11 NOVEMBER 1899, Page 3

We are glad to note that Mr. T. P. O'Connor,

M.P., by his speech at Wandsworth last Saturday has dissociated himself from those Irish National Members whose violent Anglo- phobia is so effectively rebuked by Sir Arthur Arnold in Thursday's Times. Mr. O'Connor, after referring to the reverse at Ladysmith as an unfortunate accident, and noting how the foreign Press bad been compelled to admire the intelligent tranquillity with which England has heard of the disaster, went on to say that this tranquillity of spirit was largely due to the fact that Britons were free men, accustomed to full and frank discussion, for which they found the model in the Imperial Parliament. "Let every Englishman re- member in this hoar," concluded Mr. O'Connor, "when Irish gallantry in Natal has proved how capable Irishmen are of fighting for the Empire, that England knight have a hun- dred thousand such soldiers instead of ten thousand if she would sympathise with the national aspirations of the sister isle." We do not agree with Mr. O'Connor on this point, but it is pleasant to find a Nationalist speaking on the war with- out a trace of Sehadenfreude, and in terms to which any English Home-ruler might honestly and cordially subscribe.