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BY THE REV. JOHN CORDNER. ' ^ ■ MANCHESTER ; A. IRELAND AND CO., PRINTERS, PALL MALL COURT. 1865. i i> PREFACE. The following Address is reprinted for private circulation in England, with the view^ of showing at this juncture, when parties are endeavouring to inflame the passions of their countrymen on the subject of the supposed hostile designs of the United States upon Canada, that, in ihv opinion of an influential Canadian clergyman, no such dangei' exists, provided "Wisdom," which "is better than w^eapons of war," is allowed to govern our actions. The Address is calm, moderate, and logical throughout, and is commended to the careful perusal of every friend of humanity and tr'i;c patriot. I • I: I Manchester, Makcu 21. 1865. ("^ M INTRODUCTION (from the ''La'ihj News," JLorh Gt/i, IS65.J "A WORD spoken in due season, liow good is it!" This will be the silent thought, if not the exclamation, of nine out of ten of the readers of a Christmas Address by a Canadian clergyman which has just reached this country. More recent events, and the aptness of the speakers mind to appreciate them, have evidently given a growing importance to what he said at the close of the year. The address, after appearing in some of the Canadian newspapers, has been published as a pamphlet, the whole edition of which was at once cleared off, as the Canadian newspapers record, with patriotic satisfaction. In a few days more the loyal people there will be lamenting that Lord Derby and Lord Lyvedcn liad not seen this address before the opening of the session ; for it is inconceivable that it would not have been an admonition to them to forbear their exasperating assumption that the Americans would make war upon us as scon as they should be at liberty to send their forces to Canada. As it is, the thought which must occur to all h I VI readers Is, " liow good is it " when clergymen put forth their influence to foster peace between neiglibouring nations, whiU> statesmen, whoso business it is to foster that peace, put forth their influence to ])recd war. The Rev. Jolin Cordner, in addressing tlie New England Society of Montreal, tells us incidentally that he is an Irishman by Ijirth, and a Canadian by adoption. It is to bo hoped that, as an Irishman, he will be listened to by the Fmiian emigi'ants on both sides of the frontier, and that his good sense, ample information, and healthy loyalty, Avhich eidiances his sympathy with the better part of the Americans, will so impress his Fenian brethren as to show them what is their duty, and what their host policy, as American and Canadian citizens. If they are too fanatical in their prejudices, his expositions and his warnings, and yet more his (>xample, may show the champions of the Southern sece.s»^ion in England how mistaken they are in their sympathies with the aggressive party in the American war, nnd how those sym2:)athics are now actually involving them in dis- loyalty to British rule in our North American colonies. From his exposition they may learn what the Southern agitators have been doing in courting sympathy and obtaining aid in Europe while manoeuvring in Canada to breed a war between England and the United States. No Englishman can read his account ^^'l g» P^ at l> Vll H I of the proceedings of those agitators in Canada, while seeking iind accepting the hospitalities of the citizens, withoiit a feeling of shame that any of us, and especially any of our public men, should have been seduced into countenancing their cause while tiioy were plotting t(j force us into war — on our own account ond not on theirs— with their antagonists. The best use, however, of this address will prob.'djly be among the Canadian citizens, -cattered over the rural districts cast and w^cst of Montreal, and ;dong the frontier. Few of these settlers can have the opportu- nity of attending public discussions in the great cities; and to tlioso who stay at home this address will aftbrd the most safe and righteous guidance. Mr. Cordnor feels the interest which earnest clergymen siiould feel in the early history of the New England settle- uieiits, consisting, as it does, of the efforts and sacrifices of religious men to obtain freedom of worship, and a civil liV)erty worthy of such companionship. He traces the story of the growth of the llepublic, and of its evergrowing pains and penalties, and its decline in virtue under the curse of slavery, tie exhibits the subtle rapacity first, and the intolerable tyranny afterwards, of the slave power, and proyes, from the public acts and utterances of the Confederate leaders themselves, that their pur[30se in making the present war was to preserve slavery on • •• Vlll ;j Ihcir owu soil, to incorporate it with tlicir whole polity, and to make it supersede freedom in every state open to Southern influence. Looking nearer home than the American battlefield, ho shows tliat there is every ground for friendship and good offices between Canada and the United States. The Southerners settled in Canada have been profuse of late in their assurances tliat th(y have no desire to harm the people among whom they are living, and no thought of injuring them ; but there is rather too much of patronage and conceit in this to jjlcase the sturdy colonists, and Mr. Cordner speaks acceptably for them when he says that his fellow-citizens ask no favours of strangers to whom they accord free hospitality. They feel able to manage their own affairs, and to protect their own interests, while free to bestow their cordiality where they list. That cordiality is due pre-eminently to their neighbours of the Free States. He says — " They are our neighbours and natural friends, bound to " us, as we are to them, by the reciprocal ties of amicable com- " meicial intercourse. With them, as with us, free labour is " respected, and the honest tiller of the soil has the status of a " man and a citizen. With them, as with us, the word liberty " has the same moaning, involving the right of poor and rich, " black and white alike, to the disposal of their own persons, of I i IX to ern lie I I '• their personal ambitiuii ami exertion, and of its fruits. The •* traditions and policy of our mother country have been steadily " on this side of personal liherty." The topic of defence follows. He a])proves neither of the policy — good on the prairie in a conflagration — of kindling a lire in a new direction as an escape from the peril of the one which becomes too threatening in another; nor of the Chinese method of averting war — by noise and bluster, covering the fear of seeming afraid. He trusts the Americans will despise the one device, and the Canadians the other, and that they will sec how " Wisdom is better than weapons of war.'' His own opinion is, that as Nature and Providence have made the neighbours friends, Wisdom may easily keep them so ; and he concludes by showing what Wisdom means in the present case — a loyal support of the neutral policy of the Home Government ; a faithful discharge of treaty obligations ; fidelity to the great principles of liberty professed and dearly loved on both sides the frontier ; and a courageous good humour, which always and everywhere tells in favour of peace. This is a discourse which might well have the two nations, with all their sections and parties, for audience — not an oration or a poem, but the right word, spoken in the right spirit, in the right time and place. ! ! I / I ,8^ THE AMEEICAN CONFLICT, Okntlemen of the New England Society, — As I came down liere this evening, throngh the deep snow drifts, and an atmo- sphere some degrees below zero, the thoughts of the hardships of the landing which this day commemorates, rose to greater distinctness in m}^ mind. To the frozen shore of a northern wilderness, on a cold December day, two hundred and forty-four years ago, came that resolute band of Englishmen and English- women who laid the foundation of the Plymouth colony of Now England. Inspired ])y n lofty idealism and firm faith in God, they were constrained, for conscience sake, to forego the comforts of their native and much-loved home, and face the perils of the sea, and of foreign ;md unknown climes. Such men and women — such faith and fidelity to conscience — are eminently worthy of (commemoration. il f Fellow-Citizexs of Montreal, — When, on the day before yesterday, the committee of the New England Society asked me to speak here on this evening, I at once acceded to their request. Up till a few days ago, they had hoped that Mr. George Thompson, of England, who is now visiting America, would hnvo been able to come to Montreal for this anniver- sary; but, though much desiring to do so, Mr. Thompson found that his engagements elsewhere rendered his present coming impossible. Had he come, I should have been his grateful hearer. The name of George Thompson has been long familiar to me, as that of one of England's most nctivo pu])lic men, whose labours in parliament and out of parliament, on behalf of the working classes, and the rights of labour, have I, j I' I ■■'^ commanded my attention and respect. I hold in my hand Mr. Thompson's letter to the President of the New England Society, expressing regret that he is compelled to postpone his visit to Montreal. Thirty years ago, in a previous visit to America, it was his privilege, so he writes, to speak at Plymouth, on the anniversary of " Forefathers' Day," and it would have given him great pleasure to appear again here at a similar anniversary, after the lapse of a generation. But as he could not come I have consented to appear here at rather brief notice, I do not say this for any purpose of making the society responsible for the imperfection of what I may have to say. I need not have consented unless I had chosen to do so. The choice of topic, too, was altogether my own. And for any merit or demerit in what I may say, I alone am answerable. Under ordinary cir- cumstances I should not have consented to speak. But the time is extraordinary. In view of the existing excitement caused by recent events, I felt that our fellow-citizens of the New England Society of Montreal ought to have their anniversary in some form or other. The events just referred to have suggested the subject of my address. I propose to speak on the American conflict. Living as we now do in the midst of an excitement resulting from the civil war in the nation across our borders, and some atrocities connected therewith having been so recently brought to our own doors in a manner to make us think of possible peril to our own peace, it seems a fitting time to review, though ever so imperfectly, the American conflict in its origin and purpose. Any review here made must needs be very brief. Nor is there anything new to be said. Still, in view of the misapprehension incident to a period of strong excitement, when various passions, prejudices and interests, are called into play, it may be useful to recall some facts connected with the origin of this disastrous strife, and direct attention to the end proposed by those who initiated the war. And here at the outset I would say, that if my observation of this matter had begun after the actual outbreak of hostilities, and had been mainly directed to the heroic qualities of the Southci'n people, their fertility of resource n i¥ ■ O 1(1 Mr. iociety, visit to rica, it on the en him ^ersarv, lome I do not ible for )t have )f topic, lerit in ary cir- he time used by England n some ted the merican esulting [id some brought ble peril igh ever purpose, is there 3hension passions, useful to isastrous lose who Y, that if e actual I to the resource m in fighting against great odds, their endurance against their more powerful antagonist, their suffering on their own soil, through the devastation of war; and all this while their cry was, that they only desired to bo " let alone" in the assertion of their freedom and independence as a separate nation, then it is likely that I should say as so many have said and still say, "Let them alone ; let them have their reasonable demand of freedom and independence : why prolong a war so sangiiinary in itself, and so detrimental to a wide range of interests at home and abroad ?" If, in addition to this very limited observation of events forced on me by the current chronicle of the daily news- papers, I had any personal or class interest in the palpable failure of a great fabric of popular government, or if, consciously or unconsciously, I yielded my judgment to the lead of those who have such interest, then I should actively sympathise with the South, which puts a ban on honest labour, holding its labourers as chattel property, and proposes to perpetuate a dominant oligarchy as the ruling class. But as my observation of events goes far beyond the outbreak of this war, and as, moreover, I have no interest at all in depreciating the capacity of the people to take ca,re of their own affiiirs and govern themselves, as I can claim no connection whatever with, oligarchy or aristocracy, it being my great privilege to be identified at every point with the industrial classes of society ; and as, moreover, I refuse to yield to any leading, be it ever so artfully tendered, which has for its intention or its effect the depreciation of honest and free labour — all this being the case, I am compelled to other and different views and conclusions on this matter. THE MORAL ISSUE. More than twenty-one years have now elapsed since I came from the mother country to this daughter land, and took up my abode in this city ; and during all this period I have been an observer of the moral aspects of_^the political affairs of the United States. For it has been a marked peculiarity of the lead- ing'political questions of that country that these questions were I >i i! i inextricably interwoven with moral questions in which the whole civilised world took an interest. The marvellous expansion of if; commerce in the leading Southern stc.jile gave to slave labour u ' gr*. atly increased value., and thus augmented to the Southern view the importance of negro slavery as a social and political institu- tion ; and this, while the tide of a more enlightened public opinion was rising against it everywhere else in America and Europe. The conscience of the Northern States was gradually aroused to the moral wrong of a system which reduced a man to a chattel, — ^making men, women, and children things of bargain and sale, depriving them of the rights of marriage and the family, thus opening a way to moral degradation on all hands. Great Britain, after a lengthened agitation, and at a great cost of money, had wiped the stain of negro slavery from her West India colonies. And having done this, her peoi^le, comprising all classes, sent remonstrance after remonstrance acrops the Atlantic, urging the people of the United States to deal faith- fully with this national evil, nor halt in their agitation against it until it should cease to exist. Tims stimulated from abroad, as well as at home, the anti-slavery agitation acquired formi- dable proportions. Tlie South became more and more alarmed ^ for the safety of their '' peculiar institution." While its impor- tance to them in an economic point of view increased year by year, the feeling against it in the Free States of the Union, and thoughout the world, increased year by year likewise. The pre- servation of this institution, its extension and perpetuation, became the central thought of the Southern mind. All political questions were considered primarily in their relation to this as the cardinal point. It entered into all party combinations throughout the United States, north and south, east and west. :;, This has been patent to every observer during the past twenty years. As the grand moral issue involved became more distinctly revealed, rising every year into clearer and more definite form, it gradually disintegrated the existing combinations of party politics, based as they were on considerations of exiDediency or economics. A few years ago it broke up the old and influential Whig party in the United States ; and, more recently, it has tical thesi cam^ ofth of tlj evil mincl regaj pros] fertij mord anxii wholt' ion oi hour i» n view nstitu- public ca and idually man to bargain nd the Lands. 3at cost r West iprising OPS the 1 faith - against abroad, I formi- alarmed s impor- vear by ion, and L'he pre- jtuation, political ) this as )ination8 nd west, t twenty listinctly ite form, of party liency or ifluential y, it has utterly demolished the old and well-organised Democratic party. The thouglitful obseiver, looking through outward events to the moral forces which produce them, will see here a steady, upward tendency of the public mind to a higher plane of civilization. All who have studied the moral struggle in England, led by Clarkson and Wilberforce and their contemporaries, on behalf of simple justice towards a weak and oppressed race, will b*j able to appreciate in some measure, but not to its full extent, all that is involved in the gradually changed public opinion of the Unit^'d States. In England, the inHuence of the West India interest was powerful against Clarkson and Wilberforce, but it bears no proper comparison with the influences so various and powerful which the Southern interest could exert on the general mir.d of America, In England, the movement on behalf of human free- dom was jeered by an influential press, and its advocates, including the most honoured names in the land, were mobl)ed in English towns. But the fidelity of those honoured men to their ideas of justice led to a triumph for freedom througuout the whole mind of the nation, wdiich now stands as one of the proudest traditions connected with the British realm and the British name. A similar trial of misconception, misrepresentation, and mob violence awaited the movement in the United States, but on a larger and more determinate scale. In America, there were poli- tical (obstacles in the w^ay which did not exist in England ; and these obstacles not being rightly apprehended in England, it came to pass that English remonstrances addressed to the people of the United States on the subject of slavery frequently failed of their purpose. But the honest desire to mitigate the growing evil of slavery in the nation made hopeful progress in the national mind '^f the American Union. It came more and more to be regarded by the people as a blot on the fame of their great and prosperous country. It was felt to be a discredit abroad, and a fertile source of dishonest party intrigue at home. Then, on moral grounds, it was seen to be \.ithout defence. The intense anxiety of the Southern mind for its safety, now so imperilled n n 6 .c ti' by having the attention of the civilised world brought to bear more directly upon it, culminated in fanaticism. The moral dis- cussion of the subject, so long dreaded and evaded by the South, was now faceil by them in the spirit of a forlorn hope, and posi- tions taken which revealed the distraction of their moral con- sciousness, and the distortion of their moral convictions. "When " the slavery question was first mooted in our national councils," says the Rev. Dr. Leacock of New Orleans, in a sermon preached November, 1800, "wo dreaded the consequences, and trembled " at the bare mention of the subject ; we stood aghast before our " adversaries ; and why ? Because we were not so well informed " on the subject of slavery as we are now. Many of us doubted " whether we could religiously hold our servant." This moral doubt, he adds, made them cowardly ; but in the new light of the last few years, the doubt has been dissipated, and now they feel that they can hold their slaves ; and this new moral cer- tainty which has come to them has given them a caurage not felt before. The position now quite commonly taken by the South is, that slavery is a divine institution, existing there to-day by divine sanction, and for a divine purpose. It is affirmed that the providential purpose of the South is to preserve, extend, and perpetuate it. Says the Rev. Dr. Palmer, of New Orleans, in a sermon preached in that city rather more than four years ago : " The providential trust committed to the South as a people, is " to conserve and perpetuate the institution of domestic slavery, " as now existing." He avers that in standing by this trust, they are defending the cause of religion. As the providentially constituted guardians of slavery, he adds, "the South can " demand nothing less than that it should be left open to ''expansion, subject to no human limitations!' This is the language of slaveholdiug fanaticism, which could obtain no hold or hearing outside of slaveholdiug limits, or slave- holding influences. Fanaticism is a species of madness, and, in this instance, it may be safely taken as an illustration of the adage which makes madness the presage of impending destruction. IK pn HI] tor. on Poj anc De COl] 8oi pail po]! M not ch( bear ral dis- South, d posi- al con- «'When »uncils," reached rembled fore our nformed doubted is moral J light of low they loral cer- arage not South is, ;o-day by med that :tend, and eans, in a years ago : people, is ;ic slavery, trust, they videntially South can ft open to rhis is the uld obtain s, or slave- ' madness, illustration impending THE rOLITICAL ISSUE. Hero wo sec indication of that political issue which now %ccamc inevitable. Aiming at the territorial expansion of slavery, the Soutli would not only not allow fmy further limit to be placed to its extension, but they would break down the limi- tations already existing, and by law cstublished, as a peacef-J compromise of tlic matter so long in dispute. More tlian forty years ngo, when Missouri — a part of the Louisiana tract — was admitted as a state into the Union, there was a lengthened and important debate on the slavery qviestion, which was brought to a close by the adoption of a measure of compromise, known as the " Missoiui Compromise." Missouri was admitted as a slave state^ but a line was drawn nortli of Arkansas, northward of which it was solemnly agreed that slavery should not bo extended. This ngrecment was enacted and ratified in due form, and stood as confessed law of the land for more than thirty years. But the iGstless and aggressive spirit of slavery became dissatisfied witli this established limitation, and through various intrigues and party combinations at the North, succeeded in breaking down the Missouri Compromise. This was accomplished during the presidency of Mr. Pearce ; and thus the way was opened for the unlimited cxtensic'i of negro slaveiy throughout all the terri- tovioa of the American Union. This act — which, however, was only one of a series of aggressive acts on the part of the Slave Power — aroused the people of the Free States to a more united and determined resistance. The effect of this was seen in the presidential election of 1850, when Mr. Buchanan and Colonel Fremont were tlie rival candidates. Mr. Buchanan was the Democratic and Conservative candidate, so called, prepared to conserve slavery, and, as a gineral principle, to be controlled by Southern influences. Colonel Fremont was the candidate of the party which aimed to exclude slavery from the territories. The popular watchword of this party was "Free soil, free speech, free men, and Fremont." Its time for success, however, had not yet come. Fremont was defeated, and Buchanan was chosen President for the next four years. B i I i w^ 8 Meanwhile the Free Soil party, now known as '' Republicans," as distinguished from the " Democrats," were not idle. The disastrous influence of slavery in the National Councils became more fully developed as it saw the politicrl dangers thickening around it. The imperious self-will, which comes from the liabitual exercise of irresponsible power, the impatience of restraint which such power engenders, and the ready resort to violence which springs from familiarity with the plantation whip— all this was brought into the halls of Congi'ess. A Massachusetts senator was stunned with a slaveholder's bludgeon in his seat in the Senate House at "Washington. Southern communities publicly applauded the dastardly and ferocious deed. It became more clear to the mind of the Free States that there was only one course, viz., to check the encroachments of the Slave Power, and publicly pronounce Slavery a sectional, not a national institution. As another presidential election approached, the Republican party organised for the contest, attempting no interference with slavery where it already existed, thus conceding the right of the several Slave States to deal with it after their own manner, but proposing to restrict it within its present limits, and to prohibit it in future throughout territories of the Union where it did not then exist. This was the main issue presented at the presidential election of ISGO. Briefly stated, the issue was this : — the unlimited expan- sion of slavery, as demanded by the South ; or its territorial limitation. This issue went l)efore the whole United States. Every State, North and South — from Maine to Texas — went into the contest. All sent their votes to Washington. And the result was, that Mr. Lincoln, the candidate of the party for the non-extension of slavery, was announced as the constitutionally elected President of the United States for the next four years. THE ACTION OF THE SOUTH. As soon as this announcement was made, the South showed unmistakable symptoms of deep dissatisfaction, and a determination to revolt. Subsequent developments show us the Soul "nol The came ening 1 the ice of art lO tation ?s. A older s ngton. ly and e Free ;k the nounce mother ^anised J where \\ Slave )smg to 1 future in exist. 3ction of I expan- irritorial States. s — went And the y for the utionally ir years. .1 -•« le South pn, and a show us how these fir.st symjitoms ripened into a formidable and wide- spread insurrection, involving the nation in the horrors of a civil war. Before Mr. Lincoln was inaugiirated, and wliile Mr. Buchanan was stid President, the national j^n'operty at Charles- ton, South Carolina, was seized, the national ships were fired upon in Charleston harbour, and other like acts of war waged upon the National Governnient. Then ordinances of secession were rapidly passed without consulting the people, a revolutionary ( V>ngress established, and an army of resistance raised. So that when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, and in advance of any overt act of his government in relation to the South, he found himself (•onfronted b}- a formidable insurrectionary opposition. Now, had the South any just cause t initiate such civil war under the circumstances and organize an army to carry it on as they iiavo (lono to this day ? I say, No. And in taking this ground, I waive all discussion of " State rights" so-called, as beyond my prevince and scope. My position is simply this : The South having gone into the presidential election of 1860, in common with the North, and all States of the L^nion, they were bound, in common with the North and other States, to abide peacefully l)y the constitutional result thereof Whatever course they might talce with respect to any future election, under any assumed right to secede, the}^ were bound to this election, at any rate, by all constitutional and honourable obligations. And, having hastily and wilfully disregarded sucli obligations, ive are justified in holding than responsible for the origin of the present war, .and for the deplorable consequences which have followed it, and still follow it to their own nation, both North an/*. South, and to other nations. * T have just said tliat I here forego the discussion of State * A remarkable letter from General Lee has just found its way to the public through the columns of the London Times, It was written to his sister, at the beginning of tho Southern revolt. "My dear s'ster," he writes, "the whole South is in a state of revolu- •' tion, into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been drawn ; and though I recognise " no necessilj' for this state of things, and would have forborne and pleaded to the end for '* lelrcss of g.-icvanccSf real or siqjposed, yet in my own person I had to meet the question " whether I would take up arms against my native State." Here is a confession from the leading general of the Southern armies that he ?aw "no necessity" for the revolt into which he permitted himself to be drawn, and which has brought such disastrous conse- quences to the United States and to the 'vorld during the past four years. 10 * 1(1? i! 1;) SI rights. Nevertheless, I may be allowed to remind you that all the seceding States do not occupy the same historical position. Of the States now insurLTut wo find some — as Arkansas and Louisiana, whose soil and privileges were a purchased ac([insi- tion, made by the original States of the Union — the great bulk of whom arc in and for the Union still. It was about sixty years ago that the United States purchased from the French the large territory west of the Mississippi, known as the Lo • la tract, for which they paid between eleven and twelve Uiiiions of dollars, and assumed the payment of certain claims, making in all some fifteen millions of dollars as the price paid, A portion of this purchased tract is now known as the Scato of Louisiana, which w^as admitted into the Union in 1812, Now what rightful ground can Louisiana have in savins: to the bulk of the original States, who paid their millions of solid money for her soil and the advantages of outlet to the ocean which it gives by the mouth of the Mississippi river; what rightful ground, T ask, can Louisiana have in saying to those other States: " I will secede and form an independent nation; the mouth of " the Mississippi will bo no longer at the service of your nation " except on my conditions." Now, fellows-citizens, consider this matter a moment. Here we are at Montreal, at the head of the ship navigation of the St. Lawrence. Away to the eastward of u^] lies a large tract of Canadian territory, rich in undeveloped resources. Away to the westward lie the great lakes, and the wide-stretching tillage lands of Western Canada. Now suppose the district of Quebec, including the outlet of the St. Lawrence, were in the hands of a foreign power, and that in order to secure for ourselves and our posterity an open transit to the ocean for the various produce of our mines, forests, and tillage lands, wc, the people of Central and Western Canada, should purchase the district of Quebec at a cost of some millions of dollars, taken from our joint treasury, what should we — the people of these regions — say if the people of the Quebec district should, in a given number of years afterwards, announce that they had seceded, and that the mouth of the St. Lawrence must hence- forth be considered by us as in the hands of a foreign power. I ga 11 think wc Blioiild have a good many words with them before we consented to any such transfer of purchased privikges as seces- sion involved. And 1 think, too, that if they took up the sword to figlit out this (juestion of transfer by secession we should take up the sword also, and keep it going until wc found out which of the two swords was the longer and stronger. Secession, according to the precedent the South seeks to establish, meaus anarchy. It means anarchy not only in the United States, but throughout this whole continent. If the slave states had a right to secede because they were defeated at the polls in 18G(), so likewise, had the little State of New Jersey, and the two others that w^cre defeated in this year 18Gi. Now Maine, Vermont, or New York, — any of the States on our own border, may be defeated at the next presidential electivxi, four years hence. Following ^jreccdent, thty raise a tumult and secede. Let the doctiiue involved bo 2'>vactically established, and how long would it be until we should have it applied in Canada ? If, instead of national unity and political order on the other side of the frontier, we had such political disintegration and disorder, the contagion would sjDrcad to our own side. It may be said that the political pact in Canada is different from that existing between tlio States of the American Ij.iion. But how long would the letter of any jiolitical compact be respected, if the public opinion became demoralised by familiarity with anarchy on the other side of the frontier. I say, then, that secession, such as the Slave States have initiated means anarchy. In logical sequence and natural consequence, it brings eventual anarchy to every political community on this continent from the north pole to the tropic line. THE ACTION OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. When the purpose of the South became clearly revealed, the National Government was put to great disadvantage through lack of centralised power. The vacillating and feeble policy of President Buchanan, surrounded as he was in his cabinet by the active friends of the South, gave the Slave States time to jGfatlier and consolidate their strength. The cabinet irfluences 12 i-.Ci at Washington favoured thuni In various ways, among others hy the ahnost wholesale transfer of the military stores of the nation from Northern to Southern arsenals. When President Lincoln was inaugurated he found the departmental hureaus at Wasli- iiigton filled with public servants on whose fidelity to their public trust he could not rely. Many were in secret, if not open, sympathy with those in revolt against his authority, and were not scrupulous in serving them, to the disndvantago of the National (Government. The crisis was a new experience to the nilers at Wa.shington. There was no |^ade<|uate provision made for such a trial. Hence delay in action, when delay was liighly detrimental and dangerous. The Soutliern people, more skilled in the use of Jirms than the people of the North, could jdace cftectivo armies in the field more rapidly than the North; hence their early successes, and the corresponding Nortliern defeats. The National Government wislicd to avoid war ; and Mr. Lin- cohi did all that he honourably could do to remove the dissatis- faction and suspicion of the South, and assure the Slave States of his just respect for their rights under the Constitution. He offered places in his cabinet to distinguished Southern men — among others to Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, In explanation of this it is to be borne in mind tlia' Mr. Stephens, thougli now Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy, cast his vote at first against the ordinance of secession in Georgia. All efforts of Mr. Lincoln for conciliation failed, because he did not concede the one tiling which the South required with respect to slavery. Mr. Lincoln could not concede this without betraying the con- fidence reposed in him as chief magistrate by the free North and We.st. And all such efforts having failed, Mr. Lincoln put forth his power to assert his authority, as constitutionally elected hief magistrate, for preserving the Union and the integrity of the nation confided to his trust. INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. Various incidental and complicated questions arise out of this conflict tending to confuse foreign judgment. For purposes of misleading foreign opinion they are readily available, and have been freely used. 18 THrO MOTIVK TO WAH. It luus boon Huitl for instance, tliat tlio nuilntenanco of tliu Union was tlic motive to war on ono side, ami the (losire for independence the motive on the otlier. Now, tliis is true, l>ut it is far from tiie wliole truth. There is enough trutli in the statement, liovvever, to satisfy any one wh(j l " tliat their slaves, or any otlier productti shall be protected to " \innatural value i)i the marl-ets of the West." " The South,'' he says, "is noiv In the formation of a Slave Republic. This, " perhaps, is not admitted generally. There are many con- " tented to believe that the South as a geographical section ■' is in mere assertion of its independence . . . This, " I fear, is an inadecpiate coiiceiition of the controversy. " The contest is not betiveen the North and South as geo- " graphical sections. The real contest is between the tivo forms " of society which have become established, the one at the " North and the other at the South." And he alludes as follows to the prospects of an independent Slave Republic : — " Three " years ago, in my report to the Commercial Convention at " Montgomery, I said that European States are hostile to the " Union. Perhaps ' they see in it a threatening rival in every " ' branch of art, and they see that rival armed with one of the P 14 most potent productive institutions tlio world has over seen ; they would crush India and Algeria to make an equal suiDply of cotton with the North ; and, failing in this, they would crush slavery to bring the North to a footing with them, but to slavery without the North they have no repugnance: on- the contrary, if it were to stand out for itself, free from the control of any other j)ower, and were to offer to European States, upon fair terms, a full supply of its commodities:, it would not only not bo warred upon, but the South would be singularly favoured — crowns v.'ould bend before her; king- doms and empires would break a lance to win the smile of her approval ; and, cjuitting her free estate, it would be in her oi:)tion to become the bride of the world, rather than as now, the miserable mistress of the North.' " ill Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President of the Southern (Jonfederacy, leaves the world in no doubt about the origin of the war, and the j^urposcs of the South in waging it. "African Slavery as it exists among us," he says in his celebrated speech after the adoption of the new Southern Constitution, " was the " immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution, . " . , . The prevailing ideas entertained by most of the " Ic.tdino- statesmen at the formation of the old constitution were '' that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the " laws of nature ; that it vras wrong in principle, morally, ' socially, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well '■' how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that " day was that, somehow or other, in tlie order of Providence, " the institution v>-ould be evanescent, and pass away. This " idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the " prevailing idea, at the time. The Constitution, it is true, '* secured every essential guarantee to their institution while it " should last ; and hence no argument can be justly used against " the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the " common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were " fundamentally wrong. . . Our new government is " founded upon exactly opposite ideas. Its foundations are 15 1 '' laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that Slavery, " subordination to the superior race, is the natural and moral " condition of the negro. This our neiv government is the "first in the history of the vjorld based upon this great physical, " philosophical, and moral truthJ' Yes, Mr. Stephens, it is the first, indeed, and I think it will be the last ! So thoroughly was it understood throughout the South by the leaders of the war movement, that the j^reservation and extension of slavery was the purpose of the war, that we find suspicion cast upon the fidelity of those parts of the South which had not a vital interest in slavery. Thus a writer in the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle says, " Disguise it as we may, the *■ greatest danger to our new Confederacy arises, not from " without, not from the North, but from our own peoijle. '' . . The indications are, that organised, if not avowed, " opposition to the new order of things may arise in States or " parts of Southern States not vitally interested in the slavery '•' question." I it SUSPENSION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. It has been said, too, that Mr. Lincoln's rule was despotic — that constitutional liberty was restricted by suspension of habeas corpus in some cases, and strict dealing with the press. But a state of civil war puts constitutional rights in abeyance if this be found necessary to the public safety. Can any one doubt that, if the British Government found itself seriously confronted with armed, insurrectionary opposition anywhere within the limits of the United Kingdom, it would hesitate to suspend con- stitutional rights and interfere with jjersonal liberty to any extent demanded by consideration of public safety and by the exigencies of the occasion. Of course such suspension should only be had m the last resort, but of the last resort the government itself must be the judge. I shall not refer here to the notions of liberty held in the South. In the Slave States during their most peaceful times, there never was freedom of speech or of the i^ress. r ' ^ >». 16 ■U- THE WAR TEDIOUS. It has been further said that the war is an atrocious one in its methods, and that, moreover, it is tedious in its operations and long in coming to a conckisiou. Now I say that all war is atrocious. The deliberate killing of men is atrocious work. John Wesley made a famous aphorism concerning slavery, affirming it the " sum of all villanies," and it was Robert Hall, I think, who made the a2:>horism concerning war that it was " hell let loose." Yes, all war is atrocious. And the nearer we are to it in time and space, the more atrocious it appears. Then, as to the war being tedious, certainly it is so, but all wars, where the opposing forces bear any due proportion to each other, are likely to be tedious. It is much easier to begin a war than to close one. If the South had duly considered this before firing her first round shot, it would have spared the world a great deal of anxiety and sorrow. Look at the history of the more recent wars of the world. Take the war for the occupation of the Crimea, a territory about the size of one of the smaller States of the Union. It took four nations of Europe^ combined, including Great Britain and France — it required the combined power of these four European nations steadily exorcised for about two years before they dislodged the Russians. Take the European peninsular war in the earlier part of this century. Was it not in 1808 that the French took Madrid, and was it not 1814 before oven the genius of Wellington, supported by the allied armies, was ?ble to drive them out of Spain ? Thus it took the allies under Wellington some six years to expel the French from a kingdom not much larger than tlic single State of Virginia. War, indeed, is a tedious business, and especially does it appear so when it presses immediately on any of our own interests. IS POPULAR GOVERNMENT A FAILURE ? Then, again, it is said by some that this civil war decides the question as to the permanency of tlie popular form of 17 !'i government adopted in the United States — a government of the people by the people — administered according to republican forms. " The bubble has burst," exclaims an honest Tory gentleman in one of the houses of the British Parliament. And so say a great many others, who had better hopes of the result of tlie great governmental experiment in the American Union. Now if we judge too hastily in this matter we may judge foolishly. If we cannot exactly look at the exciting events of our own day in the dry light of past history, let us at least pause and collate the past. Look at the history of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland. View it in connection with the English monarchy, going back to the Norman Conquest. This brings us to the eleventh century. From that time to the present counts eight centuries. Now within these eight centuries of British history we may find an average of five intestine wars to each century. And if we reckon from the end of the fourteenth century to the end of the eighteenth, we shall find each century showing an average of seven. Some of these were closed in a year, others not for ten years. Yet the British monarchy has not proved i\ failure, notwithstanding all these intestine trou])les, but has shown itself a great and visible success. As compared with the maturity of Britain, the American Union is still in nonage. It is not a hundred years old. A century in the life of a nation is as a decade in the life of an individual. A giant youth in lusty life is prone to say and do many things which the staid decorum of mature age will be likely to condemn. But we must not judge finally of the character of the man until the further development of the youth. I say, therefore, let us wait until the completion of the first century of the American Union before we pronounce definitely upon its failure. 'i POPULAR GOVERNMENT IN DIVERS FORMS. Let us not talk rashly in this matter lest we should be found talking against ourselves, and bearing witness against our own best hopes and interests. Our fathers in the "old country" suffered much and struggled long against established aristocratic ii ii !{.: pretension, to obtain for us, tlicir descendants, our just share of influence in the national councils. Popular government I define as a government of tlie people by the people. Now tin,-, is what we have in Canada. With us, however, it is adminis- tered under the form of limited monarchy. But the difference here, as compared with the government of the United States, is formal rather than substantial. Between a limited or constitu- tional monarchy, and an unlimited or absolute monarchy, the difference is not only formal but essential. In the case of jibsolute monarchy the rule is arbitrary, as by the will of the sovereign. In the case of liixuted monarchy the rule is consti- tutional, as prescribed by the law of the land. As between an absolute and a limited monarchy, therefore, the difference is seen to be essential. But as between popular government administered under republican and under limited monarchical form the differ- ence is mainly formal. In both cases the people at large hold a controlling power in the government — a i^ower, I mean, sufficient to control the executive, whether crowned or uncrowned. In Great Britain the representatives of the j)cople hold the purse of the nation, and the crowned sovereign has to ask them for the money needed to defray the expenses of the state; and this they may give or withhold as they deem best. To withhold the supplies, which they have the constitutional potver to do, is to render the monarch powerless. Within the limits of the British Isles, as represented at Westminster, the territorial nobles exert a commanding, but still a restricted influence in the government. The history of the present century, however, shows the steadily increasing influence of the popular element in the government, and a corresponding decrease in the, influence of the territorial aristocracy. This change is going on peacefully, and in virtue of a law of social progress, which, under the well-balanced institutions of Britain, has scope for that gradual exjDansion and adjustment to actual social necessities which gives stabiliuy to every step. But in these British American provinces, where this class of territorial nobles does not exist and cannot exist, the influence of the people is more immediate and direct on our governmental working. With this modification of our institu- 19 tions, vcsulting from the fixed necessity of our position, our government becomes substantially similar to the government of the United States, though formally different therefrom. If, therefore, we rashly join in depreciation of popular government, or follow the interested lead of those who cry against the fitness of the people to govern themselves, we may come to find that \YQ have been speaking against ourselves, and against the best interests and privileges of our posterity. In all popular forms of government, indeed, whether administered under monarchy or republic, there will be found much to deplore through llic ignorance of multitudes who exercise an influence at the polls. But this evil the more intelligent classes must strive to diminish by elevating the intelligence of the masses. This involves a faithful and persistent attention to the cause of popular educa- tion, without which no form of popular government can exist with advantage or safety. I r BRITISH MONARCHY STABLE, BECAUSE POPULAR. I have said that the British monarchy is no failure, but a success, notwithstanding its many intestine wars. But it would have been a failure if it had resisted the just claims of the great body of the people — your fathers and mine — to their fair measure of influence in the national councils. It would have been a failure if its settled purpose had been to restrict human freedom, instead of enlarging it. The strength, stability, and permanent success of the British monarchy are mainly due to the popular element by which it is sustained, and to the confi- dence with which it is regarded by the great body of the people. And with respect to the civil wars which have distracted the British realm, some of them were much longer in duration than the American civil war up to this time, and quite as fierce. That which was inaugurated in Ireland by More and O'Ncil, in 7 641, lasted ten years. Meanwhile England and Scotland had their civil wars also. The active strifes of the English Round- heads and Cavaliers of that period were of a more sanguinary sort than those of the present Republicans and Democrats of m- 20 the free States of tlic American Union. And as compared with tlic pitched battles and bloody fields of those English contesting parties, the peaceful contest at the ballot-box last month between the two political j^arties tliroughout the free States of the American Union stands in sublime and instructive contrast. That contest on the 8th of November last, when millions of free men, under pressure of a most exciting issue, cast their votes at tlie polls as peacefully as quiet villagers on a holiday, jDresonts a spectacle for the world to admire, and Ijears more emphatic witness for the stability of popular government than all the victories of Grant and Sherman. HISTORICAL PllECEDENTS. It is to be borne in mind that, notwithstanding tlie internal strife in England, the insurrection in Ireland was not lost sis^ht of, but (fuelled by the strong arm. Then came confiscation of ("States, to the great grief of old Irish families. Now if tlie Free States, through the national government of the American Union, should persist for ten years toward the suppression uf the insur- rection of the Slave States, and should in the end confiscate the plantations, it will be seen that they have historical precedents bequeathed to them from the joint English ancestry of North and South. And I am sure that under a changed system of labour, where the tiller of the soil should work under the stimulus of the paymaster's purse instead of the overseer's lash, the labourer would have nothing to deplore. . PRESIDENT LINCOLN. Let lis hope, however, that the war will not be of much longer continuance. The re-election of Mr. Lincoln, by revealing the settled purpose of the Free States to put forth their com- Ijined power, may hasten its close. Mr. Lincoln has had the honour to receive a large measure of abuse from the enemies of popular government and the foes of free labour. And others, not exactly of this class, have joined in the stonn agaiiist him, |i I . 21 being swept into it by the current. For myself, I am glad of his re-election. I regard him as an able and honest magistrate, doing his duty faithfully under circumstances of various difficulty, such as few of us who li\ more at ease can adequately under- stand. Mr. Lincoln began li/e as a man of hard-handed toil, and he is still a toiling man, though his hard work is now of the head. There are teriitorial nobles in England, and large jDlanters of the South, whose early leisure for study, and more careful training in statesmanship, might have qualified them more eminently for such a chair as that which Mr. Lincoln occuj^ies. But for one man of these classes who would have discharged his great trust better, and brought more sagacity and integrity to the high task, I think it likely there would have been two, or perhaps ten, who would have performed the presidential duties a great deal worse. What if he did, in early life, earn his living by handicraft ? Shall I respect him the less for tliis ? Nay, but more. The main question for me is : Was he honest in his handicraft work ? And I am sure he was. I have never seen Mr. Lincoln ; but what if his hands are hardened with honest toil ? Should I approach him as President of the United States with less respect on this account ? Certainly not. I should approach him with as much respect as if he had the blood of the Courteneys and Montmorencys and Howards all flowing in his veins. And I should certainly approach him with much more respect than if he wore the owner of the largest plantation in Virginia or Louisiana, where a thousand unpaid slaves toiled perforce for his benefit, and whom, by his word or sign manual, he could send to the auction block to-morrow. All honour, then, to honest Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and President-elect of the Free United States of America. [Here the speaker was interrupted by prolonged applause.] I hope the war will be brought to a close long before the end of his second term. Would that it could be closed before the end of the' first six months thereof Would that South and North should put foot to foot on the neck of Slavery, the ca,use of their strife, and rejoin hand and hand together in a common interest and a common hope, and that peace might ]>o thus restored. i •'>2 No one desires peace more strongly than myself. But if this cannot be done, I see no immediate way to the much desired peace except the party who first took up the sword shall be the first to lay it down. m : ) ■ » ill DUTY OF CANADA. And now I approach a matter which directly touches our own territory, interest, and honour. It is to be kept in mind, fellow-citizens, that the declared policy of the Queen's Imperial Government in reference to the disastrous civil war in America, is neutrality and non-intervention. It remains for Canadians, as good subjects, not to compromise this policy, or embroil Great Britain for the benefit of the slave institutions of the South. According to present appearances, a continued policy of non-intervention on the part of foreign powers will ensure the speedy and irretrievable downfall of slavery on this continent. THE EAID ON ST. ALBANS. You know how much our community has been excited, and is still excited, by the marauding and man-slaying at a peaceful village on our borders, and the unexpected and unfortunate result of the judicial investigation relating to the arrested parties. That result is felt to be very humiliating to us as a people. When the intelligence of the robbery first reached this city, there was only one opinion as to its atrocious character. This was subsequently modified with a portion of the community through the plea set up in defence of the prisoners. The simple facts of the case may be thus stated. A band of twenty or thirty men entered the village of St. Albans, Vermont — a quiet, unarmed, unsuspecting village — five or six hundred miles from the nearest seat of actual war. These men came into the village separately, in the character of ordinary travellers, taking lodging in several hotels, and registering false names there. At a certain hour on a given day, they went in companies of three or four each, into the village banks, as for an ordinary commercial .1- ( ' 23 [jiirposc. They iri:|uired the price of gold, as if they had some money changing business to transact. Then watching their opportunity they raised pistols, after the Tur})in fashion, to the lioad of the clerk or cashier, and rifled the hank vaults. Mean- while, other persons of the same band were putting pistols to the heads of hostler boys in the livery stables, and stealing horses. Swinging themselves and their booty rapidly on these stolen horses, the whole band started away at a gallop, firing pistols on every side. One man passing quietly along the village street was killed by the shooting, others wounded, and a little girl by the rural wayside struck by their bullets. In this fashion they galloped a few miles, across the border of our neutral territory, where a portion of the gang was arrested, and made disgorge their booty. And thus arrested, when brought before the magistrate, they have the face to plead, through counsel, that in the eye of the law they are to be regarded as — a retreating army ! For such in substance is their plea. A retreating army indeed ! Why if the worst enemies of the South wished to caricature their warfare, they could not do so more effectually than by this plea. LAWFUL AND UNLAWFUL USE OF STATUTE LAW. I will make no imputation against the two functionaries through whose precipitancy of action these marauders have been allowed, on a technical point, to escape with their booty. But ihm I will say, that statute law is of no avail for good to any community, if such law be not used lawfully. For there is a lawful and an unlawful use of law. I should not think of citing the Apostle Paul as legal authority, but I have no hesitation in referring to him as moral authority. He writes that " the law is good if used lawfully," thus indicating that there is a lawful and unlawful use of law. All statute law is a standing token of the imperfection of human society. If human society were perfect we should have no need of statute law. But statute law is useless, and may be worse than useless — it may be made instrumental in preventing rather than in promoting justice — if the interpreta- c ' ■ il- 2i tion thereof be not controlled and directed ])y thorough respect for moral law. The interpretation and administration of statute law, lacking this, degisnerato into mere intellectual dexterity, which, again, through pressure of low motives, may descend into u base game of trick. In all matters of statute law, municipal, or national, and of international treaty stipulations, it is safe to say generally, that " that which is best administered is best." An honest purpose in the interpreter r.nd administrator, is an absolutely re(piisite guide to a just decision, and an honourable administration of the law. !|: TRANSFER OF THE SEAT OF WAR, In the western prairies, when the fire lights up the tall grass, and the wind sweeps it along in swift and terrible destruction, the settler finds his safety in lighting up another fire in another part to be carried along by the same wind. In the field of inter- national politics, the process may not be precisely the same, but results may be produced substantially .alike. There is a great war raging in the South, and it would undoubtedly suit the interest of some, if the fires of war could be lighted up here in the North, so that the destroying armies operating there should be dra^vll elsewhere. If, through any well-concerted intrigue into which any portion of our community, be it ever so small, or influential, could be drawn consciously to participate — if, through any such intrigue, a combination of circumstances should be produced which would light the fires of war in the North, it is easy to see how well this would suit the present exigencies of the South. If General Sheridan, who I am told, is a fellow-countryman of mine, could be transferred with his army from the Shenandoah valley to the valley of the St Lawrence, it would be a sensible relief to the people of Virginia, But though I should gladly welcome able Irishmen coming into Canada, I wish to see them come with peaceful intent. The Irish can dig well as well as fight well, and I desire to see them come to dig our mines, fell our forests and till our soil. Here they can have farms of a hundred acres or a thousand acres,. 25 v/itli no l.'uidloril to f;riiKl or harass them. Here every cnpahle and industrious nmn may be his own hmdlord. There is pK'iity of room foT all such who come, and a great deal to spare besides. Or, if General Sherman, who has just marched a Hyins^ column of forty or fifty thousand men some three hundred miles throu<^d» the heart of Georgia, shoulil, as the result of any intrigue or combination of circumstances, have his face turned northwjird, and his flying column carried into the heart of Canada, it would be a great relief to Georgia just now, and to the two Carolinas. If this, or any such movement, could be ensured, then other moves might be expected to follow. The British West India squadron, or some other British squadron would move on New York or Boston. Then Farragut, Dahlgren, or Porter, would move on the British squadron. This would uncover the Southern seaboard, and open the ports of Charleston, Savannah, and Wil- mington. Then might Mr. Davis and the meu at Richmond rejoice. They had transferred their game of war into other hands, to be played out upon another board. Now they would be more likely to be " let alone " in the accomplishment of their purposes. Now they might look after their lost slaves, and gather up the million fetters broken during the war in the South. Now every round shot booming from a British gun against the Free States, would be as the stroke of a heavy hammer rivetting anew the manacles on the African, through- out all the wide territory, from Mason and Dixon's line to the Mexican borders. And who should have to pay and to suft'er by such transfer of the war from South to North ? You and I, fellow-citizens, all the people of Canada, and our relatives and friends besides, — our fellow-subjects in the mother country. The bank robbery at St. Albans, and the Southern plots on our upper lakes, have already, it is said, involved Canada in an expense of nearly half a million of dollars. This you and I and all Canadians will have to pay. But this will not compare as a drop to the bucket, to what we shall have to pay if an inter- national war should be inaugurated through Southern intrigue. In such case, what would Canadian banks be worth ? or Cana- dian shipping, or property of any kind ? Our relatives on the 26 other side of tho Atlantic are already taxed enoiioh, without havini^ to pay any more to equip naval armaments to operate against the Free Uidted States for behoof of the Slave Confede- racy. And whatever certain classes of society there may desire — those I mean who desire to see a case made out a<^ainst the cause of popular ^(overnment, or who, possessinjjf milli(jns of money, have through the misleading reports of " Times' " c(jrre- spondents, invested some of thcur millions in Confederate stocks — whatever such classes may desire, I am sure the great masses of the people in the British islands desire no such war for any such purpose. " Behold how great a matter a little fire kind- leth." Jail junketting in Montreal with hank plunderers, and Southern sympathies stiinulated hy more elegant private hospi- talities — these social processes may he freely used for politicrd ends, and one niay see the fruit thereof in tlie expression of public opiniorj. A portion of our press may do the work of Slave States by blowing liot and cold at a moment when a l)last of unqualified indigiuition alone slioidd be given, or l)y a continuei l 11 1: ill If ,1 li; I u- 28 lis, as we are to them, by the reciprocal ties of amicable commercial intercourse. With them, as with us, free labour is respected, and the honest tiller of the soil has the status of a man and a citizen. With them, and with us, the word liberty has the same meaning, involving the right of poor and rich, black and white alike, to the disposal of their own persons, of their personal ability and exertion, and of the fruits thereof. In the vocabulary of the Slave States, when they cry for liberty and independence, we know that they mean only license to hold the poor in bondage, and rob the tiller of their soil of his first rights as a man. The traditions and policy of our mother country have been steadily on 'he side of personal liberty. And this, which is one of her most glorious distinctions, has been a cause of constant hostility towards her by statesmen and people of the Slave States. Was it not the senator from Mississippi who cracked his grim jokes at the " crocodile tears" of English investors who honestly bought and paid for those Mississippi OOi^.ds which were dishonestly repudiated — was it not Mr. . i efferson Davis who did this thing, the man who is, and has been from its beginning, the President of the Southern Confederacy ? There was another Southern senator, who, to irri* xte Old England, said her ships should be swept from the seas ; and to irritate New England, said he should call the roll of his slaves on Bunker Hill, — and the man who said these things, was made the first Secretary of State in the Southern Confederacy. And when the heir to the British crown visited the United States, a few years since, and received ovations of welcome in the leading cities, worthy alike of guest and host, it was reserved for one city in the Union to insult him, to hustle his suite in the public streets, and put contempt upon his Royal Mother's name, — and that city was Rich- mond, Virginia, now the capital of the Southern Confederacy. The Free Stj.tes and not the Slave Confederacy, are the natural allies of our mother country, the Free United Kingdom, where free labour is established and encour- aged, and where the forced and unpaid toil of slaves is abominated. 29 OUn MEANS OF DEFENCE. Allow me to refer to one thing more before I sit down. Our people have been talking a good deal of late about our means of defence, as against our neighbours on the other side of our long frontier. Fellow-citizens, our best defence is very close at hand. The Chinese method is a poor shift at best. It is said they blow horns, drum up all sort of discordant noises, and yell defiance at their approaching enc!mies, in order to inspire them with terror. This is not a very rational or dignified method, and we soon discover that it is only a puerile way of trying to conceal weakness, and hide their fear of being considered afraid. It is the poor device of a poor form of cowardice. We Canadians do not use Chinese blowing horns, but if our mind is of the oriental type we may set up our clatter and howl our defiance through the trumpets of our daily newspapers. Our true defence, as I have just said, is very close at hand. I hope we all read the Bible. It is a wonderful storehf use of wisdom for all emergencies. There is a saying there by the Hebrew sage and preacher, and it is this : "Wisdom is better than " weapons of war." We read there of a little city against which a mighty force came up to besiege it, and a poor man delivered the city by his wisdom. Therefore, saith the Bible sage, " Wisdom is better than strength ;" " Wisdom is better than " weapons of war." And this wisdom may be shown in the manifestation of a peaceful spirit, and of an honourable purpose to fulfil, in all good faith, our treaty stipulations with our neigh- bours. It may be shown by our observance, as dutiful subjects, of our Queen's proclamation of neutrality, and by refusing to sanction, directly or indirectly, any overt act or implied purpose which would embarrass our Queen's government, or embroil in war the great industrious, peaceful, and prosperous empire with which it is our privilege to be connected. It may be shown by our fidelity to the noblest traditions of that empire which forbids us to aid or abet, by word or deed, the iniquity of slavery, or prop its falling fortunes on this continent. It may be shown by i' 80 our love of human freedom, in our cherishing the spirit thereof, and in our living desire that all men should be free. It may be shown through our respect for honest and honourable toil, and our pronounced desire that the honest toilers in all lands, whether they be black or white, shall receive an honest wage for their toil, and enjoy, as their indefeasible right, all the privileges of Christian men. " Wisdom is better than weapons of war ;" and such wisdom as this I hold to be the bounden duty of Canada and her people to cherish and manifest at the present juncture of our affairs. i \\ \ A. inELAND ANM CO., PUINTERa, PALL MALL COUUT, MANCIIESTEtt. 3reof, lyhe , and 3ther their es of and lada ture i