Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-11-26
FATHER MATHEWS FAREWELL
ADDRESS.
To the Citizens ofthe United States.

DEARLY BELOVED FRIENDs--My mission
among you closes to-day. | cannot take my fl
raj departure from the shores of your great and
prosperous country, without publicly recording
my deep and grateful appreciation of the gener-
Gus sympathy, the delicate attention, and the
unremitting kindness which have experienced
in every section of this vast Union. The noble
reception which you have spontaneously tender
ed to a stranger known only as humble mis-
sonary in the cause Of moral reform, proves the
devotion Of your people to the interests OF hu-
manity, however feebly championed, and has en-
deared America and her people to me by thou
sand ties too sacred for utterance. Though
the renewed attacks of painful and insidious
malady have rendered it impossible that could
(without imminent danger for my life), make
those public exerions which were never spared
by me in the days of my health and of my vigor,
yet. thank Heaven, have been instrumental in
adding to the ranks of temperance over 100000
disciples in America. have been much cheer
ed during the past week, by the receipt Of
letters from all parts of the States, bearing I'M
impeachable testimony to the strict fidelity with
which this voluntary obligation is observed.
need scarcely add that virtue, and the duties
which religion indicates, together with peace,
plenty, domestic comfort, health and happiness,
have everywhere followed.
| cannot omit this opportunity of bearing my
grateful testimony to the generous and valuable
cooperation which have received, in the pros
ecution Of my mission, from the public press of
America. Whatever may be the party of Sec
tional difference that separate those influential
expositors of public opinion, all recognised, in
the simple principle which enumerated, n COM
mon ground of fraternal union; and acting in
that Christian spirit, have, with scarcely an en-
ception, ever freely rendered their valuable sup
port and advocacy to the cause of temperance,
emphatically the cause of virtue, patriotism and
morality. If the affectionate sympathy and kind
ness of the American people have at all times
been generously extended to me during my tour
how much more intense has this noble feeling
become as the period approached Of my depart
ure! How can find language to thank the
generous,the high.soued, the noble Henry Clay,
my dsinterested advocate-my dearly cherish
cd friend! How can express the measure of
my obligation to the benevolent VIM. Corcoran,
of Washington ito the public-spirited and phi
lanthropic Henry Grinnell ito your merchant
princes, E. X. Collins and Robert Kermit ito
the amiable and gifted archbishop of New York
whose delicate and unremtting attention will
never be forgotten by his honored guest ito
the host of kind friends in this city, in Philadel-
phia, Boston, Albany, New Orleans, ST. Louis,
Cincinnati, and through the Union, who have
responded to Mr.. CIay's appeal, and in their fare
well present have furnished a memorial Of graf
itude and generosity too highly appreciated by
the object of their sympathy and solicitude--
too deeply engraven on his heart to be acknowl
edged in the hackneyed phrases sanctioned by
usage.
There are emotions Of gratitude too intense
for language to convey; were it otherwise, glad
ly would attempt to give an expression of my
profound thanks to my gifted and amable coun-
try woman, Miss Catherine Hays. Never will
forget the sympathy felt by that noble-minded
lady, or the spontaneous generosity, so charac-
teristic of her Irish heart, which prompted her
recent grateful and substantial compliment
Never will this noble act be forgotten bv Fa-
ther Mathew; and when his earthly pilgrimage
is over, when his stewardship ceases, and he is
called to state of future existence, where even
the envenomed shaft of the slandered cannot
reach, long may her honored name be pronoun-
ced with gratitude and respect by the sons and
daughters of that beauteous isle which she loves
so well. To my own beloved countrymen, [
most affectionatey tender n few words of part
ing advice. You have, my dearly beloved friends
the land of your birth, endeared
to you by a thousand fond "reminiscences, TO
seek on these distant shores that remuneration
for industry and toll too often denied you at
home. You are presented here with bound
less field of profitable employment,and every n-
ducement held out to persevering industry
You are received and welcomed into the great
American family with feelings of sympathy,
kindness and friendship. After a few years you
become citizens of this great republic, whose
vast territorial extent abounds in all the mate
rals of mineral, agricultural and commercial
wealth; the avenues to honor and fame are lib
orally thrown open to you and to your children,
and no impeachment save of your own creation
exists to prevent your attaining the highest So
cia and civic distinction; and will YOU any long
or permit these glorious opportunities TO pass
or, rather, will you not, by study
ing self-respect, and acquired habits suited to
your new position, aspire to reflect honor alike
on the land of your birth and your adoption 3
implore you, as / would with my dying breath,
to discard forever these foolish divisions--those
insensatc quarrels-those factous broils, too
often, alas, the fruits ofintemperance, lin which
your country il discraccd, the peace and order