Delaware journal. [volume] (Wilmington [Del.]) 1827-1832, 1828-12-22
TUESDAY, December 22, 1928.

nave, AT various Nnee, sHto""J "SS'"NN
consistency in religious belief crime. That govern
ment has shackIed Irish industry destroyed to
certain extent Irish commerce prevented the es
Enlistment of extensive manufactures IN Ireland !;
and encouraged spirit of internal dssent'on among
the Irish people in order to divide and controu-by
unjusty extending to one portion OF that people IA
small and subservient minority the advantages OF
civil and religious liberty; grantlngto one poruon
all Offices of high trus profit and honor, and refus.
ing to extend those advantages to or confer those Oh
fees upon the other portion- large, loyal, and in
teliigent majority. In pursuance OF this wre'ched
and indefens,ble policy, laws have been passed by
that government at variance with the principles
which should characterize the laws of civilized So
ciey-partia 10 their operation, unJustin Their pro-
visions. and monstrous III their nature.
1t is only necessary to quote from one, and give
synopsis of another of those laws--many OF which
are now in full force-to prove that the wrongs
which this people endure can receive no exasgera-
ton from language. " A penalty of ten pounds
month was imposed on those who relieved or har-
bored persons who did not attend worship in some
established church--and to this penalty every man
or woman was liable even for maintaining, relieving,
keeping or harborng his or her father or mother
If that father or mother were within the purYlew
of that statute. This affected all dssenters IRON
epscopacy including Presbyterlans as well as Cath
ocs But as special grace and favor there
was clause exempling from the penalty those per-
whose parents papers or destitute OF sui
ficient maintenance. This provision, however,
ought not to be supposed 10 arise from lbera'ty or
Justice. but from sordid fear lest the poor parents
| should become burhensome to the Iarsh!'
There was another law which authorised any
Catholic on his a5jnrng his faith, and joining the
Protestant Episcopal Church to turn his parents and
kindred into the highwayto Cast them out upon the
precarious charity of the world--and to take full
possession of his fathers estates however large 1t
might be-that monstrous law investing him with
| complete and irreyocable title to the same This
| law, unparalleled among the most barharous ma
tons, full force so late as the year l8O9--and
is believed 10 be still unrepealed. Have the Turks
ever prosecuted the poor Greeks in this MANNER
cutting asunder the most sacred ties OF nature and
offering Il premium to the impious son to become
parrcide 2 No I the Turkish history, however it
NAV be blotted with crime offers nothing to sight
go horrible az this. To such laws no other people.
save the Catholics OF Ireland, have ever been re-
quired to pay obedience, although having no repre-
sentaon in the Parliament wherein those laws were
enacted they had no voice or influence to correct
their enormities, or to oppose their passage.
| Thus this gallant, gifted and generous people have
received the treatment which savages award to their
captives from government which claims TO be the
most liberal, free. and humane in Europe. How ex
| ceedingy amentablc has been their fate command
ing the active sympathy L. the tervent prayers ofgood
men in every clime-yet failing to obtain security
for life, liberty, or property from a government
which exacts from them equal portion ofrevenue
which calls upon them in time OF war for unlim-
ed appropriations blood and treasure and offers
them for an equivalent for all these sacrifices, the
idle privilege of hearing debates in Parliament
fl where they are not allowed to speak even through
the medium of representation, and seeing magniii-
cent churches (ereced at their expense which they
f must not enter without leaving their conscience be-
, hind them They are the children of heroes of
r statesmen, and scholars. The mantes of the faith
ers have fallen upon the children. The slavery
: they endure is without parallel in history and
D reason can offer no excuse for its continuance.
i Dceming that the period has at length arrived
when without civil commotions. those evils may be
reno, ed and that injured people be restored TO the
! enjoyment oifreedon and tranquility; with truth anc
Justice and sincerity, to give effect to their ap
peal "the Association of the friends of Ireland il
f. ew-York"-present themselves before the liberia
Y people Of the United States. They come forward
in the character of advocates in behalf of oppressed
n humanity Ehey plead not as sectarians-n0t as lr
e ishmen-they profess every christian creed they
are the representatives of every christian land they
. plead as men who acknowledged affinity to the whole
human race and they cherish the assurance tina
IS they address those who bappiest when they Car
e extend the means of happiness to others.
i: Bv that act of Union which made Ireland poltI
' cally part of The British Dominion which abol
. ished her local Parliament and by which she sur
rendered that independence for whose preservation
/ up 10 the very time OF agreeing to that act, the ma
1, iority other people had strenuously commended il
t was provided that every person who could prove
that he was lessee of ola tenement, which by his
I'll industry he had rendered worth forty shlngs ster
r Ing money over and above the rent and his debts
+. should be entitled to vote at the hustings This
It clause preserved to the people the important
right of reemen-the right of selecting their repre-
d senatives 1t was an advantage of an nestimable
e value, but as it was conceded at time when the
Irish people had been goaded to acts of desperation
j. by the sanguinary Of their rulers, and