The Yazoo Democrat., 1852-07-14
n. n. nKeagIAer.
YAzoo Cry. july

justly proud.
Land of the muse in glory's lays,
In Historys leaf thy name shall soar,
When like meteor's noxious ray
The reign Of tyranny is DER.
Having been schoolellow of Mr. Meagher's
and having perfect knowledge of himself and
family emboldens me (though incapable) to
make few remarks ON his general character
Mr.. Meagher was greatly distinguished while
at school, by an enthusiastic attachment TO the
liberty of his country, which he frequently as
serted with uncommon energy and eloquence,
and he was greatly admired for the spendor Of
bis classical attainments and the sociability Of
his noble disposition. Butal intrinsic circum-
stances apart, there is In the oratorv of MIR.
Meagher, a sacred fire which convers It's vivid
ness to the soul of his hearers, and they must be
made of sterner stuff than the ordinary race of
men, II their bosoms do not glow with liberal
and patriotic enthusiasm, while they listen to
the honest outpourings ofa man who has clothed
the wild as well as the cultivated principles
of his country in words that burn, and state
ments that find an echo in every generous breast.
Had Mr.. Meagher done no more than this he
would be entitled to the gratitude of his coun-
trymen, but his noble impulse told him to go
ahead and use his wonderful genius to obtain
(by some means) food for his starving fellow
creatures. Such was Meagher's crime-such is
now is virtue--and on such grounds we may
well claim for Mr. Meagher what he SO richly de
serves, the crown of patriotism. But it is not
on this head alone, he is entitled to our praise,
as an orator, since the death of the lamented
death of O'Connell, he stands almost without
competitor, and as public writer, he is highly
respectable. Nor has he neglected those more
solid attainments which should ever distinguish
the well bred gentleman, for he is an excellent
general scholar, and is particularly we'll read in
the literature of the middle ages, his conversa-
tional powers are great, and his modest and un-
assuming manners, placed him in the highest
rank of cultivated society.
Meagher, the polished and spirited--Meagher
whose speech in the dock of Clormell was the
very teirs of Ireland's agitation, crystalized by
the touch of genius and made eternal-Meagher,
whose capacious mind like the great pool of
Norway, draws into its vortex, not only the
mighty things of the deep, but its minute weeds
and refuse. Meagher, who has shown what the
giving not only motion, but life of soul to sub
jects that seemed incapable of it. Meagher,
congratulate you on your honorable escape from
the malice of a Sectarian Government, and above
all, on your safe arrival in this country to which
we all belong, and to whose real greatness and
solid glory all Irishnan, as am, and with my
political and historical recollections fresh about
me. I am most ready to bear testimony and
homage before the world. Still there may be
and there are, high minds, warm hearts and
brave arms every where--but for that generous
lhighmindedness, which has honesty for its basis,
the only sure foundation upon which any thing
lofty was ever built-which can distinguish be-
tween real substantial greatness, and that false
inflated glory of the moment, whose elevation
like that of the balloon, is owing to its empti-
ness, or if not to its emptiness, at least to the
levity OF its freight. For that good faith, that
punctuality in engagements, which is the soul
of all commercial as well as all moral relations,
and which while it gives to business the conf
dence and good understanding of friendship-in-
troduces into friendship the regularity and mat
ter of fact, steadiness of business-for that spir
it of fairness and iberalty among public man,
which extracts the views of personality out of
par ty ZEAL and exhibits so often (too often re-
gret to say of late) the touching spectacle of the
most sturdy political chieftains pouring out at
the grave of their most violent antagonist
Such tributes, not alone of Justice, bat of cor
dial eulogy, as show how free from all private
rancor was the hostility that separated them
and lastly, as trust may say, not only with
out infringing, but in strict accordance with the
of liberty, that every American so truly enjoy
and which is in one word, the very life of great
ness. For all these qualities, and many, many
more that could be enumerated equally lofty,
and equally valuable--the most widely travell-
ed Europeon must say, as he sets his foot on
green fields of America, / have travelled the
habitable globe, and have seen nothing that can
in the remotest degree compare with the land of
Washington.
/ could not help in that fulness of heart
which they alone can feel towards America, who
have been doomed to live for some time out of
it-paying this feeble tribute to this most noble
country-and | only regret that my obscurity
renders it of little moment. But if critical
knowledge of the principles Of America were
necessary for just administration of them,
must at once admit, much as delight in them,
that l cannot boast of that knowledge
] am one Of those uninitiated worshippers,
who admire very sincerely, though perhaps
could not, like the initiated, give perfectly sat
ls~farp Il