The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-06-19
Yha Gansi.lalL 81 igslaga,

ghs Genaisian 81 isstsna,
The tsrosts OF the trial Of John Mitchell, .shirh
were received by the Acadia, and the news of bis
sentence to fourteen years OF hard labor in the hunks
al Bermuda, received by the America, would seem
to show that the Irish question has at last been
brought to crisis. The Irish people must resist by
force, necessary, the execution of the sentence,
or they must acknowledge to the world that they
are unworthy of the freedom which they claim, and
undeserving of the sympathies or even of the pity
of civilized nations.
Who is John Mitchell! He is a gentleman of
character and education, of talents and influence,
of a standing in society which would have enabled
him to enjoy to the full all the comforts and luxu-
ries of private life, or even to have received the
honors and emouments of office under the British
Government. For what has he been tried and sem
fenced! For voluntarily abandoning this position
of personal security and self-enjoyment, and with
devotion and fearlessness, like an honest man and
a true patriot, advocating the undoubted rights OF
his countryside lights Of the humble and oppressed,
against the proud, the powerful, and the tyrancai.
But in the advocacy Of this holy cause, he only told
the truth Of lrelands wrongs, and OF British OPP
preston; and in proposing remedy he boldly as
serted that in the last resort the people had right
to redress their grievances by force In taking TINS
position he only occupied the ground consecraled
by the English revolution of l6SS-the revolution
which drove King James the Second from the
throne and settled the dynasty IN the family OF the
present sovereign. The right OF resistance by the
people when the acts of government become mtol-
cradle, was soemnly decided by acts of parliament,
became part of the compact between the people and
the crown, and was, during the reign of William
the Third, held to be so fundamental part of the
British Constitution, that the House of Commons
impeached and the House of Lords convicted
Sacheravel of treason for preaching sermon in
favor of passive obedience. If the doctrine of re-
sistance be not true, then the government Of Eng
land is an imposition and Queen Victoria an usurper
Of a throne to which the present King OF SARDINIA
is legally entitled. Yet for defending this tunda-
mental principle of English politics, the counsel of
Mitchell was interrupted and reproved by one OF the
judges of an English Court, and Mitchell himself
found guilty of felony and sentenced to the most
ignomnous of punishments. But how was the
conviction procured We will say nothing OF the
conduct of the judges, of the evident desire which
they manifested to secure favor by compliant sub
serviency to power, but there Is universal belief
in Ireland and that belief is founded such facts
as can not easily leave a doubt, that the jury was
packed of the personal and political enemies of the
accused for the purpose of ensuring the conviction
Whether this be true or not, the bare existence of
reasons for suspecng it is but another outrage upon
the people of Ireland, another drop in the full cup
of bitterness which has been presented to theirps.
The cause of John Mitchell has thus become the
cause Of the whole Irish people-he suffers for his
support of their rights-he suffers for avowing and
i oh tIauar hound tn ma
tain or to acknowledge themselves forever the help
less slaves of arbitrary power-and he suffers too,
as they believe, by an abuse of those forms of law,
upon the preservation of which, In their purity, the
little glimmering of liberty which they are allowed
to enjoy, depends. If, then, the people of Ireland
permit the sentence of the Court to be enforced,
they may bid farewell to all claims to present honor
or to future hope-they must acknowledge that they
deserve their fate, and bow in meek submission to
the hand that smtes and kiss the foot that trampies
them in the dust. If Mitchell is punished without
resistance, who will hereafter risk position, fortune,
liberty and life in the of the people Mitchell
may have been imprudent; he may have been
impetuous; he may have been wanting in that cold
calculating policy which will risk nothing while
any doubt hangs over the success of cause; but
he was high-minded generous, devoted, brave;
he was one of the men who must take the lead in
any and every change in politics and government
and what is more, he was right. Such a man must
not and cannot be abandoned in his hour OF strug-
gle and of danger; and his enthusiastic and ardent
counrymen are not the men TO abandon him. The
spirit of other days will return. lreand's sons will
be united They will make at least one bold effort
in their own behalf Now is the time to do or die.
Now is the time to
i" Strike, till the last armed foe expires,
Strike for your affairs and your fires,
Strike for the green graves of your sires
God. and your native land