Sir William M'Arthur, K.C.M.G [microform] : a biography, religious, parliamentary, municipal, commercial

Preface

This biography of Sir William M‘Arthur I undertook to write at the request of his sister, Mrs. M‘Millan. To her, and to her brother and sister, Mr. Alexander M‘Arthur and Mrs. Hughes, I am greatly indebted for the assistance which they have afforded me, by placing at my service the diaries of their brother, and other documents necessary for my task, as well as for the valuable information which they have given to me orally. I am also under great obligations to Dr. M‘Kay, of Belfast College, and other ministers and friends for letters and sundry communications. I may say that I have spared no pains to secure accuracy, and in some instances have spent whole days in quest of a fact or to verify an incident.

My first acquaintance with Sir William M‘Arthur dates as far back as 1855, when I met him in London as Alderman M‘Arthur, of Londonderry. My opportunities of meeting him in private were not very numerous, although occasionally I enjoyed his hospitality. A few letters which he wrote to myself from time to time I had not thought of preserving, as I never dreamt that one day I should become his biographer. I had many opportunities of meeting him on com-

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PREFACE.

mittees and on public occasions, and of observing and admiring his spirit and conduct. In tracing his remarkable career, as presented in these pages, my work has been to me a great delight.

Sir William M‘Arthur’s life was one well worth living ; and because it is well worth imitating, especially by young men, the narrative of it is, I venture to say, well worth telling and publishing. Of a life so blameless and beneficent I feel it both a privilege and a responsibility to be the literary limner.

I have not made this volume the record of a religious life exclusively, but have given a large proportion of the space which I have covered to a narrative of Sir William McArthur’s career as a merchant, an alderman, and a member of Parliament. The last-mentioned branch of my subject brought me necessarily into contact with political questions, and my object has been to give a faithful representation of the views held by Sir William, whether I agreed with them or not. The wonderful story of Fiji and his place in it must, of course, live in history. The chapter on his lord-mayoralty is, it strikes me, something of a novelty in biographical literature.

Some of my readers may think that I have given too much prominence to Methodist matters. My answer is, that they occupied a large proportion of the time and thoughts of him whose life-work has occupied my pen. It is hoped, moreover, that the information thus incidentally given of the largest religious denomination in England next to the national Church, may not be without its use to those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with the religious life of this country. They will find, I think, in these pages that this Methodist

PREFACE.

layman, occupying the via media of his own communion, between the Church of England and 'Nonconformist Churches, was in hearty sympathy and active co-operation with members and ministers of both.

May I express the earnest hope that this book may be to some of my readers, at least, an incentive and an encouragement to a religious life, and in this way help to bring glory to God.

THOMAS M‘CULLAGH.

Kensington,

Decernbei\ 1890.

iliMI

Chapter I. 1611-1821

ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD.

Remote Descent. — Grandparents and Parents. — Birth and Birthplace. — Newtown Stewart and other Residences. — Somnambulism and Child-preaching. — M‘Granahan’s School at Stranorlar. — Isaac Butt. — Life at Miltown Cottage. — Successes of the Youth of Ardstraw. — Sunday School. — William and the Rector. — Lines on Miltown . . . iyp. 1-13

Chapter II. 1821-1831

TRAINING FOR BUSINE.S.S.

Hugh Copeland’s Proposal. — Father’s Letter. — Removes to Enniskillen. — Religious State. — Death of Grandparents. — Visits Miltown. — Early Rhymes. — James Copeland’s Recollections. — Lurgan. — A Commercial Traveller. — Religious Occupations. — Poetry of Gulielmus. — “A Mothers Love.” — Brother John’s Criticisms. — John’s Talents and Early Death. — Dr. Nash’s Sketch of John. — William’s Verses to Rosanna.— Dublin Life.

Chapter III. 1831-1841

LIFE AT LONDONDERRY.

Begins Business. — The Gathers. — No mean City. — Dissolves Part-

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i nership. — His Offices and Ministers.— East Wall Chapel and Bishop Ponsonby. — Bishops Barnard and Hervey. —Foreign Missions. — Centenary Celebration. — Death of Father. — On Conference Committees. — At Portrush. — Police Committee. — Municipal Reform. — Elected Councillor. — Riots. — Mr. Patterson’s Testimony. — Alexander goes to Australia. — Death of Hugh Copeland 36-48

Chapter IV. 1842-1857

LIFE AT LONDONDERRY.

Rev. J. W. M‘Kay’s Account. — Daniel McAfee and 0 ‘Connell.— His Marriage. — The Wedded Pair. — Benevolence and Hospitality. — Brother’s Success in Australia. — Alexanders First Visit Home. — The Brothers enter into Partnership. — The Irish Society and Councillor M ‘Arthur. — Correspondence with Sir R. Ferguson. — Municipal Affairs. — New Buildings Chapel. — In England. — Extracts from Diary. — The M‘Arthur Firm in Australia and Gold Discovery. — Opens an Office in London. — Brothers Second Visit Home. — William meets him in London. — At Leeds. — Attends at Irish Conference. — A New Appointment. — Large Subscriptions.— In England. — Brother’s Return to Australia. —Rev. T. Waugh. — In Dublin. — Removes from Londonderry pp. 49-65

Chapter V. 1857-1861

EARLIER LONDON LIFE.

Settles at Bri.xton. — Ministers and Laymen. — Rev'. W. B. Boyce. — Diary Extracts. — Mrs. M‘ Arthur’s Affliction. — More Extracts. — The Ulster Revival. — Irish National Education and Irish Methodists, — Irish Missions. — Deaths of Mr. M‘Donald and Mr. Gilbert. — Visits Ireland. — Mrs. M‘Arthur’s Recover^’. — Letter to Rev. R. Wallace. — Engagements. — Education Meeting. — Death of Mr. Farmer. — Mother’s Death. — William’s Daily Record of her Last Days . . . < 66-81

CONTENTS.

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Chapter VI. . 1862-1866

NEW ENGAGEMENTS AND AIMS.

Director of Star Assurance Society. — Newspaper Company. — Loudon Quarterly Review. — Metropolitan Chapel Building Fund. — “ The Revised Code.” — Brother’s Settlement at Raleigh Hall, Brixton. — Alexander’s position in Australia. — Missionary Jubilee. — Continental Tour. — Diary Extracts. — Parliamentary Candidature. — His Politics. — Irish Protestant Politics.— Pontefract Election. — Letters. — At Birmingham Conference. — Belfast College’Stone-laying. — Meeting at Gvvydyr Houses. — Letters t)p. 82-99

Chapter VII. 1866-1868

MISSION ABROAD AND HONOURS AT HOME.

Mission to America. — An Atlantic Letter. — Journal of Journeys and Meetings in United States and Canada. — Success of Mission. — Home again. — Elected Sheriff of London and Middlesex. — At Irish and English Conferences. — Diary Extracts. — Ward of Bishopsgate. — Candidate for Lambeth. — Mr. Gladstone and Irish Church. — Elected Member of Parliament. — Opening of Belfast College pp. 100-1 19 is h

CHAPTER VUI.

1869-1871.

IN PARLIAMENT.

The New Parliament. — Irish Church. — Takes his Seat. — Maiden Speech. — Speaks in Irish Church Debate. — Compensation to Maynooth. — Speech on Sunday Opening of Museums. — A Trip. — Session of 1870. — Elementary Education. — Mr. Forster’s Bill. — Wesleyan Committee. — Speech on Mr. Richard’s Amendment. — Schools, Voluntary and Board. — Burials Bill. — Opium. — Glebe Loans Bill. — Visits Ireland and Scotland. —

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^Metropolitan Fund. — .Stormy Meeting at Kennington. — Session of 1871. — Western Africa. — At Carlsbad . pp. 120-140

Chapter IX. 1872, 1873

I'HE ADVOCATE FOR FIJI.

Mary Fletcher Memorial. — Session ot 1872. — Bills on Burials. —

Sunday Trading and Pacific Islanders. — Whitsun Trip. — Fiji Islands. — Their Christianization. — Annexation Question. —

•'Debate in House of Commons, 1872.— Elected Chairman ot .Star Assiu*ance Board. — Elected Alderman of London. — Visits Ireland. — In France after the War. — Battle Scenes. — Letters from Fiji. — Session of 1873. — Second Debate on Fiji in House of Commons. — Mr. Gladstone’s Opposition to Annexation. —

Commissioners Appointed pp. 141-162

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Chapter X. 1873, 1874

THE .SUCCESSFUL ADVOCATE.

Education Question. — Appointed on Irish Society. — Banquet at Londonderry. — Excursion in Donegal. — Engagements in Ulster. — Sudden Dissolution of Parliament. — Electoral Contest. — Second Election for Lambeth. — The “ Claimant.”—

Change of Government. — Hope for Fiji. — Session of 1874. —

Third Fijian Debate in the House of Commons. — Prorogation.

— Annexation of Fiji as a Crown Colony. — Congratulations and |

Thanks from Fiji. — Gold Coast Question. — Irish Worn Out ®

Ministers’ and Widows’ Fund. — Bereavements . 163-187

CHAPTER XL

1875-1878.

COLONIAL QUESTION.S AND METROPOLITAN BRIDGES.

Public Worship Regulation Act. — Parliamentary Session, 1875. —

Sir Arthur Gordon. — Diary Extracts. — Journeys. — Master of

CONTENTS.

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Spectacle Makers Company. — Interview with a Convict. — A Happy Christmas. — Session of 1876. — Diary Extracts. — His Motion on the Gambia. — Debate. — Diary Extracts.— Lay Representation m Methodist Conference. — Diary Extracts. — Lord Sandon’s Education Bill. — Freeing the Metropolitan Bridges. — Friendship with Rev. W. B. Boyce and Dr. Pimshon. — Diary Extracts. — Motion on Ecclesiastical Endowments in Ceylon. — Debate and Division. — Kent, Cork, and Methodist Union. — Parliamentary Obstruction. — Fiji Question again. — Excursions. — At Londonderry. — Diary Extracts.— Motion on Natal Affairs. — Takes his seat in English Conference pp. 188-213

Chapter XII. 1878, 1879

JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD.

Outward bound. — New York. — Chicago. — Salt Lake City. — San Francisco. — Honolulu. — Dropped a Day. — Auckland. — Wonderland. — Edwin Bainbridge. — Volcanic Destruction. — The Chief Tapua. — Tauranga. — Sydney. — The Allens and Boyces. — Honoured by Colonial Parliament and Citizens. — Melbourne. — The Gold District. — Adelaide. — Melbourne again. — Returns to Sydney. — Homeward Bound. — Brisbane. — Singapore. — Ceylon. — Aden. — Red Sea. — Cairo. — Venice. — Milan.— Paris. — Home . . . . , pp. 214-239

Chapter XIII. 1879, 1880

AT HOME AGAIN.

Welcomes.— Two Irish University Bills. — Egyptian Affairs. — Opening of Freed Bridges. — Evangelical Alliance at Basle. — ' Diary Extracts. — Irish Thanksgiving Fund. — Religious Intolerance in Austria. — Deputation to the Emperor. — M‘Millan Family. — New Offices. — Dissolution of Parliament. — Contest at Lambeth. — Third Time Elected. — New Parliament. — Tou

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in the West of Ireland. — Dr. Punshon. — Irish and British Conferences.— Burial Laws.— The Rhine and Switzerland.

Chapter XIV. 1880, 1881

LORD-MAYORALTV.

Elected Lord Mayor.— Antiquity and Functions of the Office. — Interval. — Inauguration. — Mansion House.— Diary Extracts. —Week of Prayer. — Parliament.— Religious Gatherings.— Mayoralty and Religion. — Philanthropy. — Sympathy with Dr. Punshon.— Curious Telegrams.— Children’s Party.— Sir F. Roberts’ Presentation.— Lycett Memorial.— A Gunpowder Plot.— His Account of the Plot.— Death of Dr. Punshon.— Spital Sermon and Earl of Beaconsfield’s Death. — Royalty and Royal Letters. — Lord Shaftesbury. — Donation in Memoriam. — Dr. Joseph [Parker. — City Road Chapel. — Mr. Aitkin. — Visit to Truro. — Banquets. — Colonial. — Meetings. — Conference at Liverpool. — More Banquets. — Visit to Ulster. — (Ecumenical Conference.— Irish Presentation.— Engagements — Successor Elected. — Mr. Gladstone at' Guildhall.— End of ' his Mayoralty PP' 259-290

Chapter XV. Honour From The Queen

His New Residence.— Tour in Italy, Sicily, and Malta.— Parlia-

i ment, 1882.— Diary Extracts.— His Place of Worship.— Death

of Rev. G. M‘Millan. — Remarkable Missionary Meetings. —

! Colonial Presentation.— Attends Irish Conference.— Extracts

i from Letters.— Receives a Title.— Order of St. Michael and

i St. George. — Death of Mr. Carlisle. — Letter. — Visits Ireland.

—Address at Londonderry.— Parliament, 1883.— Affirmation

liill. Diary Extracts. — A Monster Petition. — Conference at

Hull.— Appointed Missionary Treasurer.— His Predecessors. —Metropolitan Chapel Building Fund.— Subscribes ^10,000. i —Extracts from his Diary.— Busts of Drs. Punshon and G.

^ Smith.— Weslev’s Deed of Declaration.— Mr. Spurgeon’s

CONTENTS.

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Chapter XVI. 1884, 1885

LAST YEAR IX PARLIAMEXT.

Attends Evangelical Alliance at Copenhagen. — The Guest of Royalty in Denmark and Sweden. — Letters to Wife and Sister. —Views on House of Lords. — At Nephew’s Wedding.

— Rev. W. B. Boyce. — Contemplates Retirement. — South African Affairs. — Autumnal Session. — Questions in Parliament. — Extracts from Diary. — Visits Enniskillen and Places in Ireland. — Change of Government. — Punshon Memorial, — Attends Conference. — Visits Warrenpoint. — Diary. — Death of Rev. J. M‘Millan. — West Newington Election . 'bp 315-335

Chapter XVII. Travels In Bible Lands

Projects a School for Ministers’ Daughters. — Lady McArthurs Affliction. — Affecting Letter. — Eastern Tour. — Journey Out. —

In Palestine. — Damascus. — Baalbek. — Letter to Wife. — Cairo.

— Journey Home. — Letter to Dr. M‘Kay. — At Stamford, Belfast, and York. — A Day’s Engagements. — Irish Educational Endowments Commission. — Royal University. — A Denominational Grievance. — Zululand .... pp. 336-359

Chapter XVIII. His Last Year

Imperial Federation.— Diary Extracts.— Devising Liberal Things. ’ —Plans for the M‘Arthur Hall.— Visits Belfast and Hull.— Diary Extracts.— The Queen’s Jubilee.— Service in Westminster Abbey. — At Irish Conference. — Letter to Wife. — Tired of Festivities.— Accident at Naval Review.— Proposed Sale of Centenary Hall.— At Enniskillen.— Stone-laying. — Letter to Niece. — At Londonderry and Warrenpoint. — Extracts from

Chapter I. I6ii-i82i

ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD.

Remote Descent— Grandparents and Parents.— Birth and Birthplace. Nevvtownstewart and other Residences. — -Somnambulism and Child-preaching.— M'Granahaii’s School at Stranorlar. Isaac Butt. Life at Miltown Cottage. — Successes of the Youth of Ardstraw. — Sunday School. — William and th Rector. — Lines on Miltown.

W ILLIAM M‘ARTHUR was connected with the three divisions of the United Kingdom. He was born in Ireland, resided thirty years of his life in England, and inherited from remote ancestors Scotch blood. To which of the races which go to make up the population of Scotland his ancestors belonged it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to say. Whether, like the Lowland Scotch, they were of Anglo-Saxon origin, or descended from another branch of the Teutonic family, the Piets from Scandinavia (as some suppose), or belonged to the Scots from Ireland, or the Britons of Strathclyde, could scarcely be ascertained amid the uncertainties of unrecorded genealogies. Even names, by themselves, are not in all cases conclusive evidence of descent, or else the Gaelic mac (son) and the Briton Arthur would be evidence of Celtic blood, if Arthur be not Scandinavian,

William McArthur belonged by birth, training, and religion to the numerically smaller but influentially

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WILLIAM MCARTHUR.

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superior of the two peoples which inhabit Ireland, and which, amid the vicissitudes of the ages, still retain those distinctive characteristics which in some particulars are in striking contrast. The Celts came first, and supplanted the aboriginal inhabitants. The Anglo- Norman invasion took place more than seven hundred years ago ; but the new uprising of the Teutonic tide in its westward progress to America, early in the seventeenth century, overflowed into Ireland. It is “ in the gloaming ” of the Stuart period, between the plantation . of Ulster and the Revolution, that we catch a glimpse of the first MArthurs, indistinct and shadowy, on Irish soil. A family tradition tells that three sons of a Scotch laird left Argyleshire and settled in Ulster. What became of two of the sons is not known ; only one of the three is traceable, and from him descended the man whose life is recorded in these pages. The first of the family whose acquaintance we make by name is William M Arthur, grandfather of our William. We find him, about the middle of last century, a respectable yeoman, resident upon a farm at Miltown, in the parish of Ardstraw, county Tyrone. Like the rest of the Scots in Ulster, he was a Presbyterian in religion, and, like his ancestors in Argyle, read the Bible and sang the Psalms of David.

William, of Miltown, had three sons, William, Andrew, and John. The two former emigrated to America, a resource of Ulster Presbyterians from the days of Wentworth’s viceroyalty, when Charles I. tried to force episcopacy upon them. The habit was afterwards continued, to the great weakening of Irish Protestantism, long before the Roman Catholic exodus had begun. Some of the descendants of these emigrant Ulstermen found their way to the presidential throne of the United States, and are known in its

1792 .] M' ARTHURS AND FINLAYS,

annals as Presidents Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, and Arthur. The two brothers from Miltown died at PTedericksburg, Virginia, in 1803.

The third son, John, remained at home, and at his father’s death inherited the family farm. Soon afterwards he formed a friendship with Mr. Samuel Finlay, of Maheracolton, the neighbouring townland to Miltown. Through the influence of this good man young MArthur was led to seek a change of heart, joined the Methodist Society, and after a while began himself to call sinners to repentance. In 1792, the year after Wesley died, John MArthur was received by the Irish Methodist Conference as an itinerant preacher. To this his widowed mother was at first strongly opposed, but at last yielded a reluctant consent. He married, seven years afterwards, a daughter of Mr. William I'inlay.

The latter, as the maternal grandfather of Sir William MArthur, deserves some notice. The F*inlays were descended from a family of British settlers. Tradition says that they came from England ; but as the name of “ P*inlay ” appears in the lists of early Presbyterian ministers in Ulster, it is not improbable that they too came from Scotland. William Finlaj^ of Maheracolton, emigrated to America while yet a young man, but returned to Ireland after a few years, and married Rosanna Cummins, to whom he was attached before he went abroad. Good religious impressions which he received in America were deepened and ripened after his arrival home. A remarkable religious awakening took place in the neighbourhood of Lisleen and Castlederg, and William Finlay was brought under its influence. He joined the Methodist Society, which at that time he might do without ceasing to be a Presbyterian ; and accordingly for some years was both

WILLIAM MCARTHUR.

[CHAr. I.

t a Methodist class-leader and a Presbyterian elder, and to the end of life was noted throughout the parish of Ardstraw, and in the district round about, for high character, zeal, and good works.

John MArthur was first engaged to be married to Mr. Finlay’s daughter Jane, a young lady of exalted piety and talent. Their union was prevented by her death, which occurred when her sister Sarah was fourteen years of age. On her death-bed Jane commended this sister to Mr. McArthur, and said, ** Wait for Sarah. Phis he kept locked up as a secret in his own breast for four years. Then, when Sarah was eighteen, he presented himself as a suitor, and asked for her hand. At first she declined his ofier, pleading her youth and inexperience for the position of a minister s wife as her reason for so doing, but eventually consented to become his wife.

John MArthur and Sarah Finlay were united in marriage in May, 1799. During the first nine years of their married life there were born four children : Martha, William Finlay, John, and Rosanna. The two boys died in infancy, but the names William and John reappeared in the family.

The William of this narrative, the fifth child of the Rev. John MArthur and his wife Sarah, was born at Malin, in the barony of Innishowen, county Donegal, on July 6th, 1809. A more unlikely place to begin the life which for more than seventy-eight years William MArthur found to be well “ worth living,” it would not be easy to imagine.

Innishowen is a wild and mountainous peninsula, situated between Lough Foyle, Lough Swilly, and the Atlantic Ocean, and terminating in the promontory of Malin Head, the northern extremity of Ireland. It has been long notorious for the illicit distillation of a kind

HIS BIRTH-PLACE.

of whisky, known in the native Erse as poteen. The barony is sparsely populated, its principal town, Carndonagh, having only about six hundred inhabitants.

Malin is a triangularly shaped village in the parish of Clonca, situated on Strabregagh Bay, about three miles north of Carndonagh, and eight miles south of Malin Head. The coastline, as it sweeps past the village, is low, with huge sand-heaps piled up by the stormy northwestern ocean winds. In that respect it differs from the coastline which runs east from Malin Head to the Foyle. The latter is bold and precipitous, and defiantly beats back the assaulting billows of the Atlantic. The village was probably built by British settlers, as the houses are roofed with slates. The present population numbers about one hundred and twenty, and probably it was never larger. “ Perhaps,” writes to us the Rev. J. W. Johnstone,. late of Culdafif, “there is not in Ireland wilder or more majestic scenery ; and although the mountains of Knockamany and Knockbrack are bleak and bare, yet the village itself nestles snugly amongst the trees. On a summer’s evening, if one looks across the narrow waters of Strabregagh, and sees the precipitous, cone-shaped peaks of the Clonmaney Hills rising in crowded masses sheer up into the light of the setting sun, the sight cannot but inspire with admiration, if not with awe.”

How it came to pass that a future Lord Mayor of London was born in this remote and little known Irish Ultima Thule was on this wise. In 1808 the Rev. John MArthur was appointed by the Methodist Conference to labour in Innishowen, which had been constituted a distinct mission the year before. He took up his residence not at Moville or Culdaff, where the ministers now reside, but at Malin, perhaps because there he found suitable lodgings for himself, his wife, and their two little girls.

WILLIAM MCARTHUR.

[chap. I.

at the house of Mr. Charles Davonport. An aged woman, the daughter of this “ warm Methodist,” as she describes her father to have been, pointed out to Mr. Johnstone in 1888 the very house where Mr. and Mrs. M‘Arthur lived, and in which their son William was born. “ It is still,” writes our informant, “ one of the best houses in the village, and is situated on the Carndonagh side of a large gateway, about the centre of the block of houses which runs at right angles to the road leading to Culdaff, and in a straight line with the long bridge leading into Malin from Carndonagh.”

William M‘Arthur’s only connexion with Malin was the not unimportant one of having been born there. While yet an infant of a few weeks old he was removed from the place with his parents. Whether he ever saw his native village again we cannot tell. We are certain that in his manhood he spoke at a missionary meeting at Carndonagh, only three miles from his birthplace, and that he commended himself to the audience by declaring, “ I am an Innishowen man ! ”

He took his first journey while yet in his swaddlingclothes. As soon as his mother, who had been seriously ill after his birth, could be removed, the family set out for Newtownstewart in the county Tyrone, to which Mr. M‘Arthur had been appointed by the preceding Conference. This was most agreeable to himself and his wife, and helped him to keep a promise which he had made to his mother, that he would try and secure appointments as near to her as possible. Newtownstewart is in the parish of Ardstraw, in which are also situated Miltown and Maheracolton. Coming there was almost coming home, as he and his wife when there were in their native parish, and within a few miles of old Mrs. M‘Arthur and Mr. and Mrs. Finlay. Little William’s first two years were thus spent near the old home of his i8i6.] M^GRANAHAN'S SCHOOL. 7

forefathers, and his third year at Moy, to which the family next removed. The three following years their , residence was at Knniskillen, and in 1815 they removed to Brookborough. There for a time William was addicted to somnambulism, to his own peril and the alarm of his parents, but happily the propensity to sleepwalking soon passed away. As early as he was capable of receiving revealed truth he was taught and trained by his father and mother in the way he should go. As a child he was truthful and obedient. He loved good things and walked in right paths, but at the same time was merry and playful. Like many another minister s child, even his pastimes occasionally took a religious form. He sometimes played at preaching, and once his mother, peeping in, saw him haranguing from a perilous elevation an admiring audience of playfellows. She prudently kept out of sight, lest her sudden appearance might cause the little orator to lose his balance, and bring him tumbling to the floor.

Mr. M‘Arthur’s next residence was at Stranorlar, a small town in Donegal, where he remained two years. Here he sent William to a good private school. His sister Rosanna (now Mrs. Hughes), her brother’s senior and survivor, testifies, “ My brother William was quick and intelligent, and got the first place in all his classes.” She further states that amongst his fellow pupils were some who in after life became lawyers, doctors, and clergymen,” and that a girl-pupil named Brown was known in Edinburgh years afterwards as “the blind poetess.”

The pupil who became most notable was Isaac Butt, the son of the Rev. Robert Butt, the incumbent of Stranorlar. Afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin, Butt distinguished himself in scholarship, and was a brilliant member of the Historical Society of the col-

WILLIAM MCARTHUR.

CHAl\ 1 lege. He was one of the originators, and for a time the editor, of the Dublin University Magazine, He was called to the Bar, entered Parliament, and was counsel for Smith O’Brien and afterwards for the P'enians in the State trials which followed their attempts at insurrection. In municipal and national politics he was a strong opponent of O’Connell and his agitation for the repeal of the union, and in his connexion with Dublin journalism was a warm advocate of Conservative and Protestant principles. Subsequently he formed a political organization, and to its object gave the new name “ Home Rule.” The two “ old boys ” from Stranorlar met in the House of Commons, and sometimes in the lobbies chatted of their early days in the north of Ireland.

Only the year before he died Sir William M‘Arthur wrote a letter to Dr. Hime, headmaster of Foyle College, which that gentleman has published in a book of his, entitled Irish Schools for Irish Boys. The writer of the letter says :

My memory takes me back to the town of Stranorlar, where the only school was kept by a gentleman named M‘Granahan. The late Isaac Butt was a pupil of his about the same time. Mr. M‘Grason, a Presbyterian minister, told me that in after years I his father took great credit to himself for having had us bo'th under

I hutt was an exceedingly clever fellow, and his career in

I Trinity College was a very brilliant one. My brother John and he

[ were fellow students there. Had John lived, he would have made

his mark in the world ; but he was cut off in his eighteenth year. My father was then living at Omagh, and when Butt and I were in the House of Commons, he reminded me of the letters he used to carry from my brother w hen coming to Stranorlar to visit his friends.

I have a vivid recollection of the pride I felt when I had the good fortune of gaining a prize in every class in which I was placed. At twelve years of age I was sent to business, and had to complete, as best I could by my own exertions, the smattering of education I had received. I had the advantage, in the house where I was placed, of an excellent library, which I turned to good account, being a hardworking and industrious student. Elegant Extracts I used to revel in, and thus early became acquainted with our best poets.

l8i8.] MILT OWN COTTAGE. 9

In i8i8 the Rev. John M'Arthur, through failing health, found it necessary to retire from the full work of the itinerant ministry, and became a “ supernumerary ” without pastoral charge. In this capacity he spent the remaining twenty-two years of his life, preaching occasionally, as strength permitted and opportunity offered. He took up his abode with his aged mother at Miltown Cottage, in the parish of Ardstraw, county Tyrone, about two miles from Newtownstewart, and brought with him his wife and their six children : Martha, Rosanna, William, John, Alexander, and Eliza.

Miltown Cottage was built by Mr. M ‘Arthur for his mother when he gave up secular business for the work of the ministry, and at the same time he let the farm which he inherited from his father. The cottage was large enough to accommodate himself and his family, and his mother in her loneliness was glad to have with her under the same roof her beloved John and Sarah, and their six healthy, happy, playful children. The house was pleasantly situated in a valley which is watered by the river Derg, not far from its confluence with the Mourne, before unitedly they join the Foyle to flow onward to the sea. The surroundings are not destitute of the picturesque, and in the distance may be seen the two mountains known to the country folk as “Bessie Bell” and “Mary Gray.” The immediate environment of the house was made pleasant with wood and water, verdure and flowers. “ As you stepped through the French parlour window,” writes the Rev. Dr. Donald, who received his information from Mrs. Hughes, “you found yourself in a garden rich in flowers and fruit, and threaded by neatly gravelled walks. Passing along the central walk, you entered an arbour, leaving which you passed into an orchard stocked with apple, pear, and cherry trees. Beyond was a little lake, lo