Year: 1872

tsy y;g Long ago your historical societies M at a.
to hold out hand % %e ASrs oSr reception zee
OF me here this evening, gentlemen, would
have been the most agreeable experience in
oppressed by your goodness to me. When see
myself here surrounded BY the most brilliant repre-
names have been household words wherever the
English language is spoken am sure that you are
bly, disappoint We are ali Of US 90 constituted by
nature that We can swallow large measure OF


tco We'll the measure Of my own
esapebiities You make me ,s feel se rslsan before
hence, when you have heard what have to say to
you and your good opinion Of me had remained un-
But gentlemen, it is not only for this that owe
you my acknowledgements have to thank you


sS % me an n % rs hs
country. In one sense, indeed, It needs no ex-
PLANTATION. IL has been the dream Of my life to
come to America; and am only delighted that
have found an opportunity. Of realizing II. Occu,
Pied however, as am at home In many ways !
complishing my wish. had not combined with II
another purpose-a purpose which presented Itself
TO me at last In the shape OF an oDlgatlon; Wnat
that purpose Ia can best make clear by telling you
how came to form 1t.


Some eighteen months ago, at London break,
fast table, It was mentioned that one Of the most
| prominent Fenian leaders was making tour in
the United States, diating upon English tyranny
| commentary. Irish patriotism has many q charge
Ga co @%s
| Irisnmen have long memory There are, how.
ever, features in the long, tragica story which, II
teligible much that we could wish undone-fea-
lures which, naturally enough, the Irish over
look, yet which should be borne in mind II an
impartial Judgment is to be formed on the
controversy. was aware how great an inAu.
e1cs america sgs IN Ireland the Sa
twenty batteries OF English cannon; and that
Judgment ought not to be pronounced after hear.
hastily, think | win 80 over and give some lee
lures on the other side. / spoke without serious
itself TO me gathered form and fxIty. am not an
4 lrishman. do not own an acre Of land In Ireland;
thrown me much among the Irish people. They
are a people who either attract strongly or repel
drawn toward them When a, co College, used %
spend my vacations wandering in the Irish noun
tains. Ihaye lived in peasants' cabins for months
illness in the wilds Of Mayo, ana the poor
creatures treated me with a tenderness which
tracted me. Tneir condition personally interested
me. knew Ireland before the famine. l knew it
lS4s, In the Smith O'Bren insurrecton. Since that
time have been an Irish tenant. Indeed, may
out out Of my holding and can sympat6ze with the the
special wrong OF the country, az was very unwil-


ling to go. But my landlord simply wanted to live
In his own house and attend to his duties. II all
evictions were as innocent mine there would be
little to complain of, and when go back hope to
find some other place in the same county which
| will suit me as well.


While was writing my "History Of England" l
was led to look closely into the conduct OF The Eng
lish government towards Ireland in earlier times
| " hen that book was OF my hands began to ex
anime into the action of the celebrated Penal laws
OF the last century. had read what very few per-
| sons have read-thC secret correspondence between
the English and Irish administrations during all
that period. felt, in short, that had something
OF Importance to say, ana wished to say it.
would not act in such matter without advice.
orally nnfayorabie. One said ! should oe moboed
by the Irish. Another that he supposed
shSa tell the as Tss Sas Sai9es
let il alone. Others urged more gravey
that It was unbecoming and improper to discuss
questions OF our own domestic politics in foreign
country. There were some, however, and those
who knew ireland best, who said to me, go, and
my own instinct said go. AS to the Irish have al
| ways been on good terms with them, and believe
1always shall be-. hope to spend a large part OF
the rest OF my liie among them hem ana u they have
nifty at home. AS to truth, it may be unpaatable,
but there is q prejudice that little Of i is not
were in Parliament. II | belonged to any political
party, even Il was an Irish landlord admit
that was indirectly pursuing some party object
But as far as have any public character It Is
simply writer Of books address myself equally
and there can be NO possible reason why may not
address them as well with my tongue as my pen.
| Once for al however, insist that England and
America do not stand to one another as foreign ma.
! tiOns-lOreign ia the sense that France or Russia
is foreign to us both. Politically separate we may
be, but we cannot shake of our relationship.
Sprung from common stock, with common his
as We both are by Providence with the carrying out
OF that grand principle OF ordered liberty, on
which, as we believe. the ameioration Of man
| kind depends may be rivals, but rivals
only as to which OF US shall represent these princi-
pies most wisely. and most effectively. We
be with the peculiar bitterness which distinguishes
family disputes But the very acrmony Is itself an
evidence OF the clOseness OF the tie which binds
Por the sting rises from the supposed absence OF
the special good will which each OF us conceives we
have right to look for from the other. BE our
] political position to each other what it may-and
! for myself hope and believe no angry word need
ever more be exchanged between us-it is inevita-
BILE that we must retain an ardent interest In each
others future and must remain connected by links
Of feeling such as cannot exist between either OF


And on this peculiar subject OF Ireland, America
has special interest and special right TO press
an opinion, owing to the peculiar relations which
have sprung up between Ireland and herself.


Those relations are not the growth Of yesterday
During the present century several millions OF Irish
here and the Irish people left in the old country
have responded to your hospitality with passion
ate and souness attitude AmerSa @ Is 5 the ana
in the imagination Of every Irish Catholic child.


In the last century, and the century before, when
the Irish Catholics remained fixed at home, there
was a no less important Protestant emigration to
this country; Every season. for more than hun
pith and marrow Of the cOlonists who had been
planted in Ireland by the PnItans-the sons
and grandsons OF the Cromwellian settlers, the
Ulster Presbyterians the Calvinst i'm
went thither after the last conquest and We're
driven out by the intolerance OF the EpiscOpalian
laws. They came here, like the Pilgrim Fathers, IN
search Of liberty which was denied them at home.
In the War Oflndependence they made England rue
the madness which had banished them. And In
that same War OF Independence their friends in
Ireand,-the Protestants who remained there
were the staunchest friends which America pos.
sessed


You are thus connected equally with both the
parties whose presence In Ireland constitutes the
Irish difficulty. You can wish no III to either. You
are peculiarly fitted to mediate between them
while you are 30 circumstanced that the judgment
OF America-expressed through the press, through
public speeches. IN the thousand ways IN which
national sentiment can make itself lelt--wil carry
a weight which s almost incalculable.


q Ennliah-