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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la methods. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 / -<^.2nllot of tli(» n.sHiissin strurit down in all i\m i)rid(i and vi),'our of \\\» lifo tim man wlioso nain(< wo all rovt^ro. iJnt .sulliciont tinio liaw paHSiwl, llio /(»I»liyrH of tho yoars havo di8iK(llod th(» snioko which may hav(^ ohncnrod tho jiiladiatorH in tho liKl't, (^non^.'l» to warrant us in trusting to tho acinirary of our judj^uKUit in forming an ostimaU» of his character Time, aft4ir all, is tho tnu^ tost of truth, and a fatnci which j^athors hoauty and stronnth as th(^ yiiaiM roll by, is suro to havo hoon fiiundod upon a inoro solid hiuiis of merit, than a nioro prominc^nt and ohtrusivo renown which does not outhwt thi» ephomoral laudations of contemporary panegyrics. I would entreat you then to 'war with mo while I pass in brief review the more striking events in the (Career of this distinguished Canadian, I do not (jualify tho term, from whoso life I uuvke hold to allirm we can all derive i>rolit and instruction. Thomas IVArcy MclJeo was horn on the 13th of April, 1825, at Carling- ford, County Louth. His father, Mr. James Ah^Cleo, was then in tho (Coastguard Service, and his mother was a Miss Dorcas Catherine Morgan, tho daughter of a Dublin bookseller whose connection with the troubles of '98 wrought his linancial ruin. The scenery of tho locality amidst which the boy passed tho fleeting hours of youth is described as being of tho loveliest and most romantic character, and who can doubt that his receptive nature drank in from tho rocks and hills, and vales and plains, many of those impressions which afterward bubbled forth in true iHjetic utterance ? Devoted to the memory of both his parents, it is of his mother he loved more to sjxjak. A woman, she was, of high education ; endowed, as ho himself often observotl, with a fertile imagination and a cultivated mind. A lover of poetry, and esjioci- ally fond of the ballads of old Scotland, her greeting to her little son — her favourite child — was always, we are told, couched in tho homely words of the Scottish balladist, McNeill— " O whar have ye been a' the day, My boy Tamniie ? " His mother was also devoted to music, and was wont to sing to the curly-headed urchin the songs of the ancient race to which she belonged, thus implanting in his youthful breast that passionate devotion to his nationality which never, to the last, ceased to be one of the ruling pas- sions of his life. Imbibing from her, too, that religious fervour which unostentatiously but undoubtedly distinguished him, one cannot wonder that a son was deeply, devoutly attached to the memory of » mother to whom he owed so much of tho equipmeni for the battle of life. But oarly, pcirhaps too soon, a shadow camo iii)on tho happy homo, and tho lovhij? nnisic! wan turovor Imsluvl, tlitm^'h i\w sonjjs ami tho proiiopla ondnrod. Mel loo novor coasotl to spoak of his niothor in torins of th»» puroHt tiUal alRx'tion. In 1S41, at(M^htcHMi yuarsof a^o, thu lad, iuHcrihin^ a puoui to his mother, sin^s : "Tho sun1)oani falls lirij^ht on tho oniorald tonih, And tho tiow'rots spring j^ay from th(^ cold 1h«1 of death, Which onclf)8tvs within it, oh ! earth's saddost d(K)m, l*orfo(;tions too puro for tho tenants of earth." Of MoGoo's s(!hooU)oy days we have little or no record heyond tho fact that ho atttind(Ml th(» day scliool at Wexford, whither his family removed. We can entertain no douht, however, that tho hoy must have ht>en a dilij^ent scholar, not only of general literature, hut ti8{)ocially of tho legen- dary and folk lore of Ireland. From whatever cause, at the ago of seventeen, McGeo decidetl to cross the ocean and make his home in America, and in the year 1842 he took ship for Boston. With what hitter feelings of regret he left the l)eloved home of liis childhood, his juvenile jKioms, instinct with the anguish of boyish grief, attest. But no vain regrets were iwrmittod to thwart his purpose, and he arrived safely on the western shortw ; and, after a short visit to an aunt in Rhotlo Island, reached Boston in Juno, 1842. Tho immediately succeeding 4th of July was too nmch for tho imaginative boy to resist, and he fell a victim to tho oration fever, delivering himself, almost within a month of his arrival, f an oration which did him this much good, that a day or two afte»' he was oll'ered, and accepted, a situation on the Boston Pilot, becoming two years later the ediUjr-in- chief- The times, fraught with the " Native American " excittiment, and the intensity of the Re]X)al agitation, which was at its height both in America and in Ireland, furnished just such an opportunity as McGee's genius required for its display, and, with all the energy begotten of earnest conviction and active sympathetic i)atriotism, he threw himself heart and soul into his congenial work. In the columns of his own journal, on the platform at Rei)oal meetings, by the lectures which he delivered throughout New England, he exerted an influence which was widely felt, and acquired a name for himself, not only in this country, but in the old land itself, where kindred spirits watched with admiration and surprise the workings of their exiled fellow countryman. Proud, indeed, must the young Wexford lad have l)oon when, across the ocean, whose billows ho himself had crossed heavy laden and heart sore but three years previously, there came a message from tho proprietor of the Dublin I'Veeman's Journal, then one of Ireland's leading paj^ers, inviting the youthful scribe to assume its editorial chair. Can aught bo more pleasing to an exile than the assurance that his labours abroad find favour in the eyes of those at home? Can any praise be more appre- ciated than that which is wafted to the wanderer from the honoured ones ho has loft behind ? Tho uladnoHS with which ho accoptod tho flatteriri);; )»r()iM)8al iniiHt havo hiMMi h(M>;htuiiO(l by tho knowlodt^o tiiat hiH loUu-tion was iar^oly duo to tho iKM>i(»iml npproluitioii of tho ^roat O'CoiinoU. And 80 in 1845 wo find McCJtHi ajjain in tho Grwuj IhIo, proparinl t<> battlo with Ids voioo and Iuh jMtn for tlio cauHO wliicli was no doar to him ; rl^ady to dovoto his talontti ami hiH lifo to tlio Horvico of his i)olovod Iroland. It in unnocosnary for mo to doHcrilx* to you tlie (umdition of atfairy in Iroland at tliiH iH>ri(»d, for ovory hinlnnan in familiar with tlio facts. All was oxcitomont and turmoil. O'C'onnull, till thon tho acknuwlo;or spirits of tho party no lon^'or acnoptod with implicit oImmU- onco tho odicts which ho promuljiat*«l, hut chaf»vl liko rostivo stoods undor tho rostraints which ho soujiht to imiKjso upon thoir mothods. McCieo, impationt at what ho con.sidorod tho too Cousorvativo ix)licy of tho fhrmdn^n Journal, joinod CharUwi (iavan Diitfy, Mitcholl, iMvis and Koilly, and with thom mado tlio yation tho mouthpioco of tho party, which fii)ally hroko K'oso from tlx^ Ii(»|HnUors and (Uu-idod upon more procipitatt) moaauros. Tho Youn^' Ir(^lalld party, which, liko hot and imixituous ro(!ruitH, diwhin^' ahoad of tho main lino of an army aro eaj^or — alas! too oa^or — for tiio suddon on(!olnlt<^r, was comix)sod, as you know, of a brilliant >j;alaxy of younjr IrLshmon. Somo of thoso illustrious youths in aftor lifo roso to positions of ominonco ; othors novor discovorod HiH jMjrtals of tho Tomplo of Famo. In tho words of ono of thom : " Somo on tho shores of distant lands Thoir weary hearts havo laid, And by the stranger's heedless hands Their lonoly graves were mado. Tho dust of some is Irish earth, Among thoir own thoy rest ; And tho same land that gave them birth Has caught them to her breast" And though historians, looking on tho events of those days with tho clearer light which is now shed upon them, aro disposed to (condemn their imprudence and rashness, none can deny the unsellishness of thoir motives, or tho power and talont which thoy displayed in tho conduct of their agitation. The Nation, as I have said, was tho organ of the party, and its poetry and proso, to both of which McGee largely contributed, fired the minds of the people in a manner truly wonderful. But the end was to come, and y>.>uth was to regret and mourn that it had not listened to the voice of age and the sage advice of the experi- enced. Need I tell you of tho dangers they ran ; of their mad exploit and its disastrous finale; how McGee was arrested and released; and then, when in Scotland on a vain errand to arouse the Scottish to assist the scheme, learnetl of the failure of the rising, and was forced to flee for 9 l»is lilKa'*t in it. Time will not pt^nnit uw to jro furtln^r into di^tnils. Enon^di to nay that auain in 1S4.S .Mi'(i(H^ tnrnc^d his fac^ to th« wt'stimi sliorrs, i\u\ ^sruif of Ids d(^|>arturo this tinier U^in^' h«^i^'ht<'n^ul hy th<( sanhlication callc^d the Xino York yh'( iee, but on the authority of his i.'ifted biojrraplu^r, Mrs. tSadlier, it nuiy Ix* stat(«l that durinj; tlu* tirst two years of its existence, McGet^'s utterances were char- acterized by the same revolutionary tone which had [K^rvaded all his previous jiolitical writinjis and ajjeeches. ''There came, however, a time," to (pioU^ the words of Mrs. Sadlier, "when the jrreat, strong ndnd bejran to soar alxjve the clouds (tf passion and prejudice into the re^dons of eternal truth. The cant of faction, the fiery denunciations, which, after all, amounted to nothin<_', he bc^aJJ to see in their true colours." Thenceforward Mr. McGee seemed larjrely, and in later times com- pletely, to have ceased from the itolicy of violent a^ritation, and to have tried less to achieve by force th(» accomplishment of a political u{)heaval in the old land, than to have essayed to better the condition of his jK'opIe in America — to make them satislied with tlieir lot and content to enter into j)tuiceful comitotition with fellow Americans in all the arts of industry and pro!_'res3. The Celt was once removed for a short time to Buffalo, but ended its career, so far as ]Mr. McGee. was concerned, finally In New York in bV)?, Let me say that during' all this time, Mr. Mc(iie<* had never ceased to lecture, not only in the Stat 3S but in Canada, on literary and historical subjects, and had added laurels to the wreath which his efforts in the same field had previously won for him. More than that — by or)_'aniiiin)^ associations of his countrymen for praiseworthy objects he had larfrelj- aided in imbuing them with lofty aims and aspirations, and in making 10 them realize that here in America those aims and aspirations needed nothing but appUcatiou to ensure iheir fulfilment. n. I now come to the period when Mr. McGee w?s invited by that imjxtrtant section of the Canadian population which wa-j of Irish extrac- tion to make Canada his home. They doubtless felt at the time the need of a master mind such as his, and to their call he responded with acqui- escence, removing his family to Montreal in 1857. Tt could hardly be expected that one whoso mind had been so wholly absorl)ed by the exciting scenes which immediately surounded him, should have had opportunity, much less leisure, to acquaint himself with the circumstanc&s amidst which he found himself on arrival. In matters political, I conceive that such a thing as intuition i.s a myth, and the most fK^rceptivo intellect can trust only to exj^erience in dealing with questions of history and popular habits. But oxjjerience can only come with time, and lessons must be learned and experiments made, though the path be thorny and the foosteps at first faltering and uncertain. One thing, however, smooths the road and lightens the l)urden — the high purpose and noble rasolve. And so it was in McGee's case. To V. hat could ho trust for a livelihood, to all intents a stranger, with a family depending ui)on him, but to liis pen, and shortly a pa^jer, The New Era, api^ears at Montreal. The name was significant. It meant tha,t McGee had returned to live under the flag beneath which he had been born; that ho recognised that, whatever the wrongs of his i)eople in Ireland, in Canada they had nothing to complain of; that here they had free institutions, just land laws, the practice of their religion, and that, in view of all this, he was willing — not to think no more of those whose lot was different — but as a Canadian first and above all, to strive for the good of his adopted country, and the welfare of the people among whom ho dwelt,— living honestly, loyally, faithfully. Let me quote his own words : In a si)eech in Montreal, in 1861, he says — "I know, and you know, that T can never for a moment cease to regard with an aflection that amounts almost to idolatry, the land where I sjient my best, my first years ; where I ol)tained the partner of my life, and where my first-born saw the light. I cannot but regard that land even with increased love, because she has not Ixien prosi^rons. Yet I hold we have no right to intrude our Irish patriotism on this soil; for our first duty is to the land where we live and have fixed our homes, and where, while we live, we must find the true sphere of our duties. While always ready, therefore, to say the right word, and do the right act for the land of my forefathers, I am bound above all to the land where I reside." And in another place — "All we neeti, mixed up and divided as we naturally are, is, in my humble opinion, the cultivation of a tolerant 11 spirit on all the delioato controversies of race and relijrion — the mainten- ance of an uprijxht public opinion in our politics and commerce — the cordial encouragement of every talent ami every charity which reveals itself among us — the expansion of those narrow viewe and small ambi- tions which are apt to attend upon provincialism." The new era of his life opened auspiciously, and in 185S he was returned as one of the three repn«entativas for Montreal in Parliament. It ie often said, with what truth I know not, that the inevitable exclama- tion of an Irish immigrant on diseudmrking in America is, that he is " agin the Government ;" and it is a fact that for the first four years of his parliamentary life, McGee vigorously and ably opiwsed the adminis- tration. The Government of that day had a double leadershij); two groat men were united to guide the ship of state, the one, that patriotic Frenchmau, the greatest of his race, whose memory is now enshrined in tlie hearts and atlections of the Canadian iKV)ple, whose name is synonymous with much that is Ixwt in Canadian state-smanshij), and whose grave is adjacent to that of his then opponeut — I refer to the late Sir (xeorge Cartier ; the other, the distinguished man who, full of years and honours, still devotedly continues to hold the helm, aud who, I am sure, we all trust may long be spared to attbrd us the help aud couus(>l he is so ready and able to give — the Kight HonouraV)le Sir John A. Macdonald. The Cartier-Macdonald Government McGee then opiJellHut parts come to be lookeiruity, which was consistent with rich classical and poetical allusion, apt illustration, and philosophic periods, distinguish their style. To mere verbosity, or inane rhapsody which so many nowa- days mistake for fine speaking', he never condescended. And he had the faculty of dealing' with facts and ii«.'ure.s in an interestinj; happy manner, which laitl the foundation of his reputation as an able debater, and a skilled and practised orator. The ministry at length fell on the 20tli of ^lay, 1S62, and in the Sand- field-Macdonald-Sicotte Government which succeeded, Mr.^McGee accepted tVie Presidency of the Council, fillin.'r also for a short time, the oflice of Secretary of State. The man's industry is illustrated by the fact that during this time he published his History of Ireland," a work which received much commendation, anatriotism, there was in the statesmen of the iK'.riod. The settlement of the future constitution of a young country of immense potentiality is indeed a theme worthy the most generous oratorical gifts ; and the patriots of that day created a bo«ly of oratory of which their descendants can be proud. Amidst the giants of that time — lor there were giants then, and I am afraid our public life to-day does n(jt present the same galaxy of intellect and culture that those old anti-confederation days did — McGee took a prominent position, and his speeches are among the most powerful. III. In 18G5, and again in 1867, Mr. ]McGee visited the old country in official positions, and on both occasions delivered public addresses. In these speeches he did not fail to exhort the statesmen of Britain to do 13 justice to his fatherland. In one, the groat Wexford speech, pronounced in the town where his boyhood had been spent, and which was hstenod to — witli what pride we can imagine — by his aged father, he is rejxirted to liave said to tlie Government—" Treat Ireland as you have treated Scotland — consider her feelings and respect her prejudices — study her history and concede her rights — try ecjual justice to all — practice the golden T'le. Then will Irishmen in Ireland resemble Irishnum in Canada — where the Celt is not envious of the Saxon, and the Saxon is not supercilious to the Celt." But he also took occasion to denounce in scathing terms the truculent attempts of adventurers from the neighbouring Republic, to wreak, by invasions of our own soil, their vengeance upt>n Great Britain. He could not, as he himself said, " stand still and see our peaceful, unotfending Canada invaded and deluged in blood, in the abused and unauthorized name of Ireland." And so he joinon was loud, and suicere, and unanimous? Tho highest and the lowest in the land grieved together for him, and a people's sobs spoke of a jieoplo's sorrow for a people's loss. For, Sir, tho the calamity was not Ireland's. It was Canada's, too, and never in the history of this country was lament so universal, so heartfelt. The public obsetjuies, the expressions of grief from public and private bodies, tho eulogies in Parliament, the obituaries in the press, bore witness to tho truth and earnestness of a nation's lamentation. The outraged law was satisfied when the impious felon expiati^d his crime upon the gallows tree. But jMcCtoo's loss was irreparable, and his untimely death created a void which was hard to fill — a void in political and literary life, a void in many a social circle, an aching void in a family of which he was tho beloved head, a void in all that appertained to our national life. His bop(trt of every colonist, and through which it will s(^cnr(^ the warm approbation of the Iniiierial authorities. Wo have here no traditions and venerabU^ institutions; here there are no aristocratic elements, hallowed by time and bright deeds; here every one is the lirst settler of the land, or removed from the tirst settler one or two generations at the farthest ; here we have no archite(;tural monuments calling np old associations; here wo have none of those old popular legends and storifts which in other vountricw have exercised a jxiworful Bhare in the governuKMit; here every man is the son of his own works. We have none of thos(* influences about us, whicli^ elsewhere, have their effect upon government just as nnich as th(< invis- ible atmosphere itself tends to influoncH^ life and animal and vegetable existence. This is a now land — a land of young pretensions because it is new ; because classes and systems have not ha