The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)Dent, John Charles
History
The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
Dent, John Charles
Canada -- Biography
Mr. McGee's share in the treasonable schemes of the Confederation
rendered it impossible for him to remain in the British Islands without
constantly encountering the danger of arrest. A few months before the
collapse of the Ballingarry demonstration he had married, and his
complicity in the insurrection thus brought trouble upon another besides
himself. For some of his public utterances on the platform at Roundwood,
in the county of Wicklow, he was seized by the police; but as all
custodians of the peace were instructed to deal leniently with prisoners
who had not actually been taken with arms in their hands, he was allowed
to go his way. Nothing mollified by this mild treatment, he started for
Scotland, to stir up treason among the Irish population there. During
his sojourn in Glasgow he received intelligence of the bursting of the
bubble which he had assisted to inflate, and of the capture of O'Brien.
Hearing that a reward was offered for his own apprehension, he skulked
about from place to place in various disguises, and after some delay,
crossed over to the North of Ireland, where he took refuge in the house
of Dr. Maginn, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Derry. He had an interview
with his wife, after which he sailed for the United States in the guise
of a priest. On the 10th of October, 1848, he landed at Philadelphia,
but soon made his way to New York, where, with the assistance of some of
his compatriots he established a weekly newspaper called the _New York
Nation_. This enterprise started with fair prospects of success, for the
editor was well known to the Irish of New York and its vicinity, and was
regarded by them with a high degree of favour, as a man of strong
anti-British proclivities. The contents of the paper realized the most
sanguine anticipations of its readers, so far as their tone of fanatical
hostility to England was concerned; but the editor's want of judgment
once more involved him in difficulties. In commenting editorially on the
causes of the failure of the Irish insurrection in which he had borne a
part, he threw the blame on the Roman Catholic hierarchy, whose
influence, as he truly alleged, had been put forward to dissuade their
parishioners from joining the ranks of the insurgents. Bishop Hughes, of
New York, felt aggrieved on behalf of the Irish priesthood, and took up
their cause in the local press. It was, of course, not difficult for him
to show that the clergy had acted wisely in discountenancing an
insurrection of the success of which there had never been even the most
remote possibility. There were rejoinders from Mr. McGee in the columns
of the _Nation_, and surrejoinders by the Bishop in various newspapers.
The former must surely have seen that he had made a false move, but he
had not the good sense to profit by the knowledge by either withdrawing
from his position or holding his tongue. The religious sympathies of his
compatriots, and their profound reverence for the priesthood, were
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