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Lorsque le document est trop grend pour Atre reproduit en un seul ollchA, II est fllmA i partir da I'angle su|i»irleur gauche, de gauche A drolte, et de heut en haa, an prenent le nombre d'Imagas nAoessalra. Lea diagrammes sulvants lllustrant le mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 S 6 LETTER FROM Its (kxm the l^rchHsIwjj flf Halifax, TO HENRY J. CLARKE, Esq., Q. C, ON THK CLAIMS OF T. I);^RCY McGEE, Esq., (». $. for ffontrtal Wteil,) . $. for iTontrtal Wteil,) TO TUB V* CONFIDENCE AND SUPPORT or Titi imSH AND TUISIK DESCENDANTS IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA. HALIFAX I PHINTED BY COMPTON k CO., MAM lletininl Row* 1807. \ i 4> 9t f. • '*'«! i \ • LETTER. ST. MAUY'S, HALIFAX, July 22nd, 18G7. Deau Sir,:— At a crlHis like the present, when the election of Members for tho Houfto of Commons in the now Dominion of Canada is about to take place, I feel it a duty to address you, as Secretary of Mr. D'Arcy McCioe's Election Committee, and at a distance of eight hundred milcB, to raise my humble voice in behalf of an Irishman, who, under a kind Providence, has been mainly instrumental in lifting up his follow countrymen and co-religionists to a position which, I believe in my heart, they never yet attained in this or perhaps in any other country. Thonuis D'Arcy McQeo, as an indivitlual, may have his tau'is and his Hliorfconiings — A*om which no mere human being, however great and good, can bo entirely exempt; but as a public nuin, whose career I have narrowly watched with deep(»st interest sinoo ho first touciu'd tho soil of Canada, I unhesitatingly say that ho has earned for liimsclf a loftier public character, and has done more for the real honor and advantage of Catholics and Irislunon, hero anil vlfewluM'e, than any other I know of siuce the days of tho itnmortal O'Connoll. During the dark j)eri()d of his brief mis- understanding with Avchbi,d»op Hughes in New Vork, that brightest and brst of Ireland's hoi's in .America doclared to juyHcIf that " Mctiee bad tiie biggest nnnd, and was uiMpiostionalily the clcvorest n\i«n and the greatest orator, that Ireland had sent (orth in mudern tin\eh," To tliis I heartily subwrilad then, when I had not oven tho advantage of a porsomil a*'(|uain(ance; and now, at this critical moment, I do it tho n.oro earnestly, with the uninis- takcablo retrospect bofoi'o mc ot his brilliant and almost faultless public career in this country, which stamps him for all time to come, and beyond all competition, as our best and representative Irish- man. ,If I were asked to whom above all others I would wish to entrust the advocacy of Ireland's cause, I should say, without a moment's hesitancy, that that man was Thomas D'Arcy McGeo, the ox-Minister of Canada. To his intellectual supremacy I would add one other quality, which is the crowning of all in a public man, and that is, a high- souled patriotism, which, amid the rubbish of popular clap-traps, and the over tortuous eddies of unthinking and passionate lovo of country tiding on to I'uin, made him rather seek, on all occa- Bions, the hidden gem of truth, and advocate all tliat was sound in policy, despite the clamor of the crowd in whoso behoof ho was putting forth, at the risk of their displeasure, his gigantic strength. There is not on record anything more manly or more heroic than the culminating phase of the great career of O'ConnoIl, who, broug)»t up in the school of adversity, and warned by the expe- rience of a long and chequered life, spent his last years, and, I may say, expired with hands uplifted against madmen, " who Jovcd their country indeed, but lovod it not wisely but too well." Tho God of wisdom and of truth tells us to judge of the tree by its ft-uits, and overy man by his works. (Juided by this heavenly criterion, what, I ask, has become of all the phantom schemes of physical forco, without possibility of success, which this prince of Irish- men — this purest and wisest and bravest of patriots, never oeasod to denounce during his whole lifoy What has bocomo of Young Irelandism, and the Phtjenix Society, and tho Brothers of St. . Patrick, and more mo ha|)p3' iiomes, and tui-ned out vast nuniliers of widows and orphans as beggars on a merciless world. And is there no one, I will ask, to be responsible before (Jod and man for these lieart- rending disasters? Is there no man with courage and honesty enough to bring them before the bar of outraged public opinion, and to ari'aign, in the face of any amount of clamor and maudlin Honlinu'utality, the guilty perpetrators of the foulest crimes that have ever been committed against Ireland and her nationality, and her honor, and the dearest ami most vital interests of her people? [t is the leaders, liut not their tnie-hearted though fVen/ied fol- lowers, who are to blame. Where are thes(^ leaders at the present hour? Have they r(>ally proyod their pati'iotism when the crisis came? Have they simreil the toil, and heat, and lahor, and danger of the (hiy of struggle, with their comrades in arms? Ituvo Ihoy been struck down with thom by tho bullets of the same foe, and do they now sloop calmly like Maximilian in Mexico, and tho men of the South, side by side with the patriot soldiers that fell on the same field ? Do they carry tho same shackles, linked together in tho same prison with those who proved thoir heroism, and who, true as steel, certainly iiiovitcd a hotter fato ? No ! If tho truth were known — and it is known — instead of sharing in tho disasters of Ireland and the fato of her ill-guided though bravest children, tho real loaders are sharing at this moment tho spoils of a big-hearted but a plundered and deluded people. One or two years since a man of very com- mon-place ability and of no character whatever, might have earned any amount of Irish popularity by a similar process. All ho need do was to make a high-sounding speech, without mincing matters. IIo should deal largely in Irish grievances, with fire, and thunder, and vengeance, as his stock in trade, and bid defiance in his own person — always, mark you, carefully kept away from danger — and he becomes hero and chieftain, and any other grand pcr.sonago you may please to call him from that hour. A man with tho towering ability of D'Arcy McGeo had but to hold his tongue and preserve an ominous and significant silonco, whilst ia Canada as in Ireland his fellow-countiymon wore blindly marching on to inevitable destruction, and amid senseless and rabid men his l>atriotism might bo insured at a small premium, and his popularity endure like that of O'Mahonoy, and lU»borts, and Btovons ; l>ut throughout British America, as in Ireland, men of all other creeds and nationalities would shout traitor I and tho blood, tho whitened bones, and tho devastated homesteads of Irish- men, ami tho wailing and tears of Irish women and orphans in this naw happy land, would bring maU'diction and cry shame upon him as tho author of their unparaiU'led misfortunes. The great nuijority who uro in a far better and hapi)ier position hero than olHcwiiere, might, no doubt, pursue tho safer and more pru- dent course; hut if Mr. AIcGoe— the Daniel O'Connell of this coun- try — had not fearl.'ssly come forward at the critical moment with genuine Irishry and true palriotism at heart, and electrify the coun- try by his matchless eloquence : who is the man now living that could have foretold tho consequences for Irishmen, and, abovo all, for Irish *-j. 8 Catholics in Britisli America ? Like the unseen match, it might not have been heeded at the moment, nor the real danger understood by many to the present day ; but if that match had been once ignited, and that D'Arcy McGeo had not been on the watchtowers when all others were asleep, I, as an Irish Catholic Archbishop, yielding to no man in my love for my fellow-countrymen and my co-religionists at home or abi'oad, I distinctly state that in my con- viction, far as Irishmen and Catholics in this country are concerned, it would have ii fallibly ended in nothing short of a disastrous con- flagration. The single action of Mr McGee in this instance has been of more signal service to Irishmen and their true interests in the now Dominion of Canada, than what has been achieved by all others besides. If our creed or country were threatened or assailed hy any enemy within or without, on whom olso have we to fall back at this moment ? There may be men equally or more clevci", but where are they or were they for the last twelve years, when Ireland and Catholicity required a defender inside and out- . side of Parliament ? It may bo said that a better and more talented generation is lising up. But in my mind that not only remains to be proved, but is improbable in the highest degree ; and granting, for the sake of argument, it were certain, most assuredly these newer and brighter lights ought to have procured a candlestick for themselves in anothov sphere. Before shedding oven one genial ray of their own illumination, they certainly should not extinguish tho lamp that so far has lighted us on to victory and to honor. Besides, this novel and hideous mode of action is by no moans in keeping with tho traditional gratitude of Irishmen tho world over, and their proverbial and unflinching fidelity to old and well tried friends. There was a time when it could not bo said of them as of tho old Koman Plobs, that they wore " novarum rorum cupidi," fond of new things and new comers, and that they bowed down ia homage to the rising sun on each succeeding morning. Such a systeni would bo dishonorable to them as a people as it would bo disastrous to their best interests. Tho day must soon come when tho potent spoil of McGeo's oi'atory will bo again indispensably needed by t!.« Irish and by Catholi in the new House of Commons, and when his 9 absence would be sadly felt and deplored by tens of thousands, whose hearts throb in unison with mine for the same cause. Others more or loss qualified may bo substituted in his stead, but the r«a*i must be bold indeed who will assume his mantle and the res- ponsibility of his functions befoi'o the eyes of an expectant public, and who for the time being will occupy the niche which nature seems to have carved out for him above all others. For mv own part, I see no such man in British America, nor do I know at present the individual of whom such hopes can be reasonably entertained. The records of his long and public services in Canada, and the prestige of his name, have not only raised him up to an eminence not accessible to others, but they have secured for Irishmen and Catholics in this country, a position which, without him, in my conviction, they could have nover obtained. About the causes that led to his withdrawal from the New Government, I know nothing; but if Mr. MoGeo, or one like him, had not made his mark, and that his influence wore not felt and acknowledged from end to end of the land, th<> Irish Catholic element, I fear, might not have been required in thu formation of the new Ministry, and seven hundred thousand helots would be practically unrepre- sented in the Executive at Ottawa, as millions of the same creed and caste now are in Washington, where no McGee — no Irish Catholic — has ever yet thundei'cd in their legislative halls. For this distinguished service, I, as one deeply interested in everything Catholic and Irish, take this public occasion of gratefully recog- nizing the fact. I deeply regret, for reasons whic' ^, as a stranger to Canadian politics cannot compreheml, that Mi McGee himself is noL in the Ministry. But in his wathdrawal from so high a position, and in the fact that the Government doonuKl it expedient to have him rephiced by another gentleman of the highest re- spectability, and of the same origin and creed, I see the evidences of the improved Dosition which the IriHh Catholic body holds in the public opinion of the country, and I admire the magnanimity of the man who now retires from the seat of honor with a grace and a self-denial which make it the cj'owning act of his whole public life. 10 I It was Napoloon, I boliovo, who invariably aHkod, when lioaving of a great man, What did ho do? It was not his genius, loara- ing, or patriotism, iic cared for; nor what ho said, nor what grand spoeehos, or promises, or profes.-'ons ho made. No! It was inva- riably what ho did. That wa.s tho qucation, tho answer to which solved every problem in liis mind. It is not tho power that jlum- l)ors, bi'.t it is power brought into action and tested by rcKults — it in indomitable will, and holy ambition, and energy, and industry, and high sense of honor and honesty, and tho spirit of sacrilico, and a big heart, that mak- i the man of great intelloctujil power truly great in all tho widtii of that expression. If tiic life of Mr. McGec were not one of sleepless industry, and if, with all his faults, ho had not ardently loved Ireland, and laboured for her (as fow ever did) from earliest youth — if ho had not energy and honesty enough to mnUo groat saerificos Avhoncvor her interests required them, like thousands of litlle-giftoc' and half-witted and self-belandod j)airiotH of muishroom growth, with which our country swarms, ho would have hummed away his potty life like tho drone — ho would shino hut an tho ophemeral lightning that flashes bu< to disappear, and leave no streak behind. By the mere tricks and claiitraps ol stump oratory, ho would have risen up in tho esteem and enthusiasm of tho unthinking and tho vulgar, but to hojieles.sly sink back to tho nat'vo obscurity A'oui which ho sprung. .Moreover, ]»atrioti8m is oflon but tho hypocritical cloak of tho trader in mere human pas,^i()n, who, looch-liko, but delights to fatten on tho diseased blood of his victims. With "liberty and people's rights" inscvibod oU their banner, and tho ovor-hacknoyod Hhibboloth of '' vUiwn with tho traitor" on ihoir lips, thn demagoguo and tho brawler havo invariably pn^vetl tiiomselvcs, wlion in power, the most unrc- lonMng despots. In the Microd n.imo of Liberty, ft- u the eailiest ages, they have committed more crimes aga'nst tho world aiul humanity, than all other malefactors together. " Oh, I.ibcrly, Llbtrty ! what urliiiM havo l)oeii ooiiinii(t«l is never to bo beard. If you were to believe this class of men, there is no patriotism nor honesty in tho world but thoir own. From many speeches made in reference to Ireland and her wrongs, in these latter times, one would imagine thai all love of country was completely absorbed by an unimportant fraction of the whole peo])le, while to my certain knowledge, and to the honor of Ireland be it said, that there are millions in that country un- connected with secret societies, including the whole <.^itholic Episcopacy and Pricnthood, wlh), uniiUo them, have not produced II single traitor nor informer for centuries, and who are now, as they over were, infinitely more reliable in the hour of danger, us every Irishman well knows. Tho money of liritain did not buy them for centuries, nor aro they purchasable to the present hour. They are now ready as ever to sairitlce even life itself if their principles were assailed, or if any really solid advantages were to be ac(iuired thereby for poor Ireland. Notwithstanding all clamor to the contrary, the nuisst>s of the population in Muitcountry, and her whole priestho>»d, vichi to no class of nu>n in their undy- ing love for fatherland, and are, in the religiniiM wh in tho i>atriotic un- view, still sound to the core. As a peopK , still clininiig with wavering tenacity to their religion, countiy, and institutions, they present to the eye of the unbiassed obstwver the proudest i>ativen bundnMl years of Hubjoction to another land, still holds her own, and exinblts a national ami distinctive vitality at tho present ilay, net certainly urpassed by any of the larger ami mor(< favored countries ol , this hind of our ad(»ptloh, we enjoy many udvanta'tos ar, 'otn that have inaUu IrolunU u temporal prey to hor ei»ciuioH, 12 wo imitate all the glorious virtues for which her children have over been distinguished. History proclaims the undeniable truth that discord among tho Irish themselves has been at all ages the great radical cause of our national misfortunes. And oh, it were well if this scathing malediction of Cain had not followed us to this side of the Atlantic. There is probably not a State, nor a Province, nor a large city, at cither side of the British American lino, where tho demon of Irish fouds is not visibly at work. People of otlior nationalities have thoir fights and personal diHagrooments, but when tho onomy or stranger approaches, like skirmishers in a woU-drillod army, they iuHtlnctively quit thoir isolation and fall back forthwith on the main body, over presenting an unbroken front and a serried phalanx to the foo. Would, I say, that in thin country of bright hopes we could got r'u\ of this ono groat national drawback, and imitate at an humble (listanco tho EngliHb, tho French, tho Scotch, and tho Americans, in agrooiug to diHor on minor points, but to bo over blended togothor as one man in ossontials; and then wo would make our mark in this country, and in its logislat'.ivo, and would intolloetuully, socially, and politically, yield to no others ia th'j land. At tho inaugurat'on of tho Now Dominion, tho time has conio for shaking oil' in earnest this dogradiiig " badge of all our tril)o." Lot us no longer listen to the voice of blinding passion, but act in public and private atVairs as thinking and roasoning human beings, vindicating our own views as best wo can, and making all chari- table allowances for others. Let uh have honorable ambition; yes! but let »is be moderate and nu»(l(tllV(uuitli, perhaps, in intluetho, of the wliole population, and who tliroiigb their own fault solely are well nigh powerlesH as they can be. Let us hear no nn)re of Irish faction tights and degrading feudM where the stranger is sure to come in (as always happens) and gobblo up what of right belongH to \\n. Ih'fore committing ourselves to an i a a c c w I" II II 18 ^^ internecine war against brothers, let us in all cases of dispute leave the arbitrament of our pretensious to the decision of the majority called together for this purpose beforehand, and bow down to the behests of the many, rather than sacrifice all to self and to the sordid impulses of petty passions ; and thon, indeed, we will bo in a more favored position in this country than Irishmen over attained elsewhere. All we ask is fair play, and civil, religious and political equality among our follow countrymen of other castes and creeds. In the true spirit of freedom and genuine Christianity we seek no more and will take no less. Hoping earnestly that Thomas D'Arcy McGee and no one else will bo first in the foremost iTnk of our much-needed ft-iends to proclaim these j)rinciple8 and do battle for us in the Commons IIouHo of the Now Dominion of Canada, I am, dear sir, with best wishes, Your obedient servant, t THOMAS L. CONNOLLY, Archbishop of Halifax. HcNiiY J. Claek, Esq., Q. C, Moutroul.