dland, I have made many extracts from Mr.
Lecky's references to Ireland, it is in order that I may show Mr.
Spearman the danger of laying too much stress on the French claims as
the cause of the present distress in England's oldest colony.

France had no claims in Ireland, and yet the conduct of the British
government and the British tradesman to that unfortunate island is one
of the blackest infamies of the eighteenth century.

Mr. Lecky says in Chapter V., page 11, of his history: "To a sagacious
observer of colonial politics two facts were becoming evident. The one
was that the deliberate and malignant selfishness of English
commercial legislation was digging a chasm between the mother country
and the colonies which must inevitably, when the latter had become
sufficiently strong, lead to separation. The other was that the
presence of the French in Canada was an essential condition of the
maintenance of the British empire in America."

If Mr. Lecky had studied Newfoundland's history, he might have added a
third fact; namely, that the French claims in Newfoundland have been
for the Jingoes of the last half-century a convenient means of excuse
for shirking their own responsibility to the unfortunate island, and
for covering up the malignant selfishness of those tradesmen in Canada
and England to whose private interests the island has been sacrificed
by the government.

It is interesting to observe how, at the time of the Peace of Utrecht,
on Article XIII. of which the modern claims of France are based, the
conditions were similar to those of Tory intrigue to-day.

King Louis of France, encouraged by the momentary supremacy of the
Tories in England, had insulted the English people by recognizing the
Pretender as King of England.

The popular indignation roused by this insult enabled King William, by
dissolving Parliament, to overthrow the Tory power, and obtain a large
majority pledged to war with France. The Whigs carried this war to a
victorious conclusion; but, most unfortunately for both England and
its colonies, Abigail Masham, by her influence over the queen, secured
the overthrow of the Whigs. And her cousin Harley, a Tory, became
Chancellor of the Exchequer, thus permitting the Tories to reap the
fruits of Whig victories. In reference to the conclusion of the peace
with France Lecky says, "The tortuous proceedings that terminated in
the Peace of Utrecht form, beyond all question, one of the most
shameful p