, 1872-12-04

MR. FRouDE's MISSION.
Mr. James 4. Froude, the English historian,
in coming to America, took upon himself the
mission OF re-educating the American people
upon the subject Of British relations to Ireland
for the last 700 years. In his letter to the
lecture managers he assumed that the Ameri-
can people were either ignorant Of Anglo-Irish
history, or had received what information they
possessed from prejudiced or partisan sources.
His mission, therefore, was to lay the truth be-
fore them, hatthey might know that, in the long
centuries from the days Of Henry II. to the pres
ent time, England had been comparatively the
Just and generous, but rude. parent,
dealing With perYerse, unruly, ig-
norant, and rebellious child, He assumed
that he had thoroughly mastered all that WIS
known on the subject, and that be Was prepared
to tell the story OF Anglo-IriHh rule without any
prejudice, or any OF that lingering hatred Of the
Irish which has characterized all previous Eng
ish writer's.
E{r. Froude, however, has been but few
weeks in the country, and has delivered but
portion Of the series of lectures, when he finds
himself placed on the defensive. Instead OF
converting the American mind, he finds himself
arrested by fiat contradictions Of his assertions,
plain assaults upon his conclusions, and gen
eral and growing impression that he is, perhaps,
more unfair, more partisan, and mora reckless
in his treatment OF the subject than any other
writer who has preceded him. Mr.. Froude had
tue fortune, or misfortune OF not CON-
ing to this country q stranger. His
history of England has been extensively
read here. Our people had eagerly
sought it. We are, in the aggregate, sufficiently
removed from the animosities, religious and po-
itical, which have stamped themselves more or
less upon English history, and sufficiently in
different to the traditional jealousies Of the va
r1ous British schools Of politics, to be able to
appreciate and enjoy an honest, comprehensive,
and candid history Of the land from which We
have derived our language and institutions. The
general feeling after reading A1r. Froude was
one Of disappointment. His history bears not
only many Of the marks Of extreme partisan
ship, but also Of bigotry, which is but poorly
disguised under 3 forcible and dignifed diction.
In treating Of the 1ong-ve1ed question OF the
character OF Mary Stuart, Alr. Froude transcended
all his English predecessors in blackening the
character of that unfortunate vo1nan. There
was nothing that WAS vile that had been uttered
or published OF her, in the centuries Of religious
fanaticism that have inter7ened, that he did not
use, distoEt, and magnify, in order to make out
his case, that Mary Stuart was the basest of his
torical women. The publication Of this part Of
Mr. Froude's work provoked an American
writer, Mr. James F. Meline, to publish reply,
in which he most unquestionably exhibited the
deep-rooted prejudice Of Mr. Froude; his
recklessness Of statement, his unfairness of cita-
tions OF authorities, and general and exaggerated
viliflcation Of the Scottish Queen.
Nor was this all that was calculated to inter-
fere with the SUCCESS of Mr. Froude's mission.
There happened to be in the country . Rev.
Thomas Burke, IN 1rishman by birth and edu-
cation, profound scholar, and gifted orator.
As the Israelites preserved their history through
the long captivity, andhaye preserved it through
ages Of wandering and persecution, so have the
Irish preserved, during the centuries Of English
subjugation, their history. The manuscripts Of
their scholars have been hidden in caves, and
almost buried with the dead; though the torch
and the sword havo often done their
work with terrible completeness, still Irish
history Of Ireland has never been
wholly destroyed. The record of English legis-
latlon for ireland stands open to the world
English oppression of Ireland does not owe its
origin to religious differences. It dates far an
terror to the Reformation. The old Catholic Kings
oeEngland differed but ttlein their estimation Of
the1rish from their Protestant successors. When
the change did come, it served nere1y to give q
religious sanction and religious motive to pol
icies that had always been brutal. The contest
was always held in England, and is to-day held
by thousands, to be the right Of "superlor
race" to reduce the inferior to absolute sub
mission. Thoroughly familiar with the long
record of what England has done
in this way Father Burke was prepared, upon
the first utterance Of Mr. Froude, to respond.
The two gentlemen, treating each other with