On Monday, the Duke of Argyll, speaking in the House
of Lords, drew attention to " the circumstances attending the enforcement of legal obligations on the Olphert estate." The speech, to which we have alluded at length elsewhere, began by combating the often-repeated statement that there had been a quarrel between England and Ireland for the last seven hundred years. As a matter of fact, there has been no such quarrel. Ever since the time of Strongbow's conquest, when-
ever England has intervened, it has always been with the aid of a considerable portion of the Irish people. After showing how greatly at variance with the facts are the popular notions in regard to the penal laws and the laws restricting Irish trades and industries, the speaker went on to show that in Donegal, " the latest home of the purest Irish barbarism," the influence of the non-Celtic landlords had been entirely on the side of improving and civilising the people. The speech was through- out one of those clear and masterly monographs in which the Duke of Argyll excels. In answer, Lord Granville could only twit his opponent by thanking him for his " very peculiar historical lecture."
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