The fact is not undeserving of notice in America that many similar
popular expressions of sympathy with the renewed manifestation of
confidence in the President, shown by the issue of the election, have
taken place. I have received copies of newspapers from various parts of
the kingdom containing earnest and strong language of rejoicing and
congratulation; and likewise private notes from individuals unknown to
me, who show proof of familiar acquaintance with the principles which
underlie the contest, and an ardent desire for the success of the
righteous cause. It is highly advisable to bear in mind the existence of
this strong feeling among a portion of the people of England, in order
to avoid rushing too hastily to the belief that the hostility so
strongly manifested by some is to be imputed to almost all.
Hon. William H. Seward
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Enclosure.]
Address of the Union and Emancipation Society to
his excellency Abraham Lincoln on his re-election to the
Presidency,November 8, 1864.
Sir: We hasten to congratulate you on the
welcome intelligence that you have again been elected to the high
dignity of Presidentof the United States of America; an election
which, whilst it has sealed the fate of slavery in your great
country, cannot fail, under the circumstances of the case, to
impress thoughtful minds “as being one of the most sublime
spectacles in the whole history of the world.”
Ever since the Baltimore convention adopted its platform of
enlightened patriotism and radical anti-slavery principles, and so
unanimously nominated you for the Presidency, we have not faltered
for one moment in our conviction that the people of the free States
of your great republic would be true to their instincts and highest
aspirations, and that their vote on the 8th of November, 1864, would
prove them loyal to liberty, unity, and nationality.
Nobly have they responded to the claims of duty and humanity; and
gloriously have they vindicated and illustrated the value and safety
of popular representative government, proving themselves worthy of
those free institutions and beneficent social arrangements that grow
out of enlightened, educated, and civilized commonwealths.
The federal Union and Constitution are dearly and wisely prized by
them as a sacred trust bequeathed by their forefathers, and ought
not to be yielded in the spirit of compromise or concession to that
system of cruelty and iniquity, human slavery, which has been the
blot on your national reputation.
We mourn with you over the desolation that civil war is making among
the families and homes of your people who have given their choicest
sons, their bravest brothers, their best beloved of earth, and who
are still heroically struggling to save the national life, with all
that freemen hold dear, and that brave men cling to, equal, civil,
and political liberty formen of all races, creeds, and countries;
and we believe that they will succeed. Already, during the term of
your first presidency, you have conquered for freedom an area of one
million three hundred thousand square miles, which three years ago
was claimed by the rebels, and doubtless your brave and patriotic
armies will, ere long, wrest the remaining three hundred and forty
thousand square miles from the grasp of the slaveholders’
confederacy.
We rejoice in your re-election “because we have observed in your
presidential career a grand simplicity of purpose, and a patriotism
that knows no danger and which does not falter.” We have recognized
in you “an honest endeavor faithfully to do the work of your great
office, and in doing it, a brightness of personal honor on which no
adversary has yet been able to fix a stain.” We believe that you
have been raised up by the providence of God to rescue your nation
from anarchy, disruption, and ruin.
By this election your people have pledged to the world their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honor, that they will redeem your
great country from the crime and curse of slavery; that it shall
indeed, and without exception, be the home of the free and the
brave; and that its government, in form and in administration, shall
continue to be “the best and freest, the most equal in its rights,
the most just in its decisions, the most lenient in its measures,
and the most aspiring in its principles to elevate the race of men
that the sun of Heaven ever shone upon.”
We have deplored the undisguised sympathy which has been manifested
towards the slave confederacy in this country; but we rejoice to be
able to assure you that from the very com
[Page 11]
mencement of the struggle the great majority of
the working classes and no inconsiderable proportion of the middle
class, together with the profoundest thinkers of our country, have
been true to the principles of right and liberty; and by their
united voice have prevented any hostile action on the part of those
who were only too anxious to recognize an empire based upon the “
corner-stone” of slavery.
We are not unmindful of the fact that in advocating the full and
complete adoption of the principles of civil, religious, and
political liberty, the destinies of the peoples of this nation and
of America are inseparably linked together; and we believe that we
declare the conviction of all intelligent, honest, and unprejudiced
lovers of liberty and justice, when we express our unshaken faith
that you will crush the rebellion, restore the Union, maintain your
national integrity, and thereby secure the priceless heritage of
freedom to your people through all generations.
Adopted by the executive of the
Union and Emancipation Society,
Manchester, November 28,
1864.
THOMAS BAYLEY POTTER, President.
SAMUEL WATTS, Treasurer.
JOHN HART ESTCOURT, Chairman.
JNO. C. EDWARD,
EDWARD OWEN GREENING, Honorary
Secretaries.
