‘My friends,’ began Sebastian, ‘circumstances have kept me for ten years away from Lancashire. Perhaps I might still not have made the necessary effort to return, but for this great struggle which is going on in America, and whose direct effects will first be felt in Lancashire. When that began, I felt I had no right to remain any longer away. I have heard, and one or two little things which I have seen, even during the few hours I have been in Thanshope, lead me to feel that the saying is a true one, that you Lancashire men are inclined to despise an employer who does not know his business, much as you would despise a workman who did not know his work. The principle is a right and honest one; and I don’t say that I may not have come under the head of those who deserve some contempt as being ignorant, and “absentee owners.” Even since I came here, I have discovered that I never knew what work was before; I see that my task will be no easy one, to master the principles of my business, and to try and provide in some degree against the dark days which, I fear, are almost inevitable. But, hard or easy, it is a task I mean to learn. The time is coming, as I think all thoughtful men must see--coming rapidly, when Lancashire will have to exert every effort to meet that distress which will rush upon her; that cloud that is hastening across the Atlantic is a very black cloud, and will make the days very dark. Let us try manfully, hand in hand, to breast the storm together. ‘I suppose that you all, or nearly all, will agree with me upon at least one point--sympathy with the Federal side in this struggle. (A murmur, deep and strong, of profound approbation arose--a murmur in which men’s and women’s voices alike joined.) ‘That noble man, Abraham Lincoln, against whose honour the Southern press has lifted its impotent voice--not to mention some journals in this country, which Englishmen ought to be ashamed to read--that noble man, should he live and be fortunate in his grand crusade, will benefit all the world by his intrepidity. He cannot give you cheap and abundant supplies of cotton now, but by his courage and wisdom he is securing your future supplies upon a firm basis, very different from the slippery vantage-ground of slave-labour upon which they have hitherto depended. (Another murmur indicative of that approval which, to their honour, Lancashire working-men and women, throughout those bitter years, gave to the Federal side, greeted the speaker.)