PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. O course of lectures ever delivered in America N° will be so universally read as those delivered by Father BURKE, in reply to Mr. FROUDE. Most of the reports published in the newspapers have been far from complete, but few of them having room for such long lectures; neither do the publishers of this edition pretend that it is absolutely correct, but they have got the fullest reports possible. These lectures will soon appear, there is no doubt, in book - form, but it is the . intention of the CATHOLIC PUBLICATION COMPANY to place all such matter within the reach of every Catholic on the coast, and hence they have issued this cheap edition, and do not expect to receive for it but a very small per centage, if any thing more than the absolute THE NORMAN INVASION OF IRELAND. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :It is a strange fact that the old battle that has been raging for seven hundred years should continue so far away from the old land. The question on which I am come to speak to you this evening is one that has been disputed at many a council board one that has been disputed on many a well- fought field, and is not yet decided -the question between England and Ireland. (Applause.) Among the visitors to American who came over this year, there was one gentleman distinguished in Europe for his style of writing and for his historical knowledge- the author of several works which have created a profound sensation, at least for originality. MR. FROUDE'S PURPOSE. Mr. Froude has frankly stated that he come over to this country to deal with England and with the Irish question, viewing these from an English stand - point; that, like a true man, he came to America to make the best case that he could for his own country; that he came to state that case to an American public as to a Grand Jury, and to demand a verdict from them, the most extraordinary that was ever yet demanded from any people, namely: the declaration that England was right in the manner in which she has treated my native land for seven hundred years. (Applause.) It seems, according to 66 this learned gentleman, that we Irish have been badly treatedthat he confesses! but he puts in, as a plea, that we only got what we deserved. (Laughter and applause.) "It is true," he says, 'we have governed them badly; the reason is, because it was impossible to govern them rightly. It is true that we have robbed them-the reason is, because it was a pity to leave them their own-they made such bad use of it. It is true, we have persecuted them; the reason is, persecution was a fashion of the time and the order of the day." On these pleas there is not a criminal in prison to-day in the United States that should not instantly get his freedom by acknowledging his crime and pleading some extenuating circumstances. Our ideas about Ireland have been all wrong, it seems. Seven hundred years ago the exigencies of the time demanded the foundation of a strong British Empire; in order to do this, Ireland had to be conquered, and Ireland was conquered. Since that time the one ruling idea in the English mind has been to do all the good that they could for the Irish. Their legislation and their action has not always been tender, but it has been always beneficent.. They sometimes were severe, but they were severe to us for our own good, and the difficulty of England has been that the Irish, during these long hundreds of years, have never understood their own interests or knew what was for their own good. Now, the American mind is enlightened; and henceforth, no Irishman must complain of the past in this new light in which Mr. Froude puts it before us. Now the amiable gentleman tells us what has been the Irish fate in the past. He greatly fears that we must reconcile to it in the future. He comes to tell us his version of the history of Ireland, and he also comes to solve Ireland's difficulty, and to lead us out of all the miseries that have been our lot for hundreds of years. SURMISES CONCERNING MR. FROUDE'S MISSION. When he came, many persons questioned what was the motive or the reason of his coming. I have heard people speaking all around me, and assigning to the learned gentleman this motive or that. Some people said he was an emissary of the English Government; that they sent him here because |