkes and Geraldines suffered as much as O'Connors and O'Eourkes. The efforts made to introduce Protestantism into the island took a form which was doomed to failure, for it added the fervour of patriotism, the instinct of race, the hatred of the weak for the strong, of oppressed for oppressors, to the natural attachment for the creed in which m.en are born, which is associated in their minds with all the tenderness and charm of childhood and of home. No translation of the Bible was put forth in the Irish language, and the missionaries of the new faith appeared in the guise of plunderers ; nor were their lives, as a rule, of a stamp to counteract such formidable stimulants to repulsion. " The govern- ment contented itself with setting up a vast Protestant hierarchy of Protestant archbishops, bishops, and rectors, who did nothing, and who, for doing nothing, were paid out of the spoils of the Church loved and revered by the great body of the people."* The plantation of Ulster followed on the confiscation of the lands of O'Neill and O'DonneU, whose English titles were, respectively. Earl of Tyrone and Earl of Tyrconnel. There can be no doubt there was a conspiracy to fasten on them a charge of treason, and their flight to the continent proves nothing, but that they were anxious 1;0 preserve their lives.-f* The plantation 245. Maoauky's Hiatoryj vol. i. p. 84, + Goldwin Smith. 24 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. 111 I ' 1 ; 'jt P 1 ■ ii 1 i:| , i 1 ■ t 1 though destined to result iu one of the darkest pages in Irish history, was, economically, a brilliant success. It intro- duced into the north a large population accustomed to settled modes of life, who were themselves afterwards to experience in- justice at the hands of the English parliament, but who, in the face of restrictive legislation, and in the face oi' enormous and complex difficulties, have made the province of Ulster one of the most flourishing on the globe. Many of them were descendants of men who, at an earlier period, had migrated from Ireland into Scotland ; others were of SaxoD blood ; but all brought with them that stern Presbyterianism, \' ' :_ix has been the great factor in moulding the character of the modern Scotchman — a creed which would givt) a Titan's backbone to a race of mol- lusks. When received, not as some modern Presbyterian divines receive it, half hesitatingly, but as it was received by Calvin and Johii Knox, it gives to character all the strength of fatalism, and all the strength of a passionate faith, full of hope, and immortality. Many of the new comers, indeed, were tainted with the vices of adventurers. Many of them fled from debt^ and some from justice, but the great majority of them were, what we should call in Canada, good settlers. Sixty thousand acres in Dublin and Waterford, and three hundred and eighty-five thousand acres in Westmeath, Longford, Kings County, Queens County, and Leitrim, were portioned out in a similar manner. The espousal of the cause of Charles I. brought down on the country the sword of Cromwell, and resulted in further transfers of land, — transfers in which descendants of Saxon and Norman suffered. Spenser's grandson, though pleading his father's name and protesting his own protestantism, was ordered to transplant. When Charles II. came to the throne,the unhappy "loyalists" prayed for the restoration of their property in vain. The remembrance of the miseries entailed on them by adherence to the cause of Charles I., whoso iron minister, Wentworth, was the greatest enemy the Irish Celts ever had, did not prevent them falling a victim to the schemes of Tyrconnel ; and they espoused the cause of James II., when espousing that cause meant binding themselves to a wheel rolling to the valley. Far more than ever France was relied on. THEATY OF LIMERICK. PENAL LAWS. 25 though a little reflection might have shown that France could never be for Ireland anything but a broken reed. Even if the English, and the Celts and Irishmen of mixed blood adhering to English rule, could have been driven by the aid of France into the sea, the work would have to be begun over again ; for England could not let France have Ireland as a base of operation, and France could not hold it. The violation of the Treaty of Lim- erick is an undying blot, not on William, who would have ad- hered to it if he could, but on the Irish Protestants ; even as the withholding Catholic emancipation at the time of the Union, is an undying blot on the character of George III. and on that of some of Pitt's colleagues. Pitt was true to his convictions and resigned his place. No excuse can be made for the penal iavv's. All that can be said is that they were the bigoted and vio- lent reaction, caused by the violence and bigotry of James II.'s parliament in Dublin, during the brief hour when the country was at its mercv. Henceforth the Irish Catholics were the victims of an oppres- sion more awful than has ever been dealt out to any people or any portion of a people. Many of those Catholics were of Saxon and Norman descent, though a majority were, perhaps, pure Celts, and that they should have emerged from such persecution so little damaged by all this brutalizing tyranny, is one of the strongest evidences of the greatness of race. Education was denied them, but they gathered by the hedge side and learned from the page of Virgil the immortal tongue of Rome. Wealth and honour, freedom from shame and sorrow were offered them if they forsook their faith, but no bribe an empire had to give could make them abandon the despised religion they believed. The priest said mass when and where he could ; in the lonely glen, on the desolate mountain side, in the mud hovel, in the caves of the earth, he celebrated the rites of the proscribed church ; and, in his faded clothes, was armed with a talisman for the hearts of an enthusiastic people, such as no crosier of an endoAved church could equal. He proved every hour his self-denial, his devotion, his sym- pathy ; and while the rector drove to the squire's domain to enjoy his luxurious dinner, the priest shared the potato and cake of his miserable flock. The peasantry cui-tsey low when they meet a mmmmm 26 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. Hi 11 1 priest, however familiar they may be with hira, even when he is their own brother or son. The reason has often been misunder- stood ; it is a custom which has survived a time when the priest carried the consecrated elements constantly on his person, and when, at a favourable moment, he would make the mountain his altar; and while the language of Tiber mingled with Gaelic prayers, and the murmur of wild rills, thehost would rise like a moon against the sky, now bright as the hopes of heaven and the dreams of the past, and now dark as the fate of a people for whose wrongs its recesses seemed to hoard no vengeance. The son was tempted to turn against the father, but the Irish people have remained to this day examples of strong family affection. Poverty, compared with which the condition of the poorest peasant of to-day is opulence, was ordained by law, but the chastity of the poor Irish woman passed into a proverb. She is beautiful. She is not without the love of finery which belongs to her sex. She has the warmth of her race, but her purity has been proof against the trials of poverty and misfortune, and if in rare cases she falls, she is only half ruined ; shame survives ; chastity of soul outlives the degrada- tion of vhe body. Archbishop King maintained the divine right of kings until he felt the knife of James Il.'s persecution. In the same way the Presbyterians supported the penal laws until they were made to suffer themselves. But the imposition of the sacramental test was well fitted to enlarge their views on the subject of liberty of conscience.* By the enforcement of this test Presbyterian magis- trates, military officers, members of municipal councils were de- prived of their offices. In Londonderry, ten out of twelve aldermen, and fourteen out of twenty -four burgesses were declared incapable of civic trust because they would not submit to this test. Most of these had been prominent in the defence of the city during the celebrated siege. The Regium Donum was taken away under Anne, to be restored, however, under the House of Hanover. The war of the revolution showed what the two great races in Ireland could do, and what the mixtures of these races could do. i! ill • The Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. ByW. D. Killen, D.D., President of the Presbyterian College, Belfast. Dr. Killen, who speaks out against the oenal laws, maintaina Btrongly that the Treaty of Limerick was (violated. SIKGE OF DERRY. ENGLISH JEALOUSY. 27 The siege of Deny is one of the most glorious things in the history of the world ; the siege of Limerick was not less glorious, and the besieged achieved a victory, though the fruits of it were, unhappily alike for Protestants and Catholics, England and Ireland, de- stroyed by bad faith. Yet the men who fought so splendidly at Limerick, who afterwards fought so splendidly on the Continent, fought badly at the Boyne. Tlie coward James, forgetful of his own conduct, taunted the Irish with -doing what he had done. But he had had experience, and he should have known that neither Irishmen nor Englishmen can do impossibilities, and it is impos- sible for raw levies to meet trained troops. The soldiers who had training fought at the Boyne as the men of their race have always fought, and those who ran away, ran away for reasons which, as William and Schomberg knew, would make Englishmen and Germans run. The main lesson to learn from this for our im- mediate purpose is, that Irishmen if they neglect to comply with the conditions of success cannot succeed. There is, perhaps, an- other lesson of a more general character but equally apposite, which may be gathered from that war and the penal laws. The loss which bigotry and oppression entail on the bigot and oppressor was never more signally shown. The bigotry of Louis XIV. sent the flower of his subjects to recruit, in the time of his utmost need, the armies of his deadliest foe. The penal laws swelled the French ranks with those heroic exiles before whose deadly charge even English valour quailed. The jealousy of England was roused at an early period by the competition of her own colonists ; and the struggle for free trade and for emancipation from English dictation, gave the world a period fruitful of splendid eloquence, and of ardent patriotism,* and it was under the spell of Flood and Grattan, the modern nation of Ireland was born. There was more of a national charac- ter about the rebellion of, 1798, than of all the rebellions which preceded it. Like its predecessors, horrors ushered it in, and horrors followed in its wake. Grattan's great triumph was doomed to an early death, because inconsistent with the working of irre- sistible forces drawing Ireland closer to Great Britain, and making her the great liberriizer of the Empire. See Hallam. :28 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. 1 1 1 1 ! i Ireland has been the foremost assertor of popular rights, and an Irishman is the Chief Priest of constitutional liberalism.* Her sufferings have given the world a clearer grasp of the principles of civil and religious liberty, as her heroism has helped to extend and sustain the Empire. While her sons in the Irish and English Parliaments have expounded doctrines, she has exemplified them in her own person. Catholic emancipation and the struggles lead- ing up to it, had an incalculable effect on the progress of the world. The Incumbered Estates Act, though it dealt out hard measure to the gentry of Ireland, affirmed a valuable proposition. Mr. Gladstone's Irish Land Bill will infallibly lead to the passing of a similar measure for England ; and, in the fall of the Irish Church, outrageous abuse as it was, the English establishment heard its knell of doom. To Ireland is due the pregnant aphorism — " property has its duties as well as its rights." An Irishman was the first writer of the English tongue who denounced the traffic in slaves.f When we reflect on the way in which this country was kept back, its poverty, and its disturbed state, we cannot but marvel at the number of great men it has produced ; they have in the midst of trouble, which might well have hopelessly distracted, left monuments of their genius in every field of science and every walk of art, nor is there a cause sacred to human freedom for which they have not nobly toiled. We shall have to refer by and by to what Irishm^i, who were for the most part Protestants, have done ; it will be well here to point out how Catholic Irishmen distinguished themselves, though I would fain hope that a day of enlightenment is fast approach- * " We see the different practical tendenciea of the Irish and English race combined, yet distinguishable from each other in the political character of Burke, to whose writ- ings we owe more than we are aware, the almost religious reverence with which we re- gard the conititntion. . . . His feelings, diffused by his eloquence, have become those of oar whole nation." — Goldwin Smith's " Irish History and Irish Character," p. 19. t Southern. See Hallam. Thomas Sonthem, bom lti59, died 1746, was a native of Dublin. Having studied law at the middle Temple, he entered the army, and held the rank of Captain under the Duke of York. His latter days were spent in retire- ment and in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune. He wrote ten plays, but only two exhibit his characteristic powers, "Oroonoko," and "Isabella." Southern's Oroonoko anticipated '* Uncle Tom's Cabin." IRISHMEN ON THE CONTINENT. 2» ing, when it will be no longer necessary to dwell on these distinc- tions. Towards the close of the seventeenth century Mountcashel's brigade, serving with Catinat in Italy, distinguished themselves on fields where their fathers fought two thousand years before under Hannibal. It is a waste of enthusiasm to grow dithyram- bic over mercenary valour. But at this time a portion of the Irish people had no other resource. In a remarkable passage, in whi(jh Macaulay describes the crushing effect of the penal laws, he tells how Irish Roman Catholics of ability, energy, and ambi- tion were to be found everywhere but in Ireland — at Versailles and at Saint Ildefonso, in the armies of Frederic and in the armies of Maria Theresa. Men who rose to be Marshals of France and Ministers of Spain, had they remained in their own country would have been regarded as inferior by all " the ignorant and wor1)hles8 squireens who had signed the Declaration against Transubstantiation. In his palace at Madrid * he had the plea- sure of being assiduously courted by the ambassador of George the Second, and of bidding defiance in high terras to the ambassa- dor of George the Third. Scattered over aU Europe were to be found Irish Counts, Irish Barons, Irish Knights of Saint Lewis and of Saint Leopold, of the White Eagle and of the Golden Fleece, who, if they had remained in the house of bondage, could not have been ensigns of marching regiments or freemen of petty corporations." In 1698, six regiments were at the siege of Valenza. While Irish campaigns were going on in Italy, the garrison of Lime- rick landed in France and the second brigade was formed of which the greater number assisted at the siege of Namur. In seven days Namur was taken. On the 24th July, 1692,Sarsfield — as gallant a soldier and as stainless a gentleman as ever lived — commanded the brigade, and was publicly thanked at the close. In the March fol- lowing he was made a Marshal de Camp. On the 28th July in the same year, he met a death which would have been the most enviable which could have befallen him, if the cause in which he was fighting was country or humanity. It was not even the cause of France. It was the caus_ of a tyrant, and the founder of a tyranny • Wall, Minister of Ferdinand the Sixth. 30 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. >tti I .1 ii i / which sowed the seeds of miseries for generations of Frenchmen, of a tyranny whose refusal to tolerate the Huguenots* prevented the extension of toleration to Irish Roman Catholics. He fell on the field of Landen, leading his victorious troops. Sarsfield felt the sting of the situation. As he lay on the battle-field, he put his hand to his breast, and then looking at the palm, stained with his life-blood, he cried, " Oh, that this was for Ireland !" In 1701, Sheldon's cavalry behaved so well that Sheldon was made Lieu- tenant-General. In the following year Cremona was saved by a handful of Irishmen at the Po gate. Irish troops were present at the battles of Blenheim, of Oudenarde, of Malplaquet ; Iiish troops fought at Almanzo under Berwick. How they behaved at Fonte- noy,f in 1745, and the exclamation of the king, — " Cursed be the laws which deprive me of such subjects !" have given a more than common interest to that battle. It has been the theme of patriot song- writers, it has furnished a moral for Englishmen battling for lustice for their Irish fellow-subjects and Irish brethren. From 1691 to 1765, more than 450,000 Irishmen died in the service of France. Under the Consulate and the Empire the Irish rose to high employment. As Louis found military genius among the exiles of the seventeenth, Buonaparte found among the expatriated of '98, two generals and five colonelfci.j On the restoration of the * The offer waa made to relieve the Irish Catholics if the French Protestants were tolerated. t " Fontenoy, the gi-eatest victory over England of which France can boast since Hastings." — Alison's Marlborough, vol. II., pp. 434, 435. i: " I met Irishmen, indeed, or men of Irish descent, everywhere, and in every rank on the continent, and their position teaches a lesson from Europe which it will do us no harm to ' inwardly digest.' It is a signal illustration of the xiltimate futility of sectarian quarrels and religious persecution, that some of the most prosperous and hon- oured families in Ireland are descendant ' f French Huguenots whom Louis XIV. drove out of France because they would not beco'ic C;.,tholicB ; and some of the most prosperous and honoured families in France are descendant;; of Irish Catholics, whom penal laws drove out of Ireland because they would not become Protestants. " In the dravrfng-room of the President of the French Republic, who is the natural head the exiled families, I met descendants of Irish chiefs who took refuge on the Continent at the time of the plantation of Ulster by the first Stuart ; descendants of Irish soldiers who sailed from Limerick with Sarsfield, or a little later with the ' wild geese ; ' of Irish soldiers who shared the fortunes of Charles Edward ; of Irish peers and gentlemen to whom life in Ireland without a career became intolerable, in the dark era between the fall iA Limerick and the rise of Henry Grattan ; and kinsmen of soldiers of » later date, who |g NAPOLEON AND COUNT O'REILLY. 31 Bourl)ons, the Irish officers who had risen under Napoleon adhered, as we might expect in chivalrous men, to his fortunes ; but in their place a new group of Franco-Irish made their appearance, the descendants of the men of the brigade. The last sword drawn for the Bourbons in 1791 was that of an Irish Count ; their last defender in 1830 was an Irish general. Three times during the eighteenth century Spain was represented at London by men of Irish blood. An Alexander O'Reilly was Governor of Cadiz ; he was afterwards Spanish ambassador at the court of Louis XVI. " It is strange," said Napoleon, on his second entry into Vienna in 1809, "that on each occasion on arriving in the Austrian Capital I find myself in treaty with Count O'Reilly." Napoleon met him on a different scene, for it was his dragoon regiment which saved the remnant of the Austrians at Austerlitz. Numerous Irish names with high rank attached to them will be found in the Austrian army list of the time. In the Peninsula the Blakes, 0'Donnells,and Sarsfields, reflected glory on their race. An O'Don- nell ruled Spain under the late reign, and to-day a MacMahon is President of France.* began life as United Iriahmen, and ended aa staflf officers of Napoleon. Who can measure what was lost to Ireland and the empire, by driving these men and their descendants into tlie armies and diplomacy of France ? All of them except the men of '98, have become so French that they scarce speak any other language. There is a St. Patrick's Day dinner in Pari* every 17th of March, where the company consists chiefly of military and civil officers of Irish descent, who duly drovn their shamrock and com- memorate the national apostle, but where the language of the speeches is French, because no other would be generally understood. I reproached a gallant young soldier of this class, whom I met in Paris, with having relinquished the link of a common language with the native soil of hia race. " Monsieur," he replied proudly, " when my ancestors left Ireland, they would have scorned to accept the language any more than the laws of England ; they spoke the native Gaelic' 'Which doubtless,' I rejoined, you have carefully kept up : Oo dha mor thatha t ' But, I am sorry to say, he knew as little Gaelic as English. During my last visit to the City of Brussels, I saw in the atelier of an eminent painter, the wife of a still more emineni sculptor, a portrait occupying the place of honour, which exhibited the unmistakable features of an Irish farmer ; and the lady pointed it out with pride ae her father, who had been a United Irishman, and had to fly from Ireland in '98, when his cause lay in the dust." — From a Lecture by Sii C. G. Duffy, in Melbourne. " The Marshal looks like an English rather than a French sportsman. His face, indeed, is not French, but Irish, and distinctly recalls the origin of his family. The MacMahons were Irish Catholics of good descent, who followed the fortunes of the Stuarts, and settled and became landed proprietors where the Marshal was bom, via., •at Sully (Saone et Loire), some sixty-eight years ago. The MacMahons took kindly to 82 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. Ii I /iiftii i ' 1 f*'i 1 1 .1 1 Within a century, the great Leinster House of Kavanagh counted in Europe an Aulic Councillor, a Governor of Prague, a Field Marshal at Vienna, a Field Marshal in Poland, a Grand Chamberlain in Saxony, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, a French Conventionist of 1793, Godefroi Cavaignac, Co-Editor with Armand Carrell and Eugene Cavaignac, sometime Dictator in France, and Edward Kavanagh, Minister of Portugal. Russia found among the exiles a Governor-General of Livonia. Count Thomond was Commander nf. Tjn,TiOTiedne : Lallv was Governor at Pondicherry ; O'Dwyer was Commander of Belgrade ; Lacy, of Riga ; Lawless, Governor of Majorca. It would be wearisome to enumerate further, but dozens might be added to the above list. These men, had the laws been what all admit, they should have been, would have done their part in consolidating and the Bourbons, and the Marshal'a father became a peer of France under Charles X., and His Majesty's personal friend. The Marshal, moreover, married into a noble family of Lejjitimists. His youth was passed xmder lily leaves. He was a Saiiit- Cyrien while the elder Bourbons were at the Tuileries, and when he entered the army he went away for years of rough campaigning to that common cradle of modern French Generals — Algeria ; ho that he was fighting in Africa while the jimior Bourbon was holding his hourgeots court at the Tuileries. A captain of chasseurs at the assault of Constantine, he had carved his way— in Algeria always — to the rank of general of bri- gade by the time the revolution of 1848 broke out. Then he rose rapidly, keeping the while apart from politics. General of division in 1852, Grand Officer of the Legion in 18.53, in command of a division of infantry under Bosquet in the Crimea, created Grand Cross of the Legion and Senator for his part in the assault of the Malakoff ; then again fighting in Kabylia in 1857, and Commander-in-Chief of the forces in Algeria — MacMahon's services and rewards were many. The crowning glory of his military career was won in command of the second corps d'armfe of the Alps in 1859, on the field of Magenta, when the Emperor created him Duke of Magenta and Marshal of France. The Marshal was deputed to represent his sovereign, which he did with extraordinary pomp, at the coronation of William III. of Prussia in 1861 ; and in 1864 he was Governor-General of Algeria, appointed to carry out the reforms on which the Emperor was bent. And lastly he led the army from Chalons to Sedan, where he was wounded in time to rid him of the responsibility of surrender. This wound, it has been often said, was not the least of Marshal de MacMahon's strokes of luck. But the time has not yet come for judgment on De MacMahon's part in the Franco-German war ; and he is fortunate in this, that his countrymen bear him no grudge for it, call- ing him the modem Bayard, and the ' honest soldier ; ' while they cover his comrades of the fatal campaign with mud. His aristocratic and monarchical sjrmpathies have whetted the edge of the weapons which the Left has used upon him ; but the rage against him that simmers through the cheap Republican papers is provoked by the disdain with which he folds himself in his soldier's cloak, keeps his hand near his sword, and stands sentinel over the destinies of France, imraovable to the last day of his septennaie."—" The Rulers of France."— 2io»id great advantage to make it necessary to dwell on their achievements as advocates and jurists. I remember when I was a student at the Temple, most of the leadini;;^ Ti\en in West- minster Hall were Irishmen, and a half a dozen of the ablest judges. The greatest of modern Chancellors, Lord Cairns, waa born at Cultra, Co. DoWj When we glance into the realm of art, the names of Barry, Mac- Use, Hogan, Foley, Crawford, at once strike on the memory. What tioops of actors and actresses and singers ! In the museum of Oxford as well as in the museum of Trinity, Dublin, the visitor's attention is seized by carvings wiought by Irish hands, which rival the work of Jean Goujon. When you enter St. Stephen's Hall in Westminster Palace, you see on either side marble statues of illustrious men. You cannot but do homage to Irish genius, not merely because Burke is before you as he arraigned Warren Hastings at the bar of outraged humanity, and Grattan emphasi- zing with outstretched hand his rythmic sentences. Even in such company, the love of liberty will be asserted by th6 noble figure of Hampden, strength and balance in every line of the figure and every trait of the countenance, and the immortal love of right written on his noble brow. You look for the sculptor's name, and read " Foley," an Irishman, bom in Dublin in 1S18. Near is Selden by the same artist. If you walk down Patrick Street, Cork, you will see facing Barrack Hill, the statue of Father Mathew. In Dublin, portrait statues of Edmund Burke and Oliver Gold- smith, will challenge your admiration. The young civil servant from ' Old Trinity,' or the Queen's University, on entering Cal- cutta, is struck with wonder by the bronze group, *' Lord Hardinge and Charger ; " all these, with many another noble work and price- less gem iiave issued from the studio of the great Irish sculptor. Among the many things which strike the visitor to Washington, nothing leaves so lasting an impress on his memory as the works adorning the Capitol ; they are the work of Irish sculptors, McDowell and Crawford. The frescoes in Westminster Palace are by an Irishman. The hon-^ur of these, and kiixw-dd works, have frequently been given, either'to Englishmen or Scotchmen, as the gieat men of our earlier period have also been at times filched 86 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. !-M from Ireland. Tliis is acknowledged with great candour by an eminent Scotch historian.* These works are, therefore, referrf>d to, not to prove that Irishmen have high artistic tastes. That all their history proves. It is written not merely on their literature. It has left ineffaceable footprints on many a lonely ruin. But it is not so generally known, that to-day, as well as in the past, Irish- men are among the first in every walk of art, and are in not a f e ;v^ instances without rivals. In the fields of pure literature and in the drama, it would be as idle to point out what Irishmen have done as to remind Canadians that Sir John Macdonald and the Honourable George Brown have lived amongst them. It is more to the point to remind the reader what Mr. Mathew Arnold has demonstrated, that the Celtic has supplied to English literature the noblest, the most subtle, and the most distinguishing features. The " Idyls of the King " are founded on Celtic poems and probably on Irish poems, certainly on poems with a large Irish ingredient. We owe the conception of the Spectator (of course I mean the Spectator of the 18th cen- tury), with all its boundless influence on English literature, to Steele ; and the foundation of the great superstructure of the Scottish philosophy was laid by an Irishman, Francis Hutchison.-f* I do not care to stop to enumerate mere examples of success in a given branch of hterature, such as Lover as a humorous novelist, or Carleton, or Lever ; nor need one dwe?l on the names of Edgeworth, Hamilton, Maxwell, Mayne Reid. The founder of the novel of char- acter was an Irishman; the man to «Iiuse writings Thackeraygave his days and nights; on whom Dickens formed himself, and imitated but imitated in vain ; the author whose chief woik is Thomas Carlyle's great book ; — the reader has anticipat^ed the name oi Lawrence Sterne. The genius of Swift stands unapproached and unapproachable ; and in prose and poetry the genius of Goldsmith attained a grace and charm which have never been equalled. Moore did not do justice to himself, and he cannot, nor can Irish- men complain if less than justice has been done him of late years. He wrote much he should never have written; but when all the * The Scot Abroad. By John Hill Burton ; 2 Vols. William Blackwood ^i Sons Edinburgh and London, 1864. See pp. 1 to 12, "Vol. II. t Dr. McCoah. MOOBE. 37 rubbish has been sent to the pastry cook, there will remain enough to vindicate his claim to a place among writers whom posterity will not willingly let die. If his melodies could be destroyed, they would leave a far larger gap in literature than many supposi^. He had not passion enough to be the national poet of Ireland, but that position he will maintain until a greater comes the way, and he may retain it for ever. Much that is most characteristic of Irishmen finds expression in his verse, but it wants breadth of feel- ing and intensity. If Moore had suffered more he would have been more sympathetic, as the bard of a people whose struggles and griefs have been without parallel ; the passionate overwhelm- ing love for woman he could not express, for he never experienced it ; he had too much Anacreon in him for that ; and in the great sob of grief of his people his less profound nature heard only " the deep sigh of sadness." For all that, blot him out of English literature and replace him if you can. Or seek to imagine that he had never existed, and you will begin to realize what is his charm and what has been his influence on literature. It was not unfitting that the last of the wandering race of harpers should have presented him with the harp of Erin. He exemplified the incomparable skill in music of the early inhabitants, and did immeasurable service in diffusing iuster and luore sympathetic conceptions of Irish character. In journalism Irishmen have taken the very front rank. The editor of the -greatest paper in the world is of Irish blood, and perhaps of Irish birth.* His father was manager of the Times for many years. The foremost of correspondents, indeed the founder of the profession of correspondents, is an Irishman.-f* and in the popular literature of the day their busy energy and fertile genius are felt. If you were to take from English magazines and English newspapers — from English thought, in a word, the ele- ments supplied by Ireland, you would letive behind only a splen- did ruin.J * John Delane, the editor of the Times. The name h the same as Delany. + WiUiam Howard Russell, LL.D., Special Correspondent of the Times. t "We would probably detract from our greatness -from the richness of our national gif'-s, if the Keltic element of the united people, should be too much drained away by emigration."— Goldwin Smith's " Irish History and Irish Character." 38 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. M m. Ill The Irish intellect is not only gay and humorous but subtle and philosophical, with an aptitui'e for mathematical studies. The Irish- man lias all the subtlety, inquisitiveness, and fondness for the metaphysics of religion of the Celt, with a dreaminess which comes from the Teutonic infusion. To this inquisitiveness we owe the honour of having produced the first great heretical teacher of the Middle Ages, John Scotus Erigena ; and Feargall, the Bishop of Salzburg, maintained, to the scandal of the Holy See, that the earth was round. M. Martin, the French historian, speaking of the Celt of Gaul, says : — " From the beginning of historic time, the soil of France appears peopled by a race lively, witty, imaginative, eloquent ; prone at once to faith and to scepticism, to the highest aspira- tions of the soul, and to the attractions of sense; enthusiastic and yet satirical ; unreflecting and yet logical ; full of sympathy yet restive under dif^cipliiie ; endowed with practical good sense yet inclined to illusions ; more disposed to striking acts of self-de- votion than to patient and sustained effort ; fickle as regards particular things and persons, persevering as regards tendencies and the essential rules of life ; equally adapted for action and for the acquisition of knowledge ; loving action and knowledge each for its own sake ; loving above all, war, less for the sake of conquest than for that of glory and adventure, for the attrac- tion of danger and the unknown ; uniting, finally, to an extreme sociability, an indomitable personality, a spirit which absolutely repels the yoke of the external world and the face of destiny.** Here we have many features of the modern Irishman and nearly all his characteristics, where he is purely Celtic, the strain of sadness excepted — that divine melancholy which gives so much grace and sweetness to the man. But there is more in the Irish- man than meets you on the surface, and the light-hearted gaiety develops under responsibility into resolute efficiency, as " Hal " passes in a moment into the heroic Henry V., or, to take an illus- tration which is also a proof, as the "mischievous boy," Arthur Wellesley, the frivolous Aide-de-Camp of Lord Westmoreland, be- comes in a few years, " the Iron Duke."* There is, as John • " The abilities of Arthur, the younger brother, were of much slower develoijment IRISHMEN AND THE GREEKS. 89 Stuart Mill used to point out, and Mr. Mabaflfy has shown in detail, a great similarity between the old Greeks and Irishmen. All the delicate tact, the natural politeness of the Greek, he pos- sesses ; his love of art ; his delight and skill in music ; aptitude for oratory and acting ; the literary faculty in high development. But he can boast of other and still nobler qualities to which the Greek was a stranger.-f* In the lament of Andromache over Hector, in the Iliad, we have a heart-rending picture of the condition of unprotected children in Greece. If Hector's child escapes the " tearful war," nothing remains for him but ceaseless woe. Strangers will seize on his heritage. No young companions will own the orphan. He hangs on the skirts of his father's friends, and it is well if they do not spurn him. If they in pity at their tables " let him sip a cup, Moisten his lips, but scarce his palate touch, \VTiile youths with both surviving parents blest, May drive him from the feast with blows and taunta t ' Begone, thy father sits not at our board ! ' Then weeping, to his widowed mother's arms He flies," [than his brother's.] The late Earl of Leitrim, who was with him at a small private school in the Town of Portarlington, used to speak of him to me as a singularly dull, backward boy. Gleig, late Chaplain-General, in his interesting ' Life ' of the great Captain, says that his mother, believing him to be the dunce of the family, not only treated him with indifference, but in some degree neglected his education. At Eton, his intellect was rated at a very low standard ; his idleness in school hours not being redeemed, in the eyes of his fellows, by any proficiency in the play gr()und. He waa a ' dab ' at no game, could handle neither bat nor oar. As soon as he passed into the remove, it was determined to place him in the ' fool's profession,' as the army in those days was called. * * * It is a matte" of notoriety that he was refused a ooUectorship of customs on the ground of his incompetency for the duties ; and I have leason to believe that a letter is now extant from Lord Mornington (afterwards Lord Wellesley) to Lord Camden, declining a commission for his brother Arthur in the army, on the same grounds. When he became Aidc-de-'"'amp to Lord Westmoreland, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, his acquaintance with the usages of society was as limited aH could well be possessed by any lad who hat! passed through the ordeal of a public school. Moore alli:des, in his journal, to the c-iaracte'- for frivolity young Wellesley had acquired while a member of the viceregal staif . An old lady told me that when any of the Dublin belles received an invitation to a pic-nic, they stipulated as a condition of its acceptance that ' that mischievous boy, Arthur Wellesley, should not be of the party.' "— " Fifty Years of my Life." 13y George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle, pp. 219 -220. t " The delicate tact with which unpleasant subjects are avoided in conversation, shows how easily men were hurt by them, and how perfectly the speaker could fore- -& 40 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. How different is the conduct of the Irish peasants to destitute children. The parents may be dead or they have perhaps emi- grated. Do the friends of the absent or dead parents deal harshly with the helpless children ? So far from this, they give the or- phan a place at their scanty board.* Thackeray well says that DO Irishman ever gave a charity without adding a kind word which was better than the gift. Their sociability is indeed a charming talent, and it would seem that like the Greeks too, their heads are not made to bear much strong drink ; and for that rea- son, if one word of preaching is permissable, they should avoid alcohol, especially in the form of ardent spirits.^ "From a combination of causes— some creditable to them, some other than creditable," says Mr. Froude,J " the Irish Celts possess on their own soil a power greater than any other known family of mankind, of assimilating those who venture among them to their own image. Light-hearted, humorous, imaginative, suscep- tible through the entire range of feelings, from the profoundest pathos to the most playful jest, if they possess some real virtues, they possess the counterfeits of a hundred more. * * » They have a power of attraction which no one who has felt it can withstand. * * * Brave to rashness. * * * Passionate tell it by his own feelings. In fav.., so keenly alive are the Homeric Greeks to this great principle of politeness, that it interferes ^th their truthfulness, just as in the present day the Irish peasant, with the same lively imagination and the same sensi* tiveness, will instinctively avoid disagreeable thiags, even if ti-ue, and * prophesy smooth things,' when he desires especially to please. He is not less reluctant to be the bearer of bad news than the typical messenger of Greek tragedy." — Social Life in Greece. By the Eev. J. P. Mahaflfy, p. 25. * See "Social Life in Greece." By J. P. Mahaflfy, pp. 31, 32. + " It is a difficult problem to explain how the Greeks managed to get drunk. Three parts of water to two of wine was the usual proportion ; four to tliree was thought strong, equal parts made them mad. I am unable to discover whether their winea were stronger or their heads weaker than ours. This is certain, that to them their wines were as strong as whiskey is to us. Their entertaiimients were about as order- ly as our gentlemen's parties, and intellectually, something like an agreeable assem- blage of university men, particularly among lively people, like the Irish. This is, I think, a jiinter verdict than taking Plato for an historical guide, as some Germans have done, and talking bombast about the loftiness and splendor of Attic conversation. To my taste, indeed, the description of his feast (symposium) abounds far too much in long speeches, which are decidedly tedious, and which would certainly not be tolerated at any agreeable party iu Ireland where thin is the branch of culture thoroughly under- Btood." — "Social Life in Greece,*' p. 319. i Vol. L, page 21. GENEROSITY. 41 in everything, passionate in their patriotism, passionate in their re- ligion, passionately courageous, passionately loyal and affec- tionate. * * * They possess and have always possessed some qualities the moral worth of which it is impossible to over-esti- mate, and which are rare in the choicest races of mankind. * * Wherever and in whomsoever they have found courage and capacity, they have been ready with heart and hand to give their services, and whether a le in sacrificing their lives for their chiefs, or as soldiers in l1 jt^^-^-nch or English armies, or as we now know them in the form of modem police, there is no duty however dangerous . nd difficult, from which they have been found to flinch, no temptation however cruel, which tempts them into unfaithfulness."* While such testimony can be found, and from such a quarter, an Irishman may stand aside. " The sums of money," says Mr. Gold win Smith, " which have been lately transmitted by Irish emigrants to their friends in Ireland, seem a conclusive answer to much loose denunciation of the national character, both in a moral and in an industrial point of view." Sir John Davies testified that no man loved equal justice more than the Irish Celt, and this feeling would not be lessened by Norman and Teutonic admixtures. The crimes committed by Whiteboys had their counterpart in England, as Macaulay shows, under the Norman, and indeed Eng- land bears away the palm from Ireland in crime. The Irishman is singularly free from a class of loathsome offences which are common elsewhere; and shooting landlords, which is dying out or has wholly died out under wise legislation, was the offspring of bad laws and crying injustice. Agrarian conspiracy implies no propensity to ordinary crime, either on the part of the wretched peasant who reverts to the wild justice of revenge, or on the part of those who screen him from detection. But for agrarian out- * The historian of V.^yoming tells of anirish settler," an old man named Fitzgerald," whose fidelity has the true ring. " The Indians and their allies placed him on a flax- brake and told him he must renounce his rebel principleB and declare for the king or die. * Well,' sain "the stout-hearted old fellow, ' I am old and have little time to live any- how, and I had rather die now a friend of my country than live ever so long and die » Tory.' They had magnanimity enough to let him go." — Miner's Hist, of Wxpming, pasre200. ^i! 42 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. I ii;,i li rages * the judges of assize in most parts of Ireland would often have had white gloves, the proportion of agrarian to all the other crimes being very large, something like seven to ten, and, as has already been indicated, agrarian crimes will soon be un- heard of. In Munster, in 1833, there were 627 whiteboy or agrarian crimes, against 246 crimes of all other descriptions. The influence of just laws, and the readiness of the Irish character to respond to them, is shown by the marked change wrought by Mr. Glad- stone's legislation. In the years 1873 and 1874 the average num- ber of agrarian crimes for all Ireland was 233, against 324 in the two preceding years, and in 1874 crimes of this class were 41 less than in 1873. But mere statistics do not convey the full effect produced within recent years, because they do not convey the im- provement in the bearing and sentiments of the farmers and peasantry.*!* When we come to ordinary offences, we find the state of things full of grounds for hope. The whole number of indictable offences in 1874 was 6,662, of which more than half were com- mit'^ed in Dublin. In regard to crimes against property, the statistics show that Ireland stands in a more favourable position than England by 35 per cent., but riots and assaults are more common in Ireland, while indictable offences, disposed of summarily, are 17 per cent. more common in England ; thefts 56 per cent. ; aggravated assaults on women and children, 39 per cent. In the Province of Ulster, in 1874, the total of offences of all kinds was 59,976, whilst in portion of the population of Scotland, equal to that of Ulster, it was in 1873, 71,313, the balance being 19 per cent, in favour of Ireland. + Scotland consumes a much greater quantity of intoxica- ting liqtiors than Ireland, but the Scotchman can bear more • " It would be unjust to confound these agrarian conspiracies with ordinary crime, >r to suppose that they imply a propensity to ordinary crime, either on the part of those who commit them, or on the part of the people who connive at and favour their Bommission." — Goldwin Smith's Essay, p. 163. t See "Remarks on a Kecfnt Irish Election." Frazer's Magazine, August, 1875. Hie writer, an Ulsterman, settled in Tipperary, says a revolution has taken place in ihe feelings of the people. X See Professor Hancock's Statistics. THE GENTRY. 4» alcohol, and ho is more prudent in his cups than the Irishman, of which fact the lesson is obvious. It is hard to speak of tihe events of '48, without doing more harm than good. The tone of England, the legislation of the Im- perial Parliament, have changed since the dreadful years of which no Irishman can think without tears, whose miseries it would be hard for any man born wheresoever, to realize without pain and humiliation. The indictment which can be drawn up against the Irish gentry is a dreadful one. This does not prove that Irish gentlemen were worse than other men ; it only proves what has been made too palpable in the history of humanity, that human greed is too strong for human brotherhood, and that no man can be trusted not to abuse power ; for the Irish gentry were not un- worthy of the great people of whom they should have been the leaders.* A class more fruitful in great men has never existed in any country, but they, like the peasants, were the victims of bad laws. The duties of the nobles, who spent the fruits of Irish soil in Paris and in London, wore, in an aristocratic country, thrown on them, and their lavish expenditure was the consequence; nor were they all wanting in sympathy for the tenant. To this day in England, even with the ballot, the tenant is so cowed that he is afraid to vote against his landlord ;-|- nor is there any protection on which man can rely against the cupidity of his brother man, but equal laws equally administered. * The following testimony to the Irishman from Mr. Froude's History, embraces all classes : — " We lay the fault on the intractableness of race. The modem Irishman is of no race — that is to say, he is of the Irish race, which is a distinct type, and most valuable to the world, a type as distinct from the Saxon as the Gelt, so blended now is the blood of Celt and Dane, Saxon and Norman, Scot and Frenchman. The Irish- man of the last centiH-y rose tohis natural level, whenever he was removed from his own unh ippy country, iu the seven years' war, Austria's best Generals were Irishmen. Brown was an Irishman, Lacy was an Irishman, O'Donnell's name speaks for him ; and Lally Tollendal who punished England at Fontenoy, was O'Mullally of ToUendally. Strike the names of Irishmen out of our own public service, and we lose the heroes of our proudest exploits — we lose the Wellesleys, the Pallisers, the Moores, the Eyres, the : 'ooteg, tha Napiers ; we lose half the oflBcers and half the privates wlio conquered India for us, and fought our battles in the Peninsula. What the Irish could do as enemies, wo were about to learn when the Ulster exiles crowded to the standard of Washington. What they can be, even at home, we know at this present hour. " + See the London correspondent of the Toronto OloLe, of Oct. 28th, 1876, on tha Buckin{.5hamshire election. i\ ffj" \,00() acres were sown. The decreaHe in other grain crops, with the exception of barley, is e(iually marked, the (Icinimd for l)arley being kept up by whiskey-distillation. The decrease still goes on. South America and India are extend- ing the area of competition, and it is thought not unlikely that the cultivation of wheat for sale may cease altogether. There is a great increase in cattle-feeding crops, but only enough to balance the decrease in acres under gi-ain. The area under cultivation is now no larger than it was in 1841, while the number of homed cattle has nearly trebled and the number of sheep has nearly doubled. Thus the fiscal legislation of thirty years and the for- eign competition it introduced, have undone the revolution in the direction of tillage, and almost restored the agricultural economy of the middle of the last century. The number of acres under crops of all kinds, in 1875, including maadows and clover was only 5,332,813 ; while 10,409,320 acres were given up to grass. The whole area under crops proper was only about 3,500,000 acres or about a sixth of the entire country. Breeding and feeding cattle make very small farms impossible ; sheep require extensive runs. Cattle give employment to very few hands. As we might expect, the population and holdings have decreased. The number of holdings of from one acre to five acres in extent, have diminished in thirty years from 310,486 to 69,098, or at the enormous rate of 777 per cent. In 1841, the number between five and fifteen acres was 252,799 ; in 1875 the number was 166,959, a decrease of 34 per cent. Those over fif- teen, however, have increased. On the whole number of holdings the decrease has been one-fourth.* The great majority, perhaps all, of those who " own " the land are more or less inveterate absentees, and if they do not do their duty, they oug ^ to be taught that others will. The drastic measure, the Incumbered Estates Act, must be followed by another dealing with worse incumbrances than debt. It is not just to leave the minerals unutilized ; and when a large addition is made to the manufacturing population, then in the best and happiest way a check will be put on the present tendency, which bids fair * I am nidebUd to the Saturday Beview for the above facts. V Ji! {0 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. if allowed free course, to make Ireland a land of grazing fioiud and a waste of sheep walks. The history of Ireland shows the reverse of the teaching of Goldsmith to be the truth. A " bold peasantry " can, by legislation, be called into, or blotted out ot existence. Tho Irishman in Canada can rejoice that his adopted home is free from absentees and is rich in minerals Home Rule has had no influence on emigration to this coun- try, and the scope of this book does not lead me to discuss it here. Nor, again, had Fenianism any effect on this country's population. The most miserable of all attempts ever made on the peace of a people, called out the patriotic feelings of Canadians of all classes, and of every nationality. It was a Fenian bullet which, all too soon, just when his great powers were really ripening, deprived the world of D'Arcy McGee, These are the two sinister events which connect Canada in any way with Fenianism, and they call for no comment. Even Thomas Clarke Luby, when brought to Toronto last St. Patrick's day to lecture on Ireland, could not withhold the expression of his shame at the conduct of the Fenian raiders, and emphatically declared he had no sympathy whatever with them. JHAPTER III. What Irish and English statesmanship did for the United States is scarcely sufficiently recognized, The Irish Commons refused to vote £45,000 for the war against the American colonists. Burke, Barr^, and Sheridan wrote openly in defence of their transatlantic fellow-subjects. In France, McMahon, Dillon, Roche, Fermoy, General Conway, and other experienced military men, were ready to volunteer into the American service. It was the victory of ^i MONTGOMERY. 51 Brito-Hibernian troops which made the United States possible ;• and when the citizens of the Republic look back to the dawn of her career of wealth and freedom and greatness, they will see clear, even through the mists of centuries, the romantic figure of the lover-soldier falling at the moment his charge broke the lines of Montcalm, and near him Irishmen whose names are only less illustrious than their English commander's. Irish historians have dwelt with too much delight on legends. I shall avoid this mistake, nor be tempted to dilate on St. Bran- don's discovery of America in A.D. 545.^ We are on solid ground, however, when we remind the reader that in 1518, Baron de L^ry, • " The fall of Montcalm in the moment of his defeat, completed the victory ; and the snbmiasion of Canada put an end to the dream of a French empire in America. In breaking through the line with which France had striven to check the westward advance of the English colonists, Pitt had unconsciously changed the history of the world. His support of Frederick and of Prussia, was to lead in our own day to the erection of a United Germany. His conquest of Canada, by removing the enemy whose dread knit the colonists to the mother-country, and by flinging open to their energies, in the days to come, the boundless plains of the West, laid the foundation of the United States." — Green, p. 737. t The "Life of Saynt Brandon" in the Gold Legend, Published by Wynkyn de Wbrde, 1483, Fol., 357. The voyage was a favourite theme with the early romance writers. An English translation of an early French revision ^yill|be found in Black- wood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. xxxix. Mr. D. F. McCarthy published, a quarter of century ago (Dublin 1850), an admirable poem on the subject. Mr. McCarthy, as will be seen from one or two stanzas, caught the music of an earUer century than the nine- teenth. At length the long-expected morning came, When from the opening anns of that wild bay. Beneath the hill that bears my humble name. Over the wavep we took our untracked^way. Sweetly the mom Is./ on tarn and rill ; Gladly the waves played in its golden light, And the proud t>.p of the majestic hill, Shone on the azrire air — serene and bright. All that pathetic, half-u^..ai^onable and wholly noble and beautiful lore whicL an Irinhman cherishes for the home of his race comes out in the following t Over the sea we flew that sunny mom, Not without natural tears and human sighs ; For who can leave the land where he was born, And where, perchance, a buried mother lies, Wliere all the friends of riper manhood dwell, And where the playmates of his childhood sbep j Who can depart, and breathe a cold farewell, Nor let his eyes tlieir honest tribute weep? 58 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. 1 1 t; I the blood in whose veins, like his name, was Irish, with a com- pany of colonists landed on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, In the eighteenth century, Irishmen were met on all sides in America They were successful traders, successful sailors, success- ful soldiers, successful as interpreters ; and some of them, if this will not sound like a bull, successful Indian chiefs.* The Republic below the line should never forget what they did for that great free empire ; nor should the Irishman in the second or third gene- ration be other than proud of the rock whence he was hewn. The first naval capture made in the name of the United Colonies was made by five brothers, whose father, Maurice O'Brien, was a na- tive of Cork. " This affair," says Cooper, in his History of the United States Navy " was the Lexington of the seas." There were dozens of Irishmen in command after 1775. The ban laid on Irish manufactures, in IGSS,*!- and the rack- rents, sent multitudes of Protestants and Catholics across the Atlantic, According to Dobbs, writing a few years after, three thousand males left Ulster yearly for the Colonies. In 1699, James Logan, of Lurgan, accompanied William Penn to Pennsyl- vania, and became one of the foremost men in the colony. He was a strong Protestant, and with a firmer grasp of the large views and liberal tolerance at the base of Protestantism than were ■m.- ! Our little bark, kissing the dimpled smiles On ocean's cheek, flew like a wanton bird. And then the land, with all its hundred isles Faded away, and yet we spoke no word. Each silent tongue hold converse with the past; Each moistened eye looked round the circling wave ; And, save the spot where stood our trembling mast, Saw all things hid within one mighty grave. See D'Arcy McGee's " Irish Settlers," a book without which this chapter could not have been written in Canada. * " More than one Irishman was naturalized in the forest, like Stark and Houston, and obeyed as chiefs. Of the numbei was the strange character known as Tiger Rorke, at one time the friend of Chesterfield and the idol of Dublin drawing-rooms ; at another, the tattooed leader of an Iroquois war party." — "The Irish Settlers in North America." By Thomas D'Arcy McGee. t " All the other oppressions of the Irish were of no importance compared with the destniction of their trade for the benefit of English producers." p. 399. Alahaffoy'a •• Social History of Greecet" ll 1 '1 1 FOUNDERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 general then. ]Cven the Quaker Penn reproves him for his liberality. " There is," writes Penn from London, in 1708, " a complaint against your government that you suffer public Mass." Logan's example proved contagious, and so early as 1730, we find in the interior of the State, townships called Derry, Donegal, Tyrone, and Ccleraine. In 1729, the Irish emigrants, who landed in Philadelphia, were ten to one of all the European nationalities, an influx which continued tiU the close of the cen- tury. Among the Irish emigrants, in 1729, was Charles Clinton, whose three sons were to play so prominent a part in the annals of New York. A large Irish immigration settled in Maryland, in Virginia, and in South Carolina. Among the Irish settlers in South Carolina occur the famous names of Rutledge, Jackson, and Calhoun. North Carolina also received the Irish contingent which contained a governor in James Moore, who headed the re- A'olution in 1775. In the settlement of Kentucky Irishmen played their part. " For enterprise and daring courage," says Marshall,* " none transcended Major Hugh McGrady," and he gives a list of others deserving honourable mention. If the reader wishes to know what a noble pioneer the Irishman of those days made, let him read the early history of Kentucky, and what Simon Butler did and endured. In Delaware also, several Irish families made their homes, and in the contests between the settlers, Colonel Plunkett and Thomas Neill are prominent. The United States owe all their celebrated Butlers to the cadets of the great Ormond stock. In the colony of Massachusetts Bay, a meeting was held in 1725, a,t Haverhill, for settling the town of Concord, and with the view of excluding the Irish, it was resolved " that no alienation of any lot should be made without the consent of the community." Irish families who presumed to make a settlement were warned oflf. But they held their ground, and nothing came of the threat. In the capital of New England, in 1737, we find a body of " Irish gentlemen oi the Irish nation banding themselves together in a charitable society, for the relief of such of their poor indigent ■countrymen, without any design of not contributing towards the History of Kentucky. it 54 TfiE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. provision of the town poor in general, as usual." This was in the main a Protestant Benevolent Society, and the 8th article of the Constitution declared that none but Protestants were eligible for office or committee work. The Londonderry settlement took place in the spring of 1719.* It consisted of sixteen families, who brought with them to the new world the stern fibre which would not surrender to death, armed with famine. They were all of the Presbyterian faith, and in process of time spread over Windham, Chester, Litchfield, Manchester, Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston, Antrim, Peterborough, Ackworth, in New Hampshire, and Bar- nett, in Vermont. Their descendants were the first settlers in many towns in Massachusetts and Maine, and they are now to the number of tens of thousands scattered over all the States of the Union.-f- Cherry Valley, New York, was in part peopled from Lon- donderry. A few families from Belfast, in 1723, established an * " He (the Ulster man), pushes along quietly to the proper place, nc* using his elbows too much, and is not hampered by traditions like the Celt. He succeeds partic- ularly well in America and in India, not because UlBter men help one another, and po on like a corporation ; for he is not clannish like the Scottish Highlanders or the Irish Celts, the last of whom unfortunately stick together like bees, and drag one another down instead of up. No foreign people succeed in America unless they mix with the native population. It is out of Ulster that her hardy sons have made the most of their talents. It was an Ulster man of Donegal, Francis Mackamie who founded Ameri- can Presbyterianism in the early part of the last century, just as it was an Ulsterman of the same district, St. Columbkille, who converted the Picts of Scotland in the sixth century. Four of the Presidents of the United States and one Vice-President have been of Ulster extraction, J ames Monroe, James K. Polk, John C. Calhoun, and James Buchanan. General Andrew Jackson was the son of a poor Ulster emigrant who settled iii North Carolina, towards the close of the last century : * I was born some- where, he said, between Carrickfergus and the United States.' Bancroft and other historians recognize the value of the Scotch-Irish element in forming the society of the Middle and Southern States. It has been the boast of Ulstermen, that the first Gen- eral who fell in the Ajuerican war of the Revolution, was an Ulsterman — Richard Montgomery — who fought at the siege of Quebec ; that Samuel Findley, President of Princeton College, and Francis Allison, pronounced by Stiles, the President of Yale, to be the greatest classical scholar in the United States, had a conspicuous place in educating the American mind to independence ; that the first publisher of a daily pa- per in America was a Tyrone man, named Dunlop ; that the marble palace of New York, where the greatest business in the world is done by a single firm, was the property of the late Alexander T. Stewart, a native of Lisburn, County Down ; that the fore- most merchants, such as the Browns and Stewarts, are Ulstermen ; and that the in- ventors of steam navigation, telegraph, and the reaping-machine — Fiilton, Morse, and McCormick — are either Ulstermen or the sons of Ulstermen." " Ulster and its people. "^ — Frazer's Magazine, Augu8t,1876. t Barstow'B New Hampshire, p. 130. BERKELEY. 55 Irish settlement in Maine. Amongst them was an Irish school- master named Sullivan, who, in 1775, founded Limerick, and whose Bons rose to high employment, civil and military. Longford sent the Higgins's and the Reilly's, the cream of its population, to Connecticut. One of the former was the father of a numerous progeny, now flourishing in New England. Palmer and Worces- ter (Mass.), received early in the eighteenth century their share of Irish immigration. In 1725, the amiable and acute author of the " Theory of Vis- ion " conceived the project of founding a College in the Summer Islands for the conversion of the red race in the American colonies. The English parliament having voted him certain lands in the West Indies, and £10,000 to be paid over as soon as the scheme was in operation, Berkeley — as noble a specimen of Irish benevo- lence, enthusiasm, and genius as ever crossed the Atlantic — resigned the rich deanery of Derry, and having " seduced some of the hope- fuUest young gentlemen" of Trinity to accept professorships in the future College at £40 a year, embarked. The scholarly band arrived at Newport, K.I., in January, 1729. As one might expect, diflicul- ties were raised in the way of handing over the money, and at the end of three years Walpole told Berkeley there was no chance of its ever being paid. While waiting, he farmed and wrote his " Minute Philosopher," and when in 1732 he determined to return to Ire- land, he bequeathed his farm of ninety acres to Yale College, and presented it with his library.* To this hour, not only in the • " The finest collection of books that ever came at one time into America." Bald- win's annals of Yale College, p. 417. A son in the flesh as well as in letters was bom to Berkeley, in America. His house " Whitehall " still stands. He loved to read and meditate in a snug retreat among the rocks which project over Nanaganset Bay. It was while seated here those noble lines occurred to him, the first of which has become a household word : " Westward the star of empire takes its way, The three first acts already past ; The fourth shall close it with the closing day, — Earth's noblest empire is the last." Thus it is to an Irishman that this continent owes its most auspicious prophecy. Not only so, it was Berkeley who first brought an organ to New England to peal out praise to God. It was he brought there the first artist to paint the beauty of its shores and nroods. This artist was che teacher of Copley. His name was Smibert, He was the architect of Faneuil Hall, and his picture of the Berkeley family is in Yale College. -See McGee'B " Irish Settlers." ■ ■"'mi.'- 66 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. i seat of learning with which his fame is connected, but all over the continent, his name is an inspiration, his memory a hallowed thing with all who love genius and honour worth. A story of the Indian frontier war is like a star breaking through a cloud oi barbarism. In 1753, four hunters from Londonderiy " wandered in quest of game " into the territor}? of the Canadian Aroostooks. The four were captured, and two having been scalped, the remain- ing two were forced to run the gauntlet. The elder of the two escaped from the ordeal barely with life ; the younger, a lad of sixteen, the future General Stark, wlien his turn came, marched forward boldly, and snatching a chib from the nearest Indian, attacked the warriors drawn up on either side. He mocked the savages into reverence of his noble nature. They then ordered him to hoe corn. He tore it up by the roots saying such work was only worthy of squaws. He won their hearts. They ad opted him as a son. They called him their " young chief," and dressed him up in Indian splendour.* The campaign of 1755 brought the " Irish Brigade " to the Cans/lian frontier. In the accounts of Indian warfare on the Santee and Savannah, Irish names such as those of Governor Moore, Captains Lynch and Kearns, frequently appear as the champions of the whites. It was in this warfare the Guerilla host known as " Marion's Men " were trained, among whom were conspicuous. Colonels Harry and McDonald, Captains Conyers and McCauley. In 1764, Dr. Franklin, referring to the enactment of the " Stamp Act " at London, wrote to Charles Thompson, one of the Irish settlers in Pennsylvania, that the sun of liberty was set, and that Americans must light the lamps of industry and economy. The answer sent back by Thompson wa^, " Be a.ssured we shall light torches of quite another sort." The folly of the English Government and the tyranny of George III., are now universally acknowledged. With such statesmen as were at that period presiding over the Empire, the Colonists had nothing for it but to rebel. John Rutledge, an Irish settler in * He was one of the first captives given up to Captain Stevens. The original name Df Stark was Starkey, and it is thus spelled on the monument of the General's father it Manchester, N. H. See Barstovir's New Hampshire, p. 1.39, and Thomas D'Arcy McGee's " Irish Settlers in North America," p. 40. L A 1 ■ QUEBEC. s-i South Carolina, was the first man to rouse that State to resist- ance. It was a Langdon and a Sullivan who seized the guns at Newcastle, which thundered at Bunker Hill. In Maryland; Charles Carrol carried the popular banner, and bore down the leading royalist champion. Of the chiefs of the " Continental army " a full third were Irish by birth or descent, and the rank and file was very largely of Irish origin.* Richard Montgomery, who had served under Wolfe in the cap- ture of Quebec, having meanwhile travelled in Europe and emi- grated to New York, was elected by Congres" 1 rigadier-general, and when the sole command devolved on him, on the death of General Schuyler, conducted the campaign with rare judgment. Fort Chambly, St. Johns, Montreal, were taken, and with Irish energy he pressed on in the midst of a severe winter to Quebec He was a born leader of men, and his curt pregnant eloquence and confident bearing, made the hearts of his freezing soldiers beat with high courage. By a chance shot on the morning of the first of January, 1776, the glorious rebel fell before Quebec. Although he fought against the flag of England, he fought in what all admit now to have been the cause of freedom. It was strange that he should have fallen near the ground where his old commander fell, whom he resembled in the purity of his character; in his gallantry; in his skill as a soldier ; in his divided heart; for he had left behind him, at the call of duty, a gentle bride whom he passionately loved, and who was in all respects worthy of him. He might have penned the very verses which Wolfe wrote regarding the gentle girl who disputed with his country the empire of his heart. Here was liberty bleeding ; there his weeping bride. Mr. McGee re- marks on the strange fatality which gave to death on the rock of Quebec, three generals, alike in youth, in bravery, and chivalrous manly tenderness. " Three deaths " he cries, as if he felt the mantle of his favourite Ossian strong upon him, " three deaths, Quebec, do consecrate thy rock ; three glories crowii it like a tiara ! " * It is nut necessary for my purpose to go into particulars. These can be found in Hist. (;oll. 01 New Hampshire, voL I, p. 291, and in McGee's " Irish Settlers in North America." /v 1« li 1 1 •i 58 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. It was an Irish hand first hoisted the flag which has from the first been a refuge for the unfortunate and the oppressed. John Barry was born in Wexford in 1745. He pined for the stormy sea. He crossed the Atlantic in his fourteenth year, and sailing to and from Philadelphia, he learned the seaman's art, and at twenty -five was Captain of the Black Prince, first a fine packet, afterwards a vessel of war. When Washington was in Philadelphia, he met Barry at the house of Mr. Rose Meredith, and marked him for an ally. In 1775, Captain Barry was in command of the Lexington, lying in the Delaware, when the Union flag was chosen, and from his masthead the stars and stripes first flew. Towards the close of 1777, Washington publicly thanked him and his men for effec- tive services. How he became Commodore, his captures, his en- gagements with three British frigates in West Indian waters, in 1782, is part of the general history of the war. From 1783, until his death, in 1803, he superintended the progress of the navy. " The Father of the American Navy," lies buried in Phila- deli)hia. It is scarcely worth while to mention a characteristic which the hostile Froude admits to be a common-place in Irish- men, — his unbribable fidelity. Lord Howe offered him a vast bribe, and further tempted him with the command of a British ship of the line, in vain. Like every man of real power, he was proud of his country. After the peace of Paris, he visited his birthplace, the Parish of Tacumshane, County of Wexford. When hailed by the British frigates in the West Indies, and asked the usual questions, he did not forget to let them know he was an Irishman.* Naval officers of less note were Captains James and Bernard, McGee, McD*.nough, with many others. Murrry, Dale, Decatur, and Stewart, were trained under Barry. Washington's favourite aide-de-camp was an Irish officer of the old Volunteer Blue and Buffs, Col. Fitzgerald, and Mr. G. Wash- ington Custis, who makes us acquainted with his heroism, men- tions many more of whom Irishmen have reason to be proud, and to whom the forty million dollar getters and breeders of dollar * His answer was, " The United States Ship Alliance^ fi2;V.C3^Jack Barry, half Irish- man, half Yankee — who are you?" FRANKLIN. 69 getters have ample cause to be grateful. The Irish merchants of Philadelphia contributed half a million of dollars towards furnish- ing provisions for the United States. On the 19th of October, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered, and the following spring Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States of America : that independence was bought with no small amount of blood and treasure and heroism and valuable lives, and Irishmen contributed their share of the sacred purchase money. It was only natural that there should have been considerable sympathy between the Irish patriots in the third quarter of the eighteenth centuiy and the leading spirits in the revolutionary movement in the American colonies. Franklin visited Du})lin in 1771. At the suggestion of the Speaker he was accommodated with a seat on the floor of the house. After the declaration of war in 1775, he addressed a letter to " The People of Ireland," urging them to refuse to join in the war against the colonies. Franklin was a bosom friend of Charles Thompson, * who wrote out the declaration of independence from Jefferson's draft. The first daily paper published in America — the Pennsylvania Packet — was issued by an Irishman, and it was in the Packet office the Declaration of Independence was first printpd. It was an Irishman, Colonel John Nixon, who first read it to the people. Eight of the signers of independence were Irish or of Irish de- scent.-j' It was an Irishman who first published fac similes of the signatures. Six of the delegatea by whom the Constitution was promulgated in 1787, were Irish. It was on an Irishman's farm freely offered to Washington, that the plan of the federal capital was laid, and the wealthy donor lived to see ten Presidents rul- ing in the " White House," surrounded by ever growing wealth and populous bustle and crowding chimney stacks, where once the smoke from his own dwelling flung a solitary reflection in the calm waters of the Potomac. The first governor of Pennsyl- • Born at Maghera, County of Deny, 1730. He died 16th August, 1824, having spent the close of his life in translating the Septuagiut. t Matthew Martin, bom m Ireland, 1714 ; James Smith, born in Ireland in 1713 ; George Taylor, bom in Ireland in 1716 ; he was so poor that hi-; services were sold on his amval to pay the expense of his passage out. George Read was the son of Irish parents. Charles Carroll was of Irish descent. Thomas Lynch and Thomas McKean, ^•.,V 60 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. III m hii'ii!. vania * after the adoption of a federal constitution, was a native of Dublin. We have seen that the first literary blow dealt slavery was given by an Irishman. One of the earliest legislative blows came from a like quarter.-)- Tn 1789 the Governor procured the passage of a law gradually abolishing slavery in the state named after the great Quaker. In the succeeding years we find Irishmen and their descendants as representatives and senators. We find them establishing and conducting educational institutions ; we see striking evidences of literary activity ; our attention is arrested by the bold engineering plans of Irishmen who were in advance of their time, but who would have made a fortune to-day. Some were unlucky, like Christopher Colles, and died in want, while others were fattening on their ideas ; others were more fortunate, like Robert Fulton, who launched the first steam-boat on the Seine, in 1803, running, in 1800, a more complete model on the Hudson. A native of Carrickfergus, Dr. Adrian, was distinguished as a mathematician ; and Matthew Carey, the father of H. C. Carey, as a political economist. The Irish leaning to the Democratic side in the United States, would seem to have a connection with the events of 1798 in Ire- land. The British Government, in 1799 and 1800, agreed to let T. A. Emmett, and D. McNevin out of prison, if they would pro- mise to quit the British Dominions for ever. The terms being arranged, Thomas Addis Emmett applied to Rufus King, the United States Minister at London, for passports for himself and his friends, but was refused ; Mr. King adding, what must have been meant for a joke, that " then were republicans enough in America." Some few years afterwards, when Mr. King was a candidate for the vice-presidency, and Thomas Addis Emmett was the leader of the New York bar, the great advocate, by a striking narration of the circumstances in letters to the New Yo7'k Evening Post, raised a feeling throughout the Union which blighted the hopes of the too clever ambassador of a few years before. were both of Irish parentage. John Rutledge, of South Carolina, makes up the eighth. Ail these men rose to high public employment. — "Lives of the Signers." ♦ Alderman John Bums, of I'hiladelphia. t George Bryan. " OLD HICKORY." 61 I* was a native uf Ireland, John Smilie, who reported a bill in 1812 in favour of war with Great Britain, and the man on whom his mantle fell, John Caldwell Calhoim, was the son of Patrick Calhoun, an emigiant from Donegal to South Carolina. In the naval engagements in 1812-15, the names of the Boyles, the Blakeleys, the Leavins, the Shaws, the Stewarts, the Gallaghers, the McGraths, tell their history. On land we meet everywhere the same Irish energy and valour. The hero of the victory of New Orleans, General Jackson, was, as Cobbett* pointed out with in- decent exultation, the son of poor Irish emigrant parents. In 1828, Jackson was elected president by a large majority, the "Irish vote " playing an important part. The Irish did not forget his origin, and they were charmed by his military characteristics.-f* " Old Hickory " had some of the most remarkable traits of the Irishman in strong development. Contnbutions were raised in the States for repeal, and in 1847 large sums were sent to support the famishing in Ireland. The '48 movement excited great enthusiasm among the Catholic Irish, and thousands of dollars poured in to the directories, as they have more recently to head centre treasuries. Be the objects wise or unwise, such subscriptions show the noble generosity of the Irish heart. * See Cobbett'a Life of Andrew Jackson. t Jackson's partiality for Irishmen was strong, but not blind. His personal atten- dants were nearly all natives of Ireland^ and he seems to have felt that kindly interest m them which makes the servant of an Irish gentleman feel himself a "humble friend." Jackson's man-servant, Jemmy O'Neil, used to indulge a little too freely,, and on such occasions assumed too much control over visitors and dwellers in the "White House." Wearied out with complaints, Jackson decided to dismiss him, and having sent for him said, "Jemmy, you and I must part." "Why so. General?" asked Jemmy. "Because," replies the President, "every one complains of you." "And do you believe them. General?" asks Jemmy with a mixture of surprise and re- proach. " Of course," answers Jackson, " what everyone says must be true." " Well, now General," cries Jemmy, " I've heard twice a.s much said against you, and I never would believe a word of it." Jackson's military experience should Imve indeed had a hardening effect if this would not touch him. Mr. Lowell, the author of the " Biglow Papers," has a genuine admiration for " Old Hickory," and tells us of him :— " He'd 'a' smashed the tables o' the law In time o' need to load his gun with." When the " White House " was threatened with*a mob, he refused the volunteered guard of naval and military, and loading his own and his nephew's guns, prepai-ed to meet hia foes. 1 '4 f)2 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. ' I i? i ■II In Moxico, Irishmen and Irish names are as numerous as the Irishman, in a famous bull, said absentees were in Ireland.* One of Scott's most efficient colonels was RiK^y. But neither to his achievements nor to those of minor note — of the Pattersons, the Lees, the Magruders, the Neals, the McRcynolds — can justice be done here. Born in the same village as Major McRoynold8,f James Shields won a record which might call for extended notice. On his return to the United States ho was greeted with ovations, and Illinois elected him to the Senate. In the Session, 1850-51, he reported as one of Committee on Military Affairs, in favour of conferring the rank of Lieut.-General on his old Com- mander and comrade, Scott. But why go into further particulars ? If arithmetic goes for any- thing, Irish blood is the main-tide of the great country below the line. In 1848, the Irish immigration exceeded that from all other sources. In that year, 98,061 persons of Irish birth passed into the Union ; in 1849, 112,561 ; in 1850, 117,038 ; as against in the same years iuspectively, 51,973 ; 55,705 ; 45,535 from Germany ; 23,062; 28,321; 28,163 from Eng..ud; and 6,415; 8,840; 6,772 from Scotland ; and approximate proportion? liave continued. And what sort of stuff was this sent by Ireland ? I have seen them on the quays of Queenstown, many of them young farmers and farmers' daughters, all of them as fine specimens of the human race, as ever pressed the earth. Within a century, the Irish in America have contributed to the ranks of war and statesman- ship in the Union, distinction and efficiency, in as large proportion as they have strength and endurance to the equally noble field of labour. The Republic owes much to the Presidents Vice-Presidents the generals and commanders, the representatives and oratora, the lawyers and scholars of Irish blood ; she owes still more to the pure mothers of healthy instincts and faultless mould, which the green valleys and pure traditions of Ireland have given her, and to the unequalled hosts, wielding no sword and shouldering no gun, but armed with pick and axe and spade, who fought and fight H I * The reader will have read the story. " And are there so many absentees ?" asked an incredulous stranger of an Irishman, who had been inveighing against those rene- gades to duty. " Be gor the country is swarming with them," was the answer. t Dungannon, County Tyrone. EMIGRATION. 62 tho wiMemes.s, and who have carried the starry banner where no tiag .ever tloatud before. It is a noble work 'is subduing tho willorness. On no sub- ject has moro wretched stuff been talked than on emigration, and Irish emigration in particular. It was by '^migration the world was peopled, and emigration must go forward until every corner of the world is fully inhabited. There is nothing un- happy about Irishmen crossing tho Atlantic ; the unhappy thing is that, in a gnat many cases, the circumstances which imme- diately led to emigration were cruel and oppressive, and among the bitterest fruit of oligarchic rule. But if Irelajid's years had rolled on from the misty time of legend to this hour as happy as a maiden's dreams, her people would have had to cmigra! e, or eat each other, or else resort to immoral contrivances to limit popula- tion, sickening folly from which the pure, robust Irish nature has always turned away with disgust. When a country the size of Ireland is over-populated, duty and manliness bid the strong ones make for the wilderness, to face the hardships for which the aged and tender are unequal. It is a hard thing, indeed, to leave one's country, and all the harder because the intending emigrant fails to realize the fact that he will make for himself a new home. It is hard ; but life is made up of hard things, and men must not grumble at hardness. Yet the regrets of an Irishman for his country is a feature in his character which commands admiration ; it proves him to be made of the finest human c ly ; and we need not wonder it has inspired poets, and been fruitful of romance. " Do you find it hard to die ?" asked some priests in Montreal, aa they stood by the side of a dying student. The green valleys, the mountain side, his father's cabin, the mother's love, her soft musical voice, came before his fading fancy. His eye brightened for a moment, and then was drowned in one large tearful wave, " I do," said the dying mi:n, " but not half so hard as I found it to leave Ireland." When travelling in the United States, I found the opinion universal that a " smart " Irishman was the smartest man in the world. When the emigrants go into the country, they are the most industrious of all the population. In the south, west, and east, you find the Irish workman strong and successful. The : ! 1, 1 ' r ■1, 'li' ' w ,1 ' 'M ii' 1 'W ! n II i i 1 ■ iii- I P' ,:l 64 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. Irishman who started a quarter of a centuiy ago with a dollar in his pocket, and who has in the interval climbed to we: 1th and in- fluence, is met everywhere.* The idea that Irishmen do not make prosperous merchants is common in England, in the fac3 of the existence of such men as the late Mr. Graves, M.P., of Liverpool ; and it obtains on t lis Cvontinent, though Stewart was an Irishman. In Tennessee and Missisiuppi, where Irishmen, owing to the talis- man of such names as Jackson, Carroll, Coffee, Brandon, are held in the highest favour, mercantile success has attended the labour and enterprise of hundreds. In Virginia, the largest fortune ever made Lv commerce was made by Andrew Beirne, an Irishman. In Missouri, Brian Mullanphy headed the list of millionaires. His, SOD, a lawyer and a judge, who died in 1850, bequeathed $200,000 for the benefit of emigrants entering the Mississippi. John Mc- Dunogh died in the same year, at New Orleans, leaving behind him the largest single property in the Southern States. Daniel Clarke's great wealth has been made widely known by the Gaines Case. In California, a fourth of the farms are in the hands of Irish- men. They constitute one-fourth of the population of San Fran- cisco. Wxth the exception of four persons, six Irishmen are the highest rated in that City.f According to Mr. Maguire, the Irish stand well in the public esteem of the people of the United States. We sometimes hear the contrary. That they should stand well is only natural. Mr. Maguire devotes many pages of his book to Scotch-Irish, a class to which D'Arcy McGee applied his heaviest lash. On ^-eople who would try by the use of such a mean? igless phrase to deny their country I would noiii wasto r word. They are despised by those whom they try to conciliate ; and while men, the most illustrious and the worthiest our race has produced, were and are proud of Fjing Irish, the Ireland and the great people they reverenced M,n afford to leave the sneaks of passing favour unrecognized. The misfortune is that such conduct reflects on the country the liscredit of the individual. | * The Irish in America. By John Frank's Maguire, M.P., p. 258. •' Ibid. t I once asked a servant at a.Ti hotel what part of Ireland she came from. Her rich IRISH OHAUACTER. 65 No race has ever given a truer test of its bottom and genuine- ness than the Irish have done l)y their grateful remembrance of friends and relatives. It would be as vain to deny them the high virtue of generosity, as to question their valour or dispute their intellectual brilliancy. They have sent vast, almost fabu- lous sums across the Atlantic to bring out their friends, and they never ask for repayment. " The Irish are a grand race," said one who had lived much with them and in reference to this very matter, "and" he added, remembering how much the poor servant girls have done, and the temptation they have braved, " the Irish women are an honour to their country." The returns of the Emigration Commissioners lead to the inference that the amount of money seni by settlers on this continent to Ireland, for emi- gration purposes, cannot be less than $120,000,000.* Female ])urity is a high test of the quality of a race as well as of a civilization. " In the hotels of America the Irisli girl is ad- mittedly mdispensable. Through the ordeal of these fiery fur- naces of temptation she passes unscathed."-f- The answer Mr. Maguire .-eceived from the prominent hotel proprietors of the United States, when he asked Avhy all the young women in their establishments were Irish, was that " The Irish girls are indus- trious, willing, cheerful and honest ; they work hard, and they are strictly moral." After every deduction is made, this testimony remains substantially intact. Nothing has oeen said about the great v/ar. The part ])layed by those of Irish descent and Irish birth is too well known. When a few men, the remains of Irish regiments, march through New York on great public occasions, with their tattered banners and green cockades, one part of their story is told. They were faithful on both sides, according to their sympathies. But, thank God, the great mass, and all of those who enli.sted in Ireland, sided with tl North and struck for human freedom. " The war has trif .e Irish/' said a well-known General, " and they rich brogue, if placed on a^narrow gauge, would trip up the train. "Oim not Irish," she j-aid, " t)i'ra Scotch." Such degradation will of course be found among inferior j«lieeiinenn of all peoples. * Maguire. The Irish in America, page 33L t Mag .lire 5 «0 THE lUISIIMAN IN CANADA. ,s* } I fltood the test woll as good citizens and soldiers." Thomas Francis Meagher, a great orato'-, used all his amazing powers of pi.-rsuasion, and his spell of fiery inspij-ation, calling young IrislimciU in thou- sands to tight for the Union. Nor did they hang back. Their " Faith an the last Cajitain-Cieneral, towns lia, trau'e flourished, canals were opened, rivers and harbours wen; drcdgc^d. His son, Don Bernardo, Ix^rn in Chili, felt for the country an enthu- siastic pati iotism, and as Supieine Director, struggled and strug- gl(;d successfully foi' its independence. His heroi m was ordy HUipasse(J by his geiKMulship. The second brigade was for a tinui commanded by Ceneral Mackenna, an Irishman, wlio was killed in ' Memoim ot (lenl. Millur, vol. II., pp. :iXi-2:i4. t When a men; ymitli, I'V-rgiiHon (piittcMi n (■■(Uiitin;,' hoiwe at Deiricrara, and ,io)r't.ii till) patriot Htaudunl. J.)uriiiK the war of extunnaiation, hu wan tukoii liy tht; .Siiimiar.lH. lie WOH ley n' con- Hjiiracy of Bogota, Heptendier, IH2H, iu the defenco of liolivar. " Mcmoii.s of (Jeneral Miller." 68 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. a durl at Buono.s Ay res, in IS 14. C(;lone] O'Connor's name is insopara})ly bound up with Peruvian indei)enks. I at/i indebted to the Hon. Mr. PVaser for giving me accosa to the Library of the Ontario Legislature at all houra. — N. F. I).] CARLETON. TRFATY OF PARIS. Cf) fair it ih'i iH an'l ;r and liiH it, la,- by I'ranvoiH ►omina- Tb.; la," by |es and il(!(!ply 1 and to FraHor lours. — saviour of (Jariada. Tliis was (Jol. Ouy Carh-ton. ('arloton was horn at Straljanc; in thu County Tyrone;. Strabano to-n. Guy Carleton was born tin; yciar Marlb(jrou;(h died. The renown of the 7 he was aide-de-camp to (Jund)erland. Fn thn fol lowing yeai- ho .served under Arrdjorst at the siege (^f Louisboui'g, and in 1750, as we havosed that the Fi'onch C*anae west end of the Island of Anticosti, and ty tliu liilf of t(;r- on de- U) i\u: Mini lit, to .summon ft f(cnoial ass(!ml>ly. It promisfid tliat until such an asHombly could ]»e called, tlio inlialtitaiits slifMild eiij(;y tlici full I'onofit of tli(! laws of Knj^land. OenciHl Murray wan ai)i>oiiited gov(M"noi' imm(!diat<;Iy after tlic proclamation. Ifo was instructed until an ass(!inl)ly could l>e ealhtd in acc^oidfincc! witli tin; {)roclam- ation, to nominate a council to aid hiin in tin; administiution (jf tlie ;;ov(!rnment. A Coui-t of Kin<^'s l>('ncli and a (.'oini of (Jom- mon J'le-as wv.n'. estaMi.slKid, a)»d shortly afterwaids a Court of (Jlianc(!ry. We ne(;d not he surpris(id if the Frencli po])ulation grew dissatisfiecl with laws to which they wore unaccustomed and a method of procedure wliolly nov(;l,and carri(jd on in a language of which they did not undej'stand a word. Still less need we he surpris(;d tliat wh(;n oHicials were chosen from the j-anks of liriti.sh- ])oni suhjfcts who did n[)ulai b(!cause of his humanity, and the ])eo])le with a true instinct turnelic good and their duty to tho King — thataftei' liearing advice, lie would then aijt in that manner which he believed most advantageous to the s(;i-vice of the King and to tho wcill-being of tlie Province — tliat the numbei- of his council wasa dozen, and that those nominated by the King should have precedence; ov(;r those nominated l»y Oerx-ral Murray. \n 170() I'epresentations had })een sent to England against the system of judicature recently introduced. Cai'leton, who was a statesman as well as a soldier, saw tliat this system was (piite unsuited to a people; with all wliose; priijuilices and traditions it was at war. lEo therefoi'o caused the leading French lavvyei's to compile the civil laws of Fianee for him, and armed witli this compilation he pro- ceeded in 1770 to England. He wished to see the " Coutume de Paris" re-establis]u;er th(i ignoranciy of his morning' in one liouse, and CJhatham in anoth(;r, in tin; pal- inj:^ splendours of his setting', tliundered ? It revoked the Itoyal proch'Miiation of 1703, witli its promise of an As.sembly. It ^^ranted the iloman (*atliolics tlie free; exercise of their reii^^ion, subject to the Kind's HU])remacy as d(;fined V^y tin; Act f)f Kliza]K;th. It f,njaranteed to the Jioinan Catholic clerf^y tlieir accustomed ,V .. ^vJ> 1.0 I.I 1.25 l^|2.8 1^ 2.5 Z2 1.8 U ill 1.6 VI ^ /a /: ^^ ^ ^/ *.^»?>' ^j^ A^ / '^ .. W" >. '^ L<' ^m w^mmm ili hi !■ 76 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. 1:1 l^i II ^ ■Miii i' If: I I I' ! 'i M» I I. I mi; W} French Canadian population. It seemed only just as he had been the means of restoring them their civil law, that he should new, in an extremity, reap the benefit of their feudal customs. But a dozen years of British rule, even in the most objectionable form it could assume, with no redeeming feature but the acci- dental greatness of soul of the Governor, had taught the peasants a lesson in freedom. They had half broken with a history of odious oppression. The chords of liberty in their hearts had vibrat- ed to the hesitating touch of a new era. What at a later period, the night of the 4th August, was to the German peasant of Alsace, the proclamation of 1703 w*as in a sense to the French Canadian. But the proclamation of 1763 was the incomplete work of a nar- row statesmanship. It was natural that the Alsatian peasants, who had leaped at a bound from serfdom into the position of landed proprietors and freemen, should have flocked to the standard of the republic. It was equally natural that the French Canadian pccvsant should have refused the appeal of Carleton, coming in the shape it did. Many of the seigniors took his view. But this only made the appeal more ominous. The poor people had not forgotten the hardships of the last war, nor the op[»res3ion which preceded it. Carleton had all that wonderful power of attraction which Froude has marked as native to the Irishman. But loved as he was, he could not persuade the peasants that it was their duty to act of- fensively f. gainst the Americans. The seigniors assembled their tenants, and explained to them the service expected of them, and the risk of confiscation which they would incur by holding back. Some were from old habit Inclined to obey, but the great majority declarcid that they did not feel themselves bound to be of the same opinion as their bcignior, that they owed them no military services, and that they would not fight against the armies of the revolted provinces. They knew neither the cause nor the result of the present difference. They would prove themselves loyal and peaceable subjects. They could not be expected to take arms. Their position is not difficult to understand. It was but the other day that the English invaders, fighting again.st their own soldiers and besieging their capital, had extorted from them a strict neutrality on pain of exemplary punishment, or, as they expressed it, of sum- APATHY OF THE HABITANS. 77 'roude '■as, he Lct o!- their \n, and jack. Ljority lof the ilitaiy lof the result ial and Their (1- day •s and ,i-aUty If sum- mary military execution. Who could complain if they remained neutral ? Their resolve placed Carleton in a difficult position. Of regular troops he had but two regiments, and these so dis- persed that they could not act with efficiency. Nor was all indif- ference in Canada. Many sympathized with the rebels, and were determined to aid them. To rep'-'l fittack and suppress treason, the Governor resolved on the incorporation of the militia. On the 9th of June he issued a proclamation in which he said that there existed a rebellion in several of the colonies of His Majesty ; that a part of the forces bearing arms had made an incursion into the province, and held the language and wore the attitude of invader's ; that, therefore, he had judged it proper to proclaim martial law, and to call out the militia to defend the country and awe down revolt. Instead of producing the desired efiect, this proclamation produced discon- tent where there had been indift'erence, and transformed lukewarm sympathy into active co-operation. Nor, it seems, could the people persuade themselves that the King of England would act like the military chief of a despotic state. Voluntary enrolment, the people said, was the only means to which the Governor could legitimately have recourse. Carleton had the perseverance and fertilit}-^ of resource which liave never been w^anting in his countrymen in times of emergency. Unable to succeed by force, he tried persuasion. He turned to the Bishop of Quebec. That prelate addressed to the curds of his diocese, to be read in their churches, a charge in which he exhorted the people to take up arms for the defence of the country. The charge had no more etTect than the proclamation. The French Canadians had as yet developed no byalty to the British crown strong enough to be the parent of action. Such loyalty as they had was only equal to a passive negative result. Moreover, the people, fond of their little farms, and with strong family atfections, felt that if they took up arms tor the defence of the country, they would be forced to wage war on any part of the continent where the Empire might need assistance, and ihis in a struggle the end of which, at tliat time, no man could foresee. If their homes were threatened, they would defend them. Their • 78 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. !i| fl ii public spirit was confined within the narrowest view of their own interest. On the 17th of June, 1775, Bunker Hill was fought. On the Cth July the Declaration of the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America was published. C'arleton, unable to overcome the popular determination to rest neutral, sought to raise a body of volunteers by offering to each volunteer two hun- dred acres of land, two hundred and fifty if he was mariied, and fifty for each of his children. His engagement to serve under arms was to tenninate at the close of the war, and his lands were to be exempt from all charges for twenty years. Even this mea- sure failed. Only a few volunteered. In this emergency Carleton had no choice but to a])peal for aid to the Indians. The Iroquois were then in the ascendant, and whatever course they took would be followed by the other tribes. Their objections to take up arms were overcome b}' persuasion, and a large number repaired to Montreal to engage themselves for the following year. Carleton's i)reparations for a war, offensive and defensive, proceeded with his usual activity and energy. But the reinforcements which he had been prondsed from Europe were delayed. His plan was to relieve the Boston garrison by invading American territory on the south of the St. Lawrence. Informed of this design, and believing the French Canadians were favourable to their cause, Congress resolved to anticipate him. A considerable force under General Schuyler was ordered to invade Canada and advance against Montreal, while Arnold was to penetrate the colony by way of Kennebec a,nd Chaudiere, and operate against Quebec. Schuyler, having made himself master of Isle-aux-Noix or Fort Lennox, put forth a proclamation not unlike that which King William addressed in 1870 to the French peasantry. The invaders did not come to make war ao-ainst the French Canadians. Their quarrel was solely with the British troops. The lives, property, the liberty and religion of the habitans would be respected. These appeals influenced a mere fraction of the people. Schuyler took ill, and Montgomery assuming chief connnand, prosecuted the siege of St. Johns with vigour, and despatched Colonel Allen to surprise Montreal. But Carleton was now in III! CRITICAL POSITION OF THE GOVERNOU. 79r» idians cipate •dered mold dierc, luself lation o the war ,h the lion of ced a Inand, Itched )W in Montreal, and it was not easy to surprise him. He called toge- ther about one hundred soldiers and two hundred volunteers, under Major Carsden, who, coming on the Americans, defeated them, killing fifty, and taking as many prisoners, including Colonel Allen. The rest, among whom were some habitans, escaped to the woods, or to the Ameiican camp. Chambly fell, or was rather given up, and Montgomery, whose powder had been nearly exhausted, with ammunition obtained from a fort which, I need not say, had not been defended by an Irisliman, carried forward the siege of St. Johns with renewed vigour. The garrison expected Garlcton to raise the siege. Carle- ton knew that want of provisions would not permit the garrison to hold out long. Hu sent to Colonel McLean, commanding at Quebec, to raise as many men as he could, and to come up to Sorel, where he proposed to join him. McLean had raised about three hundred men, for the most part French Cu-nadians. The Governor assembled at Montreal nearly a thousand men, consisting of Indians, French Canadians, and regulars, enrolled with despe- rate exertions. Instead, however, of joining McLean, knowing how pressing was the necessity to relieve St. Johns, he crossed the St. Lawrence but, on arriving near the shore, he found that the other Irishman had anticipated him. An American force, with two field pieces, advantageously placed on shore, waited until Carleton arrived within pistol shot, and then opened a deadly fire, forcing him, w ith a sad but an , ndaunted heart, to re- treat. Meanwliile McLean, on his way to Montreal, was stopped by another party of Americans, when he was deserted by most of his men, and compelled, with a renmant of the three hundred, who were deterndned not to recall Thermopylae, to fall back on Quebec. The brave Preston, apprised of these events, and his garrison in want of food, saw nothing for it but to surrendei", and he and his little band marched out with the honours of war. The Governor was now in a critical position. It was impossible to defend Montreal. The retreat to Quebec was beset with for- midable difficulties. Yet only by retreating on Quebec could he avoid being made a prisoner. Should he fall into American hands, all hope of saving Canada would be gone. He destroyed as much of the public stores as he could not take with him, and ■^■1 80 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. i ;i ' I with Bi'igadier Prescott, al»out one hundred soldiers, and such of the inhabitants as chose to acconi])any him, embarked on board the " Gaspd " and other smaller vessels. Almost as they quitted the city the Americans entered it. The principal citizens, among whom was John Blake, prepared a series of articles, to which Montgomery replied that he and his army had come for no other purpose but to give liljerty and security, and that he hoped to assemble a Provincial Convention who would adopt measures calculated to establish on a solid basis the civil and religious rights of the colonies. " Montgomery," says Mac- Mullen, " treated the people of Montreal with great consideration, and gained their good will by the affability of his manners, and the nobleness and generosity of his disposition." The stars in their courses had fought against Oarleton. At this moment all the chances are on the side of Montgomery. The gateways of Canada are his. He is master of Montreal. A for- midable force under Arnold is marching on Quebec. Carleton, the hope of the Province, has but a slendei- chance of escape. The very winds conspire against him, and he has not sailed two leagues from Montreal when he is obliged to weigh anchor oppo- site Lavaltrie, a village called after the uncompromising Jesuit Laval, who had himself fought so many battles. The forced delay, under any circumstances, would have l>een perilous. But what are we to think of the situation when our eye rests on the bixtteries erected by the Americans on a rising ground near Sorel, and the floating batteries on the bosom of the .stream. Here are lions in the Governor's path. Montgomery has heard of his situa- tion, and prepares to attack him, and in anticipation he rolls under his tongue the sweet morsel of glory, making Carleton prisoner, putting a happy end to the war, and placing a coping stone on his own renown. While Montgomery's Irish brain is thus cogi- tating, unmindful of fate, unknowing that he is doomi 1 never to leave Canadian soil, the Irish brain of Carlet^ is fertile in expe- dients. He assumes the disguise of a French Canadian peasant, or, if we are to believe M. Adolphus, of a fisherman, and with the brave Bouchette, his aide-de-camp, and an old sergeant, he enters a little boat, and with muffled oars they glide down stream. Row carefully now, Joseph Bouchette, for you carry in your frail boat ■d V i STEALING THROUGH THE MIDST OF THE ENEMY. 81 A^tthis . The A for- j'lcton, )e. The 3d two V oppo- Jesuit forced , But on the ■ Sorel, re are sitiia- under isoner, one on lis cogi- }ver to expe- leasant, [ith the enters Row til boat the fate of Canada. They slij) down, ahnost angry with the phos- phorescent light struck from the silent oars. They come opposite Sorel. They are in the midst of the floating batteries. A whisper may undo them. There are the dark forms of the batteries. They can hear in the silent night the tread of the watch. The solemn stars in the dark-blue canopy overhead, seem at one time to peer with discovering eyes, and at another they infuse the confidence, the deliberate valour, the heroic strei.igth, which great hearts drink in from contemplation of the vast and enduring works of God. The oars are shipped and Captain Bouchette and Sergeant Bou- thillier paddle with their hands. Sorel and the islands guarding the entrance to Lake St. Peter are passed. They now betake themselves afresh to the oars. The shallow lake is crossed, and they arrive at Three Rivers only to encounter fresh dangers. The hotel was full of American troop?;. Carleton's disguise, his own and Bouehette's familiar manner preventc [ all suspicion. Two armed schooners, from v/hose mastheads floated the English flag, were in the offing. Having partaken of some refreshment, Carleton reembarked in his little boat, and gained one of these schooners. Then ordering the other to accompany him, he made for Quebec. Prescott and his one hundred and twenty men were forced by the floating batteries before Sorel to surrender. While these events were taking place, a body of men fifteen hundred strong had left Boston, and, in the face of incredible diffi- culties, mounted the Kennebec to its source. On a beautiful morning in September full of hope, and under the inspiring eye of Washington, they had marched out of Cambridge. Eleven transports conveyed them to the mouth of the Kennebec. Car- penters had been sent on before, and two hundred boats were ready to receive them. Between them now and their destination lay the primeval forest. After six days they arrived at Norridge- wock Falls, where they had their first portage. It took them seven days to drag their boats over rocks, through the eddies, and even along the woods. Arrived at the junction made by the Dead River with the Kennebec, one hundred and fifty men were ofi" the rolls, owing either to desertion or sickness. When they set out the world was beautiful in the glows and glories, the delicious atmosphere of the Indian summer ; the salmon trout i, ' 'I i" 'I S2 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. bounJecl in the glittering stream ; the forest was a glimmering masH of gold and fire. But the October winds despoiled the trees and hurried the hel})less shivering leaves into stream and along narrow, devious forest paths. One day a mountain of snow rose before them. An officer ran up to the summit in order to catch a glimpse of Quebec. But instead of the ancient city, with ita fortress-crowned rock, he saw bleak forests, through whose deso- late branches the frosty winds howled, and wintry inhospitable wastes. Hauling boats, wading fords, trudging kneo-deep in snow, but alow progress was made. A whole division grew faint- hearted, and returned to Cambridge. The expedition still pressed on. They had passed seventeen falls, when, through a Idinding snow-storm, they stepped on to the height of land which sepa- rates New England from Canada. A portage of four miles wrought them to a stream on which they floated into Lake Me- gantic. Here they encamped. On the morrow, Arnold, with a party of fifty men on shore, and thirteen men with him in his boats, proceeded down the Chaudiere to obtain provisions from one of the French settlements. The current was swift and boiled over rocks. The boats were, nevertheless, allowed to drift with the stream. Soon the roar of falling waters smote on the ear. Before they could resolve the cause, they were drifting among the rapids. Three of the boats were dashed to pieces. Six of the men hurled into the water, were saved with difficulty from drowning. After seventy miles of falls and rapids they reached Sertigan, where they received shelter and provisions. Meanwhile the bulk of the army which was left behind was in a. miserable condition. They killed and cooked their dogs, devoured raw root^;, drank the soup of their moose-skin mocassins. They had been forty-eight hours without food before they received flour and cattle from Sertigan. On the 9th November, two months after they had set out with so much hope and lightness of he&iTt, in the glad sunshine, from Cambridge, they reached Point Levi, having learned something of the perils of the wilderness and the rigours of a Canadian winter. Their approach was not unheralded. An Indian to whom Arnold had entrusted a letter for Schuyler had taken it to Lieut.- Governor Sieur Hector Th^ophih Cramah^, commander of the THE BASTONNAIS. ARNOLD DISAPPOINTED. 83 cring trees along V rose catch ith its ! deso- litable 2ep in f aint- iressed iinding h sepa- r miles ke Me- , with a a in his ms from id boiled •ift with the ear. among Six of llirtieulty [ids they [ovisions. rt^as in a. levom'ed They received [) months ,ness of led Point ness and whom to Lieut.- Ir of the !l forces in the capital during Carleton's absence. Arnold had hoped to surprise QuelDcc. But some days before he arrived opposite Quebec, orders had been given to strengthen the fortifications, to organize the militia, and to remove the boats and shipping. In Mr. John Lesperance's " Bastonnais," Cramah^ is made to enter- tain his friends, the Barons of the Round Table, on this evening. In their claret-coloured coats, lace bosom-frills and cuff's, velvet breeches, silken hose, silver-buckled shoes, and powdered wigs, they greeted the Governor. The dining-room, lit with a profusion of wax candles, looking like a piece of Versailles, even as Quebec itself was like a city transported from Normandy. But the ban- quet is broken up by news of the contiguity of those brave fellows who are talked of by the Canadian peasantry of to-day as the " Bastonnais." On the 10th, a council of war was held, and it was resolved to defend Quebec while the least hope remained. Outside in the streets the cry was heard " The Bastonnais have come," and from the ramparts Arnold's men could be seen on the heights of Levis. On the 1 2th, Colonel McLean, who had retreated from Sorel, arrived at Quebec with a body of Fraser's Highlanders, who having settled in the countiy, were now re-enrolled. The Cana- dian militia was four hundred and eighty strong. There was also a militia composed of Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen, which boasted five hundred men. There were a few regular troops and some seamen. The " Hunter" sloop-of-war, conn^^u-nded the river. Nevertheless, Arnold succeeded on the night o^ the 13th in crossing the river, and landing at the very spot were Wolfe had landed in July sixteen years before. Like W^ife he marched on to the plains of Abraham. His men gave three cheers, which were responded to by counter cheers from the city and a few dis- charges of gi-ape. He had failed to surprise it. He had not enough of troops to attack it with effect. He therefore, on the 18th, retired up the left bank of the river, as far as Pointe-aux- Trembles, where he arrived immediately after Carleton had quitted it, and where he determined to await the amval of Mont- gomery from Montreal. On the following day, General Carleton, escaping, as we have seen, so many dangers, arrived at the one fortress which was not in the grasp of the Thirteen Colonies, the Ill I ,']i ij,, I'llP' 'il (Mil ■If^! fj!f| f mrM\ § 84 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. strong and beautiful city for which the Empire had paid with the life-blood of Wolfe, the queenly, rock-throned citadel, which at that moment was the Thennopylre of British power on this continent. XI 'Hhmen never I'csort to half measures. Hence they make such good generals and such efficient rulers The first thing Carleton did, on taking the reins out of Cramah^'s hands, was to strengthen the hand; of the loyalists, and practically increase his provisions by expelling from the city all who were liable to serve in the militia, but who refused to do their duty. The population num- bered about five thousand, of which three thousand or more were women and children. Provisions were abundant, but fire-wood was scarce. Happily the winter was not severe. The venerable Jesuit College in Cathedral Scjuare was the principal barrack, and the chief outposts were at the St. Louis, St. John, and Palace Gates. Palisades were raised where Prescott Gate was afterwards erected. In the Lower Town there were batteries in Little Sault- au-Matelot, and at the western end of Pr^s-de- Ville. The French militia, who guarded the Lower Town, sang as they went and came, just as the French Mobiles did during the siege of Paris. But instead of " Aux Armes, Citoyens," the Canadian militia chanted, if we may believe Mr. John Lesperance — "Vive la Canadienne, Et ses jolis yeux doux." There was, I doubt not, the same light-heartednesa — the same ten- dency to lay hold of the humour of all things and persons — the same gosciip — the same curiosity among the women, with their voluble tongues, and half-real half-feigned alarm, as I saw in Paris during the Franco-German War. The siege lasted eight months — twice as long as that of Derry, twice as long as that of Palis, four times as long as that of Limerick. Montgomery arrived at Pointe-aux-Trembles on the 1st Decem- ber. Their united forces amounting to about two thousand men, he proceeded to attack Quebec, After three days' march, he arrived before the fatal city, and sent a flag to summon the besieged to si snder. Carleton, acting with the strictest logic, refused to admit that rebels had any right to the usual laws ATTACK OF AMERICANS REPULSED. THEY FLY. 85 \ the h at this such •leton nrthen isions in the num- 3 were s-wood levable ek, and Palace srwards 3 Sault- French ent and Paris, militia ime ten- ,ns — the ;h their saw in ed eight that of Decem- Ihousand march, ion the 1st logic, lal laws of war, and ordered the gunners to fire on the herald. A letter brought l)y a woman was Ijurned, and Cnrleton said that he would treat every message from the Americans in the same manner, until they craved mercy of the King, and became loyal subjects. Nevertheless, during the follov/ing days lettei-s were thrown into the city, some addressed to the Governor, others to the citizens. These last rarely fell under the eyes for which thoy were intended, for as soon as they were seen by the soldiers, they were carried to the residence of the Governor. The weather was intensely cold. Nevertheless, Montgomery constructed batteries, but his guns were too small to make any impression on the forti- fications, from which a destructive fire blazed continually. He determined to take the placg l)y storm. But Carleton was fuDy informed of his determination, and the attacks of Arr.old and himself failed in consequence. Montgomery paid with his life for his temerity. Arnold was wounded while attacking the first barrier on the side of Sault-au-Matelot. Captain Morgan took the command, and drove the guard back to the second barrier. But Carleton was soon on the spot, and owing to his promptness and skill, the Americans were surrounded and driven out of a strong building at the point of the bayonet. Their loss in killed and wounded was about a hundred. Four hundred and twenty- six, including twenty -eight officers, suiTendered. Carleton would now, under ordinary conditions, have sallied out on the Americans. But these had sympathisers both without and within the walls, and the Governor wisely waited for the succours which would come with the opening up of navigation. He had thos-" houses, in which the enemy might take up his quarters, burned. His vigilance, his activity, his great capacity, let no advantage slip. Pre-occupied, as he was, however, he took care to seek out amid the winter snow, the body of General Montgomery, and place it in the earth with military honours. Early in May, the "Surprise" frigate and a sloop of war, with one hundred and seventy men and some marines, arrived in the har- bour. The moment these men were landed Carleton resolved to attack the enemy, who, disheartened and already dcxnoralized, fled precipitately, leaving behind cannon, stores, ammunition, and even the sick. These were treated as one might expect by Carleton, 86 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. \m of wliom humanity was a distinguisliinj^ feature. Every kindness which could alleviate the suffering of tiie sick, or make the life of the liealtliy prinoners more pleasant, was lavished on them. For his services during the siege, Carleton was kniglited. Meanwliile, Captain Foster, having had some successful engage- ments with the Americans on the lakes, was pusliing towards La- chine, when he was compelled todefend himself agr'nst Arnold, with a force thrice as strong as his own. The defence \\ (,s so stout that the Americans had to retire to St. Anne's. The American troops retreating fiom (Quebec, having lost at Sorel their connnander. General Thomas, who had taken Arnold's place l)efore Quebec, were joined at the confluence of the Riche- lieu by about four thousand men. Cteneral Sullivan was chief in command. A body of troops arrived from England, all of that type which made a French General say it was well English soldiers were not more numerous. There was no longer anything now to prevent Carleton taking a vigorously offensive attitude. Brigadier Eraser, with the first division.he sent on to Three Rivers. Sullivan thought he saw an oppoi-tunity of sui-prising the town, and inflicting serious damage on part of the British army. He accordingly sent General Thompson, with eighteen hundred men, against Three Rivers. But he was met by Fraser, who had been informed of his design) and sustained a signal defeat. Five hundred prisoners, including Thompson himself, were taken, and the retreat of the main body was cut off. These repaired for shelter to a swampy wood. There they spent a night of misery, and might have died there of want and ague, had not Governor Carleton, with a rare chivalrous pity, drawn the guard from the bridge spanning River du Loup. They were thus allowed to make their escape, and rejoin Sullivan at Sorel. No longer equal either in the quality or numbers of the British troops, Sullivan mounted the Richelieu, and was joined by Arnold at St. Johns, '^hey then retreated to Crown Point. Thus ended the American invasion, which, says a French writer, was wholly fruitless, save in affording an opportunit}'- to the colonists of showing their courage, and bringing out the military and civil virtues of Richard Montgomery. Frc , ir point of view it may be remarked that it emphasized the qualities of another hero not SUCCESS OF CAULETON. HIS MAONANIMITY. 87 ncsH feof For ragC- s La- ,\vith bthat )st at •nold's [liche- lief in which 31-0 not )revent Fraser, hought seriouB ]^eneral Rivers, design. chi Legisla- of 1777. on Pleas rovernor, I a Court few ex- I to mili- id it has ) we have thinkers it of the le empire, le colony, ad wishes aebec pre- ses which mand was ly believe sly extor- If-respect. sy became itired cap- ,nd it may ;hey often references, striking delusive |u Calvere, Baldwin, imand. he United [ffect upon of U. E. la. They TQv ; the;;-' [he Bay of along the upper St. Lawrence, around the Bay of Quinte with its thousand beauties, and on the Niagara and Detroit Rivers. Among these U. E. Loyalists were not a few Irishmen. Luke Carscallian, having served in the British army, had retired and emigrated to the American colonies prior to the rebellion. When the war broke out, he desired to remain neutral, but the rebels insisted as he was a military man that he must join them or be regarded as one of the enemy. He replied : " I have fought for the King and I would do so again." An order was issued for his aiTest. He hid, and ultimately made his escape to Canada, leav- ing behind him all his personalty and twelve thousand acres of land. What did the rebels do ? With atrocious cowardice and cruelty, they seized his son, a lad of tender years, and threatened to hang him unless he betrayed his father's hiding place. The son was not unworthy of the sire. His reply was — " Hang away." The cowards, unimjn-essed by this noble conduct, han^i, 3d him three times yntil he was almost dead. Three times they put the question to the half fainting boy. Three times he returned a defiant " no." When taken down the third time, and repeating his determination, the monsters killed the half -strangled lad. Of the same type was Willet Casey, born of Irish parents in Rhode Island. The war in which his father was killed ended, he settled near Lake Champlain, thinking he was putting down his stakes in British territory. He discovered after making consider- able clearing that herein he was mistaken, whereupon he removed again. He set his face towards Upper Canada, accompanied by his wife and Ids old mother, who died three months aft^r the migration. Dr. Canniff saw the couple when they had grown old, and he says, " two nobler specimens of nature's nobil'ty could not be imagined." One of the great f-;oMier settlers was William Bell, born August 12th, 1758, in the County Tyrone. When the revolutionary war broke out, he was a sergeant in the o3rd regiment of the line. In 1789 he came to Cataraqui, and commenced trading in the port of Sidney, Ferguson being his partner. In 1792 Bell gave up trading, and became a school-teacher to the Mohawks ; but he seems to have done business in the way of trading in 1799. In 1803 ho is found settled in Truro. He had meanwhile received a ^'iV\ im ^0 THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA. ^'illl captain's commission in 1798, a major's in August, 1800 ; and in 1800 he became lieutenant-colonel. He was an active pul)lic man, well known in Thurlow, where he served as magistrate, coroner, and as colonel of the Hastings Battalion. He died in 1833, having done the country good service. Captain Peter Daly, who resided in New York, was called home to Ireland before the rebellion, and at the earnest solicitation of a bachelor friend, named Vroman, he left his son Peter Vjehind him. Vroman was wealthy, and called himself lord of many a fair acre on the banks of the Mohawk about where Amsterdam now stands. He promised to make Peter, whose genial Irish manners had won his heart, his heir. When the war broke out, Peter was sixteen years of age. But the blood of heroic fathers ran in his veins — fathers who had fought under the flag which it was sought to te."" down. Wealth was on one side — honour on the other. Prosperity here — toil and hardship there. He did not hesitate. He turned his back on wealth, and joined a company, following the flag of his fathers along the shores of Lake Cham- plain, where, in one night, he assisted in scaling three forts. He was instrumental in takinof Fort Ticonderoga. When the war was over, in company with other loyalists, he came up the Bay of Quintd. Having married, he settled down in the second conces- sion of Ernesto wn, near the Village of Bath, where he made a comfortable livelihood, and did his share of the work of laying the foundation of the great Canadian nation of the future. Mr, Daly was a Presbyterian. He never heard anything from Vroman, and his grandson says, with some natural bitterness, tliat he cared but little for the land that had driven him to dwell among the wild beasts of the unbroken forest. He left behind him a nume- rous and respected family. Two of his sons, Thomas and Charles, were still living on the old farm near Bath in 1809. Philip, the eldest, died at Oak Shade, in Ernesto wn, in 18G1, having at- tained to one year more than the period allotted to man. His eldest daughter became Mrs. Aikens ; another daughter married Asal Rockwell, of Ernestown ; another, Jacob Shibley, ex M.P.P. ; another, Joshua Boatle ; and the descendants of the brave Peter are numerous. Another remarkable Irishman, who lived to over a hundred A CENTENARIAN. THE CANNIFFS. 91 and in iic man, 30voner, having id home ation of behind many a sterdam al Irish oke out, ; fathers which it )nour on i did not ompany, e Cham- rts. He the war e Bay of I conces- 3 made a laying re. Mr. Vroman, le cared long the a nume- Charles, lilip, the ving at- in. His married l)ley, ex he brave hundred years of age, was James Johnson, a soklier in Rogers' Battalion. He was captain of the cattle drivers who came with the first .set- tlers of Ernes^^own. " He got his location ticket," says Dr. Cannitt", " at Carleton, Ireland." The doctor adds, that he had a family of seven sons and six daughters, John CannifF, a U. E. loyalist, was a member of an Irish Huge- not family. An oil ])ainting of the grand-uncle of Dr. Canniff bears on the back of its frame the statement that he was born at Bedford (New Rochelle), State of New York, in the year 1757. One or more persons of the name of CannifF were among the Hu onots who were expelletj from France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. in 1685. Many of these exiles found a home in Ireland, and because naturalized. Among them were the Canniffs. The name may now be found in Ireland. The Cannifls were among the first settlers in New Rochelle, all of whom were Huguenots. At the breakir out of the American rebellion, the CannifFs were divided. Most of them remained loyal to the Empire. At the close of the war, John CannifF was a refugee in New Bruns- wick, from which place he came to Canada in 1788, being one of the first settlers in Adolphustown. Ak out the beginning of the present century he removed to Thurlow, Hastings Co., which was then a wilderness. He was a pioneer in the erection of saw and flour mills. The settlement made by him ultimately received the name of Canifton. James Canm.T, brother of John, and grandfather of Dr. Canniff', came to Canada some years after his brother. The incidents attending the journey of the family from Duchess County, on the Hudson, in batteaux, would supply material for an interesting narretive. It was with no small regret he left his beautiful home on the Hudson, and that enchanting river— the River of the Mountains, as the Spaniards called it — with the queenly dignity of the Cats- kills ; the pictures(iue heights— the sublime Highlands, where the noble stream strolls, like some mighty lord through his ancestral halls, between rock-ribbed hills, whose cheeks were browned before the days of Adam ; all the grandeur of a wall of unbroken rock extending for miles ; all the repose of sloping hills and wm 1 J ■S«' THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. sleepy hollows. To-day the steamer pants along those waters. The scream of the railway whistle is heard. On either side of Poughkeepsie, there are now handsome villas and stately resi- dences. *' By woody bluff we steal, by leaning lawn, By palace, village, cot — a sw set surprise At every turn the vision breaks upon." Lovers wander up broad maple avenues, and young ladies' schools take their constitutional walk over beautifully-kept grounds, while the silver Hudson goes, gladder for their laughter and smiles, to the sea. A world of wealth and poetry and legend have ga- thered around those banks in a century. But though they had no monster hotels, no shining cities, no Irving, when CannifF took up his stakes, the moon did not look down less sweetly on Old Cro Nest ; the star lingered near its summit, as it lingers this night ; the grey form threw its silver cone on the wave as it throws it now. All the beauty of nature was there, and the voice of God in the leafy, solitary woods, on the river's breast, with its abounding loneliness, was heard clearer than it is to-day. The rocky caverns of Luzerne were, for all purposes of comparison, as deep then as now ; and as full of meaning, as at this moment, would be the question : " Pray tell me, silvery wave, in murmur low. How long ago the light first saw thy face ? Who saw thee, when, in all thy rushing might And strength, thou burst the highland chain, and forced Thy rugged way on to the sea ?" Yet James Canniff preferred the British flag to the stars and stripes, and happily for him, in settling in Adolphustown, he only passed from one beautiful river to another. Richard, another brother, was likewise one of the first settlers in the County of Hastings. JameS Canniff's wife was a native of Ireland. Her maiden name \ as McBridc. They had two sons, John and Jonas, and a number of daughters, all of whom married in the Bay of Quints region. The two sons settled in Thurlow, near where the city of Belleville now stands, by the banks of the river Moira. John was drowned at an early age in attempting to cross the swollen stream in a canoe. KINGSTON. CANADA FIRST. 93 ,e waters. iY side of tely resi- es' schools grounds, md smiles, d have ga- L they had inniff took stly on Old infers this wave as it id the voice st, with its ,-day. The iparison, as lis moment, reed stars and m, ho only ird, another County of iHer maiden onas, and a |,y of Quints the city of Loira. John the swollen 'VT-i Jonas, tlie father of Dr. Canniff, was married, in 1811, to Letta F]artion, and in counte- II was well may, bo"T 1 existence e to be en- er, with a Ireland, iwn. The from the it to New Settlement of York, whence it was brought by Barbara with the company of Major Van Alstine. In that company were several persons with more claim to the name of Irishman than the pewter j)late. Amongst them, pre- eminent in years, was John Fitzgerald, who died in 180G, at the ripe age of 101. In the same company was William Casey, who, with Willet Casey, menticmed above, represented four- teti'. souls. All the men, who came from Ireland in those earlj' days, must have been men of fine stamina. If we travel into another township, we find Williaia Anderson, who was alive in 1869, aged eighty-eight, having come to Canada in 1803. Three years afterwards he settled at Mississauga Point, having meanwhile married a Miss Way, a descendant of U. E. Loyalists. Those men brought with them from Ireland that sturdy love of justice for which Sir John Da vies, in his day, declared the Irish to be remarkable. Once Judge Cartvtrright, holding his court at a tavern at Ernestown, convicted and sentenced to be hanged a man accused of stealing a watch, the only evidence against him being that the watch was found on him. The accused declared that he had bought the time-piece of a pedler. Neverthe- less, the judge would not re-consider his verdict. Dr. Connor, of Ernestown, stood up in open court, and appealed against the mon- strous injustice of taking a man's life on such evidence. In those early days, that dignified demeanour which distinguishes our courts, did not exist. He was hissed down, and the man was hanged. Subsequently the pedler turned up, and justified the unfortunate man. Dr. John Gamble was born near Enniskillen in 1755. Havincr studied medicine and surgery at Edinburgh, he emigrated, in 1770, to New York, where he at once entered the King's service as assistant-surgeon to the General Hospital. He was subsequently attached to the Old Queen's Rangers. After the peace, he went to New Brunswick. In 1784, he married and practised his pro- fession at St. John. He subsequently joined the Queen's Ran- gers as assistant-surgeon. In 1802 he settled down to })ractise in Kingston, where he died in 1811, leaving behind him his wife and thirteen children. daughters and four sons, in 1820 His wife removed to Toronto with her nine The descendants of the pair 9G THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. M 1 i i W ahead V exceed by a good many, two hui dred. Mrs. Gamble, who had l)een a Miss Clarke, was the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist, and was ninety-tw(j years old at the date of her death. Mr. Clarke Gamble is one of tlie descendants. J. W. Gamble, who died a few years ago, was the eldest son of Dr. John Gamble. He was born at the garrison, York, in 1798; was elected for the South Riding of York in 1838, and re-elected for the same riding in 1851, by a majority of 600. In 1854 he was again re-elected, and indeed a \&\^e portion of his life was passed in the discharge of public duties. Some ten years prior to the revolutionary war, Dennis Carroll, a native of the County Down, crossed the Atlantic, with his wife, and settled in Maryland. He had several sons, all of whom^ with the exception of Joseph, adhered to the revolutionary side. Joseph joined the British army. He drew land in Nova Scotia. After sufftsring shipwreck, of which he was one of the few survivors, he arrived in St. John. Having lost his property by endorsement, he, in 1809, set out with his wife and a family of eight sons, to renew his search after fortune in the wilds of Upper Canada. He was living on an Indian farm, near where Brantford now stands, when the war of 1812-15 broke out. He and his three eldest sons joined the army. The close of the war found the family, a Presbyterian one, notwithstanding the name, at York. One of his sons became a successful physician ; another, a well-to-do commercial man. One of his descendants is well known as a Methodist minister, the Rev. John Carroll, D.D., a man of dis- tinguished piety, who has written much and well. The greatest factor in civilization is religion. When an emi- gration settles down in a new country, its success, its progress, and its happiness will greatly depend on the character of the fauna of that country. If injurious animals abound, population may be kept down, and civilization retarded. The wolf and bear were the principal enemies the emigrant had to encounter in Canada. But worse than wolf or bear or tiger are the lusts of man. Endowed with infinite desires, nothing can keep him from degenerating, but communion with the Absolute ; nothing but Eternity can outweigh his vast and turbulent passions, in which earth-born and earth-bounded resolutions are as straw and drift RARLY METHODISM. OKOUGE NEAL. 1)7 Gamble, Loyalist, r. Clarke ioJ a few- He wan he South riding in ected, and scharge of is Carroll, 1 his wife, hom^ with ie. Joseph da. After rvivors, he dorsement, ht sons, to inada. He 10 w stands, ree eldest e family, a One of well-to-do nown as a lan of dis- len an emi- ts progress, pter of the population llf and bear Icounter in the lusts of him from )thing but |s, in which and drift m ■M in the g)a,sp and coil of rousod-up seas. And the same country which was, in the eighth and ninth centuries for Europe, the lamp of truth and the ark of civilization, sent men here'to Canada to root hai'd by her foundations, the gospel. The Methodist Church is one of the inost useful and numerous denominations in Canada. It numbers in Ontario alone nearly five hundred tliou.sand. In Quebec itnuiubers thirty-four thou.sand one hundred ; in New Brunswick, nearly seventy thousand ; in Nova Scotia, forty thousand eight hundred and seventy-one. This church is traceable to the Irish Methodist Church as child to parent. In 17G0, Embury and Barbara Heck emigrated from Ireland, and founded Metliodism in the States. Embury died in 1773. His ^dow married John Lawrence, who, like herself, had emi- grated from Ireland. On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, tins couple, together with David Embury, Paul Heck, and Barbara Heck, and many more of the Irish Palatines, removed to ' Lower ' Canada, settling first about Montreal, whence they aftei-- wards removed to Augusta, in 'Upper' Canada. Here they pursued their work with zeal. In the house of John and Catherine Law- renc(i, the first " class " of Augusta was held. They thus antici- pated and prepared the way for che itinerant Methodist preachers, and, as some think, for the ultimate universality of Methodism in the Dominion.* Another man whose name, at this period, should not be for- gotten, was George Neal. George Neal wielded not only the sword of truth, but the sword of steel. He belonged to that curious race of soldiers who unite fervent religious feeling to a warlike instinct, such as Havelock, Hedley Vicars, and hundreds of others, whose names will readily occur. A major of a cavalry regiment in the British army, he was a local Methodist preacher. He crossed the Niagara river at Queenston, and commenced preach- ing. The same results followed as have always followed the preaching of the Gospel by warm-hearted men. The story of immortal love, of purity, and rectitude, that had no harsher word for impurity and error than "sin no mo/e;" of that mysterious * See Goldwiu Smith in "Fortnightly Review" for March, 1877. m m I'' 1 1 » I i hi' ';: I. I; i i! 08 THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA. pcrMon who wt-nt through tho world, liko a hrocze of balm and healing through a fevor-strickun town ; of one so groat that tho povv'or (jf cinpiro hoouih trifling compared with His ; of one so tondor, and withal so sorrowful, that Ho sooniod tho incarnate sigh of Ileavon over lunnan woo ; this divine talo, when told with tho Irish warmth of Major Noal, was, says Dr. Bangs, " blossod to the awakening and conversion of many souls," aiid tlio bluff Christian soklior, wliose house became afterwards a home for the preachers, and who lived to see large and flourishing societies es- tablished througlu/Ut all tho district where he lived, " was always spoken of by the people with great affection and veneration, as the pioneer of Methodism in that country." For some years he was the ordy Methodist preacher in Canada. But in 1788 another pioneer came into the field, James M'Carty, who was destined to win the glory of martyrdom. A convert of Whitfield's ministry, he crossed over from tlie United States to Kingston, and passed on to Ernestown, where he began to hold rtligious meetings in the log-cabins. He was a man of attractive manners and speech. Large numl)ors attended his preaching. A great impression was made. Many were awakened. His mccess provoked hostility among churchmen, who were, as we n\ay be sure, without any claim to be considered religious men. The word " Methodist " i» even now used by some foolish people as a tena of reproach. In England, the church-doors had been closed in the face of John Wesley, and he and his followers were often subjected to indignity. We need not. wonder, then, that a sheriff', a militia captain, and an engineer, should combine to rid the country of this " pestilent fellow." Four armed men entered the house on Sunday morning where M'Carty was dwelling in that peace which man can neither give nor take away. Their object was to drag him to the Kingston prison ; but the congregation resisting, and one Perry offering bail for M'Carty 's appearance before the magistrate, they retired. The next day the Sheriff of Kingston refused to interfere with him. Nevertheless, the three ruffians, before night, had him in prison on some frivolous pretext. Perry succeeded in bailing him out. On his being returned for trial, his enemies seized him, thrust him into a boat, and had him landed on one of the small islands in the rapids near Cornwall, where he perished. ■f FATHKIl OF AXai.ICAMSM IN UVPIM (JAN'ADA. 90 lialui anil i that the if one 80 incarnate told with blessed to the V)hiff lue for the jcieties es- ^as always leration, as e years he '88 another destined to 8 ministry, and passed meetings in and speech. )ression was ed hostility irithout any ethodist " is proach. In ice of John o indignity. (tain, and an s " pestilent av morning can neither him to the one Perry ;istrate, they to interfere rht, had him fd in bailing seized him, lof the small d. ♦! .'ai Among tlio U E. Loyalists was a man of Irish Idood, the Rev. John Stuart, who escaped, in 1781, to Canada, where lu> was des- tined to win the title of the Father of tlie Cluirch of England in Upper Canada. He was born in 1740. Though Ms family were Presbyterians, his priMlilections led him to the Church of Kughind. He became a missionary in the Mohawk Valley, and translated the New Testament into the language of the Mohawks. In Ca- nada he proved himself a zealous missicmary, and was indefati- galile in laying the fountlation of the Church among the Indians and the whites. In 1785 he took up his permanent abode at Catara(jui, where he resided until his death, which took place in 1811. Though not unmindful of success he was a true missionary. "I shall not regret," he wrote in 1783, " the disappointment anfl chagrin I have hitherto met with, if it pleases God to make me the instrument of spreading the knowledge of His Gospel among the heathen." In 178-1< he visited the new settlements on the St. Lawrence, the Bay of Quintd, and the Niagara Falls. In a church which stood ninety miles from the Falls, and which was the first church built in Upper Canada, the Mohawks received him with enthusiasm, and crowded the windows to catch a glimpse of their old pastor. In 1785 he wrote : " I have two hundred acres within half a mile of the garrison — a beautiful situation. The town in- creases fast ; there are already about fifty houses built in it, and some of them very elegant. It is now the port of transport from Canada to Niagara. We have now, just at the door, a shij), a scow, and a sloop, besides a number of small craft, anti if the com- munication lately discovered from this i)lace by water to Lake Huron and Miehilmachinac proves as safe and .short as we are made to believe, this will soon be a place of considerable t^'ade." The way he mingled the pioneer settler with the pioneer divine is .shown in the following sentences : — " I have been fortunate in my lotcttions of land, having 1,^00 acres at different places in good situations, and of an excellent quality, three farms of which I am improving, and have sowed this fall with thirty bushels in them. * * * We are a poor, happy people, industrious be- yond example. Our gracious King gives us land gratis, and fur- nishes provisions, clothing, and farming utensils until next Sep- J n % ■\ i 100 THE laiSHMAN IN PANADA. Kill: r' ' ii ml ' i^ If ' !l ( i I i k m tembor, aftor which the generality of the peophj will he al)le to live without his bounty," In May, 17^0, he opened an academy. In 17H8, he went round his ;)ari.sh, which wa.s two hundred miles long. Witli six Indians, commanded by Ca «tain Brant, he coasted along the iK^rth shore of Lake Ontario ; weit twenty-five miles by land to New Oswego, a Mohawk village just established on the Grand River, and beautifully situated. It contained seven hundred souls. In the midst of a nund)er of tine houses stood a handsome church, with a bell swinging in its steeple, the first bell which made the air vibrate in Upper Canada. Brant had collected money when in England, and had expended it t': li^lvan- tage. Stuart returned by Niagara, and visited that settlement. Here he found no clergyman. The pojjulation had gi . atly increased, and lie was so pleased with the people and countiy. that he was tempted to remove his family thither. " You may imagin»>," he wiites, " it cost me a struggle to refuse the unanimous and press- ing invitation of a large settlement, with the additional argument of a subscript i':ii, and other emoluments, amounting to nearly £300 York currency per annum more than I have here. But, on mature reflection, I have determined to remain here." He explains to his correspondent that he is not rich, as he might be inferred to be, when he refuses such an otler. He adds .- " I do not intend to die rich. * * I Jiad a commission sent me as first judge of the Court of Common Pleas. But for reasons which will readily occur to you, I returned it to Lord Doichester, who left this place a few days a^ijo." In 1789 he was appointed Bishop's Commissioner for the set- tlements from Point au Baudette to the western limits of the Province. In 17.92 he became chaplain to the Upper House of Assembly. In 1799, his alTna mater, the Univeisity of Penn- sylvania, conferred on him the degree of D.D. At the same time he became chaplain to the Kingston garrison. He was in the seventy-first year of his age, when called away. He was six feet four inches high, and was hence hv rnoiously known as "the little gentleman." His sermons were vigorous and persuasive. He seems +o have been a handsome man. His character was a lofty one. We need v^t be surprised, therefore, when we are assured that he was held in the highest esteem by his fellow-citi- IRISH SETTLEMENT IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 101 i ahlc to caUcmy. id miles > coasted ve nxile.s ished on id seven I stood a the first laiit had icadvan- ttleiuent. ncreased, it he was ,oiru'," he nd press- argument to nearly But, on explains inferred ot intend judge of ill readily jthis place the set- its of the House of I of Penn- Lame time las in the IS six feet s "the lersuasive. eter was a In we are jllow-citi- zens. An agreeahle clergyman lias seldom to complain of neglect. Mr. Stuart was a good deal more t' m a merely agree- ablr clergyman. He liau five sons and thi 3 daughters borne to luTii by Jane O'Kiell. Hi., .sons all occupied prominent positioitH, Ic is, as the reader has seen, hard for me to treat Newfound- land as not within the .scope of this book. In l7i*'-4, the Kev. Dr. O'Donriell, a native of Tippcrary, availing himself oi the toleration of the Roman Catholic Ileligion, as si^t forth in the Royal Pro- clamation relating to Newfoundland, led an Irish .settlement thither. In 17UU he was a})p()inted l)i.shop of the island, and he received for some years, until his death, an annuity of .£.50 for his .services in suppressing a mutiny among the troops. Krom Dr. O'Do'^nell's time, the Catholic bishops have played an important ])art in the island, not only as prelates — as witness the careers of Bishops Lambert, Scallan, Fleming, and Mullock — but as (elements of government and material progress. The Irish priest followed his people wherever they wuiit, and had, sometimes, preceded them into tht v, "'deniess as mis nonaries to the Indians, as was the case with the Rev. Ednuind Bui-ke, the Bishop of Halifax. At Quebec, in 1804, the English Cathedral was built by Mr. Cannon, an Irish Catholic. Prior to this, a mass was said specially for the Irish Catholics ; and at Montreal the Bonsecours and the Recollet Church were placed at their disi)osal. Haldimand was recalled, and Henry Hamilton sent out as governor in his stead. Hamilton called the Legislative Council together, and having got them to introv-'urio Habeas Corpus into the statute law of the Province, was gucceeded by Colonel Hope, who, after a few months, made room for ( >> neral Carleton, now Lord Dorchester, who, in addition to the governor-generalship of Canada, was nominated commander-in-chief of all His Majesty's forces in the colony. For some years loud complaints of misgo- vernment had been sent across the Atlantic, and in 1787 Lord Dorche.ster instituted an inquiry which brought to light a state of things worse than anyone had imagined. The administration of jus- tice was tainted ; Judges refused to hear evi( lence. Letters from per- sons interested in suits were allowed the weight of testimony, with- out being sifted b\ o ?s-examination. It was shown that Governor JM rft! ''' " ■ " I l!B l f»«J i| J | iii 102 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. In Haklimand had made the judges instruments of political oppres- sion. Not only so. The English judges looked to English prece- dents ; the French judges administered civil law ; and the judges who knew as little of English common law as of the French civil law, did what was right in their own eyes. Education was in a deplorable state. The English-speaking inhabitants had increased, and were increasing. This deepened the note and increased the volume of the demand for a Legislative Assembly. In 1787 the Legislative Council amended and made perpetual the militia ordinance of ten years before. A French historian, Bibaud, says the only way to account for this conduct is by sup- posing that Lord Dorchester and a majority of his Council were persuaded that a ligorous military despotism was the form of government which best suited Canada. Thf measure, from whose provisions were exempted councillors, judges, public officers, seigneurs, cle^'gy, nobles, jjrofessional men, and all specially ex- cluded by order of the commander-in-chief, and which ordained that captains and other officers of militia, in the country districts, should be justices of the peace, was a despotic one, and not defen- sible on the ground of the dangers to which the country was exposed. Yet, owing to Lord Dorchester's capacity, and charm of manner, discontent diminished, and, if we judge by the eulogies on the Governor in the addresses presented to Prince Wil- liam Henry, we shall conclude that everything was held to be satisfactory. In 1788, the Council turned its artillery against un- licensed practitioners of medicine. In 1789, provision was made for the more effectual administration of justice. A committee of the executive council appointed to impiire into the best means of advancing elementary and the higher education, communicated v/ith the Bishop of Quebec, M. Jean Francois Hubert, and his co- adjutor, M. Francois Bailly, The responses of the two bishops were in singular discord. M. Hubert thought the country too little advanced, too thinly populated, and too poor, for the found- ation of a university in Quebec , while M. Bailly said it was high time a uiiiversity was established in Canada. Neither prelate pointed out a solution of the difficulty. The letter of the Bishop of Quebec is valuable, however, as showing the condition of edu- cation. Excepting the Quebec seminary, there was not a school STATE OF EDUCATION. CONSTITUTIONAL ACT. 103 oppres- li prece- i judges ich civil rt'as in a creased, ised the erpetual istorian, by sup- icil were form of m whose officers, ially ex- ordained districts, ot def en- ntry was charm of eulogies ice Wil- eld to be ainst un- s^as made uittee of 1 leans of lunicated id his co- bishops mtry too le found- was high prelate le Bishop Q of edu- a school in the province where more was done than teach reading, and writing, and arithmetic. The committee reported in favour of establishing free schools throughout the province, a free school for higher branches in the principal town of each district, and a university. The scheme, which was a secular one, was regarded with hostility by the clergy, and it was found impossible to put it into exer tion. The governor also nominate*! a committee to report on the advantages and ^disadvantages of the feudal tenure, and of free and connnon socage. The committee reported against the feudal system, and the report was followed by the draft of a bill or ordi- nance which greatly alarmed the seigneurs and those having like interests. One seigneur, however, Charles de Lanaudiere, had already, in 1788, addressed the governor, and shown that it was the interest of the seigneurs that a change of tenure should take place, for without emigrants their lands were valueless, and it was folly to expect emigrants to settle under a system of laws they abhorred. The census showed the population of the province at this time to have been 150,000, auvl M. de Lanaudi^re's land could accommodate them all. Difficulties now began to arise out of the differences in tradi- tion and character between the old and the new settlers ; and the Home Government prepared a bill which was sent out to Lord Dorchester, to specify any changes his more intimate knowledge of the country and the people might suggest. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the Province of Quebec into two provinces, to be known as Upper Canada and Lower Canada, each of which should have an elective legislative assembly and a legislative council, and governor appointed by the Crown ; the seignorial tenure and French law, in civil cases, to be retained in Lower Canada ; British law, civil as well as criminal, to be established in Upper Canada. Provision was made for the maintenance of the Protestant clergy, one-seventh of the land being reserved for this purpose, and one-seventh for the crown. Those members of the legislative council who should have titles were to have an hereditary right to sit in the upper chamber. The Act was thought by some too aristocratic, by others the reverse. Its popular elements were to prove delusive, and the provisions for the clergy it ■ Hi it'. I KM f. J 1> 'I ! iij' ! ■ 1 1 i ! f 'i 1 ■ ■ m 104 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. were destined to retard the progress of the country, and to give rise to much trouble. Lord Dorchester, with the instincts of a statesman, recommended that the reserves of the crown and of the clergy should be in separate jurisdictions. But the ministers, knowing that the lands mixed up with those of private indivi- duals, would be more valuable, rejected his advice, and thus, as Smith says, struck a blow at the progress of the population, and the prosperity of the province. While this measure was passing through parliament, it was warmly debated by the House of Commons. Charles James Fox, more than any statesman of the time, saw the bill in its true cha- racter. It appeared to be founded on generous principles, which vanished the moment it was examined in detail. The people of Canada would infallibly make dangerous comparisons between the limited and aristocratic system about to be established, and the popular constitution of the United States. They should give to the Canadians a popular assembly, not in appeaiance, but in reality. On one point raised in the debate, there would probably be a difference of opinion now — namely, the division of the province. Many would think to-day that the object should have been to bring the peoples more together ; that it v/as a mistake, to permit two systems of laws, and that, if measures had been devised by which the English and French-speaking portions of the population should have been mixed, and the foundation laid for a homogeneous na- tion, there would have been more than was shown of that rare statemanship which goes to make a country. Fox, with that wisdom and foresight which never deserted him, pointed out the true course to take, and Lord Dorchester was even more opposed to the division of the province. Pitt was no less con- vinced of its expediency. He foresaw the state of things which led Mr. Brown and Sir John A. Macdonald patriotically to sink their differences to bring about confederation. Lord Dorchester, having obtained leave of absence, left for England in the autumn. General Alured Clarke, on the 17th December, opened the first parliament of Lower Canad.* ; while on the 17th December, 1792, Lieutenant-Governor J. G. Simcoe, opened the fiist Upper Canada Parliament at Newark (Niagara). AN ARISTOCRATIC PIONEER. 105 In Lower Canada, Lieutenant-Governor Clarke divided the pro- vince into counties, cities, and boroughs ; and Edward O'Hara was returned for Gasp^. D'Arcy McGee Loasted, in 1806, that henceforward Lower Canada was never without an Irish repie- sentative in its legislative councils, and I believe the boast might be made to-day. Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe divided Upper Canada into nineteen towns, which only sent sixteen members to parliament. The upper province was very thinly populated, and we were on the eve of a European war which was destined to scatter on Continental battle-fields strong hands and ))rave • hearts, that might otherwise have made war on the wilderness in Canada. We were destined, however, to snatch one great prize from the maw of that war, for the founder of the Talbot settle- ment was the youthful secretary of the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. That brilliant period, comprising the closing decades of the eighteenth century, and the opening quarters of the nineteenth, was distinguished by an extraordinary number of remarkable men. Amongst them all — statesman, soldier, scholar, wit, poet — we doubt if there was one more deserving of study — one who, in his career, presents more strikingly original features — than Col. , the Hon. Thomas Talbot, the founder of the Talbot Settlement. Born at Malahif^o, in the County Dublin, on the l7th July, 1771, he was the s(m of Richard Talbot, Esq., and Margaret, Baroness Talbot. The Talbots of Malahide spring from the same source as the Earl of Shrewsbury. Among the great barons who accompanied William the Conqueror wa^' Richard do Talbot. " His grandson, Richard," says Lodge's "Peerage," " was father of Gilbert, ancestor of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who settled in Ire- land in the reign of Henry II., and was invested with the ancient baronial castle of Malahide, and the estate belonging thereto." Thomas Talbot was educated at the Manchester Public Free School. But his knowledge could only be elementary. In 1782, when only eleven years of age, he received a commission. It does not follow that he was taken away from school. He must, however, have left school before he had completed his sixteenth year, as we find him, in 1786, one of the aides-de-camp to the Marquis of Buckingham, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. His ; rlT 106 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. }f 1) ■ilfjl J i i 1 '' ' I'll 1. :^: , ' i 1 :' ! II ' i ■ ' 1 i iliiiil holding this position is explained by the fact that the Marquis was related to the Talbot family. His brother aide-de-camp was that " mischievous boy,"* Arthur Wellesley, afterwards the Duke of Wellington. Both lads were destined for fame — widely differ- ent, indeed, in lustre and magnitude. Both were destined to lei ,d useful lives ; and, perhaps, in his humble sphere, wielding i;he axe amid Canadian forests, Talbot's usefulness may, in the sum of things, prove as great as that of Wellington, throwing his sword into the balance against the French Caesar. It is pleasant to think that the acquaintance of the two early friends continued through life, and that tlie backwoodsman was entertained by the great Duke at Apsley House. Sir Jonah Barrington did not find the first soldier in Europe so approachable. The man who would have predicted the f -ite of the two young aides-de-camp would have certainly sketched a brighter career for Thomas Talbot than for Arthur Wellesley. Talbot had more lively parts, and was equally we;l-connected. But happily for Canada, he early left the path of fame for that of usefulness — the drawing-room and the tented field for the wilderness and the shanty. Many a hero dates his predilection for the life of a soldier from the hour he read the life of Alexander the Great. The life of Nelson sends scores of youths to the yard-arm. Reading Charle- voix's history, while secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, Talbot was filled with an enthusiasm to drive out the wild beasts, and to people the shores of Lake Erie with an industrious papu- lation. Li the yea" 1790, Mr. Talbot joined the 24th regiment ao lieu- tenant, at Quebec. Three years afterwards he received his ma- jority. In 1796, he became lieutenant-colonel of the 5th regiment of foot, which regiment he immediately joined, and did good ser- vice on the Continent, commanding two battalions. After the peace of Amiens, he retired from the army ; came to Canada, and settled at Port Talbot, on a spot which had attracted his fancy during one of General Simcoe's expeditions. On arriving here, Talbot erected a tent on the top of the hill ; turned host ; met the See " Fifty Years of My Life." Albemarle. '^>, THE CASTLE OF MALAHTDE. 107 e Marquis camp was the Duke [ely differ- Bstined to , wielding lay, in the rowing his is pleasant , continued ned by the id not find two young T career for , had more happily for sefulness — ess and the loldier from he life of ing Charle- or Simcoe, ,vild beasts, rious V-'pu- lent a3 lieu- led his ma- th regiment [d good ser- After the Canada, and his fancy [riving here, 1st ; met the governor at the tent-door, and, witli that dignity which was part of Ids inheritance, invited liis Honour to the Castle of Malahide. " Here, General Simcoe," he said, " will I roost ; and will soon make the forest trend>]e under the wings of the flock I will invite by my warblings ai-ound me." On the following morning they stood at the Forks where London now stands, when General Simcoe said : " This will be the chief military depot of the west, and the seat of a district. From this spot I will have a line for a road run as straight as the crow can fly, to the head of the little lake " — where Dundas stands to-day. " He remained in my family four years," wrote General Simcoe to Lord Hobart, in 1803, " when he was called home as major of the 5th regiment, then ordered to Flanders. During that period, lie not only conducted many details, and important duties, inci- dental to the original establishment of a colony in matters of internal regulation, to my entire satisfaction, but was employed in the most confidential measures necessary to preserve that country in peace, without violating, on the one hand, the relations of amity with the United States, and, on the oth' '•, alienating the affection of the Indian nations at that time in open war with them." " In this very critical situation, I principally made use of Mr. Talbot for the most confidential intercourse with the several Indian tribes, and, occasionally, with his Majesty's Minister at Philadelphia. These duties, without any salary or emolument, he executed to my perfect satisfaction." Thus an Irishman played a very important part in settling the new order of things. When Talbot returned to Europe — on the march, or pacing the rock of Gibraltar, or sharing the chagrin of the disastrous expe- dition of the Duke of York — he dreamed another dream than that of military glory ; and, nrnid the roar of battle, mused on found- ing a settlement in the silent wilds of Canada. The peace of Amiens bears date, the 27th of March, 1802. Immediately Colonel Talbot, having determined to lay aside the sword for the axe, made some visits of friend, ip, and then turned his face to the boundless ocean, and the almost equally boundless forest. He wished to take with him a companion, who should helj) I Hi 1)1 m ll'Siill !! ^.:J^ t |l!l il 108 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. him in founding a colony in Canada* This companion was not a lady, for against the charms of the gentler sex Talbot seems to have been proof, but a young man, who was afterwards to be well and favourably known as Lord Dacre. Mr. Brand had been educated in Germany. He had studied in the philosophical school of Kant. A young, imaginative, generous enthusiast, he was in love with liberty — his imagination took fire at progress. " The political, as well as the social and intellectual system of Europe appeared to him, in his youthful zeal, for the improve- ment of his fellow-beings, belated, if not benighted, on the road to it ; and he had embraced, with the most ardent hopes and pur- poses, the scheme of emigration of Colonel Talbot for forming in the New World, a colony, where all the errors of the Old were to be avoided. But his mother died, and the young emigrant with- drew his foot from the deck of the Canadian ship, to take his place in the British peerage — to bear an ancient English title, and become master of an old English estate — to marry a brilliant woman of English fashionable society — and to be thenceforth the ideal of an English country gentleman." From that Arcadia which was to revive under the auspices of Talbot and himself, he turned away at the call of fortune, leaving Talbot to pursue his course alone. He little knew from what hardships he saved him- self when he took his hand from the plough of a pioneer. Talbot landed at a point afterwards known as Port Talbot, on the 21st May, 1803. With characteristic eagerness, the dash- ing Irish soldier immediately set to work with his axe, and cut down a tree. Where now stands the settlement which should always bear his name, was the primeval forest. To the west was unbroken and undisturbed wilderness ; to the east there was no sign of civilization nearer than sixty miles. Where Lon- don now sits, like a queen, in the midst of the finest agricultural region of Canada ; rich in branch banks, telegraph agencies, and daily papers ; with its fine buildings, large hotels, numerous churches, foundries, breweries, petroleum refineries, tanneries, boot factories, factories for making furniture, musical instruments, carriages, candles, soap ; with its population of nearly twenty * See •• Old Woman's Gossip," by Fanny Kemble. "Atlantic Monthly," Feb. 1877. PORT TALBOT. ARKANGKMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT. 100 anion was sex Talbot afterwards . Brand had nilosophical thusiaat, he at progress. I system of le improve- i the road to 368 and pur- i- forming in Old were to igrant with- , to take his English title, •y a brilliant inceforth the ihat Arcadia d himself, he 3 pursue his e saved him- neer. rt Talbot, on 3s, the dash- lis axe, and nient which • •est. To the ;he east there Where Lon- asricultural agencies, sis, numerous (S, tanneries, instruments, early twenty ^thly," Feb. 1877. thousand ; green boughs of trees, which were young when Cartier .sailed up the St. Lawrence, dipped into the river as yet un-named the Thames, and where there is now the busy hum of commerce, the tap of the wood-pecker broke the solemn silence, and echoed down the wooded aisles. Where the corn-fields and orchards of the most favoured townships of Middlesex, Elgin, and Bothwell, on the side of Erie, flourish — there, in 1803, the forest, in all the richness of Canadian vegetation, reigned supreme. Port Talbot must then, as well as now, have been a charming spot. The creek winds round the hills amid rich flats. The approach from the east presents to the delighted eye of the traveller, every variety of woodland scenery — of hill and dale. On j-ounding the acclivity. Lake Erie, stretching away to the horizon, breaks upon the vision. We are here two hundred feet above the lake, and the view, wherever we turn, is of the grandest. While in England, Colonel Talbot had made an arrangement with the Government, by which he obtained a grant of five thousand acres : in this way. For every settler the colonel placed on fifty acres of land, he was entitled to two hundred acres, until five thousand acres were reached. He afterwards obtained for such of the settlers, as desired it, one hundred acres of land each. Some idea of the means of the pioneers may be gathered from the fact, that some of them had not, in thirty years, completed the payment of the moderate dues, £6 9s. 3d. ; and many of the old farmers, at this hour, acknowledge their obligation to Colonel Talbot's liberality. Talbot and his fellow-workers endured great privations. One of these was George Ward, a native of the Queen's County, who joined the British army about the close of the last century. His regiment was ordered to Quebec, and while there he made Talbot's acquaintance, and ever after they remained fast friends. Ward .settled on the banks of the River Thames, about fifteen miles ea.st of where Chatham now stands. When the war of 1812 broke out, he had four sons — William, James, Alexander D., and Talbot St. John. William and James volunteered into the Kent Militia, under Captain John McGregor. James was attacked by a severe cold, in the camp on Burlington Heights, from which he died. William fought under McGregor, at the Battle of the no TIIK HUSH MAN IN CANADA. "f( 111 Nil MtMl Hit .;!Hi Longwood.s. Captain Alexander Ward and his younger )trother were then aiiiall boys, running through tlie cani{» of Teeuniseh and liis warriors, before betook his position on the battle-ground at Moravian Town. The captain loved to describe the hero's . attitude haranguing his warriors, and the l)reathless silence with which they listened to his eloquence. In 1837, Captain Ward raised a company of volunteers, marched to the front, and re- mained under arms until the rebellion was put down ; after this he lived on his farm near Wardsviiie, a quiet and retired life. As with all early settlers, one of their difHculties was to get their corn ground. They were obliged to hollow out with fire the stump of a large tree, until it was converted into a serviceable mortar ; a wooden beetle being used as a pestle, the corn was ren- dered fit for use. But this was a clumsy method, and in 1808, Col. Talbot built a mill at Dunwich, He seems also to have made an eifort to supply them with religion. He assembled them on Sunday for religious worship, and like a patriarch read divine service to them. He ensured punctuality and a large congrega- tion by sending the whiskey -bottle round after the service. Not only did he thus seek to lead their minds to heaven, he united them in the bonds of matrimony. He also, it is said, baptized the children. Yet at no time of his life was he what is understood by a religious man. When a young man he was full of jocosity, and some have affirmed wit ; it is certain that after dinner, like many other men, he was given to retailing stories which are better left untold. His mode of transferring land was peculiar. He was accus- tomed to pencil down the name of the settler, and this rough-and- ready way of giviag a title was aided by his memory. A trans- fer was effected, not by elaborate conveyance, but by a piece of india-rubber and a stroke of the pencil. Things progressed slowly. Not until 1817 was there anything like a shop or store in the settlement ; the wants of the settlers were often supplied from Col. Talbot's stores. In those days the settler had to pay eighteen bushels of wheat for a barrel of- salt ; a yard of cotton cost one bushel. The cotton may now be had for sixpence. The same quantity of wheat would to-day buy eight or ten barrels of salt. Hi, m EXTENT OF THK TALBOT SETTLEMENT. Ill iini^er brother of TecuinHL'li l)attle-,t,'r()un(l ibe the hero's ss silence witli Captain Ward front, and re- t down ; after nd retired life. ies was to get V out with fire bo a serviceable e corn was ren- 1, and in 1808, :io to have made nibled thorn on •ch read divine large congrega- le service. Not aven, he united id, baptized the understood by of jocosity, and iner, like many are better left He was accus- ^his rough-and- lory. A trans- It by a piece of I there anything of the settlers those days the barrel of- salt ; low be had for l-day buy eight The tract settled under the superintendence of Col. Talbot, — a superintendence extending over half-a-century, — comprises twenty-nine townships, containing from KJO.OOO to 180,000 in- habitants. The townships are the following: — Raleigh, Zone, Howard, Maidstone, Rochester, Tilbui-y East, Houghton, Mersea, Howard, Sandwich, Carradoc, Southwold, London (together with the city), Eck.frid, Yarmouth, Romney, Oxford, Harwich, West- minster, Bayham, Mosa, Middleton, Tilbury West, Blandford, Gos- field, Malahide, Dunwich, Al 112 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. If^ of his transactions with eniigiants may be gathorocl from papers laic before the House of Assembly in 1830. The Colonel had, in addition to the original agreement, made another.and, underOrders in Council, settled r vast tract of country far in excess of anything ^ had originally contemplated. From an abstract in the al)ove papers headed " Statements of Lands in the London and Western Districts, which have been placed in the hands of the Hon. Thomas Talbot, under Orders in Council and Orders from the Lieutenant-G )\ 'rnor, for the time being," it appears that the enomious amount of 518,000 acres lying in twenty-nine town- ships had been placed at his disposal. In 1831, the [)Opulation settled in these townships was estimated by the Colonel himself as nearly 40,000 souls. In 1826, he became straitened in means, owing to his exertions to push forward the settlement. He wrote a letter to Earl Bathui-st saying that after twenty yec.:s devoted to the improve- ment of the Western Districts of Canada, he found himself in difficulties. Having established twenty thousand souls without any expense for superintendence to the Government or the settler, and at a .sacrifice of $100,000 to himself, he woke up to the un- pleasant conviction that he was wholly without capital. In re- sponse to this appeal he obtained a pension of $2,000 per annum. He deserved this on public grounds. He was a father to his people, and protected them from the fangs of men in office who cared only for the fees. What power he exercisod may be inferred from the fact that in a minute of the Council addi'essed to His Honour S. Smith, Administrator of the Government of the Province of Upper Canada, Mr. W. D. Powell complains as follows : — " It is" he says, " apparent under this latitude that the Province is at the disposal of Colonel Talbot, by being allowed to receive 150 acres for himself for every settler he placed on 50." But Colonel Talbot, acting under Orders in Council, was beyond his spleen. The secj '/ of the animosity to the Colonel was that his powers interfered with the fees. Nor need one be surprised that the emigrant preferred to flee from an insolent official to one who was pjiternal in his pro- tecting kindness. The land on which he had laid his hand was seen by the Little 7ork Officials to be the most valuable in the country. But the i!!l THE TALHOT ANNIVERSARY 113 from papers onel had, in indorOnlers of anything in the a})Ove md Western if the Hon. iYS from the trs that the '^-nine town- B population el himself as his exertions itter to Earl the improve- nd himself in iouls without 3r the settler, ip to the un- lital. In re- D per annum, to his people, lo cared only -red from the is Honour S. nee of Upper t is" he says, the disposal is for himself acting under ecj '■> of the ired with the preferred to ,1 in his pro- sy the Little try. But the Colonel defeated their sinister aims. Hence large tracts of fertile land, which might have lain untilled, are now occupied hy pros- perous farmers. We need not wonder that the settlers kfpt for many years the day of his first arrival in the country as a feast. • Tlie day ami all who honour it!" was received with futhusiiism, and the "Hem. Thomas Talbot,tliefounderof the Talbot settlement!" was dro'vned in bumpers. After the fiist few years, the anniver- sary always took place in the beautifully situated Town of St. Thomas, called after the Colonel, and ccmtinued until fa.shi()n and strangers drove away the sturdy yeomanry. In ISIH the town of London was surveyed and laid out in lots. Thee were dven out to actual settlers, by Colonel Talbot, on con- wition of the performance of settlement duties, and the building a house. The Castle of Malahide, at Port Talbot, where the first men in Canada, and noble and distinguished men from the old country, were frequently entertairfed, was built like an eagle's nest on a boM high cliff overhanging the lake. It was a long range of low buildings, formed of rough logs and shingles. The main building consisted of three princii)al apartments, of which the dining-room was a really handsome room. The kitchen was large, and the fire- place designed by a man on hospitable thoughts intent. Under ground were cellars for storing wine, milk, and provisions. To the east was the granary and store-rooms, on the west the dining- room, and between these two an audience -room. In front of the building was a Dutch piazza, where poultry of all kinds sunned themselves and dozed. The rafters had never been touched with any implement but the axe. In the audience chamber, where vis- itors were received and business transacted, the furniture was very plain. A solid deal table, a few chairs with skin bottoms, a cup- board, a couple of chests — that was all. The only thing imparting an air of comfort to the room was the ample fire-place. The colonel drank good wine, and if his fare was homely, it was of the best. Near to the main building was another, containing a range of bedrooms. In latter years a suite of rooms of more pretensions was added. Around the house rose a variety of outbuildings of various shapes, unharmonious in dimensions, and unsymmetri- cally disposed. One of these was the log hut which first sheltered 8 {ill! in 114 THE raiHHMAN IN CANADA. the Colonel. Many of these outbuildings were for the geo«e and fowl, of which he reared a sutKcient number to .supply a county From thi.s clifl-upheld castle the blue lake was seen .spreaditig away like a large mind dreandng of all it has read and thought in sunny hour«. On the'left was Port Stanley ; and it was jdeasant to .sit and watch the .schoorors sail by, or some little sk iff, with fuli-bcllied canvas, plough through the bright waves. Behind the house was an open tract of land, prettily broken, where many head of cattle grazed, and large Hocks of .sheep brow.sed. There were sixteen acres of orchard, and a beautiful flower garden. House, grazing gi'ounds and cliff, all were framed in luxuriant woods, through which in summer steals a gentle stream into the lake, and in win- ter roars a raging torrent. " The storuis and the gradual action of the waves," wrote Mrs. Jameson, forty years ago, " have detached large portions of the cliff in front of the house, and with them huge trees. Along the lake shore I found trunks and roots of trees half buried in the sand, or half overflowed with water, which I often mistook for rocks. I remember one large tree which, in fal- ling headlong, still i-emained suspended by its long and stray fd>res to the cliff above ; its position was now reversed — the top hung downwanis, shivered and denuded. The large spread root, upturned, formed a platform on which new earth had accumulated, and new vegetation sprung forth of flowers and bushes and sucklings. Alto- gether it was a mo.st picturesque and curious object." ■ Up to the introduction of responsible government into Canada, the Governors regularly made tours as far as Port Talbot. No man of rank felt he had " done" Canada without making this visit, and ladies were anxious to see the man who could resist their charms. Among the Colonel's visitors were the Duke of Rich- mond, Mr. Labouchere, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Sir J. Colborne, Lord Ayhner, Chief Justice Robinson, and others. Hundreds of less note called to pay their respects. There was open house for all, and while tho gentlemen were entertained in the dining-ro(jm, Jeffrey, the confidential servant, made the poor deserving settler happy in the kitchen. The Colonel had often to preside over the culinary department him.self. Sometimes he met with i snob, and treated him as he deserved. Mr. Parkins, at one time Sherilf of London, England, was invited I AN EXTRAORDINARY LIKENESS. 115 ewe and I county, ing away in sunny io nit unci Jl-belluHl ouse was i of cattle e sixteen i, grazing , through (1 in win- 1 action of 1 detached yith them )ts of trees 1-, which I ich,in fal- ,tray fiVjres ^ top hung upturned, 1, and new ngs. Alto- )o Canada, No man I this visit, [esist their of Kich- Colborne, indreds of house for ling-room, ling settler \g ov.er the deserved. r&s invited to dine witli him. During dinner, he made use of offensive lan- guage about one of Col. Talbot's friends. " I do not permit such language to be made use of at my table," said the host. Parkins, lifting the edge of the tablecloth and discovering a pine board, cried : " Your table ! Do you call this a taljle i " " Jeffrey," said Col. Talbot, " let Mr. Parkins' horse bo brought to the door." " xMy dogs don't understand heraldry," .said he to a countryman, who sought to influence him by an imaginary pedigree. A Yankee, who preferred to live under the British flag, applied for land, x'he Colonel asked him, whether he had got a good chanicter. Kis reply wa.s in the affhmative. " From whom ? " " From the Al- mighty." " And what does He say ? " " Why, He recommends me to take care of myself, and to get as nuich land as I can." " Very well," said the C(»lonel, " that is a good recommendation and you shall have a lot." Like most men of Innnour, he was benevolent, ai'd a love of justice was the predominant feature of his character. Mrs. Jamesm grew enthusiastic over Port Talbot. She found the Talbot District containing twenty-eight town.ships and 680,000 acres of land, of whic!i, at that time, some forty years ago, 98,700 acres were cleared. The inhabitants, including the population of ten towns, amounted to 50,000." "You see," .said Talbot gaily, " I may boast, like the Irishman in the farce, of having peopled a whole country with my own hands." All the agreements were in his own handwriting. He was then about sixty-five years of age, but did not look so much. "In spite of rustic dress, his good humoured, jovial and weather-beaten face," writes vhat fascinating authoress, " and the primitive simplicity, not to .say rudeness of his dwelling, he has, in his features, air and deportment, that 'something' which stamps him gentleman. And that something which thirty-four years of soli- tude has not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth — things of more consequence, when philosophically and philanthropi- cally considered, than we are apt to allow. He must have been very handsome when young ; his resemblance now to our royal family, particularly to the King (William IV.), is so very striking, as to be something next to identity. Good natured people have set themselves to account for this wonderful likeness in various ways pos ibleand impossible; but after a rigid comparison of dates and 'ill t in ii Hi II !•! H'll 116 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. ages, and assuming all that latitude which scandal usually allows herself in these matters, it remains unaccountable, unless we sup- pose that the Talbots have, var la grdce de Dieu, a family knack of resembling kings. You may remember that the extraordinary resemblance Avhich his ancestor, Dick Talbot (Duke of Tyrconnel) bore to Louis the fourteenth, gave occasion to the happiest and most memorable repartee ever recorded in the chronicle of wit."* Mrs. Jameson was delighted with his flower garden covering over two acres neatly laid out and enclosed and evidently a hobby and a pride to the old nian. It abounded in roses, the cuttings of which he had brought from the gardens of England. " Of these he gathered the most beautiful buds, and presented them to me with such an air as might have became Dick Talbot present- ing a bouquet to Miss Jennings. We then sat down on a pretty seat under a tree, where he told me he often came to meditate. He described the appearance of the spot when he first came here, as contrasted with its present appearance, and we discussed the exploits of some of his celebrated and gallant ancestors, with whom my acquaintance was (luckily) almost as intimate as his own. Family and aristocratic pride 1 found a prominent feature in the character of this remarkable man, A Talbot of Malahide, of a family representing the same barony from father to son for six hundred years, he set, not unreasonably, a high value on his noble and unstained lineage; and in his lonely position, the sim- plicity of his life and manners lent to these lofty and not unreal pretensions a kind oi poetical dignity. '■ I told him of the surmises of the people relative to his early life and his motives for emigrating, at which he laughed. " ' Charlevoix,' said he ' was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to this place. You know he calls this the ' Paradise of the Hurons.' Now I was resolved to get to Paradise by hook or by crook and so I came here.' ""f *In a note Mrs. Jameson recalls the reply of Talbot when sent Ambassador to France. Louis XIV., struck by the extraordinary likeness to himself, said, " Monsieur L'AmViassadeur, est-ce-que Madame votre Mfere a jamais 6ti dans la cour du Roi mon Pere ?" The witty Irishman replied with a low bow, " Non, Sire -mais mon pk-e y aait!" t Winter Studies, vol. ii., pp. 197, 198, 199. "«.T DISLIKE TO FEMALE SOCIETY. 117 illy allows is we sup- lily knack raordinary Fyiconnel) ppiest and ! of wit."* n covering ;ly a hobby he cuttings and. " Of ied them to >ot present- on a pretty meditate, came here, scussed the jstors, with mate as his lent feature f Malahide, to son for alue on his )n, the sim- not unreal to his early He said, seriously, he had accomplished what he had resolved to accomplish, but he would not for the universe again go through the horrors he had gone through in forming the settlement. He broke out against the follies and falsehoods and restrictions of artificial life in bitter and scornful terms. Yes — he was happy and the old man sighed as he said so. He was alone — a lonely man. His sympathies and affectionfj had been without natural outlet. "But," says Mrs. Jameson, forgetting all she had ever read about the vanity of fame and human ingratitude, " he is a great man who has done great things and the good which h«i has done will live after him. He has planted at a terrible sacrifice an endurinff name and fame .nd will be commemorated in this ' brave new world ' this land of hope, as Triptolemu' among the Greeks. " For hie indifference and dislike to female society, and his determination to have no settler within a certain distance of his own residence, I could easily account when I knew the man; both seem to me the result of certain habits of life acting on a certain organization. He has a favourite servant, Jeffrey by name, who has served him faithfully for more than five -and twenty years, ever since he left off cleaning his own shoes and mending his own coat. This honest fellow, not having forsworn female companionrjhip, began to sigh after a wife — ' A wife ! oh ! Sainte Marie Benedicit^ ! How might a man have any adversitt^ That hath a wife?' And like the good knight in Chaucer, he did * Upon his bare knees pray God him to send A wife to last unto his life's end.' " So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman nearest at hand — one, of whom we must needs suppose that he chose her for her virtues, for most certainly it was not for her at- tractions. The Colonel swore at him for a fool ; bat, after a while, Jeffrey, who is a favourite, smuggled his wife into the house, and the colonel whose increasing age renders him rather more depend- ent on household help, seems to endure very patiently this addi- tion to his family, and even the presence of a white-headed chubby "^' •"■»"'««"«• '"Hi ' I' m U! )i!i I, ! m 118 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. little thing, which I found runuing about without let or hind- rance," What a sad picture and how beautiful it is at the same time made by the presence of a child with its fearless innocence and the hint it gives of womanly care and kindness. There is always srme unhappy explanation for indifference or dislike to the society of women. Either the mark has a small, narrow nature, or else a woman has been the instrument to him of a great sorrow and he reasons by a sweeping generalization from one woman to her sex generally, or he has so high an ideal of the fe'^ipl character that experience fills him with disgust. Yet as the existence of hypo- crites does not prove there are no saints, so the fact that we see in some women treachery and gi*eed, miserable intrigue and vil- lainous plotting to plunder or ruin, is no reason why we should forget the lessons taught us by the noble bearing of a mother, and by the chaste dignity of a sister. A young lady once, on hear- ing a gentleman quote the following words of Tennyson, — " No angel but a dearer being all dipt in angel instincts," and apply them to women generally, said very wittily : — '' But the trouble is they are not dipped deep enough." Some are dipped deep enough, though they are perhaps not the majority. They, how- ever, furnish the ideal towards which all women should strive. When we remember how high a chivalrous and noble-hearted man places a woman for whom he has the least tenderness, and the petty, selfish, ravenously lucre-loving character of multitudes whose face and form are like those we dream of in angels, when above all we reflect on the hideous contrasts furnished by haughty professions and humiliating practice, we need not wonder when we see a large-natured man like Talbot banish himself from the solace of love and gentle companionship. The inconsistency of incon- sistent women has tainted a whole literature, and made the men of genius of France libellers of half its population. It is better that dis- gust should take the form it took in Talbot's case than that we should grow satisfied with the hasty, low, and utterly false concep- tion of the character of woman we form, when the wings drop from the angel, and the haroine sinks in the moral scale to the level of a lap-dog, and revenge ourselves during the rest of our lives by breaking '.^Wgi lKIPW ;t or hind- same time acence and e is always the society e, or else a ow and he to her sex ,racter that le of hypo- hat we see ue and vil- we should mother, and !e, on hear- 'son, — " No and apply the trouble lipped deep The3^ how- kould strive, learted man ess, and the multitudes ,ngels, when 3y haughty onder when 3lf from the acyof incon- e the men of ,ter that dis- han that we 'alse concep- ;8 drop from ihe level of a by breaking '1 NOBLE WOMEN. 119 m epigrams on the betterhalf of the human race * For all the vain and bad ones there are plenty of good women whose smile has no be- trayal in it, and in the vivacity of whose eye there is no death; who can literally double our joysf ; whose approbation is to genius as a draught from Helicon itself i ; whose sympathy is like the dew, as * Even the character of Lucretia has not escaped the sneers of French writere— " Ah ! (lit le Martinis de Riberville, Je ne pense pas que ce soit ce que Monsieur le Conseiller appri^ende, et js ciois qu'il est Lien assur^ de Madame son t^pouse. Ma foi, dit bon vieillard, il n'y a qu'heur et malheur h cela, et les femmes sent fideles ou infidMes sulon les occasions. Lucrtee tHoit la plus cruelle femme de Rome, et elle ne laissa point de se rendre avant que de se tuer."— "LaFausse Clelie." The date of the volume is 1718, and it was published " avec permission du roi." t The toast of " The LaiUes, " as giv^n vy a wit will probably be familiar to most of my readers—" Here's to the ladies, who hi-ive our sorrows, double our joys and treble our expenses." X The power of women — their presence — their conversation — their encouragement in stimulating the literary faculty — has not been sufficiently dwelt on, and is little under- stood. The mind works better if a woman is in the room. She throws into the air some subtle electricity. All strong minded men and all great races (witness the Jews) breathe through the nosa entirely— the mouth being kept for its proper functions of eating and drinking and talking. The brain is braced and stimulated by the air pass- ing through the nose. It is possible that the very air breathed by either sex is more stimulating to that sex if members of the opposite sex breathe it at the same time. This is felt so keenly by persons highly organized that we need not be surprised that the world saw exaggeration or wild love in the terms in which John Stuart Mill spoke of his wife. The power of Caroline Michaelis over the mind of Schlegel is one of the most intesesting studies in literarj' history. Both before and after she becomes his wife her influence was on him like an inspiration. Nor would he ever have been the man he grew to be had it not been for her. But Caroline Schlegels do not grow like black- berries on every hedge. She writes to her little sister, a young affianced bride, "When the Ilm's Hm's (the dandy students) pass under your eyes, do you really do abso- lutely nothing for vanity's sake ? It would be impossible for you entirely to annihilate its movements, for this is the most involuntary of all original sins, and one we need as little to be ashamed of as corns or toothache. Onfy we ought neve- to mwea step, either bachonrds or forwards, towards encotiraging the failing You cannot help Us being plea- sant to you if your veiled cap suits you ; but baoare how you set it more at one person than another." When her first husband died she returned to her parents' roof. She WTites to Meyer—" I do not trouble myself concerning the future. ♦ * ♦ Qne aim alone do I consider myEelf obliged to pursue with unfaltering step— that of my daugh- ter's welfare. All the rest lies stretched before me like the vast expanse of the troubled ocean. If at times I find myself turning giddy at this spectacle, and feel my head whirl' I just close my eyes and still trast myself on it without fear," and she compares her- self, after the first great burst of grief, to an invalid " re8torey L>'Arcy McGee.] England's oldest warrior. 127 a Feb., 1853." le founders of an exception- l tlie colonists, )ster, amid the mi our shores. IS our of Canada, ciency and far- another Irish- the charms of , on the most a patriarciial a less uncon- aely tempered her than that lier chapters I out the world. Scotia": "Nova AtlanticlMonthly": ach's " History ": irliaraentary Com- mville, T^arlington, Early settlement "Historical and wn to the present tenary of American raries," by the Rev. Any other word than world would he too small. For on what shore have they not left monuments of their ener3. He served in the Peninsula where he commanded a light battalion and n brigatle, and was present at most of the engagements whieli culminated witli Napulvons overthrow at Waterloo. He took a ]>rominent part in theas.'ault on Badajos and fought gallantly at the battles of Salamanca, Vittoriaand i,he Pyrenees, receiving the Gold Cross for personal bravery and distinguished services. He was owner of the large estate of tJarrigorau and he was as considerate to his tenau- Jry as he was br.ive in the field. Some verses in Truth, April 5th 1877, maj' be (ptoted : He was the oldest warrior England had And from hting family had sprung ; He 'von his spars when he was yet a lad. And fought when the old century was young. At Badajos the fatal breach he scaled ; He lived through Salamanca's bloody fray ; Was at Vittoria where a mona."ch quailed. And lived to tell of Talavera'ti day. Bravely he fought through the fierce campaign. That brought the beaten Frenchmen to their knees, When just from their last holdin;,'-place in Spain, They turned to bay amongst the Pyrenees. Bravely >"! foiight and well ; he w'ore The golden cross for valour on his breast, Until he died upon a foreign shorts, And found at length from life's long struggle rest. The wiiter th-m upraids England for her parsimony in not sending over to Toias some |/oginnin<^f of Britisli rule. It is in no spirit of unwortliy rivalry or small boasting that I say tlu'ir hands liavo done more tlian tlioso of any other to clear the vvilderness. If vo look at tlie census alone it proves this. But the census does not tell all. There are thousands of flourisliing acres liere in (^ana((-ieper, D/i-iester, and i>aii -ube, .^nd even in the An -do« in the Caucusufl. This is one example out of hundreds, by which "'•' trace the former nbi(inity of the Kelts, who as lati; as tlie Christian era were present in large numbers, as far east as Bohemia. " The 3tcond series of invading Aryan swarm-< consisted of Germans, who began by pushing the Kelts westward, and ended by assuming a great part of their territory, and mixing with them to a considerable extent. There is some German blood in Spain, and a good deal in France an-(io'i i" trace the foriucr ill large numhers, or :.i aus, who began by of their territor)-, lan blood in Spain, glish, whiK- Keltic nently Teutonic in ike, in the Atlantk kl Deatiny." He Iwho are even sup- ROUGHINO IT IN THE BUSH. 131 Brave peasa'its whom the Father, God, Bent to reclaim the stubborn aod ; Well they perfonn'd their task and won Altar and hearth for the woodman's son." The settlor who clears the country is its true father. He makes all possible. Without his axe, his log cabin, his solitude, his endurance, his misery, we could not have the abundant appliances of civilization, the stately temple, the private mansion, the palaces of law and legislation, the theatre, the enjoyment of social inter- course, refinement, all, in a word, he forewent. A hard lot even when the settler, owing to somi peculiar a-l vantages, was able to take with him into the wilderness some of the conveniences of civilized life. Under the happiest circumstances there were hard- ships and difficulties. The exclusion, was drear enough during the later spring and summer and autumn, when activity was possible ; but inable of being held, by a stretch of fancy, in that light, the sleigh or cariole with its charmiiiif bolls would bear them over the snow to the social centre. But for those far withdrawn into the heart of the forest, in miser- able huts, what a life ! Field labour suspended, no emplo}ment outside or inside, none of the comforts of a home, hundreds of miles from a doctor*, far removed from the church-going boll, without * " It was a melancholy season, one of severe mental and bodily suflfering. Those who have drawn such agreeable pictures of a re.sideriee in the backwoods never dwell upon the periods of .sickness wliei "ar from medical advice, and often, as in my case, de])rived of the assistance of friends by adverse circumstances, you are left to languish, unat- tended, upon the couch of pain. The day that my hu.sband was free of the fit, he did what he could for me and his poor sick babes ; but, ill as he was, he was obliged to sow the wheat to enable the man to proceed with the drag, and was, therefcn-e neces- sarily absent in the field the greater pari of the day. I was very ill, yet, for hours at a timo I had no friendly voice to cheer me, to proffer me a drin^v of cold watoi-. or to attend to the poor oabe ; and worse, still worse, there was no onj to belj> thiit jiale, marble child, who lay so cold and still, with ' half-clo.sed violet eyes,' as if death had already chilled his young heart in his iron grasp. There was not a breatl\ of air ii ov.r close burning bed-closet ; and the weather was sultry beyond all that I liavf '•:ince ex- perienced. ♦ * » I bad asked of Heaven a son, and there he lay helpless by the side of his aim )st helpless m )ther. wh > could not lift him up in her arms or still his cries. * * * Often did I weep myself to sleep andjwake to weep again with reaew mI anguish. R uighing it in the Bash, such and greater suffering was the fate of thou- aauds." — Mrs. Moodie. M if il '•*!', I l: ll ■ Hi iiiii ii| 5! 111 132 THE IRISHMA.N IN CANADA. the soothing ministrations of religion, exiled from all the sweet human relations, tho^^e of the family alone excepted ; no school for the children, a dreary monotony in which note of time is lost, the news of the world heard of but fitfully, no hope save of the most humble kind, ambition impossible, an existence not much more intellectual than that of the wolf which dogs the settler's footseps ot an evening, stealthy as one of the gathering shadows or the hog that burrows for an acorn near his shanty. The sacrifice of thousands of lives in such an existence is the price we pay for a country made a clear stage for the civic man to play his part. Occasionally we see great force of int'^llect and character assert itself in spite of the benumbing surroundings. But to most Fate says — go work and die and of your fallen bodies make a bridge over which other men may travel to the fair cities and country towns, law courts and parliaments, wei' written ne s- papers, fame and power, and all the noble conflicts of political manhood. If the settler was refined, as he often was, Scotch and Irish and English, he found himself brought in contact with coarse human as well as other coarse coiiditions. The settler who never went near the woods, but took up his place in some small tnwn, he too was a pioneer, and often made great sacrifices, and v/hether he made sacrifices or not., if he played his part manfully, deserves to have the debt of grat'^uJe paid. When we first ask ourselves what are the (jualities which make a man a good settler, we think chiefly of stern perseverance, and scarcely give a thought to the softer and more winning human characteristics. Yet very little reflection would have convinced us that kindness, generosity, good humour, sprightliness and noble- ness, are of almost more importance in the bush than in the crowded city. In the city you can hire attention ; in the wilder- ness you must look to the heart of those you are brought in con- tact with for it. In the town you can buy amusement and dis- traction ; in the wood you are thrown on the bent and genius of those who happen to be your neighbours, your allies, or your servai.ts. What sort of a settler should we expect the Irishman to make ? What work of difficulty and adventure has he ever shrunk from ? We might hope to see in him more than patient toil an07; G. 4,478; Dutch 0.005; Welsh 1,()UG; Africana 1,701; C. U., y(),016. In Halifax City the Irish predominate, the figures bein*,' I., n.OOr); S,, 4,817; E., 0,720; G., 1,4G9; C. R, 12,431. The totals for the whole of Nova Scotia are I., 02,851; S., 120,041; E, 118,520; G., 21,042; F., 32,833; Dutch 1208; African 0,212; C. R., 102,001. In Piince Edward the nuniljcr of persons of Irish blood Is 31,000; S., 25,484 ; E., 21,878. In Manitol)a the Irish element is not yet .strong. But in due time, side by side with the Scotch ajid English, men of Irish blood are destined to pcjssess those fertile regions. In Eiitish Columbia then; are no statistics to hand. In New- foumlland the number of persons l)orn in Ireland is nearly double that of those bom in Scotland or in England. The population is 1 10,530, and what the proportion of Irish blood is it is not easy to say, but it is safe to assume that it is very large. Newfoundland, which will, I hope, soon make part of the Do- minion, is the first British colony estal)lished on this continent, and is supposed to have been discovered in the tenth century by Biarne, son of Heriulf Bardson.* But the first discovery, generally considered historical, is that of Cabot, whom King Henry VII * Newfoundlaml is the oldest Colony of (ireat liritain in America, having l)een taken |)0.s.sesHion of by John and Seba.stian C^abot for King Henry Sevt.ith, in the year 1407 and called Baccalaos, the word used for cod fish ))y the natives, 'i' here is every reasoii to believe, however, that it was discovered long before, viz., in 1001, by Biron or ^Morn who named that £).irt where he landed Winland ; he was a Norman ; on liis return he told of his discovery. "Lief," son of " Eric Redhead," immediately fitted out a vessel with thirty-five men, and taking Biorn with him, set out for the newly-discovered country. Afterwards settlements were made from Greenland and Iceland ; it even api>ears that a Bishop was stationed there. Eric, Bishoji of Greenland, having g(meto Winland in 1121, where it is supposed he died. Sub8e(iuont adventurers discovered Latin books in possession of one of the chiefs, supposed to have belonged to the Bishop. The Island was subsecjuently called Estotiland. According to Anspach's History there is no doubt that Winland, Estotiland, and Newfoundland, are the same country. The native Indians, now extinct, or nearly so, are supposed to be degenerate descendants of the Norman settlers ! In 1.583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of the harbour of St Johns, in the presence of all the ships there, in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and established a colony. Colonies were afterwards established there by Sir George Calvert ill the reign of James First— one of his (Calvert's) principal men, Daniel Powell, was, an liishman ; by the Marquis' of Hamilton, in time of Charles First. Lord Falkland (Gary) in 1C20, sent a colo^v of Irishmen there, but one cannot find their names. John Gray, a merchant of Bristol, made a good settlement in 1608 ; but then the great and chief inducement was the fisheries; gradually the country was found not to be the barren spot represented.— See Anspach's History. ^1^ SETTLEMENTS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 143 1,701; O.K., ires being I., 'he totals for E, 118,520; R., 102,001. jod is 81,000; nt is not yet and English, irtile regions, d. In New- learly double lo population it is not easy •t of the Do- lls continent, h century by jry, generally ^ Henry VII chagiii' ' Captain Whitlxmrne took steps to introduce law among the population. Other settlements followed, and in 1728 Newfound- lank, released from the nominal control of Nova Scotia, was erected into a separate province. In most of these settlements there must have been a proportion of Irish, as in 1753, out of a total po])ulation of 13,112, part of which, however, was migrati)ry, there were 1,795 Catholics, chiefly Irish. In 1784, a great stimulus was given to Irish emigration to Newfoumlland by the Rev. Father O'Donnell, a native of Tip- perary, who had been educated at Prague, and who was attracted by the toleration prevailing on those shores to leave his ntitiNo countiy, and settle with his people, beyond that ocean, w^liich seemed to the men of those days so dividing. This learned divine was appointed, in 1790, Roman Catholic Bishop of the island. For aiding General Skerret in putting down a nnitiny among a regiment raised there — a mutiny which was only i)art of a wide-spread disaffection, instinct with the principles and feel- ings of 1708 — the bishop was granted by the Imperial Govern- ment an annuity of £50 sterling. Among the Irishmen who have risen to prominence here, D'Arcy ^''cGee mentions tlie Hon. L. O'Brien, who administered the Province, Chief -Justice Brady, the Hon. Mr. Kent ;,ud the Hon. Mr. Shea, both of whom became premiers. Bonn}'castle writes that " more than one-half of the people are Irish ; so much so indeed as, considering the verdure of the earth, the absence of reptiles, the salubrity of the air, and peculiar adaptation of the soil to the growth of the potato, to tempt one very c. ien to call it ' Transatlantic Ireland.' " The same author ;' ' 'i' lit T'j' 11! 'i'l'ii i!?i , I m»^ m 144 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. says : " The Irish arc an excitable race, which they themselves do not aifect to deny ; they are easily led, but difficult to drive. But the good qualities of the Irish peasant abroad are very prominent, and here in Newfoundland they are so busily employed during a great part of the year, in very small and detached sections, that they have no time to think about politics, or about anything else but getting their bread for themselves and their families, to pro- vide in time for a long, severe and serious winter. I declare, and I am sure I shall be borne out by every class of people in this country, and by all those whose domicile is a mero transient one, that a more peaceable, respectable, loyal, or a kinder-hearted race than the Newfoundland English and Irish, whether emigiants or native born, I never met with," Party political and religious spirit, however, ran high in the island. Many old country merry-making customs were kept up by the Irish population, amongst others. Bonny castle particularizes that of the boys on St. Stephen's Day, going round from door to door with a green bush decorated with ribbons, &c., and containing a little bird to represent the wren, while they sing — ' The wren, the wren, the king of all birds, On St. Stephen's Day was caught in the firs." St. Patrick's Day is also regularly celebrated. Both Protestants and Catholics generally unite, in compliment to each other, in observ- ing the days of their respective saints, namely St. George and St. Patrick. " But the devotion," says Anspach, " with which the latter is honoured by the sons of Erin is by far the greater of the two." They also kept up the Sheelagh's Day. This is the day for getting sober. The religious bodies in Newfoundland consist of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic, the Presbyterian, the Independent, and the Methodist Churches. The Church of England and the Roman Catholic are by much the largest. The former was estab- lished by the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," and the mission in Newfoundland was one of the original objects of its care. William III., Prince of Orange, was the father and founder of this Society, which has since spread and done so much good. In the list of clergy of the Church oi Eng- m m SIR THOMAS COCHRANE. U5 land, in 1842, several Iiish names appear. Amongst the namesof governors of the island are a few Irish ones, and the most pros- perous administration, up to 1842, was that of Sir Thomas Coch- lane, who was appointed in 1826. His administration was a vig- orous one, and he has the merit of having opened roads in the vicinity of the capital, and of directing great improvements in the town itself, Avhilst the cultivation of the soil consequent upon his indefatigable zeal in forming internal communications, began to be attended to, the wheat began to yellow the landscape, and good pasturage was provided for horses, cattle, and sheep. He built a Government-house of solid stone. Vigilant, .arseeing, politic and princely, ho retained his office until 1834, bestowing upon it great and unwearied attention, and displaying a magnificence in his vice-regal functions before unknown. In 1835, he obtained a new commission with very extensive powers, and was constituted, in point of fact and law, the first civil governor. In 1830, the venerable and much beloved bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, the Irish Dr. Scallan died, universally lamented. He was succeeded by Dr. Fleming. The first newspaper in Newfoundland was printed by an Irish- man. The Royal Oazette and Ketvfoundland Advertiser was pub- lished on the 27th August, 1807, by Mr. John Ryan, and continued up to 1842 at all events, (the date of Bonnycastle's History) as the official Government paper under the title of the Royal Oazette. Mr. Ryan had then Mr. Withers associated with him at St. Johns. The oldest Benevolent Association on the Island is the Benevo- lent Irish Society, which was founded in 180G. Soon after the cession of Nova Scotia to the British Crown, at the j)ressing request of the New England Colonies, the British Government ottered free grants of land to th . military men who should elect to settle there ; a free passage, together with tools, arms and rations for a year, being proffered as an inducement. On the 2l8tof June, 1840, four thousand disbanded soldiers, under Governor Cornwallis, arrived in Chebucto Harbour, and com- menced the settlement of that town, which has since grown into a great city, with churches and cathedrals, with banks and school-houses, spacious public buildings, a score or more of hotels, stores which would take rank as specimens of architecture 10 ivtr 'n, "f \^i "'i. ;., 1 |.' ill 1 1 IMi. 1^ 1^ i ■ 1 . '; 1 : 1 1: ;l 11 llll'llj 146 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. in London, great manufactories, and a dockyard which covers fourteen acres. Over the splendid harbour alive with shipping, frown eleven different fortifications. It is the chief naval station of Canada, Two regiments of the line, besides artillery and engineers are always stationed here. Opposite the city stands the Town of Dartmouth, one of the prettiest in the world. The Hceneiy is beautiful, and the natural beauty is enhanced by pretty villas along the shore. An extensive steam communication con- nects Halifax with various parts of Continental Canada, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, the United States, the West Indies and Great Britain. From east and west run admir- able lines of railway. It has a population of some thirty-three thousand, and the value of its assessed property cannot be much less than S20,0()0,()00. The aggregate of its imports and ex- ports is not at present much below 818,000,000. Of the four thousand veterans, who thus early laid the foundation of the Liverpool of the Atlantic coast, a considerable number were undoubtedly Irish. The foundation of the City of Halifax was laid in 174)9. Ten years after this, it was described in a contem- porary account as divided into " Halifax proper, Irishtown, or the Southern, and Dutchtown or the northern suburbs." At this period the inhabitants numbered three thousand, one-third of whom were Irish. The President of the Irish Charitable Society was in 1755 appointed one of His Majesty's Council for the Province of Nova Scotia. If we examine the old books we shall find the fact that Nova Scotia was largely settled by Irishmen made clear. A book called " Nova Scotia Archives," gives a long list of the first settlers and among the names wefind Neil,0'Neil,Fitzgibbon,Flynn,Cavanagh, Casey, Ryan, Fitzgerald, Whelan, Blake, Mooney, Connor, Owen, Magrath, Moore, Donahoe, Doyle, Sullivan, Kennedy, Farrell, Plunkett, Connolly and many others, undoubtedly Irish. Mur- doch in his "History of Nova Scotia," gives many Irish names some of them belonging to men who played a prominent part in the government of that Province. Amongst the Justices of Peace and Agents to assign lands to settlers at Shelburne, appear the names of James McEwan, Peter Lynch, William C. White, Patrick Wall and Michael Langan ; amongst the Privy Council for 1789 mm ST. Patrick's day in nova scotia, 1796. 147 we find the Hon. Thomas Cochran and the Hon. Charles Morris. Either Morris or his son was afterwards President of the Irish Society. Mathew Cahill was Sheriff of Halifax that year, and a levee was held at the Government house on St. Patrick's day. Hon. Thomas Cochran amongst others was appointed a trustee of a Grammar School to be forthwith erected. This was, without doubt the first ever built in Halifax. Wm. Cochran, of Trinity College, Dublin, was chosen its first master. On St. Patrick's day in 1796 a levee was held at the Qovenvtuent House. About 5 P. M., the Irish Society's dmner took place at Gallagher's. H. R. H. Prince Edward Sir John Wentworth, some members of the Council, the Speaker and several members of the House a V,; ended as guests. In thc^ Ualifax Journal of Novenj.bei, 1799, we learn that the Rev. J. Murdoch died at Musquodoboit, on Thursday, 21st of November, aged 55 years, that he was a native of Ireland and came over to the Province 32 years before, in 1767, as Presbyterian minister for Cumberland. He had been settled about eight years at Musquodoboit. His death was much lamented by the inhabi- tants of that settlement and by his family, he having left a widow and ten children. The historian mentions in a note that the old gentleman was his gi-andfather. Rev. Geo. Wright, aged 67, who was long the Head Master of the Halifax Grammar School, died in 1819. He was Missionary of the Round Church, North Suburbs, and Chaplain to the Garrison of Halifax. He was an Irishman, and, says the obituary, " a most assiduous and conscientious instructor of youth." He had been trained at TriiJty College, Dublin. On St. Patrick's day, 1811, the members of the Irish Society celebrated the anniversary of the Saint, by dining with a large number of guests at the Masonic Hall. His Excellency, the Lieutenant-Governor, and Major-General Balfour, with their re- spective suites, Commissioner Inglefield, the Hon, the Judge of the Vice-Admirality Court, the Commissary-General, the Captains of the Navy, the Garrison staff, and others were among the guests. The company sat down to dinner at half -past five. The Hon. Charles Morris, President ; S. H. George Esq., acting as Vice- President. After the cloth was removed, upwards of forty toasts ii I'll I rh' i: iiiiiliij Cl: I' it If I? 1)1:1 r 1 148 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. were given, mostly V^umpers,' among which were: " The memory of the Pious St. Patrick ; " " Our Venerable King, may the prayers of liis loyal people be heard ; " " The Prince of Wales and the British Constitution ; " " The Duke of Clarence and the Navy ; " " The Duke of Kent and the Knights of St. Patrick ; " '• The Queen and the rest of the Royal Family ; " " The land we live in, and may it long be governed by its present benefactor, and may health and happiness ever attend him." His Excellency thanked tiic Company for the honour done him. He considered the prosperity of the Province due, next to the in- dustry of its inhabitants, to the effects of the wise and beneficent in- structions of his Sovereign, which it was his happy lot to execute, and after representing in glowing colours the achievements of the British army in Spain and Portugal, and the heroic virtues of its commander-in-chief, gave as a toast " Lord Wellington," which was drunk with three times three, and the most enthusiastic applause. After that came, " The General and the Garrison ; " " Admiral Sawyer and the squadron under his command." His Excellency and most of the principal guests retired at nine o'clock. "The rest of the company," says the reporter of the Halifax Gazette, " sat to a very late hour." It is to be feared they had a bad head-ache the next morning. The Right Rev. Dr. Edmund Burke, who died in 1820, in the 78th year of his age, was an Irishman, having been born in the County Kildare. He was Parish Priest of the Town of Kildare, 'vl'.ich he vacated at the frequent and earnest solicitations of some ot the Professors of the Seminary of Quebec, and arrived in Lower Canada the 2nd of August, 1780. There he officiated as a clergy- man, and taught the higher branches of mathematics and philoso- phy, with great credit to himself and benefit to the students who crowded to hear the lectures of a man celebrated in the University of Palis as exceeding most men of his day in mathematical science, as also in the classics. He was particularly strong in the Greek and Hebrew languages. He taught in Quebec until Lord Dor- chester appointed him, as a faithful and capable person, to reconcile the many powerful tribes of Indians inhabit: iig the country about Lake Superior and the back of the Ohio and Louisiana, who at that time manifested dispositions very hostile to the British A GREAT MISSIONARY. 149 J memory of the prayers ales and the the Navy ; " '• The Queen 5 live in, and I may health ur done him. 'xt to the in- oeneficent in- )t to execute, lievements of oic virtues of igton," Avhich , enthusiastic le Garrison ; " nand." etired at nine Df the Halifax ed they had a 1820, in the 1 born in the rn of Kildare, ations of sonic ■ived in Lower ;d as a clergy- s and philoso- students who .he University latical science, in the Greek itil LordDor- m, to reconcile country about isiana, who at to the British Government. Among these savage tribes of Indiana he resided six or seven years, suffering great privations, nor did he return until he had fully accomplished the object of his mission. He in- structed the benighted Indian in the principles of the Christian religion, and impressed on his mind a knowledge of the true God, by whose assistance he inculcated into his savage mind sentiments of loyalty, obedience, and lasting friendship for his great, worldly father, King George the Third. Government re- warded those important services by granting Dr. Burke a pension for life. His vanity would have been excited, if he had any, by the sincere and cordial friendship of the Duke of Kent, ai^ also of every military and naval officer who successively commaiaded in British America during his time, all of whom entertained such an opinion of his sound judgment and zealous loyalty, as to con- sult him on the most important points of their intended opera- tions brfore they put them into execution. His advice and opinion during the war of 1812 were greatfully acknowledged by the two men who were then in command, and by them honourably reported to His Majesty's Ministers; who, in approbation of Dr. Burke's loyalty and learning, used their influence with the See of Rome to appoint him Bishop of Sion and Vicar Apostolic in Nova Scotia. The historian describes him as a tall, handsome, grave- looking man. Latterly he stooped a little in walking. His man- ners were cheerful, urbane and easy. In 1821, Lawrence Kavanagh was returned to the Assembly for Cape Breton. He was a Roman Catholic, and would not subscribe the declaration against transubstantiation, although willing to take the State oaths. He therefore did not take his seat. The following year, 1822, on the 25th February, a resolution was moved to the effect that a large number of the inhabitants of Cape Breton were Roman Catholics, and that Lawrence Kavanagh, one of the two members they had chosen to represent them, was of that creed ; that though willing to take the State oaths, he could not conscientiously subscribe the declaration against transubstan- tiation ; that he should be permitted on taking the former oaths to sit in the House until His Majesty's pleasure should be known, provided the Lieutenant-Governor approved . This resolution was lost, 13 voting for and 17 against it. nil 9' -■ '• A) ' ' 150 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. lilt. m If il l-l< liiiii :'.^ Amongst the nays were the names of Roach and O'Brien. These voted against the motior tearing their friends were too precipitate. In 1827, Lawrence Kavanagh was again elected and still refused to sign the declaration. The Assembly met 1st February, but he was absent. On Feb. 26th, the Catholic petition, praying that an address be presented to His Majesty by the House to dispense with the declaration and test oaths, was presented by Mr, Uni- acke, member for Cape Breton, and a resolution moved by him in accordance therewith was seconded by Judge Haliburton and ably spoken to by both. This no doubt had some effect. But the King's message absolving Catholics from the declaration was on its way. Accordingly we find that Lawrence Kavanagh was sworn in on 2nd April. The Roman Catholic petition was headed by one Mr. CaiToll, who is referred to in Judge Haliburton's speech as his " old friend." The draft of the petition is in the hand-writing of Lawrence O'Connor Doyle. We have just seen in what a liberal and enlightened manner the Catholics were treated in Nova Scotia. Their religion, pro- scribed by statute, was long tolerated by Governors more sagacious than tlie law. In 1763, a large and prosperous colony from the north of Ireland settled in Nova Scotia, and brought with them their household gods. They were Presbyterians to a man, and named the new settlement Londonderry. In the following year, large numbers of Irish Presbyterians were expelled from New Eng- land. The traveller who sails along the indented coast of the County of Cumberland, will see many a white sheet spread to the wind. He will enter spacious harbours. When he explores the country, he will be .struck by pleasant homesteads, to which the Cobequid mountain forms a picturesque back-grouiid. He will visit a large and thriving mining population, who work the richest coal mines of the Province" He will observe thousands of grindstones manu- factured from the underlying rock, and expoi'ted in vast quantities to the United States. He will discover that the country abounds in gypsum. If it is summer, the eye will re.st on fields white with a hay crop, yielding annually $1 .■'>00,()00. He will find here flourishing, a population of twenty-four thousand. The rugged ridge shuts out the sea from the levt.ls of Colchester, supporting a population equally large. Hants with its beautiful mountain, and smiling IRISH COLONISATION OF NOVA SCOTIA. 151 rien. These precipitate, still refused uaiy, but he ying that an to dispense by Mr, Uni- jd by him in iburton and effect. But laration was vanagh was was headed Haliburton's ion is in the ined manner eligion, pro- tre sagacious ny from the t with thein a man, and owing year, n New Eng- the County lO the wind. /he country, le Cobequid visit a large coal mines ;ones manu- t (quantities abounds in i with a hay flourishing, ridge shuts population and smiling valleys, and its hills of gypsum, supports a population of twenty- two thousand. An ecjual number subsists and flourishes amid the scenes of Longfellow's " Evangeline," the rich agricultural county of King's, with its comfortable and wealthy farms, its charm- ing scenery, its commandiag views, all the glory of Grand Pr<;, all the picturesqu'.i sublimity which fills the soul as we gaze from the top of Horton. One hundred and ten years ago, these great and thriving counties were a wildernes.s, when the ex- pelled Irish Presbyterians from New England, axe and Bible in hand, set about the work of transformation. Later on, at the outbreak of the first American war, Irish loyalists came to their aid. Later still, when the guns of the second were being stowed away in armouries, Irish military men, the oflicer and the private, were impelled by the love of independence, when their regiments were disbanded at Halifax, to betake themselves to the bush. The Irish, including both Presbyterians and Catholics, formed in 1827, at the very lowest, a full half of the population. According to the census of 1861, the total population of Nova Scotia was 380,- 849, of which 80,281 were Catholics, all of Irish descent. 75,788 representing Colchester, Cumberland, Hants, and King's, were the descendants of the great fathers, who grappled with the wild a century before. Thus, looking at Presbyterian and Catholic Irish alone the proportion was sustained. We can only guess at the Irish element in the remainder of the population, but it could not be contemptible. In the census of 1871, the total given as of Irish origin is 62,851; figures which show how untrustworthy the table entitled the "Origins of the People ' is, considered in any light of accuracy. The foible of many persons to describe them- selves as of English descent, and similar foibles are well known. The absurdity of these figures, in the light of historical facts, will be made more clear, when we state chat the number given as of Iriih origin in the City of Halifax alone, is 29,098, D'Arcy McGee loved to point out that a large proportion of the first names in Nova Scotia belonged to either Protestant or Catholic Irish. Among the former, lead the Inglis,' Cochrans, Heads, Uniackes ; among the latter, the Kavanaghs, Boyles, Tobin«, Kenneys, O'Con- nors, Doyles, and others. Long before the Emancipation Act, Mi- chael Kavanagh's sitting for Cape Breton, was connived at. Mr. iii i ■ml Ml: t: ",' a j.|l IliL'i i !; 15^ THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. O'Connor Doyle was admitted to practise as a barrister. Since those days, such names as Walsh in law, and Compton in litera- ture, appear. We are able, owing to the industry and research of Mr. Thomas Millar, of Truro, to give something like an accurate idea of the part the Irish took in building up, at least, one county ; and from one case a general inference must be drawn. On the i)th Octolier, 1761, Colonel Alexander McNutt, agent of the British Government, arrived in Halifax, with upwards of three hundred settlers from the north of Ireland. In less than a week they were landed on w^hat is now called McNab's isl and. Throughout the following months they remained about Halifax. Having, during the winter, endured considerable hardship, in the spring of 1762 some went to Horton, some to Windsor, some to Londonderry, some to Onslow, and others to Truro. In the year, 1765, the inhabitants of Truro ob- tained a grant of land from the Government, among the gran- tees being Alexander Millar, the grandfather of the author of the book referred to above, and the youngest son of Alexander Millar, who, with his wife and children, emigrated from Belfast, in the year 1718. The Millars are a large family now in Nova Scotia. Alexander Millar, born in Truro, April 22nd, 1769, was one of the first and ablest advocates of Total Abstinence, in Nova Scotia. In his address in 1834, to the Society of which he was Vice-President, he said: he wished to put on record what he had witnessed in re- gard to the traffic in the use of ardent spirits. In 1773, there was one barrel of rum sold in Truro; the next year, one puncheon ; the next, three puncheons; the ratio of increase going forward, until in 1831 , sixty puncheons were sold. In the early days, the people of Truro were famed for their sobriety ; they were sober, orderly and hospi- table; but as the trade increased, and with it the use of ardent spirits, the people generally sank in reputation, and many of the most le- spectableaiP">ng them fell before the destroyer. Total abstinence was the only way il ' t'' '-III l.H THE IRISHMAN IN CIANADA. torn in those days, took their drain in the middle of the after- noon, and lay down to have a little rest. They all fell asleep, whereupon Archibald took every man's spade, and fastened each one of them down to the marsh by the queue of his hair. In 1770 he started for the West Indies with a cargo of V>oards and horses. When on his way to the Bay he rode up to the shop door of one John Smith, and sai w 1 ii mam iffil 'Ii IH 1 II WUM III in ■1 ill 1^1 L 'lii ' ii iill 156 THR lUrsiIMAN IN CANADA. di'scundants of the three brothers. Hon. Sfiniuel Creehnan, wiio hoMs the must pioniiiient po.sition of any person of his name in Nova Scotia, i.s, as we have .seen, the grandscjn of Samuel CrLohMan the emigrant. His mother wa.s the great-graniUlaughter of David Anhihakl, with whom I have aheady dealt. The H(jn. Mr. Creel- man i.s the President of the Nova Scotia Temperance Alliance, and Vice-President of the Young Men's (Christian As.sociation for the Maritime Provinces. lie has been Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Grand Division Sons of Temperance, Nova Scotia; Finan cial Secretary and a member of the Executive Council, Nova Scotia, from 1851 until IHoG ; Chief Gold Commissioner from 18(52 until 18r)8 , a .second time a meniber of the Government in 18(J7 ; sat for Colchester in Nov(^ Scotia Assembly from 1847 to 18.51 , for South Colchester from 1851 to 1855, when he wa.s defeated; appointed to the Legislaiive Council in 18G2 ; resigned the .same year on being appointed Gold Cyonnuissioner ; he was re-appointeil to the Legislative Council in 18(17 ; he ^s been a justice of the peace .since 1843. Mr. Creehnan is a " Liberiil " In politics. A fine specimen of the energetic Irishman was the late Hon. James Cochran, a member of the Executive Council, who.se name has not yet disappeared from the Parliamentary Companion. He first saw light in Granard, Longford, in 1802. He emigrated to Halifax in 1825 and immediately commenced to build up his career as an enterprising young colonist. He possessed energy, judgment sound and vigorous, and soon began to take a position in the van of his contemporaries. In 1829, he married Miss Catha- rine Walsh, of Wexford, Ireland, She died in 1874, By energy, per- severance and integrity, Mr. Cochran soon built up a good fortune. He was a director of the People's Bank and also of the Acadia Fire Insurance Company. Twice he was chosen President of the Charitable Irish Society. Mr. Cochran was long identified with the i)olitical struggles of Nova Scotia. He belonged to that infiuential class of Catholics in the Province of Nova Scotia who act with the Rel'orm party. His direct active political history commenced in 18fc;7, when he became a candidate for the Local A-ssembly in the intt rests of the Anti vionfederate party. He added undoubted strength to the party, as was seen on the 15th of September, 1867. When a Govern- 3elman, who his naniu in lel CiLcliMau ter of David n. Mr. (Jreol- ice Alliance, lociation for \y Patiiarch i)tia; Finan uncil, Nova irt'roni 18()2 mt in l.S()7 ; 147 to Ihol , as ilet'eatod ; ed the same re-appointed istioe of the flitios. le late Hon. whose nanu' pan ion. He e emigrated luihi up his ssed energy, e a position VlisK Catha- energy, per- ood fortune. the Acadia ident of the struggles of »f Catholics brm party. 7, when he rests of the to the party, I a Govem- HKNATORH COCilRAN AND SMYTH. 157 9 M ment was formed in lH(i7 l>y the Anti-confederates, Mr. Cochran was selected for a seat in the Executive. T , 1871, ho preferred to retire from the more exciting scenes of the .ower House, and was therefore ap])ointed to a seat in the Legislative Council. Perhaps the Union Party had meanwhile made menacing progress. " This," says an olntnary notice in the Acadian Recorder, "is a summary of the outer life of the great man whose memory we are s»eking to honour. His ])rivate charities — his benevolent acts — his kindly .sympathies, his pious endeavours, his private virtues, these are only recorded by the All-seeing Searcher of men's hearts. It is not necessary for us to dwell on this side of the departed's life. His career is known to all. No man ever ventured to im- peach his honour oi- call in question his integrity of purpose. For over three score vears and ten the deceased has gone in and out day after day among his fellow-citizens. In Ids mercantile, politi- cal, .social and religious relations, his life has been open to every one, and there is no one in Halifax to stand up and prefer a charge against him in any of these relations. As a merchant he was honest and generous ; as a politician he was sincere, faithful and scrupulous ; as a citizen lie was kind, just and beneficent ; as a Catholic he was devout, pious and devoted. He has gone ; another of that race of veterans whose enterprise has helped to build up this city, and whose wisdom and sagacity have aided in moulding our institutions. He was an example for his own and for all times. His career stands out clear and bright for the imitation of all men. We know not where his place is to be filled. Unfortunately we have too few men of the stamp of James Cochran. Let us prize his worth and cheri.sh the memory of his eminent virtues." Mak- ing all allowance for the latitude of an obituarist, such statements regarding matters of fact in a community whore Mr. Cochran was known, could only be made wliere a man had deserved the eulogy. A brother Senator, who happily survives, the Honourable Peter Smyth, was born the same year, 1802, in Ireland. He emigrated to Nova Scotia early, and was educated there. He was married twice, in the first instance to a Miss O'Grady, in the second in- stance to a Miss Helen Keating. Unlike Cochran, Smyth is a Conservative. In the Legislative Assembly we have William Henry Alison, of 158 THE IRISHMAN IN C4NADA. I%- r„ !m| the Donegal AliBons ; Donald Archibald, J. P., the son of Samuel Archibald, on whose joyous career, with its fatal close I have just dwelt ; John B. Dickie ; E. Farrell, M.D., of the Water- ford Farrells ; Philip Carteret Hill (the Provincial Secretary), the sou of Captain N. T. Hill, .f the Royal Staff Corps, who was stationed at Halifax after the war of 1812. While there he married and left the service. The; father of Captain Hill was Major Hill, of Cork, who Wiis for some time the Quai-ter-master General at Waterford. Mr. P. C. Hill, was born at Halifax, in 1821, edu- cated at King's College, Windsor, and called to the bar in 1841. He married the grand -daughter of Chief Justice Haliburton, and daughter of the kte Hon. E. Collins. He was elected Mayor of Halifax, for three consecutive terms. He is the author of the " Unity of C/reat)an," a lecture, aud " The United States and Bri- ish Provinces contrasted from personal observation." Mr. Hill is a Liberal Conservative. In the Dominion Parliament we tind Patrick Power, M.P. for ILalifax, who has been Alderman and Commissioner of Schools, President of the Charitable Irish Society, &c. He is an independent supporter of the Reform party. The son of this gentleman is in the Senate. Wher we come to New Br 'nswJck, the " Origins of the People " put down as of Irish origin l()0,6rj>4, out of 285,594, a little mo^^e 'an the sa^me propcntion as the Catholics, though it is well known there hrve been many Protestant settlements, and the proportion of French origin is only 44,1^07. Still we have in New Bruns- wick more than a third and less than one-half. Until 1784, New Brunswick formed pait ')f the old French Pro- vince of Acadia, afterwards, under English rule, called Nova Scotia. In the August of that year information was received by the packet from Falmouth that the Province of Nova Scotia was to be divided, and the lands lying on the north side of the Bay of Fundy were to be erected into a new Government, under the name of New Brunswick. Colonel Thomas Carieton, brother of that great Irishman Guy Carieton, was appointed first Governor. The division was hailed with delight by the inhabitants of the new Province. The new Governor, on his arrival, was presented with an address. Murdoch, in his History, says he was ;«.i- SETTING APART OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 159 n of Samuel close I have the Water- Secretary), r Corps, who iile there he 11 was Major ister General nl821, edu- bar in 1841. iburton, and ied Mayor of [thor of the tes and Bri- Mr. Hill is a cr, M.P. for of Schools, independent leman is in /he People " little moi-e well known proportion ew Bruns- rench Pro- ill ed Nova vceived by Scotia was the Bay of under the brother of jJovernor. ints of the presented le was ;..i- dressed by His Majesty's exiled loyalists from different parts of the American continent resident on St. John's river. They call him " the brother of our illustrious friend and patron Sir Guy Carleton," and designate themselves " a num})er of oppressed and insulted U^yalists." They were they .said formerly freemen, and again hoped to be .so under his au.spictis. They congratulated him- self, his lady and family, on his " .safe arrival to this new world to chock the arrogance of tyranny, crusli the growth of in- justice, and estaljlish .such wholesome laws as had ever V^een the Vjasis of the ghjrious British Con.stitution." They also alluded to him as having been Colonel of the 29th Regiment, in the late re- bellion. To this address he replied in modest and moderate terms. " The ex[)ression.s," says Munloch, " used in this document appear to be tinctured with n'.sentment against the Government of Nova Scotia. " Murdoch himself, a Nova Scotian, does not admit there were any causcis of complaint. He says : " Great allowance should be made for men wlio, V^y the events of the civil war, were forced to exchange their once ha[)py homes for a c(juntry in a wilderness state, a milder climate for a moic rugged one, and who were in a manner drifting on a di.sasti'ous current." It is evident that New Brunswick, when set apart, was almost altogether composed of .settlers from the rebellious colonies of America. That afterwards there was a large Irish emigration there can be no douht. If you look over the files of New Brunswick papers, you will find tlieiii full of Iri.sh names. In the County of Gloucester, New Brun:;wick, there is a settlement originally of about eighty families, fiom Bandon — "merry Handon town" — from which their town has 'oeen called " New Bandon." The repn;- sentation in the House of (Commons ought to Ije a pn^tty good criterion to go by ; which, according to the speech of Mr. Waller is as follows : — Scotch, five ; English, sevf^n ; Irish, four. Among the loyalists tlierc were "n r who could boast of liish birth. The most noted of thefv ,vas Colonel John Murray, of Rutland, Massachusetts, one of those colonial noblemen who lived upon their estates after the traditions of the mother country. He was, in addition to being a colonel in the militia, a Mandamus Councillor, and a member of the General Court. (Jn the night of the 25th of August, 1774, heabaiidoned his house and fled to Bos- '( I 1 ! • i t 1 i. ' !! ! ', ■! 1 , *l \i li ■ ' ;!!' ;] ■J MM il ' 1 ^11 IGO THE lUIHIIMAN IN CANADA. ton. Ho accompanied the royal army to Halifax. Tn 1779 lie lost liiw exten.sive eHtatcs undei- the (Jon.spiracy Act. He Hub.seqiKintly .S(!ttled in 8t. John, where he huilt a residtince on Prince William Street. A pait of" the lot is now the well-known (Jhipman CHtate. Ili.s grandson, a njemher of the Kx(!cutive (council, ha.s liis por- trait by ('opiey. '''here i.s a })ay(met-hole throuj^^h the wi^, and tbefamily tradition runs that having been disai)point«!d in finding him, the leholn, who had suddenly attacked his house, pierced his portrait with a bayonet. In [)erson he was tall being- six feet three inches, and w(dl pi-oportioned. One of his daughteis married the Honourable Daniel liliss, who was Chief Justice and Executive. (Jouncillor of the Province. Her daughter Han- nah was mother of the- Honourable Samuid Allan Wilmot, ex- Governor of New Brunswick. Anotluii- mariied tlx; Honouiabli; Joshua Up}ian>, .hidgt; of ther of the <^ Council. F')'anc(!S (Jhandler, wife of I; lUinii bl-j John W- Weldon, Speak*!)- of th(! House of As.soud)ly, w.as the daughter of Mrs. Upham and grand-daughter of ('olonel Muiray. H(;i son, — the Reveren)rick mill, 110 x 50 feet, and three stories in height, was at once erected, and the requisite machinery was selected in England by the present proprietor for the manufacture of the ordinary cotton ^'rey cloth, to which they confined their operations for a year or two. Twenty-four looms were first set up, the nuni'jer being soon increased to fifty-two. The cotton yam v/as at that time all iniported. When a great opportunity occurred Parks was ready to use it. With the American war, cotton became so dear that manufacturers abroad were forced to use the cheapest quali- ties, and the cotton yarn they produced became so inferior and un- 11 § , j'i I ,!£!! Ji i 11 ijm;b lif llii' iP/'it III . Ill itiii ) ;i Nl 1 1' 111 Ui2 THE IRISHMAN IN CANA'M. satisfactory, that Mesars. Parks tk Son dvealthiest and most solid men. John Ander son, only son of the late Jame.s Baird And* i\son, was born in Bel- fast, on the 20th of February, 1812, and came to St. John in 1840, where vv was a prosperous merchant for twenty-five years, re- tiring from business in 1865. In 1835 he was elected a member of the Belfast Society, a club established for local and municipal purposes. In St. John, he has been for many years connected with the St. John Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; wms appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1865, and has been an active member uf the jessions. JOHN COSTIOAN. JUDGE WALTERS. 163 In the Legislative Council, we have Hon. William Lindsay ; in the Assembly, Butler ; Elder ; T. M. Kelly, a member of the Executive Council ; Robinson, Rogers, Ryan, Willis. lu the Dominion Parliament, the son of Mr. John Costigan is woil known. The latter, a cousin of the late Francis Meagher, v.as a native of Kilkemiy, and brought up to mercantile pursuits in the ufhce of Meaglier's fatlier. In 1830 he moved to Lower Canada, bringing witlf him his family, settling at Quebec. Hero he was almost at once employed as agent for Sir John Cald- well, who, before the era of responsible Government, was Trea- surer for the Imperial authorities, and was, ))rivately, an enter- j)rising speculator. In 1840, Mr. Costigan left Quebec for the Province of New Biunsv/ick, to take charge of extensive mills Sir John Caldwell was erecting there. He took with liim his family, among whom was his younger son, John, born in Quebec, 1835. This son is the gentleman who now represents Victoria and Madawaska Counties, New Brunswick, in the Dominion House of Commons. John Costi^jan, tlie younger, received all his education in Victoria College, Nev^' Brunswick, with the exception of two years spent at St. Anne's College, Province of Quebec. He began his politiciil career in 1 JOC; when he was returned for the Provin- cial House, and held his seat there until Confederation, since which time he has represented the same constituency in the House of Commons. He was at first opposed to the Confedera- tion scheme, but when it w^as carried he gave it his full support. Mr. Costigan has for some time been regarded as the spokesman of the Irish Roman Catholics of New Brunswick in the House of Commons, and though pressing their claims in some delicate in- stances, he has, it is sai 1, always been able to retain his popularity with the larg( body of Protestant electors which exists in his constituency. Mr. Costigan has contepted snven elections, and V«eea defeated but once, which was owing to his opposition to the Confederation scheme. Of the family of the elder Mi. Cu itigan, four daughters and two sons survive. A legal luminary is the Hon. Charles Walters, of St. John, County Judge, and Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court; he was bom at St. John, on the 2Gth November, 1818. He is the son of 164 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. 'W: g.i I M ^ i i i; ' wiii Wicklow parents who came to this country about the year 1800. Judge Walters was educated at St. John County Grammar School, where he distinguish ed himself as a classical scholar, and was awarded the corporation gold medal for that branch of study. In 1840 he began the study of law under Judge Ritchie, and was enrolled a bar rister in 1847. In 1854 he entered on his political career, but was defeated. In November, the following year, he was elected to re- present the County of Victoria, for whifth constituency he wa.s again returned in 1857. In November, 1855, one month after his first election, he was called to a seat in the Executive, and was the first Roman Catholic in the Province who enjoyed that dis- tinction. In 1857, he was appointed Solicitor-General, an office he held for many years. In 18C1, he and the present Lieut.-Gov- emor, Mr. Tilley, were returned for the City of St. John, in the Liberal interest. Like D'Arcy McGee Judge Walters was a warm advocate of Confederation. A fluent and logical speaker, firm in his principles, but liberal in his ideas, and courteous in his man- ner, he embodies all that need be looked for in a representative Irishman. A St. John journalist writing of him in 1865, says : *' Through his exertions the criminal code is now in an excellent state, being almost the same as the English law, so that in its ex- ecution our judges and legal men have the advantage of the criminal judgments of the English Bench." A good draughtsman, the Intercolonial Railway Act of 1863, the Militia Act, the Railway Facility Act, and various local laws, were all the produc- tion of his pen. In the Legislature Mr. Walters was empha- tically a working man. Judge Walters received his appointment as County Judge in 1867, and was made Judge of the Vice Ad- miralty Court, October, 1876. We have not mentioned a hundreth part of the names we might mention. There are still the McGaws, the Philips, Patrick Rob- inson and family, U. E. Loyalists, and many others. It is a significant fact that the political press of New Bruns- wick is mainly controlled by Irishmen. The most distinguished of the editors is the Hon. Timothy Warren Anglin, Speaker of the House of Commons. Mr. Anglin came to St. John in 1848, and in the following year started the Morning Freeman, first as a weekly, and shortly after as a tri-weekly. Both issues still con- THE PRESS OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 165 e year 1800. nmar School, w&s awarded In 1840 ho irolled a bar •eer, but was ilected to re- ancy he was nth after his ive, and was '■ed that dis- al, an office Lieut. -Go V- Fohn, in the was a warm iker, firm in 1 in his iiian- presentativc 1865, says : an excellent lat in its ex- ttage of the i-aughtsman, a Act, the the produc- was empha- tppointment he Vice Ad- es we might atrick Rob- S^ew Bruns- nguished of aker of the n 1848, and I?., first as a les still con- "1 tinue. He sat in the Provincial Assembly for St. John County from 1861 till 1868, and has represented Gloucester in the House of Commons since the confederation of the provinces in 1867. H6 was elected Speaker in 1874. The Evening Olohe became the property of John V. Ellis and Christopher Armstrong, in 1861 — the latter being an Irishman, and the former born in Nova Scotia, being of Irish parentage. Mr. Ellis is now Postmaster of St. John, Mr. Armstrong remaining sole editor. The Daily News, the oldest paper in the city, is the property of the Hon. Edward Willis, an Irishman, and a member of the New Brunswick Government. He has represented the City and County of St. John since 1870. The St. John Telegraph w&s started by John Livingstone, son of Mr. Livingstone, for many years Customs Officer at Richibucto, N, B., (an Irishman) in 1862, since which time it ha,s become one of the leading organs of the Maritime Provinces. He sold the Telegra'ph in 1871, and began the Watchman, which has already taken its place in the front rank of Canadian journals. Mr. Livingstone is one of the most pithy and spirited writers in Canada. William Elder, at present member of the Provincial Parliament, an Irishman, started the Morning Journal in 1865 as a tri-Vh'-eekly and weekly, which, at a subsequent period was merged in the Telegraph, of which jouinal he is now the proprietor. New Brunswick is greatly in- debted to this gentleman who hag, stimulated its business activity, and promoted general intelligence. Among the clergy you find the Rsv. James Bennet, now minister of St. John Presbyterian Church, who was born in 1817 in Lis- burn. County of Down. The first of the family, with two brothers having come from France,and being of Huguenot faith, had settled amongthe Irish Presbyterians. From these, the most, if not all of the Bennets of the North of Ireland are descended. Mr. Bennet finished his education in the classical school of the Royal Academical In- stitution, Belfast, under the head-mastership of the Rev. Thomas Dix Hincks, father of Sir F. Hincks. On March 30th, 1843, he was ordained to the charge of a church, County of Armagh. Having been invited by the Presbyterian Church, St. John, to become their pastor, he arrived there on the Srd March, 1854, and was duly inducted by the Presbytery of St. John, in the iMI li I tli! ill Ih]^ 166 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. il I m I •^111 Hi illliUli June following. In this church he has continued to officiate ever since. He has written a gi-eafc deal for the public, especially since coming to St. John. His unacknowledged pieces are very numer- ou.s. He edited the Canada PreshyfeHan, started by the Rev. Wm. Elder, for some time. In that periodical many of Mr. Bennet's sermons ha\e appeared. His sermon preached as Moderator of the Synod of the Church of the Lower Provinces on " The Divinity of Christ, deduced from his character and claims," is an^ admirable specimen of close reasoning and pulpit eloquence, and added considerably to his fame as a preacher. His " Wisdom of the King" is a delightful book. Rev. David Montgomery Maclise, D.D., was bom near Finvoy, County Antrim. His parents were members of the Presbyterian Church there. From childhood, he was trained up under the in- fluence of religious principles, and very early in life resolved by God's grace to become a minister of the Gospel. He was for a time classical teacher in the West Jersey Col- legiate School, conducted by the Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D., son of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton Seminary ; was head master in Bath Academy in Ontario, then Canada West, pleach- ing always on the Sabbath, and many other occasions ; lecturing on Temperance, and doing a vast amount of gratuitous labour. Having thus had a theoretical and practical training for the work of the ministry, he determined to devote himself exclusively to it. He had two of wliat is called " calls," the one to Hopewell, and the other to Montgomery, Orange County, New York, the latter of whi«h he accepted. Another ornament of the Presbyterian Church is Dr. Irvine. By him the question of " Instrumental Music," was first intro- duced into the General Assembly of (Janada. He got an overture which he penned, carried by the Session of Knox Church, Mon- treal. He introduced the overture to the Presbytery of Montreal, which was duly licensed and transmitted to the General Assembly, By the Supreme Court it v/as sent down in terms of the " Barrier Act" to Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions, and after a severe contest spreading over .several years, his overture became virtually the law of the General Assembly as it now exists. He was very LEADING cr.KliaYMEN. 1C7 Sciate ever ially since 2ry numer- y the Rev. ,ny of Mr. reached as • Provinces racter and and pulpit icher. His ar Finvoy, •esbyterian iler the in- esolved by Fersey Col- ).D., son of was head st, piPdch- ; lecturiiig Dus labour, 1' the work ively to it. 11, and the le latter of Dr. Irvine, irst intro- n overture irch, Mon- Montreal, Assembly. i " Barrier re contest tually the was very much worried and severely criticised, especially by some of his warmest friends. The Rev. Alexander McLeod Stavoly, was born in the Parish of Loughguile, County Antrim. He studied at the Belfast Acade- mical Institution. Afterwards, he went to the University of Edinburgh. He attended the prelections of such professors in the Philosophical and Theological classes as Professor John Wil- son, antl Dr. Thomas Chalmers. In the Moral Philosophy class presided over by the former, known to literature as " Christopher North," he gained a leading prize. Having finished his literary course, Mr. Stavely received license in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and preached for a short time to congregations in the Province of Ulster, He then accepted an invitation to go to New Brunswick, and was ordained by the Northern Presbytery at Kilraughts, County Antrim, in the month of May, 1841, to the office of the holy ministry, and pastoral charge of the missionary station at St. John, New Brunswick, He arrived at St. John, the place of his future and present labours, in the fall of the same year, and is now the senior minis- ', er of that city. Several sermons, addresses and speeches by Mr. Stavely have been published, amongst them, "The Perpetuity of the Gospel," " Redeeming the Time," " The Life and Times of John Knox,'' "A Word for the Reformed Presbyterian Church." Prince Edward Island was one of the first discoveries of Cabot, who named it St, John, after the day of its discovery. It was ceded to Great Britain in 1763, still retaining its name of St. John, It was not largely settled by Irish, but mainly by the Scotch and French. A census of the province, taken in 1798, shows but few Irish names. Still there are somo> such as Cochran, Whelan, FlyunT Burke, Moore, Flannigan, Carroll, &;c. The first governor appointed was Captain Walter Patterson, an Irishman, and the grand-uncle of Mr, A, T. Todd, Toronto. 7 He arrived, with other officers, in 1770.* He was one of the largest landed proprietors, and had an Act passed by the Assembly in * A younger brother settled at Baltimore, U. S., and his daughter Elizabeth was married on 27th Dec, 1803, to Jerome J Bonaparte, This marriage was aftenviirda declared null by his brother, the Emperor Napoleon, Madame Patterson Bonapirte is still alive.fas also a son by the marriage, who is a colonel in the French army. -Ill;'' 168 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. ' M 1780, changing the name of the island to "New Ireland." This wae without petitioning the Imperial Government. The Home Gov- ernment, however, took umbrage at the high-handed manner in which the Act was passed, and disallowed it. He applied again in 1783, by petition^ for a change of the name, and got for answer that it would be taken into consideration. Campbell declares that had the first application been made by petition to the King, it is extremely probable that the proposed change of name would have been adopted. The name was changed to Prince Edward in hon- our of the Duke of Kent, in 1798. Governor Patterson was not at all popular, at least he had a good many enemies, who placed his conduct in an unfavourable light before the Home Government ; questions connected with the land, which had always been a fruit- ful source of trouble in the Province, being the main ground of complaint against him. He was certainly inclined to be arbitrary in some measures ; but h?.s motives seem to have been honest. His letters to his friend St lart, also one to Lord Sydney, define mat- ters from his point of view. During his rule of seventeen years he laid out the principal part of the island. He was recalled in 1787, and General Edmund Fanning appointed in his place. Gov- ernor Fanning was of Irish descent. His grandfather came to America with Earl Bellemont in 1699. The Honourable T. Des Brisay, another Irishman, was administrator of the government during the temporary absence of Governor Patterson in England. There must have been at least one Irish settlement in the island, to account for the "District of Belfast." One of the most popular governors of the island was Sir Dom- inick Daly, of whom we shall see a good deal when treating of the struggle for responsible government in Canada. He arrived 12th June, 1854 ; his administration was marked by great progress and success ; several important Acts were passed, the only diffi- culty being the vexed land question, which always was a trouble. Sir Dominick left about 1859. In his speech proioguing the House previous to his departure, he expressed his gratification at the har- mony which had subsisted between the executive and the other branches of the legislature during the whole course of his admin- istration, to which the uninterupted trauquillity of the island dur- ing the same period might in a great measure be attributed. I'l ^l ¥ I." Thiswae Home Gov- i manner in led again in for answer leclares that J King, it is would have ^ard in hon- on was not who placed iovernnient ; aeen a f ruit- n ground of be arbitrary honest. His define mat- nteen years recalled in place. Gov- ler came to ible T. Des government in England. the island, Ls Sir Dom- treating of He arrived 3at progress 3 only diffi- 18 a trouble, the House at the har- d the other his admin- island dur- uted. ■.ja A TRIBUNE IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 169' The Rev. Theophilus Des Brisay was a native of Thurles, County Tipperary, and was bom October, 1754. He arrived in the island in 1775, having been appointed by royal warrant the year previous to " the parish of Charlotte," of which parish he remained rector till his death, which occurred in 1823. He was the only Protestant clergyman on the island till the year 1820. A man of .sterling character, and a faithful servant of his Divine Master, he was subjected, in the discharge of his sacred duty, to privati- ns of which the present generation have happily no experience. The Rev. Dr. James Macgregor writes of him : " I was always wel- come to preach in his church, which I uniformly did when I could make it convenient. His kindness ended not but with his life." The Honourable Edward Whelan died at his residence in Charlotte town, on the 10th of December, 1867. He was born in County Mayo, in 1824, and received the rudiments of educa- tion in his native town. At an early age he emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Shortly after his arrival he entered the printing office of the Hon. Joseph Howe, then a newspaper publisher in that city. Here he gave such proofs of that great facility for newspaper writing, which distinguished him in after life, that he was occasionally employed to write editorial articles for Mr. Howe's newspaper, during the absence or illness of the latter. At the age of eighteen he went to Prince Edward Island, which was then ruled by persons who could scarce ly be said to be amen- able to public opinion. Mr. Whelan, ranging himself on the side of the people, threw the weight of his influence as a jouraalist into the struggle for popular rights. Apart from Mr. Whelan's oratorical power which was consider- able, the great lever of public 0}>inion obeyed his masterl}' hand as often as any fair occasion arose to resort to its agency. He never abused the power of the press. He knew how to combine a singularly consistent political career with conciliatory manners. Although he died comparatively young, he lived long enough to see, to a large extent, the results of his labours in the extension of civil liberty. Mr. Whelan was a Roman Catholic. The writer of a sketch of his life which appeared in the Exarrdner, says that " hia words IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) / O V.A 1.0 I.I 111.25 ^1^ H^ ■a Ii2 1122 £ US 1112 1.4 1.8 1.6 i^"**^ <> ;\ r^>> '^> .^> ^'^ .. ^^^ ■■HI Ksa 170 THE IRISHMAN IN (!ANADA. ij! I i IH - ^ iii'-i*'^'" iiiiii and thoughts in the hour of death were those of a Christian gentleman." Among the Irishmen who emigrated to Prince Edward, was Daniel Brennan, a poor lad, who, by his energy and perseverance, succeeded in acquiring the profession of a Provincial Land Sur- veyor, at which he worked for some time, but finally entered into mercantile life in Charlottetown. He became a leading merchant. He married twice, but left no family. He was a Roman Catholic. He died in 1876, aged 80, a very wealthy man. Owen Connolly emigrated when a mere youth, a very poor man. On his first arrival, he used that old threshing machine, the " fiail," amongst the fai'mers in the settlement. By indomitable l^luck and perseverance he gradually pushed himself forward, un- til he established himself in a large busine.ss in Charlottetown. Some years ago he extended his business, and opened a branch establishment in the Town of Souris, King's County, both of which houses he still carries on. He was mainly instrumental in opening a branch of the Bank of Halifax, in Charlottetown, and another branch of the same Bank in Souris. He is one of the wealthiest men in the Province of Prince Edward Island. He is still alive ; a man of about 65 years. He is a Roman Catholic. He is married, but has no children. Lower Canada was all but exclusively French in its settle- ments ; Upper Canada was dedicated to the sole possession of the U. E. Loyalists, and " German and other foreign Protestants." In 1791, however, we find Edward O'Hara returned for Gaspe, since when Lower Canada has always had an Iri.sh element in its reprc sentation. In 1799, Felix O'Hara was appointed " Provincial Judge," at a salary of £200 a year, and among the subscribers to the '' benevolence of His Majesty" for carrying on the war with France, was £27 from one Judge O'Hara. The existence of an extensive Irish settlement on the north of the St. Lawrence, be- tween Montreal and Throe Rivers, would seem to be indicated by the County of Leinster, with its Townships of Wexford, Kilkenny and Kildare. As the years rolled on, the Irish found their way into Ontario. The first settler in Clarke was Mr. Richard Lovekin, who, accom- panied by his family, left Ireland in the September of 1795, sailing mm WOLVES. AN ACQUISITIVE WOOD-MOUSE. 171 Christian vard, wi'ofes8ion of the law, THE BALDWINS AND SULLIVANS. 173 to which he devoted himself with great energy. He was for many years Treasurer of the Law Society. Tn 1803 he married a daugh- ter of Mr. William Willcocks, who had at one time been Mayor of the City of Cork. He had come to Canada some yeara befor:-; and had done a good deal to promote emigration, having probably been induced to emigrate by his cousin, the Hon. Peter Russell, who held several offices of trust in the Province, who was for a time administrator of the Government, and who had first come to Ame- rica as Secretary to Sir Henry Clinton. Dr. Baldwin had five sons, three of whom, however, died young. His eldest son, the Hon. Robert Baldwin, and Mr. W. A. Baldwin, of Mashquoteh, survived him. Mr, John S. Baldwin, the youngest brother of Dr. Baldwin, became a prominent merchant in the plac3, and left a numerous family, among whom was the late Rev. Canon Edmund Baldwin, of Toronto ; also the Rev. Canon Maurice Bald- win, of Montreal ; the Rev. Arthur H. Baldwin, of Toronto, and Alderman Morgan Baldwin. In 1817, Captain, afterwards Admiral Baldwin, another son of Robert Baldwin, of Summerhill, came to Canada, and a few years later, his brother, Captain Henry Baldwin, of the merchant ser- vice, followed him, In 1819, Mr. Daniel Sullivan, of Bandon, and his wife, who was the eldest child of Mr. Robert Baldwin, of Summerhill, came to Canada with a numerous family, among whom were Robert Bald- win Sullivan, afterwards distinguished as politi lan and statesman, and as a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench ; and Dr. Henry Sul- livan, afterwards a Professor in the University of King's Col- lego, Toronto. The ordinary and obvious acts of administrative legislation of Canada's early years need not be referred to particularly, A word of pleasure may be uttered that one of the first acts of the Upper Canada Legislature, was to abolish slavery. At first there were no parties, and therefore no opposition, and of course, every- thing went on well ? Not at all. There was, both in Lower and Upper Canada, an irresponsible Executive with all the oflScial arrogance and tyranny, all the nepotism and jobbery which be- long to iiTesponsible power. A weak governor, knowing little about the country, was helpless in the hands of a few leading a m 174 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. t I [If I:- individuals. No matter how the poj)ular Assembly voted, the sams men would hold power. Eoth Provinces v/ere under the rule of an oligarchy. Poor gentlemen, half pay officers, the pen- niless scions of old Irish and Scotch houses, Englishmen of cul- ture with more enterprise than money, came to the Province. Haughty, and unfit for the hardships of the bush, and eminently fit to supply what Canada very much needed, ready pens and educated heads, they naturally got all the ])ublic offices, and as naturally gave themselves the airs of an aristocracy, with a double claim on men's homage, the blue blood claim and the bureaucratic. This Government class acted together and inter- married, and drew to themselves privileges and advantages, and so the foundation of party was laid. One set of the community had special favours given it, which were resented and envied by the rest of the community. Lieber says, with justice, that where there are no great grounds of division, party is apt to degenerate into faction. Canada for some years at all events was to be saved from this danger. Simultaneously in Lower and Upper Canada we see signs of political life. At a dinntr which was given at Montreal at the end of March, 1805, in honour of those members who had spoken in favour of British principles of taxation, toasts were i)roposed and drunk in honour of the members who were " friendly to constitutional taxation," and opposed to a tax on commerce for building gaols, as contrary to " the sound practice of the parent State." One of the toasts was directed at " local preju- dices." Another ran : — " Prosperity to the Agriculture and Com- merce of Canada, and may they aid each other as their true interest dictates by sharing a, due proportion of advantages and burthens ; " another : " The City and County of Montreal, and the Grand Juries of the District, who recommended local assr jsments for local purposes." These resolutions seem not only harmless but wise. They touched however, a majority of the Assembly on the raw. After the prorogation of Parliament they were printed in the Montreal Gazette. Nevertheless, they were taken into con- sideration the following session. On March 6th, 1806, it was resolved that the Gazette contained a false, scandalous and sedi- tious libel. The president of the banquet having escaped to EARLY STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM. 175- >ted, the ider the the pen- i of cul- *rovince. iiinently )eus and , and as with a and the id inter- ges, and amunity ivied by it where generate 36 saved signs of 1 at the spoken roposed ndly to mmerce of the preju- d Com- ir ti'iie ges and and the isments ess but on the nted in io con- it was id sedi- iped to the United States, nothing was done against Edwards, the editor of the Gazette. Four days afterwards the Sergeant-at-arms was ordered to bring Thomas Gary, the editor of the Quebec Mercury before the House to answer for his conduct in giving the public a report of its proceedings. Caiy had to apologise in a most humble fashion. But as we might expect, he did not cease to attack {)eople who had acted against him so vindictively. The result was the establishment in the opposite interest in 1806 of Le Canadien and the controversy of journals commenced with its stinmhis to iliought, and its unequalled safeguard to liberty. Up to this, liberty of the press could not be said to exist in Canada. Little over twenty years before an Irishman had fought a great battle for freedom of the press in the mother land. " Even a hundred libels," .said Sheridan, " had better V»e ushered into the world than one prosecution be instituted which luight endanger the liberty < f the Press of this country." At another and a later period he cried in words which produced a great effect on Parliament : — " Givu them a corrupt House of Lords, give them a \enal House of Com- mons, give them a tyrannical prince, give them a truckling Court, let me have but an unfettered Press, I will defy them to encroach a hair's-breath upon the liberties of England." When in 1808 Le Canadien commented adversely on the intrigues of the Government — Sir J. H. Craig's view oi sna duty as a Governor, being to act with a party — M. Panet, as x' pposed proprietor of that journal, was stripped of his rank as Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia. Other officers were in like manner degraded foi having used their inliuence in favour of M. Panet's candidature. At a later period Sir James Craig thought fit to condemn the conduct in very unmeasured terms, of a portion of the Assembly, which was opposed to the election of judges as members of Parliament. The menacing state of things in the neighbouring republic made him (he not having the wisdom of Carleton) lean too openly on the inhabitants of British origin. When the election took place the Canadien attacked His Excellency with unmeasured violence, and the most part of those who had taken a course offensive to him were elected. Parliament was opened on the 20th January, 1810. The Assembly passed a resolution that it was a violation of the 176 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. Statute by which tb ■ Assembly was constituted, an infraction of its privileges, and a menace to the liberties of the subject for the Governor or the other branch of the Legiskiure, to censure its proceedings, especially when that censure took the form of approving the conduct of a part of the Uouse, and condemning that of another part. After some discussion on financial questions they came to the concluoion that the Province was in a position to pay all the expenses of Government with which they readily charged thems«^lves. There was a dead lock. The Legislative Assembly expelled the single judge who sat as member of it. The Governor dissolved the Chamber. During the election, which was a violent one, six members of Parliament and the pro- prietor of the Ganadien were tlirown into prison. They were released ultimately ; the judges were disqualified ; and so the cri^". 1 was got over. .'n New Brunswick, the dead-lock came in the closing years of the eighteenth century, though the brother of Lord Dorchester, Colonel Carleton, administered its affairs with great tact from 1782 to 1802. W^ return to Upper Canada. There was but one newspaper in the Province, the Upper Canada Gazette, the honour of establish- ing which, with so much else, belongs to Governor Simcoe. It was, however, a government organ ; and started by a governor and supported by government, and without competition it could liave no life. The Rev. Dr. Carroll speaking of this paper for Nov. 13th, 1801, describes it as a coarse, Himsy, two-leaved paper of oc- tavo size, the department of news large, but the " news much older than their ak*." Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe having Ijeen recalled in 17l)G, the Province was administered by Mr. Russell, senior member of the Executive, until the arrival of Lieutenant- Governor Hunter, in 1799, who was succeeded six years afterwards by Mr. Gore, the country having been, during a brief interregnum, governed by Mr. Alexander Grant. The administration of justice had fallen into a disgraceful condition, and despotic power had> as it never fails to do, rendered its possessors impatient of oppo- sition. To use our party watchwords now, and apply it to the events of those days would be misleading. There is, for instance, no Conservative to-day who is not mo^e " advanced" than the r hadi EARLIEST ORGAN OF OPINION IN UPPER CANADA. 177 leader of the Reform Party in IS^l. How impossible then to use the party designations of the present in 1800. The ground was being broken up for the seed of party, but the present struggle was between the people and an oligarchy. At this period, Mr. Thorpe, an English lawyer, was sent out as one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench. His impartial administration of justice had made him popular. Grand juries entrusted him with their grievances to be laid before Mr. Gore, the Lieutenant-Governor, who naturally fell into bureaucratic hands, and conceived prejudices against the judge, who unfortu- nately, considering his office, allowed himself to become a candi- date for a seat in parliament. An Irish gentlema*, Joseph Wilcox, voted for him and was deprived of the Shrievalty of the Home District. He then started, practically, the first real organ of public opinion in Upper Canada — the Upper Canada Guardian — the legitimate forerunner of the Olobe, the Mail, the Leader, the Lon- don Advei'tiser, the London Herald and their contemporaries. He opposed the Government and wasprosecuted for libel, butacquitted. He became popular, and was returned to parliament where he was equally outspoken. The result was, he was arrested and 'thrown into York gaol. When liberated, he became leadtr -if the opposi- tion and had a majority in the House. When the war of 1812 broke out, he gave up his paper, and went into that war to defend his adopted country, and fought gallantly at Queenston. " Still," says McMullen, " Government treated him harshly, and at lengt>>, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, he deserted to the enemy, taking a body of Canadian militia over with him." The Ameri- cans rewarded him with a Colonel's commission, and he fell at Fort Erie, while planting a guard, a musket-ball finding its billet in his restless frame. Had he remained true to Canada, he might occupy a proud place in our bead roll of heroes. No excuse could be made for the harsh conduct of Government. Still less could anything be said to palliate the treason of this pioneer of an in- dependent press, this forerunner of our popular tribunes. Parlia- ment made provision for appropriating £809 for the salaries of masters of grammar schools, in the eight districts of Upper Canada. The patronage being vested in the Government, and £100 a year being an object to a " gentleman" with nothing par- 12 178 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. !tt & ticular to do, and full capacity to do that, some abuse arose in consequence. This led to trouble in the case of another Wil- cocks, also an Irishman, whom we have already mentioned in con- nection with the Baldwins. He was member for the First Riding of the County of Lincoln, the West Riding of the County of York, and the County of Haldimand. In a private house he seems to have made use of some strong language regarding his brother members. T^or this he was "tried" before the house on the 30th of January, 1808, found guilty, and committed to the Common gaol of the Home District, there to remain during the sitting of Parliament, He had given notice that he would bring in a bill to repeal the District School Act. The day after he obtained leave to bring in the bill, he was sent to a dungeon. No wonder the two things were put together. He was placed in a cell where there were none of the conveniences which the baldest decency requires. It seems, he was also opposed to some other bills which it was thought desirable to pass. The population has been increasing, the work of government going foi'ward, wealth accumulating, political ideas ripening, and as we have seen an Irishman here and there and everywhere, doing his part of the work. Mind only his part. But it is not ray pro- vince, the title of the book precludes me from mentioning particu- lars regarding other natiorialities, and yet I have in passing, perhaps, done them some small share of justice. For there has been no Carleton sent us save from Ireland, and Col. Talbot stands without parallel, working away there in the west, letting out London in lots, and superintending the planting of the rich and extensive acres placed by Providence under his auspices. Let us turn once more to the arduous religious field of that day, and see whose hands are at work clearing it. In 1790, the first Methodist Circuit in Canada was defined, and in 1792, at Adolphustown, the first Methodist chapel in Canada was built. In 1802,the honoured name of Nathan Bangs was on the min- utes for Canada, and he soon had as fellow-labourers, William Case and Henry Ryan, all of them men of apostolic mould. In 1855, the venerable Mr. Case addressed a letter to his old co-labourer, Nathan Bangs, which, as Mr. Crook says, sheds " a beautiful light upon Canadian Methodi.im in Canada in early times." In this letter he PIETY AND AGE. 179 arose r Wil- in con- Riding fYork, ems to brother le 30th Dinmon ;ting of t hill to d leave [ler the 1 where iecency s which ;rnment ing, and e, doing ny pro- particu- passing, ere has Talbot letting the rich es. Let ay, and I, and in Ida was le min- liniCase ^55, the lathan it upon 3tter he recalls the scenes and changes through which they had passed ; how they assembled in private houses and V)arns ; how they toiled on horseback through wild forests from two-and a-half to four mil'^^s an hour, and he asks him to revisit these scenes before leav- ing for the fairer climes. How beautiful and cheerful does religious faith make the aged ! It lights up with glory their grey hairs. It compensates with a nobler fire for the loss of the glory of youth within the eye. It is as though a traveller should come on others benighted, and while with them illumine the darkness with a sti'ange unexpected light of a mysterious morning, and break the sombre silence with voices of distant melodies, having nothing mortal in their notes of subtle stimulation. Mr. Case goes on to tell how he had made a journey through Hallowell, Belleville, Kingston, Elizabethtown, Brockville, Au- gusta, Matilda, Bytown (Ottawa City), Perth, Walford, and horn: to Alnwick, through a portion of the northern new settlements. Only a few of their former friends were living. A poet, whose inspiration was remorse, and whose mighty magnificent so^u^ so full of noble feeling, so disfigured with mockery, a song which was the cry of a nature at war with itself, the wail of a man who loved what was good, and could not be that which he loved and fain had been, that poet wrtes : " What is the worst of woes that wait on age ? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow ? To view each loved one blotted from life's page, And be alone on earth, as I am now." No such cry breaks from the old Methodist preacher gazing round on the tombstones of those he loved, for, for him, there was no bowing with despairful head — " O'er hearts divided and o'er hopes destroyed," No indeed. He had a talisman against gloom and could sing with a happier poet — " On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending, And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb." He found one or two or three of his old friends of long ago living, 180 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. M'ni from oi^'lity to ninety year-s of ago. But most were gone. " Yet," he adds, "they live in their exainplea of piety, integrity, ho.spi- tality, and Christian benevolence." The prcjgeny bore a .striking inipre.sH of their patriarchal fathers. He finds the grandchildren following in the steps of thiiir grand.sires and sires. The Emburys, Detlors, Millers, Maddens, Switzers, of the Bay of Quintd, are described as numerous and pious, and justifying th^ir Irish train- ing on Mr. Wesley's knee. Old Mrs. Detlor, forty ^ 3ars ago, told him when a child in Ireland JVIr. Wesley took her on h"-; knee. when she sang — (jLildren of the Hsavenly King, As we journey let us ainj,'." Mr. Crook says the impression the life of Nathan Bangs made on him was, that a hundred of such men would turn the world upside down. Mr. Crook, after going over many interesting facts, concludes that the estimate is far too low which would connect one-fourth of the Methodists of Canada, directly or remotely, with Irish Me- thodists, and he goes on to speak of Garret Miller and others. Of one extraordinary man he seems to have forgotten the claims; Henry Ryan, an Irishman of the Boanerges type, an O'Connell in the garb of a Methodist preacher, who was, in 180.', appointed with the Rev. William Case to the Bay of Quints circuit. The inhabi- tants of Kingston were at this time, according to Carroll, very irreligious. Ryan and Case determined to rouse the peoj e. Ryan had a powerful voice, and on a market day they would Iocs arms and go singing down the streets and ultimately ir.to the market- place, — " Come let us march to Zion's hill." They were sure on reaching the market-place to have a good congregation, to whom Ryan preached. His voice was like O'Con- nell's in power of reaching far. It rose like a clarion, and was heard over the adjacent waters. They were tripped off the but- cher's block ; pins were inserted into their calves ; their hair was set on fire ; if they preached at night their candle was put out ; but they preached away, and their preaching bore fruit. In 1810 Ryan was presiding elder, and h 'ities as such were to visit every part of the Province from Detroit to Cornwall. He tra- •^e- " Yet," hospi- tiiking tiildien iiljurys, ii6, are 1 train- To, told : knee, ^ marie J world ►ncludes 3-fourth ish Me- tiers. Of claims; Connell pointed inhabi- 11, very Ryan A<. arms narket- a good O'Con- Ind was the but- lir was lut out ; I were to He tra- FIUST CAMP MEETINQ. 181 veiled about -tjOOO inlloH annually, and the entire allowanwiof thi«« extraonii iry man was a])out £(10 a year, $800 ! At the first camp meeting held in Canada, Ryan was present, as were Case, Keeler, Madden, and Bangs. It was held in 1805, on the south shore of Hay Bay. The last night is descri VmI by Dr. Bangs as impressive beyond doscription. The sky was without a cloud. p]very star came out. To thu enthusiastic minds and visioned eyes of thost earnest mem, the camp was filled with a glory not of earth. The neighbouring forest, reposing in the enchanted starlight, vibrated to and fro with echoing hymns. When the parting came, the scene was most affecting. Bangs and Case and Keeler and Madden hung on each other's necks " weeping and yet rejoicing." Some of the people parted, as they knew, to meet no more here. As these happy hosts dispersed to their different and distant homes, along the high- ways rolled victorious chants of praise. The man who is regarded as the father of the Roman Catholic Church in Upi)er Canada — a Church mainly supported by men of Irish blood, was oddly enough a Scotchman, though he belonged to the great Celtic race. Bi.shop McDonnell was born in the third quarter of the la. ping have him to have a " hi<,' heart," or still later falling, like a hero fij^'ht- ing to the last. There wan wanting to us no fo. .u of snifeiing ; wai' was hruught to our hea; ^is, an«l we tast( ' the bitterness of devastation and defeat an W( '! as the dear-bought joys of vic- tory. The history of Irishmen in Canada would not be complete with- out an aceount of this war, necessarily within easily understood limits. The greatest feat performed during the three campaigns was performed by an Irisi>man — a man, too, who was a true hero in more senses than beinj; a brave soldier entitles a man to that name. If Scotland sent her shp.ro of men in the gallant (llengar- ries and others, and England hers. Ireland was rej)resented by ihe IGOth Reginient, and by a large proportion of the 49th, while ah had a relative place in the Canadian Yeomanry, who did such splendid service. Napoleon having become Emperor of France — having been crowned King of Italy — having beaten three empires on the field of Austerlitz — having scattered the glories of Frederick and of Prussia at Jena — advanced to Berlin, whence he hurled a thunder- bolt at the commerce of England. This was a measure w^hich could have occurred only to a man insane from succc^ss, and the excited consciousness of stupendous genius, which, having lost all sense of perspective, felt onuiipotent, and thus like the thunder cloud, held within itself not only min for others, but the secret of its own dispersion. A great warrior, Napolecm was not a statesman ; and though he could look up at the stars, and ask flippant atheists who made them, he was hiuiself the worst kind of Atheist ; he failed to recognise the fact, that no force can be permanent which cannot, in the hour of trial, fall back on God ; he did not see that justice and truth are stronger than genius and armies ; that morality, in the long run, beats might ; that princi- ples are above principalities and powers ; that all is cloud and spray, and shifting sand and changing form, except the Absolute, who is the core and pivot of all things material and moral, the sole imperishable rock in the infinite abyss of everlasting muta- tion. By the Berlin decree, the British islands were placed in a state of blockade. Every species of commerce with them was for- bidden. Every letter addressed in English was to be seized, and I i-y 196 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. id : 1 ^Mll i: fei interdicted all circulation. Every British subject in countries occupied by the French troops, or by those of the allies of France, was to be made a prisoner of war. Every species of property belonging tc a subject of Great Britain, in any part of the world, was declared to be good prize. English goods bought by a French subject were placed in the same category. No vessel from England or her colonies, or which touched at a British port, was, whatever her distress, to be received in any harbour over which the tyrant had power. If a vessel, in stress of weather, or needing food, put into any harbour of France, or her allies or dependents, she was declared liable to seizure, even though .she did not belong to England, if she had barely called at Liverpool or Belfast or Halifax. Tnere was not a country in the world, however small, if her merchant marine consisted of a single schooner, but should have resented this barbarous decree, which apart from all other follies committed by great soldiers, ought to make men for ever qualify their admiration of the military genius. How was it treated at Washington ? The war of independence had left behind it a bitter feeling towards England, the danger of which did not escape the sage glance of Washington, that unique hero whose perfect balance makes the impression of faultless sculpture. It was natural that the French revoxation should excite the sympa- thies of the American people. All that was generous and enlight- ened, the world over, saw in that revolution the stormy dawn of a better and nobler day for the world. War with Great Britain and a French alliance became a passionate popular longing. The tide rose 80 high that it threatened to sweep even Washington into helpless privacy, or even worse. Washington stood calm like a great tower when the rivers have broken over their banks, and all the land is a turbulent turbid sea, hurrying one way. The follies and crimes of the Revolution brought about reaction ; the floods subsided, and a commercial treaty was established with Great Britain. Again, however, the anti-British feeling rose, nor did the hostilities between the United States and France in 1798, sensibly abate it. A treaty of peace ensued. The election of Jefferson to the Presidency, and the ascendancy of the Democratic party assured, there was nothing to check the jealousy and THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL. 197 ght- of a and tide into ce a ■id all bllies loods reat r did 1798, n of ratic and dislike of whatever was British. It seemed at one time as if a people loud in their boast of freedom would ally themselves with a despot. When, the continent at his mercy, Napoleon penned the Berlin decree with the view of striking at liberty in her last asylum in the old world, England retaliated by the " Orders in Council," prohibiting trade with the ports occupied by the French, vigorously bl ikading all the })orts of France or her allies, and declaring the manufactures or produce of the hostile countries or their colonies, good prize. These Orders in Council necessarily struck a blow at American commerce, for the British fleet swept the seas. Not merely did they interfere with the vast carrying trade of the United States. There was not a poor operative in England or Ireland, who did not suffer in consequence of the mad tyranny of Napoleon, for it was Napoleon who was surely respor.- ble in the first place. The wisdom of the Orders in Council may be questioned. But so far as they were an evil, the moral respon- sibility rested with the ruler of France, and indeed at the time of the whole continent. Jefferson, unjustly and unpatriotically and unscrupulously seized the opportunity, to still further inflame animosity against England. He refused to ratify a treaty of amity commerce and navigation, between Great Britain and the United States, negotiated by the American Minister at the Court of St. James. He sent a message to Congress inveighing against the Orders in Council. Not a word did he utter against the Berlin decree. The Democratic party, as insane as Napoleon, forbade American vessels to leave their ports. The right insisted on by England of searching for British deser- ters in American ships aggravated the delicacy of the situation. The breach between the two countries became wider. The broad- side from the Leopard bringing the Chesapeake to, in order to search for deserters, had, though, the English Government disa- vowed the act, no tendency to make the relations more amicable. Meanwhile the mad embargo on outgoing American vessels, pro- duced the natural result — distress. Massachusetts demanded its repeal. Mr. Madison was elected President. The edict was re- pealed in the spring of 1809, an Act being substituted prohibiting all intercov-ise with France and England, but p^-oviding that the Act should be a dead letter in regard to either or both nations 198 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. Ill 11 once their hostile decrees were repealed. Things looked more favourable now. Mr. Erskine, son of the celebrated advocate, was sent out with express instructions from Mr. Canning, which he somewhat ex- ceeded, in consenting to consider the suspension of the non-inter- course Act a fair equivalent for the lapse of the Orders in Coun- cil, and thus failing to insist that so long as the French decrees were in force, the United States should renounce all pretensions to carry on any trade with the colonies of belligerents not allow- ed in times of peace, and that British ships of war should be allowed to enforce, by capture, the American non-intercourso with France and her allies. There was great rejoicing among the moderate party at the settlement, which had, it was supposed, been effected by Mr. Erskine and Mr. Madison. The federal press had articles headed " Triumph of Federal Policy ;" " No Em- bargo;" " No French Party;" " A Return to Peace, Prosperity and Commerce," and the like. All this exultation was destined to receive a rude shock. De- pression and indignation followed joy, when on the 20th July, more than a month after it was thought the obnoxious measures had become dead letters, news came that Mr. Canning had declared in the House of Commons, that the arrangement made by Mr. Erskine was wholly unauthorised by his instructions. Mr. Ers- kine was wrong to have gone beyond his instructions. Mr. Can- ning was more of a bureaucrat than a statesman, however, in refusing to ratify his arrangement. The non-intercourse was goon re-established, and the situation was more unsatisfactory than before. Every hour made it more tense. Mr. Jackson, who suc- ceeded Mr. Esrkine was studiously insulted. In the spring of 1811, the American minister took formal leave of the Prince Regent. A rupture was felt to be inevitable. Intercourse with France was resumed. The French flag flew in American harboui's and from French vessels, many of which were fitted out as privateers, to prey on British commerce. The train was all ready. The match was applied by the collision between the Little Belt and the Pre- sident, the former an English sloop of war of eighteen guns, the latter an American frigate of forty -four guns. The following Jan- uary, by an overwhelming majority. Congress passed resolutions PROJECTED CONQUEST OF CANADA. 199 De- uly, ures ired Mr. rs- an- in oon han uc- 11, . A was rom to itch Ve- the an- ions to increase the regular troops to 25,000, and raising an immediate loan of $10,000,000. How the Americans hastened hostilities in order to capture the British homeward bound West India fleet ; how Madison sought to work on the warlike feeling by placing before Con- gress worthless papers sold him by Henley for the enormous sum of $50,000; how, on the 19th of June, Congress passed an Act declaring war against Great Britain; how shortly afterwards the Orders in Council were repealed ; how notwithstanding Congress did not recede from its hostile position, need only be referred to. Madison was anxious to distinguish his presidency by the conquest of Canada. The great mass of the American people hungered for moie territory, and they longed to humiliate England by driving her from the Valley of the St. Lawrence, and raising the stars and stripes over every stronghold from Fort Maiden to Quebec. The United States acted at this time, as they have frequently done, as if they did not believe in justice or honour, and only cared about profit and expediency. But there have always been thousands who would not bow the knee to Baal, and the most influential and*reflecting raised protests against the war as unjust, unnecessary, and impolitic, as indeed hardly decent, seeing that it meant having for an ally a man, whose whole career showed him to be the enemy of ^xcedom. Not only was the war objected to in itself. The method by which Canada was to be conquered was placed in its true light. One Virginian gentleman said the plan was to make the Canadians traitors as a preliminary step to their becoming American citizens. Honourable men shrank from the tactics of tricksters. But un- fortunately the sinister policy prevailed, as it has often prevailed since, not to the advantage of the world at large or the American people themselves. The men of New England would have nothing to do with the invasion of a people who had given no provocation. In Boston on the day war was declared, the flags were hoisted half-mast high, as though some great national calamity had oc- curred. On the other hand, extreme men from Germany, French enthusiasts, with no political experience save what they had gained during the reign of terror, Irish sympathisers with, and refugees {To«n the Irish rebellion, swelled the cry of war. These last had ■L i»l'< f nil 200 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. , i t' [;; :i 1 '' B ^> B 1 ,. 9 i !• ;; Pi' 1 II 1 ; |l! f ! |i 1 ! wt i j&l [! i 1 1 been, in most cases, deprived by bad laws of that education which would have enabled them to make just distinctions, or they would have turned with disgust from an attack on a peaceable population for a cause of quarrel which had occurred on the other side of the world. I do not find, however, that on this occasion the American army wa*:; in any great proportion Irish, and amongst the Generals we louV m vain for a Montgomery. But in truth the Americans thought taking Canada would be an easy task. With an ignorance and a vanity which provoke a smile, it was believed that the Canadians themselves, would gladly exchange the union jack for the stars and stripes,* and if they were not so wise in their election, they must be taught wisdom. How could they resist indeed ? The odds were overwhelming. Apart from the vast po^ dlation they had to draw on, they had twenty-five thousand regular troops and one hundred thousand militia, against five thousand eight hundred men in the two Ca- nadas, and a small militia badly equipped. In Lower Canada parlianxent had passed a liberal Militia Act, and voted considerable sums. A regiment of French-Canadian voltigeurs was raised. I cannot but pause here to think how dif- ferent things might have been in Ireland if the people had had privileges such as those wisely accorded to French Canadians in 1775, and had been trusted. In Upper Canada an effective Militia Bill was passed, and Brock, fully aware of the danger, was exert- ing all his energy and ability to meet it. There were few troops in the province and not suflicient arms for half the militia. From England, where it was thought the repeal of the Orders in Council would settle everything, no aid could be expected for months There are two prominent heroes in the war of 1812-14. To one ample justice has been done. Neither alive nor dead has the other been properly rewarded. Both were intimately associated in their lives. Perhaps it was well for the one he fell in battle urging on the brave York volunteers, or he might have expe- rienced the fickleness of popular favour, and the dire ingratitude * Even to-day wo Bometimes hear Americans talk in a strange way on this head. When coming back from the Centennial, I fell into conversation wiih an intelligent American, who said to me—" I guess over in Canada you feel at times that you ar not free enough, and that old mother England keeps you down a little too much." aaaa \l To Ithe Ited btle [pe- ide ead.