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Title: Thos. D'Arcy McGee: Sketch of his Life and Death
Author: Taylor, Fennings [John Fennings] (1817-1882)
Photographer: Notman, William (1826-1891)
Date of first publication: 1868
Edition used as base for this ebook:
   Montreal: John Lovell, 1868
   [first edition]
Date first posted: 20 March 2012
Date last updated: 20 March 2012
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #927

This ebook was produced by:
Dianna Adair, Marcia Brooks
& the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

This file was produced from images generously made available
by the Internet Archive/University of Toronto - Robarts Library






D'Arcy McGee.

[Illustration: Thomas D'Arcy McGee]


THOS. D'ARCY McGEE:

SKETCH

OF HIS

LIFE AND DEATH,

By FENNINGS TAYLOR,

WITH A

LIFE-SIZED PORTRAIT BY W. NOTMAN.


MONTREAL:

PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET.

1868.




THE HONORABLE THOMAS D'ARCY McGEE OF MONTREAL.


Had the Honorable Thomas D'Arcy McGee 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," before whose
awful anger, Mr. McGee informs us in his History of Ireland, "Kings
trembled and warriors succumbed in superstitious dread." This
influential order, we are elsewhere told, were "the Editors, Professors,
Registrars, and Record Keepers" of those early days, the makers and
masters 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 trunk 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 hailed 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 forefathers
must be looked for among the twelve hundred whom King Hugh impeached,
but who were upheld and defended by that illustrious travel-stained
saint, who, moved by a love of letters, and a schoolman's sympathies,
had to that end, expressly journeyed from his sea-girt home at
Icolumkill. On referring to one of the larger and more perfect maps of
Ireland, and looking closely along the northeastern coast, we shall
perceive situated sea-ward off the shore of Antrim, in the province of
Ulster, and within the ancient Barony of Belfast, a small islet which
bears the name of "Island Magee." This little sea-washed speck
contained, according to one of the latest, if not the latest
topographical survey, about seven thousand acres of the finest land in
the northern part of the kingdom. Moreover, in 1837 it was peopled by no
less than two thousand six hundred and ten 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
Macdonalds of the Antrim Glens, and in the seventeenth, by the fortune
of arms, to the Chichesters, Earls of Belfast and Marquises of Donegal.
From this small Island, for which the original tenants are said to have
paid the annual rental of "two goshawks and a pair of gloves," (which,
by the way, may have been considered enough, since, to an incredibly
recent period, the Island was imagined by its inhabitants to be a
theatre of sorcery,)--their descendants were almost exterminated, and
wholly expelled by a force of covenanters at the time when the memorable
Munroe was commander of the Parliamentary armies in Ireland. Three only
of those who bore the name of Magee were said to have escaped to the
mainland, and from one of those 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 facts and incidents of his remote
ancestry, we may mention that the Honorable Thomas D'Arcy McGee is the
second son of the late Mr. James McGee, of Wexford, and of Dorcas
Morgan, his wife. He was born at Carlingford, in the County of Louth,
and we 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 godfather Mr. Thomas D'Arcy, a gentlemen
who resided in the neighborhood 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 enthusiastic admiration. Such feelings appear to
be almost divinely wrought, and, like threads of gold, they beautify as
well as strengthen the purest fibres of our nature. On the mind of Mr.
McGee they have exerted the gentle influence of poetry as well as the
holy one of love. Separate qualities, such as duty and pride, obedience
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 melt 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 not dissimilar
lines; bold and deeply drawn 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 imagination 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 his
boyhood, the acids of controversy and the sharp edges of strife give
place to expressions tipped with sunshine, when his lips can be beguiled
into speaking of what his heart never ceases to feel.

    "My mother! at that holy name
    Within my bosom there's a gush
    Of feeling, which no time can tame,
    A feeling which for years of fame
    I would not, could not crush!"

According to his recollection of 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 imagination as well as a cultivated
mind. Nature had given her a sweet voice and an exquisite ear, 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 music, as well
as of its twin sister, poetry. A diligent reader of the best books, she
was also an intelligent lover of the best ballads. She liked especially
those of Scotland. The poetry of common life was in her case no mere
figure of speech. Through all the changes of daily duty there ran a vein
of fancy, 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 Tammie!"

were the words with which she usually greeted and welcomed her favorite
child. In common with her contemporaries, the mothers of her day, we
suspect she had a special liking for Home's tragedy of Douglas; and we
may perhaps more easily imagine than describe her sense 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, and in melo-dramatic
guise, with precocious effrontery informing his mother, who knew better,
and his mother's friends who did not believe him, that

    "My name is Norval."

His mother, as we have said, was early removed from him by death. We
will not speak of, since we cannot describe, grief. We may, however,
conjecture, since their natures and intellectual tastes were identical,
that her death was like a severance of himself from himself.

The great tears, however, which no doubt fell upon her grave, were
neither idle nor unavailing tears, for they became as it were so many
cameras through which were reflected the duties, the incidents, and the
obligations of his future life. Thus at the age of seventeen we find
D'Arcy McGee had passed the shallows where timid youths bathe and
shiver, and had boldly struck out into the deep sea of duty. We have no
data which will enable us to bridge the time between his mother's death
and his arrival on this continent: but it is not difficult to suppose
that it was filled up in the manner usual to youth, with the difference
only of a greater amount of application and a higher 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 intellectual 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 capital, with access to the
best public libraries on this side of 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,) Whipple, Chapin, and Brownson, lived in that city or in its
vicinity. It was moreover the residence of Channing, Bancroft, Eastburn,
Prescott, Ticknor, Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, and others, whose
influence should have purified the moral atmosphere, and have made
Boston to others, what we suppose it must have been to them, an
appreciative and congenial home. It is not difficult to imagine, from
what we know and can observe of his mature manhood, that D'Arcy McGee,
the impulsive Irish lad, overflowing with exuberant good nature and
untiring industry, with 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 frequented. Neither is it a
matter for surprise that he early attracted the notice of several of
their number. Opportunities of speaking publicly are by no means
uncommon in the United States, and we should imagine that Boston
contained a great many nurseries, under different names, where the
alphabet of the art could be acquired. Whether the scholar progresses
beyond his letters depends very much on the furnishing of his mind. The
nerve and knack may be got by practice, but the prime condition,--having
something to say,--must spring from exact thought, and severe study. 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
where or in what way he acquired the fluent habit of graceful and
polished oratory. For since he was enthroned on his mother's tea-table,
and declared to listening friends that his name was "Norval," we have
been unable to discover any intermediate audience between his select one
at Carlingford, and his scientific one at Boston. Strange as it may
seem, it is we believe, no less true than strange, that during his
sojourn at Boston, between the years 1842 and 1845, when between the
ages of seventeen and twenty, he had actually made his mark as a public
speaker. Nor was it, we believe, denied that the audacious youth,
though contemptuously styled "Greenhorn," and "Paddy-boy," very fairly
held his own with men who never were "green" and who had long ceased to
be "boys." It may be observed in passing that the "Know-nothing" party,
which has since then acquired consistency and influence, was, in its
incipient shape, discernible at that day under the name of the
Anti-foreign party, a party which Mr. McGee could not do otherwise than
criticise with severity and oppose with vehemence.

At the period we refer to, the "Lyceum System" as it has been termed,
spread itself over the New England States. People desired to receive
knowledge distilled through the brains of their neighbors. Lecturers
were at a premium; and youth forestalled time by discoursing of wisdom,
irrespective of experience. Thus it was that Mr. McGee, with 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, discoursing, we must be permitted to think, on aged subjects.
What those subjects may have been we cannot conjecture; but we have
little doubt that the reminiscences of Mr. McGee's lecturing life in
those days are full of amusing as well as of instructive incident; for
the period is, we think, coeval with a transition phase not only of the
Irish, but of the American, mind.

Mixing, as he necessarily must have done, with all sorts and conditions
of men, it was impossible that Mr. McGee should not have formed many
acquaintances more or less valuable, and some friendships, it may be,
beyond price. Among the latter it is his practice to make grateful
mention of Mr. Grattan, then Her Majesty's Consul at Boston. Besides a
name historically eloquent which he inherited, that gentlemen, it is
said, possessed great intellectual acquirements as well as personal
gifts. In the latter were included a kindly disposition and a cordial
manner. It was therefore natural enough that he should have taken a warm
interest in his enthusiastic countryman, and that from the treasury of
his own experience 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 kind friend meeting in the same
person, exerted no inconsiderable influence on the young enthusiast.
Mr. Grattan's sympathies fell upon an appreciative mind; for Mr. McGee
always speaks of his character with admiration 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 his back upon Ireland
was about to be beckoned home again by the country he had left. The
circumstances, apart from their political significance, were in the
highest degree complimentary to one who at the time was not "out of his
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 Dublin daily
paper, for his editorial services. This proposal he accepted, and hence
his personal participation in the Irish politics of the eventful years
which commenced 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. O'Connell 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. Following the
lead of his feelings, he determined at all hazards to associate himself
with the more advanced and enthusiastic section of the liberal party,
then known by the name of "Young Ireland." This section or _coterie_,
for it was scarcely a party, possessed many attractions for such an
adherent. Besides the name, and the bright, alluring, misleading quality
of youth, which that name symbolized and expressed, the _coterie_ 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 was 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
years 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 surprise was
occasioned, and none was expressed, when its 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 themselves 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 series of stirring shilling volumes for the people,
entitled the "Library of Ireland." The famine of 1847 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 biographies of illustrious Irishmen of the seventeenth
century, and the other a memoir of "Art. McMurrough," a half forgotten
Irish king of the fourteenth century. Of course, works published under
such circumstances, and forming parts of such a series, 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 are credibly
informed that now, after a period of twenty years, the books we have
mentioned still retain their popularity.

Mr. McGee, if we remember aright, has somewhere said, with respect 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
Macdonald's, to "make it;" and we have little doubt, could we see the
intellectual machinery which preceded those events, we should discover
that none more than Mr. McGee have assiduously labored to manufacture
history.

The _coterie_ grew into a confederation of which Mr. McGee was, we
believe, the chief promoter and the chosen secretary. It was not without
adherents, neither was it without attraction, and especially to the
class, a by no means inconsiderable one, whose judgment is controlled by
their imagination, and who seem to think that feeling and wisdom are
identical qualities. We decline to indicate those transactions by any
particular name. We all know that they were failures, and since time
tempers judgment, we venture to believe that the actors of that day
concur with the critics of the present time in thinking that they were
follies. The most stirring among the many impassioned "Songs of the
Nation,"--"Who fears to speak of '98"--showed alike the genius, the
courage, and the credulity of "Young Ireland" of '48. The Irish politics
of fifty years since were no more worthy of recall than was the Irish
policy of two hundred years since. Young Ireland should not, we venture
to think, have invoked the embarrasing memories of the past, if it
wished to make old Ireland new. It was an error in time, an error in
judgment, and an error in sense, which, fortunately for all, contained
within itself the germ of inevitable failure.

While England, through her press and in her Parliament, scouted the
policy and punished its principal exponents, she did not fail very
generously to acknowledge the unquestionable talent and out-spoken
honesty of that earnest and ill-fated party. We all know what followed.
Some of the leaders were sent into penal exile, while others, including
the subject of our sketch, found safety in voluntary expatriation. Thus
it was that, heated and excited by the strife, angered and disappointed
at the issue, Mr. McGee for a second time landed in the United States.
As before, his occupations were those of a journalist and a lecturer,
for it is his pleasure to live by the sweat of his brain. Between the
close of 1848 and the commencement of 1857, he published two newspapers,
"The New York Nation," and the "American Celt." It was, of course,
natural, all the circumstances considered, that the inclination of his
mind should have been violently and from the force of recent discipline,
bitterly hostile to the Government of Great Britain. Many will remember,
not from the papers themselves, for they had but a small circulation in
the Provinces, but from extracts which found a place in several of the
Canadian journals, how fiercely and bitterly anti-English his political
writings were. But while admitting the exaggerated rancour which
characterized his words, it will undoubtedly be allowed that time and
the opportunity for closer observation produced their usual influence on
his instructed mind. His fierce anger towards Great Britain gradually
disappeared. His excited temper, like the evil spirit of the son of
Kish, was exorcised, if not by the spell of music, at least by the force
of acquired truth and the sense of obvious wrong. The book of
remembrance and the book of experience were before him. He could read
their letterpress and criticise their illustrations. He could see his
countrymen under British and his countrymen under American rule. He
could look from that picture to this, from Monarchical England to
Republican America, and with all the imperfections of the former, he
would probably express his judgment of the contrast in the words of the
Prince of Denmark, that taken all in all "it was Hyperion to a Satyr."

We could not, even in the cursory sketch which our limited space will
permit us to make, pass over in silence Mr. McGee's personal and
political career previous to his residence in Canada, for a portion of
that career was a prelude to, and directly connected with, its more
recent sequences amongst ourselves. His occupations during that period
were professedly those of an author and lecturer, and only accidentally
those of a politician. Those occupations were marked with many errors
and crossed with many vicissitudes. Still it must be allowed that if one
of his ardent temperament and peculiar position succeeded in avoiding
misfortune, he could hardly be expected to escape mistakes. An Irishman
by birth, a Roman Catholic by parentage, passionately attached to his
race, and devoutly loyal to his religion, he was from the very outset of
his career remarkable for the courageous spirit of independence with
which he formed and maintained his opinions, no matter whether the
subject on which he adventured them was political, historical, or
social. A stanza selected from one of his Canadian ballads illustrates
this phase of his character, and supplies a keynote to his conduct:

    "Let fortune frown and foes increase,
    And life's long battle know no peace,
    Give me to wear upon my breast
    The object of my early quest,
    Undimm'd, unbroken, and unchang'd,
    The talisman I sought and gain'd,
          The jewel, Independence!"

Neither was it a mere poetical profession of faith. Mr. McGee's history
very clearly shows that he had reason for his rhyme. In the very dew of
his youth he maintained his political principles against such an
opponent as the great O'Connell, and later still he wore his "Jewel
Independence" in the presence of the late Dr. Hughes, the distinguished
Archbishop of New York. It is probable 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 to express their respect for Mr. McGee's abilities, their
appreciation of his sincerity, and their desire for his success in life.

The independence which Mr. McGee valued and apostrophized was not the
independence which he found in the United States. His second sojourn in
that country thoroughly disenchanted him. His early admiration paled
before his later experience. The homoepathic principle appears to be
susceptible of political as well as physical application, for a taste of
democratic institutions cured Mr. McGee of any tendency to democracy.
Neither was social life in America more attractive than 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 length to such unwelcome convictions. It would
be interesting to read Mr. McGee's own account of his rise and progress
towards higher moral and physical latitudes, for every inch of his
course might point 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 deliberately break his idol without 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 which 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
principles and opinions, new light, and with it new views, from an
unlooked-for quarter, seemed to cross his path. In the midst of literary
work in New York he made the acquaintance of many friends in Canada.
Having formed his own opinions of the people whom he had met, it was
natural enough he should wish to see the country where they dwelt. Thus
it was that Mr. McGee, 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 openly 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 we have the right to suppose, a
careful comparison of the two states of society, the American and the
Canadian, Mr. McGee transferred, as he has somewhere said, "his
household goods to the valley of the St. Lawrence," selecting the City
of Montreal as the place of his abode. We may here add that the City of
Montreal lost no time in returning 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 offspring of Erin, it is 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,"

at least to him, if it uttered no speech from his pen, or received no
thought from his brain. The time which elapsed between his arrival at
Montreal, and the issue of the first number of his newspaper, the "New
Era," 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. He earnestly advocated, and has 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 the proposed confederacy was
in his mind and writings associated with the idea of a "new
nationality."

At the general election in 1858, Mr. McGee's public career in Canada
commenced. He was returned to Parliament as one of the three
representatives 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
had 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 were, 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 partizan sharpshooters. Many severe, some
ridiculous, and not a few savage things were said by him. Thus from his
affluent treasury of caustic and bitter irony he contributed not a
little to the personal and Parliamentary embarrassments of those times.
Many of the speeches of that period we would rather 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 delivered. 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, 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 government 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 personal 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 with so many
merry jests, and sometimes overlaid with so much rancorous levity, that
their more valuable parts were hidden 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 Falstaff's "sack" did to his bread;
and this deficiency of solidity was attributed by many people to an
absence of intellectual property, rather than to an error of
conventional taste. Hence arose a disposition on the part of some to
underrate Mr. McGee's mental strength, and hence, too, the observation,
which, however, was more remarkable for glibness than accuracy, that
"Mr. McGee speaks better than he reasons." Certainly the Parliamentary
skirmishes of that period, 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. They 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 Parliamentary 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 their reasoning was broad or deep, horizontal or 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 for
grave reflections on grave thoughts. The truth is, that Mr. McGee always
seemed to be, in spite of himself, either mischievous or playful; and
regardless alike of the place or the occasion, he appeared to be seized
with an irresistible impulse to scatter about him an uncomfortable kind
of melo-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, logic and speech
in a flood of exuberant fun. Such efforts, however, did not always
succeed. Indeed, more clever than praiseworthy, they scarcely deserved
success, for people do not always admire what 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 state of order.
None better than Mr. McGee knew that he could, if occasion needed, be
grave as 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 respect and honor in both
hemispheres.

Having fairly looked his work in the face, Mr. McGee would, as we might
reasonably conjecture, cast about him for fitting cooperators. This
portion of his public life seems to have been beset with perplexing
peculiarities. With an upper-crust of paradox there must, we may
suppose, have been an under-current of contradiction. As a party man,
Mr. McGee chose his side, but in the presence of his declared principles
and published opinions it is difficult to understand by what laws his
choice was determined. On his arrival in Canada, he had, for reasons
which he deemed to be sufficient, 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 which he had so persistently battered, fell, for the
Cartier-Macdonald administration, which he had opposed and denounced,
having been defeated on the 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 sketch was offered and accepted the office of President of the
Council. On the 8th of May following, on a question of want of
confidence, the last mentioned administration found itself to be in a
minority of five. Four days afterwards Parliament was prorogued with a
view to its immediate dissolution. After the prorogation, Mr. Sandfield
Macdonald, the leader of the Government, undertook the responsibility of
directing what was equivalent to the very hazardous military manoeuvre of
changing his front in the presence of an active and sagacious enemy. No
doubt he was obliged to strengthen his position, and under any
circumstances his mode of doing so would be subject to criticism. He
reconstructed his government, and the operation included, amongst other
changes, not only 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 being mustered out of the service. The 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 we are aware, for the course which was then pursued. That it was not
taken upon the advice of the subject of our sketch, we have the best
reason for thinking; for Mr. McGee took the earliest opportunity of
showing, in the general election which followed, that he would not play
pawn to Mr. Sandfield Macdonald's king. Rather than do so he crossed
over to the enemy. The amenities of political elections is a work yet to
be written; when it is written, the election for Montreal, in 1863,
might, we incline to think, furnish some instructive as well as amusing
passages. In the session which immediately followed, Mr. McGee, on three
different occasions, and with evident and unalloyed satisfaction,
recorded his 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. Tach, in the month of
March following, being called upon to form an administration, and a
strong party administration too, he accepted the office 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 the 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 we are not informed, we may, perhaps, be
permitted to ask another, which to us, at least, appears to be still
more perplexing. What were the circumstances which in the first instance
separated Mr. McGee 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 which Mr. McGee had identified his name, that question was
the union of all the Provinces, and as connected with, and inseparable
from it, the questions of National Defence, of the Inter-Colonial
Railway, and of Free Inter-Colonial 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 as by the government and the people of England.
Still it should not be forgotten, that these great questions were parts
of the cherished policy of the administration which Mr. McGee 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 see the affront
which impelled, and suspect the causes which attracted him towards his
present alliance, we do not see, nor are we required to see, why he
served a seven year's apprenticeship to a party whose policy, in many
important particulars, was not only different from, but opposed to his
own.

Passing from Mr. McGee's history as a party-man, to his opinions as a
public one, we seem to emerge from a bewildering labyrinth of
ill-lighted passages, into a succession of _salons_ radiant with
sunshine. We rise from what may be compared with the unseemly brawls of
a parish vestry to the ennobling deliberations of a National Parliament.
The vision of the "new era," which Mr. McGee, in his Montreal paper,
foreshadowed in 1857, seems to have grown into shape and consistency. In
an address delivered at the Temperance Hall, Halifax, in July, 1863, he
thus sketches, and with a bold hand, the boundaries of British America,
the Northern Empire of the future:

    "A single glance at the physical geography of the whole of British
    America will show that it forms, quite as much in structure as in size,
    one of the most valuable sections of the globe. Along this eastern
    coast the Almighty pours the broad Gulf stream, nursed within the
    tropics, to temper the rigors of our air, to irrigate our 'deep sea
    pastures,' to combat and subdue the powerful Polar stream which would
    otherwise, in a single night, fill all our gulfs and harbors with a
    barrier of perpetual ice. Far towards the west, beyond the wonderful
    lakes, which excite the admiration of every traveller, the winds that
    lift the water-bearing clouds from the Gulf of Cortez, and waft them
    northward, are met by counter-currents which capsize them just where
    they are essential,--beyond Lake Superior, on both slopes of the Rocky
    Mountains. These are the limits of that climate which has been 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 multiplied without the infusion of new blood from
    France or elsewhere, from a stock of 80,000 in 1760 to a people of
    880,000 in 1860. I need not, however, have gone so far for an
    illustration of the fostering effects of our climate on the European
    race, when I look on the sons and daughters 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 me, when I see
    especially who they are that adorn that gallery (alluding to the
    ladies), the argument is over, the case is closed. If we descend from
    the climate to the soil, we find it sown by nature with these precious
    forests fitted to erect cities, to build fleets and to warm the hearts
    of many generations. We have the isothern of wheat on the Red River, on
    the Ottawa, and on the St. John; root crops everywhere; coal in Cape
    Breton and on the Saskatchewan; iron with us from the St. Maurice to the
    Trent; in Canada the copper-bearing rocks at frequent intervals from
    Huron to Gasp; gold in Columbia and Nova Scotia; salt again, and hides
    in the Red River region; fisheries inland and seaward unequalled. Such
    is a rough sketch, a rapid enumeration of the resources of this land of
    our children's inheritance. Now what needs it this country,--with a lake
    and river and seaward system sufficient to accommodate all its own, and
    all its neighbor's commerce,--what needs such a country for its future?
    It needs a population sufficient in number, in spirit, and in capacity
    to become its masters; and this population need, as all civilized men
    need, religious and civil liberty, unity, authority, free intercourse,
    commerce, security and law."

Again, in the same paper, Mr. McGee exhibits the materials whereof the
new nationality shall be composed:

    "I endeavor to contemplate it in the light of a future, possible,
    probable, and I hope to live to be able to say positive, British
    American Nationality. For I repeat, in the terms of the questions I
    asked at first, what do we need to construct such a nationality.
    Territory, resources by sea and land, civil and religious freedom, these
    we have already. Four millions we already are: four millions culled from
    the races that, for a thousand years, have led the van of Christendom.
    When the sceptre of Christian civilization trembled in the enervate
    grasp of the Greek of the Lower Empire, then the Western tribes of
    Europe, fiery, hirsute, clamorous, but kindly, snatched at the falling
    prize, and placed themselves at the head of human affairs. We are the
    children of these fire-tried kingdom founders, of these
    ocean-discoverers of Western Europe. Analyse our aggregate population:
    we have more Saxons than Alfred had when he founded the English realm.
    We have more Celts than Brien had when he put his heel on the neck of
    Odin. We have more Normans than William had when he marshalled his
    invading host along the strand of Falaise. We have the laws of St.
    Edward and St. Louis, Magna Charta and the Roman Code. We speak the
    speeches of Shakespeare and Bossuet. We copy the constitution which
    Burke and Somers and Sidney and Sir Thomas Moore lived, or died, to
    secure or save. Out of these august elements, in the name of the future
    generations who shall inhabit all the vast regions we now call ours, I
    invoke the fortunate genius of an United British America, to solemnize
    law with the moral sanction of Religion, and to crown the fair pillar of
    our freedom with its only appropriate capital, lawful authority, so that
    hand in hand we and our descendants may advance steadily to the
    accomplishment of a common destiny."

And at St. John, New Brunswick, in the following month of the same year,
Mr. McGee says: "There are before the public men of British America, at
this moment, but two courses; either to drift with the tide of
democracy, or to seize the golden moment and fix for ever the
monarchical character of our institutions!" "I invite," he continues,
"every fellow colonist who agrees with me to unite our efforts that we
may give our Province the aspect of an Empire in order to exercise the
influence abroad and at home to create a State, and to originate a
history which the world will not willingly let die!"

In another part of the same paper, Mr. McGee very solemnly says:

    "This being my general view of my own duty--my sincere slow-formed
    conviction of what a British American policy should be--I look forward
    to the time when these Provinces, once united, and increasing at an
    accelerated ratio, may become a Principality worthy of the acceptance of
    one of the Sons of that Sovereign whose reign inaugurated the firm
    foundation of our Colonial liberties. If I am right, the Railroad will
    give us union--union will give us nationality--and nationality, a Prince
    of the blood of our ancient Kings. These speculations on the future may
    be thought premature and fanciful. But what is premature in America?
    Propose a project which has life in it, and while still you speculate,
    it grows. If that way towards greatness, which I have ventured to point
    out to our scattered communities be practicable, I have no fear that it
    will not be taken, even in my time. If it be not practicable, well,
    then, at least, I shall have this consolation, that I have invited the
    intelligence of these Provinces to rise above partizan contests and
    personal warfare to the consideration 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 following passage, in which Mr. McGee
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 without respect of persons, and with a sole single desire
    for the increase, prosperity, freedom and honor of this incipient
    Northern Nation. I call it a Northern Nation--for such it must become,
    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 events of years. Men do not
    vegetate in this age, as they did formerly in one spot--occupying one
    portion. Thought outruns the steam car, and hope outflies the
    telegraph. We live more in ten years in this era than the Patriarch did
    in a thousand. The Patriarch 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 are now discussing was formed.
    What marvels have not been wrought in Europe and America from 1840 to
    1860? And who can say the world, or our own portion of it more
    particularly, is incapable of maintaining to the end of the century the
    ratio of the past progress? I for one cannot presume to say so. I look
    to the future of my adopted country with hope, though not without
    anxiety. I see in the not remote distance, one great nationality, bound,
    like the shield of Achilles, by the blue rim of Ocean. I see it
    quartered into many communities, each disposing of its internal affairs,
    but all bound together by free institutions, free intercourse, and free
    commerce. I see within the round of that shield the peaks of the Western
    Mountains and the crests of the Eastern waves, the winding Assiniboine,
    the five-fold lakes, the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, the Saguenay, the St.
    John, and the basin of Minas. By all these flowing waters in all the
    valleys they fertilize, in all the cities they visit in their courses, I
    see a generation of industrious, contented, moral men, free in name and
    in fact--men capable of maintaining, in peace and in war, a constitution
    worthy of such a country!"

There are, moreover, throughout the volume of speeches and addresses on
"British American Union," passages which appear to be as reverent in
their character, as they are eloquent in their language. We deeply
regret that our space, and the plan of our work make it impossible for
us to lighten this sketch with extensive extracts from Mr. McGee's
writings. The manner, for example, in which the political and social
systems of the United States re-act upon one another is frequently
pointed out with graphic power. He might have, though we do not know
that he has, warned his readers that liberty in America may become, for
there is great danger of her becoming, a suicide; and expire wretchedly
from some act of unpremeditated violence; for authority, as it has been
truly said, is as necessary to the preservation of liberty as judges are
to the administration of law. No violence therefore is done either to
sentiment or experience in asserting, that they are most vigilant for
freedom, who are most conservative of authority. After this manner Mr.
McGee speaks, in closing his speech on the motion for an address to Her
Majesty in favor of Confederation:

    "We need in these Provinces, and we can bear a large infusion of
    authority. I am not at all afraid this constitution errs on the side of
    too great conservatism. If it be found too conservative now, the
    downward tendency in political ideas which characterizes this democratic
    age is a sufficient guarantee for amendment. Its conservatism is the
    principle on which this instrument is strong, and worthy of the support
    of every colonist, and through which it will secure the warm approbation
    of the Imperial authorities. We have here no traditions and ancient
    venerable institutions--here, there are no aristocratic elements
    hallowed by time or bright deeds--here, every man is the first settler
    of the land, or removed from the first settler one or two generations at
    the farthest--here, we have no architectural monuments calling up old
    associations--here, we have none of those old popular legends and
    stories which in other countries have exercised a powerful share in the
    Government--here, every man is the son of his own works. (Hear, hear!)
    We have none of those influences about us which elsewhere have their
    effect upon Government, just as much as the invisible atmosphere 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 here naturally. We have no
    aristocracy, but of virtue and talent--which is the best aristocracy,
    and is the old and true meaning of the term. (Hear, hear!) There is a
    class of men rising in these colonies superior in many respects to
    others with whom they might be compared. What I should like to see
    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 suggested 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. I should like to see
    our best men go there, and endeavor to have this measure carried through
    the Imperial Parliament--going into Her Majesty's presence, and by their
    manner, if not actually by their speech, saying--"During Your Majesty's
    reign we have had Responsible Government conceded to us; we have
    administered it for nearly a quarter of a century, during which we have
    under it doubled our population, and more than quadrupled our trade. The
    small colonies which your ancestors could hardly see on the map, have
    grown into great communities. A great danger has arisen in our near
    neighborhood; over our homes a cloud hangs dark and heavy. We do not
    know when it may burst. With our strength we are not able to combat
    against the storm, but what we can do, we will do cheerfully and
    loyally. We want time to grow; we want more people to fill our
    country--more industrious families of men to develope our resources; we
    want to increase our prosperity; we want more extended trade and
    commerce; we want more land tilled--more men established through our
    wastes and wildernesses; we, of the British North American Provinces,
    want to be joined together, that if danger comes, we may support each
    other in the day of trial. We come to Your Majesty, who has given us
    liberty, to give us unity--that we may preserve and perpetuate our
    freedom; and whatsoever charter, in the wisdom of your Majesty and of
    your Parliament you give us, we shall loyally obey and observe, as long
    as it is the pleasure of your Majesty, and your successors, to maintain
    the connection between Great Britain and these Colonies."

An opponent of every kind of sectionalism, Mr. McGee is accustomed to
say that he neither knows nor wishes to know where the boundary is which
divides Upper from Lower Canada. To him the whole is Canada. Rather than
occupy himself in discovering boundaries, 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. He 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 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 professes a
statesman's anxiety not to re-enact in Canada the curses which have
afflicted 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.
He 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. McGee 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.[A] With respect to Mr. McGee's works, we shall in this place
content ourselves with a list of their titles only.[B]

[A] The subjects include papers on Columbus, Shakespeare,
Milton, Burke, Grattan, Burns, Moore, The Reformation, The Jesuits, The
English Revolution of 1688, The growth and power of the Middle Classes
in England, The Moral of the Four Revolutions, The Irish Brigade in the
service of France, The American Revolution, The Spirit of Irish History,
Will and Skill.

[B] O'Connell and his Friends, 1 vol., Boston, 1844; The Irish
Writers of the Seventeenth Century, 1 vol., Dublin, 1856; Life of
McMurrough, 1 vol., Dublin, 1847; Memoir of Duffy, Pamphlet, Dublin,
1849; Historical Sketches of Irish Settlers in America, 1 vol., Boston,
1850; History of the Reformation in Ireland, 1 vol., Boston, 1852;
Catholic History of North America, 1 vol., Boston, 1852; Life of Bishop
Maginn, 1 vol., New York, 1856; Canadian Ballads, Montreal, 1 vol., New
York, 1858; Popular History of Ireland, 2 vols., New York, 1862; Notes
on Federal Governments, past and present, Pamphlet, Montreal, 1864;
Speeches on British American Union, London, 1865.

Mr. McGee left Ireland for the second time in 1848. He returned to
Ireland for the second time in 1865. Between that coming and that going,
his personal history had been stamped with strange vicissitudes, and
his political opinions had undergone serious changes. He left Ireland
because failure had waited upon folly; but then we can imagine he was
oblivious to every recollection but the self-evident one of failure. He
returned, too, not only because wisdom had been crowned with success,
but because he could think of his previous 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 representative, as a Commissioner from
Canada. He did so, furthermore, as a member of the Executive Council for
the purpose of joining his colleagues in conference with the
representatives of Her Majesty's Government. When last in Ireland he
took the opportunity 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 his
eloquent and celebrated Wexford speech, attracted unusual attention. The
press and 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. McGee is what our portrait represents
him to be. The photographer and 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. The
subject of our sketch may have been, perchance he 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 supplement the law which shall create a new nation, with a
policy which shall create a new nationality.

Nor are such plans purposeless, or such hopes chimerical. The races
which inhabit British America represent peoples whose countries are 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 pursuit of such a purpose is
worthy of a Christian statesman, and a philosophic patriot. If Mr.
McGee, as one of many, shall succeed in giving shape and consistency to
the vision of "a fraternal era," which he has foreshadowed, which the
late Sir E. P. Tach foresaw, and which the most experienced of our own
statesmen are striving to bring about, many good men will envy, and all
good men will 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 peace above all other dignities,
    A still and quiet conscience."

[C]In the possession of a "still and quiet 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 character of the act
which has given to eternity one, with reverence be it said, whose life
was so valuable to time. It is idle, and perchance wrong, to challenge
His decrees without whom even a sparrow 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."

[C] This sketch was thus far written and published in the life
time of Mr. McGee. We have not thought fit to change what was written,
but now the past must be substituted for the present tense, for alas!
the subject belongs to their histories who have passed away.

    "Ay! broken by a fiendish hand,
    Impell'd by felon thought;
    Seek not, oh! man, to understand
    Why such a wreck was wrought.

Why in the meridian of his age, 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. Thus the
tidings read.

    "OTTAWA, April 7th, 3.00 a.m.

    "Mr. McGee 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 corner of the street for
    their respective lodgings. When they said "good night" Mr. McGee 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
    convenient concealment, shot him from behind, placing the muzzle of the
    pistol close to his head. The ball came out of his mouth destroying 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 least have mingled with his victim's,
    for they were in such close proximity 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 broken," and thus were scattered the garnered
    treasures of his seething brain; scattered, too, when he was actively
    coining thoughts of sterling value to the country of his adoption as
    well as 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 shock, of
    the earnest character of his efforts to bring about an exact
    correspondence between the tastes that injured him, and the teachings
    that benefited others. It was no easy trial for one of his exuberant
    mirth, his social predilections and his convivial 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 relish for
    the friendship, and yet put from him the wine which he 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 which it sprang. Mr. McGee did
    so, and as we are informed, without resorting to any stimulating test or
    public pledge, but by bending his strong will to the 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 himself, and
    that from thenceforward there was little fear of his mental strength
    being impaired by moral weakness. When he was so unconsciously 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 him 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 small amount of attention on the
part of the public men of England, and, we may add, no small amount of
aversion on the part of the fiendish fraternity, whose machinations were
on that occasion so eloquently described and so fearlessly exposed.
Incidentally, and in his private capacity, he was encouraged to
represent his views on the policy which English statesmen should observe
in the government of Ireland; and it is probable that such
representations may have given rise to the opinion which the Earl of
Mayo lately expressed in the House of Commons, that Mr. McGee was the
foremost defender of British institutions in the Queen's dominions. "To
his countrymen, if we recollect aright, he said on that occasion--there
ought to be, no separation of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland. Each
country would suffer from the loss of the other, and even liberty in
Europe would be shipwrecked if those islands were divided by a hostile
sea. To Englishmen, he said, try kindness and generosity in your
legislation for Ireland. Treat Ireland as you have treated
Scotland--consider her feelings, and respect her prejudices--study her
history, and concede her rights--try equal justice to all--practice the
golden rule and "do as you would be 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.
McGee's representations produced any effect on the minds of those to
whom they were addressed, we 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. McGee as a member of the Executive Council of
Canada, was in a position to render his colleagues great assistance when
they were engaged in carrying the act of confederation through the
Imperial Parliament. The object which that act brought about was an
object of absorbing interest 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 making the project popular in the minds,
while his speeches made it pleasant to the hearts of men. Neither has
the question found since then a more eloquent, a more consistent or a
more enthusiastic advocate than the subject of this sketch; for it had
become not only the principle aim of his existence but the very passion
of his life. With his mind thus occupied Mr. McGee was appointed a
Commissioner from Canada to the Paris 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 modern art; yet even 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
superstructure his genius was assisting to build. His mind though
attracted by culture nevertheless turned from the charms of Paris and
the loveliness of France, from its pleasant homesteads and its
profitable vineyards, from its intellectual and its heroic history to
the seat of another sovereignty and the site of another empire--an
empire.

    "Whose flanks were mighty oceans,
    Whose base the Northern 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
remarkable letter of the 1st May, 1867, to his constituents at Montreal,
and through them to the inhabitants of the New Dominion, wherein he
counselled them after what manner they might hope to win a place in the
family of states, which few European nations 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 political,
as well as of a personal kind, he 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. McGee. To the
regret of many persons and the surprise of all, he was, at his own
generous and spontaneous desire, left out. The history of the
transaction has not so far, as we are aware, been made public, but there
can be no doubt whatever that Mr. McGee would not allow his personal
wishes or his political claims to stand in the way of the harmonious
action of the new experiment. His pride might have rebelled, or his
poverty might have clamored, but honor and patriotism rebuked the one
and silenced the other. He might have said, and probably did say, "don't
consider me or my claims, look to the state and its welfare." Thus it
chanced that the minister who was most 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 were 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 the generosity of his
character, Mr. McGee withdrew his claim to office with such a steady
purpose as to draw from Sir John A. Macdonald a remonstrance at the
hurried character of the proceeding. By acting as he did, Mr. McGee
thought to relieve Sir John of certain embarrassments. Nor was the
supposition ill-founded, for it was said that his 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 resistance on their parts for
assault and exposure on his. Like the members of such associations he
knew something of secret organizations for violent purposes. He was not
unacquainted with the mischievous character of the machinery by which
such associations were supported and kept in motion. 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 tendency, he was enabled to speak with emphasis
of things as they were and counsel with authority of things as they
ought to be. But advice was received with contempt and reproof was met
with resistance. The innocent blood so freely shed at Ridgeway provoked
neither compassion nor thought. The Satanic league across the southern
frontier but too successfully impregnated certain localities in Canada
with the sulphur of their sin. Being the largest city of the Dominion,
Montreal was supposed to contain the greatest number of Fenian
sympathisers, while the especial section which Mr. McGee represented was
regarded as the chosen spot of the "Local Head Centre." While it was not
possible for Mr. McGee to have exaggerated the evil which such an
organization was calculated to bring about, it is possible that he took
an extreme view of its local influence, and a mistaken one of the
individuals by whom it was sustained and defended. Thus when he somewhat
rashly published what he knew, the disclosure fell far short of the
public expectation and peradventure of his own belief. He said either
too much or too little, and hence his reputation for acuteness acquired
no strength from what he then deemed it to be his duty to disclose. The
election which followed, though it resulted in a majority in his favor,
of two hundred and eighty-four votes, shewed a serious defection in a
certain class of his Irish supporters, and gave strength to the belief
that the leaven of mischief had not altogether been inoperative. It was
a melancholy return of ingratitude, a base recompense to one who beyond
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 provocation been foully slain, Senator
Morrison, of Tennessee, is reported to have said of those Irishmen, who
would not enrol themselves in their fiendish enterprise, "the recreant
traitors who refuse to join this organization will be handed down to
posterity with the 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 concurrent with such allusions
were ominous threats against his life, which, in various forms, but
pointing to one issue, beset Mr. McGee almost everywhere. He was dogged
and watched. His house, at the instance of his friends, was put under
the surveillance of the police. He was neither fool-hardy nor insensible
of the risk he ran, or of the implacable character of the foes by whom
he was surrounded. He had, however, long since settled his account with
his conscience and determined 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
the assassin was upon him, pursuing him with that kind of stealthy craft
with which the brute in his instinct hungers for the man.

As his strength permitted Mr. McGee availed himself of several
opportunities to inculcate his lessons of mutual consideration and
mutual good will. 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 speech 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 conversation 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 difficulties and heal discontent, that
justice would overcome prejudice, and that the magic of kindness would
at length triumph and make converts of all. It is to be regretted that
no full report of those last words was made. Had we possessed
fore-knowledge, how keen would have been the hearing ear, how active the
untiring pen! We shall transcribe a fragment, the closing passage of
that speech, as it is reported in the _Ottawa Times_:

    He had great reliance on the mellowing effects of time to aid the
    softening and 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 heartiest supporter
    of Union within these walls, willing and anxious to perpetuate the
    system which would be found to work so advantageously for his Province,
    adopting the position of the Honorable member for Guysborough, as that
    of the true and patriotic statesman. It had been said that the
    interests of Canada were diametrically opposed to those of Nova Scotia,
    but he asked which of the parties to the Union partnership had embarked
    most in it, or had most to fear from its failure. He asserted that Nova
    Scotia prejudice 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 could be attached, and
    whose single aim from the beginning had been to consolidate the extent
    of British America, with the utmost regard to the powers and privileges
    of each Province. He did not speak there as a representative of any
    race, or any Province, but as 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 proposed him 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 space enough 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 in 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 Government 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 the
meanwhile, the 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 the wicked passions of men.

We shall insert what is without doubt a very imperfect report, extracted
from a local newspaper, of what followed later in the day.

    HOUSE OF COMMONS.

    OTTAWA, April 7th, 1868.

    The SPEAKER took the chair at ten minutes past three.

    The 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 some
    time almost stopped his utterance, said:--Mr. Speaker, it is with pain
    amounting to anguish that I rise to address you. He who last night, nay
    this morning, was with us and of us, whose voice is still ringing in
    our ears, who charmed us with his marvellous eloquence, elevated us by
    his large statesmanship, and instructed us by his wisdom and his
    patriotism, is no more--is foully murdered. If ever a soldier who fell
    on the field of battle in the front of the fight, deserved well of his
    country, Thomas D'Arcy McGee deserved well of Canada and its people. The
    blow which has just fallen is too recent, the shock is too great, for us
    yet to realize its awful atrocity, or the extent of this most
    irreparable loss. I feel, Sir, that our sorrow, our genuine and
    unaffected sorrow, prevents us from giving adequate expression to our
    feelings just now, but by and by, and at length, this House will have a
    melancholy pleasure in considering 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 acted with me for some years, but of one with whom I enjoyed the
    intercommunication of his rich and varied mind; the blow has been
    overwhelming. I feel altogether incapable of addressing myself to the
    subject just now. Our departed friend was a man of the kindest and most
    generous impulse, a man whose hand was open to every one, whose heart
    was made for friendship, and whose enmities were written in water; a man
    who had no gall, no guile; "in wit a man, in simplicity a child." He
    might have lived a long and respected life had he chosen the easy path
    of popularity rather than the stern one of duty. He 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, had he
    chosen, to have sailed along the full tide of popularity with thousands
    and hundreds of thousands, without the loss of a single plaudit, but he
    has been slain, and I fear slain because he preferred the path of duty.
    I 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 house, be made the test of
    qualification for public service; that rested simply on popularity, and
    he 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 us, and it will be long ere we find such a happy mixture of
    eloquence, wisdom and impulse. (Hear, hear.) His was no artificial or
    meretricious eloquence, every word of his was as he believed, and every
    belief of his was in the direction of what was good and true. Well may I
    say now, on behalf of the Government and of the country, that, if he has
    fallen, he has fallen in our cause, leaving behind him a grateful
    recollection which will ever live in the hearts and minds of his
    countrymen. We must remember too that the blow which has fallen so
    severely on this House and the country will fall more severely on his
    widowed partner and his bereaved children. He was too good, too generous
    to be rich. He hast left us, the government, the people, and the
    representatives of the people, a sacred legacy, and we would be wanting
    in our duty to this country and to the feeling which will agitate the
    country from one end to the other, if we do not accept that legacy as a
    sacred trust, and look upon his widow and children as a widow and
    children belonging to the State. (Hear, hear.) I now move that the House
    adjourn, and that it stand adjourned till Tuesday next, at half past
    seven.

    Mr. McKENZIE said, in rising to second 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 should so
    very soon be called in this way to record our affection for him who had
    been thus suddenly cut off. It was my own lot for many years to work in
    political harmony with him, and it was my lot sometimes to oppose him,
    but through all the vicissitudes of political warfare we ever found him
    possess that generous disposition characteristic of the man and his
    country; and it will be long as the Hon. Knight at the head of the
    Government has said before we shall see his like again amongst us. I
    think there can be no doubt upon the mind of any one who has watched the
    events of last year in our country, in connection with events in his own
    distant native land, that he has fallen a victim to the noble and
    patriotic course which he has pursued in this country; having been
    assassinated by one of those who are alike the enemies of our country
    and of mankind. (Hear, hear.) I cordially sympathise with all that has
    been uttered by the honourable gentleman at the head of the Government,
    in making this motion and I have no fear that the generosity of
    Canadians will fail when it comes to be considered what we owe to his
    memory, and what we owe to his family. I would gladly, if I could, speak
    for a few minutes regarding the position he held amongst us but I cannot
    do more to-day than simply record my full appreciation of his public
    character as an orator, a statesman and a patriot, and express the
    fervent hope that his family thus suddenly bereaved of him who was 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 his companions
    in public life, by that sentiment of universal sorrow which prevails in
    every heart, will be brought to the hearts of those more immediately
    connected with him, his wife and children. This is the first instance we
    have had in our country of any of our 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 could, by any possibility, happen in our midst,
    and I can only hope that the efforts to made by Government will lead
    to the discovery that to an alien hand is due the sorrow that now clouds
    not only this house but the whole community. (Hear, hear.)

    Mr. CARTIER--Mr. Speaker, I will state at the outset 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 make use of such power to bring back before
    you, sir, and before this house, in proper language the great loss we
    have suffered, the loss the country has suffered, and the loss mankind
    has suffered, in the death of Thomas D'Arcy McGee. (Hear, hear.) Our
    colleague, Mr. McGee, was not an ordinary man; he was, I may say, one of
    those great, gifted minds, whom it pleases Providence sometimes to set
    before the world, in order to show to what a height the intellect of man
    can be exalted by the Almighty. Mr. McGee adopted this land of Canada,
    as his country, but although this was the land of his adoption he never
    ceased to love his mother country, his dear old Ireland. In this adopted
    land of his he did all in his power in order that his countrymen should
    be rendered as happy as possible, whether their lot was cast in this
    country, in Ireland, or in any part of the globe where an Irishman had
    set his foot. Mr. McGee though very young had a great deal of
    experience. He was connected with political events in Ireland in 1848
    and there is not the least 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 leader of Government, a man of
    impulse, of genius, and of wisdom, it is very seldom we meet a man on
    earth having those fine gifts who was so judicious as our late
    colleague. He was educated as it were for the benefit of his country. He
    is no longer among us, and I suppose all of my listeners at this moment
    will say with me that it has not been given to any one of us to have
    ever listened to so eloquent a public man. Every one of us shares the
    conviction 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 of evidence, that no Irishman, on earth, loved so much as he did
    dear Ireland. Mr. Speaker, I cannot but allude at this moment to that
    foreign organization in the land inhabited by our neighbours. I have not
    the least doubt that Mr. McGee, by warning the Irishmen of Canada not to
    join in that detestable organization, rendered the greatest service that
    an Irishman can render to his country. (Hear, hear.) He acquired for the
    Irish inhabitants of Canada the inestimable reputation of loyalty and of
    freedom from any participation in the hateful, detestable 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 passed from life to death, it is very likely that his death was the
    work of an assassin in that organization. It is not for us 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 stand which he took before and during
    the Fenian invasion of this country, he would not be lying a corpse this
    morning. At all events, sir, every Irishman inhabiting the different
    Provinces of Canada, when they consider the services Thomas D'Arcy McGee
    rendered to them in order to induce them not to partake in that Fenian
    movement in the United States, will lament his death as much as any one
    of us. Now, Mr. Speaker, I will not allude to his private qualities. I
    have known him; and we know that of this world's goods he possessed very
    little. He was a poor man, but I know myself that feelings of charity
    swelled his heart. The little he had, he was always willing to share
    with his poor countrymen. Although he was so gifted, although he soared
    so high above the ablest man in the land, did he ever show a feeling of
    vanity, did he ever show, by even a word, that he was more gifted than
    any one else in the land? No! but he used all his great power and
    ability modestly, for the good of his native land and his adopted
    country. I do hope and trust that this great Dominion will not leave
    helpless his widow and his dear children. He has not fallen, it is true,
    upon the field of battle; it cannot be said that he met the fate of a
    military hero; but his end was that of a Parliamentary hero. For two or
    three years he knew the bad passions which existed among certain classes
    on the other side of the lines. Again and again he received, through
    newspapers and other means, warning of the fate which he met last night.
    Well, did that prevent him from continuing his good work of inducing his
    countrymen to have nothing to do with that detestable organization? No!
    he laboured on, and now that he is no longer amongst us, we feel that
    the Irish inhabitants of the Dominion will appreciate the services he
    has rendered to them, and that they will mingle their tears with ours
    for his irreparable loss. (Hear, hear.)

    Mr. CHAMBERLIN said: When profound grief, such as now reigns in this
    House, weighs down men's hearts, few words are best. Yet I am loth that
    we should depart ere some tribute of respect has been paid, some words
    of regret uttered, even in this place, in behalf of the fraternity of
    letters, to which the deceased belonged. It is fit it should be spoken,
    even though to come from a member of what is held to be the lower branch
    of the literary craft to which I belong, in which, too, our deceased
    friend has had a no mean Honor to win a distinguished place. (Hear,
    hear.) His love of letters, and the great diversity of his writings, are
    well known. Of his diligence in promoting the cause of literature, his
    endeavours to promote a love of letters amid the young men of Montreal,
    and of the whole Dominion, it has been my privilege also to know much.
    He had made himself known in Canada and abroad as a lecturer, essayist,
    historian and poet. Others have spoken in fitting terms of the matchless
    oratory with which he clothed statesmanlike thought, and of his labours
    to allay intestine strife and promote the highest interests of the
    country, for which he has lost his life. But the press and literature of
    Canada must also mourn to-day for their brightest light extinguished;
    their greatest man prematurely reft from them, as he has been, for his
    country. (Applause.)

    Mr. ANGLIN said: I would be unworthy of my position in the House if I
    did not take this occasion to join in the expressions of horror and
    detestation which I know every member of this House, every man worthy of
    the name of a man, in this Dominion, must feel at the atrocious crime
    which has been committed. (Hear, hear.) I feel peculiarly embarrassed on
    this occasion, because it has been assumed, and I fear only too
    correctly, that this foul assassination has been the work of an
    organization of Irishmen--not I trust of Irishmen belonging to this
    Dominion--though I think it will not require much intelligence to
    determine that any Irishman who has enjoyed the free institutions of
    this country could not be guilty of such a dastardly act, (hear, hear,)
    but I cannot help thinking nevertheless, that as wherever Irishmen
    are--they are all one people--the crime of one will reflect on them all.
    I think I may speak on behalf of the whole of the Irishmen of this
    Dominion, I am sure I may on behalf of those of my own province, in
    expressing our utter detestation of this crime. It is an outrage that
    will probably have a great effect on the future of this country. None of
    us can realize its effects yet, the shock is too recent, none of us can,
    on this occasion, give vent to the feeling which overmasters us. Perhaps
    after all this is the highest tribute which we can pay to the man who
    has gone from amongst us. This must be the most telling mode of showing
    to our countrymen what our feelings are, and that we all agree in
    stigmatizing a crime of this nature. (Hear, hear.) I go even further
    than those who have preceded me, and express the hope that the assassin
    shall be speedily brought to justice. Not that we shall 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 Mr. McGee may be revenged, and that the
    supremacy of the law may be maintained. (Hear, hear.) I feel myself, Mr.
    Speaker, quite incapable of adequately expressing my feelings on this
    occasion, but I could not allow the opportunity to pass without saying
    those few words. (Applause.)

    Mr. CHAUVEAU said I also must pay my tribute of homage to him who has
    just fallen the victim of a crime of which we have truly said that it is
    without precedent in the history of our country. I recall the eloquent
    speech which he made even last night, in which one would search in vain
    for a single word, which could wound or irritate in the least degree,
    the feelings of those to whom he particularly addressed himself. (Hear,
    hear.) Those who had heard him can bear testimony that the advices and
    counsels were not given with a spirit of provocation, but on the
    contrary, they were given in a spirit of conciliation and concord. Those
    who heard him can truly judge that this spirit animated him last night,
    in his remarks on the subject of Nova Scotia. They can remember that he
    terminated his speech in saying that he fervently hoped that the debate
    would not have any unfavourable results for the country, and would not
    produce any evils to this province. A like crime has happily no
    precedent in the history of our country, and were it possible for us to
    console ourselves for the loss which we have sustained in the death of a
    friend; of an eminent man--of the prince of orators; we would find that
    consolation in the glory and relation of his death. That death is the
    baptism in blood of Confederation, and the sacrifice of him who did so
    much to bring about that Confederation, is a fact which ought to raise
    us in our own estimation, and make us judge of the height of our
    mission. If Mr. McGee had not fallen on the battlefield, his death is
    none the less glorious, because as the consummation 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 lives 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 whose hand
    struck him last night. (Hear, hear.) Warnings 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 detained him from the great task which he had undertaken. Truly,
    if that death is 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 descendants of De Salaberry, and a few
    hours later he himself fell as a hero and left a family without support,
    without hope, and without fortune. The name of D'Arcy McGee will live in
    the History of Canada, and his death will mark the death of Fenianism,
    for never has cause gained by assassination. No! from Julius Csar to
    the Rienzi, down to Mr. Lincoln, never has a cause succeeded by
    assassination; and the death of their great men was the signal of the
    death of the cause of the party under the blows of which they fell, as
    the death of D'Arcy McGee will be the signal of the death of the party
    which exercised its vengeance on him. I think that the murder of the
    Hon. Mr. McGee will have a happy influence upon Canada, inasmuch as it
    will force that spirit of disloyalty heretofore prevalent to disappear,
    and inspire a horror of the party which gave it birth; while, at the
    same time, it will contribute to the glory and the greatness of Canada.
    As happily has been said, the Hon. Mr. McGee never displayed the least
    vanity, or prided himself upon his transcendent talent. He was always
    modest and affable towards all, and never appeared to appreciate his own
    merit. He also had a generous heart. He was always ready to contribute
    to every charity or charitable institution. I have often met him in
    Montreal in ceremonies and public celebrations got up for the purpose of
    doing good and instilling charity, and he never refused his aid or
    refused to draw on the eloquent fund of words which sprung from the
    bottom of his heart in aid of the poor. On these occasions he always
    seemed to be under the impression that he was only doing what another
    person would have done, and his good heart was equal to his modesty. The
    orphans and unfortunates have lost in him a great protector, but he also
    behind him leaves a widow and some orphans. To-day we must perforce
    deplore his death. To-morrow, or at another sitting of the House, we
    will have a duty to fulfil towards his memory and his family (hear,
    hear), and I am happy to see that the Government has already thought of
    an act of reparation, an act of justice; and I am sure that so far as
    the Province of Quebec is concerned, whatever sum the Government
    proposes, that Province will heartily concur in. The Hon. gentleman,
    whose speech was delivered in French, seemed to be considerably
    affected, and was listened to with marked attention.

    Mr. E. M. MACDONALD (Lunenburgh, N. S.,) said: Mr. Speaker, I feel
    utterly unable to express the feelings which at this moment almost
    overpowers me. How little did I dream when I heard the lamented deceased
    last night, that it would be the last time this House would listen to
    him. When I think that that active teeming brain has ceased for ever to
    animate what is now but his cold clay, I stand aghast. It was my lot to
    be among those who viewed some political events from a different stand
    of point from that of the honourable deceased. But whatever difference
    of opinion there may have been upon political matters, on one point
    there can be no difference of opinion on his genial nature, his kindly
    heart, and the wide charity that animated him. When he departed he left
    us not his equal behind him. With regard to the heinousness of the
    monstrous crime that has been committed, 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 in the duty of
    tracing out and punishing the monster who has been guilty of this foul
    deed. [Hear, hear.]

    Mr. STUART CAMPBELL said: I cannot allow this opportunity to pass
    without a few observations. It affords me painful gratification to find
    that, although on some occasions, I may differ from other
    representatives of the provinces from which I come. On this occasion, we
    are one in feeling, in heart, and sympathy the same, and, Sir, I feel
    assured that when the fatal intelligence which has bowed us almost to
    the dust reaches the province of which I am a representative, that there
    will be in that province weeping and mourning, and lamentation. Sir, the
    Honourable Gentleman whose death we are mourning, was well known in that
    province. He had there secured many warm and sincerely attached friends,
    not only of one class, but of all classes, and at this moment when the
    painful intelligence has reached that country, I feel convinced that
    from highest to lowest they will accord with us in the expression of the
    sympathy and feeling that has been made to-day. I have had no very long
    personal acquaintance 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 was nothing else which he has left us as a
    legacy by which to remember him, the exhibition of his eloquence, of his
    patriotism, of his philosophy, of his kindness of heart which he
    displayed on the floor last night, must ever endear him to our memories
    and to the memories of all. I fear that the record of his sentiments
    last night will not be adequately preserved, I wish they could be
    preserved in the archives of this country, and treasured up in the
    hearts of the people of this land. There was sound philosophy, there was
    good advice addressed to the Province from which I come,--I feel there
    will be bequeathed to that people, a legacy of which they will be glad
    to avail themselves, and which in the future history of the country,
    will not be without extensive servitude. I am glad to hear that it is
    the intention of Government to take care of those 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 past four until Tuesday next.

Mr. McGee's remains were taken to Montreal, to be interred, with great
pomp, at the cost of the city he represented so wisely and so well. What
would have been his forty-third 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!


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    Transcriber Notes

  Obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected.




[End of Thos. D'Arcy McGee: Sketch of his Life and Death, by Fennings Taylor]
