196 THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 



United States in the years 1847-52, and a quar 

 ter of a million went to British North Amer 

 ica. The census of 1860 gave the number of 

 natives of Ireland in the United States as 

 1,611,304; the number of English-born as 433,- 

 494; of Scots as 108,518; of Welsh as 45,763. 

 The Irish made an impression socially and po 

 litically that was even deeper than their excess 

 in numbers would warrant. Their animosity 

 toward the English made it imperative that a 

 politician who needed their support should dis 

 play in some form an anti-British feeling. The 

 performances that were elicited by this require 

 ment were at times disheartening to those who 

 hoped for harmony; but the motive became 

 in time so obvious and the act so perfunctory 

 that &quot;twisting the British lion s tail&quot; lost all 

 relation to serious thought. The tales of suffer 

 ing in the famine and of heartless oppression by 

 landlords doubtless roused much feeling as they 

 circulated through America. On the other hand, 

 the religion and various racial traits of the Irish 

 tended to excite a hostility to them that coun 

 teracted much of their anti-British influence. 



Among the elements that co-operated to de 

 termine the relations between the British and 



