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

william s,,aith O'Bxlen.
After a visit of neErly three months to
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 or making
correct observations about the people Or
their nstitutions-Mr. w. S. O'Brien returns
to Ireland to- day in the Vigo. We are glad to
perceive that, on the whole, he entertains ia
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 q
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 manner
worthy of his high character in his native land
Since his return from penal captivity to Ireland
he had steadily refused all popular demonstra-
tions, and kept aloof from politics and agitation
of every kind. On his arrival here be very pro-
perly declined the public honors which it was
attempted to thrust upon him by some incon-
sderate 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.. 0 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 ac
complisbed their own selfish objects, personal or
political and some of them who secretly hate
him, would be glad to see him make a mistake
in order to reduce him to their own level. Mr..
O'Brieu animadverted on the course of the Mas
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 SLY on the subject here can
have very little weight with those who have the
power to make the laws. Even for citizens it is
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.. o Brien thought 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 "dark 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 theme for ungenerous
and inhospitable Trades against respectable
visiter from Europe, and all other foreigners who
have landed on our shores. Mr.. O'Brien's histo-
ry is the best guarantee of his honesty and sin
certify Of purpose, and that he did not play the
part of demagogue.
Of all those men engaged in the Irish revolu-
tionary movement Of 1s4s, and in the move
ments and agtations 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
us, 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 every thing to
lose and nothing to gain for himself or his family
| by the course he pursued, which is more than
can be said for some Of his associates, who were
mere adventures, and had nothing at stake
His career is, perhaps, as disinterested, honor
able and patriotic as that pursued by any public
man in the present age.
The struggle in which he embarked has always
appeared to US to closely resemble that Of the
Huguenots of France-the Protestants 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
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
golf relancn which the Auatrians hara disnl a,rad