The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1852-03-16
Speech Of Mr.. Seward.
SYMPATHY WITH THE IRISH EXILES.
IN THE usIrED STATES srsArE FEB, IL.

IN THE STATES SENATE FEB III.
The Senate having resumed the considera
tion Of the resolution OF sympathy with thu
Irish exes. to which Mr. Shields had moved
an amendment-thc impending question being
upon verbal amendment moved by Mr.. Seward
to the amendment.
Mr.. Seward said: Mr. President, this pro-
ceeding seems to me neither nconsiderate mol
unmportant. 1t is a resolution which must
have the assent of both Houses of Congress
and the appreciation of the President of the
United States, and 50 become national act
II recommended might perhaps say, solicits
clemency towards the patriots Of Ireland who
are suffering imprisonment in penal colony.
II is designed for the information Of the British
Government. and therefore may and ought tc
be regarded as an appeal by the United States
to the Government of Great Britain. think
this proceeding is defensible upon the grounds
Of abstract justice and propriety, as well as up
on due consideration of our relations TO all
the parties concerned.
| beg leave to say, in the first place, that il
is not altogether novel in its character and prn-
cipla. The patriots of ireland who are the
subjects OF the resolution are suffering impris
onment by England on account Of an effort,
honesty made TO restore their fatherland 10 lib
erty and independence. The sympathy which
is expressed by this resolution springs from
the same source from which that sympathy
has sprung which has always been exhibited
| by the people of the United States towards ma
tions asserting the same rights; the same sym
pathy which was shown by the people OF the
United States towards France in 1898,
in 1880 and lS4S-toward Greece, toward the
rising South American Republic toward Pol
and, toward Germany and toward Hungary.
Even in form it approximstes to the action of
| the Congress of the United States in regard TO
Louis Kossuth, who had been. through their
| interposition. released from Imprisonment in
Asia Minor. and brought hither, and received
and welcomed as the guest of tho u. States.
The interest that is expressed in this resolution
/ for Mr.. Smith O'Brien, like that which was
expressed toward Louis Kossuth, is not merely
personal, but is the reverential compassion which
the people Of the United States indulge for a
fallen
"Naton ia man comprised"
| 1t is. then, the case, not of Mr.. Smith OBrien
and his associates, but it is the case of Ire land.
| A nations cause required review not Nero
| ly of the particular accidents and incidents
which bring il up before Us. hut of the whole
| life ofthe nation So our forefathers. IN adopt
ing the Declaration of independence, reviewed
our entire colonial experience in vindcatng
the act of adjuration of the allegince to the
British throne.
Ten centuries ago Ireland was an indepen-
dent nation, possessing the elements and the
forces of national stability Ireland labored
under one enduring misfortune, it was the mis-
fortune that for many centuries she remained
unconquered and unconquerabe. The crime
provoked the cu2idity of England; the misfor-
tune, begettng divisions into seets and clans,
favored the invader. At the very moment
when the Norman King of England, Henry
the second Of that name, ] think, was (as the
chronicle) "casting in his mind the conquest of
the adjacent islands, because it seemed COM
modious for him, and its inhabitants seemed
savage and rude, and he was appealed TO by
deposed Irish prince to reinstate him upon
the throne. The invader enjoyed one vast
advantage England bad been successfully
subjugated by the Romans, the Danes. the
Saxons and the Normsns, and in that rough
experience she had acquired discipline which,
combined with the energy resulting from
comminglng ofraces and the ambition spring.
inf from an insuar position, has enabled her al
most to shave the world in empire The in.
vasion, of course, course, did not result in
in reinsiating the Irish King. nor did it result
in the conquest of Ireland; it resulted only in
the establishment of small armed aristocrat-
ic colony upon the coast, inclosed with pais-
ades. and therefore called "thc Pale Within
English manners and English rule. Without
the Pale. were the entire nation of Irishmen.
with their hereditary prince. and native Ian
guage, customs and manners.
Acting upon tho law of nations as it was
then understood 10 be. these nations regarded
each other as natural enemies; and hence en-
sued war, unspariHg and unrelenting. The
reformation hurls new element into this na-
tonal strife. The Catholic Church in Eng
land had given place 10 ono which united its
kings and people both. Consideration and pru-
dence, cooperating with proselytism, determ-
ined tho Government of England to subvert
the Catholic Church in Ireland. The sword
was the missile sent, and a ferocious soldiery
were the apostles Of tho faith. The Irish pre-
ferred their paternal religion to one which was
so rudely recommended 10 them by their enc
mics. The Pale. backed by England, was too
fceble to subjugate Ireland, divided and dis
tracted by scots and clans, was too weak TO
crush the Pae and so for four hundred years
continued an internecine way at the end of
which both parties retained their relative pos
itions and power. Thus was all that precious
and power. Thus was all that precious
portion of tn Q nations life worse than lost by
reason of an imperfect conquest.
At last five hundred and twenty years after
the invasion by Henry H.. and at the close of
tho great battle fought on the banks Of the
Boyne. Ireland capituated; and at that time
the entire twelve millions of tillable acres of
of the island were divided and parceled out
among the invaders and the few appostalizing
natives. Ireland capitulated by the treaty of
Limerick. subjecting itself to the government
of the Pale. and stipula:ing and reserving, in
the most solemn manner, the liberty of con-
science was not only stipulated oy that treaty,
but was solemnly guarded by William and Mary
common soveigns of the now United Kingdom.
But England preserved in the policy of sub
verting the Catholic Church. She changed
only the means os accomplishing that object
She perfdiously broke the covenant of peace,
though it had been written in blood, and sub.
stituied penal code, DISTINGUISHING the Irish
Of all civil, and polittal, and social, and domes-
tic. as well as ecclestical rlghts-thus subs'i- |