With three thousand miles of a blockade on their coast, with the forces of their parent country in occupation of one-half of the revolted states, with the possession of their most valuable emporium of commerce, with the great valley of the Mississippi nearly all in their power, with only a very small portion of their claimed boundary free from the Federal forces,-can it be maintained that all doubt is dissipated as to probable danger to rebel success? Are they established? It is a curious fact that, with all the reputed victories of the rebels, they have continued to narrow the area of their territory, and the loyalists to gain the area lost. So that, if defeats of that kind to the loyal arms go on, they will continue to advance into the heart of rebeldom, until the very victories of the one will be the triumph of the other. Subjugation is not placed beyond reasonable doubt, and actual independence is not established; therefore, the first kind of recognition cannot be claimed, and if claimed cannot be granted. Recognition in its primary sense may be asked, but, inasmuch as that means war, can it be acceded to ? Earl Russell declared, in March last, that— Looking at the question of right, it would not be a friendly act to the United States of America, it would be a failure in our obligations to a country with which we stand on relations of peace and amity; it would be a failure of friendship on our part if at this moment we were to interpose and recognise the Southern states. The noble lord alluded to the historical record of our aid given to other nations in their struggle from tyranny to freedom, and we trust the distinction will ever be the pivot of all recognition to He said come. We interfered in the case of Holland to save Holland from tyranny, the religious and political tyranny of Philip II. We helped the Portuguese to relieve themselves from the tyranny under which they groaned; we aided Greece in her effort to found a free and independent monarchy. In all these instances, whether of war carried by our ancestors or in our own time, there was nothing at which an Englishman need be ashamed. We have taken part in interventions which have been in behalf of independence, in behalf of freedom, in behalf of the welfare of great portions of mankind; and I should be sorry indeed if there should be any intervention which would bear a different character. If ever we feel ourselves bound to interfere-and may it be seldom-I trust it will be in the cause of liberty, and in order that we may promote the freedom of mankind, as we have done in those cases. Noble words, by a good and noble Englishman, in his place in the House of Lords! Freedom is the burden, the end, and the aim of our interventions and our recognitions; be it so to the end of our national history! Freedom being the glory of our past recognitions, are we prepared to war for the new EMPIRE OF SLAVERY, exulted in by a Stephens, taught by a Spratt, treasoned for by a Davis, a Toombs, a Cobb, a Wigfall, a Mason, a Slidell, a Benjamin, and fought for under their heel of despotism? WAR is the watchword of a newly-elected arbiter, and self-elected arbiter, of the destinies of the working men of this nation. "I am for war!" was this hero's cry, and he has a few equally unwise, more ignorant, perhaps less honest, but assuredly as reckless as he, who take up the cry "War!" "Recognition !" "Cotton!" Is it necessary that thirty millions of the Saxon race on this side of the Atlantic, should be involved in all the horrors and untold miseries of a war with the Saxon race on the other side of the Atlantic, to please the morbid palate, the diseased fancies, the temporary insanities of a few subjects of this realm, which few do make cotton and money their God, whom the slaveholders hoped and said were so numerous in this country that it was by the " grace of cotton," as surely as "by the grace of God," that Queen Victoria held her crown? But, fortunately, THE REBELLION THAT THE SLAVEHOLDERS HAVE TRIED TO CREATE IN THIS KINGDOM IS A FAILURE. Queen Victoria is not deposed, nor will she suffer wrong at the hands of the true men of this nation; she is too much beloved by all to be touched by the fearful utterance of the slaveholders wish and belief. Their creed is not our creed, and their system shall never be ours. In conclusion: Do these new lovers of their country, and of their fellowmen, these peculiar friends of humanity and guardians of the well-being of this kingdom, know what war means? War means taxation! War means ships, ammunition, all the elements of destruction, and men to be sent to be destroyed! War means Britain to be the enemy of the United States! War means Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Welshmen, to be the haters of their kindred and their race on the soil of America ! War means reprisals by sea on the commerce of the United States, and reprisals by sea on the commerce of this kingdom! War means a sudden catastrophe falling upon the industrial pursuits of the nation and of the whole commercial enterprise! War means the support of the slave power; with the slave-driver's whip as the emblem of power, the manacle as the emblem of internal security, the unpaid labour as the sign of its wealth; the sale and purchase of men, women, and children as its order of "Divine Providence ;" and the breeding, by unchaste and unhallowed intimacy, of human beings as the insignia of dignity, chivalry, and high civilisation! This catalogue of offences against the living, with millions of money thrown away; thousands of lives lost; centuries of hatred and evil developed and burnt in as by fire; this is what war means, and nothing less can by possibility satisfy this devourer of human amity and national friendship. Who is prepared for war? legislative hall of St. Stephen's, "I am,' some other chambers of the provinces. If it should comeat their call, and they lived to see the horrible drama played out to its bitter end, their existence would be the severest punishment that could be inflicted. Cotton cannot come with recognition at the present time; the name is but a synonym for war, and WAR IS NOT COTTON. These men of war are inconsiderate in their statements, false in their assumptions, and they err in their conclusions. NON-RECOGNITION OF THE SLAVE POWER-NON-INTERVENTION IN THE AMERICAN WAR, AND NEUTRALITY, ARE AND WILL BE THE SAFEGUARDS OF THE PEACE, COMFORT, AND TRUE DIGNITY OF A FREE, CIVILIZED, AND CHRISTIAN NATION. Manchester: Printed by A. IRELAND & Co., Pall Mall Court. |