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CHAPTER V....concluded
In no part of the British Provinces of North America does the Catholic Irishman feel himself so thoroughly at home as in the beautiful and flourishing city of Montreal. He is in a Catholic city, where his religion is respected, and his Church is surrounded with dignity and splendour. In whichever direction he turns, he beholds some magnificent temple--some college, or convent, or hospital --everywhere the Cross, whether reared aloft on the spire of a noble church, or on the porch or gable of an asylum or a school. In fact, the atmosphere he breathes is Catholic. Therefore he finds himself at home in the thriving Commercial Capital of Lower Canada. In no part of the world is he more perfectly free and independent than in this prosperous seat of industry and enterprise, in which, it may be remarked, there is more apparent life and energy than in any other portion of the British Provinces. It is not, then, to be wondered at that the Catholic Irish are equal in number to the entire of the English-speaking Protestant population, including English, Scotch, and Irish. It is estimated that the Irish Catholics are now not less than 30,000. Of these a large proportion necessarily belong to the working classes, and find employment in various branches of local industry. Their increase has been rapid and striking. Fifty years since there were not fifty Irish Catholic families in Montreal. It is about that time since Father Richards, an American, took compassion upon the handful of exiles who were then friendless and unknown, and gathered them into a small sacristy attached to one of the minor churches, to speak to them in a language which they understood. In thirty years afterwards their number had increased to 8,000, and now they are not under 30,000.
The Irish of all denominations represent a vast proportion of the wealth and commercial enterprise of Montreal; and though the majority of the Catholic Irish came out at a later period, and under far less favourable circumstances, their position on the whole is in every way excellent. They are not in the least behindhand in industry, energy, and active enterprise, when compared with any other portion of the community. As merchants, traders, and manufacturers, Catholic Irishmen, who commenced without any capital, other than a moderate share of education, natural intelligence and good conduct, are steadily yet rapidly rising to wealth and social position; and instances without number might be recorded of men who could scarcely write their names when they landed on the wharf of Montreal, who, thanks to their native energy and resolute good conduct, are this day rich and independent.
The Savings' Bank is the strong-box of the prudent man of moderate means and humble position; there he places his little surplus capital, generally after having built for himself a house or `store,' as a shop is termed in America. The position and character of the Irish working classes in Montreal may be fairly estimated from the fact, that of $1,000,000 deposited in the Savings' Bank of that city, four-fifths, or $800,000, belong exclusively to them. A large portion of the stock of the Ontario Bank also stands in their name. Then they possess considerable house property, two-thirds of which is insured. Griffintown, the principal Irish quarter, is almost entirely owned by the working classes; and here, as in Quebec, not a single house of ill-fame is to be found in the entire district. In Griffintown, poverty and wretchedness, miserably clad children and slatternly women are occasionally to be seen; but they are comparatively rare; and in almost every case the drunkenness of the father, or the tippling of the mother, is the sole cause of the wretchedness and degradation which, happily exceptional, form a dark contrast to the prevailing sobriety, thrift, and good conduct distinguishing the Catholic Irish of Montreal.
While it is true that the Irish Catholic feels himself more at home in Lower Canada than in the other Provinces, Upper Canada especially, it must not be supposed that he has not had many and serious difficulties to contend against. Whatever may now be the feelings of the French Canadians towards the Irish, they were strongly hostile to them at one period; for in the rebellion of 1837, the Irish, influenced in a great measure by two eminent priests of their own country--Father M'Mahon, of Quebec, a man of surpassing power as an orator, and in every respect one of the most remarkable men of his time; and Father Phelan, afterwards Bishop of Kingston--generally sided with the British Power, and against the insurgents of that day. This was one and a very natural cause of prejudice against them. Difference of language must at all times, even under the most favourable circumstances, create a barrier against international fusion, or thorough sympathy between races: added to which, the humbler class of the new-comers soon began to occupy situations and even monopolise branches of industry previously occupied and monopolised by the French Canadians. Then, as may be supposed, the Catholic Irish were not much befriended by the English-speaking portion of the population; so that here, as in most other places, the Irish emigrant had to fight his way up under circumstances sufficient to daunt any other people, but which difficulties seem to have had the effect of bracing their energies and ensuring their success. It is nearly a quarter of a century since Francis Hincks, now Governor of the Bermudas, and Louis Drummond, now an eminent and highly respected Judge of the Supreme Courts of Lower Canada--the one a Unitarian, the other a Catholic, and both Irishmen--infused life and spirit into the Catholic Irish of Montreal, and gave them a sense of pride and consciousness of strength, which they much required. Now they form a large and important section of the population of the finest and most prosperous city of British North America, and they are thoroughly conscious of their strength and legitimate influence.
I had the pleasure, on several occasions in Montreal, of meeting the very élite of my countrymen of all denominations; and I found among those who, when they commenced, had to rely altogether on their own exertions, more of the American spirit than in almost any other city in the colonies. There is greater manufacturing enterprise in Montreal than elsewhere in British America; there are therefore larger sources of employment throughout the year for the working classes, to many of whom, indeed to most of whom, the winter is a season of trial and privation.
Among those whom I met was an enterprising manufacturer, who boasted of his being 'a Cork boy,' a pupil of the Christian Brothers, and an apprentice of the Messrs. Hegarty, the eminent tanners of his native city. He was doing a thriving business, his orders being over $100,000 in advance of his means of supply. He had left the States some dozen years before, being anxious to afford his young family the advantages of a sound Catholic education, which at that time was not of such easy attainment in the city where he then resided as it has since become. Prosperous himself, he was enthusiastic in his description of everything in Montreal, particularly the position occupied by his co-religionists. 'We Irish Catholics,' he said, 'are in a strong position in this city. There is no city in the States in which we occupy a more favourable position than we do here. We feel ourselves at home here; we are not foreigners, as we are sometimes considered elsewhere. The laws are good, and we have all that we can fairly desire, and we can educate our children in the best manner, and just as we please. In fact, we could not be better off. This is the place for an honest and industrious man, but not for the idler or the drunkard. There is no fear, in this country, of a sober man, who is willing to work; but he must be sober and industrious.'
My worthy friend was himself a rigid teetotaller--to which fact he attributed most of his prosperity.
It is foreign to the purpose of this book to describe the public institutions and buildings of any place; but I cannot refrain from expressing my admiration of Montreal, which is in every respect worthy of its high reputation. It has an air at once elegant and solid, many of its streets being spacious and alive with traffic and bustle, its places of business substantial and handsome; its public buildings really imposing, and its churches generally splendid, and not a few of them positively superb. This description of the churches of Montreal is not limited to the Jesuits' Church, the stately Paroisse, and the grand church of St. Patrick, of which the Irish are deservedly proud; it applies with equal propriety to the Episcopalian Cathedral, and more than one church belonging to the Dissenting bodies. Montreal is rich in all kinds of charitable, educational, and religious institutions; and such is the influence and power of the Catholic element, that this beautiful city, which is every day advancing in prosperity and population, is naturally regarded by the Catholic Irishman as a home. The humble man sees his coreligionists advancing in every walk of life, filling positions of distinction--honoured and respected; and, instead of mere toleration for his faith, he witnesses, in the magnificent procession of Corpus Christi, which annually pours its solemn splendour through the streets, a spectacle consoling alike to his religious feeling and his personal pride.
The influence of really good priests, who combine wisdom with piety--who, in their zeal for the spiritual welfare of their flock, do not overlook their temporal interests and material progress--is at all times most serviceable to the Irish; and nowhere is that influence more required, or more potent when exercised, than in America. Happily for the race, it is exercised very generally throughout that country, and in no instance without the most beneficial results, in their improved tone, their greater industry, and their habits of thrift and saving. The good priests of St. Patrick's--the Sulpitian Fathers of Montreal--employ this salutary influence with results most cheering to witness. It lifts the Irish up; it raises their social condition; it induces them to acquire and accumulate property--in fact, by the very improvements which they are induced to effect, to identify themselves with the progress of the community. To acquire this most desirable influence over an Irish congregation, the priest need not be an Irishman; but he should be wise and pious, and his people should feel that he has sympathy with them. The lack of this essential sympathy is often fatal to the best intentions of the best men: where it exists, it supplies or compensates for the want of many qualities, if not actually essential, at least very valuable in a priest. The good Fathers of St. Patrick's in Montreal--and fortunately they have their like in every direction--in every Province and every State--combine all these requirements; they are wise as well as pious, and they have a profound sympathy with their flock.
St. Patrick's Hall--of which I only saw the broad foundations--is creditable alike to the enterprise and public spirit of the Irish of Montreal. The Hall itself will be as spacious as a cathedral--134 feet long, by 94 feet wide, within the walls, and 46 feet high. The national sentiment is gratified in the architecture of the building, which is `purely Irish, copied from Cormack's Chapel on the Rock of Cashel.' The design is really grand and imposing; and when fully realised in cut limestone, St. Patrick's Hall will form one of the most striking architectural ornaments of the city. With a front of 144 feet on Victoria Square, and 100 feet on Craig Street, it is in the very centre of the business portion of Montreal; and the fine shops which are to form the ground fiat, and the show rooms on the second flat, together with sundry rents derived from the great concert-room and other portions of the building, will render St. Patrick's Hall not only pleasing as a monument grateful to national sentiment, but satisfactory as a speculation.
END OF CHAPTER V.
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