English Misrule in Ireland, Vol. 1

Book excerpt: Excerpt from English Misrule in Ireland, Vol. 1: A Course of Lectures in Reply to James Anthony Froude The idea of an "Irish-American Library," similar to the "Library of Ireland," which Davis originated for his and our native land, suggested itself to us many years ago, and would have been put into practical execution before now, but that circumstances did not permit us to subtract from other and more pressing duties the time and personal attention that were required to make the experiment not only successful, but worthy of the National idea it would represent. The necessity of some such collection of works relating to our people, - in their connection with their native and adopted countries, - has, however, never been absent from our mind. And recent events have so strongly demonstrated the urgency of that need, that our resolution was at once taken to do what lay in our power to supply the want, and at least to make a beginning of what may hereafter be a work of some consequence to our people in this New World. The Irish-American element, at the present day, in this Republic, is second to no other in importance as a component portion of the community. Its status in the history of the country, from the earliest dates of which we have any authentic or reliable records, has never been insignificant. Yet, with the exception of two volumes (both the work of men who, however able, were very imperfectly acquainted with the subjects on which they treated), we have met no work that even pretended to deal with the connection of the Irish race with this Republic, or preserve to futurity the record of what Irish-Americans have done, and are doing, for the advancement of the land in which so many of them have found citizenship and hospitable welcome. Yet this deficiency does not spring from lack of material fit for authentic history. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.