own destinies, and all will
at once be well--trade will revive, poverty will disappear, emigration
will be checked, a teeming population will inhabit the land, and the
Emerald Isle will once more become great, glorious, and free, Furst
flower o' the airth, Furst gem o' the say. No longer will the gallant
men of Connaught bow their meek heads to American shears, no longer
present their well-developed jaws to Yankee razors; but, instead of
this, flocking in their thousands on saints' days and market days to
their respective county towns, and especially to Galway, will form _en
queue_ at the door of Mr. McCoy, to save the country by fostering
native industries. No longer will it avail the Chinaman of whom he
told me to sail from New York to Ireland, because the latter is the
only country wherein Irishmen do not monopolise all the good things,
do not boss the show--have, in fact, no voice at all in its
management. "But," said my friend, "we'll get no Home Rule, we'll get
no Parlimint, we'll get nothin' at all at all till Irishmen rise up
in every part o' the wuruld an thrash it out o' ye. What business have
the English here at all domineering over us? Didn't one o' their great
spakers get up in Parlimint an' say we must be kept paupers? Didn't he
say that 'the small loaf was the finest recruiting sergeant in the
wuruld?' There ye have the spirit o' the English. We want the counthry
to ourselves, an' to manage it our way, not yours. An' that thievin'
owld Gladstone's the biggest scut o' thim all. No, I'm not grateful to
Gladstone, not a bit iv it. Divil a ha'porth we have to thank him for.
Sure, he was rakin Parnell out iv his grave, the mane-spirited scut,
that cringed and grinned whin Parnell was alive. Sure, 'twas Gladstone
broke up the party wid his morality. 'Ah,' says he, 'I couldn't
associate wid such a person, alanna!' An' he wouldn't let it be a
Parlimint at all--it must be a leg-is-la-ture, by the hokey, it must,
no less. Let him go choke wid his leg-is-la-ture, the durty,
mane-spirited owld scut."

Mr. McCoy declines to regard Mr. Gladstone as a benefactor of Ireland,
but in this he is not alone. His sentiments are shared by every
Irishman I have met, no matter what his politics. The Unionist party
are the more merciful, sparing expletives, calling no ill names. They
admire his ability, his wonderful vitality, versatility, ingenuity of
trickery. They sincerely believe that he is only crazy, and think it a
great