The Portland daily press., 1863-01-19
Monday Morning, January 10, 1868.
Effect of the Emancipation Policy in
England.


The prediction, that proclamation of eman-
cipation in the rebellious States, issued by the
President as war measure, would array the
civilized world against us, has been repeated
by certain journalists in this country with
persistence and energy absolutely terrifying
to aged women and diminutive children, and
to men whose garb and beard is all that distin-
guishes them from these easily frightened
classes. Well the proclamation appeared on
the 1st January, ,.and already in anticipation of
the event, the most sanguine hopes of its
friends and supporters were more than salts
fed by outspoken sympathy from across the
ocean. Deny it who will, the war is at last
put upon its true basis, charged to its true
cause, and the world knows it.
A London letter Published in the Mobile
Register shows how little claim the secession
writers in the chief city of England have to
represent English feeling. 1t appears. that
Mr.. McHenry, a Philadelphian but a traitor
handles American topics in the Times; that
Mr.. Percy Gregg does the same duty for the
the Saturday Review, and for the Morning
Herald and Standard; that the Index is sup
ported by wealthy citizen of Mobile; and
that Mr.. Henry Hozte was early sent by the
Confederate Government, as "a kind of envoy
to the English press.p These are the men,
whose lying utterance has been too often mis-
taken in this country for genuine English opin-
ion.
On the last night of 1862, the voice of Eng
land made itself heard in London, at the Brit
ish Institution. The large hall was densely
crowded, hundreds standing in the passages
This vast crowd, composed chiefly of working
men, assembled to express their appreciation
of the emancipation policy of President Lin
coin. Read this resolution, unanimously
adopted:
Resolred, That this great meeting Of Eng
lish working men, assembled on the last night
of the year 1862, declares its hearty admira-
ton OF the noble efforts made by the Govern
ment and people of the United States, not on
ly to free themselves from the guilt of com
plicity with slavery, but also to promote the
liberation of the enslaved; and halls the dawn
of the new year as the beginning of an epoch
of universal freedom upon the Western Conti-
nent, and Of closer friendship between he peo-
pie of England and of America.
That is well. Now read this address to
President Lincoln:
To his Ercelency, abraham Lincoln, Presi-
dent of the United States.
SIR:-We who offer you this address are
Englshmen and working men. We prize as
our dearest inheritance, bought for us by the
blood of our fathers. the liberty we enjoy
the liberty of free labor upon free soil We
have, therefore, been accustomed to regard
with veneration and gratitude the founders of
the great Republic in which the liberties of
the Angl0-Saxon race have been widened be-
yond all the precedents of the Old World and
In which there was nothing to conde mn or to
lament but the slavery and degradation of men
guilty only of a colored skin or an African pa
rentage, We have looked with admiration
and sympathy upon the brave, generous, and
untiring efforts Of large party in the North
ern States to deliver the Union from this
curse and shame. We rejoiced, sir, in your
election to the Presidency, as splendid proof
thal the principles of universal freedom and
equality were rising TO the ascendant We re-
garded with adherence the conspiracy and re-
bellion by which it was sought at once to
overthrow the supremacy of Government
based upon the most popular suffrage in the
world, and to perpetuate the hateful inequali-
ties of race. We have ever heard with indig-
nation the SANDER that ascribes to England
sympathy with a rebellion of Shareholders and
all proposals to recognize in friendship Con-
federacy that boasts OF slavery as its corner
stone. We have watched with the warmest
interest the steady advance of your policy
along the path eff emancipation; and on this
eve of the day on which your proclamation of
freedom takes effect, we pray God to strength
en- your hands, TO confirm your noble purpose
and to hasten the restoration of that lawful
authority which engages, in peace or war; by
compensation or by force of arms, to realize
the glorious principle on which your constitu-
tion is founded-the brotherhood, freedom, and
equality of all men,
The resolution to transmit this address to
President Lincoln was carried unanimously
amid loud cheering. Three cheers were given
with a will for Mr. Lincoln, and three for the
cause of emancipation.
The same night witnessed crowded meet
ing at Free Trade Hall in Manchester. the
Mayor of the city presiding "Far better
would it be-" said one speaker, "that this
country should spend twenty millions in feed
ing the operatives of Lancashire, than that a
peace should be concluded in America, which
should make Slavery permanent" A resolu.
ton embodying the following address to the
President of the United States of America
was adopted with great enthusiasm: