SHEA
754
SHEIL
Valette in Cath. World, LV, 55; Historical Records and
Studies (1899), 130; Wolff in Am. Cath. Quart., XVII. 411;
Catholic News (New York, Feb., 1892).
Edward P. Spillane.
Shea, Sir AAreROSE. b. in Newfoundland, 17 Sept., 1815; d. in London, 30 July, 1905. At the age of twenty-two he embarked successfully in journalism for a period of eight years, and thereafter devoted "In 1848 he was
himself
mercantile pursuits.
elected to the
House of Assem-
bly of Newfound-
land and, with
the exception of a
short period in
1869, he was con-
tinuously a mem-
ber until 1886.
In 1855, and
again in 1860, he
was chosen its
speaker. He
successfully ne-
gotiated the
admission of New-
foundland into
reciprocity treaty
arrangements in
1855; was an
unofficial member
SiK Ambrose Shea, K.C.M.G. of the executive
From a photograph government
1864-69; and went as delegate from Nevi^ound- land to the Quebec conference on confederation in 1864. In 1883 he was appointed commissioner for Ne^\■foundland to the International Fisheries Ex- hibition in London, and hereafter he was sent to Washington, where he succes.sfully brought the State department into harmony with Canada for the ex- tension of the Washington Treaty, 1885. For dis- tinguished services rendered, he was honoured with the Knight Cormnandership of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1883. In 1887 he was appointed Governor of the Bahama Islands, and in that position achieved signal success in breathing new life and activity into a commercially stagnant colony. He initiated the sisal fibre industry, organ- ized a public bank, laid the Bahamas-Florida cable, and fostered commercial enterprise in every depart- ment of the colony's industries, and by his prudent and progressive administration built up a lasting reputation as a most energetic governor. After his retirement in 1895 from the governorship to private life, he lived the last years of his active and successful career in London. In life religion was to Sir Ambrose a fact as real as were his duties in the various posi- tions of responsibility held by him, and his fine char- acter was strengthened and balanced by an ever- present consciousness of deep religious responsibility. Chrysostom Schreineh.
Sheba ('Seba;. See Saba and Sabeans.
Shechem. See Sichem.
Sheehan, Richard A. See Waterford, Diocese
OF.
Shell, Richard Lalor, dramatist, prose writer, and rxjlitician, b. at Drumdowny, County Kilkenny, Ireland, 17 Augiist, 1791; d. at Florence, Italy, 25 May, 1S51. His father, Edward Shell, who had been a successful merchant at Cadiz, S[)ain, n'turned to Ire- land and purchaw'd the estate of Bellevue, near the city of Waterford. Richard received his early educa- tion at home from a French priest, an emigre. When eleven years old he was fM;nt to a Catholic schm^l kept by a French nobleman, at Kensington, London, and a few years later to the Jesuit College at Stonyhurst,.
in Lancashire. In 1807 he entered Trinity College,
Dublin, "with a competent knowledge of the classics,
some acquaintance with Italian and Spanish, and the
power of reading and writing French ;is if it were his
mother tongue". Graduating in 1811, he went to
London to study law and was admitted to the Irish
Bar in 1814. Meantime, pecuniary- reverses had over-
taken his family, and he could not look to his father
for support. Having a literary bent, he turned to
dramatic composition and produced a number of
plays some of which were quite successful, the most
popular being "Adelaide", "The Apostate", and
"Evadne". Financially they were ver\' successful.
His chief fame, however, as a literary man came
through his "Sketches of the Irish Bar" — a series of
articles contributed to the "New Monthly Maga-
zine", which were published in two volumes after his
death. They give considerable information of the
leading men and events of the times.
Early in life, even while at college, he had become interested in politics. The Catholic Board, the leaders of public opinion in Ireland, were divided as to the best policy to be pursued in the struggle for Catholic Emancipation. Shell sided wath those who were in favour of conciliating Protestant opinion, especially in granting the king a veto power over the appointment of the Catholic bishops. But O'Connell, wearied of the old method of petitioning and salaaming which had degraded CathoUcs in their own esteem and had procured from their rulers nothing but contempt, favoured more active measures. O'Conncll's method prevailed, and Sheil would have nothing to do with it. After a few years, however, convinced that nothing short of strenuous agitation would succeed, he joined heartily with O'Connell in all his plans for Catholic Emancipation, demanding it not as a favour but as a right. In the Catholic Association, which succeeded the Catholic Board in 1823, Sheil was next to O'Con- nell the leading power. At the request of this organi- zation he drew up a petition to Parliament setting forth the manifold abuses of justice in Ireland. Early in 1825 he went with several others to London to pro- test against the contemplated act of the English Gov- ernment of suppressing the Catholic Association which had enrolled almost all Ireland in its effective plan of campaign. In 1826 he contrib- uted to"L'Etoile", a French period- ical, a number of articles on the condition of Ire- land. Written in French and un- signed, they were translated and published in lead- ing periodicals in England and on the Continent , and accomplished their purpose — to gain a hearing for Ire- land.
That Sheil was fearless and had the courage of his convictions was manifestcfl on many occasions, especially by his scathing denunciation of the Duke of York, by his public address on the Irish patriot Theobald Wolfe Tone, and by his boldly coming Ix-fore the people of Kent, E^ngland, who had !i,sseiMb!<-d at Pe- nenden Heath to protest against any relaxat ion of the laws against Catholics. Though his re(|uest for a hearing on behalf of Catholic Ireland was not granted, his speech, which was already in press, appeared in a
Fror
HicHAKD Lalor Sheil
a drawing by Cattcrson Smith
