I 
 
 THE 
 
 PATRIOT 
 
 IRISH 
 
 DANIEL 0 CONNEL’S LEGACY TO 
 IRISH AMERICANS. 
 
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 ADDRESS FROM THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND 
 
 TO THEIR COUNTRYMEN AND COUNTRYWOMEN 
 
 IN AMERICA. 
 
 Dear Friends : You are at a great distance from your native 
 land ! A wide expanse of water separates you from the beloved 
 country of your birth—from us and from the kindred -whom 
 you love, and who love you, and pray for your happiness and 
 prosperity in the land of your adoption. 
 
 We regard America with feelings of admiration: we do not 
 look upon her as a strange land, nor upon her people as aliens 
 from our affections. The power of steam has brought us nearer 
 together; it will increase the intercourse between us, so that 
 the character of the Irish people and of the American people 
 must in future be acted upon by the feelings and dispositions 
 of each. 
 
 * 
 
 The object of this address is to call your attention to the 
 subject of slavery in America—that foul .blot upon the noble 
 institution and the fair fame of your adopted country. But 
 for this one stain, America would indeed be a land worthy your 
 adoption; but she will never be the glorious country that her 
 free Constitution designed her to be, so long as her soil is pol¬ 
 luted by the foot-prints of a single slave. 
 
 Slavery is the most tremendous invasion of the natural, 
 inalienable rights of man, and of some of the noblest gifts of ■ 
 God, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” What a 
 spectacle does America present to the people of the earth ! A 
 land of professing Christian republicans, uniting their energies 
 for the oppression and degradation of three millions of inno¬ 
 cent human beings, the children of one common Father, who 
 suffer the most grievous wrongs and the utmost degradation, 
 for no crime of their ancestors or their own! Slavery is a sin 
 against God and man. All who are not for it must be against 
 it. None can be neutral. We entreat you to take the part of 
 justice, religion, and liberty. 
 
 It is in vain that American citizens attempt to conceal their 
 own and their country's degradation under this withering curse. 
 America is cursed by slavery! We call upon you to unite 
 
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 with the Abolitionists, and never to cease your efforts until 
 perfect liberty be granted to every one of her inhabitants, the 
 black man as well as the white man. We are all children of 
 the same gracious God; all equally entitled to life, liberty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness. 
 
 We are told that you possess great power, both moral and 
 political, in America. We entreat you to exercise that power 
 and that influence for the sake of humanity. 
 
 You will not witness the horrors of slavery in all the States 
 of America. Thirteen of them are free, and thirteen are slave 
 States. But in all, the pro-slavery feeling, though rapidly 
 decreasing, is still strong. Do not unite with it: on the con¬ 
 trary, oppose it by all the peaceful means in your power. Join 
 with the abolitionists every where. They are the only 
 consistent advocates of liberty. Tell every man that you do 
 not understand liberty for the white man, and slavery for the 
 blAck man; that you are for liberty for all, of every color, 
 creed, and country. 
 
 The American citizen proudly points to the National Decla¬ 
 ration of Independence, which declares that all mankind are 
 born free and equal, and are alike entitled to life, liberty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness. Aid him to carry out this noble 
 declaration, bv obtaining freedom for the slave. 
 
 Irishmen and Irishwomen! treat the colored people as your 
 equals, as brethren. By all your memories of Ireland, con¬ 
 tinue to love liberty—hate slavery— CLING BY the aboltion- 
 ISTS —and in America you will do honor to the name of Ireland. 
 
 [Signed by] Daniel O’Connell, 
 
 Theobald Mathew. 
 
 And sixty thousand other inhabitants of Ireland. 
 
 LETTER FROM JAMES IIAUGHTON, ESG. 
 
 To Irishmen in America : 
 
 Countrymen :—My heart often prompts me to address you 
 in a few words of kindly remonstrance. I wish you so to con¬ 
 duct yourselves in the distant land you have made your home, 
 as that your conduct may reflect honor on the loved country 
 you have left behind you, and cause you to be really respected 
 by the people among whom you now dwell. These advantages 
 can be secured only by a steady adherence, on your part, to 
 
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 the principles of truth and honor, which you should make the 
 guiding star of your life. 
 
 You love liberty for yourselves. Be consistent in your ad¬ 
 vocacy of this universal right of the human race ; and claim it 
 as the inalienable privilege of all men,—of the colored man, as 
 well as the white man. 
 
 I fear too many of you have forgotten your duty, in this re¬ 
 spect, and that thus the fame of Ireland—which we should 
 shield from the breath of dishonor—is sullied in the eyes of 
 those who should only see reflected in your conduct, evidence 
 of the firm determination of your countrymen to stand fast by 
 the noble principles of Christian rectitude. 
 
 In the twelfth century, the synod of Armagh proclaimed 
 liberty to every captive in Ireland, and since then, a slave has 
 never polluted our green isle. 
 
 Remember the faithfulness of O’Connell. Let his memorv, 
 which is embalmed in many of our hearts, and his whole life, 
 which was a consistent course in favor of civil and religious 
 liberty, be a beacon-light guiding you in your career. Demand, 
 as he did, that freedom for all which you claim as your own 
 birthright. 
 
 Thus, and thus alone, can you secure true respect for your¬ 
 selves, and cause the stranger to say of your country, “ If I 
 were not an American, I should be proud to be an Irishman.” 
 
 By all your pleasant memories of Ireland; by hef glorious 
 mountains and her beautiful valleys; by her verdant plains, 
 which are watered by the streams in which you loved Jo dis¬ 
 port yourselves in childhood; by your love of these things; 
 by your affection for your kindred and friends, and by your 
 reverence for almighty God,—I appeal to you, and I ask you 
 to love your fellow-men of all complexions and of all creeds, 
 and to demand for them all, the exact measure of justice you 
 claim for yourselves. 
 
 The sad moan of four millions of slaves comes across the 
 broad ocean, and it sounds painfully in our ears. I a^k you 
 to aid in turning their sorrow into joy^to aid in enabling 
 the fathers and mothers of the colored race in America to clasp 
 their little ones, and feel all the happiness and all the'respon- 
 sibility of being their guardians arid their guides, from infancy 
 up to manhood. Turn not a deaf ear to the cry of the slave, 
 but let him feel, in future and for evermore, that in every Irish¬ 
 man he has a friend. 
 
 Whatever may be your rank or condition in the land of your 
 adoption, believe me, countrymen, you can only acquire and 
 maintain an honorable reputation there, by such a course of 
 
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 \\ HI l conduct as I recommend ; and whatever may be your practice, 
 whether in consonance with, or in opposition to these sentiments, 
 I feel assured that you will say in your hearts, “ He is right.” 
 I entreat you to act manfully in accordance with your convic¬ 
 tions, and I beg to subscribe myself, 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 James Haughton. 
 
 Dublin, 35 E<;cles Street. 
 
 SLAVERY NOT A DEBATABLE QUESTION. 
 
 An American gentleman waited upon me this morning, and 
 I asked him, with some anxiety, “ What part of America do 
 you come from?” “I came from Boston. ” “ Do me the 
 
 honor to shake hands. You came from a State that has never 
 been tarnished with slavery—a State to which our ancestors 
 fled from the tyranny of England, and the worst of all tyran¬ 
 nies, the odious attempt to interfere between a man and his 
 God; a tyranny that I have in principle helped to put down 
 in this country, and wish to put down in every country upon 
 the face of the globe. (Cheers.) It is odious and insolent to 
 interfere between a man and his God ; to fetter with law the 
 choice which the conscience makes of its mode of adoring the 
 eternal and adorable God. I cannot talk of toleration, be¬ 
 cause It supposes that a boon has been given to a human 
 being, in allowing him to have his conscience free. (Cheers.) 
 It was in that struggle,” I said, “ that your fathers left Eng¬ 
 land, and I rejoice to see an American from Boston ; but I 
 should be sorry to be contaminated by the touch of a man 
 from those States where shivery is continued.” (Cheers.) 
 “Oh,” said he, “you are alluding to slavery : though I am no 
 advocate for it, yet if you will allow me, I will discuss that 
 question with you.” I replied, that if a man should propose 
 to me a discussion on the propriety of picking pockets, I 
 would t.urn him out of my study, for fear he should carry his 
 theory into practice. (Laughter and cheers.) “ And, mean¬ 
 ing you no sort of offence,” I added, “ which I cannot mean to 
 a gentleman who does me the honor to pay me a civil visit, I 
 would as soon discuss the one question with you as the other.” 
 The one is a paltry theft: 
 
 “Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 
 
 ; Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands”-— 
 
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 but he who thinks he can vindicate the possession of one hu¬ 
 man being by another—the sale of soul and body—the ^ep- ( 
 aration of father and mother—the taking of the mother from 
 the infant at her breast, and selling the one .to one master and 
 the other to another—is a man whom I will not answer with 
 words— n or yet with blows, for the time for the latter has not 
 yet come. (Cheers.)—D aniel O’Connell. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECHES OF O’CONNELL. 
 
 I now come to America, the boasted land of freedom ; and 
 here I find slavery, which they not only tolerate but extend, 
 justified and defended as a legacy left them by us. It is but 
 too true. But I would say unto them, you threw off the alle¬ 
 giance you owed us, because you thought we were oppressing 
 you with the Stamp Act. 'You boasted of your deliverance 
 from slavery. On what principle, then, do you now continue 
 your fellow-men in bondage, and render that bondage even 
 more galling by ringing in the ears of the sufferers from your 
 tyranny, what you have done, what you have suffered, for free¬ 
 dom ? They may retaliate upon us. They may reply by allu¬ 
 sions to the slaveries we have established or encouraged. But 
 what would be thought of that man who should attempt to 
 justify the crime of sheep-stealing, by alleging that another 
 stole sheep too? Would such a defence be listened to? Oh, 
 no ; and I will say unto you, freemen of America, and the press 
 will convey it to you almost as swift as the wind, that God un¬ 
 derstands you; that you are hypocrites, tyrants, and unjust 
 men; that you are degraded and dishonored; and I say unto 
 you, dare not to stand up boasting of your freedom or your 
 privileges, while you continue to treat men, redeemed by the 
 same blood, as the mere creatures of your will; for while you 
 do so, there is a blot on your escutcheon which all the w r aters 
 
 of the Atlantic cannot wash out. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Of all men living, an American citizen, who is the owner of 
 slaves, is the most despicable; he is a political hypocrite of the 
 very worst description. The friends of humanity and liberty, 
 in Europe, should join in one universal cry of shame on the 
 American slaveholders? “ Base wretches,” should we shout 
 in chorus—“ base wretches, how dare you profane the temple 
 of national freedom, the sacred fane of republican rites, with 
 

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 the presence and the sufferings of human beings in chains and 
 , slavery ?”—Speech delivered at an Anti-Slavery Meeting in 
 
 • 1829. 
 
 I speak of liberty in commendation. Patriotism is a virtue, 
 but it can be .selfish. Give me the great and immortal Bolivar, 
 the saviour and regenerator of his country. lie found her a 
 province, and he has made her a nation. His first act was to 
 give freedom to the slaves upon his own estate. (Hear, hear.) 
 In Colombia, all castes and all colors are free and unshackled. 
 But how I like to contrast him with the far-famed northern 
 heroes ! George Washington ! that great and enlightened 
 character,—the soldier and the statesman,—had but one blot 
 upon his character. He had slaves, and he gave them liberty 
 when he wanted them no longer. (Loud cheers.) Let America, 
 in the fullness of her pride, wave on high her banner of free¬ 
 dom and its blazing stars. I point to her, and sav, There is 
 one foul blot upon it; you have negro slavery. They may com¬ 
 pare their struggles for freedom to Marathon and Leucti a, and 
 point to the rifleman with his gun, amidst her woods and forests, 
 shouting for liberty and America. In the midst of their 
 laughter and their pride, I point them to the negro children 
 screaming for the mother from whose bosom they have been 
 torn. America, it is a foul stain upon your character ! (Cheers.) 
 This conduct, kept up by men who had themselves to struggle 
 for freedom, is doubly unjust. Let them hoist the flag of 
 liberty, with the whip and rack on one side, and the star of 
 freedom upon the other. The Americans are a sensitive 
 people ; in fifty-four years they have increased their population 
 from three millions to twenty millions; they have many glories 
 that surround them, but their beams are partly shorn, for they 
 have slaves. (Cheers.) Their hearts do not beat so strong 
 for liberty as mine. * * * * I will call for justice, in the name 
 of the living God, and I shall find an echo in the breast of 
 every human being. (Cheers .)—Speech delivered at the An¬ 
 nual Meeting of the Cork Anti-Slavery Society, 1829. 
 
 Ireland and Irishmen should be foremost in seeking to effect 
 the emancipation of mankind. (Cheers.) ****** The 
 Americans alleged that they had not perpetrated the crime, 
 but inherited it from England. This, however, fact as it was, 
 was-still a paltry apology for America, who asserting libei ty 
 for herself, still used the brand and the lash against others. 
 (Hear.) He taunted America with the continuance of slavery ; 
 and the voice with which he there uttered the taunt would be 
 wafted on the wings of the press, until it would be heard in the 
 remote wilds of America; it would be wafted over the waters 
 
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 of the Missouri and those of the Mississippi; and even the 
 slaves upon the distant banks of the Ohio would make his vords { 
 resound in the ears of their heartless masters, and tell them to € 
 their face, that they were the victims of cruelty, injustice, and 
 foul oppression. (Cheers.) Bright as was the page of Ameri¬ 
 can history, and brilliant as was the emblazonment of her 
 deeds, still, negro slavery was a black, a “ damning spot” upon 
 it. .Glorious and splendid as was the star-spangled banner of 
 republican America, still it was stained with the deep, foul 
 blot of human blood.— Speech delivered at a Meeting of the 
 Dublin Anti- Slavery Society , 1830. 
 
 Man cannot have property in. man. Slavery is a nuisance, 
 to be put down, not to be compromised with ; and to be assailed 
 without cessation and without mercy by every blow that can 
 be leveled at the monster. ***** Let g ene ral principles 
 be asserted. And as it is the cause of religion and liberty, all 
 that is wanted is the unwearied repetition of zealous advocacy 
 to make it certainly triumphant. Let every man, then, in 
 whatever position he may be placed, do his duty in crushing 
 that hideous tyranny, which rends the husband from the wife, 
 the children from their parents; which enables one human 
 being, at his uncontrolled will, to apply the lash to the back of 
 his fellow-man.— Speech delivered at the London Anti-Slavery 
 Society , 1830. 
 
 We are responsible for what we do, and also for the influence 
 of our example. Think you that the United States of America 
 would be able to hold up their heads among the nations,—the 
 United States, who shook off their allegiance to their sovereign, 
 and declared that it was the right of every man to enjoy free¬ 
 dom—of every man, whether black, white, or red ; who made 
 this declaration before the God of'armies, and then, when they 
 had succeeded in their enterprise, forgot their vow, and made 
 slaves, and used the lash and the chain,—would they dare to 
 take their place among the nations, if it were not that Eng¬ 
 land countenances them in the practice ?— Speech delivered at 
 the Greneral Meeting of the British Anti-Slavery Society , 1831. 
 
 My claim to be heard on this occasion is included in one 
 sentence— I am an Abolitionist. (Cheering.) I am for speedy, 
 immediate abolition. (Renewed cheers.) I care not what 
 caste, creed, or color, slavery may assume. Whether it be per¬ 
 sonal or political, mental or corporeal, intellectual or spiritual, 
 
 I am for its total, its instant abolition. (Great applause.) I 
 enter into no compromise with slavery. I am for justice, in 
 the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living 
 God. 
 
 ******* 
 
The time has now come, when every man who has honest 
 feelings should declare himself the advocate of abolition. He 
 who consents to tolerate crime is a criminal; and never will I 
 lose the slightest opportunity, whether here or in the legisla¬ 
 ture, or any where else, to raise my voice for liberty,—for the 
 extinction of slavery. (Great applause.) Humanity, justice 
 and religion combine to call upon us to abolish this foul blot. 
 But it is not England or Britain alone that is stained with this 
 crime. The democratic Republic of America shares in the 
 guilt. Oh ! the inconsistency of these apostles of liberty talk¬ 
 ing of freedom, while they basely and wickedly continue the 
 slavery of their fellow-men, the negroes of Africa ! A repub¬ 
 lican is naturally proud and high-minded, and we may make 
 the pride of the North American republicans the very weapon 
 by which to break down slavery ; for, if the example of Eng¬ 
 land were gone, they could not, in the face of the world, con¬ 
 tinue the odious and atrocious system one moment longer. 
 (Cheers.) Abolish it throughout the British colonies, and 
 away it goes in America. (Renewed cheers.) 
 
 vL/ O/ .1. 
 
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 Slavery is a crime, a high crime against Heaven, and its an¬ 
 nihilation ought not to be postponed. We have lately heard 
 a good deal of the iniquity of the East Indi^ Company, getting 
 money from the poor, infatuated wretches who throw # themselves 
 beneath the wheel of Juggernaut’s car. This is lamentable 
 indeed; but what care I, whether the instrument of torture 
 be a wheel or a lash ? (Applause.) I am against Jugger- 
 gernaut, both in the East Indies and West Indies, and am 
 determined, therefore, not to assist in perpetuating slavery. Is 
 it possible, that where humanity, benevolence and religion are 
 combined, there can be doubt of success ? The priests of 
 Juggernaut are respectable persons compared with those who 
 oppose such a combination, (applause); and I entreat you to 
 assist in the great work by becoming its apostles .—Speech de¬ 
 livered before the London Anti-Slavery Society , 1831. 
 
 I will now go to America. I have often longed to go there, 
 in reality; but so long as it is tarnished by slavery, I will never 
 pollute my foot by treading on its shores. (Cheers.) In the 
 course of my Parliamentary duty, a few days ago, I had to ar¬ 
 raign the conduct of the despot of the North, for his cruelty to 
 the men, women and children, of Poland; and I spoke of him 
 •with the execration he merits. But, I confess, that although 
 I hate him with as much hatred as one Christian man can hate 
 another human being, viz.: I detest his actions with abhor¬ 
 rence, unutterable and indescribable; yet there is a climax in 
 
9 
 
 my hatred. 1 would adopt the language of the poet, but re¬ 
 verse the imagery, and say, 
 
 “ In the deepest hell, there is a depth still more profound,” 
 
 and that is to be found in the conduct of the American slave¬ 
 owners. (Cheers). They are the basest of the base—the most 
 execrable of the execrable. I thank God, that upon the wings 
 of the press, the voice of so humble an individual as myself 
 will pass against the western breeze—that it will reach the 
 rivers, the lakes, the mountains, and the glens of America— 
 and that the friends of liberty there will sympathize with me, 
 and rejoice that I here tear down the image of Liberty from 
 the recreant hand of America, and condemn her as the vilest 
 of hypocrites—the greatest of liars. (Long continued cheers.) 
 
 When this country most unjustly and tyrannically oppressed 
 its colonies, and insisted that a Parliament of borough-mongers 
 in Westminster should have the power of putting their long 
 fingers across the Atlantic into the pockets of the. Americans, 
 taking out as much as they pleased, and, if they found any¬ 
 thing, leaving what residuum they chose—America turned round, 
 and appealed to justice, and she was right; appealed to hu¬ 
 manity, and she was right; appealed to her own brave sword, 
 and she was right, and I glory in it. At that awful period, 
 when America was exciting all the nations of the world ; when 
 she was declaring her independence, and her inhabitants 
 pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, and 
 invoked the God of charity (whom they foolishly called the 
 God of battles, which he is not, any more than he is the God 
 of murder)—at that awful period, when they laid the foundation 
 of their liberty, they began with these words : “We hold these 
 truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that 
 they are endowed by their Creator wdth certain inalienable 
 rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 happiness.” Thus the American has acknowledged what he 
 cannot deny, viz., that God the Creator has endowed man with 
 those inalienable rights. But it is not the white man, it is not 
 the copper-colored man, nor is it the black man alone, who is 
 thus endowed; it is all men who are possessed of these in¬ 
 alienable rights. The man, however, who cannot vote in any 
 State assembly without admitting this as the foundation of his 
 liberty, has the atrocious injustice, the murderous injustice, to 
 trample upon these inalienable rights; as it were, to attempt 
 to rob the Creator of his gifts, and to appropriate to himself 
 his brother man, as if he could be his slave. (Cheers.) Shame 
 
10 
 
 be upon America ! eternal shame be upon her escutcheon I 
 (Loud cheers.) 
 
 Shortly there- will not be a slave in the British colonies. 
 Five lines in an Act of Parliament, the other night, liberated 
 nearly 500,000 slaves in the East Indies, at a single blow. 
 The West Indians will be obliged to grant emancipation, in 
 spite of the paltry attempts to prevent it; and we will then 
 turn to America, and to every part of Europe, and require 
 emancipation. (Cheers.) No! they must not think that they 
 can boast of their republican institutions—that they can talk 
 of their strength and their glory. Unless they abolish slavery, 
 they must write themselves down liars, or call a general con¬ 
 vention of the States, and blot out the first sentence of their 
 Declaration of Independence, and write in its place, ‘‘Liberty 
 in America means the power to flog slaves, and to work them 
 for nothing.” (Loud applause.) * * * * 
 
 The voice of Europe will proclaim the slave’s deliverance, 
 and will say to him, “Shed no blood, but take care that your 
 blood be not shed.” I tell the American slave-owner, that 
 he shall not have silence; for, humble as I am, and feeble as 
 my voice may be, yet deafening the sound of the westerly 
 wave, and riding against the blast as thunder goes, it shall 
 reach America, telling the black man that the time for his 
 emancipation has come, and the oppressor that the period of 
 his injustice is soon to terminate! (Cheers .)—Speech de¬ 
 livered at the Grreat Anti-Colonization Meeting in London , 
 1833. 
 
 Mr. O’Connell presented himself to the meeting, amid the 
 most enthusiastic cheers. After some remarks of a general 
 nature, the Hon. and learned gentleman proceeded to speak in 
 terms of severe censure of the conduct of the Americans, in 
 continuing to keep in bondage the black population in many 
 of their States. He did not w r onder at the death plagues of 
 New Orleans, or the devastation of its people, many of whom 
 enjoyed health and vigor at morn, and were lifeless at noon, 
 when they had committed or countenanced crimes which could 
 only be registered with the annals of Nicholas and the curses 
 of Poland. 
 
 The Hon. and learned gentleman read several extracts from 
 an American slaveholding Act, in which it was enjoined that 
 no judge, legislative member, barrister or preacher, should 
 speak or write anything against slavery, under the pain of 
 being sentenced to not less than three years, and not more 
 than twenty-one years’ imprisonment, or death, at the discre¬ 
 tion of the court!!! And that no American should teach a 
 
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 slave to read or write, under the pain of not less than three 
 months, and not more ’than twelve months’ imprisonment. 
 (Hear, hear.) The Hon. and learned gentleman flung this 
 black d^honor on the star-spangled banner of America—in 
 vain did it wave over every sea, proclaiming the honor of the 
 boasted republic of modern times—those who fought under it 
 were felons to the human race, (hear, hear,) traitors to liberty, 
 to their own honor, and blasphemers of the Almighty. “The 
 red arm of God,” continued the Hon. and learned gentleman, 
 “is bared; and let the enemies of those whom his Son died to 
 save, the black man as well as the white man, beware of its 
 vengeance! The lightning careers through the troubled air 
 resistless, amidst the howling of the tempest and rolling of the 
 thunder. Oh, for one moment of poetic inspiration, that my 
 words, w T ith the fire of indignation with wdiich my bosom burns, 
 may be borne on the western breeze across the wide Atlantic, 
 light on their shores, reverberate among their mountains, and 
 be wafted down the rivers of America !”—Speech delivered at 
 an Anti-Slavery Meeting in London , 1835. 
 
 He had given the Americans some severe but merited re¬ 
 proofs ; for which they had paid him w r ages in abuse and scur¬ 
 rility. He was satisfied that they had done so. He w r as ac¬ 
 customed to receive such wages in return for his labors. He 
 had never done good but he was vilified for his pains; and he 
 felt that he could not sleep soundly were such opponents to 
 cease abusing him. (Cheers.) He would continue to earn 
 such wages. (Cheers.) By the blessing of God, he would yet 
 trample on the serpent of slave-owming cupidity, and triumph 
 over the hiss cf the foul reptile, which marked its agony, and 
 excited his contempt. The Americans, in their conduct toward 
 their slaves, were traitors to the cause of human liberty, and 
 foul detractors of the democratic principle, which he had cher¬ 
 ished throughout his political life, and blasphemers of that 
 great and sacred name which they pretended to reverence. In 
 reprobation of their disgraceful conduct, his public voice had 
 been heard across the wide Atlantic. Like the thunder-storm 
 in its strength, it had careered against the breeze, armed w r ith 
 the lightning of Christian truth. (Great cheering.) And, let 
 them seek to repress it as they may; let them murder and as¬ 
 sassinate in the true spirit of lynch law; the storm would wax 
 louder and louder around them, till the claims of justice be¬ 
 came too strong to be withstood, and the black man would 
 stand up, too big for his chains. It seemed, indeed—lie hoped 
 what he was about to say was not profanation—as if the curse 
 of the Almighty had already overtaken them. For the first 
 
12 
 
 time in their political history, disgraceful tumult and anarchy 
 had been witnessed in their cities. Blood had been shed with¬ 
 out the sanction of law, and even Sir Robert Peel had been 
 enabled—but he was here in danger of becoming political. 
 (Cries of No, no—Go op, and cheers.) Well, then, even Sir 
 Robert Peel had been enabled to taunt the Americans with 
 gross inconsistency and lawless proceedings. He differed from 
 Sir Robert Peel on many points. (Laughter.) Every body 
 knew that. (Renewed laughter.) It was no doubt presump¬ 
 tion in him to differ from so great a man, but yet such was the 
 fact. (Laughter.) On one point, however, he fully agreed 
 with him. Let the proud Americans learn, that all parties in 
 this country unite in condemnation of their conduct; and let 
 them also learn that the worst of all aristocracies is that which 
 prevails in America—an aristocracy which had been aptly de¬ 
 nominated that of the human skin. The most insufferable 
 pride was that shown by such an aristocracy. And yet he 
 must confess that he could not understand such pride. He 
 could understand the pride of noble descent. He could under¬ 
 stand why a man should plume himself on the success of his 
 ancestors in plundering the people some centuries ago. He 
 could understand the pride arising from immense landed pos¬ 
 sessions. He could even understand the pride of wealth, the 
 fruit of honest and careful industry. Yet when he thought of 
 the color of the skin making men aristocratic, he felt his as¬ 
 tonishment to vie with his contempt. Many a white skin cov¬ 
 ered a black heart; yet an aristocrat of the skin was the 
 proudest of the proud. Republicans were proverbially proud, 
 and therefore he delighted to taunt the Americans with the su¬ 
 perlative meanness, as well as injustice, of their assumed airs 
 of superiority over their black fellow-citizens. (Cheers.) He 
 would continue to hurl his taunts across the Atlantic. And, 
 oh!—but perhaps it was his pride that dictated the hope—that 
 some black O’Connell might rise among his fellow slaves, (tre¬ 
 mendous cheers,) who would cry, Agitate, agitate, (renewed 
 cheering,) till the two millions and a half of his fellow-suffer¬ 
 ers learned the secret of their strength—learned that they 
 were two millions and a half. (Enthusiastic cheers.) If there 
 w r as one thing which more than another could excite his hatred, it 
 w T as the laws which the Americans had framed to prevent the 
 instruction of their slaves. To be seen in company with a 
 negro who could write, was visited with imprisonment, (shame!) 
 and to teach a slave the principles of freedom was punished 
 with death. Were these human laws, it might be asked? Were 
 they not laws made by the wolves of the forest?—No—they 
 
13 
 
 were made by a congregation of two-legged wolves—American 
 wolves—monsters in human shape, who boast of their liberty • 
 and of their humanity, while they carry the hearts of .tigers 
 within them. (Cheers .)—Speech delivered at the Presentation 
 of the Emancipation Society's Address to Mr. O'Connell , 1835. 
 
 I hate slavery in all countries—the slavery of the Poles in 
 Russia under their miscreant tyrant, and the slavery of the 
 unfortunate men of color under their fellow-men, the boasted 
 
 I * 
 
 friends of liberty in the United States. Let the slave leap up 
 for joy when he hears of the meeting of this day (cheers); let 
 him have the prospect of freedom to cheer him in the decline 
 of life. (Cheers.) We ought to make our exertions strongly, 
 immediately, and unanimously. (Cheers.) Remember what 
 is taking place elsewhere. Only cast your eye across the At¬ 
 lantic, and see what is taking place on the American shores. 
 (Cheers.) Behold those pretended sons of freedom—those who 
 declared that every man was equal in the presence of *his God 
 —that every man had an inalienable right to liberty—behold 
 them making, in the name of honor, their paltry honor, an 
 organized resistance in Southern Slave States against the ad¬ 
 vocates of emancipation. Behold them aiding in the robbery 
 committed on an independent State. See how they have seized 
 upon the territory of Texas, taking it from Mexico, Mexico 
 having totally abolished slavery without apprenticeship, (loud 
 cheers,) in order to make it & new market for slavery. (Shame!) 
 Remember how they have stolen, cheated, swindled, robbed 
 that country, for the audacious and horrible purpose of perpet¬ 
 uating negro slavery. (Cries of “ Shame !”) Remember that 
 there is now a treaty on foot, in contemplation at least, be¬ 
 tween the Texans and the President of the United States, and 
 that it is only postponed till this robbery of Texas from Mexico 
 can be completed. Oh ! raise the voice of humanity against 
 these horrible crimes ! (Cheers.) There is about republicans 
 a sentiment of pride—a feeling of self-exaltation. Let us tell 
 these republicans, that instead of their being the highest in the 
 scale of humanity, they are the basest of the base, the vilest 
 of the vile. (Tremendous cheers.) My friends, there is a 
 community of sentiment all over the world, borne on the wings 
 of the press; and what the humble individual who is now ad¬ 
 dressing you may state, will be carried across the waves of the 
 Atlantic; it will go up the Missouri—it will be wafted along 
 the banks of the Mississippi—it will reach infernal Texas itself. 
 (Immense cheering.) And though that pandemonium may 
 scream at the sound, they shall suffer from the lash of human 
 indignation applied to their horrible crime. (Cheers.) If they 
 
14 
 
 
 are not arrested in their career of guilt, four new States in 
 America will be filled with slaves. Oh, hideous breeders of 
 human beings for slavery ! Such are the horrors of that sys¬ 
 tem in the American States, that it is impossible, in this 
 presence, to describe them ; the mind is almost polluted by 
 thinking of them. Should the measures now contemplated by 
 the Americans be accomplished, these horrors will be increased 
 fou'fold; and men, with frhe human soul degraded, will be in a 
 worse state even than the physical degradation of human bodies. 
 (Cheers.) What have we to look to ? Their honor—their 
 generosity! We must expect nothing from their generosity. 
 (Cheers.) Sir, I cannot restrain myself. It was only the other 
 day, I read a letter in The Morning Chronicle , from their 
 Philadelphia correepondent. A person, whose Indian name I 
 forget, (a voice, “ Osceola,”) but who was called Powell, had 
 carried on a war at the head of the Seminoles, and other 
 Florida tribes, against the people of Florida. lie behaved 
 nobly, and bravely fought for his country; and he would have 
 been deified as a hero had he fought in a civilized nation, and 
 testimonials would have been reared to commemorate his deeds, 
 as great and numerous’as those which have been raised to a 
 Napoleon or a Wellington. Put what happens to this 'warrior? 
 Why, these Americans, having made a truce with him, invited 
 him to a conference. Fie comes under the protection of that 
 trace. Thus confiding in their honor, is he allowed to return ? 
 Oh no ! He is not allowed to return, but is taken prisoner, 
 and carried captive to the fort. (Shame, shame!) Oh, cry 
 out shame, and let that cry be heard across the waves of the 
 mighty ocean ! (Cheers.) We are the teachers of humanity, 
 we are the friends of humanity. What does it signify to us, 
 that the crime is not committed on British soil! Wherever it 
 is committed, we are its enemies. (Cheers.) The American, 
 it is true, boasts of having been the first to abolish the slave 
 trade carried on in foreign vessels. Why, he was. But what 
 was the consequence ? Every one of his own slaves at home 
 was made of more value to him. It was a swindling humanity. 
 It was worse than our twenty mill’ons scheme. It had the 
 guise of humanity, but had really the spirit of avarice and 
 oppression. (Cheers.) I, perhaps, ought to apologize for 
 detaining you (No, no ! Go on !); but we are all children of the 
 same Creator, heirs to the same promise, purchased by the 
 blood of the same Redeemer, and what signifies of what caste, 
 color or creed we may be? (Cheers.) It is our duty to pro¬ 
 claim that the cause of the negro is our cause, and that we will 
 insist upon doing away, to the best of our human ability the 
 
15 
 
 stain of slavery, not only from every portion of this mighty 
 empire, but from the face of the whole earth. (Cheers.) If 
 there he in the huts of Africa, or amidst the swamps of Texas, 
 a human being panting for liberty, let it be proclaimed to him 
 that he has friends and supporters among the great British 
 nation. (Cheers .)—Speech delivered at a Public Meeting of 
 Anti-Slavery Delegates in London , 1837. 
 
 It is utterly impossible that any thing should exist more 
 horrible than the American slave-breeding. The history of it 
 is this : The Americans abolished the foreign slave trade earlier 
 than England, but with this consolation—no small comfort to 
 so money-loving a race as the slaveholders—that by such 
 abolition, they enhanced the price of the slaves then in America, 
 by stopping the competition in the home market of newly im¬ 
 ported slaves. Why, otherwise, w T as not the home trade stopped 
 as well as the foreign ? The reply is obvious. 
 
 To supply the home slave trade, an abominable, a most 
 hideous, most criminal, and most revolting practice of breed¬ 
 ing negroes exclusively for sale, has sprung up, and especially, 
 we are told, in Virginia. There are breeding plantations for 
 producing negroes, as there are with us breeding farms for pro¬ 
 ducing calves and lambs. And as our calf and lamb breeders 
 calculate the number of males of the flock to the females, simi¬ 
 lar calculations are made by the traffickers in human flesh. 
 One instance was mentioned to me of a human breeding farm 
 in America, which was supplied with two men and twelve 
 women. Why should I pollute my page with a description of 
 all that is immoral and infamous in such practice ? But only 
 think of the wretched mothers, whom nature compels to love 
 their children—children torn from them for ever, just at the 
 period that they could requite their mother’s love! The 
 wretched, wretched mother 1 Who can depict the mother’s 
 distraction and madness? “But their maternal feelings are,’” 
 says a modern writer, “ treated with as much contemptuous 
 indifference, as those of the cows and ewes whose calves and 
 lambs are sent to the English market.” 
 
 That it is which stains the character of the American slave¬ 
 holder, and leaves the breeder of slaves the most detestable of 
 human beings; especially when that slayeholder is a republi¬ 
 can, boasting of freedom, shouting for liberty, and declaring, 
 as the charter of his liberal institutions, these are self-evident 
 truths, “ that all men are created equal—that they are endowed 
 by their Creator with certain inalienable rights—that among 
 these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 
 
 My sole object in my speech at Birmingham, and present 
 
16 
 
 object, is to rouse the attention of England and of Europe to 
 all that is cruel, criminal, and, in every sense of the word, in¬ 
 famous, in the system of negro slavery in North America. My 
 deliberate conviction is, that until that system is abolished, no 
 American slaveholder ought to be received on. a footing of 
 equality by any of the civilized inhabitants of Europe.— Let¬ 
 ter of Mr. O'Connell to the Editor of the London Morning 
 Chronicle , 1838. 
 
 I have no superfluous tears to shed for Ireland, and shall 
 show my love of my country by continuing my exertions to ob¬ 
 tain for her justice and good government; but I feel that I 
 have something Irish at my heart, which makes me sympathize 
 with all those who are suffering under oppression, and forces 
 me to give to universal man the benefit of the exertions which 
 are the consequence. (Cheers.) And what adds peculiarly to 
 the claim of Ireland for sympathy and support is, that in the 
 great cause of suffering humanity, no voice was ever raised, but 
 Ireland was found ready to afford relief and succor.— Speech 
 delivered at a Meeting of the British India Society , London , 
 1839. 
 
 He then came to North America, and there, thank God, he 
 found much reason for congratulation. There were now pre¬ 
 sent forty representatives of American Abolition Societies to 
 aid them in the great struggle for human liberty. Let them 
 be honored, in proportion as the slave-holders were execrated. 
 Oh! they had a hard battle to fight ! In place of being 
 honored as they were in this land, they had to encounter cool¬ 
 ness and outrage; the bowie-knife and lynch law threatened 
 them; they were Abolitionists at the risk of their lives. 
 (Cheers.) Glory to them ! A year or two since, he made 
 some observations upon the conduct of the American Minister ; 
 he charged him with breeding slaves for sale; he denied it; 
 and, in order to prove who was right, he sent him [Mr. O’Con¬ 
 nell] a challenge to fight a duel. (Laughter.) He did not 
 accept it. Nothing would ever induce him to commit murder. 
 God had forbidden it, and he would obey him. (Cheers.) The 
 American Minister denied the charge, but he admitted that he 
 had slaves, and he admitted that he did afterwards sell some ; 
 so let him have the benefit of such a denial. (A laugh.). He 
 added, however, that he did not believe that slaves were bred 
 for sale in Virginia, Now, he would read some few extracts 
 from Judge Jay’s book, published in New York, in 1839. He 
 would call Mr. Stevenson’s attention to page 88 of that book, 
 and that would prove to him, not only that slave-breeding ex¬ 
 isted in Virginia, but within twenty-five miles of his own resi- 
 
17 
 
 dcnce [The Honorable Gentleman read several extracts, 
 proving the practice ; also several advertisements of lots of 
 slaves wanted for ready money, for shipment to New Orleans, 
 and dated in Richmond, the very place of Mr. Stevenson’s re¬ 
 sidence.] He had established against the Ambassador, that 
 slave-raising did exist in Virginia. Yet all these things took 
 place in a civilized country—a civilized age—advertisements 
 of human flesh for sale, and written in even a more contemptu¬ 
 ous manner than if the subjects of them were cattle. The 
 * traffic in slaves from the North to the Southern States was im¬ 
 mense. In the latter, they were put to the culture of sugar— 
 a horrible culture, that swept off the whole in seven years— 
 every seven years there was a new generation wanted. This 
 was in a community calling themselves civilized. Why, they 
 were w r orse than the savage beasts of the desert, for they only 
 mangled when driven to it by hunger; but this horrible prac¬ 
 tice is carried on by well-fed Americans for paltry pecuniary 
 profit—for that low and base consideration, they destroy an¬ 
 nually their tens and twenty thousands. 
 
 These scenes took place in a country, which, in all other 
 respects, had a fair claim to be called civilized—in a country 
 which had nobly worked out its own freedom—in a country 
 where the men were brave and the women beautiful. Amongst 
 the descendants of Englishmen—even amongst such was to be 
 found a horrible population, whose thirst for gold could only 
 be gratified at the expense of such scenes of human suffering; 
 a population who were insensible to the wrath of God, who 
 were insensible to the cries and screams of mothers and chil¬ 
 dren, torn from each other for ever. But there was one thins 
 they would not be insensible to—they dare not, they would 
 not be insensible to the contempt of Europe. (Loud cheers.) 
 While they embraced the American Abolitionists as friends and 
 brothers, let none of the slave-owners, dealers in human flesh, 
 dare to set a foot upon our free soil. (Cheering.) Let them 
 call upon the Government to protest to America, that they 
 would not receive any slaveholding ambassador. (Loud cheer¬ 
 ing.) Let them declare that no slave-owner can be admitted 
 into European society; and then Calhoun and Clay, and men 
 like them, who stand up putting forth their claims to be Pre¬ 
 sident of the great Republic, must yield to the public, univer¬ 
 sal opinion. He had made mention of those two men—he 
 would only say that Calhoun was branded with the blood issu¬ 
 ing from the stripes of the slave, and Clay drowned in the 
 tears of the mothers and the children. (Cheers.) Let the 
 people of Europe say to slave-owners, “ Murderers, you belong 
 2 
 
not to us ! Away to the desort, and herd with kindred sav¬ 
 ages !” (Cheers.) He begged pardon of the savage. (Laugh¬ 
 ter.) Sometimes in anger lie committed heinous crimes, but 
 he was incapable of coolly calculating how long or how hard 
 he could work a human being with a profit,—sometimes grant¬ 
 ing him a boon for the purpose of obtaining a year or two more 
 of labor out of him. Well, are we to remain passive as hither¬ 
 to ? (Loud cries of “No, no !”) Let our declaration also go 
 abroad. Let this Society adopt it—let the benevolence and 
 good sense of Englishmen make that declaration. If an 
 American addresses you, find out at once if he be a slave¬ 
 holder. (Hear, hear.) He may have business with you, and 
 the less you do with him, the better (a laugh) ; but the moment 
 that is over, turn from him as if he had the cholera or the 
 plague (cheers)—for there is a moral cholera and a political 
 plague upon him. (Cheers.) He belongs not to your country 
 or your clime—he is not within the pale of civilization or Chris¬ 
 tianity. (Cheers.) Let us rally for the liberty of the human 
 race (applause)—no matter in what country or in what clime 
 he is found, the slave is entitled to our protection; no matter 
 of what caste, of what creed, of what color, he is your fellow- 
 man—he is suffering injustice; and British generosity, which 
 has done so much already, ought to be cheered to the task by 
 the recollection of the success it has already attained. (Cheers.) 
 * * * I am zealous in the cause, to be sure, but inefficient— 
 acknowledging the humility of the individual, I am still swelled 
 by the greatness of the cause. My bosom expands, and I glory 
 in the domestic struggle for freedoni which gave me a title to 
 stand among you, and to use that title in the best way I can, 
 to proclaim humanity to man, and the abolition of slavery all 
 over the world.— Speech delivered at the Anniversary of the 
 British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society , 1840. 
 
 From this spot, I wish to rouse all the high and lofty pride 
 of the American mind. Republicanism necessarily gives a 
 higher and prouder tone to the human mind than any other 
 form of government. I am not comparing it with any thing 
 else at present; but all history shows there is a pride about 
 republicanism, which perhaps, is a consolation to the republi¬ 
 can for any privations he may suffer, and a compensation for 
 many things in which he may possibly be inferior; but from 
 this spot, I repeat, I wish to rouse all the honesty and pride 
 of American youth and manhood ; and would that the voice 
 of civilized Europe would aid me in the appeal, and swell my 
 feeble voice to one shout of honest indignation : and when these 
 Americans point to their boasted Declaration of Independence, 
 
/ 
 
 19 
 
 exclaim, “ Look at jour practice!” Can there be faith in 
 man, or reliance placed in human beings, who thus contrast 
 their action with their declarations ? * * * That was the first 
 phrase of their boasted Declaration of Independence. What 
 was the last?—“ To these principles w T e solemnly pledge our 
 lives,” (invoking the name of the great God, and calling for 
 his aid,) “ we solemnly pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our 
 sacred honor.” It has the solemnity without the profaneness 
 of an oath; it speaks in the presence of the living God; it 
 pledges life, fortune, and sacred honor to the principles they 
 assert. How can they lay claim to “ sacred honor,” with this 
 dark, emphatic, and diabolical violation of their principles 
 staring them in the face ? No! America must know that all 
 Europe is looking at her, and that her Senate, in declaring 
 that there is property in human beings, has violated her oath 
 to God, and “ sacred honor” to men. Will the American come 
 down upon me, then, with his republicanism ? I wfill meet him 
 with the taunt, that he has mingled perjury with personal dis¬ 
 grace and dishonor, and inflicted both with a double barb into 
 the character of any man who claims property in any human 
 being. France, and even England, might possibly adopt such 
 a resolution without violating their national honor, because they 
 have made no such declarations as America, and therefore she 
 is doubly dyed in disgrace by the course she has taken, in open 
 opposition to her own charter of Independence. * * * I rejoice 
 to hear the present agitation is striking terror into the hearts 
 of the slave-mongers, whose selfish interests, vile passions, and 
 predominant pride, with all that is bad and unworthy coin- 
 mingled, make them whiling to retain their hold of human pro¬ 
 perty, and to work with the bones and blood of their fellow- 
 creatures ; "whilst a species of democratic aristocracy, the 
 filthiest aristocracy that ever entered into civilized society, is 
 set up in the several States—an aristocracy that wishes to have 
 property without the trouble and toil of earning it, and to set 
 themselves above men, only to plunder them of their natural 
 rights, and to live solely upon their labor. Thus, the gratifica¬ 
 tion of every bad passion, and every base emotion of the human 
 mind is enlisted in defence of the slaveholder’s right. When 
 we turn our eyes upon America, we see in her Declaration of 
 Independence the display of the democratic element of popu¬ 
 lar feeling against every thing like tyranny or oppression. 
 But when I come to the District of Columbia, there I see in 
 the capital and temple of freedom, the negro chained to his 
 toil, and writhing beneath the lash of his taskmaster, and the 
 negress doomed to all the horrors of slavery. There I see 
 
20 
 
 their infant, yet unable to understand what it is that tortures 
 its father or distracts its mother; while that mother is cursing 
 its existence, because it is not a man, but a slave; and almost 
 wishing—ah ! what a wringing thought to a mother’s heart— 
 that the child might sink into an early grave, rather than be¬ 
 come the property of an excruciating tyrant, and the instru¬ 
 ment of wealth to others, without being able to procure com¬ 
 fort and happiness for itself. That is America; that is the 
 land of the free; these are the illustrations of the glorious 
 principles laid down in the Declaration of American Indepen¬ 
 dence ! These evils, inflicted as they are by the democratic 
 aristocracy of the States, are worse than ever w T ere inflicted 
 by the most kingly aristocracy, or the most despotic tyranny. 
 
 I do not mean any thing offensive to our American friends 
 present, but I do say, there is written in letters of blood upon 
 the American escutcheon, robbery and murder, and 4 plunder 
 of human beings. I recognize no American as a fellow-man, 
 except those who belong to anti-slavery societies. Those who 
 uphold slavery are not men as we are, they are not honest as 
 we are; and I look upon a slaveholder as upon a pickpocket, 
 who violates the common laws of property and honesty. 
 
 They say that by their Constitution, they are prevented 
 from emancipating the slaves in the slaveholding States; but 
 I look in the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitu¬ 
 tion of 1787, and I defy them to find a single word about 
 slavery, or any provision for holding property in man. 
 
 No man can deny the personal courage of the American peo¬ 
 ple. With the recollections of the battles of Bunker’s Hill and 
 Saratoga,—of which, indeed, I might be reminded by the 
 portrait which hangs opposite to me, of one of the officers who 
 took an active part in those conflicts, (Earl of Moira.)— 
 with the recollection, I say, of those battles it would be dis¬ 
 graceful and dishonest to deny to the American people per¬ 
 sonal courage and bravery. There exists not a braver people 
 upon the face of the earth. But, amongst all those who com¬ 
 posed the Convention of 1787, there was not one man who 
 had the moral courage—I was about to say the immoral 
 courage—to insert the word slavery in the Constitution. 
 No ! they did not dare pronounce the word ; and if they did 
 not dare to use the word slavery, are they to be allowed to 
 adopt the thing? Is America to shake her star-spangled 
 banner in the breeze, and boast of liberty, while she is con¬ 
 scious that that banner floats over the heads of slaves ? Oh, 
 but they call it (i persons held to labor”—that is the phrase ^ 
 they use in their Constitution; but dare any one say that sla- 
 
21 
 
 very is implied in those words ? The term applies to any 
 person who enters into a contract to labor, for a given period, 
 as by the month or year, or for an equivalent; but his doing 
 so does not constitute him a slave, surely ; the very term is 
 disgraceful to nature, and an affront to nature’s God. No 
 wonder the word was not in their declaration; you would not 
 look to find words of injustice and cruelty in a declaration of 
 honesty and humanity. I repeat it, they have not used the 
 word. They meant slavery: they intended to have slaves, 
 but they dared not employ the word; and “ persons held to 
 labor” was as near as they dared approach to it. Can you con¬ 
 ceive of a deeper crime than slavery ? A crime which includes 
 * in it injustice and cruelty, which multiplies robberies and 
 murders ! Ay, there is one thing worse even than this, and 
 that is hypocrisy added to it. Let hypocrisy be superinduced 
 on injustice, and you have, indeed, a character fit to mingle 
 with the murky powers of darkness ; and the Americans (I 
 speak not of them all, there are many noble exceptions) have 
 added hypocrisy to their other accomplishments. They say 
 they have no power to emancipate their slaves: is that the 
 real reason ? It may be, that they have not power to do so 
 in some particular States; but then, what shall be said of the 
 District of Columbia ? There they are not bound by any re¬ 
 striction ; yet in that District there are slaves, and there they 
 furnish further proof of their hypocrisy. Oh, say they, we 
 are the finest gentlemen, the wisest statesmen, and most pro¬ 
 found legislators in the world. We are ardent lovers of liberty, 
 we detest slavery, and we lament that we have not the power 
 to make all free. Then I whisper, Columbia! Columbia ! 
 You have the power there, you have the authority there, to 
 remove this foul blot; you have the means and opportunities; 
 you have, in short, every thing but the will: the will alone is 
 wanting; and, with all your professions, you are hypocrites. 
 
 But I will now turn to a subject of congratulation : I mean 
 the Anti-Slavery Societies of America—those noble-hearted 
 men and women, who, through difficulties and dangers, have 
 proved how hearty they are in the cause of abolition. I hail 
 them all as my friends, and wish them to regard me as a 
 brother. I wish for no higher station in the world; but I do 
 covet the honor of being a brother with these American Abo¬ 
 litionists. In this country, the Abolitionists are in perfect 
 safety; here we have fame and honor; we are lauded and en¬ 
 couraged by the good ; we are smiled upon and cheered by the 
 fair; we are bound together by godlike truth and charity ; and 
 though we have our differences as to points of faith, we have 
 
22 
 
 no difference as to this point, and we proceed in our useful 
 career esteemed and honored. But it is not so with our anti- 
 slavery friends in America : there they are vilified, there they 
 are insulted. Why, did not very lately a body of men—of 
 gentlemen, so called—of persons who would be angry if you 
 denied them that cognomen, and would even be ready to call 
 you out to share a rifle and a ball—did not such “ gentlemen” 
 break in upon an Anti-Slavery Society in America; aye, upon 
 a ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society, and assault them in a most 
 cowardly manner ? And did they not denounce the members 
 of that Society ? And where did this happen ? 'Why, in Boston 
 —in enlightened Boston, the capital of a non-slaveholding 
 State. In this country, the Abolitionists have nothing to com¬ 
 plain of; but in America, they are met with the bowie-knife 
 and lynch law ! Yes ! in America, you have had martyrs; 
 your cause has been stained with blood; the voice of your 
 brethren’s blood crieth from the ground, and riseth high, not, 
 I trust, for vengeance, but for mercy, upon those who have thus 
 treated them. But you ought not.to be discouraged, or relax 
 in your efforts. Here you have honor. A human being can¬ 
 not be placed in a more glorious position than to take up such 
 a cause under such circumstances. I am delighted to be one 
 of a Convention in which are so many of such great and good 
 men. I trust that their reception will be such as that their 
 zeal may be greatly strengthened to continue their noble 
 struggle. I have reason to hope that, in this assembly, a voice 
 will be raised which will roll back in thunder to America, 
 which will 'mingle with her mighty waves, and which will cause 
 one universal shout of liberty to be heard throughout the world. 
 Oh, there is not a delegate from the Anti-Slavery Societies of 
 America, but ought to have his name, aye, her name, written 
 in characters of immortality! The Anti-Slavery Societies in 
 America are deeply persecuted, and are deserving of every en¬ 
 couragement which we can possibly give them. I would that 
 I had the eloquence to depict their character aright; but my 
 tongue falters, and my powers fail, while I attempt to describe 
 them. They are the true friends of humanity, and would that 
 I had a tongue to describe aright the mighty majesty of their 
 undertaking ! I love and honor America and the Americans. 
 I respect their great principles ; their untiring industry ; their 
 lofty genius ; their social institutions ; their morals, such morals 
 as can exist with slavery—God knows they cannot be many— 
 but I respect all in them or about them that is good. But, at 
 the same time, I denounce and anathematize them as slave¬ 
 holders, and hold them up to the scorn of all civilized Europe. 
 
I would that the government of this country would tell the 
 United States of America, that they must send no more slave¬ 
 holding negotiators here ! 
 
 I will tell you a little anecdote. Last year, I was accosted 
 with great civility, by a well-dressed, gentleman-like person, 
 in the lobby of the House of Commons. He stated that he 
 was from America, and was anxious to be admitted to the 
 House. “ From what State do you come?” “From Ala¬ 
 bama.” “ A slaveholder, perhaps?” “Yes.” “ Then,” said 
 I, “ I beg to be excused;” and so I bowed and left him. Now, 
 that is an example which I wish to be followed. Have no in¬ 
 tercourse with a slaveholder. You may, perhaps, deal with 
 him as a man of business, but, even then, you must act with 
 caution, as you would with a pickpocket and a robber. You 
 ought to be very scant of courtesy toward him, at least until 
 he has cleared himself of the foul imputation. Let us beware 
 of too much familiarity with such men; and let us plainly and 
 honestly tell them, as a Convention, what we think of them. 
 I am not for the employment of force ; no—let all be done by 
 the statement of indisputable facts ; by the diffusion of infor¬ 
 mation ; by the union of benevolent minds; by our bold de¬ 
 termination to expose tyranny and cruelty; by proclaiming to 
 the slaveholders that, so long as they have any connection with 
 the accursed traffic in human beings, we hold them to be a 
 different race. Why should it not be so ? Why should we not 
 shrink from them, as we would with shuddering from the ap¬ 
 proach of the vilest reptiles ? The declaration of such views 
 and feelings from such a body of men as are now before me, 
 will make the slaveholders tremble. My voice is feeble, but I 
 have no doubt but what I say will reach them, and that it will 
 have some influence upon them. They must feel that they can¬ 
 not much longer hold the sway. One of the great objects of 
 my hope*is to affright the Americans by laying hold upon their 
 pride, their vanity, their self-esteem, by commending what is 
 excellent in them, and by showing how very far they come 
 short in those proprieties upon which they boast themselves. I 
 would have this Convention avail themselves of all such aids, 
 and to urge them by every possible argument to abandon the 
 horrid vice by which their character is so foully disfigured. 
 * * * We have proof this day that there are those who love 
 the cause of freedom in every part of the globe. And why 
 should it not be so ? Why should not all unite in such a 
 glorious cause? We are all formed by the same Creator; we 
 are alike the objects of the same watchful Providence ; we are 
 all the purchase of the same redeeming blood; we have one 
 
21 
 
 common Saviour ; ;:nd our hearts beat high with the same im¬ 
 mortal hopes. And -why should any portion of the human 
 race be shut out from our affection and regard ? * * * 0, let 
 our word go forth from this place, that we do not deem the. 
 Americans Christians, by whatever name they are called, 
 whether Episcopalians, or Baptists, or Independents, or Metho¬ 
 dists, or whatever other name,—that w T e regard them not as 
 Christians at all, unless they cordially unite with us in this 
 great work. We honor all that is really good in America, and 
 would have it all on our side in this glorious struggle—in this 
 holy cause. Let us unite and persevere, and, by the blessing 
 of God, and the aid of good men, freedom will, ere long, wave 
 her triumphant banner over emanoipated America, and we 
 shall unite with the whole world to rejoice in the result.— 
 Speech at the World's Anti-Slavery Convention , held in Free¬ 
 mason s Hall , London , June , 1840. 
 
 At a Special meeting of the Loyal National Repeal Associi- 
 tion, held in the Great Room, Corn Exchange, Dublin, May, 
 9, 1843,—James Haughtgn, Esq., in the chair, — 
 
 Mr. O’Connell said :—The Association had adjourned to 
 that day for the purpose of receiving a communication with 
 which they had been honored from the Anti-Slavery Society 
 of America—a body of men whom they most entirely respect 
 —whose objects should be cherished in their hearts’ core— 
 whose dangers enhanced their virtues—and whose persevering 
 patriotism would either write their names on the pages of tem¬ 
 poral history, or impress them in a higher place, where eternal 
 glory and happiness would be the reward of their exertions. 
 (Cheers.) His impressions were so strong in favor of the Anti- 
 Slavery Society of America, that he thought it would not be 
 so respectful as he would desire, if he brought forward that 
 document in the routine of business on the last day, when it 
 could not be so much attended to as it deserved. (Hear, hear.) 
 It was out of respect to the people who sent that document, that 
 they had adjourned ; and he might say, that personal respect 
 for the Chairman was mixed up with that consideration. (Cheers.) 
 They could not have sent a better message, or a more sincere 
 one ; and, if he now had the kindness to make the communi¬ 
 cation, they would receive it with the respect it deserved. 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 The Anti-Slavery Address having been read,— 
 
 Mr. O’Connell then said :—I rise with the greatest alacrity 
 to move that that most interesting document be inserted on the 
 minutes, and that the fervent thanks of the Repeal Association 
 of Ireland be by acclamation voted to the writers of it. I 
 
25 
 
 never in my life heard anything read that imposed more upon 
 my feelings, and excited a deeper sympathy and sorrow within 
 me. I never, in fact, before knew the horrors of slavery in 
 their genuine colors. It is a production framed in the purest 
 effort of simplicity, but, at the same time, powerful in its sen¬ 
 timents, so at once to reach the human heart, and stir up the 
 human feelings to sorrow and execration—sorrow for the vic¬ 
 tims, and execration for the tyrants. (Loud cries of hear, 
 hear, and cheers.) It will have its effect throughout Ireland; 
 for the Irish people did not know what was, alas ! familiar to 
 you, Sir, and to me,—the real state of slavery in America, and 
 of the unequaled evils it inflicts; for slavery, wherever it ex¬ 
 ists, is the bitterest potion that can be commended to the lips 
 of man. Let it be presented in any shape, and it mnst dis¬ 
 gust, for a curse inherent to it grows with it, and inflicts op¬ 
 pression and cruelty wherever it descends. (Hear, hear, and 
 cheers.) We proclaim it an evil; and though, as a member of 
 this Association, I am not bound to take up any national 
 quarrel, still, I do not hesitate to declare my opinions; I never 
 paltered in my own sentiments. (Cheers.) I never said a 
 word in mitigation of slavery in my life; and I would consider 
 myself the most criminal of human beings if I had done so. 
 (Hear, and cheers.) 
 
 Yes, I will say, shame upon every man in America, who is 
 not an anti-slavery man ; shame and disgrace upon him ! I 
 don’t care for the consequences. I will not restrain my hon¬ 
 est indignation of feeling. I pronounce every man a faithless 
 miscreant, who does not take a part for the abolition of slav¬ 
 ery. (Tremendous cheering for several minutes.) It may be 
 said that offence will be taken at these words. Come what 
 may from them, they are my words. (Renewed applause.) 
 The question never came regularly before us until now. We 
 had it introduced collaterally; we had it mentioned by per¬ 
 sons who were friends of ours, and who were endeavoring to 
 maintain good relations between us and the slaveholders, but 
 it is only now that it comes directly before us. We might 
 have shrunk from the question by referring the document to a 
 committee; but, I would consider such a course unworthy of 
 me, enjoying as I do the confidence of the virtuous, the re¬ 
 ligious, and the humane people of Ireland ; for I would be un¬ 
 fit to be what I desire to consider myself, the representative 
 of the virtues of the people, if I were not ready to make every 
 sacrifice for them, rather than to give the least sanction to 
 human slavery. 
 
 They say that the slaves are worse treated since the cry of the 
 
26 
 
 Abolitionists has been raised in their favor, as it has made 
 their masters more suspicious of them, and more severe against 
 them; but has that any weight with me ? How often was I 
 told, during our agitation,that “ the Catholics would be emanci¬ 
 pated but for the violence of that O’Connell!” (Laughter.) 
 Why, one of the cleverest men in the country wrote a pamphlet 
 ift 1827, in which he stated that the Protestants of Ireland 
 would have emancipated their Catholic countrymen long be-’ 
 fore, but for me, and fellows of my kind; and yet, two years 
 after, I got emancipation in spite of them. (Cheers.) But it 
 is clearly an insult to the understanding to speak so. When 
 did tyranny relax its gripe merely because it ought to do so? 
 (Hear.) As long as their was no agitation, the masters en¬ 
 joyed the persecution of their slaves in quietness; but the mo¬ 
 ment the agitation commenced, they cried out, “ Oh, it is not 
 the slaves we are flogging, but we are flogging through his 
 back the anti-slavery men.” (Laughter.) But the subject is 
 too serious for ridicule. I am afraid they will never give up 
 slavery until some horrible calamity befalls their country; and 
 I here warn them against the event, for it is utterly impossible 
 that slavery can continue much longer. (Hear, hear.) But, 
 good Heaven! can Irishmen be found to justify, or rather to 
 palliate, (for no one could dare attempt to justify,) a system 
 which shuts out the book of human knowledge, and seeks to 
 reduce t6 the condition of a slave, 2,500,000 human beings : 
 which closes against them not only the light of human science, 
 but the rays of divine revelation, and the doctrines which the 
 Son of God came upon the earth to plant! The man who will 
 do so belongs not to my kind. (Hear, hear.) Over the broad 
 Atlantic I pour forth my voice, saying, “ Come out of such a 
 land, you Irishmen ; or, if you remain, and dare countenance 
 the system of slavery that is supported there, we will recog¬ 
 nize you as Irishmen no longer.” (Hear, hear, and cheers.) 
 
 I say the man is not a Christian,—he cannot believe in the 
 binding law of the Decalogue. He may go to the chapel or 
 the church, and he may turn up the whites of his eyes, but he 
 cannot kneel as a Christian before his Creator, or he would 
 not dare to palliate such an infamous system. No, America ! 
 the black spot of slavery rests upon your star-spangled banner; 
 and no matter what glory you may acquire beneath it, the 
 hideous, damning stain of slavery rests upon you, and a just 
 Providence will sooner or later avenge itself for your crime. 
 (Loud and continued cheers.) Sir, I have spoken the senti¬ 
 ments of the Repeal Association. (Renewed cheers.) There 
 is not a man amongst the hundreds of thousands that belong 
 
ft 
 
 27 
 
 to our body, or amongst the millions that will belong to it, who 
 does not concur in what I have stated. We may not get money 
 from America after this declaration; but even if we should 
 not, we do not want blood-stained money. (Hear, hear.) If 
 they make it the condition of our sympathy, or if there be im¬ 
 plied any submission to the doctrine of slavery on our part, in 
 receiving their remittance, let them cease sending it at once. 
 But there are wise and good men every where, and there are 
 wise and good men in America—and that document which you 
 have read, Sir, is a proof, among others, that there are ; and 
 I would wish to cultivate the friendship of such men; but the 
 criminals and the abettors—those who commit, and those who 
 countenance the crime of slavery—I regard as the enemies of 
 Ireland, and I desire to have no sympathy or support from 
 them. (Cheers.) 
 
 I have the honor to move that this document be inserted in 
 full upon our minutes, and that the most grateful thanks of 
 the Repeal Association be given to the Anti-Slavery Society 
 of America, who sent it to us, and in particular, to the two 
 office bearers, whose names are signed to it. 
 
 At a meeting of the Loyal National Repeal Association, in 
 Dublin, August 8, 1843, Mr. O’Connell, in the course of a 
 powerful Anti-Slavery speech, said :— 
 
 A disposition was evinced in America to conciliate the 
 opinion of that Association in favor of the horrid system of 
 slavery, but they refused, of course, to show any sanction to it. 
 (Hear, and cheers.) 
 
 He had taken an active part m the Anti-Slavery Society 
 from the moment that he was competent to discover any one 
 body of men acting for the extinction of slavery all over the 
 world ; and he stood in that Association as the representative 
 of the Irish people, who had themselves suffered centuries of 
 persecution, because they were attached to humanity, and to 
 what justice and reason demanded ; for if they had chosen to 
 be silent, and had bowed to authority—if they had acquiesced 
 in the dictation of their masters and tyrants, they would have 
 escaped many temporary sufferings, but they would not have 
 acquired the glory of having adhered with religious fidelity to 
 their principles. Standing as their representative, he could 
 not act otherwise than he had done, though the liberty of Ire¬ 
 land, the repeal of the Union itself, were to abide the result. 
 He was bound not to look to consequences, but to justice and 
 humanity; and come what wonld, he did not hesitate to throw 
 heart and soul into his opposition to the system that would 
 treat human beings as brute beasts of the field. He spoke 
 
 
28 
 
 distinctly and emphatically, for as he wanted to make an im¬ 
 pression, he used harder words than he would have done, if he 
 did not know that harsh words were necessary to rouse the 
 selfish temperament of the domineering master of slaves. And 
 he did make that sensation, and he was glad of it. 
 
 At a meeting of the Loyal National Repeal Association, held 
 in Conciliation Hall, Dublin, Sept. 29th, 1845, Mr. O’Connell, 
 speaking on the subject of American slavery, said: 
 
 I have been assailed for attacking the American institution, 
 as it is called, negro slavery. I am not ashamed of that attack— 
 I do not shrink from it. I am the advocate of civil and reli¬ 
 gious liberty all over the globe, and wherever tyranny exists, I 
 am the foe of the tyrant; wherever oppression shows itself, I 
 am the foe of the oppressor; wherever slavery rears its head, 
 I am the enemy of the system, or the institution, call it by 
 what name you will. (Great cheering.) I am the friend of 
 liberty in every clime, class, and color:—my sympathy with 
 distress is not confined within the narrow bounds of my own 
 green island—no, it extends itself to every corner of the earth 
 —my heart walks abroad, and wherever the miserable is to be 
 succored, and the slave is to be set free, there my spirit is at 
 home, and I delight to dwell in its abode. (Enthusiastic cheer¬ 
 ing.) It has been asked, What business has O'Connell to in¬ 
 terfere with American slavery ? Why, do not the Americans 
 shov us their sympathy for our struggles, and why should we 
 not show a sympathy in efforts for liberty amongst themselves? 
 (Cheers.) But I confess I have another strong reason for de¬ 
 siring to abolish slavery in America. In no monarchy on the 
 face of the earth is there such a thing as domestic slavery. It 
 is true, in some colonies belonging to monarchies, slavery exists; 
 but in no European country is there slavery at all, for the Rus¬ 
 sian serf is far different from the slave of America, and there¬ 
 fore I do not wish that any^over of liberty should be able to 
 draw a contrast between the democratic republic of America 
 and the despotic States of Europe. (Hear, hear.) I am in 
 favor of the democratic spirit, and I wish to relieve it from the 
 horrors of slavery. (Cheers.) I do not wish to visit America 
 with force and violence—I would be the last man in the world 
 to consent to it. I would not be for making war to free the 
 negro; at least not for the war of knife, and lash, and sword; 
 but I w T ould be for the moral warfare—I would be for the arms 
 of argument and humanity to procure the extinction of tyranny, 
 and to hurl contempt and indignation on those who call them¬ 
 selves freemen, and yet keep others in slavery. I would bring 
 elements of that kind to bear upon the system, until the very 
 
name of slavery should be regarded with horror in the republic 
 of America. (Cheers.) * * * * 
 
 In the year ’25, when I left my profession and went over to 
 England, there was an anti-slavery meeting, at which I was 
 present and spoke; and afterward, when I went to Parliament, 
 another meeting was appointed, greater in magnitude. The 
 West India interest was 27 strong in the House of Commons— 
 the Algerine bill was carried’through the House by a majority 
 of 19—therefore, the emancipation bill was in the power of the 
 West India interest; but when they sent a respected friend of 
 mine (the Knight of Kerry) to me, to ask why I did not take 
 a certain course with regard to it, what was my answer? “I 
 represent the Irish people here, and I.will act as the Irish 
 people will sanction. Come liberty, come slavery to myself, I 
 will never countenance slavery, at home or abroad !” (Cheers.) 
 I said I came here on principle; the Irish people sent me here 
 to carry out their principles; their principles are abhorrent of 
 slavery; and, therefore, I will take my part at that anti-slavery 
 meeting;’ and though it should be a blow against Ireland, it is 
 a blow in favor of human liberty, and I will strike that blow. 
 (Cheers.) So far was I from cultivating the slavery interest, 
 that I adopted that course, though I regretted to lose their 
 votes. But I must do them the credit to say, that I did not 
 lose them. They acted nobly, and said they would not revenge 
 upon Ireland my attack upon them. (Cheers.) * * Let 
 
 them blame me—in America let me be execrated by them—let 
 their support be taken from Ireland—Slavery, I denounce you 
 wherever you are! (Loud cheers.) Come freedom, come op¬ 
 pression to Ireland—let Ireland be as she may—I will have my 
 conscience clear before my God. (Continued cheers.) * * * 
 
 They were told that the speech he made in that room would 
 put an end to the remittances from America; and that the Ame¬ 
 ricans would not again contribute to the funds of the Associa¬ 
 tion. If they should never get one shilling from America, his 
 course w T as plain, his path was obvious. He was attached to 
 liberty; he was the uncompromising hater of slavery wherever 
 it was to be found. (Cheers.) 
 
 Have I traduced the Americans, when I talked of the horrors 
 of domestic slavery? I happened to receive a New Orleans 
 paper, published in the centre of domestic slavery—it is called 
 the Jeffersonian Republic , and I shall read an extract from it. 
 B/ that I perceive that, in connection with the institution of 
 slavery in New Orleans—for I find that, in America, they call 
 it an institution—there are public whipping places; men are 
 licensed to keep shambles of torture (hear, hear); the master 
 
sends his slave to those shambles, there to get one hundred 
 lashes, and the man gets the hundred lashes, or whatever de¬ 
 gree of punishment his master desires. (Hear, hear.) There 
 are actually shambles kept there for the torture of slaves, and 
 there are persons who earn a livelihood—what a hideous live¬ 
 lihood!—by flogging human beings at the instance of those 
 who are called their masters. (Hear, hear.) Am I to blame 
 if I attack a system of‘that kind? (Hear, hear.) Male or 
 female, young or old, whipped at the discretion of a man whose 
 only limit is not actually killing the individual! (Hear, hear.) 
 They would thus make the slave declare whether he is guilty 
 of a theft or not. Are they, I ask, Christian meti who endure 
 to see these scenes going on around them? (Hear, hear.) Re¬ 
 collect that this is not the statement of a calumniator, or a 
 libeler, or foreign emissary, but it is the statement published 
 in the darkest hole of slavery, New Orleans itself. (Hear, 
 hear .)—Speech before the Dublin Repeal Association , Septem¬ 
 ber , 1844. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 FROM THE MEMBERS OF THE CUFFE-LANE TEMPERANCE 
 SOCIETY TO THEIR BRETHREN IN AMERICA. 
 
 Dublin, February, 1847. 
 
 To Irishmen in America ; 
 
 Countrymen: From recent information that we have re¬ 
 ceived on the subject of slavery, as it exists in the country of 
 your adoption, our hearts have been warmed afresh with zeal 
 on behalf of freedom, and our sympathies re-kindled in favor 
 of the American slave, who is deprived of all his rights, and 
 subjected to the irresponsible will of his master. 
 
 Countrymen! our hearts burn with indignation at the 
 thoughts of this injustice to our fellow-creatures, who are 
 children of the same God as we are, and destined to a similar 
 glorious end. 
 
 We have heard, fellow-countrymen, with feelings of c^eep 
 sorrow, that many of you are indifferent to the wrongs of the 
 slave, and that some are to be found even in the ranks of those 
 who chain, and whip, and lacerate him; and who, without pity 
 or remorse, forcibly separate husbands and wives, parents and 
 
children, selling them at the auction-table to the highest 
 bidder! 
 
 By all your memories of Irishmen, by all your love of Fa¬ 
 therland, we entreat you not to disgrace the land of your birth, 
 by aiding the tyrant in the land of your adoption to rivet the 
 chains on his victim! 
 
 What right have you to enslave the colored man ? Did not 
 God create him in His own image as well as } 7 ou ? If you are 
 authorized to keep him in bondage, show us your license from 
 the Lord of earth and heaven! 
 
 God has placed an instinct within your bosoms, which tells 
 you that “man is created free and equal, and that all are alike 
 entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 
 
 Countrymen! we appeal to you in the name of the Declara¬ 
 tion of Independence, which guarantees to every inhabitant of 
 the United States of America the priceless boon of liberty, but 
 which instrument has been basely trampled under foot, in rela¬ 
 tion to three millions of the people of that republic. 
 
 On'the fourth day of July, every year, you and every citizen 
 of America celebrate your freedom from political servitude. 
 Perform this act of hypocrisy no more, until the colored man 
 can unite in the joyful hymn of thanksgiving. 
 
 In a word, countrymen, we call upon you to be true to the 
 principles of Liberty and Justice. Pursue a contrary course, 
 and you will disgrace your country, and impede her advance¬ 
 ment on the road of freedom. 
 
 We need your sympathy, as you need ours, for the promotion 
 of the principles of Truth and Justice at home and abroad; and 
 neither of us can help the other, if we are false to God’s 
 in our own hearts. 
 
 We remain, countrymen and friends, faithfully yours, 
 
 John Spratt, D. D., President of the Society , 
 Chapel House, Angier St., Dublin. 
 
 James Haughton —and 881 others. 
 
 TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF O’CONNELL 
 
 [From the Annual Report of the Massachusetts A. S. Society, 1847.] 
 
 The last year has been marked in the annals of Ireland, 
 and of the world, by the death of the great O’Connell. This 
 is no place to recount his history or to pronounce his eulogy. 
 
It is for others to tell his labors in behalf of the great move¬ 
 ments for the Relief of his Religion, for the Reform of Par¬ 
 liament, and for the Repeal of the Union. But to his ear¬ 
 nestness in th§ cause of West Indian Emancipation, his 
 readiness to denounce the Colonization imposture when ex¬ 
 posed to him by Mr. Garrison, his indignant contempt of 
 slaveholders and their apologists, and his consistent hatred of 
 Slavery and readiness to co-operate with the Abolitionists, we 
 may be permitted to pay the tribute of our admiration and 
 gratitude. He died at Genoa, on the 15th of May, 1847, in 
 the 72d year of his age, while upon a pilgrimage to the me¬ 
 tropolis of his ancient Faith, of which he was ever a zealous 
 votary and a duteous son. But his frame was too much shat¬ 
 tered by his toils and sufferings to permit him to reach the 
 Head of his Church. Few men have left behind them a more 
 famous name, or one that excites more opposite emotions in 
 the hearers’ minds. No one of his times was better hated 
 and better loved than he. No man’s character was submitted 
 to such opposite constructions. But when the evil and the 
 good that he has left behind him shall be pondered.in the im¬ 
 partial balance of posterity, we believe that his services in 
 the cause of civil and religious liberty, his recognition of 
 moral power and the renunciation of violence and bloodshed 
 of his later years, will be found to outweigh his errors, and 
 that he will be recognized as among the foremost of the friends 
 of mankind. 
 


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