Chapter VI: Part 6

His next attempt at authorship was one which involved most serious consequences to himself, and drove him into exile. Having directed his attention to the oppressions under which the Irish Catholics stood, and having read every book and pamphlet on the subject which he could procure, and with his mind filled with their sufferings, and his indignation aroused, he, in 1779, wrote a pamphlet entitled _The Urgent Necessity of an Immediate Repeal of the whole Penal Code against the Roman Catholics, Candidly Considered; to which is added an inquiry into the prejudices against them; being an appeal to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, exciting them to a just sense of their civil and religious rights as citizens of a free nation_.

When nearly ready it was advertised for publication in a few days, with the title page and its mottoes, and the attention of the public was called to it by an address, couched in very strong language, and wherein reference was made to the fact that “America by a desperate effort has nearly emancipated herself from slavery.” It excited considerable alarm. Parliament was then in session, and the advertisement was brought before both houses. The publication was denounced by an association of Roman Catholics, which, as Mr. Carey has asserted, “partook of the general depression and servile spirit, which a long course of oppression uniformly produces.”

This association offered a reward for the apprehension of the author, and engaged lawyers to carry on the prosecution in case of discovery. The authorship having become known to Mr. Carey’s father, was to him a cause of great alarm, and efforts were made to appease the wrath of the committee, and induce them to abandon the prosecution by an offer to destroy the entire edition. This was of no avail, and after being concealed for some days, Mr. Carey got on board of a Holyhead packet and proceeded to Paris.

He carried with him a letter of introduction to a Catholic priest, by whom he was introduced to Dr. Franklin, then the American Minister to the French Court, and who had a small printing office at Passy for the purpose of printing his dispatches from America. In this office Mr. Carey was employed while this work lasted. Afterwards he found a position with the celebrated publisher, Didot, who was then printing some English books. While at Passy he made the acquaintance of the Marquis de Lafayette—whose friendship at a subsequent period became one of the most controlling influences of his future career.

In about twelve months he returned to Dublin, and the remainder of his apprenticeship having been purchased from McDonnel, he engaged for a time as the conductor of a paper called the _Freeman’s Journal_. Finally, on the 13th of October, 1783, his father furnished him with the means to establish a new paper called the _Volunteers’ Journal_. For this work, he says, he was “miserably qualified,” although he had “a superabundance of zeal and ardor, and a tolerable knack and facility of scribbling.” He adds: “The paper, as might have been expected, partook largely of the character of its proprietor and editor. Its career was enthusiastic and violent. It suited the temper of the times, exercised a decided influence on public opinion; and, in very short time, had a greater circulation than any other paper in Dublin, except the _Evening Post_, which had the great merit of calling into existence that glorious band of brothers, the Volunteers of Ireland, whose zeal and determined resolution to assert and defend the rights of country, struck terror into the British cabinet, and forced the ministry to knock off chains that had bound down the nation for centuries.”

“_The Volunteers’ Journal_, fanning the flame of patriotism which pervaded the land,” says Mr. Carey, “excited the indignation of the government, which formed a determination to put it down, if possible. A prosecution had for a considerable time been contemplated—and, at length, the storm which had so long threatened, burst, in consequence of a publication which appeared on the 5th of April, 1784, in which the Parliament in general, and more particularly the Premier, were severely attacked.”

Accordingly, on the 7th of the same month, a motion was made in the Irish House of Commons, for an address to the Lord Lieutenant, requesting the apprehension of Mathew Carey. He was arrested on the 11th, and on the 19th was taken before the House of Commons, when certain interrogatories were put to him, which he positively refused to answer, on the ground that he was arrested by the civil power, and being under prosecution for the supposed libel of the Premier, he was not amenable to another tribunal. He preferred charges against the Sergeant-at-Arms in whose custody he was. An exciting debate arose; the Sergeant-at-Arms was justified by a large majority, and Mr. Carey was committed to Newgate jail, Dublin, where he remained until the 14th of May, when Parliament having adjourned, he was liberated by the Lord Mayor. “During my stay there,” says Mr. Carey, “I had lived joyously—companies of gentlemen occasionally dining with me on the choicest luxuries the markets afforded.”

Although thus freed from the clutches of Parliament, the criminal prosecution for libel of the Premier still stood suspended over his head. In the then inflamed state of the public mind it would have been impossible to procure a grand jury to find a true bill against him; but the attorney-general filed a bill _ex-officio_ which dispensed with the interposition of the grand jury. Mr. Carey’s means were, in a great measure, exhausted; and, dreading the consequences of the prosecution and a heavy fine and imprisonment, his friends thought it best for him to leave his native country; and, “accordingly, on the 7th of September, 1784,” he says, “when I had not reached my 25th year, my pen drove me a second time into exile.” He embarked on board the _America_, Captain Keiler, and landed in Philadelphia on the 1st of November. He was induced to select Philadelphia as his new home for the reason that he had seen notices of his examination before the Irish House of Commons in two Philadelphia papers. There his case was therefore known, and would probably make him friends.

He had sold out his paper to his brother for £500, to be remitted as soon as practicable, and he landed in Philadelphia with about a dozen guineas in his pocket, without a relation or a friend, or even an acquaintance, except those of the _America_. A most unlooked for circumstance soon occurred which gave a new direction to his views and changed the course of his future life. A fellow passenger of his had brought letters of recommendation to General Washington, and having gone to Mount Vernon to deliver them, he there met the Marquis de Lafayette.

The conversation turning upon the affairs of Ireland, the Marquis said he had seen in the Philadelphia papers an account of Mr. Carey’s troubles with the Parliament, and inquired what had become of the poor persecuted Dublin printer, when he was informed that he was then in Philadelphia. On the arrival of the Marquis in that city, he wrote to Mr. Carey requesting him to call upon him. Mr. Carey then told him that upon receipt of funds from home he proposed to establish a newspaper in Philadelphia. Of this the Marquis approved, and promised to recommend him to his friend, Robert Morris, and others. The next morning Mr. Carey was greatly surprised at receiving a letter from the Marquis containing $400. “This was the more extraordinary and liberal,” says Mr. Carey, “as not a word had passed between us on the subject of giving or receiving, borrowing or lending money.”

Nor was there a word in the letter about the inclosure. Mr. Carey went to the lodgings of the Marquis, but found that he had left the city. He wrote to him at New York expressing his gratitude in the strongest of terms, and received a kind and friendly answer. “I have more than once assumed, and I now repeat,” says Mr. Carey, “that I doubt whether in the whole life of this (I had almost said) unparalleled man, there is to be found anything which, all the circumstances of the case considered, more highly elevates his character.”

Although this sum was in every sense of the word a gift, Mr. Carey always considered it as a loan, payable to the Marquis’ countrymen, according to the exalted sentiment of Dr. Franklin, who, when he gave a bill for ten pounds to an Irish clergymen in distress in Paris, told him to “pay the sum to any Americans he might find in distress, and thus _let good offices go round_.” Mr. Carey paid the debt in full to Frenchmen in want, and subsequently in addition discharged it to the Marquis; the latter only accepting it upon the urgent solicitation of the former.

On receiving this money, Mr. Carey at once issued proposals for the publication of the _Pennsylvania Evening Herald_, and the first number was accordingly published January 25, 1785. He received but £50 from the sale of the _Volunteers’ Journal_, in Dublin, his brother having been ruined partly by the persecutions of the government, and partly by the establishment of an opposition paper of the same name under government patronage. The success of the _Evening Herald_ was not very great, and the means of the publisher being small, on the 25th of March he took two partners, and enlarged the paper. It, however, made but poor progress until Mr. Carey, in August following, commenced the publication of the Debates in the House of Assembly, a great novelty and innovation which gave the _Herald_ an advantage over all its contemporaries.

Party feeling in Pennsylvania ran very high at the time, and in the course of a political controversy, he became involved in a quarrel with Col. Eleazer Oswald, who had been an officer of artillery during the Revolutionary War; and this difficulty resulted in a duel which took place in January, 1786, in New Jersey, opposite to Philadelphia, in which Mr. Carey was wounded in the thigh, from the effects of which he did not entirely recover for many months. He, subsequently to the duel, greatly disgusted his second and others, by performing, as he says, “a gratuitous act of justice, which was probably one of the best acts of my life”—that of publishing a card retracting the charges he had made against Colonel Oswald.

In October, 1786, in partnership with five others, he commenced the publication of the _Columbian Magazine_, to the first number of which he contributed four pieces, one of which, “A Philosophical Dream,” was an anticipation of the state of the country in 1850, in which, strange as these predictions must have seemed at the time, are now quite remarkable in their realization. In December, 1786, owing to the difficulty of realizing profits from so many partners and other causes, he withdrew. In January, 1787, he issued the first number of the _American Museum_, a magazine intended to preserve the fugitive essays that appeared in the newspapers. This publication, sets of which, in 12 volumes, 8vo, now exist in a number of public and private libraries, is one of great value, and presents a graphic and truthful record of the times. It was issued for six years, and brought to a close in December, 1792, after a hard struggle for life.

About this time he married Miss Bridget Flahavan, the daughter of a highly respectable citizen of Philadelphia who had been ruined by the Revolution. Mr. Carey’s wife was an industrious, prudent, economical woman, with, as he says, a large fund of good sense, but, equally with himself, without means. The match was, as he acknowledges, imprudent; but he and his wife determined to indulge in no unnecessary expense, and they carried out this resolution faithfully, even when he was doing a business of $40,000 to $50,000 per annum, and with the happiest results.

When he relinquished the _American Museum_, he commenced bookselling and printing on a small scale. His store, or rather shop, was of very moderate dimensions; but, small as it was, he had not full-bound books enough to fill the shelves—a considerable portion of them being filled with spelling books. He procured a credit at bank, which enabled him to extend his business; and by care, indefatigable industry, the most rigid punctuality and frugality, he gradually advanced in the world. For twenty-five years, winter and summer, he was always present at the opening of his store.

In 1793 he was a member of the Committee of Health, appointed for the relief of the sick by yellow fever, and of the orphans made such by it. The duties of this position were faithfully and calmly fulfilled, “and his whole life,” says Prof. R. E. Thompson, “corresponded to the promise of that year.” He subsequently wrote a full account of this epidemic, of which four editions were published. Stephen Girard, who was one of the members of this committee, as Mr. Carey says, “to the inexpressible delight” of the members, volunteered his services, and became superintendent of the yellow fever hospital on Bush Hill.

In 1792, or ’93, feeling for the sufferings and wretchedness of the numerous Irish immigrants who arrived in Philadelphia, he called a meeting, at the Coffee House, of a number of the most influential and prominent Irishmen, and submitted to the meeting a constitution, which he had prepared, and which was adopted, and thus was formed “The Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland.” This society exists at the present day in a highly flourishing condition. In 1796 he zealously engaged with a few other citizens in the formation of a Sunday-school Society, of which Bishop White became president.

Between 1796 and ’98 he became involved in a very acrimonious controversy with William Cobbett, which was not of his seeking, but which he conducted with unflinching courage and ability. In addition to a considerable correspondence between them, the war became one of pamphlets and newspapers—Cobbett using his _Porcupine Gazette_. Mr. Carey issued a pamphlet entitled _A Plum Pudding for Peter Porcupine_, in which he says he “handled him with great severity.” He next published _The Porcupiniad, a Hudibrastic Poem_, in which he turned some of Cobbett’s own paragraphs into Hudibrastic verse, and “it is wonderful,” he says, “how smoothly they ran, in many instances, with the alteration of a single word or two.” Cobbett made no reply, and never after had Mr. Carey’s name in his paper but once or twice incidentally. This ended the controversy, and subsequently they became very good friends.

His publishing business was pushed with wonderful energy, and for those days on a grand scale. He has stated that for many years he was involved in such financial difficulties and embarrassments that he was “oppressed and brought to the verge of bankruptcy,” which “nothing but the most untiring efforts and indefatigable industry and energy could have enabled me to wade through.” These difficulties were brought about, he says, by his own folly in over-trading. A few figures in regard to his publications will give an idea how these difficulties arose. For instance, he printed 2,500 copies of _Guthrie’s Geography_, 4to, with a folio atlas of 40 or 50 maps, price, $12; 3,000 _Goldsmith’s Animated Nature_, 4 volumes, 8vo, illustrated with a large number of plates, price $10. In 1801 he published 3,000 copies of a 4to edition of the Bible, with additional references, for which he paid an editor $1,000. This book was prepared by the collation of eighteen different editions of the Bible, in which the most extraordinary number of discrepancies were detected. Soon after the publication of this edition, the success of which was very great, he embarked in the preparation of a standing edition of the 4to Bible. Stereotyping had not been invented, and for this volume he purchased the entire type which was kept permanently standing. About this time he purchased, for $7,000, a school Bible, and also a large house in Market Street, in which he lived for many years. In 1802 he was elected by the Senate of Pennsylvania a director in the Bank of Pennsylvania, which added greatly to his financial resources.

In 1801, induced by the advantages to literature which had resulted from the fairs of Frankfort and Leipsic, he formed the project of establishing a literary fair in this country, to meet alternately at New York and Philadelphia. He accordingly issued a circular dated December, 1801, inviting all publishers and booksellers to meet in New York on the 1st of June, 1802, for the purpose of buying, selling and exchanging their publications. He wrote out a constitution, which was adopted, and a society formed with Hugh Gaine, the oldest bookseller in the United States, as president. The plan worked well for a year or two, but it was found that country booksellers published inferior editions of popular works, with which, by means of exchanges, they flooded the country. It was therefore abandoned.

In 1806, being then a member of the Select Council of the City of Philadelphia, he united with Stephen Girard and others to relieve real estate of a portion of its taxes, by transferring it to personal property, when he published a pamphlet on examination of the existing system of taxation in that city, but with no results. In 1810, when the question of the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States, which was to expire on the following March, came up, he took an active and earnest part in its favor, neglecting his business for three months, and publishing a series of essays on the subject. Nearly all the Democrats of the city were opposed to this, and he made himself hosts of enemies by his course.

The publication of _The Olive Branch_, which was made at a critical period in the history of the country, proved to be one of the most successful books up to that time ever issued from the American press, and he regarded its preparation as one of the most important events in his life. The War of 1812–’15, between the United States and Great Britain, had developed such an acrimonious state of feeling between parties in the country, as to appear to forebode civil war. In September, 1814, Mr. Carey, in a “moment of ardent zeal and enthusiasm, was seized with a desire to make an effort by a candid publication of the numerous errors and follies on both sides to allay the public effervescence, and calm the embittered feelings of the parties.”

Hence, he began the preparation of _The Olive Branch_, September 18, and the book was through the press November 6th, and was published on the 8th. It was a volume of 252 pages, 12mo. The edition of 500 copies was sold within a few weeks, and it was revised and enlarged from time to time, and in three and a half years ten editions were sold, amounting to 10,000 copies. “A greater sale probably,” as he has said, “than any book ever had in this country, except some religious ones,” up to that time. He gave permission to several parties to print the book, without payment of copyright, and editions were printed at Boston, Mass., Middlebury, Vt., and Winchester, Va.

In 1818 he set laboriously and seriously to work to prepare a vindication of Ireland. Accordingly, in the following year, he published _Vindiciæ Hibernicæ; or, Ireland Vindicated_, of which a second edition was published in 1823. This is a large 8vo volume involving great research.

Early in 1819, struck with the prevailing condition of the United States, he commenced writing on political economy, investigating the causes, and pointing out the necessity for protecting our industries against foreign competition. Few men ever enlisted in any public cause with more enthusiasm, few ever worked with more energy and industry in such a cause. He was one of the founders of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of National Industry; he attended conventions in various parts of the country, and he made more extensive contributions to the literature of the subject than any other man had then done on this continent.

Some idea may be formed of the extent of this work when it is stated that between 1819 and 1833 his books and pamphlets on this question reached an aggregate of 2,322 pages. To no other man, not in public life, was the first protective tariff of 1824, as well as that more protective one of 1828, due. These were results which would have exerted a permanent influence on the country but for the nullification movement of South Carolina and Georgia.

This latter movement produced Clay’s Compromise Tariff Act of 1833, which was only abandoned in 1842 in the midst of a bankruptcy so widespread and universal that it involved not merely individuals and banks and other corporations, but state governments, and even the government of the United States itself. Mr. Carey was much discouraged by the illiberal conduct of manufacturers and others who had much at stake in the cause, and he ever after believed that to this illiberality and supineness was due the triumph of nullification, for it did triumph in the enactment of the Compromise Tariff, Act of 1833.

However, amid these discouragements, he derived some consolation from a recognition of his services by a portion of his fellow countrymen. In 1821 he was presented by citizens of Wilmington, Del., with a handsome piece of silver plate bearing the following inscription: “A tribute of gratitude to Mathew Carey, Esq., in approbation of his writings on political economy; presented by some friends of National Industry, in Wilmington, Del., and its vicinity, April, 1821.” In 1834 he was presented with a service of plate by citizens of Philadelphia and others, “as a testimonial of their respect for his public conduct and their esteem for his private virtues”; who deemed his “whole career in life an encouraging example, by the imitation of which, without the aid of official station or political power, every private citizen may become a public benefactor.” Sometime previously he received two silver pitchers from other citizens of Philadelphia.

In 1824 he was instrumental in reviving and carrying through the project for the construction of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which had lain dormant from 1805. This undertaking involved weeks of labor, and of personal solicitations for subscriptions.

In 1825 he retired permanently from business on a well-earned competency, and the remaining years of his life were devoted to public and philanthropic work, with an energy that never tired. Among his correspondents were Washington, Franklin, Lafayette, Hamilton, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Henry Clay, and hosts of others in public and private life, during a period covering more than half a century. His writings, a tolerably complete set of which is in possession of The Library Company of Philadelphia, make nine large 8vo volumes.

He died in the city of Philadelphia on the 16th of September, 1839, in the eightieth year of his age, universally respected, and his death was mourned as a public loss. His remains were followed to the grave by thousands of his fellow citizens. A venerable and distinguished journalist, who had known him long and well, announced his death in the following terms: “The friend of mankind is no more. Long and sincerely will he be lamented, not in high places only, amid the pomp and circumstance of grief, but in the solitary corner of the poor and the friendless. Upon his grave honest tears will be shed. The orphan and the widow will wander there, and, in the heart’s deepest accents, implore the blessings of Heaven upon his departed soul.”

He was buried in St. Mary’s churchyard, Fourth Street, above Spruce, Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Carey had nine children, three of whom died young. The remaining six were:

Maria, who died unmarried.

Henry Charles, who married, but died without issue.

Eliza Catharine, who married Thomas James Baird, a graduate of West Point, who was lieutenant of artillery in the War of 1812.

Susan M., who died unmarried.

Frances A., who married Isaac Lea.

Edward L., who died unmarried.

Mathew Carey’s will mentions his sister, Margaret Burke, and his deceased brother, John Carey. In Father Finotti’s work on Catholic American Bibliography is given a list, somewhat incomplete, of Mathew Carey’s works.

REVIEW OF THE YEAR.
LEADING EVENTS IN THE CAREER OF THE SOCIETY, FOR 1905, OR OF SPECIAL
INTEREST TO THE MEMBERS.

Jan. 2. Among the mayors inaugurated in Massachusetts cities today
were the following: Hon. Augustine J. Daly, Cambridge;
Hon. James B. Casey, Lowell; Hon. Cornelius B. Lynch,
Lawrence; Hon. John T. Coughlin, Fall River; Hon. M. F.
Dwyer, Medford; Hon. Lawrence P. Reade, Woburn; and Hon.
T. M. Connor, Northampton.

Jan. 2. The following mayors, among others, were inaugurated in
Rhode Island cities today: Hon. Patrick J. Boyle, Newport;
Hon. James H. Higgins, Pawtucket; and Hon. Thomas H.
McNally, Central Falls.

Jan. 12. A meeting of the Council of the Society is held at the Hotel
Manhattan, 42d Street and Madison Avenue, New York City.

Jan. 12. Thomas D. O’Brien, St. Paul, Minn., is today appointed
insurance commissioner of Minnesota by Governor Johnson.

Jan. 16. Hon. Thomas H. Carter, a member of the Society, is today
again elected United States senator from Montana.

Jan. 24. The annual meeting and dinner of the Society takes place at
the Hotel Manhattan, New York City.

Jan. 24. Died today in Dorchester (Boston), Mass., Mary, the widow
of Thomas O’Neil, a veteran of the Mexican and Civil
wars. In view of the death of his widow, a few words
regarding O’Neil will be of interest. He served bravely
in the Mexican War, during which he distinguished
himself by saving Franklin Pierce, afterwards president
of the United States. Pierce was badly wounded, when
O’Neil rescued him and taking him on his own horse,
dashed away with him to a place of safety. In the home
of Mrs. McFarlane, her daughter, where Mrs. O’Neil spent
the latter part of her life, are two interesting
testimonials of the bravery of O’Neil during the war.
One is a Bible, the gift of President Pierce, with this
inscription: “For the children of Sergeant Thomas
O’Neil, who was in my military family during the war
with Mexico, and by his courage and fidelity earning my
confidence and affectionate regard. Franklin Pierce.
Washington, D. C., May 22, 1853.” The other is a
beautiful silk Mexican flag, finely worked and colored,
which O’Neil captured. It was made in a convent. It now
hangs over his portrait in the parlor. O’Neil promptly
responded to Lincoln’s call for volunteers when the
Civil War broke out. He received the distinction of
being offered in one day two commissions, one from
Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, as captain, and one
from New York. He accepted the latter and as captain
recruited and went to the front with a regiment which
afterwards became part of Meagher’s Irish brigade. For
his distinguished services on the field of battle he was
promoted to the rank of major. He resigned in 1862, with
the intention of returning to Boston to raise another
company for the war, but a few days afterwards fell from
his horse and died of his injuries.

Jan. 28. Dr. Patrick J. McGrath, a member of a prominent family
in Dublin, Ireland, died today at Bellevue Hospital,
New York. He sailed on one of the Peary expeditions to
the Polar regions, as medical adviser; enlisted in a
volunteer regiment during the war with Spain, and also
served throughout the Philippine campaign. Shortly
before his death he had received from Washington, D.
C., an appointment as surgeon in the canal zone in
Panama.

Jan. 28. The _Irish-American_, New York City, of this date, has the
following: “President Roosevelt in sending some details of
his Irish pedigree to the American-Irish Historical
Society ... has made known some information not generally
current, though often desired. To his credit be it said,
that he always was proud of his Irish blood, and from the
very outset of his public career, years ago, vaunted it as
one of his most cherished possessions. He has been
following this up by the nomination to public office of
candidates with decidedly Hibernian patronymics. W. D.
Murphy of this city, it is said, is to be the new
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and a diplomat named
O’Brien, from the Northwest, is to be sent as Minister to
Denmark. ‘Think of old Brian, war’s mighty lion,’ who
smote the Danes at Clontarf and drove them into the sea,
looking down from his celestial mansion above and seeing
one of his descendants made ambassador to his old enemies
from the greatest nation of the world, a nation to the
prosperity and prestige of which his countrymen have
contributed so much! Mr. Roosevelt in his genealogical
list included the O’Briens. He must have had some idea of
the poetical and historical retributions of the case when
he thought of one of the great Munster families for the
Republic’s representative to Denmark.”

Jan. 30. Hon. Anthony M. Keiley, formerly chief justice of the
International Court of Appeals at Cairo, Egypt, died on
or about this date in France. He was a native of New
Jersey and was about 69 years old. He was educated at
the Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. After graduation
he founded the _Norfolk Virginian_ and was also editor
of the Petersburg _Index and News_. He first became
prominent in the politics of Virginia in the campaign
of 1881, when he was chairman of the Democratic state
committee. He was also mayor of Richmond for one term
and then became city attorney. It was while holding this
office, in 1885, that he attracted the attention of
President Cleveland, who appointed him minister to Italy
to succeed William Waldorf Astor. The Italian government
objected, however, to the appointment and it was
cancelled. The president then appointed Mr. Keiley
minister to Austria, but the government of that country
also declared him _persona non grata_ on the ground that
he held ultramontane views, which were offensive to a
friendly government. This objection was not well received
either in official circles here or among a large and
influential class in Austria. The Austrian government
then raised other objections. Secretary of State Bayard
addressed a note to the Austrian government in which he
spoke plainly on the unreasonableness of race and
religious distinctions. He said that the appointment would
be allowed to stand even though it resulted in a rupture
of diplomatic relations between Austria and the United
States. Mr. Keiley, however, saved the administration from
further embarrassment by resigning. Afterward, President
Cleveland appointed him to the International Court at
Cairo, of which he became chief justice. His wife died in
1902, and he was so greatly distressed over her loss that
he resigned from the court and sought relief in travel.
Mr. Keiley served twelve years as president of the Irish
Catholic Benevolent Union.

Feb. 3. John C. Foley, a veteran of the Civil War, died today in
Charleston, S. C., while on a business tour. His residence
for some years past had been in New Orleans, La. He
belonged to an old and widely respected Irish family
favorably known in Kilkenny and Tipperary, members of
which emigrated to this country in the early fifties and
settled in South Brooklyn, N. Y., where some of them still
reside. On the breaking out of the Civil War the deceased
joined the Eighty-eighth Regiment, New York Volunteers, of
Meagher’s Brigade, in which he was commissioned as first
lieutenant in the company of which the late Maj. P. K.
Horgan was then captain. He served with his command
through all the engagements in which it participated, down
to Burnside’s disastrous assault on the fortified lines of
the Confederates at Fredericksburg, in which the Irish
brigade, in the assault on Marye’s Heights, was so cut up
that after the fight the New York regiments originally
comprised in it could only muster, all told, between two
and three hundred unwounded men. General Meagher applied
to the war department to have the brigade temporarily
relieved in order that its decimated ranks might be again
recruited; but the reply of the secretary of that
time,—who had never regarded the Irish organizations with
favor,—was an order relieving Meagher of his command,
consolidating the regiments into four companies, under a
lieutenant-colonel, and mustering out the other surviving
officers as supernumeraries.

Feb. 6. Michael Hicks, a member of the Society, died today at his
residence in New York City.

Feb. 7. James A. Walsh died today in Lewiston, Me. He was a member
of the Society.

Feb. 9. Hon. Carlton McCarthy, mayor of Richmond, Va., writes today,
expressing his appreciation of “The great value and
importance of the work” in which the Society is engaged.

Feb. 11. Rear Admiral John McGowan, U.S.N. (retired), is today
admitted as a Life member of the Society. His father was
born in Philadelphia, Pa., but his grandfather was born in
Ireland.

Feb. 11. Brig.-Gen. Michael Cooney, U.S.A. (retired), is admitted to
membership in the Society.

Feb. 11. Brig.-Gen. Peter Leary, Jr., U.S.A. (retired), writes
expressing his appreciation of the work in which the
Society is engaged.

Feb. 16. It is announced from Dublin, Ireland, that President
Roosevelt has sent to Lady Gregory a contribution
toward the purchase of Irish pictures for the Gallery
of Modern Art which it is proposed to establish in
Dublin. Lady Gregory has been appealing to Americans
to assist in buying pictures lately exhibited at the
Royal Hibernian Academy, and President Roosevelt, who
sent the contribution “with great pleasure,” has
written to her as follows: “I cordially sympathize
with you in your efforts to keep such a collection of
pictures in Dublin. It would be an important step
toward giving Dublin the position it by right should
have.”

Feb. 19. Gen. John M. Brennan, a well-known lawyer of Providence, R.
I., died. He served on the staff of Governor Davis of
Rhode Island as judge advocate general.

Feb. 21. Eugene M. O’Neill of Pittsburg, Pa., is admitted to the
Society as a Life member.

Feb. 22. John T. Gibbons of New Orleans, La., is admitted to the
Society as a Life member.

Feb. 27. William O’Herin of Parsons, Kansas, was today admitted to
Life membership in the Society. He is superintendent of
machinery and equipment of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
Railway.

Feb. 27. Gen. Richard A. Donnelly, quartermaster-general of the New
Jersey National Guard, died today at Trenton. He was born
at Richmond, Staten Island. He served two terms as mayor
of Trenton.

March. John Hayes, of Manchester, N. H., a member of the Society,
died this month.

March 3. Hon. W. Bourke Cockran, New York City, is admitted a Life
member of the Society.

March 6. Among the nominations sent by President Roosevelt to the
Senate today were the following: envoys extraordinary
and ministers plenipotentiary, Thomas J. O’Brien of
Michigan, to Denmark; Edward C. O’Brien of New York, to
Paraguay and Uruguay. For consuls general: Robert J.
Wynne of Pennsylvania, at London, Eng.; T. St. John
Gaffney of New York, at Dresden.

March 6. Hon. John H. Reagan, postmaster general of the Confederacy,
died today at Palestine, Texas. He was the last surviving
member of the Confederate cabinet.

March 9. A meeting of the Council of the Society is held today at the
office of the City Trust Co., 36 Wall Street, New York
City.

March 10. Most Rev. John J. Keane, D. D., of Dubuque, Ia., becomes a
member of the Society.

March 17. Gen. Nelson A. Miles reviews the First Regiment, Irish
Volunteers, at the Grand Central Palace, New York City,
tonight.

March 17. Hon. Franklin M. Danaher of Albany, N. Y., a member of the
Society, read an historical paper before the Friendly Sons
of St. Patrick, in that city, tonight. His topic was: “An
Historical Sketch of some Celebrations of St. Patrick’s
Day in Albany, N. Y., in the Early Part of the Nineteenth
Century.”

March 17. A monument was dedicated at Houston, Texas, today to the
memory of Dick Dowling, the Confederate hero of Sabine
Pass, who with a small company of men of Irish blood
defeated, during the Civil War, a large Federal military
and naval force.

March 17. President Roosevelt attends the dinner of the New York
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick tonight.

March 17. The Charitable Irish Society, Boston, Mass., observes its
168th anniversary.

March 18. Francis C. Travers of New York City, a member of the
Society, died today.

April 4. Hon. E. F. Dunne is elected mayor of Chicago, Ill.

April 9. Michael Murphy, a pioneer oil man of central Wyoming, died
at Casper, Wyo. He was one of the best known men in
Wyoming. For twenty-five years he represented the oil
interest in Fremont County, and recently sold the famous
spouting oil wells at Dallas to a syndicate for $400,000.
Frank Murphy, who recently died, leaving more than
$2,000,000, was a brother of Michael Murphy, and left to
him a large portion of his estate, making the latter a
very wealthy man.

April 9. Daniel O’C. O’Donoghue of Portland, Me., was found dead in
bed this morning, having passed away during the night, of
paralysis of the heart. He was a native of County Kerry,
Ireland; was commissioned civil assistant on the ordinance
survey of Ireland at an early age. He arrived in New York
before the Civil War; volunteered for that conflict and
served two years with the Army of the Potomac on engineer
duty. In 1865 he was appointed chief clerk in the United
States engineer’s office at Portland, Me., charged with
the construction of sea coast defenses and harbor and
river improvements, holding that responsible position
for twenty-seven years. Colonel O’Donoghue was division
adjutant-general on the staff of Governor Chamberlain of
Maine, and later inspector of the division. He was captain
of the famous Montgomery Guards of Portland, Me., bringing
the company up to a high standard of efficiency.

April 13. Thomas S. Lonergan of New York City, a member of the
Society, lectures in Newark, N. J., on “Irishmen in the
American Revolution.”

April 19. A patriotic pilgrimage, under the auspices of the Society,
took place today to Lexington, Mass., the occasion being
the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, 1775.

May 18. Secretary T. H. Murray of the Society, received a letter
today from the New York State Library, saying that “We are
making as complete a collection as possible of books and
pamphlets on the Irish in America,” and asking for copies
of works issued by the Society.

May 27. The remains of Capt. John Drum, Tenth United States
Infantry, who was killed in action before Santiago de
Cuba, July 1, 1898, were reinterred today in the National
Cemetery at Arlington, Va. Interment had previously taken
place at Brookline, Mass. Services were conducted at
Arlington by his son, Rev. Walter M. Drum, S. J. Captain
Drum was a member of our Society. He was a native of
Ireland, a veteran of the Civil War, and saw much service
in campaigns against the Indians; was at one period
military instructor at St. Francis Xavier’s College, New
York City.

May 28. A memorial to Molly Pitcher, the heroine of the battle
of Monmouth in the Revolution, was dedicated today at
Carlisle, Pa. The memorial consists of a cannon placed
over her grave. The cannon weighs 1,400 pounds, and
resembles in design the field piece which Molly helped
to fire after her husband had fallen in battle. Molly
Pitcher was “a young Irishwoman.”

May 29. A dinner was given at Delmonico’s, New York City, tonight,
to Thomas Addis Emmet, M. D., LL. D., by his medical
friends, in honor of his seventy-seventh birthday. Over
one hundred physicians attended. Dr. E. C. Dudley,
Chicago, Ill., presided. Dr. Emmet is a Life member of our
Society.

May 30. Michael Brennan, a member of the Society, died today at his
home, 2 West 75th Street, New York City.

June 2. Rev. John Harty, Pawtucket, R. I., a member of the Society,
died today.

June 8. Hon. Henry F. Naphen, Boston, Mass., a member of the
Society, was found dead in bed today. He had been in poor
health for some time.

July 4. A bronze equestrian statue in honor of Gen. Thomas Francis
Meagher was unveiled today in Helena, Mont.

July 10. A paragraph in the New York _Irish American_ of this date,
states that Lieut. Martin L. Crimmins, U. S. A., has just
been graduated from the Infantry and Cavalry School at
Fort Leavenworth, successfully passing his examination
for a captaincy. Captain Crimmins is a son of Hon. John
D. Crimmins, president-general of the Society, and is
himself a member of the organization. He was a member
of the “Rough Riders” in the Spanish-American War, and
later was commissioned a second lieutenant in the
Sixty-ninth New York Volunteers, and still later a second
lieutenant in the regular service. He served four years in
the Philippines, and a year at Fort Lawton, Seattle, where
he was selected from his regiment as a student officer to
attend the school at Fort Leavenworth.

July 31. A letter is today received from James Connolly of Coronado,
Cal., in which he presents nineteen candidates for
membership in the Society.

August. Hon. John C. Linehan, Concord, N. H.,
treasurer-general of the Society, resigns his position as
such owing to ill health. He was one of the founders of
the Society, and has been treasurer-general of the latter
ever since its organization. His resignation is received
with much regret.

Aug. 14. Hon. James C. Monaghan of the Department of Commerce and
Labor, Washington, D. C., a member of the Society,
lectured at the Catholic Summer School, Cliff Haven, N.
Y., today, on “The Game of Empire.”

Aug. 28. William G. Stanard, corresponding secretary and librarian
of the Virginia Historical Society, writes concerning
Colonel Fitzgerald, a friend and staff officer of General
Washington.

Sept. 2. Michael P. O’Connor, Binghamton, N. Y., qualifies as a Life
Member of the Society.

Sept. 7. The Elizabeth (N. J.) _Times_, of this date, has an
editorial headed, “Cox again President.” It refers to
Capt. William T. Cox, a member of our Society, who has
again been reëlected chairman of the Fire Commissioners of
that city. The editorial mentioned pays a high tribute to
Captain Cox.

Sept. 8. Hon. C. B. Tillinghast, state librarian of Massachusetts,
writes requesting a copy of _Early Irish in Old Albany, N.
Y., With Special Mention of Jan Andriessen “De Iersman
Van Dublingh.”_ The foregoing pamphlet was issued by the
Society, 1903, and comprises a paper by Hon. Franklin M.
Danaher of Albany. Mr. Tillinghast desires the pamphlet
for the Massachusetts State Library.

Sept. 10. In the New York _Herald_ today, Mrs. Clara H. Manning has
a contribution setting forth many interesting facts
concerning the family and ancestry of Gen. Richard
Montgomery. Mrs. Manning credits the information to “L.
W., London, England.”

Sept. 12. Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, president of the United States,
writes as follows to the management of the Irish
Industrial Exhibition in New York City: “Gentlemen: I
greatly regret that it is not in my power to be present at
the Irish Industrial Exposition, to be held at Madison
Square Garden. Not only should I be much interested in the
display of industries of Ireland in the matter of
textiles, laces and other branches of industrial art, but
I should be particularly pleased with the educational
feature, which I understand is to symbolize and interpret
the ‘Irish revival.’ Unfortunately, it is simply out of my
power to make another engagement of any kind whatsoever
now, and all I can do is to send you my hearty good wishes
for the success of so worthy a movement. It is peculiarly
appropriate that in our country, where so large a portion
of the blood of our mixed people is drawn from Irish
stock, there should be this movement on broad lines, and
carried out in such a wholesome and comprehensive manner,
for the purpose of illustrating the industrial talents and
artistic and literary genius of the Irish race. With all
good wishes for the success of the exposition, believe me,
sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt.”

Sept. 14. Hon. Patrick A. Collins, mayor of Boston, Mass., died today
at Hot Springs, Va. He was a member of the Society.

Sept. 19. Death this evening of Hon. John C. Linehan, state insurance
commissioner of New Hampshire, a founder of the Society.
He passed away at his home in Penacook (Concord), N. H.

Sept. 22. Hon. Charles T. O’Ferrall, ex-governor of Virginia, died at
Richmond, Va., today. He served in the Confederate army
during the Civil War, attained the rank of colonel, and
was wounded three times while in the service. He was a
member of the 49th, 50th, 51st and 52d Congresses.

Sept. 22. Funeral at Penacook, N. H., today, of Hon. John C. Linehan.
A requiem high Mass was celebrated at the Church of the
Immaculate Conception. The eulogy was delivered by Bishop
Delany of Manchester.

Sept. 26. Death today of Edward F. Galligan, M. D., Taunton, Mass., a
member of the Society.

Sept. 27. In accordance with an army order issued at Washington, D.
C., about this date, Capt. Michael M. McNamee, Fifteenth
Cavalry, is detailed as a member of the examining board at
Fort Ethan Allen, Vt.

Sept. 27. Mrs. Aaron Morley Wilcox writes from Washington, D. C., for
information regarding the Society.

Sept. 29. Col. James Moran, Providence, R. I., writes making practical
suggestions for a celebration next year of the anniversary
of the battle of Rhode Island.

Oct. 1. A monument is dedicated today, in Holy Cross Cemetery,
Malden, Mass., to the late Rev. Thomas H. Shahan of that
city, who was a member of the Society. The monument was
erected by the parishioners of the deceased clergyman.

Oct. 7. Among the nominations made today at the Massachusetts
Democratic State Convention in Boston were the following:
For state treasurer, Daniel J. Doherty, Westfield; for
state auditor, Patrick J. Ashe, North Adams; for
attorney-general, John P. Leahy, Boston.

Oct. 7. Notices were issued today for a meeting of the executive
council of the Society to be held on the 19th inst.,
at the Hotel Manhattan, New York City. The latter date
is the anniversary of the surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown. The council is to be entertained at dinner
by Mr. Crimmins, president-general of the Society.

Nov. 3. Anniversary of the birth of Gen. William Irvine, a soldier
of the Revolution. He was a native of Fermanagh, Ireland.

Nov. 23. Anniversary of the birth of Edward Rutledge, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence. He was of Irish parentage.

Nov. 29. Anniversary of the birth of Charles Thomson, the “perpetual
secretary” of Congress; a native of Ireland.

Dec. 2. Died on this date, in 1783, Thomas Burke. He was a native of
Ireland, and was chosen governor of North Carolina in
1781.

NECROLOGY.

The following members of the Society died during the year 1905, much and deservedly regretted:

BRENNAN, MICHAEL, New York City; owner of the Hotel San Remo, Central
Park West, New York, and other property. He was born in Sligo,
Ireland, 1832; died at his home, 2 West 75th Street, New York, May
30. He was a member of the New York Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and
of the Catholic Club. He became a member of the American-Irish
Historical Society soon after the organization of the latter, and
the first meeting and dinner held by the Society in New York took
place at his hotel, the San Remo, just mentioned.

COLLINS, HON. PATRICK A., mayor of Boston, Mass. He was born in
Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland, March 12, 1844, died at Hot Springs,
Va., Sept. 14, 1905. His mother brought him to this country when he
was but four years of age. They settled in Chelsea, Mass. In the
course of time, Patrick entered the law school of Harvard University
and was graduated therefrom in 1871. He had gone into political
affairs while he was a student and had been elected a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1868. He served two terms
there and one in the State Senate. When he was admitted to the bar,
in 1871, Mr. Collins made public announcement of his determination
not to hold public office again in ten years. He kept to the
resolution, but he stayed in politics. He became chairman of the
Boston Democratic Committee in 1873 and held the responsibilities of
the place for two years. He served as judge advocate-general on the
staff of Governor Gaston of Massachusetts. While in the Legislature,
Collins was identified with the passage of such liberal and
reformatory legislation as freedom of worship for Catholics in
penal, correctional and charitable institutions, the abolition of a
distinct oath for Catholics, the ten-hour law, and legislation
looking towards equal rights for foreign-born citizens. He was
married in 1873 to Mary E. Cary. They had three children, Paul,
Agnes and Marie. After serving two terms as congressman from the
fourth Massachusetts district, he declined a third term, but was
forced in his party’s interest to reconsider his decision. During
his three terms in Congress he served on the Committee on the
Judiciary, and sometimes in addition on the Committees on Pacific
Railroads, French Spoliation Claims and other important bodies. He
was delegateat-large to the National Democratic Conventions of 1876,
1880, 1884 and 1892. He was permanent chairman of the 1888
convention and made an address which attracted admiring attention
from the whole country, as did his speech seconding the nomination
of Grover Cleveland four years later. It was generally understood
that Mr. Cleveland offered Mr. Collins a cabinet office, but Mr.
Collins declined to take such office. Mr. Cleveland gave him instead
one of the highest-paid government posts, that of consul-general at
London, where the salary is $5,000 a year, and the fees in Mr.
Collins’ time amounted to about $25,000 a year or more. Mr. Collins
resigned from the chairmanship of the Democratic State Committee and
went to London. When he was consul-general Mr. Cleveland again asked
him to come into the cabinet as secretary of war. Mr. Collins
refused. He was quoted as saying that he refused because he “didn’t
care for second-hand clothes.” He never denied the remark. At the
opening ceremonies of the Hotel Cecil, Mr. Collins’ remarks
regarding the good will of Mr. Cleveland toward the British people
were jeered by some of his hearers. He turned on them and said:
“There is no antagonism between the United States and any
well-meaning state on earth. If the rest of the world understood the
United States as well as the United States understands the rest of
the world there would never be any danger to peace between my
country and other nations.” There were no more jeers. In 1897 Mr.
Collins returned to the practice of law in Boston. He was nominated
for mayor in 1899, but was beaten by differences in his own party.
He was elected the next term, was re-elected, and held the office at
the time of his death.

GALLIGAN, EDWARD F. (M. D.), Taunton, Mass. He was a native of that
city and was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Galligan. He studied
medicine and was graduated from the medical department of Harvard
University. In 1884, he was appointed city physician of Taunton and
filled the position for several years. He was a trustee of the
Morton Hospital, a member of the Taunton Physicians’ Club, of the
North Bristol Medical Society and of the American Medical
Association. He died Sept. 26, 1905.

HARTY, REV. JOHN, a Roman Catholic clergyman; rector of the Church of
the Sacred Heart, Pawtucket, R. I. He was a native of Ireland, and
was ordained to the priesthood in Dublin, 1874. He died, June 2. He
was at one period connected with St. Patrick’s Church, Providence,
R. I., and was later rector of the church in East Providence.

HAYES, JOHN, Manchester, N. H. He was a native of Ireland, and was of
a splendid type as a man and a citizen. He died at Manchester in
March. One of his sons, the late Hon. John J. Hayes, of Boston,
Mass., was also a member of the Society.

HICKS, MICHAEL, New York City; inventor of the “Hurricane lamp,” which
was used on railway trains, and especially in the Pullman palace
cars, until it was supplanted by the Pintsch light. He was born in
County Meath, Ireland, 1832; died at his residence, 147 West 121st
Street, New York, March 6.