TRACT No. 6. LiBERTf PRESS— Exi

^ LOYJL NATIONAL I1EFEAL ASSOCITIAON.
The following is a cnpv i;£ the Addres=, v,hich was read by the Libe
rator, at the meeting on Wednesday : 
The Committee to whom tho Address from the Cincinnati Irish Repeal
Association, on. the subject of negro slavery in the United States of
^ America, was referred, have agreed to the following- report : —
To D. T. Disney, Corresponding Secretary, *~* '"
W. Hukter, Esq. Vice President,
Patrick McClosiiev, Esq. \
P. Cody, Esq. . ( The ' Executive Con\mittee of. the
T. Cojvkelly, Esq. and / Cincinnati Repeal Assoc iatiaE,--
Stephen Boxnek, Esq. } "Corn Exchange Rooms, Dublin, ff^
11th October, 1843. $
" Gentlemen : — We have read with the deepest affliction, not unmixed with some
surprise and much indignation, your detailed and anxious vindication of the most hid
eous crime that has ever stained humanity — the slavery of men of colorin the United'
States of America. We are lost in utter amazement at the perversion of mind and
depravity of heart which your address evinces. How can the generous, the charita
ble, the humane, the r.oble emotions of the Irish heart have become extinct amongst
you ? How can your nature be so totally changed as that you should become the
apologists and advocates of that execrable system which makes man the property of
his fellow man — destroys the foundation of all moral and sncial.virt.ues — condemns to
ignorance, immorality, and irreligion, millions of our fellow jsreaturcs — renders the
slave hopeless of relief, and perpetuates oppression by law, and in the name of what
you call a Constitution ?
" It was not in Ireland you learned this cruelty. Yoiar mothers were gentle, kind,
and humane. Their bosoms ovci flowed with the honey of Human charity. Your
sisters are probably many of them still amongst us, and participate in all that is good
and benevolent in- sentiment and action. Horn then can you have become so deprav
ed ? How can your souls have become stained with a darkness blacker than the
negro's skin ? You say you have no peculiar interest in negro slavery. Would that
you had ! for it might be some palliation of your crime '. but alas ! you have inflicted
upon us the horror of beholding yon the volvxteeb. advocates of despotism in its most
frightful state : of slavery in its most loathsome and unrelenting form.
" We were unhappily, prepared to expect some fearful exhibition of this descrip
tion. There has been a testimony borne ajainst the Irish, by birth or descent, in
America, by a person fully informed as to the facts, and incapable of the slightest
misrepresentation — a noble of nature more than of titled birth — a man gifted with the
highest order of talent and the most generous emotions of the heart — the great, the
good Lord IMorpeth ; he who, in the House of Commons, boldly asserted the superior
social morality of the poorer classes of the Irish over any other people — he, the best
friend of any of the Saxon race that Ireland or the Irish ever knew — he, amidst con-
grograted thousands at Exeter Hall, in London, mournfully, but firmly, denounced
the Irish in America as being amongst the worst enemies* of the negro slaves and
other men of color.
" It is, therefore, our solemn and sacred duty to warn yon, in words already used,
and much misunderstood by you to 'come out of her,' not thereby meaning to ask
you to come out of America ! but out of the councils of the iniquitous, and out of tho
congregation of the wicked-, who consider man a chattel and a property, and liberty
an inconvenience. Yes,we tell you to come out of such assemblages ; but we did not,
and do not, invite you to return tj Ireland. The volunteer defenders of slavery, sur
rounded by one thousand crimes, would find neither sympithy nor support amongst
native uncontaminated Irishmen.
•- " Your advocacy of slavery is founded upon a gross error. Yon take for granted
that man, can be the property of his fellow man ; you speak in terms of indignation
of those who would depri7e while men of their 'property' and thereby render them k oS
capable of supporting their families in aiilu^nce. You forget the other side of the

pictara; you have neither sorrow nor sympathy for the sufferings of those who a?s
iniquitously compelled to i.-bor for the' affluence of others, those who work without
wages; who toil without recompense, who spend their lives in procuring for others the
eplendor and wealth in which they do not participate. You totally forget the suffer
ings of the wretched black men who are deprived of their all without any compensa
tion or redress. If you yourselves — nil of you, or if any of you — were, without crime
or offense committed by" you, handed over into perpetual slavery — if you were com
pelled to work from su.irise to sunset without wages — supplied only with such coarse
food and raiment as would keep you in working order — if, when yonr 'owner' fell into
debt, you were sold to pay his debts, not yonr own — if it were made a crime to leach
you to read arid wmc?-if you were liable to be separated, in this distribution of assets,
from your wives and your children — if you, above all, were to fall into the hands- of a
brutal master — and you condescend to admit that there are some brutal masters in
America — if, among all these circumstances, some friendly spirit of a more generous
order were desirous to give liberty to you and to your families, with what ineffable
^Jisgjist v/ould no', you laugh to scorn those who should traduce the generous spirits
who would relieve.you, as you now, pseudo Irishmen — shame upon you 1 — have tra
duced itiivil/'iined the abolitionists of North America.
/-""""But you come forth with a justification, forsooth ! You say that the Constitution
in America piobibits the abolition of slavery. Paltry and miserable subterfuge ! . The
Constitution of America is founded upon the Declaration of Independence ; that Dec.
laration published to the world its glorious principles — that charter of your freedom
contained these emphatic words ;— '
"'We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that amongst
these are life, lickrtt, and the pursuit of happiness.' And the conclusion of that
address is in these words: ' For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance
on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge each other our Jives, our
fortunes, and our sacred honor 1'
"There is American honor for you! There is a profane allusion to the adorable
Creator! " Kecollect that the declaration does not limit the equality of man on the right of
life and liberty to the white, to the brown, or to the coppei-colored races ; it include*
all races — it excludes none. — "
" We do not deign to argue wilh you, on the terms of the American Constitution,
and yet we cannot help asserting that in that Constitution the words ' slavery' or
'slave' are not to be found. There are, indeed, the words, 'persons bound to labor,'
but it is not said how bound ; and a constitutional lawyer or judge, construing the
American Constitution, with a reference to the Declaration of Independence, which
is its basis, would not hesitate to decide that' bound to labor' ought, in a court of jus
tice, to mean, ' bound by contract to labor,' and should not be held to imply 'forcA
ci compelled to labor,' in the absence of all contract, and for the exclusive benefit of
others. ' • . >
"However, we repeat that we do not deign to argue this point with yon, as we
proclaim' to the world our conviction that no constitutional law can create or sanction
pfavery. Slavery is repugnant to the first principles of society; but it is enough for
us to say, as regards Americans, that it is utterly repugnant to that declaration of
equality of all men, and to the inalienable right of all men to life and liberty. To
this declaration the free citizens of the United Stales have, iu the persons of their
ancestors, solemnly pledged their ' sacred honor.'
" We shall at once show you how that * sacred honor' is basely violated, and also
demonstrate how totally devoid of candor your address is, inasmuch as you rely on
the constitution of the American States as precluding the abolition of slavery, whilst '
you totally omit all mention of one district, which the constitutional law alleged by
you does not reach-r we mean the District of Columbia.
"In the District of Columbia there is no constitutional law to prevent the Congress
from totally abolishing slavery wilhin that district. Ynur capital is there — the temple
of American freedom is there — the hall of your republican representatives — the hall
of yonr republican senators — the national palace of your republican President is there
— and slavery is there, too, in its most revolting form. The slave trade is there — the
iiiosi disgusting traffic in human beings is there. Human flesh is bought and sold like
?wine in the pig market— aye, in your capital, your Washington ! Yes, let Ameri
cans be as proud as they please, this black spot is on their escutcheon. Even under
the shade of the temple of their constitution, iho man of eolor erawls a slave, and
the tawny American stalks a tyiant.

•" The cruelty of the slave principle rests not there— it goes much further. The
wretched slaves are totally prohibited even from petitioning Congress— the pour and
paltry privilege even of prayer is denied them ; and you. even you. friends, Irishmen,
are the advocates and vindicators of such a system. What! would not you atieast
insist that their groans should be heard?
" It is carried still further. Kvan the freeborn white Americans are not allowed to
petition upon any subject,, including the question of slavery: or, at least, no suck
petition can be read aloud or printed; and although the Congress is entitled to abol
ish slavery in Columbia, the door for petition, prayiug that abolition, is closed, without
the power of vbeing opened.
" We really think that men who came, from generous and warmhearted Ireland,
should shrink into nonentity rather thanbecome the advocates and defendants of th»
system of slavery. But we trust the voice of indignant Ireland will scathe them, and
prevent them from repeating such a crime.
" In another point of view, your address is, if possible, more culpable. You state
that before the abolitiouists proclaimed the wish to have slavery abolished, several
, slaveholding Stales wete preparing for the gradual emancipation of their negroes,
aud that humane individuals in other Slates were about to adopt similar measures.
" We utterly deny your assertion, and we defy you to show any single instance of
preparatory steps taken by any State for the emancipation of the negroes before tho
abolition demand was raised. Yo« violate truth in that assertion. There were no
such preparations. It is pure fiction, invented by slaveholders out of their unjust
animosity to the abolitionists. It is said that the fear of abolition has rendered the
slaveholders more strict, harsh, and cruel towards their wretched slaves, aud that they
would be more gentle and humane if they were aot afraid of the abolitiouists. We
repeat that this is not true, and is merely an attempt to cast blame oa those who coa-,
lesce to put an end to negro slavery.
" It is in the same spirit that the criminal calumniates his prosecutor, and the felou,
reviles his accuser. It is, therefore, utterly untrue, that the slaveholders have made
the chains of the negro more heavy through any fear of abolition.
" Yet, if you tell the truth — if tho fact be that the negro is made to suffer forthe zeal
of the abolitionists — if he is treated with increased cruelty by reason of the fault uE
ihe friends of abolition, then, indeed, the slaveholders must be a truly satanic race.
Their conduct, according to you, is diabolical. The abolitionists commit an offense,
and ihe unhappy negroes are punished. The abolitionists violate the l*w of proper
ty, and the penalty of their crime is imposed upou the negro! Can anything be more
repugnant to every idea of justice? Yet this is yonr statement.
" We, on the other hand, utterly deny the truth of your allegations, and where wo-
find you calumniate the slaveholders, we become their advocates against your calum
ny. You calumniate every body — slaves, abolitionists, and slave-owners; framers of
constitutions, makers of laws, every body ! The slaveholders are not favorkes of
ours; but we will do theui justice, and will not permit you to impute au impossible
crime to them.
¦' You tell us with an air of triumph, that public opinion in your country is the great
lawgiver. If it be so, how much does it enhance the guilt of your conduct, that you seek
to turn public opinion against the slave and in favor of the slaveholder ! — that you laud
the master as generous and humane, and disparage, as much as you can, the unhappy slave,
instead of influencing, as Irishmen ought to do, the public mind in favor of the oppressed..
You carry your exaggerations to a ludicrous pitch, denoting your utter ignorance of the
history of the human race. You say, 'that the negro is really inferior as a race; that
. slavery has stamped its debasing influence upon the African; that between him and the
white almost a century would be required to elevate the character of tho one, and to de
stroy the antipathies of the other.' Yon add — ne use youc words— ' The very odor of
the negro is almost insufferable to ihe -white, and however much humanity may lament
it, we make no rash declaration when we say the two races cannoc exist together-on equal
terms under our government and our institutions.'
" We quote this paragraph at full length because it is replete with your mischievous er-.
Tors and guilty mode of thinking.
" In the first place, as to the odor of the negroes, we are quite aware that they have no»
as yet come to use much of the otto of roses or eau de Cologne. But we implore of your
fastidiousness to recollect that multitudes of the children of white men have negro women
for their mothers, and that our British travelers complain, in loud and .bitter terms,. of too
over-poweriii°- stench of stale tobacco-spittle, as the prevailing 'odor' amongst the native
free Americans. It would be, perhaps, better to check that nasal sensibility oa beta sides
on the part of whites as well as of blacks. But it is indeed deplorable thai you should
«se a ludiorou assertion of that description as ona of the inducements to pie/eat tb»

abofiriou of slavery. The negroes would certainly smell as sweet when free as they now
do being slaves.
" Your important allegation is that the negroes are naturally an inferiorrace. That is
a totally gratuitous assertion upon your part. In America, you can have no opportunity
of seeing the negro educated. On the contrary, in most of your states education is n crime.
Sacred Heaven ! A crime to educate even a free negro. How, then, can you judge of
the negro race when you see them despised and contemned by the educated classes, reviled
and looked down upon as inferior. The negro race has naturally some of the finest quali
ties. - They are naturally gentle, generous, humane, and very grateful for kindness. They
are as brave and as fearless as any other of the races of human beings ; but tho blessings
of education are kept from them, and they are judged of, not as they would be with proper-
cultivation, but as they are rendered by cruel arid debasing oppression. It i3 as old as the
days of Homer, who truly asserts that the day which sees a man a slave takes away half
his worth. Slavery actually brutalizes human beings. Tt is about sixty years ago, when
one of the Sheiks, not far south of the Fex, in Morocco, who was in the habit of accumu
lating white slaves, upon being strongly remonstrated with by an European power, gave
for his reply, that by his own experience he found it quite manifest that the white men
were of an inferior race, and intended by nature for slaves : and he produced his own bru
talized white slaves to illustrate the truth of his assertion. And a case of an American,
with a historic name, John Adams, is quite familiar. Some 25 years ago, not more, John
Adams was the sole' survivor of an American crew, wrecked on the African coast. - He
was taken into the interior as a slave of an Arab chief. He was only for three years a
slave, and the English and American- consuls, having been informed of a white man's
slavery, claimed him, and obtained his liberation. In the short space of three years he
had become completely brutalized ; he had completely forgotten the English language,
without having acquired the native tongue ; he spoke a kind of gabble, as unintellectual
as the dialects of most of your negro slaves ; and many months elapsed before he received
his former habits and ideas.
"It is also a curious fact, as connected with America, that the children of the Anglo-
Saxon race, 'and of other Europeans born in America, were for many years considered, as
a degraded and inferior class — indeed, it was admitted as if it were an axiom, that the
. native born American was in nothing equal to his European progenitor, and so far front
the fact being disputed, many philosophic dissertations were published, endeavoring to
account for the alleged debasement. The only doubt was about the cause of it. ' No
body doubted ' (to use your words) that the native born Americans 'were really an inferior
race.' Nobody dares to say so now, and nobody thinks so.
"Let it, then, be recollected that you have never yet seen .the negro educated. An
English traveler through Brazil, some few years ago, mentions having known a negro
who was a priest, and who was a learned, pious and exemplary man in his sacerdotal
functions. We have been lately informed of two negroes being educated nt the Propagan
da and ordained priests, both having distinguished themselves in their scientific and theo
logical course.
"The French papers say that one of them celebrated mass, and delivered a short but
able sermon before Louis Phillippe. It is believed that they have both gone out with the
..Right Rev. Dr. Barron, on the African mission. ' -
"We repeat, therefore, that to judge properly of the negro, you should see him educat
ed, and treated with the respect due to a fellow creature, uninsulted hy tho filthy aristoc
racy of the skin, and untarnished to the eye of the white by any associations connected
..with his state of slavery.
" We next refer to your declaration that the two races, viz. the black- and white, cannot
exist together on equal terms under your government and your institutions. This is an
extraordinary assertion to be made at the present day. You allude, indeed, to Antigua and
the Bermudas-: but we will take you to where the experiment has been successfully made
upon a large scale — namely, to Jamaica. ;
"There the two races are upon a perfect equality in point of law. There is'-no master
— there is no slave. Tho law does not recognize the slightest distinction between the-
races. You have borrowed the far greater part of your address from the cant phraseology
which the West Indian slave-owners, and especially those of Jamaica, made use of before'
emancipation: They used to assert f,as you do now) that abolition meant destruction ;
that to give freedom to the negro, would be to pronounce the assassination of the white;'
that the negroes, as soon as freed, would massacre their former owners, and destroy their
wives and families, In short, your prophecies of the destructive effects of emancipation
are but faint and foolish echoes of the prophetic apprehensions of the British slave-own
ers. They might, perhaps, have believed their own assertions, because the emancipation
of the negroes was thon an untried experiment. But you — you are deprived of any excuse
for the re-assertion of a disproved calumny.

5
."The emancipation A™ taken pl;,ce. The compensation, given by England was not
given to the negroes who were the only person* that deserved compensation. It was
given to the su-cjlled 'owners'— it was an additional wrong— an additional cau-,0 of irrita
tion to the negroes.
" Bur, gracious Heaven ! how nobly did that good and kindlv race, the noToes, falsify
the calumnious apprehensions of their taskmasters ! Was there' one singte murder conse
quent on the emancipation ? Wai there one riot— one tumult— «ven one ti,.ault? Was
there even one singlo white person injuied either in person or prupertv ? Was there any
property spoiled or laid waste? The proportion of negroes in Jamaica, is as 300 to HO,
or 80 percent. Yet the most perfect tranquilitv has followed the emancipation. The
criminal courts are almost unemployed. Nine-tenths of the gaols are empty and open;
universal tranquility reigns, although the landed proprietors have made use of the harsh
est landlord power to exact the hardest terms, bv way of rent, from the negro, and havo
also endeavored to extort from him the largest possible quantity of -labor "for the small
est wages.
-'"Yet the kindly negro race have not retaliated by one single act of violence or of ven
geance. The two races exisL together upon equal terms under the British government and
under British institutions.
"Or shall you say that the British government and British institutions are preferable to
"yours? The vain and vaporing spirit of mistaken republicanism will not permit you to-
avow the British superiority. You are bound, however reluctantly, to admit that superior
ity, or else to admit the falsity of your own assertions. Nothing can, in truth, be more ludi^
crous than your declamation in favor of slavery. It, however ri^es to the very border of
blasphemy. Your words are, ' God forbid that we should advocate human bondage in,
any shape.' Oh.! shame be upon you ! How can you take the name of the all-good
Creator thus in vain ? What are you doing? Is not the entire of your address an advo-:
cacy of human bondage ?
"Another piece of silliness — You allege that it is the abolitionists who make the slave-
restless with his condition, and that they scatter the seeds of discontent.
- " How can you treat us with such contempt co to use assertions of that kind in your
address ? How can you think wo can be so devoid of intellect, as to believe the negro
would- not know 'the miseries of slavery, ivhich he feels every hour of the four and
twenty, unless he were told by some abolitionists that slavery was a misuiiiblo comliiion?-
" There is nothing that makes us think so badly of you as your strain of ribaldry in at
tacking the abolitionists. The desire to procure abolition is in itself a virtue, and deserves
our love for its charitable disposition as it does respect and veneration for its courage un
der unfavorable circumstances. Instead of the ribaldry of your attack upon the abolition
ists, you ought to respect and countenance them. If they err by excessive zeal, they err
in a righteous and holy cause. You would do w ell to check their errors and mitigate their
zeal within the bounds of strict propriety, but if you had the genuine feelings of Irishmen,
you would never confound their error:, with thwr virtues. In truth, we much fear, or rather
we should candidly say, we readily believe that yuu attribute to them imaginary errors for
no other reason than that they really possess one brilliant virtue, namely, the love of hu
man freedom in intense perfection.
" Again we have to remark that yon exaggerate exceedingly when you state that there
are fifteen millions of the white population in America, whose security ami happiness are
connected with the maintenance of ihe system of negro slavery. On the contrary, the sys
tem of slavery inflicts nothing but mischief on the far. greater part of the inhabitants of
America ; the only place in which individual interest is connected with slavery are the
slaveholding States. Now, in those States, almost without an exception, (if, indeed, there
may be any exception,) the people of color greatly exceed the owners ; anil thus, even if
any injury were to be inflicted on th« slaveholders, by depriving them of their slaves, the
advantage would be abundantly counterbalanced and compensated for, by the infinitely
greater number of persons who would thus b«'restored to that greater of human blessings,
personal liberty : thus ihe noble Benthamite maxim, of doing the greatest possible good
to the greatest possible number, would be amply carried out into effect. By tho emanci
pation of the negroes, you charge the abolitionists as with a crime that they encouraged a
negro flying from Kentucky, to steal a horse from an inhabitant of Ohio, in order to aid
him, if necessary, in making his escape. We ato not, upon full reflection, sufficiently
versed in causistry to decide whether, under such circumstances, the taking of the horsu
would be excusable or not. But even conceding that it would be sinful, we are of this
quite certain, that there is not one of you that address us, who, if he were under similar
circumstances, that is, having no other means of escaping perpetual slavery, would net
make free with your neighbor's horse, to effectuate your just and reasonable purpose.
And we are also sure of this, that there is not one of you, who, if he were compelled to

6
spend the re»t of his life as a personal slave, worked and beaten and sold and transferred
from hand to hand, and separated, at his master's caprice, from wife und family — consign
ed to ignorance — working without wages — toiling without reward, without any other stim
ulant to that toil and labor than the driver's cart-whip : — we do say that there is not one
of you who would not think the name of pickpocket, thief, or felon, would not be too cour
teous a name for the being who kept you in such thraldom.
"'We cannot avoid repeating our astonishment that you, Irishmen, should be so devoid
of every trace of humanity as to become the voluntary and pecuniarily disinterested advo
cates of human slavery, and especially that -you should be so in America ; but what excites
our unconquerable loathing is, to find that in your address, you speak of man being the
property of man— -of one human being being the property of another, with as little doubt,
hesitation, or repugnance as if you were speaking of the beasts of the field. It is this
that fills us with utter astonishment— it is this that makes us disclaim you as countrymen.
We cannot bring oirrselves to believe that you breathed your natal air in Ireland"— Ireland,
the first of all the nations of the earth that abolished the dealing in slaves — the slave trade
of that day was, curiously enough, a slave trade in British youths — Ireland, that never was
stained with negro slave trading, Ireland, that never committed an offense against the
men of color— Ireland, that never fitted out a single vessel for the traffic in blood on the
African coast.
" It is, to be sure, afflicting and heart-rending to us to think, that so many of the Irish
in America should be so degenerate as to be amongst the worst enemies of the people of
color. Alas, alas, we have that fact placed beyond doubt, by the indisputable testimony
of Lord Morpeth. — This is a foul blot that wo would fain wipe off the escutcheon of ex
patriated Irishmen.
*' Have you enough of the genuine Irishman left amongst you to ask what it is we re
quire you to do? It is this :
" First — We call upon you in the sacred name of humanity never again to volunteer
on behalf of the oppressor: nor even for any self-interest to vindicate that heinous crime,
personal slavery.
" Secondly— We ask you to assist in every way you can, in promoting the education of
the -free man of color, and in discountenancing the. foollish feeling of selfishness, of that
criminal selfishness, which makes the -white man treat the man of color as a degraded or
inferior being. " ,
" Thirdly — We ask you to assist in obtaining for the free man of color the full benefit
of all the rights and franchises of a freeman, in whatever state he may inhabit,
" Fourthly — We ask you to exert yourselves in endeavoring to procure for the man of
color, in every case, ihe benefit of a trial by jury, and especially where a man insisting
that he is a freeman is claimed to be a slave.
" Fifthly— We ask you to exert yourselves in every possible way to induce slave-owners
to emancipate as many slaves as possible. The Quakers in America have several socie
ties for this purpose. Why should not the Irish imitate them in that virtue?
" Sixthly — We ask you to exert yourselves in all the ways you possibly can, to put an
end to the internal slave trade of the states — the breeding of slaves for sale is probably
the most immoral and debasing practice ever known in the world. It is a crime of the
most hideous kind; and if there were no other crime committed by the Americans, this
alone would place the advocates, supporters and practisers of American Slavery, in the
lowest grade of criminals. , .^:
" Seventhly — We ask you to use every exertion in your power to procure the abolition
of slavery by the Congress in the District of Columbia. V
" Eighthly — We ask you to use your best exertions to compel the Congress to receive
ar.d read the petitions of the wretched negroes, and above all, the petitions of their white
advocates. ". Ninthly — We ask you never to cease your efforts until the crime of which Lord Mor~
peth has accused the Irish in America, 'of being the worst enemies of the men of color,'
shall be atoned for and blotted out, and effaced forever.
"You will ask how you shall do all these things? You have already answered that
question yourselves, for you have said that public opinion is the law of America. Contri
bute, then, each in his sphere, to make up that public opinion. Where you have the
electoral franchise, give your votes to none but those who will assist you in so holy a
struggle. " Under a popular government, the man who has right, and reason, and justice, and
charity, and Christianity itself at his side, has great instruments of legislation and legal
^pwer. He has the elements about him of the greatest utility; and even if he should not
succeed, he can have the heart-soothing consolation of having endeavored to do great nnd
goiid nciions. He can enjoy, even in defeat, the sweet comfort of having ondoayored to
proi\ple benaYolanoc and •harily.

It is no excuse to allege that the Congress is restricted from emancioatW tha slaves
by one general law. Each particular state has that power within its own precinct.; and
there is every reason to be convinced that Maryland and Virginia would have followed
the example of New \ork, and long ago abolished slavery but fur the diabolical practice
«?'.3V!S ^S y°U Ca" '') Slav°3 i'or the s"ULhprn market of pestilence and death.
"Irishmen, and the sons of Irishmen, have, many of them, risen to high distinc
tion and power in America. Why should not IrUimen, and the sons of Irishmen,
write their names in the brightest pages of the chapter of humanity and benevolencu irt
American story.
, "Irishmen, our chairman ventures to think, and we agree with him, that he has claims
on the attention of Irishmen in every quarter of the globe ; the Scotch and- French philos
ophy have proved, by many years' experiment, that the Irishman stands first, among the-
rtrces of man, in his physical and bodily powers; America and Europe bear testimony to
the intellectual capacity of Irishmen. Lord Morpeth has demonstrated in the British.
parliament the superior morality of the humble classes of Irish, in all social and family
relations. The religious fidelity of the Lisa nation is blazoned in glorious and proverbial.
certainity and splendor.
"Sons of Ireland! descendants of the kind in heart and affectionate in disposition!
.think, oh ! think only with pity and compassion on your colored fellow-creatures in Amer
ica. Offer them the hand of kindly help; soothe their sorrows; soothe their oppressions J '
join- with your countrymen at home in one cry of horror against the oppressor— in one cry
of sympathy with the enslaved and oppressed —
"Till prone in the dust slavery shall be fcnrVd;1,
Its name and nature blotted from the world.' . , ,
tf We' cannot close our observations upon the unseemly a» well as silly attacks yotfc
make upon the advocates of abolition, without reminding you that you have borrowed, this-'
tone of thought from the persons who opposed Catholic emancipation in Ireland,or who
were the pretended friends of the Catholics. Some of you rm»t recollect that it was the-
custom of such persons to allege that but for the 'violence' and 'misconduct' of t'^e agita
tors, and particularly of our chairman, the Protestants were about to emancipate the Cath —
olics gredually. It was the constant theme of the newspaper press, and even of the
speeches in the house of parliament, that the violence and misconduct of the agitators
prevented emancipation. It was the burthen of many pamphlets, and especially of two,
which were both written under the title of ' Faction Unmasked,' by Protestants of great
ability. They asserted themselves to be the friends of emancipation in the abstract, but
they alleged that it was impossible to grant emancipation to persons whose leaders mis
conducted themselves as the agitators did. They gratified their hatred to (he Catholics.
as you gratify your bad feeling towards the negroes, by abuse of the Catholic leaders as
virulent as yours is against abolitionists. But they deceived nobody, neither do you de
ceive anybody. Every human being perceives the futility and folly of your attacks upon
the abolitionists, and undertands that those attacks are but the exhibition of rancor and
malignity against the tried friends of humanity.
"You- say that the abolitionists are fanatics and bigots, and especially entertain a.viru-
lent hatred and- unchristian zeal against Catholicity and the Irish. We do not mean to deny,
nor do we wish to conceal, that there are amongst the abolitionists many wicked and ca
lumniating enemies of Catholicity and the Irish, especially in that most intolerant class,
the'Wesleyan Methodists. But the best way to disarm their malice is not by giving up to
them the side of humanity, while you yourselves take up the side of slavery; but on tho
contrary, by taking a superior station of Christian virtue in the cause of benevolence and
charity, and in zeal for ihe freedom of all mankind.
'• We wish we could burn into your souls the turpitude attached to tie Irish in Ameri
ca by Lord Morpeth's charge. Recollect that it reflects dishonor; not only upon you, but
upon the land of your birth. There is but one way of effacing such a disgrace, and that
is, by becoming the most kindly towards the colored population; and the most energetic
in working out in- detail, as well as in general principle,, the amelioration of the state of
the miserable bondmen. .-
" You tell us, indeed, that many clergymen, and espacially the Catholic clergymen, are
ranged on the side of the slave-holders. We do not believe the accusation.
" The Catholic clergy may endure, but they assuredly do not encourage, the slave-own
ers. — Indeed, we have heard it said that some Catholic clergymen have slaves of their
own; but, it is added, and we are assured positively, that no Irish Catholic clergyman is.
a slave-owner. At all events, every Catholic knows how distinctly slave-holding, and es
pecially slavc-trsding, is condemned by the Catholic Church. " That most eminent man,.
his Holinesi the present Pope, has by an allocution, published throughout the world;
condemned all dealing and train* in tlavei. — Nothing can be more distinct nor mor»pow-

8
crftjh tfcirt the Pope's denunciation of that most abominable crime. Yet it subsists in a
more abominable form than his Holiness could possibly describe, in the traffic which stilt
oxists in the sale of slaves from oue State of America to another. What, then, are we to
think of ijnn, Irish Catholics, who send us an elaborate vindication of slavery without the
slightest censure of that hateful crime : a crime which the Pope has so completely con
demned—namely, the diabob'cal raising of slaves for sale, and selling them to other states.
" If yon be Cathulics, you should devote your time and best exertions to working out
rhe pious intensions of his Holiness. . Yet you prefer — oh ! sorrow and shame ! — to volun
teer your vindication of every thing that belongs to the guilt of slavery
" If you bo Christian's at all, recollect that slavery is opposed to the first, the highest,
and the greatest principles of Christianity, which teach us ' to love the great and good*
God above all things whatsoever, and next to love our fellow-men as ourselves — which;
'command us to do unto others as we would be done by;' these sacred principles are in.
consistent with the horrors and crimes of slavery ; sacred principles which have already;
banished domestic bondage from civilized Europe, and which will also, in God's own good
time, banish it from America, despite the.advocacy of such puny declaimers as you are..
" How bitterly have we been afflicted at perceiving, by the American newspapers, that.
recently, in the city which you inhabit, an opportunity was given to the Irish to exhibit be-
3i«volence and humanity to a colored fellow-creature, and was given in vain! We allude-.
to the case of the girl 'Lavinia,' who was a slave in another state, aud brought by her-
owner into that of Ohio. She by that means became entitled to her freedom if she had-^
but one friend to assert it for her. She did, find friends. . May the great God of heaven,
bless them ! Were they Irish ? Alas ! alas ! not one. You sneer at the sectaries,. Be
hold bow they here conquer you in goodness and charity. The owner's name, it appears,
was Scanlan, unhappily a thorough Irish name, And he it appears has boasted that he
took his revenge by the most fiendish cruelty, not upon Lavinia or her protectors, for they
were not in his power, but upon the unoffending father, mother, and family.
"And this is the system which you, Irishmen, through many folio pages of wicked dec
lamation, seek at least to palliate, if not to justify ! Our cheeks burn with shame to think'
that such a monster as Scanlan could trace his pedigree to Ireland. And yet, you Irish-'
men, stand by, in the attitude rather of friends and supporters, than of the impugners of
the monster's cruelty. And you prefer to string together pages of cruelty and heartless- so- •
phistry, in defence of the source of his crimes, rather thau take pan against him. """*
- " Perhaps it would offend your fastidiousness if such a man were compared to a picpocket J
or foion. We respect your prejudices, and call him no reproachful Lavinia name — it>»3»
indeed unnecessary. :.,,.--> ..•-,' .¦ . , , ' j
" We conclude by abjuring you and all other Irishmen in America, in the name of your ¦
father-land — ia the name of humanity — in the name of the God of mercy and charity — we '
conjure you, Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen, to abandon forever all defence of the hid-l
eous negro slavery system. Let it no more be said lhat your feelings are made so obtuse
by the air of America, that you cannot feel, as Catholics and Christians ought to feel, this ¦
truth — this plain truth — that ose man cannot nAVE any property in" another man. i
There is not one of you who does not recognize that principle in his own person; and yet'.
we perceive — and this agonizes us almost to madness — that you, boasting an Irish descent
should,without the instigation of any pecuniary or interested motive, but out of the sheer'
and single love of wickedness and crime, come forward as the volunteer defenders of the
most degrading species of human slavery ! Woe ! woe ! woe ! r :
"There is one consolation still, amid the pulsations of our hearts: there arc, there must '¦
be. Irishmen in America, — men of sound heads and Irish hearts — who will assist us to
wipe off the foul stain which Lord Morpeth's proven charge has inflicted on the Irish char- '
acter — who will hold out of fellowship, with a heart in that hand, to every honest man, of >
every caste and color, who will sustain the cause of humanity and honor, and scorn the
paltry advocates of slavery — who will show that the Irish heart is in America as.benevo-'>
lent and as replete with charitoble emotions, as in any other clime on the face of the earth. - ¦
"We conclude. The spirit of democratic liberty is defiled by the continuance of negro •
slavery in the United States. ; The'United States themselves are degraded below the most '
uncivilized nations by the atrocious inconsistency of talking of liberty and practicing tyran— '
ny in its worst shape. The Americans attempt to palliate their iniquity by the futile. ex
cuse of personal interest ; but the Irish, who have not even that futile excuse, and yet justi- i
fy slavery, are- utterly indefensible. ' . -J
"Once more, nnd for the last time, we call upon you to come out of the councils of the-'
slave owners, and nt all events to free yourselves from participating in their guilt. i : ¦ ¦ >
•" Irishmen, I call on you to join in crushing slavery, and in giving liberty to every man; u
of cverv caste, creed and color. ' ¦ - - ¦-.•¦•
" « " DANIEL O'CONNELL,,
Chairman of the Committee." ...

YALE UNIVERSITY