Year: 1864

From Cobdsn.s Speech al ROehdaIs. England.


November 25, 1868.


..Is IL not astonishing that in the face
! of facts like these that any one should


have the temerity, with any regard TO de
cency and, self respect, TO get up in the


House of Commons and say that secession
/ has been upon a question Of free trade


and protectionl Laughter. Well, this
I is a war to perpetuate and extend human
slavery. II is a war not to defend slavery


as it was left by their ancestors,-I mean


la thing to be retained and TO be apollo
| gised fOr-it IS war to establish slave
empire, Tloud cheers. where slavery
shall be made the cornerstone Of the so
/ cial system.-wheTe il shall be defended
and justified on scriptural and on ethno-
! logical grounds. Wen. say. God pardon
| the men who, IN this year of grace 1868,
should think that such a project as that
could be crowned with success. Cheers. 7
Now. you know that have. from the
| first naYer believed it possible that the
South could succeed, and ! have not
! founded that faith merely upon moral in
| stincts which teach US to repUdiate the


very idea that anything 50 internal should
succeed. No. it Is because in this world


the virtues and the forces 60 together,
and the vices and the weaknesses are in
separable. Applause. 1t is therefore,


that felt certain that this project never
could succeed. For how is it? Here is
a community with nearly half of its popu-
lation slaves, and they were attempting


to fight another community where every
working man is a free man. It is as tho
Yorkshire and Lancashire were to enter
into conflict, and it was understood that


in the case of one, all the laborers who did


the muscular work of the country, wheth-


er in the field or in the factory, whether


in the roads or in the domestic establish
ments-ins the one case you would have


all the bone and muscle, the sinew OF the


country, eliminated from the fighting


population, and not only eliminated from


the fighting population, but ready to take


advantage of this war either to run away


or fight against you. How could a COM


munity 50 circumstanced fight against a


neighboring county where every working
man was fighting for his country-how
could the one have a chance if left to
physical force without the moral consid-
erations? That is the condition in which


these two sections of the United States
are now placed. In The one case you


have condition in which labor is held


honorable Have we not heard it used as


a reproach by some people who fancy


themselves in alliance with the aristocra-


cy-some of our writers who would lead


us to suppose they are Of the aristocratic


order? Now we hear it used as stigma


against the North that their president,


Mr. Lincoln, was ''raiI splitter But
wha; does that prove with regard to the
United States, but that labor is held in


honor in that country. Hear, hear.
And with such conflict going on, and
with such result as | feel no doubt will
follow, Is it fair TO speak of such contest


as that, and say that it IS struggle for
empire on. the one side, and for independ-


ence on the other? Loud applause. I


say il is an aristocratic rebellion against a
democratic government. [Cheers. That


is the title I would give it and in all his
tory when you have had the aristocracy


pitted against the people in physical
force contest, the sristocraey have always
gone down under the heavy blows of the
democracy" Cheers.