The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-04-15
soxs NEW sooxs
Fsur Years sT IrisA nistsry.

Peter. 0alpin h co.,. is tho second part
Of Young Ireland" which. on Its ap-
pearance In December. 1880. we reviewed
at considerable length. and 1t seems to
U.S. might better wear the title OF an
autobiography OF Sir Gavan for TINT period
than the ono II holds. Tho acts and incidents
arc considered In their relations to him. as in
Auenees by which his character and views are
formed. as circumstances amid which no is
placed. as the sphere in which he moves; and
the man embodyng The Nation with his works
his words. his affections. his fortunes are tho
end and aim Of all He does not indeed as In
Q panegyric. stand alono like statue but like
the central figure Of n picture. around which
others are grouped In due subordInation and
perspective the general circumstances Of the
time forming the back and fore ground. II Is
written. however with tho Same close vigor as
its predecessor showing art In the grouping OF
facts aud warmth and movement In the narra-
ton. We are content to accept. even from the
master mind OF Tacitus. tho panegyric instead
Of tho life OF Agricola: and with kindred pen
We may be we'll satisfied II II fulills the first
portion Of tho celebrated rrccept. Ne auid Jdisi
deere audeat ne quii pe,i nan dudeat
Such cotem poraneous biography Is at best
however unsatisfactory. 1t Ia not alone with
regard to the principal subject that 1t Is 40.
Some Of the secondary characters still stay
upon the stage, many have but recently left it.
II the writer possesses delicacy and kind feel
ing toward his allies and friends as Sir Gavan
does. they are treated with an exaggerated col
oring: but. on the other hand II the pen hap
pens to be caustc. ms his is and tho hero has
made rs such men must make. many enemies.
II Is impossible that there should not Intervene
some prejudice and consequent misrepresonta-
ton. And. on the whole. we have strong doubts
A. A. Al.
raphy. such as this is can be considered In
any higher light than a romance OF real life-a
picture in which the writer rs principal figure
must be considerably nattered. and everything
also sacrificed to its prominence and effect
When we last parted from Sir Gavan he was
picturing O'Conne AS the lovesick lion. and
philosophizng with n delicate malice on tho
effects of the tender passion in age on the
viGor OF the intellectual faculty. He has since
then. happily. himself confuted his ungallnnt
theory and given brilliant evidence in this
work that the wooing and wedding In nge OF
young and beautiful wife does not necessarily
entail the loss Of mental electricity. The ear
Her chapters are occupied with small circum-
stances and schoolboy spunbbles with that
shoofy John O'Connell. whose moral force.
monotonous and unmeaning buzz seems to
have considerably bothered Sir Gavan Duffy.
which few readers will think worth the srnce
they occupy. There Is no part of u hiographer's
duty 80 difficult IA to discriminate among these
lighter matters and to select from the variety
OF trfles which float along the surface OF poiti-
cal life. He assigns-a constant and worrying
weakncss-far too emphatic a value to little
people and incidents with whom and which he
happened 10 he connected. History never ap-
plies the microscope. but looks to large events
and their consequences.
One of these came at this time 10 auench all
small scintillations OF strife. one to whose
power rs factor Sir Gavan Duffy does not
seem to give sufficient place. About this time
there fell II visitation upon Ireland such rs per-
haps had never been witnessed in any period
OF high general civilization. II famine of the
thirteenth century In the middle of the nine
teenth Tho spectacle was moro terrible than
the poets dream ofthe Internal regions. There
as
In the jaws Of hell
Aveneefu cares and sullrn sorrows dwell.
Hnh pale , d,eas s, ,, nnt despnrns age
But even the picture wrought in the great
Italians imagination !..as poor and dim COM
pared to the mighty. 1sio'e tragedy. rendered.
only tho more grim anu dreadful by the gro
tssqus accompaniment,' Of fraud. knavery and
iobbsry. To argue ard declaim amid such
crisis upon tho general arrangement
Of things In ireland was like fighting
about theories OF shipbuiiding in a storm
Those who could fed wildly away. All through
1917 the rotl' u the Irish seaports We're
thronged with families fastening to escape tho
evils which impendei over their native land
Tho complaint in Ireland at the time was that
those who went belonged to the best and most
substantial class Of tho agricultural popula-
tiOn The assertion In Canada and here was
that those who came were tho elplrss and des-
titut". TIL" fact WAS that the cmisrants gen
orally belonged to thnt class OF small holders
who being some what ab we tn" level of tho pre-
Willing restitution. had sufficient resources
left to snabls thsm 10 make tho effort required
to effect their removal to "A foreign land. Large
remttnncoS. estim ltsi ~ amounting to $780,
900. were also made by Irish emgrants settled
In the Untel States. to enable their relations
to follow them In the faco " tho great pres
ont horror. the future. fact was not seen that
Shis calamity terrib'e ~ it was. was destined
TO lay tho great lover for thu elevation OF Ire.
land as nation again. and that from tho men
who were thus driv,n by famine ensend red
by years OF misruo would spring another Ire-
land ON this sid, OF tn, ocoIn by which and
by which alone. Irish nationality must event
nay be won.
This famine and its accompanying flight
when it fell on ireland. broke OConnell's al
ready weak and waning hoart. With the
great sadness OF Samson when he lost his
strength. he saw his people-that people which,
through all his faults. which lay beside his
giant virtues but as valleys beside mountains
finding protection in their shads. he loved with
the deep tenderness OF u woman-passing away
from him. His old foe. Disraeli. with gentle
magnanlmity. gives II touching picture OF him
at this time rs he appeared with head bowed
down on his breast eye with all lustre lost