The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1851-07-17


ton of our readers as one well worthy Of
perusal =
In another page will be found report of the
proceedings at the Adelph Hotel, on Tuesday.
The Catholics of this town invited Dr. Hughes,
thib Archbishop of New York, to a public din
ne11 and his speech on that occasion can bardf.
fail to command considerable attention ON both
sides of the Atlantic. 1t is d remarkable
speech, and bears the impress of sgreat fact. :,
The speech consists of two phases-the religious
and the political. With the former, we have of
course, nothing to do; but the latter is worthy
OF passing remark on account of the peculiar
position Of the speaker. DR.. Hughes, it seems,
is an lrishman by birth, and an American citi-
zen by adoption. He left his native country
early, when he discovered that ssthe rights of
his birth had" as he says, '.been washed out
by the rights of his baptism" This ecclesia-
teal pun gives the impress of wit to a melan-
choly truth. The bitter anguish which the
speaker felt before his emigration has been
often painted by others in a similar position.
but the dignity and truth of the following has
rarely been surpassed
81 can remember still every line and curva-
ture of that horizon which was to me then the
end of the world; still, when became master
of the unhappy secret that was not to be on
an equality with others of my countrymen, the
beauty of the scenery faded and thought there
must be something beyond the horizon. loud
applause.) 1t was one of those unfortunate
secrets the communication Of which removes
the bliss of ignorance; and found was under
a State which made distinctions among her
children, which was mother, and perhaps
more than mother, to some, and a stepmother
to the rest
We pass by the remarks in which DR.. Hughes
INDUCES, showing what Ireland might have
been, if the law for so long period had not
favored an eight, and frowned OH seyen-eighths
of the population, to come to the allusion to
America, which is the gravamen of the speech.
DR.. Hughes says:-
'-or course, as soon opportunity presented
itself, l, like other driftwood from that old
wreck, foated away on the western wave, and
found another land far beyond the horizon l
have alluded to; and there, though had no
claim on her hospitality, that strange parent
took me to her bosom, and treated me as her
Cnllu, anu soon Tdnkeu III nOnOTS among ner
own most favored and first born" Cheers
This is neatly and artfully said. And here
we find the latent feeling peeping out, which is
the worst feature of Irish emigration, namely,
that almost every 1risnman who leaves his
native country for the great Republic carries
with him the seeds of discomfort and a sense of
injustice. The harshness of the ''stepmother"
=. 6r1 af1r tod md
accomplished man, like DR.. Hughes, imbued
with this idea, how much stronger must it not
exist in the mind of the halfeducated or totally
ignorant peasant? The consequences of this
feeling may not be Immediately apparent, but,
by wise statesman, they ought not to be over
looked. America stands out miracle amongst
nations. Her developement is too sudden and
too recent to calculate on what results gener-
alton or two may produce But it is not a very
gratifying reflection, nor one complimentary to
our national security, to know that almost every
Irishman whose progeny is springing up in the
United States hates England and would be de-
lighted to see her strength crippled and her
spirit broken. The poisoned chalice, when the
present generation has mouldered away, may
possibly return to the lips of our children.
During the next fifty years some of the most
startling changes, ever witnessed will, it is more
than probable, take place; and those who see
in America the great rival with which we shall
have TO cope-our equals at sea, and with a
population, at the end of the century little
short of hundred millions-cannot but feel
little fidgetty at the reflection that we nourish,
in the very heart of the British empire, the
germ of our weakness, and, it may be, the
source of our proximate punishment. 1t is
only on such occasions as the one to which we
are adverting that the full force of our mistaken
Irish policy comes upon US. We see Its lmme-
diate effects, and we trace in the distant future
its very unpromising results.
America is the asylum of the aggrieved OF
every land. All who are dissatisfied find their
way there, and the institutions of the country
are reflected in the enthusiasm which they IN
spire. Dr. Hughes speaks highly and thinks
highly of his adopted country, because 1t rec
ognises no distinction of sect or country When
the American Congress requested DIR. Hughes
to preach before them, they cared not straw
for his sectarian views. They regarded him as
a man of talent, and paid him the public COM
pliment of its recognition. The result is that'
in America, there is less religious acrlmony,
arising from sectarian differences, than IN any
ether country. Would that we could extend
the same compliment to ourselves.