The Irish standard., 1889-02-02
He LOVED HIS COUNTRY
With All His Heart-Glowing Tribute
OF 'the Grand Old Man. to
Daniel OConnell.
THE MISSIONARY OF AN IDEA.
HIS Capacity to Embrace Broad Principles
and Faculty to Distinguish Be-
tween Means and Erds.

and Faculty to Distinguish Be-
tween Means and Ezds.
Mr. Gladstone contributes an article
of great interest to the Nineteenth
Century for January, based on MIR.
Fitzpatrick Correspondence Of Dan
lei O'Connell.' The following extracts
will convey an idea of the view held by
Mr.. Gladstone On the character and
career of the Liberator:
1t is with something of a sense Of
specia, duty, and likewise with a
peculiar satisfaction, that / make this
small effort at historical justice in the
case of the Irish Liberator, as he is most
Justly called. In early life shared the
prejudice against him which was estab-
lished in me not by conviction, but by
tradition and education. AS a young
and insignificant member of Parliament
I never $50 far as my memory goes) in
dulged in the safe impertinence Of at
tacks which it would have been beneath
him to notice. ! was fortunate, from
an occurrence WHICH on his account [
must mention further on in some detail,
in beng brought slightly, yet sensibly,
into personal contact with him (now
nearly IS years ago}, and thus having
experience of his kindly and winning
manners. But those who know only
the hearty good will! of millions upon
millions of the English people towards
Ireland at this moment can have but a
faint conception Of the fearfull1 wide
range Of mere prejudice against Of'on-
nell half a century ago.
If there were to be competition
among the dead heroes Of Irish history,
i suppose that Burke and the Duke OF
Wellington would be the 5wo most
formidable competitors. But the great
Duke is truly in 1natht matical phrase
inccmme,,surable with O'COnnell.
There are no known terms which will
enable us fairly to pit the military
faculty against the genius Of civil af
fairs. 1t cau hardly be doubted that If
we take tAo genius alone into view
O7Conne] is the greater man, and |
will not so much as broach the question
in Itself nsolub]e-whether and up
to what point Of superiority, the ex-
bloits OF the great Duke in the field es~
tablished an excess in his favor.
1t is misnonler to call him a de'na~
gogue. If may coin a word for the oc
caslon, he was an ethnagogue. He was
not the leader either Of plebs or populus
against optimates. He was the leader
of nation. and this natl n, weak: out
numbered, and despised, he led not al
ways unsuccessfully in it's controversy
with another ma ion. the strongest aud
perhaps the proudest in Europe. 1t we
pass down the line Of history (but np-
wards ON the moral scale) from Cleon
to Gracious, to RieDzi, and even to
Saysnarola, none of those, I believe,
displayed equal powers; but they all
differed in this vital point. that they
led one part of the community against
another, while ne led nation. though
q nation minus it's dissentients, against
conquerors who were never expelled
but never domesticated. For q parallel
we cannot take Kossuth or Mazzini,
who are small beside him; We must as
cend more nearly to the level OF the
great Cavour-and there still remains
this wide difference between them, that
the work Of Cavour was work IN the
Cabinet and Parliament alone, while
O'Conneu not only devised and regu.
lated all interior counsels, but had also
the actual handling all along Of his own
war material, that is to say, of the peo-
pie, and SO handled them by direct per-
sonal agency that he brought them to
state Of discipline unequalled in The
history of the world.
The domestic relations of O'Connell
cannot escape the notice of the most
careless reader Of this book. They
were broadly DISTINGUISHED from those
of common men by the vehement and
everdowing tide OF emotion that on csed
through them. 'Vhey are Illuminated
by every occasion that comes up, and
we find him acting the part Of a spiritual
adviser in detail to daughter IN a
crave and anxious crisis of the soul, the
particular nature Of which ls reverently
yelled. Their verbal expression is con-
centrated in his letters to his wife.
From this it appears that his whole
married life, from It's commencement
in 1902 to it's close in 1886, was one con-
tinued course not Of ardent affection
only, but of courtship.
The degree in which his business was
exacting his cares over whelming, for
one have never fully und derstood, except