New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1869-05-23
JOHN O'NEaL's LECTURE AT THE
LYCEUM HALL.


than to check them more with the object
of using them for some hidden purpose of
his ewn than to prevent them being used by
cheats and charlatans; more to keep them
as they are than to teach them what they
| ought to be. And such was John O'Neifs
lecture on Monday night. He lectured
from his audience. He put a tether on
| honesty and truth, so that they might not
kick over the little local pets, and startle
the owners into being ashamed for having
such hobbies. His object to suit them and
gain their applause was apparent; and he
got it. But looking at the applausive points
leaves any sane man sadly puzzled to know
| which was the most to be pitied, the au-
dience or the lecturer. The non.appauding
part of the audience heard nothing more
than the same racial barney, the common
stock in trade of every genuine twaddling
bore, featuring from, not to, the people.
The lecturer said, in speaking of the late
rebellion, THAT the Irishman in the North
shouldered his musket and went sincerely,
| honestly and periodically to fight Oh the
side he thought right. And the Irishman
in the South did precisely the same. And
that the Irish people were always true to
those amongst whom they lived
| Did he meaa that as another virtue to add
TO the many claimed by our race? If it is a
| virtue, it is like some more Of our Irish viz
tues; they look like what might be called
otherwise! John 0Neil armed himself,
came here and earned the title of General
| by killing some of those people who were so
true to the people they we're living with,
but did not see that virtue until now. John
| 0'Neil never asked them if they were true
| to themselves. No! He would then have
! to show them whether they were or not,
and that would be going farther than he in
tended-that would not be lecturing from
| them.
| When the Jews were brckmaking slaves
| to the Egyptians, it might be comfort for
( them to hear some one say they were true
| to the people they lived under or with.
| But when the Irish emigraut came to
America he did not come to be what he was
/ at home-a slave; he came to be ennObled
as a freeman, to claim equal rights with the
native born citizen. and of his own free will
swore a solemn oath that with all his physi-
cal and mental powers he would defend the
country against enemies internal or ex-
| ternal, and particularly against the power
and influence of the government under
| which he was born. The very Northern men
that gave Mr.. O'Nell the plausible bend
sinister in his notions, this bias that leans
| MIN to the guilty side, were the mentors that
/ ruined our newly pledged citizen. The fat
| offices" that he mentioned so often in his
! lecture, now to him sour grapes" then
| they were the 'manua in the wilderness to
| the dupes of O'Neil. The emigrant carried
with him the wedge OF religious disCOrd
that severed them from each other at home
their provincial hatred Of each other.
| These were taken advantage Of by the many
Irish lecturers from the people who, with
the English agents, they found the animal
an easier prey in New York than he was in
Ireland. The bogus Democracy shaped
them into what they wanted The fat
Offices were promised and might be got if
good service was given in bullying at cleo
tons, false swearing, forged naturalization
papers, by depreCiating American currency,
by being England's free trade missionaries
by enIiching the country's government
they had Just sworn against, aud impoYer-
ishing their own, as well as the one OF their
adoption. All this for the fat offices, and
whether they come through the favor of an
English plotter, periured Irishman or
traitor American, what matter 'the Irish
were true to the people they lived among"
or, at least, ONeil says they were, and
that's all the same thing.
But a thought will steal out from the soul
of thinking man that the Irish we're not
true to the people they lived among; that
they were not true to people far dearer to
them-their own sorrowing people they left
behind; aud that they were not true to
themselves.
In the South they swore the same ma
turaization oath that they did in the North,
and yet when the literature that was treason
to humanity, that, like two edged sword,
cut in between the North and South, and
each edge bearing the London stamps, was
their creed, and their oath to the country
was forgotten in a newer one; when, in
British bought uniform, armed with British
weapon, or standing upon British decks,
bringing ruin to the country they had sworn
to protect, were they true to the people
| they were living among-true TO the Ameri-
i can people, to their own people at home or
| abroad and, Of still more importance, were
they true to humanity and themselves! No!
John O'Neil knows they were not. What
| principle was he true to when he said so
When John 0Neil gave preference to the
leaders of the Confederaey, and said he was
forced to give merit where it was due, was
/ he lecturing TO or from his audience! Ar
mold was as good a soldier as Lee, Stonewall
Jackson, or any ooe of them, and, with a
4 hundredth part OF their force at his side,
when he was what they are, American
history would have to be written differ
emily to-day; But did 0Neil tell
his Irish hearers why ne fought
he say whether the names Of those men
should rank above or sink below that of
Arnold He did not If he was faithful
to the people he lived amongst and fought
for, he would. If the men in grey we're
right, and worthy Of the encomiums Of a
lecturer, then 0'Neil is a mere hireling,
and fat office hunter. If the men in grey
were wrong, OiNeil should not have tried to
smooth over his cunning blarney by saying
be was no politician, and lecture 10 the peo-
pie, not from them. What did he come here
TODD? Was it to add to obstinate partyism a
satisfied selfconceit that might make II in
vulnerable to reason Was it to tell the
people ''that between the North and the
South there ran river of dark blood, which
the dim future will fad il hard to span ~
And yet his sophistries would feign span 1t,
and make a living on the dupes at either
side Why did he not show them how it
could be spanned, by showing them how the
English engineers had caused that dark
river to hOWg
He did show them the manner Of English
engineering, but in such way that the
audience he lectured from applauded, In
stead Of Kissing, "and yet the Irish people
are true to those they live among" he
told them IL was English influence that they
Obeyed IN preference to American, in the
style Of the mother who scolded
her boy for beating another, saying
while she kissed him, "Oh, you
good for nothing fellow, I'll break
every bone in your body If ever you biackeI
another eye Ofthat mean sneaking cuss, jim
Tbompson.p He told them how the English
priyateer, the Alabama, burned Amer
lean ships and drove American commercG
from the seas, and Tho audience applauded
not him for saying so. but the act itself
He might have told them that there were
Irish sailors and Irish engineers on board
that same Alabama, all sworn against tina
country they were now sworn pirates for
/, | But John, like the people he was talkiDs
10, was true 70 those he lived amongst
and they applauded him now, for ht
| lectured from them, and they never