Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-02-18
ElifiOHc
VOTE "'""i 600 p. n,
the IRIsA QuEs1Ion.

THE LATTER nIsMEAsURnp TIM TAors or IRIsII
HISTORY. -i84s II
At the Opera House, last evening, there was q
large Qor lecture,) and very attentive audi
snce.l Mr.. Phillips wss introduced, shortly after
O'Clock, and spoke for nearly m hour and e.
half on various phases of the Irish Question, &C.
vereiy reviewing the position taken by Mr..
i Jaa. Anthony fnaude, the aEnglish historian.
whose leotaring tour In this country, last Fall,
our resdera will of.course fensIn ber.
i Mr. Phillips said the coming hither of Mr.
Froude to explain TO the American people the
English view OF their troubles in Ireland, SEEM
ed extrAordhary,eb but it was, after ALL very rea-
sonable England finds herself check mated by
the threat of Ireland She cannot interfere in
the affairs of Europe, although she has been al
ways the most meddlesome nation of the Earth,
and though hergreat statesmen, Canning, Pal.
merston,) gained their laurels by putting their
fingers in other peoples dishes, because Ireland
snd hss s G. 70 p5Est and fP Rsr
newspapers and statesmen are busy explaining
how IL happened.zt
Mr.. Froude tried to be honest in his state
ments, but he was an Englishman. It was the
ethics Of his latiUh, said M0ntesquied, to tie-
eide right and wrong by the test or Their own
interests. Does it help EDgland2 then it is
right. Does it harh Englahaa It is wrong.
MIR. Froude painted but one side of the picture.
He had two yard-sticks; with one he. measured
Jonson said Of James L, when the latter sent
him paltry gift of few shillings: =" Hesends
me this, because he thinks / live in an alley--go
tell him, his soul lives in an alleyl" SO Mr..
Froude was born in an island, and his viow was
The speaker proceeded to test this by quoting
various statements from Mr.. F., and scathingly
reviewing their incorrectness. Froude painted
ireland as degraded, and her peasantfy living
in huts and caves Yet he might hFve equally
said the same Of the peasants OF France, of Ger
many, OF England, at the same period. There
was in all the countries the same great distance
between the very rich and the very poor. One
Irish noble dazzled the eyes of Queen Elizabeth
with his display of wealth in London, and anoth-
or, U Neil, outshone upon the Field of the Cloth
OF Gold, all the magnihcence of Henry VIII,
and Francis l. But yet Mr.. Froude could not
state these facts, and he could not remember,
IN all his seven lectures, covering five centuries
OF her history any Of the poets, orators, and
statesmen of Ireland, though she had given
birth to more than her proportionate number
Even Edmund Burke MI. Froude forgot. III
1t makes a material difference, said Mr.. Phil
lips, what MIR. Froude needed to prove concern
ing the Irish when he came to quote their popa-
lation. In 1903. James / conhsoAted the i'm
proved lands in five Of the finest counties, but
this the English lecturer thought Q small matter
to the owners, because, as there were but $780,
600 people in the island, they could easily find
room in the other Counties just as IL some King
seized uponD and should think the people
had no reason to complain, since there WAS plenty
Of unoccupied land in Nebraska But in 1641 It
being necessary TO prove the Irish q weak de.
cayed incapable people, thsy were estimated by
MIR. Froude to be i,50O000 in number--thus to
have trebled themselves in SO years while in
1919, when Cromwell invaded ireland, Mr..
sTp@ds a spoke o. them y sd onIS
in eight years! Mr.. Froude, moreover, to show
the wonderful efficiency OF Cromwell's English
troops, told how his IL 900 pursued from one
side OF the island TO the other the Irish army OF
200 600 men, =" until 1t melted away like Q snow
drift" II there were 200. 900 Irishmen in the
field, then, it must have been one-fOurth the
whole people, ,'and one-half of all the males. Yet
France, in the hour Whsn Prussia was crushing
er, sent into the field only one man in fftyi
Prussia, in that same Supreme effort, one in
thirty eight the South, whom Grant said she
had conscripted 3" everything but the grave
yards, only one in twenty-five. Had Ireland
lut into the field half her men, it would have
been wonderful. But the statement was not true.
Cromwell met and fought two armies Of about
10, 900 each, which, owing to the irreconcilable
enmities Of their commanders 0rmond and
Q Nefll, fought each other more than him.
Henry Grattsn, Froude admitted, WAS 4 an
honest man." but he lacked common sense.
OOonnel he called . more demagogue. Yet he
praised Gladstone, and spoke of the laurels on
his brow, gathered By his fair and wise treat
nient of Ireland. Those lAurels are there, said
Mr.. Phillips, and the English Premier has won
cesslty which GrAttan and 0'Connell urged, ar
gued, aud Agitated IS measures of Justice
and right.
The great and obvious logic OF history " shut
mp England, and Mr.. Froude, her apologist, on
the Irish Question. For seven centuries she has
been trying to pacify and govern IRELAND, and
yet she has not succeeded. Something is wrong.
England has failed in so plain . task. There
arc but two explanAtions-either Mr.. Froude
must admit the iucapacity Of his people, or he
must declare the Irish not capable Of any good.
SO he asserts, not that the English are fools but
that the Irish are deyils.Il u. Il uu 80. 800
Mr.. Phillips concluded by referring to Poland
which after one hundred years of the crushing
processes Of Russia, Austria, and Prussia has
been annihilated and is no longer known upon
the maps yet the Poles were known as the |
bravest nation Of Europe who under John So
bleski, had beaten back the Turks, when they
threatened to rot only take Vienna, but to over
run Eastern Europe. On the other hand, Ire-
land is still alive and after seven hundred years
OF repression, drags England to the bar Of pub
lc opinion. for Judgment.
During the lecture MIR. Phillips was frequent
y applauded, and the close retired with warm
demonstrations Of applause.