Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-07-23
To Irish Republicans.

NN--NN~RN
The Irish Republican National Con-
gention, lately in session at Indianapo-
is, adopted the following address to
Irish voters:
TO the Irish Voters of the United states;
Fellow Countrymen With n high sense Of
ne necessity of placing before tho world in
heir true light the motives which actuate us
nvowng the support of and corporation
With the principles of the Republican party
y a distinct organization under the title Of
ulsh-American Republicans, we feel called
Upon to state briefly the reasons which prompt
rs thereto. For many yC irs in this country
he support of tho Irish for any cause or party
was sought through the channels of prejudice
)r affection ln3tru ction was ont of the ques-
uou; and thus an unrCnsoniNg adherence was
gwen 70 the Democratic party for period OF
years long numbered with the past. With the
advent and rise of the Republican party in
American politics anew era was reached. Intel
ligencc and critical examination into the ar
ynment why the other party should receive a
manly support became the guides Of political
action, and the lrisman alike with his fellow
citizens of other n0tionalites no longer gave
N MS adherence to party nction because Of
the leadership of those whom they had pre-
viously trusted and followed. This Conven-
ton, therefore, has for its object the nitiatory
action which, with firmness and energy fol-
lowed by prOmptne - and industry in sustain
ing the cause, principles and policy of the
republican party, shall show to the world THAT
the Irish of to-day are capable of something
more than being treated as mere political
slaves, that they are capable Of independent
and intelligent thought and action, and
that they are friends TO that party
which most truly represents that liberty
equality and equal rights which thcy have
only found in the land of their adoption
The claim of the Democratic party that 1t is
the only true friend of fOregil-born citizens
is not susceptible of proof, as all students Of
American history are well aware that during
the entire Administration of the Democratic
party 1t utterly failed to compel the ac-
knowledgement of those rights which the Com
N
port and maintain it. The infamous and des-
potic doctrine, "once subject always a sub
lect, was permitted to exist as principle Of
international law until the accession to power
of the Republican party, when, and not
until then, England was compelled to
reoede from that insulting assumption,
and thus the adopted citizen for the first
time was clothed with all the rights and
guaranteed the same protection (outside the
United States) as the citizen born on American
soil. So, Also to the Republican party do we
owe the enactment of that most beneficial law
which has thrown open the public domain to
all actual settlers, thus furnishing free and
happy homes TO thousands of our oppressed
countrymen who are fleeing from the horrors
of British oppression. You are aware, fellow
countrymen, Of the successful ingenuity with
which the English Government labored to
destroy the manufacturing interests of our
country, Ireland, which had grown up in the
midst of our desperate and persistent struggle
for freedom. You cannot have forgotten
the heroic efforts made for their pres
ervation by the great and patriotic
ment, under whose fostering care these indus
tries arose to such state of perfection as to
rival the hest efforts of the most skilful art-
sans OF Europe nor can you forget that the
act of union contains, among its other
various principles, one clause which entailed
more misery and destitutiOn in our country
than all the cruelties of Elizabeth and Crom-
well. That clause provides for absolute free
trade between ireland and all outside coun-
tries. Nothing more was needed to complete
the fell work. Under that blighting legisla-
ton all our industries, save and except the
linen trade alone, persisted, never to appear
again, reducing us to the condition of mere
agricultural laborers, and leaving us to be the
helpless victims of British rapacity and
Unsuitable greed. Compelled by such
merciless laws to abandon the homes of our
fathers, we again encounter here in America
the same foe in the Democratic party, whose
ceaseless and persistent attempts to engraft
in our free institutions the same English free
trade doctrine which wrought such disastrous
results TO our own country should quicken
the indignation of every consistent Irishman.
In marked contradistinction, we invite your
earnest consideration to the policy of the Re-
publican party on the subject, showing that
undtr its fostering care, in less than q
quarter of a century, America has created
and brought to perfection manufactures
OF all the products which enter into the profit
able industry of a people, and their con-
sequent prosperity and happiness. Thus has
the Republican party shown itself to be the
champion and protector of American Industry
to the discontinue of the avarice of British
capitalists. We appeal to you, fellow-coun-
trymen, whose history is a long record of des-
perate struggles for freedom, if your proper
aihliationS are with party which sustained
tor many years human slavery in its most
degrading form, and only relinquiShed
that relic of barbarism when the Repub-
lcan party, by the hands of our martyred
President, struck the shackles from the limbs
of the slave, wiped out the only blot on the
Otherwise stainless escutcheon of America,
and established the glorious principle of free
lands for free men over every acre of our
great Republic. We ask you, also, whether you
are prepared to turn over this Government,
with all its bright anticipations of the future,
To the tender mercies of the very men who
eNerted their best ability for years to effect its
destruction. The accession of the Democracy
to full power in all the departments of the
Government, in the light of its past record of
treason and rebellion, cannot but be regarded
as II calamity, the magnitude of which can
scarcely be imagined.