The Manchester party, who interpret the duty of non-interven- tion
in Europe in the Cobdenian sense of a policy of isolation on all but commercial questions, held a crowded meeting in Man- chester on Thursday, to protest against interference in the Deno- German war. Mr. T. B. Potter made an able speech against granting English aid, in which, however, he confounded together all sorts of interference, from the protection of our own settlers in New Zealand to the gratuitous attempt to snatch China from the Chinese. Mr. Potter abused the London Treaty of 1852 on the Danish succession, which we do not defend, and apparently inferred that because by that false step we injudiciously gave the Danes reason to hope that we would interfere even to compel the submission of their own sub- jects, therefore we ought now to disappoint their just hope that we would interfere to prevent the violent and unprovoked aggres- sion of foreign Powers. We agree with the Manchester meeting that wars to maintain an artificial balance of power are very silly and generally very criminal undertakings. But, let it once be known that England will never interfere to protect the weak State against unjust and unprovoked aggression, however strong the claims that State may have on her, and the commercial prosperity of which the Manchester men think so much will soon leave us in the wake of our political influence.
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