Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1869-04-23

known, ana because tne DullulnH, equip |
ment and escape of this ship were under
circumstances most obnoxious to judgment; |
but it will not be forgotten that there were
consort ships, built under the shelter of that |
fatal proclamation, issued in such an eclipse |
of just principles, and, like the ships 1t un-
loosed, "rigged with curses dark" One
after the other ships were built; one after
the other they escaped on their errand, and
one after the other they enjoyed the immu-
mites of British ports. Audacity reached
its height when iron-clad rams were built
and the perversity of the British govern
ment became still moro conspicuous by its
long refusal TO arrest these destructive en-
gines of war, destined to be employed
against the United States. This protracted
hesitation, where the consequences were so
menacing, is part of the case. 1t is plain
that tho ships which were built under the
safeguard Of this ill-omened proclamation;
which stole forth from the British shores
and afterward enjoyed the immunities of
British ports, were not only British in orr
gin, but British in equipment, British in
armament, and British in crews. They were
British in every respect, except in their
commanders, who were rebel, and one of
these, as his ship was sinking, owed his
safety to British yacht, symbolizing the
omnipresent support of England. British
sympathies were active in their behalf. The
cheers of British passenger ship crossing
the path of the Alabama encouraged the
work of piracy, and the cheers of the House
of Commons encouraged the builder Of the
1. p I. I. I
done, and exclaimed in taunt to him, who
is now an illustrious member of the Bri-
tish Cabinet, John Bright, that he "would
rather be handed down to postcrity as the
\ builder of a dozen Alabamas" than be the
author of the speeches of that gentleman
"crying up the institutions of the United
States, which the builder of the Alabama,
rising with his theme, denounced "as of no
value whatever, and as reducing the very
name of liberty to an utterabsurdity," while
| the cheers of the House of Commons echoed
back his words. Thus from beginning to
end, from the fatal proclamation to the re-
joicing of the accidental ship and the re-
| joicing of the House of Commons was this
hostile expedition protected and encouraged
| by England. The same spirit which dictat-
ed the swift concession of beligerency with
all its deadly incidents, ruled the hour, en-
tering into and possessing every pirate
ship.
There are two circumstances by which
the whole case is aggravated. One is found
in the date of the proclamation, which lift
ed the rebels to an equality with the Ma
tonal Government; opening to them every
| hot tO re tyh oil, n
ward, foundries or manufactures and Civ
ing to them a flag on the ocean co-equal
with the flag of the Union. This extraor-
dinary manifesto was issued on the day be-
fore the arrival of our Minister in England,
so that when, after an ocean voyage, he
reached the British Government to which
he was accredited, he found this great and
terrible indignity TO his country already
perpetrated, and the flood-gates opened to
infinite woes. The Minister had been an
nounced; he wss daily expected. The
british Govornmbnt knew of his coming
But in hottest haste they did this thing
The other aggravation is found in its fla
grant, unnatural departure from that anti
slavery rule which, by manifold declara-
tions, legislative, political and diplomatic,
was the avowed creed of England. Often
was this rule proclaimed, but, if we except
the great act of Emancipation, never more
| pointedly than in the famous circular of
Lord Palmerston, while Minister of For
eign Affairs, announcing to all nations that
England was pledged to the universal abo-
lition of slavery. And now, when the
Shareholders, in the madness of barbarism
broke away from the National Government
and attempted to found new empire with
slavery as its declared cornerstone, anti
slavery England, without Il days delay
without even waiting the arrival of our
Minister, who was known TO be on his way,
made haste to decree that this shameful
and impossible pretension should enjoy
equal rights with the National Govern
ment in her ship-yards, foundries and man
ufactories, and equal rights on the ocean.
Such was the decree. Rebel Shareholders,
occupied in hideous attempt, were taken
| by the hand, and thus with the official pro-
lection and God-speed of Anti-Slavery
England commenced their accursed work.
Mr.. President, in concluding these ro-
marks, desire to say that l am no volun-
teer. For several years 1 have carefully
avoided saying anything on this NEST irri-
tating question, being anxious that nego-
tations should be left undisturbed to Sc
cure a settlement, which could be accepted
by deeply injured nation. The submis-
sion of the pending treaty to the judgment
of the Senate left me no alternative. 1t be-
came my duty to consider it carefully in
Committee, and to review the whole sub
iect. If failed to find what we had right
to expect and, if the just claims of oui
country assumed unexpected proportions
it was not because l would bear hard or
England, but because wish most sincere
" to remove all possibility of strife be
tween our two countries, and it is eviden
that this can be done only by first ascer
tanning the nature and extent of difference
In this spirit have spoken to-day. If thu
case against England is strong, and If oui
claims are unprecedented in magnitude
is only because tho conduct of this Powe
at a trying period was most unfriendly
and the injurious consequences Of this con
duct were on n scale corresponding to th
theatre of action. Life and property wer
both swallowed up, leaving behind deep
seated sense of enormous wrong, as yet un
, atonod and even unacknowledged, whicl
is one of the chief factors in the problem
, now presented to the statesmen of boil
countries. The attempt to close this grea
international debate without Il complete
, settlement is little short of puerile. witt
, the lapse of time and with minuter consid
; Grafton the case against England become
, moro grave, not only from the questions o
international responsibility which it in
volves but from better comprehension o
+ the damages which are seen now in thei
true proportions. During the war and TO
, sometime thereafter it was impossible Il
state them. The mass of n mountain can
i not be measured at its base. The observe
must occupy certain distance, and thi
D rule of perspective is justly applicable Il
damages which are vast beyond precedent