The three characteristics of the Irish race, which are most to be commended when rightly directed, are, first, their heartiness, geniality, enjoyment of life, a nameless quality made of the best elements of the German gemuth and the French esprit. This is the temperament of genius, it is the conserved youth which makes the Irishman an adolescent at whatever age, and is strongly contrasted with the sternness and reserve of the Puritan. This temperament, too, is connected with the fecundity of the race, also in contrast with the Puritan New Englanders, who even in Boston may ere long have to hail the Irish race with _morituri salutamus_ with a new meaning in it. Second, the Irishman, like other men, is not always a man of peace. His blood is warmer on occasion and his interpretation of the strenuous life, which makes men loved for the enemies they make, is another quality which, when rightly trained and directed, is one of the greatest powers for good in the world. To be angry aright is almost one of the definitions of education. Third, the Irishman has a veritable genius for politics, which had no scope in the earlier formative days of Irish history, but which finds its legitimate sphere in this republican land. He is also a patriot, a superb soldier. Politics culminates in statesmanship, and I cannot forbear here a word which I believe will appeal to every heart which keeps a warm corner for Burke, Emmet or O’Connell. My conception of statesmanship is higher than that of politics. The first of all conditions of success in its purer realm is utter disinterestedness. Within the last few days, this country has witnessed the rare spectacle of a senator,[1] unusually devoted to the party at whose birth he assisted, and to a president whom he has long loved, placing his convictions, matured by long experience and ripe knowledge, above both. To no temperament could the personal sacrifices have been greater than for him to give us this modern version of Aristotle’s “_Plato amicus sed major amicus veritas_.” Bound by family lineage, many and long friendships, historical and literary associations, with England, his devotion to our national muse of liberty which inspired the constitution and the declaration of independence impelled him to openly declare sympathy toward the struggling patriots in the Transvaal, as in his long life he has had occasion to do for Poland, Hungary, Greece, Cuba and Ireland.