JOHN MITCHEL'S DAUGHTER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 84, 5 December 1874, Page 10

JOHN MITCHEL'S DAUGHTER.

It may not be generally known that the eldest daughter of this illustrious Irishman was received into the Catholic Church, and died ia that 5r Vr- his " Journal »" under dat e Cboisy-le-rcrie, January, 30, 1861, Air Matchel thus records her conversion aud subsequent death at Jtr aris !-*-*

'Our eldest daughter Henrietta, has this printer become a Catholic. It was no -new -whim on her part ; for, long since, while we were living afc Washington, she had formed the same wish, Tery stronijly influenced, as I suppose, by her intimacy with two young ladies of a Maryland Catholic family who were our next-door neighbors. I know, also, that she was greatly influenced by her very strong Irish, feelings, and had a kind of sentiment that one cannot be thoroughly Irish without being Catholic. For that time, however, we had objected to any public step being taken in that direction. She was too young to have duly studied the question and to know her own mind thoroughly ; but I said that if, after two or three years, she should still entertain, the satne wish. I would not utter one word to dissuade her. Sine© our arrival iv France, she has been placed at school in the convent of the Sacre Cceur, and has become greatly attached to one of the good ladies of the house, Madame D , a very excellent and accomplished woman. This condition of things was not calculated to abate her Catholic zeal ; aad, in short, the time came when my poor daughter declared that she must be a Catholic ; could not live without being a Catholic. I did not think her parents had the right, and, indeed, they had not the disposition to cross her wish any farther. So, on. a certain day, she and another young lady were to be baptized in the chapel of the convent. The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Morlot, heard of it, and wrote to the reverend mother of the house to the effect that, as several, conversions of Protestant pupils which had lately taken place in the convents had given rise to imputations of undue influence and conversion by surprise, as it were, and had afterwards given umbrage to the relatives, he should require that, before any further steps were taken, I should be asked for a written consent. For this acquiescence I was most earnestly blamed by some of my connections in the North of Ireland, who wrote to me, urging that t ought to exert my authority to stop such an apostacy. What would they have had me to do ? Shut up my daughter in her room, and give her the Westminster Confession to read! How should I like this usage myself? Here was a girl of nineteen, full of intelligence and spirit, gentle and affectionate,' who had never given to her father or mother one moment's uneasiness upon her account) deliberately declaring that she desired to embrace the faith of her forefathers. In short, I believe that I acted aright. For the short remainder of her days ah 6 lived a devout Catholic — and so died. She lies buried in the cemeterr of Mont Parnasse.

The Roman correspondent of the ' Boston Pilot' writes the following with reference to the arch-conspirator Garibaldi :— " The Caprera exile furnishes a striking example of the force of the public voice. That man has been made a hero by the power of newspaper writing. No o»e knows particularly of any great act of personal daring accomplished by Garibaldi, and yet journalism has wreathed a laurel crown around his gloomy brows. Successful as a conspirator he entered Sicily and Naples when the way was prepared for him, and he appeared in the vicinity^ of Rome ia 1867, when he strove to seize the city by force of conspiracy. Song writers and republican journalists cry him up as a derm-god, and fools accept him as such. He is ill, with no one seems to know what, and republican affection is made Bad at the news. Borne must send him a doctor j does not Rome love him aa a father ? The new Syndic Venturi telegraphs immediately to know shall he send a doctor. There is no answer. Consternation sits upon Municipal faces 5 and Venturi is censured for not having sent the doctor firs>. Two days pass ; an answer comes, and the city governors are so glad that they cannot contain their joy : they spread the news on large posters throughout the city. The hero is better and thanks Rome for every thing. Grateful hero, wonderful municipality. The panegyrics prepared for the death of the great Garibaldi are returned to their pigeon-holes, and the world is saved from a deluge of lies for some time longer.