Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1869-03-11


each other kindly in the face, to know
they have a common country to love,
to serve, and be proud of; ever remind
ing them that the tyrant's motto was,
''divide and conquer" but that ''unite
and conquer" was the patriots creed;
that the stoutest cord that ever snatch
ed ship of war from lee shore, taken
in separate threads, might be easily
snapped by the hands of child; teach
ing them that such was the power of
public opinion that nothing was
impossible to the perseverance, vir-
tue genius, patience, and the con-
stant peaceful agitation of the people;
that he wanted no Catholic ascendency,
but that he wanted liberty, equality,
and peace; that he defied the secret
spy, the avowed hireling, or the treach-
erous friend, to detect in any of his
speeches. one single phrase of bigotry.
one harsh word toward those who diff
fered from him in religion. O'Connell
never insulted any man for his religious
opinion, but nobly always, and no mat
ter in what company placed, protessed
his own. And when once asked by a
man zone of those slaves of worldly
Wisdom), why he asserted his faith in
all its entirety so often. O'Connell said,
'Begone, you coward! l suppose when
you say grace before dinner in mixed
companies, you bless yourself on your
breast under the table, daughter and
cheers. O'Connell had political enc
mies-but a man soon gets tired of
splitting at the sun-they passed away.
O'Connell held that religion should be
left to its own attractive and persuasive
powers, without calling in the profane
assistance of temporal terrors, OF the
fsn nj fiy,Sr inf Of fnn 70
wards. Religion is the free offering of
the soul; If it be not free, it is nothing !;
and the worship the man pays to God,
upon whom religion is forced, is like
the homage the tree gives to the blast,
it must bend before it. 1t is valueless
before God, because it wants what is
essential to the true mark, liberty Cloud
cheers.
Of O'Connell it may be truly said:
cob thou bright sun, who, banished, by thy
The nigh of sorrows from our land away;
Before whose radiance, as some magic spell,
Like frost-wOrk melted, all our shackles fell
Whose honest beams made freedoms light be
felt
In those dark mists, where bigotry had
dWelt.'
(Applausc.) -.-.-... q.
O'connell found public opinion like a
lessly down the hillside. With his OWL
hands he cut out a channel broad and
deep, into which the scattered waters
were collected; and the river flowed on
calm, majestic and irresistible; flowed
on, until emancipation was won, the
people following him in all the majesty
of Union, and brayely trampling down
despair, when, suddenly, before blow
was struck. the gates were thrown open
and a victorious and enraptured nation
leaped into citizenship.
The Catholic religion, which, depriv.
ed of its civil rights, had hitherto ap-
peared but as slave, now made free
by the genius ofO'Connell, appears as q
queen; that religion, heretofore regard
ed but with supreme contempt, now
suddenly mounts the palaces of the
great. penetrates into Parliament, sits
in the secret councils of Royalty, and
compels the naughty policy which had
scarcely recognized its existence, tC
treat With it on equal terms, nay. al
most to acknowledge its superiority
O'Conneli's next step was to obtain
the repeal of the hated Union; in his
own words that "parchment Union,'
the union of the shark with its prey
that Union that shattered the looms OF
Ireland. banished her manufactures
and enabled her absentee landlords to
suck the blood of its inhabitants, and
consume that blood in England; Tn
ion accomplished by the united influ-
ence of corruption, fraud and force
(the guilty Prime Minister buying tive
thirds of the Irish members by titles.
by places, and by money, closing UP
the tribunals ofjustice, and preventing
by armed force, the people from assem-
bling to petition, and thus sitting the
national voice in the utterance of its
remonstance); a Union imposed upon
Ireland, but which will never be recog
nized by the Irish people as national
compact. This audacious and lying
Prime Minister gave as one of his rea-
sons for robbing us of our Parliament
that this Parliament was corrupt. Ad-
mitting that it had its imperfections
to use those imperfections as reason
for putting an end to it, was like say
ing that the most effectua1 remedy fol
the ailment of a sick man, was to put
the patient to death.
The victory of 1929 was grand basis
on which to found the agitation for Re
peal. Emancipation lifted up the body
and soul of Ireland, which O'Connell
found PROSTATE at the foot of the Brit
ish Minister. The crouching gate OF
the slave became erect; the submissive
eye grew bold with the daring that
O'Connell's speeches inspired.
The people laughed heartily when
Peel and Wellington pretended that
Emancipation was a gratuitous con-
lington himself. what he said to pri-
vate friend, who blamed him for eman-
cipating the Catholics of Ireland: q
emancipated them,'' said he, land that
for the very best reason. because
couldn't help it. put Off that question
from session to session; [ wheedled anC
twisted. | knew the Irish were enthu
siastic, but l thought they wouldn't
| persevere. [ saw, whilst every arm
| raised against that measure withcred
still that cause lived on. l used every
plan, every effort, to beat back the tide
of public opinion, but all III vain. Ev
cry succeeding wave increased j:
| strength and volume. I SAID Nc +,
the last, and never said Yes till tn,
spray dashed upon my fore. Lead, (lout
cheers. Now the Repeal agitation
comes on; "ConciliG..lon Hall' and th
monster meetings. The scenes of 1S4
will never 'Je forgotten. O'Connell
ten, when the light of other men flick
ers faint, his bursts forth once agail
into its fiercest blaze cloud cheers).-
The nation caugh that fire. The peo
pie rose up in their might, but still ODE
dent as children, and lifting no hant
without O'Connell's signal. On Tar
Hill, the greatest of the electric chail
of demonstrations. on that historic hill
and around it were gathered seven hun
dred thousand men, dense as sand, on
expectation beaming in their eyes. l
seemed as if whole people flying from
their taskmasters had assembled ther
to await the guidance of Heaven upol
their course. Suddenly the dense mas
opened, like the Red Sea to Moses, ant
between the living walls his chario
came, drawn by thousand hands. Ell
stood in the front, erect, his righ
arm outstretched, looking around hin