Link to General Hiram Walbridge’s speech in New York
https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbaapc.32700/?sp=2 This link will take you to General Hiram Walbridge’s 1865 speech which is in the African American Pamphlet Collection of the Library of Congress. If you go page by page (there are 22 pages), you can use 2 fingers to enlarge the image so you can read it.
Hiram expresses that the North had a competitive interest in declaring slavery illegal because if they didn’t, other countries, which had already done so, holding slavery as abhorrent, would make commercial deals with the South—if the South outlawed slavery first (see pp. 12-14). Also, he makes some other important points relevant to the current situation in this country. It’s worth reading!
I don’t know whether we Walbridges are relatives of his, though I suggest we claim Hiram as one of our own!