Lord Dufferin, in an eloquent speech at Belfast, made at
a banquet given him on Thursday, took occasion to point out the utter impartiality with which the Empire bestowed its patronage. At this moment, India was governed by an Irishman, Lord Lansdowne; another Irishman, Lord Connemara, Celt of Celts though his name is Norman, governs the thirty millions of Madras ; Sir F. Roberts, from Waterford, commands the Indian Army ; Sir David Barbour, of Belfast, is Indian Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and Sir George White, the able officer who pacified Burmah, and now, at Quetta, holds the Indian gate, is a man from Antrim. He drew the deduction that the Empire could not get on without Irishmen ; but the other one, that Irishmen benefit immensely by the Empire, is at least as true. Yet all these careers are, in the eyes of Irishmen, worthless compared with careers in *their own country, which are as open as careers abroad. The truth on that branch of the subject is, we suppose, that the agitators want careers in which they can succeed by stress of popular favour and skill in Parliamentary debate. Their thirst is natural in them ; but why all other Irishmen should be ready to make sacrifices to slake it, is not easily comprehensible.
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