public
controversy, the barrier between the two Irish races would be
infinitely difficult to break down, and no scheme of Irish government
could be conceived which would not seem like a triumph to one of them
and bondage to the other. The views of the Young Irelanders did not
prevail, and Ireland as a nation has paid the penalty for two
generations, and will probably pay it for many a day to come. It may,
of course, be argued that religious interests are paramount, and that
these are incompatible with a scheme of mixed education. This is not
the place to debate such a question, nor can anyone quarrel with a
decision arrived at on such grounds. But let it be arrived at with a
clear understanding of the certain consequences, and let it be admitted
that when Davis saw the wreck of the scheme for united education he
felt truly that a long and perhaps, for many generations, irretrievable
step was being taken away from the road to nationhood.

But after this despondent reflection, let us cheer ourselves by setting
the proud and moving words with which Duffy concludes his account of
the transactions in the _Life of Davis_:--

"I have not tacked to any transaction in this narrative the moral
which it suggests; the thoughtful reader prefers to draw his own
conclusions. But for once I ask those to whom this book is
dedicated to note the conduct of Catholic young men in a mortal
contest. The hereditary leader of the people, sure to be backed by
the whole force of the unreflecting masses, and supported on this
occasion by the bulk of the national clergy--a man of genius, an
historic man wielding an authority made august by a life's
services, a solemn moral authority with which it is ridiculous to
compare the purely political influence of anyone who has succeeded
him as a tribune of the people--was against Thomas Davis, and able,
no one doubted, to overwhelm him and his sympathisers in political
ruin. A public career might be closed for all of us; our journal
might be extinguished; we were already denounced as intriguers and
infidels; it was quite certain that, by-and-by, we would be
described as hirelings of the Castle. But Davis was right; and of
all his associates, not one man flinched from his side--not one
man. A crisis bringing character to a sharper test has never arisen
in our history, nor can ever arise; and the conduct of these men,
it seems