The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-19 00:00:00

and that a source of extreme peril, that I asked for
the inquiry for which I moved. (Cheers.) But he
said he had a letter—and he shook it in h's hand at
me—from the secretary of the Commercial Associa-
tion at Manchester, in which they der'. . red by spe-
cial resolution that my proposition w. s not neces-
sary, and that my inquiry would do no harm, and
that they were abundantly satisfied with everything
that these lords at Leadenhall-street were doing.
This, he said, was a complete answer to the hon.
gentleman who brought forward the motion. Though
discouraged I was not baffled. I went down to the
Chamber of Commerce at Manchester, and it was
determined by the Chamber, acting with Mr. Bazley
or Mr. Ashworth, to have a commission of inquiry.
£2,000 pounds were subscribed, and Mr. Mackie,
the author of one of the best books ever written by
an Englishman on the Western World, went out to
India and made a most interesting report. Mr.
Mackie, however, did not live to reach home, but
succumbed to the climate, and died on his passage
home from Bombay. A friend of Mr. Mackie's,
now no longer living, undertook the editorship, and
Mr. Mackie's description of the state of India was
published, which was valuable to every one interested
in Indian affairs. In 1853 came the renewal of the
East India Company's charter, which I strenuously
opposed, because I was unwilling that the govern-
ment of that countryshould be handed over for another
twenty years to a company which had entirely vio-
lated every duty which belonged to it, of which one
was the duty of collecting taxes. In 1857 came the
mutiny. What did our rulers do ? Sir C. Wood,
in 1853, made a speech five hours long bolstering
up the government of the East India Company, but
the Government, on the opening of the session of
1858, brought in a bill to abolish that Company
and do exactly what I put in 1853. But of course,
as in everything else, nothing was done till there
came an overwhelming calamity, by which the most
obtuse and perverse were driven from their position.
In the aleutinsion of the India Bill T mfta., st puiPerli
on Indian affairs which I believe went to the root
of the matter, and which was a protest against the
governing of 150,000,000 of people of very different
nations and languages by a little coterie of rulers
at Calcutta. I proposed that the country should be
divided into four independent presidencies of equal
rank; that there should be a council for each, and
each of which should be responsible to a Secretary
of State in this country ; and I am of opinion that
if such a government had been established, and
there were in each presidency a first-class English-
man, with a staff whose business it should be to
determine what public works should be earried on
—some by Government, and some by private com-
panies—ten years of such judicious labours and
work would have worked an entire revolution in
the condition of India, and if it had been done when
I first began to move in the matter you might have
had at this moment any quantity of cotton what-
ever which the looms of Lancashire may require. I
am afraid that some of my friends and some of my
opponents will say it is very egotistical of me to
enter into these details ; but after doing so, I
think at least that I am guiltless of the great
calamity which has befallen Lancashire. I have
been asked fifty times during twelve months,
" Why do you not come out and say some-
thing in this time of our great need P" I tell you
that 100 years of crime against the negro in Ame-
rica, and 100 years of crime against the docile natives
of our Indian empire are not to be washed away by
the repentance and the suffering of an hour. I be-
lieve that the cotton in the United States at this
present moment is much less than the people here
imagine, and that what there is of it is in no condi-
tion to be forwarded. It is far more than probable
that there never will be again that American crop of
cotton grown by slave labour. lam undertaking the
office of a prophet; but, looking back at what has
taken place, and judging according to the limited
vision which is given to mortals, the probabilities
are that there will never be another crop of any avail
for manufacture produced from slave labour in the
United States. I believe we can form no adequate
conception of the disorganisation that prevails
throughout a great portion of the Southern States,
It is of course natural to the state of war which
exists in that region. We may be asked what are the
other sources of supply beyond India. There is the
colony of Queensland. Many enthusiastic persons
say that cotton may be grown worth 3s. a-pound.
True enough, but where labour is probably 10s a day
I am not sure you are likely to get a large supply of
that material we so much want at a rate so cheap
that we may be likely to use it. Africa is now being
pointed to by many friends of mine; but that is a land
of savages, its climate is so inimical to Europeans
that I should not encourage the idea that any great
hope can be received from that continent. Egypt
will send us 30,000 or 40,000 bales more than last
year ; and, with the high prices, Syria will no doubt
increase its produce. But I hold there is no country
at present from which you can derive any large sup-
ply except you get it from dependencies in India.
If there be no more cotton to be grown in America
for our supply, we shall require nearly six millions
additional bales supplied from other sources.

It has taken the United States twenty years, from
1840 to 1860, to increase its growth of cotton from
two millions of bales to four millions. How long
will it take any other country, without the capital
or advantages of America, to give us five million or
six million additional hales ? There is one stimulus,
the only one I know of; and although I have not
recommended it to the Government, and know not
precisely the sacrifice it would entail, yet I shall
mention it, and I do so on the authority of a gentle-
man thoroughly acquainted with Indian agriculture
himself, and his fathers being landowners and culti-

vators in India for sixty years; and he says there
is but one mode by which you can stimulate the
growth of cotton iv India. He says if the Govern-

ment would declare that for five years they would
exempt all land from the land tax which during
that time should grow cotton, there would be a more

extraordinary increase in the growth of that article

than has ever been seen with regard to any branch
of agriculture in the world. (Cheers.) I believe
the stimulus would be enormous. The loss of
revenue would be something, but the deliverance to
the industry of Lancashire, if it succeeded, would
be:speedy and perhaps complete. (Cheers.) Shott
of this, I look on the prosperity of Lancashire is
most remote. I believe this misfortune will enta 1

ruin on the whole working population, that it wi I

gradually engulf the small traders and those poEi-
sessing the least capital, and it may for years-;-
I don't say it will—make the whole factory pror
perty of Lancashire almost entirely worthlesfi.

This is a most dismal look out kit mony persons in
this country. But it comes from the utter neglect
of our opportunities and our duties which has dis-
tinguished the Government in India. (Hear, hear.)

Before sitting down I shall refer to the sad tragedy
which is passing before our eyes in America.

My hon. friend has referred this to me, and although

I would rather not have to express my vari-
ance with him, I am happy to say that this great

question does not depend on the opinion of any man
in Birmingham, or in England, or in Europe. My

friend endeavoured to avoid committing himself to

direct sympathy with the South. (Hear, hear.b
He takes a political view of the question, dealink

with it as he would have dealt with the republic of
a colony of Spain or Portugal revolting in South
America, or Greece revolting from Turkey. I
should like to state here what I once stated to a
very eminent American. He asked me to give hini
an idea of the course of public opinion in this coun-

,ry from the moment we first heard of the secession►

ofthe a
u ,isit a
cotton States.
ai
t .
and
a skfirst
fair I t
description
eed
? I d that
people were here generally against the South,
which nobody thought had any cause for
up the integrity of that great nation.
People
ople breaking
said,
they have a Government which is mild and not in
any degree oppressive. They have not what some
people love very much, and what some dislike—a
costly monarchy. They have not an aristocracy
created and living on patronage; they have no
great army, no great navy, no suffering millions to
be discontented and to endeavour to overthrow the
government. (Cheers.) All of which things have
been said against governments in this country and
in Europe hundreds of times in our own hearing
therefore they said why should these men revolt?
But for a moment the Washington government
5 seemed paralysed. It had no arniy,.no
navy, every

body round it was a traitor—it was apparently
helpless. The government was transferred from
President Buchanan to President Lincoln; men in
this country thought that such was the unprepared
state of the North, such the appearance of every-
thing, that there would be no war, and they con-
gratulated themselves that after all there would be
a peaceable separation, and the disaster of great
strife and the mischief to our trade might
be avoided. (Hear, hear.) They thought that
the North would acquiesce in the rending of
the republic, and that there would be no war.
They were told by certain public writers in this
country that the contest was entirely hopeless,
which they had been told lately by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer. But happily the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, though be can decide to a penny
what shall be the rate of a tax in England, cannot
decide what shall be the fate of a continent. (Cheers.)
It was asked, " Why should the North continue a
hopeless contest at the cost of so much blood and
treasure, and disturbance of the commerce of the
whole world ?" It was much better that the North,
instead of carrying on a war which must end in
their own discomfiture, should relinquish the con-
test, and the feeling therefore was that people were
rather glad that the South should have successes,
by which the war would be the more easily put an
end to. (Hear, hear.) My opinion is, that if we
judge of a foreign nation by the circumstances in
which we find it, we ought to apply it to our own
principles. My hon. friend has referred to the
affair of the Trent. I was not present, but I read
the report of a meeting that was held here on the
subject, at which the feeling of the majority seemed
favourable to the policy of the Government in
making a great manifestation of force. With re-
gard to the policy of the United States now, what
I say is, that when you thought an American cap-
tain acting under the orders of his Government,
which he had not, had taken two men, most offen-
sive, injurious, stria To bIS ronntry, [rum nu
English merchant ship—on that ground you
thought you were justified in going to war with the
Republic of North America. Then, I say, you
ought not to be very nice in judging what America
should do in circumstances much more onerous than
those. (Cheers.) Take the rock of Gibraltar
—the rock of Gibraltar was obtained by this
country when we were not professedly at
war with Spain, and was kept contrary to
all moral codes. (A Voice—No, no.) No doubt
the gentleman is much better acquainted with his-
tory than I, but 1 would suggest to him that it is
very likely we have read two different histories.
But I will assume that Gibraltar came into posses-
sion of England by regular and acknowledged war-
fare. Suppose at this moment the English Govern-
ment beard that Spain was equipping an expedition
by land and sea for the purpose of retaking that
fortress or rock—it is not the slightest advantage to
any Englishmen living, except those who have pos-
sessions and are living there—every English Go-
vernment knows the end. Several English Govern-
ments have been anxious to give it up. I wish this
Government would send my friend Mr. Cobden to
Madrid, with an offer that Gibraltar should be ceded
to Spain, as being of no use to this country, and as
only embittering the relations of the two countries,
as one of the most distinguished officers of the Go-
vernment once told me it does. I believe if Mr.
Cobden went there for that purpose, we might have
a commercial treaty with Spain, that would admit
every commodity of English manufacture at a duty
of not more than 10 per cent. ; but do you not think
that if you heard that Spain was about to muster her
fleets and legions and endeavour to take it, the
English Government would not band all the power
of its empire to resist it ? Yes. Then, I say, that
two years ago, President Lincoln, being fairly and
honestly elected, when the Southern leaders met at
Montgomery, in Alabama, on March 6th, and autho-
rised the raising of 100,000 men, and when on the
15th April they attacked Fort Sumter, which was
not a fort of Carolina, but of the Union—on all the
principles on which the English Government have
ever acted, President Lincoln was justified in call-
ing out 75,000 men, which was his first call, for the
purpose of maintaining the integrity of that Union
which was the main purpose of the oath he had
taken at his election. (Cheers.) I will not go into
a long argument on this question. It is in the
hands, not of my hon. friend, nor of Lord Pal-
merston, nor of President Lincoln, but in the hands
of the Supreme Ruler, who is bringing about one
of those great transitions in history, which
men often will not regard when it is passing be.
fore them, but which they look on with astonishment
and awe years after they have taken place. (Cheers.)
I will content myself with asking one or two ques-
tions. 1 will not discuss the question whether he is
working merely for the Constitution or merely for
the abolition of slavery. Before you come to a ques-
tion of sympathy with the South, or recognition of
the South, or mediation or intervention, you should
consider what are the aims of the Southern States.
Surely the United States Government is a Govern-
ment at amity with this country. Its Minister is in
London—a man noble by family, as you know in
America his father and grandfather had held the
office of President of the Republic. You have your
Minister just returned to Washington. Is it hypo-
crisy ? Are you, because you can cavil at certain
things which the North has done, eagerly to throw
the influence of your opinion into the movement

which is to dismember that great Republic ? Is
there a man here who doubts that the object of the
war on the part of the South is to maintain the
bondage of 4,000,000 of human beings ? (Cheers.)
That is only a small part of it, because their further
object is to perpetuate for ever that bondage over
countless millions. I could quote documents till 12

o'clock, in proof of what I say, if I found any man
who so desired it. The object of this war is, that
white men on that continent may lord it over count-
less millions of blacks, made black by the very hands
that made us white. Their object is that they should
have a power to breed negroes, to work negroes,
to lash negroes, to sell negroes, to deny them the
commonest ties of families—to break their hearts by
separating them at their pleasure, and to close their
mental eyes from a glimpse of that knowledge
which separates us from the brutes ; for by their
law it is criminal and penal to teach negroes to
read—to seal from their hearts the book of our re-
ligion—to make chattels and things of men, women,
and children. I wish to ask whether this is to be
the foundation of a new slave empire, and whether
it is intended, on this audacious and infernal basis,
England's new ally is to be built up ? (Hear, and
No.) It has been said that Greece was recog-
nised. Greece was not recognised till after it had
fought Turkey for six years. The Republics of
South America were not recognised, some of them,
till they had fought the mother country I think for
a score of years. France did not recognise the
United States of America till five years after the
beginning of the war of independence, and it was
received as .a declaration of peace, and why should
we be so eager to become the ally of this great con-
spiracy against human nature ? I slaould have no
great objection to recognise a country or to be at
amity with a country merely because of the exis-
tence of slavery, because it would be monstrous
that we should object to trade with a country, or
have political relations with it merely because it
happened to have within its borders the institution
of slavery; but in this case it is a new State, which
intends to set itself up on the sole basis of slavery,
and slavery is, it is blasphemously said, to be its
chief corner-stone. We have urged that there are
Ministers of State who are in favour of the North

—that there are members of the aristocracy who
are terrified at the shadow of the Great Republic—
that there are rich men in our great commercial
exchanges deprived, it may be, of their riches, and
living within the atmosphere of the privileged

classes—that there are the conductors of the public
Press, who would barter the rights of millions of

theinfellow-creatures that they might bask in the
smiles of the great ; but we know what we know,

that there are Ministers of State who do not wish

that this insurrection should break up the American
Union ; that there are members of the aristocracy

who'are Sot afraid of the shadow of that Republic
that there are rich men not deprived of their riches
and that there are public writers of eminence and
honour who will not barter human rights for the
patronage of the great ; but most of all I believe,
and lam sure it is true—in Lancashire, where the