with "white kids." Look, for instance, at some of the members of
these associations and kindred bodies in New York and in various
other parts of the Union, and analyze the spirit which finds
expression in their observance of the anniversary of Ireland's
tutelar Saint. From the moment that the cloth is removed, until the
last of the company gyrates out of the room to his carriage, we have
nothing but a war of eloquence between rival politicians who are
candidates for municipal or other lucrative honors, or a subtle bid
for Irish support through some adroit manoeuvre, by which an
adversary is, for the time being, thrown into the shade. To be sure,
Mr. Richard This or Mr. John That, may occasionally give us a taste
of his research and learning, in a re-hash from the "Annals of the
Four Masters," or from some of the leading periodicals of the day;
and we may, in addition, be treated to an _original_ poem touching
Ireland from some of the various up-hill-workers of the Muses, with
whom the great mercantile centre abounds; but as to anything
practical relative to the amelioration of the wretched condition of
the country in whose name they assemble upon such occasions, that is
simply out of the question; all parties, as a general thing,
satisfying themselves with a hacknied and stereotyped enumeration of
her wrongs, and the usual bland denunciations of her oppressors.

And here we give an illustration of St. Patrick Societies under their
most patriotic aspect; for the power of speech which characterizes,
this great Commonwealth, and our total immunity from English
persecution, enable the spirit which actuates these societies,
beneath the skull and cross bones of St. George, to be a little more
patriotic here, in its language at least, than it dares to be in any
portion of the dominions of England. Still, its positive antagonism
to Irish independence, under the British flag, is scarcely more