Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-06-04
1REIANp,s WORST FOES.

that the ruling classes OF England arc
the worst foes Of Ireland, are doubtful
and debatable propositions. Sympathy
for the oppressed, and disposition 10
lii. up tho down-trodden, are feelings
which naturally and inevitably follow
the advancement Of enlightment and the
spread of free principles. The present
and past deplorable condition Of Ireland
are largely attributable to system OF
Government founded on religious
bico,ry and caste prejudice, the legiti-
mate fruits of the ignorance and illit-
eracy that characterized the largely pre-
dominant majority Of the people OF
Great Britain until quite recently.
With the era Of wider diffusion OF
education and general enlightment, the
spread of more liberal political views,
in England as we'll as elsewhere, would
and has naturally resulted. With the
more generous and truly liberty-loring
statesmen and people Of England, rs
well as with these same classes through
out the world, there has bcen rapidly
increasing spread Of ardent sympathy
for the oppressed aud down-trodden
everywhere, and certainly the condition
Of Ireland has been well calculated TO
excite that feeling to its most lively e1-
bibition. Not much more than one hun
dred years have passed since it was the
prevailing opinion among Euglishmen
that the masses Of Ireland belonged to
An inferior race, wholly incapable OF
intellectual advancement to an equality
with the average Auglo.Saxon. That
opinion, which was then tho rule
is now rare and exceptional. With this
spread Of just and liberal ideas there
was bu, one thing necessary to have in-
sured a propor,iouate alienation OF
Ireland's miseries. A like spirit OF
liberality on the part Of the Irish people;
a similar detestation Of tyranny and
sympathy With other victims of oppres-
sion, and an apparent disposition to
ally themselves with the more liberal +,
generous and enlightened Of mankind,
would long since have kindled the
brighter rays of the "Suuburst of Erin"
and the sad, sad strains Of her harp
would ere this have given place to more
joyous notes.
The moral sense of the men Of ad-
vanced ideas and liberal sentiments is in.
evitably destined to rule Christendom,
and neither needle-guus, nor chassepo.s,
nor turbulent opposition can prevent it.
The moral sympathy Of these predes-
tined controllers of national destinies
can never be fully enlisted in behalf OF
any people whose actions demonstrate
.ha. their own larger liberty will be
used to curtail the privileges of those
beneath them, and whose political and
moral influence will be thrown into the
scale o. the enemies of liberal and ad-
vauced ideas. The generous, the just
and the practically liberty-loving-not
the prejudiced, the violent and the ty-
rauuical-will enlist the sympathy and
secure tho cooperation Of these, the
ordained rulers of the world. For the
enfranchissmeut aud elevation Of Ire
land the active and hearty support Of
thi, class is worth more than million
bayouets. Hence it is plain that Irish
men could do nothing 80 effectively
beneficial to their native land as to win
the sympathy Of this class; nothing so
damaging as to estrangs them.
Now, what has been the almost inva-
riable course of the great mass Of Irish
men ut home and abroad? Have they
at homo sought universal, or even gen.
eral, alliance with those apostles Of free
principles, the Brights, the Cobdens
and the Goldwiu Smiths Of England
In the United States, where they freely
enjoy the broadest and largest liberty
is there even a respectable minority ol
their number to be found on the sido oi
those whose main object it is to main
tain and perpetuate the Government
which, to the adopted as well as to the
native born citizen, confers and guaran'
tees these priceless boons Of freedom
and equal rights? Are not they rather
found, with few rare and glorious ex-
ceptious, arrayed with those who at
tackled and would fain havo destroyed
q Government which has been only gen.
erous and bensfcent? If the British
yoke were to-day, without struggle or
an objection, lifted from the neck Of lro-
land, could the people Of that island
frame government which would in
sure them larger liberties or greater
privileges than the Irish citizens Of this
Republic now enjoy? This can scarcely
be reasonably claimed. Then what as
surance have We that Irishmen would
maintain or support free government
| in their own native land? Here, where
they certainly enjoy every needed
right, the party of treason, reVoiu-
tion and oppression is only formida'
BILE by reason of their support. Here
the party that favors education, pro-
gress, justice and equal rights, would
meet with no opposition calculated
to retard its progress or endanger
its success, if the Irish vote were any
where nearly equally divided. By such
acts as the attempt to blow down the
walls of prison filed with human be-
ings, at Clerkenwell; by the foul assas.
sination Of McGoe in Canada, and the
attempt to cssassinate the foolish but
uuo offending young English Prince at
Sydney, rs well as by their threatened
invasion and dcsolation Of the peaceful
homes of our Canadian neighbors, mis-
| guided Irishmen have done all thoy