Mississippi palladium. [volume] (Holly Springs, Miss.) 1851-1852, 1852-01-08
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The Hungarian and the Irish Exiles.


In many respects there is remarkable
Irish exiles, while there is a striking differ
ence in the light in which they are both re-
garded in England, as well as in the fate
that has attended these illustrious men.
The great leader Of the Hungarian rev.
olution is Protestant. He found his coun-
trymen-,he great majority of whom are
Catholics-groaning under the yoke OF
Austrian despotism. He went at first for
constitutional government, under mon
archy, and when that effort failed by peace
able means, he struck a blow for republic
anism, which dazzled The world. Oceans
of blood were shed in the struggle ;-it
failed, partly by treachery, and partly by
the overwhelming hordes of Russia throw
ing their weight into the austrian scale
Kossuth, and many of his immediate friends,
escaped into Turkey, where, however, they
were held in captivity. By the active in
terposition of British influence, these brave
men were finally released. An American
frigate conveyed them to freedom. They
have been .feted in England; and Kossuth
praises the municipal institutions of that
country as the basis of the freedom of this.
He is. right. The Magma Charta is the
foundation of the liberty we enjoy-the
germ brought by the voyagers in the May
flower across the waves, and transplanted
into this great soil, where it has grown to
tree of freedom, under whose shadow
the outcasts, the prosecuted, the suffering,
and the poor of other lands, may take ref
uge and repose. The difference between
the two countries is this I'm England the
growth of freedom has been stunted and
obstructed by the pernicious influence of
an aristocracy, and the great principles of
the Magma Charta have not been carried
out to their legitimate conclusion. Here,
on the contrary, there is no aristocracy, and
the people emphatically make their own
laws; and the result is that we have not
only the theory of freedom, butts practic-
al realization, and all the glorious results
that flow from it. The case of Ireland, a
mere province of Great Britain, is an ex-
ample of theoretical liberty in a country
where oppression abounds.
At one time Ireland, like Hungary, pos
sessed constitution of It's own, and par
lament which had the regulation of its mu-
nicipal affairs. Under that constitution,
and that parliament, Ireland flourished for
the eighteen years that they existed, as
perhaps no country of Europe ever did in
so brief space of time. In an evil hour
the Irish parliament, corrupted by English
gold, committed suicide, and, under legal
fiction or union with England, the coun-
try relapsed into Its former degradation,
misery, and poverty, till now it stands,
with all its beautiful scenery, and all its
great fertility, and natural resources. the
darkest spot on the face of the globe and
famine and fever annually carry off their
thousands. Within the last few years, the
country, instead of advancing in population,
has receded; and it is ascertained by par
hamentary returns, that two millions and a
half have been swept away by the " besom
of destruction Here, then, was prov
oeation almost too great for human nature
TO bear; but it was one that did not enter
into the wrongs and grievances of which
the Hungarians and kossuth had to COM
plain.
William Smith O'Brien, man of aristo-
cratic birth and breeding. Protestant, a
man who had soul to feel for the wrongs
and the sutferings of his fellow -countrymen
"a man of irreproachable character, which
even the breath of Sian ier did not venture
TO taint-he and the heroic John Mitchell,
another Protestant, with some other brave
men. seeing the depth of misery in which
their Catholic fellow -countrymen were
stepped. conceived the design of revolu-
ton as the last resort, after every appeal te
justice and humanity had been exhausted
They failed. John Mitchell was tried and
convicted as a .felon,'' for words spoken
under special act of Parliament very In
consistent with Magma Charta and the prin
ciples which triumphed in the revolution O
1853. He avowed himself republican
He was transported and treated as robber
and by late intelligence We find that he has
been subjected to ignominious punishment
as unnecessary as il is unjust. Smith o.
Brien and some others followed his fate
O'Brien was not only convicted for word.
spoken, bat was tried for high treason and
convicted /; and if the sentence of the Law
had been carried out, he would have beer
hanged, drawn, and quarterei." The
sentence was commuted lie was trans
ported. What did he do? He shed ne
blood, Ike Kossuth. 1t is true he stormet
the house of the widow Mccormack, a
BaliingaTy, in which a. few policemen tool
refuge from the half armed rabble that fol
lowed him as a body guard to protect him
from arrest under the suspension of the
kabeas corpus act. and not to create or ever
commence a revolution. But his humanity
would not suffer single life to be taker
when it could serve no good purpose. The
object was to keep him at large till the har.
vest was reaped. But the British govern
ment were too powerful and too prompt
they nipped the incipient revolution in ths
bud. and there is not the slightest danger
of another attempt during the lifetime O
John Mitchell and Smith O. Brien.
The question now comes up-why keey
these men any longer in banishment and
slavery? British laws are not yindictiye
No object can be served by the continued
Imprisonment OF the Irish patriots. Grea
Britain would show her magnanimity a
weIl as her consistency by striking of theil
fefters- In the eyes of the civilized world
In the sight of England herself, they are
less guilty Of yuilt it bel than Kossufh
whose release from captivity she effected
and whom she now delights 70 honor. In
both cases the offences committed are po-
litical. and If the British government would
put the same termination to both, and &c,
their own captves free. they would be ap,
plauded for the act by every coed man q
/. The old World and the Now