The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-01 00:00:00

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STAMPED ....sd.

cease to have a claim to be countenanced by civilised na-
tions. (Hear.) lam not asserting that there are not hun-
dreds and thousands of men in the Northern States who
are men of education, of right and Christian feeling, of
civilised habits and ideas. Far be it from me to make so
unfounded an assertion. But there is a farther lesson to be
learned. The result of these much• vaunted institutions,
which we have heard praised before, and which we shall !
again hear praised by hired spouters of associations, is this,
that the nation becomes so brutalised that the civilised man
disappears—he is afraid to put himself forward; he is
ashamed of his country; he has no voice in the conduct of her
affairs; and the whole nation is turned over to the control
of men such as Lincoln and Butler, whom I do not hesitate
to denounce, after their conduct in the last few months, as
men who are a disgrace to civilisation. (Hear, hear.) But,
gentlemen, if we look, as every man of right feeling must,
with regret upon these horrible scenes, it is always wise at
least to profit by experience. I cannot help thinking there
is a grave and serious, and valuable lesson to be learned by
every man in this country, and I think we have seen the
fruits of that lesson. lam speaking in no party sense—
and I think you have known me some years now, and
know that I am not a blind partisan, that I always say
what I think, without reference to party or men, and that I
only uphold measures—but I see a change in the mind and
feeling of the people of this country upon the question to
which lam about to refer. 1 think the lesson which has
been.taught us by the state of affairs in the Northern States
of America has not been lost upon this country. I think
we have learned to estimate, in latter years more fully than
we did formerly, the blessing of those institutions under
which it is our good fortune to live. (Cheers.) I think
no man who has given the commonest attention to tIA
progress of the history of Europe, and of the world gene-
rally, can have failed to observe that, under Providence,
this country for many years past has been most signally
and remarkably blessed; that, speaking with due
humility as to the dispensations of Providence in the
future, up to the present time we have been indebted
mainly to our political institutions, I may say to our
monarchical institutions, for that happy state in which
we have lived for so many centuries ; that absence alike
of foreign and of civil war, the parallel of which
is not to be found in the history of any other country. I am
quite aware that strongly as I for one feel in favour of the
monarchical institutions of the country, circumstances have
of late years given to those institutions a position and a
hold upon the feelings of the people which, under ordinary
circumstances, they might not have had. It has been the
happy fate of this country to have been for nearly a quarter
of a century reigned over by a Sovereign whose public and
whose private character have alike tended to endear her to
her subjects, and to adorn those institutions, and that Go-
vernment of which she has been the head. (Cheers.) But
making every allowance for the tendency which the virtues
of the Sovereign, both public and private, have had upon
the minds of men to endear to them monarchical institutions,
I believe the feeling of loyalty and attachment to those in-
stitutions is one of the deepest and strongest feelings of
the hearts of Englishmen; and so long as that feeling con-
tinues to exist, under Providence, we may defy fate and
confidently hope for the welfare and prosperity of the coun-
try. (Cheers.) But, gentlemen, we may at least derive a
lesson from this. We have our party views and party
objects ;we have our party fights—l wish I was keener
about them, but that does not matter ; but those who take a
deeper interest than I do in party feuds will, at all events,
not think me presumptuous if I ask them—whenever those
questions which are happily now in abeyance are again
brought before us, and we are called upon to discuss the
merits or demerits, or the possible improvement, of the Con-
stitution of this country, of its Government, and of its repre-
sentation—to pause and to think carefully before they
tamper rashly with those institutions which up to the pre-
sent time have made this country the envy and the admira-
tion of the world. (Cheers.) But it is impossible to leave
this question without touching upon the only remaing sub-
ject in reference to the state of affairs in America, which
really after all is the most important one. There is a very
old saying that it is no use crying over the past. What are
we to do for the future ? That is the position is which this
country and much of Europe finds itself in refer-
ence to the state of affairs in America. (Hear, hear.) What
is to be done ? I have ventured to think that there is but
one rational, one just, one beneficial course for this country
to pursue, and that is at once to recognise publicly and
officially the independence of the Southern States. (Cheers.)
I am not speaking now under the impression of the events
of the moment, because, however unimportant the fact may
be—and I do not ask you to lay any stress upon that—l
ventured to urge in the House of Commons the opinion
which lam now venturing to put before you. I urged it
to the best of my ability, and, like many other good inten-
tions, it failed in its effect, and produced no result whatever.
But I then held, as I now hold, 'the opinion that the at-
tempts of the North to reconquer the South must be futile
and hopeless ; and all I ask you to consider is this, whether,
if I were justified in that opinion, which I held and ex-
pressed in March last, the present position of affairs in the
Northern States does not at least confirm that opinion ten-
fold. (Hear.) It appears now to be perfectly hopeless that
the North should ever conquer the South. There is no
prospect of a termination of this horrible sacrifice of human
life, except by the recognition of the Southern States by this
country and by France ; and, therefore, upon that ground
alone I venture to urge it. The enly argument I have ever
heard against it is this—we are told by learned men that it
would be an outrage upon what they are pleased to term
international law. That is a subject too abstruse to enter
upon. I do not understand it. I am not equal to it; but all
I know is this, that as far as international law is concerned
there is ample precedent for the recognition at the present
moment, and even at a much earlier period of the war, of the
independence of the Southern States by the Government of
this country. Recollect what we did with respect to Bel-
gium ; recollect what we did with respect to Greece. These
in themselves are precedents perfectly sufficient to satisfy,
in my humble opinion, all those who choose to argue the
question upon the point of international law. But there is a
much more serious view of the question than that. What
has been the effect of this war in America upon an immense
portion of the population of this country ? What is the
amount of distress which is now being endured, and that
with an amount of patience, forbearance, sound judgment,
and good feeling which, I say, reflects honour upon the
people of this country generally. What is the amount of
distress which is being endured, and which can be attri-
buted solely to the effects of the war ? Why, it is incalcu-
lable. We are told, day after day, that the numbers of
those who are suffering are increasing. There seems to be
no limit to the extent of it. We are told that if cotton were
once introduced that distress would cease. I say again, with
precedent in our favour, with the existence of enormous dis-
tress in this country, and putting aside as I do, as mere
piece of hypocrisy and absurdity, the introduction of the
element of slavery into the discussion, I say, without r
I efer-.
ence to party, without reference to anything but what.
be-
lieve to be indispensable to the welfare and character of thisinde-
pendence
country, that we are bound at once to recognise th
of the Southern States of America. (Cheers')
The proceedings of the remainder of the evening were of
an ordinary character.