Chapter III (7)

This is the title of a book recently published simultaneously in London and New York, and which bids fair to excite considerable attention east and west of the Atlantic. The author, Mr. John Francis Maguire, M.P., has long since attained to honorable distinction not only in Ireland, his own country, but in the British House of Commons. His visit to this country during the past year strengthened the favorable impression already made on those who had known him only through his published speeches and the prominent part he has taken for many years in the affairs of his native country. Heart and soul devoted to the best interests of that country, and of the Irish race everywhere; thoroughly acquainted with the Celtic nature, its capabilities for progress and improvement, and fervently devoted to the faith which is the richest inheritance of Catholic Ireland, Mr. Maguire felt anxious to see with his own eyes the actual condition of the Irish in America, what advantages they had gained by emigration, and how far they had retained and carried out in their new country the Christian traditions of the old. He accordingly visited America, availing himself of the interval between the sessions of parliament, and, in so far as his limited time permitted, took personal observations on the state of "the Irish in America." The book before us is the result of these observations.

In the main, Mr. Maguire has given his readers a fair and correct view of his subject, vast and comprehensive as it is; he has taken pains to find out the exact condition of the people of whom he writes, in the new home across the wave to which they have carried their broken fortunes as a race. The opening paragraph of the first chapter is well adapted to interest the general reader. It is as follows:

"Crossing the Atlantic, and landing at any city of the American
seaboard, one is enabled, almost at a glance, to recognize the
marked difference between the position of the Irish race in the
old country and in the new. Nor is the condition of the Irish
at both sides of the ocean more marked in its dissimilarity
than are the circumstances and characteristics of the country
from which they emigrated and the country to which they have
come.
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In the old country, stagnation, retrogression, if not actual
decay--in the new, life, movement, progress; in the one
oppression, want of confidence, dark apprehension of the
future--in the other, energy, self-reliance, and a perpetual
looking forward to a grander development and a more glorious
destiny. That the tone of the public mind of America should be
self-reliant and even boastful, is natural in a country of
brief but pregnant history--a country still in its infancy,
when compared with European states, but possessing, in the
fullest sense, the strength and vigor of manhood--manhood in
all its freshness of youth and buoyancy of hope. In such a
country man is most conscious of his value: he is the architect
of his country's greatness, the author of her civilization, the
miracle-worker by whom all has been or can be accomplished.
Where a few years since a forest waved in mournful grandeur,
there are cultivated fields, blooming orchards, comfortable
homesteads, cheerful hamlets--churches, schools, civilization;
where but the other day a few huts stood on the river's bank,
by the shore of a lake, or on some estuary of the sea, swelling
domes and lofty spires and broad porticoes now meet the eye;
and the waters but recently skimmed by the light bark of the
Indian are ploughed into foam by countless steamers. And the
same man who performed these miracles of a few years since--of
yesterday--has the same power of to-morrow achieving the same
wondrous results of patience and energy, courage and skill. But
for him, and his hands to toil and his brains to plan, the vast
country whose commerce is on every sea, and whose influence is
felt in every court, would be still the abode of savage tribes,
dwelling in perpetual conflict, and steeped in the grossest
ignorance. Labor is thus a thing to be honored, not a badge of
inferiority."

Mr. Maguire commences his American _tour_ at Halifax, which, he says, "an enthusiastic Hibernian once described as 'the wharf of the Atlantic.'" He finds that, in that city, and indeed, throughout the provinces generally, the Irish form an important and influential element in the population. Of Halifax he says in particular:

"This Irish element is everywhere discernible; in every
description of business and in all branches of industry, in
every class and in every condition of life, from the highest to
the lowest. There are in other cities larger masses of Irish,
some in which they are five times and even ten times as
numerous as the whole population of Halifax; but it may be
doubted if there are many cities of the entire continent of
America in which they afford themselves fuller play for the
exercise of their higher qualities than in the capital of Nova
Scotia, where their moral worth keeps pace with their material
prosperity."--P. 3.

Speaking of the progress of the faith in Nova Scotia, and of the arduous labors of the devoted missionaries of years past and present, our author relates some facts that will no doubt astonish his European readers. In America they are neither new nor strange; for what is told of Nova Scotia either applies, or has applied, within the memory of some living, in a greater or less degree, to every part of the new world.

"Within the last ten years a Nova Scotia priest has discharged
the duties of a district extending considerably over one
hundred miles in length; and while I was in Halifax, the
archbishop appointed a clergyman to the charge of a mission
which would necessitate his making journeys of more than that
many miles in extent. And when a missionary priest, in 1842,
the archbishop would make a three months' tour from Halifax to
Dartmouth, a distance, going and returning, of 450 miles; and
would frequently diverge ten or even twenty miles from the main
line into the bush on either side, thus doing duty for a
population of 10,000 Catholics who had no spiritual resource
save in him and a decrepit fellow-laborer on the brink of the
grave.

"It is not three years since a young Irish priest, then in the
first year of his mission, received what, to him, was literally
a death-summons. He was lying ill in bed when the 'sick call'
reached his house, the pastor of the district being absent. The
poor young man did not hesitate a moment; no matter what the
consequence to himself, the dying Catholic should not be
without the consolations of religion. To the dismay of those
who knew of his intention, and who remonstrated in vain against
what to them appeared to be an act of insanity, he started on
his journey, a distance of thirty-six miles, which he
accomplished on foot, in the midst of incessant rain.
{767}
It is not possible to tell how often he paused involuntarily on
that terrible march, or how he reeled and staggered as he
approached its termination; but this much is well ascertained--
that scarcely had he reached the sick man's bed, and performed
the functions of his ministry, when he was conscious of his own
approaching dissolution; and there being no brother priest to
minister to him in his last hour, he administered the viaticum
to himself, and died on the floor of what was then, indeed, a
chamber of death. Here was a glorious ending of a life only
well begun.

"Bermuda is included within the jurisdiction of the Archbishop
of Halifax, and to this fact is owing one of the most
extraordinary instances of a 'sick call' on record. A Catholic
lady in Bermuda was dying of a lingering disease, and knowing
that further delay might be attended with consequences which
she regarded as worse than death, she availed herself of the
opportunity of a vessel then about to sail for Halifax to send
for a clergyman of that city. The day the message was delivered
to the clergyman, a vessel was to sail from Halifax to Bermuda,
and he went on board at once, arrived in due course at the
latter place, found the dying lady still alive, administered to
her the rites of the church, and returned as soon as possible
to his duties in Halifax; having, in obedience to this
remarkable 'sick call, 'accomplished a journey of 1600
miles."--P. 16.

Not quite so interesting as this is the somewhat prolix account Mr. Maguire gives of his visit to Pictou, N. S., where he took passage for Prince Edward's Island. We do not think his readers would have sustained any loss by his omission of several pages in which a certain "Peter," resident in those parts, acted as his _cicerone_. "Peter" may have interested Mr. Maguire, but he will not interest his readers. There is one paragraph, however, in connection with the visit to Prince Edward's Island that we may not pass over here, for the reason that it, too, is of general application. Mr. Maguire is speaking of St. Dunstan's College in Charlottetown:

"This college is supplied with every modern requirement and
appliance, and is under the able presidency of the Rev. Angus
McDonald, a man well qualified for his important task, and
whose title of 'Father Angus' is as affectionately pronounced
by the most Irish of the Irish as if it were 'Father Larry,' or
'Father Pat.' The Irish love their own priests; but let the
priest of any other nationality--English, Scotch, French,
Belgian, or American--only exhibit sympathy with them, or treat
them with kindness and affection, and at once he is as
thoroughly 'their priest' as if he had been born on the banks
of the Boyne or the Shannon. 'Father Dan' McDonald, the
vicar-general, is a striking instance of the attachment borne
by an Irish congregation to a good and kindly priest; and I now
the more dwell on this thorough fusion of priest and people in
love and sympathy, because of having witnessed with pain and
sorrow the injurious results, alike to my countrymen and to the
church, of forcing upon almost exclusively Irish congregations
clergymen who, from their imperfect knowledge of the Irish
tongue, could not for a long time make themselves understood by
those over whom it was essential they should acquire a
beneficial influence."--Pp. 46, 47.

Very interesting is our author's account of the Irish settlements in Prince Edward's Island and New Brunswick; one of the latter, Johnville, commenced within a few years, under the auspices of Right Rev. Dr. Sweeny, Bishop of New Brunswick, furnishes a striking proof of the advantages to be gained by settling on the land, instead of congregating in the over-crowded cities. The beneficent effect on their morals, the cultivation of kind feeling and fraternal charity amongst the settlers by the formation of these rural colonies is happily described in the following passage:

"The settlers of Johnville are invariably kind to each other,
freely lending to a neighbor the aid which they may have the
next day to solicit for themselves. By this mutual and
ungrudging assistance, the construction of a dwelling, or the
rolling of logs and piling them in a heap for future burning,
has been quickly and easily accomplished; and crops have been
cut and gathered in safety, which, without such neighborly aid,
might have been irrecoverably lost. This necessary dependence
on each other for mutual help in the hour of difficulty draws
the scattered settlers together by ties of sympathy and
friendship; and while none envy the progress of a neighbor,
whose success is rather a subject for general congratulation,
the affliction of one of these humble families brings a common
sorrow to every home.
{768}
I witnessed a touching illustration of this fraternal and
Christian sympathy. Even in the heart of the primitive forest
we have sickness, and death, and frenzied grief, just as in
cities with histories that go back a thousand years. A few days
previous to my visit a poor fellow had become mad, his insanity
being attributed to the loss of his young wife, whose death
left him a despairing widower with four infant children. He had
just been conveyed to the lunatic asylum, and his orphans were
already taken by the neighbors, and made part of their
families."--P. 68.

"On our return to St. John," says Mr. Maguire, "we met the postmaster-general--a Scotchman--who had recently paid an official visit to the settlement; and he was loud in the expression of his astonishment at the progress which the people had made in so short a time, and at the unmistakable evidences of comfort he beheld in every direction. The settlement of Johnville," he goes on, "is but one of four which Dr. Sweeny has established within a recent time. He has thus succeeded in establishing, as settlers, between 700 and 800 families, or, at an average of five persons to each family, between 3500 and 4000 individuals."

This one fact shows what might be done in that way for the social and moral improvement of many, many thousands of "the Irish in America," who need some favorable change in their condition, if they are to be saved from total destruction. If the vast superfluous populations of the cities could only be induced to scatter abroad through the rural districts, and work as laborers until they could afford to purchase land, much misery and degradation would be avoided. The Irish are chiefly an agricultural people at home; why will they not understand that those who were farmers or laborers "in the old country" would be most likely to succeed by following the same pursuits here? All the portions of Mr. Maguire's book relating to these Irish settlements are both useful and interesting. Of the progress of the Irish and their cherished faith in St. John's, the capital of New Brunswick, our author says:

"Forty years since, an ordinary room would have afforded
sufficient accommodation to the Catholic worshippers of that
day: now congregations of two thousand or three thousand pour
out on Sundays and holidays through the sculptured portals of
the Church of the Immaculate Conception. On All Saints' Day I
beheld such a congregation issuing from an early mass, filling
the street in front of the splendid building; and from the
appearance of the thousands of well-dressed,
respectable-looking people, who passed before me, I could
appreciate not only the material progress of the Irish in St.
John, but the marvellous development of the Catholic Church in
that city."--P. 89.

Passing on into the Canadas, Mr. Maguire finds the Irish occupying as prominent a position as in any of the Lower Provinces. "Entering Canada at Quebec," he says, "the presence of a strong and even influential Irish element is at once observable. In the staple industry of this fine old city--the lumber trade--the Irish take a prominent part. . . . It is pleasant to hear that not only are the Irish in Quebec, and indeed along the St. Lawrence, among the most industrious and energetic portion of the population, but that they are thrifty and saving, and have acquired considerable property. Thus, along the harbor, from the Champlain market westward to the limits of the city, an extent of two miles, the property, including wharves, warehouses, and dwelling-houses, belongs principally to the Irish, who form the bulk of the population in that quarter. And by Irish I here mean Catholic Irish."

Following the course of the St. Lawrence, he reaches Montreal, and he thus describes the position of the Irish there:

{769}

"In no part of the British Provinces of North America does the
Catholic Irishman feel himself so thoroughly at home as in the
beautiful and flourishing city of Montreal. He is in a Catholic
city, where his religion is respected, and his church is
surrounded with dignity and splendor. In whichever direction he
turns, he beholds some magnificent temple--some college, or
convent, or hospital--everywhere the cross, whether reared
aloft on the spire of a noble church, or on the porch or gable
of an asylum or a school. In fact, the atmosphere he breathes
is Catholic. Therefore he finds himself at home in the thriving
commercial capital of Lower Canada. In no part of the world is
he more perfectly free and independent than in this prosperous
seat of industry and enterprise, in which, it may be remarked,
there is more apparent life and energy than in any other
portion of the British Provinces. It is not, then, to be
wondered at that the Catholic Irish are equal in number to the
entire of the English-speaking Protestant population, including
English, Scotch, and Irish. It is estimated that the Irish
Catholics are now not less than thirty thousand. Of these a
large proportion necessarily belong to the working classes, and
find employment in various branches of local industry. Their
increase has been rapid and striking. Fifty years since, there
were not fifty Irish Catholic families in Montreal. It is about
that time since Father Richards, an American, took compassion
upon the handful of exiles who were then friendless and
unknown, and gathered them into a small sacristy attached to
one of the minor churches, to speak to them in a language which
they understood. In thirty years afterward their number had
increased to eight thousand, and now they are not under thirty
thousand."--P. 96.

Much more than he has said, Mr. Maguire might have said about the Irish in Montreal, and the positions of honor and emolument to which many of them have attained. Of the city itself, he digresses to speak as follows:

"It is foreign to the purpose of this book to describe the
public institutions and buildings of any place; but I cannot
refrain from expressing my admiration of Montreal, which is in
every respect worthy of its high reputation. It has an air at
once elegant and solid, many of its streets spacious and alive
with traffic and bustle, its places of doing business
substantial and handsome; its public buildings really imposing,
and its churches generally splendid, and not a few of them
positively superb. This description of the churches of Montreal
is not limited to the Jesuits' Church, the stately
_Paroisse_, and the grand church of St. Patrick, of which
the Irish are deservedly proud; it applies with equal propriety
to the Episcopalian Cathedral, and more than one church
belonging to the dissenting bodies. Montreal is rich in all
kinds of charitable, educational, and religious institutions;
and such is the influence and power of the Catholic element,
that this beautiful city, which is every day advancing in
prosperity and population, is naturally regarded by the
Catholic Irishman as a home. The humble man sees his
coreligionists advancing in every walk of life, filling
positions of distinction--honored and respected; and, instead
of mere toleration for his faith, he witnesses, in the
magnificent procession of Corpus Christi, which annually pours
its solemn splendor through the streets, a spectacle consoling
alike to his religious feeling and his personal pride."

Although it is not exactly germane to our subject, we must be pardoned for giving in this connection Mr. Maguire's observations on the admirable system of education, of which Catholic Lower Canada may well be proud.

"Education in Lower Canada is entirely free. Each denomination
enjoys the most complete liberty, there being no compulsion or
restriction of any kind whatever. And the magnificent Laval
University, so called after a French bishop, enjoys and
exercises every right and privilege possessed by the great
universities of England. This university, which is eminently
Catholic, obtained a charter conferring upon it all the powers
that were requisite for its fullest educational development.

"The rights of the Protestant minority are protected in the
amplest manner, as well by law as by the natural tendency and
feeling of the majority; for there are no people more liberal
and tolerant, or more averse to any kind of aggression on the
faith or opinions of others, than the French Canadians; and the
Irish Catholics too well remember the bitterness caused by
religious strife in the old country, to desire its
introduction, in any shape or form, or under any guise or
pretence, into their adopted home. There are abundant means of
education within every man's reach; and it is his own fault if
his children do not receive its full advantage.
{770}
But the Irishman, whatever may be his own deficiencies as to
early training, rarely neglects that of his children; and in
Canada, as in the States, the fault attributed to him is not
that he neglects to educate them at all, but that he is tempted
to educate them rather too highly, or too ambitiously, than
otherwise."--Pp. 95, 96.

Following the widely-scattered Irish race along the rivers and through the forests of the great northern countries, Mr. Maguire happily describes what they have done and are doing in Upper Canada, as Protestant, nearly, as Lower Canada is Catholic. Even there, he shows us, Catholicity is making as rapid progress as in any part of America, and there, as in many other parts of the world, its marvellous growth corresponds with that of the Irish race. Mr. Maguire's account of his travels in Upper or Western Canada is, indeed, highly interesting. It was his good fortune to meet in Hamilton, C. W., a well-known and much-honored patriarch-priest, Very Rev. Mr. Gordon, vicar-general of that diocese, from whom he obtained much valuable information concerning the Irish Catholic people of Western Canada. Mr. Maguire says in this connection:

"There is still living in Hamilton, Western Canada, as
vicar-general of the diocese, an Irish priest--Father Gordon,
from Wexford--who has witnessed astonishing changes in his
time. He has seen the city founded, and the town spring up, the
forest cleared, and the settlement created; the rude log
chapel, in which a handful of the faithful knelt in the midst
of a wood, replaced by the spacious brick church in which many
hundreds now worship. And not only has he witnessed astonishing
changes, but has himself done much to effect the changes which
he has lived to see accomplished. ... Father Gordon had charge
of the back townships, twenty-four in number. We must
appreciate the extent of his spiritual jurisdiction when we
learn that a township comprised an area of twelve miles square
and Father Gordon had to attend twenty-four of these. ...
Father Gordon spent half his time in the saddle; and though he
spared neither himself nor his horse--but himself much less
than his horse--it was with the utmost difficulty that he could
visit the more distant portions of his mission oftener than
twice or thrice a year; many a time did the active missionary
lose his way in the midst of the woods, and after hours of
weary riding find himself, in the dusk of the evening, in the
very same spot from which he set out in the morning!"--Pp. 112,
117.

Some of Father Gordon's early adventures in the wild Canadian forests, are extremely interesting, but for them we must refer the reader to the book itself. Father Edward Gordon is nearly the last of the noble band of Irish missionaries who went to those remote regions with the first instalments of the Irish exodus that reached there. Another, his friend and fellow-laborer, Very Rev. Mr. McDonagh, died but a year or two ago at Perth, in the diocese of Kingston, of which diocese he was vicar-general. A third, if we mistake not, is still living, namely, Father Brennan, of Bellville, C. W. These are the men who laid the foundations of the Catholic Church in those parts of Upper Canada. In the Scotch settlements farther east, there are still a very few of the old Scotch missionaries remaining, chiefly McDonalds. One of the most thrillingly interesting portions of the book is that devoted to the account of the terrible ship-fever brought to Canada by the Irish emigrants in the ever-memorable years of 1847-8. Our author's description of its ravages at Grosse Isle, the quarantine station of Quebec, at Point St. Charles, Montreal, and in the cities of Upper Canada, is of deep and painful interest. The adoption of the orphan children of the poor Irish emigrants--of whom twelve thousand perished at Grosse Isle alone--by the friendly French Canadians, is beyond expression touching. How the good Canadian priests and bishops took charge, and induced their people to take charge of these "children of the faithful Catholic Irish," as they expressively called the poor orphans, is told by Mr. Maguire with the grace of a poet and the skill of a dramatist. {771} Yet the picture is nothing overdrawn, as the writer of this, and many others yet living, can bear witness from their own sad memories of those sorrowful days.

Outside the Catholic Church no such spectacle of charity was ever seen as that which met the eyes of the Canadian people in Montreal and their other cities in those two disastrous years, but especially the first. The following passage will give some idea of the extent to which Christian heroism was carried then and there:

"The horrors of Grosse Isle had their counterpart in Montreal.

"As in Quebec, the mortality was greater in 1847 than in the
year following; but it was not till the close of 1848 that the
plague might be said to be extinguished, not without fearful
sacrifice of life. During the months of June, July, August, and
September, the season when nature wears her most glorious garb
of loveliness, as many as eleven hundred of 'the faithful
Irish,' as the Canadian priest truly described them, were lying
at one time in the fever-sheds at Point St. Charles, in which
rough wooden beds were placed in rows, and so close as scarcely
to admit of room to pass. In these miserable cribs the patients
lay, sometimes two together, looking, as a Sister of Charity
wrote, 'as if they were in their coffins,' from the box-like
appearance of their wretched beds. Throughout those glorious
months, while the sun shone brightly, and the majestic river
rolled along in golden waves, hundreds of the poor Irish were
dying daily. The world outside was gay and glad, but death was
rioting in the fever-sheds. It was a moment to try the devotion
which religion inspires, to test the courage with which it
animates the gentlest breast. First came the Grey Nuns, strong
in love and faith; but so malignant was the disease, that
thirty of their number were stricken down, and thirteen died
the death of martyrs. There was no faltering, no holding back;
no sooner were the ranks thinned by death than the gaps were
quickly filled; and when the Grey Nuns were driven to the last
extremity, the Sisters of Providence came to their assistance,
and took their place by the side of the dying strangers. But
when even their aid did not suffice to meet the emergency, the
Sisters of St. Joseph, though cloistered nuns, received the
permission of the bishop to share with their sister religious
the hardships and dangers of labor by day and night.

"'I am the only one left,' were the thrilling words in which
the surviving priest announced from the pulpit the ravages that
the 'ocean plague' had made in the ranks of the clergy. With a
single exception, the local priests were either sick or dead.
Eight of the number fell at their posts, true to their duty.
The good Bishop, Monseigneur Bourget, then went himself, to
take his turn in the lazar-house; but the enemy was too mighty
for his zeal, and having remained in the discharge of his
self-imposed task for a day and a night, he contracted the
fever, and was carried home to a sick-bed, where he lay for
weeks, hovering between life and death, amid the tears and
prayers of his people, to whom Providence restored him after a
period of intense anxiety to them, and long and weary suffering
to him.

"When the city priests were found inadequate to the discharge
of their pressing duties, the country priests cheerfully
responded to the call of their bishop, and came to the
assistance of their brethren; and of the country priests not a
few found the grave and the crown of the martyr."--Pp. 145,
146, 148.

After a glance at the Irish in Newfoundland, where, in proportion to their numbers, and the extent of the island, they have done fully as much for their own advancement and that of religion, as in any other part of America, Mr. Maguire, before crossing the great waters that separate British America from the United States makes these pertinent remarks on the Irish exodus generally:

"There are few sadder episodes in the history of the world than
the story of the Irish exodus. Impelled, to a certain degree,
by a spirit of adventure, but mainly driven from their native
land by the operation of laws which, if not opposed to the
genius of the people, were unsuited to the special
circumstances of their country, millions of the Irish race have
braved the dangers of an unknown element, and faced the perils
of a new existence, in search of a home across the Atlantic. At
times, this European life-stream flowed toward the new world in
a broad and steady current; at others, it assumed the character
of a resistless rush, breaking on the shores of America with so
formidable a tide as to baffle every anticipation, and render
the ordinary means of humane or sanitary precaution altogether
inadequate and unavailing."--P. 179

{772}

Having crossed into the territory of the United States, Mr. Maguire very judiciously prefaces his account of what he saw amongst the Irish there, by a long and carefully written account of the dangers to which emigrants and their pockets are exposed in New York, the great centre of emigration. This is one of the most useful portions of the work, and should be read, if possible, by every intending emigrant to the United States. The greater part of Chapter X. is devoted to it, comprising some amusing and characteristic anecdotes and some very important directions for the guidance of newly-arrived emigrants.

Mr. Maguire next turns his attention to the tenement-houses of New York, and the sanitary condition of their inhabitants. He devotes much space to this, and his remarks are clear, practical, and judicious. He evidently examined the condition even of the poorest and most wretched of the Irish in this metropolis. He speaks, in this connection, earnestly and feelingly on the great mistake, the terrible mistake made by those emigrants who, being farmers or country people at home, remain huddled together in the great cities here, instead of spreading abroad over the fertile regions of America, where land is to be had cheap, in some places almost for the asking.

"Let it not be supposed that, in my earnest desire to direct
the practical attention of my countrymen, at both sides of the
Atlantic, to an evil of universally admitted magnitude, I
desire to exaggerate in the least. From the very nature of
things, the great cities of America--and, in a special degree,
New York--must be the refuge of the unfortunate, the home of
the helpless, the hiding-place of the broken-down, even of the
criminal; and these, while crowding the dwelling-places of the
poor, and straining the resources and preying on the charity of
their communities, multiply their existing evils, and add to
their vices. Still, in spite of the dangers and temptations by
which they are perpetually surrounded--dangers and temptations
springing even from the very freedom of republican
institutions, no less than from the generous social habits of
the American people--there are thousands, hundreds of
thousands, of Irish-born citizens of the United States,
residing in New York and in other great cities of the Union,
who are, in every respect, the equals of the best of American
population--honorable and upright in their dealings;
industrious, energetic, and enterprising in business;
intelligent and quick of capacity; progressive and go-ahead;
and as loyally devoted to the institutions of their adopted
country as if they had been born under its flag. Nevertheless,
I repeat the assertion, justified by innumerable
authorities--authorities beyond the faintest shadow of
suspicion--that the city is not the right place for the Irish
peasant, and that it is the worst place which he could select
as his home."--Pp. 235-236.

Mr. Maguire's limited time did not permit him to travel much in the interior of any State; he could but visit the principal cities. His account of the Middle, Southern, and great Western States, is written in general terms; he speaks at some length of the Irish settlements in the new States and territories, of the vast resources of the country, and the enormous quantity of public lands at the disposal of the United States government. After describing the progress of the Irish in the West and North-west, he adds:

"It is not at all necessary that an Irish immigrant should go
West, whatever and how great the inducements it offers to the
enterprising. There is land to be had, under certain
circumstances and conditions, in almost every State in the
Union. And there is no State in which the Irish peasant who is
living from hand to mouth in one of the great cities as a
day-laborer, may not improve his condition by betaking himself
to his natural and legitimate avocation--the cultivation of the
soil. Nor is the vast region of the South unfavorable to the
laborious and energetic Irishman. On the contrary, there is no
portion of the American continent in which he would receive a
more cordial welcome, or meet with more favorable terms. This
would not have been so before the war, or the abolition of
slavery, and the upset of the land system, which was based upon
the compulsory labor of the negro.
{773}
Before the war, the land was held in mass by large proprietors,
and, whatever its quantity, there was no dividing or selling
it--that is, willingly; for, when land was brought to the hammer,
the convenience of the purchaser had to be consulted. But there
was no voluntary division of the soil, no cutting it up into
parcels, to be occupied by small proprietors. Now, the state of
things is totally different."--P. 252.

Our author seems much impressed with the advantages offered by the "magnificent State of California" to Irish emigrants. Of it he says:

"There is not a State in the Union in which the Irish have
taken deeper and stronger root, or thriven more successfully,
than California, in whose amazing progress--material, social,
and intellectual--they have had a conspicuous share. For nearly
twenty years past, this region has been associated in the
popular mind with visions of boundless wealth and marvellous
fortunes; and it may be interesting to learn under what
circumstances the Irish became connected with a country of such
universal repute, and of whose population they form a most
important and valuable portion."--P. 262.

Mr. Maguire waxes eloquent over the benefits conferred on his countrymen, in all the cities of America, by temperance societies. He deplores, over and over again, the fatal propensity to spirituous liquors, of which he everywhere saw lamentable instances amongst his countrymen in America. He says, in many places, that drink, and drink alone, is the cause why so many of the Irish do not find in the new world that success which crowns the efforts of so many thousands and even millions of their race. "Drink, accursed drink," he says, "is the cause why so many of the Irish in America fail, and fail miserably." On the other hand, he saw, wherever he went, east, west, north, and south, that those among them who attained to wealth and position were all sober men, many of them "teetotalers."

The love of home and kindred, which is one of the most beautiful as it is one of the strongest traits in the Irish character, is duly noted by Mr. Maguire as distinguishing them in America. The many and great sacrifices made by Irish emigrants here, and especially by servant-girls, are thus described by our author:

"The great ambition of the Irish girl is to send 'something' to
her people, as soon as possible after she has landed in
America; and, in innumerable instances, the first tidings of
her arrival in the new world are accompanied with a remittance,
the fruits of her first earnings in her first place. Loving a
bit of finery dearly, she will resolutely shut her eyes to the
attractions of some enticing article of dress, to prove to the
loved ones at home that she has not forgotten them; and she
will risk the danger of insufficient clothing, or boots not
proof against rain or snow, rather than diminish the amount of
the little hoard to which she is weekly adding, and which she
intends as a delightful surprise to parents who, possibly, did
not altogether approve of her hazardous enterprise. To send
money to her people, she will deny herself innocent enjoyments,
womanly indulgences, and the gratifications of legitimate
vanity; and such is the generous and affectionate nature of
these young girls, that they regard the sacrifices they make as
the most ordinary matter in the world, for which they merit
neither praise nor approval. To assist their relatives, whether
parents, or brothers and sisters, is with them a matter of
imperative duty, which they do not and cannot think of
disobeying, and which, on the contrary, they delight in
performing. And the money destined to that purpose is regarded
as sacred, and must not be diverted to any object less
worthy."--P. 315.

A very important and deeply interesting portion of Mr. Maguire's book is that which treats of the share the Irish have had in building up and sustaining the church in America. In all the checkered history of the Irish race, there is no page more glorious than that which records their fidelity to the faith, in foreign lands as well as at home; their heart-warm attachment to, and profound reverence for, their clergy; the mighty sacrifices they make, and have made to promote the interests of religion, and the important part they have played in the propagation of the faith:

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"It has been confidently stated, that the moment the Irish
touch the free soil of America, they lose the old faith--that
there is something in the very nature of republican
institutions fatal to the Church of Rome. Admitting, as a fact
which cannot be denied, and which Catholics are themselves the
first to proclaim, that there has been some, even considerable,
falling off from the church, and no little indifferentism, it
must be acknowledged that there has been less of both than,
from the circumstances of the country, might have been
reasonably expected; and that the same Irish, whose alleged
defection _en masse_ has been the theme of ungenerous
triumph to those whose 'wish was father to the thought,' have
done more to develop the Church, and extend her dominion
throughout the wide continent of North America, than even the
most devoted of the children of any other of the various races
who, with them, are merged in the great American nation. This
much may be freely conceded to them, even by those who are most
sensitively and justly proud of what their own nationality has
done to promote the glory of the Universal Church. Fortified by
suffering and trial at home, and inheritors of memories which
intensify devotion rather than weaken fidelity, the Irish
brought with them a strong faith, the power to resist as well
as the courage to persevere, and that generosity of spirit
which has ever prompted mankind to make large sacrifices for
the promotion of their religious belief."--P. 346.

In order to give a more correct idea to his European readers of the services rendered by the Irish in America to the cause of religion, our author gives a retrospective view of the rise and progress of Catholicity in the United States. This he illustrates by extracts from the writings and correspondence of various bishops and priests of the elder time, and also the later, and with interesting data from other sources. He dwells at some length on the foundation or introduction into these countries of the two great orders of Charity and Mercy, the one founded in Dublin by Mrs. McAuley, the other at Emmettsburg, Maryland, by Mrs. Seton, an American lady and a convert. _A propos_ to the latter, he relates the following:

"It may be remarked, that this holy woman, this model wife and
daughter, was deeply impressed with the religious demeanor of
the poor Irish emigrants of that day--the opening of the
present century--who were detained in quarantine at Staten
Island, and attended by her father, as Health Physician to the
port of New York. 'The first thing,' she says, 'these poor
people did, when they got their tents, was to assemble on the
grass, and all kneeling, adored our Maker for his mercy; and
every morning sun finds them repeating their praises.' The
scenes then witnessed at Staten Island remind one of those
which were so fatally frequent in subsequent years. Even at
that time--1800, and the years following--large numbers of
emigrants arrived at the port of New York, suffering from the
dreadful scourge of fever, so calamitous to the Irish
race."--P. 363.

For all that relates to the illustrious prelates, Bishop England and Archbishop Hughes, their lives and their works, we must refer the reader to the book itself. An anecdote, in which Bishop England and one of his zealous priests were actors, will be found peculiarly interesting:

"One evening the bishop, who was on this occasion accompanied
by one of his few priests--Father O'Neill; it need scarcely be
added, a countryman of his own--drew up at a house of rather
moderate dimensions, whose master was a marked specimen of the
species surly. Negotiations were entered into for a dinner,
which the liberal host was willing to give on certain
conditions, somewhat exorbitant in their nature; but there was
to be no further accommodation. 'You cannot stop the night,
nohow,' said the agreeable owner of the mansion; and his look
of dogged dislike was quite as emphatic as his words. After
dinner, Dr. England sat on a chair in the piazza, and read his
'office;' while Father O'Neill, having no desire to enjoy the
company of his unwilling entertainer, sauntered toward the
carriage, a little distance off, where the boy was feeding the
horses; and taking his flute from his portmanteau, he sat on a
log, and commenced his favorite air, 'The Last Rose of Summer,'
into which he seemed to breathe the very soul of tenderness.
{775}
From one exquisite melody to another the player wandered, while
the negro boy grinned with delight, and the horses enjoyed
their food with a keener relish. That

'Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,'

was here exemplified. As the sweet notes stole on the soft
night air of the South, and reached the inhospitable mansion, a
head was eagerly thrust forth, and the projecting ears thereof
appeared eagerly to drink in the flood of melody. Another
lovely air, one of those which bring involuntary tears to the
eyes, and fill the heart with balm, was played with lingering
sweetness, when a voice, husky with emotion, was heard uttering
these words, 'Strangers! don't go! do stay all night! don't go;
we'll fix you somehow.' It was the voice of the charmed host!
That evening the two guests enjoyed the snuggest seats at the
hearth, Father O'Neill playing for the family till a late hour.
Next morning the master of the house would not accept of the
least compensation. 'No, no, bishop! no, no, Mr. O'Neill! not a
cent! You're heartily welcome to it. Come as often as you
please, and stay as long as you can. We'll be always glad to
see you; but,' specially addressing Father O'Neill, 'be sure
and don't forget the flute!'"--P. 323.

Mr. Maguire's account of the Irish in the late civil war is long and interesting. He tells many interesting anecdotes of their heroism, their fidelity to their flag, whether Confederate or Federal, and also of the influence they, their religion, and its ministers exercised on the non-Catholics with whom they were brought in immediate contact. Here are one or two extracts:

"A Southern general said to me, 'The war has worn away many a
prejudice against Catholics, such was the exemplary conduct of
the priests in the camp and the hospital, and the Christian
attitude of the church during the whole of the struggle. Many
kind and generous acts were done by the priests to persecuted
ladies, who now tell with gratitude of their services. Wherever
an asylum was required, they found it for them. I wish all
ministers had been like the priests, and we might never have
had this war, or it would not have been so bitter as it
was.'"--P. 480.

Exceedingly honorable to the Irish soldiers of the Union is the following testimony:

"The Irish displayed a still nobler quality than courage,
though theirs was of the most exalted nature; they displayed
magnanimity, generosity--Christian chivalry. From one end of
the South to the other, even where the feeling was yet sore,
and the wound of defeat still rankled in the breast, there was
no anger against the Irish soldiers of the Union. Whenever the
feeble or the defenceless required a protector, or woman a
champion, or an endangered church a defender, the protector,
the champion, and the defender were to be found in the
Irishman, who fought for a principle, not for vengeance or
desolation. The evil deeds, the nameless horrors, perpetrated
in the fury of passion and in the license of victory whatever
these were, they are not laid at the door of the Irish. On the
contrary, from every quarter are to be heard praises of the
Irish for their forbearance, their gallantry, and
_chivalry_--than which no word more fitly represents their
bearing at a time when wanton outrages and the most horrible
cruelties were too frequently excused or palliated on the
absolving plea of stern necessity."--Pp. 552, 553.

Of the Philadelphia riots and church-burning, and of the memorable struggle for the freedom of Catholic education in New York, Mr. Maguire gives interesting accounts. From this portion of the work we select the following. The author has been speaking of the beneficent effects exercised by convent schools; he goes on to say:

"What is true of convent schools is equally true of schools and
colleges under the care of the great educational
orders--Jesuits, Sulpicians, Vincentians, Redemptorists,
Brothers and Sisters of the Holy Cross, Christian Brothers,
Franciscans, and others."--P. 504.

When Mr. Maguire comes to speak of the Fenians, he generally takes a fair and impartial view of the subject. We must, however, object _in toto_ to one remark of his. He says, on page 592:

"So far as I have been able to learn, my belief is, that among
the Fenians in almost every State of the Union there are many
thousands of the very cream of the Irish population."

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So far is this from being the case, as it must have been represented to Mr. Maguire, that it was, and is, the constant complaint of the Fenians themselves, precisely that the "cream of the Irish population" kept widely aloof from them.

The concluding pages of the book are devoted exclusively to the strange phenomenon presented by the fondly-cherished, never-dying, hatred of England found among the Irish in every part of America; the deep-seated, burning thirst for vengeance on the power whose baneful influence has for many ages blighted the genius, the hopes, the energies of the Irish at home--whose colossal shadow has thrown into the shade the fairer and more graceful genius of the Celtic race, and made "the oldest Christian nation of Western Europe," the proud Celto-Iberian race, the poorest, the most abject of European nations, with all its wealth of genius, of poetry, of energy, of all that gives historic fame.

Mr. Maguire has given a good "bird's-eye view" of the Irish in America; he has shown them in various lights, and under various aspects; still his book has left much untold, much that would have interested the Irish and the friends of the Irish everywhere. There is, moreover, a want of method in the arrangement of this book--a certain haziness and indistinctness, that detracts considerably from its value as a book of reference. Too much is said of some things and some persons, too little of other things and persons; and these omissions unfortunately include what we here consider most honorable to "The Irish In America."

--------

The Double Marriage. [Footnote 69]

[Footnote 69: From _The Diary of a Sister of Mercy_.
By Mrs. C. M. Brame. Now in press,
by the Catholic Publication Society.]