Memphis Daily Appeal
Memphis, Ten
May 4, 1861
Memphis, Ten
May 4, 1861
To the Editor of the New York Daily News:
I am an Irishman. I have been asked why I did not volunteer and march to put down the rebellion in the South. May I give three of my reasons through your columns? They are
I. I was a volunteer in our army in Mexico, and while I was there, men who now control and urge this civil war, were at home, and opposing the war against a foreign foe. Seward, Greeley, Corwin, Lincoln and Beecher, etc., denounced the war and the men who were carrying it on.
II. A few years ago, the Know-Nothing party seemed to be sweeping the whole country before them, and State after State, Massachusetts and New York even joined their ranks.
The Irishman and the German, the Catholic, was threatened with a withdrawal of the rights and equality which the Constitution and the laws secured to them.
Where, then, was the first bold, manly and successful uprising in the States for the foreign born citizens, and the rights of conscience for the Catholic?
It was in Old Virginia!
III. If I deny the right of the Southern people to state their grievances, and to judge when they may set up a Government themselves, how can I hereafter sustain Ireland and Hungary when they shall decide to establish separate governments for themselves, and to stand to their arms in the cause?I will stand on the defensive, against the South, if they attempt to invade us with a view to compel the Northern States to break up their Union, but I ask my Irish and American brethren to excuse me in their civil war, as it appears now.
Will you, in your columns, Mr. Editor, answer and refute my reasons? If I am wrong, show it to me, and I will retract. This is a land of free press and free discussion.
“County Cork.”
New York, April 24, 1861.