Never any public man had it in his power to do so much good for his country, nor was there ever one who accomplished so little."* -- * Short Studies, vol.ii.p.

241.
-- That O'Connell wasted much time in clamouring for Repeal is perfectly true.

But he was as much the author of Catholic Emancipation as Cobden was the author of Free Trade, and that fact alone should have debarred Froude from the use of this extravagant language.

For though an article in Fraser's Magazine is a very different thing from a serious history, print imposes some obligations, and even two or three casual sentences may show the bent of a man's mind.

Whatever Froude wrote on Ireland, or on anything else, was sure to be widely read, and to affect, for good or for evil, the opinion of the British public.