may require restraint,
and of peculiarities of temperament which may require development. We
must know that water can extinguish fire, before it occurs to us to put
out a fire by the use of water. We must know that fire, when properly
used, is a beneficent element of nature, and one which can be used to
our advantage when properly controlled, before we shall attempt to avail
ourselves of it for a general or a particular benefit. I believe a time
has come when the Irish are more than ever anxious to study their
national history. I believe a time has come when the English nation, or
at least a majority of the English nation, are willing to read that
history without prejudice, and to consider it with impartiality.

When first I proposed to write a History of Ireland, at the earnest
request of persons to whose opinion. I felt bound to defer, I was
assured by many that it was useless; that Irishmen did not support Irish
literature; above all, that the Irish clergy were indifferent to it, and
to literature in general. I have since ascertained, by personal
experience, that this charge is utterly unfounded, though I am free to
admit it was made on what appeared to be good authority. It is certainly
to be wished that there was a more general love of reading cultivated
amongst the Catholics of Ireland, but the deficiency is on a fair way to
amendment. As a body, the Irish priesthood may not be devoted to
literature; but as a body, unquestionably they are devoted--nobly
devoted--to the spread of education amongst their people.

With regard to Englishmen, I cannot do better than quote the speech of
an English member of Parliament, Alderman Salomons, who has just
addressed his constituents at Greenwich in these words:--

"The state of Ireland will, doubtless, be a prominent subject of
discussion next session. Any one who sympathizes with distressed
nationalities in their struggles, must, when he hears of the
existence of a conspiracy in Ireland, similar to those combinations
which used to be instituted in Poland in opposition to Russian
oppression, be deeply humiliated. Let the grievances of the Irish
people be probed, and let them be remedied when their true nature
is discovered. Fenianism is rife, not only in Ireland, but also in
England, and an armed police required, which is an insult to our
liberty. I did not know much of the Irish land question, but I know
that measures