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Printed in Savannah by T.M. Discoll, 1829. |
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“Savannah, March 23d, 1829. “To Dr. James Cullinan: “DEAR SIR—Having been not merely pleased, but highly gratified by your Oration pronounced before the Hibernian Society of the city on last St. Patrick’s Day, and being desirous of possessing it in a form to which they can have reference, as well as that others who could not have an opportunity of hearing it delivered, may enjoy some of the same gratification, the undersigned request that you will favor them with a copy for publication. “To the resolution of thanks which upon that day was received and passed by the Society with such unanimous evidences of gratified feelings, the moved of that resolution would have appended a request similar to the present, but for an unwillingness to draw from its Treasury any of those funds which had been contributed for the purposes of charity. “They remain with assurances of high respect, “M.W. STEWART, JOHN M’INTIRE, P. DUFFY, ROBERT W. POOLER, M.H. M’ALLISTER, JOHN B. GAUDRY, JOHN GUILMARTIN, WILLAM ROCHE, P. PRENDERGAST, WILLIAM CONDON, J.V. BEVAN, HUGH CASSIDY, JNO. CUMMING, J. HUNTER, G.B. CUMMING, R. CAMPBELL, WY. J. HUNTER, M. HOPKINS, W.D. WRAY, L. O’BYRNE, JOSEPH STOKES, THO’S M. DRISCOLL, JONATHAN COOPER, WM. P. HUNTER
______________________________ “Savannah, April 1st, 1829.
“To John Cumming, Ja’s Hunter, G.B.
Cumming, R. Campbell, Wy. J. Hunter, “GENTLEMEN—Your flattering letter was handed to me yesterday. I feel honored by the request which you have made, and am thankful for the kind terms in which it was conveyed. As your approbation of the address which I delivered before the Hibernian Society of last St. Patrick’s Day, has given to that address a value which I did not originally believe it possessed, I have no hesitation in complying with your desire to give it publicity. Should the address, when published, happily be the means of raising the voiced of a single additional freeman in favor of the most insulted and abused country under Heaven, or should it afford to you, or others of her friends, that gratification which you so obligingly anticipate from its perusal, I shall consider myself amply compensated for the trouble of its preparation. I am, Gentlemen, with sentiments of the highest respect, Your Obedient Humble Servant, JAMES CULLINAN.
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MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HIBERNIAN SOCIETY: WHEN at the request of your Committee, I undertook to give some expression of Irish feeling before you to-day, I was perfectly aware of my inadequacy to the task, and the more so, as the time allotted for consideration of the subject was limited. But, I was willing to contribute my mite to the celebration of this national festival, and as a distinguished and highly gifted son of Erin had promised to give before long, the history of his country’s wrongs, I knew that much would not be expected from me. I hoped too, that in what I would say, I might be able in some measure to supply by zeal what I might want in eloquence, and I trusted to your kindness to supply the deficiency. We are met, my friends, in accordance with those feelings, which upon this day, congregate our countrymen in their different societies in every quarter of the globe. We are met, for the purpose of raising our hearts in humble gratitude to that Being, who sent his illustrious servant to dispel the mists of ignorance and of superstition, in which our native country, like all other heathen nations, was once enveloped. We are met for the purpose of indulging, with an honest pride, in the recollection of that country’s former greatness; of shewing, that how fallen she may have since been from her shores, we are neither forgetful of her wrongs, nor unmindful of her misfortunes. We are met, for the purpose of drawing still more closely together those ties which bind us to each other, as fellow-beings, as fellow-citizens, and fellow-laborers in the cause of injured Ireland.
The all-wise Creator of the Universe
has, for the best purposes, implanted the love of country in the mind of
man, and he is unworthy of the name, who is incapable of feeling it, or
who feeling, is ashamed or afraid to avow it. The love of country is a
feeling which is interwoven in our nature, it can neither be explained by
reason, nor proved by argument. It is a feeling of which every honest mind
may be sensible, but which the most eloquent tongue cannot describe. It is
a feeling which seems to extend to almost all nations; which is peculiar
to none. It rules the Asiatic in his silks, and the Laplander in his
bearskin. Ask the Arab, as faint with toil and thirst, he traverses the
sandy wilds, would be exchange the hardships of his desert’s wilds, would
he exchange the hardships of his desert’s waste, for the east and comfort
of the most fertile lands? No! dearer to him are his burning sands,
sweeter the waters of his troubled wells, than all the luxury of the
finest plains, the richest liquor of the luscious grape. Behold the
Greenlander, content with his dreary isle, his storms of snow, and his six
month’s nights. See the South American cling to the greedy land, that
frequently devours thousands of his race. The love of country animates the
breast of the enlightened citizen, amidst the cares and ceremonies of
polished life, and the untutored savage is sensible of its influence,
whilst he roams through forests as wild and as uncultivated as himself. “The Savage loves his native shore, Tho’ rude the soil, and chill the air, Then well may Erin’s Sons adore, The isle which nature formed so fair.” There is something in the love of country that elevates the mind of man above the pretty considerations of self-interest; something that ennobles his soul, and shews it in its true character, the representative and image of a God. It is this love of country, which, upon the Anniversary of Ireland’s Apostle, has collected us together. It is the feeling, which, upon this day, unites in social and patriotic bonds, the Sons of Hibernian, whether they be scorching beneath the burning sun of the Tropic, or shivering mid the eternal snows of the Pole. Upon this day, the successful son of Erin, whatever wealth he may have acquired by his industry, or whatever honor by his talent, recognizes the person of a friend in the humble wearer of any Shamrock that he sees; and upon this day, the most lowly wandered from the Island of Patrick forgets his sorrows and his cares, and only remembers that he is an Irishman. Let the cold, the selfish, and the unprincipled, affect to ridicule or despise, what they have neither the sense to understand, nor the virtue to appreciate. With such, we would enter into no explanation; for with those, we would desire to have no community of feeling, no identity of sentiment; the virtuous, the enlightened, and the patriotic of every country, will enter into our feelings, and do justice to our motives. In other countries—and thank God, in none more particularly than in this—annual festivals are the proud reminiscences of individual glory or of national greatness. But Ireland, stripped of her former splendor, persecuted and oppressed, could only commemorate her disasters and her sufferings. Her patriots are not successful heroes, whose achievements are honored in song, and recorded in story—they are martyrs to her cause, who died in a dungeon or perished on a scaffold. To praise her unfortunate sons would be treason; to honor them, death. Unable from their own melancholy situation to shew their affection for those who had sacrificed everything in the attempt to establish their liberty and independence, it is not surprising that a people who have suffered far more than any other for the sake of religion should pay particular honor to the memory of him who had implanted it amongst them. Accordingly, all honorable and patriotic Irishmen have long regarded the Anniversary of St. Patrick as a day upon which, however, they might conscientiously differ on some matters, they should unite in brotherly affection to advance the prosperity and happiness of their native land. To enter into any lengthened detail of the labors of St. Patrick would perhaps be superfluous, and any studied eulogium on his memory would be equally unnecessary. He has long since received the eternal reward of his virtues. He has long since been elevated far beyond all human praise, far above all earthly glory. A few particulars of his life may, however, be expected. Ireland cannot lay claim to the birth of Patrick; the best accounts agree in saying that he was a native of France; and if that great and gallant country had no other claim upon our affections than this, the birthplace of Ireland’s Apostle would still be entitled to the lasting regard of her sons. Although believed to be of a respectable, if not of a noble family, het being brought a captive to Ireland, his occupation in his youth was of a humble nature, and such as fitted him to be a laborer in the same cause with those lowly fishermen whom the great founder of Christianity, as if to shew the insignificance of the high and the mighty of this world, had especially chosen as his favorite disciples. After attending to cattle for a few years, Patrick was released from captivity and went into France, whence after some stay and much study he proceeded to Rome, wherein the year 432 he was consecrated to Bishop and appointed by Pope Celestine to take charge of Ireland. Although Christianity had been introduced to Ireland prior to the mission of Patrick, yet to him the great merit of establishing it here is undoubtedly due. He met with but little opposition, and if we except an imprisonment of a few days, with no personal violence. His exemplary piety and amazing zeal were soon amply rewarded. In less than five years, having converted the King of Munster and Connaught and most of their subjects, we behold him received with the highest honors, and seated amongst the learned men at the great national assembly at Tara. This was a triennial convention established about 1,300 years before the renowned monarch Ollam Fodlah. One of the chief duties of the sages who attended, and with whom St. Patrick acted, was to examine the antiquities and annals of the country. Thenceforward, the progress of the Saint was uninterrupted and rapid. He converted the entire island to Christianity, placed the Irish Church upon a permanent foundation, and erected houses devoted to religion and to science, throughout the land. Death closed his long and useful life in the year 496. Ireland, which even for centuries before its conversion to Christianity, had been highly distinguished for learning, became now, from the admirable system of education and discipline established by St. Patrick, renowned for literature through Europe; and the youth of the most respectable families repaired thither for instruction. The venerable Bede says that number of his countrymen, The Anglo-Saxons, who went to Ireland, were maintained, taught and furnished with books, without fee or reward. It is well known that Alfred, the wisest and best monarch that every wielded the English sceptre, received his education in Ireland , and that King Oswald applied to that country for learned men to teach his people the principles of Christianity. Nor was it to England alone that Ireland sent her sages to diffuse the blessings of education. A writer under Charles the Bald of France, says ‘why should I mention Ireland, almost the whole nation despising the dangers of the sea, resort to our coasts, with a numerous train of philosophers.’ These are honorable testimonials of the learning of our ancestors; and when we couple these facts with that law, which obliged all natives who contemplated a removal to another part of the country, to give due and public notice of their intention, lest the stranger and the traveler should be disappointed of that kind reception and entertainment to which the law considered them by social claim entitled, we can readily account for the amazing number of young men who attended at their schools, and can easily believe that at one college nearly five, and at another, seven thousand students were at one time instructed. Ireland continued for upwards of four centuries after the death of St. Patrick to be the sun of literature, from which the light of science and the rays of knowledge were communicated to the world. The descents of the Danes at length called away to the youth of Ireland from the pursuits of science to the defence of their territory; and never was more convincing testimony given of this truth, that the education of a people is the surest bulwark for the liberty of a country. The Northern Barbarians had overrun, or made settlements in, most of the kingdoms of Europe, and had subjected to their sway the neighboring island of England. Still the Danes, though daily receiving fresh enforcements, were able to make but little progress in Ireland, and in the bloody battle of Clontarf, one of the most desperate and hard-fought of ancient times, the renowned warrior Brion Boroihme nearly annihilated their forces. Forty thousand of the vanquished are said to have fallen on the ocean’s shore, or to have perished in its wave. Amidst the general subjugation of Europe, Ireland maintained her independence and became now as famous for her valour as she had been for her learning. But the era of Ireland’s misfortune now approaches. Their frequent conflicts with the Danes, aroused the martial fire of the Irish and gave them a distaste for literature and the quiet occupations of social life. The division of the island into a number of independent principalities, gave much room for jealousies, and afforded but too frequent opportunities for the indulgence of this dangerous and turbulent spirit. We cannot then be surprised that in little more than a century after the rout of the Danes at Clontarf, internal dissention should accomplish what foreign force had failed to effect. The Irish quarreled amongst themselves, and whilst some espoused the cause of Dermod King of Leinster, taking advantage of the absence of the Prince of Breffny from his home, induced his wife to break her vows and her allegiance, and to accompany him to his capital. The outraged husband flew to arms and applied to O’Conner, the monarch of Ireland, for assistance, which was cheerfully afforded. To screen himself from the punishment of his guilt, Dermod called in the English. Thus the profligacy of an individual eventually destroyed the liberties of a nation. Ireland was conquered, literally conquered by herself. The English, who in the reign of Henry the 2d landed at Waterford, scarcely amounted to 3,000 men, a force, which unsupported by the natives, would have been utterly inadequate to the subjugation of even a petty Prince of the country. Notwithstanding the divisions amongst the Irish themselves, and the constant influx of troops and settlers from England, the dominion in Ireland during the reign of Henry, and for upwards of 400 years later, did not extend beyond what is called the ‘Pale,’ which only comprehended some of the chief seaports and a few counties contiguous to the capital. Beyond the ‘Pale’ the native chieftains still held sway and acted as independent sovereigns. Scarcely had Henry obtained a footing in the country when, conscious of his weakness and of his inability to maintain his newly-acquired possessions, against the active opposition of a united people, he commended that system of division which his successors have, with such persevering cruelty, followed up to the present day. At the same time that the newcomers artfully fomented dissensions amongst the native, they seized every opportunity of insulting and oppressing them. Henry had given those Irish chieftains who had submitted to him frequent assurances of his favor and protection, yet we soon find him shamefully violating his promises, depriving them of their honors and possessions, and bestowing both upon his Norman followers. His example was considered by his successors worthy of their imitation. They appear even to have vied with each other in acts of wanton and atrocious barbarity. Severe laws were passed against those who should attempt to teach the Irish language, and against English subjects who would form alliances or marriages with the Irish, who would take an Irish name, or use the Irish language or apparel. The murder of what was called ‘a mere Irishman’ might be committed with impunity. Nay, in many instances the most inhuman encouragement to murder was held out by the law. One act authorized any subject of the King to kill, by day or night, any Irishman whom he, upon mere surmise, or actuated by private pique, might choose to suppose going to rob or steal, and if the head of the man, thus murdered, were cut off and carried to the portreeve of the county town, and the portreeve was obliged, under a penalty of £10, to give a certificate of the receipt of the head, upon the strength of which certificate, the murderers could levy a certain sum of money of every house and ploughland in the Barony. But the most intolerable grievance of all was that which gave to the military the privilege of free quarters. Soldiers were allowed to live on, plunder, and in every way insult and outrage the people. Sir John Davies, Attorney General to King James I, whose official situation gave him the best opportunity of knowing the true state of the country, and who, from his connexion with those in power, cannot be suspected of partiality for the oppressed, uses these words—‘This was indeed the most heavy oppression that ever was used in any Christian or Heathen Kingdom; and this crying injustice did draw down as great or greater plagues upon Ireland, than the oppression of the Israelites did draw upon the land of Egypt; for the plagues of Egypt, though grievous, were of short continuance, but the plagues of Ireland lasted 400 years together.’ And he notices a saying that ‘though it were first invented in Hell, yet if it had been used and practiced there as it had been in Ireland, it would long since have destroyed the very kingdom of Belzebub.’ Much more recently, even Leland, in many instances the gross calumniator of Ireland, forgetting the prejudices of the historian, in the honest feelings of the man, declares that ‘these barbarians by their horrible excesses, purchased the curse of God and man.’ Such was the barbarous system of oppression exercised against the Irish, for no other crime than that of being the original inhabitants of the island. The idea of thus placing a country beyond the pale of legislation, and of making outlaws of a whole people, is monstrous and inhuman; and yet, this was the system acted on for 400 years—happy would it have been for Ireland, had it ceased even then! The Reformation, introduced into England in the year of the Christian era 1528, commences a new epoch in Irish history. The narrator of those events, which occurred subsequently to this period in Ireland, must make frequent mention of the religious belief of its inhabitants. In doing so he is liable to be charged with entertaining sectarian prejudices, which he may neither feel himself nor be desirous of exciting in others. The fault should in justice, be attributed to those whose cruelties have created the necessity, and not to him who laments it. By the attempt to force upon the people of Ireland the doctrines recently established in England, another source of irritation is added to those which had previously existed, and a new pretext for oppression afforded. Hitherto the people had been plundered and murdered for being Irish; their descendants are now to be reviles and persecuted for being Catholics. Although the Reformation took place in the 20th year of the 8th Henry, yet the commencement of religious persecution in Ireland cannot be properly dated before the reign of Elizabeth. This was a continued scene of intolerance and oppression, and of consequent resistance and bloodshed. Penal laws are passed against those who refused to acknowledge the Queen’s spiritual supremacy; and fines were enforced against all who absented themselves from the established church on Sundays and holidays. During her whole reign, Elizabeth proved herself the bitter and malignant enemy of Ireland and her people. Ireland suffered most severely under the dynasty of the contemptible and ungrateful Stuarts. The inhabitants of the whole island were, at different times, and under various pretenses, turned out of their possessions, which were sold for the most part to English settlers. There is no part of their history more surprising than the desperate and infatuated fidelity, with which the Irish adhered to the fallen fortunes of this heartless, worthless race. Too generously forgetting all that they had suffered from the extortion and rapacity of the first James and Charles, they were the first to take up arms for the latter, and the last to lay them down. Betrayed by the treacherous Duke of Ormond, the fit representative of his deceitful master, they were overpowered by Cromwell, who enraged at the obstinacy of their resistance acted towards them with the greatest barbarity. Yet, upon the restoration of Charles the 2d, he established the men who had brought his father to the block, in the possessions of those who had perished to preserve him. After the expulsion of James the 2d from the throne of England, we behold Ireland again for a short time an independent kingdom. Although James was not a personal favorite with the Irish, het as he had repealed the laws against the Catholics and had advanced many of them to dignity and opulence, his cause was warmly supported by the great body of the nation. Had James exhibited as King the same courage and conduct which he had before displayed as Admiral, he might have preserved his crown, and Ireland her independence. But he was a weak and unfortunate Prince, and true member of a family who never had an enemy that they did not reward, nor a friend that they did not betray. At the battle of the Boyne, whilst his opponent William exposed himself to every danger, James viewed the battle from a distant hill, and frequently, as he saw victory inclining towards the Irish army, cried out, ‘O spare my English subjects.’ He fled from the scene of action whilst his troops still stoutly contested the ground, and when, soon after his arrival in Dublin, the Duchess of Tyrconnell, whose husband James had left gallantly fighting at the head of his troops, came most respectfully to condole him on his disaster, he had the impudence to compliment her sarcastically, on the alertness of her runaway countrymen; to which she, with proper spirit, replied, that his majesty had at the advance of any of them. The Irish army retreated from the Boyne in good order, and such was their indignation at James’ pusillanimous conduct, that they frequently cried out to the enemy ‘exchange kings with us, and we’ll fight the battle over again.’ James fled to France, but the Irish maintained the war with great gallantry for fifteen months after his departure. At length, their forces under Sarsfield were besieged in Limerick, which they vigorously defended and repulsed the besiegers in several assaults; they surrendered on honorable terms on the 3d October 1691. One article of the treaty of Limerick guaranteed to the Catholics of Ireland the rights recognized by the laws in the reign of Charles II, upon taking the simple oath of allegiance to their majesties. As Catholics during the reign of Charles II were entitled to sit in Parliament, and to many other privileges, these terms were deemed satisfactory; and although a French fleet appeared in the Shannon to assist them, immediately after the signing of the treaty, they considered themselves bound in honor by its terms, and surrendered Limerick and all the places in their possession to the army of William. How he and his successors observed that treaty, the penal code of laws, the disgrace of England and of human nature, is the best evidence. To enter into a minute history of that code would be ungracious and disgusting. Suffice it to say that in its framers would be found the acme of moral turpitude and barbarity; in the sufferers, the excess of human agony and despair. The Irish Catholics were robbed of their possessions and then scorned for their poverty; they were hunted like wild beasts, and then taunted with their deficiency in refinement; they were punished as traitors of educating their children, and those children were reviled for their want of knowledge; they were represented as barbarians who believed that no faith should be kept with those who differed from them in religion, and the men who said so were those who had violated towards them the most solemn and sacred of treaties; they were accused of being monsters whom no oaths could bind, by those who knew that a single act of perjury would relieve them from their persecutions. Their altars were overturned; their clergy banished or executed as felons—even the privacy of domestic life was invaded. The laws endeavored to create dissensions between the husband and wife; they prohibited parents from being guardians to their children; and they encouraged children to rebel against and to plunder their parents. Every principle of nature was outraged; every feeling that is dear to man, insulted. In the reign of George the second, it was publicly declared from the bench that ‘the laws did not presume a papist to exist in the kingdom, nor could they breathe without the connivance of government.’ Gracious God! Can the annals, I will not say of history, but of demoniacal barbarity, furnish a fact similar to atrocity to this? Nero merely wished that the inhabitants of Rome had but one neck that he might cut off their heads at a blow. But here, millions of people, five-sixths of a nation, were legally assassinated, and the authority which thus consigned its murdered victims to their political tomb, was that to which they should naturally cling for protection! ‘The envy of surrounding nations, and the admiration of the world!!’ May God preserve us from deserving such envy, and shield us from incurring such admiration! In reading the penal code of laws, that monstrous compound of absurdity and malevolence, we sometimes must laugh in contempt, and we sometimes must shudder in horror. To make atrocity if possible, still more atrocious, many of these acts were passed in the reign of Anne, the daughter of James, whom Ireland had supported when all others had abandoned him, and in whose cause thousands of her sons had fought, and bled, and died. But the victories of Marlborough had then raised England to a lofty pinnacle of greatness, and she never yet was prosperous, that Ireland did not suffer for her successes. There never was a more mistaken, nor more mischievous policy than that which advises Ireland to throw herself a suppliant at the feet of England. No country ever yet obtained her freedom by cringing meanness and base subserviency. In treating with tyrants, we must speak to their interests or their fears, for in vain would we address ourselves to their justice. What did America obtain by her petitions and her prayers? Fresh insults and new grievances. When was the first relaxation of the penal code in Ireland? When the British Government was terrified at the progress of American arms, and feared that Ireland too might throw off the yoke. In 1778, when Lord North had ascertained that the American war was likely to end in a successful revolution, and not, as he had hoped, in a disastrous insurrection, the first concessions were made to the Catholics of Ireland, and some encouragement given to Irish commerce and fisheries. One victory gained by the immortal Washington, rendered more service to Ireland than all the petitions, addresses, and remonstrances, of her people or centuries had done. ‘When England conquered,’ said Mr. Grattan in the House of Commons, ‘Ireland was coerced; when she was defeated, Ireland was relieved; and when Charleston was taken, the mutiny and sugar bills were altered. Have you not all of you, when you heard of a defeat at the same time condoled with England and congratulated Ireland?’ Ex uno, disce omnes, for the example will hold good throughout. In 1779 Ireland caught the spark of freedom from America, and soon was warmed by the genial flame. The volunteer system then commenced; in ’82 that system was matured, and 50,000 Irish volunteers in arms extorted from England the right of free trade, and an acknowledgment of the independence of their country. The volunteer corps were chiefly composed of Presbyterians, the most enlightened and patriotic of Irishmen. The declaration of these gallant men in favour of their Catholic countrymen, obtained for these latter further privileges. The Catholics were grateful, and anxious to assist in the liberation of their country. But the English government dreading their union, resorted to its old principle, divide and conquer, and it was, unfortunately, but too successful. The volunteers were induced to exclude Catholics in their plans for further improvement, and the administration having thus withdrawn from them the support of the great body of the people, defied and suppressed them. Theobald Wolf Tone, the primus inter pares of Ireland’s patriots and martyrs, saw the error which the volunteers had, in the last instance committed, and resolved by promoting a union of all his countrymen to endeavor to correct it. The obstacles to a union were, from ancient prejudices and the intrigues of an unprincipled government, very great, but no man could be better calculated to surmount them. Possessed of the most splendid talents, of an integrity which no price could purchase, and an intrepidity which no danger could daunt, he was deservedly popular amongst all classes. A Protestant himself, he was appointed by the Catholic Committee their Secretary, and favoured with their unbounded confidence; he was also highly respected by the Presbyterians of Ulster, particularly the citizens of Belfast, at the time the Athens of Ireland. With these qualifications, Tone commenced and established the celebrated club of ‘United Irishmen.’ Its objects were to obtain a fair representation of the people in Parliament and to promote the general prosperity of Ireland. ‘To make all Irishmen citizens; all citizens, Irishmen.’ To discountenance every interference with the religious opinions of any man. ‘We agree in knowing what are our rights, and in daring to assert them. If the rights of men be duties to God, we are in this respect, of one religion.’ These principles made rapid progress through the country, and the club soon comprised most of the worth and talent of Ireland. There was nothing which the Ascendancy party so much dreaded as a union amongst Irishmen, and they resolved to stop at nothing to destroy it. The sanguinary banditti, called Orangemen (now Brunswickers), who about this time sprang into existence, and part of whose oath was to exterminate as far as they were able, their Catholic countrymen, were secretly encouraged and openly protected by government. By these and by the retainers of that government, every kind of outrage was committed on the people, whilst the ministry, having secured a corrupt majority in Parliament, defeated every attempt to reform the manifold abuses of administration. The ‘United Irishmen,’ finding all their peaceable exertions of no avail, resolved to separate their country from England and to break a connexion which had never been productive of anything but misery to Ireland. To enable them the more readily to do so, they applied to France for assistance. But their enemies succeeded in introducing spies amongst them; their plans were laid open; their leaders seized; and the people into partial and premature insurrection. The succors from France were dispersed by strong and adverse winds, and the ‘United Irishmen,’ now without leaders, concert, discipline, or resources, were after a short but spirited struggle, subdued. The instances of suffering which followed are too numerous to be mentioned, and too heart-breaking to be thought upon. The worst passions of the worst men were let loose in all their ferocity, and every species of torture which ingenuity could devise or cruelty execute, was the horrifying consequence. The dungeons and scaffolds were crowded with the best and bravest in the land, and Tone and his compatriots perished for the cause in which ‘Washington succeeded, and Kosciusko failed.’ The English government seized the moment of Ireland’s weakness and distraction, and by the Act of Union degraded her from an independent kingdom to a contemptible province. Here, the sun of Ireland’s freedom set; has he set to rise no more? No! a bright star appears in the east, the harbinger of another glorious day. The spirit of Ireland, though checked, was not subdued; and out of the wants and the wrongs of seven millions of people, the Catholic Association arose. Its commencement was extremely humble, and gave no promise of that greatness to which it subsequently arrived. Despised by its enemies, and pitied by its friends, it for months dragged on a sickly existence, bordering on dissolution. But by the talents of its founders, the purity of its principles, the justice of its cause, and above all, byt that feeling of common wrong, which identified its members with the great mass of the people, it gradually increased in importance, until at length it became the rallying point of all the spirit that was left in the country. That Association now comprises, or commands, the entire Catholic population of Ireland; not that Catholic population, made ignorant by barbarous statutes, but a population which sedulously improving every opportunity afforded by the relaxation of the penal code can now boast of thousands of men as intelligent, and as firmly determined on the assertion of their rights, as can be found in any country, or amongst any people. Most of the Protestant gentry of Ireland, eminent for their talent, and all of those distinguished for their liberality, are identified with the Catholic Association or members of it. It has also been joined by many friends of civil and religious liberty in England. It has received a great moral support from the friends of freedom in different and distant parts of the globe; from the continent of Europe—from Asia—from South America—from Canada—but, above all, from the United States. That American citizens should be foremost in aiding the patriots of Ireland is not surprising. It is natural that the sons of those men, who little more than fifty years ago were compelled by the tyranny of the British Government to fly to arms in defence of everything that is dear to man, and who, thanks be to God and to American bravery, at length succeeded in driving that tyranny from their shores, should feel particular interest in the fate of a people, who continue still to groan under the same oppression. Truly, indeed, may America exclaim, Haud ingara male, miseris succurrere disco. Besides, what spectacle can be more imposing! what can more strongly excite the sympathy of a free and independent nation that that of a people seeking the rights and struggling for the liberties of their country! The Catholic Association has received these manifestations of feeling from America with an enthusiasm which strongly marks its sense of their utility. Although the Catholic Association differs, in many respects, from the original Society of ‘United Irishmen,’ its principles and its objects are intrinsically the same. It seeks to promote a brotherhood of affection amongst Irishmen, that all may advance the prosperity of their common country. By an admirable and well-organized system for collecting voluntary subscriptions it has established a national fund, called the ‘Catholic Rent,’ which had long been a desideratum amongst Irish patriots. The Association particularly directs its attention to the grievances of Roman Catholics, as composing the mass of the nation, and as being the most oppressed, where all are wronged. But its exertions are by no means confined to redress the wrongs of any particular sect, nor has it ever deviated from the great principle of civil and religious liberty on which it was founded. When the bill for the repeal of the ‘Test and Corporation Acts,’ which were so obnoxious to the Protestant Dissenters, was introduced into the British Parliament, the Catholic Association instructed its friends to support the bill, and declared that it would be hostile to any man who should oppose it. An opportunity was soon afforded for testing the sincerity of its professions, and the weight of its influence. Mr. Fitzgerald, member of Parliament for the county of Clare, who had opposed the enfranchisements of the Dissenters, was advanced to a place in the cabinet, and a new election for Clare became necessary. Mr. Fitzgerald, now a cabinet minister and connected with most of the leading families of the country was again a candidate. In addition to his other advantages, he was a man of considerable popularity, as he had always supported the just claims of his Catholic countrymen. But the Association refused to acknowledge any man as a friend who would not go upon the broad principle of extending liberty to all, and having unsuccessfully invited one or two Protestant gentlemen to oppose Mr. Fitzgerald, it started at a moment’s warning its leader, Mr. O’Connell, against him. The Association called on the people for their support, and it was in vain that all the influence of government and all the strength of the aristocracy was arrayed against it. The call of the Association was nobly answered, and its candidate returned by an immense majority. The Catholic Association thus ‘wielding at will the fierce democracy,’ triumphantly maintained its principle, returned to Parliament the first Catholic member that had been sent there since the infraction of the treaty of Limerick, and gave to the government a salutary warning of the extent of its influence and of its power. That this warning will be despised, and that O’Connell will be refused his seat, the general conduct of the British government leaves but little room to doubt. What the consequences of that refusal, and of further despotic measures may be, no man can foretell. The past moderation of the Catholic Association gives strong hope of its future firmness. The necessity for a civil war, with all its attendant horrors, every friend to Ireland and to humanity, would deplore. But should a government in its folly, or its madness, persist in driving men with the means of resistance, beyond the limits of endurance, ‘however, it may please the Almighty to dispose of Princes or of Parliaments, may the liberties of the people be immortal.’
Upon reading any history of Ireland
that can lay the slightest claim to the title of impartiality, it is
impossible to avoid arriving at this conclusion: that, from the invasion
by Henry the second up to the present hour, the English government has
been to the people of Ireland, the greatest curse of God in his wrath has
inflicted, or man in his misfortune endured. It is hereby meant to
identify all Englishmen with the inhuman cruelties of their government?
Certainly not—Irishmen are satisfied of this fact—and none are more
willing to proclaim it—the numbers of the most zealous supporters of Civil
and Religious liberty of which the world can boast; numbers of the most
warmly attached friends of Ireland herself, are natives of England; and
there are few Irishmen who have not found in Englishmen warm, generous,
and disinterested friends. It is delightful to dwell upon the splendid
talents and patriotic eloquence of a Burdett and a Brougham; or on the
mild virtues and benevolent characters of a Rochester and a Norwich. “Even in a Bishop, we can spy desert, Rochester’s decent; Norwich has a heart.’ Where is the Irishman who can think of that venerable prelate, the Bishop of Norwich, without the strongest emotions of gratitude and respect? And great even here is his reward; he has lived long, and long may he continue to live, beloved and respected, and when at length he shall be summoned to another and to a better world, a nation’s prayers shall follow him to the tomb, a nation’s tears be shed over his grave. But whilst we willingly give to great numbers of Englishmen that praise to which they are justly entitled, we should at the same time remember that individual merit, however eminent, cannot atone for national injustice; and that private friendship, however steadfast, should never withhold us from the expression of public feeling. It may, however, be thought by some that the penal code of laws and other barbarities practised against Ireland should be but lightly touched upon, and even be as much as possible avoided, as calculated further to arouse feelings already sufficiently excited. To the truth of this remark, perhaps all would subscribe, and the cruelties of England might be passed over in silence, and be forgiven, although they could never be forgotten, if her system of oppression towards Ireland were even now altered. But when we find that justice is scarcely in a single instance done our native country; that her representation in the British Parliament is a mere name; that her dearest commercial rights are sacrificed to the interest of any petty manufacturing town in England; when we are aware that, although parts of the penal code have been through hard necessity repealed, yet that the infernal spirit which dictated that code still exists in all its original barbarity; when we see even the representative of majesty in Ireland removed from the office because he had the good sense and good feeling to overcome his prejudices, and the manliness to avow it; when we find that many of those miscreants, the Brunswickers, who openly express their desire to imbrue their hands in the blood of their countrymen, fill places of trust and emolument under the government; when we know that in many counties they are the Sheriffs who empanel the juries, and that they compose the packed juries who decide upon the lives and fortunes of the men whom they are anxious to exterminate; when we are informed that they commit murders with impunity; when the feelings of the living are outraged and the remains of the dead violated—cold must be our hearts, and dead must be every feeling of principle and honor within our breasts, when we would cease to think of these atrocities, or, upon every proper occasion, to speak of them in the indignant terms they deserve. Every crime carried with it its own peculiar punishment. This is true of national, as well as individual delinquency. Already has England severely felt the consequences of her cruel policy towards Ireland—England feels these consequences at home, in the loss of those resources and of that revenue, which Ireland, under a wise and liberal government, would infallibly afford her. She feels them in the heavy burdens imposed on her own population, for the maintenance of a large standing army, necessary to uphold her system of oppression. She feels them in all the numerous evils which the close approximation of Ireland’s suffering must inevitably entail upon herself. Abroad, she has frequently felt them in those actions, in which the bravery of Irishmen and their descendants enabled them to take signal satisfaction for their own wrongs and those of their country. Perhaps we have one of the most remarkable instances of this in the desperate and hard fought battle of Fontenoy. In this memorable action, the English, assisted by the Dutch and Hanovarians, contended with the French forces. Both armies fought with all that fury which the ancient rivalry and long-cherished animosity between the two nations were so well calculated to inspire. The contest was long and obstinate; but victory at length declared against the French, and they gave way on all sides. So desperate was the situation of affairs that the King himself hastily quitted the field. It was at this disastrous moment when the whole line was broken, and Hope herself seemed fled, that the celebrated Marshal Saxe, who was then so ill as to be unable to sit on horseback, caused himself to be carried in a litter among the ranks of the Irish Brigade, and of the King’s household troops whom he had drawn up as a corps of reserve. He addressed the soldiers as he passed along. His words were necessarily few and faint, but they were animating. He told them that everything else was not lost; that on them rested his last hope; that by their oft tried valor he trusted yet to retrieve the fortune of the day. The troops answered with loud shouts, and he instantly ordered them to attack the enemy. The Irish knocked off their coasts, tucked the sleeves of their shirts above their elbows, and dashed with headlong fury into the thickest of the fight. Each bears in his breast the recollection of his country’s wrongs; each carries in his hand the deadly weapon to avenge them.
“Their green flag glitters o’er them, The friends they’ve tried Are by their side,
The foes they hated, before them.” The onset of brave men animated by such feelings was irresistible. Like the mountain torrent in its furious course, is swept everything on the plain before it. The Irish Brigade was well supported by the gallant household troops. In less than half an hour, the scene on the field of battle was completely changed; the conquerors were fugitives; the vanquished, victorious. When George of England received the mortifying particulars of his routed host, he was frequently heard, in the bitterness of his heart, to exclaim, ‘cursed be the laws that have deprived me of such subjects.’ The battle of Fontenoy, though memorable, is by no means a solitary instance in which the armies or allies of the oppressor suffered from the bravery and vengeance of the oppressed. At the battle of Blenheim, where the French army was defeated by the Duke of Marlborough, Lord Clare’s Irish Dragoons in the service of France, alone were victorious on their side, cutting to pieces Col. Goore’s German Regiment. They had the like success at the battle of Ramillies. The Irish Regiments of Dillon and Burke preserved the city of Cremona in Italy and saved the whole French army from being cut off on that occasion. Such was the gallantry of that exploit, that it was said in the British House of Commons, that the Irish abroad did more mischief to the English and their allies, than they could do at home, if their estates were destroyed to them. In the debate upon the Catholic question in 1793, it was stated by those who opposed concession that during the Revolutionary War, 16,000 Irish Catholics fought with America against Great Britain. Throughout the long war in Spain and Portugal, the Irish in the service of France were actively engaged. They were present at most of the sanguinary actions fought in that Peninsula, and many of them, as Gen. Lawless, Col. Ware, Byrne, and others, were rapidly promoted on the field. These, to pass over numberless similar instances, are sufficient to show that from Irishmen and their descendants, in whatever quarter of the world they may be, England, so long as she shall persist in her cruel and desolating policy towards Ireland, must expect the most direct and active opposition. And can England rationally look for any other conduct from Irishmen? Should she not at least give them credit for as much spirit as the groveling worm that we tread on, and that turns to resent it? Indeed, an English historian says, ‘Ireland stands prominently conspicuous among the nations of the universe, a solitary instance, in which neither the destructive hand of time, nor the devastating arm of oppression, nor the wildest variety of changes in the political system of government, could alter or subdue, much less wholly extinguish, the national genius, spirit and character, of its inhabitants.
“There may be an hour in futurity yet, When that spirit tho’ clouded, shall show ‘twas not set, When the heart tho’ it slumbered, shall prove ‘tws not cold, Nor the hand tho’ it rested, less nervous or bold. O! worlds for that dear moment, come when it will, When each life pulses that throbs not for freedom is still, When the eye all indignant rekindles its fires, And our spoilers shall feel, that we shame not our sires.”
These national celebrations are well calculated to keep alive amongst us, this patriotic and honorable spirit. They are congenial to the finest feelings of humanity. They are identified with the best interests of this country. Here it is, that the eagle eye of memory, piercing through the mists of Time, brings the Irish emigrant back to the days of boyhood, when all was innocence, and all was gaiety; when there were no sorrowful recollections for the past, and when all was fond anticipation for the future. Here he is induced to dwell with feelings of lively gratitude upon the exertions of those respectable and respected individuals, who implanted in his youthful mind the seeds of virtue and of science, and thus enabled him to pass through life with credit to himself and advantage to the community. Here, he again visits in imagination, the green fields of his country and treads infancy those well-known paths, over which he once bounded with the sportive step of youth. Here is re-enters the domestic circle; here, he once more finds himself at home—in the home of his infancy. In that home endeared to him by all the affections of kindred—by his father’s cares—by all a mother’s tenderness. Here, his past scenes and his buried feelings are again called into existence; these scenes ‘tis true are now gone, never more to return, but he feels that they are scenes which can never be effaced from his memory, and that the actors in them must ever be dear to his heart. But forgetting for a time his private feelings, he thinks of the woes and the wrongs of his country. That country once renowned in arms, in arts and sciences. That country, once the land of heroes, the island of sages and saints. Where a stranger was the nation’s guest; where the scholar of every clime repaired for instruction; where the poor of every country found a shelter and a home. No greater encomium can be pronounced on any country than what may be justly said of Old Ireland. That she had wealth, and she generously shared it; that she had knowledge, and she gratuitously diffused it. Sweet is the recollection to her sons—cheering to the heart of the exile! Yes, my country, though thy grandeur and thy glory are no more, the fame of thy virtues can never die! Like the worth of a departed parent, it comes sweetly over the heart of the child, to chasten his sorrows, and to calm the emotions of his troubled spirit. But alas! how is our native country has fallen! ‘Fallen from her highest estate,’ and trampled in the dust! Irishmen, descendants of Irishmen, are you not now ashamed of that country? Do you not disown her? Yes, methinks you say, we will disown that country, when he whose steady friendship has stood the test of time and of experience, shall abandon the friend of his soul, because the world frowns and misfortunes crowd upon him. Yes, we will disown that country when Women shall cease to cling to the persecuted object of her affections; when Man, goaded by the inhumanity of man, shall no longer find a place of refuge and of comfort in the female bosom. The most timid and the most worthless mariner may boast of his stately vessel in the calm, and in the sunshine; but he is faithful and the fearless seaman, who midst the howling tempests and the mountain billows, exerts himself for the preservation of his shattered bark, and stands upon the wreck to save it. Did Ireland hold her proper station amongst the nations of the earth; were she—what God and nature evidently intended her to be—a free and independent country; we might quit her without regret, nay, we might in time, perhaps, almost forget her. But situated as she now is, bowed down by persecution and trampled on by oppressors, it becomes a principle of honor, no less than it is a feeling of humanity, to stand by her in her misfortunes and to console her in her afflictions. This is the reason that we are so fondly attached to Ireland; this is the reason that we are so zealously devoted to her interests; this is the reason that we would shed for her the last drop of our blood; this is the reason that we will cling to her cause to the last moment of our existence. Never, O Ireland! never whilst time lasts, never whilst memory holds, will we lost the recollection of thee, and of thy wrongs.
“Wert thou all that we wish thee: great, glorious and free, First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea, We might hail thee with prouder, with happier brow, But, O! could we love thee more dearly than now?” These celebrations are identified with the best interests of this country. Is there an Irishman or a descendant of an Irishman, out of the many thousands in these United States, who, making the comparison—which these commemorations force upon his mind—between the intolerance and oppression which he has felt or heard of in Ireland, and the freedom of conscience and equality of civil rights, guaranteed to him by the immortal Constitution of the United States, would not prize the institutions of this country above everything human, and dear as life itself. Here there are no tithes, no rack-rents, no large standing army, no Orange or other Ascendancy, nothing to break down the spirit of man, nothing to rob him of his property, or to trample on his feelings. Here, there are no Ascendancy churchmen to prey upon mankind, and to fatten upon religion. Here, there is no bloated national church to contaminate the food of piety, and to muddy the waters of devotion. Here, we do not see that double-headed monster, Church and State, exhibited in all its hideous deformity, in all its odious depravity. It we go into the national Senate house here, we do not see the miserable offspring of that unnatural connexion, in a Peer without honor; in a Senator without wisdom; in a bishop without learning; in a minister of the gospel, without its first principle, common charity. In the national Senate-house here, we do not see Right Reverend Fathers in God stand up in their place and sanctimoniously utter the most notorious calumnies, the most infamous falsehoods, of the religion and principles of millions of their fellow-citizens. If such characters could smuggle themselves into a seat for a single session here, the people would soon tell the Right Reverend libellers, that if they know their assertions to be false they ought to be execrated for their villainy, and that if they believe them to be true, they ought to be branded for their ignorance; that, in either case, they were totally and absolutely unfit to take any part in the councils of a great nation, or of a free people. But such politico-religious monstrosities are never exhibited here. No, here every man can worship his Creator in that mode which his reason dictates, and of which his conscience approves; and the very difference in our religions gives us but greater scope for the exercise of that charity which is the foundation of all. Here, that principle, so beautiful in theory, and so noble in practice, is wisely laid down and fully established: that man, ordained by an Omnipotent Being, the Lord of the Creation, to that Omnipotent Being alone, is accountable for his actions; save when, by those actions, he infringes upon the private rights of an individual, or endangers the public peace of a community. Here, government is established for the good of all, and every man under it who acts the part of a good citizen receives its protection. These are national institutions of which every honest man must approve. Such as he will ever respect in peace; protect in war. How Irishmen value such institutions, the numbers who fought for them in the Revolutionary and late war fully testify. How their descendants will continue to uphold them, the deeds of a M’Donough, a Perry, and a Jackson, well can answer. Under these institutions many of them have, indifferent states, risen to honor and to eminence; and even your own society, Gentlemen, may justly boast that the reputation of some of its old members has gone far beyond the city, which is adorned by their virtues. Your attachment to these institutions you have long shewn in peace; you are ready: Are you not ready, to prove it in war? Yes; when the thunder of war shall again be rolled across the Atlantic to her shores, and America shall summon her friends around her to meet its fury,
“The standard of Green, In front will be seen, O. my life on your faith, were you summoned this minute, You soon would be found in the thick of the fray, And shew what the arm of Old Erin has in it When roused by a foe on St. Patrick’s Day.”
Transcribed
by: Gordon B. Smith |
