DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 156, 1 March 1872, Page 3

DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN.

The ' Belfast Weekly Examiner,'W able and excellent paper, has a longleader on the evidence of Irish, brains ; in the world at present, frorn which we clip the following: " Some of the leading Britisn journals have stumbled upon the nary discovery that political brams- ali<& a capacity for statesmanship are pos~ \ sibleainongst Irishmen. The greatest ? political pbilosbpherof modern, if not of all times—Edmund Burke—whose very words are sparks of immortality, was so^in*ipid\tothe dull-auditory of the British House of Commons that his rising was the signal for clearing the benches,; hence, he was known a» the 'dinner bell.' That ::the~ country of Burke, G-rattan, and O'Connel should produce a statesman ought, one' would supp;;se,,to be no marvel. Often, lor our' through the felon's dock runs the road to a Premiership, or similar distinction. Millions of Englishmen applied, literally; to;Charlesl&avan Duffy the

A patriothe, for be it understood. He left hia country for his country's good; So it has been fbr ages—the O'Doji* nell's in Spain, the and M'Mauons in t ranee, the Nii£entl in A ustria, attest the genius of Irishmen in the arts of war and government. If the British Colonies for the last century be examined, their most successful Governors will be found to hafiQ been Irishmen. At present the vast Dominion of Canada is ruled by a Cavaa man—Lord Lisgar—his predecessor,. Lord Mom-k, being also an : Irishman. Our Indian Empire is directed by the Earl of Mayo, also an Irishman. The Australian Continent owns a Ferma-. nagh man, the Earl of Belmore, as Governor of New South Wales, his predecessor having been a Cavan man. Queensland is ruled by Col. Blackall, " a Longford man; while Sir Kichard Bourke, a Garryowen man, was one of the ablest governors that ever set foot on that continent. A Donegal man, Sir George F. Boweh, rules New Zealand. Ceylon exchanges a Westmeath maii, Sir/.'H. G: C: Eobinsou, for Mr. ? Gregory, a Galway man. A Down man Sir C; E. B. Kennedy, rules Western Africa. Similarly Hong Kong f - Bermudas,' Prince Edward's Island, and several other colonies, are also ruled by Irish governors. If we pass from these to the higher judicial offices, to the Colonial Parliaments, and the leaders of political influence, we find Irishmen occupying distinguishe 1 positions. The last man that has risen to the political direction of a Colony is a Monaghan man, Of whom 'the Celtic race may well be proud—Charles Gavan Duffy.