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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est film* A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ll If lili f ' 4t % J' ' ' w * , " * '/ ^^ M. . 0^^ m^"^' rk ,:.<{. '^^liim ■ V* SA-'-; "/(♦ais iitt i, ,A? :'l i " • I: !i*^ *^5 A COMPLETE ,1 REFUTATION OF MARIA MONK'S ATROCIOUS PLOT concbrning the HOTEL DIEU CONVENT, IN MONTREAL, LOWER CANADA, BY COL. STONE, A PROTESTANT aENTLEMAN OF NEW TORZ; TO WHICH IS ADDED, DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE CHIEFLY UPON OATH, OF THte VILE IMPOSITIONS AND PROFUOATE CONDUCT OF THE SAID MARIA MONK FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS; WITH A SHORT INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS TO THE FRIENDS OF BY THE KEY. R. "A faithful witness will not lie; b les. NOTTIl^GH.. PRINTED AND SOLD BY J. SHAW, CARLTON STREET; SOLD ALSO BY KEATING AND BROWN, 63, PATERNOSTER ROW, AND J. BOOKER, 61, NEW BOND STREET, LONDON; BOCKLIFF AND DUCKWORTH, LIVERPOOL; AND BY ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 1837. f,m "u i Ti ' ( I fa tc le ■\ II w • .■ ' Pi / tl k y • IM AN ADDRESS TO THE FRIENDS OF TRUTH. »^M^**MM«»»»<*^^ Mt beloysd fsllow Townsmen, A BOOK has lately been ofiered to your notice, under the rather enticing title of " Awful Disclosures in a Nunnery, by Maria Monk," which I have reason to believe, has been very widely circulated amongst you. That many highly respectable persons into whose hands it fell, were convinced, from its internal evidence, that it was a forgery, I am fully aware,—- but that others would take for granted the horrible narrative to be true, is I apprehend, too much to be feared. Permit me then to lay before you, a complete refutation of the disgusting calumnies of this despicable book from the best possible witnesses. You will find that the prin- cipal part of this odious work, which has been wickedly put together for the sake of the filthiest lucre, was bor- rowed from an infamous pamphlet published in 1731, entitled, " The Gates of Hell opened, or a develope- ment of the secrets of Nunneries." Dr. Bartlett, a respectable Protestant gentleman, the editor of the Boston Post, has publicly pledged himself as to this fact ;— and the editors of the Boston Pilot have offered to make affidavit, that the above mentioned book was lent by them to the publishers of Maria Monk's "Awful Disclosures," shortly before the appearance of that work. I may also state, that whole columns have been published in some American newspapers, with pages of the " lie" publishtd in 1731 — and Maria Monk's story in 1835, word for word alike /// The gentleman who signs his name at page 52 in this pamphlet ** William L. Stone," is a Colonel Stone of IV m New York, and I have it from the authority of one of the most respectable Protestant gentlemen in Phila- delphia, and one who is connected with literature of the highest class in this country, that Colonel Stone is a person of the highest veracity and uprightness of character. Deeply grateful as I am bound to feel to this gentleman for his manly and upright conduct in this affair, I can forgive the unfavourable, and as Ifeel^ unfounded prejudices he entertains against our faith, and pray sincerely, " Talis cum sis, utinam noster esses y The last part of this pamphlet offered to your candid perusal, is, the documentary evidence of various. per- sons mentioned in Maria Monk's book, or some way implicated with it. Yol will not fail to observe, that many o/the accounts are given upon oath, and that several of the deponents are Protestants. This body of evidence I consider of immense value ; for you must either conclude the whole of those persons who have sworn to the truth of their statements, both Protestants and Catholics, to be perjurers of the blackest die,— yes, deliberate, blasphemous perjurers— or that Maria Monk's account is true ! Fellow Christians,^— God is my witness that the cause of Truth is my only object in placing this little pamphlet before you. If I had reason to believe that such a system of lust and butchery was carried on within the walls of the Convent of the H6tel Dieu, as is represented ; I would hide my *' diminished head" and blush indeed for the wretches, who under the hallowed garb of Religion, could perpetrate such deeds of infamy as those charged upon them by Mari^. Monk. Judge then for yourselves ; and let your judgment be formed upon an impartial and candid investigation. Act with the same candour you will wish for at the day when the Great God will sit in judgment upon us all. Let not religious prejudice, the very bane of fra- ternal charity, or any excited feelings warp you in your verdict. Remember the words of the blessed Jesus, " Take heed what ye Jiear : with rohat measure y^ mete, it shall be measured to you.'' — St. Mark, iv. 24. And, ** Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy." — St. Jas. ii. 1 3. Weigh well, I conjure you, the awful responsibility you incur dj your condem* nation of your fellow creatures upon such preposterous assertions as are to be found in the book m question. Judge in calm deliberation as you would wish to be judged, according to the rule laid down by Christ our Lord in the Gospel. Take into your consideration that Montreal is under the British Govemment,-M)ur King is its Monarch. Its Magistrates are appointed by the Crown of England, and its Laws are suDstantially the same as our own. Do you think the British Government would pass over in silence duch atrocious deeds as Miss Monk has the audacity to set forth in her infamous and polluted book, if there was any just ground for suspicion ? Ask your* selves if it appears probable such a wholesale system of fiendish murder and lust could have been carried on for such a long term of years in one house, and been entirely hidden from the Citizens and Magistrates? Such a supposition is monstrous ? Ask yourselves if the parents and friends of those ladies who joined the nuns, had no feelings for their children and relatives when they were inmates of this house, or if they were in- different whether they lived or died ? Fellow Christians^ I know not, of course, what your judgment may be, but really this one supposition is quite sufficient to satisfy my mind, of the wicked forgery that has been palmed upon you. From the first time 1 saw the " Awful Discloiures,'* I felt certain the getting up of this book was a specula- tion of those who scruple not to pander to the depraved taste of the weak-minded, and the bigoted, attheex^ pense of honor, truth, and justice. My conjecture has been well confir-^ed by Colonel Stone s statement, as you will find in page 62 of this pamphlet. May Heaven judge those merciftilly who have plotted and profited by this nefarious traffic ! It is quite lamentable to see men, even in our own town, otherwise estimable, blinded by religious prejudice, and the miserable and sordid love of gain ! Yet so it is. Colonel Stone tells us in page 63,—" The sales have been great notwith- standing the manifold internal evidence of the impos-^ ture contained in the work itself^ The reason is /bund A VI in the mystery which hangs about a Convent^ and in the fact that it is a tale of lust and blood^^msEiHTiAL IKOKSDIKMTS IN BUT TOO MANY OF THE ANTI-POPERT PUBLICATIONS OF THE DAY." Oh yes t youF minds have been filled with revolting stories about Convents and Monastries by the interested, the bigoted, and the ignorant fanatic. The truth is, there is a strong desire to keep you from the knowledge of what Convents and Monastries, and the Catholic religion, did for the poor, and the nation generally, before the change of religion in this country. And as long as they can induce you to swallow such vile fabrications as the *' Awful Dis- closures,'* ** Six Months in a Convent," and " Father Clement," or so long as they can palm upon you such trash as the " Convert" by the author of the " Two Eectors" — they will live and fatten upon your credu^ lity, and laugh at your simplicity. Pray read the fol' lowing extracts with candour, the first is from **The History and Antiquities of the County and Town of Nottingham, by John Throsby," (page 73) ^nd recol- lect he was a Protestant gentleman :-^ '* Let the proud revilers of the present day, who 1)oast of their enlightened understandings, at the ex- pense of their good and charitable forefathers, scoff at and deride- such establishments^ as institutions un- worthy of modern philosophy, or modern reasoning. Let such self-exalted characters rail agaitist monks and monkish institutions ; against religion, and even im- piously against its great author ; while the religious votary and the charitable, which, thank God, are to be found in these our days of defection from the gospel and its most holy truths, behold the religious ruin, the solitary hermitage, and the cell; the tombs of religious warriors, the holy sanctu ^ries, the uplifted hands of figures on monuments and. on brasses therein, with solemnity and a pleasing gratification. They, amid the din of war, amid the clashing of discordant pas- sions, will find consolation in retirement, in the soli- tary village church, where the pious, in former times, trod with reverential awe, and where they now rest, entombed in peace." The next is from the pen of our talented townsman, Mn William Howitt. I am sure you will allow him to viei vn to be an unprejudiced witness. See Notiingliam Re- xnew, Nov. 13th, 1835,— ** The Catholics who raised this money,* who built and endowed these Churches, were a charitable people. In their days, and before Henry VIII. and his reformed Church had laid violent hands on their property, there was abundant provision for the poor. Wherever the poor were, wherever they went, the doors of abbeys and alms-houses were open to afford them money, provisions, medicines, and other comforts. The revenues derived from tithes were divided into four partsf— one for th© the clergy, one for the repair and maintenance of the church buildings, and one for the pilgrim and stranger and one for the poor. This was the case in Catholic days; but when Henry VIII. and his new Church seized upon these revenues, what did they do ? Thej took all and divided it among themselves. The head of the Church took a good share, and divided it amongst his satellites ; the body of the Church took all the rest and divided it amongst its satellites. It took the money for the repair of tlie Churches^ and tlie money of the poor ^ and threw both the Churches and the poor upon the country. This was the first act of the Church and its founder — ^this the Church did in the very infancy of its being. While the Catholics who raised all this wealth, had the possession and direction of it, there were no Church-rates, there were no poor- rates, for there were abundance for all purposes ; but the moment this self-styled reformed Churcn seized it, with the true spirit of tlje robber, it absorbed all, and left the poor to shift ^for themselves." But I wish to offer you an authority of still greater weight than the above — ^namely, that of a Bishop of the Established Church, and he cannot of course be sup- posed to be biased in favour of Catholicity. Bishop Tanner, in the preface of his celebrated account of the Monastic Institutes, gives the following description of these establishments at pages 20 and 21 :•— The Monastries, says this Author, " were schools of learning and education ; for every Convent had one person or more appointed for this purpose ; and all « Mr. Howitt is here referring to the revenues of the Churchei an^ Monastries. f " Southey's Book of the Church, c. 6." VIII I V: M 4 the neighbours, that desired it, might have their chil- dren taught grammar and Church music without any ex- pense to them. In the Nunneries also young women were taught to work, and to read Enelish and Latin also. So that not only the lower rank of people who could not pay for their learning, but most of the noble- men's and gentlemen*8 daughters were edu i^ted in those places. — ^Xhirdly, all the. Monastries w^/e, in effect, great hospitals, and were most of them obliged to relieve many poor people every day. They were likewise houses of entertainment for almost all travel- lers. Even the nobility and gentry, when they were upon the road, lodged at one religious house, and dined at another, and seldom, or never, went to inns. In short, their hospitality was such, that in the Priory of Norwich, one thousand five hundred quarters of malt, and above eight hundred quarters of wheat, and all other things in proportion, were generally spent every year.* — ^Fourthly, the nobility and gentry provided not only for their old servants, in these nouses by corrodies, butfortheir younger children, and impoverished friends, by making them, first, monks and nuns, and in time, priors and prioresses, and abbots and abbesses.f Fifthly, they were of considerable advantage to the Crown : 1. By the profits received from the death of one abbot or prior to the election, or, rather, confirmation, of another. 2. By great fines paid for the confirmation of their liberties. 3. By many corrodies granted to old servants of the Crown, and pensions to the King's clerks and chaplains till they get preferment. — Sixthly, they were likewise of considerable advantage to the places where they had their sites and estates : 1 . By causing great resort to them, and getting grants of fairs and markets for them. 2. By freeing them from the • In the Priory that Bishop Tanner refers to, there resided only twenty-two monks. It was a house of great hospitality and charity. "f If Bishop Tanner means that this practice formed a part of the general system, he is mistaken. That indeed would have heen a flagrant abuse. I would here observe, I readily admit that many abuses existed from time to time in the Monastic system. But what alas ! has ever been instituted for the benefit of mankind without abuse? Nothing can escape the rapacity of the selfish — even Jesus himself was betrayed for the sordid price of thirty pieces of silver I We cannot therefore wonder if sacred and charitable institutions were sometimes abused. IX forest laws. 3. By letting their lands at easy rates.— Lastly, they were great ornaments to the country : many of them were really nohle buildings; and though not actually so grand and neat, yet, perhaps, as much admired in their times, as Chelsea and Greenwich Hospitals are now. Many of the abbey-churches were equal, if not superior, to our present Cathedrals ; and they must have been as much an ornament to the country and employed as many workmen in building, and keeping them in repair, as noblemen's and gentle- men's seats now do." So far Bishop Tanner. Sir William Dugdale in his celebrated *' Account of the Dissolution of the Keligious Houses" in the time of Henry VHI. (Sir William was a Protestant gentle- man) says, — " That it might be more plausibly carry'd on, care was taken so to represent the lives of monks, nuns, canons, &c. to the worlds as tliat the less regret mi^h^ he made at their mine. To which purpose Tho. Crom- fvel being constituted general visitor ^ employed sun- dry persons who acted therein their parts accordingly : viz. Rich. Layton^ Tho. Leigh, and JFm. Petre, Doctors of Law ; Dr. John London, Dean of Walling- ford, and others; by which they were to enquire into the government and behaviour of the religious of both sexes." * « ♦ « • " Having by these visitors thus searched into their lives (which by a hla^sk hook, containing a world of enormities, were represented in no small measure scandalous) to the end that the people might be better satisfied with their proceedings, it was thought conve- nient to suggest, that the lesser houses for want of good government where chiefly guilty of these crimes that were laid to their charge : and so they did,' as ap- pears by the preamble of that act for their dissolution made in the twenty- seventh of Henry VHI. which Par- liament {consisting in the most part of such members as were pOiCk'd for the purpose through private inter ^ est, as is emdent hy divers original letters of that time, many of the nobility for the like respects favouring the design) assented to the suppressing of all such houses as had been certify'd of less value than ■<* ll 1 200 pounds ^r annum^ and giving them with th^ii* lands and revenues to the King : Yet so as not only the religioas persons therein should he committed to the great ana honourable Monasteries of the realm* where they might be compeird to live religiously for the reformation of their lives, wherein thanka he to €rod, religmn U well kept and observed (they are the words of the vancement8 to honore with increase of thevr estates : all which we see hap- pen'd to them accordingly. And the better to satiny the VULGAR, it was represented to them, that by Uiis deluge of wealth the kmgdom should be strengUien'd with an army of 40,000 men, and that for the future they should nevei: be charged with subsidies, fifteeniths, loans, or common aids. By which means the P^vrlid- ment ratifying the above-said surrenders, the work beclme compleated : for the more firm settling whereof a sudden coutse mas taken to pull down and destroy the buildings, as had been done before upon the disso- lution of smaller houses, whereof 1 have touched. Next to distribute a great proportion of their lands amongst the nobility and gentry, as had been project- ed ; which was accordingly done : the visitor general having told the King, that the more had interest in them, the more they would be irrevocable." It may be advisable, at another period, to lay before you at considerable length, some most interesting accounts of this most important affair, ** the Heforma- tion," from Acts of Parliament, Sir William Duffdale, Brown Willis, and other celebrated Protestant hlsto- the resources are abundant. If we are so con- nans stantly attacked and maligned, we must of course, defend ourselveH. The bigot, and self-interested, whether clerical or lay, cannot now stop the current of information the people begin to ask for. XII Again let me ask, who built all those beautiful Cathe- drals and Churches which adorn our island, and which are the admiration of the foreigner, and the pride of every English heart ? Archdeacon Wilkins, the Vicar of St. Mary's, shall tell you ; and I am sure you will not suspect him of having any kind feeling towards Catholicity. See report of part of his sermon preached in Newark Church, Dec. 9 in the Nottingham Journal Dec. 16, 1836. *' Let us not fail to give honour to whom honour is really due ; for it must be remembered to their credit, that our Roman Catholic forefathers rear- ed this and other stupendous temples throughout the land, in which we worship, in a manner worthy of the same great God whom we both serve". « « * « * " But with this change," Tthe Doctor refers to the change of religion) " alas ! tne power and until lately,, the inclination of erecting such goodly and splendid sanctuaries as this, altogether ceased. Until that period the zeal of our forefathers was conspicuous in nothing so much as by making suitable provision for the most efficient discharge of every branch of the pub- lic worship. They scrupled not while living to give, and after death to bequeath ; whatever could contri- bute to make the services of the Church great and imposing." For this testimony from Archdeacon Wil- kins, of the zeal and piety of our Catholic forefathers, I wish to record my tnanks. This gentlemen tells you truly ^* that our Roman Catholic forefathers reared this and other stupendous temples throughout the land," and at the same time he abused the religion that prompted them to erect such temples ! And can you, fellow Christians, after calmly weighing these truths in your minds, conclude that the religion that incited our forefathers to erect these magnificent temples for the service of the living God was ** damnable and idolatrous'* / f / Why did the power and inclination to erect goodly and splendid Sanctuaries cease at the period called " the Reformation ?" This is indeed a vital question. If a more pure religion took the place of that which prompted men to erect such memorials of piety and zeal for the honor of God— why did it not cause the professors of the new creed to surpass the XIII former in zeal ac^ acts of Christian virtue? " TA^ tree is known bi s Jruit." "Who can now look upon these monumentii of talent and piety raised by the hands of our Catholic forefathers without blushing to see them in the desolate and disfigured state they are in ?. Stripped of everything that avarice could turn into money ; many of them, even of the lead, with which they were covered, and the very bells that used to sum- mon the people to the worship of the Deity, you might almost expect to find written upon their porches the inscription St. Paul discovered at Athens, ** To tub UNKNOWN God." The venerable Church of St. Mary m this town, afifords abundant matter for reflection tod regret from its desolate and dismantled state. Every- thmg that bad taste and the want of generous feelitig could suggest has been called forth in producing the change that has taken place within its hallowed walls, ~ with the exception of the beautiful and chaste groined ceiling under the tower. That work of art, does honor to the architect, Mr. Staveley. What would Hichard de Radclvtfe, the vicar of St. Mary's in 1348, think, if he could return from his cold tomb, and behold the Emblem op our Redemption removed, and two hide- ous and grotesque painted figures, a lion and unicorn^ placed upon two posts immediately before the table of communion ! This may be an act of piety ! It may be to remind the assembled flock that their "adversary, the Devil, goeth about like a roaring Lion." It is well the vicars of the " Ancient faith" cannot revisit the hallowed temples, the ** Churches throughout the land," in which they were wont to offer their adoration to the Almighty, nor hear the almost constant stream of abuse that is poured upon the religion, they, and the whole nation practised. Fellow Christians, — Put aside your prejudice, and reflect upon the piety of our forefathers which caused them cheerfully to provide, with abundance, for the the widow, the orphan, the aged, and infirm, without an act of Parliament to compel them — ^you will find that the law of God, the gospel of Jesus, was sufficient. The sacking and plundering the Monastic institutes of the provision made for the poor, was assuredly one of the most cruel and diabolical acts ever perpetrated by XIV human Wngs, and this was done under the title of '* Reformation of Religion !'' The following elegant Verses, from thepenof Sir Wm. Devanant, in the time of Charles I., sive a short, but clear, description of the monstrous robberies of the poor :— - " Who sees these dismal Heaps, bat will demttndp What Barbarous Invader sack'd the land? But when he hears no Goth^ no l\irk did bring This Desolation, but a Christian King;* When nothing but the Name qf Zeal appears, 'Twixt our Best Actions, and the Worst of theirs, What does he think our Sacrilege would spare. Since these th' effects of our Devotions are ?" There are only two more points that I will trouble you with : the first is to observe, that I by no means apprehend a decrease of Catholicity by such unworthy' and disingenuous attempts to degrade us as the publi- cation of the ** Awful Disclosures," or other such bit- ter and revihng tracts. Oh ! no, if our religion is only based on Atlch a foundation that it would be upset with the|urbulent breath of calumny, why let it sink. But what is the truth ? has not every artifice been called fbrth that talent and money could produce, to lessen US in the estimation of our fellow Christians, and to pftevent you from judging impartially, — and have our opponents succeeded ? Read the following extract from a very beautiful article in Tail's Magazine for Jan. 1837, by Mr. William Howitt, entitled *♦ Visit to the great Jesuit College, Stoney hurst, Lancashire": — "The increase of the Roman Catholics, of late years, in England, has excited a ^ood deal of surprise and curiosity, as to its cause, m the public mind. . We have been so accustomed to speak and write of Popery as a gross and palpable error — as a superstition that has written its own character in the annals of nearly all civilized nations, in fire and blood, and, at the same time, to boast of the march of intellect in the present age — that to hear of people — and these, too, often educated and influential — every now and then adopting this old, and, as we had accustomed ourselves to hope, * In a Sermon preached by Dr. Wilklna, on Sunday, the 4th of Of^, 1835, he calls Henry VIII. •• a convertsd Protestant Monarch I"— ^Sm Ifotiingham Journal, Oitober 9, 1835. XV nearl J worn-oiit creed ; to see Catholic Chapels spring* ing up in our towns, and Convents, and finally Mo- nastnes, once more reviving in our fair fields, which had, for ages, witnessed only the ruins of such fabrics**- was matter of no irrational astonishment/' We shall not be converted by calumnies and cunning fictions. The ** inaenious devices'* as Mr. M*6hee in Exeter Hall, termed the forged document ; which he descanted upon as being sent to the Irish Bishops by Pope Gregory XVI., may for a time prevent the unsus* pecting from coming to the truth of religious and his- torical facts, but in the end these '* devices" will de- feat themselves; they are unworthy of a just and virtu- ous cause. The second and last point to which I beg to call j^our attention is; it has been said, ^^if MariaMonk's assertion! concerning the Convent be false, why h she not prose- cuted, for the Protestant ^Association in Atnerioahat offered to defray all expenses of such prosecution ?" For an answer to this objection, I refer you to the triumphant and honorable testimony of innocence by Protestant gentlemen, two of whom were Dissenting Ministers, and the other overwhelming evidence now laid before yOu. I am convinced that all candid men will conclude, that after the honorable acquittal, these maligned and calumniated individuals, have obtained, they are following the dictates of good sense and re- ligion, by leaving the wretched impostor and her wick^' ed or deluded allies to work out their own shame. Conscious of their own innocence and rectitude^ enjcy^ iug the good will of the whole city of Montreal, the accused religious^ widely, very wisely, leave the unfor- tunate Maria Monk to tne uiercy of Almighty God and the voice of her own conscience, and calmly pursue the charitable and benign avocations of their sacred calling. I venture to hope, that if this pamphlet should fall into the hands of any who shall, by its perusal, be convinced of the unjust fabrication of the ** Awful Disclosures," and who have been in any way instru- mental in others perusixig that infamous work, they will in justice to injured truth and innocence, use their best endeavours to undeceive those who have had their minds poisoned by its revolting calumnies. This I ■^ XVI • am sure will be a pleasure, as well as a duty, to all up- right and conscientious men, who love justice and the sacred cause of truth. God assuredly will bring to light this affair, either in the full gaze of the world, or at the day he will sit in judgment on mankind. Injured truth, and sacred justice, demand this. May the guilty (if it be His holy will) be brought to light, to shame, and to repentance ! I am, my beloved Townsmen, Your very faithful servant, ROBERT WILLIAM WILLSON. St. John*$ Catholic Chapel, JVottin^ham^ February 2ly 1837. ^ 'A • . ■ ■■• < ; P.S.— A book has just appeared, entitled a "Con- firmation of * Maria Monk s Disclosures,' " by the the Rev» J. Slocum. At the beginning of this produc- tion there is a picture of a NuU) with a child in her lap ! Under this figure is the mawkish and hypocritical expression " Brin^ me before a court f There is a review of this book in the " Constitutional" London newspaper^ of Friday, February 10, and evi- dmitly from the pen of one who is thoroughly opposed to the Catholic religion, After a lengthened prelimi- nary, the reviewer states, that,— " Having read Mr; Slocum's volume with attention, we must confess that it does not enable us to form a judgment on the case. *Miss Monk by no means dis- proves the accusations against her, in which even her mother joins ; while she does not support her " Dis- closures" with that exactnebs and consistency that would enforce conviction . An hostility to the Catholic persuasion is too obviously at the bottom of Mr. Slo- cum*s earnestness to allow us to consider him quali'' fied to decide upon the merits of the case;" \ . >rHfe FABRICATION OF MARIA MONK DETECTED AND EXPOSED. ^^^»^»^»<»#»^^^i^^>^^#i^M particularly allude to it, than to say, iti con- tradiction t r the 'flfamous slander to which it has given birth, tbf t iioviiig pasfsed the greater part of our life in this provhicti, in whicl. we have an extensive acquaint- ance) we have never known any ladies who had been educated in either of the nunneries of this city, and of W. to til th an 16 '.Fin- terms t, nor 1 con- given ife in laint- been nd of if' Montreal, who did not in afler-life retain the wannest affection for the religious ladies who were their precep- tors, and speak of them in the highest terms ; and if tb become mothers, afford iiu- strongest evidence of the confidence they reposed n the purity of the Hves and conduct of the members of t'lese institutions, by committing their young uaughters to their care and instruction. The conduct of the Koman Catholic clergy in Canada deserves an equally strong testimony from us. We have witnessed their courageous and imrrmittiiig attention to their duties, when an appalling pc«". i'-'P-'e twice swept over the land; we have seen tlif-ia lio the preceptors of youth in the seminaries — we br e known them in the discharge of their more limited, yet not less useful, duties as parish priests, and in all these characters we are bound to say, that their conduct lic.i been such as to command the love of their own flocks, and the sincerest respect of the Protestant inha- bitants iuvards the Koman Catholic clergy.* ** These general testimonies in favour of the Roman Catholic clergy and religious ladies of Montreal, and in contradiction to the sweeping accusations against them contained in the paper already named, produced no retraction or apology on the part of the .editor of the Protestant Vindicator. On the contrary, in a subsequent number of that paper, dated 4th of November, 1835, the calumnies were reiterated and insisted upon, in the violent and bitter language of ignorant fanaticism, on the single authority of the un- fortunate creature whose name is attached to the book quoted at the head of this article. ** In the mean time some of the Protestant inhabitants of Montreal had voluntarily instituted an inquiry into the origin of the accusations, and the result was the perfect establishment of the falsehood of the statements, which have since been woven into the book under notice. The first piece of evidence we shall offer, it the affidavit of Dr. Robertson, a physician of long standing, and a justice of the peace. It is not the first in chronological order, but it is the first in importance, as it gives a connected history of Maria Monk for a considerable time previously. This document we give entire : — X6 " * William Robertson, of Montreal, Doctor in Medi- cine, being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists, depo- seth and saith as follows : — On th^ 9th of November, 1834, three men came up to my house, having a young female in company with them, who, they said, was observed, that forenoon, on the bank of the canal, near the extremity of the St. Joseph suburbs, acting in a manner which induced some people, who saw her, to think that she intended to drown herself. They took her into a house in the neighbourhood, where, after being there some hours, and interrogated as to who she was, &c., she said she was the daughter of Dr. Robert- son. On receiving this information they br^'-jght her to my house. Being from home when they came to the door, and learning from Mrs. Robertson that she had denied them, they conveyed her to the watch-house. Upon hearing this story, in company with G. Auldjo, Esq., of this city, I went to the watch-house, to inquire into the affair. We found the young female, whom I have since ascertained to be Maria Monk, daughter of W. Monk, of this city, in custody. She said that although she was not my daughter, she was the child of respectable parents, in or very near Montreal, who, from some light conduct of hers (arising from tempor- ary insanity, to which she was, at times, subject from her infancy), had kept her confined and chained in a cellar for the last four years. Upon examination, no mark or appearance indicated the wearing of manacles, or any other mode of restraint. She said, on my ob- serving this, that her mother always took care to cover the irons with soft cloths, to prevent them injuring the skin. From the appearance of her hands, she evidently had not been used to work. To remove her from the watch-house, where she was confined with some of the most profligate women of the town, taken up for in- ebriety ai;d disorderly conduct in the streets, as she could not give a satisfactory account of herself, I, as a justice of the peace, sent her to jail as a vagrant. The following morning, I went to the jail, for the purpose of ascertaining, if possible, who she was. After con- siderable persuasion, she promised to divulge her story to the Rev. H. Esson, one of the clergymen of the Church of Scotland, to whose congregation she said 17 n Medi- 8, depo- vember, a .young id, was ml, near ing in a her, to ley took re, after who she Robert- ight her le to the she had i-house. Auldjo, » inquire , whom laughter aid that he child tl, who, tempor- jct from led in a ion, no anacles, my ob- ;o cover ring the iridently irom the e of the for in- as she I, as a t. The purpose ter con- er story of the he said her parents belonged. That gentleman did call at tho jail, and ascertain who she was. In the course of a few days she was released, and I did not see her again until the month of August last, when Mr. Johnson, of Griffin-town, joiner, and Mr. Cooley, of the St. Ann's suburbs, merchant, called upon me about ten o'clock at night, and after some*prefatory remarks, mentioned that the object of their visit was to ask me, as a magis- trate, to institute an inquiry into some very serioug charges which had been made against some of the Roman Catholic priests of the place, and the nuns of the General Hospital, by a female who ha4 been a nun in that institution for four years, and who had divulged the horrible secrets of that establishment, such as the illicit and criminal intercourse between the nuns and the priests, stating particulars of such depravity of conduct, on the part of these people, in this respect, and their murdering the offspring of these criminal connexions as soon as they were born, to the num- ber of from thirty to forty every year. I instantly stated, that I did not believe a word of what they told me, and they must have been imposed upon by some evil-disposed and designing person. Upon inquiry who this nun, their informant, was, I discovered that she answered exactly the description of Maria Monk, whom I had so much trouble about last year, and mentioned to those individuals my suspicion, and what I knew of that unfortunate girl. Mr. Cooley said to Mr. Johnson, ' Let us go home, we are hoaxed.' They told me she was then at Mr. Johnson's house, and re- quested me to call there and hear her own story. The next day, or the day following, I did call, and saw Maria Monk at Mr. Johnson's house. She repeated in my presence the substance of what was mentioned to me before, relating to her having been in the nunnery for four years ; having taken the black veil ; the crimes committed there ; and a variety of other circumstances concerning the conduct of the priests and nuns. A Mr. Hoyte was introduced to me, and was present during the whole time that I was in the house. He was re- presented as one of the persons who had come in from New York with this young woman, for the purpose of investigating into this mysterious affair. I was asked 18 to take her deposition, on her oath, as to the truth of vhat she had stated. I declined doing so, giving as a reason, that from nay knowledge of her character, I considered her assertions upon oath were not entitled to more credit than her bare assertion, and that I did not believe either ; intimating at the same time, my willingness to take the necessary steps for a full inves- tigation, if they could get any other person to corrobo- rate any part of her solemn testimony, or if a direct charge were made against any particular individual of a criminal nature. Dnring the first interview with Messrs. Johnson and Cooley, they mentioned that Maria Monk had been found in New York in a very destitute situation by some charitable individuals, who administered to her necessities, being very sick. She expressed a wish to see a clergyman, as she had a dreadful secret which she wished to divulge before she died : a clergyman visiting her, she related to him the alleged crimes of the priests and nuns of the General Hospital at Montreal. After her recovery, she was visited and examined by the mayor and some lawyers at New York, afterwards at Troy, in the State of New York, on the subject ; and I understood them to say, that Mr. Hoyte, and two other gentlemen, one of them a lawyer, were sent to Montreal with her, for the pur- pose of examining into the truth of the accusations thus made. Although incredulous as to the truth of Maria Monk's story, I thought it incumbent upon me to make some inquiry concerning it, and have ascer- tained where she has been residing a great part of the time she states having been an inmate of the nunnery. During the summer of 1832, she was at service at William Henry ; the winters of 1832-3, she passed in this neighbourhood, at St. Ours, and St. Denis. The accounts given of her conduct that season, corroborate the opinions I had before entertained of her character. " * W. Robertson. "* Sworn before me, at Montreal, this 14th day of November, 1835. *'* Benj. Holmes, J.P.' " But, although each of these stories contradicts the other, and all completely destroy the general credibility of the witness, we have, further, the direct testimony of Dr. Robertson, that during the four years in question, 19 hhe was neither chained in a cellar, nor olitraged in ft nunnery. In 1 832, she was at William Henry^*-a town ahout forty-five miles below Montreal ; and in the winter of 1832-3, she was living in the same neighbour* hood, namely^ at St. Ours or St. Denis ^ two villages lying sputh and inland of the town just named« " We now come to the afudavit of the mother of Maria Monk. It is of great length, and contains some minor details which do not materially strengthen the evidence, though they would do so were that evidence of a less decided character. Many of these details we shall therefore omit, giving only the most important passages* *' The affidavit was sworn to on the 24th of October, 1835, before Dr. llobertSon, whose own evidence the reader has just perused; *' Mrs. Monk declares in this affidavit,*— " 'That wishing to guard the public against the de- ception which has lately been practised in Montreal by designing men, who have taken advantage of the occas- sional mental derangement of her daughter, to make scandalous accusations against the priests and nuns in Montreal, and afterwards to make her pass herself for a nun who had left the conventi' " She proceeds to state, that in August, 1835, a man named Hoyte, who stated himself to be a minister of Kew York, called upon her and informed her, — " ' That he had lately come to Montreal, with a young woman and child of five weeks old ; that the woman had absfcondied from him at Goodenough's tavern, where they were lodging, and left him with the child ; he gave me a description of the woman i I tmfortunately dis- covered that the description answered my daughter, and. the reflection that this stranger had called upon Mr. Esson, our pastor, and inquiring for my brother, I sus- pected that this was planned ; I asked for the child, and said that I would place it in a nunnery ; to that Mr. Hoyte started every objection, in abusive language against the nuns.' *' Subsequently the child was delivered to her. Mrs. Monk then sent an acquaintance, a Mrs. Tarbert, to seek for her daughter) who was found, but she refused 20 to go to her mother's house. The only fact of iinport* ance, in this portion of the affidavit, is, that Maria Monk had borrowed a bonnet and shawl ' to assist her escape from that Mr. Hoyte, at the Hotel,' and she rc'- quested Mrs. Tarbert to return them to the owner. " We now proceed to quote a further portion of Mrs* Monk's affidavit :-^ a i Early in the aftefnoon of the same day, Mr. Hoyte tame to my house with the same old man, wishing me to make all my efforts to find the girl^ in the mean time speaking very bitterly againist the Catholics, the priests^ and the nuns ; mentioned that my daughter had been in the nunnery, where she had been ill-treated. I denied that my daughter had ever been in a nunnery ; that when she was about eight years of age she went to a day-school ; at that time came in two other persons, whom Mr. Hoyte introduced; one was the Rev. Mr. Brewster. I do not recollect the other reverence' s name. They all requested me in the most pressing terms, to try to make it out my daughter had been in a nunnery; and that she had some connexion with the priests of the seminary, of which nunnery and priests she spoke in the most outrageotis terms ; said that should I make that out, myself, my daughter and child, would be protected for life. I expected to get rid of their im- portunities, in relating the melancholy circumstance by which my daughter was frequently deranged in her head, and told them that when at the age of about seven years, she broke a slate pencil in her head ; that since that time her mental faculties were deranged , and by times much more than at other times, but that «he was far from being an idiot; that she could make the most ridiculous but most plausible stories ; and that as to the history that she had been in a nunnery, it was a fabrication, for she never was in a nunnery ; that at one time I wished to obtain a place in a nunnery for her; that I had employed the influence of Mrs. De Montenach, of Dr. Nel%on, and of our pastor the Rev* Mr. Esson, but without success.' * * * " * After many more solicitations to the same effect, threeof them retired, but Mr. Hoyte re- gained, adding to the other solicitations : he was stop- ped, a person having rapped at the door; it was then «1 import- : Maria isist her she rc" ler. of Mrs* r. Hoyte hing me Ban time ; priests j lad heen ated. I lunnery ; ! went to persons^ Rev. Mr. g'sname. ;erms, to fiunnery; riests of he spoke d I make /ould be leir im- amstance d in her of about ad; that eranged) but that d make ies; and nunnery, lunnery ; nunnery Mrs. De the Rev* BUS to the loyte re- was stop- was then candle-light. I opened the door, and I found Doctor McDonald, who told me that my daughter Maria was at his house in the most distressing situation; that she wished him to come and make her peace with me; I went with the Doctor, to his house in Mc Gill-street; si* came with me to near my house, but would not come in, notwithstanding I assured her she would be kindly treated ; and that I would give her her child ; she crossed the parade ^ound, and I went into the house, and returned for her.— Mr. Hoyte followed me. She was leaning on the west railing of the parade; we went to her: Mr. Hoyte told her, my dear Mary, I am sorry you have treated yourself and me in this man- ner ; I hope you have not exposed what has passed be- tween us nevertheless ; I will treat you the same as ever, and spoke to her in the most affectionate terms; and took her in his anns ; she at first spoke to him very cross, and refused to go with him, but at last consent- ed and went away with him, absolutely refusing to come to my house. Soon after, Mr. Hoyte came and demanded the child : I gave it to him. Next morning Mr. Hoyte returned, and was more pressing than in his former solicitations, and requested me to say that my daughter had been in the nunnery ; that should I say so it would be better than one hundred pounds to me; that I would be protected for life, and that 1 should leave Montreal, and that I would be better provided for elsewhere ; I answered that thousands of pounds would not induce me to perjure myself; then he got saucy and abusive to the utmost; he said he came to Montreal to detect the infamy of the priests and nuns.' " What follows is not important, except that Mrs. Monk heard a few days after that her daughter was at one Mr. Johnson's, a joiner, at Griffin-town, with Mr. Hoyte, *that he passed her for a nun who had escaped from the Hotel Dieu Nunnery;' and on further enquiry, she found that her daughter had subsequently gone off with the said Hoyte. *' To the above ample testimony we shall only add the most material portion of the evidence of Mrs. Tar- bert, the female who was requested by Mrs. Monk to seek out her daughter :*— 31 ** ' I know the said Maria Monk; last spring she told Ine that the father of the child she was then carrying, was burnt in Mr. Owsten's house. She often went away into the country, and at the request of her mother I accompanied her across the river. Last summer she came back to my lodgings, and told me that she had made out the father of the child; and that very night left me and went away. The next morning I found she was in a house of bad fame, where I went for her, and tojd the woman keeping that house, that she ought not to allow that girl to remain there, for she was a girl of good and honest family. Maria Monk then told me that she would not go to him (alluding as I understood, to the father of the child), for that he wanted her to swear an oath that would lose her soul for ever, but jestingly said, should make her a lady for ever. I then told her (Maria) do not lose your soul for money.' *' Here, then, not only have we abundant proof of the utter falsehood of Maria Monk's * awful disclosures', but the whole character of this abominable conspiracy is unfolded. " — Dublin Review. The same writer concludes his remarks by the fol* lowing observations: — " But little now remains to be added. Touching the character of the Catholic clergy and nuns of Canada, we might add the testimony of several persons now in London, whose opportunities of observation have been ample, having resided many years in Canada, during the whole of which period not even a whisper was ever utter- ed against these servants of the Gospel . On the contrary, the spotless purity of their lives was universally ac- knowledged. Living in the midst of a populous city, their residences open to any visitor, constantly mixing with the inhabitants, they may be said to be perpetu- ally under the public eye ; hence it would be quite impossible that any irregularity of conduct could be practised without attracting attention ind leading to ex- posure—Most of the individuals named in Maria Monk's book, are specially known for the practice of every active virtue. With reference to education par- ticularly, both priests and nuns have secured the en-> 23 during gratitude of the community of Lower tUanada. The seminaries* of Montreal and Quebec are the only public schools of any note in Lower Canada, and there is scarcely an individual of any education in the province who is not indebted for his mental acquirements to one or other of those excellent establishments. "The same may be said of the nunneries as places of education for girls. So deservedly popular arc they, that the Protestant English are in the habit of sending their daughters to those institutions for elementary education ; and as the Quebec Mercury very properly obsei ves, when these daughters in their turn become mothers, it is seldom that they do not evince their con- fidence in the purity of the lives and conduct of the members of these establishments, by committing their own daughters to their care. '* It really ought to excite astonishment that any persons should be found so destitute of moral feeling, as to renew in England the publication of a work which had exposed its authors in America to so dis- graceful a celebrity. That the Standard^ edited as it is by some of the most reckless of the calumniators of the religion of the people of Ireland, or that the Times should make use of any calumny, which could escape contradic- tion and exposure even for a few weeks, is easily account- ed for by the habitual depravity of the editors of those papers. But that any persons of a different station in life should be found so destitute of all sense of religion, as to republish known calumny — calumny, the fklse- hood of which was demonstrated, might indeed create the extreme of surprise, if anti-Catholic bigotry had not furnished multitudinous instances of the total abanr'onment of all shame — of such an utter disregard of veracity, that Charles James Fox's expression, of * a good Protestant lie,' is so familiar as to suppress every angry emotion, and to cause a smile of con- tempt to take the place of a more legitimate resent- ment. *' We cannot but appeal to all that exists of good sense and good feeling, against the continuance of this * Seminary is the specific uame of the male religions houses of Quebee and Montreal. They were originally schools of theology, but on the suppression of the order of t}^ Jesuits, the priests of the seminaritts extended their plan to general education. 24 system of unprovoked and unj ustifiable olander. Sure- , ly falsehood, — calumny — for we must use the only ap- propriate word — is not the proper weapon of religious controversy. It cannot possibly make any converts to Protestantism. On the contrary it irritates and dis- gusts the Catholics, and tends to convince them that the cause must necessarily be a bad one, which sanctions and requires such vile instruments. It is true that they may deter Protestants from giving that patient and candid attention to the merits of the controversy be- tween them and the Catholics, which so important, so truly awful a subject clemands. But this protection to Protestantism, which arises from the dark mist cre- ated by calumnious imputations, is one which no sin- cere Christian can hesitate to condemn : and there is also a reaction in the system itself. Protestants of just minds and right feelings, when they discover how totally false are the assertions of the advocates of their religion, are thereby rendered more attentive to the arguments of the Catholics — more disposed to look upon Catho- licity with a favourable eye, as not aflbrding any , grounds for true accusations, when calumnies are used to supply their place; and thus, what was intended to prevent conversion, is often and often the cause of a great increase to the ranks of our religion." The following is taken from the Edinburgh Patriot, (a high Protestant journal), of the 22nd May, 1836 : — " We are opponents of the Roman Catholic creed. We should like to have a fair field for discussion with those who maintain it. But that we should seek for in vain, while those who call themselves ihefrierais of the Protestant cause, give them the advantage oi being persecuted. We cannot have their superiority in this respect brought more forcibly before us, than in the re- view of Maria Monk's * Black Nunnery.' That such a work should have been published, and forced into circu- lation by Protestants, is sufficiently degrading. The clear confutation of its falsehoods, which we here find, (alluding to the article in the Dublin Review, from which we have given extracts) — is written with a tem- perance which the author of it owes, we fear, to the circumstance, that those who have entered into the base 25 nnd degrading conspiracy he exposes, are not of his own creed." What will honest Protestants say after this ? What will they think of a Protestant minister giving extracts from such an atrocious work weekly, for the edification of Protestants ? What restitution can such a man make to the violated lav/s of truth and justice? VISIT TO MONTREAL. EXAMINATION OP THE HOTEL DIEU. ^^^f^f^^>^^0^^^*^*0^^*^^^^^^¥m^^^*^^'' (From the New York Commercial AdvA'tiser.J In the course of a recent flying excursion through a portion of the province of Lower Canada bordering upon the St. Lawrence, it was both desirable and con- venient to pass a few days in Montreal. The sojourn, in good weather, upon that rich and beautiful island of which the city bears the name, could scarce be other- wise than pleasant to the inquiring traveller, under any circumstances. Doubly so was it rendered to us by the kind attentions and hospitalities of intelligent friends, who spared no pains in contributing to our comfort, and ministering to our curiosity. To an American who has not " been abroad," and whose eye is accustomed only to the light and airy towns and cities of our own country, the narrow streets^ and dark, massive-built stone dwellings and store- houses, erected with an eye rather to use, convenience, and comfort, than to the gratification of taste, or any correct principles of architecture, the city itself presentg few external attractions. But its location is very beautiful. — The island, upon the south-eastern side of which the city is built, is formed by the St. Lawrence on the south, and by a branch of the Ottawa on the north. It is thirty miles in length, by ten and a half in breadth ; constituting a very large seigniory, and belonging to the Roman Catholic Seminary, c « 26 With the exception of a single mountain rising near the centre, to the height of from five to eight hundred feet, the island is perfectly level, and for the most part in a high state of cultivation. The base and sides of the mountain are adorned by the orchards, gardens, villas, and substantial country seats of the most opulent citizens, while it is crested with a noble array of primi- tive forest trees. The orchards are numerous and thrifty, producing an abundance of apples of the finest varieties, several of which were entirely new to me. All the usual garden fruits are produced in great abund- ance and perfection. In riding upon the side of the mountain, and at the left, as we were climbing the road that passes over it, among other fine country estates, my attention was directed to an ancient stone edifice, on the skirt of the ascent, surrounded by a wall, fOiV merly distinguished by the appellation of the 'Chateau des Seigneurs de Montreal, but now generally called La Maison des Pretres, or the Priest's Farm, as it belongs to the sen^inary, and is occupied as a summer retreat and place of recrfeation during the warm weather. The grounds are ample, comprising spacious gardens and orchards, and all the members of tl r seminary, priests, tutors, and pupils resort thither once a week in summer. From the summit of this mountain the view is ex- ceedingly picturesque and beautiful. The island itself, and the eastern snore. ^of St. Lawrence — pouring the mighty floods of the^great lakes into the Northern Ocean— 'are thickly inhabited, to the extent of many miles. The parish churches are numerous, and every where surrounded by the neat white cottages of the peasantry clustering around them. The rapids of Lachine in a perpetual foam above the sweet island of the Nuns on the south ; the charming island of St. Helen's, with its fortifications in front of the city, and the lofty mountains of Vermont and Chambly in the azure distance on the east and south-east ; with a level plain, sprinkled with villages, farms, orchards, and gardens, all around from the St. Lawrence to the Ottawa, spr^ding beneath :he feet of the beholder, combine to make up a landscape such as is rarely ex- celled, either for luxuriance, variety, or beauty. But 27 enough — perhaps already too much — of description. I will now proceed to graver matters. Among the religious and other public institutions of Montreal demandmg the attention of the inquisitive stranger, the monastic establishments of the Koman Catholics are not the least prominent. The history of Monachism^ from the days of Paul the Egyptian, who leads the van in the army of the monastic saints as the iirst Christian hermit — to say nothing of the Esscnes and Therapeiites, the recluses of Palestine and Egypt before the commencement of the Christian era — is rich in instruction and of absorbing interest. The first monastery was founded, according to the Homish legend — and the tale is a beautiful one — in the deserts ot Upper Egypt, by the aforementioned Paul, in con- nexion with St. Antony, in the year 303, or thereabout. Female monasteries, or convents of nuns, were insti- tuted about a century afterward. Both have been at times eminently useful, and both at other times emi- nently corrupt. They have served as places of refuge from persecution, of retirement and repose from the cares of the world, of religious study and meditation, and as schools of learning, benevolence, and virtue. They have also at times degenerated into dens of de- bauchery and crime. Still, when we consider that it was to them, for many cerituries, that the world was indebted for all it knew of letters and religion, and that they were the abodes of such meek and holy spirits as Bede and Thomas-a-Kempis, it is not to be taken for granted by every opponent of the Roman See, that a monastery must necessarily be the vestibule of hell, and every recluse worthy only of such an abode. With such views and impressions, I was of course glad of an opportunity of looking at an establishment of this description with my own eyes ; and having from my youth heard much of the Christian monasticism of Lower Canada, it may well be conjectured that the ex- citement recently enkindled in the United States against the priests and nuns of Montreal, by the startling pub- lications of Maria Monk, in connexion with the writings of several Protestant controversialists of acknowledged talents and piety, had not abated the desire, which, un- der any circumstances, I should have felt to visit their 28 comnmnities. Of the verity or falsehood of the truly ** Awful Disclosures" of Maria Monk, I had formed no very definite opinion previous to entering the province. Indeed I had not read the book in any other manner than by an occasional and very cursory glance at a few of its pages. Still I had read much from and of'itj and heard much more ; and I am constrained in candour to con- fess that, although at times a partial believer, and at others a sceptic, as to the truth of her fearful revelations of hypocrisy, lust, and blood, I was rather a believer than otherwise during the earlier part of my Canadian visit. True the tale was most revolting, and it was not a little diflicult to bring the mind to believe it possible, that even the most hardened of our species could be guilty, from year to year, of the frightful abomination* charged by Miss Monk upon the priests and nuns of Montreal ; much less that the professed ministers of the Christian religion, of any faith, however widely they might have strayed from the truth, or however deeply been plunged in error, or however much involvea in the gross and mystical fanaticism of the '* scarlet lady," could have been guilty of the horrible succession of crimes imputed to them. Still more difficulty was it to ■uppose it possible that woman, gentle woman, who had sought in solitude a protection against the corrup- tions and temptations of the world, assuming a name indicative of purity as well as its garb, could resign themselves by whole communities as the ready and wil- ling instruments of lust and murder. But, on the other hand, my prejudices against the Catholic faith were strong. Its monstrous^ corruptions in the old world were notorious. The work of Maria Monk I knew to have been written by one of our most estimable citizens, a gentleman of character and approved Christian piety, who had taken every pains, as he supposed, to record the exact truth. I knew, from his own lips, that he was a religious believer of all that he had thus written. I knew that other intelligent and pious gentlemen had, by repeated examinations, endeavoured to detect the girl's imposture, if impostor she was, without success. I knew that these men, and multitudes of others, were firm believers in the truth of her revelations. I had 29 heard that emissaries from the priests were prowling about New York, the veil of the sacred statute of the Virgin, if we do not misrecollect, of very great antiquity. It is care- fully framed within glass, together with the certificates of its authenticity. From the Grey Nunnery we drove to the terrible theatre of the "awful disclosures," the Hotel Dieu itself, the portals of which, from the publications of- Maria Monk and her collaborateurs in this city, we might very well have expected to find guarded by " gorgons, hydras, and chimeras dire." But it was not so. The broad and ample gateway into the yard was wide open, as our kind companions assur- ed us it always had been during the day time *hese thirty years, and how much longer they could not tell. A very civil-spoken man met us at the door, and conducted us into the hospital. This now so cele- brated institution fronts upon St. Paul's-street on the east, extending along that street 324 English feet by 469 feet in depth on St. Joseph-street, from which lat- ter we entered. The whole buildings belonging to and connected with the establishment include the hospital, the convent, or cloister, a chapel, kitchen, bakehouse, stables, and a cemetery. A large garden is likewise at*- tached. It was founaed in 1664, by the Duchess o*' Bouillon, as an hospital for the reception of the sick and diseased poor of both sexes, and without regard to 33 ress of Quaker e, a la le ma- > lined Quaker lat the 1 waist erward en the m. not ipplied or the ^d, and lovvers*^ Lit from ' ' we do s care- ;ificates ;errible 1 Dieu cations s city» iiarded But it to the assur- *hese d not door, o cele- on the ect by eh lat- to and )spital, house, I'ise at*" hess o*' le sick gurd to religious creeds, and is conducted by a Superior and thirty-six nuns. Its funds are chietiy derived from some landed estates belonging to it, but the income is scarcely sufficient, and contributions from other sources together with the avails of their own industry, help to augment their means of supply. Notwithstanding the favourable appearance of all that we saw, and the universal scepticism before spoken of existing among the people, I cannot deny the fact, that the publications already referred to had in some degree prejudiced our minds against the inmates, and rendered us suspicious of almost every thinjy^ we were to see. On entering the first ward, Mr. F. mquired of the nurse in attendance for Miss Beckwith, one of the sisterhood who speaks English, and with whom he was acquainted. After a few moments she came, and we were introduced to her. She received us with great kindness^ Her whole appearance is extremely agreea- ble. She conducted us to the chapel, through both wards of the hospital, and through the apothecary's apartment. Every variety of disease finds alleviation here, without any questions being asked as to sect or country. If labouring under a disease which is not contagious, the patient is received on application, and when restored, is dismissed without any compensation or any questions being asked. The beds and rooms were in perfect order, each bearing the name of a Catho- lic saint; a male, if in the men's apartment, and a female in that of the women. The ::ick lay quiet- ly in their respective beds, neatly curtained, looking as if the hand of friendship and female sympathy had smoothed and arranged them. All was still and serene. Can these walls thought I, witness so much self-de- nial and patience, so much toil and watching, without expectation of fee or reward on earth, and yet be the abode of vice and profligacy, which it is shame even to name? Is it possible foi" beings depraved as these have been reported to be, to find that pleasure in doing good, which sustains them amidst all their privations ? Is it probable, is it at all i^econcileable, that persons living in habits of criminal sensuality, can be found disciplined in spirit as to attend upon cases of disease most revolting j and for that class of society too, which 34 exhibits disease in the most revolting features, because its subjects are destitute of refined feelings, and that delicacy which conceals as much as possible what has a tendency to disgust or offend? And this course of conduct is not an occasional gush of feeling exhibited before the world for effect, but is undertaken as a permanent employment from which sickness or death only can release them. As these thoughts passed through my mind, Mr. F. mentioned Miss Monk's book to Miss Beckwith, and asked her if she knew the lady who had written it. She replied that the reputed muthor never had been there as a nun^ though it was possible she might have been in- the hospital, as the names of patients were never enquired. She said she had not read the book, though she had heard of many things contained in it. She said she had herself taken , the veil ten years since, and during that time had' never heard of Maria Monk. She then observed, that within the last few months strangers visiting the hos- pital had often enquired if there was a nun with them named Jane Kay. She told them that she never had heard of one by that name since she had been there; but tiie question being so often put, at length excit- ed some curiosity and induced her to ask the su- perior, who told her she had never been there! and they then bethought themselves of making an enquiry of Mrs. M'Donell, who kept the Magdalen Asylum. Mrs. M'Donell immediately replied, that Jane Ray was then in her establishment, and, I think, at the same time mentioned Maria Monk as having been there also. It was then, for the first time, and, from Mrs. M'Donell, if I understood Miss Beckwith correctly, that they received intelligence of the'* Awful Disclo- sures." In continuation, she remarked, that she had never reaJ the book herself; but from what she had heard of its contents, she should suppose that no one could write such details unless very depraved; and a pure- minded person could not have imagined them. When it was told her that the book was believed by many in the States, she said '* the Protestants hate the Catholics 80 much, that they are willing to believe every thing said against them. But," she added, "how can they believe such stat*^Pients as these disclosures, when Mr. 35 ecause d that lat has Lirse of libited n as a ' death passed ionk's 3W the eputed it was as the lid she 'many taken ; le had' i, that le hos- i them r had there; excit- le su- i! and nquiry sylum. ay was e same e also. I Mrs. rectly, )isclo- le had heard could pure- When any in ;holics thing 1 they ;n Mr. Perkins has examined the cloister, for he is a very de- cided Protestant, and in nowise favourable to our religion." Still, on asking her if we could be permit- ted to extend our observations to other apartments, she said no. This nunnery was a cloister, and neither priest nor layman, man or woman, was ever permitted to enter farther, unless by an express order from the Bishop. Thus in part was the New York story confirm- ed, that no examinatioti of the nunnery itself — its heavy iron doors and dark passages — its rooms of prostitution and vaults of gloom — would be allowed. In closing this account of our first visit, however, I must be jtermitted enpaseant to note the fine condition and beautiful order of the apothecary's apartment. It is extensive, and arranged in a manner that would gladden the sight of the New York college of Pharmacy. The jars and gallipots are all of the ancient translu- cent dark blue and white china, of the same size and pattern, rendering the shelves perfectly uniform. Two of the nuns are in constant attendance on this establish- ment, manufacturing and preparing medicine. They also cup and bleed. The physician in attendance merely prescribes, and they execute his orders. Two of the nuns are also in constant attendance upon each ward of the hospital, night and day; they take *heir turns, and in a community of only thirty-six, the occasion does not seldom come round. Thus ended our first visit to the Hotel Dieu, having seien nothing of "masks, hatches, racks, and vipers," nor experienced any thing to remind WBoi the sanctum ojfficium, of Pope Innocent HI., or of Torquemada. Still we had been permitted to proceed no farther than the hospitals; all beyond was secret, silent, and myste- rious. We had heard no groans: but some of the believers in Maria Monk may suppose that half a dozen infants might have been very gently smothered, during our visit, and some pretty rebellious nun trodden to death between two feather-beds, for all that. Never- theless, we took our departure, and proceeded next to the cathedral, standing a few rods farther to the north, on the left of St. Joseph-street, fronting upon Notre Dame-street, and directly upon a diagonal line from the H6tel Dieu to the semmary of the Priests, the 36 Cathedral well nigh filling the intermediate block be- tween them. The Cathedralisanew edifice, and is in some respects the most splendid temple in the 7ie7o world, and, as said a late foreign traveller, only sur- passed by the old in interior grandeur. Its length is 225 feet, and its breadth 234. It was commenced in 1824, finished in 1829, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The height of its walls is 112 feet. The architecture is of the rich Gothic of the 13th century. It has six massive towers, bfftween which is a promenade along the roof, 23 feet wide, elevated 112 feet. There are seven altars, and the east window behind the grand altar is 70 feet high by 33 feet broad. The dther win- dows are 36 feet by 10. It is surrounded by a fine terrace, and the chime of bells, the clocks, altars, &c. are comparatively rich. But as a whole, the interior \ is not equal to the exterior, nor by any means equal, in point of taste, splendour of decoration, and beauty of its paintings, to the Cathedral of Baltimore. This structure is larger, however, than that of Baltimore, being sufficiently capacious to accommodate 12,000 persons. My reasons for the particularity of this de- scription in this piece will appear in the sequel. I at- tended high mass in this noble edifice on two sabbath mornings, before the commencement of worship in the Protestant churches. On both occasions the Cathedral was filled by as attentive and well-ordered a congrega- tion as I have ever seen in New York. The organ is too small for the place; but aided by other instruments, and a full choir around the great altar, the music was as defep, rich, and solemn as the big "base of the ocean." ' The Seminary of St. Sulpice, situated upon the cor- ner of Francois-Xavier and Notre Dame- streets, open- ing upon the latter, and directly west of the Cathedral, was next visited. This is the general residence of the priests of Montreal, whose practice ii, is according to Maria Monk, to be continually visiting the Hotel Dieu, for purposes of seduction and murder, by a subterranean passage, which, if it exists, must lead directly under the stupendous pile of the Cathedral just described. This Seminary extends 342 feet upon Notre Dame-street, and 449 on Francois-Xavier-street. It was founded 37 )ck he- ld is in le 7iew ily sur- ngth is ced in Virgin . The entury. nenade There B grand er win- jr a fine irs, &c. interior . ^ual, in auty of This timore, 12,000 lis de- lat- abbath 3 in the thedral igrega- rgan is iments, sic was of the le cor- , open- hedral, of the ing to I Dieu, ranean ier the This -street, unded in 1657, by the Abbe Quetus, who was sent out bv tlie Seminary of St. Sulpice, in Paris. The original object of the institution wds the education of youth, through all departments, including the higher branches of phi- losophy and the mathematics. It has an able superior, and professors of eminence in the diflferent sciences, who are said to pursue a judicious plan of general in- struction. In order to extend its usefulness, anew col- lege has been erected by the Seminary in the RecoHet suburbs — a large and handsome structure. I was introduced, at the Seminary, to many of the clergy and some of the dignitaries of the church, among whom were the Lord Bishop M'Donald, of Upper Canada, and the Bishop of Red River, both being on a visit to the lower province. I was also introduced to Father Richards who figures in the " Awful Disclosures'* as one of the most humane of the priests at the murder of the nun St. Frances. Father Richards is a short fat personage, has a mild blue eye, and is exceedingly fair spoken. He was once a Methodist Minister in Virginia; but conceiving the project of converting the Catholic Clergy of Montreal to the true faith, he pro- ceeded thither for that purpose ; but in the end he was as badly off as the Count O'Reilly, who went to take Algiers — Algiers took him! Bishop M*Donald is a Scotch gentleman of the old school, affable, intelligent, and^ for a Catholic, not intolerant. He allows his people to read the Bible, and gives away all that he can obtain for that object In passing down the Si. Lawrence with him to Quebec, I found him to be a most agreeable travelling companion. The subject of Maria Monk's ** Awful Disclosures'* having been introduced at the Seminary, those of the clergy who spoke English entered freely upon it, without hesitation, and with an air of conscioui^ innocence. Having intimated that there was nothing of, in, or about theJHotel Dieu respecting which they desired conceal- ment, the idea first seriously occurred to me of putting their sincerity, and that of the nuns, to the test, by ap- plying for permission to visit the cloisters, and make a thorough scrutiny. They repeated what had been said to us by the niuis, that no person could be permitted to enter the cloisters without au order from the Bishop of D2 38 Montreal, who was then ahsent from the city. But Bishop M'Donald and Father Richards entered at once into my views, and promised their good offices in ob- taining the necessary order as soon as the Bishop should return. I assured them that my only desire was to arrive at the truth, and that if I entered upon the duty, I should not be satisfied without making thorough work of it. And thus I left them. The more I reflected upon the subject, the more evi- dent did it seem that the cause of truth and justice required at my hands an investigation of this kind^ placed there as I was, without any previous design of making such a visit, and wholly uncommitted and un- connected with any of the parties to the controversy. If the priests and the nuns were actually guilty of these fearful practices imputed to them, the truth should be known. If, on the contrary, the horrible stories re- specting them were not true, the slander, whether originating in the malice of a wicked woman ^ or the distempered imagination of one who added insanity to her frailty, should be arrested. In any event, the Catholics were as much entitled to justice as any other seek of Christians ; and I could not but hope and be- lieve, that in the event of being allowed to make a thorough investigation of the premises, I could not only arrive at a satisfactory conclusion myself, but should be able to aid in giving the public mind in my ovn country a proper direction. Should it in the end appear that Maria Monk had told the truth, no punish- ment ever invented by the Holy Inquisition would be too severe for such lustful, bloody, and hypocritical villainy. But, on the other hand, should it be apparent that they were the victims of calumny, it was high time that the crusade should be at an end, since I could per- ceive nothing more commendable in Protestant than in Catholic persecution. Entertaining and pondering these viewfcj, I sought and obtained an interview with the Rev. Mr. Perkins, of the American Presbjrterian church— the able, zealous, and pious successor of the lamented Christmas in that city, and a son of the late Hon. Enoch Perkins, of Hartford. Mr. P. warmly approved of my design. He had himself visited the cloister, as one of the committee, in July, and was 39 per- il! in ;ring I with jrian If the late fmly the was smarting under the cruel attacks of the friends of Maria Monk in this city. He was therefore exceedingly anxious that I should have the testimony of my own senses, to the correctness of *he conclusions at which he had arrived, or discover 10 him his error if he was wrong. He did not hesitate to express to me his per- fect conviction, however, that an examination would hring me to the unshaken conclusion, that, however had the Catholics may be in other respects, or in other countries, they are entirely innocent in this matter. There was no mistake in his opinion upon the subject. He had resided there several years — was well acquaint- ed with the general character of the priests and people, as also by common fame with the character of Maria Monk— and he did not hesitate to pronounce her dis- closures the most entire and atrocious collection of lies that could be conceived. Thus believing — nay, thus knowing — ^he had endeavoured, as strongly as he could by letters to the writer of Maria Monk's book, to pre- vent its publication. He had admonished him of the falsity of her tales, and implored him to desist. Other Gentlemen of different churches were also con- sulted. Their opinions were the same, both as it re- spected the character of the disclosures, and the pro- priety of my proposed examination. The result was, that I resolved on making the attempt ; and returning to Montreal from Quebec on Saturday morning, the 23d ult., I was informed that an order for the admission of Mr. Frothingham, Mrs. Stone, and myself into the cloister, had been issued by the Bishop on the preced- ing day. A Gentleman from Richmond (Va.) a Mr. Shephard, with his lady, having understood our design, obtained an order through a friend, on that morning, to be permitted to accompany us in the visitation. The editors of the Montreal Gazette and the Ami du Peuple, in calling for the present narrative, have both taken occasion to introduce the name of the Rev. Mr. Clary, a congregational clergyman recently from this State, and now the pastor of a congregation in that city. Regretting as I do, that the name of that gentle- man should have been thus brought before the public, the duty is nevertheless devolved upon me of making an explanation, in justice to both of us, and to all. 40 On the morning of the day appointed for the explora- tion of the Nunnery, Mr, Clary favoured me with a call, and gave me the first information I had received, that his name had heen associated with mine, in the order for opening the cloisters of the Hotel Dieu for our inspection. It is not necessary, were it even proper, to give a detail of all the conversation that passed between us. An abstract will be all-sufficient for the purpose in hand. Mr. C. informed me frankly, that his position was peculiar, and he seemed apprehen- sive that were he to accept the invitation, it might place him in an unpleasant situation. He said his name had already appeared in some of the New York publications in connexion with the controversy on this subject — a letter of his having been published, in which he had declared that admittance into the cloisters had been denied him ; and he evidently apprehended that the present spontaneous offer had been made to entrap him. He said that that letter was strictly true, as he had once been promised admission in the Nunnery, but when he subsequently applied for permission to search the building in company with Maria Monk, he had been refused. He was particularly desirous to know whether it was my intention .to take merely a cursory and super- ficial examination of the premises, or to make thorough work of it. In reply, I assured him repeatedly, that my determination was inflexible, to make as thorough an investigation as could be desired ; that the priests had given me to understand that every facility for that end should be granted : and that I was resolved to scrutinize the whole structure, in all its ramifications, from garret to cellar i to lift every trap door, to inspect every secret vault, unbar every door, search every cel- lar, and thread every subterraneous passage. Mr. Clary did not admit that he was a believer in Miss Monk's book, but he was evidently not a disbeliever. Among the objections he started, was the probability that were we to make the visit, we should be called upon to write upon the subject. To which I replied that I could perceive no objection to that ; should the examination be full, and free, and fair, we could say so. And, on the other hand, should we leave the institution unsatis- fied, there need be no hesitation in proclaiming that 41 iora- itha Lved, ithe 1 for even that cient nkly, ehen- place ehad itions ict — a lehad I been Bit the phim. ionce lenhe h the 1 been hether super- irough , that trough »riests ir that ed to tions, ispect ry celr 1. Clary onk's mong t were |o write could Ination .nd, on insatis- ig that fact likewise. But he intimated his apprehensions that we should be deceived by the wiles of those with whom we were to have to do, and repeated his reluctance to place himself in a position that would compel him to write any thing upon the subject. We parted before he had determined what course to pursue, with an un- derstanding that I should call upon him in the course of the morning, and apprise him of the hour of entering upon the investigation. This engagement was fulfilled, but Mr. C. was undetermined whether to go or not. Being very anxious that he should make one of the party, I urged him to accompany us, but was obliged to leave him again in a state of uncertainty. At the hour appointed he called at my hotel, and stated that on the whole he thought it best to decline the invita* tion. I hinted to him the unpleasant dilemma in which he might be involved by the refusal, but to no purpose. He retired, and I saw him no more. The hour appointed for commencing our researches was two o'clock, and the residue of the morning was devoted to the study of the latest edition of the " awful disclosures," which is accompanied by the drawings of the premises as laid down in the tablets of Maria Monk's memory, and for a copy of which I was indebted to the politeness of Mr. Clary. A few passages for special reference were marked in pencil, and the leaves turned down at others. But my determination was to make the examination book in hand, and refer to its pages as occasion might require. Such was the course pursued. Punctual to the appointment, we arrived at five minutes after two, and were received in the ** apothe- cary" by the assistant superior Miss Weeks, an Ameri- can lady, and two other sisters, who had been designated to attend us. I inquired for Miss Beckwith, also from the United States, whose parents reside in the neigh- bourhood of Batavia ; she was immediately sent for, and soon made her appearance, Our meeting was like that of old friends. She is certainly one of the most prepossessing ladies with whom I have ever met. Her countenance is full of intelligence, and expressive of great tenderness and sympathy, and the tones of her voice harmonize with these qualities. I remarked to 42 them that I presumed, from what had dropped at our former visit, they were fully apprised of the object of our call — being, if possible, to test the truth or false- hood of Maria Monk's publications in New York. I informed them that I should be satisfied with nothing short of a minute examination of any and every part of the institution. I said to them, frankly, that I had been admonished of their arts of deception, and had been told that they would mislead me at every turn, and throw dust in my eyes at their own pleasure ; and that consequiently 1 trusted they would be neither dis- pleased nor surprised if the scrutiny I was about to institute should seem over-nice and particular. They replied that it was their desire to have the investigation satisfactory to me, and that the keys and their assist- ance were at my disposal. The Lady Superior, they informed me, was confined to her apartment by indis- position, otherwise it would have been her pleasure to receive us in person. She would, however, be happy to receive us in her own apartment. We then commenced our travels and researches, being soon joined by several additional members of the sister- hood, who accompanied us through our examination. Others we met in their respective apartments, busied in their regular occupations. Having passed through the hospitals as before, we entered the cloister, and proceeded through the various apartments pf the first story. Every door of every room, closet, and pantry was readily opened at my request, and there was not an apartment, in either story, which I did not examine with the closest scrutiny, from floor to ceiling, to note whether there had or had not been any alterations — any removal of partitions, closing of doors, new pain- ting or suspicious white- washing, or any such things not forgetting one truth, inserted by the amanuensis of Maria, in the sequel of her latest edition, that ''^ whatever alterations may he attempted, there are changes which no mason or carpenter can make and effectually conceal. " But in this story there had been no changes of any kind. The work and fixtures were all, evidently time-worn and ancient. There were, however, trap -doors in several of the apartments — several more than are specified in e 43 ^ot an imine note ms — I pain- Ihings isis of \.tever ihxch \ually [anges lentlv )f the in the drawings of Maria Monk. Every one of these trap- doors I opened myself, and into every one of the vaults I descended, sometimes alone, but more fre- quently accompanied by Messrs. Frothingham and Shephard. These vaults were usually store-rooms for the accommodation of the particular apartments imme- diately above. Every wall was carefully examined, both as to its appearance, the text ire of the mortar, &c. After these examinations were enued, the sisters took us into the yards, and conducted us into the cellars and vaulted rooms. The same scrutiny was every where made, and the texture of the mortar tried by an iron- pointed cane. Every door and passage way was open- ed with the like results. We now re-entered the convent, and ascended to the next story examining every apartment with the most deliberate and eagle-eyed attention. We visited the cells of the nuns, and examined their furniture. The unsophisticated reader may perhaps think these "cells" are very dark and gloomy places, with stone Hoors, and locks and bars and grates. No such thing. They are neat little apartments, containing a single bed, with green curtains and counterpanes, two old-fashioned high-backed chairs, a little desk, with a small case for books, and within which is also a crucifix. The books so far as we looked at them, were such as good Protes- tants might become still better by reading. Having ascended the attic, we had now examined every part except one of the long attic rooms, into which I look- ed carefully through a glass window at the head of the stairway. Miss Weeks having forgotten to bring the key to thfe door. The room was used for drying clothes for which purpose as it was well lighted, I saw the ne- cessary fixtures, and I did not think it net essary to send the lady down all the stairs for the key. Soon after we commenced our investigations, we were presented to the Lady Superior, at the door of her apartment, into which we were admitted. She was suflfering from an attack of rheumatism. She is a lady of dignity and refinement of manners — somewhat ad- vanced in years. She received us with the utmost urbanity, nay, with cordiality ; and regretted not being able to accompany us through the institution. Indeed 4'4 I the ntins have all the ease, simplicityj dignity, ' and grace which distinguish the high-bred and truly gen- teel. I have rarely seen so many ladies together, pos- sessing, in so great a degree, the charm of manner* They were all affability and kindness. Cheerfulness "was universal, and very unlike the notions commonly entertained of the gloom of the cloister. Their faces were too often wreathed in smiles to allow us to sup*- pose they were soon to assist in smothering their own children, or that those sweet spirits were soon to be trodden out of their bodies by the rough-shod priests of the seminary. The costume of the black nuns is different from what I had supposed. The dress is of black bombazine, with ample skirt and bishop sleeves ; the neck dress consists of a large square white lined dollar, reaching up to the chin ; to this is attached a strap passing across the top of the head, to which the bandeau is fastened. This is a white linen band bound round the forehead, and reaching down to the eye* brows, so as to conceal the hair entirely. To this the black veil is attached, which is made of a large double square of black Italian crape, and reaches from the top of the bandeau half way xiown the skirt behind. The face is not at all covered by the veil, nor the front of the person. The skirts are turned up, like those of the grey nuns. The tout ensemble is dignified, becom-^ ing, and rather graceful. In the recreation room we were introduced to the novices, some four or five. The conversation was gay and cheerful^ and so pleasant was their latighter at some of our remarks^ that I asked them in badinage what right they had to laugh*— that in such a place their business must be to look grave and gloomy, and nevdr smile. Thegreater number of the nuns are advanced in life, and some of them are very aged. In the infirm- ary of the cloister we were introduced to quite an aged member of the community. Although an invalid for many years, she was cheerful and agreeable, receiving us with marks of kind consideration. Indeed I have never witnessed in any community or family more un- affected cheerfulness and good humour, nor more satis- factory evidence of entire confidence, esteem, and harmony among each other* \ it. 45 as gay some what their Among the instances of innocent sportiveness which occurred, proving that the merry mischief of woman did not always leave ner on taking the veil, was the follow^ ing: — I had been diligently looking for the "purgatory," laid down in Maria Monk's book. The sisters told me I must find it. At length we came to a small apart- ment, less ancient than the other -wood-work, ouilt out from the wall, in one corner of a large room in the apartment in which the hired women, sempstresses, spinners, &c. were at work. The docnr was locked, and there was no window, except a square hole cut through the partition deals, high up from the floor. "Ah," I exclaimed — "Miss Weeks, what have you here!" "Nothing" said she, "nothing but a— poor nun doing penance !" " That spinning-wheel," I remarked, would " be penance enough for many young ladies in our country. Bnt give us the keys. " " No" she said, " you must look for yourself." Taking a chair, I thereupon climbed up to the dark hole, and thrusting my head through, discovered tha* the mysterious cell was a store room for loaf-sugar hanging round' the walls, and a few barrels of other femily supplies. And this was all the "purgatory" discovered by us. And here, perhaps, I may as well remark as elsewhere, that in the course of our inspection I took frequeut oc- casion to refer to the drawings and the pages of the "Awful Disclosures," and I am constrained to say, that I was utterly unable, throughout, to discern any mark, or sign, or trace of resemblance to any thing she has laid down or described, other than the external localities, which nobody could well mistake. But so far as regards the whole interior, neither I nor my companions could discover from the drawings, the least evidence that the author had been within the walls of the cloister. By way of excusing^the inaccuracies — or rather the total and all but universal dissimilarity of the map — the friends of Maria first assert that great changes have been made in the building; and if that is not sufficient, they imploringly exclaim, "Oh, what can a poor girl do ? We do not pretend to perfect ac- curacy ; but she has given drawings from recollection, the best that were in her power." To the first excuse it may be replied, without fear of contradiction from 46 any one but Maria herself, that there had been no changes. To the second it may be well said, that the girl must be an incorrigible blockhead not to be able to remember somewhat of the interior of a house in which she pretends to have been so long a resident, and in some apartments of which she maintains that such terrible scenes have been enacted. But she does/not; and it is a little remarkable, that the only internal re- semblance to the diagrams she has given, are said to be found in the recent Catholic Magdalen Asylum of Mrs. M'Donell, which was dissolved about a week be- fore our visit, and in which the celebrated Jane Bay re- mained until the last. Having ascended again to the apothecary, Miss Weeks informed us that the task was over* I told her there was another cellar under the wing in which we then were, which I had not explored. She remarked that as that did not properly belong to the convent, my permission did not extend to it. For a moment my suspicions were awakened. I replied that I must ex- plore that cellar, and the trap door which I had just discovered nec^r where we were, or my work was not done. Miss Beckwith was thereupon despatched to the Superior for permission, which was immediately and readily granted. The task of exploration was un- dertaken and executed. It was most thoroughly done, and we were now about to take leave, when I discovered another cellar door, leading from the outside directly into that part of the building from beneath which ac- cording to the plan of the book, the secret subterranean passages lead to the Seminary one way, and the con- gregational (School) Nunnery the other. I asked if I might examine that cellar? Certainly, they said; but as it is merely the kitchen cellar, we did not suppose you cared about Ipoking into it. An Irish labourer near by was then directed to go into the kitchen for the keys, and Mr. Frothingham and myself were in- ducted by Pat into the receptacle of potatoes and tur- nips,— for such it proved to be. But here true enough , we discovered what Maria calls "agreat gloomy iron door!" To be sure, it was quite in a different place from that designated by her. But it was locked and would not yield to my attempts upon it. Perhaps \ 47 e 111- tur- mgh, iron lace and haps thought I, we shall finrl the range of prison celb here, foor nuns with gags, and a charnel house with skeletons, told Pat he must open that door. Well, he said, he must do it on the other side, and away he went. In a momeutmore, the massive iron turned upon its pon- derous hinges and lo ! we were— let into the day-light on the other side, in a store room we had examined be- fo^^e ! There was also a kitchen well in this cellar, small, and furnished with an old iron pump, and other rather dilapidated fixtures. Not supposing that the nuns would throw their murdered sisters and children into the spring from which they draw their water for their tea and cooking, I did not descend. The walls, how- ever, as before, were most thoroughly examined into every nook and corner; and I was compelled now to conclude my subterranean researches without being able to stroll under the deep foundations of the Cathedral, and startls *he priests of the Seminary by coming up through c . f their own trap-doors ! I ha veil eddy remarked, that the cellars in general were used for store-rooms. In one of them, into which I descended throu^ a trap-door, I found a number of large stone jugs. Recollecting that Maria had spoken of some vessels, which, from her description, must have been carboys of sulphuric acid, used, as she intimates, with lime to destroy the remains of the murdered vic- tims, I examined these jugs. From the odour of the corks, and the scent of the jugs themselves, I presumed their contents had been syrups, essences, and medicinal decoctions for the sick and the apothecary. The only lime that I discovered, was in a hot-bed the gardener had been making for radishes, I believe. Thus, ended this examination, in which we were most actively engaged for about three hours. The result is the most thorough conviction that Maria Monk is an arrant impostor; that she never was a nun, and never was within the walls of the H6tel Dieu ; and consequent- ly that her disclosures are wholly and unequivocally, from beginning to end, untrue; either the vagaries of a distempered brain, or a series of calumnies, unequalled in the depravity of their invention, and unsurpassed in their enormity. There are those, I am well aware, who will not adopt this conclusion, though one should 48 arise from he dead and attest it; even though "Noah, Daniel, and Job" were to speak from the slumbers of ages and confirm it. These will ask, why, if the "Disclosures" were not true, the Nunnery was not at once thrown Qpen to the public — why the doors were so long closed; and why did silence r to those charges so long reign within its walls? TLdre are several reasons : In the first place, the tales were so improbable of themselves, and the character of Maria Monk herself so utterly worthless, and detestable, that it was not deemed necessary to pay the least regard to them. They did not suppose in Montreal, either within or without the convent, that there could be found i the United States or else- where, persons so weak and so credulous as to lend the least credence to them. But the best answer is found in the sensible remarks of the i-uns themselves. "You see," said Miss Weeks, "how impossible it would be for us to conduct the establishment, if visiters were usually admitted into the cloister for no other object than the gratification of their own idle curi- osity—more especially such crpwds of visiters as we should have had after the publication of the work." Proceeding with her conversation, she added we are constantly Employed, and each has her portion of oc- cupation. If our labonrs are interrupted, our sick must suffer and the whole business of the establishment come to an end." And, besides all this, a man's house is his castle, and what man or woman among us, or which of our hospitals or public institutions would consent to suspend their labours, and relinquish all their comforts, to gratify successive swarms of Cana- dians and others, whose curiosity might be stimulated by the scandalous tales of one of Mr. M'Dowell's pupils ! in answer to my objection, that the drawings fur- nished by Maria Monk do not, so far as I or any one else has yet been able to discover, correspond with the internal fixtures and localities, it has been said, and will be said again and again, that great alterations have been made in the Nunnery ; that masons, carpenters, and painters, have been at worl? these nine months ; and that the newly-escaped nun (Frances Partridge) declares 1 49 oah, (IS of e not the why in its jlace, d the bhlesa> iry to ppose ivent, r else- 1 lend vver is I selves, ble it isiters other curl- ers as vork." ve are of oc- r sick hment house us, or would sh all Cana- ulated Dwell' s gs fur- ly one ith the d, and shave rs, and s; and eclares that so many alterations have been made during that ?eriod, that she should scarcely recognise it her;}elf. 'o this I answer, most emphaticalijr, it is not trub. There have been no suen alterations, either in the building within, or tho vaults beneath, or the walls without. All things remain as iney were. Let it here be borne in mind ** t?iat whatever alterations may he attempted^ there are changes which no mason or car- pehter can make and ^ectttally conceal" Im- Eirjssed with this truth, and it is almost the onlv one I ave been able to discover in the book, I went pre- ft red upon this point. I thought it not unlikely that ii^^ght be mystified by paint and white-wash. But it was not so. There is not an outward wall, nor cellar, nor vault, that has been white-washed.* The mason- work is all, every where, of stone work, ancient and massive. The mortar however, has become every where so indurated in the lapse of time, as to be ati impenetrable as the stone it serves to cement together. No builder could break up an old stone wall, or par- tition, and remove it, or stop up a vault, or build up a gateway without leaving indubitable evidences of the new work, and the alterations. Could any builder in New York build up the doors and , windows of the Bridewell, without the use of paint or white-wash, so as to prevent detection, or so as to make the new work in all respects to correspond with the old? The thing is impossible. Again — ^Maria Monk has laid down the track by which she escaped, and has given a narrative of the way she proceeded to get out, which, in the first place, the walls she must have climbed, prove to have been im- possible, and to which the internal regulations of the house, as I believe, give a positive c ontradiction. By the course she has marked out on the map, she must have come first within a few feet of the broad gate, always open in the day-time, leading into St. Joseph - street. In the yard where she then was, there are various doors opening into several parts of the build- ings. Well — ^having been near the broad gate, she wheeled round to the right, almost crossed her track in turning a wing, and finally escaped through the garden grounds into Jean Baptiste-street. Now this ill! ■mm ' 50 whole tale is not only improbable^ but absolutely im- possible. There is no passage that way ; she must have leaped a succession of walls — the outer wall some twenty feet high — walls which no unaided mortal, man or woman, could have surmounted. When reminded of these facts by Messrs. Jones and Le Clerc, gertlemcn from Montreal, who had an in- terview with aria at Messrs. Van Nostrand and D wight's bool jto/e in August, she resorted to the usual subterfuge, that there were a door and a gate there then — ^but intimating that they had been altered. Again, I say, U is not true ! The walls have stood a century— there was no gate, and no passage-way has been filled up. As well might Alderman Woodruff send a bevy of masons to build up the portals of the City Hall, and thi people of New York not know it, as that such works could have been executed in Mon- treal, and the people of Montreal, kept in ignorance of the fact. But whence this great difficulty of escaping ? There are plenty of doors - and gates, and every nun has a key at her side. The restraint is vol- untary, and they can break their vow and retire if they please. Or, if their health will not bear the confine- ment, they can leave after the white veil, and before taking the black. Such instances are not rare. The whole tale is one of falsehood. Again, as to the secret passage under ground to the Seminary. Whence its necessity, since the gate is al- ways open, and the hospitals with communicating doors to the cloisters always accessible ? If such passage had ever existed, it must necessarily have led under the present foundation of the stupendous cathedral before described. The foundations of this structure were laid broad and deep. They dug until they came to water, and had such a path- way existed, it would have been discovered then . Mr. Frothingham, and hundreds of others, passed the spot daily, and viewed the progress of the workmen continually ; yet no such passage was ever seen or heard of, — and there has been no filling up. — ^There was indeed, an old passage-way to the river — perhaps from the old French church in Notre Dame-street, now pulled down, constructed, according to tradition, for use in time of war — perhaps for the 1 51 procurement of water — ^but that has long years ago been filled up. It was probably some reminiscence of this old affair that gave the hint for the story of the passage to the Seminary. — But no such passage exists. Again, as to the births and murders of children : — In the first place, the whole tale is improbable, both as to the number of nuns and infants. Do murderers cluster in numbers to perpetral^e their butcheries, and thus purposely furnish the means of conviction? Would they be so foolish, and so mad, as to keep a written record of their murders ? And would so many mothers consent to strangle their owii offspring ? Can a woman forget her sucking child ? It is not so ! The voice of indignant nature rises up to proclaim the false- hood ! And, moreover, as to the number of novices and infants ; Miss Monk states, that on a certain occa- sion, she discovered a book in the Superior's custody, containing the record of the admissions of novices, and of the births of infants who wer^* murdered. About twenty-five of these pages were w.^cten over, containing about fifteen entries on a page. '* Several of these pages," she says, " were occupied with the records of the births of the murdered infants. And all the re- cords were either of admissions or births." Now we will allov/ twenty pages for the records of admissions of novices, and five for the births of the murdered children.* Fifteen entries on a page, twenty pages, will give us the number of three hundred admissions in two years. Now there are but thirty-six nuns in all, and seldom more than four or five novices or postulants. Again, as to the infants — if we allow five pages to have been devoted to these records of births, we have seven- ty-five births during the same period ! ! — Now, as I have already said, there are but tliirty-six nuns ; more than one-half are * * past age. " ' Certainly not more than fifteen of them could, " in the natural course of human events," become mothers. Taking Maria's statements, therefore, as correct data, and each of those fifteen nuns — striking the average — must give birth to two and a half children every year ! ! A most prolific race, * Maria assented to this division last evening, before she probably saw to vrhat it would lead. 52 truly ! ! What nonsense, and how great the popular credulity to swallow it ! But I weary in the exposure of impossibilities ; nor is it necessary to proceed farther with them. I might indeed write a volume as large as her own, in the expo- sure of the multitudinous inconsistencies and contra- dictions of the " Awful Disclosures." But ** the game would not be worth the candle." And besides, with the ample refutation I have given the great and essen- tial features of her work, the minor ana less important fabrications fall to the ground of course. I will, there- fore, now close this protracted narrative, by expressing my deliberate and solemn opinion, founaed not only upon my own careful examination^ but upon the firmest convictions of nearly the entire population of Mon- treal—embracing the great body oi the most intelligent \ evangelical Christians, THAT MARIA MONK IS AN ARRANT IMPOSTOR, AND HER BOOK, IN ALL ITS ESSENTIAL FEATURES, A TISSUE OF CALUMNIES. However guilty the Catholics may be in other respects, or in other Countries, as a man of honour, and professor of the Protestant faith, I MOST SOLEMNLY BELIEVE THAT THE PRIESTS AND NUNS ARE INNOCENT IN THIS MATTER. WILLIAM L. STONE. New York, October 8, 1836. Postscript. — Since the copy of the foregoing narra- tive was placed in the hands of the printer, at the earnest solicitation of some of the friends of Maria Monk, I have had an interview with her, together with the newly-escaped nun, as she calls herseif, Frances Par- tridge, who has arrived in season to confirm all Maria's statements, and add divers other tales of terror of her own. The result is, that, so far from giving me reason to alter a single line that I have written, I would add to the force of my contradictions of the calumnies con- tained in the " Awful Disclosures," if language would allow of it ; for if I before had entertained the least lingering fragment of a suspicion, that I could in any 53 respect have been deceived, this interview would have done all away. The friends of Maria have looked upon the arrival and confirmatory statements of Miss Par- tridge as a god- send : but if they are ever brought to their right minds upon this subject they will lament, in bitterness of heart, that they ever had any thing to do with either. It is not necessary to go into the details of the short examination which I gave them, in presence of some half a dozen of their friends-»-clerical and laical. Suffice it to say, that their imposture was in ten minutes rendered as apparent as the sun at noon- day. I am now more ^ree and bold than ever te de- clare, THAT NEITHER MarIA MoNK, NOR FRANCES Partridge, has ever been within the walls op THE Convent op the Hotel Dieu. So ignorant, indeed, is Frances Partridge of the institution, that she located it on the wrong side of a very large block of buildings — assigning a passage and stairway entrance into the Hotel Dieu from Notre Dame-street ! Nor was this a mere lapsus linguce. I gave her time to recover : Maria — for they assisted in prompting each other — ^gave her a kind hint to recover herself, but she did not '* take," and three times distinctly did she re- peat the fatal mistake. In the course of various other questions, she stated that within her knowledge, a new stone wall had been erected across a particular cellar, during the late summer. The story was untrue. On being asked which of the cellars had been newly white- washed during the present season, she replied that they had all been thoroughly white- washed throughout, this season^ — that she had herself assisted in white- washing them — and asked M aria if they had not formerly been engaged in that work together. J^Tow it is a fact ^ that neitlier oftlve cellars cfthe Hotel Dieu has ever been white-washed at all ! neither the present year, nor in years past. Not a particle of white- wash has been used beneath the first story, and the walls are as hart of lime as when taken from the quarry \ The examination was pursued, especially with Maria, until the proof was clear as the lightj that they were both, in all respects, lying impostors. Under these circumstances, I gave my views to the gentlemen present, and begged them to discard them at once. But as I thought they ap- -^■^■%: 54 peared to place more confidence in their word than in mine, I retired. They urged me to stay longer ; but I told them it would do no good. — ^The fact was now unquestionable that they had never been in the Con- vent, and remain and bandy words with them, I would not. One reverend gentleman waxed angry, and said that he had as good a right to pronounce me a liar, in saying that I had been in the nunnery, as I hud to pro- nounce those women liars. Of course I took my leave— pained that men of sense should show such a spirit, and allow themselves to be made such egregious dupes of, by two of the most shallow impostors that I ever saw. The Apostle speaks of certain men in latter days, who, amongst other things, were to " make cap- tive siiiy women." The case is here reversed, " silly women" are ** making captive" men of sense. How melancholy to see grave theologians, and intelligent laymen, thus pinning themselves to the aprons of such women ! But enough. W. L. S. APPENDIX TO COLONEL STONE'S NARRATIVE. m^f^-i^^*^^^>^^i0*^>^*^ In a pamphlet, in which Colonel Stone has printed the preceding narrative of his visit to the Hotel Dieu, he has added a most interesting and copious appendix, containing an account of an interview with Maria Monk, and her timely auxiliary. Miss Frances Par- tridge, in presence of the Rev. George Bourne, who wrote the impudent *' Confirmation of the Awful Dis- closures," the Rev. Mebsrs. Brownlee and Slocum, and three lay-gentlemen, who feel a deep interest in this controversy, and of whom one was Mr. Dwight, the writer of the " Awful Disclosures." There was also another lady present. — The pretended nuns were seated side by side, in close proximity, able and wil- ling, as the event proved, to aid and assist each other by suj thus :- Aft( mence dian o also n( limina "Y( "Y« "H( "Ve "Di **Ye *'I « have b( Did yoi "Is{ *'Dic "Idi *'Wh "Tw( "Wh "The ground, "Are very lar^ " Tru( of the gi "Wei "Tot "Whi " Thrc ByM number < " Yes ; Thusf the prelii was now of which of the CO] adjusted pretender was as fo 55 ,han but now Jon- ould said r, in pro- my ich a jious hat I atter cap- silly How igent such S. also I were wil- lother ^y suggestions when necessary. — Colonel Stone begins thus :— After an introduction, the conversation was com- menced, I believe, by the Rev. Mr. Slocum, the guar- dian of Miss Monk, and with whom Miss Partridge is also now residing. Mr. S. began by a series of pre- liminary questions to the following effect : — " You have recently been in Montreal, I am told V* " Yes." ** How were you pleased ?" «* Very Tvell." " Did you see the Rev. Mr. Clary ?" ** Yes." ^'I am surprised that he has not written tome: I have been expecting letters from him for some time. Did you see much of him ?" " I saw him three times." *' Did you visit any nunneries ?" " I did." " Which of them r " Two ; the Grey Nuns, and the Hotel Dieu." " Which is the largest of the two ?" ** The convent of the Grey Sisters occupies the most ground, I believe." " Are you not mistaken ? The Black Nunnery is very large." " True : but I believe the grounds of the other are of the greatest extent." " Well : where did you go next ?" "TotheH6telDieu." " Which way did you enter it ?" "Through the broad gate, in St. Joseph-street." By Miss Monk, " You found yourself among a number of out-buildings there ?" "Yes: Several." Thus far I had submitted to the questioning, because the preliminaries were not nlaterial. Another question was now put to me, I think by Mr. Slocum, the effect of which would have been to make me open the doors of the convent to them. This was not the plan I had adjusted in my Own mind, to bring the veracity of the pretended nuns to the test. My reply to the question was as follows :*-* m m m w^ mi ■I'j-i'i 56 " Gentlemen, I did not come here to be catechised. I have answered thus far cheerfully. But I am neither a party in this matter, nor a witness. I came hither on invitation, to meet these ladies, and hear what they and you have to say. My only object is to arrive at the truth as to the matter in hand." To which there was a general reply from the gentle- men, that that was their only object. After a pause, and a few indifferent remarks as to the embarrassment of the position in which we were all placed, Maria Monk spoke up quite pertly : — " I should think that such an old man as you, Mr. Stone, would not be afraid to speak to such girls as we (cr before us upon this subject, I am not certain as to the words.) " Not so very old. Miss Monk : how could you say so ? I have not a grey hair yet !" Miss Monk. " But can't you tell us how you found the nunnery? We should like to know something about it, as you have been there so long since we have." " So I suppose. But I don't choose to be questioned about it now." [After some other observations, Colonel Stone gives the following account of the examination of Frances Partridge and Maria Monk :— ] Question from Mr. Stone. Miss Partridge, you are lately from the Hotel Dieu ? Miss Partridge. I am. • Qu. Well, Miss Partridge^ about these alterations that have been going on in the nunnery ; I am told that you say they have been so extensive, and the place is so much changed, that you would hardly know it yourself? Ans. Yes, it is so. Qu. Very well : Be so good as to tell me which of the walls in the cellar has been built during this season ? Ans. A wall across the East side of the cellar. ' Qu. The East side? You are quite sure, Miss Partridge ? Ans\ Yes. Qu. What kind of a Avail is it ? 57 lised. jither eron y and it the entle- tothe 3re all I, Mr. as we 1 as to )U say ' L found letliing ice we jtioned gives ranees re, you rations im told le place now it rhicii of ng tins e, Mis^ ^4ns, It was a wall— Qu. Of stone I suppose? u4ns. Yes. Very well; all the walls are of stone, of course. . Qu. Now as to the plastering of the ceiling— Do you know anything of that? Ans. The ceiling was all newly plastered, and partly down on the wall, where it broke off. You could see a blue or green streak where the new plas- ter was joined on. By Dr. Brownlee. Was it light in the cellar so that you could see? ^ns. Yes : perfectly light. By Mr, Stone. The cellars are very well lighted, Doctor. Qu. Miss Partridge, you are quite certain of all ihis? ^718. Yes. Gentlemen it is important to pay attention to these points. Question hy Miss Partridge. Did you go up all the stairs ? Ans. I believe I did. Qu. hy Miss P. Did you go up the long stairway leading to Notre Dame-street? Ans. The stairway, did you say, leading from Notre Dame-street ! Are you (juite sure? At this instant Maria Monk jogged her and inter- posed— ^*' The congregational Nunnery, you mean!" Mr. Stone. I am talking to Miss Partri.\?**, Miss Monk. You are certain, Miss Partridge, th^-i it is the long stairway leading from the Hotel Dieu into Notre Dame street ? Ans. Yes — that is the one. [or words equivalent.] Gentlemen, these enquiries are important, and must be kept in mind. Question hy Mr. Stone. — Well, Miss Partridge, we will come to the cellars again : Pray tell me which of the cellars under the hospital has been the latest white- washed, during the present season? Aus. Why — they have all been white- washed this summer. Qu. What — all the vaults and cellars? Are you quite sure, Miss Partridge? ■u 58 Ans. Yes : all of them have been thorotighly whitef- washed^ Qu. Are you not mistaken about a// being white^ ^washed? Ans. No : I know it, for I helped to white-wash them myself. Why, (turning to Miss Monk) Maria, you have helped me to whitewash them, hav'nt you ? To which I understood Maria to assent. This examination of the latest pattern of an escaped nun, was sufficient. I told her that that was enough, and turning to her friends I remarked — Gentlemen^, that woman has not been in the Hotel Pieu at al]. She is an impostor. She is imposing falsehoods upon you. I assure you, upon my honor, and from my own personal knowledge and observation, that all she has told us here is false. There has been no new wall built where she describes, or in any other place. I have examined every inch of ground. There have been none of the alterations of which she speaks-^— not the removal of a wall, a partition, or a board. She does not know, gentlemen, even where the Convent is situated, for she has located it on the wrong street, and on the wrong side of a very large block. Three times has she said there is a large stairway, and a passage from the Convent directly into Notre Dame-street,-*- whereas the Convent is far away from that street, with- out any opening or communication thither. But, more than all, gentlemen, on the subject of the white- washing. All that she has said is false. Not a single cellar, or vault of that Convent has ever been whiter washed ! The walls are as dark and bare of lime as When they were first built, a century ago. This fact I know, from having just examined every one of them With the closest scrutiny. And yet she says she helped to white^wash them, and Maria, too, says she has for- merly helped her ! It is all false, gentlemen. Question hy Dr. Brownlee. But, Miss Partridge, how many stories are there, Underground ? Ans. Only two, underground. Oh I I believe the lower one underground has not been white- washed. By Mr. Stone. That does not help the matter at all, Doctor. In the first place, there is no such thing as two stories underground. And in the second, the 59 '!#.<) •.3 first and only story underground has never been white- washed at all. It is all fsdse. Having thus spoken, Miss Partridge drew back with affected dignity, intimating that she would say no more to me, if I presumed to deny her having been in the Nunnery. 'TfSiil ve the ed. at all« ing as 3y the I now resumed the examination of Maria Monk. Qu, Miss Monk, in your book you spefak of finding a certain book in the Superior's room, containing a record for two years, of the entrance of novices into the Convent, and the births of children, all of which were murdered. •/ins. Yes. Qu. How many pages did that book contain i Ans. I do not remember. Qu. Can you re(iollect how many pages are stated in your book ? Idns. No ; I told Mr. Dwight as near as I could re- collect, and he put it down. * ^ Mr. Stone. Very well: I will help you. Your book says there were about one hundred pages. Now, Miss Monk, how many pages did you say were written over? Ans. I don't recollect. I told Mr. Dwight as near as I could. Bt/ Mies Partridge and Miss Monk. We could never have time to count the pages of such a book-^ We shojild not dare to look at such a book more than two minutes, and how could we count the pages ? Mr. Stone, Very well: I will help you again. You say in your book, that one quarter of the book was written through — ^making twenty-fiye pages. Now, Missi Monk, can you tell how many entries there were on each page? Ans. I do not recollect. Mr. Stone, Then I will assist you again. You say there were about fifteen entries on a page. Now Miss Monk, can you inform me how many of these twenty- five pages were devoted to recording the entries of novices, and how many to the births of infants, all of which were murdered? 'i''9 60 Ans. No : I don't remember the exact number. I told Mr. D wight as near as I could. Mr. Stone. Very well: your book says "Several of these pages" were devoted to recording the births of infants. Now how many do you mean by *' several?" And. Why that's a strange question. Of course more than one. Mr. 8tone. But that will not answer. If what you say is true, those were deeply important records- nothing less than the births and murder of children. — We must endeavour to arrive at some degree of pre- cision. About how many do you mean by several? surely you can form some opinion. Miss Monk hesitated; and several gentlemen inti- mated that I was pursuing an unfair method of exami- nation; to which I replied, "Not at all, gentlemen; this is an important point. It must be pushed home to get at the truth." Mr. Drvight You might as well ask her how large is a piece of chalk. Mr. Stone. That will do very well for a get- off, Mr. Dwight. But I must have an answer of some sort. Now, Mr, Dwight, what do you understand by several, in the sense you have used it in writing the book? Suppose a book of one hundred pages — twenty-five of which were written over, and " several" of which were devoted to a particular subject. In such a case you would suppose that 'Sseveral" would imply as many as five or six, would you not? Mr. Dwight. I should think that about right. Mr. Stone. Very well — we will take five. (To which Miss Monk assented.) We have now five pages of the records of births of infants, which have been bom and murdered within t^o yArs — fifteen on a page. Now, Gentlemen, I remarked, there are but thirty-six nuns in the Convent Miss Monk turned round, smiling at my assertion, and said there were many more. No, gentlemen, (I continued) there are but thirty-six nuns and some four or five novices.* • There are, in fact, but thirty-four nuns at present in the Convent- - thirty-six being the full number. inti- cami- , men ; ^ Dae to (To 61 Dr. Brownlee. We say there are more. How can you prove that there are but thirty-six? Mr, Stone. Nay, Sir, the proof does not rest upon me I assert the fact. Several Gentlemen, You must prove there are no more. Dr, Brownlee. Miss Partridge, you were in the Nunnery when Mr. Perkins, with the committee, made their examination, were you not? Miss Partridge, I was. Dr, Brownlee, How many nuns were in the Convent that day? How many were sent off before the com- mittee came? Miss Partridge, I don't know hOw many were sent away. There were only nineteen in the Nunnery that day. A good many were sent off. Mr-, Stone, Gentlemen, this is all nonsense. That woman has never been in the Nunnery at all, and there were none sent off on the occasion referred to-— it's ^11 folly to suppose any such thing. o<9wra/.— But the proof rests with you. Mr, *SVo»e.— No, gentlemen: not at all. I assert the fact, that there are, and have been but thirty-six nuns in the Hotel Dieu. That was the original num> ber of the foundation — ^it has always been the number, and no more. For the truth of this assertion, I can ap- peal to the history of the institutionr— to the whole peopleof Montreal— to my own observation. I then added — " Gentlemen, there are but thirty-six nuns in that Convent— more— considerably more— than one half of those nuns are too far advanced in life to become the mothers of young children. And yet we have, by Miss Monk's statement, five pages of records, fifteen births and murders to the page, and all within the period of two years, and not more than twelve or fifteen nuns who would probably bear children." Then turn- ing to Maria, I asked—- ■ " Pray, Miss Monk, will you be so good as to inform me how many children a-piece those nuns have every year? There was no direct answer. • P 2 ' Ik X':, " '■■'■ ■■.iS 1 m • v\\ m .m m I' H i I |if llllil '-■''' Hi 62 [In a subsequent part of his narrative^ Col. Stone says, Maria Monk " was a vicious profligate * on the town,' and was taken into Magdalen Asylum in 1834, with the hope of reformation." He continues, — ^j Having fallen into the hands of Mr. Hoyte, after her dismissal from the asylum of Mrs. M'Donell, that gentleman, knowing the blind zeal and credulity of the anti-Papists, par e:.^eUence, hit upon the expedi- ent, as it is believed, cf eliciting the public sympathies in her favour, and brrigliig out a book, from which great profits were to be realized. When her case be- came known in New York, certain Protectant clergy- men, morbidly credulous in relation to every thing concerning Popery, Convents, Priests and Nuns, be- came greatly interested in her story — the fancy-work, probably of more imaginations than her own. Her tales were all endorsed by Hoyte, and the houses, hearts, and purses of all were opened to the supposed nun and her guardian. It was soon discovered, how- ever, that Hoyte had " seven principles" upon the jub- ject, viz: *'the five loaves and two fishes;" and his judicious advisers caused his dismission from her affairs and as her protector. The Rev. Mr. Slocum became her guardian, and a very estimable and conscientious literary gentleman, Mr. I) wight, was employed to write her narrative from her own verbal recitals. In due time the volume was ushered forth to the public, and then came the scramble already referred to, among ministers, and writers, and printers, for the division of the spoils— each party claiming to favor the interest of Maria, while she, poor creature, knew not whom among the whole she ought to trust. Her ancient predilections for Hoyte, had induced her to give him a legal claim to the copyright, and yet her distrust having been awakened, she gave similar powers of attorney, to one or more of the other parties — revok- ing the former ; and when the stereotype plates were prepared, it was found that more than one or two claimants were awaiting their delivery, all haying writ- ten orders under the sign manual of Maria Monk. Again, when the book was published, there were in- junctions granted and rescinded, and divers other tribulations, giving a brisk business to the profession, 1 owers evok- were r two writ- ^onk. ire in- other ssion, 63 from the Chancellor himself to the Attorney, until there was danger that the whole of the profits would be swallowed up by litigation. To end the difficulties, it \Vas agreed, as I have been informed, that Maria should receive eiglit cents per copy from the sales. These sales have been great, notwithstanding the manifold internal evidences of the imposture contained in the work itself. The reason is found in the mystery which hangs about a Convent, and in the fact that it is a tale of lust and blood — essential ingredients in but too many of the anti-popery publications of the day. * * * ♦ iii regard to the story of F. Partridge, concerning the dead infents in the closet, while the committee was there, although it may be true that priests and nuns iive in the indulgence of illicit amours — (though we saw nothing in either of the Nunneries to lead us to question their moral purity) — although, I repeat it may be true that children have been born and murdered in Nunneries — ^yet, never since the world began, was a more absurd and incredible story fabricated than this, that a committee who were sear?^hing the establishment for the express purpose of finding the evidences of lust and murder, should be introduced by the nuns into the very room, and pointed to the closet, containing the double proof of their damning guilt, and requested to examine it, cannot be believed by any effort of faith of which a sober niind is capable. To credit it implies that the inmates were not only dailj'^ repeating tneir deeds of infamy and blood, but that these murdered children were left there at the hazard of detection and exposure, under circumstances indicative of downright insanity. Yet, astonishing as it may seem, there are Christian men and ministers in the city of New York, who greedily swallow the whole, and regard this " awful disclosure" of the latter nun as "confirmation strong ''s proofs of holy writ" of the former. It would seem, indeed, as though these people had yielded themselves tc^ this species of monomania, until from mere habit, they yield a willing credence to any story against the Roman Catholics, no matter what or by whomsoever related, so that it be sufficiently hor- m *is? 64 rible and revolting in its details of licentiousness and blood. It is melancholy to be obliged to contemplate such credulity, and such deplorable fanaticism ; and yet the instances are multiplied wherein such delusion has been wrought by the passionate appeals of the antin f>apist presses. Nor is it to be denied, that such pub - ications as are now delugiyjg the country, fomcTitir^^ the popular prejudic? s' and appealing to the basest pas* sions of our nature — ^teeming., as they do. with loathsome and disgusting details of criniinal voluptuousiiess, mi Jer the garb of religion, are ominous of fearful results, especially from their influence upon the rising g€ner^m0^*0*^^>^t0ii^t0i^^0*0^0>0^0t^ [The following is copied from a Pamphlet published in New York in the Autumn of 1836, entitled, " Awful Exposure of the Atrocious Plot foitned by certain Individuals against the Clergy and Nuns of LoWer Canada, throbgh the intervention of Maria Monk ; with an Atithehtic Narratilre of her Life, from her Birth to the present Moment, and an Account of her Impositions, &c "] Documentary Evidence^ proving that from her early youth Maria Monk has led the life qf a vagrant, and that on the 1st of Janu- ary, 1834, during the election riots, during the Cholera season of 1832, during the Cholera season of 1834, the only periods mentioned in the " Awful Disclosures'* as periods during which Maria Monk was an inmate of the Hotel Dieu, she was in reality residing at various other places in and about Montreal. It would be possible to prodtice here evidence bear- ing on the life and adventures of Maria Monk, from her infancy to the present moment. She is still young — very young ; hfer personal acquaintances are to be met with in numerous directions on the banks of the St. Lawrence and Bichelieu rivers, and very little trouble would have enabled us to exhibit her entire career from the " Primer" to the ** Disclosures ;" but it would not be interesting to the public to know more of the history of Maria Monk than is necessary, in all reason,^ for the refutation of her pretensions, and the exposure of the imposition which has been attempted in her name on popular credulity. The task of unfold- ing the immorality of this wretched woman is any thing t)ut pleasing. It is not undertaken to gratify idle curi^ 68 osity, but to vindicate from atrocious aspersions the characters of men whom we deeply venerate— to redeem from calumny the noble lives of good, peaceful, and charitable women. When this refutation and these proofs shall meet the eye of the scurrilous and unhesitating defamer, will he not seek to escape the light of day and the regards of his fellow-men ? The turbid current of his deliberate and blasphemous fanaticism will be heated by hot shame and unavailing regret. The stupid and lying wretch, the base knave, the imbecile criminal, will writhe in his anguish, scorned and loathed by an insulted and indig- nant community. We have carried back our inquiries into the adventures of Monk as far as the year 1831 ; she was then in her fifteenth year. It cannot be said positively that it is not pretended that she was sl pro- fessed nun previously to that age ; but we have reason to believe, from the language held by her supporters in the public prints, that her conventual trials principally occurred in the years 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834. We now proceed to present our first document : — No. 1. Evidence of Charles Gouln. ** The undersigned being requested to state what he knows concerning Maria Monk, daughter of Mrs. Monk, housekeeper of the house known as the Govern- ment House, Montreal^ declares, — That the said Maria Monk entered into his service at Sorel, or William Henry, as a menial, about the month of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one ; and that she remained in it until the month of September nearly of the following year. The undersigned declares that the said Maria remained in his service during all the time of the Cholera of one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two ; the undersigned has imderstood that when the said Maria left his service, she made a voyage to Quebec- — that on her return therefrom, she took service at Mrs. Monk's, of Sorel, or William Henry ; that she there committed a theft ; and that the stolen articles were found in her possession. The undersigned de- clares that the said Maria Monk told him that the said Mrs. Monk, of Montreal, vv'as not her mother pro- per, but her step-mother ; which allegation; the under- ' signed signed knew Y old. : derstoc that th in any . Mr. i cipal h( 1. T service 2. T season 3. T mother has alw in calui by huni IS "Th( mation daughtc ment H that Ma Autumi that Ma short ti domesti having : undersi^ carrying ing to pursued the bore stolen a of her e: and sufi never ui that Mai 69 one at she y of at the time and when ge to ervice that tides 1 de- e said pro- inder- signed subsequently found to hv xalse. The under- signed declares that the said Maria, at the time he knew her, appeared to be about fourteen or fifteen years old. The undersigned declares that he has never un- derstood, except from public reports recently spread, that the said Maria hath made any residence whatever in any Convent. (Signed) "CHAS. GOUIN." Mr. Gouinis a man of years, and keeper of the prin- cipal hotel of Sorel. His evidenceproves-^ 1. That in the year 1831 and 1832, Monk was in his service for the space of about ten months. ' 2. That she was in his service, during the Cholera season of 1832. 3. That while in his service, she denied her own mother. The conduct of Mcnk, towards her mother has always been ungrateful ; and her habit of indulging in calumnious remarks on her parent could be testified by hundreds of witnesses. No. 2. Evidence of Mrs, Monk^ of Sorel. "Sorel, 24th July, 1836. " The undersigned, being requested to state her infor- mation and knowledge concerning Maria Monk, daughter to Mrs. Monk, house-keeper of the Govern- ment House in the city of Montreal, hereby declares that Maria Monk entered her service as domestic in the Autumn of 1832; that the undersigned understood that Maria had just returned from Quebec ; and that a short time previously she had been employed as ^t domestic in the hotel kept by C. Gouin at Sorel; that having remained about one week in the service of twe undersigned, Maria Monk secretly withdrew from it, carrying with her a quantity of wearing apparel belong- ing to the undersigned ; that Maria was immediately pursued to St. Ours, a village about twelve miles from the borough of Sorel, and there discovered with the stolen articles in her possession ; but in . consequence of her extreme youth she was released from custody, and suffered to go at liberty. The undersigned has never understood, except from recent public" report, that Maria had been at any time an inmate of a Conventt (Signed) "MAKY ANGELICA MONK." G .:iijf .•'''I ■m 70 To guard against error from the similarity of iiam**,^, it is proper to state that Mrs. Monk is in no wise cor nected with Monk the thief. Mrs. Monk's evidence proves the commission of the crime of theft, and cor- roborates the evidence of Mr. Gouin. On the libera- tion of Monk from custody, she attempted to pass her- self on Mr. Pringle, a farmer of St. Ours, as an honest firl ; and indeed was in his service for a few days ; but Ir. Pringle quickly ascertained her character, and dis- missed her with ignominy. The inhabitants of the Canadian villages are simple and primitive in their manners, slo^ v to suspect the ex- istence of vice, slow to detect it. Mtnk is represented by all who knew her, as having been at one time a girl of extremely interesting appearance. Immediately after her dismissal from the house of Mr. Pringle, she fled from St. Ours, and made her way to St. Denis, a village about twelve miles distant. The communica- tions between the French, and scattered English in- habitants of the parishes, are as slight as it is possible to imagine. Monk met therefore with no difficulty in pro- curing employment, in a Canadian family ; and she ac- cordingly took service in the house of Mr. St. Germain , a respectable tradesman and niechanic of St. Denis. Mr. St. Germain is since deceased ; but his widow has furnished us with the following notarial deposition : — No. 3. Evidence of Mrs. St. Germain. "Sorel, 23d July 1836. "In the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty- six, and on the twenty-third day of July, before the Notary Undersigned, residing in the borough of St. Denis, appeared Angelica Hodgins, widow of the late Anthony Gazaille dit St. Germain, in his lifetime hat- ter, of the said borough of St. Denis, who said and declared that she knew well the so-called Maria Monk, and that the said Maria was employed in the service of deponent from aoout the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, to the month ofMarch one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three; and further deponent declared not. (Signed) "ANG. HODGINS. (Signed) "E. MINAULT, N.P.'* 71 This deposition carries us forward six months, to the Spring of 1833. On leaving Mrs. St. Germain's, Monk became dependant on the charity of various indivi- duals, and remained for about two months, without any fixed employment. She was regarded by the inhabi- tants of the village as a girl of at least doubtful virtue. This circumstance compelled her to ouit it. She wan- dered into the country, and prevailed on the untutored peasants to employ her as a teacher of English. No. 4. Evidence of Michael Guertin. "In the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty- six, and the twenty-third day of July, before the Notary of the Province of Lower Canada, undersigned, appeared, — " Michael Guertin, farmer, of the parish of St. Denis, who said and declared, that he knew the so-called Maria Monk ; that she kept a school in his house from about the fifteenth of the month of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, to the end of the month of June of the same year. And further de- ponent declared, that he did not know how to sign — wherefore he made his mark. hig (Signed) "MICHAEL X GUERTIN. mark. (Signed) " E. MINAULT, N.P." The deponent Guertin granted her the use of a room, and the neighbours were invited to send their children to the English mistress. At Guertin's and other places in the immediate neighbourhood she pursued her adopted profession during the spring, summer, and autumn of 1 833, and on the 2d of December in the same year entered the employment of Miss Louise Bousquet, government school mistress, as her English assistant. No. 5, Evidence of Louise Bousquet. " In the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty- six, and on the twenty-fourth day of July, before the un- dersigned Notary Public, residing in the borough of St. Denis, appeared Louise Bousquet, wife of Jean Baptiste Archambeau, and declared, — m ii .1- 1 ,i|i 72 That in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty- three, deponent was mistress of the Government School at St. Denis, district of Montreal; that in the same year she knew in the \ \gc of St. Denis, a young girl named Maria Monk; that on the second of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, the same and said Maria Monk came and resided with the said deponent as her assistant in the instruction in English of the children committed to her care; that the said Maria remained in the employment of deponent about seven months or thereabouts, and that she left about the month of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty- four; that during her stay with deponent, her conduct was not satisfactory; that deponent was informed, that the said Maria, on leavirg the house of deponent, withdrew from St. Denis ; that deponent had been in- formed and believed that the entire stay of the said Maria at St. Denis embraceid a period of eighteen months ; that deponent having been informed, that in a book published at New York, recital is made of cer- tain relations alleged to have existed heretofore between deponent and the said Mcria, deponent declared such recital to be absolutely false, with the single exception hereinbefore mentioned; that deponent having been informed that it is therein said that the said Maria, during her residence with deponent, v; jre on her per- son a bag containing hair of the superior of the JUotel JDieu Convent of Montreal, deponent declared that she had no knowledge of it; that having been informed that it is said iu the same book that the said Maria was married during her residence with deponent, and that she consulted deponent on the subject of her marriage, deponent said and declared that she was a total straneer to such alleged marriage ; and moreover positively de- nied the part imputed to her therein, or any other part whatever; that having been informed th&t it is said in the same book that deponent had consented to make certain representations concerning the said Maria to the Superior of tlie H6tel Dieu, deponent positively denied having given such consent, denied having been spoken to on the subject, or having any knowledge or information of the transaction mentioned in the said book, being, in all respects and unreservedly, a total strange in the Dieu 73 stranger to it; that having heen informed that it is said in the same book that deponent went to the said Hotel Dieu to inquire for a certain " St. Francis," deponent positively denied it and moreover declared that site never had an acquaintance living in the Hotel Dieu of the said name of St. Francis; and deponent further declared, that in the summer of eighteen hundred and thirty- four, Mr. Lord, the bishop, made an episcopal visit to St. Denis; that on the oay the confirmations were made in the parish church, the said Maria pre- tended to deponent that she had been confirmed on the same occasion, but with what truth deponent cannot say ; and further deponent declared, that during the stay of the said Maria at St, Denis, Mr. Bedard was curate of the parish, and Mr. Birs his vicar. And de- ponent further declared, that she had never understood, except from recent public report, that the said Maria had been at any time a Novice, or Sister, or inmate iu any Convent whatever. "And deponent further declared, that in the month of August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, deponent received from Montreal two letters, one in the English language and the other in the French lan- guage; that the French letter was signed *Ambroise Vigeaut,' and that it invited deponent to proceed to Montreal to receive two hundred pounds currency, which a lady there at Montreal was commissioned to give her; that the English letter was signed * Hoy te,! but that deponent from her ignorance of the language, remained ignorant of its contents. "And deponent further declared, that deponent did accordingly proceed to Montreal, and having com- municated with the said ' Ambroise "Vigeaut,' the said Ambroise Vigeaut informed deponent that the said Maria, in company with a man dressed in black, had requested of him very earnestly to write to deponent, , with which request he was induced to comply ; that de^ onent did then proceed to call upon the mother of the said Maria at the Government House, and that the said mother said to deponent, that her daughter, the said Maria, was a victim and an unfortunate ; that de- ponent handed the said letters to the said mother, who, in an angry manner, burned them on the spot ; and 74 that deponent paid no further attention to the said in- vitation, or to the matter it relates to; and further de- ponent declared not. (Signed, after perusal) " LOUISE BOUSQUET, " Femme Archambeau. (Signed) «E. MINAULT, N.P. The part attributed to Miss Bousquet, in the " Awful Disclosures/' is more than she will confess to. She is now married, and the curious traveller visiting the so called Sixth Concession, nine miles East of the village of St. Denis, will find her the happy and contented wife of John Baptiste Archambeau, enjoying some reminis- cences of Maria Monk, but wholly dead to the memory of the murdered St. Francis. The evidence of Madame Archambeau proves that the residence of Monk in and about the parish of St. Denis was extended to the month of July, 1834. It moreover corroborates the evidence of Mrs. St. Germain and of Michael Guertin on the entire period of the residence of Maria Monk at St. Denis. It will be observed that she entered the service of Mrs. St. Germain in the autumn of 1832, and that she lost her situation with Miss Bousquet in the sum- mer of 1834. As is stated in the deposition of Miss Bousquet, Monk then withdrew from St. Denis. It cannot be said Monk's vicious propensities slumbered while she was in the country ; for it is certain that the deponents of St. Denis, who are silent on her moral conduct might have stated much against it. That she was a girl practised in evil, may be inferred from the evidence of Coumoier, commonly called Martel Paul. ^ No. 6. Evidence of Martel Paul Hus Cournokr. " District of Montreal : " Personally came and appeared before me, Edw. W. Carter, one of his Majesty's Justices for the District of Montreal, Martel Paul Hus Coumoier, who being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists — declared,— "That deponent was personally acquainted with Maria Monk, daughter to Mrs. Monk, house-keeper of the Government House in the city of Montreal ; that he knew her from her infancy, and was personally 75 acquainted with her late father, W. Monk, Barrack- master at St. John's, Lower Canada ; and that he was personally acquainted with her mother ; that deponent always helieved, and did still believe, that the said Maria was the proper daughter of the said Mrs. Monk ; that deponent, until within the last two or three years, had always been in the habit of seeing the said Maria from time to time ; that deponent had known of her residence at various places, and particularly of her residence at Charles Gouin's, and Mrs. Monk's of the borough of Sorel ; and also of her residence at Mon- treal ; at St. Ours, and at St. Denis ; and of sundry voyages performed by her to Quebec ; that deponent knew of the theft committed by her at the said Mrs. Monk's of Sorel, and was present at the time of her arrest at the house o^ a person named Leclaire, at St. Ours. " And deponent further declared, that from the age of fourteen or fifteen the said Maria had been, accord- ing to the belief and information of deponent, a person of debauched habits, and that her illicit intercourse with various persons known to deponent was of public notoriety. "And deponert further declared, that it was not the belief of deponent that the said Maria had been at any time an inmate of any Convent whatever, fc: j. that deponent had many strong and conclusive reasons for believing that the said Maria was a total stranger to the Convents of Lower Canada. And further deponent declared not. (Signed) "MARTEL X PAIjL. , mark. " Taken and sworn to before me, this 24thdayof July, 1836. (Signed) W. CARTER, J.P." This affidavit corroborates moreover the evidence of Mr. Charles Gouin and Mrs. Monk of Sorel, and of Mrs. St. Germain, Michael Guertin, and Louise Bous- quet of St. Denis. It appears that Monk proceeded directly from St. Denis to Montreal, for on the 12th of July, and shortly after her separation from Miss Bousquet, we find if m M ill/ jiiiijll 76 her entered as domestic in the family of Mr. Lovis of that city. No. 7. Evidence of dutrles D. S. Lovis. *' Province of Lower Canada, District of Montreal : " Before me, Peter Lukin, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the District of Montreal, ap- })eared Charles D. S. Lovis, Watch-maker and Je"'el- ler, who, on making oath on the Holy Evangelists, declared : "That Maria Monk came to live in his family as a snrvant girl, on or about the 12th of July, 1834, and re*^ . lied in his service until the 7th or 8th of August of \\\i same year ; when it being perceived that she was often deranged in her mind, and it being discovered that her conduct and character were notoriously bf;d, she was discharged ; that the said Maria Monk stated to deponent, that she wished to become r. iloman Catholic, and that she was preparing to be baptized, and that she asked deponent's permission to prepare herself in his house for that purpose. (Signed) " CHARLES D. S. LOVIS. " Sworn before me, at Montreal, the 8th of July, 1836. (Signed) P. LUKIN, J.P. The cholera of 1834 broke out in Montreal on pre- cisely the very day that Maria Monk took service in the family of Mr. Lovis. She was dismissed from the employment of Mr. Lovis early in the month of August, and shortly after performed an expedition to Sorel ; for what object we have not troubled ourselves to discover. inO. 8. Evidence of Lawrence Kidd, Esq. " In the summer of 1834, I was coming one Sunday morning from my cottage in the Quebec suburbs, when I met Capt, Byan, master of the ' Canadian Patriot,' steamer. Capt. Ryan informed me that he had arrived from Quebec that morning ; that he was then in search of Maria Monk, who had come up with him from Sorel, and whom he suspected of having stolen his watch from on board the boat. Capt. Ryan further told me, that Monk had journeyed in his boat from Sorel to Mon- treal ; that on coming on board of the boat previous v 77 to its departure from Sorel, she addressed him on deck, and asked him if he did not r>:tcognize her ; that at first he did not, but afterwards did recognize her ; and being acquainted with her mother as well as with her late father, and having taken compassion on her destitute condition, he sent her down to the cabin. And further, Capt. Ryan informed me, that on the arrival of the steamer at Montreal, Maria Monk disappeared without communicating with him, and that he had reason to believe that she had stolen his watch. I have no posi- tive knowledge of the steps taken by Capt. Ryan, sub- sequently to my conversation with him ; but am un- der the impression that Monk successfully evaded his search. " I saw Capt. Ryan lately, who is still impressed with the same idea, that she was the person who stole his watch. (Signed) " LAWRENCE KIDD." Mr. Kidd is one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the District of Montreal. It does not appear from the evidence of Mr. Kidd, in what month of the sum- mer of 1834 Monk made the journey there mentioned; but by recurring to the evidence of Miss Bousquet, as to the time of her withdrawal from her service (July), and to the evidence of Mr. Lovis as to the time of her entrance into his service (12th July), it will be per- ceived that the journey must have been made subse- quently to the 8th of August. It is doing Monk no injury to believe that she stole Capt. Ryan's watch. The unfortunate woman has committed crimes which obscure stealing. It is no libel to write Maria Monk a thief No. 9. Evidence of Louis Malo. " Province of Lower Canada, District of Montreal : '* Personally came and appeared before me, Law- rence Kidd, Esq. one of his Majesty'b Justices of the peace for the said district, this twenty-fourth day of March, 1836, Louis Malo, of the city of Montreal, in the said district. Constable, who after being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists, deposeih and saith, that on the eleventh day of October, of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, a warrant. -tjiiii m Hfi 78 of which follows a true copy, was placed in his hands for execution — to wit : *' ' PEACE OFFICE. " ' Province of Lower Canada, District of Montreal : ** * Joseph Antoine Gagnon, Esquire, one of the Justices of our Lord the King, assigned to keep the peace within the said district. " * To the High Constable, all other constables, peace officers, and others, the ministers of our said Lord the King within the said district, and to every of them — Gr^rting :— "■ " Whereas, a woman whose name is unknown, to be pnm*'?d out by Jean Baptiste Girard, of the parish of v uK'nnes, in the county of Vercheres and district afore- aid, Inn-keeper, stands charged upon oath with having, jn the eighth day of October instant, feloniously taken, sto : , and carried away from the dwelling-house of the said Jean Baptiste Girard, a silver watch, of the value of two pounds currency, and a variety of other goods and effects, the property of the said Jean Baptiste Girard. " ' These are, therefore, to authorize and command you, or any of you, in his Majesty's name, forthwith to apprehend and bring before me, or some other of his Majesty's Justices of the peace for the said district, the body of the said woman ; further, that you make a diligent search among the effects of the said woman, for the said stolen goods ; to answer the said charge, and to be further dealt with according to law. Herein fail not. Given under my hand and seal, at Montreal, the eleventh day of October, in the fifth of his Majesty's reign.' (Signed) "M. A. GAGNON J.P.' "^That the deponent being then charged with the execution of the said warrant, did, on the same eleventh day of October, go in pursuit of the woman therein )nentioned, accompanied by the said Jean Baptiste Girard, and overtook her at the parish of Lachine, in the district of Montreal, at a distance of nine miles from the city of Montreal, she being then on board of the steam-boat ' Chateauguay.' That the said woman iiaving been pointed out to deponent by the said Jean bv a 79 Baptiste Girard as being the woman mentioned in the said warrant ; he, the said deponent, by virtue of the said warrant, made her a prisoner, and took her into his custody and keeping; that all the goods stolen from the said Jean Baptiste Girard were found in her posses- sion, part of which, women's clothes, she wore on her person, and the remainder she carried in a bundle, with the exception of the said silver watch and a veil, which she stated she had sold in Montreal prior to her depar- ture from there ; and that she would show to the de- ponent the persons to whom she had made sale of them. That she then named herself Maria Mills, and on the road to Montreal, about halfway from Lachine, she remarked that she would not like to be seen by persons who were working in a field adjacent to the road, as her uncle, Mr. Mills, lived there. That after having reached Montreal, she took the deponent and the said Jean Baptiste Girard to the jeweller's shop of Messrs. Savage, in St. Paul-street, stating that she had sold the said watch there, for the sum of two dollars ; which was, on the application to Mr. Savage, imme- diately returned to the said Jean Baptiste Girard. That she then took them to a house in St. Ann suburbs, where she stated she had sold the veil ; but the veil could not be obtained there, as the people denied the fact ; that she was then taken (that night) to a tavern kept by one William Brown, at the New-market of this city, and there kept during the nif'ht under the charge of the said Jean Baptiste Girard. Iiat on the morning following, tKe deponent, the said Jean Baptiste Girard, and the said woman who named herself Maria Mills, left Montreal for the parish of Varennes, the residence of the said Jean Baptiste Girard, fifteen miles from Montreal, and hired a ferryman named Peter Plouff to convey them by water to that place. That after having reached Varennes, she taxed the servant-maid of the said Girard with having stolen the said etfects, and given them to her in a bundle. That the said Girard and his familv, being convinced of the falsitv of the story, did not believe her: and would not allow her to sleep in their house thart night ; when deponent was obliged to ])rovide lodgings for her at a tavern kept bv a widow named Tiiere^e Delfause. That on the ■'ii'l'' ■■■i;, 80 mcrning folio wing^ the said Jean Baptiste Girard having positively declined prosecuting the charge any further on account of the respectahility of her family and her youth, the deponent brought her back to Montreal. That whilst at Varennes, she told the said deponent that her real name was Maria Monk, and that she was the daughter of Mrs. Monk, who was living at the GoV' emment House in the city of Montreal; which the de^ ponent subsequently ascertained was the truth, and requested of ^ne deponent not to take her to her mother, as she would chain her up and make her sulier as she had done before. That the deponent taking pity on her, took her to an inn kept in Commissioners' -street, by one Richard Ouston, where she remained two or three days; after which she left that house, and the deponent does not know where she 7/ent to ; but in a few days subsequently, the deponent was sent for by a young boy, who told him there was a yonuf woman at the New-market, in a tavern kept by one John Irvin, desirous of seeing him. That the deponent having gore there was directed to a room in which he found the said Maria Monk; who, among other things, told the de- ponent that she intended leaving for Quebec. That they then parted, and the deponent never heard of her afterwards, until about the early part of the month of September last, when, on arriving home in the after- noon he was informed that the servant of one Josephine Raymond, widow of the late John George Dagan, had come there to request the deponent to go to the said Josephine Raymond's residence; that there was a young woman from New York desirous of seeing deponent. That the deponent having gone there found that the young wonjan in question was the said Maria Monk be- fore mentioned. That she then told the deponent that she had just arrived from New York, with her friend, the Rev. Mr. Hoyte; that they had taken lodgings at Goodenough's hotel, but that she had run away from him and left him his child ; she also stated that she did not know how to get her clothes from Goodenough's hotel : that she would no longer live with the said Hoyte, as she did not like hiift ; and that she would do anything sooner than return with him. the said Hoyte. The deponent then advised her to return to her mo day fol before with a her frie Rev. M widow ofill-fal treal. Maria "Sw( ( ( From of her w nth of MontrcE the riots latter W( Noveml mltted t( [Fort see page Thed Robertsc cord, th on the 11 there { at which H6tel Di find the: rative. Period Ray, *'o evidence that Mor date, at i Period mentions 81 her mother, which she declined doing. That on the day following, the deponent saw the said Maria Monk before the house of the said widow Dagan in a calash, with a person of genteel appearance, wtiom she called her friend, and which the deponent took to be the said Rev. Mr. Hoyte. That the said Josephine Haymond, widow of the late John George Dagan, keeps a house of ill-fame in St. Elizabeth-street, of the city of Mon- treal. That the deponent has never since seen the said Maria Monk. (Signed) « LOUIS MALO. , *' Sworn before me, at Montreal, the day and year above mentioned. (Signed) "LAWRENCE KIDD, J.P. From the affidavit of Malo, it appears that he knew of her whereabouts for several days subsequently to the 11th of October, 1834. The elections for the city of Montreal commenced on the 28th of the same month, and the riots in the first week of the following month. The latter were continued throughout nearly the whole of November. On tlie 9th of November, Monk was com- mitted to the house of correction. No. 10. Evidence of Dr. Robertson. [For the very important evidence of Dr. Robertson, see page 16 of this Pamphlet.] The date of her liberation is not mentioned in Dr. Robertson's affidavit ; but on referring to the jail re- cord, the order for her discharge was found entered on the 19th of November, 1834. There are four periods mentioned in the "Disclosures," at which it is pretended that Monk was an inmate of the Hotel Dieu. We shall notice them in the order we find them, and in the identical language of the nar- rative. Period first refers to a story related to Monk by Jane Ray, "on new year's day, 1834." (page 192.) The evidence of Miss Bousquet (No 5) conclusively proves that Monk was in her employment previously to that date, at that date, and for months subsequently. Period second, refers to the election riots, and ia mentioned at page 192 as one of the few occasions "in H 82 • which the nuns knew any thing that was happening in the world." Withm the recollection of Maria Monk there have been two "election riots" in the city of Montreal, one in May, 1832, and the other in Nov fra- ber, 1834. The; evidence of Mr. Gouin (No. L con- clusively provts, that in May, 1832, she was in his service, as a menial. The evidence of Dr. Robertson (No. 10),* and concurrent evidence, prove conclusive- ly, that in November, 1834, her life was varied by street vagrancy and imprisonment. Period third, or cholera season of 1832, is mentioned inclusively with period fourth at page 192. "The appearance of the cholera in both cases of its ravages, gave us abundance of occupation." The evidence of Mr. Gouin (No 1) conclusively proves, that in the cholera season of 1832, Maria Monk was residing at Sorel, and in his house. Period fourth, or cholera season of 1834 — The evidence of Mr. Lovis (No 6) and concurrent evidence prove that Maria Monk spent one part of the cholera season at service, :ii:d the remainder as a vagrant thief, Whatremaiiiji'!^ Agath) JUunca on the *Ti aged ai ly kno^ that ab thousai daught Govern the said she und led the DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE Proving that all the material allegations of the " Awful Disclo'^ sures, concerning persons and things, are utter and absolute falsehoods. Shortly after her liberation from jail, Maria Monk became an inmate of the Asylum for repentant females, managed and conducted by the exemplary and chari- table Mrs. M'Donell. Mrs. M^Donell's affidavit exposes the source of the foolish and childish fabrications re- garding conventual discipline, which occupy more than one half of the " Disclosures." No. 11. Evidence of Mrs. M'Donell. ** Province of Lower Canada, District of Montreal : *' Before me, Adam L. Macnider, one of the Justices of the Peace for the district of Montreal^ appeared • For which see page 16 of this Pa nhlet. 83 ^^^athe Henriette Iluguet Latour, widow of the late Duncan Cameron M'Donell, who, after making oath on the Holy Evangehsts — declared : *• That for six years past, she had conducted and man- aged an institution in the city of Montreal, common- ly known and distinguished as the Magdalen Asylum ; that ahout th close of the month of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty- four, Maria Monk, daughter jf Mrs. W. Monk, house-kee^ er of the Government House, in the city ofMni> entered the said Asylum, and became an inm that she understood that the said Maria had, i. ears, led the life of a stroller tind prostitute; it she received her into the Asylum with the hope of effecting her reformation ; that in the progress of her acquaint- ance with the character of the said Maria, she found it to be very uncertain, and grossly deceitful ; but that she did, nevertheless, persevere in her efforts to re- claim her to the paths of virtue and morality. "And deponent further declared* that having been informed that the said Maria had held conversation with a man who had reached the yard of the Asylum, by scaling the enclosuri s, she sent for the said Maria, and severely reprimanded her ; pointing out, that her holding such communications was in direct vi Jation of the rules of the institution, and did moreover indi- cate a disposition to relapse into her vicious courses; that the said Maria was not touched by the remon- strances addressed to her, but becii me more indecorous in her conduct every day ; and that finally, deponent was compelled to dismiss her from the Asylum. That the said Maria, before her dismissal, did appear dis- contented with her residence there ; but that deponent would not consent to her withdrawal without the con- sent of the said Mrs. Monk, who was accordingly in- formed of her daughter's conduct, and of her desire to withdraw from the Asylum. ** And deponent further declared, that she had reason to believe, that the man with whom the said Maria com- municated, during her stay at the Asylum, was Louis Malo, Constable of the Courts of Montreal ; having been so informed by the said Maria herself. And de- ponent further declared, that she had reason to believe I ■ ^ ^,^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) h A {./ ^ >. {< 1.0 ^1^ 1^ I.I lulii ^ Mm lii 6" 2.0 I L^ lii 116 Hiotographic Sciences Corporation as WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTM.N.Y. MStO (716) S73-4903 \ iV '^ <> 4s ^ V""^ ^^^' '^ i •' " extremely indecorousj and that her example was hurtful to tl\e 92 discipline of the institution ; and Airther, that deponent always understood and believed, that the said Maria had led, previously to her entrance into the said Asy- lum, the life of a stroller and prostitute. " And deponent further declared, that durine the stay of the said Maria at the Asylum, the said Maria did never pretend to deponent, or to any other person, ac- cording to the information and belief of deponent, that she haa been at any time an inmate of a Convent ; and further deponent declared not. (Signed) " JANE RAY. ** Sworn before me, this 27th day of July, 1836. (Signed) "ADAM L. MACNIDER J.P." Poor, repentant, and, from Mrs. M^DonelFs account, sincerely reformed Jane Ray, has never been a nun, and has never seen one except in the streets. The tricks and practices attributed to her in the " Disclo- sures," are foreign to her present state, and are cer- tainly not indulged in by her in the ** dormitories," '* passages," or " cellars" of the only retreat from the world Sxe has ever known — ^the " Magdalen Asylum." The deponent in the following affidavit is " one of my cousins" mentioned at page 48 of the *' Dis- closures" : — No. 17. Emdence ofM. Reed. " District of Montreal, Province of Lower Canada : " Margaret Reed, of the parish of the Saut au Re- collect, in the said district, being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists, deposeth and saith, that the con- tents of the pamphlet, entitled * Awful Disclosures by Maria Monk,' hiave been communicated to her; that she hath reason to believe, and doth believe, the said Maria Monk to be identical with a person bearing that name, who was an inmate of the institution, com- monly known as the Magdalen Asylum of the city, of Montreal, from the month of November, eighteen hun- dred and thirty-four, to the month of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-five ; and that she hath reason to believe, and doth believe, the person designated in the said " Disclosures" as " one of my cousins who lived at Lachine, named Reed," to be identical with de*' ponienti IC ofthl dencf i( meet! form^ that said 11 of th( and thess t( C( 93 con- ur^s her; the " And deponent further saith, that she was an inmate of the said Asylum during the entire period of the resi- dence of the said Maria thereat. **■ And deponent fliriher saith, that previously to meeting the said Maria at the said Asylum, she had formed a personal acquaintance withher atSt. Denis; that deponent particularly knew oithe residence of the said Maria in. tne family of Charles St Germain, hatter, of the said St. Denis; and that it is the information and belief of the deponent, that she was expelled from the said family on account pf ber dissolute practices. ** And deponent Aurther saith, that deponent hath never been at any time heretofore an inmate in any Convent whatever. ** And deponent further jsaith, that the said Maria hath never pretended to deponent, at any time, or to any other person or persons, according; to the infor- mation and belief of deponent, that we had been at any time an inmate of a Convent; but that deponent always understood, as well from we confessions of the said Maria as from other sources, that the said Maria had for several years led the life of a common stroller and prostitute ; and further deponent saith not. her (Signed) " MARGARET X REED. mark. ** Sworn before me, at Montreal, this 30th of July, 1836. (Signed) " P. LUKIN, J.P." Miss Louise Bousquet, Miss Hypolit^ Foumier and her sister, Mary Ann Howard, Jane M*Coy, Jane Ray, and M. Reed, all separately and conclusively deny a)! knowledge of the pretended noviciate and nunship of Monk. They all deny the allegations concerning them , with the exception that they were acquaint^ with Maria Monk. Independently of ^' nuns, and priests," there are al- together eight persons named in the " Disclosures** as witnesses to Monk's residence in the Hdtel Dieu Hospi- tal and Convent. Doctor Nelson is the eighth. No. 18. Evidence of Doctor JVelaon. "Montreal, 19th March, 1836. ** SiR-^In reply to your request, desiring me to read 94 the * Disclosures' of Miss M. Monk, and to say whether I can corroborate any of the alleffations therein con< tained, particularly that one which relates to * Dr. Kelson/ permit me to sa^, that when I was the medical attendant of the H6telDieu Hospital, and occasionally of the Convent which is the cloistered pa^ of the estab- lishment, I never once saw Miss Monk there; but, more than once, at her mother's request, I saw her at the Government House-keeper's apartments, which are those occupied by her mother. The description she gives in the * Disclosures' of having accompanied me, during my attendance on the sick, is therefore incor- rect, and it is otherwise faulty as regards the record. On these occasions the Physician is accompanied by one of the ^jpothecaressea, a nun, for the purpose of rendermg to nim an account of the administration of the medicine^ previously ordered, to give such infor- mation as may be asked regarding the patients during his absence, and to receive his future directions ; these last, and his prescriptions, he himself writes in the pre- scription-book at the bed-side ; they are in the French Language, and all in my own hand- writing; therefore the assertion, * I frequently followed Dr. Nelson with pen, ink, and paper, and wrote down the prescriptions,' Is also altogether incorrect. "lam, "Sir, " Your most obedient servant. (Signed) "ROBT. NELSON." Doctor Nelson knows Monk well, for he has often ad- vised her on her malady; but he has never known her as a nun of the H6tel l)ieu. We have elsewhere repeatedly pointed out the gross errors of the "Disclosures," in regard to what is publicly known Of the Montreal Convent. We have said that Sister Bourgeois was no wise connected in the foundation of the Hotel Dieu, and that the habit of Sister Bourgeois is iiot the habit of Hotel Dieu nuns. This is no secret in Canada, as will appear by the fol-* lowing extract from the Quebec Almanack for 1831 : 95 No. 19. Evidence on the Foundation of the Hotel Dieu, h6tBL DISU of MONTREAL. Founded in the year 1644, for the Poor Sick. Sister Mesiere, Superior since 1827. Profeased Nuns ' . . . . 36 Novices .. .. ..' .. .. .. .. 2 Postulantes .. .. ... 3 41 Quebec Almanack, 1831. Sister Bourgeois founded the Congregational Nun- nery, and it is there, and not at the H6tel Dieu, that her memory is held in peculiar veneration. We again ex- tract from the Quebee Almanack : — JON. »? gross that is have I ill the ibitof nuns* le fol-« 1831: No. 20. Evidence on the Foundation of the Congre- gation dc Notre Dame, C0N0RS6ATI0N DB NOTRE DAMB A MONTREAL. Sister St Magdalen (Miss Huot) Superior since 1827. Professed Nuns .. .. .. .... .. 81 Novices ,, .. ., 2 Postulantes 5 ' ' 88 Quebec Alrnanacky 1836. These are small matters in themselves, but material when considered with reference to the identity of the informant of the authors of the '* Disclosures" with an ex-nun of the Hotel Dieu. At page 34* of the *' Disclosures" it is stated that there were " forty novices" attheH6tel Dieu. Look at document marked No. 19! How many novices are there set down? Two. The truth is, that th^re is no secrecy observed in regard to the number of novices or of nims. No secrecy could be observed consistently with the laws of the province; and thus it happens that the Protestant editors of the official Almanack are perfectly well acquainted with the constituency of every Convent in Lower Canada. Forty novices ! We again qupte from the Quebec Almanack, but for 1836 : — ii'iii 96 No. 21. Evidence on the number of Novicet at the Hotel Dieu, h6tEL DIEU OT MONTREAL. Founded by Madame de Bouillon in 1664, /or the Poor Sick. Sister Lapailleur Devoisy, Superior since 1831. Professed Nuns . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Novices .. .. .. .. 1 Postulantes .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 37 In 1831 there were two novices, and in 1836 we find one; and we can a88e)rt with great certainty, that at no time since the foundation of the Hospital there have heen forty, or any numher approaching to it. The extracts from the Quebec Almanack also cor- rohorate what we have already advanced, that the sisters of the Congregational Nunnery take the name of saints, hut that the sisters of the Hotel Dieu never do. In the "Disclosures" with the exception of " Jine Ray" the nuns of the latter are always designated as " saints." At page 179 e^ aliunde, it is insinuated, that "su- periors" when they grow old, are regularly murdered, and the hloody exit of one in particular is' plainly inti- mated. In the extracts from the Almanack are the names of two superiors. The sister Meziere, mention- ed in No. 19, was superior from 1827 to 1833. The sister Lapailleur Devoisy, mentioned in No. 21, was superior from 1821 to 1827, and was re-elected first in 1833, and again recently in June, 1836. At page 33 it is asserted, that " ahout one hundred priests are connected with the Seminary of Montreal." We again extract from the official Almanack :— No 22. Evidence on Montreal Seminary. SEMINARY OF MONTREAL. Mr. Henrv Roux, Superior. ^ Mr. Josep. Quiblier, Vice Superior. Mr. James Rocque. Mr. Charles de Bellefeuille, i Missionaries to the Lake of Two Mr. Flavien Durocher, > Mountains. Mr. Anthelme Malard. Mr. Frs. Humbert. M Jos. L. Melchior Sauvage. Mr. Lasni Hubert. m 34 1 2 37 .»» »» f Two Mr. Ant Satin. Mr. John Bt Roupe. Mr. John Richard. Mr. Nicholas Dufresne. Mr. Joseph Gomte, Procureur. Mr. John Bt St Pierre. Mr. Francis Bonin. Mr. Patrick Phelan. Mr. Claudius Fay, faisant les fonctions curiales. Mr. John Claudius Leonard. Mr. James Arraud. LSSSEfl SEMINARY. Mr. John Bt. Bayle, Director. ' Mr. John Larkin, ^ Mr. Germ Sery, V Professors. Mr. Roihain Larre, \ Mr. O'ReiUy, < Mr. Angus M'Donell, i Mr. Fra. X. Deserve, f Regents of Mr. D. Denis, > the Mr. John Bt Dupuis, i Humanities. Mr. Plinmiette, 1 Mr. Eus. Durocher, ^ Twenty priests attached to the Seminary proper, and nine professors and regents to the Lesser Seminary, the latter institution, commonly known as the College, is removed half a mile from the Montreal Seminary. The laws of Canada fix and determine the age at which the religious habit may he assumed. No. 23. Evidence on the Age requisite for the Monastical Profession. ''The tenth article of the Ordinance of Orleans had fixed the age at twenty-five years for males, and at twenty for females ; but the Council of Trent having fixed the age for both sexes at sixteen years, the twenty- eighth article of the ordinance of Blois adopted the same rule, and it was followed throughout the kingdom until the month of March, 1768.'^--( Article on the Monastic profession. Repertoire de Jurisprudence) The requisite age is sixteen, but it rarely happens that the veil is taken before twenty. In the *' Disclo sures," mention is made of professed nuns fourteen years old. It is not stated at what age Monk took the veil. I 2 iill I! ii 98 No distinction is made in the ^* Disclosures*' between novices and postulantes; it is even asserted, in page 34, that novices "are called in French, postulantes." Both are errors one of the omission and one of the com- mission. See the extracts from the official Almanack marked No. 19, 20, and 21. The laws of Canada interfere in the ceremony of vesting the religious habit. No. 24. Evidence on the Vesting of the Beligious Habit, ** In all religious houses there shall be two registers, in order to inscribe therein the deeds of vesting, no- viciate, and profession ; which registry shall be paged, and each page noted by the superior of the Convent, to do which, superiors shall be authorised by a capitulary act, to be inserted at the commencement of the said registers. " All the deeds of vesting, noviciate, and profession, shall be inscribed in the said registers in continuation, and without blanks, and the said deeds shall be signed in the said registers by the requisite persons and at the time they are made, and in no case snail the said deeds be inscribed on loose leaves. " In each of the said deeds shall be mentioned the name and sirname, and the age of him or her who shall assume the religious habit, or who shall make profession; the names, qualities, and domicils of his or her father or mother ; his or her birth-place, and date of the deed, which shall be signed on the registers, as well by the superior as by him or her who shall assume the habit, or make profession, and also by the bishop or ecclesiastic who shall have performed the ceremony, and by two of the nearest relations or guardians who shall have assisted at it. " The said registers shall serve during five consecu- tive years, and shall be lodged at the Greffe" (Super.) In the ** Disclosures," the public ceremony of vest- ing the individual, Monk, is described, but no men- tion is made of compliance with the requisition of the law. What remaiii..? 1 } or 99 DOCUMENTAI^ EVIDENCE Proving that the Plan given in the "Awful Disclosures," of the interior qf the Hotel DieUf isinaU respects different from the . reality. We will not do the American public the injury of supposing that their eyes cannot be opened to truth. We are well aware that the mere circulation of such a book as the ** Disclosures," must have created a description of public opinion prejudicial to the good name of the inoividuals and institutions who stand charged therein. We understand that recently, persons from the United States have visited Montreal, on mis- sions of enquiry into the truth of these charges* It is probable that persons who have taken so much trouble to verify absurd conclusions will for ever retain them. Circumstances do not help to correct or alter the or- Sanization of a fooFs mina. This refutation is not ad- ressed to such men ; still less is it addressed to men who, with sufficient ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, have voluntarily, and for sinister purposes, embraced the cause of the latter. It is ad- dressed to that great majority who know only of the con- tents of the pamphlet through the medium of con- versation ; and who, unacquainted with the enormous inconsistencies of the narrative, have suffered them- selves to be affected by general assertions of the nature of its contents. Now we desire it to be generally known, that all the allegations of Monk and her supporters are distinctly met and refuted in this reply. The narrative of Monk, it will be recollected, con- tains the detailed description of what is termed ^' the interior of the Black Nunnery," and it is stated at page 74, that whenever that interior " shall be examined, and found to be materially different" from the descrip- tion, that then she, Maria Monk, ** can claim no con- fidence of her readers." On the 15th of July, 1836, theHStelDieu Nunnery was visited by five gentlemen, of whom three are clergy- men, and two are laymen— two are Americans, two Canadians, and one a Scotchman ; four are Protestants 'i I ill 1 i Ml ill iilll!!! 100 and one is a Catholic. It would be impossible to im- agine any thing more conclusive than their evidence. No. 25. Evidence of the Rev. W. Curry ^ Rev. G. W. Perkins, Rev. H. Esson, Benjamin Holmes^ Esq. Justice of the Peace, and Mr. J. ^ones. *' This may pertify, that, being desirous of ascertain- ing the truth in regard to Maria Monk's printed plan description of the Hotel Dieu, or Black Nunnery, of this city, I did, a few weeks since, in company with N. B. Doucet and I. P. Lacroix, Esquires, and with- out sending any previous notice, visit the said Nun- nery, and with the said map and description in hand, examine most minutely from the cellar to the roof, all that part of the said building between the wall of St. Joseph-street, and the wall running from the north side of the public chapel, (the top of the map being called north,) that fronts on St. Paul's-street to the ex- treme comer, from whence the passage to the Congre- gational Nunnery is laid down in the said map ; and I do most freely declare, that after a patient and protracted scrutiny of the walls, windows, closets, doors, cellars, rooms, and furniture of the same ; after having ex- amined, with equal scrutiny, all ihe hospitals, out- houses, gardens, vaults, &c. with special reference not only to their appearance, but their relative position to each other, so as to be sure that nothing was overlook^ ed ; I was unable to discern any resemblance whatever between said building, in whole or part, and that por- tion of said map furnished by Maria Monk. The only resemblance being that between the outside walls, and the ground plan in said map, which, she says, was furnished by another hand. All the interior is unlike her plan in every respect; and inasmuch as most, if not all, of the partition walls are commenced in the cellar, and built of heavy stone, it is impossible, in the nature of the case, that the building should have been so altered as to make this discrepancy ; for, to say nothing of the labour and expense and publicity of such a work, the walls and wood-work bear that appearance of age which cannot be counterfeited. When the Nuns and the Lady Superior, to whom I was introduced, learn- ed the object df my visit, they cheerfully opened every t( 101 enclosure of every description ; answered all inquiries Eromptly ; and one of tnem assured me, that n they ad had timely notice of my visit, a permit from the Bishop would have been obtained to give me immediate access to the whole of the Cloistered department ; and I was assured that as soon as he should return to the city, such permit should be had. " I further more certify, that having been informed that a permit had been obtained for a party to visit and examine said H6tel Dieu Nunnery, and that I was requested to make one of the number ; I did, on the 15th of July, 1836, after the Rev. G. W. Perkins had been added to the number, go in company with the said party, consisting of Rev. G. W. Perkins, of the Ame- rican Pres. ^hurch. Rev. H. Esson, of the Scotch Pres. Church, Benjamin Holmes, Esq., cashier of the Montreal Bank, Protestants, and J. Jones, pub- lisher of L'jlmt du Peuple^ a Roman Catholic, and commencing at the General Hospital and Chapel, I examined, in company with these gentlemen, all the remainder of the buildings and grounds of said Hotel Dieu and Nunnery, until we had repeatedly traversed every section of the same. We examined closely the walls, windows, doors, rooms, vaults, &c., and com- pared the same with Maria Monk's printed plan and description of what she denominated the Black Nun- nery ; and I freely declare, that after the closest search, during which the Lady Superior, and several Nuns, stood ready to lead in every direction and give every assistance, we were unable to discover the remotest resemblance between any part of the said building and the plan or description of Maria Monk. I further more assert, that I do not believe it possible that any persons could have made these alteratons in the builain^, that would have produced this discrepancy, without having torn down and re-built the Nunnery from the roof to the ground. We examined the burial place, and the register of deaths, commencing with the foundation of the Convent. We examined, also, the register in which are entered the names, ages, and dates of the taking the veil of each Nun. To ascertain whether this was the real register, I called for the name of a Nun with whom I had become acquainted about one year 111! if. il iiii i ill' ii I !ll{!;|l 102 since, and was immediately referred to it. In this re« cord, which was an old book, there were no erasures, no mutilations. We searched for the name of Maria Monk, and others mentioned in her book ; no such names were there. In conclusion, I declare to all whom it may concern, that if Maria Monk has told the truth in her description of the interior of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal, I shall not be slow to be- lieve that the Nuns of Canada yet retain the power of working miracles with stone and mortar; and that Monk possessed this accomplishment up to the moment of her arrival in St. Jean Baptiste-street, at the time of her escape. For, when she " stepped across the yard, unbarrea the great gate, and was at liberty," she must have passed directly over, undfer, or through, at least three high stone walls that would have discouraged a less adventurous lady. (Signed) "W. F. CUBBY, " Cor. Sec. of the Canada Education and Home Missions^ry Society. "Montreal, July 18, 18^." " Having visited the Nunnery in company with the Hev. Mr. Curry and other Protestant gentlemen, as stated in the preceding declaration, I do most fully agree to the statements therein contained. In every step of my progress through the building, I had the last edition of Maria Monk's work in my. hand, and did not fail most carefully to compare it with the in- terior of the edifice. I hesitate not to say, that it was utterly impossible that a person at all acquainted with the internal plan of the Nunnery could have drawn up the sketch of a map given in her book ; so thorough was our scrutiny, that no changes, if materially vary- ing the interior, could have escaped our notice. (Signed) "G. W. PERKINS, " Pastor of the Am. Pres. Ch. " Montreal, July 22, 1 836." " I hereby certif} , that, as stated in the above dec- laration, I accompanied the Bev. Messrs. Curry and Perkins, Benjamin Holmes, Esquire, cashier of the Montreal bank, and J. Jones, puDlisher of the UAmi du Peuple newspaper of this city, on Friday, the 15th 103 dec- and the Ami 15th instant, throughout the course of a very minute and rigorous scrutiny, of the whole extensive range o huildings forming the Hotel Dieu or Black Nunnery of this city, having been conducted through all the numerous divisions of the establishment, and hav^ ing deliberately and carefully surveyed them in sue* cession, comparing, at every stage of our progress, what we saw with the pretended plan of the said Nun- nery as exhibited in the last edition of Maria Monk's work ; and I perfectly concur with the two reverend gentlemen above mentioned, in declaring my decided conviction that the said plan ascribed to Maria Monk is a palpable and complete fabrication, demonstrative of notning but its author's ignorance of the said building. (Signed) " H. ESSON, " Member of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, " July 22, 1836. St. Gabriel-street, Montreal.'* "I hereby certify, that on the 16th day of July in^ stant, I accompanied to the. Hotel Dieu, or Black Nunnery, the Rev* Mr. Curry, the Rev. Mr. Perkins, the Rev. Mr. Esson, and Mr. Jones, and was then and there present at the examination ma^e and entered upon by those gentlemen, as stated in the foregoing certificates, the full tenor of which, their close inves- tigation of the premises, and their comparing the same with Maria Monk's plan of the said buildings, I was witness to ; and I have much pleasure in bearing testi- mony to the cheerful and ready disposition of the Lady Superior, and the other ladies, in forwarding the in- spection, and affording every information acquiredby the two first-named reverend gentlemen. (Signed) " BENJ. HOLMES, J.P. " Montreal, 23d July, 1836.'* *' I hereby certify* that I visited the Hotel Dieu Con- vent in company with the gentlemen whose names are hereinbefore aflRxed to their separate certificates. I declare that I entirely concur in ths statements and conclusions they make ; and I further declare, that the * veiled nuns department,* which, to all appearance, by the plan is located in the centre building of the Convent, is in fact situate elsewhere. "J. JONES. " Montreal, July 23d^ 1 836." • I i III 104 At the time of their visit the preceding gentlemen used Hoisington and Trow*8 edition of the " Disclo- sures," which is provided with an engraved plan of the H6tel Dieu, of the Nunnery grounds, and of ** the veiled nuns department." Nothing was omitted to give to the proceedings of the visitors the character and reality of sincere and conscientious investigation ; and what has heen the result? Read the certificates. It would seem impossihle for the advisers of Monk to construct a lie of ordinary verisimilitude. The engraved plan prefixed to their improved edition of the *' Disclosures," is a manifest and impudent fabri- cation. No. 26. Evidence of J. Ostett^ Architect. " This is to certify, that the plan of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal, published in a book, entitled *" Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk,' having been sub- mitted to me for my professional inspection, I have considered the said plan, and declare it to be my opinion, that, architecturally speaking, and with refer^ ence to the practice prevailing in Canada in the con- struction 01 t>uildings, it is impossible that the said plan should have any real existence, for the following reasons. The detailed plan presents partition walls on the first and second stories^ which have no correspond- ence with each other, conunencing and ending on each separate story ; whereas it is necessary that such walls should not only correspond with each other, but that they should commence in the cellar ; also the second story plan shows a portion of building at one extremity, without any similar substructure in the lower stories ; the form of the main building on the block plan ex- hibits considerable incongruity with that of the detailed plan, inasmuch as the two small wings forming the cross of the building bear a proportion on the one that is entirely lost sight of in the other. Further I hereby declare after having made during the last month a careful inspection of a greater portion of the buildings oftheH6tel Dieu Nunnery, more particularly of the centre or main buildiiig, which is represented in the 'Disclosures' as containing the * veiled nuns apart- ments/ thiat the plans and descriptions there given « 105 are essentially false, and could not, in my opinion, have ever had any actual existence in connection with the ahove-named building : and further, that the nuns* apartments or cloisters (to which I was not permitted to enter) are not situate in the centre building, but m that part of the aitructure extending toward St. Jean Baptiste-street, in the east wing, on the said street. (Signed) " JOHN OSTELL, " Architect and Surveyor. " Montreal, July 23rd, 1 836." DOCUMENTS Produced hy the advisers of Monk in support qf the truth qf her Narrative. In the month of March of the present year, the Protestant Vindicator, a paper printed in tne city of New York, published one affidavit, one statement of an anonymous " female," and one certificate, favoura- ble to the veracity of Maria Monk. That the " Awful Disclosures" may not be deprived of the benefit of them, the compositors have kindly consented to " set them up" and the pressmen to " work them off." No. 27. Affidavit of William Miller^ '■>•' <* City and County of New York, ss. " William Miller being duly sworn, doth say, — I knew Maria Monk when she was a child, and was ac- quainted with all her father's family. My father, Mr. A. Miller, kept the Government School at St. John's, Lower Canada, for some years. Captain Wm. Monk, Maria's father, lived in the Garrison, a short distance from the village, and she attended the School with me for some months, probably as much as a year. Her four brothers also attended with us. Our families were on terms of intimacy, as my father had a high regard for Captain Monk ; but the temper of his wife was sucli, even at that time, as to cause much trouble. Capt. Monk died very suddenly, as was reported, in consequence of being poisoned. Mrs. Monk was theil 106 keeper of the Government House in Montreal, and re- ceived a pension, which privil^e she has since enjoyed. In the summer of 1832 1 left Canada, and came to this city. In ahout a year afterward I visited Montreal, and on the day when the irovemor reviewed the troops, I believe about the end of August, I called at the Govr emment House, where I saw Mrs. Monk and several of the family. I enquired where Maria was, and she told me that she was m the Nunnery. This fact I well remember, because the information gave me great pain, as I had unfavourable opinions of the Nunneries. On reading the * Awful Disclosures,' I at once knew she was the eloped nun, but was unable to find her until a few days since^ when we recognised each other imme- diately. I give with pleasure my testimony in her favour, as she is among strangers, and exertions have been made against her. I declare my personal know- ledge of many facts stated in her book, and my full belief in the truth of her story, which shocking as it is, cannot appear incredible to those persons acquainted with Canada. " WILLIAM MILLER. " Sworn before me, this 3d day of March, 1836. " BENJAMIN D. K. CRAIG, " Commissioner of Deeds, &c.'' We recommend William Miller to repent. Whe- therJSIrs. Monk really did tell him, in 1833, that her dau^ter was in a Nunnery, may remain for ever a per^ sonal question between them: but this is not the case with regard to the identity, to which he has sworn, of Mrs. Monk's late husband^ and Maria Monk's late father, with the Captain William Monk mentioned in his affidavit. The evidence of Martel Paul (No. 6), and of Lawrence Kidd, Esq. (No. 8), states who Monk^s father really was. He was not a " gentleman in the service," but held the post of barrack-master, at St. John's. The Vindicdtor premises the publication of the ANONYMOUS Statement, by insinuating that the name of the author is withheld ** only from delicacy to a lady's feelings" The " delicacy" of the authors and circu* lators of the "Awful Disclosures. !'* withil mainl nevel went! ase ,of in 6), vho 107 ' No. 28. Anonymous Evidence. *^ I was bom at Montreal, and resided there until within a few months, and where my friends still re- main. I was educated among the Catholics, and have never separated myself from them. ** I knew Maria Monk when quite a child. We went to school together for about a year, as near as I can remember, to Mr. Workman, Sacrament-street, in Montreal. She is about one month younger than myself. We left that school at the same time, and entered the Congregational Nunnery nearly together. I could mention many things which I witnessed there, calculated to confirm some of her accounts. ** 1 know of the elopement of a priest named Le- clerc, who was a confessor, with a nun sent from the Congregational Nunnery to teach in a village. They were brought back, after which she gave birth to an infant, and was again employed as a teacher. ** Children were often punished in the Congrega- tional Nunnery by being made to stand with arms ex- tended, to imitate Christ's posture on the cross ; and when we found vermin in our soup, as was often the case, we were exhorted to overcome our repugnance to it^ because Christ died for us. I have seen such belts as are mentioned in the ** Awful Disclosures,'* as well as gags ; but never saw them applied. *' Maria Monk left the Congregational Nunnery be- fore I did, and became a novice in the H6tel Dieu. I remember her entrance into the latter very well, for we had a ^jour de conge' holiday, on that occasion. *^ Some short time subsequently, after school-hours, one afternoon, while in the school-room in the second story of the Congregational Nunnery, several of the firls standing near a window exclaimied, *■ There is laria Monk.' I sprang to the window to look, and saw her, with several other novices, in the yard of the Hotel Dieu, among the plants which grew there. She did not appear to notice us, but I perfectly recog- nized her. " I have frequently visited the public hospital of the Hotel Dieu. it is the custom there for some of the nuns and novices to enter at three o'clock, p.m. in pro- 108 cession, with food and delicacies for the sick. I recol- lect some of my visits there, by circumstances attend- ing them. For instance, I was much struck, on seve- ral occasions, by the beauty of a young novice, whose slender graceful form, and interesting appearance, dis- tinguished her from the rest. On inquiry, I learnt that her name was Dubois, or somethmg like it, and the daughter of an old man who had removed from the country, and lived near the Place d'Armes. She was so generally admired for her beauty, that she was called " la belle St. Francois" — St. Francis being the saint's name she had assumed in the Convent. " I frequently went to the Hospital, to see two of my particular friends, who were novices: and subse- (^uently to visit one who -had a sore throat, and was sick for some weeks. I saw Maria Monk there many times, in the dress of a novice, employed in different ways; but we were never allowed to speak to each oUier. ** Towards the close of the winter of 1833-4, I visited the Hospital of the H6tel Dieu veiy frequently, to see Miss Bourke, a friend of'mine, although I was not permitted to speak with her. Whr.(j there one day, at the hour of * conge, or * collation,* which, as I before stated, was at three p.m., a procession of nuns and novices entered, and among the former, I saw Maria Monk, with a black veil, &c. She per- ceived and recognized me ; but put her finger upon her lips, in tok«T of silence ; and knowing how rigidly the rules were tuiforced, I did not speak. ** A short time afterward, I saw her again in the same place, and under similar circumstances. " I can fix the year when this occurred, because I recollect that the nuns in the Hospital stared at a red dress I wore that season ; and I am certain about the time of the year, be^-anse I left my galo-shoes at the door before I went iu " The improper con(i*i/^t of a pr'test was the cause of my leaving the Cong 'fcgsti jiial Nunnery : for my bro- ther saw him kissing a t': raale one day while he wias on a visit to me, and exclaimed, * O mon Dieu ! what a place you are in ! — If father does not take you out of It, I will, if I h^ve to tear you away.' 109 ** After the last sight I had of Maria Monk, in tlie Hospital, I never saw or heard of her uiiHl after I had been for some ^ le an inhabitant of New York. I then saw an extract from the ' Awfiil Disclv urea, pub- lished in a newspaper, when I was perfectly s^^tisfied I, bat shv was the authoress, and aeaiii at liberty. I was unable for several weeks to find her residence, but at length visited the house when she was absent. See- ing an infant among a number of persons who were strangers to me, o.a Vohe present will testify, I declared that it must b'> ^ • € jh 'Id mentioned in her book, from the striking reM^n:iul. uce it bears to Father Phelan, whom I weP k> w. This declaration has also been ma'lebv v'thers. *' Y> ua Maria Monk entered, she passed across the room, withouc t uming towards me ; but I recognized her by her gait, and when she saw me, she knew me at once. I have since spent many hours with her, and am entirely convinced of the truth of her story, especially as I knew many tilings before which tend to confirm the statements which sue makes." ** It is superfluous," remarks the Vindicator , " to add any thing to the above testimony." For the com- fort of the " lady," it is recommended that her future silence may render it ** superfluous" to sift her testi- mony and the worth of it. She is known. the PROCEEDINGS Oj the associates in Canada, in the summer of 1835. The earliest instigator of Monk's fabrications ap- pears to have been an individual named Hoyte. The moral character of this individual had suflered severely a short time previously to his encounter with Monk, in New York, about the month of May. We are glad to perceive by the following testimony, that although he may be a preacher, he is not a regular ordained m mister of any Christian denomination. 110 No. 29. Evidence of the Bev, Mr. Bichey. " To the Editor of the Morning Courier. Sir — ^Among the affidavits published in your paper of to-day, relating to Mr. Hoyte and Maria Monk, I observe a deposition by Mr. Goodenough, that when Mr. Hoyte, in the month of August last, put up at the Exchange Coffee-house, he was entered on the book as a Methodist preacher, and agent or superintendent of Sunday Schools, Sfc. It has, however, been ascer- tained, from an examination of the book referred to, that no official designation is appended in it to Mr. Hoyte's name. This discrepancy, Mr. Goodenough F/tates, took place entirely through mistake, apd he did t(ot know that Mr. Hoyte was thus characterized in his affidavit till he saw it in print. But as a similar mis- take has found its way into several of the depositions which have been elicited by this unhappy affair, I deem it incumbent upon me, as a regularly appointed Methodist minister of this city, to declare that Mr. Hoyte has never had any connexion with the Me- thodist society, either as a preacher or as an agent for Sunday Schools ; and I would at the same time express my surprise and regret, that the JVew York Pro- testant Vindicator should have taken up, and indus- triously circulated charges of so grave a nature against the priests and nuns of this city, derived from so pol- luted a source. From such a species 6f viridication no cause can receive either honor or credit. By giving this publicity, you will confer a favour on your's respectfully, "MATTHEW RICHEY, " Wesley an Minister. "Montreal, Nov. 16, 1835." No. 30. Correspondence on t^ie Character of W. K. Hoyte. ♦* To the Editor of the Morning Courier. " Sir — A respectable citizen of this city, connected with the American Presbyterian Society, informed me, a few days since, that Mr. Hoyte, who has figured so largely in the papers of late, had been connected with some charitable society in this city, to distribute bibles Ill and tracts in the eastern townships ; but that his ac- counts ^ave proved so unsatisfactory,^ that he had been removed from the situation. Now, why do not those persons who are acquainted with Mr. Hoyte's character, come forward and expose him publicly ? "Nov. 17. "A." " To the Editor of the Morning Courier. ** Sir — Observing in your paper of yesterday, a communication ascribing silence to certain persons ac- quainted with the character of Mr. W. K. Hoyte, who has lately figured so largely in the various prints of this city, and asking why they do not " pnblicly ex- pose" that individual ? " In reply, it is sufficient to say, that such has already been done where alone it was deemed requisite, (i. e. in the United States,) as will appear by reference to a report dated in April last, and which appeared in the J^ew York Evangelist, with a reqjiiest that it would 'be copied into the Boston Recorder bix\^ Vermont Chronicle.'' Yoilr insertion of this note, will oblige, respectfully yours, ^ "VERITAS. *• Montreal, November 19, 1835." No. 31 . Evidence of Committee on the character of W. K. Hoyte. " From the New York Evangelist of April last. " Before dismissing the subject, the committee can- not but express their deep regret that Mr. Hoyte has not complied with their wishes as to the management and disposal of the books committed to his charge, nor to their repeated solicitations to keep his accounts in a clear and accurate manner. His conduct in this re- spect being any thing but satisfactory, they wish further to intimate to their friends in the United States, that the gentleman alluded to is no longer their agent, or in any way acting under their responsibility." " THOMAS M'LAREN, } A. Y. MARSHALL, > Committee." HENRY LYMAN, ^ This is the man who accompanied Monk to Canada in August, 1835, and who had the impudence to offer Mi 112 himself to the notice of several honourahle men, as an investigator of the truth of certain rumours concerning the priests and nuns of which he himself was the Author! The wretch was scorned as he de8er\.ed. ** Judge Turner" of Vermont, who foolishly counte- nanced him for a hrief period, douhtlessly in conse- quence of having discovered his cohabitation with the pretended ex-nun, withdrew from his society. No. 32. Evidence of Catherine Conners and Mary M^'Caffrey. " District of Montreal^ Province of Lower Canada : *' Before me, W. Robertson, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the District of Montreal, ap- peared Catherine Conners of Montreal; she having made oath on the Holy Evangelists, to say the truth and nothing but the truth, declared and said what follows : " Towards the 19th of August last, two men and a woman came to the Exchange Coffee House ; their names were written in the book, one by the name of Judge Turner, and the other as Mr. Hoyte ; the name of the woman was not written in the book in which the names of travellers are written, because I was inform- ed that they were taking a single room with two beds. Some time after another room was given to them for their accommodation ; the woman passed for the wife of Mr. Hoyte. " The day following, when I was making the bed, I found the woman in tears. Having made the remark to her that her child was a very young traveller, she replied, that she had not the power to dispense with the journey for they had travelled on business of im- portance ; she also said that she had never had a day of happiness since she left Montreal, which was four years, with Mr. Hoyte ; she expressed a wish to go and see her father. She entreated me to try and procure secretly clothes for her, for Mr. Hoyte wished to dine with her in his own room, in which he was then taking care of the child. I gave her my shawl and bonnet, and conducted her secretly out by the street St. Pierre ; she never returned, and left the child in the hands of Mr. Hoyte. She said that her husband was a Metho. 113 dist preacher, and agent of the Sunday Schools for Montreal, in which she had resided four months last winter ; but she had not then been with him. When I returned to the room, Mr. Hoyte was still taking care of the child : he asked me if I had seen his lady ; I said no. Upon this question he told me that the father of his lady was dead, that her mother yet lived in the suburbs of Quebec, and he asked me for all the clothes which I had given to wash for him, his lady and child ; clothes the lady had taken from the port- manteau which they had. Beyond that, I perceived nothing remarkable, except that Mr. Hoyte wished to conceal this woman, and to prevent her from going out. I heard the judge say to him "now she is yours." I i '* Sworn before me, the 2d day of November, 1835. (Signed) "W. ROBERTSON." " Mary M*Caffrey, also a chambermaid in the hotel of Mr. Goodenough, corroborates the preceding de- position. (Signed) "W.ROBERTSON." W. K. Hoyte, cannot suffer by the exposure of his cohabitation with Monk. He cannot suffer from the exposure of his familiarities with Monk, practised even in the presence of her mother. No. 33. Evidence of Mrs. Monk. [For the important evidence upon oath of Mrs. Monk, the mother of Maria, see page 19, et scq.^ We are informed that Mrs. Monk's evidence on the material question of her daughter's residence in the Hotel Dieu Convent has been disputed on some un- imaginable ground of interest and secret influence. It is unnecessary to draw comparisons between Mrs. Monk and her unhappy daughter ; but we are bound to state, that in her situation in life Mrs. Monk is regarded and esteemed. Her good conduct and management, at the Government House, has secured to her, for many years, a situation of trust, and will continue to secure to her a decent subsistence to the end of her days. The attempt made to bribe Mrs. Monk was repeated in re- 114 gard to other persons. Miss Louise Bousquet, of St. Denis, was induced to visit Montreal on a false induce- ment, which the parties were frightened from following up by an explanation of their real intentions. The evidence of Miss Bousquet (No. 5,) refers to Ambroise Vigeaut. No. 34. Evidence of Ambroise Vigeaut. " Province of Lower Canada : ** This 26th day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, appeared before me, Benjamin Holmes, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the District of Montreal, Ambroise Vigeaut, who, having been sworn on the Holy Evangelists, declared : " That deponent had attended a school kept by the so called Maria Monk at St. Denis, for the space of about two months, in the year eighteen hundred and thirty- three ; that whilst deponent attended her school, she kept it at two different places ; first, in the house of Michael Guertin, farmer, and subsequently, in the house of Jean Baptiste Lailamme dit Timineur ; that previously to his attendance at the said school, depo- nent had understood that the said Maria had resided at St. Denis and in the neighbourhood for several months; that subsequently to his departure from the said school, he had understood that the said Maria remained resid- ing in and about St. Denis for several months ; and de- ponent particularly declared, that he saw the said Maria at St. Denis on the twenty-ninth day of June, one thou- sand eight hundred and thirty-four, being the day on which my Lord the Bishop of Telmesse there adminis- tered confirmation ; and deponent further declared, that in the summer of eighteen nundred and thirty-five, the said Maria, accompanied by a man, whose name is un- known to deponent, came to the bar of Philip Lavoiel, tavern-keeper, residing in the main street of the St. Lawrence suburbs, city of Montreal, where deponent was employed ; that the said Maria and the said man having conversed for a long time together, the said Maria requested deponent to write to Miss Louise Bous- quet of St. Denis, and say to her, on behalf of the said Maria, that the said Maria had two hundred pounds currency to give her, and that she invited her to come- to tc depo the S( panie some on d€ hertl said I never matei Canac "S The witnes illiben The Protes " Awfi all con unsolii the pre deep a proac The scribe Canad lutione When fanatic from t " I appi ii SI 115 to town to receive them; that at the second visit to deponent of the said Maria, accompanied as aforesaid, the said letter was written ; that the man who accom- panied the said Maria was dressed in hlack cloth ; that some time thereafter, the said Louise Bousquet called on deponent, and that deponent was only ahle to inform her that the said letter was written at the request of the said Maria ; and deponent further declared, that he had never understood that the said Maria had heen an in- mate of any Convent, or Religious Establishment in Canada ; and deponent further declared not. " AMBROISE VIGEAUT. " Sworn before me, at Montreal, this 26thday of July, 1836. "BENJAMIN HOLMES, J.P." The associates, defeated in 'their attempts tb suborn witnesses, defeated in their expectation of Protestant illiberality in Canada, departed from it. The admirable, noble, and generous conduct of the Protestants of Lower Canada, in relation to these " Awful Disclosures," is an example to all nations and all communities. Each man pressed forward witli his unsolicited testimony in the cause of insulted virtue ; the press echoed the public voice, and in accents of deep and eloquent indignation, reprobated the unap- proachable infamy of, " We the Subscribers" The act of accusation, brought by " We, the Sub- , scribers," against, the priests and nuns of Lower Canada, recalls the proceedings of the Gallican revo- lutionary assassins on the trial of Marie Antoinette. When that persecuted princess was charged before a fanatical tribunal with an impossible crime, she turned from the tigers to her fellow creatures, and exclaimed, " I appeal to the hearts of mothers/' J* SHAW, PRINTER, CARLTON STREET, NOTTINGHAM, APPENDIX. Since the preceding was sent to press, I have met with the following interesting extract in a hook entitled " Men and Manners in America," hy the popular and talented author of " Cyril Thornton." It was puh- lished by Cadell, Strand, London, in 1833. I may add. the respectable writer is not a member of the Catholic faith. The Convent he alludes to, is, I presume, that of the ** Grey Sisters" mentioned in Col. Stone's Nar* rative : — "There are several Convents in Montreal, one of which I visited, m company with an eminent merchant of the city. The huilding is commodious and extensive, and the establishment consists of a mkre supirieuret and twenty*four nuns. Its funds, which are con- siderable, are devoted to purposes of charity ; and I saw a little troop of orphans, whom they support and educate. There is like- wise an hospital for the insane and incurable, which I declined visiting. I saw several of the sisters,— pale, unearthly-looking beings, — who, accustomed to the ministrations of the sick-bed, flit 'about with noiseless steps, and speak in a low and subdued tone. Their garb is peculiar. It consists of a gown of light drab, plain muslin cap, black hood, a sort of tippet of white linen, and the usual adjuncts of rosary and crucifix. " The interest excited by this pious and benevolent institution was certainly not diminished by the communications of my com- panion. * It is impossible,' he said, ' that I can look on this establishment, without feelings of the deepest gratitude. Thirty- five years ago, I came to this city a pennUess and friendless boy ; and I had not one friend or connection in the colony from whom I might expect kindness. Shortly after my arrival, I fell sick. I coidd not work, and was utterly destitute of the means of subsist- ence. In this situation, these charitable nuns received me iqto this house, nursed me with tenderness, through a long and grievous illness, and supplied me with the means of support, until, by my own labour, I was enabled to hd them of the burden. By God's providence, I have prospered in the world. I am now rich, but never do I pass the gates of this institution without a silent blessing on its humble and pious inmates.' " — Vol. ii. Chap. 8. . P.S.— There is a possibility that this little pamphlet may give displeasure to some zealous persons, whose favonrite pursuit is to sink Catholicity in the estimation of others ; if so, and I should be honoured by the notice of such, I trust they will also honour me with their names. If we are to contend — ^let it be openly — can- didly—and charitably ;— and may God defend the right ! R. W. WILLSON. February 23, 1837.