The Irish standard., 1886-06-12
loved; and in 1857 Burke faces

the world again, a married man, poor
and hopeful. Then comes annual
Register" edltorship application, hap
PLY unsuccessful, for consulship at
Madrid from which the world might
have gained some marvellous reports
on the condition of Spain in the eigh-
teenth century and lost literature;
secretaryship to William Gerard Ham
ilton; secretaryship to Rockingham
and finally return 10 Parliament as q
member for John Hampden's borough
Of Wendover. His career as states
man illuminates the eighteenth CEN
tury with q peculiar and especial lus-
tire. AS the brightest light that man,
the child of lronetheus, can nanufac-
ture- whitest lin,elight, Or the flashing
diamonds of electric fire-only show
black against the disc of the sun, so all
the talent, genius, greatness Of the
eighteenth century dim and darken
when contrasted with theincomparab]e
splendor OF Btrke's talents, genius
and greatness. The rest Of the
tale is familiar. Thirty years Of
public life, conspicuous in the
eyes of all men, {. generation passed
only in earnest service Of rectitnde,
justice, liberty, Of public virtue and
private morality, q career without
stain, a record whose very errors can"
not be condemned as faults, because
they spring from an unyarying purity
OF purpose and al, unalterab}e nobility
of ideal. We may say Of the blemlsles
that honest criticism must recognize III
Burke-we are not now thinking Of The
false and foolish slanders Which lnalig-
nifty coined and which peryerse hostil-
ity made cnrrent--We may say OF his
blemishes what the Triurnvir Lepidus,
who has said wiser things for a foolish
man than any other child Of fancy, says
Of his colleague. the wild Anthcny;
"His faults in him seen, as the spots il heaven
More fiery by nights 1,lacllness"
IL hope" said Mr.. Gladstone, in the
course of the speech in which he intro
duced the Home Rule bill, Il hope
chat we shall hear great deal about
Mi. Burke in this debate" and Mr..
yehn Morley. sitting by the Prime
Minister, nodded enthusiastic approval
Friends and foes alike are turning
eagerly to bis speeches, to bis pamph-
lets, TO his essays. His writings are an
arsenal to which ali men turn in the
hope Of finding some weapon that will
strengthen their hands, some shield
that will assuredly turn the point and
blunt the edge of the Adversary
Burke;s volumes are for the moment
converted into q species Of sortes viz
gllianm which every man consults at
random in the hope OF finding some
sentence, some apothegm, some argn~
ment especially suited to his case. Cur
enemies ransack his volumes in the
fond hope Of discovering some passage
which may be distorted into an appe41-
ance Of prophetic condemnation of the
statesman, who. animated by the spirit
Of Justice and che love FOX liberty, is
listening to the voice and meeting the
wishes Of the IEish people Our friends
seek, and do not seek in vain, support,
comfort, and encouragement in their
honorable task Of succouring an op~
pressed nationality, in the words OF
him who truly uttered nothing base.
1t is easy to understand why the
words of the Prime Minister'S should
have afforded special satisfaction to
MI. Morley. To Edmund Burke Mr..
Morley has offered some thing as near
ly approaching to unqualified admira-
ton as it is possible for his intensely
critical nature to give. He has studied
Burke with the care: the patience, and
the enthusiasm which men seldom be-
stow on any author who has not the
distinction Of being emba}1ned in
dead language; he has written books
upon him once and again; he has to a
very large extent moulded the course OF
his public life as q journalist and as a.
politician in accordance with Burke's
thoughts and teachings. 1T is gratifying
and it is curiously appropriate to think
that the only English statesman who i'll
any real sense could be said to deserve
the title OF Irish secretary should
have fed his mind and fostered his i'll
tel]ect so largely with the wisdom, the :,
genius, the poljty, and the philosophy 4
of the greatest Irishmen who ever de-
voted his life and his abilities to the
public service Of q political LIE. Nj.
Morley has so much identified himself
with the study and knowledge OF Ed
mund Burke in these days that friends
OF his have been known laughingly to
declare that Mr.. Morley regards Burke !,
as bis own peculiar and private proper
ty, upon which property let trespassers
beware to tread. If Mr.. Morley did
harbor such a thought he might almost
be excused for it, for he has done much !.
to make the existing generation honor
Burke as Burke deserved to be bonored,
and he might we'll feel something. like ;.
personal pride in endorsing the Prem.
ier's emphatic wish that we should
{, oE M. p,r11o t