self-government against parliamentary omnipotence; not as an Irish
question, but as a common question to all; and in this movement all
the people of England and Scotland would have joined, and there now
would have been a Parliament in England, in Ireland and Scotland. Such
is the geographical position of Great Britain that its countries
should be, not one, but united, each with its own parliament, but still
one parliament for all."

Although forty years have passed without the fulfillment of Kossuth's
prophetic declaration of a public policy, its realization is not only
possible, but probable. To the American mind, with our experience and
traditions, such a solution of the Irish question seems easy,
practicable, safe. We have States larger than Ireland, States smaller
than Ireland, in which the doctrine of self-government finds a
practical application. Not free from evils, not free from
maladministration; but if our States are judged at half-century
intervals, it will appear that they are moving with regular and certain
steps towards better conditions. There is not one American State in
which the condition of the people in matters of education, in personal
and public morals, in industrial intelligence, in wealth and in the
means of further improvement, has not been advanced, essentially, in
the last fifty years. If all the apprehensions touching the evils and
dangers of self-government in Ireland were well founded, there is an
assurance in our experience that the people themselves would discover
and apply an adequate remedy.

Kossuth was an orator; and every orator is of necessity something of a
prophet. He is more than a historian who deals only with the past,
illustrated with reflections, called philosophical, concerning the
events of the past. With the orator those events are recalled and
reviewed for encouragement or warning. The eye of the orator is
turned to the future. The peroration of Mr. Webster's speech in reply
to Hayne contains a prophetic description of the Civil War as it was
experienced by the succeeding generation. Fisher Ames' bold prediction
as to the disposition of convicts to found and to maintain good
government has been realized in the history of Van Diemen's Land. Said
Ames: "If there could be a resurrection from the foot of the gallows,
if the victims of justice could live again, collect together, and form
a society, they would, however loath, soon find themselves obliged to
make