CHAPTER XV

Gen. Cass' sympathy for the patriots of the old world-His readiness to welcome them to the United States-His participation with the Citizens of Washington, in expressing their congratulations at the success of the people of France in the late Revolution-Extract from his remarks on that occasion-His vote in the Senate on the resolution of congratulation-His resolution to suspend diplomatic intercourse with Austria-His remarks on the Bill offering aid to IrelandHis vote on the Bill-He supports the Bill authorizing the temporary occupation of Yucatan.

The oppressed inhabitants of the tyrannous governments of the old world have ever received from Gen. Cass his warmest sympathies and friendly exertions in their behalf. Willing to see the blessings of liberty, of free institutions and of civil and religious freedom enjoyed by all his fellow men, he has boldly stood forth, when others hesitated, and held out the hand of fellowship to the exile. Tyranny, in any form, whether it binds the body in manacles or closes the free utterance of the minds' thoughts, finds in him an uncompromising opponent. A witness of the sufferings, the wrongs and injustice borne by the king-ridden countries of Europe, where the people are but mechanical puppets, yielding obedience to the will of their monarchs, and kept in submission only by the physical force of standing armies, he could well understand how grateful to the fugitive to this asylum for the oppressed, is the word of welcome and the hand of friendly greeting; and when occasion offered no one has been more prompt to give public manifestations of that glorious impulse which would extend the area of freedom or render assistance to those struggling to obtain their rights and free themselves from the bondage of flagitious despotism. Let the shouts for freedom be heard in any quarter of the Old World, and he stands ready to send back its echoes from the New-to send to the brave patriots of other lands, the sympathies and encouragement of twenty millions of American free

men.

When the tidings reached this country of the late revolution in France, of the overthrow of the dynasty of Louis Phillippe, after the

struggles of eighteen years to build it up, he met with the citizens of Washington to rejoice in the success which hurled from power the ambitious and grasping Citizen King, and restored to the possession of the masses their rightful sovereignty. He addressed the meeting on that occasion, taking a brief review of the conditions of the European governments-the efforts of the people to establish their freedom and assume their proper part in adopting for their own governance a system founded on equality and justice, and in such form as would most surely ensure their safety and happiness. He traced the revolutions of the continent to their sources, to the abuses and oppressions which, for centuries, had been engrafting themselves upon those governments. The origin of the late movements in favor of liberty, he traced to the avowal by the present Pope, of his attachment to free principles. "One of the strangest events," said Gen. Cass, in the course of his remarks, "in this day of great events, is the origin of these movements in favor of liberty upon the continent of Europe. Whence came they? From the Eternal city-from the head of the Catholic religion-the successor of St. Peter. Immediately on his elevation to the Pontificate, the Pope avowed his attachment to free principles, and from the Vatican went out the decree, which is now spreading through the earth. The Pontiff, who holds the keys of St. Peter, has found a key to unlock the recesses of the human heart. His moral courage was but the more tried by the difficulties of his position. The abuses of the government were the work of ages, and had entered into all the habits of life and the ramifications of society; and he was surrounded by despotic governments, jealous of the first aspirations of liberty, and maintaining their sway by powerful armies. The Austrian, too, with his Pandours and his Croats from the banks of the Danube, had descended the ridges of the Alps, and had spread himself over the sunny plains of Italy. Almost in sight of the dome of St. Peter's, he watched, with interest and with many a threatening word, the progress of the Pope. But the work went on. Naples is in a state of revolution; Tuscany and Sardinia in a state of reform; and France of apparently peaceful progress in the new career opened to her."

He also supported and voted for the resolution, tendering the congratulations of Congress, in the name and behalf of the Ameri

can people, to the people of France, upon the success of their efforts to consolidate the principles of liberty in a republican form of government.

It was from the same desire to spread free principles and encourage the reformers of Europe, that Gen. Cass supported the proposition to send a Minister to the Papal States. Circumstances had occurred which contributed to awaken an interest in the political condition of the Pope's dominions. England, too, was discussing the propriety of having an acknowledged representative at the Papal court. The United States had commercial relations with that government, and many of her citizens were residents within the jurisdiction of the Pope. For the protection of these interests, Gen. Cass argued that policy and wisdom required that our government should have a representative there also.

The struggles of the brave Hungarians, to resist Austrian aggressions upon their constitutional rights-the unfortunate result of those efforts-and the cruelties and barbarities of the Austrian tyrants, when treachery had given them the power to torture and murder their victims, had awakened throughout Christendom the commisseration of civilized nations for the one, and indignation against the other. To Gen. Cass the opportunity seemed a meet one, to offer by one strong act of national legislation, the condolence of a great people to the oppressed, and an expression of their indignation towards the oppressor. Accordingly, on the 24th of December, 1849, he introduced in the Senate, a resolution instructing the committee on foreign relations to inquire into the expediency of suspending diplomatic relations with Austria. This resolution he advocated in an eloquent speech, setting forth the reasons why he proposed such a measure. It was for the purpose of rebuking, by public opinion expressed through an established government, in the name of a great republic, atrocious acts of despotism, by which human liberty and life had been sacrificed, under circumstances of audacious contempt for the rights of mankind and the sentiments of the civilized world, without a parallel even in this age of warfare between the oppressors and the oppressed; that the government of the United States might reflect the true sentiments of the people, and express its sympathy for struggling millions, seeking, in circumstances of peril and oppression,

that liberty which was given to them by God, but wrested from them by man. The effect of such an expression, is beautifully and powerfully portrayed in the following extract from his speech, in support of the resolution. He said :

"Here is an empire of freemen, separated by the broad Atlantic from the contests of force and opinion, which seem to succeed each other like the waves of the ocean in the mighty changes going on in Europe-twenty millions of people enjoying a measure of prosperity which God, in his providence, has granted to no other nation of the earth. With no interest to warp their judgment; with neither prejudice nor animosity to excite them; and with a public opinion as free as the air they breathe, they can survey these events as dispassionately as is compatible with that natural sympathy for the oppressed which is implanted in the human breast. Think you not, sir, that their voice, sent from these distant shores, would cheer the unfortunate onward in their work-would encourage them while bearing their evils to bear them bravely as men who hope-and when driven to resist by a pressure no longer to be borne, to exert themselves as men who peril all upon the effort? But where no demonstration of interest on the part of a government is called for by circumstances, a sound public opinion is ready to proclaim its sentiments, and no reserve is imposed upon their expression. It is common to this country, and to every country where liberal institutions prevail, and it is as powerful and as powerfully exerted in France and in England as in the United States. Its effects may not be immediately visible. But they are sure to come, and to come in power. Its voice is louder than the boom

ing of cannon; and it is heard on the very confines of civilization. Our declaration of independence has laid the foundation of mightier changes in the world than any event since the spirit of the Crusades precipitated Europe upon Asia with zealous but mistaken views of religious duty."

For the suffering sons of Ireland, Gen. Cass has publicly evinced, on several occasions, his warm friendship and sympathy. When famine and disease were decimating that unhappy country; when her noble hearted people had no bread, no resources, but to lay down and die from the cravings of hunger, he came to their aid with his eloquence and influence in the Senate of the United States,

and secured the adoption, by that body, of a bill authorizing the President to cause to be purchased such provisions as he might deem suitable and proper, and to cause the same to be transported and tendered, in the name of the government of the United States to that of Great Britain, for the relief of the people of Ireland and Scotland, suffering from the great calamity of scarcity and famine; and also authorizing the President, at his discretion, to employ any of the public ships of the United States for the transportation of the provisions to be purchased as aforesaid; and appropriating the sum of five hundred thousand dollars to carry into effect the provisions of the bill. Although Gen. Gass was aware that many of his political friends in the Senate, had doubts as to constitutional power of Congress to pass such a bill, he gave it his unqualified support. The following brief extract will show how deeply he felt for the sufferings of Ireland's oppressed children-her strong claims upon the sympathy of the United States-the advantages we have enjoyed by the immigration of her industrious, free-hearted sons, who have added to our numbers, and increased the elements of our power and prosperity. Mr. Cass said:-

"As one member of this body, I feel obliged to the senator from Kentucky for the motion, he has submitted, and for the appropriate remarks with which he introduced it. He has expressed my sentiments but with an eloquence peculiarly his own. While physical want is unknown in our own country, the angel of death is stryking down the famishing population of Europe, and especially the suffering people of Ireland. The accounts which reach us from that country, indicate a state of distress, in extent and degree, far exceeding any previous experience in modern times. It is a case beyond the reach of private charity. Its fountains are drying up before the magnitude of the evil. It is a national calamity, and calls for national contribution. The starving millions have no Egypt "where they can go and buy corn, that they may live and not die." From our granary of abundance let us pour forth supplies. Ireland has strong claims upon the sympathy of the United States. There are few of our citizens who have not Irish blood in their veins. That country has sent out a large portion of the emigrants who have added numbers to our population, industry and enterprise to our capital, and the other elements of