In view of the recent general celebration of that heroic struggle and of the regrettable fact that Ireland's scenic, historic and romantic story has never yet been presented to the American public in a popular and attractive form, the J. S. Hyland Publishing Company deems this time opportune to offer to the American people this series of pictured and written sketches of the fair but unhappy land that has, because of its unconquerable piety, been called the Island of Saints and, because of its enduring verdure, the Emerald Isle.

After having pined in the shade of enforced isolation for more than seven stormy centuries, Ireland is again emerging into the sunlight of international recognition and sisterhood among the nations of the world. The wondrous beauty that has long been slighted or overlooked is again beginning to be recognized, not only by her friends but also by the fastidious children of her subjugator. In the very heart of England an association has been formed to promote a British tourists' invasion of Ireland on a grand scale. Leading English newspapers and periodicals have, of late days, given their readers columns and pages of vivid description in which the charms of Irish scenery are strongly depicted. Alfred Austin, the existing British poet laureate, has been enthusiastic in his praise of the fair land of Killarney's lakes, the noble Blackwater, the winding Lee, the matchless coast of Antrim and the towering peaks of Kerry and Connemara. Daniel O'Connell, in one of his splendid bursts of eloquence, called Ireland "the land of the green valley and the rushing river"--a description as brief as it is truthful and beautiful. Hosts of French and German tourists swarm annually in her lovely summer retreats, by lough and stream and bay; and numerous Americans who had visited nearly every other country of the old world before setting foot on Irish soil, have said that the natural charms of Ireland stand forth, uniquely and alone, "in a climate soft as a mother's smile, on a soil fruitful as God's love." Glimpses of Ireland's tragic and changful story are comprised in the written, as well as the pictured, portions of these sketches. The sorrows, the sufferings, the heroism of her people are not passed over in the spirit of cold neglect, but the account of them must necessarily be brief, as our motto is "multum in parvo." But the struggles that have aroused their courage, the sacrifices that have tested their devotion, and the hope that has sustained their enthusiasm, are not forgotten. The altar of the Druid, the rath of Danaan, the round tower of the early Christian worshiper, the massive "keep" of "the iron lord of Normandy," the abbeys founded by Irish kings, the monasteries once occupied by Irish saints and scholars--all now in picturesque ruin--the shrines and churches of a later epoch, the hundred "foughten fields" where "freedom bled," the cruel scenes of heartless eviction--in short, all the alluring, exciting and peculiar features of the Green Old Land are here truthfully presented. In the occasional references to the ill-starred English political connection, and the long, desperate and bloody struggles that have resulted from the same, care is taken that naught is extenuated and naught set down in malice, our primary object being to state the truth and nothing else, so far as authentic history may guide our narrative. "The ruins that ennoble, the scenes that beautify, the memories that illuminate, and the music that inspires" old Ireland find faithful interpretation in our pages. We have, as is but natural, a particular pride and pleasure in placing "these sketches, and the histories of their subjects, before Irish-American readers, who are numbered by millions among our citizens, and who must, of course, cherish the same filial love and respect for the land of "their forefathers that Anglo-Americans, German-Americans, Franco-Americans, and all the other elements that combine to constitute the great American nation, do for theirs. The Anglo-American seeks on British soil, amid scenes endeared to him by tradition, the ashes of his sires, and is ever mindful of their courage, their intellect and their commercial prowess. The German-American is proud of the heroic, historic monuments that cluster among the romantic course of his beautiful native river Rhine. The Franco-American extols the loveliness, the gracefulness and the glory of his beloved "La belle France." All our previous nationalities have their distinctive racial memories, inseparable from the human mind and Heart.

But they are not, on that account, less loyally American as has been repeatedly proved since the foundation of the republic. Race pride simply stirs them to a nobler emulation. America is the production of any one country, but of all Europe, as has been well said by a great writer in different words. Irish-Americans in looking upon sketches have just cause to be proud of their origin, of their history, and of the land which cradled thier race. Whether of Celtic, Norman or Saxon stock, whether Catholic or Protestant, all may peruse these pages with profit, for "every race and every creed" have been treated with justice and consideration, So, too, may non-Irish readers study them with advantage, and from them acquire a complete view of a country too often maliciously misrepresented, too little examined with a friendly interest. But our readers, no matter to what " element " they may belong, will find here " no vulgar history to read, but can trace from field to field the evidences of a civilization older than the Conquest, the relics of a religion more ancient than the Gospel." This book then, is to Ireland a monument, and for America an instructor. It cannot fail to strengthen Irish self-respect, enlarge pride of race and augment the sympathy of other elements with the cause of justice and humanity in Ireland, In a word, to paraphrase an expression of the late John Bright, "Ireland in Pictures" removes the Emerald Isle from her fastenings in the Atlantic and brings her within the portals of American liberty. 'The book, in fact, places Ireland in our homes.

Animated by the desire to make Ireland better known to Americans of all races, creeds and conditions, we put these sketches before the public with the confident expectation of cordial approval and generous support.

John F. Finerty