PRINCE, – As the contemplation of human events has occupied the serious attention and consideration of theologians, historians, philosophers, statesmen, and all other sound thinking men, since time immemorial, and that that combination of learned men, with the exception of those whose conceptions and understanding are clogged, or defiled by religious animosity, or altogether deprived of any belief of Christian principles, came to the conclusion that there is an invisible hand, agent, or power, that governs the action of men, and all acknowledge that government as the special and unerring arrangement of Divine Providence.
Prince, that providence raises some of his creatures to dignity and circumstance, and secures to them the full estimation and universal approbation of their contemporaries for some special purpose beyond the reach of human comprehension, and if those men will not claim that elevation to be peculiarly due to their own actions and qualifications, but will consider it an undeserved blessing bestowed upon them by the hand of Providence, the author of all goodness, the giver of all gifts, and the architect of the universe, such men will continue in the administration of justice, and their names will be transmitted to posterity; the prayers of millions yet unborn will follow them to their graves; their memories will be religiously observed and commemorated by the good, the wise, and the virtuous of all Christian denominations throughout the Christian world.
Prince, there can be no reasonable man but will acknowledge, and believe in the goodness of Divine Providence, if we only look to the liberation of St. Peter the apostle, from confinement, we must believe it had been effected by Divine Providence; and if we look back to your own former predicament, when implicated in the meshes of a ferocious and unapproachable tyranny, confined within the limits of an impregnable fortress, we must acknowledge emphatically, that some invisible Divine interposition effected your escape, and placed you on a throne more grand and glorious than those of kings and emperors, a throne created in the hearts of seven millions of Frenchmen; a throne more substantial and exalted than any acquired by hereditary humbug or any other stratagem. Prince, as Divine Providence has placed you on the pinnacle of fame, power, and dignity, basking in the brilliancy of a meridian blaze, your position will only be rendered permanent by the wisdom of your government.
A president of a great republic should know his dignity, and should also divest himself of ambition, intolerance, and all unjust severity incompatible with justice. By ambition, I mean a desire for a higher and more flourishing appellation, or title, than that of president. By intolerance, I mean, restrictions placed on the religious observance of those who religiously differ with us in religious opinion; for men, or any body of Christians, that sincerely and solemnly love the Lord, can hate no individual, or will do no harm, and are incapable, with divine assistance, of injuring a fellow-creature, with outrageous severity. By severity, I mean, those who have offended the State, by the dissemination of vice, and the corruption of virtue, as well as all other political transgressions, should not be tortured with excessive punishment, or excessive incarceration.
Prince, I do not accuse you of either ambition, intolerance or severity, and the way to fortify yourself against such misfortunes, is to adhere to the admonition of that church, in which you were baptized, in which you believe, in which you live, and in which you hope to die, as she will point out to you, the vanity of earthly and temporary distinctions and declarations, the shortness of time, and the length of eternity.
Prince, I am happy to think, that the discretion of your government, so far, is marked with prudential consideration, and merits great applause, and that your actions indicate fortitude, faith and fidelity, and that the political stretch of your imagination, is considered unequalled and impregnable, as you dispelled, and I may say annihilated forever, the framework of a fearful combination, that enveloped, not only France, but all Christendom, in the clouds of death and eternity, an illegitimate and unhallowed scheme, hatched by the vilest combination of organised corruption, the most dreadful, and the most wicked, that ever polluted or infringed on the laws of humanity. A dangerous faction leagued together, to destroy peace, severity, and morality, and to sap the foundation of religion, under the hypocritical and assumed title of socialism, that body has been disorganized with one blow by your assiduity, and the altars of the most high protected from sacrilegious hands, Europe saved from convulsions and unheard of atrocities.
Prince, as you are chosen the successful candidate, or rather, an instrument in the hands of Heaven I hope; there is another intervention I would suggest to your consideration, and that is, the emancipation of my unfortunate country. I am an Irishman, thank God, and proud of my native land, tho’ being in chains, and enslaved by the unjust tyranny of unhallowed rulers, yet a devoted citizen of the United States of America, my adopted country, and I know. Prince, you know the history of my native country to perfection, and any further investigation is unnecessary, and that by her emancipation, she would be restored to an elevated position to which she is entitled, and her position then would be, as it had been before her cancellation by British misrule, great, glorious and free.
Prince, Ireland has for a long time groaned under the oppression and intolerance of strangers. The most cruel, the most sanguinary, and the most desperate government that ever existed in any part of the civilized, or uncivilized part of the world, has crushed and impoverished my native country for centuries, and Prince, if you adhere to my admonition, the freedom of that country will be obtained without the effusion of much blood, losing much time, or expending much treasure. Harvest would be the best time for the invasion of Ireland, when provision would be most abundant and within the reach of the inhabitants, and by landing fifty thousand men, and five hundred thousand stand of arms in any two places in Munster, that is, twenty-five thousand at the mouth of the Shannon, and the same force in any point in the county Cork, the forces that would land at the mouth of the Shannon, to push with impetuosity thro’ the province of Connaught, and reach Ulster as soon as possible, to save the inhabitants of that province from the fury of their remorseless enemies, and the army that would land in the county of Cork to make a vigorous push for the capital, and confident I am, that that division of the force would be reinforced by five hundred thousand fighting men, before it would reach Dublin. After the subjugation of Ulster, it would be necessary to leave fifteen thousand effective men there to maintain the independence of the place, and render it impossible for the Scotch, England’s vassals, to interfere, and the other ten thousand to march to the capital to join the rest of the army.
Prince, there is another scheme I would suggest to your consideration, in connection with the invasion of Ireland, and that is, the invasion of England, make a simultaneous attack on the kingdom, send across to England three hundred thousand men, well disciplined, and under skilful commanders, and let them land in three different points; one-third the number would do, yet to do the business with dispatch, as you have men in abundance, and then, each division to push with intrepidity to the capital of the kingdom, and in one week after the landing of the troops, the independence of England will be within the limits of your grasp. One hundred pieces of heavy cannon will be necessary for the invasion of England, and fifty of the same calibre for the invasion of Ireland. By making an attack on both England and Ireland simultaneously, England could receive no assistance from Ireland, neither could Ireland receive any from England.
Prince, after the restoration of the two kingdoms to their freedom, or independence, let the government of the two kingdoms be liberal, solid and protective, somewhat similar to the established laws of this great and glorious republic. Let there be no restriction of religion, except in those imitations that would be dangerous to social order, and Christianity. Let every sect support the ministers pertaining to that sect, such liberality will secure individual happiness and universal esteem; peace, order, and harmony will triumphantly reign in both kingdoms, and nothing will mar the perpetuity of that happiness — particularly when sanctioned by man, and blessed by Divine Providence.
Prince, if you consider that I, as an individual, would be of any assistance in that enterprise, I am at your service, although advanced in years I think I would. My ambition and fortitude are as yet undiminished. I know my native language and can speak it with force and rapidity, and tactics are not beyond my comprehension, and to crown all, I am an honest, faithful, incorruptible patriot, who would not violate your confidence. I am willing, determined and venturesome though sometimes cautious, and prudentially restrained, and my age could be the only impediment; but mind you, Prince, that an old fox commits more depredation than all the cubs in his den.
Prince, I am not actuated by pomposity or any lucrative desire, or motive, when I offer myself, or my feeble assistance, for the achievement of the emancipation of my country. No, prince, I wish for no consideration, no office, no honours, all I will request is to put me in the front of the battle along with my countrymen, and if I fall the sacrifice is nothing. I am willing at any moment to shed my heart’s blood to gain the independence of my native land, which has been polluted, oppressed, impoverished, and persecuted for centuries, by an ambitious, tyrannical, unscrupulous, sanguinary and inexorable government, whose atrocities for centuries are beyond the power of my feeble and grovelling investigation.
Prince, although there can be no man more devoted to the welfare of his family than I, or more attached to my adopted country, yet I would commend all to the protection of Providence, this instant to join the invasion for the redemption of the Emerald Isle.
Prince, were I to fall in the attempt, in that unfortunate country, I would be sure of one thing which would give me unspeakable consolation, expecting, when the last trumpet would sound, I would arise in the association of a million of saints, who suffered martyrdom for the faith originally believed by Saint Patrick, and has been ever since unerringly preserved, and taught in all parts of the Christian world.
Prince, I am paternally descended from the ancient family of the O’Donovan’s, and maternally descended from the illustrious house of McCarthy, though living conveniently in my native country, to the vast estates and inheritance of both families. The day I left my native land, which has been twenty-eight years ago, I could not openly declare, without implicating myself in the meshes of official spies, who had inundated that unfortunate country at the time, and each more venomous and subtle than the seven-headed monster destroyed by the matchless strength of Hercules, that one rood of those extensive possessions had been originally in the hands of my ancestors, or should be mine by inheritance.
Prince, if you act in conformity with my suggestions your memory will be embalmed in the affections of posterity, and when the memory of Alexander, of Caesar, and even the memory of the late and great Napoleon, your uncle, who suffered persecution and premature death in the impregnable prison at St. Helena by the treachery of the English government, will be buried in oblivion, or withering in obscurity. Yours will be green, unblemished, and undiminished, in the hearts of all good men and commemorated by the lovers of peace, order, freedom and religion, throughout the Christian world. Prince, with profound respect and veneration for your wisdom, justice, judgment, unerring sagacity and incomparable abilities, I subscribe myself, your humble, submissive and obedient servant,
JEREMIAH O’DONOVAN.