the Catholic clergy, a new leader has appeared in the Protestant Charles Stewart Parnell. He has succeeded in obtaining the confidence of the Irish Catholic clergy, both bishops and priests, more thoroughly, perhaps, than any nonCatholic leader ever enjoyed before in the history of Ireland. He has hitherto certainly showed far more knowledge of Irish character than any previous political leader, except O'Connell.

Whether he addresses Irishmen in England, Ireland, or the United States of America, his influence is extraordinary, yet thoroughly practical. Although a Protestant of aristocratic connections, and a landlord, he leads and controls thousands, nearly all of whom detest both his religion and social class. This singular position of a man so isolated, yet so powerful, who politically controls an immense Irish majority, both at home and scattered over the world, has given him the title, not altogether bestowed in jest, of the "uncrowned King of Ireland." Unlike the "United Irish" leaders, he does not advocate a Republic; unlike O'Connell and Smith O'Brien, he neither appeals to Roman Catholics exclusively nor to historical

traditions of Ireland.*

All religious exclusiveness, all romantic aspiration, he utterly disavows. He appeals to the pockets, or immediate worldly interests, as he believes, of the Irish majority, in a new style and by different means than were ever employed before.

What these new methods are need not be named here, his views and policy being daily discussed by far more English newspapers than were ever before devoted to Irish politics. But the '98 movement was the first of the many Irish revolts against England of which a republic was the avowed object. Since that time to the present this idea has never left the minds of many Irishmen, and is eagerly advocated by many of Mr. Parnell's followers. Yet Daniel O'Connell, the great and popular champion of Irish Roman Catholics, always disavowed it, and, while he influenced public opinion, republican views, if

* Unlike almost every other Irish political leader, "he dislikes speech-making, and always prefers to remain silent," but his followers are certainly among the most eloquent men now in Parliament.-See The Parnell Movement, by T. P. O'Connor, M.P.

secretly entertained, were seldom expressed by any of his party.

In considering Irish history during and since 1798, it appears that the countries which have mainly aided Irish revolution were France and the United States of America. The former, however, since '98 has shown much less sympathy with Ireland. In 1848 Smith O'Brien and some political friends went to France congratulating the French Republic, but were coldly received by M. Lamartine, who was then the leading man of the new Government.*

The

conduct of the French Socialists in 1870, who deliberately executed the Archbishop of Paris and several priests, horrified the Irish Catholics beyond measure, while the infidel spirit more or less actuating French republican legislation ever since, destroys all admiration for it among so, religious a people as the Irish are and have always been.

Since '98, therefore, America, with its ever

"We are at peace," said Lamartine, "and we are desirous of remaining on good terms of equality, not with this or that part of Great Britain, but with Great Britain entire."-Cassell's History of England, vol. ii. chap. iii.

increasing Irish population, has been, and continues to be, the chief external aid of Irish enmity to British rule. No Catholic monarchy, not even Spain, in former times friendly to Ireland, displays much sympathy for Irish nationality. America, however, proffers both money and sympathy, though both proceed chiefly from the Irish settlers mostly living in American towns. Thus a new Ireland apparently encourages and strengthens the mother country in hatred to England, recalling in speeches, books, and especially in newspapers, her alleged historical wrongs since the first British invasion, but no longer appealing directly to any European country for assistance, or even for much sympathy.

In fact, the Irish at home, allied with their fellow-countrymen in America, present a more compact and independent opposition to England than was ever known before. Yet Ireland seems no longer viewed by France as a useful ally against England, owing probably to the decline of the anti-English feeling in that country. It is the Irish themselves, both in Europe and America, who now revive historical

animosity against Great Britain, and demand complete independence. The North of Ireland, at least its Protestant population, descended from British colonists, firmly resists this demand, being devotedly loyal to British rule, which the majority of them has always supported from generation to generation, since their first settlement in Ireland.