St. Paul Daily Globe

Ireland and France.

To the Editor of the Globe:

Will you kindly permit me to say in your columns that I was really proud to see Mr. Martin's (Le Canadien) manly defense of his kinsmen in their efforts (however doubtful) to remedy what are pretty generally admitted to be crying grievances. Mr. Martin's condemnation of the very deplorable spirit in which some of our leading newspapers treat international questions whenever that arch-hypocrite England is concerned, has my heartiest sympathy. He is pained naturally and justly that the great services rendered by France to this country in its hour of need should seem to be so completely ignored. In his letter in your issue of Friday he is pleased to make reference to Ireland as being in effect in a state of rebellion against English domination. That, perhaps, is precisely the situation. Now, it seems to me that, in their own way and time, the friendship shown and the services rendered by Irishmen to France were worthy of some account and recognition, yet how does Mr. Martin practice the doctrine he so vehemently preaches when the shoe pinches his own foot. Why, I see by Friday morning's Northwestern Chronicle that, with extreme inconsistency, he has been taking the editor of that esteemed and circumspect paper to task for his approval of the appointment of Col. Roberts as minister to Chili. Because Col. Roberts, an Irishman born, had the common manhood to feel for his native country in her severe trials, and linked his name with those who according to their lights would relieve her sufferings. Why, according to this gentleman, should he receive any honor in the country which he has not only adopted, but faithfully served? Why should the Chronicle dare seem to indorse his patriotic sentiments, and why not, for doing so, forsooth, openly proclaim for the curiosity of "Le Canadien," its Fenianistic tendencies and its disloyalty (?) to that power of which it seems just now Mr. Martin himself is not very enamored. Conscious of the enduring justice of Ireland's claims, and sanguine of the ultimate result of her struggles for independence, I have only to express a hope that Le Canadien, if sincere, will itself take the lead in eradicating those un-American tendencies which it condemns, and, as the old adage has it, "remove the beam from its own eyes before looking for the mote in those of its neighbors."

PATRICK M. MORONEY.

St. Paul, April 17.