The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-25 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN CRISIS.

Yesterday afternoon a meeting was held at Willis's
Rooms for the purpose of presenting the Rev. Dr.
(Jheever, pastor of the Church of the Puritans in
New York, with a testimonial as a token of the
honour in which the consistent course he has
held in denouncing slavery as a sin against God
is regarded in this country.
Lord Shaftesbury took the chair, and there were
also present Lord Kinnaird, the Hon. Arthur Kin-
nird, Mr. Samuel Morley, the Rev. I. Wilson, &c.
The proceeding appeared to excite but a very
small amount of public interest, and the meeting
was most thinly attended. Prayers having been
said,

The noble CHAIRMAN proceeded to read a short
address to Dr. Cheever, at the conclusion of which,
with a few earnest and appropriate words, he pre-
sented the rev. gentleman with a large and very
handsome silver salver and a richly bound copy of
" Erskine's Speeches."
It was also intended to present a money gift, to
be applied by the rev. doctor in furthering the abo-
lition cause in America, but the presentation of this
was deferred to another occasion, as the subscrip-
tions had not all been received.

Dr. CHEEVER, in returning thanks, entered at
considerable length into the question of slavery,
viewing it in a scriptural light and as one of the
greatest sins which it was possible to commit
against the Divine law. He illustrated even the
mundane retribution which overtook this crime by a
comparison of the two States of Michigan and Ar-
kanas. Both these States had been admitted to the
Union in 1836, and in the course of 20 years
Michigan had nearly three times the population,
more than eight times the number of public schools,
and in all other indications of civilization, wealth,
and prosperity had immeasurably outstripped its
sister Slave State in the South, oa the political and
social degradation of which the speaker dwelt with
much force. Now that the judgment of God, he
said. had fallen on this great iniquity, by driving
the Slave States into the madness of a rebellion, an
opportunity was given to his country of freeing
itself henceforward from the stigma of an awful
crime. The demand of the North should be one for
the total abolition of slavery. If they attempted
to effect a compromise with the slaveholding
South, the judgment of God would recoil upon
them hereafter with tenfold violence. Now the
Divine mercy had at last given them an opportuniy
of clearing their country of an abomination, and a
juncture had arisen, which came sooner or later to
all people, when to maintain the government of the
country it was necessary to maintain the Govern-
ment of God, He thought that slaves held in
States which had not seceded should be purchased
by the Government and set free, and that they should
confiscate the property of the slaveholders who were
in rebellion and manumit their slaves also. They
should forbid slavery in the district of Columbia,
repeal the Fugitive Slave Law, and forbid the
traffic in slave from State to State. If the North
were to adopt such a course, and announce their firm
determination of suppressing all slavery and trade
in slaves for the future, he believed the course
would at once command the sympathy and re-
spect of all mankind. (Cheers.) The duty of
Great Britain, however, in this matter was
clear. No matter what the issue of the present
struggle in the United States might be, England
should never submit to the degradation of recognis-
ing a community of pirates as a nation. The North,
he thought, would never prosecute the war with
vigour or success. The military conquest of the
South would become an impossibility unless the
the North threw off all disguise and timid half-
measures by proclaiming the total abolition of
slavery throughout the length and breadth of the
United States. In conclusion, the rev. doctor stated
that, in fact, only one single State had really seceded

—South Carolina. The others had all been coerced
into it at the point of the bayonet during the reign
of terror which followed the secession of South
Carolina.

Lord KINNAIRD explained to the meeting how it
was that Dr. Cheever had not been more intimately
known to the English public during his visit to this
country. A public meeting was to have been held
last April under the presidency of Lord Brougham,
when Dr. Cheever would have had an opportunity
of explaining what slavery was in certain States of
America, but in the interval which elapsed before
that took place the dreadful rupture and the fratri-
cidal war which all in England so keenly and sin
cerely mourned had broken out among the States,
and Lord Brougham, in the exercise of a very wise
discretion, did not think that at such a juncture
it would be right to adhere to their purpose regard-
ing the meeting. That was the only reason why
the meeting was not held, though the abandonment
of the idea had given rise to gross misstatements in
the American press that Lord Brougham had given
the cold shoulder to Dr. Cheever, and the fact had
been held up and descanted upon as another in-
stance of the Southern sympathies of this country.
Such statements were utterly untrue. He thought
there was not much sympathy felt in this country
for either party in the contest between the North
and South, for the universal opinion in England
was that both were equally insincere.
After a few words from Mr. SAMUEL MORLEY,
proposing s
ie
aeavrorted nof
et2lin. eon.,anks the noble chairman,
Lord SIIAFTESBURY, in acknowledging the com•
pliment, said it was astonishing to him, utterly
astonishing, that the character of Englishmen could
be so little known in any country that its people
could, even for a moment, entertain the idea that
they would sympathise with any slaveholding com-
munity. Personal freedom was as intimately asso-
ciated in an Englishman's mind with the national
rights of a people as the very air they breathed.
There had, however, been no great feeling in this
country for either one or the other of the parties,
for the country did not believe in the sincerity of
either. The North had conceded everything to
slavery that it could possibly demand, so the South
had certainly no cause for rebellion, but in the
struggle they were entering on the North never
thought of putting an end to slavery, for if such a
declaration had been made they would have had the
sympathy of every man in England ; he was almost
afraid to say how far he thought that sympathy
would have gone. But the North had done nothing
of this. Nay, it was rather remembered in this coun-
try that it was in Northern ports that slavers were
equipped ; from Northern ports they were sent forth;
the flag of the United States afforded protection to the
vessels which carried on this fearful traffic in human
beings; and Northern gentlemen held mortgages
on slave estates, and derived their profits from
them. (Cheers.) Those who had read the Presi-
dent's message knew that the word " slavery" was
not mentioned, even under the soft disguise of " in-
voluntary servitude" or " domestic institution," and
the only allusion to the future course of the North
was that when they succeeded in restoring the
Union they would conduct the government in ac-
cordance with the Constitution of the country.
There could be no feeling here for either side
with such a state of things in both. There was no
honest feeling on the subject of slavery in America
except among the Abolitionists, headed by that
great and good man, Charles Sumner. Slavery
was doomed. The South and North appeared
salmoolstdtheeeeqraumsaeal.ly determined to maintain it, but there
was a Greater Power which had decreed that it
r k Englandet
e forhe
her cotton
a t
supply,last haapnidl
whenseek-
ing should
demand for cotton from America ceased, slavery
would soon cease to be profitable, and then cease
to
Aexftiestr.
a(Cfehw eers.)
words of explanation from Dr.
seounEtEhVwEßaa,
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asdtadtied ng
tthheant
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Abolition, and that he believed the time was rapidly
approaching when slavery would be unknowwnerien
America, the proceedings of the meeting
brought to a close.

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