Church, he
alluded to the attacks of his opponents as follows:

Mr. Mayor, and Ladies and Gentlemen,--There have been some who, to the
great satisfaction of despots, and their civil and religious
confederates, have moved Heaven and Hell to lower my sacred mission to
the level of a stage-play; and to ridicule the enthusiastic outburst of
popular sentiments, by defaming its object and its aim.

That was a sorrowful sight indeed. To meet opposition we must be
prepared. There is no truth yet but has been opposed: the car which
leads truth to triumph must pass over martyrs; that is the doom of
humanity. Mankind, though advanced in intellectual skill, is pretty much
the same in heart as it was thousands of years ago--if not worse; for
wealth and prosperity do not always improve the heart. It is sorrowful
to see that not even such a cause as that which I plead, can escape from
being dragged down insultingly into the mud. With the ancient Greeks,
the head of an unfortunate was held sacred even to the gods. Now-a-days,
with some,--but let us be thankful! only with some few degenerate
persons,--even calamity like ours is but an occasion for a bad joke.
Jesus Christ felt thirsty on the cross, and received vinegar and
wormwood to quench the thirst of his agony. Oh ye spirits of my
country's departed martyrs, sadden not your melancholy look at mean
insult. The soil which you watered by your blood will yet be free, and
that is enough! Ye will hear glad tidings about it when I join your
ranks.

But now, as for myself. When I was in private life, I despised to become
rich, and sacrificed thousands to the public, and often saw my own
family embarrassed by domestic cares. I refused indemnifications, and
lived poor. When raised to the highest place in my country, and provided
with an allowance four times as great as your President's, I still lived
in my old modest way. I had millions at my disposal, yet I went into
exile penniless. Who now are _ye_, or what like proof have
_ye_ given of not adoring the "Almighty Dollar," who dare to insult
my honour and call me a sturdy beggar, and ask in what brewery I will
invest the money I get from Americans? And why? because I ask a poor
alms to prepare the approaching struggle of my country; because I cannot
and may not tell the public (which is to tell my country's enemy), how I
dispose of the sums which I receive. And Americans, pretending to be
republicans, pretending to sympathize with libe