Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-05-29
AN INCENDIARY SERMON.
The Mules Address to rhe m n.-e. or the
sand-Lot.

The following, under the above
caption, appeared recently in the San
Francisco 1rgonaut. and attracted
great attention in San Francisco and
throughout California. The whole
discourse is too long for our columns.
but we give the main part of it:
My FEILow-AssEs Owing to the
absence of your long-eared and braz
en-lunged leader and orator, who is
now travelling through the state in
the kindly endeavor to teach the
American people the sort Of laws
they ought to adopt and the kind of
men they ought to elect to admins.
ter them, / have been induced to gil
his pulpit for a Sabbath DAVIS dis.
course. While / intend to be entirely
courteous, and to avoid the vile and
ribald language which you are accus-
toned to hear, / shall indulge myself
in the use of PLAIN talk within the
comprehension of the most stupid
donkey Of you all, and perhaps en-
deavor to stir your thoughts with
some sharp cuts of Saxon speech,
which, il you will carefully consider,
Will do sou no end of good.
What is it of which you complain ?
What have we as American citizens
done to you that we ought not to
have done? What act toward you
have we left undone that we ought
to have done? How is it that you,
citizens Of adoption, clothed with
the prerogative of American nation
atty, have arrayed yourselves in Cd.
position to our country and its laws t?
Why is it that every Sabbath day
now for more than wear, in ain and
in sunshine, in heat and cold, You
have come here to the sand-lot to
hear American citizens and Ameri.
can institutions abused, vilified, de.
nounced and threatened?
Do You remember tho condition
from which you fled in your native
lands? Do you forget that in Prus.
STA or Ireland for the utterance Of
your incendiary language you would
be punished by imprisonment and
line? Do you recognize that while
this is land of freedom and free
speech it ia still a land of law? If
you had staid at home, you Germans
would have been compelled in the
interests of the German empire to
have served in the army. Do you
lrishmen understand that if you had
staid in your native land you would
have enjoyed no right to make laws,
and no right to break them except at
the penalty of the tread-mill? Aud
all you foreigners, of whatever Euro
pean nationality you may be, have
you forgotten that in your own coun.
try you were but peasants, compelled
to lebor for inadequate wages, and
only permitted to denounce authority
at the peril ofyour lives and liberties?
There, you were serfs, landless, prop.
ertyless, and hopeless of advance,
ment. Here, you are freemen, soy.
ereigns, clothed with political power,
and in your ignorance and base IN
gratitude you are shamefully betray.
ing the confidence that has been
placed in you, and returning with
most vile and unprincipled acts the
kind things that have been done you.
1ou were starving upon inadequate
wages in your native lands, and we
gave you such compensation as no
other country has paid to laAorers
You were ignorant, and our common
schools were thrown freely open to
you and your children, and in our
night schools we teach your adults;
our schools from our primaries to our
highest universities of learning are
open to your children. II you pro.
fess religion, we ask of you no ques.
tons concerning it. You may wor-
ship as you please, Christ, the God,
the SUP, the oaks, the pope, the tab.
let's of your ancestors, the white bull.
Buddha, Mohammed, lhe Grand Lama
of Tibet, or the devil. We put no
restraint upon your conscience if you
have any. We give you equal pro.
lection of our laws; we defend you
in our courts. If sick, we take you
to our free asylums if criminal, we
welcome you to our prisons. We
have no property entailed from your
acquisition. We have no laws of
primogeniture; no laws that place
traps and spring guns if you poach
for game or fish. We have millions
of free acres of government domain
which we invite you to occupy with
out payment. Our mines are open to
your labor. No vocation is closed to
you. The highest political honors
are within your reach. When you
die you may transmit your accumula-
tons to alien heirs. If there are any
wrongs in the enactment or execution
of the laws, we offer you the electo-
raj urn, and give you equal voice
with the native born to correct and
remedy them. That all this is true
you know. Look about you in our
community, you Catholics. Look to
your clergy, your churches, their mil.
lions of accumulated wealth. Look
to the Jesuit college on Market street,
and the other palace Of learning and
religious worship now being erected
on Van Ness avenue; your church
spires on every side; your parochial
schools aud institutions of higher cul-
ture. You Irish and Germans, look
to your savings banks with nearly
SO,0O0,0oo of deposits to the bank.
ers, bonanza kings, millionaires, sen.
ators, governors, state officials, lead.
ing merchants, prominent business
men, honored and honorable citizens,
who, under orr laws and the general
hospitality of our political and social
system, have attained wealth, honor
and honorable positions. How does
it happen that there are to day in
San Francisco fifty thousand prosper
Gus, wealthy, honorable and respect
able citizens of foreign birth in the
enjoyment of their homes, their
churches, their clubs, and their inno-
cent recreations at rural picnics, and
you two, or three, or four thousand
disconnected, grumbling, impecupious,
political malcontents ars down here
among the heas upon the sand.lot,
eursing God, the constitution and
the American people that you have