Long ago, we should have gotten rid of these hordes coming across our borders. A million of these ne’er-do-wells – French Canadians, mostly Catholic – poured into New Hampshire and New England in the late 1800s. Sure, we needed them for cheap labor, but we failed to recognize them, as the New York Times did at the time, as “ignorant and unenterprising, subservient to the most bigoted of Catholic priests [and] caring nothing for our free institutions, civil or religious liberty or the benefits of education.” And we failed to see this Canadian invasion — again, as the Times saw — as a planned effort to create a “New France” as “part of a priestly scheme, fervently fostered in Canada, to bring New England under the control of the Roman Catholic faith.” This was seen as “the avowed purpose of the secret society to which every adult French Canadian belongs.” An invasion a generation earlier brought several million Irish Catholics to New England to fill labor needs. Their shortcomings, too, were clearly labeled: “stupid, apelike, lazy, drunks, criminals, takers…” Their depravity and Catholicism were seen as threats to American nativist culture. As foreseen, the descendants of these hordes have taken over New Hampshire; but unpredictably, they became property owners, entrepreneurs, civic leaders and civil servants. In fact, our governor is a hybrid product of these hordes, a genuine Irish-French Canadian Catholic. What surprises me is her decision to cooperate with Donald Trump’s mass deportation and turn a blind eye on the experiences of her ancestors.

Paul Levy

Concord