Ireland

the greatest American prelate, with the exception
of Gibbons, the cardinalate, but that no consis-
tory would be held until the war was over—and
when the war ended Ireland was dead Recog-
nizing Ireland as a forward-looking prelate, non-
Catholics regarded him as a modernist whose
views conflicted with their conception of the
Church's attitude toward democracy. It probably
vexed some of his Catholic enemies that there
was not the faintest taint of heresy about him.
No prelate probably was a stouter supporter of
the papacy, if one may judge from his written
word (see North American Review, March 1901,
September 1903, Feb. i, Apr. 5, 1907, January,
April 1908, and the controversy with Methodists
concerning their activities in Rome, Ibid., July,
September 1910, January 1911).

In France, Ireland was better known than in
the British Isles, and he was quite as much at
home on the Quai d'Orsay as with the hierarchy.
When Leo XIII counseled French Catholics to
accept the Republic, he sent Ireland as his unof-
ficial representative. On invitation, he delivered
an address which was "a veritable hymn to the
glory of France" and a defense of republican in-
stitutions (La Situation du Catholicisme aux
Btats-Unis, June 18, 1892). Paul Bourget rep-
resented even royalist opinion when he described
Ireland as "one of the greatest men of our time."
Later, he won encomium from radicals for his
panegyric on Jeanne d'Arc ("Jeanne D'Arc,
L'Envoyee de Dieu" delivered in the Basilica of
Sainte-Croix d'Orleans, May 8, 1899). Again
Ireland brought a message to the French people
when as the representative of President McKin-
ley he delivered the address at the presentation of
the statue of Lafayette given by American school
children (July 4,1900). During this visit he in-
terpreted America in Italy and in Great Britain.
On intimate terms with Leopold of Belgium, he
attempted in 1903 to stem American hostility to
his Congo policy by fathering notices in the press.

In spite of all these activities, Ireland man-
aged not to neglect his diocese. He preached on
all occasions, for he liked to speak whether in
Latin, French, or English. In 1907, he laid the
corner-stone of the magnificent St. Paul Cathe-
dral, and read with pride a cable from Rome and
a telegram from Roosevelt. In 1908, the arch-
bishop laid the corner-stone of the Basilica of St.
Mary's, the show church of Minneapolis. Two
years later the "bishopmaker" consecrated at a
unique ceremony six of his priests as suffragan
bishops; and they in turn took part in his golden
jubilee (1911), which could not be confined to
a local celebration.

The European War found Ireland pro-French.

Ireland

As early as 1908 he had urged preparedness. He
supported the first loan to the allies at a time
when the people of the Northwest were pro-
German and anti-English. In 1917, he received
the Belgian Commission at St Paul; and six
weeks later, bade goodbye in a failing voice to
the first Minnesota contingent, saying, "To de-
fend America is to defend not only the nation
that protects you, that nurtures you, but the na-
tion that stands in the universe for the highest
ideals, the noblest principles governing mankind"
(America, Oct. 5, 1918). In Ireland's diocese
there was no German problem among the Cath-
olics. Worn out, in September 1918 he fell asleep
with the request that his body 'lie out there with
my people under the green sod of Calvary." He
had lived in a cottage, and his funeral was cor-
respondingly simple, though his death was no-
ticed throughout the American and European
press. Since he outlived most of his opponents,
a Jesuit could write in appraisal: "A fearless,
godly man, keen of intellect, strong of will, a
relentless yet a chivalrous opponent, he left an
indelible impression on all he touched, for Arch-
bishop Ireland was a great man among the great-
est men" (America, Oct 5,1918, p. 619).

[Cath. World, Nov. 1918; Christian Union (N. Y.),
May 21, 1892; La Revue Hebdomadaire, Nov. 2, 1918;
The Nation, Sept. 2,1915; Educ. Rev., Mar., Apr., May
1892; Acta et Dicta, July 1909, July 1914, July 1915;
Reports of the Irish Cath. Colonization Asso., 1880 et
seq., Ferdinand Kittell, Souvenir of Loretto Cente-

nary (1899) ;t Military Order of the Loyal Legion of
the U. S., Minn. Commandry, In Memoriam (1918);
Archbishop Ireland ... a Memoir (1918); W. W. Fol-
well, A Hist, of Minn. (4 vols., 1921-30); F. F, Hoi-
brook, Minn, in the Spanish Am. War and the Philip-
pine Insurrection (1923); W. B. Hennessy, Past and
Present of St. Paul, Minn. (1906); H. A. Castle, St.
Paul and Vicinity (3 vols., 1912) J J. G. Pyle, The Life
of James J. Hill (1917), vol. I; A. S. Will, The Life
of Cardinal Gibbons (2 vols., 1922); F. J. Zwierlein,
The Life and Letters of Bishop McQuaid (1925-27);
Ojintjintka, Archbishop Ireland as He Is (n.d.); St.
Paul Dispatch, Sept 25, 1918; N. Y. Times, Sept. 26,
WSJ R.J.P.
IRELAND, JOSEPH NORTON (Apr. 24,
i8i7-Dec. 29,1898), historian of the New York
stage, was born in New York City, the son of
Joseph and Sophia (Jones) Ireland. His family
had been substantial merchants for many gen-
erations, "a race," he said, "distinguished—with
rare exceptions—for sterling integrity, easy good
nature... and an unambitious contentment with
a medium rank in life" (Ireland Family, pref-
ace). One notable exception was also a dramatic
historian: that William Henry Ireland (see Dic-
tionary of National Biography) who executed
the notorious Shakespeare forgeries. Thomas
Ireland, first member of the American branch of
the family, so far as is known, settled on Long
Island about 1644, and became proprietor of the