The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-26 00:00:00

The Rev. EC , W. Beecher at Manchester,

On Satn ty morning, on the occasion of a public
breakfast at the Albion Hotel in that city, the Rev.
Henry War d Beecher took leave of his Manchester
friends—at least as many of them as the large din-
ing saloon would accommodate—previous to his
departure. for America. The Mayor of Rochdale
(Mr. G. 1.. Ashworth) presided.
The C;HAIRMAN briefly opened the meeting, and
in his observations said that they had assembled
there t hat morning to take their farewell of Mr.
Beech er, and to give the lie to those who had said
that the people of England had now no sympathy
with, that great question for which their forefathers
so 'gloriously and so successfully struggled—the
abolition of slavery. England always did sympathise
with the slaves, but nevertheless our Government
bad done right and deserved oar warmest support
in the corneae of neutrality which they had and
'were purs Lein on this great struggle in America.
After paying a tribute of thanks to Mr. Beecher for
the good he bad done in England by his recent
speeches, which had set the public here right on the
American question, he called upon
Mr. F. TAYLOR, who moved a resolution thank-
ing Mr. Beecher for his able and eloquent addresses
to the people of this country, hoping that he would
inform his friends in America that the feeling here
was not one of hostility towards that country, but
one of friendship and sympathy. and assuring him
that he had their warmest wishes for a successful
journey, and for the success of the cause which he
so ably advocated. Mr. Taylor particularly wished
Mr. Beecher to tell of the successful meetings that
had been held in England to hear him—meetings
such as the Southern sympathisers could not get up.
This was a fact, and if it was doubted he only said,
" Let Mr. James Spence and his friends try, even
in his own town of Liverpool, and see if the people
of tha t place even go with him."
Mr J. PATTISON (Liverpool) seconded the resolu-
tion,.
Stiveral gentlemen having supported the resolu-
tion, which was unanimously agreed to,
The Rev. H. W. BEECHER rose, amidst loud
cheering,to return thanks. He commenced by saying
he deeply regretted that he could not begin what he
hiad to say with ladi..s and gentlemen, instead of
evith gentlemen only. (Laughter, and a voice, "We
r epeesent the ladies.") No, they did not. No man
ce laid ever represemi a woman. (Cheers and re-
nt ,wed laughter.) It gave him very great pleasure
Hiatt morning—end ie would have given him still
greeter pleasure if he had been blessed with the
power of feeling more—to meet so many kind and
valued friends. If he had done anything in Eng-
land towards converting them to the abolition and
Northern cause, he must confess he had also been a
convert towards England. Wnile he had seen much
during his sojourn in this country of the prejudices
and misconception of the American question among
the people, h© had seen much in himself that was
prejudice towards England and misconception of her
people. And it was not the smallest triumph that
he could say that in the small course of two or
three weeks during which he had spoken in Eng-
land, he he,d gained a victory over his past im-
pressions load prejudices. His English friends in
America, when he used to speak of England as he
could no longer speak of her, used to say to him—
" Ab, you don't knew Old England ;" and he used
to reply 't at he did ; but when he got back to
them he sb mild say very humbly—" I did not know
England;' (Loud applause.) The question on which
he had ex -speak was a great question—a broed, an
intricate, and a-u ultitudinous question in its con-
tents—the American question'; the total of which
was tlee whole of human society. It was the top,
the bottom, the centre, and the circumference; it
began here/earnc went there, and back again. There
was me question in 'morals, in philosophy, Or any
other question in which humanity is interested that
was not involved in this great American question.
It was difficult, therefore, to always speak on a
question of such, immensity and magnitude so as to
meet the requosts of the audience. In Liverpool the
treatment to which ho w.is subjected was, he felt
—and he tri'lFt do them the justice to say so—rather
an outhreala.of party feeling than of opposition to the
liberty of Ir ce speech or sympathy with the Southern
cause. Pee speeches which he had made on this
question were not authoritative, inasmuch as they
had neeeer Reseed under his hand or eye, and there.
fore he ought not to be charged with any inaccu-
racies that might he discovered in teem—inaccu-
racies which arose from the hurry in which the re-
port,3rs had to transcribe, summarise, and frequently
to va-0 their notes, and not from any wilful misre-
presentation on their nut.. Ile was a newspaper
man, and hr knew the difficulties connected with
reporting for the press, and especially when only
the an Olm ary of a speech had to be written, and the
writer was not well acquainted with the subject of
that spec eh. He%ce, although summarised reports
might pe=rhaps represent the tenor of his speeches,
still tb,oy did not always represent what he said,
and he. ehouid not, therefore, be judged by them.
Dari'ag his visit to England the keynote to his pro-
gidee a here had been an attempt to use his informs-
: Bo as to promote a better understanding and a
S'ti'ng peace between this country and America.
They
wanted to draw closer the bonds of amity and
'geed fellowship. That had ever been his object in
Adrea,,in, •
land,
aildeo the meetings he had attended in Eng-
Daily alt' ugh he had bean warned by one paper,
to
that
that
believed—and to which he wished
that that Zene,Yeehow glad the Americans were
with' regard-to-c 11.., dared to pursue such a course
aitttior tof lean
conflict—the Daily News had
we rned him net eeir
upon such subjects—such
as, the Trent
instance—which were cal-
c elated to alienate from
pathiss of the taciiostah him the feelings and sym-
wish to renew that sulejetople. Now, he did not
with, but he could not it was past and done
if
theel_Lasking them as Eng-
lishmen, whether,
'3 had been vice versa,
they would not have felt and den
e ,c,An that occasion
what the Americans felt and div
(Applause. The
ldauist supr
e. The
news of the capture of Mason and •
S la
rapidly over America, and everybody
chuckled
;with great glee, treating the capture
as a goodcke"okdd
but in two or three days some lawyer sent a lat
to the newspapers saying that the capturee;
was all
well, but there happened ee be such
a leery
Power as England, and such a code
and what would they say "
• • about
it law,
it "'What is
the law on this subject?" every-
body
asked every body e
else, and soon they be_
gat: to draw long faces, although' there was a eta_
venal conviction that Capt. Wilkes had acted on an
English precedent. That conviction still remained
with the Americans, and it was grounded on a fact.
made known to the
The moment the
capture
was
American Government, Mr. Seward wrote to Mr.
Adams, in London, a private note, Which he was re-
quested to read to Lord Russell
they were
read to Lord Russell), stating' thatd which
anxious to settle any queasticn that
ten
might be raised
days after
thereon amicably and fairly. Some
that note had been received and read in England,
and after it had oozed out that such a note had been
received, the Morning Post, which was looked upon
as the semi-official organ of the Govern men:, declared
that a eommunicltion had been received by the
l
English Government from the American Govern-
ment, bat th,lt it had no- relation whatever to the
Trent affair, whereas the communication eves on the
Trent affair and nothing else ; and to this hour that
p Irr had never retracted that most malicious false-
hood. (Applause) Many said those men should
have been given up without calling upon the English
Government to make a demand
for them to be so,
but that could not be, inasmuch as the English
doctrine was that they had a right to condemn a
neutral vessel containing contraband of war without
• her. nen e eilze court, as England dd in
fist the Ameicen doctrine or taw was that
ole containing contraband of war meet he ileken
in a prize cutlet. Hence the American Govern-
ment wanted to know from the English Government
which law they proposed to act upon, and the
English Government chose to act upon the Ameri-
can doctrine, and they gave up the captured men.
Tee rev. gentlemen en, in allusion to some news-
paper attar is made upon him in consequence of his
remarks abent the i
prosperity of America, repeated
was America had there
that never Since Amerieet
been more material and eemenercill prosperity
than there was in the N:..rrthern States at the pre-

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