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January 15, 1853.] THE LEADER. 53 ^^^^~ ...
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American reply to the staffordhouse memo...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Progress Of The Anglo-American Alliance....
only to the ambassador himself . Possibly it might be thought they were making some attempt upon the-political virtue of Mr . Jngersoll , but he feared that though pome of our ambassadors to foreign courts might easily be taken in , we could not so easily take in an American Minister . They were met for an honest purpose- ^ to welcome a gentleman who represented a nation that was looked upon with wonder and admiration by every country in the world , and he believed that in offering their cordial respects to Mr . Ingersoll they were only doing what every intelligent and good man in the United Kingdom would approve of .
" Now , there are little things which arise occasionally that cause irritation between the two countries . I see by the papers that have arrived here from America by the very last packet—as may he seen from an extract of what I am about to mention in the Times of yesterday or the day before—that there has been a speech delivered by a very eminent man there—General Cass—who alludes to things said and done in this country which have an irritating effect on the * minds of the American people ; and I confess I thought his case was not a very strong one . He Suoted from two papers certain observations made about ae United States which he thought were calculated to have an ill effect . Well , one paper was the Britannia , a paper that I think I have heard of ( laughter ) , but I don't
know whether more than once or twice I ever saw ; and I certainly never discovered a man who was a subscriber to it or a reader of it . The other paper was the Sun . The Sun is ari evening paper , and , like all the London evening papers , of a moderate circulation . The evening papers , like some others , are strangled by the stamp ; they have not a free press , and will wither and die . But whatever may be said in the Britannia or the Sun , I do hope that General Cass and others who read papers—if they look at papers of no influence in this country—will not for one single moment suppose that they express the opinions of that class and body of the population of the country who alone can influence Government , and whose opinion should be taken as the opinion of the population of the
United Kingdom . I might put it plainer to them . Suppose I quoted certain things that I had read in the New York Herald , and say that was the opinion of the American Legislature and people ; but that would be a libel upon both ; and I hope while > there is in that country and in this , great freedom both on the platform and in the pen , that eminent men of both countries will learn that there is something far higher and far deeper and far greater in both countries than is to be expressed or described , or moved , by the irritating observations of some obscure scribe who may write his absurd nonsense in the columns of some obscure paper . ( Cheers . ) I am for viewing the institutions and the courso of America with a vigilant but friendly eye . I would copy , so far as I could ,
all that is good in that country , and if there is anything that I thought evil I would remark upon it with regret , but in the most friendly spirit—and the very last thing I would attempt to utter would be any comment that should have a tendency to irritate the people of that country . If the Americans came here with their advice , and in an unfriendly spirit , and thought of dragging us into a change of policy on any question , we should take precisely the course the Americans now take when over zealous people in this country think it necessary to interfere with them . ( Loud cheers . ) Perhaps this is hardly the occasion for Baying much about the politics or the institutions of the United States ; but I have a great authority—a nobleman who only a month ago was Prime Minister , who attended
a dinner at Liverpool within the last two or three days , and thoro descanted , in hia usual ablo manner , on somo of the institutions of tho United States . He endeavoured to draw a parallel between the Senate of the United States and the English Mouse of Lords . I shall express here no opinions as to whether the Houso of Lord ' s is or is not tho best legislative assembly wo could have as a second chamber in this country , but I must altogether protest against the sort of argument Lord Dorby entered upon . Bear in mind that the Senate of tho United States is as firmly fixed in their representative system as tho House of Representatives . Bear in mind that whatever storms and passions disturb tho public mind in tho United States , tho Senate of that country is ultimately
tho most powerful body to influence and to control public opinion . On tho contrary , in this country , our House of Lords , having no such foundations , finds itself , whenever thoro is a tumult of political excitement , not able to control , scarcely ablo to check , but always compelled to yield . I will not enter into tho question whether there is an cany passage from humble life to tho membership of tho House of Lords . I should bo the very last man to suppose that it would bo an advnntuge to me , at any rale , to become a member of such a chamber as that ; but all offices , even the oflico of tho Emperor of the 1 'Yoneh , are open to tiny man that can got thorn , and so is
tho House of Lords . But the question which Lord Dorby did not touch was thin , whether it bo advisable that any eluSHofmen in tho country , in uuy position , should have the exclusive privileges wliiol ^ our constitution gives to that Ifouso . Now , I am expressing no opinion on it , and should never have touched it if Loru Derb y had not , on an occasion like this , entered into a defence of his order , and endeavoured to persuade the people of England that in their House of Lords they have an assembly of equal wisdom , equal character , equal patriotism , niul equal durability with the august Senate of the United States of America . " ( Cheers . )
Mr . I ( right showed how political imtitutioiiH which we are now contending for had subsisted in some of tho states of America for upwards of two hundred yeui'H . In one state they had the " widest suilhigo and tho imUot ; " and in the nnmo state , two hundred years ugo , thoro wuh un act punned , begiuuing with thotw
remarkable words , — " To the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers , " and then it went on to enact that wherever there were fifty householders , one house should be set apart to teach the children of the rest , and wherever there were one hundred families , there should be established a grammar school to train the children , so that they might be fitted , such of them as could , to enter a university . In Maryland , the Catholic Lord Baltimore had established
the freest religious liberty , so that the Puritans expelled by the Episcopalians of Virginia , and the Episcopalians expelled by the Puritans of New England , found there a refuge . America has religion as much as we have , with no sect dominant ; legal reforms without a Lord Chancellor with a salary of 14 , 000 Z . a year ; internal peace without a great standing army ; respect abroad with great squadrons on every coast ; and an admirable system of representation , without
rotten boroughs . * ' England does not fear the United States—the United States do not fear England ; but all good and wise men in both countries fear quarrels between the countries , and fear war , which is the greatest calamity and the greatest crime that can afflict mankind . And it is impossible to say , and I think the most vivid imagination among us would not be able in any degree adequately to portray one thousandth part of the' miseries that would be produced in the world if it were possible that the United States and England were to quarrel and actually to come to open hostilities . ( Hear , near . ) I see recently there has been a small matter which got up a little irritation in America
and here , arising chiefly , I suppose , out of some mistake . Well , now , let every Englishman and every American take this course ; the moment any little matter of this kind arises , do not immediately see how many ships can be gent to that station , or how many troops marched to this point , but let us rather turn our minds to the point—can this question be settled without having recourse to that worst of all settlements , that which is brought about by force of arms ? ( Loud applause . ) I believe there has been jio ambassador from that country to England in our time * I have no recollection of one—that has not been anxious to cultivate the most friendly relations with our Government and our people ; and if Mr . Ingersoll will bear
in mind what he has seen in the papers—how when Mr . Everett was here , how when Mr . Bancroft was here , how when Mr . Abbott Lawrence was here , and now he is experiencing the same thing in his own person — that wherever the American Minister passes to , in all the large and populous and influential towns in the United Kingdom , there he will find the wealthiest , the best , the most educated , and the most patriotic of the population , in every one of those centres of industry , glad to rally round him , and treat him at least with as much kindness as we have endeavoured to show him to-night . ( Applause . ) If
this meeting has had the effect of convincing the Minister of the United States of that one fact , and if the record of it , when it passes to the United States , should give to any friend of peace and human progress there the assurance that there arc people in England—ay , thousands and millions—whose hearts beat in unison with his , then I think that the hoTding of this meeting will not have been in vain . I apologise for saying what I have said ; perhaps , under the circumstances , I could say no less . I thank you for the kindness with which you have received tho name of my hon . friend , rny colleague , and myself . ( Loud cheers . ) *
After some further speaking , the whole ended most appropriately with the toast , " The Health of the Ladies of the Old and New World . " We are glad to record , in connexion with this subject , the words used by Mr . Thackeray , at the close of one of his New York lectures . He is an Englishman who does honour to his country in the United States : " In England , it was my custom , after the delivery of these lectures , to point such a moral as seemed to befit tho country I lived in , and to protest against an outcry which somo brother authors of mme most imprudently and unjustly raise when they say that our profusion is neglected
and its professors hold in light esteem . Speaking in this country , I would say that such a complaint could not only not bo " advanced , but could not even bo understood here , whero your men of letters take their manly share in public life ; whence Kvorott goes as Minister to Washington , and Irving and Bancroft to represent tho Republic iu the old country . And if to English authors the English public is , as I believe , kind and just in tho main , can any of us say , will any who visit your country not proudly and grateful I v own , with what a cordial and generous greeting you receive us ? I look round on this grout company ; I think of my gallant young patrons of tho Mercantile Library Association , aa whoso servant 1 appear before you ; and welcome b
of the kind hands stretched out to me y men famous in letters , and honoured in our country as in their own , and I thank you and them for a moat kindly greeting and a most generous hospitality . At homo and amongst his own people it scarce becomes an English writer to spook of himself ; his public estimation must depend on his works ; his private esteem on his character ami his life . Hut here , among friends newly found , I iwk leave to say that f am thankful ; and T think with a grateful heart of those 1 huvti loft behind mo at home , who will bo proud of tho welcome you " liold out to me , and will benefit , pleasedied , when iriy days of work aro over , by tho kindness which you show to their father . "
hot our American friends lake their views of Kngliab opinion from men like Mr . Thuokeruy , rather than from tho journals quoted by Mr . Otum .
January 15, 1853.] The Leader. 53 ^^^^~ ...
January 15 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 53 ^^^^~ ' ' P ^ M ** f ^ -11 P' * I . ¦¦ ¦¦ ., i ¦ - » l II ¦ II ¦ ^^^^^^^—^^ B' ^^¦ ^^¦ ^ p . ^ Jfc ^ P—^^ " II ¦ " ' " ¦ ¦¦ ^ l ll ll m ^ ' ' _ 1 mMm - ^ ^ . *^ 1 ^^^^ " ^^ —*^*—^—1 ^ * ^^^* IM ^^>* 1 ^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^^^
American Reply To The Staffordhouse Memo...
American reply to the staffordhouse memorial . The following " Affectionate and Christian Address of many Thousands of the Women of the United States of America to their Sisters , the Women of England , " is pubb ' shed in the semi-weekly Courier and New YbrTc Enquirer : — " A common origin , a common faith , and , we sincerely believe , a common cause , urge us at the present moment to address you on the subject of enormous social evils which still prevail so extensively , and , even under kindly disposed rulers , with such frig htful results , in every part of your country . " We approach you to-day , not with fiction , but with
fact—not fact as exaggerated , perverted , and discoloured by the novelist ' s imagination , but fact as presented in its naked simplicity by parliamentary documents , or other statistical writings , which are regarded in your land as of standard authority . It will be impossible for us to brine now to your consideration the immense aggregate of evils which are visited upon the poor and helpless by your husbands and brothers through the vast extent of your Sovereign ' s dominions . We must forbear to speak of the flagitious and bloody modes by which * those dominions have been extended and are now extending in Southern Africa , in Southern Asia , and throug h the Southern Seas ! We can say nothing of the iniquitous war your nation waged upon the Chinese , or of the untold miseries caused by the forced imposition of the opium traffic upon that people ; not even for poor Ireland can we invoke your
sympathies now—that land which , through British misrule , has decreased in population 20 per cent , within the last year , and of which one of your own admired writers—the Itev . Svdney Smith—wrote these words , as awful as they are true— ' So great and so long has been the misgovernment of that country , that we verily believe the empire would be much stronger if everything were open sea between England and the Atlantic , and if skates and codfish swam over the fair land of Ulster . ' Sisters , we suppress our indignation , and touch upon none of these things now . It is upon evils on your own soil , in your own communities—evils among which you daily live and move , and with which you have personally to do , that we now address you . We wish to speak to you of the ignorant , and the poverty-stricken , and the degraded population of your own land , and we shall do it with faithfulness , yet witb kindness .
" Sisters , your land is filled with slaves—slaves to ignorance , slaves to penury , and slaves to vice . The terrible truth has been told you by one of the most learned and respected authors , Joseph Kay , of Trinity College , Cambridge , at the close of his great work on national education , which is or ought to be familiar to you all , that in England , ' where the aristocracy is richer and more powerful than that of any other country in the world , the poor are more oppressed , more pauperized , more numerous in comparison to the other classes , more irreligious , and very much worse educated than the poor of any other European nation , solely excepting uncivilized Hussia and Turkey , enslaved Italy , misgoverned Portugal , and revolutionized Spain . ' The first and greatest of all popular needs in
every free Chrisfian country is the need of instruction ; and yet your country has no system of public education that is worthy of the name . The entire amount of your annual parliamentary appropriations for the education of your people is less by thousands of pounds than tho annual public expenditures made for this purpose by tho city of New York alone . One person out of every eight in your population is a pauper , and the average poor-rales of England for the last ten years have been 6 , ( K . M ) , 0 ( X )/ . ; and yet to provide public education , and thus in a great measuro remedy the very neglect which has cursed you with this
grievous and yearly-increastng burden , your national Legislature lias expended in six years only (> 00 , 000 / . Onethird of tho population of the State of New York , according to our census tables just ' published , aro regularly receiving education in our publio schools ; according- to your parliamentary returns , only one-eleventh of your population aro enjoying a similar advantage . Sisters , is that a Christian state of society which , for some millions of your people , renders tho development and cultivation of all those faculties which distinguish man from tho bruto little better than a physical impossibility ?
"You , whom we are addressing , live in all parts of England , but everywhere ; in the metropolis , in the manufacturing towns , and in the country , you see about you tho most pitiable destitution and degradation . In London there are , we understand , more than 1 , 000 , 000 of immortal beings who are never soon in the house of Hod , and practically think the thoughts and live the lives of absolute heuthens . The condition of a large portion of the labouring population of that vast city may be judged from tho fact , that of its 20 , 000 journeymen tailors , 14 , < MK > can barely earn a miserable- subsistence by working l'l hours a day , Sunday included ; and that'it contains iVA , iHH > needlewomen , who earn on an average onlyl ' . 'd . a day by working 14 hours . There are f > 0 , 000 people in London who
obtain their living in the streets ; and Henry May how , an authority whom vou will not venture to question , says of them 'When the religious , moral , and intellectual degradation of the majority of these 50 , 000 people is impressed upon us , it " becomes positively appalling to con . template the vast amount , of vice , ignorance , and want existing in the very heart of our land . ' There uro ; iO , 000 costerinongers ; of ' these he says- ¦ - ' () uly one-tenth- - at tho outside one-tenth -of the couples living together and currying on their costeriiiongering trade are married ; ' that ' not throe in a hundnxl of thorn had over been in tho interior of a church or any place of worship , or knew what wub meant by Christianity , and only one iu ten of thorn in able to read . ' In your manufacturing towtm tho cubo ia no
hotter . In ( Jlusgow there are ( 10 , 000 women engaged in factories or needle-work whose average earnings do not uxcocil 7 a . or bs . a wook . Dr . 1 ' ntorBon , whom you know
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1853, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15011853/page/5/
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