18 MAY 1895, Page 3

The Irish Members are not going to let the statue

of Cromwell go through without opposition. On Tuesday Mr. Hayden significantly asked whether the cost of erection "would be derived from Irish as well as English taxes. It is greatly to be regretted that the Nationalists should take this line. Cromwell is to be commemorated as a great historical Ifigure, just as Grattan was, and no one is committed to admiration of him by allowing him a statue. It is childish to try to spite the dead Cromwell by pretending that he -was unworthy of a statue. We hear with the utmost pleasure that Mr. Thorneycroft is to be the sculptor intrusted with the execution of the statue. The work could not possibly be in better hands. We hope, however, that the decision will be for an equestrian statue,—with, of course, an outdoor site. An equestrian statue, when appropriate, is doubly effective, and in Cromwell's case nothing could be more appropriate. The soldiers who " turned the tide of battle on Marston Moor" were dragoons. Cromwell seems most himself when considered as the leader of the Ironsides. It was of them he said, with such pathetic pride, " They were a lovely company. `Truly, they were never beaten.'