Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-08-12
IrI.h Hntred nf Nseroe..

lrishmen bear towards Negroes presents
an anomalous phase in human society.
Why is this2 To what can this fe-Oeious
animosity be traced There is no natural
hatred, no oinstinctive aversion between the
Irish aud African. The Trishmsn feels
none Of lhis prejudice none Of this ami
mostly, while . resident in his own native
isle II il, only when he lands on these
shores, that he exhibits this hatred to-
wards Negroes, and not then, till his mind
has been warped and infamed By the in
famous arts Of lying political dema-
gogues of the so called, but misnamed
Democratic persuasion.
Thst the prejudice Of the Irish is not
against oolor, is shown from the fact, that
their blood thirsty vengeance is visited
only on free Negroes, and not on Negro
slaves. In the Detroit, Cincinnati, BufFa-
To- Troy, New YORK and other mobs, Irish
laborers perpetrated the most diabOlicsl
outrages upon unOfending, defenseless
cOIOred people, burning their houses, des-
polling their goods, wounding, mutilahng,
manning and numbering them. In South
ern, holding cities, such atrocities
are never known, though Irish and slaves
work side by side. 1t is left for the
free cities Of the North to witness the
fendish assaults Of Irish upon black la
borers.
Proverbial as a race for whimsical blum
dering, blunder more damaging to them
selves they have never perpetrated, than
that of mercilessly assailing the free
blacks. It is sort of biting off the nose
to spite the face. But in this, they are
the deceived victims Of designing, unprin-
cipled men. They are made to believe that
anti-slavery, brings black labor into COM
petlOn with them. But the exact reverse
is true It is the system of slavery that
throws the free blacks North, to gain their
livelihood as laborers, whereas entire
emancipation would retain the cOlorOed
population at the South That is their
native cline, congenial in climatic prefer
ence and in all the entwining associations
of home. Freedom proclaimed, and true
ly and safely enjoyed at the South, would
cause an emigration of blacks Southward,
and not of blacks Northward.
1t is slavery that brings the free blacks
in competition with Northern labor, and it
is slavery that degrades black labor and
all labor, and thus excites the vengeance
Of unreasoRing white laborers.
The Irish Iaborer may maltreat the free
black, but he cannot thus elevate himself
At the South the Irish laborer cannot be
elevated without emsnoipation-fOr slave
~ degrades labor and the labOrer, and
white labOrers at the South, are nothing
but poor white trash, and to great ex-
tent are in as pitiable, wretohed and de-
graded condition, (save in chlttelship) as
the slaves themselves, and in vast many
cases even more SO. 1t is the theory Of
slavery, that capital should own theta
bOrer and that too, without regard to
color. In slave community, labor can
never be respectable, and hence white Ia
borers, as well as black become degrad-
ed class. These facts are 30 patent and
self-evident to all experience and observa-
ton, that they need no argument to sus-
tain them. How shortsigbted then and
blind to his own interests is the white Ia
borer who would persecute the free blacks,
and riyet the chains frmcr on the mana-
cled limbs of the slaves.
With emancipation, there would belabor
enough for all, and labor and the laborer
would become respectable, where now they
are despised and degraded. Let the rule
Of JEFF Davis be extended over all these
States; let slavery become prevalent every
where, and what would become of the in
terests Of these negro-hating Irishlaborers.
The farms of the husbandmsn, the ware.
houses of cities, the depOts of railroads,
the servants of kitchens, Sc, Sc, would
soon be stocked by labOrers, male and
female, olOned By their employers Thou
sands Of Irish laborers would be thrown
out of employment or, in point of degra-
datiOn and misery, brought to a point
lower than the slaves themselves.
It is thus that slave labor, and nos free
black labor, cOmpetes with and degrades
the white laborer. taB
Thus, so far as the Irish are concerned,
they have got the thing wrong end frst
and he who would enlighten them and get
them from under the influence Of design
ing political knaves, would be their bene-
factor.
Never was there a people more infatuA-
ed than are the Irish laborers in the
United States. By working and co-opera-
ing with the PrO-slavery, COpperhead
Democracy, they are working against their
'wn interests, and agains their own eleva-
ion. Their negro hating is q cultivated /
sentiment. They have it not by natural l
impulse, nor is it in accordance with the
neulcations of the Catholic religion, but
he reverse. Their confidence is abused {
md their interests damaged by pro-slavery I
Influences. Would that they could be made c
0 understand this. With the spread of s
rec principles, their welfare is intimately Ii
Tended. Upon freedom to all, rests their s
wn elevation, thrift prosperity, enlighten- n
lent, and accumulation Of property. The h
1le of slavery is their ruin And yet, n
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