Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-12-02

kinder feeling to~ ards Ireland than at Charles
ton. where the names OF Meagher and OF Shields
we're mentioned with an enthusiasm that they
would have failed TO excite among the party TO
which Meagher has surrendered himself
In the letter which YOU have recently publish
ed. General heagher repeatedly desgnates the
Southern rebels "a aristocrats Now, am IN
able TO discover upon what manifestations OF
Southern feeling he POUNDS this charge that the
secession IL an aristocr-,tic and not a popular
movement. Ii seems 90 me that there has sell
dom been al. Instruction which has with such
unanmty embraced all classes OF society as the
secession Of the Southern States. IL this be 80, 1
il is unworthy Of statesmen 10 condescend 10
raise preiudices against the SoutberneFs by call
ing them aristocrais II i, the more Inconsistent
because be taunts the Emperor Napoleon with 4
being parvenu, and because IL is well known to
his friends that General Meagher himself feels II
70 be subject of honorable pride that he Is de-
scended from the chiefs OF Ikerrin. For my part, I
! believe that the term aristocrat is just appl /
cable to the Northern il is TO the Southern;
and have been told that the moneyed aristocra- |
CIV of New York are more purse proud
and more oyerbearing in their manners
than the richest and most aristocratie
planters OF the South. do not found this re-
mark my own observation. for | experienced
nothing but courtesy in all parts OF America.
But General Meagher wholly misunderstands the
nature of lrishmen IL he suppvses that he can
raise in their minds prejudice against party
by calling them aristocrats. An Irishmsn natur
ally loves the 'old stock nor is this surprising.
for many OF our peasanlry feel that, though they
have lost property and station by the fidelity OF
their ancestors TO their country and TO their re-
lgon. still as noble blood flows ia their veins as
that which is 20 be found amongst the proudest
potentates of Europe The Southerner may,
therefore, accept with pride the designation ars-
tocrats, and Irishmen will honor them more on
account of this appellaton, when they learn that
many OF the most prominent families IN the
South quilted the richest homes of England and
Ireland because they loved religious and poliu
cal freedom better than the delights which be-
longed aristocratcal indulgences in the land
Of their birth
Gen Meagher is more of exciting amongst
Us prejudices against the Southerners when he
calls them slave owners than when he desgnates
them as aristocrats The Irish people feel an in
vincible aversion tv the institution of slavery.
and il this were really war of emancipation
there would be few in ireland who would not
pray for the success OF the Northerners. But no
one knows better than Gen. Meagher that the
present war is not a war Tor tie emancipation of
the slaves, but that it is a war which is carried
on for the purpose of UNFOLDING the Union No
one knows better than Gen. Meaghe that large
majority of those who are fighting in the ranks of
the Northern regard the abolition of slavery as
mischievous and fanatical faction--that this
majority would continue TO uphold and enforce
the detestable Fugitive Slave Law" anu all
the other appliances incidental to slavery, pro
vided that the slaveholding States would re-
turn to the Union Had il been a war of
| emancipation, Congress would have seized the
| opportunity afforded by the secession to enact
and prOmulgate the freedom OF every slave in
the United States. But it has done no such
thing IL has authorized President Lincoln to
declare that the slaves OF rebels over whom be
has now sway free. but the slaves of
the loyal upholders of the Union, who are SUBJ
jet TO the legislation of Congress. aie still con-
signet TO everlasting bondage
| No one knows better than Gen Meagher that
! the condition OF the emancipated slave in the
North is more humatng TO a sensitive spirit
than the enforced subsection which is maintained
in the South. He knows that, with a few excep-
tons, the Northern emancipation will neither eat,
pray, nor travel with men of coor-even though
they be well educated and refined as the most
accomplished of the white population. He knows
that the President has held out no other hope to
the emancipated slaves of the South than that of
compulsory removal 10 some land distant from
the homes of their childhood He knows that
the conditions and prospects of the emancipated
slaves are such that, of the many millions of
slaves TO whom the present war has afforded an
opportunity OF fleeing from serritu6e, only a
| few thousands have sought to escape, though
they have been stimulated by the Northerners,
not only to flee from their masters, but also to
! plunder and TO massacre the families amongst
whom they have lived from their infancy. He
/ has yet to learn that the Southern may prefer to
trust themselves to their slaves rather than sub
nit to Northern domination aud that before this
horrible struggle shall be ended we may witness
the invasion of the North by half million of COL
ored troops armed and led by their former mas
tiers.
God forbid that should say word in favor
| of slavery. The redeeming advantag e that
| have contemplated as possible result of this
conflict, is that it may induce the Southerners to
voluntarily emancpate their slaves; but | will
not allow nv countrymen to be misled bv grand
Eloquent vltupeTa ton, as to believe that this
present war is a war undertaken for the abolition
of slavery in America AS for our friend Mea-
| CHER himself. have no reason 20 suppose that he
ever objected to being the guest or the friend of
those "who grew sleek and naughty on the
sweat of the black skim" and if, like some Of his
friends at Mobile and Charleston, he had inherit.
ed estate to which hundred slaves at
tached, | am by no means convinced that he
would emancipate them
! Having thus endeavored to disconnect from
the main question at issue the various fallaceS
| and pI eiudices by which it has been surrou nded
! / now address myself TO the question whether
Virginia. Carolina. Georgia. Alabama, Missss-
ippi, aud the other seeding States have or have
not a natural and ndefeasible right to determine
what torn OF government is most conducive to
their interests, and acceptable TO their feelings
I This appears to me a question which does not
admit of argument on the part of those who, like
! 7. f. Meagher. have cOntended that lrelan and
Poland have moral right To withdraw from the
domination of England or OF Russia There is,
perhaps, no part of the world in which the press
ure OF metropolitan dominion is less felt than
in Canada, yet General Meagher would deny to
the Canadians the right to declare their indie
pendence or to associate themselves with the
| States OF America. 1t is difficult, therefore
to understand BY what process of reasoning
he can satisfy himself that Ireland enjoys
such a risht-that Poland enjoys such a right
that Canada enjoys such rght-thlt Aus
traills ENJOYS such right-but that the States
/ of America, which never for moment
relinquished the title of sovereignty
that belongs TO them Individually ought to be
debarred from the enjoy ment of similar right
With very questionable taste he gives. instead of
an argument, an anecdote. in which he relates a
private conversation that was held AT New York.
by Mr. Toombs. distinguished Southern whose
sympathies with Ireland and Irishmen have been
unreservedly exhibited This conversations given
at second hand General Meagher did not hear
IL himself. The inference which he wishes his
readers TO draw from il is that the chief men of
the South stimulated the secession move ment
solely In order 20 preserve for themselves n mon