The Irish Race in the Past and the Present

by Augustus J. Thébaud

Then, glancing at the past, making a sad enumeration of Ireland's losses during the last three centuries, and evoking from these too eloquent figures the accents of a touching eloquence, the writer asks himself how far so much bloodshed, such armies of individuals, stricken down by death, or hurried out of the country by transportation—so many families extinct, and the like—had contributed to restore and save Ireland?

"Open the annals of Ireland, and see the small amount of influence which all those violent enterprises and all those extraordinary accidental causes of depopulation have had upon the social state of the country. Calculate the number of souls that perished during the religious wars; count the thousands of Irishmen that perished under the sword of Cromwell; to all that the victor massacred add the myriads that he transported; think of the hundreds of thousands who sank under famine, the number of whom exceeded in one year, 1741, forty thousand; do not overlook the formerly considerable number who yearly died by the hand of the executioner; in fine, to this add the twenty-five or thirty thousand individuals who emigrate from the country every year" (this was written before 1830); "and, having laid down these facts, you look for the consequences: when, in the midst of these different crises, you see Ireland always the same, always equally wretched, always crammed with paupers, always bearing about with her the same hideous and deep wounds, you will then recognize that the miseries of Ireland do not arise from the number of her inhabitants; you will conclude that it is the nature of her social condition to generate unmitigated indigence and infinite distress; that, supposing millions of poor swept out of her by a stroke of magic, others would be seen rising up in abundance out of a well-spring of misery, which in Ireland never dries up; and that the fault does not lie in the number of her population, but in the institutions in force in the country."

The celebrated French writer had certainly pointed out what were the real causes of the distress in Ireland. He had shown how false were the pretended causes then assigned for it by Englishmen; he touched the key-note—the land tenure; and, as a well-wisher to Ireland, deprecating any new calamities, he was firmly opposed to those various fancy projects of emigration en masse, suggested by numerous British writers, many of whom, such as the editors of the London Times, were induced to promulgate them by their deep hatred for the old race, which led them to represent under a modern garb the old Norman and Puritan philanthropic desires of rooting out and sweeping off the Irish from the land.

The projects of emigration, therefore, were most eagerly advanced by the enemies of the Irish, their real friends being, on the whole, opposed to the movement at the time. But, the true causes of Irish misery being either unseen or unappreciated, or, if known, studiously fostered, with a view of bringing about the one aim which ran all through the English policy, of emptying the island and destroying the race, eventually it did actually become a dire necessity for the people to fly; and therefore, from 1815 to 1845, the wave of emigration began to rise fast, and go on swelling in volume and widening in extent from year to year. Midway between the two extreme points, about 1830, it amounted to between twenty-five and thirty thousand. M. de Beaumont could not see how two millions could be transported at once. Nor were they. But he did not foresee that in the twenty years succeeding that in which he wrote more than three millions and a half would actually be shipped from the island; and all the difficulties that he anticipated—the number of ships requisite, the immense amount of money needed, the countries where such numbers might be received—were furnished by Providence for the spread of the Irish in many lands. But these considerations can only be briefly touched upon here; they will form the interesting subject of the next chapter. What we have now to consider is the commencement of the great exodus, confined so far to Canada and the United States, but already working wonders over the vast stretch of country which spreads away between the St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the official records of emigration from the "United Kingdom," from 1815 to 1860 inclusive, we find that, in general, the greater number emigrated to Canada up to 1839; from that epoch, but chiefly after 1845, the greater number went directly to the United States. Let us first look for a reason for this change of destination, and afterward for its result.

Homer, wiser than many modern philosophers, tells us that "there are beings which have a certain name among men and another quite different among the gods." What is true of names, is true likewise of what they represent, motives and things in general. Men often assign to actions motives far different from those known to God; and, in like manner, the motives of men, visibly impelled by the Spirit of God, are often far beyond the comprehension of "philosophers." We are far from presuming to dive into the divine thoughts with the certainty of bringing to the surface what lies hidden in their mysterious depths; but every Christian should endeavor humbly to penetrate them, and modestly set forth what he gathers from them.

What object can be assigned for the Irish emigrating in such large numbers to Canada for a quarter of a century, from 1815 to 1840? It cannot be because Canada is, as it then was, a British colony: the English Emigration Commissioners had the honesty to confess, later on, that the rush to the United States was in consequence of their desire to avoid dwelling under the English flag. It was not because, in Canada, a greater facility opened up for obtaining good land; for, in Lower Canada, where they tarried for a long time, the land was already occupied by French- Canadians, and, in that severe climate, the soil is not over- productive. It cannot have been the facility for transportation— during about six months of every year, the mouth of the St. Lawrence is closed to ships, and travel through a frozen land is not the most desirable thing, particularly to homeless and moneyless immigrants. Last of all, it was not the similarity of climate and language with those of their own island. What, then, can it have been?

In our own opinion, the human motive of the Irish can have been no other than a religious one; in the Divine mind, the motive was of a still higher and more merciful character. The Irish had heard, from the few of their countrymen who had already emigrated to the United States, of the great difficulty they experienced in practising their religion. On the other hand, they knew that, throughout Lower Canada, there was not a village without its Catholic church and priest, and that Quebec and Montreal were important and entirely Catholic cities. This great fact blinded them to the many disadvantages they would have to undergo in emigrating to such a country; or, rather, they saw the disadvantages, but the thought that their religion and that of their children would be safe in Canada was enough for them. It is the same people ever, in the nineteenth century as in those which preceded it, and all noble minds must respect them for thus first looking to the supernatural.

But, had the Almighty a design in directing them to the north of the continent, and establishing so great a number of them permanently in that country? We are fully persuaded that the Irish race is now, and ever has been, predestined to fulfill a high mission on this earth. What is now transpiring under our eyes is too clear to be denied by any Christian; and admitting the general fact that the race must be an instrument in the hands of God to spread his Church throughout, in English- speaking countries particularly, to correct, by their presence and influence in every quarter of the globe, the evil effects of the spread of what we call Japhetism among Oriental races—let us endeavor to see how their coming to settle in Canada served for that great end.

The Gospel of our Lord was first preached in those dreary regions by religious of the Gallic race. The labors of Catholic missionaries in Canada, of the members of the Society of Jesus particularly, are now well known and appreciated. The French colony in Canada was from the first a Catholic colony: It was not a conquest; it was not a commercial enterprise; it was not a transatlantic garden for luxurious Frenchmen: it was what Mr. Bancroft has well called it, "a mission." The desire of winning souls to Christ had begun the work, had run all through it almost to the end. The blood of martyrs had consecrated it; that of Rasles, shed by heretics; of Lallemant, Brebeuf, and Jogues, by pagans. But, after the surrender of the colony to England, although the terms of the cession were as favorable to religion as could be desired, and the British power could not introduce there any of the penal laws still pressing so hard on English and Irish Catholics, nevertheless, a great danger arose in consequence, which is particularly visible now after more than a century has passed away. Though Catholicity could not be persecuted, and, for once, England faithfully observed the terms of a capitulation which involved a religious side, as little could heresy be excluded or denied some of the privileges which it enjoys in the mother country. The government was to be administered mostly by Protestant officials; the new-comers from England would be composed, for the greater part, of Protestant merchants and artisans. The Anglican Church would soon gain the prestige of wealth and influence. The country in the east, it is true, thickly settled by Catholic farmers, would long remain Catholic; but in the large towns, Quebec and Montreal chiefly, an influx of Protestants of every sect was to be expected; while in the west, where the French had scarcely occupied the country, the numerical majority would soon lean to the side of the new arrivals from England and Scotland. The English tongue would gradually supersede the French, and it might have been foreseen from the beginning that, within a given time, notwithstanding the rapid increase of French-Canadians by birth, Catholicity would lose first its preeminence, and, perhaps, after a while, occupy a very inferior rank.