The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-02 00:00:00

ITIE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 2, 1865.

colonies must, in order to be beneficial, necessarily
be exclusive, it followed that at once there arose in

the mind of each country a desire to be possessed of

the colonies of other countries in order to secure the

extension of this exclusive trade. In fact, my Lord
Provost, I may say such was tho perversity of the

misguided ingenuity of man that during the period

to which I refer he made commerce itself, which

ought to be the bond and link of the human race,

the cause of war and bloodshed, and wars were jus-
tified both here and elsewhere—justified when they
were beon, and gloried in when they had ended—
upon the ground that their object and effect had

been to obtain from some other nation a colony
which previously had been theirs, but which now

was ours, and which in our folly we regarded as the
sole means of extending the intercourse and the in-

dustry of our countrymen. (Hear, hear.) Well, now
my Lord Provost, that was a most dangerous form
of error, and for the very reason that it seemed to

abandon the old doctrine of the unrestricted devas-

tation of the world, and to contemplate a peaceful
end ; but I am thankful to say that we have entirely
escaped from that delusion. It may be that we do
not wisely when we boast ourselves over our fa-
thers. The probability is that as their errors crept

in unperceived upon them they did not know their
full responsibility ; so other errors in directions

as yet undetected may be creeping upon us. Mo-

desty bids us in our comparison, whether with other
ages or with other countries, to be thankful—at least

we ought to be—for the downfall of every form
of error, and determined we ought to be that nothing
shall be done by us to give countenance to its re-
vival, but that we will endeavour to assist those less
fortunate than ourselves in emancipating themselves

from the like delusions. I need not say that as re-
spects our colonies they have ceased to be, I would

almost venture to say a possible—at any rate they

have ceased to be a probable—cause of war, for now
we believe that the greatness of our country is best

promoted in its relations with our colonies by allow-
ing them freely and largely to enjoy every privilege

that we possess ourselves ; and so far from grudging
it, if we find that there are plenty of American ships
trading with Calcutta, we rejoice in it, because it

contributes to the wealth and prosperity of our

Indian empire, and we are perfectly assured that the
more that wealth and prosperity are promoted the
larger will be the share of it accruing to ourselves
through the legitimate operation of the principles of
trade. (Cheers.) But the beneficial influence of free
trading intercourse is far wider than this. You stated
that a treaty had been made with France, and cer-
tainly a treaty with France is even in itself a mea-
sure of no small conseqce ; but that which gives
to a measure of the kindits highest value is its ten-
dency to produce beneficial imitations in other quar-
ters ; it is the influence which is given to the cause
of freedom of trade by the example held out by the
two most powerful nations of Europe ; it is the fact
that in concluding that treaty we did not give to one
a privilege which was withheld from another, and
that our treaty with France was, in effect, a treaty
with the world. (Cheers.) And what are the moral
consequences which engagements of this kind carry
in their train ? I know there is no part of the pro-
vidential government of the world which tends
more deeply to impress the mind with a sense of the
profound wisdom and boundless benevolence of the
Almighty than when we observe how truly and how
universally great effects spring from smalicauses, and
high effects from causes which appear to have been
mean. Now, we have said that, with respect to
freedom of commercial intercourse, reduction of
tariffs, abolition of duties, and readjustment of com-
mercial laws, that these are things which in the first
instance touch material interests, and there are some
men so widely mistaken as to suppose that they
touch material interests alone. There are some
men, aye, and high-minded men, too, who would
bid you beware of such things lest they should lead
simply to the worship of Mammon. Now, the
worship of Mammon is dangerous to us all, but, as
far as regards the great masses—the more numer-
ous masses of every community—that portion of the
human family which at present has not much to
spare in respect to the essentials;of raiment, of food,
and of lodging—that portion of the human family
has hardly yet reached the province in which the
worship of Mammon is wont to ho
ter and cheers)—but that is a subject for the private
conscience and a subject of the greatest importance.
There is no doubt that an infinity of moral danger
surrounds a state of things in which multitudes of
men find themselves rapidly possessed of great for-
tunes and entirely changing their social position. I
do not deny that at the proper time and in the pro-
per place it is a subject for the most solemn con-
sideration ; but I don't think it the duty of Parli-
meat to withhold laws which are good from any
fear of their leading to the worship of Mammon.
That is an argument which if good in one case
would be argued with equal force against all bless-
ings of Providence, for what is more dangerous to
the human soul than those blessings of Providence
when their great Author is forgotten ? (Cheers.)
But, I say it is marvellous to see how the Almighty
makes provision through the satisfaction of our
lower wants and appetites for the attainment
of higher aims, and the relations of business are
doubtless founded upon pecuniary profits, as are
also the relations of the tradesmen and custo-
mers ; yet what is their immediate aim ? The
customer wants to be supplied wherever those
supplies are best and cheapest, while the trades-
man seeks to dispose of them wherever they are
dearest. What are the relations between the employer
and employed ? The master, wishes to produce as
cheaply as he can, and the workman wishes to get the
best wages he can. The landlord obtains the highest
rent he can safely ask, and the tenant obtains his
farm as cheaply as he can; and such is the rule that
runs through all these pecuniary relations of life.
Human beings on the two sides of the water are com-
ing to know one another better, and to esteem one
another more ; they are beginning to be acquainted
with one another's common interest and feeling, and
to unlearn the prejudices which make us refuse to
give to other nations and peoples in distant lands
credit for being governed by the same motives and
principle as ourselves. We may say that labelled on
all those parcels of goods there is a spark of kindly
feeling from one country to the other, and the ship
revolving between those lands is like the shuttle upon
a loom weaving the web of concord between the na-
tions of the earth. (Loud cheers.) Therefore I feel
that that which may be in its. first, and in its nntar
aspect a merely secular work, is in point of fact a
work full of moral purpose, and those who have given
themselves to it, either in times when the system of
free trade has become prosperous or in earlier times
before those principles were accepted as they now
are, could easily afford to bear the reproach thatthey
were promoting the worship of Mammon, or that
they were conversant only with the exterior and in-
ferior interests of men. In all cases it is the quiet,
unassuming prosecution of daily duty by which we
best fulfil the purpose to which the Almighty has
appointed us, and the humble task, as it may appear,
of industry and of commerce, contemplating in the
first instance little more than the necessities and the
augmentation of our comforts, has in it nothing
that prevents its being pursued in a spirit of devo-
tion to higher interests ; and if it is honestly and
well pursued I believe that it tends with a power
quiet and silent, indeed, like the power of your
vast machines, but at the same time manifold and
resistless, to the mitigation of the woes and sor-
rows that afflict humanity, and to the accelera-
tion of better times for the children of our
race. (Cheers.) Wars, my Lord Provost, are not
to be put dawn by philosophical nor, I believe, oven
exclusively religious argument. The deepest pre-
judices of man, and the greatest social evils are only
supplanted and undermined by causes of silent
operation ; and I must say that, for my own part, I
am given to dwell upon the thought that the silent
and tranquil operations of these causes in connexion
with the vast industry of this country constitute for
us not only a promise of stability and material
power, but likewise a mission that has been placed
in our hands, that in being benefactors to ourselves
we may also hope to be benefactors to the world.
(Cheers.) And, Sir, I trust and I may say I feel
well convinced that the ideas upon which the whole
of these movements depend are well rooted in this
country. Such prejudices as may remain adverse to
freedom of trade in any of the multiform develop-
ments are, I hope and believe, gradually fading