The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-30 00:00:00

MR. SMITH O'BRIEN 1N EXILE.

The Nation of Saturday publishes the subjoined ad-
dress from Mr. W. Smith O'Brien to the nobility, clergy,
members of Parliament, corporate bodies, and gentlemen
who have memorialised in favour of the Irish State pri-
soners now living in penal exile in Van Diemen's
Land :

"My Lords and Gentlemen,—During the last four
years I have been induced by various considerations to
abstain as much as possible from every sort of appeal to
public opinion ; but I feel that I should be justly charge-
able with ingratitude if I were now to refrain from offer-
ing my best acknowledgments for the generous sympathy
which has spontaneously prompted you to endeavour to
procure for the Irish State prisoners restoratipn to our
homes and families. Nor am I at liberty to leave wholly
unnoticed the language which has been applied to us by
the Viceroy of Ireland in answer to your memorial. It
is difficult for me at so great a distance to understand
fully the impulses of public feeling in Ireland ; but I
believe that I am not mistaken in supposing that the
memorialists may, for the most part, be divided into two
distinct classes of persons. The first is composed of
those who concurred in many of our sentiments with
respect to the grievances of our country, but thought
that a resort to arms for the purpose of obtaining redress
was either not justifiable or not expedient. It is not
unnatural that our lot should engage the sympathies of
this class of our fellow-countrymen. The second is com-
posed of persons who concurred neither with our senti-
ments respecting the wrongs of our country nor with our
opinions as to the best mode of vindicating its rights and
averting its ruin. These men, though they now seek to
mitigate our sufferings, would have boldly encountered
us in the field, but, with true magnanimity, they do not
shrink from an avowal of their belief that we were im-
pelled to our unsuccessful effort by pure and honourable
motives. Nor are they so distrustful of the strength of
the institutions which they uphold as to believe that the
return of five men to Ireland can endanger those institu-
tions. I know not which of these two classes is most
entitled to the tribute of thanks which I am now desir li
-
ous to offer, I can admire a brave and generous foe as
much as I love a faithful and attached friend—as much
as I scorn a mean and vindictive enemy ; and I am
proud of my countrymen when I contrast their noble
bearing towards us with the petty malignity which has
been displayed by those who claim to be exponents of
the sentiments of the English nation. From the hour
when I was arrested to that in which Lord Eglinton
delivered his answer to your memorial, English states-
men have laboured to blacken the character of the Irish
patriots of 1848, either by personally imputing to them
the most unworthy motives, or (as in the case of
Lord Clarendon and Birch) by hiring calumniators to
defame them. In this ignoble warfare against men who
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the history of political offenders—signally evince that
they have utterly failed to accomplish their inglorious
design. Leaving unnoticed the indications of this spirit
-which are to be found in the answer of Lord Eglin-
emctasnuifne
' ton, I proceed to offer a few remarks upon the reasons
which his. Excellency has urged as grounds for the refusal
of your request.
"'None of the persons,' he says, ' in whose behalf my