the offspring of disappointed ambition and blind prejudice, withered before the scorn and contempt of all good men. Politically, there can be little possible danger arising from the exercise of the elective franchise by all citizens of foreign birth, even conceding their inferiority in some respects to the native-born, as the former number less than one-eighth of our entire population, and these, in the natural course of events, will disappear from among us, their children born here growing up thoroughly imbued with the spirit and liberality of our institutions. Even to-day the immediate descendants of adopted citizens hold, under both the great parties that divide the country, many high places of honor and trust, and perform their duties with an ability and patriotism that reflect credit on the American name. The nationality that would deal harshly or jealously with friends or neighbors because they were born in a foreign land, or are poor in the world’s goods, is not American, and is more fitted for the latitude of London or Peking than of New York or Washington. We are well aware that there are many things in the conduct of some of our adopted citizens that we find difficulty in understanding, and which require all our good-nature to overlook or palliate. A great famine, we might say a succession of famines, the misgovernment of England, and the oppression of the worst class of alien landlords with which a people ever were afflicted, have driven among us, within a quarter of a century, over two millions of the inhabitants of Ireland. Having been denied practically all participation in the government of their own country, they never have had an opportunity of acquiring that steady habit of thought and reflection necessary to qualify them to judge of the relative merits or demerits of the manifold political measures which the exigencies of a free nation are, from time to time, presenting for popular endorsement; and having unlimited confidence in those who profess to be their friends in their new homes, they fall an easy prey to the demagogue and the political charlatan. The victims of long, cruel, and unrelenting tyranny, and ardent lovers of their fatherland, their hatred of England is, if possible, stronger than their love for Ireland. In fact, those two engrossing passions sometimes so absorb their minds that prudence, toleration, and even self-interest are forgotten. This circumstance, while it may be creditable to themselves, cannot but be regretted by us for many reasons, but more particularly because it renders their assimilation with the vast majority of our people more slow and difficult, and operates against their material advancement, and consequently against the welfare of their children. In the abstract, we do not blame our Irish immigrants for this fond devotion to their natal country, nor for their hatred of her oppressor; on the contrary, we admire it as long as it works no injustice to them or to the country they have