But a foundation had to be laid, and Froude felt bound also to make it clear that he did not take the old Whig view of Government as a necessary evil, or swear by the "dismal science" of Adam Smith.
He concluded his first lecture in words which at once defined his position and challenged the whole Irish race.

"It was not tyranny," he cried, "but negligence; it was not the intrusion of English authority, but the absence of all authority; it was that very leaving Ireland to herself which she demands so passionately that was the cause of her wretchedness." After that it was hopeless to expect that he would have an impartial hearing.

Every Irishman understood that the lecturer was an enemy, and was prepared not to read for instruction, but to look out for mistakes.

An article in The New York Tribune, which spoke of Froude with admiration and esteem, told him plainly enough how it would be.

"We have had historical lecturers before, but never any who essayed with such industry, learning, and eloquence to convince a nation that its sympathies for half a century at least have have been misplaced ....