﻿416
AN GAODHAL.
McSWEENEY
Mr Blaine has been accused of tak¬
ing no interest in McSweeney and o¬
thers who were immured in British pri¬
sons. What special interest could any
Republican official, unless one possess¬
ed of spartan virtue, take in an Irish¬
man who has, up to now, been his po¬
litical enemy. The Brooklyn Eagle,
(controlled by Mr. Kinsly, an English¬
man, who, it is said, is not a citizen at
all, and who acted as chairman of the
King's Co. delegation to Chicago, and
who opened the Brooklyn Bridge on
Queen Victoria's birth day, and who
placed the lion's head over the en¬
trance, as an insult to every loyal cit¬
izen who goes the way, and who, no
doubt, would have christened it the
"Victoria Bridge" only that he was
afraid Rossa would have blown it up
with dynamite) has repeatedly during
this campaign referred to McSweeny's
case. But the Eagle must have very
short memory, or it must believe the
Irish to be "Grossly ignorant" idiots.
It is not long since it advocated the
HANDING OVER
of P. J. Sheridan to the British Gover¬
nment, and were Mr. Clevelnad in the
White House it is likely that he would
be handed over to its mercy!
March 22, '83. the Eagle writes —
But if Sheridan's extradition is refused it mus
not be on the ground that the Phoenix Park mur¬
ders were politcal offences; the killing of Lord
Cavendish and Mr. Burke was murder, villainous
and dastardly, and those concerned in it must b
treated accordingly.
If that be not acting the bloodhound
we dont know what is; and none but
a knave or an idiot would character¬
ize the Phoenix Park affair other than
a purely political transaction, whate¬
ver might be said of its judiciousness
But what chance would Irish politi¬
cal prisoners or refugees have if the
sentiments of the Eagle party prevail¬
ed in the Executive Chamber? None
whatever.
The Eagle is a consistent opponent
of the laboring classes. Seven years'
ago it gloated over the news which
came from Chicago, on the occasion of
the engineers' strike there, saying
that the "Rabble were moved down
with grape and cannister shot." On
Sept. 11, '84, it calls the Irish, "The
grossly ignorant" followers of Tweed;
on Oct. 3. '84. it calls them "Assas¬
sins," and yet its canny editor has the
audacious presumption to dictate to I¬
rishmen how they shall vote. Such
gratuitous insult could not be offered
to any other people with impunity.
Not only does this canny Scotchman
presume to boss Irishmen but he seeks
to villify those who will not be bossed
by him, by trying to draw a parallel
between them and a notorious indivi-
who had been schooled in iniquity in
his office — where he had excellent
preceptors. Our readers will under¬
stand that the notorious Jim McDer¬
mot was an honored member of the Ea¬
gle's staff for a number of years, and
we shall venture to say that he has
fully exemplified the lessons of honor
and morality inculcated there.
It has been persisted in that Mr Blaine was a
Know Nothing although, as recently stated in the
Gael, he could not be one, and, except six other
States, Conn.. N H,, R I., Mich., Vt. and Wis.
the State of Maine had less of the Know Nothing
element than any other State. The vote for Fill¬
more in Maine in '56 was 3000, in NY it is over
100,000! And in 60 it dwindled to nearly one-
half in Maine; as Mr. Blaine was gaining popu¬
larity the Know Nothing element declined, (The
reader would be well repaid by getting a recent
issue of the Irish World which gives the votes of
'56 and '60 by States; it is a valuable historical
document,) Four yesrs ago Hancock ran 8,000
votes behind Tilden because his wife was suppos¬
ed to be Catholic, Mayor Grace was cut 40 000
votes in NY City because he is a Catholic. Why,
the Republican party cannot hold a candle to the
Democratic party as far as knownothingism is
concerned,
Mr. Blaine deserves the gratitude of the patrio¬
tic American for frustrating the intentions of the
Third Termers for years' ago, Had Grant then
succeeded, good by to Republicanism; but then
there would be no fear of the firm of Grant and
Ward going under.
But the struggle of the Fourth of next month
is not of sentiment but one of life and death to
the working element. Let every one vote accord¬
ing to self interest, regardless of party affiliations,
as, strictly speaking, past party lines no longer
exist. No mechanic would vote to reduce his wa¬
ges were he sensible of the fact, but he who votes
for the free trade canidate will, assuredly, do so.
Let our Demcratic brethren nip this free trade
shoot in the bud. Let the vote Butler if they
dont like Mr. Blaine ; be aware of the man
who reduced the wages of the N Y pilots "because
they were charging higher than European pilots."
