Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-30
ENGLAND AND THE FREEDMEN.
Address of Rev. SeIIa Martin-Eng-
lands Charity Begins and Stays at
HOme-The Queen Is Kind but Has
no Money.

From the New York Times, Nov. 27.l
Rev. Sella Martin, the eloquent pastor
of Shiloh Presbyterian Church has recent
ly returned from an English mission in
behalf of the freedmen of the South A
large and attentive audience assembled to
greet Mr.. Martin on his temperance in
his pulpit, and, after the usual Introductory
services, he spoke substantially as follows:
SPEECH OF REV. sELLA MARTIN.
When went abroad 1 expected to be
gone three or four months, but the great in
terest felt there in the general Parliamen-
tary election interferred with my purpose
of holding puplic meetings, as all our
friends were occupied in political matters.
After brief visit to Scotland and through
the kindness of friends, ! made the ac-
quaintance of the favorite Chaplain of 'be
Queen ap9 iRb Rife We're 's MADE. went to Bal
moral and saw the Queen, who gave no
money for political reasons, although she
spoke kinds words about the freedmen, land
her Secretary, Colonel Phipps, promised
that, if ifpossible, something should be done.
In Birmingham we had an immense meet
ing, commencing at a breakfast IN the
morning; at night some 5000 people at
tended and raised GI, 400. At Bristol we
were equally successful pecuniarily. On
the 23d of October attended the COngre-
gational Union, and through the aid of
DIR. Binney vote of recommendation
was passed that allC Congregational churches
should take up a collection which must
equal fifty thousand dollars. England
has given since 1912 something like $780,
600, and this with only fitful efforts. There
is now National Freedmen's Com |
mittee, which takes the responsibility of
the movement there. England has the |
most supreme contempt for anyone who |
thinks he knows as much as she. The |
people there said that they freed their |
Slaves and paid for them, and wanted to |
know why we didn't. No reply of ours
could of course satisfy them. Then Eng |
land is Jealous of America, in whose fu-
ture she sees grander days than can ever
be lived by them. l think the higher |
classes there would even now be glad if we
were divided; the lower classes have feel
ings quite the reverse. And these jeal-
ousies were carried into our freedmen
matter. They said "If you knew these
negroes were to be freed, why didn't you
prepare for their new condition." An
other difficulty was the uneradicable love
of classes in England. The poor people
there like it and are proud of the class
distinctions. We never could get up a
meeting without II fgure-head, such as Il
Duke or a Provost or some great man like
Mill or Hughes. 1t wasn't always easy TO
do this These difficulties will always be-
set our movement until England egotism
can become our champion. There's no
use in talking about it; we can do no
more in England; and unless we can
reach the Presbyterian Church in Scotland,
| think the contributions ara about ended. |
It's by no means fitting answer-tbis |
100000 to the $3.50, 900 we sent to Ireland |
and the $4,000 we sent to Lancashire.
It's all because we fail to get the names
requisite. If the Queen would give fl0,
it would be worth tens of thousands of /
pounds. Some people say the negroes are
not suffering as much as has been stated.
In the great camps and districts there is
a very great amount of suffering. And of |
all people the colored people should not
be Indifferent to this state of things. In
regard to negro suffrage, 1 want here to
say that 1 by no means object to property
or educational qualifications, provided it
is demanded of all men. l feel, however,
uifuJ UriO rIvII-uvuron VI OotOtOu PSOPIO
more a misfortune than a fault, and N'hen |
we are more thoroughly informed, we
shall doubtless do more, do better by our
suffering brethren at the South.