Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-04-19

| lu ofSty QuuFtcTS Vi tHe .OHtoH tH00tiHS
. Of French, German. Irish, and America
citizens, celebrating the glorious revolutio
in France, and the spread Of repub)ica
principles throughout Europe, have bee
held, and the people upon this side of th
Atlantic have manifested lively interes
in: the triumph Of liberal principles in th
Old World Tbs Washington Union pub
fishes The following patriotic speech Of Gen
ICass: 81 u ss2@ez AL sf-.sf 1s e:i-. .a5
{. REMARKS OF GEN. CAsS.
At the. Meeting at Odd FslloaD's Hall, on
/ WarsdayEeveaing. March 20, ls48,.s
T came here, fellow.citizens, to hear 1nt
to feel, rather than to talk--not so much {
address you, as to n,ingle my congratula
tions with yours, upon the stirring ane
striking events which are now passing il
Europe, and the sound which is borne up
on the wings of the wind to every civilized
country Of the earth. yield 10 ADLER anc
stronger speakers the task of expressing
such sentiments as become the subject and
the occasion; but yield in no jot nor title
to any one. in the interest they excite, and
the hopes they inspire. The shouts of Lib
erty reach US from the Old World, let us
send back the echoes. from the New. Lei
US be grateful to Him who holds in his
hand the fate of nations, and who guides
their purposes by wiser purposes Of his
own; letu be grateful to Him., who is
breaking the bond Of the oppressed, and set.
ting the captive free
| Throughout considerable part Of Eu-
rope, man is awakening to conviction Of
his rishts,and to knowledge of his strength;
and, with the feelings which these inspire,
comes the determination TO assert the one.
and, if necessary, employ the other. The
abuses OF centuries are giving way before
the progress ofthe age, and the foundations
Iofgoyernments are investigated with zeal
not to be rebuked, and with q stern purpose
which nothing will satisfy but the truth.
Ehe great tide Of freedom is rolling on.
wards from the shores Of Calabria to the
English channel, the institutions, original.
ing in barbarous ages, and sanctioned by
time and habit, but which have sacrificed
the happiness of the many to the power Of
the lew, are giving way before it, with as
little resistance as regret. hope, for one,
that the chalk bound cliffs Of England will
not stay the progress Of this salutary re.
form, bu. that it will reach he. palaces and
her hoveis, correcting The great moral and
physical evils which now press upon her
people. '' - :. - '-.'t' -
feilow-citizens,@ ! do not deny that there
is much to be commended in the institu-
tions Of En- ngland, social and political. |
do not deny that she has contributed her
full share to the intellectual progress of the
age. do not deny that there is a great
deal Of moral worth in that country, and
many high traits Of character we'll worthy
of imitation. But the practical administra-
tion of her government is entitled to no
such conimendation It is arbitrary and
oppressive administered by chosen class
for their own benefit, and not for the mass
es. Il sits alike an incubus upon the great
body Of the people in two-thirds Of the
home empire; and in the other third-Ire-
land-it has pressed down the people into
state Of humiliation elsewhere unknown
in chrisendom. Its right of primogenilure,
its feudai privileges, and its aristecratic
tendencies have created such an inequality
of property, that scenes of distress AYE, of
distress on the largest scale-are passing
there in a manner unknown in modern his
tory. It is very well to talk Of the bless
ings of the English law-of trial by jury
and Of habeas corpus. These are good
things for those who can enjoy them. But
bread is better thing for starving fani-
ly than trial by jury, and n house better
protection than habeas corpus. Probn-
bly, on the face Of the globe there is no such
squalid misery as in the novels Of ireland;
nor was the spirit Of man ever pressed
down, as there, by the overpowering evils
which surround him. Ireland is scarcely
the country of Irishmen. 1t is the country
of England, which the sons of Ireland in
habit, and where they exist rather than
live. And this oppression sends them to
every quarter of@the globe; and wherever
they go, they carry with then IN inst:nc-
tive hatred Of tyranny and the love of lib.
erty. They have made most valuable ac-
cessions to our population, and in peace
and war have fulfilled all the duties Of a.
merican citizens as zealously as those born
in our country. From the heights of Abra-
ham, walered by the blood of Montgomery.
to the very last battle. fought in Mexico,
where is the field crowned by the valor and
exertions OF the American troops, in which
the Blood of Ireland has not mingled with
our own, and in which her native, but our
adopted, sons have not nobly rallied around
the standard Of their chosen home!
England is in that condition which re-
quires but one firm effort on the part of
her people to extend those principles of
free government, which nominally belong
to the country, but which practically are
confined 10 the few; to extend them to the
great body Of the people, and thus to cre-
ate government for the benefit of all, d.
rected by all, and accountable to all.
The fiscal oppression Of England is Of
itselfa phenomenon. The sum of two
Two hundred and fifty millions of dollars is
every year ground out of the people, for
general purposes, besides perhaps.an equal
sum for the maintenance of the clergy, for
he support Of the poor, and for n vast vari- ,
sty Of other objects. More than one half
IF these two hundred and fifty millions of
iollars is applied to the payment of the
interest OF the national debt, large por-
Pf. - 4 4