The Irish standard., 1896-01-04
SKETCH |. OF DARCY mcgee / /
The rlost Eloquent Irishman Of
His Time or Any Other in the
Canadian Parliament.
Although but Year in the Country
He Knew rlore. of Its History and
Resources Than All Others.
Caustic and Brilliant He Was the
Pride of His Friends and the
Terror of His Foes,

FEAQe OF Ills FrlG7NS anu Tic
Terror of His Foes,
In the Christmas number of Walsh's
Magazine Rev. w Flounery writes Of his
racollections OF MCGEE as follows:
I was in the gallery OF the old parlia-
ment at Toronto, on tle evening when
Thomas Darcy MaGee made his first APP
pearance IN the house OF all the mem
bers Wno filed n from the upper house
after listening to the speech Of the gov
ernor general, Sir Francis Head-not one
looked SO humble Or SO unpretent:ous as
the Irish member for Montreal West. HIS
naturally dark pall:d face, made darker
by tuft of black crspy hair that rested
on his left eyebrow. seemed to drop in
sadness, as though ne were lost IN though,
and IN utter Glrconsciousness of his sol
emn surroundings.
A negtige air of cariessness, in his slow
walk, his shirt collar. IN his buttoned 'up
dress coat, and hands clasped behind his
back, with eyes turned downward, made
ambitious, self-rel.ant members OF both
provinces, that only a prophet inspired
from on high could foresea that one day
ne would electrify that house, and assist
effectually in shaping the uestinies of this
great d.minion.
The opposition to the Cartier -Macdon-
aid administration was very strong in
those days. 1t was led by the indefati-
| gable George Brown, who had for allies
s,uch men as Sandfield Macdonald S;cotte,
LabeTge, Mackenzie, Foley, Aikens, Dor
ion, McDougaA, NIcGee and others of
acknowledged ability as parliamentary
dabRters. George Brown opened by
offering amendments to tine governor
generals address He was replied to by
! Sir John Macdonald. The debate on the
reply to the governors address lasted
three whole weeks All this time Darcy
NcGee remained a silent spectator, as
though nothing interested him of what
was being said or done. When he arose at
last: to address the house, expectancy of
something unusual Or above the ordinary
was noticed on every countenance; the
hush was marked; you could have heard
a lpin drop. TIe said that although the
subject of reply to the governor general S
address was well night exhausted, he
might presume to add his little mite to SO
absorbing and so interesting debate.
In his address the tgovernor-general
states: THAT the Hudson Bay Company
and it's territories shall also be presented
to you for serious consideration" He
could not fathom the reason for the gov
| ernor- r-generaIs misuse and misappNca-
ton of the word cts Are those terri
tories the appanage Of Great. Britain, of
Canada or of the Hudson Bay Company?
He considered the word t'its' in the adj
! dress the. most unfortunate pronoun
| ever employed in the English language.
THIS sally was received with cheers and
laughter of the whole house. Hon. Mr.
Loranger, the receiver general, interrupt
ing, said: Perhaps the honorable gen
tleman might inform the house as to tne
Limits of the territories assigned just now
to the Hudson Bay Company
Mr.. MoGee continuing, said eff the
honorable, the receiver general, requires
a lesson n geography from so humble an
Individual, am quite wiling to be his in
structor.' To the general aston:shment
Mr.. MCGEE thereupon gave the whole his
! tory Of the Hudson Bay Company and the
! territories it claimed TO possess. He en-
! tered into minute details OF treaties
agreed upon at the different periods be-
tween Great Britain and the company of
| adventurers, commonly called the Hud-
son Bay Company, from 1870, when
Charles H. granted to Prince Rupert and
Il Others and their successors the sole
! trade and commerce Of all the rivers,
straits and bays which lie between Hul-
sons bay and the Rocky mounta ns-to
1859, when the colony Of British Column
5ia was formed Mr.. McGee was not
| qu-te,a wear in Canada, yet he seemed ful-
/ ly capable of giving lesson in Canadian
geography to Hon. Mr.. Loranger and
other honorable gentlemen to the manor
born. His first or maiden speech in the
parliament Of Canada established him as*a
finished orator, and one to be co,L.ied by
friends and 1eraded by enemies.
There were few of the cabinet ministers
with whom D Arcy MCGEE did not. cross
/ swords occasionally. He was. never ag-
gressive however, but ne disIiked inter
ruption, and when attacked or distur bed
| inqthe midst of some eloquent flow Of len-
1 trancing oratory, he turned upon his as
sailant, and, with a few words of pleasant
sarcasm, made him the laughing stock Of
the whole house Hon. Mr. Loranger,
not satisfied with the result Of their frs
encounter. essayed on one or two other
occasions to spoil all eloquent discourse
by uncalled for Interruptions Mr. Nc
I Gee paid no attention at first, but at last
4 he grew impatient and said: The Hon.
Receiver General, by his dress, manners
and uneasy movements, reminded him of
a little French dancing nlaster#he once
knew at Dublin. - This brought down
the house and brought the Receiver Gen
eral to makeSa child Isl bargain, promising
that if Mr.. McGee left him alone he would
never again interrupt him. Sf
/ rs Partyism was more to blame, hoWeFer,
t for Loranger's seeming hostility
Is than any disrespect he entertained for
| Mr.. McGee' nationality. That very win
| ter lie delighted q Toronto audience with
/ a free lecture in ST. Lawrence Hall o.i
| Ireland and the Irish. 81 was present at
1 the lecture and remember still some CT
/ the very eulogistic and very beautiful
sentences Hon. Mr. Loranger gave es-,
preston to il his poetic descrip ptions Of
/ Ireland's Hills. and lakes. of the faith Of
the sons and well estab Iishesl parit aud:
agloyeliness of the ghfers Of Emerald
Isle he as after ards pronnoted TO
Itkes bench and became an ellent Judge.
Dlring debate On an1lal q,lesss
tiol 4of Orange Iali;