, 1872-12-14

1Ir. Ftoude has reused moro spitefu1 anta5-
onist than even the Dominican Friar, who has
given him so much trouble, or Mr.. Me1ine, who
rescued tho reputation of Mary Stuart from his
hands. No English critic has cut lIr. Froude
more savage1y than Mr. Wendell Phillips in his
Boston lecture, the other evening, or in his ad-
dress in New York, Monday evening, in which he
turned upon the English historian again. This
brilliant writer Of party pamphlets, as Mr. Phil
lips styles Froude, had tossed O'Conneu aside
in one OF his lectures as merely platform agi-
tator. Now, Daniel O'Connen is one Of the pet
studies Of &r. Phillips, who, whatever his faults
may be, has 3 keen sympathy for the under dog
in fight. He said the laurel woven
to-day for the brow Of Gladstone was won by his
following the statesmanlike suggestions OF the
great Irish champion, for his greatest claim to
public gratitude was his treatment Of the Irish
question. It was this Irish spectre that para
1yzed England and reduced her to the position
Of second-rate power on the chess-board Of
Europe. When England, stung BY German in
solenco to. her sister Denmark, and by Bis
ma1ck's snubbing last year, longed. like the
England Of Chatham, to rush into war, she
dared not, for she knew that Ireland would stab
her IN the back. As Il background for his por-
trait Of o'Conne1l, Alr. Phillips sketched pre-
ceding Irish history, a field in which he catches
Mr.. Froude trespassing, and impales him again:
He calls Ar. Froudo's statements, with regsrdto
the amount Of Irish resistance to English op-
precision, "wild exaggeration." Irish history, ut
best, is full of guesses, and Fronde, If he has
! the choice Of two guesses, always tckea care to
guess against ireland. For instance, to excuse
the confscation by James T., about the year
1904, OF six Of the richest Of Irish counties, he
pleads that it made NO difference, as there was
plenty of lands LETT for the Irish, who numbered
t only about half a million. But desiring in an
other place to put the Irish into as humi1iatiug
| an attitude as possible, he seys that they, in
| 1912, numbering million and q half, allowed
u-Arnse1ves to be conquered by Cromwell with
only 50 ,uoo men, i. e., they treb1ed their popu
| lation in 80 year 8. ~ takes France 66 years tc
treble hers; the United States, with its immi-
grafton and boundless resources, 40 years :, hut
ireland, pressed to the ground by every sort Of
want and oppression, trebles more quickly thar
either. TO deepen the colors of their cowardice
A1r. Froude Bays that the Irish we're beaten bJ
Cromwe1l's $4,000 Anglo-saxons, although the1
met him with 200, 900 Of the million and half O.
| their numbers. Wonderful says Mr. Phillips
France, stirred by German hate: put I in 50 intt
arms; Germany, l in s8; the South a1mos
emptied its graveyards to enlist i i,
Isl Massachusetts gave l in 10; bu
Ireland national wreck, all it's adult population
gone with its 100000 widows, old men, ant
babies, had man in in the field. VI
Mr.. Froude tells the truth" )" Mr Phillips ended
"no tongue can describe the infamy Of the GOV
eminent that struck at such q people," Wha
will Mr. Froude do with this terrible Amer
can? He won't answer his English critics; b
disnnisscs with curt paragraph Mr.. Mcline, wh
charges him specifically with literary counter
feiting; he has given notice that be will pay n
further attention to Father Burke. VIII b
ignore nlr. Phillips in the same way? How doe
he expect to defend England il hs cannot fir:
defend himself?