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V l^' \ ''j .' ■I'.i , t •' > V 1 \-' %■/ '*■■ ^^^■^ ^' -if' ,* >■ '■Mi i' S^: ■.■^■ M liireiH ;'■; '• f ■f-' f THOS. D'ARCY McGEE: SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND DEATH, By FENNING8 TAYLOR, MONTRCALi PSUriEO BT JOHNXOVELL, 81. NICHOLAS STBEET. 1868. irfj^* •9 A/ 3 136fi98 \ G. H \ D r ^ rc^v\\^-c:^ 'n 98 .1 I 1 THE HONORABLE THOMAS D'ABCY MCGEE OF MovrBE.vr. Had the Honorable Thcmas D'Arcjr McGeo lived in the middle of the sixth century he would very probably have been a member, and a very distinguished one too, of that all-powerful " Bardic Order," Ijeforo whose awful anger, Mr. McGee informs us in his History of Ireland, " Kings trembled and warriors succumbed in auperatitious dread." This influential order, we are elsewhere told, were " the Editors, Professors, Registrars, and Record Keepers" of those ■early days, the makers and mastere of public opinion, whose number in the Provinces of Meath and Ulster alone, in the reign of King Hugh the Second, exceeded twelve hundred. Although the subject of our sketch may neither be a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, it is not improbable that, could we trace his genealogy aright, we might discover that the tnmk of his family tree is rooted and grounded in poetic earth ; for his intellectual life derives no slight nourishment from the poet^s heritage, — imagination and fancy. Mr. McGee's ancestors hruled originally from Ulster. It is therefore probable he descends through them from the imposing commonwealth of bards to which we have referred, and that his scholar-like fore- fathers must be looked for among the twelve hundred whom King Hugh impeached, but who were upheld and defended by that illus- trious travelnstamed saint, who, moved by a love of letters, and a schoolman's sympathies, had to that end, expressly journeyed from his sea-^rt home at Icolamkill. On referring to one of the larger and mor^ perfeci maps of Ireland, and looking closely along the north- eastern coast, we shall perceive situated sea-ward off the shore of 1105. THOMAS D*1RC7 MoGES. Antrim, in the province of Ulster, and ^thin the ancient Barony of Belfast, a small islet which bears tho name of '* Island Magee.** This little sea-washed speck contained, according to one of the latest, if not the latest topographical survey, abont seven thousand acres of the finest land in the northern part of the kingdom. More- over, in 1837 it was peopled by no less than two thoupi\nd six hundred and ton inhabitants. In the early times, the lordship of the- Island was vested in the great Ulster family of O'Neil, from whom it passed in the sixteenth century to the Maodonalds of the Antnm Glens, and in the seventeenth, by the fortune of arms, to the Chichcsters, Earls of Belfast and Marquises of Donegal. From this small Island, for which the original tenants are said to have piud tho annual rental of " two goshawks and a pair of gloves," (^ihich, by the way, ma^ have been considered enough, since, to an incredibly recent period, the Island was imagined by its inhabitants to bo a theatre of sorcery,) — their descendants were almost extermmated, and wholly expelled by a force of covenan- ters at the time when the memorable Munroe was commander of the Parliamentary armies in Ireland. Three only of those who bore the name of Mut^ee were said to have escaped to the mainland, and from one of tiiose three, who we suspect must have appropriated more than his share of the sorcery, the subject of our sketch accounts himself to have directly descended. Without dwelling further on the facta and incidents of his remote ancestry, we may mention Uuit the Honorable Thomas D'Arcy McGce is the second son of the late Mr. James McGee, of Wexford, and of Dorcas Morgan, his wife. He was bom at Carlingford, in the County of Louth, and wo are enabled to add, on the 13th of April, 1825. The name of « D'Arcy," by which Mr. McGee is conventionally known, is, we have understood, derived from his god- father Mr. Thomas D'Arcy, a gentlemen who resided in the neigh- borhood of Carlingford, and, as we may infer, a personal friend of the family. Of his parents Mr. McGee is accustomed to speak with filial affection and becoming reverence, for he was early taught to " honor his father and his mother.'' But for the memory of the latter, whom he lost at a very early age, if we may publish in this place the observations of his most cherished friends, he entertains feelings of tender and entliusiastic admiration. Such HON. THOMAB D'AROT MoOLI. >» I ieelings appear to be almost divinely wroaght, and, like threads of gold, they beaatify as well as strengthen the purest fibres of oar xiatare. On the mind of Mr. McGee they have exerted the gentle influence of poetry as well as the holy one of love. Separate qua- lities, sach as daty and pride, obecUonce and devotion, when looked at through the lens of his memory, cease to be distinct. All his recollections of his mother, though differently colored,' nevertheless meet and blend harmoniously, like the soft hues of the rainbow, as in the hush of evening they silently raelc in a sea of light. No doubt there were strong intellectual affinities between the mother and her son ; and this sympathetic attraction created an indelible impression on the heart of the latter. The intellectual charts of the two minds were, we are inclined to think, marked with rot dissimilar lines ; bold and deeply dn^wn in the case of the son, they were sketchily traced and delicately shaded in the instance of the mother. The subtle charm of divine poesy seems to have pervaded both ; and this spell of fancy and feeling, of imagina- tion and truth, may, in some sort, account for the magnetic attractions which governed the intercourse of the parent and child. To talk about his mother is, as we have had occasion to observe, a source of unalloyed happiness to her son. As in a holiday in hia boyhood, the acids of controversy and the sharp edges of strife give place to expressions tipped with sunshine, when his lipy can be begmled into speaking of what his heart never ceases to fef ' ** My mother ! at tbat hoi/ name Within oiy bosom there'o a gush or feeling, which no time can tame, A feeUng which for years of fiimo I would not, could not crush ! " According to his recolleciion o * her, the subject of our sketch always alludes to his mother as a person of genius and acquirements, rare in her own or in any other class. She was endowed, as Mr. McGee is accustomed to say, with a fertile ima^nation as well as a culti- vated mind. Nature had given her a sweet voice and an exqui^te «ar, and the latter prescribed exact laws to the former when, bird- like, the owner thought fit to attune that voice to song. She was fond of muEBc, as well as of its twin sister, poetry. A diligent reader of the best books, she was also an intelUgent lover of 6 ilfON. THOMAO D'ABCr McOEB. 1^ the best ballads. She liked especially those of Scotland. The poetry of common Kfe was in her case no mere figure of speech. Through all the changes of daily duty there ran a vein of fJmcy, which enabled her to brighten the real with the pleasant phantasies of the ideal, and support the dark cares of the mind on the white wings of the imagination. ' Oh whar hae you been a' the day My boy T».nimie ! " were the words with which she usually greeted and welcomed hci' favorite child. In common with her contemporaries, the mothers of he: day, wo suspect she had a special liking for Homo's tragedy of Douglas ; and we may perhaps more easily imagine than describe her scnso of pride as she listened to " Tammie's" earliest lesson in elocution. It is not difficult to see the curly-headed urchin standing on a table, an(i in melo-dramatic guiso, with precocious effrontery inforaiing his raotlier, who knew better, and his mother's friends who did not believo uira, that " My name is NorvaL" His mother, as we have said, was early removed from liim by death. We will not speak of, since we cannot describe, grief. We may, however, conjecture, since their natures and iiitellectual tastes were identical, that her death was like a severance of himself from himself. Tlie great tears, howeVer, which no doubt fell upon her grave, were neither idle lior unavailing tears, for they became as it wore so many cameras through which were reflected the duties, the incidents, ai^d the obligations of his future lite. Thus at the age of icventeen we find D'Arcy McGoe had passed the shallows where timid youths Vathe and shiver, and had boldly struck oH into the deep ses of duty. We have no data which will enable us to bridge the time between his mother's death nd his arrival on this continent : bu*". it is not dlificult to suppose that it wa*; filled up in tho manner usual to youdi, with the diff<)rence only of a greater amount of application and a I igher range of study. On arriving at Boston, he became almost immediately connected with the press of that city. Kind fortune seemed to befriend him ; for his lot appeared to be cast in, what was at that time, as perhaps it still is, the intellectn&l capital S HON. THOMAS D'AIICY McQEE. land. The of speech. in of fancy, phantasies ihe white corned her le mothers 's tragedy ^ describe t lesson in 1 standinfi: effrontery lends who >y death. ^Ve may, stes were himself, ve, were so many nte, ai>d teen we youths > ses of If time buUt r usual ication )ecamo Kind 1st in, capital of the United States — the forcing-house of its fanaticism, and the favored seats of its scholarship. Thus it was that D'Arcy McGee, the youth hungry and thirsty for knowledge and fame, found himself a resident of the New England States capi.'al, with access to the best public libraries on tliis side uf the Atlantic, and within reach of the best- -public lecturers on literary and scientific subjects. For at that day Emerson, Giles, (the county and countryman of the subject of our sketch,) Wliipple, Cliapin, and Brownson, lived in that city or in its vichiity. It was moreover the residence of Channing, Bancroft, Eastbuni. Prescott, Ticknor, Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, and othei-s, whose influence should have purified the moral atmosphere ^ and have made Boston -'o others, what wo suppose it must liave been to them, an appreciative and congenial home. It is not difficult to imagine, from what we know and can observe «' f his mature manhood, that D'Arcy McGeo, the impulsive Irish hu^ overflowing with exu- berant good nacnre an-l untiring industry, Avitli his full heart and active brain, soon found his way into meetings where learned men delivered lectures, or among the booksellers, whose shops such celebrities fiequented. Neither is it a matter for surprise that he early attracted the notice of several of their number. Oppor- tunities of speaking publicly are by no means uncommon in the United States, and wo should imagine that Boston contained a great many nai-series, under diftercut names, where the alphabet of the art could be acquired. Whether the scholar ])rogre.>sos beyond his letters depends very much on the furnishing of his mind. The nerve and knack may I;e got by practice, but the prime condition, — having something to say, — mast spring from exaci thought, and severe rtudy. We have every reason to believe that the subject of our sketch, even in his early youth, observed that condition ; but we have no means of knowing v/hcre or in what way he acquired the fluent habit of graceful and p)r)3hed orator/. Fur since he was enthroned on his mother's tea-table, and declared to listening frieuus that his name was " Norval," wo have been unable to discover an^^ intermediate audience between his select one at Carlingfonl, and his scientific one at Boston. Strange a* it may seem, it is we believe, no less true than strange, that during his sojourn at Boston, between the years 1842 and I8-I0, when 1)ctween the ages of seventeen and twenty, he had actually made his mar . as a public speaker. Nor M WIIMMHI B W I mm 8 HON. THOMAS D*ARCY McOEE. ■' was it, wo believe, denied that the audacious youth, though con- temptuously styled " Greenhorn," and " Paddy-boy," very fairly held Ids own wltli men who never wore " green" and who had long ceased to be " boys." It may be observed in passuig that the " Know-nothing" party, which has smce then acquired consistency and influence, was, in its incipient shape, discernible at that day under the name of the Anti-foreign jmrty, a party which Mr. McOce could not do do otherwise than criticise with severity and oppose with vehemence. At the j>eriod wo refer to, the '* Lyceum System" as it has been termed, spread itself over the New England States. Peopi<> desired to receive knowledge distilled through the brains of their neigh- hoi's. Lectiirei's were at a premium ; and youth forestalled time by discoursing of wisdom, irrespective of experience. Thus it was that Mr. McGee, witli a boy's down on his chin, and with whiskers in embryo, itinerated among our neighbors, and gave them the advantage of listening to a youthful lecturer, discoui-smg, we must be j>erraitted to think, on aged subjects. What those subjects may have been we cannot conj'^'ture ; but we have little doubt that the reminiscences of Mr. McGee's lecturuig life in those dwys are full of amusing as well as of instructive incident ; for the period is, we think, coeval with a transition phase aot only of the Irish, but of tlie American, mind. Mixing, as ho neccssai'ily must have done, with all sorts and con- ditions of men, it was impossible that Mr. McGee should not have formed many acquaintances more or less valuable, and some friend- sliips, it ma} be, beyond price. Among the latter it is his practice to make grateful mention of Mr. Grattan, then Her Majesty's Cossessed great intellectual acquirements as well as personal gifts. In the latter were in- cluded a kindly disposition and a cordial manner. It was therefore natural enough that he should have taken a Avarm interest in liis en- thusiastic countryman, and that from the treasury of his own expe- rience he should have given the young writer and lecturer many valuable hints on the style and structure of literary work. Thus it chanced that the wise counsellor and the land friend meeting in the same person, exerted no inconsiderable influence on the young I HON. THOMAS D^ARCT McGEE. 9 hough con- very fairly had long ; that the onsistency i that day «rhich Mr. i^erity and t has been )le desired jir neigh- d time by IS it was whiskers them the we must jects may that tlie i are full od is, we , but of and con- lot hare e friend- practice ajesty's licU he Uec^^^ual ere in- lerefore his en- 1 expe- many Thus it tmg in young I enthusiast. Mr. Grattan^s sympathies fell upon an appreciative miiid ; for Mr. MoGee always speaks of hia character with admi- ration and of his services with gratitude. A new page in the eventful life of the subject of our sketch was however about to be opened. The obscure lad who had turned hia back upon lerland was about to be beckoned home again by the country he had left. Tiie circumstances, apart from their political significance, we-.c in the highest degree complimentary to one wfc : at the time was not " out of iiis teens." An article, written by Mr. McGee, on an Irish subject, in a Boston newspaper, having attracted the attention of the late Mr. O'Connell, the former received, early in the year 1845, a very handsome offer from the proprietors of the " Freeman's Journal," a DubUn daily paper, for his editorial services. This proposal he accepted, and hence his personal participation in the Irish politics of the eventful yeai-s which com- menced then and ended in 1848. Ardent by temperament, and enthusiastic by disposition, it was almost impossible for Mr, McGee to keep within the bounds of moral force which Mr. 0' Council had prescribed, and which the newspaper he served was instructed to advocate. Mr. McGee felt that such fetters galled him, and he became impatient under their restraint. The habit of maintaining his own convictions was, and is, a necessity of his condition. Fol- lowing tno lead of his feelings, he determined at all hazards to associate himself with the more advanced and .enthusiastic section of the liberal jxirty, then known by the name of *' Young Ireland. " This section or coterie, for it was scarcely a party, i)0S3esscd many attractions for such an adherent. Besides the namo^ and the bright, alluring, misleading quality of youth, which that name symbolized and expressed, the cot "ie was. made up of those many-hued forms of intellectual mosaic work which men generally admire and rarely trust ; very charming in our sight and very perishable in our service. It wa3 composed, at least at first, almost altogether of young barristers, young doctors, young college men and young journalists, most of them under thirty, and many under twenty-five ycai-s of age. Mr. McGee was probably their most youthful member, for when his association with them commenced he was not of age. Of such hot blood was the " Young Ireland " party compounded, that little sui-pi-ise was occasioned, and none was expressed, when its mmmamm 10 HON. THOMAS D'aBCY McQEE. \ mischievous revels were broken up by the riot act. If we understand the history of those times aright, the policy of moral force which had guided O'Connell was not, in the first instance, discarded by his younger and more ardent disciples. They wished to accomplish the purpose of " The Liberator," only they desired to shorten the time and accelerate the speed of the operation. They thought that O'Connell was " old and slow." They felt that they were young and active. In their minds the rivalry between age and youth was renewed, provoking the old issues and re-enacting the old results. Keeping in view the great end which they had set tliomselves to accomplish, they nevertheless sought, in the first instance, to move by literary rather than by political appliances. Accordingly they planned, among other works, a scries of stirring shilling, volumes for the people, entitled the " Library of Ireland." The famine of 1S47 extinguished the enterprize, but not until twenty volumes of this new National Library had been published. Of the above number Mr. McGee was the author of two. One, a series of bio- grapiiios of illustrious Irishmen of the seventeenth century, and the otlier a memoir of " Ai't. McMurrough," a half forgotten Irish king of the fo\irtoenth century. Of course, works published under ?uch circumstances, and forming parts of such a scries, would at first, at all events, be well received and widely circulated ; but their merits could not have been of a mere evanescent character, for we arc credibly informed that now, after a period of twenty year-4, the books we havo mentioned still retain their popularity. 3Ir. McGee, if we remeniber aright, has somewhere said, with .•cspect to the transactions of those times, that " Young Ireland," not content to restore the past, endeavored to re-enact it ; not content to write history, tried, to use a familiar phrase of ]Mr. John Sandfield ^Macdtmald's, to " make it;" and we havo Uttle doubt, could we SCO the intellectual machhiery which preceded those events, we shotdd discover that none more than Mr. McGce have assiduously lal)ored to matmfactnre history. The coterie grew into a confederation of which Mr. McGee Avas, we behove, the chief promoter and the chosen secretary. It was not without atlhorents, neither was it without attraction, and especially to the class, a by no means incon.-% The talbman T sought and gain'd, The jewel Indopondonce l" Neither was it a mere poetical profession of faith. Mr. McGee *8 liistory very cleariy shows that he had reason for his rhyme. In HON. TnOMAS D*ARCT McQBE. 13 s exorcised, juired truth ibrance imd their letter- lis flonntry- I rule. He England to the former, I the words [yperion to iited space 's personal for a por- 'cted with, ucupations i lecturer, Sons were nssitudea. iment and be could by birth, his race, outset of )endence matter political, Canadian s a hiy- cGqq 's le. In the very dew of his youth he moinUuned his political principles against such an opponent as the great OConnell, and later still he wore his " Jewel Independence" in the presence of the late Dr. Hughes, the distinguished Archbishop of Now York. It is pro- bable that neither of those eminent men viewed with complacency what must have appeared like presumption on the part of their youthful antagonist ; but it is pleasant to believe, as we have some reason to believe, that with, manly generosity, they did not fail t.> express their respect for Mr: McGce's abilities, their appreciatioa of his sincerity, and their desire tor his success in life. The independence which Mr. McGce valued and apostro- pluzed was not the indej)ondence which he found in the United States. His second sojourn in that country thoroughly disen- chanted him. His early admiration paled before his later expe- rience. The homoeopathic principle appears to be susceptible ol pfylitical as well as physicjJ application, for a taste of democratic institutions cured Mr. McGee of any tendency to democracy. Neither was social life in America more attractive tlian political- life. Both were an offence, and one was an abomination. But the double discovery was made only after a painful and protracted effort not to see it, for it was with great reluctance that his vigorous mind and tenacious will yielded at !ength to such unwelcome convictions. It would be interesting to read Mr. McGee's own ac- count of his rise and progress towards higher moral and physical la- titudes, for every inch of his ".our*^ miglii: t^oint a moral, every stage of his journey adorn a tale. They only who know with what fanatic faith the human mind will cling even to a cheat, can appreciate the wrench which follows the discovery of the cheat. No man can de- liberately break his idol ¥rithout some sorrowful remembrance of the thing he once thought divine. The testimony of Mr. McGee might enable us to compare the attractions of his fancy with the fallacies of his experience, — the dream-land which his imagination painted and the real land wliich his eyes saw. In this interval of conflict, while fighting against himself, and by wager of battle as it were, testing the strength and quality of his prin- ciples and opinions, new light, and with it new views, from an un- looked-for quarter, seen^ed to cross bis path. In the midst of lite- rary work in New York he made the acquaintance of many frienda 14 BON. THOMAS D*AROT MoQSI. il lii: in Canada. Havmg formed bis own opinions of the people whom lie had met, it was natural enough he should wish to see the coun try where they dwelt. Thus it was thai Mr. McGoe, during one summer vacation, taking a holiday after the manner of an editor, found himself writing letters to his paper from the shores of Lake Huron, at another from the solitudes of the Ottawa^ and at a third from the scenic Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Provincial attractions were too much for him. He heard in the Provinces what he did not hear in the States, honest opinions open- ly expressed. He found in the Provinces what he failed to find in the States, a tangible security for freedom. The promise of liberty was no spurious or counterfeit debenture. It was impressed with the stamp of law and endorsed with the sign manual of authority. Whatever may have been the form of the fascination, we find that in the early part of the year 1857, after, as wo have the right to supjwse, a careful com|>arison of the two states of society, tire American and the Canadian, Mr. McGee transferred, as he has somewhere said, " his household goods to the valley of th St. Law- rence," selecting the City of Montreal as the place of his abode. We may here add that the City of Montreal lost no time in return- ing the compliment, for on the first opportunity that city elected him as one of its representatives in Parliament, and a little later his friends and neighbors presented him with an exceedingly well-appointed homestead in one of its most eligible localities. It was a hearty Irish mode of making him welcome. Mr. McGee very modestly sought only to be a citizen of the country ; his friends determined that he should be a freeman. No doubt the gift represented a great honor of no uncertain value to the object of it. But apart from such considerations, the shape which the testimonial took, soothed and flattered Irish sentiment. If there be one form of property dearer than another to the oflspring of Erin, it js that of a holding ; and no matter whether it be a park or a potato patch, it is equally precious if it promotes the possessor to the condition of an estated gentleman or a landed proprietor. The old vocation was revived in Mr. McGee's new Home. To write, to print, to publish are with him not only habits of life, but they seem to be modes of enjoyment. "The long, long weary day Would pass in grief away," i' s HOH. THOMAS D'a&CT M'QVL. 15 * at least to hhn, if it uttered no speech from his pen, or receired no thou^t from his brain. The time which elapsed between liis arrival at Montreal, and the isssue of the first number of his news- paper, the " New Ert^," was brief enough ; but it was nevertheless of sufficient length to enable Mr. McGee to sketch through its columns a policy which harmonized with the name of his paper. Ue earnestly advocated, and lias continued to advocate, ever since that time, an early union of all the Colonies of British North America. In doing so, we may observe in passing, he initiated a phrase as descriptive of his object, which has since become familiar alike from use and criticism) for t' proposed confederacy was in lus mind and writings associated vfitii the idea of a ** new nation- ality." At the general election in 1858, Mr. McGee's public career in Canada commenced. He was returned to Parliament as one of the three represep^^itives of Montreal. Whether from hereditary habit, a playful disposition, or serious thought, we know not, but on his arrival in the Province, he lost no time in declaring himself in true Hibernian style to be " against the government." And against the government he undoubtedly was during the four years of the continuance of irritating and acrimonious sixth Parliament.. Much of course was expected of him. He liad a certain repute as a politician, though he was more distinctly known as a forcible writer, and a fluent speaker. Still his earlier Parliamentary efforts wCre, we think, followed by disappointment to those who had thought him to be capable of better and wiser things. It was observed that the subject of our sketch was an adroit master of satire, and the most active of partisan sharpshooters. Many severe, some ridicu- lous, and not a few savage things were said by liim. Thus from his affluent treasury of caustic and bitter irony ho contributed not a little to the personal and Parhamentary embarrasments of those tunes. Many of the speeches of that period we would ratlier forget than remember. Some were not complimentary to the body to which they were addressed, and some of them were not creditable to the persons by whom they were deUvered. It is true that such speeches secured crowded galleries, for they were sure to be either breezy or ticklish, gusty with rage, or grinning with jests. They were therefore the raw materials out of which mirth is manufactured, le nON. TnOlf AS D'ARGT McOEB. I I Hi'- and consequently they provoked irrepressible laughter. Of course they were little calculated to elicit truth, or promote order, or attract respect to the speakers. Indeed men who were inclined to despondency affected little reserve in saying that Parliamentary govonmient was in their opinion a failure. During his early career, Mr. McGee appeared chiefly to occupy himself in saying unpleasant and severe things. This occupation was apt to include the habit of making {)er3onal allusions the reverse of agreeable, and, as a matter of course, creating ■ personal enmities the reverse of desirable. In truth, Mr. McGee's speeches at that time were garnished i^ith so many merry jests, and sometimes overlaid with so much rancorous levity, that their more valuable parts were hid- den from ordinary eyes, and inappreciable to ordinary minds. The cookery was too generous, the condiments were too spicy. The sauce bore to the substance about the same proportional inequality which Falstafl^'s "sack" did to his bread; and this deficiency of solidity was attributed by many people to an absence of intellec- tual property, ratlier than to an error of conventional taste. Hence arose a disposition on the part of some to underrate Mr. McGeo's mental strength, and hence, too, the observation, which, however, waa more remarkable for glibness tlian accuracy, that " Mr. McGee speaks better than he reasons." Certainly the Parliamentary skirmishes of that perioil, though difficult to defend, were delightful to witness. Human drollery made up in some sort for human naughtiness. There were, for example, two members of that house of great ability, but very dissimilar habits of thought. Tlioy sat not far from one another, for if at that day they were not exactly " friends in council," they usually voted together. One was the present Attorney General West, the unrivalled chief of Parliamen- tary debate ; and the other, the present learned member for Brome, the intellectual detective of suspected fallacies. Breadth and subtlety, reason and casuistry, extensive observation and minute knowledge, marked then as now the peculiar characters of their modes of thought. No matter, however; whether the range of theii* reasoning was broad or deep, horizontal er vertical, circular or lateral, profound or peculiar, it was commonly acknowledged by the subject of our sketch in a cheerful Irish way, amusing enough to the spectator, but probably not as agreeable to those who looked HON. THOMAS D'aRCY MoQEE. IT for grave reflections on grave thoughts. The truth is, that Mr. McGeo always seemed to be, in spite of liimsolf, either mischievous or playful: and regardless alike of the place or the occasion, he appeared to bo seized with an irresistible impulse to scatter about him au uncomfortable kind of mclo-dramatic spray which occasionally drifted and thickened into a rain of searching, infectious, comic banter, which, as a matter of course, amidst roars of laughter, would drown reason, log.c and speecli in a flood of exuberant fun. Such efforts, however, did not always succeed. Indeed, more clover than praiseworthy, they scarcely deserved success, for people do not always admire wliat they laugh at. Reaction follows every kind of excess. Members began to talk of decorum of debate, and the necessity of recalling the House to a «tate of order. None better than Mr. McGee knew that he could, if occasion needed, be grave us well as gay, wise as well as witty, serious as well as jocose. He knew that he could lead thought as well as provoke mirth. He knew that at the fitting time he could make for himself a name, and for his adopted country a place, which would attract rei?pect and honor m both hemispheres. Having fairly looked his work m the face, jMr. McGec would, as we might reasonably conjecture, cast about him for fitting co- operatora. This portion of his public hfe seems to have been beset with perplexing peculiarities. With an upper-crust of paradox there must, we may suppose, Iiave been an under-current of con- tradiction. As a party man, Mr. McGee chose his side, but in the presence of his declared principles and published opinions it is difficult to undci*stand by what laws his choice was determined. On his arrival in Canada, he had, for reasons which he deemed to be sufl^cient, declared himself to be "against the Government." Nor can it be denied that for the space of six years he proved the sincerity of his declaration. On the 20th May, 1862, the fortress whicli he had so persistently battered, fell, for the Cartier-Macdonald administration, which he had opposed and denounced, having been defeated on tho motion for reading the Militia Bill the second time, was constrained to resign. In the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte administration, which succeeded to power, the subject of our rketch was offered and accepted the office of President of the Council. B 18 HOX. THOMAS D'ARCT MoGKE. if ..,..,. On the 8th of May following, on a qucation of want of confidence, tho la»t mentioned administration found itself to bo in a minority of five. Four daya afterwards Parliament was prorogued with a view to iti immediate dissolution. After the prorogation, Mr. Sandfiold Maodonald, the leader of the Govcniment, undertook tlic re8p<)nsi- bility of directing what was equivaleut to the very hazardous mili- tary manoeuvre of changing his front in the presence of an active and sagacious enemy. No doubt he was obliged to strengthen his j-»ositioii, ar.d under any circumstances his mode of doing so would be subject to criticianj. lie reconstructed his government, and tho operation included, amongst other chiuiges, not ojjy the sending of his Irish forces to the rear, but of reducing them to the ranks, with the option, as it was amusingly made to appear, of beui^ niustorcd out of the service. Tlie transaction is of recent occurrence, and need not be dwelt upon. The surprise which it occasioned remains ; for no very specific reasons have been given, so far as wo are aware, for the course which Avas then pursued. That it wa.s not taken upon tho advice of the subject of our sketch, we have tho bet't rea.son for thinking ; for Mr. McGce took tho earliest oppor- tunity of showing, in the general election which followed, that he would not play \vxv>n to Mr. Sandfiold Macdonald's khig. Rathei- than do so he crossed over to tho enemy. The amenities of political elections is a work yet to be written ; when it is written, the election for Montreal, in 18G3, might, we incline to think, furnish some instructive as well as amusing passages. In the ession which iumiediately followed, Mr. McGee, on throe different. occ;isions, and Mith evident and unalloyed satisfaction, recorded Ids vote of want of confidence in the re-constructed administration of his former chief. Thus had he fairly crossed the houses He not only, and with a will, voted with the party which he had theretofore opposed, but on the late Sir E. P. Tachd, in the month of March following, being called upon to form an administration, and a strong party administration too, he accepted tho oflSce of Minister of Agriculture, which he still continues to fill. People may be inclined to think, and not without some reason, that the subject of our sketch was moved in tho course which he took, more by pique than by principle, and that a personal slight provoked his political defection. Without staying to discuss a question on which UON. THOMAS D*ARCV MoOKE. ID confidence, minoritj of vith a view . Sandfield >e regponsi- irdoua mili- f an active Migthen his g 80 would nt, and the sending of ranks, with of being •ccurrcncc, occasioned far as wo 'hat it wa.^ re have tho liest oppor- lhI, that he Rather nenitica of is written, to think. In tla different. , recorded linistration ;he houses ich he had the month inistration, le office of People Bi, that tlie took, more ovoked his Q on which we are not informed, we may, perhaps, be permitted to ask another, which to ua, at least, appears to bo still more perplexing. What were the circumstrLucca which in the first instance separated Mr. MoGee from the party of which he is now a conspicuous member ? Were it not ill-mannered to pry, we might, perchance, amuse ourselves by indulging in some idle speculations, and supplement them by making some curious enquiries. If there was one question more than another with wliich Mr. McGce had identified his name, that (question was the union of all the Provinces, and as coimoct^J with, and inseparable from it, the questions of National Defenjc, of the Inter-Colonial Railway, and of Free Intcr-Oolonial Trade. Happily these questions are not now the property of a party. They belong to the whole of British America, for they have been accepted by the great majority of its inhabitants, as well sis by the government and the people of England. Still it should not be forgotten, that these great questions were parts of thtt chorished policy of the administration which Mr. McGoo opposed. The law which regulates political relationships is not easily adjusted, for it is not unfrequently embarrassed with vexatious personal entanglements. In the instance before us, though we may sec the atFrout wliich impelled, and suspect the causes whicli attracted him towar'ls his present alliance, we do not see, nor are we required to sec, why ho served a seven year's apprenticeship to a a party whoso policy, in many iu.portant particvUaH, was not only different from, but opposed to his own. Passing from Mr. McGee's history as a party-man, to his ojunions as a publ'c one, we seem to emerge from a bewildering labyrinth of ill-lighted passages, into a succession of salons radiant with sun- shine. We rise from what may be compared with tho uriseemly brawls of a parish vestry to the ennobling deliberations of a National Parliament. The vision of the " new era," which Mr. M-:;Gee, in his Montreal paper, loreshadowed in 1857, seems to have growa h»to shape and consistency. In an address delivered at the Tem- perance Hall, Halifax, in Toly, 1863, he thus sketches, and witi; a bold hand, the boundaries of BritiBh America, tiie Notthera Empire of the future: "A slnglo glanoe at the phraical googr&pliy of tbe whole cf . .tub Araorica wil »as)tures,' to combat and subline the powerful Polar stream which would otherwirt*!, in a single night, lill uU our gulfs and harbors with a barrier of perpetual ice. Pur towards tlie went, beyond the wonderful lakes, which excite the admira- tion of every traveller, the winds that lift the water-bearing clouds from the GuK of Coriez, and waft them northward, are met by jounter-ciurenta which caiwize t) ii jusr where they are essential,— Iwyond Lake Suiwrior, on both slopes of the lirtx.ky Mountain!!. These :Jro the limiu-. of that climate which has bo^-n so much misrepresented, a climate which rejects every pestilence, which breeds no malaria, a climate under which the oldest stationary population— the French Canadian- have multii)lied without the infusion of lunv blood from France or elsewlsere, from a stock of 80,000 in 1"C0 to a people of 880,000 in 1360. I need not, however, have gone so far for an illustration of the fostering effect's of our climate on the Euro- pean race, when I look on the son» ?nd dauRh^ers of this peninsula— natives of the soil for two, three, and four generations— when I see the lithe and manly forms on all sides, around and before mo, v.hen 1 8ee Breton and on the SaskRter, in spirit, and in capac'^y to become its masters ; and this population neeil, as all civilized men need, religious and civil liberty, unity, authority, free intercourse, commerce, security and law." Again, in the same paper, Mr. McGee exliibita the materials whereof the new nationality sliall be composed : '* I endeavor to contemplate it in tho liglit of a future, possible, probable, r.nd I hope to live to be aMu to to say po.sitivo, Hritish American Nutionality. For I rei^eat, in the terms of the questions I asked at first, what do wo need to construct such a nationality. Territory, resoun.'es by sea and land, civil and reli(muni- tics be practicable, I have no fear that it will not be taken, even in my time. If it ho not practicable, well, then, at hvist, 1 shall have this con.solation, that I have invited the intolligenoe of these Provinces to rise above partisan contests and per- sonal warfare to the coasideration of great principles, healthful and ennobling in their discussion to the minds of men." On the same subject, we find in a speech delivered at an earlier day in the Legislative Assembly, the follomng passage, in which Mr. MoGee eloquently groups in one view the main points of his magnificent picture : " I conclude, Sir, as I began, by entreating the house to believe that I have spoken w ithout respect of person.s, and vrith a sole single desire for the increa.so, prosperity freedom and honor of this incipient Northern Nation. 1 call it a Northern N ation —for ..uch it must btsoome, if all of us do our duty to the last. Men do not talk on this continent of changes wrought by centuries, but of the even ts of years. Men do iflot vegetate in this ago, tu they did formerly in one spot— occupying one portion. PWS« JJP*' .i m'M! DON. THOMAS D'aRCY McGEE. ^ Thought outruns the steam car, ami h« pe outflies th? telegraph, Wc live more r ton years in this era than the Patriarch did in a thousand. The Patriaroh might outlive the palm tree which was planted to commemorate his birth, and yet not see so many wonders as we have witnessed since the constitution we arc noiv discuss- ing wa.1 formcKl. What marvels have noi been wrought in Europe and America from IHIO to 18G0 ? And who can say the world, or our own portion of it more par- ticularly, is incapable of niftintaining to thr end of the century tho ratio of the past progress ? i for one cannot presume to ^ay so. I look to the future of my adopted country with hope, though not without anxiety. I kco in the not remote distance* one i;roat. nationality, bound, li^.e tho .shield of Achilles, hv the blue rim of Ocean. I see it quartered into many communities, each o.sing of its internal affairs, but all bound to;ict!ier by free institution.s, free intercourse, and free commerce. I sec witliin the rounf eommorce. I see itains and the crests ss, the St. liawrenco, inns. J}y ali thes<^ thoy visit in thrlr n, free in name tnd omti*ution worthy >f speeches and ivhich appear to oqucnt in their t!ie plan of our \ with extensive , for example, in d States re-act hio power. He •ned his readers t danger of her rn some act of L*n truly said, k igea are to the done either to nost vij^ilant for After tliis man- ) motion for an ision of autuority. reat conservatism ' in political ideas ■e for aniendmout. trong, and worthy e the warm appru- itioiu and auui«nl venofable institutions— here, there are no aristocratic elements hajlowod by time or bright deedi^— hero, every man is the first settler of the 'and, or removed fix)m the first settler one or two generations at the farthestr— here, we have no architectural monuments calling up old associations— here, w have none of those old popular legends and stories which in other countries have exercised a powerful share in the Government— hero, every man is the son of his own works. (Uear, hear!) Wo have none of those influences about us which elsewhere have their eflbct upon Government, just as much as the invisible atniosi)here itself tends to influence life, and animal and vegetable existence. This is a new land— a land of young pretensions, because it is new— because classes and systems have not had time to grow hero naturally. We have no aristo(jracy, but of virtue and talent— which is the best aristoci-acy, and Ls tiie old and true meaning of the term, (Hear, hear !) There is a class of men rising in these colonics superior iu many respects to others with whom they might bo comjiared. "What I should like to sec is— that fair representatives of the Canadian and Acadian aristocracy should be sent to the foot of the Throne with that scheme, to obtain for it the Royal sanction — a scheme not susgested by others or imposed upon us — but one, the work of ourselves, the creation of our own intellect, and of our own free, unbiassed, untrammelled will. ' should like to see our best men so there, and endeavor to have tliis uior.'^ure carried through the Imperial Parliament — going into Iler Majesty' rosbnce, ;ind by their manner, if not actually by their Kpcech, saying — "During ^Mur Majesty's reign we have had Ilcsponsiblc Government conceded to us; wo have lulniinislcred it foi nearly a quarter of a century, during which, wc have under it doubled our popu- lation, and more than quadrupled our trade. The small colonies which your anoastors could hardly see on the map, have grown into great communities- A great danger htus arisen in our near neighborhood; over our homos a cloud hangs dark and heavy. We do not know when it may burst. With our strengtii we arc- not able to combat against the storm, but what wc can do, wc. will do cheeriully and loyally. Wo want time to grow; we want more ])eoplo to fill our country- more industrious families of men to develope our resources ; wo want to increase our prosperity ; we want more extended trade and commerce ; wc want nunc lund tilled -more men established through our wastes and wildernesses ; we, of the Uritish North American Provincas, want to be joined together, that if danger comes, wa may support each other in the day of trial. AVe come to Your Majesty, who lifts given us liberty, to give us unity— that wo may preserve and perpetuate our free- dom ; and whatsoever ohartor, in th<; wisdom of your Majesty and of your Par- liament you give us, we shall loyally obey and observe, as long as it is tlie pleasure of your Maj«isty, and you" sucoessors, to maintain the connection between Great llritain and these Colonies." ■, An opponent of every kind of sectionalism, Mr. McGee is accus- tomed to say that ho neither knows nor wishes to know wiiere the boundaiy is which divides Upper from Lower Canada. To him the whole is Canada. Rather than occupy himself in discovering boun- daries, he would work hard to remove the pickets which separate the British Provinces from one another, that he might strengthen the barriers which protect them from the American States, lie would weld them together by such bonds as love forges when he desires to fuse indissoluble ties. Therefore it is that he advocates a policy of If ■u i I', 24 HON. THOMAS D'ARCt MoOEE. conciliation, a policy of forbearance, a policy of defence, a policy of commerce, a policy of intercourse and intimacy, where men's thoughts should be charitable and their lives generous. He pro- fesses a statesman's anxiety not to re-enact in Canada the curses which have afBicted Ireland. With this purpose in view, it is his aim to discourage all societies whose object is politically to separate men from one another, to cast them into antagonist associations, or sort them into many-colored coteries, to breed suspicion and create enmity, lie believes that there may be unity in plurality, and that the United Provinces like the United Kingdom, though made up of several races, may be tempered and welded into a State, one and indivisible. Mr. Mc(jce is not only a statesman and an orator — he is also, as most people are aware, a lecturer of no ordinary gifts, and an author of no ordinary ability. His range of subjects in the former character is perplexingly extensive, and suggests the notion that the nooks and crannies of his brain must be as thickly peopled with thoughts as are the tenements of the fifth and sixth wards of New York, with his ill-treated and closely-packed countrymen. To many of us it is a matter of regret that we know nothing more of those lectures than their names.* With respect to Mr. McGee's works, we shall in this place content ourselves with a list of their titles only.f Mr. McGcc left Ireland for the second time in 1848. He returned to Ireland for the second time in 1805. Between that coming and that going, his pei*sonal history had been stamped with i •■! ♦Tlio subjects iucludo papers on Columbus, Shake.spoare, Milton, Burke, Grattan, liurus, Moore, The Reformatiou, The Jesuits, The £ng{b
  • 8f^. The uTowth and poorer of the Middle Classes in EuxlanJ, The Moral of the Four Ilevolutioufl, The Irish Brigade in the service of Prance, Tlie Araohcan liovolution. The Spirit of Irish History, Will and Skill. t O'ConnoU and his Friends, 1 vol., Boston, ISU ; The Irish Writers of the Seveu- toenth Century, I vol., Dublin, I86t>; Life of McMurrouj^h, 1 vol., Dublin, lSi7 ; Mer-oir of Dufl'y, Pamphlet, Dublin, 18 IS; Historioal Sketches of Irish Settlers ir, America. 1 vol., Bwton, 1850; IlUtory of the Ilefonnation in Ireland, 1 vol., Boston, 1852; Catholic History of North Ameiioa, 1 vol., Boston, 1053; Life of Buhop Magiun, 1 vol., New York, 1856 ; Canadian Ballada, Montreal, 1 vol., New York, ims \ Popular History of Ireland, S vok, New York, 1362 ; Notes on Vedcrai Governments, past and present. Pamphlol, Montreal, 1861 ; Speeches on British Amoricau Union, Loudon, 18CS. HON. THOMAS D*ABCY McQBE. 25 e, a policy here men's He pro- the curses t is his aim parate men )ns, or sort and create y, and that made up of one and 3 is also, as fits, and an the former lotion that ly peopled xth wards nntrymen. ling more . McGee'y it of their B48. He wreea that aped with Ice, Grattan, ion of ims. >f the VoxiT lievolution. ' tho Seven - ibliii, la;; ; Settlors ii: md, 1 vol., 152 ; Life of 1 vol., New ; Notes on peeohes on f if strange vicisedtudes, and his political opinions had undergone serious changes. He lefl Ireland because failure had waited upon folly ; but then we can imagine he was oblivious to every recollection but the self-evident ono of failure. He returned, too, not only because wisdom had been crowned with success, but because he could think of his prerious failure, if not with complacency, at least without either regret or shame. On both occasions he was equally sincere, and perhaps even when he was most wrong he was most in earnest. It was not, however, as a private, much less as an obscure individual, that he was required to re-visit his native land. He did so by command of the Queen's represen- tative, as a Commissioner from Canada. He did so, further- more, as a member of the Executive Council for the purjK>se of joining his colleagues in conference with the representatives of Her Majesty's Government. When last in Ireland he took the op|X)rtunity of publicly explaining to his countrymen the true position, actual and comparative, of the Irish race in America. The force and originality of the statements and opinions contained in liis eloquent and celebro \ Wexford speech, attracted unusual attention. Tlie press a .. public men of Great Britain and Ireland had much to say of the speaker and his speech ; and no wonder, for recent events have taught them, and us, that there was in what he said prophetic, as well as philosophic, truth. In his personal appearance, Mr. McGec is what our portrait represents him to be. The photographer aud the sunbeam seem to have understood one another admirably, when they turned Mr. McGee upside down in the camera; for he has come out of the trial with incomparable exactness. The shadows of the outward man have been caught with felicitous accuracy. The intellectual man, if reproduced at all, must be reproduced by resorting to a process analogous to that which has been observed by the artist with respect to the physical man. Light from without enables us to see what Mr McGee is naturally. Light from within must enable us to see what he is intellectually. The mirror work of his mind is reflected in his words, and they who would examine its brightness, must do so in the pages of his writings. The great gifts of genius which Divine Providence occasionally bestows, are, we believe, conferred as special trusts, for special uses. 26 HON. THOMAS D*ARCY McGEE. m ■' '■ ■:^1^ M The subject of our sketch may have been, perchance ho was, a chosen trustee of special gifts. He works as if, within the folds of the scheme which he has set himself to accomplish, there were many purposes of wisdom and charity. Directly, he desires by means of confederation to bring about the intimate union of several Provinces. Indirectly, he desires by a policy of conciliation, to bring about the fusion of various races, and thus to supplemont cne law which shall create a new nation, with a policy whion shall create a new nationality. Nor are such plans purposeless, or such hopes chimerical. The races which inhabit British America represent peoples whose countries arc made up of various tribes and different languages. The laws of moral like those of physical gravitation have not ceased to operate. The smaller bodies will be attracted, and eventually absorbed by the larger ones. What the United Kingdom is, the United Provinces will become. The question is one of time, and not of legislation. But the process of transition to be accomplished wisely, must be accomplished without violence and especially without wrong. The pui-suit of such a purpose is worthy of a Christian statesman, and a philosophic patriot. If Mr. McGeo, as one of many, shall succeed in giving shape and consistency to the vision of " a fraternal era," which he has foreshadowed, ^ -hich the late Sir E. P. Tache foresaw, and which the most experienced of our own statesmen arc striving to bring about, many good men .'til .»*» _,i -.ii — .J _-. will "nvy, rtuCi c»ii ^Ov>«.i uiun „ Ml win praise him. If he fail, though there should be no such word as failure, his great disappointment will at all events be solaced with "A peaoe above all other dignities, A still and quiet conscience." * In the possession of a " still and (juiet conscience " the gifted orator and the brave patriot has in this world won " dignities " and in the world to come, where " good deeds are had in remembrance," we doubt not he has found peace. It is hard to dwell on the ruthless 4 * Thi« sketcli was thiw far written anjl published in the life time of Mr. McGee. We have not thought fit to change wliat wa.s writlon, but now the past must be substituted for the present t«use, for alas ! the subject belongs to their lustoric!'- who have pu.S8od away. HOlf. THOMAS D'aRCY M*'\jEB. 27 ho was, a the folds of were many 7 means of Provinces. about the ^yhich sliall »'te a new cal. The es whose anguages. 'lot ceased eventually om is, tlie time, and omplished especially vorthy of . McGee, stency to ed, ^ -hich perienced 2ood men ) though ointment le gifted es " and •ranee," ruthless ". McGee. nmst be Iiistorie- charactcr'of the act whlch^has given to eternity one, with reverence be it said, whoso life was so valuable to time. It is idle, and per- chanoe wrong, to cliallenge His decrees without whom even a spar- row falls not ; and yet all intelligence is at fault, all reasoning vain as we view his majestic wreck, who was so great and so greatly feared; so great and so greatly loved — but alas! "the golden bowl is broken." " Ay ! broken by a fiendish hand, IinpcU'd by felon thoniiht ; Scok not, (ih ! man, to uniierstand AVhy stich a wreck was wrouf^ht. Why in the meridian of his ago, in the zenith of his usefulness ; scarcely beyond the morning of his fame, and only in the dawn of his honors, should his bright career have been brought to such a cruel end ; are questions as vain to ask, as impossible to answer. The blood-stained facts are related by different persons in nearly the same words, and in similar phrases telegraphed to different parts of the world. Tlius the tidings read. " OiTAWA, April 7th, 3.00 a.m. " Mr. McGec left the House of Commons before two o'clock, the moon making it nearly as light as day. He was accompanied by Mr. McFarlane, also a member of the House. They separated at the comer of tlio street for their respective lodgings. When thoy said " good night" Mr. McGec was not more than one hundred yards from his hotel. He was smoking a cigar and carried his walking stick under his left arm. His right hand was occupied in finding the latch key wherewith it was his practice to pass through the private door to his rooms. It is conjectured that as he stooped to place the key in the door, an assassin from some place of con- venient conceabtnent, shot him from behind, placing the muzzle of the pistol close to hia head. The l)all came out of his mouth des- troying his front teeth and burying itself in the framework of the door, and from the nature of the wound, causing instant death." The pestilent breath of the miscreant must momentarily at l-^ast liave mingled with his victim's, for they were in such close prox- imity as to cause the hair of the latter to be singed and the flesh scorched by the flash of the shot. Thus was " the golden bowl 28 HON. THOMAS D AROV McQER. i * * ;(■ i i' broken," and thus were scattered Uio garnered treasures of his soething brain; scattered, too, when he was actively coirrng thoughts of sterling ralue to the country of his adoption as weU aa the country of his birth. It is difficult for those who knew him well, to hold a steady pen or write with calm coherency of his great intellectual powers, and yet it is desirable not to overlook a personal fact, his triumphant, moral mastery of himself. We may speak now without either shame or shook, of the earnest character of his efforts to bring about an exact coiTes; ondcnce between the tastes that injured him, and the teach- ings that benefited others. It was no easy trial for one of his exuberant rairtli, his social predilections and his couvival habits, to lay aside the evil which had become associated with such experiences, and yet retain the experiences apart from the evil ; to preserve the re- lish for the friendship, and yet put from him the wine which ho had esteemed as the almost inseparable associate of such friendship : to put away from him what theologians would term " his besetting sin," and yet retain the grace and brightness of character from wlilch it sprang. Mr. McGee did so, and as wo are informed, without i"esorting to any stimulating tost or public pledge, but by bending his strong will to tlie vow which he had registered in the cloister of his soul, and which he had presented to the supreme source of strength. " I have made my resolve," said he to his attending physician, who, despairing of his life, recommended him to take some stimulants. " I have made my resolve, and not to save life itself will I break through it." He lived long enough to convince the most incredulous that he had won this great victory over him- self, and that from thenceforward there was little fear of his mental strength being impaired by moral 'At-akness. When he was so un- consciously drawing near the close of his life, it is something worthy of record that the follies and stains which had disfigured that life, one after another, were overcome and cast out, leaving liim at length " renewed, regenerate and disenthralled " by the threefold powers of virtue, temperance, and charity. To return to our narrative. Many of our readers are aware that the former portion of this sketch was written two years ago ■when Mr. McGee was in Europe. He had made his celebrated Wexford speech, and had attracted towards himself thereby no HON. TUOMAS D'aRCY McGEE. 29 res of his 1^ coirrng n as well dly pen or , and yet umphaut, shame or an exact le teach- xuberant ay aside CCS, and e the re- i ho had sndship : osettintr o :cr from >vithout iing his )ister of urce of tending to take avc life mvince cr him- mental 80 un- i¥orthy It life, length >owers aware "3 ago )rat'ed by no ': groall amount of attention on the part of the public men of Eng- land, and, lYO may add, no small amount of aversion on the part of the fiendish fraternity, whoso machinations were on that occasion 80 eloquently described and bo fearlessly exposed. Incidentally, and in his private capacity, ho was encouraged to represent his views on the policy which English statcamen should observe in the government of Ireland ; and it is probable that such repre- sentations may have given nse to the opinion which the Earl of Mayo lately expressed in the House of Commons, that Mr. McGeo was the foremost defender of Bntish institutions in the Queen's dominions. " To his countrymen, if we recollect ariglit, lie said on that occasion — there ought to be, no separation of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland. Each country would suifer from the loSvS of the other, and even liberty in Europe Avould be shipwrecked if those islands were divideil by a hostile sea. To Englishmen, ho said, try kindness and generosity in your legislation for Ireland. Treat Ir Maud as you have treated Scot- land — consider her feelings, and respect her prejudices — study her history, and concede her rights — tr}' equal justice to all — prac- tice the golden rule and " do as you would bo done by." Then will Irishmen in Ireland resemble Irishmen in Canada, when the Celt is not envious of the Saxon, and the Saxon is not supercilious to the Celt. Whether or not Mr. McGce'3 repre- sentations produced any eftect on the minds of those to whom they were addressed, wc have no means of knowing ; still, it is noteworthy that the policy in regard to Ireland which seems to find most favour at the present time very much resembles the policy, based on equal rights and equal respects for all origins, all races, and all creeds which he is understood to have- submitted, when the opportunity was afforded him of making a representation of his views, to influential statesmen at home. Though not a delegate Mr. McGce as a member of the Executive Council of Canada, was in a pasition to render his colleagues gre tt assistance when they were engaged in carrying the act of confed- eration through the Imperial Parliament. The object which that act brought about was an object of absorbing intei-cst to Mr. McGee, and without detracting from the wisdom or sagacity of any other statesman we may perhaps say that his writings did much towards 80 HON. TUOMAS d'aRCT HcaEB. making the project popular in tiie minds, while his speeches made it pleasant to tlio hearts of men. Neither has the question found since then a more eloquent, a more consistent or a more enthusias- tic advocate than the subject of this sketch ; for it had become not only tlic principle aim of his existence but the very passion of his life. With his mind thus occupied Mr. McGeo was appointed a Commis- sioner from Canada to tlio Paria Exposition, yet even there amidst the bewildering attractions of social and intellectual life, amidst the representatives of every tongue and tribe from " China to Peru," and encompassed with the surroundings " in number without number, — numberless," of ancient and modem art; yet oven there, with such drawbacks and distractions, his best thoughts turned lovingly to that new Dominion whose foundation his industry had helped to lay, and whose juperstructure his genius was assis- ting to build. His mind though attracted by culture nevertheless turned from the charms of Paris and the loveliness of Franco, from its pleasant homesteads ant' its profitable vineyards, from its intel- lectual and its heroic liistory to the seat of another sovereignty and the site of another em|)irc — an empire. " Whov) flnuk.t wcro mighty ocouns, Who* bade the NortUeni pole." And there, in the central city of civilization, the emporium of art and the abode of fashion, he gathered his thoughts, and addressed his remMrkable letter of the 1st May, 1867, to his constituents at Montreal, and througli thorn to the inhabitants of the Now Domi- nion, wherein he counselled them after what manner tliey might hope to win a place in the family of states, which few European n&tionij had attained, and which none had surpassed. It was, we have reason to know his intention to have supplemented that letter with another, but for reasons of a poUtical, as well as of a personal kind, ho deemed it advisable to postpone its publication. The arrangements consequent on the formation of the first Privy Council of the New Dominion, did not include a portfolio for Mr. McOee. To ihe regret of many persons and the surprise of all, he wf«s, at liis own generous and spontaneous desire, left out. The hiatory ot the transaction has not so far, as we are aware, been made public, but there can be no doubt whatever tliat Mr. KcGee HON. THOMAS D ARCY McOEB. 81 -^ould not allow his personal wishes or hU political claims to stand in the way of the harmonious action of the new experiment. His pride mi^t have' rebelled, or his poverty might have clamored, but honor and patriotism rebuked the one and silenced the other, lie might have said, and probably did say, " don''^ consider me or ray claims, look to the state and its welfare." i'hus it chanced that the minister who was moat generally known in the Maritime Provinces, and as well known in Ontario and Quebec, as any member of the administration, who had spoken more eloquently, and written more earnestly on the duties and advantages of union and confederation, waived all claims to be considered when that union was officially brought about, and the statesmen who wore first called upon to work it, were announced in the official Gazette. No doubt the waiver was a sacrifice of feeling at the shrine of duty, but it is pleasant to know that it was unattended with any sacrifice of friendship. We believe indeed that moved by tlie generosity of his character, Mr. McGoe withdrew his claim to office with such a steady purpose as to draw from Sir John A. Macdonald a remonstrance at the hurried cliaracter of the proceeding. By acting as he did, Mr. McGeo tliought to relieve Sir Jolm of certain embarrassments. Nor was the supposition ill- founded, for it was said tlmt lus timely generosity overcame several very disturbing difficulties. Thus was it that the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Militia continued to be fast friends of Mr. McGee and he of them to the last hour of his life. After the Privy Councillors were sworn in, new elections took place. It occasioned but small surprise to Mr. McGee that the felonious organizations which he had denounced when in England, and which he had sought to expose on his return to Canada, excited every influence they could command to exchange opposition and re- sistance on their parts for assault and exposure on his. Like the members of such associations he knew something of secret organiza- tions for violent purposes. He was not unacquainted with the mis- chievoiis character of the machinery by which such associations were supported and kept in moti(»i. He was not unfamiliar with the oaths, or ignorant of the constitutions of such orders, and being in some sort, acquainted with their pernicious structure and dangerous ten- dency, he was enabled to speak with emphasia of things as they were ■"* 82 HON. THOMAS d'ARCT MoOBK. and connsol with authority of tilings as thoy ought to be. But advice was received with contempt and reproof was mot with re- siatance. Tho innocent blood so freely shed at Ridgcway provoked neither compassion nor thou;;ht. The Satanic league across the southern frontier but too 3u< fessfully impregnated certain local- ities in Canada with the sulphur of their sin. Being tho largest city of the Dominion, Montreal wiih riupj)osod to contain the greatest number of Fenian sympathisers, while tho especial section which Mr. McGeo represented was regarded as tho chosen spot of the " Ix)cal Head Centre." While it was not i»os8iblo for Mr. McOeo to have exaggerated the evil wliich such an organization was cal- culated to bring about, it is possible that he took an extreme view of its local influence, and a mistaken one of tho individuals by whom it was sustained and defended. Thus when he somewhat rashly pub- lished what he knew, the disclosure fell far short of the public expec- tation and peradvcnture of his own beUcf. lie said either too much or too little, and hence his reputation for acutcness acquired no strength from what he then deemed it to be his duty to disclose. The election wliich follo\ycd, though it resulted in a majority in hLs favor, of two htmdred and eighty-four votes, shewed a scricus de- fection in a certain class of iiis Irish supporters, and gave strength to the belief that the leaven of mischief had not altogether been inopperutive . It wo h a melancholy return of ingratitude, a base recom- pense to one who boyopd all living Irishmen had accomplished most good for his country and his countrymen. But the wave of sedition still flowed from the United States. In a public address at Buffalo, within sight of the shores where many of our youth had without pnjvocation been foully slain. Senator Morrison, of Tennessee, is reported to hr ". said of those Irishmen, wliu would not enrol them- selves in the;.' i' jndish enterprise, " tho recreant traitors whc refuse to join this o; ganization will be handed down to posterity with tho names of Benedict Arnold, Judas Iscariot, and D'Arcy McGee." If such words might be spoken in the open, what might not have been determined upon in the secret councils of those who could coolly make covenants for blood ? Underlying and conj^urrent with such allusions were ominous threats agahist his life, which, in various forms, but pointing to one issue, besot Mr. McGee almost everywhere. He was dogged and watched. His house, at the '"m^. HON. THOMAS d'aRCT M.nEE. 33 instance of his friends, was put under the surveillance of the police. He was neither fool-hardy nor iasonsible of the risk he ran, or of the implacable character of the foes by whom he was surrounded. He had, however, long siace settled his account with his conscience and detxjrmined irrespective of consequences to do his duty to his Sovereign, to his country and to himself. Nevertheless, as the Honorable Mr. Chauveau beautifully observed, even while he was thus pursuing the paths of charity, loyalty and honor, the shadowed hand of Uie assaiisin was upon him, pursuing him with that kind of stcaltliy cra!t with which the brute in his instinct hungers for the man. As his strength permitted Mr. McGee availed himself of several (spportunities to inculcate his lessons of mutual consi- deration and mutual good -^vill. Under various pretexts the same duties were enforced. We read them, and feel the friendly touch of his generous helping hand in his lecture on the " Mental outfit of the New Dominion." In his speeches at Ottawa on the last anniversary of his patron Saint ; in his sketch of the history of English literature, in his speeches in Parliament, and especially in that last s{>eech made by him just before the debate closed which immediately preceded the hush and silence of his silver tongue. Incidentally the question of the repeal of the Union between Canada and Nova Scotia, became a subject of conver- sation in the House of Commons, when Mr. McGee, true to his own convictions, and his mission of good will and peace, informed those who favored such a project that time would smooth diflSculties and heal discontent, tliat justice would overcome prejudice, and that the magic of kindness would at length triumph and make con- verts of all. It is to be regretted that no full report of those laj3t words was made. Had we possessed fore-knowledge, how keen would have been tlie hearing ear, how active the untiring pen ! We shall ti-auscribe a fragment, the closing passage of that speech, as it is reported in the Ottmva Times : Ho had great relibiioe on the ineliowiag tSixU of time to uid the suftening aud healing influence of the pervading principles of impartial justice, which would happily permeate the whole land, and eventually convert the Honorable member for Lunenburg into the lieartieet supporter of Union within these walb, willing nnd anxiomi tu perpetuate the system which would be found to work soadvan* tageously for his Pruviitce, adopting the position of the Honorable member for Guysborougfa.oi: that of the true and patriotic stai'wmau. It had been said that C 84 HON. THOBCAS d'ARCT McGEE, the interests of Caoiuia were diametricaUy opposed to tboM of Nova Sootia, but he asked which of the partiea to the Unionlpartnewhip had embarked most in it, or had most to fear from its failaie. He aaserted that Nova Scotia prejndice would be overcome ere long by the even and high-minded justice with which the Confederation would be administered— a Confederation to whose whole history no stigma cculd be attached, and whose single eirn (h>m the beginning had been to consolidate the extent of British America, with the utmost r^ard to the powers and privileges of each Province. He did not speak there as a representative of any race, or any Province, but us emphatically a Canadian, ready and bound to recognize the claims of any of his Canadian fellow subjects from east to west as those of his nearest neighbor who had pro'-osed liim at the hustings. (Applause.) And with such sentiments on his lips, his public life in Canada was brought to a consistent end. A few minutes later, and the assassin's bullet made apace enor-^h for his spirit to escape the thrall of the flesh ; and alas ! by the same act, to make a blank in our Legislature by the destruction its most glorious portion in the '•^ Mental outfit of the New Dominion." Horror and indignation walked through our thoroughfares and grief found congenial articulation m the language of passion. " The fir tree howl'd, for the cedar had fallen." The press groaned with sorrow while on its teeming pages, passages bright with tears, bore eloquent testimony to the merits of the dead. The Govern- ment of the Dominion, the Legislatures of the Provinces, and the Corporations of Cities, seemed to vie with one another in the amount of the rewards which should be paid for the discovery of the murderer. In ihe meanwhile, tJie pavement where that pool of human blood lay was sacredly enclosed, no foot was allowed to cross it It was left, some said, to cry to heaven for vengeance ; and others said that like the blood of a sacrifice, it was as an offering of peace to tlie wicked passions of men. We shall hasert what is without doubt a very imperfect report, extracted from a local newspaper, of what followed kter io the day. HOUSE OP COMMONS. Ottawa, April 7th, 1868. The SPEAKER took the chair at ten minutes past three. Th3 galleries were densely crowded. Sir JOHN A. MACDONALD rose amidst the breathless silence of the House and manifesting feelings of the most profound emotion, which for tome time al- most stopped his utter-noe, said:— Mr. Speaker, it is with pain amounting to anguish that I rise to address you. He who tart nighty oa; this momius, was with HON. THOMAS D'aBOT MoQSE. 35 va Sootim rkedmost prejadice which the 1© history ad been to he powers mtative of bound to to west tM \pplaufle.) Canada and the ape the blank in i in the ignation ongenial howl'd, sorrow ■s, bore Govem- !es, and ria the iscovery >re that allowed jeance ; as an report, le day. 868. B Houce time al- iting to ruwith lu and of us, whoee Toioe is still ringing in our vm, who charmed us with his marvellous eloquent^ elevated us by his hurge stateamanship, and instructed uk by his wisdom and his patriotism, is no more— is foully murdered. If ever a soldier who feu on the field of battle in the firont of the fight, deserved w^ of his country, Thomas D'Arcy McGee deserved we'i of Canada and it« people. The blow which has just &Ilen is too recent, the shook is too great, for us yet tr realize its awfal atrocity, or the extent of thia most iiToparable loss. I feel. Sir, that our sorrow, our genuine aud unaflected sorrow, prevents us firom giving adequate expression to our feelings just now, but by and by, and at length, this House will have a mel- ancholy pleasure in consideriug the character and position of my late friend and colleague. To all, the loss is great, to me I may say inexpressibly so ; as the loss is not only of a warm political friend, who has aicted with me for some years, but of one TvitU whom I enjoyed the iui^eroommuoication of his rich and varied miud ; the blow has been overwhelming. I feel altogether incapable of addreeaing myself to the subject just now. Our departed friend was a man of the kindest and most generous impulse, a man whose hand was opeu to every one, whose heart was msuie for friendehip, and whose enmities were written in water ; a man who had no gall, no guile ; " in wit a man, in simpUcity a child." He might have lived a long and res- pe>?ted life had he ohoben the ea^jy path of })opularity rather Iban the stem one of duty. 3e has lived a short life, respected and beloved, and died a heroic death; a martyr to the cause of his country. How easy it would have been for him. ijtd he chosen, to have sailed along the fhll tide of popularity with thousands and hundreds of tbo'usands, without the loss of a single plaudit, but he has been slain, and I fear slain because he preferred the path of duty. 1 could not help being struck with his language last night, which I will quote from the newspaper report " He hoped " that the mere temporary or local popularity would not in that 'nuse, be made the "test of qualification for public service; that rested simply on popularity, and " ho who would risk the right, in hunting for popularity, would soon find that which " he hunted for slip away. Base indeed would he be who could not risk popularity " in a good cause ; that of his country." He has gone from ua, and it vrill be long . ore we find such a happy mixture of eloquence, wisdom and impulse. (Hear, hear.) His was no artificial or meretricious eloquence, every Svord of his was as he believed, rmd every beUef of his was in the direction of what^ras good and true: Well may I say now, on behalf of the Government and ^^'^c country, that, if he has fallen, he has fallen in our cause, leaving behind him agrateful rc- coUectkip which wiD ever live in the hearts and minds of his countmnen. We must remember too that the blow which has fallen so 6everel>xtn tMrHouse and the country will &11 more severely on his widowed partner and his bereaved chil- dren. He wag too good, too generous to be rich. He hast iefb us, the govern- ment, the people, ind %> representatives of the people, a sacred legacy, and we would be wanting in o4|r duty to this country and to the feehng which will agitate the country from one end to the other, if we do not accept that legacy as it sacred trust, and4ook upon hii widow and children as a widow and children belonging to the Sate. (Hear, hear.) I now move that the House mourn, and that it stand adjourned till Tuesday next^ at haiTpast seven. Mr. MoKENZIE said, in rising to seoond this motion, I find it almost impossible to proceed, but last night we were all charmed by the eloquence of our -departed friend, who is now numbered with our honoured dead, and none of us dreamed when we separated last, that we ihonld so very soon be <»Ued in this way to record our affection for him who had been thus suddenly out off. It was my own lot for many years to work in political harmony with him, and it was my lot sometimes to oppose hhn, bnt throoi^ all the vieissitudea of poUiioal war&re we evl^ foun4 him pouess tlut gencrotu dispoaition oharacterurtio of the man and his country ; ■TW" 36 HON. THOMAS D AROT McOEE. ,«' and it will be ioug at the Hon. Knight at tbeih«ad of the GoTernment has *id before we shall sec hU like again anunigst lu. I think there can be no donbt upon the mind of any one who has watohed the eT6nts of last ymr in our country, ia oon- aeotion with oTonts in his own distant native fatnd, that he has fallen a viotim to the noble and patriotic course which be has punmed in this country ; having been amawinated by ^ne of thos*: who are alike the enemies of our country and of mankind. (Hear, hear.) I cordially syinpathiae with all that has been uttered by the honourable gentleman at the head of the Government, in making tins motion nnd I have no fear that the generosity of Caobdians will fitil when it comes to be considered what we owe to his memory, and wha; we owe to his family. I would g^bdly, if I could, speak for fe w minutes regnrding the position he udd amongst ns* but I cannot do more to-day than simply record my hill appreciation of his pnolic oharacior as an orator, a statesman and a patriot, and express the fervent hope that his fiunily thus suddenly bereaved of him who wu at once their support and their shield, will not. so far as comforts of this life can be afforded, suffer by his death, and that as the consolation that can be given by those who have been long hiet companions in pubUo Ufe^ by that sentiment of universal sorrow which prevaite in every heart, will be brought to the heart* of those more immediately connected with him, his wife and children. This i.s the first instance we have had in our country of any of dur great public men being stricken down by the hand of the assassin, and grief for our loss, and grief for his family are mingled in my mind with a profound feeling of shame and regret that such a thing rule any pos- sibility, happen in our midst, and I can only hope that the efi? ' ! ...jule by Government will lead to the discovery that to an alien hand is due t^e sorrow that now clouds not only this house but the whole community. (Hear, hear.) Mr. CA&TIEB— Mr. Speaker, I will stato at the outeet that my heart is filled with feelings of deepest sorrow. I had the pleasure and delight in common with all the members of this house, to listen last night to the charming eloquence of the representative of the city of Montreal, and no one expected at that moment, that any one of us should be here speaking to-day on such a lamentable evil as that which befell us immediately after the adjournment of the house. I feel deep regret at this moment that I am not gifted with that power of speech, that power of description, that power of eloquence, which distinguished our departed friend. I could mifte use of «uch power to bring back before you, sir, and before tlm house, in proper langniage the great loss we have suffered, the loss the coun- try has siur<)red, and the loss mankind has suffered, in the death of Thomas lyArcy McGee-^f (Hear, hear.) Our colleague, Mr. MoGee, was not ordinary man ; he was, I may say, one of thoee great, gifted minds, who. pleases Providence sometimes to set before the world, in order m show to w • a height the intellect of man can be exalted by the Almighty. Mr. Mv\* adopted this land of Canada, as his country, but althougk this was the land of his adoption he never oeaaed to love his mother country, ms dear old Ireland. In this adopted land of his he did all in his power in ordtir that his countrymen should be rendered as happy as possiUe, whether their lot was oast in this country, in Ireland, or in any part of the globe where an Irishman had set hifi foot. Mr. MoG^ though very young had a great deal of experienoe. He was oounected with political events in Irehtnd in 1848 and there is not the leMt doubt that those painful times caused him to give the deepest consideration to those political evils, though he was, as described by my honourable friend the le^ "r of Qovsmment, a man of impale of genius, and of wisdom, it is very seldom w^ ..nflet a.BMHi ou earth having those fine gifts who waa so judicious as our late oo-! v i3. H« i J l ^od uoatod as it were for the booefit of his country. He is no looger among tti^ attd I suppoM all of my listeners at' this momMit will say with m» that it has I HON. THOHAS D'AJICY MoGBE. 37 onbt upon I7>i3 oon- I Tiotunto ivingbaen try and of ittoudby lis motion amesto be I would mongstu8> hia paolic hope that t and their hiA death, a long hid prevwls in connected lad inoiu* and of the I my mind any pos- ' ...^eby ;ne sorrow lear.) irt is filled imon with oquanoe of t moment, hh evil w! I feel deep that power tod friend, before this the oonn- of Thomas 3 not !, who^. w to w . [r. ii^j., ^dof his eland. In tuntrymen «t in this ad set his He was eMt doubt I to those ol& T of n w ^neet oaJv 03- Ser among bat it tun not been giTen to any one of us to have ever listened to so eloquent a public man Every one of us shires the convictior that such happiness, such delight will never be given hereafter to any one of us during our life time. He has left us. He has left behind him expressions of his feeling of patriotism and an immense amount o^ evidence, that no Irishman, on cartli, loved so much as he did dear Ireland Mjr. Speaker, I cannot but allude at this moment to that foreign organization in the land inhabited by our neighboun>. 1 have not the least doubt that Mr. MoQee, by warning the Irishmen of Canada not to join in that detestable organ-' ization, rendered the greatest service that an Irishman csn render to his country. (Hear, hear.) He acquired for the Irish inhabitants of Canada the inestimable reputation of loyalty and of freodom from any participation in the hateful, detest- £ble feelings and doings of the members of that abominable institution, the Fenian organization. (Hear, hear.) Now that he is no longer amongst us, that he has pi..i8ed flrom life to death, it is very likely that his death was the work of an assassin in that organization. It is not for ns at this moment to excite feelings of revenge against the perpetrators of such an abominable act, but every one of us knows this, that if Thomas D'Arcy McGee had not taken the patriotic sta-nd which he took before and during the Fenian invasion of tiiis country, he would not be lying a corpse this morning. At all events, sir, every IVishman inhabiting t'ue different Provinces of Canada, when they consider the services Thomas D'Arcy McGoe rendered to them in order to induce them not to partake in that Fenian movement in the Uniied States, wil' lament his dearth as much as any one of ns. Now, Mr. Speaker, I will not allude to his 7 rivute qualities. I have known him; and we know that of this world's gc }' I think I may apeak on behalf of the whole of the Irishmen of this Do- nuL " ,vm sure I may on behalf of those of my own province, iu expressing our utter »_ estfltion of this crime. It is an outrage that will probably have a great effect on the futr^re of this country. None of us can realize its eiists yet, the lihock is too recent, none of us can, on this occasion, give vent to the feeling which oTcrmasterB ua. Perhaps after all this is the highest tribate which we can pay t<> the man who has gone from amongst us. This must be the most telling mode of showing to our countrymen wlut our feelings are, and that we all agree in stigma- tizing a crime of this nature. (Hear, hear.) I go even further than thoae who have preceded me, and express the hope that the ateassin shall be speedily brought to justice. Tiot that we ishall indulge in feelings of vengeance, but that all the means at the command of the Government shall be put forth to point out this assassin wherever he may be concealed; that the death of Sir. McGee may be re- venged, and that the supremacy of the law may be maintained. (Hear, hear.) 1 f(«l myself, Mr. Speakar, quite incapable of adequately exprtjssing my feelings on this occasion, but I could not allow th"i opportunity to pass without saying those fbw words, (Applause.) Mr. CHAU VEAU mid 1 niso must pay my tribute of homage to him who hni* just fallen the victim of a crime of which we have truly s&id that it is without precedent in the history of our country. I recall the «>loquent speech which he made even bkst nighl, iu which one would s^rch in vuu for a single word, which eonld wound or irritate in the least degree, the fecUngs of those to whom he particu- larly addressed hinuell (Hear, hear.) 'Ihose who had heard him can ar testi- mony that the advices and counsels were not given with a spirit of provocatioii. but on the contrary, they were given in a spirit of conciliation and conoon'. Thoee who heard him can truly judge thni this spirit animated him last night, in liis remarks on the subject of Nova Scotia. They can remember that he tei - minated his 8n«>cch in saying that he fervently hoped that the debate would not have any unfovooralde results for the country, and would not produce any evils to thii province. A like crime has happily no precedent in the history of our oountr>', and were it possible for ua to console ourselves for the loss which we have sustained in the deal^of a triendi of an eminent man— t>f the prince of orators; we would find that oonsohdaon in the ^ory and relation of his death . That death is the baptism in blood of Confederation^ and the sacrifice of him who did so mnoh to bring aboat thst Con- federation, is » fact which ought to nise as in onr own estinwtioo, and make ui HON. THOMAS D'ABCY McOEE. 89 irs h»ve spoken aUtessuuiliko elughest ioto id literature ot guished; their ountry. (Ap- Hotue if I did tation Mrhich I > of a man, in nitted. (Hear, been assumed, he work of au is Dominion- hat any Irisb- t be guilty of ertheless, that drill reflect on en of this Do- ■xpressing our y have a great ucsts yet, the feeling whicli we can pay to iUing mode o; ree in stigm.i- a. those who jedily brought it that all the oint out this « may be rc- ear, hear.) 1 ly feelings on ' saying thow* him who huH it IB without ech which he word, whicli a heparticu- ku ar testi- proTocatior.. jad concori. m last night, : that ho tei - mid not have eTils to thts )ur oountrj', » sustained in iold find that tifm in blood at that Cod - rod mike ui judge of the height of our mission. If Mr. MoGee htMl not fallen on the battle- field, his death is none the less glorious, "because as the consmumation of a grand idea, of a grand principle, that of the Union of the colonies. As the heroes on the field of battle, so the soldiers of grand causes are ever in danger, and great things are never done except at the peril of the hves of those who accomplish them, and nevertheless, his patriotism has made him disdain that danger, and the fear of that danger never caused him to recoil in the struggle which he had undertaken against those whoso hand struck him last night. (Hear, hear.) framings to him had not been wanting, either publicly— through the press, or in the sinister form of threatening letters ; but his great soul disdained these threats, and nothing, de- lained him from the great task which he had undertaken. Truly, if that death. i.s a glorious one for the country, it is a sensible and terrible loss for his family. Even yesterday he presented a petition in favour of the representatives and the family of a hero, that of Colonel De Salaberry. He told me what he proposed to submit and to ask the House, to come to the aid of the descen- dants or De Salaberry, and a few hours later he himself fell as a hero and left a family without support, without hope, and without fortime. The name of D'Arcy McGce will live in the History of Canada, and his death will mark the death of Feuianism, for never has cause gained by assassination. No ! from Juliifj Carsar to the Eienzi, down to Mr. Lincoln, never lias a cause succeeded by assasiehind hiui. With regard to the heinousnens of the monstrous crime that lias been committal, I feel unable to express myself, but this I must say that not only the honour of this Legislature, but the honour of this Dominion is involved 'n the dnty of tracing out and punishing the monster who has been guilty of thi^ foul deed. [Hear, hear. ) Mr. STUART CAMPBELL .«aid : I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without a few observations. It affords me painful gratification to find that, although on some occasions,! may differ from other represeutativesoftheprovincesfromwhiclilcomc. On tliis occasion ,we are one in feelini?, in heart, and sjTupathy the same, and, Sir, 1 feel assured that when the fatal intelligence which has bowed us almost to the dust reaches the province of wlu<;h I am a representative, that there will be in that pro- vince weeping and mourning, and lamentation. Sir, the Honourable Gentlemar whose death we are mounii ng, was well k nown in that province. He liavl there secured many warm and sincerely attached friends, not only of c ue class, but of all cla.sses, and at this momeut when the painful intolligeace has reached that country, I feel convinced that from highest to lowest tliey will accord with us in the expression of thesympathy and feeling that has been nade to-day. I have had no very long person- al atiquaintance with the illustrious dead ; but I have been careful 'to observe his patriotic endeavours to .serve the country in which his lot was cast. But if there wa.** nothing else which he nas lel't us as ii iegase who are left^ I will not say to the charity, but to the justice of this House. I shall not say anything more. Those who are gifted with eloquence have felt unable to express themselves on this occasion. I can only cordially agree with the motion to adjourn this House. The house adjourned at five minutes pait four until Tuesday nest. Mr. McGee's remains were taken to Montreal, to be int^jrred, with great pomp, at the cost of the citj he represented so wisely and 80 well. What would have been his forty-tliird birthday, viz., the 13th April, 1868, will be the day of his burial. Kyrie ELEISON. May he receive the mercy for which he so often prayed ! But whatever on one point dly heart, and ft U9 not hix us crime that t say that not n is involved Ruilty of thih jpasswithoiii ou^h ou some which 1 come, ne, and. Sir, I st to the dust e in that pro- le Gentleman there scoured of all classes, ountry, I feel expression of ' long person- } observe his But if there iber him, the s kindness of • him to our Qtiments Iujsi arved in the lople of vhis essed to the lat people, -j I the future am glad to I'ho are left^ fiall not say b unable to the motion interred, 80 wisely birthday, . Kyrie I prayed ! I "i. k .■•'^- -{../'■'I N'';p /^k^!:^. ■-/-^- (, ;■■ >.4ri:: ... ^^^ i-^l " in-/ r 4 ■ ^ ., •/■]■': If. . ' ■•■ /- '., V'-' , ■'- viK* 4\ n ■ ,v - J 672 xa CU 13 n ' M