poet, Irish nationalist exile, and Canadian statesman known as one of the founding "Fathers of Confederation" who helped bring about Canada's independence. McGee and Sadlier shared an interest in a "national poetry" that would not only capture the spirit of a people, but inspire them to political and national independence. While McGee, as a man, could take part in political rallies and organize Irish-American support for Home Rule, Sadlier, as a woman, directed her support for Irish independence into literature. McGee's biographer notes that Sadlier's success inspired him to write emigrant novels, and that he was planning a novel on this subject at the time of his death (Phelan, 285). McGee's controversial politics cost him his life in 1868, when an Irish-American radical assassinated him, and his death was "a crushing blow to Mrs. Sadlier and her husband, who were his enthusiastic friends" (Anna Sadlier, 332). Sadlier edited a collection of McGee's poetry in 1869 in tribute to his memory. In later years, she lost the copyright to all her earlier works, many of which remained in print. In 1902, she received a special blessing from Pope Leo XIII for her "illustrious service to the Catholic Church". Sadlier remained in New York for nine years before returning to Canada, where she died in 1903. One of Mary Anne's daughters, Anna Theresa Sadlier, also became a writer. Selected works by Sadlier Confessions of an apostate (1842) R.B. Seeley and W. Burnside, London; (1868) D. & J. Sadlier & Co. New York, Boston. The "field of honour ; or, "scenes in the nineteenth century"(1844) W.H. Dalton, Cockspur Street, London Naboth the Jezreelite; and other poems (1844) Bath The Red Hand of Ulster; or, The Fortunes of Hugh O'Neill (1850) Willy Burke; or, The Irish Orphan in America (1850) The Blakes and Flanagans, A Tale Illustrative of Irish Life in the United States (1855) The Confederate Chieftains: a Tale of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 (1860) The Babbler; a drama for boys, in one act (1861) Bessy Conway; or, The Irish Girl in America (1861) Elinor Preston: or, Scenes at Home and Abroad (1861) The Pope's Niece, and Other Tales (1862) Old and New; or, Taste versus Fashion (1862) Confessions of an Apostate; or, Leaves from a Troubled Life (1864)) Con O'Regan; or, Emigrant Life in the New World (1864) Aunt Honor's Keepsake (1866) The Secret (a drama) (1873) The Young Lady's Reader