Squatter sovereign., 1855-08-28
For the Squatter Sovereign.
To the American Citizens of irish Birth
in Kansas Territory.

who shares your feelings, and sincerely
desires your welfare, to address you at this
eventful crisis. / drew my first breath OH
the same Screen Island" which you love
as the land of your nativity, and my earli-
est joys and purest pleasures, were expe-
rienced in the beautiful land, that we all
remember with reverence. am one of
you, and believe you will accept this as
an excuse for my boldness in addressing
you. Allow me to make In brotherly can
dor, few suggestions. and to request that
you will give them an attentive perusal,
| after which 1 only ask your unbiased
judgment of my opinions, confident that
your own honest convic tions will lead YOU
Alright.
Brothers, we live in momentons time,
time in which tyranny and prescription
trembling on their sandy pedestal, in the
countries of the old world, struggle to raise
| their repulsive features beside the Goddess
of freedom in this happy land, and by a
strange fatality we are the first victims of
their malice but more of this in another
place, asI believe that nearly century of
republican experience and teaching has
inspired enough Of patriotism and natural
love of liberty in America, to defy so des-
potic and ruinous doctrines. They never
will allow the monster prescription to eclipse
with his baleful shadow, the light of the
fair Deity whom we worship in common,
as the guardian of this favored land.
In a short time you will be- called upon
in the exercise Of a right, as citizens, to
take part in the mighty struggle which
! agitates this great confederation You
will be obliged to give your influence to
the ''North, in its attempt to dictate by the
basest means, laws and institutions to this
beautiful Territory, or you will be COM
PEELED by rational conviction to stand with
Kansas in asserting her right, to choose
her own laws and form her own institu-
tons, unpolluted by Northern fanatfcism
or morbid philanthropic prejudice. Which
of these parties will you Identify yourselves
| with, is very important question, and to
enable you to decide Alright, it will be nee
essary for you to investigate the claims
which each of the parties have to your sup
port and sympathy. What has the n orth
ever done to deserve the vote of any Amer
| lean citizen of Irish birth2 Has it ever
exhibed fraternal iberality to the Irish
emigrant or naturalized citizen2 Take
for example the now great State of Massa-
chusetts. In 1920, when she was yet a
colony she passed the following resolution
| in the general course of the colony -
'sWhereas it appears that certain families
recently arrived from Ireland, and others
in this province have presumed to make
settlement &C., S.; that said people be
warned to move off within the space ofsev-
en- months, and if they fail to do so that
| they be prosecuted by the attorney gener-
al &c." In complete consistency with this
intolerance, was the exclusion of Irishmen
from all official positions in their charita-
bic institutions, and the public sale of an
Irish servant for four years. The latter
occurrence dates at 1852. Is New Hamp-
shire more liberal? When did she be-
come 500 What year was the "religious
test obliterated from her statute books
The majority of Northern citizens are
of English descent, and as such are under
influence of English notions of liberty, lib
erality and federation. They are remark
ably like religious sect of whom Sir Wal
ter Scott, bitterly says: ''They have suf-
fered persecution without learning mercy"
If I am thought too severe l appeal to the
case of Roger Williams, and host of 9TH
ers equally tolerant and liberal, repeat
that Northern notions Of liberty and free
dom are the offspring of English opinion,
modified by peculiar circumstances, and
therefore the philanthropic! Abolitionists
who would gladly accord a vote to negroes,
but deny it to Irishmen, seek for and finds
a ready sympathy in England, where the
ste deuna" of anti-slavery is loud and hear
ty, interrupted only by the wall of the Irish
man, whom she continues to enslave with
out compuncsion, as without mercy. An
hereditary feud exists between us and the
Anglo-Saxon oppressor of our race. On
our part it is as natural as for the bruised
worm to turn under the foot of the careless
traveller. On theirs it is no less fervent, as
| THEN conduct for centuries demonstrates.
And the past and present history of New
/ England testifies, that the transatlantic
descendents of the English Puritans cher
ish the dislike to the Celt, with undated
zeal.
l would be the last person in the world
to fan the ember of national animosity