THE 
 
 AMERICAN 
 
 QUESTION. 
 
 MEDIATION, INTERVENTION, RECOGNITION. 
 A Lecture by Mr. Barker at Mossley. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, —In what light others may regard the mat¬ 
 ter I do not know, but to me it seems that something ought 
 ; to be done, and done without delay, to bring this horrible 
 American war to an end. It is producing the most melan¬ 
 choly effects not only in the country in which it is raging, 
 
 I but in our own country. Here in this large and populous 
 district a great portion of the people are out of work. 
 Others are working only half time. Most of those that 
 are working full time are earning only half or two-thirds 
 their former wages. The evil is spreading into other dis¬ 
 tricts. Portions of Yorkshire are beginning to suffer from 
 the high price of cotton warps. Many branches of the 
 Sheffield and Birmingham trade are suffering. Here in 
 Lancashire portions of the people are becoming demoralised 
 through want of regular employment. We see a change 
 for the worse amoyg the young in our streets. There are 
 displays of vulgarity, insolence, and indecency which we 
 never witnessed before the last twelvemonth. And the 
 kind of demoralisation which shows itself in the streets is 
 not the only kind that is on the increase. The system of 
 • relief, so creditable to the nation, and so necessary under 
 the circumstances, is producing unhappy effects of its own. 
 And the evil seems inevitable so long as the system con- 
 I tinues. Then numbers are leaving the country in despair, 
 
 I to search for a living in distant lands. Some are going to 
 j Australia, some to New Zealand, some to Canada, and some 
 to the ill-starred land whose deadly strife is causing all this 
 i misery. If the war continues much longer still larger num¬ 
 bers will be driven from our midst. The contributions for 
 
 the relief of the unemployed can hardly continue to come 
 in so freelv. And even if they should, many are tired of 
 living on charity, and are determined to live by honest in¬ 
 dustry, or die in the attempt. And many even of the 
 manufacturing classes are beginning to feel themselves in 
 danger, and unless a speedy change takes place they wil go 
 to the ground. And England is not alone. In France, in 
 Belgium, in Germany, and other continental nations, num¬ 
 bers are suffering. And if something is not done, we may 
 expect, before long, a new and more serious kind ofRubles. 
 
 Then look at America. The Federals have lost , 
 
 No. II .—Price One Penny . 
 
2 
 
 ♦men. The Confederates can hardly have lost less than half 
 that number. The probability is that at least five hundred 
 thousand have either perished outright, or been maimed, 
 disabled, mangled, crippled, the hapless victims of this 
 miserable war. And these have all left widows or orphans, 
 or mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters, and lovers, to 
 mourn their loss. There is hardly a house in which some 
 lost and loved one is not mourned. In the South the loss 
 of their loved ones is not the only calamity of the sufferers. 
 Vast numbers are ruined in their circumstances. Their 
 property is gone. Their houses are destroyed. Their 
 fields and orchards are wasted. Their land is desolate. 
 The waste of wealth is as great as the waste of blood. The 
 North, in two years, has incurred a debt nearly half as large, 
 and quite as burdensome, as our own, the growth of two cen¬ 
 turies. The South has been compelled to mortgage its pro¬ 
 perty almost in maas. The misery caused both in North and 
 South is without a parallel in civilised and Christian nations. 
 
 And the waste of wealth and blood has been accompanied 
 with the loss of virtue and of freedom. The demoralisation 
 in the Northern armies, and in large portious of the 
 Northern population, is sickening; and the tyranny, the 
 despotism of the ruling faction is complete. And the war 
 is becoming utterly disgusting. And the evil is likely to 
 increase rather than diminish, if some humane and mighty 
 power does not step in and bring the murderous conflict to 
 a close. There is no probability that the South will yield, 
 and place itself at the mercy of its enemies. And there is 
 no probability that the North will be able to conquer and 
 subjugate the South. And if the North could conquer the 
 South, it would never be able to restore the Union. And 
 if it could, new troubles would arise. And if it were 
 obliged to hold the South in unwilling subjection, it would 
 require a mighty army, as large as the one which it has at 
 present in the field, and its work would be of the most 
 revolting and demoralising kind. If therefore any thing 
 can be done to stay the plague, it ought to be done, and 
 and done without delay. Can any thing be done? 
 
 II. Is intervention desirable? Might not England and 
 France demand a cessation of hostilities, and a reference of 
 the points in dispute to arbitration? If they were to say 
 to the contending parties, “You have done enough; you 
 shall fight no longer;” the war would cease. And it seems 
 to us that they might do so without either injustice or im¬ 
 propriety. Humanity, mercy, Christianity, seem to require 
 them thus to intervene. We see no harm it could do. It 
 
3 
 
 would form no dangerous precedent. It is what we should 
 like to be done to us, if ever we should be found in the 
 same deplorable condition. The world would justify and 
 applaud the act. The great, good heart of our common 
 humanity would rejoice in it. The Southerners would 
 welcome it. The Northerners would do the same if they 
 understood and felt their position. And if they did not, their 
 posterity would commend the generous deed. 
 
 III. If intervention should be deemed objectionable, 
 might not France and England, in conjunction with other 
 friendly powers, be encouraged to recognise the indepen¬ 
 dence of the South? Mr. Seward, in his answer to the 
 address from tjie London Union and Emancipation Society, 
 seems to invite us to discuss this question, and to declare 
 the conclusion to which we come. He says, in effect, that 
 if the nations of Europe should come to the conclusion that 
 the war against the South is hopeless, the Washington 
 Government would give it up. His words are these:— 
 “ The President believes that the ultimate and impartial 
 judgment of mankind upon all such questions is entitled to 
 universal respect and acquiescence. Circumstances have 
 rendered it unavoidable, that the causes, the character, the 
 tendency, and objects of the insurrection should be discussed 
 in Great Britain with scarcely less freedom and earnestness 
 than in our own country. The results of that discussion, 
 if it shall continue to be conducted in a just and impartial 
 spirit, may be taken as foreshadowing in some degree the 
 ultimate judgment of mankind.” The meaning of these 
 words is plainly neither more nor less, than that the judg¬ 
 ment of Great Britain may be fairly regarded as foresha¬ 
 dowing or representing the ultimate judgment of man¬ 
 kind, and that the judgment of mankind is entitled to uni¬ 
 versal respect and acquiescence. What remains then but 
 that we should discuss the subject without loss of time, 
 and, having come to a conclusion, pronounce our judgment, 
 and end the direful controversy at once? For ourselves, 
 we have considered the causes, the character, the objects, 
 and the tendency of the war, and the result is, a conviction 
 that the Confederate States ought at once to be recognised 
 by our Government as an independent nation; and that the 
 objections made to this step by the Union and Emancipation 
 Society are such as not to delay the action of our Govern¬ 
 ment for one hour. Let us examine those objections. 
 
 The principle laid down by the Union and Emancipation 
 Society is, that our Government ought never , under auy 
 circumstances, to recognise the independence of a nation 
 
4 
 
 that allows its citizens to hold slaves,—that however strong 
 such a nation may be,—however honourable in its dealings 
 with other nations,—and however needful its products may 
 be to the world, we ought not to receive it into the family 
 of nations. 
 
 Our first remark with regard to such a course is, that it 
 would be without precedent and without law. It would 
 be a great innovation, and an innovation recommended by 
 no great overpowering consideration of justice, of philan¬ 
 thropy, or of national advantage. The principle laid down 
 by the Union and Emancipation Society is one on which 
 we have never acted before, and on which the American 
 nation itself has never acted. We recognise Brazil, 
 and Spain, and Portugal, which tolerate not only slavery, 
 but the slave trade. We treat Turkey as a nation, which 
 not only trades in slaves, but maintains the institution of 
 polygamy. Russia, till lately, held in bondage twenty 
 millions of men, white men; yet we never hesitated to treat 
 her as one of the nations. We were ourselves a slavehold¬ 
 ing nation till some thirty years ago. The Northern States of 
 America protect and maintain the institution of slavery to this 
 day in Kentucky, Maryland, Western Virginia, and Delaware. 
 They offer to protect and maintain it in all the States of the 
 South, if they will only return to the Union. Yet no one ad¬ 
 vises us to treat those Northern States as national outlaws. 
 
 Again; if we adopt the principle of refusing to acknow¬ 
 ledge the independence of States on the groupd that they 
 tolerate some objectionable institution, how far will this 
 principle require us to go? Shall we excommunicate nations 
 for idolatry, for Popery, for polygamy? Shall other nations 
 be encouraged to excommunicate us on account of our 
 drink traffic, or our refusal to legislate on the subject of 
 impurity? If we could see ourselves as others see us, we 
 might discover, that we have not a monopoly of good, and 
 that other States have not a monopoly of evil,—that we need 
 as much forbearance from others, as others need from us. 
 
 Besides, it is not the best way to bring a nation to abolish 
 its objectionable institutions to treat it as an outlaw. Sup¬ 
 pose we had excommunicated Russia six years ago for 
 holding so large a portion of her population in bondage, 
 what would have beeu the result? Would Russia have set 
 her bondmen free? On the contrary, she would have pre¬ 
 pared to rivet their chains. But we respected her rights; 
 we contented ourselves with bringing the influence of our 
 example and our literature to bear upon her; and the result 
 was, she set the twenty millions of her bondmen free. If 
 
5 
 
 we had gone to war with her on account of her system of 
 serfdom, she would have defended the institution to the 
 utmost of her power. Suppose we had demanded of France 
 that she should adopt the principle of free trade, she would 
 have resisted and resented the demand. If we had iu con¬ 
 sequence pronounced her an outlaw, she would have armed 
 herself for deadly strife, and made Europe again a field of 
 blood. We took another course. We treated Frauce as an 
 equal. We reasoned with her. We gave her the benefit 
 of our experience. The result was, she saw that we were 
 right, and she adopted to some extent, and in course of time 
 will adopt to a still larger extent, our enlightened and bene¬ 
 ficent policy. As we have said, Turkey tolerates both 
 slavery and polygamy. Suppose we were to demand their 
 abolition on pain of national outlawry, what would be the 
 result? The sick old man would forget his weakness, and 
 defend his national rights with all the force and daring of 
 his younger days. Suppose we had excommunicated the 
 United States ten years ago for their persistent toleration 
 of slavery, we should have been at war with them in less 
 than a month, and should probably have had the worst of 
 it. Instead of hastening the abolition of slavery by such a 
 course, we should have increased its strength, and length¬ 
 ened its days. The unconstitutional interference of the 
 Northern States with slavery has raised the pro-slavery 
 feeling of the Southern States into a fever and a frenzy. 
 If Americans were to come from Maine to force their pro¬ 
 hibitory Liquor Law on England, they would make Teeto- 
 talism unpopular for an age or two. If Americans were to 
 excommunicate us for maintaining a monarchy and an aris¬ 
 tocracy, they would cause us to cherish our monarchy and 
 our aristocracy as our very life. Neither nations nor indi¬ 
 viduals are to be reformed by impertinent dictation. If 
 men and nations are to be truly regenerated, they must be 
 enlightened. And if we would have the privilege o 
 enlightening them, we must earn it by treating them wit 
 respect and tenderness. If the Northern States had acte 
 justly and generously towards the South; if instead of pour¬ 
 ing forth abuse, and resorting to force, they had contented 
 themselves with offering instruction, and setting a goo 
 example, they would gradually have brought the k.ou o 
 reason, and effected a reform in her institutions peacea 3. 
 But resort to violence has cursed the nation wit 1 evi s> 
 incalculably greater than those which it. was ma y ^e^n 
 to cure. And everyday’s persistence in vio ence ‘ - 
 
 the evil greater. And for us to insult the injuicc na 1 
 
6 
 
 further, by unjastly withholding its right of recognition, 
 besides being an act of enormous injustice and unprece¬ 
 dented cruelty, would be likely, by driving a gallant nation to 
 desperation, to make the melancholy matter worse and worse. 
 
 Some are favourable to the recognition of the indepen¬ 
 dence of the Confederate States, but they hesitate to recom¬ 
 mend the measure at present for fear of consequences. 
 They are told by parties on the opposite side that it would 
 lead to war with the North,—that the war would be a long 
 and fearfully expensive one,—that our recognition of the 
 South would unite all parties in the North, and fill them 
 with fresh enthusiasm, both for the subjugation of the 
 South, and the punishment of England,—that a war with 
 America would deprive us of food,—and that the Northern 
 people would never forgive us. There is not one particle 
 of this which we can believe to be correct. 
 
 1 . In the first place, we do not believe that our recogni¬ 
 tion of the South would lead to war with the North. What 
 hope could the North have of success? If she finds it im¬ 
 possible to conquer the South alone, how could she expect 
 to be able to conquer both the South and England united? 
 And a war with England would greatly increase the strength 
 of the South. It would open her ports, and enable her to 
 sell her cotton, and obtain supplies of arms and ammunition, 
 of iron and machinery, of food, and clothing, and medicine. It 
 would give the Southerners new courage. It would make them 
 more daring. It would emancipate Maryland and Delaware, 
 and render Washington untenable. It would liberate Mis¬ 
 souri, Kentucky, and Tennesee. It would liberate New 
 Orleans, and open the Mississippi. It would revive the 
 trade between the South and the West. It would probably 
 lead to a secession of the West, aud to a coalition of the 
 West aud South. It would, in this way, connect the South 
 with Canada. It would weaken the North. It would 
 close her ports; it would stop her supplies. Instead of 
 uniting the Northern parties, and inspiring the whole popu¬ 
 lation with fresh enthusiasm in favour of the Washington 
 Government, it would divide the North, and fill the Repub¬ 
 lican party with despair, and bring their reign of terror to 
 a speedy end. The Washington Government are aware of 
 this. Hence they dread even a peaceful offer of mediation. 
 If the thought of a peaceful word of advice from our Govern¬ 
 ment alarms them, what would the solemn recognition of 
 Southern independence do? It would shake the faith of 
 the Northern exterminators. It would strengthen the party 
 of peace. It would put an end both to conscriptions and 
 
7 
 
 volunteering. It would give fresh impulse to desertion. 
 The army would feel its case was hopeless, and disband. 
 Instead of giving rise to a new war, it would end the old 
 one. The majority have had enough of it, and much too 
 much. They would be glad of an excuse for getting out of 
 it. The fanatical majority would awake to a sense of their 
 folly. Their mad enthusiasm would change to blank de¬ 
 spair. A few of them might bluster, but that would neither 
 hurt nor alarm us. The Republican rump might make a 
 show of war, but it would be only for a week or two. It 
 would be necessary for England to make a demonstration, 
 but the expense would be but a trifle, and would soon be 
 repaid by the supply of cotton and a revival of trade. As 
 for stopping our supply of grain, and pork, and cheese from 
 America, the Western producers are only too anxious to 
 send us more. The opening of the Mississippi, and the 
 revival of trade with the South and with England, would 
 be hailed by the Westerners as their salvation. They are 
 pining, and have been pining long, for opportunities of 
 trade. They have already been proposing plans to the 
 Canadian and British authorities for getting their produce 
 to England by way of the Lakes and the St. Lawrence. 
 Our supplies of food from America would be increased in¬ 
 stead of diminished. If they were not, we have access to 
 the granaries of the world. And as to America not forgiv¬ 
 ing us, we need not trouble ourselves about that. We could 
 afford to forgive her. She would never be able to harm us 
 by nursing her wrath. She could only injure herself. But 
 she would let her wrath go down in time. She would find 
 before long that we had been her friends,—that we had done 
 her a service,—that we had helped her out of a most miser¬ 
 able and disgraceful conflict. The independence of the South 
 would do the North no harm. She would find it a blessing 
 rather than a curse. She could retain her present institu¬ 
 tions and laws. She could regain her liberties. She would 
 be rid of her responsibilities for slavery. She would have 
 done with fugitive slave laws, and with the objectionable 
 portions of her constitution. She might regain, to some 
 extent, perhaps to the full extent in time, her trade with the 
 South. The Southerners would prove a thousand times 
 more profitable as neighbours and equals, than as subjects 
 and slaves. England’s loss of her colonies was an incalcu - 
 able gain. We saved the expense of governing, and game 
 the profits of an ever-growing trade. We warre a ^ a ,l?, S 
 secession; but it was in consequence of our to y. 
 recognition of their independence by France annoye u , 
 
8 
 
 . 7 * 
 
 but it proved a blessing. And so it will be with the South. 
 Her secession will prove a blessing both to herself and to 
 the North; both to the slave and to Europe. It is the hor¬ 
 rible attempts to prevent it that are a curse. The North 
 has plenty of territory; more than she will be able to people 
 in a thousand years. She may keep the Western States, if 
 she uses them well, and keep her boundless Western terri¬ 
 tories. She has only to abandon her unjust and mischievous 
 protective policy, and the West will remain her friend. 
 It is justice and wisdom that are necessary to Northern 
 prosperity; not greater power, or a larger population, or vaster 
 territory. Wisdom and virtue are better than extended em¬ 
 pire, and peaceful neighbours than discontented subjects. 
 
 The advantage to the South would be as great. She 
 would have done with fratricidal strife. She would be at 
 leisure to improve her policy, to reform her laws and insti¬ 
 tutions, and gradually and peacefully to place herself among 
 the favoured nations of the earth. The condition of the 
 slave would be improved, and the irksomeness of his bondage 
 done away. The Southerners would trade direct with the 
 nations of* Europe. They would receive our ideas; they 
 would imbibe our spirit. The light of truth, and the influ¬ 
 ence of the highest forms of Christian civilisation, would 
 gradually breathe into their institutions the light and spirit 
 of a higher life. The reforms which the rage of war could 
 never effect, the spirit of peace would accomplish. 
 
 And England and Europe would reap advantage from the 
 measure. The danger of war with America would be at an 
 end. Our relations with the great Republic would gradually 
 become more satisfactory. The North and South would run 
 a race in which both could win,—a race of improvement in 
 government, in commerce, in art, in science, iu literature, 
 in freedom and in virtue, and England and Europe would 
 join in the race. They would engage in a strife in which 
 both could conquer, and in which both could be blest. The 
 ports would be opened; cotton would be released; the mills 
 would be set in motion; the people of Lancashire would be 
 set to work; their tables, instead of being supplied with 
 the gifts of charity, would be spread with the fruits of 
 their own industry, and they would be able to sing, not of a 
 good time coming, but of a good time come, and the anthem 
 said to be sung in days long past by angels from heaven 
 shall be sung by myriads of glad voices of happy men and 
 womeu on earth, “ Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good will toward men.” 
 
 PUBLISHED BY BARKER AND CO., 4, TIIANET PLACE, STRAND, LONDON.