In Tuesday's Times there appeared a little correspondence between Mr.
Goldwin Smith and Mr. Gladstone, on the force which was required before the Union to prevent revolt in Ireland. Mr. Gladstone had said it was about 130,400 men, Mr. Goldwin Smith declared, on Lord Cornwallis's evidence, that it was only 1,800. This enormous discrepancy arose, it appears, from the fact that Mr. Goldwin Smith was speaking of British (or what the Irish called foreign) force alone, while Mr. Gladstone counted-in all the Irish Yeomanry and Militia, who were, of course, often amongst the most cruel and vindictive of the troops employed. Yet, as much the larger number of the troops employed to keep down Ireland were not British troops, but Irish, even though under British command, it is clear enough they cannot be counted as a foreign force. Had they been bitterly opposed to the Union, they could not have been employed for such a purpose as that. They should be reckoned, therefore, as an Irish force available for putting down rebellion.
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