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

these circumstances, then, I say that the North are fighting
against slavery. It has Leen said, like many other calumnies,
that the North would submit to the South again to-morrow,
and that if the South would only come back they would
consent to restore the Union as it was. No party and no
man in the North has ever uttered such a sentiment as that
he would restore the Union with the powers the slaveholders
demanded. The President would restore the Union with
limited slave power, well knowing that under such circum-
stances the scorpion slavery would shortly sting itself to
death. What they are really now fighting for is, that
slavery shall be for ever abolished in the United States.
The American Government, free from the stain of slavery,
have for the first time strung up at the yard-arm as a pirate
the captain of a slave ship, and last and greatest of all, has
come the proclamation of President Lincoln (which makes
us feel thankful to God that we live in 1863), that new de-
claration of independence and the rights of men, greater, in
some respects, than that which inaugurated the republic in
1777. Look at it side by side with the proclamation which it
called forth from the Southern chivalry and Jefferson Davis.
It would seem as if the spear of Ithuriel had touched at the
same moment the two Presidents; and they came out in
their true colours—President Lincoln with a proclamation
for the emancipation of 3,000.000 slaves, and Jefferson
Davis by hoisting the black flag, dire, ting that all slaves
shall be relegated to their mast rs, and that the officers of
the United States' army shall be murdered. How can we
account for the phenomenon that in freedom-loving England
public opinion in certain classes should have gone so widely
astray upon this question? It must be confessed, I think,
that it is largely in consequence of the want of knowledge
natural in regard to everything which takes place 3,000 miles
off, and also to the fact that within the last 20 years we
have been placed to some extent in antagonism with Ame-
rica; but who was it that has been constantly urging on
the people to go to war with England, to punish her in the
first place, and to divert attention from slavery at home ?
Southern chivalry. Who proposed to seize Texas and bribe
the North by a seizure of Canada as a makeweight ?
Southern chivalry. Who seized negroes out of our vessels
at Charleston, and put them in prison? The Southern
chivalry. Who laid the basis of that antagonism which has
grown up between these nations P Not the people of the
North, but Southern filibusters. Our press nea,er pretends
to be fair in the discussion of these questions, but according
as they go in for the North or South do they villify those
they are determined to write down. Only the other day the
Times declared that there was not one word in the Bible
which could be wrested into an objection against negro
slavery. There is, indeed, a change in England from the
time when the Ironsides of England went forth to fight for
liberty with the sword in one hand, the Bible in the other.
I am happy to find that sounder opinions are gradually
making their way, and I am satisfied that better feelings
will be aroused when the question becomes to be better un-
derstood. lam not about to prophesy, but I firmly be-
lieve that success will inevitably attend the North, if it has
the courage to stand by its principles. At the same time
there must be no more Alabamas, if we wish to maintain
our self-respect or to cultivate the good feelings of the
American people. If the Alabama had been paid for by
Mexican money in order to prey upon French principals, is
there one among us who can believe that its character would
not have been detected by the British Government, and
that it would not have been stopped in its career before
many weeks had elapsed?
The hon. gentleman resumed his seat amid loud cheers,
and a vote of confidence was unanimously accorded him,
together with thanks for his past services in Parliament.