Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1855-03-28
ELoQUENcE-MR. MEAGHER.

! exile, at the Metropolitan Banquet New Y ork,
on the celebration of St. Patricss Day The toast
to Ireland was, "Ireland-Our mother forsaken,
not forgotten. Her children, scattered over many
lands, in loving memory return to, her toni sht'
Mr.. Meagher responded. He said
The sentiment you have proposed, sir, enunci-
ates truth, which like most truths that have been
taught US by adversely, offers little matter for
mournful meditation. 1t is in mirthful mood that
l approach it Not il words gaily colored with the
summer light which sometimes, at such festivities,
breaks in upon the mind and beauties the syla-
bles with which its thoughts are given to the wind,
do speak Of this day, ard the worship of which it
is the witness. There is skeleton at this feast;
some few may not behold it. But to me, the shroud
and the sealed lips, and the cold hands, and the
beautiful head, bound with the cypress wreath
visible. (Sensation.) On the girdle of faded gold
there is in ancient letters the of herthe for
saken but not forgotten one-whose sons and daugh-
tiers this night with love and pride, confess
selves to be. loud cheers) Not without it's
selling and improving influence, however, there sits
amongst this silent admoniton-as that yelled
figure at the Egyptian supPers, amid the flare and
gaieties of life, conveyed the moral, and impressed
it deeply that this world was but phantom vet
tn t in the space beyond where it darkencd
gliulmered speck, there was anchored an in
cOrruptible existence; so does this pale shadow,
there before us, teach the lesson that here-even
here, in this shifting scene, with all its sad muta-
TONS with all its and weakness, with all its
insincereties and high treasures-(applause)-
Is memory winch cannot De elIaCcQ, Inere is a
loyalty which cannot be disturbed; there is bright
fact, which set and planted in the old chronicles
perpetuates itself in every Cline, in every season.
year after year, with the promise that its vitality
shall be enduring cloud cheers.) 1t is festival
of memory-a festival of truth, piety and love- The
words you have spoken, sir, proclaim, and if need
be, vindicate it. With an exquisite tenderness they
announce that on whatever spot the sun looks down
this day, whatever spot the stars come forth and
keep guard this night the children of little island
far better known to the wide world by her errors
and m;sfortunes than by such good strokes of for
tune as, for the most part excite the interest of the
poor, as well as the prosperous, OF the earth-meet
together in loving sympathy and remembrance
(Hear, hear and appauSe.) Brilliant though it be,
in this pictured hail. amid these flowers, these
fruits, these sparkling vines, and with this gay au
dience around US, form small, and to one who
would look down from great height an insignif-
cant portion of that great chorus, which, through
out the islands, and the continents, and the seas,
commentaries to-day, in genial and spontaneous
anthems, the initiation into Christianity of the
ton to which, by birth, have been privileged to
belong. Cloud applause) In that fragrant island
of the pine and palm trees, under the arched roof
where the bones OF Columbus have been gathered,
there kncels an old man, bent down. and trcmuous,
and feeble, but with ioyousncss and elasticity of
heart praying for the beautiful land, the face of
which he has not looked these thirty years, and be-
seeching God that, though he may not behold it,
her happiness may be made perfect. Beneath the
dome which spans the cotfin>of the great Emperor
of France, and in whose shadow the flags once borne
by Glare, and ROChe, and Dillon, are falling into
dust, there are students, and young soldiers, and
artsts-men who have been born on the shamrock
sod, whose fathers sleep beneath it-grouped to-
gether, talking of this day. and praying that to the
history of McGeoghan, the chaplain of the Old Bril-
gade, chapter may be added the glory set forth
by which shall more than compensate for the adj
versities that have come upon their ancient home,
Within the gates that overlook the Tiber, l well
know that the silver thrube has this day swung
its incense up to minge with the clouds that the
footstool of Him in whose keeping are the memo
res and the desnies of the nations and we'll know
that from cloister and from classroom there has
gone forth hymn invoking blessings on that beg
CARED outcast, who, amid the SCOTS and butfetings
of the multitude, has been true to the cross-has
stood beside and chung close to it, even when tue
eclipse came. loud applause) Far down the ocean,
in those cities of the South, the foundation stones
of which were laid by the cavaliers of Isabella, the
Catholic, there gatherings in the gloom of Moor
ish wallis they, too, speaking OF this day, and won
dering if the Southern cross shall move upwards,
and in its radiant embrace, from sea to sea,
the sands which, in the dawn of life they left
their footprints BY the Australian mountain lakes
this prayer and hope minges with the voices of the
solitary waters as they flow in the sands strewn
with sparkling stones and fragrant with the leaves
of the perfumed woods that girde thcm-I see, as
have seen four years ago. the green flag lying IN
front of an Irish homestead, bosomed in the depths
of the brown Tasmanian wood; and hear, as l
heard there four years ago, the fond prayer bub-
bling up from the hearts of old Irish couple,
that Ireland might be best that her wounds mi ht
be healed and made luminous, and that, for the ig
NOMINEES and agonies she has endured, her crown
of thorns might blossom into flowers cloud and
renewed applause.) And here, throughout this
vast commonwealth, there are songs sung; and
there are banners waving; and there are bayonets
lifted; and there are ballads, and panegyrics with
out end or measure; and there are copions cups
filled and emptied and then replenished, and then
exhausted, and so in incalculable rotation,
Oaughter;) besides innumerable floors being welt
ed and acres of shamrock turned up, turned out
turned in and drowned Qaughter;) all and every
thing in honor of that magical saint, who, though
born in France, and though foreigner, served
Ireland, the land of his adoption, well. (Great
laughter and cheerng.) Not alone upon the Hud-
son, not alone along the lake on which the broken
walls of Tconderoga look down, not alone along the
Thousand Islands, now saddened with the SHOWS OF
the pale sky which arches them not alone along the
river which rolls it's wonderous volume through a
valley nobler than the Nile, not alone in the log
huts the Platte the Rio Grande, the Colorado,
where shaggy pioneers strike the staff which bears
the stars and stripes, and in the wilderness an
that to vigorous life and industry stcrilty
and desolation must give way; not alone in those
scenes, distant and desoate though some of them
may be, is this day held sacred In the valley of
the Sacramento-you, sir, (alluding to Mr.. Garri-
SON. who have worthily filled the municipal chair
of San Francisco, will bear witness-(cheers)- jim
the golden gorges of the Yuba; in the black IA
vines where the heeces IN citing from the slopes
and spurs of the Sierra Nevada swell the rushing
stream out upon the sea- far below the fabulous
Aurora islands, with not leaf or bird within a
thousand miles; out upon the sea, amid the white
deserts and the white pyramids amongst which the
American scholar, under the auspices of prncely