72 



THE IRISH PEOPLE. 



For this reference I thank my friend, Mr. Dennehy, 

 Editor of the Nation. 



58. In 1807, General Lord Hutchinson of Alex- 

 andria, an Irishman, who, with soldiers (chiefly 

 Irish), drove Napoleon's army out of Egypt, said 

 in the House of Lords : " Assertions have been 

 made in this House to traduce the character of my 

 Catholic countrymen, which, if uttered anywhere 

 else, I should not hesitate to pronounce the most 

 unfounded calumnies. They are as brave, as gen- 

 erous a people as any on earth ; their virtues are 

 peculiarly their own ; their faults are not the faults 

 of their nature, but of those laws under whose bale- 

 ful operation they have suffered." 



59. In 1807, July 29, Lord Holland said, in the 

 House of Lord : " I know the character of Irishmen, 

 and no character did I ever see more conspicuously 

 marked by benevolence, generosity, and courage." 



60. In 1807, August 13, Lord William Russell 

 declared in Parliament the Irish to be " a people as 

 brave, as generous, and naturally as affectionate as 

 any nation under the sun." 



61. In 1808, on the 23rd of April, Admiral Lord 

 Colingwood wrote to Lord Mulgrave : " One hun- 

 dred Irish boys came out two years since, and are 

 now the topmen of the fleet." 



62. In 1808, John Wilson Croker, in his Sketches 



