att& tlje
jHonument to tfje Srtel) Jfeber
1847
REPRINTED, WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND ILLUSTRATIONS, FROM
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH'S COMMEMORATIVE SOUVENIR, ISSUED ON
THE OCCASION OF THE UNVEILING OF THE NATIONAL
MEMORIAL ON THE 15TH AUGUST, 1909, INCLUDING
A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE DEDICATORY
CEREMONIES, SERMON,
SPEECHES, ETC.
By jr. S. Jorban
Quebec
Ipubliebcb and printed b?
®ele0ra|ilj |Jrintiujj Company
B. D. l^ineteen fbun&refc an& fline
REGISTERED according to the Act of Parliament, in the Office of the Minister of
Agriculture, Ottawa, in the year 1909, by FRANK CARREL, President
of the Telegraph Printing Co., of Quebec.
J|0te
iS the author and compiler of the Quebec Daily Telegraph's
"Grosse Isle Monument Commemorative Souvenir",
the undersigned desires to return sincere thanks for
the widespread appreciation of his modest effort to
enhance the eclat of so important an event, nationally and historic-
ally, as the erection and dedication of a fitting monument to honor
the memory of the unfortunate Irish Exiles of 1847, who succumbed
to the terrible ship fever, and to recall the heroism of the clergy
both Catholic and Protestant, who so nobly faced disease and death
to minister to them in their dying struggles.
Encouraged by the remarkable favor with which the "Souvenir"
was received in all quarters at home and abroad and wishing to
meet the continuous popular demand for further copies of it, which
the original edition proved entirely insufficient to gratify, the
Daily Telegraph Printing Company has, with commendable enterprise,
decided to re-issue it, in handsome and enduring book form. The
author has therefore availed himself of the opportunity to carefully
revise the text and to make such additions to the work and its
illustrations, including a complete account of the dedicatory cere-
monies and speeches at Grosse Isle on the 15th August last, as
will render it a precious memento of the occasion to every Irish
home as well as a valuable and necessary adjunct to the historical
collections in all public and private libraries.
For so comprehensive and accurate a record of the terrible
tragedy of 1847, the undersigned has no hesitation in respectfully
bespeaking the general and hearty support of his Irish fellow
countrymen and the appreciation of the public at large.
J. A. JORDAN.
Quebec, September, 1909.
Page Three
HON. CHAS. MURPHY
Secretary of State for the Dominion of
Canada
HON. CHAS. R. DEVLIN
Minister of Colonization and Mines in the
Provincial Cabinet
HON. JOHN C. KAINE
Irish Catholic Representative in the
Provincial Cabinet
THOS. J. MURPHY
President Quebec Division No. 1, A.O.H
"There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin,
The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill."
CAMPBELL.
ME OBJECT of this Souvenir Number is to recall, on the occasion of
the unveiling of the national monument to the Irish dead on Grosse
Isle, who perished in the terrible famine and fever of 1847-48, the
memories of one of the darkest, saddest and most trying episodes
in the histories of the long suffering Irish race and of Canada, and
at the same time to enhance as much as possible the national significance and
eclat of the ceremony.
In issuing it, the QUEBEC DAILY TELEGRAPH, which was the first to propose
and advocate the erection of that monument as a national duty and which for
almost twenty years has made it a labor of love to work for the success of a pro-
ject so legitimately dear to every true Irish heart, as well as to many sympathiz-
ers of other nationalities, has the proud satisfaction to see that labor at last re-
warded and the crowning touch put to the great undertaking which it had the
honor to initiate so long ago. It did so in order to remove from the Irish name
the reproach of having so far forgotten the traditions of tne race as to threaten to
leave forever unmarked by a fitting and enduring national memorial the last rest-
ing place of so many thousands of the exiles and martyrs of the misrule of the
unhappy Green Isle, who, during the awful famine and pestilence years, had fled in
terror and despair to this section of the New World only to find a hideous grave
on a lonely island in the St. Lawrence. It felt that the national honor and the
national reputation for love and veneration for the memory of the heroic dead
were involved in the realization of a project that aimed at rescuing a spot of such
historic and hallowed importance from that neglect and decay which menaced it
with the forgetfulness and disrespect of later generations. To mark it, therefore,
by some suitable and lasting memento of the national sympathy and to keep it
in proper and creditable order for the future seemed an imperative duty, which
the Irish race in America more especially would not be true to themselves in longer
overlooking, and the DAILY TELEGRAPH accordingly took up the cause with ardor.
It was only natural that a Quebec paper should do this. Quebec was the
port on the St. Lawrence which was the haven of refuge that the Irish exiles of
1847 were first seeking and which lies nearest to Grosse Isle. A large proportion
of the DAILY TELEGRAPH'S readers and friends were of Irish blood. Not a few of
them had themselves passed through the fiery ordeals of the cholera, famine and
fever years or were the immediate descendants of those who had done so. Que-
bec, moreover, from its situation, had been in closer contact than any other centre
with the terrible events and scenes that were enacted on the island during those
trying times. It was in constant communication with their reeking hotbed which
was at its very doors, and it was even itself afflicted with the awful scourges
Page Five— —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
which were committing such alarming havoc among the refugees from the famine
and pestilence-stricken shores of poor Erin. Indeed, not a few of its own citizens
and others had sickened and died from the contagion, which was brought into it
by the good Samaritans, who nobly went to the physical and spiritual aid of the
immigrant sufferers on the island, by the overflow of patients from the miserable
shelters and so-called hospitals there, and by the seeming convalescents hurriedly
discharged from the island only to scatter the fatal seeds of the malady far and
wide wherever they went. Consequently, the remains of all the victims of 1847-48
do not rest in Grosse Isle. Many of them found graves in Quebec, others in Mon-
treal, and others again in Kingston, Toronto, Ottawa and other places, where
their names and tombs are to-day wholly or almost entirely forgotten. But the
ghastly hecatomb, which cries to Heaven for vengeance upon the misrule that
produced it, was at Grosse Isle. That was the great Irish charnel-house of 1847
and there the vast majority of the poor victims of the famine and pestilence closed
their eyes forever to the light of the sun. No other place was, therefore, more
appropriate for a proper and lasting national memento of so grini an episode in
Irish and Canadian history.
Twenty years ago, however, the DAILY TELEGRAPH'S appeal on the subject
was necessarily made to the more or less local and limited auditory afforded by
Quebec and its surroundings and to the rapidly dwindling Irish element of its
population, who, however sympathetic otherwise, had neither sufficient means
nor organization to carry the project to a successful issue. The result was that
nothing practical came of it at the time or from its revival on various subsequent
occasions.
It would serve no good or useful present purpose to relate in detail the vary-
ing phases of the movement in favor of the erection of the proposed monument
and the causes which combined at different periods to delay it and even to so far
imperil its success as to almost discourage many of its warmest promoters and
sympathizers, who included from its earliest stages not only the DAILY TELEGRAPH
and its many local Irish friends, but such prominent men as Sir Wilfrid Laurier,
the Premier of the Dominion, Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, the present Chief Justice
and Administrator of the Government of Canada, Hon. John Costigan, Dominion
Senator, Sir Richard Scott, Canada's former Secretary of State, Hon. M. F.
Hackett, ex-Provincial Secretary, and many other leading Irishmen and members
of other nationalities in Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and other parts of
Canada and the neighboring republic.
Suffice it to say that the question was confined to newspaper agitation until
1897, when the fiftieth anniversary of the national calamity of 1847 occurred and
when the Quebec branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, then under the
presidency of our worthy friend, Mr. Patrick Kirwin, of the Quebec Legislature's
official staff, and the chaplaincy of Revd. Father Maloney, C.SS.R., of St.
Patrick's church, Quebec, but now of St. John, N.B., had the happy thought to
commemorate it by a great religious and national pilgrimage to Grosse Isle to
Page Six
EX-ALDERMAN ED. REYNOLDS
Founder of Quebec Division No. 1, A.O.H.
GEORGE MULROONEY
Of the firm of W. J. & G. Mulrooney,
Quebec, who was Treasurer of the Quebec
Division No. 1, A.O.H., in 1897, and who,
as one of the ablest and most earnest advo-
cates of the monument project, was also
ono of the first, after the great national pil-
grimage of that year, to propose that the
Quebec Branch should take it up and carry
it out.
P. KIRWIN
President Quebec Division No. 1, A.O.H.,
in 1897, when great national pilgrimage to
Grosse Isle took place and when erection
of national monument there by A.O.H. was
first proposed. A strong supporter of the
proposition.
REV. MARTIN MALONEY, C.SS.R.
Local Chaplain of Quebec Division No. 1,
A.O.H., in 1897, and one of the fathers and
most earnest advocates of the proposal after
the national pilgrimage to Grosse Isle in
that year, that the Quebec Division should
take up or lead in the movement to erect a
national monument there.
THE GROSSE- ISLE TRAGEDY
pray for the dead and to honor their memory. This afforded an opportunity to a
great multitude, who had never before been on the ghastly scene, to see and note
for themselves the utterly neglected, nationally unhonored and wholly discredit-
able condition of the God's acre or ground in a secluded quarter of the island in
which so many of their unfortunate kindred were sleeping in hideous common
pits the long sleep that knows no waking in this world. To all the sight was
extremely saddening, while to many it gave a shock of the most painful and even
tearful surprise, and, in the case of so generous, warm-hearted and kin-loving a
people as the Irish and one so famed for their affection and veneration for their
martyred dead, the result can be easily surmised. The feeling in favor of the
proposed monument and the removal of the national disgrace involved in the
conditions at Grosse Isle at once became intense in Quebec, until the local branch
of the Ancient Order rightfully resolved to give the movement greater cohesion
and strength by taking up the question of the monument and endeavoring to solve
it as a national one.
And though it has taken twelve years more to bring about the happy solu-
tion so long desired, none rejoices more than does the DAILY TELEGRAPH at the
fact that, through the active instrumentality of the Quebec branch of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians and with the patriotic co-operation of the supreme heads of
the Order in the United States, as well as under the influential auspices of the
National Board of that great national organization as a whole, the approaching
1 5th of August will witness, in the unveiling and dedication of a fitting national
memorial monument, together with the accompanying ceremonial and gathering,
at Grosse Isle, the performance of a great national duty and the glorious consum-
mation of a great national work which will not only reflect honor upon the Irish
name in all America, but brine-- consolation to the hearts of the many descendants
of the poor exiles of 1847 so widely scattered to-day throughout Canada and the
United States
For most precious and welcome aid in the compilation of this Souvenir, the
DAILY TELEGRAPH is deeply and gratefully indebted to many sources, public and
private, apart from the personal reminiscences of the writer, who, in his early
days, while the events of '47 were yet comparatively fresh in the local mind, had
the advantage of knowing or coming- into contact with many persons now deceased,
who had been leading actors in or eye-witnesses of them. Directly from the lips
of these, he heard much that left a most painful and lasting impression upon him.
But he has not depended wholly upon his own recollections. All the known re-
cords, official and otherwise, bearing upon the dreadful calamity of 1847, have
been carefully examined, compared and drawn upon. These include the Canadian
and Provincial archives, the statutes and journals of the Imperial Parliament and
of the Legislatures and Parliaments of Canada and its different provinces before
and since the Union, the Relations des Jesuites, the newspaper press of the time
in Ireland, England, the United States, Canada, and especially in Quebec,
O'Rourke's History of the Irish Famine, Maguire's History of the Irish in Amer-
Page Seven —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
ica, Davin's Irishman in Canada, McCarthy's Irish Literature, Sullivan's New
Ireland, Sir J. M. Lemoine's Quebec Past and Present, Chronicles of the St. Law-
rence and other works, Bechard's History of Crane Island and the surrounding
islands, Douglas' Old France in the New World, and La Revue Canadienne,
together with such other well known writers on Canadian and Irish history, gen-
ealogy, literature, etc., as Bibaud, Faillon, Ferland, Laverdiere, Casgrain, Bou-
chette, Christie, Garneau, Suite, Tanguay, Tache, Bender, Mrs. Sadlier, D'Arcy
McGee, etc., etc. Much help has also been received from letters still extant writ-
ten by or to the celebrated Father McMahon, the founder of St. Patrick's Church,
Quebec, and for many years its beloved pastor, as well as by and to other priests
of that congregation during the Irish famine and pestilence years, some of whom
were at Grosse Isle in 1847. Letters in the possession of the writer from the late
Mr. M. F. Walsh, of Ottawa, formerly of Quebec, and at one time Secretary of the
Managing Committee of St. Patrick's church, Quebec, have also been of great
service, and the same may be said of the useful information so courteously placed
at the DAILY TELEGRAPH'S disposal by the Abbe Lindsay, of the Archbishop's Pal-
ace, Quebec, Mr. Phileas Gagnon, of the Archives Office, Quebec, Mr. Ernest
Gagnon, former Secretary of the Provincial Department of Public Works, Dr.
Montizambert, the official head of the Quarantine Service of Canada, and Dr.
Martineau, the present Medical Superintendent of the Grosse Isle Station, as well
as by a few of the remaining survivors of 1847 on that fateful island. To all
these, the DAILY TELEGRAPH begs to return its warmest thanks.
But our chief debt of gratitude is due to one who, we regret to say, has
passed from amongst us forever and with whom the careful collection and preser-
vation of all information relating to the Irish immigration to Canada, the events of
1832, 1834 and 1847 at Grosse Isle, and the congregation of St. Patrick's Church,
Quebec, of which he was so long a member, may be truly said to have been ever
a labor of love. We refer to the late Mr. James M. O'Leary, of the Postmaster-
General's Department, Ottawa, who died only a few years ago, but who was
born and reared in Quebec amid surroundings that bred in him an intense love
for poor Ireland and his honest, sterling Irish ancestry. At various times, during
his career, Mr. O'Leary, who handled a most graceful and interesting pen, wrote
and contributed to the columns of the QUEBEC DAILY TELEGRAPH, the London,
Ont., Catholic Record, and the Ottawa press, many valuable sketches on Irish
and Catholic subjects, with which he had been connected or was acquainted, but
especially on the terrible events at Grosse Isle with which he had opportunities to
be more conversant owing to his respected father's lengthy residence in Quebec
and his prominence among the Irish Catholic element of its population. Thus in
1892 and 1897 were published articles from his pen on the Irish Exodus and the
Horrors of Grosse Isle in 1847, which practically contain everything worthy of note
on the subject and which are unsurpassed in graphic delineation and fidelity to the
awful truth. Therefore, the present occasion is an appropriate one not only to
do honor to the memory of so devoted and so patriotic an Irish writer as Mr.
Page Eight
MATTHEW CUMMINGS
National President A.O.H.
MAJOR E. T. McCRYSTAL
Member National Board, A.O.H.
REV. JOHN D. KENNEDY
Member National Board, A.O.H.
C. J. FOY
Member National Board. A.O.H.
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
J. M. O'l eary, but to recall the admirable work in the national cause he did so
lovingly and well. The DAILY TELEGRAPH is also glad to have this opportunity
to publicly thank his surviving younger brother, Mr. Thos. O'Leary, the well
known guardian of that storehouse of antiquarian lore, the Chateau de Ramezay,
Montreal, for his great kindness and courtesy in placing his deceased brother's
papers and notes at our disposal for the purposes of this Souvenir.
Ancient ©rfcer of Hibernians
E Ancient Order of Hibernians, under whose auspices the Grosse Isle monu-
ment has been erected, is probably one of the largest national organizations
of its kind in the civilized world. Its ramifications extend nearly all over
the globe wherever the widely scattered members of the Irish race are to be found.
It is composed wholly of Irish Roman Catholics. The early history of the society
is somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it is generally believed to be the direct suc-
cessor of the society organized in the county of Kildare, in 1565. At that time
religious persecution was raging in Ireland and the priests were hunted and not
allowed to celebrate mass or other religious ceremonies. Under those circum-
stances Rory Oge O'Moore established an organization known as "The Defend
ers."
The Defenders took measures to protect the priests against those who were
seeking for their lives, and at the same time they did all in their power to help
their countrymen to get through the difficult times that were then experienced in
th^ Emerald Isle. Later on the Defenders went out of existence and were succeed-
ed by the Ribbon men, and were known under various other names. They later be-
came an oath-bound organization known as the Confederation of Kilkenny.
This organization was founded in Kilkenny on the i4th October, 1642. Sir
Phelim O'Neill was in charge of the Irish wing, made up of the Defenders. The
English Catholics of Ireland, or Lords of the Pale, were under Lords Germans -
town and Mountgarret. After the religious troubles had subsided, the Defenders
continued their work in favour of the labourers and the farmers of the country
whom they took under their protection and defended against the rapacious in-
stincts of the agents of absentee landlords. In later years the organization be-
came more pacific. A number of the old Defenders formed in England the first
division of the great organization now known as the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The society grew and progressed in that country, and in a short time was firmly
established in Ireland. The first organization in America took place in New
York, in 1836, whence it spread all over the United States.
The first divisions established in Canada were opened in Montreal on Novem-
ber 2oth, 1892, and in Quebec on 22nd June, 1893. Since that date it has spread
all over the Dominion. It has also branches in Australia, as well as in England
and Ireland and America.
The Order is controlled by a National Council or Board, a Provincial Council,
County Councils and the officers of the several divisions. The affairs of the local
divisions with a County President, Secretary and Treasurer form the County
Board. The Provincial Board is made up of the officers of the County Councils,
with a Provincial President and Secretary.
The members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America was the title
Page Nine
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
adopted for the organization in December, 1897. There had previously been some
friction betwen the A.O.H. of America, Board of Erin, and the A.O.H. of the
United States of America. The difficulties were submitted to His Lordship
Bishop McFaul, of Trenton, and his decision was unanimously accepted by both
branches of the organization. The convention of Trenton, held in 1898, supported
this acceptance of the decision of Bishop McFaul.
The convention held on that occasion also adopted certain amendments to
the constitution of 1884. The Order declares that its intents and purposes are
to promote friendship, unity and Christian charity among- its members, by raising
or supporting a fund of money for maintaining the aged, sick, blind and infirm
members, for the legitimate expenses of the Order and for no other purposes what-
soever. The motto of the Order is "Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity."
During the past twenty years, the A.O.H. and Ladies Auxiliary, have paid
out for sick and funeral benefits, charitable donations to churches, schools and
orphanages, relief of sufferers by famine in the West of Ireland, as well as by
earthquakes, floods and other great disasters in the United States, aid to the
Gaelic League in Ireland, the Grosse Isle Monument, &c., a grand total of $11,-
803,302.00 for educational and charitable purposes. The total cost of the Grosse
Isle monument — $5,000 — was defrayed out of the national or general treasury of
the Order pursuant to unanimous vote of the National Convention of the A.O.H.
held at Indianapolis in July, 1908.
In connection with the several divisions are Ladies' Auxiliaries, Knight and
Cadet Corps, etc. At the Catholic University of Washington there is a chair of
Gaelic known as the A.O.H. Gaelic chair. The money for this purpose, amounting
to $50,000, was subscribed by the members of the Order in the United States and
Canada, and forwarded to the then National Chaplain of the organization, who
was treasurer of the Chair Fund, Right Rev. John S. Foley, Bishop of Detroit.
The supreme heads of the Order are the officers of the National Council, who
are on this memorable occasion the following : —
National President — Matthew Cummings.
National Vice-President — James T. Regan.
National Treasurer — John F. Quinn.
National Secretary — Jas. T. McGinnis.
National Chaplain — His Grace Archbishop O'Connell, of Boston.
National Directors — Rev. John D. Kennedy, P. T. Moran, Major E. T.
McCrystal, C. J. Foy, Mayor of Perth, Ont., John J. O'Meara.
The following are the present officers of Quebec Division No. i, A. O. H. :—
County President — J. Gallagher.
President — T. J. Murphy.
Vice-President — P. Ward.
Provincial Chaplain — Rev. A. E. Maguire.
Recording Secretary — P. Brown.
Financial Secretary — W. Egan.
Treasurer — J. Shields.
Chairman of Standing Committee — J. W. McDermott.
Sergeant-at-Arms — R Hartley.
Sentinel — J. Brown.
Page Ten
HIS EXCELLENCY MGR. SBARETTI
Papal Delegate to Canada
HIS GRACE LOUIS NAZAIRE BEGIN
Archbishop of Quebec
REV. A. EUSTACE MAGUIRE
Provincial Chaplain, A.O.H.
REV. FATHER HANLEY, C.SS.R.
Present Pastor of St. Patrick's, Quebec
THE GROSSErlSLE TRAGEDY
Rational jWemortal
"Tear down the crape from the column,
Let the shaft stand white and fair."
S STATED, the ceremony of the unveiling and dedication of the national mem-
orial monument, which is the fruit of the patriotic movement referred to
and which is to fittingly ma.k for future generations the last resting place
of the Irish martyrs of '47 at Grosse Isle, is fixed to take place on Sunday, the
1 5th August, than which, apart from the sanctity of the day itself, both as the
Lord's Day and as the Feast of the Assumption, no better or more appropriate
date could be selected. The glory of the Canadian summer and the beauty of the
Canadian scenery, especially along the St. Lawrence, will then be in all their full-
ness. But fond Irish hearts will above all recall that this was the period of the
sadly memorable year when the awful harvest of death among their kindred
reached its apogee on the lonely island.
A most desirable opportunity will thus be afforded not only to visit the terrible
Golgotha of the Irish race in America and to do honor to the memory of the dead
by taking part in the dedication ceremony, but also to enjoy the charms of Cana-
dian scenery and the cool, invigorating breezes of the great Northern river at a
season when these aie most welcome. Quaint, historic, picturesque old Quebec
is easily and speedily reached by rail or boat frpm all parts of Canada and the
United States and a pleasant two hours' sail on fine river steamers will bring the
visitors to the island. Consequently a vast gathering of the members of the race
especially, from both countries, is looked for there on the coming i5th August,
when all will in truth be able to re-echo the words of the old song —
''Deep in Canadian woods we've met,
From one bright island flown;
Great is the land we tread, but yet
Our hearts are with our own."
As befitting a national memento of so melancholy an episode in the history
of the Irish race, the great monument is a truly national one. It is in the form
of a tall, free-standing Celtic cross, of which so many noble specimens still dot the
surface in many places of holy Ireland and date back to the early ages of Chris-
tianity in the Green Isle. Petrie, in his interesting work on the Antiquities of
Ireland, speaks of these crosses as erected both for sepulchral and dedicatory pur-
poses. Their chief merit lies in the fact that they are essentially Irish in origin,
design and execution. Nowhere else in the homes of the Celtic race are they to be
found in such beauty and profusion as amid the ruins of the old abbeys, monas-
teries, churches and graveyards of Erin. Although the ruthless hand of the
spoiler and of time was laid heavily upon many of them, happily enough of them
are still left on the old sod to preserve their beautiful type and to show the won-
derful taste and skill of the original Irish designers and craftsmen.
"Through storm, and fire, and gloom. I see it stand,
Firm, broad and tall —
The Celtic Cross that marks our Fatherland,
Amid them all!
Page Eleven
THE G R O S \S E - I S L E TRAGEDY
Druids, and Danes, and Saxons, vainly rage
Around its base;
It standeth shock on shock and age on age,
Star of a scatter'd race.
"O Holy Cross! dear symbol of the dread
Death of our Lord,
Around thee long have slept our martyr-dead
Sward over sward!
A hundred bishops I myself can count
Among the slain;
Chiefs, captains, rank and file, a shining mount
Of God's ripe grain."
It was eminently befitting, too, that the task of .producing the memorial
should have been entrusted to men of Irish blood and of such artistic taste and
mechanical skill as the enterprising firm of Fallen Bros., of Cornwall, Ont., who,
with the whole race, have every reason to be proud of their noble creation and
handiwork, from designs prepared by Mr. J. Gallagher, one of the founders and
leading members of the Quebec branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, as
well as one of Quebec's chief civil engineers and head of its water works depart-
ment. Standing on Telegraph Hill, the most elevated point on the island, where
it occupies a site of 150 feet square, and overlooking the graves of the Irish dead
near its western shore, the monument, which is composed of grey Stanstead
granite, rises to a further height of 46 feet 6 inches, so that its total altitude above
the level of the river is 140 feet, making it a most conspicuous and striking object
in a landscape having as its foreground the sparkling waters of the St. Lawrence
and for a background the dark ramparts of Cape Tourmente and the Laurentian
mountains, and rendering it visible for miles up and down the river.
The pedestal is also of granite. The dimensions of the lower base are 15
feet by 13.4 by 2 feet; of the next base, 13 feet by 10. 10 by 2 feet; of the die, 9
feet by 8.4 by 8 feet, and of the plinth, 8 feet by 7.2 by 5 feet.
The shaft and cross stand 29 feet 6 inches high and the arms are 8 feet in
length, the top of the cross being 2 feet 6 inches square. As usual, in the case
of all Celtic crosses, the symbol of the Christian faith at the summit is enclosed
within a ring or circle of the same material, binding as it were the shaft, arms
and upper portion of the cross together, the spaces between the intersecting arms
being pierced and the whole sculpture thus forming the cross.
The panels on which the inscriptions are carved are of dark ebony. There
are four of these panels, one on each face of the pedestal. On three of them is
the following inscription in Gaelic, English and French respectively. The Eng-
lish and French inscriptions are appended :
"Sacred to the memory of thousands of Irish emigrants, ivho, to preserve the
faith, suffered hunger and exile in 1847-48. and, stricken with
fever, ended here their sorrowful pilgrimage."
"Erected by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, and dedicated Feast of
the Assumption, 1909.
"Thousands of the children of the Gael were lost on this island while fleeing from
foreign tyrannical laws and an artificial famine in the years 184*7-1848.
"Goo BLESS THEM.
— Page Twelve
OLD MONUMENT, GROSSE-ISLE
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
"This stone was erected to their memory and in honor of them by the Gaels of
America.
"Goo SAVE IRELAND!"
"A la pieuse memoire de milliers d 'emigres Irlandais qui, pour garder la foi,
souffrirent la faim et I'exile et, victimes de la fievre, finirent id leur
douleureux pelerinage, consoles et fortifies par le pretre
Canadien."
"Ceux qui sement dans les larmes moissonneront dans la joie. — Ps. xxv.-5.
The fourth panel or memorial tablet contains the names of the devoted
Roman Catholic priests who ministered to the sick and dying on the island during
the terrible typhus visitation of 1847-48, those of the reverend gentlemen who
were stricken down by the fever, but who recovered, being distinguished by an
asterisk or star, and those among them who died from it, martyrs to their char-
ity and zeal, by two stars, as follows : —
Revd. Messrs. *William Wallace Moylan ; ^Bernard McGauran ; James C. Mc-
Devitt ; *Pierre Telesphore Sax ; James Nelligan ; Celestin Zephirin Rousseau ;
*Antoine Campeau ; *Jos. Bailey ; Leon Provancher ; *Michel Forgues ; Thomas
Caron ; *Narcisse Belanger ; Louis Antoine Proulx ; *Hugh McGuirk ; *James
McDonnell ; *Luc Trahan ; ^Philippe Honore Jean ; J. B. Antoine Ferland ; Jean
Harper; Bernard O'Reilly; Louis Adolphe Dupuis ; J. Bte. Perras ; Moise Duguay ;
Maxime Tardif; Michael Kerrigan; John Caulfield O'Grady ; *Elzear Aiexandre
Taschereau ; *Edward John Horan ; Pierre Beaumont ; Etienne Payment : Etienne
Halle ; Jos. Hercule Dorion ; *Charles Tardif ; Antoine Lebel ; Prisque Gariepy ;
William Dunn; Godfroy Tremblay ; Ls. Stanislas Malo; **Hubert Robson;
**Pierre Roy; **Hugh Paisley; **Michael Power; **Felix Severin Bardy;
**Edouard Montminy.
Father Hugh Paisley, who was of Scotch descent, was not among the priests
at Grosse Isle, but caught the disease while attending fever patients in Quebec
and died there.
Of all this band of heroic Roman Catholic priests, only one now survives in
the person of the venerable Father Hugh McGuirk, who is still living (retired
from the active ministry) in the Hotel-Dieu of Chatham, N.B., at the advanced
age of 96 years. Father McGuirk was expected to have been present at the dedi-
cation of the monument at Grosse Isle on the i5th August, but at the last moment
the dear old man found himself unable physically to undertake the fatigue of the
journey from his home in New Brunswick, and the celebration at the island there-
fore lacked through his absence one of its most interesting figures.
(Efje Celebration at <&ro#se=Me
ITH favorable weather and other conditions, there is no doubt that the
ceremony and gathering at Grosse Isle on the memorable occasion of the
unveiling and dedication of the monument will be among the grandest
and most imposing in Canadian as in Irish annals. As a great national and re-
ligious demonstration in honor of the martyred dead of the race, as a public ex-
pression of faith and of the national sympathy for the unfortunate exiles and
victims of 1847 on the very spot hallowed for all time by their unparalleled suffer-
Page Thirteen =
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
ings and the melancholy deaths of so many of their number and as a prayerful
and affectionate tribute of their descendants and kindred to their memory, the
celebration of the i5th August promises to be as impressive as it will be unique.
It will bring together a vast crowd of representatives of the widely scattered Irish
race from all parts, but especially from Canada and the United States, besides
many members of other races whose exalted positions, whose sympathies or whose
claims upon the affection and respect of the Irish people entitle them to the places
of honor at a manifestation of the kind alike religious and national.
The official invitations to be present and take part in the celebration embrace
a wide range of distinguished personages. They include many of the leading
public notabilities of Canada and the United States — Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the
Prime Minister of the Dominion, and his colleagues of the Canadian Cabinet, Sir
Lomer Gouin, the Premier, and members of the Quebec Provincial Government,
among whom there are two Irish Catholics in the persons of Hon. Chas. R. Dev-
lin, Minister of Colonization, Mines and Fisheries, (formerly a member of the
Irish Nationalist party and member for Galway in the British Parliament), and
Hon. John C. Kaine, member for Quebec West, and Minister without portfolio,
Sir Chas. Fitzpatrick, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Hon. Chas.
Murphy, Canada's Secretary of State, besides other noted representative men of
the Dominion and its different provinces, as well as of the United States, many
of whom are Irish or of Irish extraction. On the other hand, the religious ele-
ment will be represented by His Excellency Mgr. Sbaretti, the Papal Delegate
to Canada, should he have returned in time from Europe, whither he has actually
gone to see the Holy Father on business connected with the Church, and by His
Grace the Archbishop of Quebec, accompanied by his Coadjutor, His Lordship
Bish'op Roy, and all the Monsignori of the Archiepiscopal Court of Quebec, as
well as by other distinguished members of the Canadian and American hierarchies.
In grateful remembrance of the great sympathy and valuable services shown
by the kindly French Canadian people and their devoted clergy to the poor Irish
exiles and orphans of 1847, the officers of the St. Jean Baptiste Society .of Que-
bec and Montreal, which is the great national society of French Canada, have also
been specially invited to attend, and their participation in the ceremony with their
chief ecclesiastical dignitaries will serve not only to fittingly recall the heroic and
generous role played by that people and clergy during the terrible ordeal of that
fatal year, but to remind Irishmen that after all blood should be thicker than
water and that the French-Canadians are not only bound to them by the ties of a
common faith and the memories of a patriotic and friendly past beyond the Atlan-
tic, but that they are largely descendants from the same original stock — the grand
old Celtic race to which they are so proud to belong.
Naturally, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, as the chief organizers and pro-
moters of the whole affair, will be strongly represented and occupy the most con-
spicuous place in the celebration. Besides the supreme national heads of the
great association, numerous contingents of the officers and members of its differ-
ent sections and branches in many parts of Canada and the United States are
coming to take part in it. Foremost among these will be the officers, local chap-
lain, (Father Barrett, C.S.S..R. ), and members of the Quebec branch, upon
whom has fallen the chief burthen of the work of organization. In addition, the
branches of Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, St. John, N.B. , and Halifax, will grace
the ceremony and impart greater eclat to it by the presence of their uniformed
knight or cadet corps. The Ottawa and Montreal brethren have chartered spe-»
Page Fourteen
THE GROS:SE_-ISLE TRAGEDY
cial boats of their own to convey themselves and their friends from Quebec to
Grosse Isle, but besides these there will be ample steamboat accommodation at
Quebec to transport all others to and from the island. The Quebec branch has
retained for the purpose a number of fine river boats, including- the Pilot, Queen.
L'Etoile, St. Croix, and one of the splendid vessels of the Richelieu & Ontario
Navigation Co. 's Saguenay line, while the Dominion Government has further
generously placed the Government steamship Druid at the disposal of the Order
for the use of the official guests. Thus all danger from overcrowding will be
obviated and careful precautions will also be taken, moreover, to see that no such
thing shall happen on any boat.
The different steamers will leave Quebec at or shortly after 9 a.m., so as to
reach Grosse Isle about n a.m., when the crowd as they land will form into pro-
cession and headed by the Knights and Cadets with their banners draped in
mourning and their bands, the national heads of the Order, the officers and mem-
bers of the branches represented, and the ecclesiastical, civil and national digni-
taries, march to the cemetery, which is the last resting place of the dead of 1847
and which is immediately overlooked from Telegraph Hill by the great Celtic
cross forming the national memorial and awaiting unveiling.
In the cemetery itself, on the very spot where the final scenes in the terrible
tragedy of 1847 were enacted and where the eye can still after sixty-two years
trace the outlines of the ghastly trenches in which the unfortunate victims were
buried, the holy sacrifice of the mass will be offered up for the eternal repose of
their souls, in the presence of the great assemblage of guests, priests and people,
on an altar specially erected for the purpose in the open air, on either side of
which stands and seats will be provided for the accommodation of the official
guests and other distinguished personages present. In view of the lateness of
the hour at which the island will be reached and the length of the religious cere-
monial, the requiem mass will be a low mass, but marked by all the solemnity of
the Roman Catholic ritual and enhanced by band accompaniment and the singing
of a special choir of 100 trained voices under the leadership of Mr. Ed. A. Bat-
terton, from the congregation of St. Patrick's, Quebec, whose devoted pastor,
Rev. Father Hanley, and assistants of the Redemptorist Order, as well as the
Christian Brothers in charge of St. Patrick's School, have also been specially
invited to attend as guests of the Ancient Order on the occasion. The sermon of
the day will be preached by the Provincial Chaplain of the Order, Rev. Father
Eustace Maguire, the respected rector of the important parish of St. Columba o(
Sillery, near Quebec, which has for long years been the home of a considerable
Irish population, not a few of whom are descended from the exiles of 1847. A
descendant himself of the princely family of the Maguires of Fermanagh, Father
Maguire possesses exceptional claims upon Irish sympathy in the connection
as a patriotic Irishman and as the nephew of Father Horan, one of the de-
voted young Irish priests, who so heroically responded to the call to minister to
the sick and dying of his race at Grosse Isle and who afterwards became Bishop
of Kingston, Ont. ; as the brother of another worthy priest, now dead, the late
Father John E. Maguire, who in after years served as a resident missionary on
the island ; and lastly as the son of an Irishman of distinction in the annals of old
Quebec, the late Judge Maguire, of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec.
Finally the religious ceremonies will be brought to an end with the solemn chant-
ing of the Libera by His Grace the Archbishop of Quebec and choir. Father
Hanley, of St. Patrick's, will officiate at the requiem mass.
Then the gathering will adjourn to Telegraph Hill close by for the unveiling
Page Fifteen —
THE
GROSSE-ISLE
TRAGEDY
of the monument which will be solemnly performed by His Excellency :he Pap~l
Delegate, if present, or by His Grace of Quebec, in his absence, and after which
appropriate and eloquent addresses will be delivered by Mr. Matthew Cummings,
the National President of the Order, Major McCrystal, National Director (who
will speak in Gaelic), Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, Chief Justice of Canada, Hon. Chas.
Murphy, Dominion Secretary of State, Hon. Chas. R. Devlin and others, including
probably also, Hon. L. A. Taschereau, Minister of Public Works in the Quebec
Government, and a nephew of the late Cardinal Taschereau, one of the Grosse
Isle missionaries of 1847.
With these, the memorable celebration on the island will terminate and the
boats will return to Quebec with their passengers.
Page Sixteen
anb
Far from their own beloved isle
Those Irish exiles sleep,
And dream not of historic past,
Nor o'er its memories weep;
Down where the blue St. Lawrence tide
Sweeps onward wave on wave,
They lie — old Ireland's exiled dead
In cross-crowned lonely grave.
Sleep on, O hearts of Erin,
From earthly travail free!
Our freighted souls still greet you
Beyond life's troubl'd sea :
In every Irish heart and home,
Is built an altar to your faith —
A cross above each mound.
No more the patriot's words will cheer
Your humble toil and care —
No more your Irish hearts will tell
The beads of evening prayer;
The mirth that scoffed at direst want
Lies buried in your grave,
Down where the blue St. Lawrence tide
Sweeps onward wave on wave.
O, toilers in the harvest field,
Who gather golden grainl
O, pilgrims by the wayside,
Who succor grief and pain!
And ye, who know that liberty
Oft wields a shining blade,
Pour forth your souls in requiem prayer
Where Irish hearts are laid!
Far from their own beloved land
Those Irish exiles sleep,
Where dreams nor faith crown'd shamrock,
Nor ivies o'er them creep;
But fragrant breath of maple
Sweeps on with freedom's tide,
And consecrates the lonely isle
Where Irish exiles died!
O'HAGAN.
SOUVENIR of Grosse Isle and of the frightful affliction of 1847 to Ire-
land, to Canada and to humanity at large would not be complete
without some reference to the history of an island, which evokes
so many ghastly and saddening memories that even to-day, after
a lapse of sixty-two years, the beholder still shudders at the sight
of this Golgotha of the Irish race in America and at the recollec-
tion of the horrors and the appalling sum of human agony and
grief which it witnessed. Yet there is nothing otherwise repellant about it or its
Page Seventeen - - - — — - - —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
general aspect when viewed from the deck of a passing vessel. It is a pretty
enough little forest and verdure clad island, about three miles long and scarcely
one wide, indented with bays and situated in the open channel of the St. Lawrence,
33 miles below Quebec. It forms one of the many similar islands, which stud the
miles below Quebec. It forms one of the many similar islands, which stud the
bosom of the mighty river of Canada on its way to the sea. Its surface is gener-
ally rocky and picturesque, still nicely wooded, with patches of cultivated land
between, dotted with the neat, well kept buildings of a Canadian Government
quarantine station of the present day, over which floats the flag of the Dominion.
To look at it now sleeping peacefully on the surface of the wave, it would never
be dreamt that it was once the scene of such a grim tragedy and such an awful
hecatomb.
The name "Grosse Isle" means "Big Island," but, according to so eminent
an authority as Dr. Montizambert, for many years the medical superintendent
of the quarantine station there, and at present the official head of the entire quar-
antine service of the Dominion, this is a corruption of "Isle de Grace," or Grace
Island, under which title it was designated on old French charts. And this
appears to be likely, too, for Grosse Isle is not the biggest island of the group
in that neighbourhood to which it belongs.
Nothing very definite is known of the history of the island in the early days
of the French colony, except that it appears to have been included in a territorial
grant made by the King of France in 1646 to Governor de Montmagny, one of the
first viceroys of New France. In this grant, it is not specially named, but there
is hardly any doubt that it was embraced in it, as the royal patent covers Crane
and Goose Islands close at hand "and all the surrounding islands, islets and
beaches." In those days, these were the resort of myriads of wild geese, ducks
and other water fowl and as old Governor de Montmagny was an ardent sports-
man, he probably secured and retained the property as a game preserve for his
own use and that of his friends. After de Montmagny, it seems to have passed
through different hands, as we find mentioned, in connection with its ownership
under the seigniorial tenure, the names of such old French noble families as the
de Grandvilles, de Tourvilles, LeMoynes, Dupuys and de Beaujeus. One of these
last, Lienard de Beaujeu, was a brother of the celebrated de Beaujeu, who de-
feated the English General Braddock at Fort Duquesne, where Pittsburg, Ohio,
now stands.
After De Montmagny, too, settlement began on some of the adjacent islands
and especially on Crane Island, but Grosse Isle remained in its primaeval state.
It is still a tradition among the French-Canadian inhabitants of Crane Island
that the fierce Iroquois, in one of their raids upon the French settlements, pene-
trated to that island, slaughtering and burning all before them and even pursuing
to Grosse Isle the few stragglers who had escaped and taken refuge there. An-
other tradition among them is that a well-known family still on Crane Island are
the descendants -f an English lad, captured by the Canadian Indians in one of
their retaliatory forays upon the New England colonies and adopted by one of
the then settlers on that island, who gave him the name of "L'Anglais" or
Langlois (the Englishman), by which the posterity of this boy captive are still
known there.
But the most curious and romantic tradition of all still extant in Grosse Isle
and its neighbourhood and referred to by Sir J. M. Lemoine in his "Legendary
Lore of the Lower St. Lawrence," relates to an unknown individual, supposed to
have been a French officer of exalted rank who in the early days, with his little
— Page Eighteen
OLD CEMETERY, GROSSE-ISLE. WHERE VICTIMS OF 1847 ARE BURIED
QUARANTINE STATION AND BUILDINGS, GROSSE-ISLE
THE GROSSE. -ISLE TRAGEDY
son, took up his abode on one of the small adjacent islands, built for himself a
castle or strongly fortified mansion upon it, and lived like a hermit there until he
died, without ever revealing- his identity.
Again, under British rule, the seigniory originally granted to De Montmagny
appears to have passed through different hands, until it reached those of one
Daniel McPherson, a Scotch gentleman and a United Empire Loyalist, who had
formerly resided in Philadelphia at the breaking out of the American revolution
and who had fled to Canada after the war. From the McPhersons it finally passed
back by will to the LeMoyne family in the person of McPherson LeMoyne, a
descendant of both, who still holds it and who is a near relative of Sir James
Macpherson LeMoyne, the venerable historian of Quebec, and author of Maple
Leavos, Chronicles of the St. Lawrence, etc., etc. But long before this, Grosse
Isle had become detached from the seigniory by sale to others.
In 1832, Grosse Isle suddenly jumped into the unenviable notoriety by which
it has ever since been distinguished. In the spring of that year, in anticipation of
an invasion of the Asiatic cholera, which had reached Europe and extended even to
England in 1831, the Imperial authorities summarily took possession of it to use
it as a lazaretto or quarantine. Accordingly a military force consisting of two
companies of infantry and a detachment of the royal artillery and several sur-
geons was sent down to occupy it under the command of Captain Reid, of the
32nd Regiment, who was also appointed commandant of the island. At this
time, one Bernier, a notary of Chateau Richer, on the mainland not far distant,
claimed to be its owner and to have sub-leased it to one Duplain, who had cleared
and put under tillage some of the land on it. Bechard, in his history, pretends
that there was a regular four years' lease of the island between Bernier and the
British Government and that, on the expiry of this lease, the latter purchased the
island from him, but this seems to be disproved by the petitions presented both
by Bernier and Duplain to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1835,
complaining that His Majesty's Government had taken possession of their pro-
perty without their consent or authority and without any indemnity whatever to
them, and pray in P- to be compensated for the loss and damage which they had
thereby sustained. Duplain further set forth that he had not only been dispos-
sessed, forced to abandon his lease and eventually driven off the island, but that
some of the soldiers had been billeted upon him, while the others lived in tents.
The result of these petitions was that an act was passed for the indemnifying of
Bernier and Duplain and the purchase of the island, the amount to be decided by
valuators or arbitrators. But, for some reason or other, this arbitration seems
never to have been held, or any sum ever paid to Bernier or Duplain or their
descendants. If there was, there appears to be no record of it.
Before 1832 there had been a quarantine or rather an apology for one, near
Levis, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, opposite Quebec, but the then
Governor-General, Sir James Kempt, and the Medical Board of the city of Quebec,
insisted that in the case of so "awful a pestilential disease" as the cholera, it was
extremely dangerous to maintain a lazaretto so near the city and accordingly, upon
the advice of Commander Bayfield, of the Royal Navy, Grosse Isle was selected
as the most eligible place for its successor. It is worthy of note that the policy
since adopted by Great Britain in the connection was foreshadowed in 1832 by
Dr. Roberts, a member of the Quebec Medical Board, who differed from his col-
leagues, contending that there need not be the slightest apprehension of cholen
possessing any contagious properties and who opposed as useless and unnecessary
the establishment and enforcement of strict and lengthened quarantine regulations
Page Nineteen
THE GROS:SE-IS'LE TRAGEDY
in or near the port of Quebec, but evidently he was the only one on the board who
held this opinion at the time, for, in spite of his opposition, Grosse Isle became a
quarantine station.
And just here it may be well to correct the very common error that the dread-
ful typhus or ship fever was first imported into this country by the Irish exiles of
1847. The "Relations des Jesuites" state that, under the French, in 1659, nearly
two hundred years before, typhus broke out on a French vessel called the "Saint-
Andre," which had on board three nuns, two priests and one hundred and thirty
French emigrants bound for Quebec and Montreal, that ten of these died on the
passage, that four more were landed at Quebec sick with the deadly malady,
and that the contagion spread from them among the residents, among whom it
made many victims, including Father de Quen, who had, like many other devoted
priests, fallen a voluntary martyr to duty in ministering to the dying. As will be
seen, therefore, not many were added to the population of the struggling French
colony by the one hundred and thirty immigrants who had sailed from France on
the "Saint-Andre," for of these some had died on shipboard and others had landed
only to occupy a narrow bed in the little cemetery near the top of Mountain Hill in
Quebec, or the Hotel Dieu graveyard, while not a few of the old inhabitants of the
town also succumbed.
But, to return to 1832, one of the first acts of the military force on the island
was to place an i8-pounder cannon en barbette and two i2-pounders on the flag
staff battery to stop all incoming vessels and compel them to undergo quarantine,
if necessary. These guns are still in position and for some years the quarantine
staff on the island was drilled as a half battery to man them, until the armory was
burned in 1877.
Although the military power retained the supreme control of the island until
1857 when the military force, under Lieut. Noble, of the Royal Artillery, was
withdrawn and the station was regularly transferred to the Canadian Government,
tradition has it that the upsetting of a boat by the soldiers rowing the surgeon
back from inspecting a vessel had long before led to the first introduction of the
civilian element on the island by the appointment of six efficient boatmen from
Crane Island, who lived together at Grosse Isle, their wives being permitted to
visit them during one day in each month to wash their clothes. Military surgeons
being also apparently too scarce at that time to be spared, Dr. Poole, a civilian,
was appointed medical superintendent, with Dr. George M. Douglas, the father of
the present Admiral Douglas, of the British Navy, as his assistant. After a few
years Dr. Douglas succeeded Dr. Poole as medical superintendent, and Dr. Von
Iffland, father of the present Canon Von Iffland, of Quebec, became his assistant.
Dr. Von Iffland succeeded Dr. Douglas about 1864, an<^ was m turn succeeded by
his assistant, Dr. Montizambert, in 1869, the latter retaining the important office
until 1898-99, when he was promoted to the position of Director-General of Public
Health and moved to Ottawa, beine replaced at Grosse Isle by the present incum-
bent, Dr. G. E. Martineau, who has given the country a most satisfactory service
during the past eleven years. Born in Quebec in July, 1867, he was also educated
there, taking his medical course at Laval University, from which he obtained his
degree in 1892. He also visited Europe twice to perfect himself in his profession
and spent months there with that object. He has as his assistant, Dr. W. W.
Aylen, of Montreal, and a working staff of forty-three employees.
As may be imagined, Canada was but poorly prepared to face the terrible
cholera epidemics of 1832 and 1834. A few miserable wooden sheds had been
hurriedly put up on Grosse Isle and converted into hospitals for the sick, most
Page Twenty
QUARANTINE WHARF, GROSSE-ISLE
R. C. CHURCH AND PRESBYTERY, GROSSE-ISLE
THE GROSS E-ISLE TRAGEDY
of whom, however, had to be sheltered in tents, while a small temporary wharf or
stage was built as a landing place. The horrors of the situation were, therefore,
great, aggravated as they were also by inadequate attendance and other draw-
backs and evils more or less incidental to all new establishments of the kind in a
new and inexperienced country and by the virulence and fierceness of the disease.
Under the circumstances, the death roll on the island was heavy, especially in
1832, and the epidemic extended to Quebec, Montreal and other parts of Canada,
where poor humanity fell before it like grass before the scythe of the mower.
The first buildings erected on the island in 1832 were all, with one excep-
tion, which was used as a farm residence, located on the upper point of the island.
Those in the lower and centre parts of the island, chiefly date from 1847. In
1878 three of the largest of these were destroyed by an accidental fire and many
of the quarantine records were lost, but enough remain to show that in 1832
no less than 51,146 immigrants were examined at Grosse Isle and 30,935 during
the second cholera outbreak in 1834. Of the latter number, 264 died.
The first chapels on the island, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, were
also erected in 1832. In fact, from the opening of the quarantine, spiritual con-
solation for the sick and dying there appears to have been well provided for.
Among the names at least of the Roman Catholic missionary priests stationed and
resident there during the summer season, from 1832 to 1847, may be found those
of Fathers O'Dwyer, Dunn, Harkin (afterwards rector of Sillery), Huot (St.
Foy), Belleau, Fortier, Griffiths, Frechette, Dowling, Moylan and Beaubien. •
To-day Grosse Isle constitutes a separate and distinct R. C. canonical parish
under the name of St. Luke, with a resident parish priest there all the year round,
the present one, who is the second, being Rev. J. B. Derome.
Such is the history of the island where in 1847 scenes of horror and desola-
tion were witnessed which, to use the words of the Most Reverend Joseph Signai,
then Archbishop of Quebec, "almost stagger belief and baffle description."
Page Twenty -One
CHAPTER
$recursior$ of tfre Crageop
"And when I looked, behold a hand was sent unto
me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein.
"And he spread it before me, and it was written
within and without; and there was written therein,
lamentations and mournings, and woe."
EZEKIEL.
ET there were many precursors and forewarning^ of the approach-
ing tragedy which should not have been overlooked or misread
by the authorities on both sides of the .Atlantic. Coming events
were casting their shadows before in a way that brooked neither
misconception of their terrible significance, nor procrastination in
preparing to meet them. Nevertheless the advent of the crisis
revealed so much wrongheadedness, as well as such a lack of ordinary foresight,
preparedness and in some quarters even of good will as to be positively criminal
and to fully justify the remark of Lord Sydenham that "to throw starving and
diseased paupers under the rock at Quebec ought to have been punishable as
murder."
Of all the accounts published in regard to the conditions which led up to the
catastrophe of 1847, one of the fairest and best is that given by A. M. Sullivan
in his "New Ireland." Says this eminent writer:
"In 1841 the population of Ireland was 8,175,124 souls. By 1845 ^ na<*
probably reached to nearly nine millions. The increase had been fairly continuous
for at least a century, and had become rapid between 1820 and 1840. To any one
looking beneath the surface the condition of the country was painfully precarious.
Nine millions of a population living at best in a light-hearted and hopeful hand-to-
mouth contentment, totally dependent on the hazards of one crop, destitute of
manufacturing industries (which had been either proscribed by English law or
killed out by favored English competition), and utterly without reserve or re-
source to f-11 back upon in time of reverse, — what did all this mean but a state
of things critical and alarming in the extreme? Yet no one seemed conscious
of danger. The potato crop had been abundant for four or five years, and res-
pite from dearth and distress was comparative happiness and prosperity. More-
over, the temperance movement (initiated by the celebrated Father Matthew)
had come to make the "good times" still better. Everything looked bright. 'No
one concerned himself to discover how slender and treacherous was the founda-
tion for this general hopefulness and confidence.
"Yet signs of the coming storm had been given. Partial famine caused by
failing harvests had indeed been intermittent in Ireland, and quite recently warn-
ings that ought not to have been mistaken or neglected had given notice that the
esculent which formed the sole dependence of the peasant millions was subject
to some mysterious blight. In 1844 it was stricken in America, but in Ireland
the yield was as healthy and plentiful as ever. The harvest of 1845 promised to be
the richest gathered for many years. Suddenly in one short month, in one week
it might be said, the withering breath of a simoom semed to sweep the land,
blasting all in its path. I myself saw whole tracts of potato growth changed
in one night from smiling luxuriance to a shrivelled and blackened waste. A
shout of alarm arose. But the buoyant nature of the Celtic peasant did not yet
__ — -Page Twenty-Two
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THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
give way. The crop was so profuse that it was expected the healthy portion
would reach an average result. Winter revealed the alarming fact that the
tubers had rotted in pit and store-house. Nevertheless the farmers, like hapless
men who double their stakes to recover losses, made only the more strenuous exer-
tions to till a larger breadth in 1846. Although already feeling the. pinch of sore
distress, if not actual famine, they worked as if for dear life; they begged and
borrowed on any terms the means whereby to crop the land once more. The
pawn-offices were choked with the humble finery that had shone at the village
dance or christening-feast ; the banks and local money-lenders were besieged with
appeals for credit. Meals were stinted, backs were bared. Anything, anything
to tide over the interval to the harvest of "Forty-six."
"Oh, God, it. is a dreadful thought that all this effort was but more surely
leading them to ruin! It was this harvest of Forty-six that sealed their doom.
Not partially, but completely, utterly, hopelessly, it perished. As in the pre-
vious year, all promised brightly up to the close of July. Then, suddenly, in a
night, whole areas were blighted; and this time, alas! no portion of the crop
escaped. A cry of agony and despair went up all over the land. The last des-
perate stake for life had been played, and all was lost.
"Tlie d med people realized but too well what was before them. Last year's
premonitory sufferings had exhausted them ; and now? — they must die!
"My native district figures largely in the gloomy record of that dreadful
time. I saw the horrible phantasmagoria — would to God it were but that! — pass
before my eyes. Blank stolid dismay, a sort of stupor, fell upon the people,
contrasting remarkably with the fierce energy put forth a year before. It was
no uncommon sight to see the cottier and his little family seated at the blighted
plot that had been their last hope. Nothing could arouse them. You spoke ; they
answered not. You tried to cheer them ; they shook their heads. I never saw so
sudden and so terrible a transformation.
"When c — : in the autumn of 1845 the partial blight appeared, wise voices
were raised in warning to the Government that a frightful catastrophe was at
hand ; yet even then began that fatal circumlocution and inaptness which it mad-
dens one to think of. It would be utter injustice to deny that the Government
made exertions, which, judged by ordinary emergencies, would be prompt ^nd con-
siderable. But judged by the awful magnitude of the evil then at hand or actually
befallen, they were fatally tardy and inadequate. When at length the Executive
did hurry, the blunders of precipitancy outdid the disasters of excessive deliber-
ation.
"In truth, the Irish famine was one of those stupendous calamities which the
rules and formulae of ordinary constitutional administration were unable to cope
with, and which could be efficiently encountered only by the concentration of
plenary powers and resources in some competent "despotism" located on the scene
of disaster. It was easy to foresee the result of an attempt to deal "at long range"
with such an evil, — to manap-e it from Downing Street, London, according to
orthodox routine. Again and again the Government were warned, not by heed-
less orators or popular leaders, but by men of the highest position and soundest
repute in Ireland, that, even with the very best intentions on their part, mistake
and failure must abound in any attempt to grapple with the famine by the ordin-
ary machinery of government. Many efforts, bold and able efforts, were made
by the Government and by Parliament eighteen months subsequently : I refer es-
pecially to the measures taken in the session of 1847. But, unfortunately, every-
thing seemed to come too late. Delay made all the difference. In October, 1845,
Page Twenty-Three
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
the Irish Mansion House Relief Committe implored the Government to call Parlia-
ment together and throw open the ports. The Government refused. Again
and again the terrible urgency of the case, the magnitude of the disaster at hand,
was pressed on the Executive. It was the obstinate refusal of Lord John Russell
to listen to these remonstrances and entreaties, and the sad verification subse-
quently of these apprehensions, that implanted in the Irish mind the bitter mem-
ories which still occasionally find vent in passionate accusation of "England."
"Not but that the Government had many and weighty arguments in behalf
of the course they took. First, they feared exaggeration, and waited for official
investigation and report. The truth is, the fight over the Corn Law question in
England at the time was peculiarly unfortunate for Ireland ; because the protec-
tionist press and politicians felt it a duty strenuously to deny there was any dan-
ger of famine, lest such a circumstance should be made a pretext for Free Trade.
Thus, the Duke of Richmond, on the gth of December, 1845, speaking at the
Agricultural Protection Society, said, "With respect to the cry of 'Famine/ he be-
lieved that it was perfectly illusory, and no man of respectability could have put
it in good faith if he had been acquainted with the facts within the knowledge of
their society." At Warwick, on the 3ist of December, Mr. Newdegate carried a
resolution testifying against "the fallacy and mischief of the reports of a deficient
harvest," and affirming that "there was no reasonable ground for apprehending a
scarcity of food." Like declarations abounded in England up to a late period of
the famine, and, no doubt, considerably retarded the prompt action of the Govern-
ment. Even when official testimony was forthcoming, the Cabinet in London
erred, as the Irish peasantry did, in trusting somewhat that the harvest of 1846
would change gloom to joy. When the worst came in 1846-47, much precious
time was lost through misunderstanding and recrimination betwen the Irish land-
lords and the Executive, — charges of neglect of duties on one hand, and of inca-
pacity on the other, passing freely to and fro. No doubt the Government feared
waste, prodigality, and abuse if it placed absolute power and unlimited supplies
in the hands of an Irish board ; and one must allow that, to a commercially-minded
people, the violations of the doctrines of political economy involved in every sug-
gestion and demand shouted across the Channel from Ireland were very alarm-
ing. Yet in the end it was found — all too late, unfortunately — that those doc-
trines were inapplicable in such a case. They had to be flung aside in 1847. Had
they been discarded a year or two sooner, a million of lives might have been
saved.
"The situation bristled with difficulties. "Do not demoralize the people by
pauper doles, but give them employment," said one counsellor. "Beware how
you interfere with the labor-market," answered another. "It is no use voting
millions to be paid away on relief works while you allow the price of food to be
run up four hundred per cent. ; set up Government depots for sale of food at rea-
sonable price," cried many wise and far-seeing men. "Utterly opposed to the
teachings of Adam Smith," responded Lord John Russell."
Thus were thousands upon thousands of Irish lives doomed to untold suffer-
ing and premature end in order to carry out the smug theories of economic doc-
trinaires and to gratify that grasping spirit of commercialism, which destroyed
the industries and the once flourishing trade of the Emerald Isle, and left to its
unhappy landlord-ridden, rack-rented people, scarcely anything but agricul-
ture and the potato for their miserable subsistence. And when the potato failed
completely, they were literally crushed to the earth. The annual value of the
—Page Twenty- Four
THE
GROSSE-ISLE
TRAGEDY
crop was estimated at millions of pounds and, considering the immense amount
of human and animal sustenance derived from it, some idea may be formed of the
awful misery consequent on the destruction of the root that not only proved dis-
astrous to the poorer classes, but threatened the existence of everyone of the eight
to nine millions of souls then in Ireland. Is it any wonder, therefore, that this
population was reduced by the famine and the exodus following- it by fully one-
half or more?
Page Twenty-Five
"'Twas famine's wasting breath,
That iving'd the shaft of death,
A ghra gal mochreel
And the landlord lost to feeling,
Who drove us from our sheeling,
Though we pray'd for mercy kneeling,
A ghra gal mochreel"*
N the opening of the fateful year of 1847, which has been ever since
known among the Irish race as "The Black Forty-Seven," the
acute gravity of the situation could no longer be denied or con-
cealed by any one. Gaunt famine and pestilence were stalking
with giant strides through the unfortunate Green Isle, striking-
down their victims by the hundreds and thousands. The crisis
had come and the Queen, in her speech from the throne to the British Parliament
on the iQth January of that year, said : "It is with the deepest concern that, upon
again assembling, I have to call your attention to the dearth of provisions which
prevails in Ireland and parts of Scotland. In Ireland especially, the loss of the
usual food of the people has been the cause of severe sufferings, of disease, and
of greatly increased mortality among the poorer classes."
Thus, for fhe first time, in a long series of years, Ireland appeared no longer
in the arena of political agitation, for now a widespread and desolating famine,
unequalled in the past history of the world, certainly not to be paralleled in the
history of modern times, raged supreme.
Amid the horrors of "Black Forty-Seven — says Sullivan and other writers —
the reason of strong men gave way in Ireland. The people lay dead in hundreds
on the highways and in the fields. Yet there was food in abundance in the coun-
try, for the corn exported from Ireland that year would alone — it is computed —
have sufficed to feed a larger population, but the Government said it should not
be touched unless in accordance with the teachings of Adam Smith and the "laws
of political economy." Consequently, the British Ministers of that day compelled
the young Queen to utter a falsehood when she said that there was "a dearth of
provisions in Ireland."
The truth is that the mechanism of absentee rule completely broke down,
even in carrying out its own tardy and inefficient measures. The charity of the
English people generously endeavored towards the end to compensate for the
heartlessness and inefficiency of the Government. But it could not be done. The
people perished in thousands. Ireland was one huge charnel-pit and the Irish
peasantry, who a few years before were matchless in the world, were left but a
wreck of the splendid population they had been only a short time previously. Of
the inadequate measures taken to relieve the starving people, this graphic and
pathetic description is given by the author of "New Ireland":
"At first the establishment of public soup-kitchens under local relief com-
mittees, subsidized by Government, was relied upon to arrest the famine. I
doubt if the world ever saw so huge a demoralization, so great a degradation,
visited upon a once high-spirited and sensitive people. All over the country large
iron boilers were set up in which what was called "soup" was concocted, — later
on, Indian-meal stir-about was boiled. Around these boilers on the roadside there
*A ghra gal mochree (O, bright love of my heart).
— — Page Twenty-Six
I •-'"3
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THE GROSS E -ISLE TRAGEDY
daily moaned and shrieked and fought and scuffled crowds of gaunt, cadaverous
creatures that once had been men and women made in the image of God. The
feeding of dogs in a kennel was far more decent and orderly. I once thought — ay,
and often bitterly said, in public and in private — that never, never would our people
recover the shameful humiliation of that brutal public soup-boiler scheme, (which
was in too many places accompanied by attempts on the part of religious bigots
and zealots to proselytize the poor Catholic applicants at the price of such relief).
I frequently stood and watched the scene till tears blinded me and I almost
choked with grief and passion. It was heart-breaking, almost maddening, to
see ; but help for it there was none.
"The Irish poor-law system early broke down under the strain which the
famine imposed. Until 1846 the work-houses were shunned and detested by the
Irish poor. Relief of destitution had always ben regarded by the Irish as a sort
of religious duty or fraternal succor. Poverty was a misfortune, not a crime.
When, however, relief was offered, on the penal condition of an imprisonment
that sundered the family tie, and which, by destroying home, howsoever humble,
shut out all hope of future recovery, it was indignantly spurned. Scores of times
I have seen some poor widow before the workhouse board clasp her little children
tightly to her heart and sob aloud, "No, no, your honor. If they are to be parted
from me, I'll not come in. I'll beg the wide world with them."
"But soon beneath the devouring pangs of starvation even this holy affec-
tion had to give way, and the famishing people poured into the workhouses,
which soon choked with the dying and the dead. Such privations had been en-
dured in every case before this hated ordeal was faced, that the people entered
the Bastille to die. The parting scenes of husband and wife, father and mother
and children, at the board-room door would melt a heart of stone Too well they
felt it was to be an eternal severance, and that this loving embrace was to be their
last on earth. The warders tore them asunder, — the husband from the wife, the
mother from the child, — for "discipline" required that it should be so. But, with
the famine-fever in every ward, and the air around them laden with disease and
death, they knew their fate, and parted like victims at the foot of the guillotine.
"It was not long before the workhouses overflowed and could admit no more.
Rapidly as the death-rate made vacancies, the pressure of applicants overpowered
all resources. Worse still, bankruptcy came on many a union. In some the
poor-rate rose to twenty-two shillings on the pound, and very nearly the entire
rural population of several were needing relief. In a few cases, I am sorry to
say, the horrible idea seemed to seize the land-owners on the boards that all rates
would be ineffectual, and that, as their imposition would result only in ruining
"property," it was as well to "let things take their course."
"The conduct of the Irish landlords throughout the famine-period has been
variously described, and has been, I believe, generally condemned. I consider
the censure visited on them too sweeping. I hold it to be in some respects cruelly
unjust. On many of them no blame too heavy could possibly fall. A large num-
ber were permanent absentees ; their ranks were swelled by several who early fled
the post of duty at home, — cowardly and selfish deserters of a brave and faithfal
people. Of those who remained, some may have grown callous : it is impossible
to contest auther tic instances of brutal heartlessness here and there. But, grant-
ing all that has to be entered on the dark debtor side, the overwhelming balance
is the other way. The bulk of the resident Irish landlords manfully did their best
in that dread hour. If they did too little compared with what the landlord class
in England would have done in similar case, it was because little was in their
Page Twenty-Seven —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
power. The famine found most of the resident landed gentry of Ireland on the
brink of ruin. They were heritors of estates heavily overweighted with the debts
of a bygone generation. Broad lands and lordly mansions were held by them on
settlements and conditions that allowed small scope for the exercise of individual
liberality. To these landowners the failure of one year's rental receipts meant
mortgage-foreclosure and hopeless ruin. Yet cases might be named by the score
in which such men scorned to avert by pressure on their suffering tenantry the
fate they saw impending over them. They "went down with the ship."
"In the autumn of 1846 relief works were set on foot, the Government having
received parliamentary authority to grant baronial loans for such undertakings.
There might have been found many ways of applying these funds in reproductive
employment, but the modes decided on were draining and road-making. The
result was in every sense deplorable failure. The wretched people were by this
time too wasted and emaciated to work. The endeavor to do so under an inclem-
ent winter sky only hastened death. They tottered at daybreak to the roll-call,
vainly tried to wheel the barrow or ply the pick, but fainted away on the "cutting,"
or lay down on the wayside to rise no more.
"It was the fever which supervened on the famine that wrought the greatest
slaughter and spread the greatest terror. For this destroyer when it came spared
no class, rich or poor. As long as it was "the hunger" alone that raged, it was
no deadly peril to visit the sufferers ; but not so now. To come within the reach
of this contagion was certain death. Whole families perished unvisited and un-
assisted. By levelling above their corpses the sheelings in which they died, the
neighbors gave them a grave.
"No pen can trace nor tongue relate the countless deeds of heroism and self-
sacrifice which this dreadful visitation called forth on the part, pre-eminently, of
two classes in the community, — the Catholic clergy and the dispensary doctors of
Ireland. I have named the Catholic clergy, not that those of the Protestant
denominations did not furnish many instances of devotion fully as striking, but
because on the former obviously fell the brunt of the trial. For them there
was no flinching. A call to administer the last rites of religion to the inmate of
a plague-ward or fever-shed must be, and is, obeyed by the Catholic priest,
though death to himself be the well-known consequence. The fatality among the
two classes I have mentioned, clergymen and doctors, was lamentable. Christian
heroes, martyrs for humanity, their names are blazoned on no courtly roll; yet
shall they shine upon an eternal page, brighter than the stars!
"But even this dark cloud of the Irish famine had its silver lining. If it is
painful to recall the disastrous errors of irresolution and panic, one can linger
gratefully over memories of Samaritan philanthropy, of efficacious generosity, of
tenderest sympathy. The people of England behaved nobly; and assuredly not
less munificent were the citizens of the great American Republic, which had
already become the home of thousands of the Irish race. From every consider-
able town in England there poured subscriptions, amounting in the aggregate to
hundreds of thousands of pounds. From America came a truly touching demon-
stration of national sympathy. Some citizens of the States contributed two ship-
loads of breadstuff s, and the American Government decided to furnish the ships
which should bring the offering to the Irish shore. Accordingly, two war-vessels,
the "Macedonian" and the "Jamestown" frigates, having had their armaments
removed, their "gun-decks" displaced and cargo bulkheads put up, were filled to
the gunwale with best American flour and biscuits, and despatched on their errand
of mercy. It happened that just previously the British naval authorities had
— — — Page Twenty- Eight
THE GROSS E -ISLE TRAGEDY
rather strictly refused the loan of a ship for a like purpose, as being quite opposed
to all departmental regulations, and a good deal of angry feeling was called forth
by the refusal. Yet had it a requiting contrast in the despatch from England, by
voluntary associations there, of several deputations or embassies of succor,
charged to visit personally the districts in Ireland most severely afflicted, and to
distribute with their own hands the benefactions they wrought."
In his sketch of "Grosse Isle and the Irish Exodus of 1847," published in the
QUEBEC DAILY TELEGRAPH of nth September, 1897, the late James M. O'Leary
thus referred to the situation on the opening of and during 1847 :
"The result was that the workhouses were filled to overflowing, and the
governors had been compelled to close their doors against further admissions,
while the local authorities were anxiously waiting for the time when the Canadian
navigation usually opened, in order to rid their wharves, crowded hospitals, and
hulks at anchor in every seaport of the living mass of misery for whom they could
not or would not find shelter and relief.
"Hitherto the landlords of Ireland had received the full amount of their rents,
which they had spent in distant lands, never returning even a single farthing to-
wards the relief of their suffering tenantry, but on the 26th of February, 1847, an
Act came into force which compelled them to contribute to the support of the poor
on their estates, by defraying the cost of buildings for them, the providing of kit-
chen utensils, and the purchase, preparation, and distribution of food and cloth-
ing. Sooner, however, than comply with the law, they began their inhuman work
of wholesale demolition and extermination. They took special care to rid their
estates of tha helpless widows and their little ones, of the old, the crippled, and
those whose constitutions had been enfeebled by sickness and destitution. Some
gave their famishing tenants a mere trifle, on condition that they would take the
road to the nearest seaport. Others placed in their hands pretended cheques on
Canadian mercantile houses, to induce them to give up their little. farms. Others,
like the two thousand tenants shipped from Lord Palmerston's estates, were not
only promised clothing, but solemnly assured that His Lordship's agent at Quebec
had been instructed to pay them from £2 to £$ a family, according to their num-
ber. Others, as in the case of the tenants of Lord Darnley, County Meath, were
given sealed letters addressed to the Chief Emigrant Agent at Quebec, and told
that they contained orders to give them ten shillings each, while the letters only
requested the agent to give them good advice.
"Where persuasion failed, coercion came in. Hundreds of families were
driven from their homes, and these homes razed before their eyes. Not content
with this, the landlords mercilessly drove them from the ditches to which they had
betaken themselves for shelter and where they were attempting to fit up a place of
some kind for themselves and their little ones, by means of sticks and wood. In
the case of the Girrard evictions, the unfortunate tenants had their rent ready.
They offered it to the landlord, implored him to receive it, but their entreaties were
in vain. They were driven from their holdings and an entire village depopulated
"As a general thing the tenants hurried away, as best they could, to parts
where kind friends awaited them, — friends, who during the famine of '46, had sent
them such generous, although insufficient assistance."
Page Twenty-Nine
CHAPTER Jfltgljt of tfje
FOU " ®tt 3rt*i exobw* of 1847
"Lochaber no more! Lochaber no more!
We'll may be return to Lochaber no more!"
A. M. SULLIVAN relates that a Scotch Highland friend, whose
people were swept away by the great "Sutherland Clearances,"
describing to him some of the scenes in that great dispersion,
often dwelt with emotion on the spectacle of the evicted clansmen
marching through the glens on their way to exile, their pipers
playing as a last farewell "Lochaber no more!," and he adds:
"I sympathized with his story; I shared all his feelings. I had seen my own
countrymen march in like sorrowful procession on their way to the emigrant-
ship. Not alone in one district, however, but all over the island, were such scenes
to be witnessed in Ireland from 1847 to 1857. Within that decade of years nearly
a million of people were "cleared" off the island by eviction and emigration.
"A bitter memory is held in Ireland of the "Famine Clearances," as they are
called. There was much in them that was heartless and deplorable, much also that
was unfortunately unavoidable. Three years of dreadful privation had annihilated
the resources of the agricultural population. Throughout whole districts the
tenant-farmers — the weak and wasted few who survived hunger and plague —
were without means to till the soil. The exhaustion of the tenant class involved,
in numerous cases, the ruin of the landlords. A tenantry unable to crop the land
were, of course, unable to pay a rent. Many of them, so far from being in a
position to pay, rather required the landlord's assistance to enable them to live.
"Apart from all question as to the disposition of the Irish landlords to yield
such aid, it is the indubitable fact that, as a class, they were utterly unable to
afford it. Some of them nearly extinguished their own interests in their estates
by borrowing money in 1848, 1849 and 1850, to pull the tenants through.
"Too many of the Irish landlords acted differently; and for the course they
adopted they were not the only persons to blame. The English press at this
juncture embraced the idea that the Irish famine, if properly availed of, would
prove a great blessing. Many of the English papers, led by the London Times,
actually gloated over the Irish situation and the dispersion of the troublesome
Irish. Providence, it was declared, had sent this valuable opportunity for settling
the vexed question of Irish misery and discontent. Nothing could have been done
with the wretched population that had hitherto squatted on the land. They were
too poor to expend any capital in developing the resources of the soil. They were
too ignorant to farm it scientifically. Besides, they were too numerous. Why
incur ruinous expense to save or continue a class of landholders so undesirable
and injurious? Rather behold in what has happened an indication of the design
of Providence. Ireland needs to be colonized with thrifty Scotch and scientific
English farmers ; men with means ; men with modern ideas.
"Thus pleaded and urged a thousand voices on the English shore; and to im-
pecunious Irish landlords the suggestion seemed a heavenly revelation. English
tenants paid higher rents than Irish, and paid them punctually. English "colo-
nists" would so farm the land as to increase its worth four-fold. English farmers
had a proper idea of land-tenure, and would quit their holdings on demand. No
more worry with half-pauperized and discontented fellows always behind with their
— Page Thirty
THE G R O S S E - I S L E TRAGEDY
rent, always wanting a reduction, and never willing to pay an increase! No
more annoyance from tenant-right agitators and seditious newspapers ; no more
dread of Ribbonite mandates and Rickite warnings! Blessed hour! El Dorado
was in sight!
"To men circumstanced as the Irish landlords were in 1847, these allure-
ments were sure to prove irresistible. They formed the theme and substance of
essay, speech, and lecture in England at the time. Some writers put the matter a
little kindly for the Irish, and regretted that the regeneration of the country had
to be accomplished at a price so painful. Others, unhappily, made no secret of
their joy and exultation. Here was the opportunity to make an end of the Irish
difficulty. The famine had providentially cleared the way for a great and grand
work, if, England was but equal to the occasion. Now was the time to plant
Ireland with a British population.
"One now can afford to doubt that the men who spoke and wrote in this
way ever weighed the effect and consequences of such language on a people like
the Irish. I recall it in a purely historical spirit, to identify it as the first visible
origin and cause of a state of things which disagreeably challenges English atten-
tion,— the desperate bitterness, the deadly hatred of England, which the emigrant
thousands carried with them from Ireland to America. To many an Englishman
that hostile spirit must seem almost inexplicable. "If Irishmen have had to emi-
grate," they say, "it was for their own good and advantage: why should they
hate England for that? There is no need to dwell upon the painful circumstances
that distinguish the Irish exodus from the adventurous emigration of Germans or
Swedes or Englishmen. The Irishman who comes to tell the story of these fam-
ine-evictions, and the emigration-panic which followed, finds himself, in truth, face
to face with the origin of Irish-American Fenianism.
'Thanks be to God, they have fired in the air!' says the Cork waiter to the
English visitor in one of Lever's stories. Two Irish gentlemen having quarreled
in the hotel coffee-room, a duel with pistols was arranged to come off on the spot
there and then. To the delight of their friends, however, and of the assembled
waiters, napkin on arm, they "fired in the air," that is, through the ceiling, and
nearly shot the Englishman in "No. 10" overhead. Very like this "firing in the
air" was the conduct of the Irish landords who sent off their pauperized tenantry
and cottiers to England and America. "Thanks be to God, they are gone!"
was, no doubt, the happy reflection of many a benevolent landlord at this time
But gone whither, and to what fate? Gone from possibly burdening or inconven-
iencing him ; but what of the possible burden and inconvenience to the social sys-
tems into which this mass of strange material was thus flung?
"Often as I stood and watched these departing groups I tried to think what
it might be th; *: they could do in "the land they were going to." What were
they fit for? Many of them had never seen a town of ten thousand inhabitants ;
and in a large city, even in their own country, they would be helpless and bewil-
dered as a flock of sheep on a busy highway. What was before them in the
midst of London or New York? What impressions would they create in the
minds of a strange city people? What species of skill, what branch of industry,
did they bring with them, to command employment and insure a welcome? Few
of them could read ; some of them, accustomed to speak the native Gaelic, knew
little of the English tongue. Their rustic manners would expose them to derision,
their want of education to contempt, on the part of those who would not know,
or pause to consider, that in the hapless land they left, the schoolmaster had been
proscribed by law for two hundred years. Wofully were they handicapped.
Page Thirty-One
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
Nearly everything was against them. Their past ways of life, so far from train-
ing- them in aught for these new circumstances, in nearly every way unfitted them
for the change.
"I speak in all this of the peasant or cottier emigrants. Mingling in the
vast throng went thousands, no doubt, who, happily for them as it afterward
proved, possessed education, skill, and occasionally moderate means for a start
in life on the other side, — members of respectable and once prosperous families
that had been ruined in the famine-time. Nay, there sailed in the steerage of the
emigrant-ships many a fair young girl, going to face a servant's lot in a foreign
land, who at home had once had servants to attend her every want; and many a
fine young fellow ready to engage as groom, who learned that business, so to
speak, as a gentleman's son in the hunting-field. In the cities and towns of Great
Britain and America there are to-day hundreds of Irishmen, some having risen to
position and fortune, others still toiling on in some humble sphere, who landed
on the new shore friendless and forlorn from the wreck of happy and affluent
homes.
"But as to the vast bulk of uncultured peasants, victims of this wholesale ex-
pulsion, their fate was and could but be deplorable. Landing in such masses,
everything around them so strange, so new, and sometimes so hostile, they inev-
itably herded together, making a distinct colony or "quarter" in the city where
they settled. Destitute as they were, their necessities drove them to the lowest
and most squalid lanes and alleys of the big towns. At home in their native val-
leys poverty was free from horrors that mingled with it here, namely, contact with
debasing city crime. The children of these wretched emigrants grew up amidst
terrible contaminations. The police-court records soon began to show an array of
Celtic patronymics. "The low Irish" grew to be a phrase of scorn in the com-
munity around them; and they, repaying scorn with hatred, became, as it were,
the Arabs of the place, "their hand against every man's hand, and every man's
hand against them."
"This dismal picture, painfully true of many a case a quarter of a century
ago, is now happily rare. A brighter and better state of things is rapidly making
its appearance. But, for my own part, I can never forget the mournful impres-
sions made upon me.
"The Irish exodus had one awful concomitant, which in the Irish memory of
that time fills nearly as large a space as the famine itself. The people, flying
from fever-tainted hovel and workhouse, carried the plague with them on board
Each vessel became a floating charnel-house. Day by day the American public
was thrilled by the ghastly tale of ships arriving off the harbors reeking with
typhus and cholera, the track they had followed across the ocean strewn with the
corpses flung overbbard on the way. Speaking in the House of Commons on the
nth of Feburary, 1848, Mr. Labouchere referred to one year's havoc on board the
ships sailing to Canada and New Brunswick alone in the following words :
"Out of 106,000 emigrants who during the last twelve months crossed the
Atlantic for Canada and New Brunswick, 6,100 perished on the voyage, 4,100 on
their arrival, 5,200 in the hospitals, and 1,900 in the towns to which they repaired.
The total mortality was no less than 17 per cent, of the total number emigrating
to those places; the number of deaths being 17,300."
"In all the great ports of America and Canada, huge quarantine hospitals had
to be hastily erected. Into these every day newly-arriving plague-ships poured
what survived of their human freight, for whom room was as rapidly made in
those wards by the havoc of death. Whole families disappeared betwen land and
-— Page Thirty-Two
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THE GROSS E -ISLE TRAGEDY
land, as sailors say. Frequently the adults were swept away, the children alone
surviving. It was impossible in every case to ascertain the names of the suffer-
ers, and often all clue to identification was lost. The public authorities, or the
nobly humane organizations that had established those lazar-houses, found them-
selves toward the close of their labors in charge of hundreds of orphan children,
of whom names and parentage alike were now impossible to be traced. About
eight years ago I was waited upon in Dublin by one of these waifs, now a man of
considerable wealth and honorable position. He had come across the Atlantic in
pursuit of a purpose to which he is devoting years of his life, — an endeavor to
obtain some clue to his family, who perished in one of the great shore hospitals in
1849. Piously he treasures a few pieces of a red-painted emigrant-box, which he
believes belonged to his father. Eagerly he travels from place to place in Clare
and Kerry and Galway, to see if he may dig from the tomb of that terrible past
the secret lost to him, I fear, forever!
" From Grosse Island, the great charnel-house of victimized humanity' (says
the Official Report of the Montreal Emigrant Society for 1847), "up to Port Sar-
nia, and all along the borders of our magnificent river ; upon the shores of Lakes
Ontario and Erie, — wherever the tide of emigration has extended, are to be found
the final resting-places of the sons and daughters of Erin ; one unbroken chain of
graves, where repose fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, in one commingled
heap, without a tear bedewing the soil or a stone marking the spot. Twenty
thousand and upward have thus gone down to their graves."
"I do not know that the history of our time has a parallel for this Irish exo-
dus. The Germans, to be sure, have emigrated in vast numbers, and, like the
Irish, seem to form distinct communities where they settle. But many circum-
stances distinguish the Irish case from any that can be recalled. Other emigra-
tions were, more or less, the gradual and steady overflow of a population cheer-
fully willing to go. This was the forcible expulsion or panic rush of a stricken
people, and was attended by frightful scenes of suffering and death. Irishmen,
moreover, feel that their country has not had a chance of fair play, if I may so
express it, and especially the one section least likely to impress strangers with
favorable and high ideas of Ireland and the Irish."
Page Thirty-Three
tf)c Cxiles; Came to Canaba
"Sail on, sail on, thou fearless bark,
Wherever blows the welcome wind;
It cannot lead to scenes more dark,
More sad, than those we leave behind."
MOORE.
JN his sketch already referred to of the events of 1847, J. M. O'Leary
says: "The emigration of this year was marked by a depravity,
seldom if ever recorded in the shipment of living men. One can-
not but remark that the broken down and destitute condition of the
greater portion of the class who intended to emigrate from Ireland
in 1847 should have warned the Home authorities of the necessity
of so regulating their departure, as to ensure some safety in the passage. Instead
of this they had been allowed to ship in numbers out of all proportion to the ton-
nage of the vessels, that is, in numbers two or three times greater than the same
vessel would presume to embark for any port in the United States. The natural,
the certain, consequence was a never before heard of mortality on the ocean and
misery among the survivors who arrived, almost terrible to enquire into. Such
appeared the indifference of commerce to everything but gain that free human
beings were the only cargo shipmasters could embark, without some responsibil-
ity, for its safe delivery, or guarantee for deficiency, on its arrival at its destined
port. Whatever might be the casualties, whether they were landed healthy or
sick, or whether half were thrown into the sea, the pounds, shillings and pence
were received, for the freight was already paid for, and there was no bill of lading.
"What helped to turn the stream of the poorest class of emigrants to Canada
and other of the British provinces was, first, a United States law, limiting the
number of persons each passenger vessel should carry, thus increasing the cost
of passage, and second, laws were made by the States of New York and Massa-
chusetts, which obliged the master or owner of a vessel bringing passengers, to
give bonds that no emigrant brought out by them became chargeable to the State
for a period of two years after their arrival. '
Different writers state that the departure of an emigrant cavalcade was a sad-
dening sight. English travellers on Irish railways have sometimes been startled
as the train entered a provincial station to hear a loud wail burst from a dense
throng on the platform. While the porters with desperate haste are trundling
into the luggage-van numerous painted deal boxes, a wild scene of leave-taking is
proceeding. It is an emigrant farewell. The emigrants, weeping bitterly, kiss,
over and over, every neighbor and friend, man, woman and child, who has come
to see them for the last time. But the keen pang is where some member of the
family is departing, leaving the rest to be sent for by him or her out of the first
earnings in exile. The husband goes, trusting the wife and little ones to some
relative or friend till he can pay their passage out from the other side. Or it is a
son or daughter who parts from the old father and mother, and tells them they
shall not be long left behind. A deafening wail resounds as the station-bell gives
the signal of starting. I have seen gray-haired peasants so clutch and cling to
the departing child at this last moment that only the utmost force of three or
four friends could tear them asunder. The porters have to use some violence
before the train moves off, the crowd so presses against door and window. When
at length it moves away, amidst a scene of passionate grief, hundreds run along
the fields beside the line to catch yet another glimpse of the friends they shall see
no more.
-Page Thirty-Four
j«*fw ^ <£n tfje emigrant
"Where are the swift ships flying
Far to the West away?
Why are the women crying
Far to the West away?
Is our dear land infected,
That thus o'er her hays neglected,
The skiff steals along dejected,
While the ships fly far away?"
HON. THOS. D'ARCY McGEE.
VERYTHING that could convey human beings like so man} cattle to the
shores of America was pressed into the service of transporting the
crowds of Irish exiles from every Irish and many English ports to
the New World. In those days all the vessels used for the purpose
were sailing ships, which took from one to three months to make a
passage across, which is now accomplished in less than a week.
Many of these craft were rotten old wooden tubs which had been used in the
Canadian lumber trade and the unfortunate emigrants were packed into them like
so many herrings in a barrel without any accommodation for the separation of the
sexes or the convenience of passengers such as so distinguish even the poorest of
modern passenger boats. Is it any wonder, therefore, that that terrible pestilence,
the typhus or ship fever, should have broken out on them hardly before they were
out of sight of the Irish coast ?
But let us accompany the suffering sons and daughters of old Erin across the
Atlantic to Grosse Isle, leaving Stephen E. De Vere to tell the story. He was a
nephew of Lord Monteagle and submitted himself to the privations of a steerage
passage to Quebec in an emigrant ship for nearly two months in order to make
himself personally acquainted with the condition of the emigrant on board.
" Before the emigrant has been a week at sea he is an altered man. How
can it be otherwise? Hundreds of people, men, women and children, of all ages,
from the drivelling idiot of ninety to the babe just born, all huddled together,
without light, without air, wallowing in filth, and breathing a fetid atmosphere.
The fevered patients are lying between the healthy in sleeping places so narrow
as almost to deny them the power of indulging by a change of position the natural
restlessness of the disease, — and by their agonized ravings disturbing those
around, and predisposing them through the effects of the imagination to Imbibe
the contagion, — living without food or medicine except as administered to them
fay the hand of casual charity, — dying without the voice of spiritual consolation,
and buried in the deep without the rites of the Church.
"The food is generally unselected and seldom sufficiently cooked, in conse-
quence of the bad construction of the cooking places. The supply of water,
hardly enough for cooking and drinking, does not allow washing. In many ships
the filthy beds, teeming with all abominations, are never required to be brought
on deck and aired. The narrow space between the sleeping berths and piles of
boxes is never washed or scraped, but breathes a damp and fetid stench, until the
day before arrival at Quarantine, when all hands are required to scrub up and put
on a fair face for the Doctor and Government Inspector. No moral restraint is
attempted. The voice of prayer is never heard. Drunkenness, with its train of
ruffianly debasement, is not discouraged, because it is profitable to the captain,
who sells the grog."
Page Thirty-Five
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
"It is only fair to state that, while many passengers bitterly complained of the
treatment they had received both on the part of the captain and crew, others re-
lated with the liveliest satisfaction all that they owed to their kind offices.
"Now the great demand for passages induced many owners of vessels to fit
them out, whose captains were ignorant of the means to be taken to preserve the
health of their passengers. When fever broke out, they became alarmed for their
own safety and would not go into the hold, which, from a neglect of cleanliness,
had become a reeking pesthouse, where even those not stricken down were indiffer-
ent to all exertion, even to the preservation of life. This apathy was so great, that
time and again bodies were allowed to remain for a long: time in the bunks, where
death ended their troubles, as the passengers and sailors positively declined to
remove them, leaving the captain to carry the corpses on his back. Other cap-
tains bribed their seamen with a sovereign, to perform this duty, while, in other
cases, the dead were dragged out of their bunks with boathooks, their nearest
relatives refusing to touch them. Yet, as in reproof to those on whom the blame
of all this wretchedness fell, Germans, from Hamburg and Bremen, arrived at the
Quarantine, all healthy, robust and cheerful.
"On arriving at Grosse Isle, all hands were summoned on deck to pass the
medical inspection, which was slight and hasty. Hardly any questions were
asked, but as the doctor walked down the file he selected those for the hospital
who did not look well, and after a trivial examination ordered them ashore. This
medical inspection was not of daily occurrence, and even, after the first inspection,
days passed without a doctor's visit, although sickness and the number of deaths
were daily increasing aboard.
"On the i4th of May, 1874, the first of tne fever fleet> tne Syria, from Liver-
pool, reached Grosse Isle, and here it may be said, that almost all the emigrants
from Liverpool, Dublin, Cork and Limerick, — Cork and Limerick especially, —
were half dead from want and starvation before embarking, and the slightest
diarrhoea, which was sure to come with change of food, ended their days without a
struggle. Then the weak condition of others before leaving, rendered them unable
to bear the fatigue of a voyage, and consequently increased the mortality, espec-
ially as few, if any, of the vessels were provided with a doctor. In vessels that
had to put back to port by stress of weather, fever had extensively broken out
after the first day or two at sea.
"Thirty vessels were anchored at Grosse Isle on the 2Oth May, 1847. They
left port with 12,519 passengers, of whom 777 died at sea, and 459 on board at
the island. Neither the sick nor the healthy could be landed, as there was no
room for them ashore. In this sad state of affairs, Dr. G. Campbell, of Montreal,
and Mr. A. C. Buchanan, Chief Emigrant Agent, at Quebec, commissioned Cap-
tain John Wilson, of Quebec, to remove the healthy from the vessels to Mon-
treal, at the rate of $i a-head. For this purpose, the steamers "Quebec," "Alli-
ance" and "Queen," were sent to the island, and on arrival, drew up alongside
the vessels, until a sufficient number of passengers were removed. As Doctor
Douglas, the medical superintendent at Quarantine, and Mr. Buchanan were suf-
fering from the fever, Captain Wilson, and the few hands who were willing to
man his steamers, were left very much to their own resources in dealing with an
immense crowd of suffering humanity, who really stood more in need of food than
medicine. Acting on instructions received from Dr. Douglas, Captain Wilson
and his aides judged by the color of the tongue of the poor emigrant whether he
should or should not be left at Grosse Isle. There was no time for a thorough
examination, for time meant money, and in this way families were forever separ-
Page Thirty-Six
THE GROS^SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
ated, husband from wife, parents from children, neighbor from neighbor, and
friend from friend.
"Abroad as at home, our people bore their sufferings with the greatest
patience. For six months, famine had swept through the length and breadth of
the old land. Then came pestilence, followed by their seeking exile in an over-
crowded, uncleanjy, and deadly emigrant ship, and now came the last earthly
separation. They were taught by their pastors the duty of submission, and they
exhibited to the whole world an example without a parallel in history. In reply
to expressions of commiseration, the starving peasant would exclaim "Welcome
to the will of God" and now as the steamer slowly moved away, bearing on its
deck their nearest and dearest, they bowed to the divine will.
"When the sad and broken hearted ones left Grosse Isle, they were literally
crammed on board the steamer, exposed to the cold night air or the burning sun,
(and the summer of '47 was decidedly hot), and in this condition the most robust
constitution gave way to an unbroken series of hardships. The provinces of Que-
bec and Ontario learned to their cost the fatal consequence of allowing emigrants
to leave Quarantine without a sufficient sanitary probation, as well as the effect
of having 800, 900, 1,000 and even 1,400 persons in a state of uncleanliness and
debility, to be huddled, in some cases for forty-eight hours, on the deck of a
steamer between Grosse Isle and Montreal.
"In a tour which I made through Upper Canada, I met in every quarter some
of my poor wandering fellow-country-people. Travelling from Prescott to By-
town, by stage, I saw a poor woman with an infant in her arms, and a child pull-
ing at her skirt, and crying as they went along. The driver compassionately
took them up, and the wayfarer wept her thanks. She had lost her husband upon
the voyage and was going to Bytown to her brother, who came out the previous
year, and having made some money by lumbering in the woods, remitted to her
the means of joining him ; she told her sad tale most plaintively, and the passen-
gers all sympathized with her. The road being of that description called "cordu-
roy," and the machine very crazy, the latter broke down within five miles of our
destination, and as she was unable to carry her two children, the poor creature
was obliged to remain upon the road all the night. She came into Bytown the fol-
lowing morning, and I had the satisfaction to learn that she found her brother.
"A large proportion of the emigrants who arrived in Canada crossed the fron-
tiers, in order to settle in the United States. So that they were to be seen in the
most remote places. At St. Catherine's, upon the Welland Canal, 600 miles from
Quebec, I saw a family, who were on their way to the western part of the State
of New York. One of them was taken ill, and they were obliged to remain by
the wayside; with nothing but a few boards to protect them from the weather.
There is no means of learning how many of the survivors of so many ordeals were
cut off by the inclemency of a Canadian winter, so that the grand total of the
human sacrifice will never be known but by "Him who knoweth all things."
The following quotation from England's most popular writer, Charles Dick-
ens, is apposite, and would that his suggestions uttered five years before the
commencement of the tragic drama in Ireland and Canada had been attended to in
time : if they had, much evil would have been spared humanity. In his "American
Notes," Dickens said :
"The whole system of shipping and conveying these unfortunate persons
is one that stands in need of thorough revision. If any class deserve to be
protected and assisted by the government, it is that class who are banished from
their native land in search of the bare means of subsistence. All that could be
Page Thirty-Seven
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
done for those poor people by the great compassion and humanity of the captains
and officers, was done, but they required much more. The law is bound, at least
upon the English side, to see that too many of them are not put on board one ship ;
and that their accommodations are decent, not demoralizing and profligate. It
is bound, too, in common humanity, to declare that no man shall be taken on
board without his stock of provisions being previously inspected by some proper
officer, and pronounced moderately sufficient for his support upon the voyage It
is bound to provide, or to require that there be provided a medical attendant;
whereas in these ships there are none, though sickness of adults and deaths of
children on the passage are matters of the very commonest occurrence. Above
all, it is the duty of any government, be it monarchy or republic, to interpose and
put an end to that system by which a firm of traders in emigrants purchase of the
owners the whole 'tween-decks of a ship, and send on board as many wretched
people as they can get hold of on any terms they can get, without the smallest
reference to the conveniences of the steerage, the number of berths, the slightest
separation of the sexes, or anything but their own immediate profit. Nor is this
the worst of the vicious system ; for certain crimping agents of these houses, who
have a percentage on all the passengers they inveigle, are constantly travelling
about those districts where poverty and discontent are rife, and tempting the cre-
dulous into more misery, by holding out monstrous inducements to emigration
which never can be realized."
Page Thirty-Eight
FALLS OF KILLARNEY
"Thou shalt own the wonder wrought once by her skilled fingers,
Still though many an age be gone round Killarney lingers."
CHAPTER tfje Manb===
of <§ro#se Me
"Immediately a place
Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark,
A lazar-house it seem'd; wherein were laid
Numbers of all diseased; all maladies of ghastly spasm
Or racking torture, qualms
Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
Marasmas and wide-wasting pestilence.
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans : Despair
Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch;
And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invok'd
With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.
Sight so deform what heart of rock could long
Dry-eyed behold?
MILTON.
HE Canadian authorities were hardly less remiss than the British in
preparations to meet the terrible emergency before them ; although
they had equally received ample warning of it. In 1846, Dr.
Douglas, the medical superintendent at Grosse Isle, had repeat-
edly urged them to get ready for what was coming. The British.
Irish, American and Canadian newspapers had almost daily report-
ed and commented on the alarming progress which the famine and pestilence were
making in Ireland, so that they could not plead ignorance of the ominous outlook
or of the fact that the emigration from the Green Isle to Canada in 1847 would be
on a very large scale. Early in that year Mr. Robert Christie, the historian, then
a leading member of the Provincial Parliament, wrote to the Provincial Secre-
tary, Hon. Dominick Daly, complaining of the Government's inexcusable failure
to take proper and necessary precautions and pointing out the great danger to
which the country would be exposed, together with the measures to be adopted
to avert it. Reverend Father Moylan, the Catholic missionary at Grosse Isle in
those days, also gave timely forewarning to the Government with respect to the
gravity of the situation, and it was upon his urgent recommendation that, later,
when the crisis was on, the available police force to keep order on the island was
increased by 50 men of the 93rd Regiment, under Lieut. Studdard, sent down
from Quebec.
But all the signs and the warnings of the coming storm were virtually un-
heeded until it was practically too late. The only additions made to the Quaran-
tine establishment were through the purchase of 50 bedsteads, double the quan-
tity of straw used in former years and the erection of a new shed or building to
serve as an hospital and to contain 60 more beds. In this way provision, includ-
ing the old hospitals and sheds dating from 1832, was made for only 200 sick,
the average of former years never having attained half that number requiring
admission at one time. How utterly inadequate this was, the alarming sequel
soon showed.
But, while there was little or no excuse for the failure of the British author-
ities to have risen equal to the great emergency, there was certainly a good deal
for that of their Canadian colleagues. At that time the British North American
Page Thirty-Nine — — — —
THE GROS'SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
provinces were comparatively new and poor, carrying on a struggling existence
and possessing little means or few resources that were then available. Their
political and social organization was yet in a more or less primitive and chaotic
state, and, as already seen, they were also divided among themselves by conflict-
ing opinions as to the gravity of the danger and the steps to be taken to avert or
meet it. However, they were very soon brought face to face with it in all its
hideousness and scarcely a month had elapsed after the opening of navigation in
1847, when a session of the Provincial Parliament was hurriedly called and held
in Montreal, a select committee was appointed to enquire into the situation, and
a Commission was also appointed consisting of Drs. Painchaud, of Quebec, and
McDonnell and Campbell, of Montreal, to investigate the character and amount
of sickness prevailing among the emigrants at Grosse Isle and the best mode to
be adopted to arrest the disease and prevent its dissemination, with full powers
to make all such changes on the island as they thought proper.
The Commissioners reported. Of the sick in the hospitals, sheds and tents,
they said : "We found these unfortunate people in the most deplorable condition
for want of necessary nurses and hospital attendants ; their friends who had par-
tially recovered being in too many instances unable and, in most, unwilling, to
render them any assistance, common sympathies being apparently annihil-
ated by the mental and bodily depression produced by famine and disease. At our
inspection of many of the vessels, we witnessed some appalling instances of what
we have now stated — corpses lying in the same beds with the sick and the dying,
the healthy not taking the trouble to remove them."
Immediate steps were taken by the Commissioners for affording temporary
shelter on the island, by means of spars and sails borrowed from the ships and
the putting up of shanties for the accommodation of the healthy.
What pen can fittingly describe the horrors of that shocking summer at
Grosse Isle? All the eye-witnesses, all the writers on the subject, agree in saying
that they have never been surpassd in pathos, as wll as in hideousness and ghast-
liness. In a few months one of the most beautiful spots on the St. Lawrence was
converted into a great lazar and charnel-house to be forever sanctified by the sad-
dest memories of an unhappy race.
In speaking of the fever sheds, Mr. De Vere says : "They were very miser-
able, so slightly built as to exclude neither the heat nor cold. No sufficient care
was taken to remove the sick from the sound or to disinfect and clean the bed-
dings. The very straw upon which they had lain was often allowed to become a
bed for their successors and I have known many poor families prefer to burrow
under heaps of loose stones, near the shore, rather than accept the shelter of the
infected sheds."
Captain, afterwards Admiral Boxer, of Crimean fame, stated that there was
nothing more terrible than the sheds. Most of the patients were attacked with
dysentery and the smell was dreadful, as there was no ventilation.
Fathers Moylan and O'Reilly saw the emigrants in the sheds lying on the
bare boards and ground for whole nights and days without either bed or bedding.
Two, and sometimes three, were in a berth. No distinction was made as to sex,
age or nature of illness. Food was insufficient and the bread not baked. Patients
were supplied three times a day with tea, gruel or broth. How any of them ever
recovered is a wonder. Father O'Reilly visited two ships, the "Avon" and the
"Triton." The former lost 136 passengers on the voyage and the latter 93. All
these were thrown overboard and buried in the Atlantic. He administered the
Page Forty
THE GROSS E-ISLE TRAGEDY
last rites to over 200 sick on board these ships. Father Moylan's description of
the condition of the holds of these vessels is simply most revolting and horrible.
As for the dead, who were not buried at sea, it has been already seen how
they were taken from the pest ships and corded like fire-wood on the beach to
await burial. In many instances the corpses were carried out of the foul smell-
ing1 holds or they were dragged with boat-hooks out of them by sailors and others
who had to be paid a sovereign for each.
A word more as to the removal of the corpses from the vessels : They were
brought from the hold, where the darkness was, as it were, rendered more visible
by the miserable untrimmed oil lamp that showed light in some places sufficient to
distinguish a form, but not a face. It was more by touch than by sight that the
passengers knew each other. First came the touch and then the question, who
is it? Even in the bunks many a loved one asked the same question to one by
his or her side, for in the darkness that reigned their eyesight was failing them.
When the priest, leaving daylight and sunlight behind, as each step from deck
led him down the narrow ladder into the hold of the vessels of those days, as want-
ing in ventilation as the Black Hole of Calcutta, he had to make himself known,
and your poor Irish emigrant, with the love and reverence he had for his clergy,
who stuck to him through thick and thin, endeavored to raise himself and warmly
greet him with the little strength that remained.
Another death was announced on board, but no thrill, or excitement was
caused by the news, among the seamen or passengers. As for the latter they had
seen death by the road-side at home — they had seen their best and bravest fall
"like leaves in wintry weather," at home and abroad, and thy were prepared at
any time for the inevitable. With them there was no fear, no shrinking from
death, no longing for life. All the hopes they ever had of success on earth were
crushed forever, and their hopes now were beyond the grave — hopes with which
their cherished religion inspired them.
Another death announced, orders were given by the captain for the removal
of the body. Kind hands in many cases attended to this. In other cases, as we
have seen, it was left to strangers. Up the little narrow ladder to the deck, were
the corpses borne in the same condition in which they died, victims among other
things of filth, uncleanliness and bed sores, and with hardly any clothing on them.
There was no pretence of decency or the slightest humanity shown.
On deck a rope was placed around the emaciated form of the Irish peasant,
father, mother, wife and husband, sister and brother. The rope was hoisted and
with their heads and naked limbs dangling for a moment in mid-air, with the
wealth of hair of the Irish maiden, or young Irish matron, or the silvered locks
of the poor old Irish grandmother floating in the breeze, they were finally lowered
over the ship's side into the boats, rowed to the island and left on the rocks until
such time as they were coffined. Well might His Grace the Archbishop of Que-
bec, in his letter to the Bishops of Ireland, say that the details he received of the
scenes of horror and desolation at the island almost staggered belief and baffled
description.
There was no delay in burying the dead. The spot selected for their last
resting place was a lonely one at the western end of the island at about ten acres
from the landing. At first the graves were not dug a sufficient depth. The
rough coffins were piled one over the other and the earth covering the upper row,
in some instances, was not more than a foot deep and generally speaking about a
foot and a half. The cemetery was about 6 acres in extent. Later huge trenches
Page Forty-One
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
were dug in it about 5 or 6 feet deep and in these the bodies were laid often un-
coffined. Six men were kept constantly employed at this work.
Bechard, in his history of the island, adds a new horror to the ghoulish scene.
He states that an army of rats, which had come ashore from the fever ships, in-
vaded the field of death, took possession of it and pierced it with innumerable
holes to get at and gnaw the bodies buried in the shallow graves until hundreds
of loads of earth had to be carted and placed upon them.
At first — says the late J. M. O'Leary — the sick were placed in the hospitals,
while the seemingly healthy were sent to the sheds, but emigrants were continually
arriving who were left for days and nights without a bed under them, or a cover
over them, wasting and melting away under the united influence of fever and dys-
entery, without any one to give them a drink during their long hours of raging
thirst and terrible sufferings. For want of beds and bedding, for want of attend-
ants, hundreds of poor creatures, after a long voyage, consumed by confinement
and hunger, thirst and disease, were compelled to spend the long, long nights
and sultry days, lying on the hard boards, without a pillow under their burning
heads, without a hand to moisten their parched lips, or fevered brows, and what
was the result? — they who, by a little providential precaution, and ordinary care,
might have been restored to their large, helpless families and distracted relations,
were hurried away in a few hours to their premature and unhonored graves, while
those who should at once have provided for their salvation, at any cost and sacri-
fice, were higgling about the means. What encouragement was it for a young
professional man to expose himself to almost certain death for the paltry remun-
eration of 17 shillings and 6 pence a day held out to those who tendered their ser-
vices? What could be hoped for or expected from nurses who \vere willing to
spend their nights and days in a fever hospital for three shillings a day.
In the sheds were double tiers of bunks, the upper one about three feet above
the lower. As the planks of the former were not placed close together, the filth
from the sick fell upon those in the lower tier who were too weak to move. Filth
was thus allowed to accumulate, and with so vast a crowd of fever cases in one
place, and with no ventilation, generated a miasma so virulent and concentrated
that few who came within its poisonous atmosphere escaped. Clergy, doctors,
hospital attendants, servants, and police, fell ill one after the other and not a few
of them succumbed. A number of the captains, officers and crews of the pest
ships also died at Grosse Isle and some of the vessels were so decimated of these
during the voyage across and so short-handed, that it is a wonder how they ever
reached the island.
Oftentimes there were two and sometimes three in a bed, without any distinc-
tion of age, sex, or nature of illness. Corpses remained all night in the places
where death occurred, even when there was a companion in the same bed, while
the bodies that had been brought from the ships were piled like cordwood on the
beach, without any covering over them, until such time as they were coffined.
In the midst of this fierce Canadian summer, thousands of sick kept pouring
into Grosse Isle. Not a drop of fresh water was to be found on the island, no
lime juice, no clean straw even to protect the patients from the wet ground in the
tents, while, in the beginning of July, with the thermometer at 98^ in the shade,
hundreds were landed from the ships and thrown rudely, by the unfeeling crews,
on the burning rocks, and there they remained whole nights and days without
shelter of any kind.
And as if this terrible, almost incredible state of affairs was not sufficient,
outside the hospitals no order was observed. The very police, who were ap-
__ — Pwge Forty-Two
THE G R O S S E - I S L E TRAGEDY
pointed to maintain order, were the first to set an example of drunkenness and
immorality. Is it to be wondered at then that great difficulty was experienced in
retaining honest nurses or attendants, who had a reputation to sustain? On those
days of the week, when the opportunity of leaving the island was offered by the
arrival of the steamer from Quebec, a great number of servants insisted upon
their discharge, but such applications were firmly refused, unless the applicant
could produce a substitute. It is hardly necessary to say that many, so retained
against their will, neglected their duty to the sick, and sought by every means to
provoke their dismissal.
Nurses were obliged to occupy a bed in the midst of the sick, and had no
private apartment where they could change their clothing. Their food was the
same as was given to the emigrant, and had to be taken, in haste, amid the effluvia
of the sheds, and in this way, they were frequently infected with fever. When
they fell sick, they were left to themselves.
The report of these melancholy events, magnified by rumor, circulated in
Quebec to such an extent that none were willing to expose themselves to a fate
which seemed to wait on those who had the care of the sick. What happened?
The door of the common jail was thrown open, and its loathsome inmates were
sent to Grosse Isle to nurse the pure, helpless Irish youth.
Page Forty- Three
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Closing tfje (Quarantine
"The Ides of March are come.
Ay, Ccesar, but not gone."
SHAKESPEARE.
ROM the opening of the Quarantine Station in May to its closing at the
end of October, there was no change in the heartrending tale of mis-
ery and suffering. Vessels arrived daily with their cargo of sick,
and in autumn, as in summer, unless some person, through kind-
ness, for it was no one's business, brought a priest on board, the
emigrant was allowed to die in sight of his clergy, without the supreme consola-
tion of an Irish Catholic, — the last rites of his Church.
By the end of August, when thousands were resting in their graves, a num-
ber of sheds, affording room for upwards of 3,000 sick, were finished and the sick
were removed from the tents to them, while on Sunday, the i2th of September,
the Catholic and Protestant churches, which had been used as hospitals, were re-
opened for divine service.
Quarantine closed on the 28th of October, as no more passenger vessels were
expected, but on Sunday, the 7th of November, as the people from Diamond Har-
bor, Quebec, were on the road to St. Patrick's church, they noticed a vessel com-
ing up the river, which turned out to be the "Richard Watson" from Sligo, with
165 passengers, one-fourth of whom were males, and the remainder women and
children, all from the Irish estates of Lord Palmerston. As a fit ending to the sad
emigration of this season, a more destitute, helpless lot never landed in Canada, —
penniless, and in rags, without shoes or stockings, without even straw to cover
the boards of their bunks. When the Health Officer at Quebec, Dr. Parent,
visited the ship, he noticed three poor children, the youngest about 2 years of age,
sitting on the deck, altogether naked, — huddled together, and shivering with the
cpld (for winter had already set in), with a small piece of blanket thrown over
them, while the widowed mother sat by without a copper in her possession. In
another place h noticed a young woman whose only article of clothing was mads
out of the canvas of a biscuit-bag. In fact, in more cases than one, the biscuit -
bag was turned to that use. As for the men, their shreds of clothing were held
together with cord.
Page Forty- Four
"THE OLD SOD."
Shaun Connell's tall and straight,
And in his limbs he is complete,
He'll pitch a bar of any weight,
From Garryowen to Thomond Gate.
CHAPTER
NINE
<# Stye Beat!)
Martyrs! who left for our reaping
Truths you had sown in your blood —
Sinners! whom long years of weeping
Chastened from evil to good.
* * * * #
Say, through what region enchanted
Walk ye, in Heaven's sweet air?
Say, to what spirits 'tis granted,
Bright souls to dwell with you there?
MOORE.
ACCORDING to the official returns, the number of emigrants, who died
in 1847 at sea and at Grosse Isle, was as follows : — 4,092 at sea,
1,190 on board of ship at Grosse Isle and 3,389 in Grosse Isle.
Little reliance, however, can be placed in these as in most other
official statistics. Other and more reliable reports declare that
the total number of the dead and buried on Grosse Isle alone
exceeded 10,000; while there is reason to believe that the total
mortality among the Irish emigrants there and elsewhere in Canada amounted to
over 25,000, to which must be added the numerous deaths caused by the spread of
the pestilence from them among the Canadian clergy, medical profession and
people.
For instance, Dr. Douglas, the medical superintendent, estimated at 8,000
the number who died and were buried at sea in 1847, while the decaying monu-
ment in the graveyard at Grosse Isle, which is all that has remained since that
terrible year to mark it, erected by him and eighteen other medical officers on duty
there during that year, places at 5,424 the number of bodies interred in it; and
the inscription on the great boulder that marked the last resting place of the emi-
grant victims at Point St. Charles, Montreal, claims that 6,000 more were buried
.there. On its different sides, the old memorial stone at Grosse Isle, erected by
Dr. Douglas and his colleagues, bears the following inscriptions :
On its eastern face :
"In this secluded spot, lie the mortal icmains of 5,424 persons who, flying
from pestilence and famine in Ireland, in the year 1847, found, in America, but a
grave. "
On the southern face :
"To the memory of Dr. Benson, of Dublin, who died in this hospital on the
27th May, 1847;
"Dr. Alexandre Pinet, of Varennes, died on 24th July, 1847.
"Dr. Alfred Malhiot, of Vercheres, died on the 22nd July, 1847.
"Dr. John Jameson, of Montreal, died on the 2nd August, 1847, aged 34
years.
"These gentlemen were assistant medical officers of this hospital and all died
of typhus fever contracted in the faithful discharge of their duty upon the sick."
Looking north :
"To the memory of Alfred Panet, medical officer of this establishment, who
died of cholera, July, 1834.
Dr. Robert Christie, medical assistant, who died of typhus in this hospital,
on the 2nd of July, 1837.
Page Forty-Five
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
And looking west :
"Erected by Dr. Geo. M. Douglas, medical superintendent, and eighteen
medical officers on duty in 1847."
On the other hand, the entries at the port of Quebec for 1847 show 98,821
emigrant arrivals, of whom 8,6qi were admitted to the quarantine hospital, 8,639
of these having the fever and 51 the smallpox. Died of the fever, 3,227; of the
smallpox, 12, which would leave a total of 5,453 discharged as cured.
Bechard claims, however, that the discrepancy betwen the figure on the
monument and that shown by the customs' entries and amounting to 2,186 less in
the latter case, is easily explained by the fact that hundreds of the sufferers died
after leaving the ships for the shore and before they could undergo proper medical
examination and that, delirium being one of the symptoms of typhoid fevers, a
great many others, on landing, made their escape to the woods on the island,
where they died and were buried on the spots where they had breathed their last,
the finders subsequently of their remains being afraid to remove them. He, there-
fore, with most of the survivors of that trying time, places the total deaths and
burials not only in the cemetery, but all over the island, at 12,000, while to these
must be added 189 more who were passengers on the ill-fated emigrant ship
"Carrick," which was lost with them off Cape Rosier on the voyage. In the same
connection, J. M. O'Leary says :
"What was the character of the emigration? The emptying of poor-houses
and hospitals, the shipment of the starving, the penniless and the fever-stricken,
not in small numbers, but in multitudes, crammed on board of ship, as if they
were beasts, uncared for as to food and medicine, and their prospects upon land-
ing in Canada altogether left to that chance assistance which Government aid or
private benevolence could supply. And what was the result? 4,192 died at sea;
1,190 died on board of ship at Grosse Isle; 3,389 died in Grosse Isle; 712 died in
the Marine Hospital at Quebec; 5,330 died at Point St. Charles, Montreal; 71
died in St. John, N.B. ; 130 died at Lachine; 863 died in Toronto, and 3,048 in
other places in Ontario — 16,825 out of an emigration of 97,953, though I feel con-
fident the mortality was far greater. However, I have given official figures.
"In their temporary sojourn in Canada the Irish emigrants fresh from the
fever sheds of Grosse Isle, scattered pestilence and death far and wide, depriving
society of some of its best, its most valuable and its most cherished members.
"Such conduct on the part of the landlords of Ireland, in sending them out,
was most cruel to the emigrants themselves, rendering most bitter the last sor-
rows of a shortened life, by casting them out from their native soil to die at sea
or in a distant land.
"Quebec and Ontario were not alone in the infliction of indigent and diseased
emigration, so recklessly forced upon them, for each and all of the colonies suf-
fered more or less from those causes.
"In New Brunswick, for example, upwards of 15,000 emigrants landed at St.
John. They comprised aged and worn-out people, widows and orphans, sent off
at the expense of their former landlords to relieve their estates from supporting
them.
"According to official returns the number of passengers that sailed for Quebec
was as follows :
Page Forty-Six
THE
GROS'SE-ISLE
TRAGEDY
Cabin 696
Steerage 97>953
Births at sea and at Grosse Isle 172 98,821
Died on the passage and at quarantine 5,282
Died in quarantine 3*389 8,671
Landed in Quebec in 1847 90,150
'Now, for the countries from which they sailed :
STEERAGE PASSENGERS
No. of Cabin Children from
: AILED FROM Vessels Passengers Adults 1 to 14 years
of age Infants
Male Female Male Female
England 140 217 12.101 8.692 4.927 4.585 2.349
Ireland 224 295 19.012 16.037 8.432 7.817 2.869
Scotland 42 175 1 .995 .996 .636 .562 . 163
Germany 36 9 3 . 449 2 .003 . 899 .933 . 226
442 696 35.827 27.728 14.894 13.897 5.607
RECAPITULATION
Steerage passengers —
Adults 63,555
Children 28,791
Infants 5>6°7— 97>953
SAILED FROM IRISH PORTS
Belfast 6,826
Ballyshannon 64
Cork 10,228
Donegal 814
Dublin 6,530
Galway 738
Killala i ,346
Kilrash 149
L ndonderry 3>521
J imerick 9, 100
New Ross 4*384
Newry i ,488
SHgo 5,663
Westport 61
Waterford 3>O37
Youghal 318
Total 54i*37
"It was estimated that of the 20,483 who sailed from Liverpool,
upwards of 20,000 were Irish.
Page Forty-Seven
THE
GROSSE-ISLE
TRAGEDY
DIED ON THE PASSAGE OR ON BOARD AT QUARANTINE
SAILED FROM
Adults
Children from 1 to 14
years of age
Infanta
Male
Female
Male
Female
England
556
741
14
18
397
500
7
10
667
516
17
23
541
492
15
21
351
356
16
24
Ireland ...
Scotland . .
Germany . . .
1,329
914
1,223
1,069
747
RECAPITULATION
Adults
2.2d^
Children . . . .
2.2Q2
74.7
Soft?
DEATHS IN QUARANTINE
,202
SAILED FROM
Adults
Children from 1 to 14
years of age
Infants
Male
Female
Male
Female
England . ....
659
719
10
470
471
6
1
235
211
7
248
187
4
86
71
4
Ireland
Scotland . .
Germany
1,388
948
453
439
161
RECAPITULATION
Adults 2,336
Children 892
Infants 161 — 3,389
BIRTHS ON BOARD AND IN QUARANTINE
England
Ireland . .
Scotland .
Germany .
Male. Female.
3i 33
47 45
Total
85 87
Page Forty-Eight
THE G R O S S E - I S L E TRAGEDY
"It has been acknowledged that the money left by emigrants who died with-
out relatives in Grosse Isle from the i6th May to the 2ist October, 1847, amount-
ed to upwards of £829 sterling, varying in sums from 2^d. to .£129. In some
cases the money was returned to their relatives in Ireland, or in different parts of
Canada. In other cases it was used for the orphans of the deceased. But
there is no doubt that a good deal more money belonging to the dead or sick emi-
grants was never acknowledged, as it was appropriated by unscrupulous nurses
and orderlies.
"There also remained unclaimed two hundred and four boxes and trunks, a
large number of feather beds, and a great quantity of wearing apparel.
"We come now to the number of clergymen, doctors, hospital attendants and
others who contracted the fever and died in 1847 while in attendance on the sick
emigrants at Grosse Isle."
Of the 26 doctors employed on the island during the fever period, 22 sickened
and 4 died; of the 29 hospital stewards, 21 sickened and 3 died; of the 10 police,
8 were attacked by the fever and 3 died, and of the 186 nurses, orderlies and
cooks, 76 contracted the disease and 22 died. The carters engaged to remove the
sick, the dying and the dead, furnished 2 victims, while the clerks, bakers and
other servants and officials supplied 4 more.
Page Forty-Nine
jflournful Jf igurcs
"Man's inhumanity to man makes
countless thousands mourn."
ROBERT BURNS.
T would take infinitely more space than can be disposed of to re-
produce the names of the Irish emigrants who fell victims to the
pestilence and were buried at sea or at Grosse Isle, not to speak
at all of those who died in Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston,
Toronto and elsewhere in Canada. But anyone anxious or cur-
ious to see and consult the sad lists can do so by referring to the
Quebec newspapers of 1847, the Gazette, Mercury and Chronicle,
from May to the end of December, as well as the Montreal and Toronto papers of
the same period. Whole columns and even pages of the Quebec papers, espec-
ially, will be found filled with the names of the dead compiled from the reports of
the different shipmasters on arrival and the official weekly returns from the hospi-
tals at Grosse Isle. It is well, however, to note that too much reliance cannot be
placed on these statistics. They are unquestionably far from complete and far
from accurate. Many of the names are clearly given incorrectly, while there is a
multitude of the victims, whose names are declared to be unknown, their relatives,
friends or acquaintances, who could have identified them, having probably been
all swept away by the plague.
Th^ general reader, however, can form an idea of the terrible death rate and
the burials at sea from the following reports handed in by some of the shipmas-
ters:
Ship — Port of Sailing. Died at Sea Ship — Port of Sailing. Died at Sea
Lord Sandon, Cork 19 Agnes, Cork 63
Jessie, Limerick 36 Caithness-shire, Belfast 14
Sarah Maria, Sligo 6 Bic, Cork 106
Sobraon, Liverpool 47 Argos, Liverpool 42
John Bell, New Ross 7 Mary Brack, Limerick 8
New York Packet, Liverpool .... 9 George, Liverpool 75
Elliots, Dublin 12 Ninian, Limerick 30
Ann, Liverpool 3 Aberden, Liverpool 30
Solway, New Ross 3 Eliza Caroline, Liverpool 49
Rose, Liverpool 98 Dominica, Cork 5
Coromandel, Dublin 12 Thompson, Sligo 7
Constitution, Belfast 5 Pacha, Cork 1 1
Scotland, Cork 94 Josepha, Belfast 2
Fay, Sligo 1 1 Princess Royal, Liverpool 26
Wave, Dublin 5 Standard, New Ross 9
Columbia, Sligo 20 Gilmour, Cork 28
John Francis, Cork 23 Charlotte Hosmer, Greenock 2
Wolfville, Sligo 63 Albion, Limerick 18
John Bolton, Liverpool 105 Mail, Cork 29
Dykes, Sligo 19 Wilhelmina, Belfast 4
Carisholme, London 28 Sisters, Liverpool 102
Page Fifty
BLIND IRISH PIPER
"0, the days of the Kerry dancing, 0, the ring of the piper's
tune !
0, for one of those hours of gladness, gone, alas ! like our
youth too soon;
When the boys began to gather in the glen of a summer night,
And the Kerry piper's tuning made us long with wild delight.
O, to think of it, 0, to dream of it, fills my heart with tears."
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
Ship — Port of Sailing. Died at Sea Ship— Port of Sailing. Died at Sea
Araminta, Liverpool 29 Free Trader, Liverpool 54
Thetis, Limerick 3 Mariner, Dublin 8
Pursuit, Liverpool 42 Lilias, Dublin 6
Lady Gordon, Belfast 14 Ayrshire, Newry 3
Avon, Donegal I Ganges, Liverpool 21
Nuna, Sligo 10 Larch, Sligo 140
Mary, Sligo 1 1 Saguenay, Cork 83
Euclid, Glasgow 3 Agent, New Ross 9
Greenock, Liverpool 23 Agnes & Ann, Newry 7
Asia, Cork 13 New Zealand, Newry 7
A. Stewart, Limerick 3 City of Derry , London 7
Blenheim, Portsmouth 12 Junior, Liverpool 13
Agamemnon, Liverpool 26 Aberfoyle, Waterford 7
Diamond, Liverpool 5 Emily, Cork 9
Marchioness of Bute, Blfast 20 Independent, Belfast 7
Abbeylands, Liverpool 4 Camilla, Sligo ^
Leander, Londonderry /. 4 Admiral, Waterford 6
XL, Galway 2 Ellen, Sligo 6
Oregon, Killala 9 Margaret, New Ross 25
Allan Lee, Sligo 12 Progress, New Ross 32
Pandora, New Ross 15 Unicorn, Londonderry 4
Chas. Walton, Killala 14 Tamarac, Liverpool 33
Marchioness of Abercorn London- Jas. Moran, Liverpool 13
derry 10 Venotia, Limerick 13
Ann Kenny, Waterford 4 Tom, Dublin 14
Broon, Liverpool 25 Wakefield, Cork 25
John & Robert, Liverpool 14 Golden Spray, London 3
Lady Campbell, Dublin 15 Collingwood, London 4
Rosalinda, Belfast 17 Charlotte, Plymouth 2
Sir H. Pottinger, Cork 105 Alert, Waterford 5
Royal Adelaide, Killala 1 1 Medusa, Cork 2
Covenanter, Cork 59 Chas. Richards, Sligo 9
Frankfield, Liverpool 16 J°hn Jardine, Liverpool 12
Odessa, Dublin 26 Thistle, Liverpool 7
Yorkshire, Liverpool 53 Manchester, Liverpool 1 1
Countess, Donegal 2 Free Briton, Cork 6
Westmoreland, Sligo 9 Goliah, Liverpool C i
Vesta, Limerick 2 Sarah, Liverpool 31
Naomi, Liverpool 107 Triton, Liverpool 93
Annie Maud, Limerick 2 Jessie, Cork 43
Marchioness of Breadalbane, Sligo 12 Erin's Queen, Liverpool 32
Virginius, Liverpool 158 Avon, Cork 163
John Munn, Liverpool 70 Ajax, Liverpool £9
Eliz Simpson, Limerick 4 Abbotsford, Dublin 16
Minerva, Galway 9 Fay, Liverpool 13
Corean, Liverpool 17 Lotus, Liverpool 02
Page Fifty-One
THE GROS;SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
Ship — Port of Sailing. Died at Sea Ship— Port of Sailing. Died at Sea
Sesostris, Londonderry 12 Herald, Dublin , 4
Louisa, Limerick 4 Syria, Liverpool 9
Eagle, Dublin 6 Wandsworth, Dublin 51
Jane Avery, Dublin 10 Royalist, Liverpool 26
Trade, Waterford 3 Achilles, Liverpool 42
Lady Miller, Liverpool 27 Blonde, Liverpool 13
Lady Flora Hastings, Cork 63 Henry, Donegal jo
Nelson Village, Belfast 17 &c., &c., &c.
The Grosse Isle weekly hospital returns showed a gradually ascending death
rate until well on in September, when the epidemic appeared to decrease.
As showing the reckless way in which the flying emigrants were crammed into
the holds of ships altogether inadequate to receive and accommodate their num-
bers, the following figures of the number carried by a few of the principal vessels
sailing from Irish and British ports to Quebec in 1847 are suggestive :
From Limerick. — Nerio, 132; Jessie, 479; Mary, 101 ; Bryan Abbs, 185; Ann,
119; Primrose, 334; Celesta, 199; Ninian, 258.
From Dublin. — Perseverance, 310; Wandsworth, 531.
From Belfast. — Lord Seaton, 299; Caithness, 240; Chieftain, 245; Lady Gor-
don, 206; W. Pirrie, 414.
From Cork.— Scotland, 563; Urania, 199; Agnes, 437; Tottenham, 228; Bee,
373; Ganges, 410; John Francis, 253; Try Again, 184.
From Waterford.— Thistle, 196.
From New Ross. — Standard, 363.
From Sligo. — Wolfville, 309.
From Plymouth. — Spermaceti, 252.
From Liverpool.— John Bolton, 580; Clarendon, 286; George, 394; Phoenix,
276; Burnace, 370; Lotus, 535; Achilles, 413; Blonde, 427; Loothaut, 428,
Sisters, 508, &c., &c.
Page Fifty-Two
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
JUmonsitrances: of Clergy anb people
"What do you read, my lord?
Words, words, words."
HAMLET, ACT II.
N every section of the British North American Provinces, repeated
remonstrances were published, but without effect, against the
iniquitous system of transferring to their shores the needy, the sick,
the helpless, and the aged. On the 25th of June the Parliament of
Canada besought the Queen's interference, "under the affliction
with which this land has been visited, and is still further threatened,
not to permit the helpless, the starving, the sick and diseased, unequal, and unfit
as they are to face the hardships of a settler's life, to embark for these shores,
which if they reach, they reach in too many instances, only to find a grave." At
this time the Emigration Department was under the control of the British Gov-
ernment.
Earl Grey, as Colonial Secretary, acknowledged to the Governor-General,
Lord Elgin, the receipt of the petition, and promised that it would receive "serious
consideration." "In the meantime," he added, "I have to direct Your Lord-
ship's attention to the importance of enforcing the strictest economy in affording
such assistance to the emigrants as may be absolutely necessary, and of not losing
sight of the danger that the grant of such assistance, if not strictly guarded, may
have the effect of inducing the emigrants to relax their exertions to provide for
themselves."
On the ist of December, 1847, Earl Grey wrote a letter to Lord Elgin, in
which he stated that he purposely deferred answering his despatches of the 28th of
June, and i3th July, on the subject of the immigration to Canada, until the ter-
mination of the season for emigration had enabled him to review all that had taken
place during its progress. Among other things, he said : "I need scarcely assure
Your Lordship that the calamities as described in your despatches, and in the pub-
lic journals of the colony, have caused to us most sincere and lively sorrow, but
upon looking back at the melancholy history of these sufferings, it is at least some
consolation to us to reflect that they do not appear to have been produced, or
aggravated by our measures, or by our having neglected any precautions that it
was in our power to adopt."
In the next paragraph can be traced the doings of the Irish landlord :
"It is no slight gratification to us, now, to remember that strongly as we
were urged, in the beginning of the present year, to take measures for carrying
emigration from Ireland to a much greater extent than that to which it could
naturally attain, and to increase the multitudes who flocked unaided to America,
by providing, at the public expense, for the conveyance across the Atlantic of a
large additional number of those who were anxious thus to fly from distress in
Ireland, we steadily refused to do this, and abstained from giving any artificial
stimulus to the tide of emigration, while, at the same time, we took such precau-
tions as were in our power to investigate as far as possible the sufferings to which
we foresaw that even this spontaneous emigration would most probably give
rise."
In treating of the question of restraining emigration, he said, "it would have
been practically impossible, and, if possible, it would have been inhuman and un-
just to have interfered by an exercise of the authority of the Legislature, or of
Page Fifty-Three
THE GROS'SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
the Executive Government, to detain at home the multitudes, who, during the
past year, have endeavoured to escape from misery and starvation by emigration
from Ireland to America; and also, that the emigration of so large a number of
persons, who had previously suffered so severely from the consequences of that
visitation with which it pleased Providence to afflict us, inevitably led to the break-
ing out of disease which could not be prevented from spreading itself, from the
emigrants to the inhabitants of the colonies to which they flocked."
In the same letter Earl Grey reminds the Governor-General that should the
Parliament of Canada pass a law respecting emigration, "the regulations should
not, by their severity, throw needless obstructions in the way of intercourse be-
tween the Queen's dominions on this and on the opposite side of the Atlantic,
which is of the utmost importance to both.
"With regard, therefore, to any bill for the regulation of emigrant ships,
which may be tendered for your acceptance by the other branches of the Provin-
cial Legislature, it will be your duty to carefully consider its provisions before
you assent to it, and to decline doing so if you should judge that it is of too
injurious a character."
On the Qth June, 1847, His Grace the Archbishop of Quebec, Joseph Signal,
addressed a letter to the hierarchy of Ireland, telling each one that, "the voice
of religion and humanity imposes on me the sacred and imperative duty of expos-
ing to Your Lordship the dismal fate that awaits thousands of the unfortunate
children of Ireland who come to seek in Canada an asylum from the countless
evils afflicting them in their native land.
"Already a considerable number of vessels overloaded with emigrants from
Ireland have arrived in the waters of the St. Lawrence. During the passage,
many of them, weakened beforehand by misery and starvation, have contracted
fatal diseases, and the greater part have thus become the victims of an untimely
death. This was but the result of their precarious situation. Crowded in the
holds of the vessels, unable to strictly adhere to the rules of cleanliness, breathing
constantly a putrid atmosphere, and relying frequently for nourishment upon in-
sufficient and very bad provisions, it was morally impossible to escape, safe and
sound, from so many causes of destruction.
"Anchoring at Grosse Isle, about thirty miles below Quebec, where they are
compelled to perform quarantine, the trans-Atlantic vessels are mostly infected
with sick and dying emigrants. Last week more than two thousand patients were
detained at the station, of whom more than a half had to remain on board, — in
some cases abandoned by their friends, — spreading contagion among the healthy
passengers who were confined in the vessels, and exhibiting the heartrending spec-
tacle of a mortality three times greater than what prevailed on shore. Already
more than a thousand human beings have been consigned to their eternal rest in
the Catholic cemeteries, precursors of thousands who will join them there if the
stream of emigration from Ireland continues to flow in the same abundance.
"One Catholic clergyman alone, in ordinary circumstances, ministered to the
spiritual wants of the quarantine station, but this year the services of even seven
at a time have been indispensably required to afford to the dying emigrants the
last rites and consolations of their cherished religion.
"Two of these gentlemen are actually lying on the bed of sickness from the
extreme fatigues they have undergone, and the fever they have contracted in visit-
ing the infected vessels and the hospitals on the island, to accomplish the duties of
their sacred ministry and gladden the last moments of the Irish emigrants
"The details we receive of the scenes of horror and desolation of which the
Page Fifty-Four
THE GROS'SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
chaplains are daily witnesses, almost stagger belief and baffle description. Most
despairingly and immeasurably do they affect us, as the available means are
totally inadequate to apply an effectual remedy to such awful calamities. Many
of the unfortunate emigrants, who escape from Grosse Isle in good health, pay
tribute to the prevailing disease either at Quebec or Montreal, and overcrowd
the hospitals of these two cities, where temporary buildings are erected for the
reception of a great number without still affording sufficient accommodation.
Amid the present confusion we have had neither leisure nor opportunity to ascer-
tain the number of orphans and families that are thrown for support on public
charity.
"I deem it also necessary to mention that those who have escaped from the
fatal influence of disease are far from realizing, on their arrival here, the ardent
hopes they so fondly cherished of meeting with unspeakable comfort and prosperity
on the banks of the St. Lawrence. To attain so desirable an end they should pos-
sess means, which the greater number have not, and which cannot be rendered
available and efficacious, unless emigration be conducted on a more diminished
scale.
"I submit these facts to your consideration that Your Lordship may use every
endeavour to dissuade your diocesans from emigrating in such numbers to Can-
ada, where they will but too often meet with either a premature death or a fate
not less deplorable than the heartrending condition under which they groan in
their unhappy country. Your Lordship will thus open their eyes to their true
interests and prevent the honest, religious and confiding Irish peasantry from be-
ing the victims of speculation, and falling into irretrievable errors and irreparable
calamities."
On the 1 2th July, 1847, the Earl of Enniskillen, after reading the above letter
at the session of -the House of Lords, said he was disposed to apprehend that the
Government of Canada had, to a certain extent, been taken by surprise by the
influx of emigrants, and he wished to know the views of the Government in the
matter.
Earl Grey grieved to say that it was true the Government had received ac-
counts of most deplorable sufferings endured by the emigrants. He had antici-
pated that this would be the case, and his anticipation had unfortunately turned
out to be correct. A large number of the emigrants having endured, during the
previous winter, extreme suffering, the consequence was that though the ships
that carried them out were quite as well provided as emigrant ships usually were,
the mere change of life, combined with their weakened state, had been productive
of fever. Acordingly, on arriving in the St. Lawrence, it was found necessary
that they should be detained in a quarantine station. Lord Elgin lost not a
moment in adopting the most prompt and energetic measures to meet the evil,
having been already warned by him (Grey) that evils of this kind were likely to
arise. Application was made by Lord Elgin to the Ordnance Department, and
tents for the use of 10,000 persons were got ready, and means taken to erect sheds
for their accommodation. A large number of additional medical officers were
also engaged to render assistance. In short, all that human skill, or art could
effect for the relief of these unhappy persons was put into requisition. Measures
of precaution had likewise been taken in advance, the usual vote for assisting
emigrants having been greatly increased ; and Lord Elgin had been instructed,
in full confidence, that Parliament would, under the circumstances, acquiesce
in the arrangement to take all the measures best calculated to mitigate the suffer-
ings of the emigrant, by providing increased medical attendance and greater ac-
commodation, even if, for that purpose, it was necessary to exceed the amount
Fifty-Five
THE GROSS E - ISLE TRAGEDY
of the vote granted by Parliament for that attendance. He trusted that the
advice which had been given by the Reverend Prelate, to whose letter the noble
Lord had referred, might not have the effect of discouraging* and checking emi-
gration in future years, because the sufferings to which the emigrant had recently
been subjected were undoubtedly to be traced entirely to the consequence of the
distress which had operated in Ireland."
The advice given from this side of the Atlantic was too late for action, for,!
by the time it reached home, many a once happy homestead was deserted and
its inmates beyond recall.
But, if the Imperial Government was primarily responsible for the terrible
infliction on Canada in 1847, it tried to make financial reparation for that respon-
sibility by paying all o: most of the cost of the establishment of the Grosse Isle
quarantine and its expenses during the epidemic. This cost amounted to over
$1,000,000 and included the medical relief of the sick, the support and inland
transport of the destitute, hospital buildings and expenses, provisions to destitute
healthy emigrants in detention, and expenses of the medical commission, etc. But
the Canadian Government and the local authorities in Lower and Upper Canada
had aLo to bear a heavy share of the burthen.
Page Fifty-Six
FIRST CANADIAN CARDINAL, LATE MGR. E. A. TASCHEREAU
Who when a Young Priest in 1847, Ministarad to the Sick and
Dying at Grosse-lsle
<* Wit Canadian Clergy
"Who, in the winter's night,
So g garth Aroon,
When the cold blast did bite,
So g garth Aroon,
Came to my cabin door,
And, on the earthen floor,
Knelt by me, sick and poor,
So g garth Aroon,
Soggarth Aroon!*
JOHN BANIM.
PEN can do adequate justice to the remarkable zeal, the noble hero-
ism, the wonderful self-sacrifice, and the admirable devotedness to
duty of the Canadian clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, during
the terrible ordeal of 1847. In the sacred cause of religion and
humanity, they faced death like true soldiers of the Cross and to
many a poor suffering mortal they brought supreme consolation in
his last agony. They also labored unceasingly to succor the physical wants
of the fever patients and relieve their physical distress, and the hard fate of
many an unfortunate victim was alleviated by their loving care and their sacred
ministrations. No one, who does not properly understand the Irish character
and Irish traditions, can properly appreciate what all this meant to the sick and
dying refugees on Grosse Isle. The names of these good Samaritans, of these
worthy Levites, deserve, therefore, to be emblazoned in undying lustre on the roll
of fame. Not a few of them fell victims themselves to the dreadful contagion,
while a still larger number caught it and were carried almost to death's door by
it, but happily survived.
In the darkest hour of their affliction, the Irish Catholic emigrants at Grosse
Isle found true friends in the Irish and French Catholic missionary priests, who
volunteered to go to their relief and, if it was God's will, to also die with them
and for them.
The honor list included William Wallace Moylan, Bernard McGauran,
James C. McDevitt, Pierre Telesphore Sax, James Nelligan, C. Z. Rousseau, An-
toine Campeau, Hugh Robson, Jos. Bailey, L. Provancher, Michel Forgues,
Thos. Caron, N. Belanger, L. A. Proulx, Hugh McGuirk, James McDonnell, Luc
Trahan, P. H. Jean, J. B. A. Ferland (the Canadian historian), John Harper,
F. S. Bardy, Ed. Montminy, Bernard O'Reilly (afterwards Mgr. O'Reilly, of New
York, a celebrated preacher and litterateur), L. A. Dupuis, J. B. Perras, Moise
Duguay, Maxime Tardif, Michael Kerrigan, J. C. O'Grady, Elzear Alexandre
Taschereau (afterwards Archbishop of Quebec and the first Canadian Cardinal),
Edward John Horan (afterwards Bishop of Kingston, Ont. ), P. Beaumont, W.
Dunn, E. Payment, E. Halle, J. H. Dorion, Hugh Paisley, C. Tardif, A. Lebel,
P. Gariepy, Godfroy Tremblay, L. S. Malo, Pierre Roy and Michael Power.
Of these heroes, no less than 19 contracted the fever, including the two later
princes of the Church, Fathers Taschereau and Horan, while 6 of them died : Rev.
Messrs. Hubert Robson, Ed. Montminy, Hugh Paisley, F. S. Bardy, Michael
Power and Pierre Roy. Father Robson was the maternal uncle of Messrs.
* Priest dear.
Page Fifty-Seven-
THE
GROSSE-ISLE
TRAGEDY
Joseph Archer, one of Quebec's leading citizens, John Archer, also of Quebec, and
Robert Archer, of Montreal, and was of English extraction. Father Paisley, who
was rector of St. Catherine's, Portneuf Co., was of Scotch descent.
Of this gallant band of ecclesiastical heroes, only one, as already seen — the
venerable Father McGuirk — is now living, as far as known. Another of the
pioneer priests of New Brunswick, who played the hero's part at Grosse Isle in
1847 was the Revd. James Charles McDevitt, who survived until quite recently,
dying at Fredericton, N.B., only a couple of years since. Father McDevitt, who
was born in Donegal in 1823, emigrated with his parents while yet a child to St.
John, N.B., where he received his primary education in the local schools and his
classical and theological training at Wilmington, Del., and Philadelphia, from
which latter place he graduated with honors. Being too young for ordination,
he entered the Seminary of Quebec, where he continued his studies. In 1847 he*
was asked to go to the quarantine station at Grosse Isle, where several priests
had died and many others were ill with the fever. He consented to go, was
ordained a priest and immediately started for the quarantine station, where, after
nursing the fever-stricken patients for some time, he contracted the disease him-
self. He was removed to the Hotel-Dieu Hospital at Quebec, where he was ill
with the fever for thirteen weeks. Upon his recovery, he removed to Freder-
icton, N.B., to assist the late Bishop Dollard, and except for two years, 1847-9,
spent at Grosse Isle and at St. Andrew's, had charge from that time of St. Dun-
stan's parish, N.B. His mission extended over thirty miles and comprised
Fredericton, Cork, New Market, Acton, Oromocto, Maugerville, Stanley, St.
Mary's, Nashuaaksis, French Village and Allendale. During this long period
he built the commodious brick convent, the parochial residence, St. Dunstan's
Hall and Orphanage. He also purchased the Hermitage and erected a small
building thereon, in which he conducted a school for many years and educated a
number of young men for the priesthood.
The first to reach Grosse Isle in the spring of 1847 to exercise their holy min-
istry were Rev. Messrs. McGauran (afterwards for many years the revered pas-
tor of St. Patrick's church, Quebec), and McDonnell. These two good Samari-
tans got no rest either during night or day, except during the few moments that
human nature could stand the terrible strain no longer. Very often they had no
time to remove their boots, so swollen were their feet from fatigue. Finally both
devoted priests took the disease and were removed back to Quebec, but, on their
recovery, they returned to Grosse Isle, which Father McGauran was the last to
leave on 28th October on the "Alliance," with a number of emigrants, five of
whom died between Quarantine and Quebec.
It is stated that, in all, at Grosse Isle, Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, Toronto
and other parts of Lower and Upper Canada, as well as of New Brunswick, 26
Catholic priests and 18 nuns fell victims to their devotion during the epidemic of
1847, the number including the Right Reverend Bishop Power, of Toronto. But
a very much larger number also took the fever and only recovered from it after
long suffering.
At Quebec, the French and English-speaking Catholic clergy also distiag-
uished themselves in ministering to the fever-stricken among their own flocks and
to the discharged emigrants and convalescents brought up from the island char-
nel-house only to scatter the seeds of the contagion, far and wide, and the same
may be said of the Catholic clergy at Montreal and elsewhere. The presbytery of
St. Patrick's church, Quebec, and its then incumbent, the deservedly celebrated
Father McMahon, were the centres around which these exiles chiefly revolved,
— : — — Page Fifty-Eifrht
LATE BISHOP GEO. J. MOUNTAIN
Of the Church of England, Quebec, who
acted so heroic a part in ministering to the
Protestant fever patients at Grosse Isle in
1847.
REV. JAMES NEVILLE
Irish Catholic Missionary at Grosse Islo
in 1871. An ardent advocate of the Nation-
al Monument there.
LATE REV. BERNAKD McGAURAN
One of the two devoted Irish Catholic
priests, wrho were the lirst to hasten to
the assistance of Father Moylan, the then
resident chaplain, in ministering to the suf-
ferers at Grosse Isle in 1847, and who were
themselves prostrated by the fever, but re
covered and returned 10 the exercise of
their duty on the island until the close of
the terrible season.
LATE REV. JAMES McDONNELL
One -of the two devoted Irish-Catholic
priests who were the first to hasten to
the assistance of Father Moylan, the
then resident chaplain, in ministering
to the sufferers at Grosse-Isle in 1847,
and who were themselves prostrated
by the fever, but recovered and return-
ed to the exercise of their duty on
the island 'until the close of the terrible
season.
THE GROS:SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
and it is no exaggeration to say that they had no truer or more tireless and de-
voted friends than that worthy priest and his assistants and the late Vicar-General
Cazeau, of the Quebec Archdiocese. And there was scarcely a Sunday that
Father McMahon did not use his remarkable eloquence to explain the gravity of
the situation and to appeal for help for the sufferers. But there was a humor-
ous side sometimes to these appeals. In one of them made from the pulpit of St.
Patrick's on loth October, 1847, he read a list of the emigrants who had been
separated from their families and who took this method of finding them out and
a letter received from Ireland addressed "To my Aunt Biddy," for a like purpose,
which, he remarked, was too vague even for his comprehension or power of
divination.
Nor did the Protestant, and especially the Church of England clergy, lag be-
hind their Catholic colleagues in the desperate fight with death. The great and
good Anglican Bishop Mountain, of Quebec, was the first to set the noble exam-
ple to them. No sooner had the fever outbreak at Grosse Isle declared itself than
he issued a stirring appeal to them for volunteers to man the breach there, propos-
ing to first step into it himself and the others in turn to each spend a week on the
island in the exercise of their ministry. The response to this appeal was prompt
and hearty and the poor Protestant sick, who composed about one-tenth of the
whole fevered and festering mass, had the consolation of being attended by the
ministers of their faith in their dying hours. In this respect the bishop led the
way by going to and remaining on the island to the 15-th June, returning to it
later for another week in August to succor the sick and comfort the dying. On the
i6th June he was followed by Rev. J. Torrance and others. In all, during the
ordeal at Grosse Isle, the Church of England was represented there by 17 of its
clergy, 7 of whom contracted the disease and 2 died, the latter being Rev. Richard
Anderson and Rev. Charles J. Morris. Among those who sickened, but recov-
ered, were Rev. E. C. Parkin and Rev. J. Butler, the latter being the Anglican
missionary at Kingsey, and the former a brother of one of the most eminent mem-
bers of the Quebec Bar during the last century, the late J. B. Parkin, K.C.
In his "Story of the First Hundred Years of the Diocese of Quebec, prepared
for the Centenary Celebration on Thursday, June ist, 1893," the late Venerable
Archdeacon Roe, who died only quite recently at an advanced age, and who was
rector of St. Matthew's Anglican church, Quebec, in 1847, placed the number of
the Protestant clergy (Anglican) on duty at Grosse Isle during that fearful season
at 14 only, including Bishop Mountain, though other accounts make it 17.
Under the caption of "The Martyr Clergy of 1847," Archdeacon Roe said:
"No sketch of the history of the diocese of Quebec could pass over in silence
the heroism with which the Bishop and his clergy jeoparded their lives during the
awful visitation of ship fever in 1847. In the spring of that year, following upon
the fearful Irish famine of the winter of 1846, tens of thousands of poor famine
stricken Irish emigrants fled to Canada, bringing with them typhus fever in its
most malignant form; were carried ashore out of the emigrant vessels at our
quarantine station at Grosse Isle, and there died in thousands. No language
could adequately describe the horrors of the months of that awful summer. The
island was almost literally covered with the poor dying people, men, women and
children ; the emigrant sheds, the churches, every available building, nearly one
hundred tents overflowed with them, and many were lying in the open air. There
were for much of the time as many as seventeen or eighteen hundred down with
the fever on the island, and half as many more afloat in the ships, for whom room
Page Fifty-Nine — —
THE GROSSE-1SLE TRAGEDY
could not be made ashore. The description of the scenes given in extracts from
the Bishop's private letters printed in his Memoir, — the suffering, the filth, the
sickening stenches, the cries of the dying people, the wailing of orphans, — is
most heartrending.
"The heroic Bishop met this awful irruption of plague, as he had met the
inroad of cholera fifteen years before, with a calm courage, which communicated
itself to others. Taking the first turn at Grosse Isle himself, after Mr. Forest,
the chaplain for the season, was prostrated by the disease, and a second later on,
he invited such of the clergy of the diocese as seemed most able for the service*
to offer themselves for the work of ministering to their poor dying fellow crea-
tures, each to take one week. To this call fourteen of the clergy responded. It
was surely a sublime devotion for men to leave their own quiet, healthy country
parishes, their wives and their children, and go far away down into the valley of
death in that lonely plague-stricken island. Of the fifteen clergymen of our
Church, (being the only Protestant ministers in attendance) who served at
Grosse Isle, two caught the fever and died, — Richard Anderson, of New Ireland,
and Charles J. Morris, of Portneuf. Three of the clergy took it in attendance on
the emigrant sheds elsewhere and died, — namely, William Chaderton, of St.
Peter's, Quebec; Mark Willoughby, of Trinity Church, Montreal, and William
Dawes, of St. John's. These five were among the most devout and efficient of
the clergy, and their death was a serious loss to the diocese. They left it, how-
ever, enriched forever with the memory of their noble self-sacrifice in laying down
their lives for their brethren. Seven more of the clergy took the fever at Grosse
Isle and recovered. They were Charles Forest, John Torrance, Richard Lons-
dell, Edward Cullen Parkin, William King, Charles Peter Reid and John Butler.
The six, equally meritorious, who escaped unhurt, were, besides the Bishop, Dr.
George Mackie, Official of the Diocese ; Charles Rollit, Edward G. Sutton, Andrew
T. Whitten, Narcisse Guerout, and Charles Morice. Let their names be held in
everlasting remembrance!"
Among the pulpit references to the heroic part played by the Anglican, as
well as the Roman Catholic, clergy, during the terrible visitation of 1847, the fol-
lowing was mentioned by the QUEBEC DAILY TELEGRAPH of the i7th August, two
days after the dedication of the monument at Grosse Isle : —
" Sunday's ceremony at Grosse Isle called forth an interesting reference to the
scourge of 1847 in the sermon preached on the evening of that day by the Rev.
E. A. Willoughby King, M.A., Rector, in St. Peter's Anglican church, Quebec.
St. Peter's, said the preacher, had a direct interest in the ship fever visitation of
1847, for its then pastor, the Rev. William Chaderton, was himself one of the vic-
time, having died in this city as a result of the foul disease, contracted in the dis-
charge of his duties among the sufferers. In honor of his faithfulness to death,
the congregation erected to his memory the mural monument still in the chancel
of the church, setting forth the circumstances and the date of his death. A re-
markable coincidence, noted by the preacher, was that on the i5th of July, 1847,
the date of the death of Mr. Chaderton, — one of his own predecessors at St.
Peter's, — there also died in Montreal another clerical victim of his zeal in minis-
tering to the fever victims, in the person of the Rev. Mr. Willoughby, attached
to Trinity church in that city, after whom the preacher in St. Peter's was named,
and who was an intimate friend of Rev. Rural Dean King's father, the late Rev.
William King, of St. Sylvester, and several times his fellow-passenger across the
Atlantic. The late Rev. William King was himself one of the volunteer priests
who ministered to the fever victims at Grosse Isle in response to the appeal of the
— __ Page Sixty
REV. HUGH McGUIRK
Only known survivor of the Catholic hero
priests at Gross3-lsh in 1847.
Aged 96 years
REV. CANON ELLEGOOD
Rector of Church of St. James the Apostle, Montreal
Only known survivor of the Protestant clergy (Anglican)
Montreal, who ministered to the fever victims of 184'
REV. J. C. McDEVITT
One of the Heroic Band of R. C. Priests,
at Grosse-lsle in 1847
THE GROStSE-lSLE TRAGEDY
late Bishop Mountain, and the remarks made by his son from the pulpit of St.
Peter's church last Sunday evening in regard to the self-sacrificing work of both
Roman Catholic and Anglican clergymen among the fever victims at Grosse Isle,
were very much upon the same lines as those reported to have been made by the
Right Hon. Sir Charles Fitzpatrick and the Hon. Charles Murphy, at the Grosse
Isle ceremony on the same day, and especially as to the equal honor due to all who
so faithfully and so zealously labored, at such a tremendous self-sacrifice."
Referring to the dedication of the Grosse Isle monument and to the only one
now living of the Anglican clergy of Montreal, who attended to the stricken immi-
grants there in 1847, the Montreal Daily Witness said : —
"The event recalled by this monument marked the saddest epoch in the his-
tory of the Irish people in Canada. Thousands died of ship fever, not only at
Grosse Isle, but also in the shelters erected at Point St. Charles. The huge boul-
der which rested until within a few years at the entrance to Victoria Bridge bore
record to the six thousand Irish immigrants who were buried there. The monu-
ment is now situated in St. Patrick's Park, near the Wellington street bridge.
"Of the eye-witnesses of the appalling scenes that marked the ship fever, only
one of the devoted clergy who attended to the stricken immigrants in the shelters
at Point St. Charles is alive, in the person of the Rev. Canon Ellegood, rector of
the church of St. James the Apostle, who was then in charge of 'Old St. Ann's.'
"The Venerable Archdeacon Kerr, rector of Point St. Charles, preaching in
the church of St. James the Apostle, on May 13, 1906, on the occasion of the
commemoration of the fifty-eighth year of Canon Ellegood's ordination, referred to
this fact in the following words : — 'Although more than fifty years have elapsed
since those days in 1847 and 1848, we sometimes meet with people who were
friends and parishioners of the Rev. Dr. Ellegood in 'Old St. Ann's.' They tell
of his devoted labors in seasons of flood and pestilence, how he stood by his flock
through two visitations of cholera and through the terrible days of the ship fever ;
they tell how emigrants fleeing from Ireland were attacked by this fearful malady;
how in what were then the green fields of Point St. Charles, the city of Montreal
erected shelters for the stricken strangers ; how between the quarantine station at
Grosse Isle and the Point St. Charles sheds, seven clergymen of the Church of
England died of fever, contracted in the discharge of duty; how the Rev. Father
Dowd, the venerated priest of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Patrick's (not
long since called to the rest of Paradise) with great devotion and self-forgetful-
ness, consoled the dying and buried the dead, and how, with equal devotion and
self-forgetfulness, Mr. Ellegood, then a young priest of the English Church,
walked in the midst of the plague discharging the duties of his holy office."
But, besides the clergy, the Canadian medical profession deserve honorable
mention. They also set striking examples of heroism, zeal and devotion to duty.
In the reeking hotbed of the contagion at Grosse Isle and in the fever hospitals
at Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and elsewhere, they did all they could for
the poor sufferers that the limited resources at their command and the less ad-
vanced science of their day permitted. And if the conditions were so horrible and
the death roll so great, it was the fault of these and not of the gallant disciples
of Esculapius, who so unselfishly labored night and day to ameliorate the shocking
state of affairs, relieve the sick and stop the progress of the devastating plague.
As already seen, several of them died at Grosse Isle and a large number were
prostrated and almost brought to death's door by fatigue and the pestilence.
Among these were the late Drs. Painchaud and Jackson and eight nuns of the
Hotel Dieu, Quebec.
Page Sixty-One —
THE
GROSSE- ISLE
T R A G E D Y
This chapter cannot be better concluded than by quoting- the following from
O'Leary's account in the DAILY TELEGRAPH'S supplement of 1897 :
"In the darkest hour of their affliction, the emigrants at Grosse Isle found
a true friend in the Canadian clergy, among whom the following yielded their
lives in their behalf : — Reverend Messrs. Hubert Robson, Ed. Montminy, Hugh
Paisley, F. S. Bardy, Michael Power and Pierre Roy.
"Among the others who asked the Archbishop's permission to share the work
of their Irish confreres were the present Cardinal Taschereau, Reverend Messrs.
L. S. Malo, P. Huot, J. B. A. Ferland, L. A. Proulx, P. Beaumont, C. Tardif,
J. B. Perras, T. Caron, M. Duguay, P. H. Jean, P. Sax, L. Trahan and J.
Bailey.
"The Irish clergymen were: the Reverend Bernard McGauran, who was
the first clergyman stricken with fever. On recovery, he returned to Grosse Isle,
and was the last to leave, on 28th October, on the "Alliance," with a number of
emigrants, five of whom died between Quarantine and Quebec.
"The others were Rev. Messrs. B. O'Reilly, W. W. Moylan, J. McDonnell,
H. McGuirk and J. C. McDevitt.
"On Friday, 23rd of July, 1847, Father John Richards died at Montreal of
ship fever, which he contracted while ministering to the sick in the sheds at Point
St. Charles. On the Sunday previous he preached at St. Patrick's church, Mon-
treal, upon the sufferings and faith of the Irish people, and I cannot better con-
clude than by giving an extract of what he said on that occasion : —
" 'Oh, my beloved brethren, grieve not, I beseech you, for the sufferings
and death of so many of your race, perchance, your kindred, who have fallen,
and are still to fall victims to this fearful pestilence. Their patience, their faith,
their resignation to the will of God under such unprecedented misery, is some-
thing so extraordinary that, to realize it, it requires to be seen. Oh, my brethren,
grieve not for them ; they did but pass from earth to the glory of Heaven. True,
they were cast in heaps into the earth, their place of sepulchre marked by no
name or epitaph; but I tell you, my dearly beloved brethren, rest assured that
from their ashes the faith will spring up along the St. Lawrence, for they died
martyrs, as they lived confessors, to the faith."
Page Sixty-Two
LATE BISHOP HORAN
Of Kingston, Ont., who, as Father Ed
ward John Horan, of Quebec, was one of
the devoted band of young Irish and
French- Canadian priests, who volunteered
to go to the spiritual relief of the sick and
dying at Grosse Isle in 1847, and who him-
self contracted the disease and nearly died
from it.
LATE REV. PATRICK McMAHON
Founder and pastor for many years of
St. Patrick's Church, Quebec. A famous
Irish pries; who took a leading part in
the sad events of 1847, and in organiz-
ing relief fo rthe sufferers and orphans
of tha-t atwfiul period.
LATE REV. JAMES NELLIGAN
Irish missionary to Grosse Isle in 1847,
and afterwards for some years pastor of St
Patrick's Church, Quebec, as the first suc-
cessor of its founder, the celebrated
Father McMahon.
LATE REV. PIERRE ROY
One of the French-Canadian Oatholic
priests, who died from the fever caught
in the exercise of his sacred ministry
at Grasse Me in 1847.
of 1847
"Lord, God of our progenitors,
The mighty and the just,
Of sages, chiefs and senators,
Now mingled with the dust;
Who through the night of ages
For thee have wept in chains,
Upon whose history's pages
Thy foes have scattered stains.
"Oh! by the love you bore them,
Look on their suffering sons;
Cast thy soft shadows o'er them,
Guard well their little ones!
Once Thou did'st plant thy fountains
Of mercy and of grace,
'Mid Erin's holy mountains,
And love her royal race."
McGEE.
HERE is no more harrowing or pathetic feature of the dreadful epis-
ode of 1847 than the multitude of young children of both sexes,
who succumbed or whose parents, relatives or guardians fell vic-
tims to the pestilence at Grosse Isle and elsewhere, leaving them
unprotected and helpless in this New World. They ranged from
the babe in arms to boys and girls of all the intervening ages up
to fifteen or sixteen years, and nothing more pitiable can be imag-
ined than the scenes presented by the emaciated little bodies awaiting burial or by
the orphaned survivors just severed by the cruel hand of death from their natural
protectors and their loved ones.
What brush can paint such melancholy scenes ; what pen can describe the
mortal anguish of the last partings between parents and their offspring under
such circumstances? Look at the poor mother or father mourning and not to be
comforted over the loss of their little ones or with their last moments embittered
by the reflection that the poor helpless young creatures whom they had brought
into the world and were leaving behind, were about to be cast as penniless waifs
upon it in a new country and amid a strange people! Look at the children, too
young yet to realize all the gravity of their bereavement, crying, as if their little
hearts would break, over the inanimate remains of their dearest and truest friends
on earth. Such sights were calculated to touch even the most callous natures!
But what of the misrule, the oppression and the deceit which were the first cause
of such sights?
'Though the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small,
Though with patience standc. He waiting
With exactness grinds He all."
No very definite or accurate statistics are available to show the number of the
orphaned survivors of 1847. Even an approximate estimate can hardly be made
of it, for the helpless children were soon dispersed far and wide, but there is
Page Sixty -Three—
THE GROSSE-1SLE TRAGEDY
every reason to believe that it ran up into the thousands. Many of the little ones
were taken away from Grosse Isle with them by surviving old country neighbors
and friends of the dead parents. Others were taken and cared for by Irish Cath-
olic residents of Quebec, Montreal, etc., or temporarily sent to already existing
or rapidly improvised charitable refuges and asylums in those cities. One of
these refuges is still to be seen at Quebec in the old stone building in rear of that
noble Irish charity, the St. Bridget's Asylum, where the orphans were placed in the
charge of that worthy priest and warm friend of the Irish people, the late Father
Sax, and not a few were adopted by other good French-Canadian priests,
including Vicar-General Cazeau and the late Father Bolduc, of Quebec, who
reared, educated and started them in life. One devoted priest, Father
Harper, rector of St. Gregoire, paid no less than three visits to Grosse
Isle, taking away thirty orphans each time and distributing them among
his parishioners. Others again were forwarded to or assisted to reach
relatives or friends in the United States. But the great majority of the poor Irish
Catholic waifs were adopted by the eood habitants or farmers in the French Cana-
dian rural districts, who reared them up to manhood or womanhood and treated
them as lovingly and well as their own offspring, giving them in many instances
the highest college and university education, making them priests, lawyers, doc-
tors, nuns, etc., or mechanics, and in not a few cases, at death, leaving them their
farms or other valuable property as proofs of their affection. And many of these
fortunate children or their descendants have since risen to wealth and distinction
as citizens of Canada or the United States. To-day they are scattered far and
wide. Some of them have preserved and still proudly retain their original family
names or Celtic patronymics, but most have lost these or are only known by those
of their foster parents, with whose nationality they became identified in every
way — in feeling, language, etc. In fact, they are as much French Canadian to-
day as if to the manner born. Hundreds of instances of this absorption and as-
similation of the orphans of '47 by the French Canadian element might be cited.
But one of the most striking is recalled by the expected visit to Grosse Isle on the
i5th August of Rev. Father Robichaud, pastor of Madawaska, N.B., who, though
bearing to-day a French Acadian name, is none the less of Irish origin, his
parents, with whom he came out a child to this country from Ireland in 1847, hav-
ing died victims of the ship fever at Grosse Isle, being counted among the un-
known dead, and leaving to their poor orphan not even the heritage of the family
name. His case furnishes another of the many examples of the kindly way in
which the helpless Irish orphans of 1847 were adopted and provided for by the
good French-Canadian families by whose names so many of them are still known.
But nothing in the history of the French Canadian people does more honor to
them than the kindness shown by them to the poor Irish Catholic orphans of 1847
and no member of the Irish race should ever forget this important fact.
As for the Protestant orphans, they were taken in hand and well looked after
by their own devoted clergy and people and many of them and their descendants
are to-day amongst the most solid and respected citizens of the land.
Page Sixty-Four
LATE MGR. BOLDUC
Of Quebec, one of the warm-hearted
French-Canadian priests who took an active
part in providing for the relief of the Irish
orphans in 1847.
LATE REV. EDWARD BONNEAU
Missionary at Grosse Isle from 1854 to
1857, assistant priest at St. Patrick's
Church, Quebec, for some time, and for
many years chaplain of the Sisters of Char-
ity, Quebec. Another of the devoted
friends of the Irish Catholics among the
French-Canadian clergy.
LATE WGR. CAZEAU
Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Que-
bec, ever a warm friend of the Irish Cath-
olics, and especially during their terrible
hour of trial in 1847, and a true father to
many of the poor Irish orphans left at
Grosse Isle during that Year.
LATE REV. J. E. MAGUIRE
Missionary at Grosse Isle in 1874. Bro-
ther of Provincial Chaplain, A.O.H., Kev.
A. E. Maguire, of Sillery, and nephew of
late Bishop Horan.
on <&ro£tfe Me
"I would a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul."
HAMLET.
N October, 1852, the Reverend Bernard O'Reilly lectured in New
York on "The Irish Emigration of 1847," and said, among other
things :
"About five years ago, while surrounded on the shores of the
St. Lawrence, with the victims of hunger and ship fever, I was
given a copy of a lecture delivered in New York, on the "Ante-
cedent Causes of the Irish Famine." I had then before me a
truthful commentary to those pages. My only regret in perusing them was
that their illustrious author had not been an eye-witness of the scenes, in which 1
was nightly and daily privileged to take an active part.
"The dungeons of Naples, and the cruelties of Sicily would have sunk into
the shade, before the horrid realities of Grosse Isle.
"My purpose before you is to disburden my soul of the conviction which I
felt, even in the lazar-houses and fetid shipholds of Canada, that Providence
would bring some mighty good out of all that suffering. Yes, I read that assur-
ance in the sublime virtues which I witnessed. That alone enabled me not to
curse the oppressor. It gave me hope for Ireland, but, above all, it made me re-
joice for America. Since that time my feelings have assumed the form of this
consoling truth, that the heart of a nation, tried by suffering unparalleled in.dur-.
ation and intensity, is destined for some great end.
"In stating a few of the facts, of which I had personal knowledge, I shall
not promise to be unimpassioned, for that would argue that I was without feeling
on a subject which so powerfully moves the sympathies of a manly and Christian
heart.
"In the accounts of the sad condition of Ireland, given by Lord Clare, Lord
de Grey, and others, during the reign of Elizabeth, we can almost conceive that
they were expressly written for the year 1847, instead of the year of grace 1580.
So that after nigh three centuries of gigantic struggles and sufferings, a nation of
eight millions and a half of people stands before the civilized world as a mendicant
for universal charity, her people starving, while her granaries and warehouses
are filled with her own grain and provisions, which she is not allowed to touch,
and while the treasuries of the Imperial Government are piled up with heaps oC
gold, of which Ireland may touch only a moiety. Now, let us direct our attention
to the endurance of her children abroad.
"Early in the spring of 1847 the tide of emigration set in through the valley
of the St. Lawrence. The local authorities in every part of Ireland had been
anxiously watching for the time when the Canadian navigation usually opens, in
order to rid their wharves, poor houses, crowded hospitals, and the hulks at
anchor, in every seaport, of the living mass of misery, for which they could or
would not find shelter and relief.
"The landlords, too, throughout the country had begun their work of whole-
sale demolition and extermination. Some gave to their famishing tenants a mere
trifle on condition that they should take the road to the nearest place of embarkation.
Others put into their hands pretended cheques on Canadian mercantile houses to
induce them to give up their little farms, while all employed every means of per-
Page Sixty-Five
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
suasion and coercion to urge their dependents to the seaside, and indeed the ten-
ants were not loathe to hurry away to the great Republic of the West, where
loving friends awaited them, and whence, during that dreadful period, they had
been sent such generous, although insufficient assistance. They crowded, there-
fore, imprudently and recklessly into every vessel that was advertised to sail for
America, nor did the ship owners or emigrant agents scruple to receive more pas-
sengers than the law permitted. The law was most notoriously and shamefully
violated.
"In the colonies meanwhile the authorities and the people were quite unpre-
pared for the frightful amount of sickness and destitution which the eastern winds
hurried to their doors and there was consequently not even accommodation for
one-fifth of the sick and dying that were landed during the months of April and
May.
4 'The military authorities, at the first fearful tidings, with characteristic
promptness, sent every tent which their stores contained. But the workmen sent
to erect sheds soon caught the contagion, so that no bribe could induce mechanics
to finish the works.
"The fierce Canadian summer had now come, and thousands of the sick kept
pouring in at Grosse Isle. Not one drop of fresh water was to be had on the island.
There was no lime juice, no clean straw, even, to protect the patients from the wet
ground in the tents, or the rough boards in the hospital, while in the beginning
of July, with the thermometer at 98 in the shade, I have seen hundreds landed
from the ships and thrown rudely by the unfeeling crews on the burning rocks,
and there I have known them to remain whole nights and days without shelter or
care of any kind.
"I weep to say that the common jail was opened and its loathsome inmates
were sent to watch the deathbed of our pure, helpless emigrant youth. Mean-
while those with strength enough proceeded to Quebec and th ; cities in the Upper
Province, spreading infection on their way. The cholera, in its most malignant
form, did not visit with death and desolation half the families which ship fever
caused to mourn.
"On the 8th May, 1847, the "Urania" from Cork, with several hundred im-
migrants on board, a large proportion of them sick and dying of the ship fever,
was put into quarantine at Grosse Isle. This was the first of the plague-smitten
ships from Ireland which that year sailed up the St. Lawrence. But before the
first week of June as many as eighty-four ships of various tonnage were driven
in by an easterly wind, and of that enormous number of vessels there was not one
free from the taint ot malignant typhus, the offspring of famine and of the foul
ship-hold. This fleet of vessels literally reeked with pestilence. All sailing ves-
sels,— the merciful speed of the well appointed steamer being unknown to the
emigrant of those days, — a tolerably quick passage occupied from six to eight
weeks, while passages of ten or twelve weeks and even a longer time, were not
considered at all extraordinary at a period when craft of every kind, the most
unsuited as well as the least seaworthy, were pressed into the service of human
deportation.
"Who can imagine the horrors of even the shortest passage in an emigrant
ship crowded beyond its utmost capability of stowage with unhappy beings of alf
ages, with fever raging in their midst? Under the most favourable circumstan-
ces it is impossible to maintain perfect purity of atmosphere between decks, even
when ports are open, and every device is adopted to secure the greatest amount
of ventilation. But a crowded emigrant sailing ship of twenty years since, with
— —Page Sixty-Six
THE GROSS. E-ISLE TRAGEDY
fever on board! — the crew sullen or brutal from very desperation, or paralyzed
with terror of the plague, the miserable passengers unable to help themselves,
or to afford the least relief to each other ; one-fourth, or one-third, or one-half of
the entire number in different stages of the disease, many dying, some dead ; the
fatal poison intensified by the indescribable foulness of the air breathed and re-
breathed by the gasping sufferers — the wails of children, the ravings of the delir-
ious, the cries and groans of those in mortal agony. Of the eighty-four emigrant
ships that anchored at Grosse Isle in the summer of 1847, there was not a single
one to which this description might not rightly apply.
"The authorities were taken by surprise, owing to the sudden arrival of this
plague-smitten fleet, and, save the sheds that remained since 1832, there was no
accommodation of any kind on the island. These sheds were rapidly filled with
the miserable people, the sick and the dying. Hundreds were literally flung on
the beach, left amid the mud and the stones, to crawl on the dry land how they
could. "I havi seen," says the priest who was then chaplain of the quarantine,
and who had been but one year on the mission, "I have one day seen thirty-seven
people lying on the beach, crawling in the mud, and dying like fish out of water.
"Many of these, and many more besides, gasped out their last breath on that
fatal shore, not able to drag themselves from the slime in which they lay. Death
was doing its work everywhere — in the sheds, around the sheds, where the vic-
tims lay in hundreds under the canopy of heaven, and in the poisonous holds of
the plague-ships, all of which were declared to be, and treated as, hospitals.
"From ship to ship the young Irish priest carried the consolations of religion
to the dying. Amidst shrieks, and groans, and wild ravings, and heart-rending
lamentations, — our prostrate sufferers in every stage of the sickness, — from
loathsome berth to loathsome berth, he pursued his holy task. So noxious was
the pent-up atmosphere of these floating pest houses, that he had frequently to
rush on deck to breathe the pure air, or to relieve his overtaxed stomach; then
he would again plunge into the foul den and resume his interrupted labours.
"There being at first no organization, no staff, no available resources, it may
be imagined why the mortality rose to a prodigious rate, and how at one time as
many as 150 bodies, most of them in a half naked state, would be piled up in
the dead-house awaiting such sepulture as a huge pit could afford. Poor creatures
would crawl out of the sheds, and, being too exhausted to return, would be found
lying in the open air, not a few of them rigid in death. When the authorities
were enabled to erect sheds sufficient for the reception of the sick, and provide a
staff of physicians and nurses, and the Archbishop of Quebec had appointed a
number of priests, who took the hospital duty in turn, there was, of course, more
order and regularity, but the mortality was for a time scarcely diminished. The
deaths were as many as 100, and 150, and even 200 a day, and thus for a consid-
erable period during the summer. The masters of the quarantine-bound ships
were naturally desirous of getting rid as speedily as possible of their dangerous
and unprofitable freight ; and the manner in which the helpless people were landed,
or thrown, on the island, aggravated their sufferings, and in a vast number of in-
stances precipitated their fate. Then the hunger and thirst from which they suf-
fered in the badly-found ships, between whose crowded and stifling decks they had
been so long pent up, had so far destroyed their vital energy, that they had but
little chance of life when once struck down.
"About the middle of June the younp- chaplain was attacked by the pestilence.
For ten days he had not taken off his clothes, and his boots, which he constantly
wore for all that time, had to be cut from his feet. A couple of months elapsed
Page Sixty-Seven
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
before he resumed his duties ; but when he returned to his post of danger the mor-
tality was still of fearful magnitude. Several priests, a few Irish, the majority
French-Canadians, caught the infection, and of the twenty-five who were attacked,
seven paid with their lives the penalty of their devotion. Not a few of these men
were professors in colleges, but at the appeal of the Archbishop they left their
classes and their studies for the horrors and perils of the fever sheds.
"It was not until the ist of November that the quarantine at Grosse Isle was
closed. Upon that barren isle as many as 10,000 of the Irish race were consigned
to the grave pit. By some the estimate is made much higher, and 12,000 is con-
sidered nearer the actual number. A register was kept and is still in existence,
but it does not commence earlier than June 16, when the mortality was nearly at
its height. According to this death-roll, there were buried, between the i6th and
30th of June, 487 Irish immigrants " whose names could no! be ascertained." In
July, 941 were thrown into nameless graves; and in August, 918 were entered in
the register under the comprehensive description "unknown." There were in-
terred, from the i6th of June to the closing of the quarantine for that year, 2,905
of a Christian people whose names could not be discovered amidst the confusion
and carnage of that fatal summer. In the following year, 2,000 additional victims
were entered in the same register without name or trace of any kind, to tell who
they were, or whence they came. Thus 5,000 out of the total number of victims
were simply described as unknown.'
"This deplorable havoc of human life left hundreds of orphans dependent on
the compassion of the public, and nobly was the unconscious appeal of this multi-
tude of destitute little ones responded to by the French Canadians. Half naked,
squalid, covered with vermin generated by hunger, fever, and the foulness of the
ship's hold, perhaps with the germs of the plague lurking in their vitiated blood,
these helpless innocents of every age — from the infant taken from the bosom of
its dead mother to the child that could barely tell the name of its parents, were
gathered under the fostering protection of the Church. They were washed, and
clad, and fed ; and every effort was made by the clergy and nuns who took them
into their charge to discover who they were, what their names, and which of them
were related, the one to the other, so that, if possible, children of the same family
might not be separated forever. A difficult thing it was to learn from mere in-
fants whether, among more than 600 orphans, they had brothers and sisters. But
by patiently observing the elittle creatures when they found strength and courage
to play, their watchful protectors were enabled to find out relationships which,
without such care, would have been otherwise unknown. If one infant ran to
meet another, or caught its hand, or smiled at it, or kissed it, or showed pleasure
in its society, here was a clue to be followed ; and in many instances children of
the same parents were thus preserved to each other. Many more, of course, were
separated forever as the children were too young to tell their own names, or do
anything save cry in piteous accents for "mammy, mammy," until soothed to
slumber in the arms of a compassionate Sister.
"The greater portion of the orphans of the Grosse Isle tragedy were adopted
by the French Canadians, who were appealed to by their cures at the earnest
quest of Father Cazeau, then Secretary to the Archbishop, and now one of the
Vicars-General of the Archdiocese of Quebec. M. Cazeau is one of the ablest of
the ecclesiastics of the Canadian Church, and is no less remarkable for worth and
ability than for the generous interest he has ever exhibited for the Irish people.
Father Cazeau had employed his powerful influnce with the country clergy to
provide for the greater number of the children, but some 200 still remained in a
— Page Sixty-Eight
THE O'CONNELL MONUMENT. DUBLIN
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
building- specially set apart for them, and this is how these 200 Irish orphans were
likewise provided for :
Monsug-neur Baillargeon, Bishop of Quebec, was then cure of the city. He
had received three or four of the orphans into his own house, and among them a
beautiful boy of two years, or perhaps somewhat younger. The others had been
taken from him and adopted by the kindly habitants, and became part of their fam-
ilies, but the little fellow, who was the cure's special pet, remained with him for
nearly two years. From creeping up and downstairs, and toddling about in every
direction, he soon began to grow strong, and bold, and noisy, as a fine healthy
child would be, but though his fond protector rejoiced in the health and beauty
of the boy, he found him rather unsuited to the quiet gravity of a priest's house,
and a decided obstacle to study and meditation. In the midst of his perplexity, of
which the child was the unconscious cause to the cure of Quebec, a clergyman
from the country arrived in town. This priest visited M. Baillargeon, who told
him that he had 200 poor orphan children, — the children "of the faithful Catholic
Irish" — still unprovided with a home, and he was most anxious that his visitor
should call on his parishioners to take them. "Come," said he, "I will show you
a sample of them, and you can tell your people what they are like." Saying this
M. Baillargeon led his visitor upstairs, and into the room where, in a little cot,
the orphan child was lying in rosy sleep. As the light fell upon the features of
the beautiful boy, who was reposing in all the unrivalled grace of infancy, the
country cure was greatly touched; he had never, he said, seen a 'lovelier little
angel' in his life. "Well," said M. Ballargeon, "I have 200 more as handsome
Take him with you, show him to your people, and tell them to come for the
others." That very night the boat in which he was to reach his parish was to
start, and the cure wrapped the infant careful'y in the blanket in which he lay and,
without disturbing his slumber, bore him off to the boat, a valued prize.
"The next Sunday a strange sight was witnessed in the parish church of
which the cure was the pastor. The priest was seen issuing from the sacristy,
holding in his arms a boy of singular beauty, whose little hands were tightlv
clasped, half in terror, half in excitement, round the neck of his bearer. Every
eye was turned towards this strange spectacle, and the most intense curiosity was
felt by the congregation, in a greater degree by the women, especially those who
were mothers, to learn what it meant. It was soon explained by their pastor, who
said :
"Look at this little boy! Poor infant!( Here the cure embraced him). Look
at his noble forehead, his bright eyes, his curling hair, his mouth like a cherub!
Oh, what a beautiful boy! (Another embrace, the half-terrified child clinging
closer to the priest's breast, his tears dropping fast upon the surplice). Look,
my dear friends, at this beautiful child, who has been sent by God to our dare.
Here are 200 as beautiful children as this poor forlorn infant. They were starved
out of their own country by bad laws, and their fathers, and their poor mothers
now lie in the great grave at Grosse Isle. Poor mothers! They could not re-
main with their little ones. You will be mothers to them. The father died, and
the mother died, but before she died, the pious mother left them to the good God,
and the good God now gives them to you. Mothers, you will not refuse the gift
of the good God." (The kindly people responded to this appeal with tears and
gestures of passionate assent). Go quickly to Quebec; there you will find these
orphan children — these gifts offered to you by the good God — go quickly — go to-
morrow— lose not a moment — take them and carry them to your homes, and they
will bring a blessing on you and your families. I say, go to-morrow without fail,
Page Sixty-Nine— — — — — —
THE GROSS E-ISLE TRAGEDY
or others may be before you. Yes, dear friends, they will be a blessing to you
as they grow up, a strong healthy race — fine women, and fine men, like this beau-
tiful boy. Poor child, you will be sure to find a second mother in this congrega-
tion! (Another embrace, the little fellow's tears flowing more abundantly; every
eye in the church glistening with responsive sympathy).
"This was the cure's sermon, and it may be doubted if Bossuet or Fenelon
ever produced a like effect. Next day there was to be seen a long procession of
waggons moving towards Quebec, and on the evening of that day there was not
one of the 200 Irish orphans that had not been brought to a Canadian home, there
to be nurtured with tenderness and love, as the gift of the Bon Dieu. Possibly,
in some instances that tenderness and love were not requited in after life, but in
most instances the Irish orphan brought a blessing to the hearth of its adopted
parents. The boy whose beauty and whose tears so powerfully assisted the sim-
ple oratory of the good cure, is now one of the ablest lawyers in Quebec, but a
French Canadian in every respect save in birth and blood.
Absorbed thus into the families of the French-speaking population, even the
older Irish orphans soon lost almost every memory of their former home and of
their parents, and grew up French-Canadians in every respect save in the more
vigorous constitution, for .which they were indebted to nature. It is not, there-
fore, a rare thing to behold a tall, strapping, fair-skinned young fellow, with an
unmistakeable Irish face, who speaks and thinks as a French Canadian. Thus
genuine Irish names — as Cassidy, or Lonergan, or Sullivan, or Quinn, or Murphy
— are to be heard of at this day in many of the homes of the kindly habitants of
Lower Canada.
"Though it was the humane policy of those who took care of the orphans of
Grosse Isle to keep the same family in the same neighborhod, so as not to separ-
ate brother from sister, it has happened that a brother has been reared by a
French family, and a sister by an Irish or English-speaking family, and when the
orphans have been brought together by their adopted parents, they could only
express their emotions by embraces and tears — the language of the heart."
Page Seventy
©uebec anb tfje Srisrt) jf amtne
(By JAMES M. O'LEARY.)
"This, I hold, to be the chief office of history,
to rescue virtuous actions from oblivion."
THE FAMINE
IN the accounts of the sad condition of Ireland, given by Lord Clare,
Lord de Grey, and others during the reign of Elizabeth, we can
almost conceive that they were expressly written for the year
1847, instead of the year of grace 1580. So that after nigh three
centuries of gigantic struggles and sufferings, a nation of eight
millions and a half of people stood before the civilized world as a
mendicant for universal charity, her people starving, while her granaries and
warehouses were filled with her own grain and provisions, which she was not
allowed to touch. The year 1847 had just opened when the thrilling news rang
throughout all lands that starvation held sovereign sway in Ireland, its footprints
marked by disease and death. Ireland had always been known as a brave nation,
Even her most bitter enemy could not question her bravery, but now her sons
were terror-stricken, and shuddered at the awful scenes they witnessed. The
humble homes of the poorer classes were little better than charnel-houses, where
the dead, uncared for, lay festering by the side of the dying. Day by day the
heartrending details of wretchedness and suffering were brought before the public
by the press, till even the very heathen stood aghast at the news.
This state of : ffairs demanded at once the exercise of the warmest sympathy
of every people, but the inhabitants of Quebec required no stirring appeal to their
feelings, for Quebec had suffered. Well she knew that when her cry for help rang
out in the wild notes of despair, shrill and clear, from amid the still smoking
ruins of many a once happy home, Ireland, dear old Ireland, came to her relief.
Quebec had suffered, and in what manner? Listen! The 28th May, 1845,
dawned in all the brightness and warmth of summer over the Old Rock City, but
ere the French Cathedral bells proclaimed the noon-day Angelus, it was a scene
of terror and desolation. Thousands who rose that morning surrounded by all
that labor and patient industry gave them, were beggars long before sunset.
Many exchanged their morning greetings never again to meet on this side of the
grave. From n a.m. to midnight, fire raged in all its fury through every high-
way and byway in St. Roch's suburbs, ending its wild career in St. Charles street,
after destroying two thousand houses, and leaving twelve thousand people home-
less. As night came, sad sights were witnessed. Men, women and children sat
by the roadside in silent grief, for their savings, their gatherings of years, were
gone forever. Many knelt in prayer asking God's protection and aid, and, as
members of the clergy passed the way, crowds of desolate beings fell at their feet,
craving their blessing.
But Quebec's sufferings had not ended. On the night of the a8th June, 1845,
fire broke out in D'Aiguillon street, and when morning dawned, the populous sub-
urbs of St. John and St. Lewis were in ruins. Thousands here were also rendered
homeless. Refugees were everywhere, from St. Paul street as far as Sillery, in
Pointe Levi, St. Foy, Beauport and Lorette, while within the walls of the city
every door was left open to receive the distressed.
But what was Quebec's destitution compared to Ireland's? Famine did not
Page Seventy-One —
I
I
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
fasten its iron grip upon our people, disease was absent, and death claimed but
few victims.
QUEBEC TAKES ACTION.
The first move made in Quebec in aid of the suffering Irish was at a meeting
of the St. Patrick's congregation held on Sunday, 3ist January, 1847, when a
committee was named to co-operate with the citizens of Quebec in the event of
their having a meeting for the same object.
On Wednesday, 3rd February, the committee met, and appointed Mr. John
Sharpies, Chairman, Mr. William Cronin as Secretary, and the following persons
as collectors, namely : —
St. Peter Street. — Messrs. Charles Sharpies, John Sharpies and Michael Con-
nolly.
St. Peter's Ward. — Messrs. Hugh Murray, Denis Maguire, John Murphy,
William Cronin, Matthew Enright and Peter Clark.
Champlain Ward. — Messrs. Patrick McMahon, John Doran, Patrick Staf-
ford, Thomas Gahan, Miles Kelly, Michael Power, Edward Duggan and John
Colford.
Toll-Gate to Pointe-a-Puiseaux. — Messrs. William Quinn, Roderick McGillis,
William Richardson and Michael Carroll.
Coves above Pointe-a-Puiseaux. — Messrs. Joseph Cantillon, Peter Daly,
Michael Lowry and Michael P. Kenny.
New Liverpool and Pointe Levi. — Messrs. James Walsh and John McNaugh-
ton.
Palace Ward. — Messrs. Judge Power, J. P. O'Meara, Edward J. Charlton,
James Green, Thomas D. Tims and Lawrence Stafford.
St. Lewis Ward. — Messrs. J. P. Bradley, Henry O'Connor, Charles Alleyn,
John Maguire, Edward G. Cannon and Charles McDonald.
St. John's Ward. — Messrs. William McKay, Henry Martin, John Carr, John
Jordan, Patrick McGarvey and George Allen.
St. Rock's Ward. — Messrs. Michael Cullen, Francis O'Rourke, Matthew
Plunkett, James Kelly, Hugh O'Donnell and David Shortel.
Beauport and Dorchester Bridge. — Messrs. John Lane and James Fox.
Little River Road. — Messrs. James O'Brien and Michael Condon.
Charlesbourg. — Mr. William Horan.
Messrs. C. Sharpies, J. Sharpies and M. Connolly were requested by the
meeting to wait on Messrs. Henry Pemberton, G. H. Parke, Charles Gethings,
Paul Lepper, J. H. Bradshaw and George Colley to ask leave to have their names
added to the committee. The request was granted, and the committee consisted
of the following persons : —
Reverend P. McMahon, Messrs. G. H. Parke, H. Pemberton, J. H. Brad-
shaw, P. Lepper, G. Colley, C. Gethings, Judge Power, Edward Ryan, C. Shar-
pies, J. Sharpies, M. Connolly, J. P. O'Meara, Thaddeus Kelly, J. P. Bradley, H.
Murray, W. Quinn, E. J. Charlton, T. D. Tims, L. Stafford, William Downes, H.
O'Connor, W. Cronin, H. O'Rourke, J. Cantillon, P. Stafford, Maurice O'Leary,
C. Alleyn, J. Maguire, E. G. Cannon, M. Plunkett, J. Green, W. Richardson,
John Daly, James Walsh, John McMahon, C. McDonald, D. Maguire, J. Lane,
Thomas Murphy, P. McGarvey, M. Enright and Denis Cantillon.
It was unanimously agreed that the amounts collected were to be sent to
the Catholic and Protestant Archbishops of Dublin.
In the meantime the Independent Order of Odd Fellows sent home $1,200 as
Page Seventy-Two
LAKES OF KILLARNEY, IRELAND
THE G R O S S E - I S L E TRAGEDY
their donation, on the understanding that a portion of this sum was to be transmit-
ted to :he Scotch poor, as famine also prevailed in the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland.
QUEBEC DOES HER DUTY
The question of aiding the famishing Irish became general. The citizens,
who met on the morning of the 29th May, 1845, and made up among themselves
the handsome sum of $28,000 before the evening of that same day, came forward,
ready and willing, to contribute their share to the Irish famine fund.
On the i2th February, 1847, a public meeting was held in the City Hall, Que-
bec, at which the Hon. A. W. Cochrane presided, with Doctor William Kimlin as
secretary. Among those present were the Catholic Bishop of Quebec, the Protes-
tant Bishop of Montreal, the Reverend Messrs. P. McMahon, of St. Patrick's;
Doctor John Cook, of St. Andrew's; and G. Clugston, of the English Cathedral;
Sir Henry J. Caldwell, Hons. R. E. Caron and F. W. Primrose, Captain R. I.
Alleyn, R.N. ; Messrs. A. C. Buchanan, John Sharpies and Paul Lepper. It was
agreed that a collection be taken up, the same to be divided between the sufferers
in Ireland and those in Scotland in the proportion of three-fourths to the former
and one-fourth to the latter, — that Ireland's share was to be sent to the Protestant
and Catholic Archbishops of Dublin, and Scotland's to the Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh.
Mr. Charles Gethings was appointed Treasurer and the following persons col-
lectors : —
St. Peter's Ward. — Messrs. H. Pemberton, Jas. Gibb, J. B. Forsyth, R. Cas-
sels, C. Langevin, Robt. Shaw, W. D. Dupont, Archibald Campbell, G. H. Parke,
J. H. Bradshaw, C. Sharpies, M. Connolly, Hugh Murray, D. Maguire, J. Mur-
phy, W. Cronin, M. Enright and Peter Clark.
St. Lewis Ward. — Hons. Louis Panet and L. Massue, Messrs. Henry Le-
mesurier, Hammond Gowen, A. C. Buchanan, G. B. Faribault, J. P. Bradley, H.
O'Connor, Chas. Alleyn, J. Maguire, E. G. Cannon, Charles McDonald.
Palace Ward. — Messrs. Paul Lepper, H. S. Scott, L. Tetu, Geo. Hall, J.
McLeod, L. Bilodeau, Jos. Legare, Judge Power, J. P. O'Meara, E. J. Charlton,
James Green, T. D. Tims and Lawrence Stafford.
Champlain Ward.— Messrs. G. Black, jr., P. McQuilkin, Thos. Tweedell,
J. Blais, A. Amiot, J. B. Frechette, Patrick McMahon, John Doran, Patrick Staf-
ford, Thomas Gahan, Miles Kelly, Michael Power, Edward Duggan and John
Colford.
Toil-Gate to Pointe-a-Puiseaux. — Messrs. Wm. White, Robt. Galna, Louis
Dorion, Wm. Quinn, R. McGillis, Wm. Richardson, Michael Carroll, John Dodd,
Jas. Dodd, John Lill and Robt. McCord.
Coves above Pointe-a-Puiseaux. — Messrs. Jos. Cantillon, Peter Daly, Michael
Lowry and Michael P. Kenny.
St. Rock's Ward. — Messrs. Thomas Oliver, J. Tourangeau, Dr. E. Rous-
seau, J. B. Rheaume, J. J. Nesbitt, J. Jeffery, jr., W. Brown, W. Venner, Cle-
ment Cazeau, Laurent Lemieux, M. Cullen, F. O'Rourke, M. Plunkett, Jas.
Kelly, H. O'Donnell and David Shortel.
St. John and St. Louis Suburbs. — Messrs. Wm. Philips, John Codville, Abra-
ham Joseph, C. W. Wurtele, J. Robitaille, Alexis Dorval, Pierre Gauvreau, F.
X. Dion, Jean Paquet, J. B. Gingras, Louis Chevret, Z. Chartre, John Howison,
Remi Malouin, L. Picard, W. McKay, H. Martin, J. Carr, J. Jordan, P. Mc-
Garvey and George Allen.
Page Seventy-Three
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
St. Foy Road. — Messrs. W. Petry, Ed. Prendergast, Richard Charlton and
Jos. Leaycraft.
Little River. — Messrs. D. Bell, J. Bigaouette, J. O'Brien and M. Condon.
Beauport to Dorchester Bridge. — Messrs. W. Walker, jr., G. Colley, Geo.
Sturgeon, W. Brown, John Douglas, J. Lane and J. Fox.
Charlesbourg. — Messrs. Andrew Burke, James Meiklejohn and William
Horan.
Pointe Levi and New Liverpool. — Messrs. Jos. Bourassa, Ed. Lagueux, Jno.
Walsh, Etienne Dalaire, Jno. Jordan (culler), Thos. Smith, Robert Buchanan,
Jas. Thomson, Jas. Walsh and J. McNaughton.
In accordance with instructions, the collectors handed in their returns on the
I9th February, showing $12,000. By the end of March upwards of $16,000 was
collected. Of this amount St. Peter's ward gave $3,600, St. Lewis ward $2,200,
Palace ward $1,600, Champlain ward $1,200 and St. Roch's ward $1,600.
Well might the Reverend (later Monsignor) Bernard O'Reilly, exclaim in all
the sincerity of his heart, "Quebec is a noble city, and no mistake. Impover-
ished though she be, with whole districts still in ruins, and after the calls recently
made upon her well-known generosity, she is ever the first, and the most liberal
in the cause of charity. May the prayers of the millions she is now so effectually
endeavoring to snatch from starvation in Scotland and Ireland draw down upon
herself new blessings from on high, and may she, in reward for her sympathies
to our wretched fellow-countrymen, be what she was, and what she ought to be,
the Empire city of British North America!"
THE OLD STANDERS
As many of our readers have seen, the names of those of our race and creed
in Quebec, who always took an active interest in all matters relating to religion
and nationality, have been given. There are others also who were "to God and
Ireland true," and whose names are worthy of being recorded, namely : —
St. Peter's Ward. — Messrs. John Quinn, Terence Morgan, Thomas Garde,
Francis Waters, Patrick Shea, Edward Hartigan, Patrick McGauran, John
O'Kane, Edward Byrne, Francis Timmony, Patrick Jennings, Patrick Lynet,
George McDonnell, William Henessy, Jeremiah O'Shea, William Rigney, Philip
McKenna, M. Kirwin, William Delaney, William Cavanagh, E. Carroll, M.
Mahony, Christopher Flanagan, M. O'Flaherty, John Regan, James Coolican,
Denis Cantillon, Maurice Hurly, John Teaffe, Michael Scott, Jas. Crolly, Philip
Quinn, Edward Quinn, James O'Brien, Michael Hawkins, Thomas Forrestal,
Michael Cahill, Michael Hanly, John Flanagan and James Beakey.
St. Lewis Ward. — Messrs. John Mahoney, Thos. Murphy, J. J. Saurin;
John Curtin, Henry S. McPeak, Patrick Henchey, Wm. Deegan, Patrick Bren-
nan, Michael Harty, John Maguire, Philip Whitty, Richard Clancy, John Colvin,
Patrick Colter, John Timmons, Daniel McGlory, Owen McAnally, Patrick Pigeon,
Jeremiah Madden, Joseph Cavanagh, Thomas Farley, Capt. Alleyn, R.N., Wm.
McGrath and Michael Dunn.
Palace Ward. — Messrs. Thomas Casey, John King, William Downes, Wil-
liam Tims, Francis Tims, Thos. Busher, Patrick Weir, James Charlton, John
Lilly, Thaddeus Kelly, John Grace, Michael Green, Patrick Moran, Thomas Mc-
Greevy, Maurice O'Leary and Daniel Coveney.
Champlain Ward. — Messrs. Edward Duggan, Jas. Mangan, Wiliam Quinn,
William McKeghney, Michael Power, John Byrne, Patrick O'Dowd, James Mc-
— - — Page Seventy-Four
THE GROS,S E-ISLE TRAGEDY
Gill, Peter Donaghue, John Tolland, Patrick Shea, Jas. Corrigan, Edward Moss,
James Bowen, Patrick Ryan, Daniel Dunn, Jas. Fitzgerald, James Foley, Michael
Keogan, Patrick Kelly, James Sheridan, John O'Malley, Charles Gilbride, Patrick
Hickey, Denis Shehan, Thomas Judge, John Leonard, Bernard McMahon,
Michael Murphy, M. Pender, Thomas Roche, Denis Powell, Michael Foley,
Michael Hayden, Charles Powell, Jas. Reynolds, Timothy Guilfoyle, Luke Bro-
thers, Patrick Neville, Michael Barrett, Charles Finlay, Michael Tierney, Thomas
Murphy, Jeremiah Connors, Nathaniel Morrow, Edward Doran, James McGold-
rick, Thomas Doran, James O'Neill, Thomas Montgomery, John Connors, Jas. Mc-
Mahon, Edward Reynolds, John Moore, Wm. Ellis, Thos. Burns, Richard
Coughlin, Wm. O'Brien, James Trainor, Thomas Connell, Bernard Mahoney,
James O'Brien, Thomas Lane, Thos. O'Brien, Maurice Quilty, James Burns,
Thomas Hasset, John McAllister, J. B. Giblin, Jas. Anderson, Patrick O'Brien,
Daniel Trihey, Thos. Morris, John O'Connor, Michael Harrington, Jas. McVey,
J. Trihey, D. Dineen, Francis Christie, John Gregg, Stephen Battis, John Paul,
Anthony Gilmour, Michael Foran, Denis O'Neill, Timothy O'Connell, Patrick
Grogan, John McMahon, Patrick Forrestal, Thos. Fanning, Patrick Lambert,
James Feore, John O'Brien, Maurice Feore, Nicholas Roche, Bartholemew
Walsh, Thomas Berrigan, Thamas Bogue, Bartholemew Trihey, William Bogue,
Frank McLaughlin, E. Foy, Henry Courtney, Jas. Bogue, James Hayden,
Edward O'Brien, Jas. Downes, Thos. McGrath, M.D., Thomas Power, James
Mclnenly, William Leydon, Thos. Griffin, Michael Dalton, Terrence McHugh,
James Roche and Thomas Mcllroy.
Toil-Gate to Point e-a-Puiseaux. — Messrs. Jas. Dodds, Michael Lynch, Ross
McCabe, William Kenefick, John Kenefick, George Roche, Thos. Baird, Thos.
Cullen, Chas. McKinley, James O'Shea, Edward Quinn, John Lill, John Dodds,
James Lynch, Lawrence Furlong, John Fitzpatrick, Hugh Shannon, Patrick
Nolan, Richard Kenefick, John Phelan, Richard O'Shea, Thomas Walsh, Thos.
Rafferty, Thos. Tierney, Cornelius O'Brien, John Munro, Walter Furlong,
Michael Fitzgibbon, Robert Brindle, Denis O'Sullivan, Thomas Kenefick, Patrick
McGoldrick, Robt. Galna and Patrick McHugh.
Sillery Section. — Messrs. Stephen Connolly, Denis Bogue, Jas. Lynch, Alex.
McCabe, Jas. Paul, Michael Fortune, Patrick Mclnenly, jr., Thomas Malone, Jas
Kerr, Martin Hrgan, Patrick Malone, Wm. Munro, John Kelly, Michael Hogan,
John Moriarty, Denis Sammon, John French, Jas. Finigan, Thos. Redmond, Wm.
Power, Thos. Egan, Robt. Quinn, Maurice Malone, Jas. Monaghan and Patrick
French.
St. John and St. Lewis Suburbs. — Messrs. Patrick Connolly, Chas. Jordan,
Patrick Kenny, John Hart, John Connolly, Patrick Doherty, John Granary, Jos.
Coveney, Wm. Haughey, John Coote, Wm. Kirwin, Wm. Woods, Bernard Reilly
and Wm. McDonagh.
Poge Seventy-Five
•* fcfc (great Jfflemortai (gathering
"PFe are children of the same Faith,
of the same Father."
MGR. BEGIN.
NE of the press writers on the subject has well said that not all
monuments are signs of faith ; some serve only to mark sinful
pride, but the memorial which, on Sunday, the isth August,
1909, was unveiled on Telegraph Hill, Grosse Isle, will stand
for abiding faith and inspired courage as long as time lasts.
Peace has its victories ; but it also has its tragedies and its vic-
tims, and the huge Celtic cross that now majestically raises itself
on high from its island foundation will serve to remind men that there are nobler
heroes found in lowly places than in the dramatic din of the battlefield.
This particular memorial has an unusual story to tell and, because of its
coign of vantage, it will tell that story to wandering thousands who otherwise
might not have an opportunity to learn of the dreadful fate of a great multitude
of Irish men and women who fled from famine to encounter another and even
worse scourge — that of the terrible ship fever. It will serve, too, to make known
the heroism of brave men who stood by those poor people in their hour of need
and, again, it will cause to be spread far and wide the tale of the clergy who
walked in a living death that the children of the faith might be administered to.
It is an unusual story that stone will tell; a story of twelve thousand trage-
dies, a story of martyrs' crowns won in times of piping peace.
The story which it will bring to the new people flocking to this great country
will be a story filled not only with the heart's blood of a great race, but with
undying evidence of the equal faith, charity and hospitality of the French Cana-
dians, who were the first settlers on these shores. A tale of terror and suffer-
ing, of faith and courage, of devotion to fellow-man and unswerving loyalty to
the faith of their fathers under the most bitter adversity is entwined about the
great cross which now stands in lonely majesty on the highest promontory of
Grosse Isle to mark the graves of thousands of unknown Irish martyrs.
"We are children of the same Faith, of the same Father," said Mgr. Begin,
Archbishop of Quebec, to the thousands gathered before the altar beside the
trench-marked cemetery, and throughout the whole of the services attending the
dedication of the great monument the words seemed to hover over the mourners,
recalled again and again by evidences of a devotion far beyond that of a brother
in the terrible trials of 1847 and 1848, which were cited by the speakers.
Dignitaries of the Church, high officials of State, priests and laymen, Irish
and French, humble and of high degree, stood side by side beneath the open sky,
or kneeled silently before the great cross with but one thought — the honor of the
martyrs who had died for their faith. To do honor to their memories, men had
gathered from a score of Canadian Provinces and American States; many had
travelled thousands of miles. Awe-inspiring in its solemnity, the scene carried to
every bowed heart a meaning far beyond words and left a mark which should
last through a lifetime. A new epoch, a renewal of faith and brotherly love, was
begun, and few there were in attendance who will not carry the spirit of the great
gathering with them into daily life.
From every standpoint the great ceremony was a success. Not a flaw oc-
curred in the arrangements or their execution. In spite of the comparative inac-
___ Page Seventy-Six
MONUMENT BEFORE THE UNVEILING
MONUMENT AT CAPE DES ROSIERS
(Photo by Capt. Geo. D. O'Farrell)
THE GROS<SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
cessibility of Grosse Isle, every man, woman or child who wished to attend the
celebration was accommodated. A perfect summer day smiled on the scene, as
boat after boat to the number of seven, crowded with passengers, left Quebec in
the early morning. No one was left behind. Thousands had gathered in the city
during the day and night. Special trains from Ottawa and Montreal brought
large quotas of members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, of Church dignitar-
ies, Government officials and others.
To the untiring zeal and energy of the A. O. H. officials was due the success
of the great undertaking. Messrs. P. Keane, Provincial President; P. Doyle,
T. Heavers, P. Scullion, T. Heaney, J. Foley, H. N. Morrow, H. Cundy, C. G.
Gleason, J. McGrath, M. Brogan, T. Malone, W. Kennedy and other officers of
the order in Montreal were in charge of the excursion from there. Having al-
ready taken a leading part in the movement at the national convention of the
order in Indianapolis last year, which resulted in the decision to erect the great
memorial cross, these men were vitally interested in the successful completion of
the plan and their efforts were fully rewarded.
From Ottawa even a larger delegation was in attendance, composed of offi-
cers of the local A. O. H. and others and including Rev. Fathers Sherry, Kav-
anagh, Finnegan, Quilty, Dowd, Kuntz, French, Sloan, Fallon, McCauley,
Dunne, &c. From Toronto, Winnipeg and other Canadian cities, including even
such distant points as Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, representatives of the
A. O. H. also flocked to the great celebration, while many of the States of the
Union further contributed their quotas. From as far away as Colorado, branches
of the order sent representatives, while four delegates travelled from Winnipeg.
The States represented were Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont,
New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan,
Illinois and Colorado.
Altogether, it is estimated that the gathering at Grosse Isle numbered from
8,000 to 9,000 persons.
It took seven river steamers to accommodate the crowd and to provide for
their conveyance to and from Grosse Isle. These were the two Canadian Govern-
ment steamers, the Alice and Druid, the Murray Bay, of the Richelieu Company,
the Polaris, the Queen, the Arranmore and the St. Croix.
®fje potabilities present
The C.G. S. Alice, which had a distinguished company on board and on which
Hon. Chs. Murphy, Secretary of State for Canada, acted as host, conveyed the
following: — Mgr. Sbaretti, Papal Delegate; Mgr. Sinnot, Secretary; Rev. Dr.
O'Boyle, Vancouver; Abbe Rene Casgrain; Mgr. Kiernan, Philadelphia; Sir
Chas. Fitzpatrick, Chief Justice of Canada; Sir C. A. P. Pelletier, Lieutenant-
Governor Province of Quebec; Capt. Victor Pelletier, A.D.C. ; Wm Power, ex-
M.P., Hon. Dr. Guerin, Hon. Chas. Doherty, Mr. Beauchamp, President of St.
Jean Baptiste Society, Montreal ; H. Kearns, St. Patrick's Society, Montreal ; D.
Coveney, Provincial Secretary A.O.H. ; W. J. Lynch, Department Agriculture,
Ottawa; Henry Kavanagh, K.C., Montreal; Frank Curran, K.C., Montreal;
Father Fallon, Ottawa University; Father Valiquet, Superior Oblats, Quebec;
Abbe Laflamme, Secretary to Archbishop of Quebec; James Timmony, ex-Mayor
Sillery; James O'Neill, President Division No. 8, A.O.H., Lawrence, Mass. ; Abbe
Page Seventy-Seven
THE GROSS E-ISLE TRAGEDY
Flante, Quebec; P. F. McCaffrey, Montreal; Mr. Johnston, Belfast; Mr. M.
Lemarchais, member of the Massachusetts Legislature, &c.
C.G.S. Druid conveyed the officers of the A. O. H., as well as guests, includ-
ing- ecclesiastics and other prominent men, among whom were the following : —
Mr. Matthew Cummings, National President; Mr. Jas. T. Regan, National Vice-
President; Mr. Jas. T. McGinnis, National Secretary, and Messrs. Chas. J. Foy,
J. D. O'Meara, John F. Quinn, P. T. Moran, Major E. T. McCrystal, National
Directors, A.O.H. In addition were the Provincial and local officers and other
well-known citizens. Among those who went down on the Druid also were Hon.
C. R. Devlin, Hon. John C. Kaine, Mr. M. J. Walsh, M.P.P., and Mrs. Walsh,
St. Ann's division, Montreal; Rev. Father Hanley, C.SS.R., Rector of St.
Patrick's church ; Rev. Father Woods, St. Patrick's church ; Rev. Father
Maloney, C.SS.R., St. John, N.B. ; Rev. Father Maguire, Provincial Chaplain of
the A.O.H. ; Mr. Joseph Turcotte, M.P., Mr. E. B. Devlin, M.P., Mr. Beland,
Agent of Marine and Fisheries, representing the St. Jean Baptiste Society of
Quebec; Mr. Ed. Reynolds, one of the founders of the A.O.H. in Quebec; Aid.
Jos. A. Collier, Aid. P. Hogan, Aid. W. J. Mulroney, of Quebec, and many
others. Also present on this boat were the members of St. Patrick's choir and
the press representatives.
The sail down the river from Quebec to Grosse Isle was a fitting prelude to
the programme that followed. The trip was made by all the boats under the most
auspicious circumstances, the beautiful weather adding greatly to the general
pleasure. To the sweetly pathetic strains of the Irish melodies, discoursed by the
bands on board, the visitors completed the two hours' trip, reaching Grosse Isle
at eleven o'clock. As the island came into view — marked as it is now by the huge
Celtic cross, visible for miles — a sudden hush fell upon all, the sad associations
rushing to the mind, all combined to form that indefinable something found down
deep in every human heart — that which the poet priest of the South has endeav-
ored to depict as a thought too holy for the taint of a word.
QHie Requiem jHasfS
Shortly after the arrival of the steamer Alice at the island with its disting-
uished guests, Mgr. Sbaretti, accmpanied by Mgr. Begin, Lieut. -Governor Sir
C. A. P. Pelletier, Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, Hon. Charles Murphy, the chief officers
of the A.O.H. and a number of the visiting clergymen, proceeded to the tempor-
ary altar erected specially for the occasion on ground overlooking the cemetery of
1847-48. The Papal Delegate took his seat on the left of the altar, Mgr. Sinnott,
private secretary to His Excellency, and Rev. Abbe Casgrain, chaplain to the
Lieutenant-Governor, occupying seats respectively on the right and left of the
Delegate. Mgr. Begin, who occupied a seat on the right of the altar, was assisted
by Rev. Mr. Derome, chaplain at Grosse Isle, and Rev. Mr. Arsenault. The
celebrant of the requiem mass was, as already said, Rev. Father Hanley, C.SS.R.,
rector of St. Patrick's Church, Quebec, the musical portion of the service being
splendidly rendered by a special choir of Irish ladies and gentlemen of that city
under the leadership of Mr. E. A. Batterton, and accompanied by the Q.O.C.H.
band.
The guard of honor around the altar was furnished by the uniformed Knights
of Montreal and St. John, N.B., and the Hibernian Cadets of Quebec, the former
"carrying swords" in salute during the elevation of the Host.
_ ________ —Page Seventy- Eight
THE GROSS. E -ISLE TRAGEDY
The scene during the celebration of the holy sacrifice, with the sun shining
down upon the multitude, amid the green trees and by the side of the placid river,
was one never to be forgotten, the thousands of the faithful kneeling during the
solemn ceremony upon the rocky ground near which was buried the remains of so
many thousands of their race, being a most impressive sight.
&eb* Jfatfjer Jflaautre'* Sermon
At the conclusion of the mass, Rev. Father Maguire, parish priest of
Sillery, Provincial Chaplain, A.O.H., ascended the altar steps and delivered the
following sermon :
"As gold in the furnace, he hath proved them, and as
a victim of a holocaust, he has received them, and in
time there will be respect had to them." ( WISDOM,
CH. III., v. 6).
YOUR EXCELLENCY, YOUR GRACE, MY DEAR BRETHREN :
What a strange picture, unique in history, does this vast assemblage present!
From near and distant parts of this broad and free Dominion of Canada and the
great United States of America, men of humble calling, men holding high station
in Church and State, especially honored and favored by the distinguished presence
of His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate, by the gracious presence of the vener-
able Archbishop of this great diocese, all animated and impelled by the strongest
sentiments of religion and nationality, we have met on this quarantine island
as representatives of the Irish race to pay loving tribute to thousands of our
brethren whose dust forms the soil we are treading; to honor their graves with
the incense of prayer and sacrifice and to feast our eyes with the sight of that
emblem of faith and nationality, the Celtic cross, which to-day is to be dedicated
and blessed by His Excellency the Delegate of the Holy See.
For years it has been the oft repeated wish of our people that this spot be
marked by a monument worthy of the thousands of our down-trodden race who
here fell victims to the famine and ship-fever of 1847, but for want of organization
the pious project had not materialized until the Ancient Order of Hibernians
took the matter in hand. Last year the chief officer of this great society, in
words glowing with religious patriotism, portrayed to the hundreds of delegates in
convention at Indianapolis, Indiana, the scenes of the awful tragedy at Grosse'
Isle. "I consider," he said, "the grave containing so many thousands of our
race the most sacred spot in America." The answer was unanimous and hearty,
and to-day we pride ourselves that a national and sacred duty has been nobly
fulfilled.
But this cross is not alone a memorial of the Irish exiles who died here ; it is
also a monument of lasting gratitude, and a memorial bearing to future gener-
ations the names of that band of forty-two priests, soldiers of Christ, than whose
heroism none greater was ever witnessed on any field of battle. The Catholic
priest responds, he must respond, to the most perilous duty; there is no shirking
when called to the plague-house or the bed of contagion to console the sick and ad-
minister the sacraments to the dying. Thus it was with this noble band, most :>f
whom were Canadians of French extraction, comforting, like the Good Samaritan,
the robbed and wounded stranger, working without flinching among the dead and
dying. True it is, they were consoled in their performance of duty by the mani-
festations all around them of that deep Irish faith, of that perfect resignation to
Page Seventy-Nine
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
God's holy will, which accompanied their lamentations, their exclamation, "How
long, O Lord, how long,'* yet willing to drink to the dregs the chalice 'of their
sorrow. Yes, this and the prayers and blessings heaped upon the welcome priest,
consoled and fortified him. Father Taschereau, then professor of rhetoric at the
Seminary of Quebec, later Archbishop of Quebec and Cardinal, one of those who
contracted the contagion, writes from the scene of horror that he is filled with a
happiness he never felt before and that the only sorrow that he can experience at
Grosse Isle will be brought to him by the letter that shall order his recall. These
priests have gone to their eternal reward, one only remaining whom God has left
to see this day. We had hoped till this morning to have him in our midst, but
the too long journey from his home in New Brunswick debarred us of this hap-
piness. Had he been permitted to come, how all eyes would have turned and all
hearts been drawn to the old priest of ninety-six years, that veteran of the sanc-
tuary, the venerable Father Hugh McGuirk.
This occasion necessarily brings us back to one of the saddest chapters of
Ireland's sad history under foreign rule — that which recalls the loss to Ireland of
two millions of her people, whether by death or exile. History teaches us that
legislation and tariff regulations made to benefit England's commercial enterprises
had so discouraged Irish trade and industry as to leave agriculture as the only
resource of the Irish people and the potato as the only food of the Irish peasantry.
Hardly in any country coming within the pale of civilization was such a thing to
be found as a whole peasant population relying for their food on one vegetable.
When the crop failed in the fall of 1846 it was ominous and the outlook was ser-
ious. Two repeated failures absolutely deprived the people of the country and the
poor of the towns of their only means of sustaining life. An agonizing cry went
up all over the land ; famine stalked through that beautiful isle. People were
dying everywhere, at home, in the fields, on the roads, in the churches.
The Irish poor-law system was now doomed to destruction ; it could no longer
stand the demand, the rush for food. Until 1846 work-houses were held in
abomination. Mothers would suffer the direst poverty rather than allow the
breaking up of home, separation from their children. But soon the harrowing
pangs of starvation made them submit and even the jails were a happy refuge,
therein at least they hoped to be fed. Then commenced the cruel breaking of na-
ture's closest bonds, the brutal separating of husband and wife, the child torn
from its mother ; scenes that would melt a heart of stone. But they submitted,
feeling that they must part; death was all around, staring into their gaunt and
pallid features. They parted half willing, knowing that it was departing for a
better home beyond the skies. "They separated," says Sullivan, "as victims at
the foot of the guillotine."
What has been called "the Irish Exodus," had now truly begun. The cry
to America! resounds everywhere. There is a mad rush for the emigrant ship.
The emigrant ship of black '47. What feelings are stirred up in the soul by that
term. It recalls the separation of dearest friends, the tearing away of brother
from sister, of sons from aged parents, the father's God bless you and last fare-
well; it recalls the breaking of hearts, the vain effort of faltering and grief-choked
voices, the last glimpse of the waving handkerchief watched through a haze of
tears, the last glimpse of Ireland!
In those days of the sailing vessel, when the rapid ocean greyhound was un-
known, the ocean voyage lasted from six to as many as twelve weeks. When we
consider that the vessels were all without sanitary piecautions, that the food was
not only the poorest, but insufficient; that the water was bad and rarely given,
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THE GROSSJS-ISLE TRAGEDY
sometimes refused for more than a day ; that the passengers, men, women and
children, were packed together to a stifling degree, is it wonderful then that
every one of the eighty-four ships that had reached here at the opening of naviga-
tion were all reeking with pestilence and that the priests who boarded these vessels
and penetrated under deck, with smoking lanterns to pick their way, were almost
immediately forced back, only being able to remain below after several efforts,
and then only for short visits. Some of these vessels had not yet thrown all theic
dead into the sea and these would be piled as cordwood upon the shore.
The condition of things was at first only a trifle better on land ; the few sheds
were crowded as was tue little chapel that stood on yonder hill. The patients
lay in hundreds for some time under the canopy of heaven, and the death rate rose
at times to 200 a day. Before quarantine closed many were sent to Montreal,
where the disease made thousands of victims. By-town, now Ottawa, Kingston
and Toronto, suffered dreadfully by the epidemic, and the inhabitants of those
cities know the tale of woe.
Orphans to the number of 600 were adopted into kind French-Canadian fam-
ilies. Father Cazeau, later Vicar-General, used his great influence with the priests
to have homes provided for these children, many of whom afterwards became
priests and nuns. By his constant kindness to these children he was called "the
father of the Irish." Pages most pathetic have been written on this subject,
so familiar that they need no repetition here. Considering the late hour and the
beautiful discourses with which you are to be regaled, I have perhaps overstepped
the limit assigned me. But before abandoning this altar let us lift up our eyes on
this day of the Assumption to our home in heaven, where our Savior greets
His Blessed Mother and ask her to intercede with her Divine Son to shower
his blessings upon us and upon the land of our fathers and hasten the day when
the eagle spirit of old Ireland, arising from the sepulchre, may set its gaze on the
never setting sun of freedom.
Following the sermon, the Papal benediction was given by Mgr. Sbaretti and
a solemn Libera for the dead was sung by the Archbishop of Quebec, assisted by
Rev. Father Maloney, C.SS.R., and Rev. Father O'Farrell, rector of St. Ed-
ward's of Frampton, and accompanied by the choir and band.
jfWgr Pegin'* exportation
The morning's proceedings were concluded by His Grace of Quebec, Mgr.
Begin, who delivered in English one of the most eloquent addresses of the day.
He said : —
"My DEAR BRETHREN:
"This day is truly memorable for the Irish in America. It is more particularly
so for your fellow-countrymen of this province and — might I not rightly add? — for
those of the archdiocese and city of Quebec.
"You have come here to consecrate by a fitting monument the memory of a
sad yet edifying page of your nation's history — that which recalls the exile and
death, but likewise, the heroism, the constancy and faith of those who in " '47
and '48 " ended here as one of the sentences engraved on this monument so aptly
expresses it — "life's sorrowful pilgrimage."
"A monument, according to the true meaning of the word, is a token, a sign
of remembrance. You, of this present generation, have heard from the lips of
the survivors of that woeful period the tale of their trials and sufferings ; but your
Page Eighty-One —
THE GROS<SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
place will soon be filled — if it is not already so — by others who might little dream
of the mourning and sadness that heralded the advent of their forefathers to the
land of their adoption.
"Your fellow-citizens of French descent had learned before you, on these very
shores, the bitter lesson of hardship and privation; and so as not to forget the
heroism of their ancestors, they have chosen for their motto the simple words: "Je
me souviens," "I remember." Is it not a kindred sentiment that has inspired the
organizers of this present imposing celebration? They, too, wish the rising gen-
eration to remember the noble lesson of Christian fortitude bequeathed them by
the pioneers of Ireland's exodus to this country.
"Let me, therefore, in a few words, explain to you the symbolism of your
monument, of this great sign you have erected ad futuram rei memoriam to per-
petuate the memory of a notable event on the brow of this hill that commands a
glorious view of the mighty St. Lawrence.
"It is the cross, the instrument of our redemption, whose sign blessed the dy-
ing pilgrims, anointed their senses in extreme unction, absolved them for the last
time, and hallowed the graves wherein they were laid for eternal rest; it is the
image of the cross which they will behold in the heavens when, at the end of
time, the Redeemer will come to call to their everfcasting reward "those that have
slept," as says the Holy Scripture, those who are in this cemetery.
"It is the Celtic cross, the cross of Ireland, of Patrick, of Columbkille, the
cross for which your martyrs suffered, bled and died. It is a cross of granite,
indestructible as the faith of which it is the emblem.
"This cross is planted on the soil of French Canada, on the banks of the river
discovered by the immortal Jacques Cartier. This fact should remind you that
history repeats itself. As, in days gone by, France, the then most Christian
nation, befriended anl honored the saints and sages of Ireland, and enlisted in her
glorious armies many of the valiant sons of your Catholic nation, — some of whose
descendants brought fame to Canada — likewise, when dire necessity drove your
forefathers from the land of their birth it was on the shores of this French-speak-
ing province that numbers of them were welcomed and harbored and treated as
brothers in Christ, and members of the same household.
"It behooves me not to repeat here a familiar page of our annals, nor to re-
mind you of the heroic charity of those priests who, at the bidding of the Arch-
bishop of Quebec, Mgr. Joseph Signay, hastened to the assistance of the fever-
stricken immigrants. Of that missionary band the majority were of French
Canadian nationality. Eagerly they joined their Irish confreres under the zealous
direction of Father Bernard McGauran, of beloved memory. The archives of my
house reveal the most touching proofs of their devotedness, and of their cheerful-
ness in the performance of their trying duties.
"I can assure you, My Lord, writes Father McGauran, that I never, in all my
life, experienced such consolation. The blessings of the sick and dying soothe all
my pains."
"My venerable predecessor in the See of Quebec, Cardinal Taschereau, then a
youthful priest, writes in the same strain: "My only regret, he says, is for not
having come here sooner, and my only dread is to have to leave this island."
"Are not such declarations a worthy echo of the words of the Apostle:
"Superdbundo gaudiis in omne tribulatione nostra. I exceedingly abound with
joy in all our tribulation?"
"History has recorded the names of those of our priests who, in those heroic
Page Eighty-Two
THE G R O S >S E - I S L E TRAGEDY
times, paid with their lives the privilege of their sacred calling, and gave to their
afflicted brethren evidence of a "love greater than which no man hath."
"This cross will bear their names down to posterity, 'graven, as Holy Writ
says, as with an instrument on flintstone.' Let it, therefore, stand aloft as a
token of your gratitude towards the missionaries who, at their life's peril, fortified
the souls of your forefathers on the threshold of eternity! Let it shine forth as the
grateful tribute of those 600 orphans, most of whom were welcomed to the homes
of our French-Canadian province and treated — to say the least — with the same
affection as those of their own blood, and who became later the flower and pride
of their adoptive country!
"Let the cross stand as the symbol of that union that should ever bind to-
gether those who are of one baptism of faith, because they are all sons of one
Father, God, of one Mother, the Holy Catholic Church, redeemed by the same
precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
Qflfje jWonument 3Sntoeileb
This discourse brought the religious exercises to a close, when the assemblage
dispersed to visit other points of interest on the island, but at two o'clock in the
afternoon they gathered again at the site of the national monument for the cere-
monies of the unveiling and dedication, at which Mr. C. J. Foy, National Director
of the A.O.H. for Canada, presided, and where almost more impressive than the
scene of the kneeling thousands before the open altar near the old cemetery was
the scene at the foot of the great cross.
Cfjatrman Jfop'* Sbbresg
Before inviting His Excellency Mgr. Sbaretti to unveil and bless the national
memorial, the Chairman delivered the following magnificent address : —
Your Excellency, Most Reverend Archbishop, Right Reverend Bishops, Very
Reverend and Reverend Fathers, Mr. National President, National Officers
and Invited Guests :
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
I am, indeed, proud of the occasion which gives me an opportunity of ad-
dressing you to-day. In arising to do so my feelings are a fitting and striking
illustration of a paradox. There are feelings of sadness which must arise in the
heart of every true Irishman when he reflects that at some time in the distant past
a circumstance there was in the history of Ireland which necessitated the Irish to
emigrate from their native land, and in doing so meet death on the foreign shores
of Canada. But there are feelings of joy which also must arise in the hearts of
true Irishmen to-day, that, although such a circumstance has arisen, and, although
thousands of our kith and kin met death on this island, yet, though land and sea
may divide the scattered children of the Gael, we come together on this occasion
to perform the last sad but long deferred rites over the graves of the exiles of Ire-
land.
Before proceeding further, I wish, on behalf of and in the name of the A.O.H.
of America, to thank the reverend clergy and the gentlemen of State, who are pre-
sent with us to-day — present at a great sacrifice to themselves, and on account of
that sacrifice the A.O.H. appreciates the honor the more. I wish also to thank
Page Eighty-Three
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
the brothers from the south of us who appear here to-day in such large and repre-
sentative numbers.
It would be superfluous on my part to dwell at any length upon the circunv
stance which calls us together to-day, because that will be dwelt upon and ex-
plained by those who come after me and who are more fitted and capable of per-
forming that duty than I am. Suffice it to say that we assemble here to-day for
the purpose of showing our respect to the dead who died for Ireland ; also to show
our appreciation of the devotion which they had to Faith and Fatherland.
One of the grandest sentiments — one of the noblest that has ever been im-
planted by Almighty God in the heart of man — is the love of the land that bore him,
the pleasure of standing upon the soil of one's birth, the pleasure of preserving
every association that surrounds our childhood and our youth, the pleasure, sad
and melancholy though it be, of watching every gray hair and wrinkle that time
sends even to those whom we love ; these are among the keenest and grandest
pleasures of which the heart of man is capable ; and, therefore, it is that to be ex-
iled from his native land has always been looked upon by man as a penalty and a
grievance. This is true even of men whom nature has placed amid the most bar-
ren surroundings. The Swiss peasant, who sees no form of beauty in nature, but
her most rugged, most austere and bold proportions, so truly loves his mountain
home that it were a heart-break for him to be torn from it, even were he to spend
his exile in the most luxuriant gardens of the earth. Much more does the pain
of exile rest upon the children of a race at once the most generous, the most kind-
hearted and the most loving in the world. Much more does the pain of exile rest
upon the children of a race who look back to their motherland as to a fair and
beautiful land, with climate temperate and delicious, soil fruitful and abundant,
scenery now arising into the glory of magnificence and again softening into the
tenderest pastoral beauty, history the grandest of all nations of the earth, asso-
ciations the tenderest, because the most Christian and the most virtuous. All
these and more aggravate the misery and increase the pain which the Irishman of
all other men must feel when he is exiled from his native land. Yet, my friends,
among the destinies of the nations, the destiny of the Irish race from the very
beginning has been that of a voluntary or involuntary exile. Two great features
distinguish the history of our race and our peopL — the first of these is that we
are of a warrior and warlike race, quick, impulsive, generous, fraternal, and
always ready to fight — and even to fight for the sake of fight. And the student
of history must know that wherever Irishmen are, there is a taste for military
organization and for war, and in scanning the pages of Irish history you will find
that the Irish people have always been engaged in war with their more astute and
powerful enemies around and about them, from the day that the Dane landed in
Ireland, at the close of the eighth century, up to the present time. For the last
1200 years Ireland has been engaged in fighting. War with the Dane for nearly
300 years ; war with the Saxon for nearly 800 years, and, unfortunately for poor old
Ireland when she had not the Dane or the Saxon to fight with, her children picked
quarrels and fought among themselves. Now, the second great feature of her
destiny seems to have been, as traced in her history, that it was the will of God
and her fate that a large portion of her people should be constantly either driven
from her shores or obliged by force of circumstances to leave it apparently of
their own free will.
The Irish exile is not a being of to-day or yesterday. I turn over the time-
honored pages of history, I scan those pages closely, and I find emblazoned on the
pages of the history of every nation of the earth the most illustrious names of the
Page Eighty - F our
THE ORATORS OF THE DAY ADDRESSING THE GATHERING
Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, Chief Justice of Canada.
THE ORATORS OF THE DAY ADDRESSING THE GATHERING
Mr. C. J. Foy, National Director A. O. H. for Canada, Chair-
man of the Gathering.
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
exiles of Erin. And there could be no more suitable theme for an address on this
occasion than the Exiles of Erin. And why? Because, my friends, I hold, as an
Irishman, that next to the religion that I love comes the religion of my love for
Ireland and my glory in her. Every page in her history that has a record of
glory brings joy to your hearts and to mine. Every argument that builds up the
temple of Irish fame upon the temples of Religion and Virtue should introduce
into your hearts and mine a strong, strong feeling of pride for our native land.
Why should we not be proud of her? Has she ever in her long record of history
wronged or oppressed any people? Never. Has she ever attempted to plunder
from any people the sacred birthright of liberty? Never. Has she ever in that
long line of history wielded the sword in an unjust or unworthy cause? Never.
Blood has stained the sword of Ireland. For ages blood has dripped from the
national sword of Ireland; that sword has been crimsoned with the blood of the
nation. Never did Ireland draw a sword unjustly, but solely in the defence of
the highest, holiest and best of causes — the Altar of God and the Altar of the
Nation.
And now, my friends, coming to consider the exiles of Ireland, I find three
great epochs are marked in the history of Ireland with the sign of the exile of her
children from it. The first of these : Go back for nearly 1500 years, when in the
year 432 St. Patrick returned from. Rome to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ
to the Irish people. The Irish heart received and became Catholic under the very
eye and hand of St. Patrick as no nation on the face of God's earth had ever done
before or perhaps ever will unto the end of time. There never was as happy a
nation as she at that time. Everything seemed to prosper. The result of her
agricultural pursuits were second to none in the world. She had commercial rela-
tions with all the countries of the world as was evidenced by the flags of all na-
tions flying at the mastheads of the various ships that sought her harbors. Men
flocked to her shores from all the other countries of Europe to complete their
studies. Christianity flourished ; colleges were erected where the youth of the
land could be taught. Seminaries were built wherein the youth could still further
have instilled into their minds the holy tenets of their religion fitting them for the
priesthood. Churches dotted the fair land and the stately spire towering aloft,
holding high towards heaven that divine symbol of man's redemption — the glor-
ious sign of the cross, met the eye at every turn. She was rightly known as the
Isle of Saints and Scholars. When those scholars coming from foreign lands in-
formed their saintly teachers that in the land from whence they came no religion
such as was practised in Ireland was known, then the Irish priest, fired with divine
enthusiasm, started out for European countries, as the history of these respective
countries proudly shows. This is the first great exodus from Ireland, and it is
what might be called a voluntary exile and can properly be called the exile of faith.
And so we find that as early as the time of Henry the Eighth and Queen Elizabeth
the Irish emigrated as soldiers to various shores — the armies of France, Spain
and Italy gladly received them. They knew that the post of danger was safe in
the hands of the Irish soldier until the enemy walked over his dead body. The
emigration of the Irish soldier continued, but the greatest emigration of this na-
ture occurred after the breaking of the Treaty of Limerick. The siege of Limer-
ick, as you know, was rahed and the Irish soldier, under the able leadership of
Patrick Sarsfield, was allowed to leave that city with drums beating, flags flying
and every emblem of a great victory. But, as you know, the Treaty of Limerick
was broken ere the ink wherewith it was written could dry, and the Irish soldiers,
to the number of 10,000 or more, under Patrick Sarsfield, sought refuge in the
Page E ig hty- F ive
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
army of France, where at least twenty thousand of their fellow-countrymen were
already doing service. This is what I would term the exodus of hope, because
they went forth with the hope that one day they would return to Ireland, and with
their French allies sweep the Anglo-Saxon from off the sacred soil of Erin. But
the French Revolution came and the Irish Brigade was disbanded and the hope
that they cherished was never realized. The year 1800 saw Ireland deprived oi
her Parliament, and from that very day every honest Irishman who loved his coun-
try felt that there was an additional argument put upon him to turn his thoughts
and his eyes to some other land. It is safe to say that the emigration to this
country took form and shape from the day that Ireland lost her legislative inde-
pendence, for next to the privilege of loving his country, the dearest privilege a
man can have is a voice in the making of his laws and the making of his own
government. The emigration to this country continued, but it is not of these, but
that of the emigrant of 1846, '47 and '48 I speak. Need I recall the trials of the
Father of the Nation — Daniel O'Connell ; need I recall the trials and tribulations
passed, after fighting so successfully that battle for Catholic Emancipation. To
add to the horrors of the time, the news goes forth that the hand of God hath
touched the nation and blight has come upon the crops. The Irish are dying by
the thousands. My friends, there is no more pathetic incident in the history rf
that country than the spectacle of that grand old man tottering feebly up the steps
of Westminster to plead the cause of Ireland and his afflicted countrymen. That
Parliament House which had resounded to his appeals in the past now re-echoed
only the feeble voice of a heart-broken patriot. O'Connell returned to Ireland and
took counsel with the Irish people. Now Ireland turned her wistful eyes and from
her western cliffs she looked across the vast expanse of ocean. Far away in the
western main, she beheld a new and mighty country springing up, where the
exile might find a home, where the free man could find air to breathe, and where
the lover of his country could find a country worthy of his love. The Irish people
set out for America, O'Connell for Rome. O'Connell is in heaven to-day — I be-
lieve it in my own heart and soul. I believe that if his joys in heaven can be
brightened, they will be when he knows and sees the increased wealth, the in-
creased numbers, the power and the influence of those same Irish and their des-
cendants as they exist to-day on the continent of America. Thousands of those
Irish emigrants sought the shores of Canada, but, emaciated by the trials and
tribulations which they had to undergo in the transportation at the time, they
landed upon the shores of Canada, where death in its most horrible form awaited
them. At least 12,000 lie buried in the shade of this monument, which the A.O.H.
of America has erected to their memory — to say to the whole world that though ab-
sent they are not forgotten. They left home for the love of their faith and the
love of their fatherland, and that same spirit which animated the Irish saintly
exile of IAOO years ago, the same spirit which animated the Irish soldiers of six
and sevejj* hundred years ago, and the same spirit which animated the Irish exile
of less tf&n one hundred years ago, still animates the mind and heart of every
true son and daughter of Erin, no matter in what portion of the world he or she
may be placed — Love of Faith and Fatherland. If there is one thing that outlives
every$)ther in the heart of the true Irishman it is his inborn love for Ireland, for
Ireland's greatness and for Ireland's glory. Our forefathers loved it, knew how
to hold it and to cherish it. The glory of a Faith that has never been tarnished,
and the glory of a national honor that has never bowed down to acknowledge
itself a slave is ours ; the burden and responsibility of that glory is yours and mine
to-day. The glory of a battle which has been so long fought and is by no means
Page Eighty-Six
THE GROS^SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
closed. The glory of a faith that has been so long and so well defended. The
glory of a national virtue that has made Irishmen the bravest and Irishwomen the
purest in the world — that glory is yours and mine to-day.
And, of all other men, both as Irishmen, as Canadians, as Americans, you
and I together are bound to show the whole world that what Irishmen have been
in ages past they intend to be in ages to come — A Nation and a Church that have
never allowed a stain of dishonor or perfidy to be placed upon her national banner
or on her national altar — A Nation and a Church, that, in spite of their hard fate
and their misfortunes, can still look the world in the face and say, although :
"We've bowed beneath the chastening rod,
We've had our griefs and pains,
But with them all we still thank God,
The blood is in our veins,
The ancient blood that knows no fear,
The stamp is on us set,
And so, however foes may jeer,
We're Irish yet— We're Irish yet."
In sobriety, in industry, in jnanly self-respect, in honest pride of everything
that an honest man ought to be proud of — in all these and in respect for the laws
of our respective country lies the secret of your honor and mine and of our na-
tional existence. Let Irishmen in Canada, in the United States, in the whole
world, be faithful, be Catholic, be practical, be obedient to the law, be respectful to
the flags under which we live, fight for them, if needs be, die for them — be all this
and the day will come, with the blessing of God, upon you and me when the exiles
and we, the sons and daughters of the Exile of Erin, will live to see the hopes and
aspirations of these dear departed fulfilled and we will see a glorious, a free and
an unfettered Ireland.
QHje $)apal delegate'* tribute
Then, while the band played "God Save Ireland," the crowd bared their heads
and the Hibernian Knights stood with reversed swords, followed the solemn un-
veiling and blessing of the monument by Mgr. Sbaretti, who, in doing so, also
delivered a short address, saying :
"I am particularly glad that it has been possible for me to be here to-day to
accomplish an act which is not only dear to my own heart, but dear as well, I am
sure, to the heart of the Holy Father. History tells us that in the direst and dark-
est days of the annals of your noble race the Holy Father was the steadfast friend
and supporter of the Irish people. He put at the service of the cause of justice
and liberty of his children all the moral influence and material means at his dis-
posal. As the Irish people in all their history ever showed they were not second to
any Catholic nation in their love for the ancient Faith, in their generosity for the
Catholic cause, and in their attachment and devotion to the Supreme Pontiff,
so no friend of the Irish people was so constant and loving, no protector so faith-
ful and just, no benefactor so generous and staunch as the supreme father of the
faithful. It would, I am sure, be a great satisfaction to the paternal heart of our
great Pontiff to know that, through the part in these festivities which has been ac-
corded to his humble representative, he is so intimately associated with his chil-
dren to-day in the inauguration of a monument which is an attestation of love and
Page Eighty-Seven
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
gratitude on the part of the descendants of the Irish people, in America — love for
their brethren who fell victims to a dreaded scourge and gratitude to those who
came to their succor in the sore hour of trial — a monument which will recall to the
memory of future generations the heroes of Catholic faith, and the heroes of Cath-
olic charity."
Mgr. Sbaretti also reviewed the facts of the famine, and added :
"If we seek the deep reason of them, it will not be hard to find. The princi-
pal reason for which the sons of Ireland stood and faced the consequences of these
terrible adversities was their inflexible adherence to the faith. And thus while we
sorrow and are afflicted in recalling one of the most heartrending pages in the his-
tory of any people, at the same time we rejoice and feel proud at the strength of
their faith which made them overcome difficulties, despise all dangers and face
death itself.
"Both peoples, Irish and French, have suffered much and fought valiantly
in the cause of holy religion. Almighty God in his mercy has aroused their strug-
gles both here in this country side by side, in prosperity and peace, enjoying the
blessings of civil and religious liberty. As they were united in the hour of afflic-
tion so I earnestly hope and ardently pray that they may be always one, and, both
scions of noble Catholic races, that they may go forward hand in hand for the
welfare of their religion and their common country."
Itye Rational $resibent's &bbreg£
Mr. Matthew Cummings, National President, A.O.H., who was the next
speaker, was received with prolonged applause.
"The history of Ireland — said he — is a sad one, but the saddest page in its
whole history is connected with the famine year, black '47.
"Before the famine the population of Ireland was nearly nine millions; it is
less than half of that number to-day. A blight came on the potato crop in the
years '46 and '47, but the fields waved with golden grain, sheep and cattle roamed
and fattened on the fertile soil, and yet cold and calculating history tells us that in
a few years one-quarter of the population died of starvation. Think of it, men of
the Irish race, two millions of your kindred died of starvation, with sufficient food
in the fields to feed five times the population. When the famine became severe,
orders were given by the English Government to save the grain and cattle for the
landlord. The British soldiers were placed between the Irish people and the pro-
ducts of their land. The landlords, in order to evade the payment of poor rates,
swept the people from the land to die on the roadside.
"Those who could find means of transportation emigrated mostly to the Uni-
ted States and Canada. The Government sometimes furnished hulks of vessels,
afterwards called coffin ships, to bear away the fever-stricken exiles.
"During the year '47 one hundred thousand Irish exiles sailed for Canada. It
is estimated that at least one-quarter of that number died that year from famine
and fever. This quarantine station that we now stand on could be traced frorrf
Ireland by the bones of Irish emigrants who died on shipboard and were buried at
sea. During that year between five and six thousands died while crossing the
Atlantic and were thrown overboard. More than twelve thousand died in the
fever sheds and were buried in yonder pits. Thousands crawled from the fever
sheds to these rocks that you now look upon, and were washed away and drowned
by the rising tide, being too weak to save themselves.
_ Page Eighty-Eight
THE GROSS- E-ISLE TRAGEDY
"At Point St. Charles, Montreal, more than five thousand were buried. Thou-
sands were also buried at Kingston, Ontario and St. John, New Brunswick.
"We of the Irish race owe a debt of gratitude to the French priests and people
of Canada for the kindness, hospitality, and friendship shown at that trying and
critical period to those of our race who came among them.
"They cared for the sick and buried the dead, at the great risk of catching the
deadly fever themselves. They cared for the little Irish orphans who were some-
times found playing with the bodies of their dead parents. They brought them
up in the faith of their fathers, educated them, and some of those orphans after-
wards became leading men in business, and in the professions.
"The French and Irish are kindred races and the friendship that exists between
them is historic and of long standing. When the Irish priests and schoolmasters
were banished as felons by English law, France received them and cared for them.
When it was a crime to educate young men for the priesthood in Ireland, France
established the Irish college in Paris, educated young Irishmen, ordained them to
the priesthood and sent them back to their native country to keep the Catholic
faith in the hearts of the people. The Irish soldiers after the Treaty of Limerick,
who refused to fight under the banner of William of Orange, were received with
open arms by the French Government, were made citizens of that country at once,
and were given higher wages than the regular soldiers of France.
"The Irish were never ingrates and, on every battlefield, from Dunkirk to
Fontenoy, they proved their appreciation and loyalty to France, and so we can
say to-day to the French people of Canada, that the scattered and exiled Irish race
have not forgotten the kindly assistance and support given by them to our dying
kindred during the famine years of '47 and '48.
"I have heard the story of the famine from my mother's lips, the saddening and
maddening story, people dying by dozens on the roadside while the proselytizer
travelled among them offering food and clothing to all who would deny their faith,
but English statistics prove that no more than one in ten thousand denied their
faith, but on the contrary died martyrs, having refused the food and clothing to be
had at the expense of denying their religion. For sixty-two years this grave con-
taining the remains of twelve thousand of our race has remained unmarked and
practically uncared for.
"In the year 1900 your good Father Maguire and the other delegates from
Quebec who attended the National Convention of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
at Boston, brought the matter to the attention of the Convention and asked to
have a suitable Celtic cross erected here at this grave.
"At that time our organization was not in a position to accede to their re-
quest, but at the last National Convention, be it said to the credit and honor of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians of America, it was voted unanimously to appropriate
$5,000 to be expended by the National Officers for that purpose. To-day we are
here assembled to unveil and dedicate this magnificent Celtic cross to the memory
of those poor Irish immigrants who were hunted like wild beasts from their native
land, and who died victims of pestilence and fever on this bleak island, far from
the land they loved, for from friends and relatives, their only comfort, their reli-
gion, and the sight of the brave and saintly Catholic priest bringing the last sac-
raments of the Church to them. We are told their resignation to the will of God
in their suffering and misery was remarkable, extraordinary, and most edifying.
"In the erection of this monument our organization has lived up to its best
traditions. It has fulfilled a duty it owed to the memory of those poor exiles who
died here seeking shelter from the misery that was forced upon them. By this
Page Eighty-Nine
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
act we demonstrate to the world that we here in America have not forgotten our
kindred who died the victims of a Government-made famine sixty-two years ago.
"That terrible famine scattered the Irish people to every corner of the earth.
Lady Wilde wrote at that time :
A million a decade, what does it mean?
A nation dying of inner decay;
A churchyard silence where life hath been,
The base of the pyramid crumbling away ;
A drift of men gone over the sea,
A drift of the dead where men should be.
A million a decade of human wrecks,
Corpses dying in fever sheds ;
Corpses huddled on floundering decks,
Shroudless dead on their rocky biers ;
Nerve and muscle, heart and brain,
Lost to Ireland and lost in vain.
"Here are the fever sheds where those poor people died and you are now
looking at the rocks that the gifted poet mentioned in her sad verses. From 1840
until 1860 a million a decade of the flower of Irish manhood and womanhood were
forced to leave their native land to seek a living on foreign shores, and from 1660
up to the present day a half a million a decade have sailed from Ireland each year.
The first five months of the present year nearly twenty thousand young men and
women emigrated from the old land. Poor old Ireland is sad and lonely, almost
every family is scattered and separated, but wherever the people go they carry
with them the faith of their ancestors and respect amounting to veneration for the
Catholic priesthood. Wherever you find a dozen Irish families you will find a
Catholic church with its cross pointing heavenward symbolic of man's redemp-
tion.
"For more than sixty-two years Ireland has given up the reddest drops of her
heart's blood through emigration and her people are wanderers over the face of
the earth.
The mission of the Ancient Order of Hibernians is to organize and unite the
scattered Irish race on the principle it was founded on — for God and Country,
Faith and Nationality. Let us here to-day on the graves of our departed dead re-
new our obligation to be faithful to the teachings of our holy religion as our
fathers were, to be true to the principles of Irish nationality, and by that we mean
the ideal of Irish national independence! Let us ask the sainted dead whose bod-
ies were thrown in heaps in those pits to breathe a prayer to the Almighty asking
God to bless the old land, the land of their birth, to grant it prosperity in order
that her sons and daughters may be able to live in peace and happiness in their
own land, and to grant it the blessing that all nations are entitled to under God's
providence — absolute freedom.
"In the name of our great organization I wish to thank the Canadian Govern-
ment for the many courtesies extended to us in connection with the erection of this
monument. I also wish to thank the superintendent of this quarantine station
and the other Canadian officials who in any way assisted us in this difficult work,
and last, but not least, I thank Father Maguire, County President Gallagher, and
the other members of our order in Quebec who assisted us in every possible way
in our efforts to build this monument."
— — Page Ninety
THE ORATORS OF THE DAY ADDRESSING THE GATHERING
Mr. Matthew Cummings, National President, A. 0. H.
THE ORATORS OF THE DAY ADDRESSING THE GATHERING
Hon. Charles Murphy, Canada's Secretary of State.
THE GROSS. E-ISLE TRAGEDY
Next presented by the Chairman as one who needed no introduction owing
to his prominence in the country and his remarkable rise to power and influence,
Hon. Chas. Murphy, Dominion Secretary of State, received an immense ovation
as he took his stand on the platform facing the cross and the broad expanse of
the river, with the eager audience gathered in a natural amphitheatre on the rock
at his feet.
Tears came very near the surface as Mr. Murphy opened his address with the
reading of a telegram which he had received from Vancouver, B.C., a day or two
before. "This telegram," he said, "means to me the undying loyalty and devo-
tion of the Irish people, and coming as it does from a family scattered throughout
the continent, for the memory of a grandmother long since dead, it is particularly
touching and typical." The telegram is self-explanatory. It follows :
"VANCOUVER, B.C., August n, 1909.
HON. CHAS. MURPHY, —
Our beloved grandmother Graham, County Louth (or Antrim), was one of
the fever victims of 1847. Enclose $10 for flowers for the monument, and accept
thanks of,
JAS. HARRISON BROWNLEE,
(Prov. Surveyor, Vancouver.)
ARCHIBALD GRAHAM BROWNLEE,
(Mining Engineer, Denver, Colo.)
MRS. (WIDOW) STANTON,
Chicago."
A beautiful wreath of flowers was then placed against the pedestal of the
cross, and many tears were furtively wiped from the eyes of strong men and
women, for the pathos of this message at once struck the sympathy of the mass of
people and all heads were bared as Mr. Murphy laid on the cross this silent tribute
from three thousand miles away.
Continuing his address, the Secretary of State said : — While those people
were, like many others who found death at this place, not of pur religion, yet like
-Robert Emmett, Charles Stewart Parnell and others, they yielded not one jot in
their admiration and love for the Irish home land. Monuments, added Mr. Mur-
phy, are as old as the human race, and as varied in form and purpose as the
persons and events they have been designed to commemorate. The Celtic cross,
which has been dedicated here to-day, is so distinctively Irish in form, and is de-
signed to commemorate an' event of such tragic interest to the Irish Catholic peo-
ple of Canada that, as their representative in the Government of the Dominion, I
considered it a paramount duty to assist at these ceremonies and by word and
presence pay my tribute to those Irishmen and Irishwomen whose ashes are com-
mingled with the dust of this island.
This occasion is at once pathetic and historic. Pathetic because it is impos-
sible to take part in these proceedings without recalling one of the saddest chap-
ters in the history of that land whose sorrows have stamped her as the Niobe of
nations. Historic — because it not only bridges the span of years that separates
Page Ninety-One —
THE GROS;SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
us from the horrors of 1847 and 1848, but because, at that time, it marked a new
stage in the forward march of our race.
As the Committee in charge of to-day's programme has assigned to other
gentlemen the task of dealing with the details of the great Irish famine, I shall
make only a brief reference to the subject and that merely for the purpose of giv-
ing continuity to my remarks.
While it is conceded that the immediate cause of the famine was the failure o{
the potato crop, competent authorities are far from admitting that the ensuing
spread of disease and death among the Irish people was due solely to the blight
that fell upon their chief staple of food. In a lecture delivered in New York on
March 2oth, 1847, Archbishop Hughes said :
"I fear there is blasphemy in charging on the Almighty the results of human
doings. The famine in Ireland, like the cholera in India, has been for many years
indigenous. As long as it was confined to a few cases. . . .the public administra-
tion of the statutes was excusable inasmuch as the facts did not come under their
notice.
"But in the present instance it has attracted the attention of the world, and
they call it God's famine. Yet the soil has produced the usual tribute for the
support of those for whom it is cultivated. But political economy, finding Ire-
land too poor to buy the products of its own labour, exported that harvest to a
better market, and left the people to die of famine or live by alms."
The same view was expressed by Michael Davitt. In his book "The Fall of
Feudalism in Ireland," Davitt said :
"There is probably no chapter in the whole record of human suffering and
wrong so full of shame — measureless, unadulterated, sickening shame — as that
which tells us of (it is estimated) a million of people — including, presumably, two
hundred thousand adult men, lying down to die in a land out of which forty-five
millions' worth of food was being exported, in one year alone, for rent and
making no effort, combined or otherwise, to assert even the animal's right to ex-
istence— the right to live by the necessities of its nature."
Opinions may be multiplied in support of those held by Archbishop Hughes
and Michael Davitt, but it seems to me that no useful purpose would be served
by multiplying them, as our business here to-day is less to inquire into the cause
of the famine than to deal with that phase of it which in 1847 and 1848 was rudely
brought home to the people of Canada by the sudden influx of nearly one hundred
thousand Irishmen and Irishwomen whom it drove to our shores. A more per-
tinent enquiry would be : What was the British Government doing to alleviate
Irish distress? Both A. M. Sullivan in "New Ireland" and T. P. O'Connor in
"The Parnell Movement" have supplied the answer. Let me give it in the words
of Mr. Sullivan. Speaking of Government action, he said :
"Relief works were set on foot the modes decided on were draining and
roadmaking. The results were in every sense deplorable failures. The wretched
people were by this time too wasted and emaciated to work. They tottered at
daybreak to the roll call, vainly tried to wheel the barrow or apply the pick, but
fainted away on the cutting, or lay down on the wayside to rise no more."
Legislation having failed to supply the place of food, Mr. Sullivan thus refers
to the remedy which was next applied :
"Later on, relief took the form of soup kitchens, but as apostacy was the
price demanded for the miserable dole they offered, few of the people meddled with
them. Those compelled by hunger to resort to the soup kitchens were known as
'soupers.' Since then the term 'souper' has always reminded one of bitter re-
. ______ Page Ninety-Two
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
proach in Ireland. Thus, had the unfortunate people changed their religion they
would have been fed and housed."
And then in one brief paragraph the author lifts the curtain upon the tragedy
that was to be enacted in Canada.
"The people forced by famine flocked to leave their country — they crowded
on board the ships — all sailing vessels. A tolerably quick passage occupied from
six to eight weeks, while passages of ten or twelve weeks, and even a longer time
were not considered at all extraordinary. The people were infected with fever
when they embarked. The vessels literally reeked with pestilence. Thus the
people went on the ocean, wafted by the four winds of heaven."
The climax of the tragedy is, perhaps, best told by Maguire in his "Irish in
America. "
"On the 8th of May, 1847, the Urania from Cork with several hundred immi-
grants on board, a large proportion of them sick and dying of the ship fever, was
put into quarantine at Grosse Isle. This was the first of the plague-smitten ships
from Ireland which that year sailed up the St. Lawrence, but before the first week
in June as many as 84 ships of various tonnage were driven in by an easterly^
wind ; and of that enormous number of vessels there was not one free from the
taint of malignant typhus, the off -spring of famine, and of the foul shipholds.
"The authorities were taken by surprise, owing to the sudden arrival of the
plague-smitten fleet, and, save sheds that remained since 1832, there was no ac-
commodation of any kind on the island. These sheds were rapidly filled with the
miserable people, the sick and dying, and along their walls lay groups of half-
naked men, women and children in the same condition — sick or dying. Hun-
dreds were literally flung on the beach, left amid the mud and stone to crawl on
the dry land how they could Many gasped out their last breath on that
fatal shore, not able to drag themselves from the slime in which they lay. Death
was doing its work everywhere — in the sheds, around the sheds where the victims
lay in hundreds under the canopy of heaven, and in the poisonous holds of the
plague ships, all of which were declared to be, and treated as, hospitals."
Few descriptions could be more affecting than Maguire's summary of the
deaths and burials at Grosse Isle :
"Upon the barren isle as many as 10,000 of the Irish race were consigned
to the grave pit. By some the estimate is made much higher and 12,000 is con-
sidered nearer the actual number. A register was kept, and is still in existence,
but it does not commence earlier than June i6th, when the mortality was nearly
at its height. According to the death roll, there were buried, between the i6th and
3Oth of June, 487 Irish immigrants 'whose names could not be ascertained.' In
July 941 were thrown into nameless graves; and in August 918 were entered in
the register under the comprehensive description 'unknown.' There were in-
terred, from the i6th of June to the closing of the quarantine for that year, 2,905 of
a Christian people, whose names could not be discovered amidst the confusion and
carnage of that fatal summer. In the following year 2,000 additional victims
were entered in the same register, without name or trace of any kind to tell who
they were or whence they had come. Thus 5,000 out of the total number of vic-
tims were simply described as 'unknown.''
Of the terrible visitation that peopled yonder graveyard little more may be
said. It left more than t six hundred orphans "dependent on the compassion of
the public; and nobly was the unconscious appeal of this multitude of destitute
little ones responded to by the French-Canadians." Mayhap the hearts of French
Canada were stirred to a quicker pulse of pity by the memory of the deeds per-
Page Ninety-Three
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
formed by the "Wild Geese" on Fontenoy and the battlefields of Europe under
the standard of the fleur-de-lis. Or it may have been that the warm-hearted French-
Canadians recalled the lustre shed on French arms by the Irish Brigade during
its five years' service in Canada, and that their sympathies were quickened by the
memories of Fort George, of Fort William Henry and Fort Duquesne; of Car-
illon, of Ticonderoga, of Sillery and St. Foye. Whether or not the benefactors of
these Irish children were influenced by such considerations is immaterial ; the fact
remains that out of their Christian charity the French-Canadians adopted the
greater portion of the orphans of the Grosse Isle tragedy and by that act alone
created an enduring bond between the French and the Irish in Canada.
Standing on this spot where so much heroism was displayed, any reference to
the affliction which called it forth would be incomplete if special mention were not
made of the clergy, both Catholic and Protestant. As at all times of human suf-
fering, the clergy were unremitting in their attentions to the fever victims, and
many of them sealed their devotion with their lives. No shaft or column marks
their last resting-place ; no plate or tablet tells the world of their noble self-sacri-
fice ; but their names are revered wherever brave men are honored, and their
memories are forever enshrined in the hearts of the Irish people — both in the Old
Land and in the New.
The neglect of the graves of the clergy extended to the graves of the Irish
exiles as well. At intervals attempts were made to remove this reproach from
our race, but nothing practical was done until the Ancient Order of Hibernians,
at the suggestion of its President, Mr. Matthew tCummings, took in hand the
erection of this monument whose unveiling and dedication we have witnessed to-
day. By their action the Ancient Order of Hibernians have earned the gratitude
of the Irish race, and their gift of this Celtic cross deserves, in my judgment, to
rank with their founding of the Chair of Gaelic Literature at the Catholic Univer-
sity at Washington. It was my privilege to obtain from the Government of which
I am a member the necessary permission to erect this monument on this site, and
I desire to thank both Mr. Cummings and the National Director from Canada on
the Board of the A.O.H., Mr. C. J. Foy, of Perth, Ontario, for having given me
the opportunity of associating myself with this patriotic movement. Not only
myself, but the Canadian Government as well. Having performed my duty in
that regard, it seems to me that another duty remains to be performed, and with
its performance I would like to be associated. Thanks to the Ancient Order of
Hebernians, the memory of the Irish exiles who perished here has been rescued
from oblivion. But what of the clergy of all denominations who laid down their
lives at humanity's call? Is there not a duty cast upon the Irish race to commenv
orate their heroism also, and thus furnish posterity with a record of human great-
ness and a noble example to emulate? Personally I feel that there is such a duty
cast upon us ; and in view of the success with which Mr. Cummings and Mr. Foy
have carried to completion all the arrangements for the erection of this Celtic
cross, I would suggest that they take charge of another movement, to erect a
monument to the Catholic and Protestant clergy who died here in 1847 and 1848,
and if they will undertake such a work I will ask the privilege of being allowed to
contribute one hundred dollars to the monument fund.
When speaking at the St. Patrick Society Dinner in Montreal on the i7th of
March last, I announced that the Dominion Government had made a free grant of
a site for this monument, and ventured to point out the national significance of the
monument itself. I feel, Sir, that in conclusion I cannot do better than para-
phrase the words I used on that occasion :
Page Ninety-Four
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
"Primarily this monument will commemorate the heroism of those who left
their native land rather than abjure that which they prized more dearly than life
itself. In the next place it will commemorate the kindness of the French-Cana-
dians, who soothed the dying hours of these Irish exiles, and later assumed the
duties of parents towards their orphan children. But this monument, Sir, will
serve another and a more important purpose. We are told that the statue of
Liberty standing- in majestic watch and ward over New York harbor was de-
signed to impress the incoming stranger that he is arriving in a land of freedom.
At best, Sir, that statue is an abstract symbol whose import is grasped by few
individuals among the teeming thousands who enter New York harbor for the
first time. Not so with the Celtic cross that now surmounts Telegraph Hill on
this island. As the incoming stranger sails up the St. Lawrence river, his gaze
will rest on this monument, and no sooner will he hear its story than his mind
will receive an indelible impression that this is not only a land of freedom, but
that it is a land of brotherly love — a land where the races live in harmony and
where each vies with the other in promoting the great work of national unity."
(Prolonged applause).
Canaba's etjtcf fusttce
Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, was
next called upon by the Chairman to address the gathering, and, in doing so,
assured his hearers that he had not come to make a speech, and to listen to some
of the speakers who had preceded him one would think that they had entered into
a compact with his enemies to make him speak, when, as a matter of fact, he was
receiving a munificent salary to listen to the speeches of others and to keep his
mouth shut.
He had come, Sir Charles said, to take part in this great reunion of Irishmen,
to express his testimony of honor to the memory of his poor countrymen and
women who had died wiathin a few feet of where they stood ; to show his faith
in the communion of souls, and to admiringly witness the noble work which the
A. O. H. had carried out in honor of the dead, declaring that if that organiza-
tion had never done anything else they were entitled to a deep debt of gratitude
from the Irish people throughout the world for saving them from lasting dis-
grace.
It had been published in some newspapers that the A. O. H. had neglected to
mention the names of the French-Canadian priests who had devoted themselves so
courageously to the relief of the Irish people, but it was not so ; the Irish people
had not forgotten their benefactors, and in their hearts the sense of gratitude and
recognition was more durably imprinted than on shaft of marble or tablet of
bronze. In the connection, he paid a high tribute to the Catholic and Protestant
clergy, who had labored among the fever victims and whose names, he said, would
ever receive all honor, further stating that he would like to add to those already
mentioned the names of the brave Sisters of Charity in Montreal, many of whom
had sacrificed their lives in attending upon the stricken immigrants.
Speaking of the presence of the Papal Delegate and the Lieutenant-Governor,
Sir Charles said that it was a mark of recognition on their part which would not
be soon forgotten.
In concluding, he remarked that it was the duty of all Irishmen to remain
true to that faith which had taught the unfortunate to die and strengthened the
survivors to live ; that faith which shone as bright to-day from the Vatican hill as
Page N inety- Five * —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
it had shone from the hill of Golgotha. Ireland had not been persecuted in vain,
and had not been decimated for no purpose, for in the wake of her sufferings the
cross rose with renewed brilliancy and was carried into distant lands.
Mr. Jos. Turcotte, K.C., and M.P. for Quebec County, then took up the
speaking, and was roundly applauded as he began to address the audience in the
French language. He spoke as follows :
II fallait qu'une voix canadienne-francaise se fit entendre dans cette fete de la
Religion et du Souvenir, pour rappeler la part de sympathie que nos compatriotes
ont prise dans la de*tresse ou se trouvaient nos freres d'lrlande lors de leur lamen-
table exode de 1847.
II fallait tin cceur de Canadien-francais pour vibrer a 1'unisson des milliers
de coeurs irlandais qui battent dans vos poitrines, et rendre un hommage emu aux
victimes de cette sombre epoque.
Laissez-moi vous dire que le spectacle d'aujourd'hui rev£t un caractere de
grandeur bien propre a nous rendre fiers de vivre ensemble sur cette libre terre
du Canada.
Dans nos traditions nationales, il est d'usage que 1'Eglise et 1'Etat s'unissent
pour rendre hommage a nos morts illustres. Aujourd'hui, apres soixante annees
de repos et d' abandon sur ce coin de terre presqu' ignore", les fils de 1'Irlande re-
coivent le plus magnifique temoignage de veneration de la part de tous les corps
publics du pays et de la part du Chef de 1'Eglise catholique, le pape Pie X,
glorieusement re*gnant. La pr6sidence du v6nere* Delegue Apostolique de Sa
Saintete est une preuve de la majeste de la d6monst ration a laquelle nous sommes
convies. Ses nobles paroles et celles de Monseigneur l'Archev£que de Quebec
resteront dans Thistoire a 1'honneur et a la gloire de la nation irlandaise.
L,e Roi lui-meme, dans la personnedu Lieu tenant- Gouverneur de la Province
de Quebec, est ici represente officiellement, afin querien ne manque a la solennite.
Le gouvernement federal, lamagistrature, le gouvernement de la province de
Quebec, tout ce qu'il y a de grandeur dans notre organisation sociale et politique,
tout est reuni sur ce rocher desormais historique pour rendre un hommage public
a ceux qui tomberent ici pour avoir trop aime" leur patrie, leur liberte et leur foi.
En face de cette sublime nature qui nous environne, de ce fleuve immense,
de cette verdoyante chaine de montagnes qui bornent 1' horizon, de ce soleil qui
eclaire le plus libre pays du monde, il me semble que le temps est venu de dire
toute notre pense"e. Quand, il y a soixante ans passes, la malheureuse population
de 1'Irlande fuyait le sol natal ou elle ne pouvait plus vivre, beaucoup de gens se
sont ecries : " 1,'Irlande se meurt ! L/Irlande est morte !" les uns avec de*ses-
poir, les autres avec une joie satanique.
Eh bien ! non. 1,'Irlande n'est pas morte ! L'Irlande ne pent pas mourir !
J 'en atteste cette Croix sacree qui domine le monument que les mains pieuses des
offiriers et des membres du venerable Ancient Order of Hibernians ont fierement
dresse sur cette terre b£nie de la Grosse Isle ! Une race qui sait ainsi honorer ses
morts est une race qui ne saurait perir. L'histoire est remplie de vos actions d'e-
clat, de vos malheurs, et de vos triomphes, de vos renaissantes energies et de
vos invincibles esperances.
I/Irlande restera aux flancs de PAngleterre, non pas pour s'epuiser en luttes
steriles, mais plut6t pour accomplir, selon les desseins d'une Providence aussi
clemente que mysterieuse, la tache de ramener a 1' unite de TEglise catholique
les millions d'ames que le malheur des temps en ont eloigne*es.
— Page Ninety-Six
SIR GEORGE J. GARNEAU
Mayor of Quebec
SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK
Chief Justice Supreme Court of Canada
HON. L. A. TASCHEREAU
Minister of Public Works, Quebec
(Nephew of the late Cardinal Taschereau).
MR JOS. TURCOTTE, K.C.,
M P. for Quebec County.
(One of the distinguished orators at cele-
bration).
THE
GROS'SE-ISLE
TRAGEDY
Caeltc
A short address in Gaelic by Major E. T. McCrystal, National Director,
A.O.H., of the report of which we append a fac-simile or copy for the benefit of
those who understand the ancient tongue, concluded the speeches :
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Page Ninety-Seven
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
JOtoteg on tfje Celebration
An interesting incident, to which touching reference was made by some of the
speakers, was the presence of Madame Roberge, an aged lady, with her two
daughters. Mdme. Roberge was originally Mary Cox, one of the Grosse Isle
orphans whose parents perished at Grosse Isle, and who came to the unveiling of
the monument as an aged lady unable, either her or her children, to speak a word
of English, having been adopted and brought up by a French-Canadian family.
A number of handsome floral wreaths were placed on the monument during
the course of the ceremony, including one from the A.O.H., one from the Provin-
cial Government, presented by Hon. John C. Kaine and Hon. C. R. Devlin, one
from the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Quebec, one from the St. Jean Baptiste
Society of Montreal, as already mentioned, one from the Brownlee family of Van-
couver, and a crown of lillies from Mrs. Lemieux, of Quebec, a lady of Irish des-
cent.
In connection with these floral tributes, the following letter from Mr. C. F.
Delage, Assistant President of the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Quebec, and
Deputy Speaker of the Quebec Legislature, addressed to the Secretary of the
Quebec Division No. i, A.O.H., speaks for itself :
QUEBEC, i4th August, 1909.
"My DEAR SIR,—
"I regret that a religious demonstration at which I had promised to assist,
but the date of which had not been then fixed — the laying of the corner stone of
the church of St. Ambroise de la Jeune Lorette — which will take place to-morrow,
will deprive me of the pleasure of being present at the unveiling of the monument
erected to the memory of your fellow-countrymen, who fell victims to the typhus
fever in 1847.
"It would have been very gratifying to me to have been able, by my presence,
to attest my admiration and my sympathies.
"Allow me, however, in the name of the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Quebec,
of which I am one of the General Officers and which represents the French-Cana-
dians of this city, to offer you this modest floral tribute.
"Please accept this offering as an unequivocal proof of the sentiments which
animate them towards your nationality, whose joys, whose sorrows and whose
hopes are never of indifference to them.
"With the assurance of my entire devotedness,
I remain,
Yours very respectfully,
CYRILLE F. DELAGE,
Assistant President, St. Jean Baptiste Society, Quebec."
Accompanying this letter was the floral tribute referred to, consisting of a
magnificent and costly crown of natural flowers, decorated with the tri-color rib-
bons of the St. Jean Baptiste Society — the presentation being made by one of the
Society's officers, Mr. Theo. Beland, the Quebec Agent of the Marine and Fish-
eries Department, who accompanied the excursionists to Grosse Isle.
The proceedings at the monument closed with the singing of "God Save
Ireland," led by Mr. Lawrence Fitzhenry and accompanied by the band, the Hiber-
— Page Ninety-Eight
THE GROSSE -ISLE TRAGEDY
man Knights and Cadets again acting as a guard of honor around the memorial.
Returning to Quebec, in the early evening, the beauty and solemnity of the
sunset on the river lent t e final touch of grandeur to a memorable celebration,
with the pathos and impressiveness of which all present were deeply imbued and
which from beginning to end was carried out in a manner to reflect the utmost
credit upon the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the hard-working local commit-
tee which had the work of arrangement in hand.
The account of so great a religious and national demonstration cannot be
better concluded than by quoting the following appropriate editorial comments of
the Montreal Star on the subject :
"The gathering of men largely of the Irish race and Catholic faith from the
United States and Canada, to enshrine the memory of the Irish emigrants who
died at Grosse Isle from ship fever while fleeing famine at home to give their
children a better chance in the New World, was one of the most remarkable spec-
tacles which this material age has presented to the daily historian in many a year.
The victims, whose death was thus commemorated, were not drawn from the ranks
of the renowned and the wealthy. They were not discoverers, soldiers, or even
pioneers. The large and representative company which assembled yesterday at
Grosse Isle did not journey down the St. Lawrence to honor the first exploration
of the river or the founding of a city or nation. They went to mourn beside the
graves of a humble people, who only desired permission to live and who were
denied this poor boon on two continents.
"The world thinks better of a people who can thus keep green the memory
of their dead. It reminds us that all of life is not tinsel and gold, tinkling cymbal
and sounding brass. We are not forever thinking of success. We can spare
time to kneel by the grave of plucky and high-hearted failure and to raise upon its
sorrowful mound an enduring memorial. The addresses which were delivered at
Grosse Isle have an inspiring note. The presence of many French-Canadians and
their pastors and leaders reminds us of how great a part the men and women of
that nationality played in succoring the sick and the orphaned of that deep tra-
gedy. The Celtic cross which has been reared on the sacred spot will recall to
every passer-by the whole sad story, and bear in upon his consciousness the fact
that Irish men and women of this generation have not forgotten."
Page Ninety-Nine
SIR WILFRID LAURIER
Premier of the Dominion of Canada
enbt x
<£cean plague
M a now very rare old book, published at Boston in 1848 and bearing the
title of "The Ocean Plague or a Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant
Vessel, embracing a Quarantine at Grosse Isle in 1847, with notes illustra-
tive of the Ship Pestilence of that fatal year, by a Cabin Passenger," we make the
following extracts, which are all the more interesting and valuable in that they
emanate from one who was an actual eye-witness of the tragic scenes described
and who, though anonymous, was evidently an Irish Protestant gentleman of edu-
cation and position, as well as a man of humane feeling and impartial observation :
Emigration has for a long time been considered by British economists the
most effective means of alleviating the grievous ills under which the Irish peasant-
ry labor. It is not our province to inquire into its expediency; but viewing the
subject with the single eye of common-sense, it is difficult to see the necessity ot
expatriating the superfluous population of a country wherein hundreds of thou-
sands of acres of land; susceptible of the highest culture, lie waste, — whose mines
teeming with wealth remain unworked, — and which is bordered by more than
two thousand miles of sea coast, whose banks swarm with ling, cod, mackerel,
&c., while salt-fish is largely imported from Scotland.
Many years previous to legislators taking up the matter, emigration from Ire-
land existed, and that of a class of persons which could be badly spared from the
already impoverished island ; consisting as it did of small but substantial farmers,
who, perceiving but a gloomy prospect before them, sold off their land, and, turn-
ing their capital into cash, availed themselves of the opportunities that existed to
find comfort and independence by settling in America.
The majority of these adventurers being successful in their undertakings,
they induced their relatives and friends to follow them ; and thus a strong tide of
emigrants, whose number gradually increased each season, set toward the West.
This progressive and natural system of emigration, however, gave place
within the last few years to a violent rush of famished, reckless human beings,
flying from their native land, to seek food in a distant and unknown country.
The cause of this sudden change is easily ascertained. Every one is familiar
with the wretched lot of the Irish peasantry, — obliged to work for a miserable pit-
tance, their chief reliance was upon the crop of potatoes grown by each family in
the little patch of ground attached to their hut; a poor dependence, indeed, not
only as regards the inferiority of the potato as the sole diet of a people, but from
the great uncertainty always attending its propagation. The consequence of even
a partial failure — an event of common occurrence — being of the most serious
nature.
In the year 1822, the deficiency was so general that the price quadrupled, and
the peasantry of the south and west were reduced to actual starvation. To alle-
viate the distress a committee was formed in London, and sub-committees
throughout England; and such was the benevolence of individuals, that large
funds were in a short time at their disposal. By the end of the year subscriptions
had been raised in Great Britain amounting to ^350,000; to which Parliament
added a grant of ^300,000, while the local collections in Ireland were ^"150,000;
Page One Hundred and One —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
making altogether £Soo,ooo, — a large sum, but how inadequate to meet the
wants of some three or four millions of starving people?
This serious warning it should be supposed would have opened the eyes of
the country to the necessity of having something else as a resource under a similar
emergency ; but a plentiful season lulled them into forgetfulness of what they had
suffered, and apathy concerning the future.
So abundant was the produce of the seasons of 1842 and 1843, that the poor-
est beggar refused potatoes, and these were commonly used to manure the land.
But the blight of the crop of 1845, and the total destruction of that of 1846,
brought the country to the lowest ebb, and famine with its attendant, disease,
«talked through the land.
Charity stretched forth her hand from far and near, America giving liberally
of her abundance. But all that could be done fell far short of the wants of the
dying sufferers. The Government stepped forward, and advanced funds for the
establishment of public works ; this was attended with much advantage and miti-
gated a great deal of distress; but unfortunately all the money had to be re-
turned in the shape of onerous taxation upon the landowners.
The gentry became seriously alarmed, and some of them perceiving that the
evil was likely to increase year after year, took into their consideration what
would be the surest method of terminating it.
At length it was discovered that the best plan would be to get completely rid
of those who were so heavy a burthen upon them, by shipping them to America;
at the same time publishing to the world, as an act of brotherly love and kindness,
a deed of crafty, calculating selfishness, — for the expense of transporting each indi-
vidual was less than the cost of one year's support in a workhouse.
\t required but little argument to induce the prostrated people to accede to
their landlords' proposal, by quitting their poverty-stricken country for "a land
flowing with milk and honey," — poor creatures, they thought that any change
would be for the better. They had nothing to risk, everything to gain. "Ah!
Sir," said a fellow-passenger to me, after bewailing the folly that tempted him to
plunge his family into aggravated misfortune, — "we thought we couldn't be worse
off than we war; but now to our sorrow we know the differ; for sure supposin
we were dyin of starvation, or if the sickness overtuk us, we had a chance of
a doctor, and if he could do no good for our bodies, sure the priest could for our
souls ; and then we'd be buried along wid our own people, in the ould church-yard,
with the green sod over us ; instead of dying like rotten sheep thrown into a pit,
or the minit the breath is out of our bodies, flung into the sea to be eaten up
by them horrid sharks."
It cannot excite the least surprise that these wretched beings should carry
with them the seeds of that plague from which they were flying; and it was but
natural that these seeds should rapidly germinate in the hot-bed holds of ships
crammed almost to suffocation with their distempered bodies. In short, nothing
was wanted to encourage the speedy development of the direst disease and misery ,
but, alas! everything that could check their spread wis absent.
My heart sickens when I think upon the fatal scenes of the awfully tragic
drama enacted upon the wide stage of the Atlantic ocean, in the floating lazar
houses that were wafted upon its bosom during the never-to-be-forgotten year
1847.
Without a precedent in history, may God grant that the account of it may
descend to posterity without a parallel!
Laws for the regulation of passenger ships were in existence ; but whether on
— — Page One Hundred and Two
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
account of difficulty arising from the vast augmentation of number, or some other
cause, they (if at all put in force) proved quite ineffectual.
What a different picture was presented by the Germans who migrated in
large bodies, who, — although the transmission of human beings from Fatherland
must always be attended by more or less pain and trouble, — underwent none of
those heart-rending trials reserved exclusively for the Irish emigrant.
Never did so many souls tempt all the dangers of the deep, to seek asylums
in an adopted country; and, could we draw a veil over the sad story of the ship
pestilence, "this migration of masses, numbering of late years more than 100,000
annually, now nearly 300,000 annually, not in the warlike spirit of the Goths
and Vandals who overran the Roman Empire, and destroyed the monuments of
art and evidences of civilization, but in the spirit of peace, anxious to provide for
themselves and their children the necessaries of life, and apparently ordained by
Providence to relieve the countries of the old world, and to serve great purposes
of good to mankind, — is one of the most interesting spectacles the world ever
saw."
The reader must not expect to find anything more in these pages than a faith-
ful detail of the occurrences on board an emigrant vessel. The author has no
desire to exaggerate, were it possible to do so. And he who wishes to arrive at
any conclusion as to the amount of suffering, must calculate, from the affliction
that I have faintly portrayed upon a small scale, what must have been the unutter-
able "weight of woe" in ships whose holds contained five or six hundred tainted,
famished, dying mortals.
The following extract from the London Times newspaper presents a faithful
and graphic review of the dire tragedy :
"The great Irish famine and pestilence will have a place in that melancholy
series of similar calamities to which historians and poets have contributed so many
harrowing details and touching expressions. Did Ireland possess a writer im-
bued with the laborious truth of Thucydides, the graceful felicity of Virgi^ or the
happy invention of De Foe, the events of this miserable year might be quoted by
the scholar for ages to come, together with the sufferings of the pent-up multi-
tudes of Athens, the distempered plains of northern Italy, or the hideous ravages
of our own great plague. But time is ever improving on the past. There is one
horrible feature of the recent, not to say present, visitation, which is entirely new.
The fact of more than a hundred thousand souls flying from the very midst of a
calamity across a great ocean to a new world, crowding into insufficient vessels,
scrambling for a footing on a deck, or a berth in a hold, committing themselves to
these worse than prisons, while their frames were wasted with ill fare and their
blood infected with disease, fighting, for months of unutterable wretchedness
against the elements without and pestilence within, giving almost hourly victims
to the deep, landing at length on shores already terrified and diseased, con-
signed to encampments of the dying and the dead, spreading death wherever they
roam, and having no other prospect before them than a long continuance of these
horrors in a still farther flight across forests and lakes under a Canadian sun and
a Canadian frost — all these are circumstances beyond the experience of the Greek
historian or Latin poet, and such as an Irish pestilence alone could produce.
"By the end of the season there is little doubt that the emigration into Can-
ada alone will have amounted to 100,000 ; nearly all from Ireland. We know the
condition in which these poor creatures embarked on their perilous adventure.
They were only flying from one form of death. On the authority of the Montreal
Board of Health we are enabled to say that they were allowed to ship in numbers
Page One Hundred and Three
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
two or three times greater than the same vessels would have presumed to carry
to an United States port.
"The worse horrors of that slave-trade which it is the boast or the ambition
of this empire to suppress, at any cost, have been re-enacted in the sight of British
subjects from their native shores. In only ten of the vessels that arrived at Mon-
treal in July, four from Cork and six from Liverpool, out of 4,427 passengers, 804
had died on the passage, and 847 were sick on their arrival ; that is, 847 were
visibly diseased, for the result proves that a far larger number had in them the
seeds of disease. The Larch, says the Board of Health, on August i2th, 'reported
this morning from Sligo, sailed with 440 passengers, of whom 108 died on the
passage, and 150 were sick.
" 'The Virginius sailed with 596; 158 died on the passage, 186 were sick, and
the remainder landed feeble and tottering; the captain, mates, and crew, were all
sick.'
"The Black-Hole of Calcutta was a mercy compared to the holds of these ves-
sels. Yet simultaneously, as if in reproof of those on whom the blame of all this
wretchedness must fall, foreigners, Germans from Hamburg and Bremen, are daily
arriving, all healthy, robust, and cheerful.
"This vast unmanageable tide of population thus thrown upon Montreal, like
the fugitives from some bloody defeat, or devastated country, has been greatly
augmented by the prudent, and, we must add, most necessary precautions adopted
in time by the United States, where most stringent sanitary regulations, enforced
by severe penalties, have been adopted to save the ports of the Union from those
very horrors which a paternal government has suffered to fall upon Montreal.
Many of these pest ships have been obliged to alter their destination, even while
at sea, for the St. Lawrence.
"At Montreal a large proportion of these outcasts have lingered from sheer
inability to proceed. The inhabitants of course have been infected.
"A still more horrible sequel is to come. The survivors have to wander forth
and find homes. Who can say how many will perish on the way, or the masses
of houseless, famished, and half-naked wretches that will be strewed on the inhos-
pitable snow when a Canadian winter sets in?
"Of these awful occurrences some account must be given. Historians and
politicians will some day sift and weigh the conflicting narrations and documents
of this lamentable year, and pronounce, with or without affectation, how much is
due to the inclemency of heaven, and how much to the cruelty, heartlessness or
improvidence of man. The boasted institutions and spirit of the empire are on
trial. They are weighed in the balance.
"Famine and pestilence are at the gates, and the conscience-stricken nation
will almost fear to see the 'writing on the wall.'
"We are forced to confess that, whether it be the fault of our laws or our
men, this new act in the terrible drama has not been met as humanity and com-
mon-sense would enjoin. The result was quite within the scope of calculation,
and even of care."
Miscalculation, and want of care, are terms far too mild to apply to such
wanton negligence as resulted in the immediate sacrifice of upwards of 25,000
souls, four-fifths of whom fell upon their way to Canada. From the report issued
at the end of the season, it appears that, of the 98,105 (of whom 60,000 were
Irish) that were shipped for Quebec,
— Page One Hundred and Four
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
There died at sea 5*293
At Grosse Isle and Quebec. 8,072
In and above Montreal 7,000
Making 20,365,
besides those who afterwards perished, whose number can never be ascertained.
Allowing an average of 300 persons to each, 200 vessels were employed in the
transmission to Canada of Irish emigrants alone ; and each of these vessels lost
one-third of her living cargo ere she again set sail upon her return to Europe.
If. we suppose those 60,000 persons to be an army on their way to invade
some hostile power, how serious would appear the loss of one-third of their num-
ber before a battle was fought? Yet the 40,000 who landed upon the Canadian
shores had to fight many a deadly battle before they could find peace or rest.
Or, in order to make the matter sensible to those who know the value of money
better than of human life, let us multiply 20,000 by 5, the cost in pounds sterling
of the passage of each individual, and we perceive a loss of ^"100,000, or $500,000.
But it may be thought the immolation of so many wretched starvelings was
rather a benefit than a loss to the world. It may be so. Yet — untutored, degrad-
ed, famished, and plague-stricken, as they were; I assert that there was more
true heroism, more faith, more forgiveness of their enemies, and submission to
the Divine Will, exemplified in these victims, than could be found in ten times
the number of their oppressors.
Saturday, June i2th.
The two women who first became ill on our brig were said to show symptoms
of bad fever ; and additional cases of illness were reported. The patients begged
for an increased allowance of water ; which could not be granted, as the supply
was very scanty, two casks having leaked.
Sunday, June ijth.
The reports from the hold became very alarming ; and the mistress was occu-
pied all day attending the numerous calls upon her. She already regretted having
come the voyage ; but her kind heart did not allow her to consult her ease. When
she appeared upon deck, she was beset by a crowd of poor creatures, each having
some request to make; often of a most inconsiderate kind, and few of which it
was in her power to comply with. The day was cold and cheerless ; and I occu-
pied myself reading in the cabin.
Monday, June i^th.
The Head committee brought a can of water to show it to the captain : it was
quite foul, muddy, and bitter from having been in a wine cask. When allowed to
settle it became clear, leaving considerable sediment in the bottom of the vessel ;
but it retained its bad taste. The mate endeavoured to improve it by trying the
effect of charcoal, and of alum ; but some of the casks were beyond remedy, and
the contents, when pumped out, resembled nauseous ditch water. There were
now eight cases of serious illness ; — six of them being fever and two dysentery ; —
the former appeared to be of a peculiar character, and very alarming : the latter
disease did not seem to be so violent in degree.
Tuesday, June ijth.
The reports this morning were very afflicting, and I felt much, that I was
unable to render any assistance to my poor fellow-passengers. The captain de-
sired the mistress to give them everything out of his own stores that she consid
age One Hundred and F iv e
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
ered would be of service to any of them. He felt much alarmed ; nor was it to be
wondered at that contagious fever, — which under the most advantageous circum-
stances, and under the watchful eyes of the most skilful physicians, baffles the
highest ability, — should terrify one having the charge of so many human beings,
likely to fall a prey to the unchecked progress of the dreadful disease; for once
having- shown itself in the unventilated hold of a small brig, containing one hun-
dred and ten living creatures, how could it possibly be stayed, — without suitable
medicines, medical skill, or even pure water to slake the patient's burning thirst?
The prospect before us was indeed an awful one ; and there was no hope for
us but in the mercy of God.
Wednesday June i6th.
The past night was very rough, and I enjoyed little rest. No additional cases
of sickness were reported : but there were apparent signs of insubordination
amongst the healthy men, who complained of starvation, and the want of water to
make drinks for their sick wives and children. A deputation came aft to acquaint
the captain with their grievances, but he ordered them away, and would not listen
to a word from them. When he went below, the ringleader threatened that they
would break into the provision store.
The^mate did not take any notice of the threat, but repeated to me, in their
hearing, an anecdote of his own experience when a captain ; showing with what
determination he suppressed an outbreak in his vessel. He concluded by alluding
to cutlasses, and the firearms in the cabin. And in order to make a deeper im-
pression on their minds, he brought up the old blunderbuss, from which he fired a
shot, the report of which was equal to that of a small cannon. The deputation
slunk away, muttering complaints.
Thursday, June ijth.
Two new cases of fever were announced, and from the representation of the
mate, — the poor creatures in the hold were in a shocking state. Our progress
was almost imperceptible, and the captain began to grow very uneasy, there being,
at the rate of the already miserable allowance of food, but provisions for fifty
days. It also now became necessary to reduce the complement of water, and to
urge the necessity of using sea water in cookery.
June igth.
A shark followed us all the day, and the mate said it was a certain forerunner
of death. The cabin was like an apothecary's shop, and the mistress a perfect
slave. I endeavoured to render her every assistance in my power. The mate also
was indefatigable in his exertions to alleviate the miserable lot of our helpless
human cargo.
Tuesday, June 22nd
One of the sailors was unable for duty, and the mate feared he had the fever.
The reports from the hold were growing even more alarming, and some of the
patients who were mending, had relapsed. One of the women was every moment
expected to breathe her last, and her friends, — an aunt and cousins, — were incon-
solable about her ; as they persuaded her to leave her father and mother, and come
with them. The mate said that her feet were swollen to double their natural size,
and covered with black putrid spots. I spent a considerable part of the day
watching a shark that followed in our wake with great constancy.
Page One Hundred and Six
SIR LOMER GOUIN
Premier of the Province of Quebec
THE GROS-S-.E-ISLE TRAGEDY
Wednesday, June 2jrd.
At breakfast I inquired of the mate after the young woman who was so ill
yesterday, when he told me that she was dead ; and when I remarked that I feared
her burial would cause great consternation, I learned that the sad ordeal was
over, her remains having been consigned to the deep within an hour after she ex-
pired. When I went on deck I heard the moans of her poor aunt, who continued
to gaze upon the ocean as if she could mark the spot where the waters opened for
their prey. The majority of the wretched passengers, who were not themselves
ill, were absorbed in grief for their relatives.
Friday, June 2$th.
This morniag there was a further accession to the names upon the sick roll.
It was awful how suddenly some were stricken. A little child who was playing
with its co- ipanions, suddenly fell down, and for some time was sunk in a death-
like torpor, from which, when she awoke, she commenced to scream violently,
and writhed in convulsive agony. A poor woman who was warming a drink at
the fire for her husband, also dropped down quite senseless, and was borne to her
berth.
I found it very difficult to acquire precise information respecting the progress-
ive symptoms of the disease, the different parties of whom I inquired disagreeing
in some particulars ; but I inferred that the first symptom was generally a reeling
in the head, followed by a swelling pain, as if the head were going to burst.
Next came excruciating pains in the bones, and then a swelling of the limbs, com-
mencing with the feet, in some cases ascending the body, and again descending
before it reached the head, stopping at the throat. The period of each stage
varied in different patients ; some of whom were covered with yellow, watery pim-
ples, and others with red and purple spots, that turned into putrid sores.
Saturday, June 26th.
Some of those who the other day appeared to bid defiance to the fever, were
seized in its relentless grasp; and a few who were on the recovery, relapsed. It
seemed miraculous to me that such subjects could struggle with so violent a dis-
ease without any effective aid.
Sunday, June 27th.
The moaning and raving of the patients kept me awake nearly all the night;
and I could hear the mistress stirring about until a late hour. It made my heart
bleed to listen to the cries for "Water, for God's sake, some water." Oh! it was
horrifying ; yet, strange to say, I had no fear of taking the fever, which, perhaps,
under the merciful providence of the Almighty, was a preventive cause. The
mate, who spent much of his time among the patients, described to me some re-
volting scenes he witnessed in the hold; but they were too disgusting to be re-
peated. He became very much frightened, and often looked quite bewildered.
Monday, June 28th.
The number of patients upon the list now amounted to thirty, and the efflu-
vium of the hold was shocking.
The passengers suffered much for want of pure water, and the mate tried the
quality of all the casks. Fortunately he discovered a few which were better, a^d
this circumstance was rather cheering.
Page One Hundred and Seven
THE GROSS E-ISLE TRAGEDY
Wednesday, June 3oth.
Passing the main hatch, I got a glimpse of one of the most awful sights I
ever beheld. A poor female patient was lying in one of the upper berths — dying.
Her head and face were swollen to a most unnatural size ; the latter being hideous-
ly deformed. I recollected remarking the clearness of her complexion when I saw
her in health, shortly after we sailed. She then was a picture of good humor and
contentment; now, how sadly altered! Her cheeks retained their ruddy hue, but
the rest of her distorted countenance was of a leprous whiteness. She had been
nearly three weeks ill, and suffered exceedingly until the swelling set in, com-
mencing in her feet, and creeping up the body to her head. Her afflicted husband
stood by her holding- a " blessed candle" in his hand, and awaiting the departure
of her spirit. Death put a period to her existence shortly after I saw her. And as
the sun was setting, the bereaved husband muttered a prayer over her enshrouded
corpse, which, as he said "Amen," was lowered into the ocean.
Thursday, July ist.
The wind was still unfavorable, but we gained a little by constantly tacking,
and were approaching the banks of Newfoundland. Some new cases were an-
nounced, making thirty-seven now lying. A convalescent was assisted on deck,
and seemed revived by the fresh air. He was a miserable object. His face being
yellow and withered, was rendered ghastly by the black streak that encircled his
sunken eyes.
Tuesday, July 6th.
Two men (brothers) died of dysentery, and I was awakened by the noise
made by the mate, who was searching for an old sail to cover the remains with
In about an hour after, they were consigned to the deep, a remaining brother
being the solitary mourner. He continued long to gaze upon the ocean, while a
tear that dropped from his moistened eye told the grief he did not otherwise
express. I learned in the afternoon that he was suffering from the same com-
plaint that carried off his brothers.
Thursday, July 8th.
Another of the crew was taken ill, thereby reducing our hands when they
were most required.
Friday, July gth.
A few convalescents appeared upon deck. The appearance of the poor crea-
tures was miserable in the extreme. We now had fifty sick, being nearly one-
half the whole number of passengers. Some entire families being prostrated,
were dependent on the charity of their neighbors, many of whom were very kind.
The brother of the two men who died on the sixth instant, followed them to-day.
He was seized with dismay from the time of their death, which, no doubt, hurried
on the malady to its fatal termination. The old sails being all used up, his re-
mains were placed in two meal-sacks, and a weight being fastened at the foot, the
body was placed upon one of the hatch battens, from which, when raised over the
bulwark, it fell into the deep, and was no more seen. He left two little orphans,
one of whom, a boy seven years of age, I noticed in the evening, wearing his de-
ceased father's coat. Poor little fellow! he seemed quite unconscious of his loss,
and proud of the accession to his scanty covering.
_ . Page One Hundred and Eight
THE GROSS >E -ISLE TRAGEDY
Wednesday, July
The reports of the suffering's in the hold were heartrending. Simon and Jack
were both taken ill.
Thursday, July i$th.
There was a birth on board this morning, and two or three deaths were mo-
mentarily expected. The mate's account of the state of the hold was harrowing-.
It required the greatest coercion to enforce anything like cleanliness or decency.
Monday, July igth.
Another death and burial. A few who had been ill, a^ain appeared on deck,
weak, and weary. The want of pure water was sensibly felt by the afflicted
creatures, and we were yet a longf way from where the river loses its saltness.
In the morning there came alongside of us a beautiful little schooner, from which
we took a pilot on board. When he found that we had emigrants, and so much
sickness, he seemed to be frightened and disappeared ; as he had avoided a large
ship, thinking we had not passengers. However, he could not nor dare he re-
treat. The first thing he did was to open his huge trunk, and take from it a
pamphlet, which proved to be the quarantine regulations; he handed it to the
captain, who spent a long time poring over it. When he had read it I got a
look at it — one side was printed in French, the other in English. The rules were
very stringent, and the penalties for their infringement exceedingly severe ; the
•sole control being vested in the head physician, the power given to whom was
most arbitrary. We feared that we should undergo a long detention in quaran-
tine, and learned that we could hold no communication whatever with the shore
until our arrival at Grosse Isle.
Thursday, July 22nd.
A child, one of the orphans, died and was buried in the evening, no friend
being by to see the frail body committed to its watery grave. The water could
not be used by the wretched emigrants, and but half a cask of that provided for
the cabin and crew remained ; they were, therefore, obliged to use the saline water
of the river.
Friday, July 23rd.
We remained at anchor all day, a fresh breeze blowing down the river.
Some of the recovered patients who were slowly regaining strength, had relapsed
into the most violent stages, and three new cases were announced, showing exceed-
ingly virulent symptoms.
Grosse Isle, July 28th.
By 6 a.m. we were settled in our new position before the quarantine station.
The passengers that were able to be up were all busy, cleaning and washing, some
clearing the hold of filth, others assisting the sailors in swabbing the deck.
At 9 o'clock a boat was perceived pulling towards us, with four oars and a
rteersman with a broad leafed straw hat and leather coat, who the pilot told us
was the inspecting physician. In a few minutes the boat was alongside, and the
doctor r>n deck. He hastily enquired for the captain, and before he could be
answered was down in the cabin where the mistress was finishing her toilet.
Having introduced himself, he enquired if we had sickness aboard? — Its nature?
—How many daaths? — How many patients at present? These questions being
answered, and the replies noted upon his tablet, he snatched up his hat, — ran up
the ladder, — along the deck, — and down into the hold. Arrived there, "ha!"
Page One Hundred and Nine —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
said he, sagaciously, "there is fever here." He stopped beside the first berth
in which a patient was lying, — felt his pulse, — examined his tongue, — and ran
up the ladder again.
All day long we kept looking out for a message from shore, and in watching
the doctor's boat, going from vessel to vessel; his visit to each occupying about
the same time as to us, which was exactly five minutes, but the boat the next
moment would be concealed by some large ship ; then we were sure we would be
the next ; but no, the rowers pulled for shore. The day wore away before we gave
up hope.
I could not believe it possible, that here within reach of help we should be
left as neglected as when upon the ocean ; — that after a voyage of two months'
duration, we were to be left still enveloped by reeking pestilence, the sick without
medicine, medical skill, nourishment, or so much as a drop of pure water ; for the
river, although not saline water, was polluted by the most disgusting objects,
thrown overboard from the several vessels. In short, it was a floating mass of
filthy straw, the refuse of foul beds, barrels containing the vilest matter, old rags,
and tattered clothes, &c., &c.
Thursday, July 2gth.
This morning a boat was perceived making towards us, which at first was
thought to be the doctor's ; but when it approached near there appeared but two
persons in it, both of whom were rowing. In a few minutes more the boat was
alongside, and from the cassocks and bands of the two gentlemen we learned that
they were Canadian priests. They came on deck, each carrying a large black
bag. They inquired for the captain, who received them courteously, and intro-
duced them to the mistress and to me, after which they conversed awhile in French
with the pilot, whom they knew ; when, having put on their vestments, they des-
cended into the hold. They there spent a few minutes with each of the sick, and
administered the last rites to the dying woman and an old man, terminating their
duties by baptizing the infant. They remained in the hold for about an hour,
and when they returned complimented the captain on the cleanliness of the vessel.
They stayed a short time talking to us upon deck, and the account they gave of the
horrid condition of many of the ships in quarantine was frightful. In the holds
of some of them they said, that they were up to their ankles in filth. The wretched
emigrants crowded together like cattle, and corpses remaining long unburied,
the sailors being ill, and the passengers unwilling to touch them. They also
told us of the vast numbers of sick in the hospitals, and in tents, upon the island,
and that many nuns, clergymen and doctors, were lying in typhus fever, taken
from the patients. They were exceedingly intelligent and gentlemanly men, and
telling us that we had great cause of thankfulness in having escaped much better
than so many others, they politely bowed, and got into their little boat, amid the
blessings of the passengers, who watched them until they arrived beside a distant
ship.
We lay at some distance from the island, the distant view of which was ex-
ceedingly beautiful. At the far end were rows of white tents and marquees, resemb-
ling the encampment of an army; somewhat nearer was the little fort, and resi-
dence of the superintendent physician, and nearer still the chapel, seamen's hos-
pital, and little village, with its wharf and a few sail boats; the most adjacent
extremity being rugged rocks, among which grew beautiful fir trees. At high
water this portion was detached from the main island, and formed a most pic-
turesque islet. But this scene of natural beauty was sadly deformed by the dis-
Page One Hundred and Ten
THE GROSS E -ISLE TRAGEDY
mal display of human suffering that it presented; — helpless creatures being car-
ried by sailors over the rocks,on their way to the hospital, — boats arriving with
patients, some of whom died in their transmission from their ships. Another
and still more awful sight, was a continuous line of boats, each carrying its
freight of dead to the burial-ground, and forming an endless funeral procession.
Some had several corpses, so tied up in canvas that the stiff, sharp outline of
death was easily traceable; others had rude coffins, constructed by the sailors,
from the boards of their berths, or, I should rather say, cribs. In a few, a solitary
mourner attended the remains ; but the majority contained no living beings save
the rowers. I could not remove my eyes until boat after boat was hid by the
projecting point of the island, round which they steered their gloomy way. From
one ship, a boat proceeded four times during the day; each time laden with a
cargo of dead. I ventured to count the number of boats that passed, but had to
give up the sickening task.
The inspecting doctor went about from vessel to vessel, six of which came
in with each tide, and as many sailed.
We expected him to visit us every moment ; but he did not come near us.
Friday, July joth.
This morning, when I came on deck, a sailor was busily employed construct-
ing a coffin for the remains of the Head committee's wife; and it was afflicting
to hear the husband's groans and sobs accompanying each sound of the saw and
hammer, while with his motherless infant in his arms he looked on. About an
hour after, the boat was lowered, and the bereaved husband, with four rowers,
proceeded to the burial pround to inter the corpse; and they were followed by
many a tearful eye, until the boat disappeared behind the rocky point.
At TO a.m. we descried the doctor making for us, his boatmen pulling lustily
through the heavy sea ; a few minutes brought him alongside and on board, when
he ran down to the cabin and demanded if the papers were filled up with a return
of the number of deaths at sea? how many cases of sickness? &c. He was handed
them by the captain ; when he enquired, — how many patients we then had ; he was
told there were twelve ; when he wrote an order to admit six, to hospital ; saying
that the rest should be admitted when there was room; there being 2,500 at that
time upon the island, and hundreds lying in the various vessels before it. The
order written, he returned to his boat, and then boarded a ship lying close to us,
which lowered her signal when he approached. Several other vessels that arrived
in the morning, had their ensigns flying at the peak, until each was visited in turn,
Immediately after the doctor left us, the captain gave orders to have the
patients in readiness. Shortly after, our second boat was launched, and four of
the passengers volunteered to row ; the sailors that were able to work, being with
the other. O God! may I never again witness such a scene as that which followed
— the husband, — the only support of an emaciated wife and helpless family, — torn
away forcibly from them, in a strange land; the mother dragged from her orphan
children, that clung to her until she was lifted over the bulwarks, rending the air
with their shrieks ; children snatched from their bereaved parents, who were, per-
haps, ever to remain ignorant of their recovery, or death. The screams pierced
my brain ; and the excessive agony so rent my heart, that I was obliged to retire
to the cabin, where the mistress sat weeping bitterly.
The captain went in the boat, and returned in about an hour; giving us a
frightful account of what he witnessed upon the island.
Our boat returned, just at the same time ; the men having been away all the
Page One Hundred and Eleven
THE GROSSE-1SLE TRAGEDY
day. It appeared that they could not find the burial ground, and consequently
dug a grave upon an island, when as they were depositing the remains they were
discovered, and obliged to decamp. They were returning to the brig, when they
perceived several boats proceeding in another dirction, and having joined them,
were conducted to the right place. The wretched husband was a very picture of
desperation and misery, that increased the ugliness of his countenance ; — for he
was sadly disfigured by the marks of smallpox, and was blind of an eye. He
walked moodily along the deck, snatched his child from a woman's arms, and went
down into the hold without speaking a word. Shortly after, one of the sailors
who was with the boat told me, that after the grave was filled up, he took the
shovels and placing them crosswise upon it, calling heaven to witness said, "By
that cross, Mary, I swear to revenge your death ; as soon as I earn the price of
my passage home, I'll go back, and shoot the man that murdered you, and that's
the landlord."
Sunday, August ist.
The passengers passed a miserable night, huddled up, as they were without
room to stretch their weary limbs. I pitied them from my soul, and it was sicken-
ing to see them drink the filthy water. I could not refuse to give one or two of
them a mouthful from the cask upon the quarter deck, which fortunately was filled
lower down the river. They asked for it so pitifully, and were so thankful; but
I could not satisfy all and regretted the disappointment of many.
Thursday, $rd August.
I was charmed with the splendid prospect I enjoyed this morning when I came
on deck.
The harbour of Quebec was thickly covered with vessels, many of them noble
ships of the largest class.
The city upon the side of Cape Diamond, with its tin-covered domes and spires
sparkling in the morning sun, and surrounded by its walls and batteries bristling
with cannon, was crowned by the impregnable citadel, while a line of villages
spread along the northern shore, reaching to Beauport and Montmorenci. The
lofty Mount St. Anne bounding the view upon the east. Opposite the city lay
Point Levi, with the village of D'Aubigne; crossing the river were steam ferry-
boats, horse-boats, and canoes; and up the stream, — far as the eye could reach,
the banks were lined by wharves, and timber ponds, while the breeze wafted along
a fleet of batteaux, with great white sails; and numberless pilot boats were in
constant motion.
We could not go ashore, neither dare any one come on board, until we were
discharged from quarantine by the Harbour Master, and Medical Inspector.
These functionaries approached us in a long six-oared boat, with the Union Jack
flying in her stern. When they came on board, they demanded the ship's papers,
and clean bills of health, which the captain gave them; in return for which he
received a release from quarantine. Soon after they left us, a butcher brought
us fresh meat, milk, eggs and vegetables, to which we did ample justice at break-
fast ; when I went with the captain on shore.
I remained with the brig during her stay in Quebec harbour, and sailed in
her for Montreal, on the evening of Thursday, 5th August. We were towed up
the river by a steamboat ; and by daylight the following morning were passing the
mouth of the river Batiscan.
That the system of quarantine pursued at Grosse Isle afforded but a very
slight protection to the people of Canada, is too evident from the awful amount
—Page One H undred and Twelve
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THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
of sickness, and the vast number of deaths that occurred amongst them during
the navigable season of 1847. From the plan that was adopted, of sending the
majority of the emigrants from the island directly up to Montreal, Quebec did not
suffer so much as that city. However, during the three days I was there, in the
month of August, too many signs of death were visible; and upon a second and
more prolonged visit, later in the season, it presented an aspect of universal
gloom ; the churches being hung in mourning, the citizens clothed in weeds ; and
the newspapers recording daily deaths by fever contracted from the emigrants.
To their honor and praise be it spoken, these alarming consequences did not deter
either clergymen or physicians from the most unremitting zeal in performing their
duty, and it i 3 to be lamented that so many valuable lives were sacrificed.
Although (as I have already stated) the great body of emigrants were sent
on to Montreal by steamers, all of them could not be so transferred, and many
were detained in Quebec, where the Marine and Emigrant Hospital contained
during the season, several hundreds, the number that remained upon October 2nd.
being 443, of whom 93 were admitted during the week previous, and in which
time there were discharged 132, and 46 died.
It now only remains for me to say a few words respecting the people that en-
dured and reproduced so much tribulation.
The vast number of persons who quitted Europe, to seek new homes in the
western hemisphere, in the year 1847, is without a precedent in history. Of the
aggregate I cannot definitely speak, but to be within the limits of truth, they ex-
ceeded 350,000.
More than one-half of these emigrants were from Ireland, and to this portion
was confined the devouring pestilence. It is a painful task to trace the causes
that led to such fatal consequences ; some of them may, perhaps, be hidden, but
many are too plainly visible. These wretched people were flying from known
misery, into unknown and tenfold aggravated misfortune. That famine which
compelled so many to emigrate, became itself a cause of the pestilence. But
that the principal causes were produced by injustice and neglect, is plainly proved.
Many, as I have already stated, were sent out at the expense of their landlords ;
these were consequently the poorest and most abject of the whole, and suffered the
most.r No doubt the motives of some landlords were benevolent; but all they did
was to pay for the emigrants' passage — this done, these gentlemen washed their
hands of all accountability, transferring them to the shipping agent, whose object
was to stow away the greatest possible number betwen the decks of the vessels
chartered for the purpose. That unwarrantable inducements were held out to
many, I am aware, causing some to leave their homes, who would not otherwise
have done so. They were given to understand that they would be abundantly
provided for during the voyage, and that they were certain of finding immediate
employment upon their arrival, at a dollar per day.
After a detention — often of many days, the vessel at length ready for sea;
numbers were shipped that were quite unfit for a long voyage. True, they were
inspected, and so were the ships, but from the limited number of officers appointed
for the purpose, many oversights occurred. In Liverpool, for instance, if I am
rightly informed, there was a staff of but five or six men to inspect the mass of
emigrants, and survey the ships, in which there sailed from that port 107,474.
An additional heavy infliction was their sufferings on ship-board, from famine, the
legal allowance for an adult being one pound of food in twenty-four hours ; but per-
haps the most cruel wrong was in allowing crowds of already infected beings to
be huddled up together in the confined holds, there to propagate the distemper,
Page One Hundred and Thirteen —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
which there was no physician to stay. The sufferings consequent upon such
treatment, I have endeavoured to portray in the previous narrative, which alas!
is but a feeble picture of the unmitigated trials endured by these most unhappy
beings. Nor were their sufferings ended with the voyage. Oh! no, far from it.
Would that I could represent the afflictions I witnesed at Grosse Isle! I would
not be supposed to think, that the medical officers situated there did not exercise
the greatest humanity in administering their disagreeable duties, which consisted
— not in relieving the distress of the emigrants, but in protecting their country
from contamination. Still it was most afflicting, that after combatting the dan-
gers of the sea, enduring famine, drought, and sickness, the wretched survivors
should still have to lie as uncared for as when in the centre of the Atlantic Ocean.
The inefficacy of the quarantine system is so apparent, that it is needless to
particularize its defects, neither need I repeat the details of the grievous aggrava-
tions of their trials, heaped by it upon the already tortured emigrants. My heart
bleeds when I think of the agony of the poor families who as yet undivided had
patiently borne their trials, ministering to each other's wants — when torn from
each other. Painful as it was to behold the bodies of those who died at sea, com-
mitted to the deep, yet the separation of families was fraught with much greater
misery. And as if to reach the climax of endurance, the relatives and friends of
those landed upon the island were at once carried away from them to a distance
of 200 miles. On their way to Montreal, many died on board the steamers.
There, those who sickened in their progress were received into the hospital, and
the survivors of this second sifting were sent on to Kingston, — 180 miles further;
from thence to Toronto, and so on, — every city and town being anxious to be rid
of them.
Monday Afternoon, August 9.
" Since my last, the wind has been blowing fresh from the northeast, and
several vessels have arrived in port, the names of which you will find enclosed.
Four have just arrived, but are not yet boarded. I make out the names of three,
viz: — Bark Covenanter, Bark Royal Adelaide, and Schooner Maria, of Limerick.
The Zealous has not yet made her appearance.
"The accounts from Grosse Isle since my last, are not of a favorable nature,
and the number of deaths is much the same. The building of the new sheds there
is advancing rapidly.
"A letter was received this forenoon, from the mate of the bark Naparima,
with passengers, from Dublin, dated off Bic, last Friday, announcing that the
Captain, Thomas Brierly, died on the 3rd instant, and was buried on the same
day. She was then fifty days out, and short of provisions, — about 20 of the pas-
sengers were sick, but were recovering when the mate wrote, and he intended to
put into some convenient place for supplies. There was a pilot on board, and
every exertion would be made to get her up to the Quarantine Station as soon as
possible." — Quebec Correspondence of the Montreal Herald.
"We are in possession of the latest news from Grosse Isle. The hospital
statement yesterday, the gth, was 2,240. There is a large fleet of vessels at the
station, and amongst them some very sickly, as may be seen from the following
statement : —
— . — — Page One Hundred and Fourteen
THE GROS -SB-ISLE TRAGEDY
Brig Anna Maria, Limerick
Passengers
I IQ
Deaths J
Sick
i
Bark Amy Bremen ... . .
280
Brig Watchful, Hamburg
•tAe
Ship Ganges, Liverpool
80
Bark Corea, Liverpool
CO I
18
Bark Larch, Sligo
44-O
108
Bark Naparima, Dublin
, 226
7
17
Bark Britannia, Greenock ,
Brig Trinity, Limerick
86
all well. -
Bark Lilias, Dublin
2IQ
6
Bark Brothers. Dublin ,
^18
6 -
"A full rigged ship just coming in — not yet boarded.
"The hospitals have never been so crowded, and the poor creatures in the
tents (where the healthy are), are dying by dozens! Eleven died on the night of
the 8th, and one on the road to the hospital yesterday morning.
"Captain Read, of the Marchioness of Breadalbane, died in hospital on the
7th. The Captain of the Virginius died the day after his arrival at Grosse Isle.
"We regret to learn that the Rev. Mr. Paisley is in a critical state. He was dan-
gerously ill this morning. — Quebec Mercury, August loth, 1847.
"Since writing the above we learn that 60 new cases were admitted into hos-
pital, and 300 more, arrived on the 8th and 9th, remain to be admitted!"
"The steamer St. George arrived from Grosse Isle yesterday afternoon, but
brought nothing of importance. The cool temperature of the last few days has
had a favorable effect on the sick in the tents, and fewer cases of fever had ap-
peared.
"The ship Washington from Liverpool, gth of July, had arrived at the sta-
tion yesterday. She has one cabin, and 305 steerage passengers, had 22 deaths
and 20 sick. She reports 15 vessels with passengers in the Traverse.
— Quebec Chronicle.
"Hospital return — Grosse Isle, September i4th, 1847.
Remaining on I4th 1386.
Died i2th to i3th inst 41."
"Hospital return — Grosse Isle, from igth to 25th of September.
Remaining on igth 1 196
Admitted since 436
1632
Discharged 234
Died 121
355
1277
"Deaths at the sheds, where the healthy passengers are landed, during the
same period. — TO.
"There are 1240 cases of fever, and 37 cases of smallpox. Two men died
whilst being landed from the Emigrant, and 162 cases were admitted into hospital
from the same vessel."
Page One Hundred and Fifteen
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
"Hospital statement to the 28th :
Men 473
Women. 441
Children 349
Total 1263
Grosse Isle — Return of sick in hospitals ist October :
Remain
Discharged Died ing
Men 4*4 IO3 7 3°4
Women 412 J56 3 253
Children 326 109 i 216
1152 368 ii 773
"About 400 convalescents went up to Montreal in the Canada on Thursday
last and 35 came up to Quebec in the Lady Colborne on Friday.
"This has enabled the Medical Superintendent to close another hospital; and
this day the services of two more medical men, with their staff of orderlies and
nurses, will be dispensed with."
"Hospital statement, 5th October.
"Men, 230 — Women, 124 — Children, 150 — Total, 504.
"There were then three vessels with emigrants at the station."
"On Saturday last, 3oth October, the Lord Ashburton, from Liverpool,
September, with general cargo and passengers, arrived at Grosse Isle in a most
wretched state.
"When sailing she had 475 steerage passengers, and before her arrival at the
Quarantine Station, she had lost 107 by dysentery and fever; and about 60 of
those remaining were then ill of the same complaints. So deplorable was the
condition of those on board that five of the passengers had to remain to work the
ship up from Grosse Isle."
Reports of the following vessels upon their arrival at Grosse Isle, namely :
Passengers Deaths Sick
Sir Henry Pottinger, Cork 399 98 112
Bark Wellington, Liverpool 435 26 ou
Bark Sir Robert Peel, Liverpool 458 24 12
Schooner Jessie, Limerick 108 2 16
Bark Anne Rankin, Glasgow 232 7 3
Bark Zealous, London 120 i 5
"We are glad to learn that the Soeurs Crises, amongst whom sickness and
death have made such fearful havoc, during their self-immolating ministrations to
the dying emigrants, are again pursuing their charitable labors at the sheds at
Point St. Churles. We are happy to learn, also, that the sickness in Griffintown
is rapidly on the decrease." — Montreal Pilot.
The following advertis3ment is a specimen of many of a similar nature, that
daily appeared in the newspapers ; and requires no comment :
— Page One Hundred and Sixteen
OFFICERS CADET CORPS, QUEBEC DIVISION No. 1, A. O. H.
CADET CORPS, QUEBEC DIVISION No. 1. A. O. H.
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
"Information wanted of Abraham Taylor, aged 12 years, Samuel Taylor, 10
years, and George Taylor, 8 years old, from county Leitrim, Ireland, who landed
in Quebec about five weeks ago — their mother having been detained at Grosse
Isle. Any information respecting them will be thankfully received by their bro-
ther, William Taylor, at this office." — Montreal Transcript, September nth, 1847.
anottjtr J$lile*&totte of Jf ortp=&efaen
BESIDES the national monument at Grosse Isle, the only other mile-stone on the
shores of the St. Lawrence, marking the flight of the Irish famine-suiferers,
as well as one of the saddest and most tragic incidents of 1847, is to be
found at Cape des Hosiers, on the coast of Gaspe. God was more merciful to the
187 emigrants from the County Sligo, who had taken pasage for Canada on the
ship "Carrick," of Whitehaven. Death came to them swiftly and they were at
least spared much of the terrible suffering and the hideous agony of the last
hours of their unhappy kindred at Grosse Isle. In a blinding snowstorm, which
swept the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the 23rd May, 1847, the "Carrick" ran in the
middle of the night upon the rocks at Cape des Rosiers and was dashed to pieces.
Out of the 187 emigrants on board, scarcely Half a dozen were saved, all the others
perishing. One of the survivors, a Mrs. Fingleton, still resides in Montreal. At
the time of the sad event, she was a young girl, coming to this country with her
father, mother and several other children. The father and two of the children
were drowned. The few rescued from the wreck were well cared for by the good
people of the coast. One of the good Samaritans of the occasion was a Rev.
Father Dowling, of Douglastown, who happened to arrive on the spot the next
morning and who found one of the victims in a most pitiable condition. His feet
were lacerated and bleeding from cuts by the rocks. The good Irish priest, taking
the shoes from his own feet, put them on the poor man and, walking barefooted
himself, led him to a place of refuge.
Eighty-seven bodies of the unfortunate victims of the wreck were washed
ashore and received Christian burial on the beach from the good clergy and people
of the locality. For fifty-thre years, however, their last resting place remained
unmarked until the beginning of the present decade, when their sad fate was
pressed upon the attention of the late Rev. Father Quinlivan, the beloved pastor of
St. Patrick's, Montreal, by Messrs. J. A. Whelan, postmaster of Cape des Ro-
siers, Henry Bond, Pierre Guevremont and Eugene Costin, of the same place, with
the result that, through his patriotic initiative, a few spirited Irishmen in Mon-
treal contributed and raised the necessary amount to place a suitable monument
over their graves. On Sunday, the iQth August, 1900, this monument, which is
of red granite and artistic design and which bears suitable inscriptions, was
solemnly unveiled and dedicated in the presence of a large gathering of the popula-
tion of Cape des Rosiers and the different other parishes along the coast, many
hundreds of whom from Gaspe Basin, Douglastown and other points were, through
the kindness of the present Government at Ottawa, conveyed to the scene, free of
charge, on the Government steamer " Aberdeen". The dedication ceremony was
most imposing. The officers of the Marine Department had loaned their flags and
a solid platform had been erected and decorated with the green harp of Old Ireland
and the flags of all nations. Trees had ben cut from the adjoining mountains,
flowers gathered from the neighborhood, garlands strung together by deft fingers,
and the monument, draped in artistic fashion, was covered with things of beauty.
Captain George D. O'Farrell, of Quebec, Government light-house inspector, was
Pafoe One Hundred and Seventeen —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
the moving spirit in all this good work and His Honor Judge Curran had come
down specially from Montreal, delegated by Father Quinlivan, and the subscribers
of the monument fund, to preside at the unveiling, of which the following account
was published by the Montreal True Witness in its then next issue :
"At half-past four on Sunday afternon all was in readiness. The "Aber-
deen" had brought her hundreds from Gaspe Basin, the people from the neigh-
boring parishes had poured in, driven by their hard-pushed horses. The Cure,
Rev. W. Landry, accompanied by Revds. Trois-maisons and Morris, had marched
from the church down the hill, headed by the cross and accompanied by thirty
choir boys, all dressed in immaculately white surplices, to the platform. Twenty
marines from the "Aberdeen" were ranged immediately alongside of the choir
boys. On the platform the Mayor, Mr. Anthony Foley, ocupied the chair. On
his right was Hon. Mr. Justice Curran, and about twenty seats were occupied by
ladies and gentlemen. Now the scene was complete, but its impressiveness was
heightened when the gathering, comprising not less than 800 persons, suddenly
became silent as Father Landry pronounced the benediction upon the monumental
pile. Judge Curran pulled the string, and the flag surrounding the pillar fell
amidst the plaintive chant of the "De Profundis," and the "Miserere." Then the
religious ceremony being over, the Mayor, Mr. Foley, said a few words, and intro-
duced Father Landry, who made an eloquent address, and then introduced Mr.
Justice Curran. All are agreed that the Judge's speech was worthy of the occasion.
He spoke of the Irish race, of its glorious as well as of its tragic history. Having
sketched the memorable periods, in language vivid and touching, he spoke of the
events of the igth century — Catholic emancipation, the work of the great liberator
O'Connell, the labors of Father Matthew and other events, calculated to inspire
hope for Ireland's future, when the famine of 1847, "black '47," as it has been ap-
propriately called, with all its attendant horrors, stalked through the land. Many
wept as the speaker dwelt upon the harrowing scenes of which the wreck of the
"Carrick" was but a minor detail. Then addressing himself to the proceedings of
the day and to the noble inspiration of the Rev. Father Quinlivan, he closed with
a peroration, that will long be remembered. The learned Judge was followed by
Mr. Pierre Guevremont, a worthy French-Canadian, who first brought the circum-
stances under the notice of Father Quinlivan, and the next speaker was Captain
George D. O'Farrell, whose remarks were well received. He said other monu-
ments, more pretentious, had been spoken of, but this one was an accomplished
fact. He hoped it would act as a spur. To Father Quinlivan too much thanks
could not be given, as well as to Mr. Guevremont, whilst the people would not
forget the honor done them by the delegation of so distinguished a representation,
to speak on behalf of St. Patrick's parish of Montreal. After Captain O'Farrell's
speech, Miss Costin came to the platform, bearing an exquisite bouquet of flow-
ers, which she presented to Mr. Justice Curran, after having read an address of
welcome. In his reply, the Judge took occasion to express the warm thanks oi
all concerned to the Hon. Mr. Bernier, Minister of Inland Revenue, and then read
a beautiful letter from Mr. Rodolphe Lemieux, M.P., for Gaspe County, contain-
ing words of sympathy, and a handsome subscription towards defraying expenses.
Mr. Lemieux's letter was loudly applauded. This ended the ceremonies of the
erection of the monument, to the Cape des Rosiers victims, fifty-three years after
the sad disaster. It is another evidence of the enduring patriotism of the Irish
people. Fathr Quinlivan 's name is cut in the granite of the monument, but it is
not less permanently imprinted upon the hearts of a grateful people."
Page One Hundred and Eighteen
THE GROSS'S -ISLE TRAGEDY
Beproaclj anb 3t3 &emobal
N the "Canadian Messenger of the Sacred Heart" for the present month of
August, "Vivia Fitz-Grey" writes as follows under the above heading: —
The ancient chronicler, Giraldus, once taunted the Archbishop of Cashel
because no one in Ireland had received the crown of martyrdom. "Our people
may be barbarous," the prelate answered, "but they have never lifted their hands
against God's saints ; but now that a people have come amongst us who know how
to make them [it was just after the English invasion], we shall have martyrs pre-
sently."
Did the archbishop, speaking from the depths of a prophetic soul, see the
gaunt spectre stalking forth throughout the land? Did visions of leaner kine
than ever troubled Pharaoh's dreams float before him along the Shannon's banks
and over against the shores of Killarney's loughs? And was it the portentous
«hapes discerned in the Angevin dawn which became the grim realities of the first
decade of the Victorian reign?
The years 1846, 1847' 1848, witnessed a cataclysm in Ireland, for at that
time a famine fell upon the land. The potato crop failed, a failure that meant
the extermination of the Irish peasantry, whose dependence on this tuber dated
from events well-known in Irish history. Successive high-handed land-deals —
Elizabethan, Stuart, Cromwellian — had driven the Irish to the bogs and moun-
tains, where they discovered existence possible only through the cultivation of this
esculent, so tenacious of life in conditions hostile to all other species of food-plant.
But a blight came; the crop was ruined. The country soon found itself in
the throes of a famine. Who was to provide? who was to act? Ireland had no
legislature of her own, nor had she had for seven and forty years. In the Imper-
ial Parliament she had but a delusive semblance of representation ; and so totally
useless was any action of theirs that the Irish members preferred to stay at home.
But the politicians in England probably knew nothing about the condition of the
country from which the cries of distress proceeded, or, if they did, they thought
the time opportune for the making of political capital out of a disaster. It is a
historic fact that the people were dying by thousands of famine and of fever be-
fore England as a nation could see her way to move at all in the matter. Even at
the famous monster meeting held in Dublin, in 1846, where a formidable array of
lords, commoners and landed proprietors raised their voices in protest and appeal,
nothing practical resulted. The answer of the Imperial economists to the solemn
warning and demand of this august assembly, was simply: "We cannot inter-
fere with the ordinary currents of trade."
True, the Temporary Relief Act was passed and put into force for a portion
of the year 1847, but its application was made with unspeakable humiliation to
the Irish race. The Hon. A. M. Sullivan has left himself on record as a witness :
"I doubt if the world ever saw so huge a demoralization, so great a degradation,
visited upon a once high-spirited and sensitive people... I frequently stood and
watched the scene till tears blinded me, and almost choked with grief and pas-
sion."
This Act and a scheme to rid Ireland of its surplus population were really the
only means settled on by the Government to cope with the disaster.
But the people, the peasantry, "once the country's pride," were dying, and
dying by tens of thousands, of famine and of fever. The alternative now became
flight. "To the sea! to the sea!" and the great and melancholy exodus began to
Page One Hundred and Nineteen —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
the sea, away from the dear old home-land, to the wilds and rigors of the Cana-
dian colony.
Who shall depict the tragedy of those scenes? Broken hearts, bitter tears,
despairing- farewells! The slow-moving- ships, whose sails were shrouds, their
prows turned westward, and Death in command. Vessels laden with thousands
of perishing Irish plowed the Atlantic, and no pen can ever describe the nameless
horrors of a voyage in one of those floating sepulchres.
Sir Stephen de Vere, who shared the wretchedness of an emigrant ship in
the interests of his afflicted countrymen, subsequently addressed a letter on the
subject to the Under Secretary of State, "If the emigrants washed," he wrote,
"they could not cook their food from lack of water; they had to stay in bed to
feel their hunger less ; ardent spirits were sold to passengers once or twice a week ,
lights were prohibited because the ship was freighted with powder for the garrison
of Quebec, although there were open fire-grates upon deck, and lucifer matches
and lighted pipes used secretly in the sleeping-berths." And this ship was by ex-
ception better than the other emigrant vessels coming to Canada.
Hundreds died on the long voyage out, unshriven and unhouseled, being ne-
cessarily cast overboard to mix with the elements of ocean's depths. Those who
survived reached the quarantine stations at Partridge Island, New Brunswick,
and at Grosse Isle, below Quebec, enfeebled by long lack of proper nourishment,
and infected with disease either from this cause or from the foully unsanitary
conditions of transportation. They found no adequate preparations made for
their coming, and they were obliged to remain on the ships at anchor, suffering
untold misery.
At the end of the month of May, 1847, the chief agent for emigration at Que-
bec sends a report of the emigrant vessels at Grosse Isle to the Earl of Elgin,
then Governor-General of Canada, in which he says : "The number at present
detained there is twelve thousand, the greater part of whom are still on board
their ships." He considers the question of feeding this large body of people a
great and serious problem, the supplies being low, and the regular ration being
too scant anyway properly to support human life. "The mortality," he adds, "is
truly alarming, the number of deaths averaging from forty to fifty a day."
From May 24, 1847, to October i6th of the same year, about one hundred
thousand Irish emigrants or, more properly speaking, British subjects, if not in-
deed, full-fledged citizens, were reported to have been landed in the country, and
were "lying helpless in the sea and river ports of Canada."
It seems that the German and other emigrants to the Western States, at this
particular period, found no difficulty in proceeding to their destination ; but the
Irish who were desirous of joining their relatives in the United States were not
permitted to land at the ports along the frontier. The American steamboats on
Lake Champlain refused to take them; and the authorities at Ogdensburg invar-
iably sent them back. At Oswego and Sackett's Harbor, the same course was
adopted ; at Lewiston, the ferryman was imprisoned for landing Irish immigrants
at that place. The United States Government naturally objected to having their
country made a dumping-ground for the victims of Great Britain's "Clearance"
policy in Ireland and they had legislated with a view to self-protection. A law
was enacted limiting the number of persons which each passenger-vessel was al-
lowed to carry, and raising the passage price so that destitute persons were ex-
cluded. A law previously in existence in the State of New York was more strict-
ly enforced, which obliged the owner of a vessel to give bonds that no emigrant
brought out by him would become chargeable to the Commonwealth for a period
— Page One Hundred and Twenty
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
of two years after arrival. The enforcement of these laws helped to augment con-
siderably the number of diseased and destitute persons to Canada.
In the official accounts of the time one meets certain depositions made by the
incomers on their arrival at Grosse Isle, which carry awful condemnations of some
Irish landlords :*the demolition of houses, the separation of families, and other in-
stances of cruelty and treachery that make the Acadian tragedy of 1755 Pa^e mto
insignificance. Sweeping generalizations are, of course, not to be indulged in.
It is a fact that sympathy and assistance were given by many landlords and by
hosts of individuals, both in Ireland and England, but, in the main, Government
methods had to prevail. The calamity was exploited for the making of political
capital, with the dire result that two million people, mostly the peasantry, per-
ished in those dreadful famine years.
The nations of the world responded to the cry of distress which went forth
from the British Isles in 1847. John Mitchell told the truth, however, when he
wrote the words that every son of the Celtic race would endorse: "I solemnly
affirm that neither Ireland, nor anybody in Ireland, ever asked alms or favors of
any kind, either from England or any other nation or people; it was England her-
self that sent round the hat." He wished that the world should know this, even
while Ireland was trying to show her eternal gratitude to those nations and indi-
viduals who came forward with help: — "to the Czar, the Sultan and the Pope,
for their roubles and their pauls ; to the Pashas of Egypt, the Shah of Persia, the
Emperor of China, the Rajahs of India, and above all to the United States, which
did more than all the rest of the world — Philadelphia taking the lead — in conspir-
ing to do for Ireland what her so-styled rulers refused to do — to keep her young
and old people living in the land."
Westward on to America continues to turn the tide of a hopeless, hapless
emigration. The quarantine station at Grosse Isle reeks with the squalor and the
horrors of deadly disease and enforced degradation. Physicians, clergymen and
private individuals, devote themselves heroically, but their efforts to cope with the
exigencies are in the proportion of a loaf to a hungry army. Suffering and death,
fever and panic on all sides. At Grosse Isle alone the total number of deaths is
estimated at nearly six thousand.
With the opening of navigation in May, 1847, it was decided to send on to
Montreal the convalescents at Grosse Isle and Quebec, as well as the new arrivals
who "were as yet not attacked by the typhus ; so that Montreal now becomes the
head centre of the trouble. Obedient to the instructions of the encyclical of Pius
IX, on the Irish famine calamity of 1847, Bishop Bourget, of Montreal, addressed
a circular letter to his parish priests, requesting the immediate assistance and co-
operation of all the faithful in the fearful emergency which the colony was facing.
The response was prompt and generous, considering the circumstances and the
population of the country.
A committee was immediately formed to prepare for the arrival of the unfor-
tunate people who were soon to be cast upon the shores of the Upper St. Law-
rence. Temporary hospitals, or sheds, were hastily prepared by the municipal
authorities, and by the middle of June six thousand Irish had been landed at Mon-
treal. Of this number thirty-five hundred were at once assigned to "the sheds",
the others being sent up the country to Bytown, to Kingston, to Toronto, and
adjacent points. But as was to be expected, before the early days of July, the
epidemic was raging in Montreal. The average daily number of deaths went as
high as thirty and forty, the disease being no longer confined to the strangers,
but having spread among the inhabitants of the city.
Page One Hundred and Twenty-One —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
The Sulpicians closed their college to allow their staff of professors to give
the dying the benefits of their ministry ; the Jesuits of New York City sent a contin-
gent of their members to fulfill the pressing duties of the hour. At the request
of the emigration authorities, the Grey Nuns of Montreal took up their position
at the front, and never flinched during the ordeal, though all, it may be said, con-
tracted the disease, and many laid down their lives in the field. The Sisters of
Providence joined their assistance; even the cloisters of the Hotel Dieu were
thrown open, by episcopal order, to allow these Religious to serve in this moment
of imperious need. Bishop Bourget was there with Bishop Phelan, of Kingston,
not only to offer spiritual ministrations, but to alleviate physical suffering as well.
Matters continued thus for several weeks, the pestilence abating at times,
only to break out anew, upntil the scourge had at last spent itself, and the ordeal
was over. In the month of August of this "Black '47," whose gloom thus ex-
tended to all America, the Bishop of Montreal wrote a second pathetic letter,
wherein he invoked the Virgin Mary, under the title "Our Lady of Good Help,"
to come to the assistance of her stricken city, promising her the tribute of an
ex-voto, and at the same to revive the pilgrimages in her honor to the historic
church of Bonsecours, so popular in the early days of the French Colony.
Hundreds of fatherless and motherless Irish children whom this catastrophe
had thrown on the charity of the public, were looked after by the ever devoted and
kindly disposed French Canadians, who adopted them into their own families,
or cared for them until protection could be found elsewhere.
The names and the deeds of many another — clergyman, physician, conse-
crated virgin — should somewhere be blazoned in letters of gold ; but data cannot
be found. In those strenuous days, in Canada, chronicling was largely left to the
recording angels.
At Bytown — the Ottawa of to-day — the records of the time show the daily
average of typhus patients to have ben two hundred, between the months of June
and October of this terrible year 1847 — with a total of four hundred deaths. The
Oblate Fathers and the Grey Nuns of the Cross bore nobly their share of the heat
and burden of the emergency, in no instance shrinking from the dangers and du-
ties of the hour. At Kingston and Toronto the same humanity and heroism were
exercised, and edifying traits could be told of if data were not so difficult to ob-
tain. What is authentic, however, is that the Right Rev. Dr. Power, Bishop of
Toronto, stricken while attending to his unhappy countrymen, laid down his life
in the performance of his priestly functions. This Christian self-sacrifice was
shared also by other denominations, the Rev. Mr. Durie, a Presbyterian minis-
ter, succumbing to the disease at Bytown.
The official report of the Montreal Emigrant Society for 1847, embodies this
pathetic paragaph : "From Grosse Island, the great charnel-house of victimized
humanity, up to Port Sarnia, and along the borders of our magnificent river,
upon the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, wherever the tide of emigration has
extended, are to be found the final resting-places of the sons and daughters of
Erin; one unbroken chain of graves, where repose fathers and mothers, sisters
and brothers, in one commingled heap, without a tear bedewing the soil nor a
stone marking the spot. Twenty thousand, and upwards, have thus gone to
their graves."
Twelve years later, a portion of this reproach was removed by the erection
of a monument at Point St. Charles, Montreal. A huge boulder, elemental in
composition and form, taken from the central span of the Victoria Bridge, when
the men were building the piers, was set up and inscribed thus :
— — • Page One Hundred and Twenty-Two
REV. P. H. BARRETT, C.S8.R.
Chaplain Division No. 1, A. O. H.,
Quebec
MISS RAYMOND
President Div. No. 1, Ladies Auxiliary,
A. O. H., Quebec
HON. MICHAEL F. HACKETT
Of Stanstcad, P.Q., a leading Catholic
lawyer of the Eastern Townships; a former
Minister in the Provincial Government,
and Grand President for many years of the
Catholic Mutual Benevolent Association.
An enthusiastic advocate of the National
Monument at Grosse Isle.
HON. JUSTICE CURRAN
Of the Superior Court, Montreal; a pro-
minent Irishman.
THE GROSS. E-ISLE TRAGEDY
TO
PRESERVE FROM DESECRATION
THE REMAINS OF 6,OOO IMMIGRANTS
WHO DIED OF SHIP FEVER
A. D. 1847-8
THIS STONE
IS ERECTED BY THE WORKMEN
OF
MESSRS. PETO, BRASSEY & BETTS
EMPLOYED IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE
VICTORIA BRIDGE
A. D. 1859.
For some utilitarian purpose, this monument has been, in recent years, re-
moved to its present position in St. Patrick's Square, which seems to be a case
of making it a monument standing- wide of the mark.
And now happily the remaining- portion of the reproach must go. At the an-
nual banquet of the St. Patrick's Society, Montreal, in March last, the Hon. Char-
les Murphy, Secretary of State in the Dominion Cabinet, made the important an-
nouncement that the Canadian Government was prepared to furnish a free site on
Telegraph Hill, facing the St. Lawrence River, for the monument which the
Ancient Order of Hibernians propose to erect, "to mark the spot where many hun-
dreds of patriotic Irishmen lie buried on Grosse Isle." The honorable gentleman
explained the triple meaning which the sight of this monument is to convey :
"Primarily the monument will commemorate the heroism of those who left
their native land rather than abjure that which they prized more dearly than life
itself. In the next place it will commemorate the kindness of the French Cana-
dians who ministered to our unfortunate countrymen and countrywomen, and
when the end had come not only laid them tenderly in their graves, but adopted
their little ones and cared for them as if these Irish orphans were their own chil-
dren. But the monument will serve another and a more important purpose. We
are told that the statue of Liberty, standing in majestic watch and ward over
New York harbor, was designed to impress the incoming stranger that he is ar-
riving in a land of freedom. At best, that statue is an abstract symbol, whose im-
port is grasped by very few individuals among the teeming thousands who enter
New York for the first time. Not so with the Celtic cross that is to surmount
Telegraph Hill on the St. Lawrence. As the incoming stranger sails up that noble
and historic river, his gaze will rest on that monument, and no sooner will he hear
its story than his mind will receive an indelible impression that this is not only a
land of freedom, but that it is a land of brotherly love, a land where the races live
in harmony, and where each vies with the other in promoting the great work of
national unity."
With this project carried out, forgetfulness yields to remembrance; neglect
melts away in the warmth of genuine sympathy, even if it brings its tribute a
trifle late. Let the Celtic cross arise, then, to the memory of a people who have
so clearly proven their right to the title, "Lovers of the Cross;" a people whom
earthly dereliction sends unfailingly to the arms of Christ even as extended on the
wood of the Cross. In what other form could their endless ignominies be more
appropriately commemorated?
The highest form of suffering is endurance. Ireland has borne much and
loved much withal. Is not this the test of martyrdom? Are the wild beasts in
Page One Hundred and Twenty-Three —
THE GROSSE-1SLE TRAGEDY
the arena, the wheel, the boiling bath, the bed of steel, more expressive of man's,
inhumanity to man and more frightful as means of execution, than the prolonged
agonies of slow starvation and of neglected disease?
With an approximate two millions of men, women and children, subjected
to these long-drawn-out tortures, till death cut the Gordian knot of their trial ;
with uncomputed thousands awaiting their resurrection on American soil — with
these totallings, the martyr-roll of Ireland sems sufficiently full, and the reproach
of Giraldus quite amply removed. VIVIA FITZ-GREY.
Several days after the monument celebration at Grosse Isle, a Montreal paper
published the following under the heading of "Memorial Stone to be Restored —
Hibernians Confident that Point St. Charles Fever Relic will be Replaced": — "A
question much bruited amongst Hibernians during the past few years in this city,
and one which was a topic of considerable discussion during the Grosse Isle cele-
bration, even being referred to by the National President, Matthew Cummings, in
his speech, is the removal of the memorial stone erected in 1859 by the workmen
of Peto, Brassey & Betts, from the grave of the many fever victims, at Point St.
Charles. This stone, which was taken out of its former resting place by the
G.T.R., and thrown by the roadside on Wellington street, remaining there for
months until finally placed in its present position on St. Patrick's Square, was un-
derstood to have been erected as a perpetual memorial — or as local tradition has it,
"as long as water flows and grass grows." Hence its secret removal, in the dead
of night, the dishonor cast upon it by being left out on the side of the public high-
way, the apparent lethargy into which some Hibernians had fallen concerning this
insult offered to their revered dead, was condemned in no uncertain terms.
"A visiting Hibernian, high up in the order, commenting upon the success of
the celebration, which demonstrated the great strength of the order in the province
of Quebec, expressed the hope that local members would rally to the call of the
National President, whilst leading Montreal officers were unanimous in their as-
surance that, under present favorable circumstances, and relying upon the known
good will of His Lordship, the Anglican Bishop of Montreal, who holds the title
deeds of the property, they would not be tardy in seeing that such a sacred relic
be restored to its former place of honor in the community."
3 &urt)tbor'g fetorp ftecallefa
'N 1847, the year of the Irish famine, and the death and burial at Grosse Isle of
the Irish immigrants who died from the fever plague, Nicholas Piton, a
Jersey man, and his girl wife of 19, lived on the island. Piton was then
manager for Martin Ray, of Quebec, who furnished the provisions on the island
and was known as the sutler.
Mrs. Marceau, of Quebec, who is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Piton, both of
whom are now dead, tells as she heard them from her mother's lips the horrors of
that eventful year. She spoke of one ship which left Ireland laden with emigrants
and which, on reaching Grosse Isle, was flying a white flag, only the captain and
mate being alive on board. Both were taken to hospital, where they died several
days later. Hundreds were buried daily and owing to dread of the disease it was
almost impossible to secure nurses. The women inmates of the Quebec gaol were
liberated conditionally that they should nurse the plague-stricken people at Grosse
Isle. Most of those nurses became victims of the disease and died. Scarcely any
Page One Hundred and Twenty-Four
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
who were attacked by the fever survived. It was only in exceptional cases that
those who contracted the disease lived to relate the story of the terrible ordeal.
The work of Fathers McGuirk and McGauran was saintly. Day and night
these dex oted priests were to be seen hovering to and fro from pallet to pallet giv-
ing spirir.ua! relief to the sufferers. Regardless of themselves, they toiled on with
out rest and with improper nourishment, sparing nothing to accomplish their holy
mission. As an example of their spirit of Catholicity and magnanimity, Mrs.
Marceau tells the following story which was often related to her by her mother :
Wishing to relieve a sick man, Father McGuirk approached Mrs. Piton and
asked her for a glass of wine. On receiving it he turned about to give it to the
patient, when to his surprise he saw Father McGauran at the man's side.
"What are you doing there, McGauran?" he asked.
"I'm giving the poor man absolution," was the reply.
''Sure, man, he's a Protestant," returned Father McGuirk.
"Never mind," said McGauran, "if it won't do him any good, it won't do him
any harm."
Among the Protestant clergy who did good work was Bishop Mountain.
Most of the children who survived the quarantine were left orphans and were
shipped to Quebec and Montreal.
Mr. Piton was stricken down with the disease, but was nursed through it by
his young wife who caught it also, but only late in the autumn, when she had gone
to Quebec to spend the Winter.
Mrs. Piton only died four years ago and on the occasion of the excursion to
Grosse Isle in '97 to celebrate the $oth anniversary, she made the trip with her
son, but did not let anybody know how closely connected she had been with the
place and its gruesome story. When on the island, however, she enquired to find
out if there was anybody else present who had gone through the terrors of '47,
and discovered that there was only one old boatman who was still on the island
and who had been there during the plague.
Nicholas Piton afterwards became one of the leading building contractors of
Quebec and Levis, taking an active part in the construction of the forts at the
latter place for the Imperial Government and, as a member of the contracting firm
of Cimon & Piton, erecting the Parliament Buildings in Quebec for the Provincial
Government.
£Haugi)ter Benounceb
any newspaper, hardly any book, Irish, English, French, American or
Canadian, dealing with the subject of the awful slaughter of the fever and
famine years in Ireland, can be taken up that does not severely denounce
it and those who were largely and criminally responsible for it.
The Imperial Census Commission declared that more than a million and a half
of persons in Ireland were stricken down by the epidemic during and immediately
after 1846, adding : "There are no statistics to establish the number of the starv-
ing peasantry, who died on the roads and among the hedges."
Sir Robert Peel said : "I do not believe that the annals of any civilized or even
barbarous country have ever presented such a picture of horrors."
Right Hon. John Bright said : "There are parts of Ireland which cannot be
traversed even yet (1854) without realizing that an enormous crime was commit-
ted by the Government of this country."
Even the London Times said : "The name of Irish landlord stinks in the nos-
trils of the whole civilized world. "
Page One Hundred and Twenty- Five —
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
£J)e 3frisf) potato Crop
3N one of his historical works, John Mitchell has justly remarked that the great-
est conquest in England ever made was to gain the ear of the world. In the
case of Ireland especially, she has for centuries possessed not only its soil,
but the advantage of telling the story of its oppressed people from her own view
point, while preventing them from making themselves heard in their own behalf.
Down almost to within the memory of living men, education, even in its most
rudimentary form, was a felony in Ireland, on the correct enough principle that
the most effective method of subjugating and despoiling a people is to keep them
in enforced ignorance. And for centuries the English press and English public
men and writers have systematically misrepresented and sneered at the Irish peo-
ple as an ignorant, thriftless, lazy, filthy, drunken, seditious lot, eternally pos-
sessed of a grievance and always giving trouble through their turbulence, their
levity of character and, what our American friends would call, their general cus-
sedness. Even the machinery of the stage has been used to mercilessly caricature
them and to so associate all these supposed characteristics, together with pigs,
potatoes, caubeens, dudeens and landlord shooting with the Irish name, that the
outside world has come to largely believe in these cruel slanders and to regard
the sober, decent, peaceful, industrious Irishman as a rara avis, an exception to
his race, who should be excused for being so different from the rest. Yet, in pro-
portion to population, Ireland's drink bill is far below that of England, Scotland,
the United States or Canada, its people are as industrious and thrifty as any
other in Europe, if not vastly more so, considering the additional rent and other
oppressive burthens which they have had to bear, and though they belong to "the
fighting race" par excellence of the world, they are not more quarrelsome or tur-
bulent than other peoples similarly situated; they are not going about inviting
others to tread on the tail of their coats, but when they do enter the fighting
ranks, they invariably give a good account of themselves. The Kellys, the
Burkes and the Sheas have ever been to the front on many a hard fought field,
and British arms have more than once owed their rescue or their success to their
dauntless, dashing bravery. As it was to an Irishman, the Duke of Wellington,
that England was indebted for the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, so
also was it the military genius and energetic qualities of two others, Lord Roberts
and General French, that she may thank for her eventual triumph in the Boer
war. As for the assassinations of landlords in Ireland in past years, it may be
said, without seeking to justify them, that they were the natural outcome of the
grievous wrongs persistently inflicted on an ignorant, but high-spirited people
driven to desperation and left without redress in any other way.
As for the charge of want of thrift, energy, industry and organizing power,
so frequently hurled at the Irish, the reply is that it is disproved by the remarkable
success of Irishmen and men of Irish blood in every land but their own. Irish
names stand high on the roll of fame all over the world, in the industries, in the
arts and sciences, in literature, in the medical and other liberal professions, in the
Church — in fine, in every calling and walk of life. In Canada, an Irishman, Sir
Charles Fitzpatrick, fills at this moment the highest position next to the Gov-
ernor-General, and Canadian annals fairly bristle with illustrious Irish names.
Among our American neighbors, no less than nine of the signers of their famous
Declaration of Independence were Irish or of Irish descent. As captains of indus-
try, capitalists, bankers, merchants, journalists, statesmen, orators, literary men,
poets, novelists, politicians, military and naval leaders, churchmen, explorers,
miners, etc., few races have distinguished themselves as much as the Irish in the
Page One Hundred and Twenty-Six
HIS GRACE MGR. O'CONNELL
Archbishop of Boston
HIS GRACE MGR. FARLEY
Archbishop of New York
HIS EXCELLENCY THE LATE MGR.
CONROY
Bishop of Ardagh, Ireland, first Papal
Delegate to Canada.
LATE FATHER MCCARTHY, C.SS.R.
An Ardent Support?!1 of the Monument
Project
THE GROSS E-ISLE TRAGEDY
United States, and the same may be said of the representatives of the race in Aus-
tralia and the other British possessions, as well as in other parts of the world.
But one of Oie most cruel and gratuitously insulting charges of all levelled
against that much maligned race and believed in by many, is that they brought
the terrible calamity and suffering of 1846-47 upon themselves by their own fault,
through their improvidence and through placing their entire dependence upon ont
crop — the potato. But the ever increasing exactions of their spendthrift landlords
left them nothing to be provident or saving with. They simply lived poorly from
hand to mouth and as for placing their dependence upon a single crop, the
potato was the only one usually abundant enough to support them and their
families. Everything else they laised from the land went to pay rent and tithes
and that more than enough other food than the potato was raised in Ireland to
have supported its people during the failure of the potato crop, is proved by the
large exports of provisions to England during that period.
The charge referred to, especially in the mouths of Englishmen, sounds very
much like the old saying about knocking a man down and then kicking him for
falling. And when the ignorant or the thoughtless ask why Irishmen did not turn
their attention to doing something else for their living but potato-growing and
hog-raising, we are reminded of the titled English lady who, when told that the
poor of a certain place were suffering from want of bread, innocently enquired
why they did not eat cake. The fact is that for upwards of two hundred and
fifty years, all that English law and tyranny could do, all that perverted human
ingenuity and rapacious greed could devise, to kill Ireland's trade and industries,
to leave to the Irish people nothing else but the land and agriculture to subsist
upon chiefly for landlord benefit and the supplying of the English market, was
resorted to. Consequently there is no reason to blame the Irish people for plac-
ing their chief dependence upon the potato crop, for they had nothing or little else
left to depend upon. No less weighty an authority than the late Lord Dufferin,
Canada's former popular Governor-General, has placed this question beyond doubt
by his writings and utterances, showing how Ireland's trade and industries were
ruthlessly destroyed to build up England's commercial and industrial supremacy.
To-day, good women like Lady Aberdeen and others are trying to lock the stable
door after the steed has been stolen. They are attempting to revive certain petty
Irish industries, but their work is more or less an up-hill one, for the peasantry,
who were formerly expert in them, are gone. Their mouldering remains fill the
famine and fever pits of 1846-47.
As showing the great economic importance and value of the Irish potato
crop, as well as the leading part it still plays in the subsistence of the Irish people
at home, the following extract from a recent Irish paper will be found of interest
when recalling he w they suffered from its failure in 1846-47 :
"In potatoes we are supreme; here we beat England and leave Wales and
Scotland nowhere. Last year was a great year for potatoes, for on a less acreage
we raised a very increased yield. It is strange that in this matter of potatoes,
where we beat al' the rest, our average yield per acre is less than all the rest.
We suppose the habit and the fact that potatoes are raised largely for consump-
tion on the premises, as distinct from realization in the market, have much to say
to this. In 1908 we raised 3,199,678 tons of potatoes; England raised 2,719,569,
Scotland 1,048,559, and Wales only 151,700. We have a very small importation
of potatoes, whilst in 1907 we exported over 100,000 tons, valued at .£394,937.
Evidently £3 a ton is under the mark as a price for potatoes, but if we take it at that
our potato yield in 1908 was £9,499,104, and we ate nearly all of them ourselves."
Page One Hundred and Twenty-Seven
THE GROSSE-1SLE TRAGEDY
Cfje £>f)ip jFeber at ^Montreal
(By the Lnte ALFKED PERRY)
"In the year 1846 there was a famine in Ireland and Scotland which led to a
general movement of all who could scrape together enough money to pay their
passage to America. Canada was not at that time in a good position to receive
or absorb a large and sudden influx of poor people unaccustomed to its ways and
its climate. This country was largely a wilderness at that time; communication
with distant and often isolated settlements was difficult. The Canadian harvest
of 1846 was poor and there was but little surplus products in the country. With
the authorities in the Old Country the sole idea was to get rid of the surplus
population, and dumping it on the colonies was the cheapest, easiest, most effect-
ual means for doing so. To meet the incoming flood of destitute humanity, Can-
ada had no efficient police, no poor laws, no local opulence, no public charitable in-
stitutions. Prices of provisions were high and supplies inadequate. There were
no extensive public works requiring laborers. There was, indeed, nothing but
land, and no man could go on a Canadian bush farm, fresh from a country where
conditions were altogether different, with nothing but his hands. Nevertheless,
it is a fact that many who had already settled in Canada sent home money to en-
able relatives to join them. Speaking in reply to Mr. Smith O'Brien, in the House
of Commons, Lord John Russell said that emigrants settled in the United States
and Canada had within a short period sent home no less a sum than ^"600,000
stg., to enable their friends to emigrate. An idea of the extent of the tide of
emigration at that time may be formed by the fact that in 1846, no less than 125,-
678 persons had sailed for North America.
"Towards the latter end of May the tide had fairly set in, and on June i there
were 35 vessels in quarantine at Grosse Isle. At that date the physicians reported
five cases of typhus fever ; deaths during the voyage and after arrival were set
down to dysentery superinduced by want and lack of change of provisions on the
voyage. A correspondent wrote: 4In Quebec immigrants of every description
crowd the streets. Germans, thickly bearded and wearing large moustaches, are
met with in abundance; Irishmen, gaunt, and troops of children swarm every-
where. The larger proportion are perfectly destitute.'
"On June 7 there were 40 ships in quarantine at Grosse Isle and 20,000 immi-
grants afloat and on shore. A virulent form of typhus had broken out and a few
cases were reported at Quebec. The disease had also broken out on the steamers
plying between Quebec and Montreal, and many persons died on the way.
"By June 14, according to the reports in the Montreal papers, there were a
multitude of destitute and diseased persons landed on the wharves from the steam-
boats.' The emigrant sheds were much overcrowded and deaths numerous. The
Gazette stated that 'the prevailing disease seems to be low typhoid fever, and the
fatal cases are mostly those on whom the peculiar local influences, either of air
or water, cause when in a state of debility dysentery to supervene.'
"The number of deaths from the 'ship fever,' as it was called, rose to about 250
a week in the latter half of the month of June. After that date the death rate
decreased. The ravages of the disease were almost entirely confined to the immi-
grants. Mr. Yarwood, chief emigrant agent, died of the fever, which he con-
tracted while in discharge of his duty. During the first week in July the fever
claimed many victims, among them several Roman Catholic priests, who had gone
to Grosse Isle to minister to the spiritual wants of the immigrants.
"A Montreal newspaper of July 4th said : 'Nothing which can be done to alle-
viate the sufferings of the emigrants, and guard the city from contagion has been
—Page One Hundred and Twenty -Eight
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
omitted.' The same paper described the emigrant sheds as 'really comfortable,
well-covered wooden framed structures,' with convenient places for cooking-, and
abundance of wholesome bread and meat for all those in want, provided by the
Government.
"By the 8th the weather had become extremely sultry. Steamboats con-
tinued to land emigrants by hundreds, and it was found that the contagion had
spread to the regular residents of the city. A newspaper editorially observed :
'Notwithstanding the efforts of the Government to meet the unexampled pressure
of the flood of misery and disease from immigration, it is daily accumulating be-
yond the means yet available to meet it. The condition of the poor people at the
sheds is described as most deplorable, and one by one even their medical attend
ants are sinking beneath the weight of fatigue and contagion, the latter aggra-
vated by difficult accommodation, and its consequent filth and misery.'
" While this was the condition of things at the 'sheds,' the General Hospital
and Infirmary were crowded to repletion with fever cases from among the people
of the city. „ They are so numerous as to embarrass the physicians, and almost
to make proper means of cure out of the question — isolation is impossible."
"The Pilot of July 8 contained the following appalling statement: 'There are
at the present moment forty-eight nuns sick from exposure, fatigue and the at-
tacks of the disease. All the Grey Nuns in attendance, two of the Sisters of Char-
ity, five physicians and eight students, now lie sick; to which gloomy and sicken-
ing record we must add the number of 1586 persons of all ages and sexes lingering
on beds of wretchedness and corruption, in many cases without an attendant to
afford a drop of water or even attend to those decent formalities which the sad
solemnities of death require. The living and the dead are mingled in groups to-
gether, and presented a spectacle where Death reigned in his most terrible inflic-
tions, and where oppressed humanity had assembled to pay him tribute.*
"On the same day that this report appeared the heat was terrific and several
cases of sunstroke were recorded in the papers.
"July zoth the Press roundly denounced the Emigrant Commissioners for not
moving the immigrants to Boucherville Island, instead of keeping them at Wind-
mill Point, where 1800 wretched creatures are huddled together, and without pro-
per care of any kind, dying in spaces of about 5 feet by 4." The same paper also
alluded to the "horrible fact that the citizens of Montreal must drink the river
water, passing down, impregnated with all the foul effluvia and excrements of dis-
ease. In addition to these horrors, thieves, bidding defiance to contagion, were
continually prowling about the sheds plundering the dying and the dead.
"On July i6th the number of sick at the sheds was 1500; deaths, 23.
"July i7th, La Minerve stated that all the priests of the Seminary who were
in attendance on the immigrants had been prostrated by the epidemic. One of
them, Rev. P. Richard, had died. Rev. Mr. Connolly was the only English-
speaking priest able to visit the sheds. The same paper tells of severe sickness
among the nuns, and the death of Sister Primeau. At this time 400 orphan immi-
grant children were being cared for by Les Dames du Bon Pasteur, and other
religious institutions of the city.
"During the week ending July 2Oth, the mortality reached 240.
"A great number of cases of concealment of money came to light so as to
lead to great doubts that the poverty of immigrants was so great as pretended.
It was declared, there is no getting them to labor for reasonable wages ; they seem
determined, if possible, to get fed, and forwarded at the expense of the Govern-
ment to the West. One person died in the sheds, on pauper's allowance, and suf-
Page One Hundred and Twenty-Nine —
THE GROSSE-1SLE T R A G E D Y
fering all the miseries of the place, on whose person ^345 were found. Cases of
10, 20 and 30 sovereigns were found on bodies of deceased immigrants, who, when
almost in the agonies of death, beseeched for charity in the most piteous accents
and protested they were destitute.
"Among the horrors of the time many noble and touching instances were wit-
nessed. How to provide for the hundreds of destitute orphans became a question
of leading importance. Several parish priests took an active interest in it.
Among others it is related that Rev. Mr. Harper, cure of St. Gregoire, went to
Grosse Isle, from which place he took thirty Irish orphan children, dressed them
neatly, and distributed them among his parishioners for adoption. Three times
this worthy priest made the trip, taking thirty orphans away each time, and pro-
viding them all with homes.
"A paper of July 24th contained the following editorial: 'It is our painful
duty to announce the death of the Rev. Mr. Richard, an aged and respected priest
of the Roman Catholic Church. This is the eighth gentleman of the Seminary
who has fallen a victim to his pious zeal from contagion caught in administering
the rites of their religion to the destitute emigrants in the sheds. The whole of
the Sisters of the Grey Nunnery are laid up with illness contracted in the same
mission. Nevertheless, the exertions of the Roman Catholic clergy are unwearied
by fatigue and undeterred by danger. The Right Rev. the Bishop of the Diocese
and his Vicar-General spend alternate nights in watching in that pestilential at-
mosphere, over the sick and dying. There never surely was any Church, which in
the times of the most fiery persecution proved, at the sacrifice of comfort and life,
its devotion to religious duty, and what it believed to be religious truth, more
signally than does now the Roman Catholic clergy of Montreal."
"During the first week in August the deaths among citizens were 149, among
immigrants, 65.
"During the month of July the deaths averaged 30 per day. In August the
pestilence showed marked decline. Between the ist and the 6th of August 600
fever convalescents were discharged from the hospitals.
"On August i3th Very Rev. Mr. Hudon, Vicar-General to the Roman Catholic
Bishop of Montreal, died of typhus fever, contracted while administering the last
rites to dying immigrants at the sheds. The Bishop, himself, and Rev. Mr. de
Charbonnel, afterwards Bishop of Toronto, were stricken down with the disease,
but recovered after much suffering. They, too, had been in daily attendance on
the immigrants.
"Every few days the papers published alleged cures for the fever, supplied by
correspondents who vouched for the efficacy thereof. At last this cure was pro-
mulgated : "Temperance, cleanliness and pure air." The disease, however, con-
tinued virulent, the deaths for August averaging 24 daily.
"By the middle of September the fever had abated considerably, the number
of sick had decreased from near 2,000 to less than 1,000, and the deaths to 16 per
day. About this time, the Grey Nuns, who had survived the pestilence, returned
to their charitable labors at Point St. Charles. About 20 of them had died of it.
"At the beginning of October, the sick numbered 835, and the deaths 7.
There was an increase, however, further on in the month, and news came from
Toronto of the death by typhus, caught while attending the emigrants, of the Rt.
Rev. Dr. Power, Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto, who was well known at
Montreal.
"The first snow fell October 15. Cold weather followed, and the newspapers
ceased to publish daily bulletins of the progress of the pestilence.
—Page One Hundred and Thirty
THE GROS -SB-ISLE TRAGEDY
"Mr. J. E. Mills, Mayor of Montreal, and chief of the Emigrant Commission,
died on the i4th November, a victim to the prevalent disease. He had devoted
himself with untiring energy to the care of the perishing immigrants. He was in
daily attendance at the sheds, where he stayed for hours at a time, ministering
with his own hands to the wants of the sick and dying. The whole city, headed
by the Governor-General, attended his funeral and all the papers contained elo-
quent tributes to his memory."
31 ^cotcijman's J^arrattbe
NTIL death carried him off not very many years ago at a remarkably ad-
vanced age, no citizen of Quebec was better known or more respected
than the late Mr. John Wilson, the veteran steamboat man. Among his
valuable writings on Grosse Isle, Mr. J. M. O'Leary cites as follows Mr. Wilson's
evidence, which is most interesting :
"I am in receipt of two letters from a Scotch Presbyterian gentleman in Que-
bec, John Wilson, Esq., who, I may add, is hale and hearty at eighty-one years of
age. He is one of the few living witnesses of what took place in and about Grosse
Isle, and between Grosse Isle and Montreal in 1847, and his letters are, therefore,
interesting. The first letter was addressed to Francis Gunn, Esq., a leading Irish
Catholic importer of Quebec, and (the present consul for Norway at that port),
who kindly forwarded it to me ; and the second was sent to me direct.
"In his letter to Mr. Gunn, dated i3th April, he says :
"I return the Record you kindly left for me at Mr. Borland's. I am fully
acquainted with all the details of the Irish emigration of 1847, having been the
principal agent in forwarding some eighty thousand suffering people from Grosse
Isle to Point St. Charles, Montreal.
"The thirty-five vessels mentioned in the paper were all anchored near the
island on the ist of June. Some of them had been there for two or three weeks,
our Government doing nothing to remove the horrid scenes being enacted there.
At last Doctor Campbell, of Montreal, was sent to confer with Mr. Buchanan,
Emigrant Agent, on the subject. They sent for me, and took my advice, to send
three large steamers, the "Quebec," "Queen" and "Alliance." I went with them
to Grosse Isle, and broke the blockade by taking out of the ships all of the people
who were fit to travel. In a week those vessels were cleaned up and came to
Quebec. All the vessels that arrived afterwards were easily managed, as the
steamers could readily carry from one thousand to fourteen hundred people, as
there was no baggage of any account. Being fast steamers, in twelve to fourteen
hours they reached Montreal. Not being allowed to carry either freight or pas-
sengers, they returned at once to Quebec to coal up, and started without delay for
Grosse Isle.
"Dr. Douglas and Mr. Buchanan being laid up with the fever, I was left
pretty much to my own resources, in handling such a mass of sick humanity.
"You may imagine to what straits we were put when we ran those large
steamers with only five or six men, when eighteen or twenty was the usual com-
plement.
"Five thousand eight hundred were buried on the island that year, and I can
never forget the awful scenes enacted there. Doctors were of no use. Bread,
meat, clothes and cleanliness were what was wanted, and we cured more of them
on the boats than the Government gang put together.
Page One Hundred and Thirty-One —
THE G R O S S E - I S L E TRAGEDY
"I was never sick, and had no fear in walking among- and handling the dead
and dying, while nearly all the fat office-holders, who should have been helping,
were absent.
4 'Tenders asked for, were for a small boat to make a trip once a week from
Quebec to the island; but those kind of boats were of no use in '47.
"As you are a good Irishman, I have given you here the first written account
of my experience in that awful year, which may add to your knowledge of the ter-
rible sufferings of your countrymen."
In his letter to me, dated the 2Oth inst., Mr. Wilson says :
"Eighteen hundred and forty-seven was one of the most cruel years I ever
passed. The sufferings of the poor people, and the day and night work, without
adequate help, caused by the sickness of some and the cowardice of others, left
me no rest.
"The miserable Government in 1847 had a fit of economy as soon as the
bulk of the emigrants was disposed of. They then employed small boats to carry
the emigrants from Grosse Isle direct to Kingston, without stopping at Montreal.
The result was, as I told Mr. Buchanan it would be, a heavy loss of life, owing to
the emigrants being confined for days in passing through the canals, whereas
changing them into clean boats and at short intervals was their very life. I do
not remember losing any in my boats between Grosse Isle and Montreal, as we
gave them all the conveniences for cooking, washing and cleaning up that large
passenger steamers afforded, and a wonderful improvement showed itself on the
run from the island. But at Point St. Charles, as at quarantine, no suitable pre-
paration had been made for the reception of so many people, and numbers of
deaths occurred that were a disgrace to the Government.
"Grosse Isle is a pretty place in summer, and Dr. Douglas kept everything in
fine order, but there was no accommodation or attendance for one-tenth of the
emigrants. The removal of all those fit to travel became a dire necessity; and
many, many deaths were occasioned by the long delay of the Government in giv-
ing the necessarv orders to leave. As Dr. Douglas was worn out trying to do
impossibilities, he was compelled to instruct, me and the captains of the steamers
to pass the emigrants by the color of their tongues, but in spite oi every precau-
tion many rushed aboard, leaving the dying and the dead behind them, all ties of
relationship being completely lost in their determinatiofi to get out of the ship.
"I had no time to be much on the island, but a few devoted clergymen and
others were doing everything possible for the sick. As for the dead, they were
piled like cordwood until such time as they could be carried away and buried. I
have no doubt but some disorders took place among the class of persons who were
hired, but I never saw a quieter and more resigned people than the emigrants.
"Dr Douglas, who had long been superintendeat on the island, kept, as I
have said, everything in fine order. He made a nice little farm at the east end
of the island, had some fine cows, and sold milk to the sick. For this good work,
jealous people got up a cry against him, and persecuted him to death. I am sorry
that all the boats' books were lost, or I might give you a good many details I now
forget.
"T have read your narrative in the two numbers of the Catholic Record you
were kind enough to send me, and I see nothing but what is a true description of
what happened. The emigrants were simply starved to death, as the barrels of
meal I saw on the ships were unfit for human food."
______^ Page One Hundred and Thirty-Two
HON. JAMES McSHANE
("The People's Jimmy") a prominent
Montreal Irishman; a former Minister of
Public Works of the Province of Quebec
and Mayor of Montreal, and now Harbor
of Montreal .
EX-JUDGE DOHERTY, s.c.
Now member for the Stc. Anne's Divis-
ion, in the Canadian Parliament; a patri-
otic and prominent Montreal Irishman.
LATE MICHAEL DAVITT
Great Irish Patriot
LATE HON. THOS. D'ARCY McGEE
Great Irish Orator and Poet
THE GROS-SE-ISLE TRAGEDY
CONSTANCY — unalterable constancy — amounting-, as some may think, too often,
to a fervid and almost religious devotion to lost causes, is a distinct qual-
ity of Irish character, and never was this quality more emphasized than
during- the terrible famine and fever years. St. Patrick's whole life still speaks
unto Ireland, as the psalmist said unto Zion, "Thy God liveth." In her darkest
days the nation never despaired of her Creator's beneficence and mercy. Those
who have read the "Black Prophet," or who have listened to descriptions of it at
their grandsire's knee, may form some faint idea of the terrible Irish famine,
when on the mountain sides and in the valleys, on the highways and in the ditches,
in sheds and in hovels, on the ocean and in the fever sheds at Grosse Isle, Ire-
land's best, truest and noblest sons died of starvation and pestilence. Clarence
Mangan has put their lament into verse :
"Before us die our brothers of starvation;
Around us cries of famine and despair;
Where is hope for us, or comfort or salvation,
Where, O where?
If the angels ever hearken, downward bending,
They are weeping, we are sure,
At the litanies of human groans ascending
From the crushed hearts of the poor."
On the bond of Ireland's constancy, Time has put the seal of the world's
opinion. The only exception to this constancy recorded is the case of the poor
widow, who, with her starving children, was wending her way to the nearest soup
kitchen, and who, as she was about to descend the hill that hid the parish chapel
from view, turned and waved back a sad farewell, saying, "Good-bye, God; I'll
return when the praties grow again."
Those were the days that tried men's souls. Poets sing of them in a minor
key in words like these :
''O, Ireland, my country, the hour
Of thy pride and thy splendor is past;
And the chain that was spurned in thy moment of power,
Hangs heavy around thee at last."
Page One Hundred and Thirty-Three
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
>'re Srtefj !
(Written for the TELEGRAPH GROSSE ISLE MONUMENT SOUVENIR NUMBER).
Though far from the glen and the hill and the valley,
Though far from the land that with martyr-blood's blest,
Our manhood is thine, and our thoughts round thee rally ;
Our heart's with thee, Ireland, fond Gem of the West!
Though proud of our home and the peace that reigns o'er it,
And brave with thy courage, that's ever the best;
Though strong in our freedom, and true to the core; yet
We're Irish! We're Irish! famed Isle of the West!
Thy dells may be hushed and thy homes be deserted,
Loved sons may have answered the Freeland's behest,
But ne'er could our souls from thy shores be diverted :
Wi love thee, sweet Ireland, our pride in the West!
'Mongst sons of the world's varied lands, many nations,
True, all may not know thee, because thou'rt distressed,
But, e'en if thou'rt poor, and thy share tribulations,
We're Irish, thank God, cherished Gem of the West!
We've suffered, we've fought, we've bled, we've retorted,
We've spent well our scorn on each scorpion's nest;
To naught but our brain and our brawn we've resorted :
O-r heart's with thee, Ireland, brave Land of the West!
It may b-, alas! that e'en sons of thee, Mother,
Have failed to prove true in our nationhood's test;
They're few, and we're proud not to hail them as brother :
We're Irish! We're Irish! our Gem of the West!
We stand for our God, and we stand for His Altar,
We battle for justice, and this we do, lest
The Faith that is thine in our hearts could e'er falter :
We're true to thee, Ireland, Saints' Isle in the West !
We're loved and we're hated, we're feared and we're trusted :
To friend or to foe we can grant his request;
We're reckoned with e'er, for our steel never rusted :
We're Irish! We're Irish! famed Land of the. West!
Thou'st led well the foe in the halls of his nation,
Thou'st taught him the law e'en for guidance the best;
And this through all anguish and foulest vexation :
We're glad we are Irish, our Isle in the West!
From Home have we gone; but we rose and we've prospered,
We've toiled to the front — and our only request :
That Ireland, fair Ireland, the love that we've fostered,
Be Ireland, free Ireland, the Queen of the West!
(REV.) R. H FITZ-HENRY, C.S.C.
GOD SAVE IRELAND!
___ Page One Hundred and Thirty-Four
THE GROSSE-ISLE TRAGEDY
(Written for the TELEGRAPH'S GROSSE ISLE MONUMENT SOUVENIR).
Where grand Laurentia's mighty current sweeps
Across the surface of this fair domain,
There springs a verdure-covered isle, which keeps
Alive the memory of a poignant pain :
For there, where now the fragrant hawthorn blows,
And 'neath the fields, where wild-flowers bow and nod,
The dust of many Irish hearts reposef
Their virtues radiating from the sod.
'Twas peace they sought! 'Twas rest they found! Their dust
Restored unto infinite mother earth,
As the sweet waters of St. Lawrence must
Soon mingle in the salt Atlantic's girth :
But their high precepts live, as does the isle,
Firm as the rock, prolific as the soil.
JAS. A. McMANAMY.
in iWemortam
(Written for the TELEGRAPH GROSSE ISLE MONUMENT SOUVENIR NUMBER)
They'd parted from their native home,
From dear aid Erin's Isle,
For a land that always welcomed
Erin's offspring with a smile.
'Twas tyrant laws that drove them
Unto Canada's fair land,
To be stricken down thereafter
By fever's scourging hand.
You watched them "Mother Erin," leave
Your shores with saddened heart,
Like thousands more before them, from
You they were forced to part.
And proved again your poet's words
Your tear shall never cease,
As well as those, your languid smile;
It never shall increase.
And they that gave them succor
Are remembered still to-day;
In their prayers, the Irish race
For them, in silence pray
Whilst round this noble Celtic cross,
Each with uncovered head,
Will murmur, as in Ireland, may
The Heavens be their bed.
Quebec, June aoth, 1909. DENIS J. RYAN.
Page One Hundred and Thirty-Five -
THE
GROSSE-ISLE
TRAGEDY
Hoom* of 3relanb
What fate are the looms of God weaving for poor Ireland and the long-suf-
fering Irish race?
Children of yesterday,
Heirs of to-morrow,
What are you weaving —
Labor and sorrow?
Look to your looms again;
Faster and faster
Fly the great shuttles
Prepared by the Master.
Life is the loom,
Room for it, room.
Children of yesterday,
Heirs of to-morrow,
Lighten the labor
And sweeten the sorrow.
Now, while the shuttles fly
Faster and faster
Up and be at it —
At work for the Master.
He stands at your loom,
Room for Him, room.
Children of yesterday,
Heirs of to-morrow,
Look at your fabric
Of labor or sorrow,
Seamy and dark
With despair and disaster.
Turn it and lo!
The design of the Master!
The Lord's at the loom,
Room for Him, room.
— From "Ireland's Own."
"My purpose before you is to disburden my soul of the conviction which I
felt, even in the lazar-houses and fetid shipholds of Canada, that Providence would
bring some mighty good out of all that suffering. Yes, I read that assurance in
the sublime virtues which I witnessed. That alone enabled me not to curse the
oppressor. It gave me hope for Ireland, but, above all, it made me rejoice for
America. Since that time my feelings have assumed the form of this consoling
truth, that the heart of a nation, tried by suffering unparalleled in duration and
intensity, is destined for some great end." — Mgr. O'Reilly in New York in 1852.
Page One Hundred and Thirty-Six
battle of Contents:
AUTHOR'S NOTE 3
AVANT-PROPOS 5
The Ancient Order of Hibernians 9
The National Memorial 11
The Celebration at Grosse-Isle 13
CHAPTER I. — GROSSE-!SLE AND ITS HISTORY 17
II. — PRECURSORS OF THE TRAGEDY 22
III. — THE BLACK FORTY-SEVEN 20
IV. — THE FLIGHT OF THE GAEL — THE IRISH EXODUS OF 1847 30
V.— WHY THE EXILES CAME TO CANADA 34
VI. — ON THE EMIGRANT SHIPS 35
VII. — ON THE ISLAND — THE HORRORS OF GROSSE-!SLE 39
VIII. — CLOSING THE QUARANTINE 44
IX. — THE DEATH ROLL 45
X. — MOURNFUL FIGURES 50
XI. — REMONSTRANCES OF CLERGY AND PEOPLE 53
XII. — THE CANADIAN CLERGY , 57
XIII.— THE ORPHANS OF 1847 63
XIV. — MGR O'REILLY ON GROSSE ISLE 65
XV. — QUEBEC AND THE IRISH FAMINE 71
XVI. — THE GREAT MEMORIAL GATHERING 76
The Notabilities Present 77
The Requiem Mass 78
Rev. Father Maguire's Sermon ... 79
Mgr Bcgin's Exhortation 81
The Monument Unveiled 83
Chairman Foy's Address 83
The Papal Delegate's Tribute 87
The National President's Address 88
Hon. Chas. Murphy's Speech 91
Canada's Chief Justice *. . . . 95
A French Canadian Voice 96
A Gaelic Speech 97
Notes on the Celebration 98
APPENDIX 101
The Ocean Plague 101
Another Mile-Stone of Forty-Seven 117
A Reproach and Its Removal 1 19
A Survivor's Story Recalled 124
The Slaughter Denounced , 125
The Irish Potato Crop 126
The Ship Fever at Montreal 128
i A Scotchman's Narrative 131
The Black Prophet 133
We're Irish I We're Irish ! 134
Grosse-Isle 135
In Memoriam 135
The Looms of Ireland 136
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