Seven centuries are nearly finished since the political
connexion began between England and Ireland; and yet Ireland
remains to this hour not a well-known country to the general
British public. To do something, however small, towards making
it better understood, is the aim of this little book. Since it
first appeared in Fraser's Magazine, the aspect of Irish affairs
has changed in several particulars. Instead of Ribbonism, we now
hear of Fenianism; the latter being a development of the former,
with its republican element grown prominent under American
influence. Again: although the general British public retains
much, if not quite all, of its old feelings (part apathy, part
disgust), towards everything Irish, the majority of the House of
Commons p.ivhas taken a new view, and is acting on it with
determination. That Ireland has a very different history and
character from England, and needs a very different kind of
management, and that Ireland has hitherto been lamentably
mismanaged, are facts, put forward from