^^-^K ^« ' THURSDAY EVENING, 22. \d DECEMBER, 1864, BY REY. JOHN CORDNBR. IPiiblisIied by Kegicest. PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 1805. 0-J"' ' " ' .A 3ci t>2. &:> u The following Address was spoken before the New England Society of Montreal, and a public audience, on Thursday evening, 22nd December inst., the anniversary of the Landing of the Pil- grim Fathers. The chair was taken on the occa- sion by the President of the New England Society. On the platform were seated the Presidents and official representatives of the various National Societies of the city — English, Scottish and Irish. The Address was spoken from detached notes; and having been requested for publication by the New England Society, and by others who heard it, the following report has been prepared from the notes, and from memory. MoNTUEAL, Dec, 1864. THE AMEIUCAN CONFLICT. Gentlemen of the New England Society : As I came down here this evening through the deep snow-drifts, and an atmosphere some degrees below zero, the thought of the hardships of the Landing which this day commemorates, rose to greater distinctness in my 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 English men and English women who laid the foundation of the Plymouth colony of New England. Inspired by a 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 and unknown climes. Such men and women, such faith and fidelity to conscience, are eminently worthy of commemora- tion. Fellow Citizens of Montreal : When, on the day before yesterday, the Com- mittee 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, the}' had b THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. hoped that Mr. George Thompson of England, who is now visiting America, would have been able to come to Montreal for this anniversary ; 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 active public men, whose labors in parliament and out of parliament on behalf of the working classes, and the rights of labor, have commanded my attention and respect. I hold in my hand Mr. Thompson's letter to the President of the New England Society, express- ing regret that he is compelled to postpone his visit to Montreal. Tliirt}^ years ago, in a pre- vious visit to America, it was his privilege, so he writes, to speak at Plymouth on the anniversary of " Forefathers' Day," and it would have giveji him great pleasure to appear again here at a similar anniversary, after the lapse of a genera- tion. 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 answer- able. Under ordinary circumstances I should not have consented to speak. But the time is extra- TUE AMERICAN CONFLICT. 7 ordinary. 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 suggest- ed 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 misappre- hension incident to a period of strong excitement, when various passions, prejudices and interests, are called into play, it may be useful to recal 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 Southern people, their fer- tility of resource in fighting against great odds, their endurance against their more powerful anta- gonist, their suffering on their own soil, through the devastation of war ; and all this while their cry 8 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. was, that they only desired to be " 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 sanguinary 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 newspapers, I had any personal or class interest in the palpable failure of a great fabric of popular government, or if, consciously or unconsciousl}', I yielded my judgment to the lead of those who have such interest, then I should actively sympa- thise with the South, Avhich puts a ban on honest labor, holding its laborers 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 care of their own affairs and govern themselves, as I can claim no connection whatever with oligarchy or aristo- cracy, it being my great privilege- to be identified at every point with the industrial classes of so- ciety ; 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 labor — all this being the case, I am compelled to other and different views and conclusions on this matter. THE MORAL ISSUE. THE MORAL ISSUE. More thcaii twenty-one years have now elapsed since I came from the mother country to this daughter hmd, and took up my abode in this city. And during all this period I have been an ob- server of the moral aspects of the political affairs of the United States. For it has been a marked peculiarity of the leading political questions of that country that these questions were inextri- cably interwoven with moral questions in w^hich the whole civilized world took an interest. The marvellous expansion of commerce in the leading Southern staple, gave to slave labor a greatly in- creased value, and thus augmented to the Southern view the importance of negro slavery as a social and political institution ; and this, while the tide of a more enlightened public opinion was rising against it every where else in America and Europe. The conscience of the Northern States was gradually aroused to the moral wrong of a sys- tem 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 famil}^, thus opening a way to moral degra- dation on all hands. Great Britain, after a length- ened agitation, and at a great cost of money, had Aviped the stain of negro slavery from her West India colonies. And having done this, her people, comprising all classes, sent remonstrance after re- monstrance across the Atlantic, urging the people 10 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. of the United States to deal faithfully with this na- tional evil, nor halt in their agitation against it until it should cease to exist. Thus stimulated from abroad^ as well as at home, the anti-slavery agita- tion acquired formidable proportions. The South became more and more alarmed for the safety of their " peculiar institution." While its importance to them in an economic point of view increased year by year, the feeling against it in the Free States of the Union, and throughout the world, increased year by year likewise. The preservation 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 in- volved became more distinctly revealed, rising every year into clearer and more definite form, it gradually disintegrated the existing combina- tions of party politics, based as they were on con- siderations of expediency or economics. A few years ago it broke up the old and influential Whig party in the United States. And more recently, it has utterly demolished the old and well-organised Democratic party. The thoughtful observer, looking through outward events to the moral forces which produce them, will see here a steady upward tendency of the public mind to a THE MORAL ISSUE. 11 higher plane of civilization. All who have stud- ied the moral struggle in England, led by Clarkson and Wilberforce, and their cotemporaries, on be- half of simple justice towards a weak and oppress- ed race, will be able to appreciate in some mea- sure, but not to its full extent, all that is involved in the gradually changed public opinion of the United States. In England the influence of the West India interest was powerful against Clark- son and Wilberforce, but it bears no proper com- parison with the influences so various and power- ful which the Southern interest could exert on the general mind of America. In England the movement on behalf of human freedom, was jeered by an influential press, and its advocates, including the most honored names in the land, were mobbed in English towns. But the fidelity of those honored men to their ideas of justice led to a triumph for freedom throughout the whole mind of the nation, which 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 vio- lence, awaited the movement in the United States, but on a larger and more determinate scale. In America, there were political obstacles in the way which did not exist in England. And these obstacles not being rightly apprehended in Eng- land, it came to pass that English remonstrances addressed to the people of the United States on the subject of slavery frequently failed of their 12 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. purpose. But the honest desire to mitigate the growing evil of shivery in the nation, made hope- ful progress in the national mind of 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 dis- credit abroad, and a fertile source of dishonest party intrigue at home. Then on moral grounds it was seen to be without defence. The intense anxiety of the Southern mind for its safety, now so imperilled by having the attention of the civilized world brought to bear more directly upon it, culminated in fanaticism. The moral discussion of the subject, so long dreaded and evaded by the South, was now faced by them in the spirit of a forlorn hope, and positions taken which revealed the distraction of their moral conscious- ness, 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, 18G0, " we dreaded the consequences, and trem- " bled 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 whe- " ther 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 certainty THE POLITICAL ISSUE. 13 which has come to them, has given them a courage 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 sanc- tion, 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 institu- " tion of domestic slavery, as now existing." He avers that in standing by this trust, they are defend- ing the cause of religion. As the providentially constituted guaVdians 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 slave-holding fanaticism, which could obtain no hold or hearing outside of slaveholding limits, or slaveholding 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. THE POLITICAL ISSUE. Here we see indication of that political issue which now became inevitable. Aiming at the territorial expansion of slavery, the South would not only not allow any further limit to be placed 14 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. to its extension, but they would break down the limitations already existing, and by law estab- lished, as a peaceful compromise of the matter so long in dispute. More than forty years ago, 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 question, which was brought to a close by the adoption of a measure of compromise, known as the " Missouri Compromise." Missouri was admitted as a Slave State, but a line was drawn •north of Arkansas, northward of which it was solemnly agreed that slavery should not be extended. This agreement was enacted and rati- fied in due form, and stood as the confessed law of the land for more than thirty years. But the restless and aggressive spirit of slavery became dissatisfied with 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, Pierce, and thus the way was opened for the unlimited extension of negro slavery throughout all the territories 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 1856, when Mr. Buchanan and Colonel Fremont were the rival candidates. Mr. Buchanan THE POLITICAL ISSUE. 15 was the Democratic and Conservative candidate, so-called, prepared to conserve slavery, and, as a general 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. Meanwhile, the Free Soil party, now known as " Republicans," as distinguished from the " Demo- crats," were not idle. The disastrous influence of slavery in the National Councils became more fully developed as it saw the political dangers thickening around it. The imperious self-will, which comes from the habitual exercise of irre- sponsible 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 Congress. 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 presiden- tial election approached, the Republican party 16 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. organized for the contest, attempting no interfer- ence with shivery 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 1860. Briefly stated, the issue was this : the unlimited expansion of slavery, as demanded by the South ; or its territorial limita- tion. This issue went before 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 how these first symptoms ripened into a formidable and wide- spread insurrection, involving the nation in the horrors of a civil war. Before Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, and while Mr. Buchanan was still President, the national property at Charleston, THE ACTION OF THE SOUTH. 17 South Carolina, was seized, the national ships were fired upon in Charleston harboi', and other like acts of war waged upon the National Government. Then ordinances of secession were rapidly passed without consulting the people, a revolutionary Congress established, and an army of resistance raised. So that when Mr. Lincoln was inaugu- rated, and in advance of any overt act of his government in relation to the South, he found himself confronted by a formidable insurrectionary opposition. Now, had the South any just cause to initiate such civil war under the circumstances, and organize an army to carry it on as they have done to this day ? I say. No. And in taking this ground, I waive all discussion of " State rights-" so-called, as beyond my province 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 Union, they were bound, in common with the North and other States, to abide peacefully by the constitutional result thereof. Whatever course they might take with respect to any future election, under any assumed right to secede, they were bound to this election, at any rate, by all constitutional and honorable obligations. And, having hastily and wilfully disregarded such obligations, we are jus- tified in holding them responsible for the origin of the present war, and for the deplorable consequences which have followed it, and still follow it to their 18 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. own nation, both North and South, and to other nations.* I have just said that I here forego the discus- sion of State 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 insurgent, we find some, as Arkansas and Louisiana, whose soil and privileges were a purchased acquisition, made by the original States of the Union, the great bulk of whom are in and for the Union still. It was about sixty years ago that the United States purchased from the French, the large territory w^est of the Missis- sippi, known as the Louisiana tract, for which they paid between eleven and twelve millions of dollars, and assumed the payment of certain claims, making in all some fifteen millions of dollars, as the price ptiid. A portion of this pur- chased tract is now known as the State of Louisiana, which was admitted into the Union in 1812. Now what rightful ground can Louisiana * A remarkable letter from General Lee has just found its way to the publiclhrough the columns of the London Tines. It was written to his sister at the beginning of the Southern revolt: " My dear Sister," he writes, "the whole South is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, " af I er a long struggle, has been drawn, and though I recognize no neces- " sity for this state of things, and would have forborne and pleaded to " the end for redress of grievances, real or supposed, 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 saw " no necessity" for the revolt into which he permitted himself to be drawn, and which has brought such disastrous consequences to the United States and to the world during the past four years. THE ACTION OF THE SOUTH. 19 have in saying to the bnlk 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, I ask, can Louisiana have in saying to those other States : " I will secede, and form an independent nation ; the mouth of the Mississippi will be no longer at the service of your nation except on my condi- tions." Now, fellow-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 us, 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, we, the people of central and western Canada, should purchase the district of Quebec at of 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,an- nounce that they had seceded, and that the mouth of the St. Lawrence must henceforth be considered by us as in the hands of a foreign power. I think we should have a good many words with them before 20 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. we consented to any such transfer of purchased privileges, as secession involved. And I think, too, that if they took up the sword to fight out this question of transfer by secession, we should take up the sword, also, and keep it going until we found out which of the two swords was the longer and stronger. Secession, according to the precedent the South seeks to establish, means 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 1860, so likewise, had the little State of New Jersey, and the two others that were defeated in this year 1864. Now Maine, Vermont, or New York, — any of the States on our own border, may be defeated at the next presidential election, four years hence. Following precedent, they raise a tumult and secede. Let the doctrine involved be practically 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 disinte- gration and disorder, the contagion would spread to our own side. It may be said that the political pact in Canada is different from that existing between the States of the American Union. But how long would the letter of any political compact be respected, if the public opinion became de- moralized by familiarity with anarchy on the THE ACTION OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 21 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 centralized power. The vacillating and feeble policy of Presi- dent Buchanan, surrounded as he was in his cabinet by the active friends of the South, gave the Slave States time to gather and consolidate their strength. The cabinet influ- ences at Washington favored them in various ways, among others by the almost wholesale transfer of the military stores of the nation, from Northern to Southern arsenals. When President Lincoln was inaugurated he found the depart- mental bureaus at Washington filled with public servants on whose fidelity to their public trusts he could not rely. Many were in secret, if not open sympathy, with those in revolt against his autho- rity, and were not scrupulous in serving them, to the disadvantage of the National Government. The crisis was a new experience to the rulers at Washington. There was no adequate provision made for such a trial. Hence delay in action, when delay was highly detrimental and dange-. 22 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. rous. The Southern people, more skilled in the use of arms than the people of the North, could place effective armies in the field more rapidly than the North. Hence their early successes, and the corresponding Northern defeats. The National Government wished to avoid war. And Mr. Lincoln did all that he honorably could do, to remove the dissatisfaction and suspicion of the South, and assure the Slave States of his just respect for their rights under the Constitiition. 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 that Mr. Stephens, though 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 concilia- tion failed, because he did not concede the one thing which the South required with respect to slavery. Mr. Lincoln could not concede this without betraying the confidence reposed in him as Chief Magistrate by the Free North and West. And all such efforts having failed, Mr. Lincoln put forth his power to assert his authority, as constitutionally elected Chief Magistrate, for pre- serving 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 INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 23 judgment. For purposes of mislead iug foreign opinion they are readily available and have been freely used. TJie Motive to War. It has been said, for instance, that the main- tenance of the Union was the motive to war on one side, and the desire for independence the motive on the other. Now, this is true, but it is far from the whole truth. There is enough truth in the statement, however, to satisfy any one who does not want to* know anything more about the matter. Hence the confident clamor of superficial controversialists. There would be more truth in the statement if we should say that the North fought for the Union, although Slavery should be de- stroyed by the war, while the South fought for Slavery though the Union should Idc de- stroyed. Every discerning man, South and North, knows that this is the true state of the case. Mr. Spratt, of South Carolina, thus puts the matter in his letter of protest, written in Feb- ruary, 18G1, against the decision of the Southern Congress with reference to the foi^eign slave trade. He regards the prohibition of this slave trade " as a great calamity," and a cowardly con- cession to the j)revailing prejudices of the world. He avers that the slave breeding States " ham no " right to ask that their slaves^ or any other ijroducts, " shall he protected to unnatui'al value in the markets 24 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. " of the WcHty " The South" he says, " is noiv in " the formafiou of a /Slave Republic This, perhaps, " is not admitted generally. There are many "contented to believe that the South as a geo- " graphical section is in mere assertion of its " independence This, I fear, is an " inadequate conception of the controversy. " Tlie contest is 7iot between the North " and South as geographical sections. The real con- " test is between the two forms of society which have " become established, the one at the North and the " otl^er at the South." And he alludes as follows to the prospects of an independent Slave Republic: " Three years ago, in in}'- report to the Commer- " cial Convention at Montgomery, I said that Euro- " pean 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 most potent productive institu- " ' tions the world has ever seen ; they would " ^ crush India and Algeria to make an equal *• ' supply 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 " ' power, and were to offer to European States, " ' upon fair terms, a full supply of its commodi- " ' ties, it would not only not be warred upon, " ' but the South would be singularly favored — INOIDEXTAL QUESTIONS. 25 ^' ' crowns would bend before her ; kingdoms and "^ ' empires would break a lance to win the smile " ^ of her approval ; and, quitting her free estate, " ' it would be in her option to become the bride " ' of the world, rather than as now, the miser- " 'able mistress of the North.' " Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy, leaves the w^orld in no doubt about the origin of the war, and the purpose 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 leadino; statesmen at the time of " the formation of the old Constitution were, that " the enslavement of the African was in violation " of the laws of nature ; that it was w^rong in "principle, socially, morally, 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 the "order of Providence, the institution would 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 con- ^' stitutional guarantees thus secured, because of 26 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. " the common sentiment of the clay. Those ideas, " however, were fundamentally wrong " Our new government is founded upon exactly " the opposite ideas. Its foundations are 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 new " government is the first in the history of the icorld " based upon this great physical, phdosophical, and " moral truth!' 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 in the war movement, that the preservation and extension of slavery was the purpose of the war, that we find sus- picions 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 great- " est danger to our new Confederacy arises, not " from without, not from the North, but from our " own people. . . . 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.''' Suspension of Constitutional Rights. It has been said, too, that Mr. Lincoln's rule w^as despotic — that constitutional liberty was restricted by suspension of habeas corpus in some INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 27 cases, and strict dealing with the press. But a state of civil war puts coustitutioual rights in abe3^auce 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 t6 suspend constitutional rights and interfere with personal libert}^ to any extent demanded by considerations of public safety and by the exigency of the occasion. Of course such suspension should only be had in 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 at the South. In the Slave States during their most peaceful times, there never was freedom of speech or of the press. The War Tedious. It has been further said that the war is an atro- cious one in its methods, and that, moreover, it is tedious in its operations, and long in coming to a conclusion. Now, I say that all war is atrocious. The deliberate killing of men is atrocious Avork. John Wesley made a famous aphorism concern- ing slavery, affirming it the " sum of all vil- lainies," — and it was Robert Hall, I think, who made the aphorism 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 28 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. 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 EurojDean nations steadily exercised 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 even the genius of Wellington, supported by the allied armies, was able to drive them out of Spain ? Thus it took the allies under Welling- ton some six years to expel the French from a Kingdom not much larger than the single State of Virginia. War, indeed, is a tedious business, and specially 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 the popular form of government adopted in the INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 29 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 the 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 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 a failure, notwithstanding all these in- testine troubles, but has shown itself a great and visible success. As compared with the maturity of Britain, the American Union is still in non- age. 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 30 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. prone to say and do many things which the staid decorum of mature age will be likely to con- demn. But we must not judge finally of the character of the man until the farther develop- ment 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. Popular Government in Divers Forms. Let us not talk rashly in this matter lest we should be found talkinsr asiainst ourselves, and bearing witness against our own best hopes and interests. Our fathers in the " old country " suf- fered much, and struggled long against established aristocratic pretension, to obtain for us, their descendants, our just share of influence in the national councils. Popular government, I define as a government of the people, by the people. Now this is what we have in Canada. With us, however, it is administered 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 constitutional monarchy, and an un- limited or absolute monarchy, the difference is not only formal, but essential. In the case of absolute monarchy, the rule is arbitrary, as by the will of the sovereign. In the case of limited monarchy, the rule is constitutional, as prescribed by the law of the land. As between an absolute and a INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 31 limited monarchy, therefore, the difference is seen to be essential. But as between popular govern- ment administered under republican, and under limited monarchical form, the difference is mainly formal. In both cases the people at large hold a controlling power in the government, — a power, I mean, sufficient to control the Executive, whether cro\vned or uncrowned. In Great Britain the representatives of the people 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 power to do, is to render the monarch powerless. Within the limits of the British Isles, as represented at West- minster, the territorial nobles exert a command- ing, but still a restricted influence in the govern- ment. The history of the present century, how- ever, shows the steadily increasing influence of the popular element in the government, and a corresponding decrease in the influence of the ter- ritorial aristocracy. This change is going on peacefully, and in virtue of a law of social pro- gress, which, under the well-balanced institutions of Britain, has scope for that gradual expansion and adj ustment to actual social necessities, which give stability to every step. But in these British Ameri- can 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 govern- 32 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. mental working. With this modification of our institutions, resulting from the fixed necessity of our position, our government becomes substantially similar to the government of the United States, though formally difterent therefrom. If, there- fore, 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 themseh^es, we may come to find that we 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 the igno- rance of multitudes who exercise an influence at the polls. But this evil the more intelligent classes must strive to diminisli by elevating the intelligence of the masses. This involves a faith- ful and persistent attention to the cause of popular education, without which no form of popular government can exist with advantage or safety. British Monarchy Stable, because Popular. I have said that the British monarchy is no fail- ure, but a success, notwithstanding its many in- testine 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 perma- INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 33 nent success of the British monarchy are mainly due to the popular element by which it is sus- tained, and to the confidence with which it is regarded by the great body of the people. And with respect to the civil wars which have dis- tracted 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'Neil in 1641, lasted ten years. Meanwhile England and Scotland had their civil wars also. The active strifes of the English Roundheads and Cavaliers of that period were of a more sanguinary sort than those of the present Republicans and Democrats of the Free States of the American Union. And as compared with the pitched bat- tles and bloody fields of those English contesting parties, the peaceful contest at the ballot-box last month between the two political parties through- out the Free States of the American Union, stands in sublime and instructive contrast. That contest on the eighth of November last, when millions of freemen, under pressure of a most exciting issue, cast their votes at the polls as peacefully as quiet villagers on a holiday, presents a spectacle for the world to admire, and bears more emphatic witness for the stability of popular government than all the victories of Grant and Sherman. Historical Precedents. It is to be borne in mind that, notwithstanding c 84 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. the internal strifes in England, the insurrection in Ireland was not lost sight of, but quelled by the strong arm. Then came confiscation of estates, to the great grief of old Irish lamilies. Now if the Free States, through the national government of the American Union, should persist for ten years toward the suppression of the insurrection of the Slave States, and should in the end confiscate the plantations, it will be seen that they have histo- rical precedents bequeathed to them from the joint English ancestry of North and South. And I am sure that under a changed system of labor, where the tiller of the soil should work under the stim- ulus of the paymaster's purse instead of the over- seer's lash, the laborer would have nothing to deplore. President Lincoln. Let us hope, however, that the war will not be of much longer continuance. The re-election of Mr. Lincoln, b}^ revealing the settled purpose of the Free States to put forth their combined power, may hasten its close. Mr. Lincoln has had the ho- nor to receive a large measure of abuse from the enemies of popular government and the foes of free labor. And others, not exactly of this class, have joined in the storm against him, 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 Mthfully under cir- cumstances of various difficulty, such as few of us INCIDENTAL QUESTIONS. 35 who live more at ease can adequately understand. Mr. Lincoln began life as a man of liard-liaiHled toil, and lie is still a toiling man, though his hard work is now of the head. There are territorial nobles in England, and large planters 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 occupies. But for one man of these classes who would have discharged his great trusts 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 this ? Nay, but more. The main ques- tion 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 hard- ened 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 Courtneys and Montmorencys and Howards, all flowing in his veins. And I should certainly approach him with much more respect than ii' he were the owner of the largest plantation in Vir- ginia or Louisiana, where a thousand unpaid slaves toiled perforce for his benefit, and whom, by hie. word or sign manual, he could send to the auction 36 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. block to-morrow. All honor, 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 cause of their strife, and rejoin hand and hand together in a common interest and a com- mon hope, and that peace might be thus restored. 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. DUTY OF CANADA. And now I approach a matter which directly touches our own territory, interest and honor. It is to be kept in mind, fellow citizens, that the de- clared 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 bene- fit of the slave institutions of the South. Accord- ing 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 DUTY OF CANADA. 37 77/ e Raid on St. Albans. You know how much our conim unity has been excited, and is still excited, by the ma- rauding and manslaying at a peaceful village on our borders, and the unexpected and un- fortunate 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 modi- fied 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, unsus- pecting village — five or six hundred miles from the nearest seat of actual war. These men came into the village separately, and 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 com- panies of three or four each, into the village banks, as for an ordinary commercial purpose. They enquired the price of gold, as if they had some money-changing business to transact. Then, watching their opportunity, they raised pistols, after the Turpin fashion, to the head of the clerk or cashier, and rifled the bank vaults, Mean- while, other persons of the same band were putting pistols to the heads of hostler boys ixx the livery 38 THE AMERICAN CO^rFLICT. stables, and stealing the horses. Swinging them- selves 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 gallopped a few miles, across the bor- der 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. Laurful 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 this 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 refer- ring to him as moral authority. He writes that " the law is good, if used lawfully," thus indicat- TUB DUTY OP CANADA. 39 ing that there is a hiwful 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 interpretation thereof be not controlled and directed by thorough respect for moral law. The interpretation and administration of statute law, lacking this, degenerate into mere intellectual dexterity, which, again, through pressure of low motives, may descend into a 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 ad- ministered is best." An honest purpose in the interpreter and administrator, is an absolutely re- quisite guide to a just decision, and an honorable 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 international politics, the process may not be pre- cisely the same, but results ma}^ be produced sub- stantially alike. There is a great war raging in the South, and it would undoubtedly suit the 40 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. 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 drawn elsewhere. If, through any well-concerted intrigue into which any portion of our community, be it ever so small, or uninfluential, could be drawn consciously or unconsciously 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 thou- sand acres, with no landlord to grind or harass them. Here every capable and industrious man may be his own landlord. There is plenty of room for all such who come, and a great deal to spare besides. Or, if General Sherman, who has just marched a flying column of forty or fifty thousand men some three hundred miles through the heart of Georgia, should, as the result of any intrigue or combination of circumstances, have THE DUTY OF CANADA. 41 his face turned northward, and his flying cohnnn carried three or four hundred miles into the heart of Canada, it woukl 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 Charles- ton, Savannah, and Wilmington. Then might Mr. Davis and the men 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, throughout all the wide territory, from Mason and Dixon's line to the Mexican borders. And who should have to pay and to suffer 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 al- 42 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. ready, it is said, involved Canada in an ex- pense 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 Canadian shipping, or property of any kind ? Our relatives on the other side of the Atlantic are already taxed enough, without having to pay any more to equip naval armaments to operate against the Free United States for behoof of the Slave Confederacy. And whatever certain classes of society there may de- sire — those I mean who desire to see a case made out against the cause of popular government, or who, possessing millions of money, have, through the misleading reports of " Times' " correspon- dents, invested some of their millions in Confed- erate stocks — Avhatever such classes may desire, I am sure the great masses of the people in the British islands desire no such Avar for any such purpose. " Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." Jail junketting in Montreal with bank plunderers, and Southern sj-mpathies stimula- ted by more elegant private hospitalities — these social processes may be freely used for political ends, and one may see the fruit thereof in the expression of public opinion. A portion of our press may do the work of the Slave States by blowing hot and cold at a moment when a blast THE DUTY OF CANADA. 43 of unqualified indignation alone should be given, or by a continued course of irritating insult to- wards the Free States. Edge tools in the hands of wise and skilful men are useful. But edge tools in the hands of fools or children, or those who do not know, or do not care what mischief they work, are not useful, but very danger- ous. In such hands, the glittering playthings may be made to inflict wounds deep and disas- trous, and very hard to be healed. Southern Agents in Canada. We are told, through a portion of our press in the interest and confidence of the Slave Repub- lic, that influential Southern gentlemen residing among us give their assurance that our territory shall not be insulted, nor our peace put in peril. This assurance is gracious, and ought to be gratify- ing. But for my part, I do not want to hear any such assurances. Southern gentlemen who are here? are here on a neutral territory, whose laws they are bound to respect, and must be made to respect, if they will not be bound by the obligations of honor. The flag which symbolizes the British nationality is never without sufficient authority to effect this. We offer asylum in Canada to poor and rich alike, to the slave and the master, recognizing the freedom of one as well as the other, within the limits of our law. And if agents of the Slave Confederacy frequent our cities and traverse our highways of travel in pursuance of their mission, 44 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. and promoting plots to " make European civiliza- tion shudder,"* they must, and I think will be looked after. The Canadian people have no desire that the British Empire should be drawn into a war which must be fought on their northern soil for the benefit and relief of the slaveholding interests of the South. If this dreadful strife must go on, let it be kept outside of our borders. Such, I hold to be the view of the Canadian people, and their Provincial Government. I have confidence in the fixed purpose and good faith of our Canadian Government in this grave matter. f The Free States our Neiyhhors and Natural F/Hends. We have no desire to quarrel with the Free • Mr. Sala, in a letter to the Loadon Telegraph, speaks of a Confederate agent whom he met on the Railroad, a few miles from Montreal. He told me, writes Mr. S., " that the St. Albans raid was only the first of a series of similar enterprises which were already cut and dried, and which were to be brought to maturity in the event of Mr. Lincoln's re- election, during the winter months. He said that he could com- municate by means of an impenetrable cipher with every city in the North, and that he had means at his command for causing the outbreak of incendiary fires in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and for forcing gold up to four hundred before the 1st of January next. ' In fact, Sir,' he concluded, 'we shall do such deeds within the next three months, as shall make European civilization shud- der.' Thus far the Confederate agent. I violate no seal of confidence in repeating this conversation, which took place in a railway car, on the way to St. Johns, Canada, where the preliminary examination of the raiders was to take place before the British authorities." f Several of the liberated raiders have been re-arrested, including the leader, who was taken by the Government police about three hundred miles from Montreal, on the way to New Brunswick. While these sheets are going through the press, an investigation of this case is going on before one of the judges of the Superior Court, which, doubtless, will lead to a decision on the merits. THE DUTY OF CANADA. 45 States of the North. They are our neighbors and natural friends, bound to us, as we are to them, by the reciprocal ties of amicable commercial inter- course. With them, as with us, free labor 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 indepen- dence, 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 the side of personal liberty. And this, which is one of her most glorious distinctions, has been a cause of constant hos- tility 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 investers who honestly bought, and paid for those Mississippi bonds which were dishonestly repudiated — was it not Mr. Jefferson 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 irritate Old England, said her ships should be swept from the seas ; and to irritate New England, 46 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. 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 Richmond, Virginia, now the capital of the Southern Confederacy. The Free States, and not the Slave Confederacy, are the natural allies of our mother country, the Free United Kingdom, where free labor is established and encouraged, and where the forced and unpaid toil of slaves is abominated. Our 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 neighbors, 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 sorts of discordant noises, and yell defiance at their approaching enemies, 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 THE DUTY OF CANADA. 47 hide their fear of being considered afraid. Tt 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 Ave all read the Bible. It is a wonderful storehouse 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 honorable purpose to fulfil, in all good faith, our treaty stipulations with our neighbors. It may be shown by our observance as dutiful subjects, of our Queen's proclamation of neutrality, and by refus- ing to sanction, directl}'' 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 deedj the iniquity of slavery, or prop its falling fortunes on this continent. It may be shown 48 THE AMERICAN CONFLICT. by 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 honorable toil, and our pronounced desire that the honest toilers in all lands, whether they be black or white, shall re- ceive 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. %^ x'i^ V .^^"- Ay ^ ^^-^ ^>*'% \i "«»^../ .v^p;-. \..^' ^*;e^>. %^j yM^*. \ /\ rii» VVtRT BOOKBINDING C'SnfwHe Pa MsfCh *pni 1989 .HO^ '.{'