The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-05-28

~ ~~~~SoAs~As VSAAP
WiNiam s,aith O'Brfen.
After a visit of nearly three months Il
this country during which he has travelled
over most Of the States and the Canadas
of course in very hurried manner, which
gave him but little opportunity for re-
ceiving very accurate information OF making
correct observations about the people or
their institutions-Mr. W. S. O'Brien returns
to Ireland to- day in the Vigo. We are glad to
perceive that, on the whole, he entertains fa-
vorable opinion Of Americans, and very different
from what prejudice had suggested at the other
side of the Atlantic; and as he intends to publish
al account of his tour when he gets home, we
have no doubt that his book will have the effect
of dispelling much Of the fog in which John Bull
and other European nations are still en-
veloped as regards the republic of the United
States.
Mr.. OBrien will be attended to the ship by
procession Of his admiring fellow countrymen
and other sympathizing citizens. During his SO,
journ in the country he has borne himself on the
whole with becoming dignity and in q manner
worthy of bis high character in his native land.
Since his return from penal captivity to Ireland
he had steadily refused all popular demonstra-
tons, and kept aloof from politics and agitation
of every kind. On his arrival here he very pro-
perly declined the public honors which it was
attempted to thrust upon him by some incon-
siderate people, or by small politicians and dema
gogues, who desired at his expense to have
their names mixed up with his in the newspa-
pers, to the disgust Of all rightminded men
The only instances in which Mr.. O'Brien departed
from the course he had marked out for him.
self in America were at Boston and Albany,
where, no doubt, he was persuaded to do so by
the sinister advice Of pretended friends of Irish
birth, who cared little whether he placed him
self in false position or not, if they only &C
cOlnplsbed their own selfish objects, personal or
political; and some of them, who secretly hate
him, would be glad to see him make mistake
in order to reduce him to their own level Mr..
sachusetts Legislature in extending the proba-
tionary period through which emigrants must
pass in future before they are entitled to vote.
This would be very proper subject of comment
for Mr.. O'Brien after returning home. But
while he was in Massachusetts it was out Of
place, and were better omitted, as it is looked
upon in the light Of foreign interference in our
internal matters, and is calculated to aggravate
the very feeling it was intended to remove. Mr..
O'Brien is not citizen of the United States,
and what he may say on the subject here can
have very little weight with those who have the
power to make the laws Even for citizensi it is
q question which is open to debate, and on which
much may be said on both sides. No adopted
citizens are wronged by this enactment, for its
provisions only apply to foreigners who are not
yet citizens, and have not the right to vote Such
persons, if they do not like the law, need not
settle in Massachusetts, but direct their course to
other States, where there is plenty OF room, and
the old Bay State will thus lose in population.
No doubt Mr.. OBrien thought a word from him
on the subject might be attended with good ef-
feet; and we believe he acted from the purest
and best motives. After all, it is very paltry
ground on which to assail him, and the organ of
the extinct clark lantern" and "the little vii
lain" who deals in dead mems bones, would
have shown better taste by passing the matter
over, instead Of making it a theme for ungenerous
and inhospitable TRADES against respectable
visiter from Europe, and all other foreigners who
have landed on our shores Mr.. OBrien's histo-
ry is the best guarantee Of his honesty and sin
cerity of purpose, and that he did not play the
part Of demagogue.
Of all those men engaged in the Irish revolu-
tionary movement Of lS48, and in the move
ments and agitations Of previous years for the
freedom of Ireland, there is none whose record
stands so clean as that Of O'Brien. Here he
has conducted himself better than any of the
European revolutionary leaders who have visited
u.s. with the exception Of Garibaldi alone, and
he is leaving at the right time, and before falling
into the errors which have ruined them with the
American people. That he was deceived, fnisled
and victimized in his political career in Ireland
none knows now better than himself Con-
nected with the nobility of the country by
religion, by birth and fortune (his elder bro
Their is Lord Inchiquin), he had everything to
lose and nothing to gain for himself or his family
W eAS V0uAeO bS puASuCu, WAASH 10 AholC euuh
can be said for some of his associates, who were
mere adventures, and had nothing at stake.
His career u.s. perhaps, as disinterested as honor
able and patriotic as that pursued by any public
man in the present age.
The struggle in which be embarked has always
appeared to US to closely resemble that Of the
Huguenots of France-the Professionals of that
country, since the Reformation, having been
dealt with very much in the same fashion by
French rulers as the Catholics Of Ireland have
been dealt with by the British government. In
another column we publish an article in which
a historical parallel is drawn, and from which
some instruction may be derived by religious
prosecutors of all sects
CoBURG Stock LOOKING DowN-The want of
selfreliance which the Austrians have displayed