Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1854-01-20
Fop rzr DrsocnAr AND SENr,SE1.. ~

Fon THE DEaocRAT AND SkNrINEL-"
MEssRs. EpIroRs Il intended to have sent in
the following manuscript in time for last week s
paper. but was prevented by business Of an inn
perative nature; the subject of whichit treats,
is not forgotten. however, by your readers. i
There is nothing, in my opinion, so disgusting
to all intelligent men, as to see an exquisite after
having spent two three weeks IN strange +
country, coming out and lecturing whole COM
munity, upon the religious, moral, social and
political condition of people, who are in possess
sion of history three thousand years old. An
act like this, not only proves the person SO act
ing, to be a foolish egotst, but it also proves HIM
to be incapable, either from personal observation
or any other source of information, OF forming |
anything like correct opinion, concerning the
qualifications of people for selfimproyement,
or any of the nobler traits of humanity which
NAV characterize nation
In looking over late number of your interes-
ting journal saw letter dated Belfast, Ireland,
| and signed w. b. S., and here take the liberty,
/ of entering my solemn protest, against the con-
| tents OF that letter being received as a correct
| statement of the case between Ireland and the
British Government.
Mr.. w. B. S., the travelling secretary, begins
by telling US that, after few weeks residence,
his eyes have been opened to the condition of Ire
| land and that, after a rambe through an Irish
city he vr,e>.st. Of Irish life. to jnstify
him in saying, that 1.-THE realization has been far
different from the expectation ;" what the ex-
| pectations' were he has not told us, nor can we
learn from anything that he says; but suppose
that he had the opinions that he tells us all
the Americans entertain, and that is, that the
! Ir,r x-at he fell m hat
the Americans are mistaken and he has not Civ
US one single reason to show why they are mis-
taken, but has labored hard to prove that the
Irish are degraded people and that the Ameri-
cans are right /; wish you would tell us what
you mean by this powerful nonsense which
suppose you call logic
1--WE picture the Irish as an oppressed and
down trodden race,-but such is not true state
of their condition." and again, g that they were
and are the victims Of despotism none can deny"
Now Mr.. S. must have been lost in the early twi-
light which he complains of, when he wrote such
silly stuff as the above; please sir tell US how
nation can be the victims of despotism, without
being oppressed but perhaps Mr.. S. thinks with
a good many others, in this country, that what
r the Irish consider British oppression, is only
! fatherly guardianship, which the enlightened
English exercise the rude and uncultivated
Ceh; and, if his words mean anything, this is
certainly the idea that they are intended to con-
vey, for he assures us that 90 the people un-
fit for selfimproUement )" that there is &c too
a much religious intolerance, and local prejudice
existing among them He has not told US the
nature of this intolerance, by whose act it exists
and who are its worry advocates neither has he
told us 1rhy the people are unfit for improvement
but, suppose, it is because Z" they reduced
to condition below conception; :" that is, that
they are, by long suffering and oppression,
e ground down so low, that the human mind is
e incapable of conceiving their actual condition.
: What do yon mean when you say that your
"eyes have been opened TO the condition of Ire
a land: :" do you mean that you understood, by
a few weeks dim observation, and nocturnal ram
bles among drunken women, the condition of a
people, which you assert is below human concep-
t tion or do you mean to say, that you saw with
your eyes what you could not understand with
p your mind 1 think that the latter is the most
charitable Interpretation of your words, for be-
! leve you saw a good many things, and under
stood very little, with all the luminous impress
sions that ramble through the " outskirts one
evening" made upon your sapient brain.
: believe that it was johnson who said that
all terrestrial happiness consisted in being well
deceived it is evident that this aping aspirant
is firm believer in the maxim of the old Saxon
: stole for he is not only deceivng himself by a
false intelligence but, far as that intelligence
d has any influence, deceiving others. He tells us
e that the most intelligent portion of the Irish are
ardently and zealously attached to the British
government" which is untrue, from beginning
to ending. Intelligent men never act without
a motive; what motive then could the manufac-
turing classes have for supporting government,
the whole power of which, has been used to ruin
them. know of no interest that has suffered
more from the evil effects of the ruinous act of
Union, than has that of the merchants and man
ufacturers of Ireland. Such has been the effect
of British legislation on this subject, that, be-
tween the years 1920 and 1880, t,ro-thirds of all
the manufactures in Ireland were closed, and
abandoned, as ruinous investments. And as to
the intelligent Izen being all firmly attached to
the British Government it is all 1nooushfre it is
true that there some educated men base
enough to bow in servile sycophancy, and wor-
ship the grim idol of Saxon arrogance but how
t--c-iA ~ trr,lv honorable and intelligent man
ao'oca'e the claims of that eovernment tn the.
respect of a people, amongst whom, it punished
public and private instruction with penal enact
ments, and refused to encourage any system of
education, unless the teacher was permitted to
abrogate parental authority, and tear asunder
the sacred ties of the family compact, by instil-
ling into the mind of his pupil, a belief in the
falicy Of Irish history and traditions and an h