The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-15 00:00:00

THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

MR. COBDEN AND SIR C. NAPIER.

A public meeting was held in the Music-hall in the even-
ing, in connection with the sittings of the Peace Confer-
ence. The large hall was crowded to excess, and the plat-
form was occupied by the leading members of the Confer-
ence, and Sir Charles Napier was seated immediately on
the left of the Lord Provost, who presided.
The CHAIRMAN explained the course which it was pro-
posed should be adopted, which was to the effect that the
resolutions which had been unanimously passed at the
Peace Conference would be commented upon by the speak-
ers, and that at the end the resolutions would be put to
the meeting to say whether they approve or did not ap-
prove, and that if any one had anything to state against
these resolutions he would be heard.

Mr. RICHARDS (the Secretary) then read the resolution
which had been passel at the Conference.

Mr. ELifin BURRITT, who on rising was greeted with
loud cheers, moved the series of resolutions which has al-
ready appeared in our columns, in an eloquent address,
which was repeatedly applauded throughout its delivery,
and pointed out some of the most glaring anomalies in-
volved "in that strange modern system of policy called an
armed peace." _

The Rev. Mr. BURNET, of London, supported the reso•
lutions.

Mr. COBDEN, M.P., said, though a good deal has been
said respecting the character and purposes of this meeting,
I will mention an incident connected with it which will
bring home peculiarly to your own minds the extraordinary
metamorphosis that has taken place in public opinion in
this country of late. When in the month of January last
we held a similar Peace Conference in Manchester, we
were, as you know, in the midst of a paroxysm in our ap-
prehension of a French invasion. At that moment the
Conference entered into a subscription at Manchester with
the view of endeavouring to raise 10,0001., of which, I be-
lieve, nearly one-half was paid down on the spot for the
purpose of instantly setting on foot an agitation through-
out the country, to counteract that spirit of apprehension
and hostility which was manifested towards France.
(Cheers.) And that was,•l believe, my own suggestion—
at all events it arose in a conversation of three or four of
us at the Conference in Manchester, where we proposed to
raise such a fund, when we found the extraordinary
circumstances in which the country was placed, and
the manifest danger of a collision between this country
and France. I thought that it was , better that in-
stead of having only one Conference wer should have two
or three throughout the country. The city of Edinburgh
was suggested as one place, and Leeds as another, and we
separated from that Conference with the impression that
before the coming Christmas we should have held a con-
ference at Edinburgh and at Leeds for the purpose of coun-
teracting the feeling of hostility and alarm entertained
towards France. (Hear, hear.) Well, now, under what
different circumstances are we here met, with our fleet
acting together with the French fleet, and the prospect of
English and French armies acting under a French general ;
and we find the complete change which you now witness.
But I am very glad that under this justifiable misappre-
hension we have assembled here on this occasion. I have
been delighted during those two days to witness in the
assembled friends of the peace movement, who have met
from all parts of the kingdom, such an evidence of growing
strength on the part of the principles we are here to advo-
cate—(cheers)—and such proves to me that we are gather-
ing round this cause precisely that strength and character
and weight in this country which we found towards the
close of another great agitation which ended in the
triumph of the cause of free trade. (Cheers.) For I see
here the self-same faces with which I fought that battle in
many a hard day. (Hear.) We have the same men. The
cause of peace is the legacy left by free trade, and the men
who won the first will win the second cause. (Cheers.)
And now having finished the labours of the conference and
como before the citizens of Edinburgh with the resolutions
which have been come to by this meeting of delegates, if
anybody asks us, " What are yourprinciples ?" we say
don't pick out a tray remark by this orator or the other
orator ; don't cavil at any little discrepancies that you
may find in the speeches of the same individual. We may
look to these resolutions as they are unanimously passed ;
they embody the principles and the objects of this confer.
ence. (Hear, and cheers.) We advocate arbitration in
lieu of fighting among all the nations in the world. (Cries
of " No, no," from a person in the body of the hall, fol-
lowed by cries of " Put him out," and Chair.") Don't
endeavour to put anybody out; leap him here and we
will make a sensible man of him before we are done.
(Loud cheers and laughter.) We advocate the cause of
arbitration in lieu of fighting, in the agreement of disputes,
and surely anybody above the rank of savages would say
that's a desirable end to accomplish. (Cheers.) There
may be many who will doubt its pra,cticability. But it is
with those people that we wish to argue this question.
We say, I submit your disputes to arbitration, and if you
cannot settle your disputes in that way, if you should
afterwards resort to the sword, still you will be as worse
off as you are by resorting to the sword without arbitra-
tion. You may tell me that there is no court of appeal
to command and enforce the fulfilment of the decree of
the arbitrator. It is perfectly true. But, on the other
hand, if our policy be carried out, I believe countries like
France and England will enter into a solemn treaty
that any question which may arise, which cannot be
settled by mutual discussion and negotiation, should
be referred to an arbitrator mutually chosen ; this
arbitrator shall have the power finally to decide the
question at issue—that being understood, that being in
fact the solemn treaty binding the two countries ; and if
by any chance there should be a quarrel arise, and either
of these countries refuse to submit the question of dispute
to the deqsion of the arbitrator, then I say if it comes in
the end to war, that country enters the conflict branded
with infamy in the eyes of the civilised world—(cheers)—
inasmuch as she has violated the solemn treaty she had
entered into before, and she is the disturber of the civil-
lised world ; and she would bring the civilised world down
upon her. (Loud cheers.) Well, now, we say we advocate
a mutual reduction of armaments. We don't say disband
your army, sink your fleet, and place yourself prostrate be-
fore any enemy that may come to attack you. But what
we say is, that if France and England have each ten ships
of the line on commission watching each other from oppo-
site parts of the coast, then it is plain their relative strength
towards each other would be precisely the same if they
would each reduce their number from ten to five. (Loud
and continued cheers.) It is a simple question of arith-
metic ; and some day or other when a future generation,
wiser than we, look back on our labours, and the difficulty
we had in convincing the statesmen of our day that three
had the same reference to three that six has to six, will
they not be astonished at the stolidity of this genera-
tion, and if they had any of their grievances to redress or
reforms to effect, surely I think they may take courage
in the midst of difficulty when they find how much diffi-
culty we had to accomplish so trivial an object as that.
(Cheers.) Now, I am glad on this account that we have a
gallant gentleman with us—if he will allow me I will call
him my gallant friend— for we have walked pretty gene-
rally, though not always, into the same lobby in the House
of Commons together. We have a gallant officer here who,
will
li
(Loud
if you are to have a fight instead of arbitration,
your business as well as anybody you can get.
cheers.) This gallant admiral has come from London—
warm from the City of London Tavern—(load cheers)—
bringing with him a spirit impatient for more decisive
proceedings on this troubled Eastern question. (Cheer-
ing.) The gallant gentleman has declared his dispproval
of the course which we have taken. And I have no doubt
that he has como here to-night to state the grounds upon
which that disapprobation is founded. (Cheers') I should
only be anticipating the duty which your right hon. chair-
man can perform as well as any man in England in offering
him, in your name, the most courteous reception and the
most patient attention—(cheers)—in all that he may have
to address to this meeting. And now, whilst explaining
to the public, it is a manifest reflection that we are at the
same time explaining to a gallant and worthy opponent
like him what are our real principles and objects.
do you know I am your
Admiral Sir C. NAPIEB—How
opponent?
Mr. COBDEN—My gallant friend says, " How do you
know that lam your opponent?" I have no doubt that
before we are done with him we will make an ally of my
gallant friend. (Loud cheers.) That will be our business
to-night. He is worth converting, I assure you. (Laughter
and cheers.) Now, let him first of all understand that
what he has heard people say, or what he may have read
in some of the public prints, in the Reform Club in Lon-
don, about the objects of this Peace Conference, are pure
fictions_ (Hear, hear.) Now, we will tell him what we
really want. Wo say we don't think this mode of conti-
nually increasing our ships of war, and mutually menacing
each other, conduces to the preservation of peace between
nations, and particularly between France and England. In
the first place we say that it is a very expensive mode, and
if our policy, the policy which we recommend, can be
adopted, there will be at once a great saving to the tax-
payers of this country, so that those who pay the taxes, if
not those who receive them, will be very much obliged to
us. Now, I say it is not only an expensive mode, but it
seems to me to be an expense without a limit, because
every improvement that's made in the science of ship-
building—every discovery that can be made by the chem-
ist in the art of propelling missiles against each other by
ships of war or by armies—every step we make in the path
of science is constantly made the argument for increasing
the expensiveness of our warlike establishments ; because
every fresh discovery you make and apply to the art of
war, the country on the other side of the Channel must
instantly follow your example, and so the two countries
go on rivalling each other in these inventions for warlike
purposes, and in the improvements in that lovely art of
human destruction. (Cheers.) Why this increase of ex-
penditure—this rivalry in the game of " beggar my neigh-
bour" must constantly go on so long as human reason is
progressive in its nature and purpose. I will give you an
'illustration which any man will understand in a moment.
Formerly we were content with sailing vessels for the pur-
poses of war. Then came the discovery of Fulton—the
application of the steam-engine to the propulsion of ships,
and gradually but very slowly steam-ships came to be
adopted by the owners of mercantile shipping. But it was
long after it became a common thing to apply the steam-
engine to the propulsion of kips before Government
thought of establishing a steam war marine. But gradu-
ally England and then France adopted the system of build-
ing steam-vessels of war. First of all paddle ships were
built. We made great blunders in the construction of our
paddle ships, butafterourmanifold blunders, and enormous
expenditure and hideous waste ofm oney, as our gallant visitor
here knows right well, we thought a perfect system of
paddle steam-vessels had been established, Very well, I
heard the Secretary for the Navy myself congratulate the
country that all that expenditure was at an end, that this
great outlay of capital for steam-vessels was concluded, and
that now all he had to do was done, beyond what was re-
quired to maintain this establishment in an effective con-
dition. Well, but shortly afterwards an ingenious man,
looking at a fish as it glided through the water, bethought
him that he could place the movement of the fish's tail to
the stern of the ship, and then came the invention of the
screw propeller. Well, after the screw propeller had
been found to convey ships across the Atlantic, and, in
fact, round the world, then came the discussion with the
Admiralty whether it should be applied to the purposes of
war. At first, as is always the case, there was a great re-
sistance on the part of the naval authorities, the official
men, to the new invention. I heard naval men say, in a
committee of the House of Commons on which I sat, that
if a shot went through the fan of the screw the ship would
become unmanageable ; but, as is always the case in these
matters, private enterprise took the invention up, set at
nought and laughed to scorn and confusion the dogmas of
official men. (Cheers.) The screw went into mercantile
snips, and when it was found available there, now they