The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-10-26
About irishmen and the ExiIes in Van Dieman's
Land.

1 HI, .,
4 DEAR SIR Our mutual friend George N Sanders as
saies ms that any thought which 4. whose only clau
upon your attention is that OF being exile for demo
s;aaS principles might venture 10 express TO you. will b
kmuiy ana generously entertained The high apprecia
uon entertain oil Jour public character. and OF III,
wamh o your feelings towards democracy everywhere
msn. warrant me IN believing that such expression
on my part would neither be treated intrusion,
made ~ VAIN; but with the assurance of our friend,
can wip more confidence, and unreseryedIy unbosom
myself TO you
The presidenaI contest Is over recurring only the for
marty o. deposng the ballots and the certificates o the
proper officers to mark he numerical degree rather than
lne M iacl ol your triumph considered II due TO the dig
nhed position sou sustained during that contest To
awa lhe issue now accomplished, and OF the certainty
OF which have had doubt | address YOU no v
upon asubeet neither strictly political nor personal am
mol so esumpg as 10 oder any suggestion the rca-
i've positions Of the United States aud he territorial gov
ernments OF Europe and have nothing 10 ask for my
sell write wholly 10 recommend 10 your attention the
case o. some dear friends who have been for long years
IN suffering and in exile who, in another land and in
oiher contests for democracy, my comrades-who
were not SO fortunate have been and 10 whose re-
lease have considered il my plain duty to devote what
ever OF good fortune mig me during their ban
slnent regard this permission 10 address you their
behalf as The highest attainment of that fortune The
democratic party OF the United States the admrng and
enthusiastic witness OF their herosm and their viriue and
has never been and mol nsensble 10 their snerings al
though from the day OF defeat TO that of your pres
ent triumph II has been in its power 10 alleviate or
redress them They are, and ALL men OF the highest
integrity and the highest honor. The principal Of
and Were possessed OF high professional egisla-
1--we position, and OF monetary independence, if not
wealth; all OF which, with their personal liberties they
deliberately sacrificed, 10 give their countrymen Of
this generation example OF individual manhood and of
The duty OF patriotism. II was my high honor to be as
soc'aed most Intimately with the first sacrificed OF them
and from The earliest phase OF the democratic movement
OF 1915 Ireland To lis unhappy close more or less in
timately with all. few words that movement may
be necessary IN explanation. To all high-minded men,
and especially 10 all American freemen that movement
he mn bprai
Tor thai was undertaken by few and that in issue
has been SO magniiicenty unfortunate. system OF the
most brutal and ierocions government on side, Of
a vulgar and pnrposeless "agItaon" the other
had for long years ernasculaled The manhood and
even the senses OF The people, Hostile and unfair laws
regulating and abusing the industry, the land and the
commerce OF the people, by an executive and Parlia
ment foreign TO their territory, their trade their wants
and their affections had Systematically broken down class
alter class generation alter generatIon and in 1916 and
le47 insulied The people IN a famine the most terrific
~ the history oi mankind. BY commissions Of Brit
ish Parliament, whole nation was then being d.b
eratey buried million By million, district BY district
class by class. old age aud childhood, The strong man
and the infant the pregnant mother and the unsued
aud once blooming grill do not speak fguraivrly, but
literally aud graves huge, and filled such
rrpleon that II was ordinary sight TO see The dogs
driven wild IN the social outlawry, garbling over acres
oil the hall naked dead, and rehdug from the earth The
bodies 81 those who fed them | have seen such and
more horrible sights and charge lhis process OF
Killing and bnrylng, or hunting unaned and cooped.
Anal'aud commissions, and by the astIteIy devised
While indignation pity seized on The whole world
al the enacment OF such Atrocities in land The ge-
nal and fertile, lying ~ immediate nelghbornood TO
these shores and IN the full sight OF all Europe against
race once happy and Industrious which has suffered
for ages and whose blood Infused into every State of
tbs republic deeper, more enduring, and more dgnhed
sense OF manhood and OF resistance cruelty aud out
rage so remoseless and wanton seized upon the few
upon whose behalf plead 10 you Mr.. Mitchell trst
threw himself into the struggle aud and published
those writings which awoke the British empire TO a
OF danger al the consequences OF It's acts and which
cited the sympathies OF this whole republic By special
law OF the British Parliament he seized editor,
declared ieon nomnaly tried by jury hired for The
purpose, deprived OF his property, torn from his family
and friends and transported for fourteen years II am
more deeply anxious on his account you will forgive
when you estimate his vast genus, his great sacrifice
his broken health and the TACT CARDS myself that he
refused me permission 10 suffer in his seaiau honor
which was entitled, and The acceptance Of which would
have beea 10 me OF comparatively no sacrifice. Again,
his friend aud mine, John Martini OF the pgfest
and most devoted nature who had expended all his prop
erly procure temporary subsistence Tor his neigh
burswas seized; partly, conceive, Tor writings OF my
own and, though against my WILL insisted saving me
Tor what he thought more worthy fate by bis
demnillon 10 banishment Another law OF the British gov
ernment was then introducpd which placed the whole
island under martial law, which enacted the mockery
placing galows and armies upon field Of gnyes aui con
demned u.s. one and all, without trial appeal Throush
out the subsequent and last resort 10 nsuTrecon
associated with MIR OBren, and the other gentlemen who
were either captured with him. or like myself, escaped
And thus am enabled, from the beginning TO the end
have suffered, and who still suIier without complaint
acts which conceive claim The approval and sympahes
OF every brave manbn 10 that during that than
which no resistance could be Just and neediu
made as Il was ia The very jaws OF national death
against remorseless and unscrupuous enemy no ac
OF perhdy or lTeacherY, either the part of any OF
those lnrusted with the leadership tie pari OF
any o The people to them, any act OF personal
afdce or backslidng, any OF outrage, nor even Of
possibly Iashabe personal vengeance, dimmed the glory
OF their personal honor OF the magnhcence Of their self
sacrifice, or dsgrared the Their country That
subseqae The plans OF the British Parliament had ul
swing-tha a population OF nine millions was killed
down 10 I've millbans-hat wheat bearing fields were
converted into bullock land-that these shores have
been crowded every day for years with the poor terrified
iugves from the beautiful land OF their nativity and
OF the death of their kndfedt is unnecessary IN this
connexion 10 enter The infamous deed which my
brave iflends resisted accomplished; and whatever
late may b. reserved either for Ireland for the British
aristocracy and their accompces the object OF
this letter TO ntrude that subject upon you, or inter
MIX or embarrass with political relations and nterna.
tonal eyeninaties plain question which appeals .,
once 70 me eyary OF manhood and TO the best alice
tons OF this republic
My sole and only legitimate object is on behalf OF
trends who are still n suffering and in punishment
Mr. Mitchell was condemned for fourteen years Mr. Mar
TN ioF Ten, Mr. O'Buen and those with him, iirs for
death, then Tor life The physical sudengs ol these
men v wouli be pufposelessy heart-rending 10 detail
/ an ~ possession OF letters aud documents both
| lfom them and from others, exposing a heroic for
uude tbey in vain Try 10 conceal, against acts OF in
detsgable cruelty oi which, until they obtain their
freedom, do not consider il becoming their behalf to
complain Ny latest ietes from The place Of their ban
Iishment Van Dieman's Land, | have this morning re-
ceved-snce this eiler in fact begnn-and prefer
forwarding one from old schoo-lellow and college