The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-05 00:00:00

wine.

A capital anecdote is related this month in the
Cornhill at the commencement of a patriotic argu-
ment " On a Further Reconstruction of the Navy."
The anecdote referred to is so thoroughly charao-

teristic of the Age, of the Nation, of the Old King
(GEORGE III,), and of the bluff old salt who is the
other interlocuter in the brief but suggestive dia-
logue therein recorded, that we transfer the little
incident precisely as it is related in Mr. THACKE-
RAY'S magazine to our own columns. It rums, then,
simply as follows :—" During the great war with
France, in which our most brilliant naval victories
were won, his Majesty GEORGE the THIRD visited
Portsmouth dockyard, and was surprised to find
the master-builder of that establishment enlarging
one of the docks on his own responsibility ? ' And
why,' asked the King, have you presumed to do
this without authority ?" Please your Majesty,'
he replied, I learnt that the French were building
a ship too large to come into the dock as it was :'
and the King was thoroughly satisfied with the
explanation. It is a mere matter of fact to add,
that the French ship was captured very soon after-
wards, and brought into the dock so thoughtfully
provided for her." And the writer adds immedi-
ately :—" It is impossible to recal this incident
without contrasting the state of things in GEORGE
the THIRD'S day with that which now exists, and
has existed for several years past." In testimony
of which startling contrast, it is thereupon ob-
served, alas! with only too much reason :—" That
consciousness of superiority on the sea which then
kept us tranquil in the midst of war, has, of late

years, given place to apprehensions which have kept
us agitated in the midst of peace. During the last
session of Parliament, for example, the representa-
tive of our Admiralty in the House of Commons
was continually reminding us of the great naval
power of France ; our Prime Minister pleaded more
than once for defensive works; and the close of the
session was signalised by an acclamatory vote de-
signed to secure further protection for us. We
need hardly add, that this decline of confidence in
ourselves has caused the confidence of others in us
to decline, until our prestige on the Continent has
sunk very low. When naval matters are now

talked of there, it is no longer of England, but of

the EMPEROR' that men think first; and the great
name of PALMERSTON, once so profoundly respected
throughout Europe, is now more prominently asso-
ciated with mid-water forts at Spithead than with
mighty fleets floating there." The reason for all
which we hardly think, however, that the writer
in the Cornhill has quite explicitly enough stated,
when he maintains that " The sole cause of these
humiliating changes is our culpable delay, twice
repeated, in adopting great mechanical improve-
ments." Meaning, of course, by this—the delay
which took place at first in regard to the applica-
tion of steam power to the propulsion of our men-
of-war—and the delay, in the next place, in regard
to the steel-plating of our line-of-battle ships. The
cause, however, of this double declension in what
may be called our maritime preparedness—the de-
clension, that is, in our own confidence to begin
with, and by necessity afterwards in the awe in-
spired by us hitherto among the rest of the great
Powers of Christendom—is, we cannot but think,
only half put when it is thus stated. For, as it
appears to us, the cause of the " humiliating
changes," but just now referred to, is, like the result
of those changes themselves, of a duplex character.
The fault, in other words, is ours, of course—but it
is also, of our imperial neighbours. True, we have
been shamefullylax in our negligence—delaying thus
until our delay has become matter of serious, almost
vital consideration, now to apply steam propulsion

to our war vessels, now to incase those war vessels
with plates of iron. But, while the guilt so far is
ours indubitably, while we ourselves must bear the
full brunt of the blame provoked by the fact of this
neglected responsibility—there is the no less cer-
tain truth that an enormous amount of blame
attaches to the French Government for the unfair
advantage taken by it in availing itself of the op-
portunity (certainly tempting) presented to view
by the incomprehensible apathy of England. We
have been in the wrong, not a doubt of it. Let that
be granted. But our Imperial neighbour has been
far more flagrantly in the wrong—in the eyes of
France herself—in the eyes of England, her faith-
ful ally—in the eyes of all Europe. For, without
provocation of any kind, without remote and scat-
tered colonies to care for, without plea or pretext
of the flimsiest description, France has been exert-
ing herself, with the utmost possible stretch of her
undoubtedly:large energies, to vie with Great Bri-
tain in the magnitude and majesty of her maritime
armaments.

England, on the contrary, having vast and
widely-distributed provinces in all quarters of the
globe, in every sea, in both hemispheres--stretch-
ing northwards far into the Arctic, south-
wards far into the Antartic regions. The
European territories of England, for example,
lying far to the east and far to the west from our
own wonderful little archipelago—past the rocky
fortress of Gibraltar, past the insular " keep" of
Malta, away to the lonian islands with its restive
Geeek population ! And, extending far and wide
to :the uttermost limits of the habitable globe, the
domain of England lying scattered throughout
Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia
and the rest of Polynesia. Yet, with scarcely a
colony herself to care for, France all this while,
like the Frog in the presence of the Ox, in the old
iEsopian apologue—little JOHNNY CRAPAUD! in the

presence of lusty JOHN BULL ! !—must needs be
enlarging her naval force to the most extravagantly
disproportionate dimensions. Until—quite in keep-
ing with the sequel of the fable— the ambitious rival
suddenly bursts in the very effort of emult.tion.
The Financial Break-up that has so very recently
led to the return of M. ACHILLE FOULD to the
Ministry, marking the term, let us hope, of this
unnatural attempt on the part of France to out-
strip upon the ocean the energies and the enterprises
of the greatest maritime power the world has ever
seen. France compelled at length to moderate her
efforts in this unwonted direction—England
awakened at last fully and completely to a recogni-
tion of her own culpable apathy and negligence—
Britannia, we may now rest confident, is in a fair
way to resume her old supremacy over the deep.

A Cabinet Council was hell yesterday at the
official residence of the first Lord of the Treasury in Down-
ing-street. The Ministers present were Viscount Palmer-
ston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, Sir G. Grey,
Earl Russell, the Duke of Newcastle, Sir G. Cornewall
Lewis, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Duke of
Somerset, the Right Hon. Thomas Milner Gibson, the
Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, Lord htanley of Aide/ ley,
and the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers.
We understand that the 100-pounder Armstrong
guns, the issue of which had been temporarily suspena ed
during some experiments, will now be again delivered for
service.

WARLIKE MOVEMENTS.—The Freeman states
that in all probability a division of sailors from the AjL:x,
which has been prepared for sea in case of necessity, will
leave Kingstown to join the Black Prince.

AMERICAN CORN.—Thirty years ago breadstuffs
were sent from Buff.do w.stward to supply settlers in the
wilderness. That wilderness has n)w become the granary
of the world. The first shipment of wheat at Chicago for
the eastward was made in 1838, and consisted of only 2,000
bushels during the year. In 18.55 upwards of 20,000,000
bushels were shipped. During tha month of October last
12,483,797 bushels of grain and flour were received at Buf-
falo; and during the 13 months ending the 31st of October
last the receipts at Buffalo were 51,909,142 bushels of grain
and flour.

Her Majesty's ship Donegal (line-of-battle) passed
Madeira on the 25th ult., and her Majesty's gunboat Dot-
terel passed on the 27th ult., both on their way to the Gulf
of Mexico.

Commanders P. G. Nettleton and H. B. Burnaby,
R.N., have been appointed Admiralty agents on the India
and China stations.

LiT E I 'ie,‘

TURIN, DEC. 4.

Contrary to all expectation, Garibaldi has ar-
rived here. He will not attend to-day's sitting of
the Chamber of Deputies.

TURIN, DEC. 4, EVENING.

The discussion on the Roman and Neapolitan
questions was resumed to-day in the Chamber of
Deputies. Signor Ratazzi said—
"lt would be unjust to wish to make the
Government responsible for the failure of the nego-
tiations relative to Rome and for the disturbances
in the Neapolitan provinces. Another Ministry
would be in the same situation. I will not discuss
the documents which have been communicated to
the Chamber by the Government, as it is useless to
consider whether the concessions offered to the
Church were dangerous to the State, because they
have been without any result. Rome is naturally,
and will soon really be the capital of Italy. lam
convinced that the French Government desires that
the occupation of Rome may cease. It is the in-
terest of France to have a strong Italy as an ally.
The French Government is our sincere friend. It
recognized us after we had proclaimed Rome as the
capital of Italy. Our adversaries are their adver-

caries."

Signor Ratazzi then alluded to his visit to Paris,
which, he said, was of a purely personal character.
He denied the malevolent rumours which had been
circulated with regard to his intentions. He con-
demned the propositions of Signor Ricciardi, and
said he believed that France would aid the Italians
against the brigandage in Naples.
He concluded by urging the union of all the
constitutional factions.

Signor Ratazzi's speech was received with unani-
mous applause.

ROME, DEC. 3.
The Marquis de Lavalette, the new French Am-
bassador, has arrived here.

RAGUSA, DEC. 4.

On Monday last 16 battalions of Turkish troops
were concentrated at the position taken up by Omar

Pasha.

Dervisch Pasha, in pursuance of his orders, pro-
ceeded to attack the camp of the insurgents at Piva,
but found they had fled, after having burnt their
camp. Their arms and baggage, however, fell into
the hand of the Turks.

BOMBAY, Nov. 12.
Sirßichmond Shakespear is dead.

Lord Canning invested Scindia and the Rajahs
of Puttiala, Chopal, and Rampore with the Order
of the Star of India at Allahabad on the Ist inst.
Holkar and the Guicowar were also invested
with the Order on the same day.
Lieutenant Singer, of the 75th Regiment, has
been killed by an armed mob in Nowgong, Assam,
while trying to collect the taxes.
Troops have been ordered up to restore quiet.

FRANCE.

PARIS, DEC. 4.

The Petrie of this evening has an article, signed
by M. Lapenterie,ontheAnglo-American difficulty,
of which the following is a summary :
" It is not the mission of France to avenge insults
offered to England. If an outrage has been com-
mitted on the high seas against the British flag,
it does not rest with our Government to demand
reparation, nor is it the duty of public opinion
in France to resent it. Let us suppose that by
an outrage on the French flag we were placed in a
similar position to that of England. Undar present
circumstances we are disinterested. We are not the
judges of what becomes the honour of England,
For two years the Cabinet of Lord Palmerston
has been calling together volunteers, plating frigates
with iron, manufacturing rifled cannon, surround-
ing the English ports with formidable defences, and
sustaining itself in Parliament and the country by
the aid of a warlike popularity. Having seen such a
display and such preparations against phantoms of
fear, the counsels which we should give to England
must necessarily appear very moderate and timid.
If the Cabinet of Washington does not disavow the
proceeding of the captain of the San Jacinto, and if
England insists on obtaining reparation, a new state
of things may be brought about affecting the inte-
rests of all the European Powers. If England
recognises the Southern States the Powers must
necessarily take such a change into consideration
for the sake of their commercial interests, and must
desire the termination of the war. If the Southern
Confederacy, by its recognition by one of the Great
Powers, should enjoy public rights as a nation, the
other States would have to consider what attitude
such an important modification would impose upon
them, and the Cabinet of Washington would bear
the responsibility of a resolution which the necessi-
ties of commerce and political influence would im-
pose upon Europe."

The Moniteur declares that the statement made
by the Toulon journals of the intention of the Em-
press to shortly visit Nice and spend part of the
winter there is altogether devoid of foundation. •
BOURSE, DEC. 4.—The market has been more
buoyant, and a fair amount of business has been
transacted at an improvement on the closing rates
of yesterday. Threes, for the Account, are now at
69f 50e. Railway shares have in some cases im-
proved. The following are the last quotations:-
4f per per Cents ... 95 60 Credit Fancier ll9O
Do. end month.... Belgian 4} lOO
3 per Cents
Do. end month 69 621 Roman
Bank Shares 2975 Austrian
Credit Mobilier.. . 745 Spanieh Threes —
Do. Account 747 50 , Homo Debt

RAILWAYS.
Cash. Account..
Orleans 1330 .. 1332 50
Northern
New ditto .. 917 50 .. 25
Lyons and Mediterranean 1022 50 1025
Geneva
Southern
Western ..
Eastern ....
Sardinian
Austrian
Lon•bard ..............

665 .. 666 25
635 - .. 537 25
571 25 .. 572 50
350 - - -
607 50 .. 608 75
515 515 -

The boa constrictor at the Garden of Plants,
Paris, which swallowed its blanket some time ago, and dis-
gorged it about a month afterwards, has just died, owing,
as was supposed, to its having retained so indigestible a
mass such a length of time in its body.
GALLANT RESCUE FROM SHIPWRECK.—The fol-
lowing extracts are from a letter, dated the 25th Nov., from
Captain Weatheley, of the steam ship Ward Jackson, ply-
ing between West Hartlepool and Hamburg : —" I arrived
home yesterday morning, after a very severe p,ssage ; not,
however, to be compared to the outward one, of which I will
give you a brief account. I sailed from here at midnight on
Wednesday, the 13th inst., and was due at Hamburg on
Friday evening, the 15th. I did not, however, put in my
appearance until the Sunday evening. After I got to sea a
gale came on from N.E., which by daylight on Thursday
had increased to a perfect hurricane, with a most terrific
sea. At noon I was compelled to heave the ship to, under
a close-reefed mainsail. I lay to all that night, and at 9 a.m.
on Friday saw a vessel with mainmast gone and signal of
distress flying. I bore down to her, and found her to be the
Nord Star, Captain Allwords, from Memel to Newcastle,
with timber, waterlogged, and the sea running mountains
high over her. I succeeded in getting crew of seven men on
board the Ward Jackson. At 1130 a.m. I saw another ship,
with signals of distress flying on the stump of her main-
mast. Bore away to her, and found her to be the Norwe-
gian brig Vesta, about 400 tons, Captain Hanson, of Grim •
stadt, timber laden, for lionfleur, waterlogged, dismasted,
rudder gone, and sea making a clean breach over her; took
off her crew of ten men. Again, at 3.10 p.m., saw another
wreck to leewai d, and ran down to her. She proved to be
the Dutch galliot schooner Thee, Captain Pothius, timber
laden, from Frederickstadt to Harlingen, totally dismasted,
waterlogged, and decks blown up. Took off her crew of six
men, making in all 23 souls, from these three vessels, in
6} hours. Landed them all at Hamburg on the Sunday
night, and I need not say how happy I felt in being the in-
strument under God of saving all these poor fellows from a
watery grave."

MR. BRIGHT ON ME
AMERICAN WAIL

MANCHESTER, WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

Mr. Bright, M.P., was entertained at dinner by
his fellow-townsmen, at the Rochdale Public-hall,
this evening. There were about 250 gentlemen
present, among whom were Mr. Bazley, M.P., Mr.
George Wilson, and the Mayor of Manchester.
The galleries were occupied by ladies,
The Mayor of Rochdale presided, and gave in
succession the toasts of " The Queen," " The Houses
of Parliament," and "The Health of Mr. Cobden,
M.P.," all of which were cordially received.
Mr. BAZLEY, M.P., responded. He expressed his
opinion that there was no more distinguished mem-
ber in the house than their esteemed friend and
representative, Mr. Bright. (Cheers.) And, just
as people were very often asking, " What will Mrs.
Grundy say ?" so in the House of Commons he heard
on every occasion the inquiry, " What will Bright
say ?" (Laughter pd applause.)
The MAYOR next proposed the health of the member for
the borough, Richard Cobden, Esq , and read the following
letter from the hon. gentleman :

Midhurst, Dec. 2, 1861.
Dear Sir,—l need not assure you with what pleasure I
should accept your invitation to be present at the enter-
tainment which is to offered by his neighbours to my friend
Mr. Bright. It tempts me sorely, and yet I will not break
the rule by which I have prohibited myself from attending
any public meeting this winter, with the view of husband-
ing my health for the labours of the coming session.
The circumstances of the present moment make me regret
my inability to meet my constituents. I should have been
glad to have expressed my views on the public questions of
the day, especially in reference to our relations with the
United States, to which a recent event has given a sudden
importance. I allude, of course, to the capture of Mess's.
Slidell and Mason on board a British steamer. On this
sub-
ject I should have urged the propriety of suspending a final
judgment until we had time to hear whether the American
Government had authorised this act of their naval officer:
and if so, on what ground they justified the proceeding.
I have seen with some surprise the assumption in certain
quarters that, from the moment when our legal authorities
have given their opinion on the point at issue, the question
is settled, and that we have only to proceed to enforce their
award. It is forgotten that the matter in dispute must be
decided not by British but by international law, and that if
the President's Government should assume the responsi-
bility of the act of their naval officer they will claim for the
reasoning and the precedents urged by their legal advit ers
at Washington the same consideration whic they are
bound to give to the law officers of the British Crown. To
refuse this would be to deny that equality before the law
which is the rule of all civilised States, and to arrogate for
ourselves, as interested parties, arbitrary and dictatorial
powers. Had I been able to meet my constituents, I should
have in their name, and with, I know, their full concur-
rence, repudiated the language of those public writers who,
without waiting till both parties have had a hearing, have
given utterances to threats which, if they are supposed to
emanate from the British people, must render compliance
on the part of the American Government difficult, if not
impossible. _ _

iVhatever be the issue of the legal controversy, this is a
question which we cannot hope to bring to a more satisfac-
tory issue by an appeal to arms. We ende tvoured to im-
pose our laws, by force, on the Americans when they were
three millions of colonists, and we know the result.
Again, in 1812, when we were belligerents, and the United
States, with eight millions of people, were neutral, and after
we had for years subjected their vessels to search and
seizure—which will now probably be adduced as precedents
to justify the recent proceeding on their part—a war broke
out on this very question of belligerent rights at sea, which,
after two years of mutual slaughter and pillage, was termi-
nated by a treaty of peace in which, by tacit agreement, no
allusion was made to the original cause of the war. With
these examples, can we reasonably hope by force of arms to
compel the twenty millions of Americans who are now
united under the Federal Government to accept our exclu-
sive interpretation of the law of nations ?
Besides, the mere settlement of the question of the Trent
does not dispose of our difficulties and dangers. We re-
quire a complete revision of the international maritime
code with a view to its simplification, and to bring it into
harmony with the altered circumstances of the age ;
and to this, it must in justice he admitted, the Americans
have not been the obstacle. More than five years ago the
Government of Washington proposed to the European
powers to exempt private property at sea from capture by
armed vessels of every kind—a proposal which, in his Mes-
sage to Congress, President Pierce stated had been favour-
ably received by Russia and France, but which was rejected
by our Government, acting in opposition to the unanimous
opinion of the commercial bodies of this country. Subse.
quently, Mr. Buchanan's Government enlarged this offer
by proposing to abolish blockade so far as purely mercantile
ports were concerned, but again this met with no favour
from our Government. Th details of this plan are but
imperfectly known, as no official documents have been given
to the British public. But after perusing the statement
made by our Foreign Minister in the House of Commons,
on the 18th of February last, the painful impression is lett
on my mind, that had this offer of the United States Govern-
ment, instead of being opposed, been promptly and frankly
accepted by England, our commerce with the Southern
ports of that country might have at this moment been
uninterrupted, and Lancashire would have hardly felt any
inconvenience from the civil war in America. I was absent
from Parliament when these great questions were inciden-
tally referred to, for all serious discussion on the subject
seems to have been discouraged by the Government ; but I
think I shall be able to show on a future occasion that no
other country is interested to half the extent of England,
in carrying out these propositions of the United States Go-
vernment. I would go a step further, and exempt from
visitation, search, and obstruction of every kind, all neu-
tral merchant ships on the ocean or open sea, in time of
war, as well as in time of peace. The commerce of the
world has become too vast, and all its movements too rapid,
to permit of merchant vessels of all nations being, every-
where, liable to search and detention, merely because two
powers in some quarter of the globe choose to be at war.
This state of things might have been endurable some cen
turies ago, when war was regarded as the normal state of
society, and when the neutrality of a great power was
almost unknown, but it is utterly intolerable in an age
of steam navigation and free trade. But let it not be for-
gotten by the British public, in the present moment
of irritation, that England has always been, and still is, the
great obst tele to a liberal and humane modification of the
maritime law of nations in the interest of neutrals, and that
her assent alone is wanting to sweep the musty maxims of
Puffendorf and the rest into that oblivion which has happily
engulphed the kindred absurdities of protection.
I will not attempt within the space of a letter to touch
upon the other issues involved in this deplorable civil war.
There is one point only on which I will add a remark. An
opinion seems to be entertained by some parties, here and on
the Continent, that it is in the power of the Governments
of England and Francs to control if not put an end to
the conflict. I entertain the strongest conviction on the
contrary, that any act of intervention on the part of a
European Power, whether breaking the blockade, or a
premature acknowledgment of the independence of the
South, or in any other way, can have no other effect but
to aggravate and protract the quarrel. History tells us
how greatly the horrors of the French revolution sprung
from the intervention of the foreigner. Were a similar
element thrown in to infuriate the American contest, every
restraining motive for forbearance, every thought of compro-
Luise or conciliation would be c ist to the winds,—the North
would avail itself of the horrible weapon always ready at
hand, and by calling in the aid of the negro would carry
the fire and sword of a servile war into the South, and
make it a desolation and a wilderness. So far from expect-
ing that the raw material of our great industry would reach
us sooner in consequence of such an intervention, the
more probable result would be the destruction of the cotton
plant itself throughout the Southern States of the Union.
I cannot conclude without thanking; you for your kind
offer of hospitality; and I remain, my dear sir, yours very
truly, RD. COBDEN.
John T. Pagan, Esq., Mayor.

The sentiments of the letter were received with repeated
tokens of approbation, and Mr. Cobden's health was drunk
with "three times three" hearty cheers.
Mr. THOMAS ASHWORTH briefly responded.
The CHAIRMAN then gave "The health of john Bright,
Esq., Member for Birmingham."
Mr. BRIGHT, who was received with tumultous cheering
and waving of handkerchiefs, rose and said,—When the
gentlemen who invited me to this dinner called upon me,
I felt their kindness very sensibly, and now I am deeply
grateful to my friends around me and to you all for the
abundant manifestations of kindness with which I have
been received to-night. I am, as you all know, surrounded
at this moment by my neighbours and friends—(hear, hear)
—and I may also say, with the utmost truth, that I value
the good opinions of those who now hear my voice far be-
yond the opinions of any equal number of the inhabitants
of this country selected from any portion of it. You
have by this act of your kindness that you have shown
me given proof that in the main you do not disapprove
of my toil and labours—(loud cheers)—that at least
you are willing to express an opinion that the motives
by which I have been actuated have been honest and
honourable to myself, and that that course has not been
entirely without service to my country. (Applause.)
Coming to this meeting, or to any similar meeting, I
always find that the subjects for discussion appear too infi-
nite, and far more than it is possible to treat. In these
times, in which we live by the influence of the telegraph,
and the steamboat, and the railroad, and the multiplication
of newspapers, we seem continually to stand as on the top
of an exceeding high mountain, from which we behold all
the kingdoms of the earth and all the glory of them—un-
happily, also, not only their glory, but their crimes, and
their follies, and their calamities. Seven years ago our eyes
were turned with anxious expectation to a remote corner of
Europe, where five nations were contending in a lloody
strife for an object which possibly hardly one of them com-
prehended, and, if they did comprehend it, which all
sensible men amongst them must have known to be ab-
solutely impracticable. Four years ago we were looking
still further to the East, where there was a gigantic revolt
in a great dependency of th® British Crown, arising
mainly from gross neglect, and from the incapacity of
England, up to that moment, to govern the country
which it had known how to conquer. Two years ago,
we looked south I o the plains of Lombardy, and saw a great
strife there, in which every man in England took a strong
interest— (hear, hear)—and we have welcomed, as the re-
sult of that strife, the addi,ion of a great kingdom to the
list of European States. (Cheers.) Now, our eyes are
turned in a contrary direction, and we look to the west.
There we see a struggle in progress of the very highest in-
terest to England and to humanity at large. We see there
a nation whom I shall call the transatlantic English nation
—(hear, hear)—the inheritor and partaker of all the his-
toric glories of this country. We see it torn with intestine
broils, and suffering from calamities from which more than
a century past, in fact for more than two centuries past,
this country has been, exempt. That struggle is of especial

interest to us. We remember the description which one of
our great poets gives of Rome—
" Lone mother of dead empires."
Bet England is the living ther of great nations,
on the American and on the Australian continents,
which promise to endow th world with all our know-
ledge and all our civilisation, and even something more
than the freedom which she herself enjoys. (Cheers.)
Eighty-five years ago, at the time when some of our oldest
townsmen were very little children, there were on the
South American co tinent colonies, mainly of Englishmen,
containing about threo millions of souls. These colonies
we have seen a year ago constituting the United States of
North America and comprising a population of no less than
30 millions of souls. We know that in agriculture and
manufactures, with the exception of this kingdom, there is
no country in the world which in these arts may be placed
in advance f the United States. (Applause.) With
regard to inventions, I believe, within the last 30 years,
we have received more useful inventions from the
United States than we have received from all the other
countries of the earth. (Heat, hear.) In that country
there are probably ten times as many miles of telegraph
as there are in this country, and there are at least five
or six times as many miles of railway. The
tonnage of its shipping is at least equal to ours, if it
does not exceed ours. The prisons of that country—for
even in countries the most favoured prisons are needful—
have been models for other nations of the earth; and many
European nations have sent missions at different times to
inquire into the admirable system of education so univer-
sally adopted in their free schools throughout the Northern
States, If I were to speak of this country in a religious
aspect 1 should say that, considering the short space of
time to which their history goes back, there is nothing on
the face of the earth besides, and never has been, to equal
the magnificent arrangement of churches and ministries,
and of all the appliances which are thought necessary for a
nation to teach Christianity and morality to its people.
(Cheers.) Besides all this, when I state that for many years
past the annual public expenditure of the Government of
that country has been somewhere between £10,000,000 and
£16,000,000 a-year, I need not perhaps say further, that
there has existed amongst all the population an amount of
comfort and prosperity and abounding plenty such as
I believe no other country in the world, in any age, has
displayed. (Applause.) This is a very fine but a very
true picture, but it has another side to which I must
advert. There has been one great feature in that country,
one great contrast, which has been pointed to by all who
have commented upon the United States, as a feature of
danger and contrast calculated to give pain. You have
had in that country the utmost liberty to the white man
and bondage and degradation to the black man. Now,
rely upon it, that wherever Christianity lives and flou-
rishes, there must grow up from it necessarily a conscience
hostile to any oppression or to any wrong ; and, there-
fore, from the hour when the United States constitution
was formed, so long as it left there this great evil—then
comparatively small, but now so great—it left there the
seeds of that which an American statesman has so happily
described, of that "irrepressible conflict" of which now
the whole world is the witness. It has been a common
thing for men disposed to carp at the United States to
point at this blot upon their fair fame, and to compare
it with the boasted declaration of freedom in their deed and
declaration of independence But we must recollect who
sowed this seed of trouble, and how and by whom it has been
cherished. Without dwelling upon this stain any longer,
I should like to read to you a paragraph from the instruc-
tions supposed to be given to the Virginian delegates to
Congress, in the month of August, 1744, by Mr. Jefferson,
who was perhaps the ablest man that the United States
had produced up to that time, and who was then actively
engaged in its affairs, and afterwards for two periods filled
the office of President. He represents this very slave State
—the State of Virginia—and he says—
For the most trifling reasons, and sometimes for no con-
ceivable reason at all, his Majesty has rejected laws of the
most salutary tendency. The abolition of domestic slavery
is the great object of desire in those colonies, where it was
unhappily introduced in their infant state. But previous
to the enfranchisement of the slaves we have, it is neces-
sary to exclude all further importations from Africa. Yet
our repeated attempts to effect this by prohibitions, and by
imposing duties which might amount to prohibi ion, have
been hitherto defeated by his Majesty's negative—thus pre-
ferring the immediate advantages of a few British corsairs
to the lasting interests of the American States, and to the
rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this infamous
practice.

I read that merely to show that, two years before the de.,
claration of independence was signed, Mr. Jefferson, acting
on behalf of those he represented in Virginia, read that
protest against the course of the English Government,
which prevented the colonists abolishing the slave trade,
preparatory to the abolition of slavery itself. Well, the
United States constitution left the slave question for
every State to manage for itself. It was a question too
difficult to settle then, and apparently every man had the
hope and belief th et in a few years elavery in itself would
become extinct. Then there happened that great event
in the annals of manufactures and commerce. It was
discovered that in those States that article which we
in this country now so much depend on could be pro-
duced of the best quality necessary for manufacture,
and at a moderate price. From that day to this
the growth of cotton has increased there, and its con-
sumption has increased here, and a value which no
man dreamed of when Jefferson wrote that paper has
been given the slave and slave industry. Thus it has
grown up to that gigantic institution which now threatens
either its own overthrow, or the overthrow of that which
is a million times more valuable-the United States of
America. (Cheers.) The crisis to which we have arrived
—I say" we," for after all we are as much interested as if
I was making this speech in the city of Boston or the city of
New York-the crisis I say, which has now arrived was
inevitable. I say that the conscience of the North, never sa-
tisfiel with the institution, was constantly pricking some
men forward to take a more extreme view of the question ;
and there grew up naturally a section- it may be not a very
numerous one—in favour of abolition. A great and power-
ful party resolved at least upon a restraint and a control of
slavery, so that it should not extend beyond the states and
the area which it now occupies. But if we look at the go-
vernment of the United States almost ever since the union,
we shall find the Southern power has been mostly domi-
nant there. If we take 36 years after the formation of
the present constitution—l think about 1787—we shall
find that for thirty-two of those years every President was
a Southern man ; and if we take the period from 1828
until 1861 we shall find on every election for President the
South voted in the majority. We know what an election
is in the United States for President of the republic.
There is a most extensive suffrage, and there is the ballot
box. The presidents of the House of Representatives are
elected by the representatives, and generally they are
elected at the same time. It is thus, therefore, almost in-
evitable that the House of Representatives is in accord
in public policy with the President for the time being.
Every four years there springs from the vote created by
the whole people a President over that great nation. I
think the world offers no finer spectacle than this; it
offers no higher dignity; and there is no greater object of
ambition on the political stage on which men are per-
mitted to move, You may point, if you will, to
hereditary rulers, to crowns coming down through
successive generations of the same family, to thrones
based on prescripticn or on conquest, to sceptres wielded
over veteran legions, and subject realms—but to my /Died
there is nothing so worthy reverence and obedience, and
nothing more sacred, than the authority and the freely
chosen majesty of a great and free people—(applause)--
and if there be on earth and amongst men any right Livine
to govern, surely it rests with a ruler so chosen and so
appointed. (Renewed applause.) Last year the cere-
mony of this great election was gone over, and the South,
which had been so long successful, found itself defeated.
That defeat was followed instantly by secession, and
insurrection, and war. In the multitude of articles which
have been brought before us in the newspapers within the
last few months, I have no doubt you have seen it stated, as
I have seen it, that this question was very much like that
upon which the colonies originally revolted against the
Crown of England. It is amazing how little some news-
paper writers know, or how little they think you know.
(Hear, and laughter.) When the war of independence was
commenced in America, 90 years ago, there were no
representatives there at all. The question then was, whether
a Ministry in Downing-street, and a corrupt and borough-
mongering Parliament, should continue to impose taxes
upon three millions of English subjects, who had left their
native shores, and established themselves in North America.
But now the question is not the want of representation, be-
cause it is perfectly notorious, the South is not only repre-
sented, but is represented in excess, for in distributing the
number of representatives, which is done every 10 years,
three out of every five slaves are counted as one free man,
and the number is consequently so much greater than if
the freemen, the white men, only were counted. From this
cause the Southern States had 20 members more in the
House of Representatives than they would have if the
members were apportioned on the same principle as in
the Northern free States. Therefore you will see at once
that there is no comparison between the state of things
when the colonies rev. dted and the state of things now,
when this wicked insurrection has broken out. There is
another cause which is sometimes in England assigned for
this great misfortune, which is the protective theories in
operation in the Union, and the maintenance of a high
tariff. It happens with regard to that, unfortunately, that
no American, certainly no one I ever met with, attributed
the disasters of the Union to that cause. It is an argument
made use of by ignorant Englishmen, but never by in-
formed Americana. (Hear, hear.) I have already shown
you that the South, during almost the whole existence of
the Union, has been dominant at Washington; and during
that period the tariff has existed, and there has been no dis-
satisfaction with it. Occasionally, there can be no doubt,
their tariff was higher than was thought just or reasonable
or necessary by some of the States of the South. But the
first act of the United States which levies duties upon im-
ports, passed immediately after the Union was formed, re-
cites that—" It is necessary for the encouragement and
protection of manufactures to levy the duties which follows;"
and during the war with England from 1812 to 1815 the
people of the United States had to pay for all the articles
they brought from Europe many times over the natural
cost of those articles on account of the interruption to the
traffic by the English nation. When the war was over