The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1855-11-22

on .he Sth instant, being the 1881 annivsfsa
ry ofihs tandisssof William Penn, in fepl!
TO the following toast: "a
4. Lsfsyel!e on the battle gtouni Of el.
Chester.
Mr. w. B. Reed said
| Mr.: President-When your COMMITTEES in
formed me gpat was 10 Ray something y
answer 10 a toast commemorative Of " Lafay
elts u They ioeuIarly told me. iha, they hat
appropriated this sentiment in view of my
known political opinions, mol Wing (ihougt
they are becoming quite historical). not Dem
ucratic--but presume what is known as |
third mysterious, subteraEeous organization
for which / am supposed to have no affection
ant hence French Roman Catholic solde
Of our revolution was assigned tonne. Ithanl
the committee and the society for the com
plimeht, for such I regard it, and with The
theme they have given, will venture to say
few words, not so much shout Lafayette
as about the curious oscillations of that per
verse pendulum, public sentiment, on thil
very subject of foreigners and foreign sympa
thies and antipathies. What have 10 say,
shall take care to say without offence, bu
will try and think of the hstef and lover Of
foreigners and foreign things as abstrac.
tions. / thank fortune have no commun!
onsisls either, butw every genuine, qul
ct, temperate American heart in my bosom,
can safely say hold in equal disregard him
who, on this topic, either hates or loves s'nol
wisely, bu. too we'll" a Ha+ s-'aHe
These oscilations--or swinging of pfeju-
dioe from one extreme to another--began
long ago, and il now-a-days an Irishman OF
German is The victim or the idol, Lafaye,te's Is
counirymen, the French, have had their turn
al being persecuied and pelted. Just a hun
dred years ago, as find noted in your Ship
ren papers, Philadelphia gentleman wrote
TO friend, "May God be pleased 10 give us
success against all copper colored cannibals
and French savages, equally cruel and per.
fieious in their natures, ard the truth of what
they say and promise IS just as much TO be
depended on as every thing which the old
serpent said 10 our first parent In Paradisen
This certainly is not complimentary, but was
entirely sincere The English colonists ha
ted and hunted a Frenchman in those days
with arisht good will, having, however, some
excuse for il in the bloody scenes OF frontier
butchery. 10 the fall and winter of 1855, ex.
acdy century ago, occurred one Of the dark
est crimes that rests on the English of that
day, and on English America. mean the
persecution of an exile Of the French Acadi-
ans. II was that kind of double distilled wick.
edness, which is always the product of those
acrid elements-politics and intolerance.-
England executed the cruel order. Puritan
New England abeited and stimulated it, and
Pennsylvania witnessed some of its attendant
horrors. -
And what a retribution has there been
how grand and beautiful is The expiation of
This deed of wrong. Lord Loudoun, the Eng
lish Commander in Chief refused 10 receive
petition from the exiles, because they had
the insolence TO write in French. And
now short century rolls by, and England IS
Queen, in St. Georges Protestant chapel,
CLord Loudouh's descendants, still Peers of
the Realm and Knights OF the Order, stand.
ing by,) puts the Garter on the knee of
French Roman Catholic Emperor and in the
English language, the hand of New Eng
land Puritan poet writes the tale Of the poor
Acadlan's wrongs in words that will live as
long as The language lives; sings them in
strains which will sound eternalIy aud sweet.
ly long after the howl of fanalicism and per-
secuton has sunk 10 ignominlous silence
Evangeline's death scene is laid here in Phil.
adelphia and her grave in the poets vision
is In the heart of the city, in the little grave.
yard of her faith, over which then rung in
harmony the mingling chimes of Christ
Church and Weccacoe. Surely, Mr.. Prssi.
dent, the re,ribuhon of time is very certain
and very impressive.
SO were foreigners, and especially French.
men, treated hundred years ago. Twenty
years roll by, and what do we see then a.
The pendulum has gone the other way--for-
eigners are in fashion; and we have The Con.
gress of i774 and '75 appealing in formal and
earnest addresses 10 Canadians and French
men and Irishmen to come and help US, and
live with us and be part of us. There was
no apparent intolerance them. General Wash.
ington, when attending Congress in 1774, (so
bis diary tells us) actually, on the 9th of Oc-
tober, f774, went TO the Presbyterian church
in the morning, to the Roman Catholic church
in the afternoon, and afterwards dined a.
tavern And The Irishmau, and the Scotch
man, and the Frenchman, the Papist and the
Protestant-all came ane all were welcomed.
All sorts came, the good and the bad, and
the bad soon sank to their low level, and the
good earned their reward. Hugh Mercer, the
Jacobite, came; John Barry, and Lafayette,
and Steuben, and Kosciusco came, NOT to
make speeches TO us, but 10, fight with us
and for us, and no one thought of prescribing
or repelling them. II any one wishes to know
not only how Frenchman and French
Priest too, was welcomed, and what he
thought of us, let him read, and ii will we'll
repay him, the Able Robins charming little
volume descriptive of. his travels in Ameri.
ca in 17s1--French as il is all over, and full
oil Frenchman's oddities and strangers
m;stakes--his account for instance of the ar.
my marching 10 the I" Head-a. Felque," mean
ing the Head of Elk, now .EIk,on, and his pit.
Il. e