Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1853-06-23

no doubt be mitigated by judicious legis-
lation; and in the meantime Massachu-
sets and New York might do worse
thing with a portion Of. their surplus
means than feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, give home to the stranger, and
kindle the spark of reason in the mind
of the poor foreign lunatic. even though
that lunatic may have been (as l am
ashamed, for the credit of humanity, to
say has happened) set on shore IN the
night from coasting vessel, and found
in the morning in the fields half dead
with cold, and hunger, and fright. Ap-
plause.
But you say "they are foreigners. -
Well, do we owe no duties to foreigners?
What was the founder of Virginia, when
a poor Indian girl threw herself between
him and the club of her father, and
saved his life at the risk of her own?-
What were the Pilgrim Fathers, when
the friendly savage, if we must call him
SO, met them with his little vocabulary
of kindness, learned among the fisher
men on the grand bank, of "Welcome,
Englishmenl'' "They are foreigners"
And suppose they are? Was not the
country all but ready year or two ago
to plunge into conflict with the military
despotisms of the east of Europe, in or
der to redress the wrongs of the op-
pressed races who feed their f1ocks on
the slopes of the Carpathians, and pas
ture their herds upon the tributaries of
the Danube, and do we talk of the hard
ship of relieving destitute foreigners
whom the hand of God had guided across
the ocean and conducted to our doors?
Great applause.
Must we learn lesson of benevolence
from the ancient heather? Let us then
learn it. The whole theatre at Rome
stood up and shouted their sympathetic
applause when the actor in one of Ter
ence's plays exclaimed, 81 am a man:
nothing that is humani is foreign to me-"
Applause.
am not Indifferent to the increase of
the public burdens; but the time has
been when l felt a little proud of the
vast sums paid in the United States for
the relief of poor emigrants from Eu-
rope. 1t is an annual sum, have no
doubt, equal to the interest on the for
eign debt of the States which have re-
pudiated their obligations. When | was
in London, few years ago, 1 received
letter from one of the interior counties of
England, telling me that they had in
their House Of Correction an American
seaman or person who pretended to
be) who, from their account, seemed to
be both pauper and rogue. They were
desirous of being rid of him, and kindly
offered to place him at my disposal
Applause. Although he did not bid
fair to be a very valuable acquisition, l
wrote back that he might be sent to Lon
don, where, if he was sailor, he could
be shipped by the American Consul to
the United States. 1 ventured to add
the suggestion, that if her Majesty's Min
lister at Washington were applied to in
similar way by the overseers of the poor
and wardens of the prisons in the ..
States, he would be pretty busily occu-
pied. But really felt pleased, at the
time when my own little State of Massa-
chusetts was assisting from ten to twelve
thousand destitute British subjects an
nually, to be able to relieve the British
Empire of the only American pauper
quartered upon it. Great laughter and
applause.]
Ladies and gentlemen, my humble
tale is told. Its first incident is Colum-
bus, begging bread for his child at the
gate of a convent. Its last finds you
the stewards of this immense abundance,
the almoners of this more than imperial
charity, providing employment and food
for starving nations, and home for fu-
gitive races.