The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-27 00:00:00

very little more to say ; but I want to notice one or two
arguments that have been brought against me. One it, that
we should be benefitting slavery by acknowledging the
South. I say, no ;we should not benefit slavery, but we
should really benefit the slave. By doing anything to
assist the North we may do away with slavery, but at the
same time we should do away with the slave. And I must
say that throughout the whole contest there has been a
curious feeling on the part of gentlemen who support the
Federal power. They have said, "We are not neutral, be-
cause we have shown no sympathy for the North." Now,
sympathy is not a part of neutrality; and I at once acknow-
ledge that I have no sympathy with the North. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) I think my sympathies ought to go, as
they do go, with the South. (Cheers.) They are a gallant
people, fighting for their independence, and they have ob-
tained it. (Cheers and counter cheers.) The chance of suc-
cess on the part of the North is as a million to one. They
never hope to conquer the South; but I will tell you what
they hope for. There is a body of men in New York who
thrive wonderfully upon the war. They have contracts, they
have " greenbacks," they have every means of putting their
hands into the public purse; they are gorged with wealth;
and as long as this goes on they will wish the war to con-
tinue. But if you go into the agricultural districts of North
America you would find things very different there. (Hear,
hear.) There you would see sorrow for the war; there you
would find husbands dragged to the war, you would find
brothers gene there, killed, wounded, maimed, made mise-
rable for life. They know what the horror of the war is ;
they have none of the advantages of the contractor in New
York ; they therefore wish to put an end to the war. And
there is another class of roan in North America which so
hates England that anything that should continue to give her
pain they would delight in ; and this arises from England's
bad conduct. lam speaking of the banished Irish in Ame-
rica. The ill-conduct of England has driven thousands—
nay, millions—from Ireland. They went from Ireland with
their hearts burning against England, and they have given
that feeling to their descendants; and the greater part of
the abuse that has been showered upon England has come
from banished Irishmen. I look with sorrow upon that. I
cannot look with wonder, for we have behaved ill to Ireland.
That inevitable Nemesis that always follows the ill deeds of
nations has followed us there, and we are now suffering for
' what our ancestors have done wrong to Ireland. But in our
time good government has been taken to Ireland; there is
good government there now, and we are endeavouring to
wipe out the misdeeds of our ancestors. But having done
that, having ulcerated the hearts of the banished Irish, we
cannot hope—l have no hope that we shall ever attain that
result—to make them forget filet England has always been a
step-mother to Ireland. (A voice, with &rich Milesian brogue,
"Aye, an' a cowld one too.") (Great laughter.) That being
the case, I don't wonder at a great part of the abuse which
has been showered upon England, but still all that notwith-
standing, notwithstanding that the banished Irish, notwith-
standing that the contractors of New York, notwithstand-
ing that the ill-advised peace party here are all in favour of
continuing this war,— I say, " No, and if England can move
in such a way as to put an end to it, let her do so at once."
(Cheers.) What do I ask this meeting to do ? Do I ask this
meeting to dictate to Parliament ? No. All I wish you say
is what you think. You must leave the management of the
whole matter to Parliament. I don't want you to tell
them what they are to do. They are in a condition to know
much better than we what steps should be taken. I merely
wish to tell them our opinion and leave them to deal with
the matter for themselves. lam no part of this town; I
form no part of the Town Council here ; neither am I an
inhabitant of Sheffield ; but I am your very faithful repre-
sentative. (Cheers, and a voice, "No.") I dare say lam
not that gentleman's representative. Neither do I desire to
be. (Cheers and laughter.) lam fully and fearlessly telling
you what I think. Ido not wish anybody to obey me. I
do not compel obedience ; I only use my intellect to, if I
can, guide yours. You must guide your own intellect by
the lights you have. I would wish to be one of those lights.
You may think me—no doubt that gentleman does think
me—a dark lamp, not a light. I can be no guide to him.
Well, lam sorry for it. I think he would steer his course
much better if he took me for his guide. (Cheers and
laughter.) There is one other observation 'which I wish to
make—for talking so loudly in my weak condition wearies
me out. Though very well, lam very weak. That obser-
vation is this—you should consider upon the present occa-
sion that you are simply expressing an opinion. You don't
wish to coerce or judge anybody except by the light of that
opinion. You must leave Parliament, as I said, to judge
for themselves. Ido not call upon you, I do not call
upon anybody, to do the business which Parliament ought
to do for itself. But I know that upon many occa-
sions petitions have been sent to Parliament. Those peti-
tions have asked for particular legislative acts. Within the
last few weeks I have had petitions sent to me upon matters
in which Ido not agree with the petitioners. 1 have always
presented the petitions; but I hope Parliament will act to
the best of its judgment, and I hope those petitions won't
be acted upon. (Cheers and laughter.) But still Ido not
complain that those gentlemen should petition; I think
they are quite right to make their opinions heard. I cannot
understand how this can be called a hole-and-corner
meeting. (Hear, hear.) The world of Sheffield is invited
to come here, and the world of Sheffield has come. How
anybody who made up his mind,and who fully believes he is
right, can say upon the present oecasion that he was taken
by surprise, is what I cannot understand, How a man can
be taken by surprise upon the American question is beyond
my comprehension. For two years past England has been
ringing with almost that and that alone. Opinions of all
sorts have been advanced. If the people are ever to be
instructed upon the question of America they are instructed
now. Around me are many gentlemen on the other side,
who have found their way here, and I cannot understand
how they can complain of being taken by surprise. The
very fact of their complaint shows there is no cause for it.
Now, then, gentlemen, I have told you very frankly ray
opinions. I cannot reason out this question as I should
desire in the immense area I have to address, but still dis-
tinctly I tell you I believe the time is come for an acknow-
ledgment of the independence of the South—(cheers)—that
England, by so doing, will be carrying out the great mission
she has to advance and protect mankind ; that if she do so
she will benefit not only herself, but the world at large.
Therefore I should advise you—if my advice be worth any
thing, you will take it; if not, reject it—l should advise
you to say that, in your opinion, the Confederate States of
America should at once be acknowledged to be an indepen-
dent nation. (Loud cheers).
The Rev. J. P. Horrs moved the following resolution :
" That in the opinion of this meeting the Government
of this country would act wisely, both for the interests of
England and those of the world, were they immediately to
enter into negotiations with the great Powers of Europe,
for the purpose of obtaining the acknowledgment by them
of the independence of the Confederate States of North
America."

The motion was seconded by Mr. MICHAEL BEAL.
The Rev. J. GIITTRIDGE (WesleyanFreeChurch) moved
the following amendment :

" That this meeting records its high admiration of the
honourable neutrality hitherto maintained by the Govern-
ment in relation to the dreadful civil war now raging on the
American Continent, and earnestly hopes that the same
policy of non-intervention will be pursued in future."
Mr. W. J. CLEGG seconded the amendment,

Mr. Hopps's resolution was carried by an overwhelming
majority..

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

EASTERN BENGAL.

The directors of this company in their report con-
gratulate the shareholders on the satisfactory corn-
pie tion of the whole line from Calcutta to Koosh-
tee ; and on the success, as a commercial under-
taking, which has since attended the working of
both the goods and passenger traffic. The works were
commenced on the 14th of April, 1859, and the last
portion of the land, three miles in length, was
delivered to the company in the commencement of
1860. On Sept. 29, 1862, 45 miles of the line, from
Calcutta to RLanoghat, were opened for passenger
traffic only. On Nov. 15 following the whole line
of 110 miles, from , Calcutta to Kooshtee, on the
Ganges, was opened throughout for general traffic.
The Government of Bengal have expressed their
approval of the manner in which the officers of the
engineering staff of the company and the agent of
the contractors have performed their several duties.
The Government of India, in a public despatch, re-
ferring to Mr. Burden, the chief engineer of the
company, acknowledges "the services he has ren-
dered to the country by the skill with which he has
laid out and directed the works of the Eastern Ben-
gal Railway, " while at the same time Messrs. Les-
lie, Prestage, and Granville, engineers under him,
are assured " that the Government of India is fully
sensible of their meritorious services ;" and Mr.
Henfrey, agent of the contractors, Messrs. Brassoy,
Paxton and Wythes, is informed "that his success-
ful prosecution of an undertaking of such magnitude
as this railway, under circumstances so novel to
English contractors, entitles him to the hearty
approval and congratulations of the Government."
The gross traffic receipts from the 16th of Novem-
ber last, when the whole line was opened, to the
end of the year (five weeks) amounted for passen-
gers to 46,682 rupees, and for merchandise to
10,204 rupees; together, 66,976 rupees. The re-
ceipts from the end of the year to the 11th of April
last (15 weeks) amounted for passengers to 136,401
rupees, and for merchandise to 50,649 rupees; to-
gether, 187,050 rupees. The maintenance of the
way and works up to the month of November next
will be borne by the contractors. The directors
state that they have every reason to expect a very
large traffic at Kooshtee, through the resort of the
steamers to that port instead of Calcutta, The capi-
tal account shows a total expenditure of £1,285,727,
leaving a balance of £114,272.