Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1867-12-31
John Mitchell and the Fenians- What
does it mean!

The telegraph brings us the an
noun ement that all the factions Of
the Fcnians in the United States have
agreed upon union, of which John
Mitchell is the high chief head center
Misfortune has wrecked many a
patriotic effort. Tyranny has too Of
te' proved too strong for liberty -
Nationalities have been extinguIshed,
and despotisms have sprung up on
The ruins Of free Institutions but
til Sc are not things tor which the
victims can Justly be reproached.-
The Fenians have been guilty Of
much weakness and folly, of much
i'll timed disunion, and Of unfortunate
faith in worthy agents, but until this
! last proposiOn to make John Mitchell
their chiet, there hts been no public
act of which the organization should
be ashamed Who is John Mitchell?
Where does he reside, and what is
! his Status among the American peo-
Pile? John Mitchell is an individual
who came to the United States as a
fugitive from the penal colony to
which he had been sentenced by
here by warm hearts and liberal
hands He was made at home, and
by his own request he was made an
American citizen. lie became citi-
zen of the United States,
within whost borders and under
whose flag millions Of his country
men and countrywomen, and their
children, and freedom which are de-
MED them in all other parts Of the
globe.
John Mitchell, when be saw the
four millions OF Irishmen and their
defendants enjoying political per-
sonal and religious freedom known
to no people outside of the American
Union, also saw four other millions
of humane beings not only in politi-
cal but physical bondage-men who,
upon their native soil, had no names,
no families, ne present, no futuro-no
anything but labor and the lash
and who were treated kept and val
ued as any other brood stock John
Mitchell came to the United States as
q martyr in the cause of human Ibis
erty, and he had hardly put On the
garb Of an American citizen before
he became the public champion Of
human slavery-not as a technical
right, but as an institution commend-
ing itself to the moral and political
economy of mankind. AS sequence
to his espousal of slavery, this apostle
off liberty forgot the solemn oaths
OF fidelity and allegiance he had
sworn to the United States, and put
on the badge of treason to the cOun>
try which for eighty years had been
welcoming and sheltering, feeding,
clothing emancipating and equalizing
his countrymen, and which gave him
food, clothing and shelter and pollti>
cal standing when he was q convicted
felon. Next to Jeff Davis, this man
Mitchell, though personally of very
small concern. was one Of the most
ungrateful of all traitors. He was n
traitor to friendship, traitor to hos>
pitality. traitor to the roof that shell
tered and the hand that fed him
| traitor to the flag that protected him,
the country he had sworn to obey,
and to Human Liberty, of whose
cause he paraded himself as an apostle
and martyr This man lives in New
Yokr, monument to the tolerance
of our people He is permitted to
live there an object of universal con
tempt. Does the Fenian Brotherhood
propose to defy the public opinion
Of the American people Do they
propose to insult our intelligence and
our national pride by selecting this
iackdaw of slavery, this advocate of
the manacle, the. lash, and the auction
! block for men, women, and children.
this ugrateful wretch that fred on
the FLAG which covers the home of
more Irish hearts than beat on Irish
soil, this traitor to freedom, home,
country, humanity, and set him up
as the leader upon the American soil
of a crusade for liberty? Should
/ the Fenians do this, then they and
their cause, and their leader, will
deserve to be buried beneath the
contempt and indignation of the in
suited and outraged American people.
We think the Feniaus, with their ex-
perience with traitors within their
own organization, should understand
why the Americanpeople, and all
other people who have any respect
for manhood and honor, will look
with horror upon the elevation of
John Mitchell as chief of a cause
requiring truth, honor, loyalty and
devotion to freedom.-C Chicago Iri-
bune.