D'Arcy McGee: Irish Patriot? Canadian Nationalist
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- SpeakerThe presentation is in progress when the recording begins. The speaker introduces the resources at St Mary’s University on genealogy and history. The speaker feels that D’Arcy McGee typifies both Irish and Canadian traditions and thus why the speaker established the D'Arcy McGee Chair in Irish Studies.
- SpeakerWhen McGee entered politics, Canada was not yet a confederation. He envisioned what being a country meant and insisted on “Canada” as the name. McGee was assassinated in April 1868 in Ottawa and the identity of his assassin as James Whelan/Faolain is still debated.
- SpeakerMcGee died 7 days short of his 43rd birthday. He started his career as an Irish Nationalist but then became loyal to Queen Victoria. The speaker believes that there was no contradiction in this change because McGee’s loyalty was not to any ideology but to the welfare and freedom of the Irish people. McGee’s life was dedicated to the notion of a democratic egalitarian life.
- SpeakerMcGee was born in Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland. Both sides of McGee’s family, the D’Arcy’s and the McGees, lived in this region with the McGees being Irish. When he was 8 years old, his family moved to County Wexford from where his mother came from. McGee has said that he got his intensity and interest in the Irish from his mother, Doras Catherine Morgan.
- SpeakerIn 1843 at the age of 17 McGee immigrated to the US, one of 93000 Irish immigrants that year. He lived in Boston and made a name for himself as an orator.
- SpeakerMcGee joined the Boston Pilot, the chief newspaper of New England’s Irish. In 1845, he returned to Ireland to work with the Freeman’s Journal, a major Irish Nationalist paper in Dublin. McGee was friends with Rev. Richard B. O’Brien, president of St. Mary's College in Halifax. On his way back to Ireland McGee visited O’Brien and St Mary’s College. O’Brien, also an Irish Nationalist, corresponded with McGee for the rest of their lives.
- SpeakerMcGee and O'Brien were heavily influenced by Daniel O’Connell and Father Theobald Mathew who preached temperance. The speaker gives an example of Father Mathew’s influence on the lives of the Irish people.
- SpeakerThe Freeman’s Journal sent McGee to London to report on the House of Commons. By 1845 O’Connell rarely attended the House of Commons, so a disappointed McGee spent his time in the British Museum reading Irish history and literature resulting in him being fired from the Freeman's Journal. McGee returned to Ireland in 1845 and met Charles Gavin Duffy who recruited McGee to write for The Nation. Gavin introduced McGee to his future wife, Mary Theresa Caffrey, as well as Thomas Francis Meagher, Blake Dillon, and John Mitchel who were involved in the Irish Rebellion/Rising of 1848. These men looked down on McGee despite McGee being more skilled in being able to “move” people with his spoken and written words.
- SpeakerThe Rebellion of 1848 happened in County Tipperary without much drama. McGee was tasked with organizing the Irish in Scotland to come help the rebellion. The leaders of the Rebellion were arrested and deported to Australia, but eventually settled in New York. In October 1848, McGee escaped to Philadelphia and worked in the newspaper industry. This was during the era of the Know-Nothings who were hostile to Irish immigrants AKA the white niggers of America on the docks of New York.
- SpeakerThe Irish who moved after the Famine to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia were largely Gaelic speaking and did not speak English. McGee started classes to teach the Irish English and defended them against the Know-Nothings in the newspaper, The American Celt. Between 1848 and 1850s McGee was a resolute Irish Nationalist and a sworn enemy of England. He blamed the Church for its lack of support for the Nationalist Movement in the 1848 Rebellion. However, McGee’s attitude aided the Know-Nothings.
- SpeakerMcGee’s first visit to Canada was to London, Ontario where he met Father Gordon who came from Wexford. It is here that McGee saw for the first time the kind of country Canada could be for the Irish. Returning to New York and Boston, McGee resumed his lectures about Irish Literature and saw literature as a way to give people a sense of themselves. When McGee later settled in Canada, he became one of the first proponents of distinctly Canadian literature.
- SpeakerThe Fenians started to go against McGee including John Mitchel. Mitchel was a brilliant but violent man who had great resentment against McGee and wrote against him.
- SpeakerAlthough McGee was a defender of the Irish, he believed that they had to become a part of Canada or America by leaving behind their prejudices. He also believed that Canada should forgo the associations with the Crown and become part of the US. Later McGee changed his mind about this latter idea.
- SpeakerDuring McGee’s trip to Ireland in 1855 he realized that his life was no longer in Ireland. He viewed Charles Gavin Duffy as the intellectual and political leader of the Irish Nationalists, but Gavin left for Australia. Since McGee was against using violence, unlike Mitchel, McGee left Ireland and returned to the States in 1855.
- SpeakerMcGee moved to Montreal in 1857. Due to the increasing violence against the Irish immigrants who came after the Famine to the US and the ability to live freely in Canada, McGee encouraged the Irish to immigrate to Canada. This infuriated the Irish Nationalists because of Canada’s ties with Great Britain. McGee felt that if England had given the Irish the freedom that Canadians enjoyed, there would have been no issue in Ireland.
- SpeakerIn 1858, McGee was elected to the Parliament of Lower Canada and became a member of the Cabinet and an influential member of the government.
- SpeakerMcGee was first elected due to Irish Canadian votes, but later that support lessened due to the growing influence of the Irish Nationalists who opposed McGee. When the America Civil War started in 1861, hundreds of thousands of Irish Americans joined the ranks of the Union Armies against the Confederacy which Britain favoured. McGee organized the Irish Canadians to defend Canada against invasions from the US.
- SpeakerMcGee saw the American Civil War as an opportunity to have the British North American provinces join together. He strongly advocated for the Intercolonial Railroad to help make Canada strong enough to oppose the threat from the US.
- SpeakerMcGee supported the Confederation and attended the Charlottetown Conference. He was friends with Joseph Howe and Charles Tupper. Later when Howe turned against the idea of the Confederation, McGee tried to change Howe’s mind.
- SpeakerJohn A. MacDonald promised McGee a Cabinet seat in the 1867 government. But McGee gave up his seat in a deal with Tupper to give Edward Kenny, an Irish Canadian from Halifax, a seat. The speaker also talks about McGee’s attendance at the 1865 London Conference where he spoke in support of Catholic schools.
- SpeakerArchbishop Connolly was instrumental in having the Catholic School Charter in the British North America Act resulting in Catholic Schools receiving government funding.
- SpeakerThanks to McGee and a very clever lawyer, the Supreme Court approved the act which granted Catholic Schools full funding from the government.
- SpeakerTape drop
- SpeakerWhen McGee made a speech in Wexford, the Irish Nationalists felt that McGee betrayed his Irish Republican background when he said the Rebellion of 1848 was an act of folly. Tape break The Fenians in Montreal were against McGee due to his affinity for the British. In the election, Barney Devlin head of the St Patrick’s Society and supported by the Fenians opposed McGee. When Delvin realized the night of the election that McGee would likely win, “Barney’s Boys'' inflicted serious injuries on McGee’s supporters. However, McGee escaped harm as he was bedridden that night.
- SpeakerMcGee continued his support for Confederation. On the night McGee was assassinated, he made a speech about the Maritimes joining Confederation. At the same time, Joseph Howe advocated against joining the Confederation.
- SpeakerAn Irish Nationalist in Montreal who opposed McGee was Patrick Whelan. Whelan was overheard by a detective in the US that he would shoot McGee. It is thought that an assassination attempt on New Year’s Eve, by Faolain/ Whelan and two others at McGee’s house in Montreal was aborted.
- SpeakerWhen McGee returned to Ottawa he arrived home late one night from Parliament and was shot to death. There is still mystery surrounding the killer of McGee despite Patrick Whelan being found guilty of the crime.
- SpeakerD’Arcy McGee was buried on Easter Monday which the speaker finds interesting as Easter Monday was also the day of the Irish Uprising in 1916. The speaker then answers questions from the audience.
- SpeakerClosing comments