Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1845-11-28
THE IRISH P~EASANTRY.

"Nothinr can exceed the destitution and
wretchedness in which millions of these peo-
pie live. | have been in many of their cab
ms, and have seen habitations of thousands
and thousands of these miserable people,
and, in regard to external accommodations; l
can scarcely think that there is upon earth a
lower condition ofhuman existence. Certainly
the wigwam of an American savage may often
be regarded with envy for its comforts, COM
pared with an Irish Cabin. / have been in
to those which were mere holes dug into the
side of a peat bog, and have put my hand
upon the wet and velvety walls, that might
be certain my senses did not deceive me-
In these caves, covered with sticks and straw
and sods; without chimney, window, or floor;
with a fire of turf slowly burning upon the
ground, and filling the place with smoke;
without bed, table, chair. or plate, or knife,
or fork; with indeed, no article OF furniture
save a kettle in which to boil their potatoes,
and a basket in which to take them up; with
no other seat but a bit of dried turf of peat,
and no bed to lie down on but a flock ofstraw,
which was frequently shared in common by
the children and the pig,-l have found a
crowded family, with rags for clothing, Il at
scarcely hid them from nakedness, living
from one years end to another upon potatoes
and water, and never more than once a year
tasting either bread or meat"
1t has been truly said that governments
have no humanity, no compassion for the out
cast and the oppressed. Their sole object is
to build up their own power, to strengthen
their own dominion, and if there should APP
pear to be aug!it of humanity in their acts, it
is to be attributed, not to any kindly feelings,
but to policy, which is the life and soul OF
government. Perhaps no one illustrates the
truth of this better than the government OF
Great Britain. Policy induced her to pro-
claim freedom to $1,000 of her colored
slaves in the West Indies, while at the same
time she was crushing to the earth millions
in her Eastern dependencies; and in be-
slowing the boon of freedom upon her chat
tells in the West, she plundered her pool
of a hundred millions of dollars. While
pretending to establish honorable trade and a
commerce that should benefit the world, she
forced her opium upon the people of China
and slaughtered them because they refused
to receive it. She lavishes hundreds o.
thousands upon her baby1princes, and votes
tens of thousands for the support of the roy
al stables; while the scanty pittance which
she gives for the education of the people, IL
bestowed grudgingly and with an unwillin!
hand. She keeps her dronish nobility in lux
ury, and robs her laboring poor for their sup
port. She boasts of the contentment OF he
subjects, but is obliged to surround then
with a band of heartless mercenaries to en-
force submission. By command of her mos
gracious Majesty, the chartist is left to PIN
in his dungeon; and by the course of he
ministry, thousands perish for want of bread
But probably no recent act of the BIRTHS
Government manifests so much systematl
cruelty, so much determined oPPression' sue
evident design to crush the spirit of a trul
noble people, as does the inhuman & tyrannI
cal policy she has adopted toward the Iris
nation. The extract at the head of this art