The Mississippi River at New Orleans in Louisiana, USA. The southern states of the USA broke away from the north after Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, won a general election with a mandate to abolish slavery. Cobden wondered how his own country would have fared, if regional governments had seceded every time the majority of their local residents did not like the result of a nationwide poll.
Introduction
Abraham Lincoln’s anti-slavery Republicans won the US general election in 1860, prompting eleven slave-owning southern States to declare independence. Some in Westminster sympathised, saying the national result did not reflect the majority of southern voters – but Richard Cobden was scornful.
THEY [the southern states] wanted to consolidate, perpetuate, and extend slavery. But, instead of that, what do they constantly say? ‘Leave us alone; all we want is to be left alone.’
And that is a reason that the Conservative Governments of Europe, and so large a section of the upper middle-class of England, and almost the whole aristocracy, have accepted as a sufficient ground on which to back this insurrection.*
How would they have liked it, if, when Essex and Kent had been beaten on the Corn-law question (and we know Essex gave a united and unanimous vote against us),* Kent and Essex had chosen to set up themselves as an East Anglia right across the mouth of the Thames, as the secessionists have done by Louisiana across the mouth of the Mississippi, and if, when we asked them why they did it, they should reply, ‘We want to be left alone’?
Can any Government be carried on if a portion of the territory, or a section of the people, can at any time secede when beaten at the polls in a peaceful election?
Abridged
Abridged from a Speech in Rochdale on 23rd November, 1864.
The French Empire, with interests in Mexico and Canada, on balance favoured the Confederacy; the Spanish did much the same. The Prussians and the Russian Empire supported the North. Cobden played a key role in reminding the public of the moral issue of slavery, and increasingly ordinary British people favoured the North.
In 1846, Richard Cobden persuaded the Commons into abolishing protectionist taxes on grain imports, which had been brought in to help Britain’s ailing agriculture industry. However, they sent the price of basic foods sky-rocketing, and cost jobs right across Britain. See our story: The Repeal of the Corn Laws.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
Richard Cobden expressed frustration with Westminster for showing sympathy for the slave-owning States in the American Civil War. He likened the Confederacy to Kent and Essex breaking away from the UK because their own voters did not agree with the repeal of the Corn Laws, claiming that in such a case the attitude of the Commons would be very different. (60 / 60 words)
Richard Cobden expressed frustration with Westminster for showing sympathy for the slave-owning States in the American Civil War. He likened the Confederacy to Kent and Essex breaking away from the UK because their own voters did not agree with the repeal of the Corn Laws, claiming that in such a case the attitude of the Commons would be very different.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, besides, just, may, or, since, unless, whereas.
About the Author
Richard Cobden (1804-1865) was the son of a bankrupt Sussex farmer. By a mixture of talent and audacity, Richard rose from sweeping his uncle’s warehouse floor to become a Manchester mill-owner and then Liberal Party MP for Rochdale in Lancashire. He came to prominence in the late 1830s as a vocal critic of London’s panicky and greedy policies towards Russia and later China. Soon afterwards, he emerged as the leader of the Parliamentary rebellion against economic protectionism, i.e. the policy of using sanctions and trade tariffs to ring-fence the profits of domestic corporations and cripple the economies of foreign countries. The Corn Laws, the flagship protectionist policy that had brought thousands close to starvation, were repealed in 1846. The campaign almost ruined him financially, but he recovered and his final triumph was the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860, a landmark free-trade agreement between Britain and France which put centuries of mistrust behind us. Richard married Catherine Anne Williams, from Wales, in 1840 and they brought up five daughters together.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Give. Know. Mouth.
2 Secessionist. Up. Vote.
3 Election. Perpetuate. Time.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Homophones Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that sound the same, but differ in spelling and also in meaning. Compose your own sentences to bring out the differences between them.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
Beat.
Beet.
2.
Wood.
Would.
3.
Pole.
Poll.
4.
Time.
Thyme.
5.
Knew.
New.
6.
Know.
No.
7.
Hole.
Whole.
8.
Sew.
So.
9.
Piece.
Peace.
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Constant. 2 Left. 3 Upper. 4 Beaten. 5 Whole. 6 Lawless. 7 Large. 8 Ground. 9 Sufficient.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
mttd (5)
emitted. imitated. matted. mutated. omitted.
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