CURRENT LITERATURE.
Catechism of the History of Ireland. By W. J. O'Neill Daunt. puffy.)—This book is in the form of a catechism, in which a number of leading questions draw forth replies often preposterously at variance with history. Here are instances :—" Q. What was the motive which stimulated the English Government to commit so enormous a crime [a3 to carry through the Union] ? A. An intolerance of Irish pros- perity.—Q. How came the famine, if there was food enough in Ireland to supply all the people ? A. It was because the agricultural produce was, as usual, sold to pay the multiform tribute exacted by England. —Q. Does the Act [the Disestablishment Act of 1869] affect the fiscal interests of Ireland ? A. Yes. By charging on the funds of the State Church, instead of on the Imperial Treasury, the compensation for the suppressed Parliamentary grants to the College of Maynooth send the Presbyterian clergy. The Act withdraws from Ireland about £66,000 per annum of Irish taxes, which the Maynooth. Grant and the Presbyterian Regium Donunt had previously retained in this kingdom ; and for the annual sum thus withdrawn, the Act gives Ireland no equivalent." If Irishmen like to teach and learn history after this fashion, let them do so, but they must not expect to be helped with English money.
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