The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-28 00:00:00

sire extended suffrage, it is not as an end in itself, but as a
means to an end. The progress of libeeslism affects all na-
tions. If Italy gains its liberty, there is a gain for the liberty
of Englishmen. (Hear.) If I am asked who have been your
lecturers lately on reform, I would say we have had one of

the most eloquent lecturers ever known. His name is Cot-
ton Famine, his pulpit Lancashire, and his audience the
_ _

civilised world. (Cheers.) The course pursued by the Lan-
cashire operatives in their distress has manifested their abso-
lute fitness for political freedom and the rights of self-go-

vernment.ley have, indeed, shown a power of oaf-
- -

government far beyond that required for the election of a
member of Parliament; they have justified the notion Of

philosophers whe argue that the world's progress is taking
a newer and higher plane of action than the world has wit-
nessed before. Hitherto we have known the rise, culmina-
tion, and fall of empires; but the world has never before
witnessed such a scene as Lancashire has presented for the
last few months. Twenty-five or thirty years ago, instead
of the patience and the manly demeanour displayed by the
people, there would have been disturbances little short of
insurrection, and instead of sending them loaves and bene-
factions, we should have been sending them troops and
ammunition, What now must be the feeling of those who
in times past have uttered predictions and expressed appre•
hensions of the effect of giving political power to those who
might be swayed by passion or poverty ? Of poverty and
destitution God knows there has been plenty—of passion
none—unless the patience of the people has been sublimated
into the elevation of passion. Turning to the question of
church rates, I for one say that I am of opinion that there
ought to be no compromise. It is not
a question that admits
of compromise. On the contrary, it is a question of civil and
secular honesty, for you ought not to tax one manfor the bene-
fit of another. What is it that has given renewed energy to
the Conservatives on the question of church rates ? Depend
upon it that the cry " the church is in danger," which has
been raised by Mr. Disraeli, is intended to be one of the
stock cries at the hustings on the next dissolution of Par-
liament, which is said to be fast approaching. The cry of
"the church in danger" always reminds me of the cry one
commonly hears at the crowded door of a theatre, namely,
take care of your pockets." The real danger to the
church consists not in assaults from without, but in insur-
rections within. In the first place, there are the honest,
sincere, and intelligent men, who spurn the chains which
bind them to the chariot wheels of the State; while on the
other hand there are the mere politicians, who look upon
those shackles as convenient things to keep down the
people. Atter church rates, probably the question of eco-
nomy will be raised by the Tories; but before we come to
any practical conclusion on that point, it is desirable that
we should understand what we want and what we do not.
We cannot afford to have the money of the country wasted,
jobbed, or trifled with, to see millions spent in building
useless wooden fleets, or fortifications so vast that in the
event of a war we should be obliged to blow them up to pre-
vent them becoming a refuge for the enemy; but we can
afford every expenditure that may be required for the honour
and defence of England. I for one am not going to vote for
economy if it is to be an excuse for regarding the Emperor
of the French as a lion of such a description as the lamb
could lie down with him. I regard him as a dangerous
element in Europe. He has to govern by the force of a
predominant army, and to flatter his subjects, who are a
good deal more possessed of the mania of seeking for glory
than we are. My views have always been that England
must, not only far her honour, but her safety and economy
be strong enough to stand against the worst that can be
done. (Cheers.) We must remember that half a year's
war—nay, a single year's threat of war—would cost more
to this country than a good many millions spent upon pur-
poses of legitimate defence. I have always thought that
England ought to maintain a predominant navy and a popu-
lation that should know how to use the rifle. (Hear.) I
now c ,me to by far the most important question that Eng-
lishmen can discuss at the present moment—one that in-
cludes within itself the questions of democracy and aristo-
cracy, of freedom and slavery, of retrogression and progress
the question of the great war which is now desolating
the United States of America. The first thing that occurs
to us in discussing this great question is—what a frightful
war this is, how awful in its results, bow destructive and
demoralising in its tendency. That has been said so much,
that I will not repeat it now. This, however, I will say,
that dreadful as is war, there are things more dreadful than
war, things more immoral, more terrible, and more degrad-
ing. The war in the United States, dreadful as it is, is, in
my opinion, a light infliction compared with the alternative
th .t the free North should join in subjecting themselves
openly to the coercion of the South in regard to slavery.
(Hear.) I may compare the present position of the North
to that of a territory visited by a tornado. The hurricane
levels the works of man. and spreads waste where there has
been fertility before, but when it is all over the airis
fresher, and sweeter, and purer—(cheers)—and we shall
see, I hope, that when the tornado of war shall have passed
away from America, the accursed barque of slavery has
sunk for ever beneath it. (Hear, hear.) The first thing I
have to show is that this war is not a chance occurrence.
It was in the nature of things inevitable and unavoidable.
It might have been postponed for a year, or it might have
been antedated by a year, but it would have come at last
as surely as slavery and freedom cannot co-exist within the
same bounds. When the fathers of the United States
separated themselves from England, slavery, our bequest
to them, I am sorry to say, existed in North America ; it
is a great mistake to say that they upheld or defended it.
The great men of that period, Washington, Jefferson,
ISladdison, and others, regarded it as an enormous evil, and
though they hardly foresaw how to cut it off, they pro.
bably foresaw that as the country rose in power and popu-
lation it would cease to be economical to use slave labour,
and that so the thing might die out. They thought they
had only a tumour, which in the course of time would be
absorbed in the system ; they did not know that planted
there was a fearful cancer, which must either destroy their
life or be extirpated. (Hear, hear.) But in calculating on
economical reasons for the destruction of slavery they forgot
the moral element that slavery produces. Slavery in the
Southern States has produced an oligarchy such as we in
this country have no idea of. You may call it a republic if
you will, but it is an oligarchy of the very worst description,
an oligarchy of 30,000 or 40,000 of slaveholders, or 4,000,000
of slaves compelled to toil for their livelihood,and of 5,000,000
or 6,000,000 of what are called mean whites, who are brought
up by the condition of things, and taught by the very neces-
sities of the case, that labour is a degradation. They there-
fore cannot labour, and they lead the life of wild, roving,
reckless filibusters. (Hear, hear.) That is the condition of
things which has grown up and which maintains itself after
the economical question passed away, and it is that which has
brought the free men of the North face to face with slavery
now. The South wishes to cling to that which gave it
territorial possession and dignity. You must remember that
the slavery of Americais of all slaveries which have disgraced
the world the vilest and the worst. The old slavery of
classic times was nothing to it—the slavery of the serf of
Russia was nothing to it. In the Southern States of America
the slaves would be an element of continual danger and in-
surrection if they were not, like the beasts of the field, de-
prived of all the means of education, and crushed down to
the lowest typo humanity would admit of, in order that they
should not rebel successfully. (Cheers.) But slavery must
extend itself or die. The uneducated masses of slaves can-
not be employed in any kind of labour that requires intel-
lect or education—they cannot be made to work at all ex-
cept under the supervision of the overseer or under the lash
of the whip. It is only the rudest and most elementary
system of agriculture that can flourish at their hands.
They rapidly, by the rough process they follow, exhaust the
soil, and they are carried ff to Other tracts farther to
the west and south to follow the same course.
(Hear, hear.) The North made itself a shameful partner
in the guilt of slavery for the sake of preserving the Union
by allowing the infamous Fugitive Slave Bill to pass, by
which masters in one state have power to claim by law the
redemption of slaves in another. What is it the North is
fighting for? It is that slavery shall not extend itself. No
sooner was President Lincoln elected than the slaveholding
South, finding
itself no longer predominant in the Union,
and that slavery was destined to ultimate destruction, rose
in arms against the government of the United States, Under