CHAPTER XXIX. EN ROUTE FOR IRELAND-ARRIVAL AT DUBLIN-RECEPTION BY THE LORD MAYOR GRANT - BREAKFASTING WITH BANQUET TO GENERAL QUET AT THE MANSION HOUSE". GENERAL GRANT'S SPEECH -THE REFUSAL OF CORK TO ENTERTAIN THE RECEPTION GIVEN BY THE AMERICAN LEGATION-PREPARING TO START FOR INDIA-THE PARTY FAREWELL TO EUROPE - EN ROUTE FOR INDIA. From Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, General Grant and his party proceeded to Ireland, and reached Dublin on the 3d of January. Upon landing they were met by representatives of the city corporation, by whom they were warmly welcomed. They were at once driven to the Shelbourne Hotel, where the General prepared to meet the Lord Mayor at the City Hall. The city was full of strangers, and much enthusiasm was manifested when the General and his party left their hotel to drive to the Mansion House. On arriving at the Mayor's official residence, they were cheered by a large crowd that had gathered to greet the illustrious ex-President. The Lord Mayor, in presenting the freedom of the city, referred to the cordiality always existing between America and Ireland, and hoped that in America General Grant would do everything he could to help a people who sympathize with every Ameri can movement. The parchment, on which was engrossed the freedom of the city, was inclosed in an ancient bog oak casket. General Grant appeared to be highly impressed by the generous language of the Lord Mayor. He replied as follows:-"I feel very proud of being made a citizen of the principal city of Ireland, and no honor that I have received has given me greater satisfaction. I am by birth the citizen of a country where there are more Irishmen, native born or by descent, than in all Ireland. When in office I had the honor and it was a great one, indeed — of representing more Irishmen and descendants of Irishmen than does Her Majesty the Queen of England. I am not an eloquent speaker, and can simply thank you for the great courtesy you have shown me." Three cheers were given for General Grant at the close of his remarks, and then three more were added for the people of the United States. Mr. Isaac Butt, the well-known Home Rule member of Parliament, speaking as the first honorary freeman of the city, congratulated General Grant on having consolidated into peace and harmony the turbulent political and sectional elements over which he had triumphed as a soldier. His speech throughout was highly complimentary of the ex-President. Two hundred guests were present at the banquet given in honor of General Grant that evening. The Lord Mayor presided. General Noyes returned thanks for a toast to President Hayes' health. General Grant, replying to a toast to his own health, commented upon the cordiality of the popular reception accorded him. He believed and hoped that the trade depression in America would soon be over. He said Americans strove to be honest and to pay their way as they became prosperous; so, also, would England. His speech was loudly cheered. After this ex-President Grant, Mr. Noyes, and Mr. Badeau visited the Royal Irish Academy, in Kildare Street, in company with Lord Mayor Barrington. Here, after some time spent in inspecting the treasures of ancient Irish art in gold, silver, and bronze, Saint Patrick's bell and sacred cross and O'Donnell's casque, the party went to the building that was the old Parliament House. It is now the Bank of Ireland, and the walls which formerly echoed with the eloquence of Grattan, Curran, and Plunkett, now resound with the chaffering of the money-changers. Trinity College was then visited. The party was received by the Provost and Fellows, and escorted through the library, chapel, and halls of this venerable and majestic pile. General Grant drove to the viceregal lodge of the Duke of Marlborough, Phoenix Park, early in the afternoon, where he had a déjeuner with the Viceroy. He afterwards visited the Zoological Gardens, then returned to his hotel, where he rested a couple of hours. In the evening, a banquet was given him at the "Mansion House." The company rose and gave the Irish welcome when the General's name was proposed. The exPresident made in response the longest speech of his life, speaking in a clear voice, and being listened to with rapt attention. He referred to himself as a fellow-citizen of Dublin, and intimated, amid much laughter and cheering, that he might return to Dublin, one day, and run against Barrington for Mayor and Butt for Parliament. He warned those gentlemen that he was generally a troublesome candidate. Then, passing to serious matters, the General said: "We have heard some words spoken about our country - my country- before I was naturalized in another. We have a very great country, a prosperous country, with room for a great many people. We have been suffering for some years from very great oppression. The world has felt it. There is no question about the fact that when you have forty-five millions of consumers such as we are, and when they are made to feel poverty, then the whole world must feel it. You have had here great prosperity, because of our great extravagance and our great misfortunes. We had a war which drew into it almost every man who could bear arms, and my friend who spoke so eloquently to you a few moments ago lost a leg in it. You did not observe that, perhaps, as he has a wooden one in place of it. When that great conflict was going on we were spending one thousand million dollars a year more than we were producing, and Europe got every dollar of it. It made for you a false prosperity. You were getting our bonds and our promises to pay. You were cashing them yourselves. That made great prosperity, and made producers beyond the real necessities of the world at peace. But we finally got through that great conflict, and with an inflated currency which was far below the specie you use here. It made our people still more extravagant. Our speculations were going on, and we still continued to spend three or four hundred millions of money per year more than we were producing. We paid it back to you for your labor and manufactures, and it made you apparently and really prosperous. We, on the other hand, were getting really poor, but being honest, however, we came to the day of solid, honest payment. We came down to the necessity of selling more than we bought. Now we have turned the corner. We have had our days of depression; yours is just coming on. I hope it is nearly over. Our prosperity is commencing, and as we become prosperous you will, too, because we become increased consumers of your products as well as our own. I think it safe to say, that the United States, with a few years' more such prosperity, will consume as much more as they did. Two distinguished men have alluded to this subject-one was the President of the United States, and he said that the prosperity of the United States would be felt to the bounds of the civilized world. The other was Lord Beaconsfield, the most far-seeing man, the one who seems to me to see as far into the future as any man I know, and he says the same as President Hayes." These words were received with rounds of applause, and created a profound sensation. It had been the intention of General Grant to visit Cork, and the corporation of that city were informed of the fact. At a meeting of the City Council it was voted not to receive him. This decision produced a great sensation throughout Ireland, and aroused the just indignation of the populace. An ex-Mayor of Cork said,— "The obstructionists who opposed a cead mille failthe to General Grant are not worth a decent man rubbing up against. It is a pity that the General has determined to return to Paris instead of visiting Cork, where he would have received such an ovation from the self-respecting populace as would prove that the Irish heart beats in sympathy with America." The reason given for this strange procedure was that General Grant was strongly opposed to the Catholic religion, and that he had raised the "no Popery" cry in America. As an enemy of their religion, the councilmen claimed that he was an enemy of their race. When the General read the speeches which had been made in the Council, he quietly remarked, "I am sorry that the Cork people know so little of American history." How much of an enemy to the Catholic religion General Grant is may be gathered from the following remarks by General Sherman: "I have known General Grant for many years, and I do not recall a single instance in which prejudice upon religious matters ever had the slightest influence in the discharge of his official duties. Many of his intimate personal friends are Catholics, and during his residence in St. Louis his circle of acquaintances was almost altogether among families of the Catholic faith. He nominated Henry T. Blow for the Brazilian mission, a gentleman well known as a member of the Catholic Church, and one of his old acquaintances in St. Louis. I do not recall just now any |