The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1863-02-19
What an Intelligent Irisaman thinks
Of the Rebellion.

received by a gentleman in our city, con-
tains so many warm and encouraging
expressions of sympathy for our Union
that we, having the privilege, cannot re-
frain publishing it in full. The letter,
we are assured, is but the representative
of the feelings of large number of
warm-hearted Englishmen and Irishmen,
who can have no sympathy with rebel
lious slavehclding oligarchy in its at
tempt to destroy the most liberal gov
eminent on the face Of the earth:
! ARMAGH, January 20, 1863
DEAR BROTHER WILLIAM:-Your very
interesting letter, dated the Sth ult, was
received here by me about the first inst.
l need not say that your letters, as well
as those from and o., are al
ways welcome, particularly so at this
time, as your once happy country is now
in such an awful state of rebellion that
many times we are fearful lest some of
civil wars disasters should come across
your path 1t is cause of great thank
fulness that you and yours have been so
far preserved Many times dear mother
is found praying for her sons in America.
She often weeps bitterly when reading
of the fearful butcheries which occur at
some Of your battles.
You feel greatly annoyed at the appa-
rent want of sympathy by Great Britain
towards the North, but if America has
some slanderers in this country, and
some unprincipled assailants like the
Times, you are not to suppose that that
portion of society who have the courage
to think for themselves instead of letting
the Times think for them, know how duly
to estimate the peculiar difficulties of your
Great Republic. Our own glorious his
tory-the struggles of our forefathers,
the Irtvnrury OF freedom S heroes, whose
names are household words, our equal
laws, the emancipation of our own slaves,
our open and inviolable asylum for fugi-
tiyes from tyranny of every hue ard from
every land, our frequent circumstances
with our American brethren on this sub
ject, and reiterated condemnation of the
great sin of slavery-our churches, our
bibles, our prayers, all demand that
every heart should beat in sympathy
with those who are banded together to
accomplish what we have so long urged
upon you, the total abolition of that
cursed thing throughout your vast CONT
nent | can scarcely explain this want
ofsympathy of which you Justly complain.
1t is, | think, partly by the prevailing
Ignorance and misconception respecting
American affairs, caused in a great
measure, by the gross unfairness of our
leading newspapers The Times espe-
cially, by letters to the editor and one
sided narratives from correspondents,
has cast ridicule on the North, while it
has held up the South to admiration;
Notwithstanding, England's heart and
1reland's too, ever beats true to liberty,
and her sympathy will be all the more
emphatic from having been thus for a
while restrained. Many suppose it would
be better for Europe that the great Re-
public of America should be divided,
and thus many who detest slavery do not
sympathize with the North in their effort
to restore the Union. Again many think
that the North has hitherto been fighting
for the Union as it was, but by that old
Union slavery was guaranteed in the States
where it already existed and fugitives
were sent back to their outraged masters
or owners. Not because we are indiffer-
ent about slavery, but because we so
deeply abhor it. Many in this country
have no sympathy with the North in a
struggle, the issue of which, if you sue
coed will in the opinion of many, rivet
more tightly the letters of the slave, and
render his escape more difficult than ev-
er. They therefore wish the South to be-
come a separate confederation in order
! that slavery may cease to have the entire
Union to prop it up, and that slaves may
more easily escape by the land of free
dom, being brought so much nearer them.
There are other views held by the mer-
camille portion of England of selfish
nature, such as cheap cotton, tobacco,
&c, which throws all their sympathy
with the South. But as the true state of
affairs are better understood, | rather
hope that Great Britain, to a man, will
be for you and the North. The South is
| struggling not about tariffs, rot to resist
| tyranny, not from noble desire of self
government, but to preserve and extend
slavery. But l repeat the heart of Eng
land heats true to liberty, 1t is imposSi-
bic she should Sympathise arith stdceyy.
Again we lament that the negro, though
free in the North, is deprived OF the right
of citizenship, and is often treated even
when learned and refined, as socially in
feriOr to the white man, even when ignor-
ant and vulgar Since your good Presi-
dents noble emancipation OF all slaves
from the LIST inst, begins to work let us
hope for better days, but if he had done
so before shot was fired, it would have
been better received by the Briishers,
he would have come more up to our
standard of an honest man. But we,
ourselves, have contributed to prop up
slavery by our preference to slave grown
cotton, and for which our poor Lanca-
shire operatives are suffering, every one
that was in any way connected with this
cursed slavery is suffering. You are un-
dergoing most severe discipline-so is
England and France, for this abomina-
tion-sIavery-we have often felt acutey
the insults America has offered our Gov
eminent and the hostile threats you have
uttered, such as going to lick England
and all the world l would be sorry if
England or any other European power
was licking you, but we look in pity on
you licking one another But while a few
may withhold their sympathy to the North,
we as Nation must loathe the South as