Mr. McGee's share in the treasonable schemes of the Confederation rendered it impossible for him to remain in the British Islands without constantly encountering the danger of arrest. A few months before the collapse of the Ballingarry demonstration he had married, and his complicity in the insurrection thus brought trouble upon another besides himself. For some of his public utterances on the platform at Roundwood, in the county of Wicklow, he was seized by the police; but as all custodians of the peace were instructed to deal leniently with prisoners who had not actually been taken with arms in their hands, he was allowed to go his way. Nothing mollified by this mild treatment, he started for Scotland, to stir up treason among the Irish population there. During his sojourn in Glasgow he received intelligence of the bursting of the bubble which he had assisted to inflate, and of the capture of O'Brien. Hearing that a reward was offered for his own apprehension, he skulked about from place to place in various disguises, and after some delay, crossed over to the North of Ireland, where he took refuge in the house of Dr. Maginn, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Derry. He had an interview with his wife, after which he sailed for the United States in the guise of a priest. On the 10th of October, 1848, he landed at Philadelphia, but soon made his way to New York, where, with the assistance of some of his compatriots he established a weekly newspaper called the _New York Nation_. This enterprise started with fair prospects of success, for the editor was well known to the Irish of New York and its vicinity, and was regarded by them with a high degree of favour, as a man of strong anti-British proclivities. The contents of the paper realized the most sanguine anticipations of its readers, so far as their tone of fanatical hostility to England was concerned; but the editor's want of judgment once more involved him in difficulties. In commenting editorially on the causes of the failure of the Irish insurrection in which he had borne a part, he threw the blame on the Roman Catholic hierarchy, whose influence, as he truly alleged, had been put forward to dissuade their parishioners from joining the ranks of the insurgents. Bishop Hughes, of New York, felt aggrieved on behalf of the Irish priesthood, and took up their cause in the local press. It was, of course, not difficult for him to show that the clergy had acted wisely in discountenancing an insurrection of the success of which there had never been even the most remote possibility. There were rejoinders from Mr. McGee in the columns of the _Nation_, and surrejoinders by the Bishop in various newspapers. The former must surely have seen that he had made a false move, but he had not the good sense to profit by the knowledge by either withdrawing from his position or holding his tongue. The religious sympathies of his compatriots, and their profound reverence for the priesthood, were forces against which he contended in vain. He lost caste with the better class of his fellow-countrymen in America, and came to be regarded by them as an unsafe mentor. According to their view of the matter, a Roman Catholic who set himself up to criticize the clergy of his Church was little better than an atheist. He was a man to be shunned, and, if necessary, to be put down. The upshot of the controversy was the ruin of the prospects of Mr. McGee's journal, the publication whereof was soon discontinued.