Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-12-24


from the capital, Carlisle and Manchester. Carlisle, IL
presidents mother. and the desire to visit that place Il
natural and easy to understand. The reason for the stol
at Manchester is not so Immediately apparent. 1t Is tru
that the city is a great manufacturing center. but Englan,
has many such great centers, and even II Manchester wer
the only one. the few hours devoted to the Mancheste
stop would not suffice for any Investigation Of the eco
nomic conditions which have their center there.
We may assume that the stop at Manchester bear
some relation to the attitude of British labor toward tn
whole subject of international peace. The size Of the cit.
and the magnitude of its manufacturing interests. will
the resultant great body Of wage-earning labor to D.
found there, will account in part for the selection Of thi
city as the one where the president will come into imme
date contact with British labor. We may rest assured
however, that the selection was influenced in. no small
measure by the correspondence which passed between
working people of Manchester and another American
president sixty years ago. y
The Civil war in the United States created condition.
which bore heavily on British labor. The great cottor
manufacturing districts were dependent on the southern
states for their supply of raw material. The fedora
blockade of southern ports cut off that supply. and thu
English looms were idle, and thousands of English labor
ers were destitute. In a certain narrow and moss-growr
official circle there was,a disposition to give recognition
to the Confedcracy, a step which might easily have beer
AatoA " l"e CAtuL SouehSAA . Apo1AAAS " lid
this plan attractive to the British masses by pointing ou
that the raising Of the blockade Of the southern ports
would bring to the mills supplies of cotton, and that pros
perity would again take the place of depression and DIES.
titution.
To the everlasting honor of the British people be il
said that even though reinforced by the panss OF hunger
this appeal failed utterly, and there was no time when the
sentiment of the British people was not elnphatically and
unequivocally in favor of the success of the American ma.
tional cause. AT their distance the British people sensed
Enthusiastically that the war which was being waged by
the North Immediately for the preservation of the Union
was essentially a war for human liberty, and their own
traditions were such that in the face of that fact questions
of food and clothing and shelter became subordinate.
In December, 1862, in the city of Manchester, a grea,
gathering of working people, speaking for themselves
and their fellows throughout the kingdom, adopted a sci
of resolutions expressing friendship and sympathy toward
the government of the United States. These resolutions
being forwarded to President Lincoln, drew from him a
deeply appreciative response. In closing this response
the president said:
Under the circumstances, I cannot but regard
your decisive utterances as an instance Of sublime
Christian herosnn which has not been surpassed in
any age or in any country. 1t is indeed an energetic
and rc-inspiring assurance of the inherent power of
truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph of
justice, humanity and freedom. l do not doubt that
the sentiments you have expressed will be sustained
ly your great nation: and, on the other hand, 1 have
no hesitation in assuring you that they will excite ad-
miration, esteem, and the most reciprocal feelings of
friendship among the American people. l hail this
interchange of sentiment, therefore, is an augury
that whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune
may befall your country or my own, the peace and
friendship which now exists between the two nations
will be, as it shall be my desire TO make them, per-
petual.
That was more than half a century ago. To-day
America and Britain are just emerging, SCARED, but ,l-
umphant, from a still greater conflict, in which, side by
side, they havt fought for a still broader application of
the principles of freedom throughout the world. 1t is
not inappropriate now to recognize that at that earlier
time the common people of Great Britain, speaking
through the voices of their fellows at Manchester, helped
to insure the success of the cause of liberty in their later
and greater war. .. 49,.