The Rhode Island Republican

To the Editor of the Republican.

SIR,

Some days since, observing two men engaged in conversation, I took the liberty to attend to the subject which they were discussing: One of the men appeared to be a native of Ireland, and one of those unfortunate persons, who have been driven from that ill-fated country by the cruel persecutions of the British government. His remarks made so forcible an impression on my mind, that I have been induced to commit them to paper, and send them to you for insertion if you shall think them proper.

"YOU, Sir, who have never been beyond the confines of your native country; who have never seen, who have never felt the oppressions of the Old World, may, with great propriety, prate about the usurpations of Bonaparte. You who have your knowledge and information through the medium of men who are unfriendly to the interest and welfare of America. I am ever disposed to pull down tyranny of every kind. It is immaterial to me whether I am deprived of my liberties by Englishmen or Frenchmen. Should the minions of either France or England pollute the sacred soil of America for that purpose, I would hazard my life to repel them; I would willingly lavish my small fortune to expel them. In the language of an inspired patriot, I would dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last intrenchment of liberty should be my grave.

Bonaparte has of late done much evil; and whether the crimes he has committed will be registered against him in Heaven's chancery, or against those men who were the primary movers of those wars he has waged with such unexampled cruelty, I cannot divine. Time was when I admired the man, when I venerated his character; but when he became a tyrant and usurper, I denounced him as unworthy of one whose all is embarked in the cause of humanity. When he renounced the cause he first espoused, and assimilated too much the characters of his enemies, I held him up to the world as an object of scorn and detestation. British crimes I have seen; British oppressions I have felt. My enmity to England is not founded upon any thing I have read, any thing that has been handed down to me in oral tradition, or any thing that has been told to me in story. No! but upon more than twenty years experience of their cruelties and oppressions!"