ple. This feeling rose almost to the point of anguish, though already, as those who were in the United States at the time testify, the Americans were ascribing the war to the machinations of Great Britain. The feeling against slavery and its partisans was also strong, and general. England was pledged to the Anti-slavery cause by her avowed principles, by her most cherished memories, by a great expenditure not only of treasure but of blood. If the aristocratic party at heart viewed the disruption of the great democratic power with not unnatural complacency, it did not venture openly to defy the traditional sentiment of the nation; and even the Times wrote against the slave-own ers. But the avowal of the Northern Government that the war was not directed against slavery, the language of the American press, the publication by the American Government of the offensive despatch of Mr. Cassius Clay, the heroic energy and valour displayed by the South, the apparent want during the early part of the struggle of similar qualities on the side of the North, the Trent affair, the wearisome protraction of the conflict, and a growing impatience of the ruinous suspension of British industry— these circumstances, combined with the skilful propagandism of the South, wrought in course of time a partial change. The aristocratic party no longer feared to avow their political sympathy with the Southern aristocracy, and they were joined by a large commercial party which had its centre in the great cotton port. On the other hand the popular party continued to manifest its unwavering and ardent sympathy with the North. It held public meetings in all the great cities; it waged an incessant war of opinion through the press; and in spite of a limited franchise, and an unreformed representation, it was strong enough, not only to prevent Great Britain from lending aid to the Confederates, but to prevent any motion for the recognition of the Confederacy from being even put to the vote in the House of Commons. Nor were there any adherents of the Northern cause more staunch than the mechanics, whose bread was taken from their mouths and whose prospects were involved in the deepest gloom by the prolongation of the war. That these things are not forgotten by the people of the United States, appears from the use which they now make of the speeches of their old English friends and allies in framing their indictments against England. Between the two parties whose sympathies were pronounced, there was a great mass which could scarcely be said to sympathize with either; but which, so far as it was swayed at all, was swayed partly by a vague feeling in favour of the weaker side, partly by the desire that the war might come to an end, and that the cotton trade might be restored. The feeling of aversion to a bloody, ruinous and apparently hopeless conflict largely prevailed, apart from any other sentiment, and was perfectly distinguishable from sympathy with slavery or with the South, though visited by the Americans with the same reprobation. What the personal feelings of the several members of the British Government were, is not really known. It is confidently asserted that Lord Palmerston was friendly to the slave-owners; yet he had more than once embroiled England with foreign powers by his almost fanatical hostility to the slave trade. The Duke of Argyll and Mr. Milner Gibson were, it may safely be said, friendly to the North; and the Duke of Newcastle, a man singularly steady in love and hatred, retained a very warm recollection of the hospitable reception which he had met with in the States when he visited them in company with the Prince of Wales. Collectively, however, the Government took up and maintained to the end a position of neutrality. It refused to recognize the South. It refused to receive the Southern envoys. Even social courtesy was withheld from them by the Prime Minister, lest it should seem to imply official recognition. When inter- our commercial connection with the South, vention was proposed by the Emperor of the rendered it incumbent on the Crown, at an French, in the interest of his Mexican early date, to issue a proclamation of neutralsatrapy, the British Government at once re-ity for the guidance of our officers and for jected the proposal, though by acceptance the purpose of restraining British subjects it would have broken the power of an inveterate enemy, secured a powerful ally on this continent, strengthened its cherished connexion with France, and saved England from what appeared a yawning gulf of commercial ruin. To say that the British Government was neutral, is in fact saying too little. The Southern Confederacy, as has already been remarked, however objectionable its origin, however evil its institutions, presented the ordinary features of nationality. And in steadily refusing to recognize it as a nation, the British Government, it may safely be averred, was in some measure swayed by moral hostility to a slave-power. Had Great Britain recognized after Chancellorsville, there can be little doubt that the other powers would have followed her example. It is evident from the language of the American ambassador to his Government, that he felt great misgivings, as well he might, with regard to his position and the prospect of his being received by Great Britain as the de jure representative of all the States, when in fact he no more represented the Southern half of them than he represented France; and he clearly was much relieved when his misgivings were set at rest. It ought not to be forgotten that in all this the British Government was braving the resentment of the then victorious South, and that to a British Government, British interests may not unreasonably be to some extent a care. That the Americans made great sacrifices in this war for the restoration of their Union is undoubted: but if the question is which made the greater sacrifices for the abolition of slavery, America or Great Britain, the answer must be, Great Britain. The presence of a British squadron on the scene of maritime war, and the intimacy of from taking part in the war. With a view to the latter object, the prompt adoption of the measure was strongly advocated by the leading friends of the North. France issued a similar proclamation almost at the same moment, and the other powers speedily followed, Spain receiving a letter of thanks from the American Ambassador on the occasion. The proclamation of neutrality recognized the existence of a state of war, which was tantamount to recognizing the sun at noon. It has been since asserted that the existence of a war ought to have been recognized on land only; and that while the Federals were treating General Lee and his soldiers as regular belligerents on land, we ought to have treated them as pirates on the seas. The Creator, we are told, in the beginning divided the dry land from the waters. This argument is at least as rational as any other that can be advanced in defence of the position. It happened that the proclamation was issued when Mr. Adams, the new American Ambassador, had just landed, and before he had been communicated with. He could have brought no instructions which would have relieved the Government from the necessity of taking the step upon which it had determined; but the circumstance was unfortunate and might well have formed the subject of a courteous explanation. Unluckily Lord Russell, then Foreign Minister, was not much in the habit of making courteous explanations, and his example may serve as a signal warning to other Ministers of the mischief sometimes done by the omission of a gracious word. Mr. Adams, however, objected to the action of the British Government in declaring its neutrality only as "a little more rapid than the occasion actually required." So far from taking it as a demonstration of hostility, he told his Government that it was not to be regarded in that light. Such was the original molehill which, under the influence of vindictive rhetoric, now towers up into a mountain of massive wrong. Mr. Adams at the same period informed his Government that he had found British sentiment, even at Liverpool, still fluctuating. He might yet have fixed it in his own favour, had he been instructed to declare that the abolition of slavery was the object of the But he was instructed to declare that it was not. war. The Proclamation was followed by orders interdicting the belligerents from bringing prizes into British ports, of which the Confederates complained bitterly, and which Mr. Seward regarded as "a death blow to Southern privateering.” The conduct of the British Government in thus recognizing the existence of a state of war, and applying to it the rules dictated by humanity and by the policy of nations, was endorsed by all the other maritime powers, and is approved by all sane men. But it did not satisfy Mr. Sumner. Mr. Sumner, in a speech on foreign relations, made during the war, insisted that Her Britannic Majesty should not only refuse to recognize the Southern government, but "spew it forth," and "blast" it by proclamation, and thus put the South on the footing of a Cain among the nations. Every moment of hesitation to issue such a proclamation, was according to him a moment of apostasy. "Not to blast was to bless." The Confederacy was a "Magnum Latrocinium, whose fellowship could have nothing but the filthiness of evil," "a mighty house of ill-fame,” “an Ishmael," "a brood of harpies defiling all which it could not steal;" "a one-eyed Cyclops of nations ;" a soulless monster of Frankenstein;" "a wretched creation of mental science without God." "Who," proceeded the orator, "can welcome such a creation? who can consort with it? There is something loathsome in the idea. There is contamination even in the thought. If you live with the lame, says the ancient proverb, you will learn to limp; if you keep in the kitchen you will smell of smoke; if you touch pitch you will be defiled. But what lameness so pitiful as that of this pretended power? What smoke so foul as its breath! What pitch so defiling as its touch! It is an Oriental saying, that a cistern of rose water will become impure if a dog is dropped into it; but a continent of rose water with rebel slave-mongers could be changed into a vulgar puddle. Imagine if you please whatever is most disgusting, and this pretended power is more disgusting still. Naturalists report that the pike will swallow anything except the toad, but this it cannot do. The experiment has been tried, and though this fish in its voracity always gulps whatever is thrown to it, yet invariably it spews the nuisance from its throat. But our slavemonger pretension is worse than the toad, and yet there are foreign nations which instead of spewing it forth are already turning it like a precious morsel on the tongue." "Edipus," so went on Mr. Sumner, "in the saddest tale of antiquity, weds his own mother without knowing it, but England will wed the slave power with full knowledge that the relation, if not incestuous, is vile." And then "the foul attorneys of the slave-monger power, reeking with slavery, will have their letters of license as the ambassadors of slavery, to rove from court to court, over foreign carpets, talking, drinking, spitting slavery and poisoning that air which has been nobly pronounced too pure for a slave to breathe." All reasonable men must see that to follow the suggestions of this orator, would have been to follow the suggestions of fanaticism aggravated by the bitter memory of personal injury. Yet, Mr. Sumner has been practically allowed to guide the people of the United States in this matter, and it is on the faith of his rep. resentations that they bring forward charges and prefer demands, which, if insisted on, must lead to war. We can compare his influence only to that of the witch-seers in reliance on whose supernatural perceptions his New England forefathers sent a multitude of innocent persons to the gallows. lution of the Cabinet at London. The Confederate emissaries were active and provided with the means of corruption. Any Government may be betrayed by a corrupt subordinate, as the Government of the United States has good reason to know. The South gained nothing by this criminal and calamitous violation of British neu by the Alabama and her consorts against merchantmen could not influence the result of the main struggle. The party favourable to the South or opposed to the war in the Northern States, which it ought to have been the first aim of the Southerners to foster and support, was discredited and es tranged. Many Englishmen who, though hostile to slavery, had taken no part against the South before, came forward when at tempts were made, by violating British neutrality, to drag Great Britain into the war. and thus recognition was rendered more hopeless than ever. Of the wealthy shipbuilder who imperilled the honour and interests of his country for his private gain.. it is needless to speak; his name will be infamous for ever. The Southerners when their own ports were closed, tried, in violation of our neutrality. The barbarous warfare carried on trality, to build ships of war in British docks and take them to sea from British ports, thus making our shores the basis of their naval war. The machinations which they employed for this purpose, were, in one instance, successful in evading what Captain Semmes calls "the anxiously guarded neutrality of England." The Alabama, against which evidence had been submitted by the American ambassador, and which was under surveillance, escaped from port when the order for her detention was on its way. She sailed without a clearance on a pretended trial trip, masking her real purpose by taking a pleasure party on board. She was pursued to Nassau, her supposed destination. But she had gone to Terceira, in the Azores, out of British jurisdiction, where she took on board her armament. Notwithstanding the haze of mendacious rhetoric with which the transaction has been surrounded, the fact is that the Alabama left England unarmed and without a single enlisted man. The case has never been properly investigated, as it is to be hoped it will be if the British taxpayer is called upon to pay the damages. But it appears that there was neglect or treachery, or both, on the part of some of the British officials. A fatal delay was caused at the critical moment by the mental malady (which has since proved incurable) of the law officer before whom the papers were; but it was the business of the Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign Department to make inquiry when he found that the papers were not returned. Somebody must also have betrayed, by telegram to Captain Semmes at Liverpool, the reso Many thought that the Alabama, having violated our neutrality, ought to be hunted down as a malefactor, or at least excluded from our ports. But the Government was advised that, having gone into the foreign port of Terceira, she must be thenceforth treated as an ordinary ship of war; and though we believe the advice to have been over-technical and wrong, there can be no doubt that it was honest. Sir Roundell Pa mer, the Attorney-General, was a man of the very highest character, and friendly to the North. Neutrals are bound by the existing rules of international law; they cannot alter those rules pendente bello, without committing an act of hostility against one of the belligerents. Before the escape of the Alabama, the Oreto, afterwards called the Florida, secretly built for the Confederates, had left a British port. Great Britain is charged with the depredations of the Sumter and Nashville, vessels fitted out from Confederate ports and manned by Confederate seamen, with which she had no more to do than with any German or French cruiser in the late war. No privilege was ever granted to a Confederate cruiser in any British port, which was not equally granted to Federal cruisers. Nor did Great Britain stand alone in receiving these vessels, though she is singled out by American hatred as though she had. They were received in the ports of all nations alike. The first port into which the Alabama went, after commencing her cruise, was the French port of Martinique, where she was welcomed with as much enthusiasm by her partisans, as in any British dependency. From a French port she came forth to her last fight. The Florida repaired and coaled at Brest, having been refused permission to coal at Bermuda. The Sumter having been allowed to put into a Dutch port, Mr. Seward addressed a threatening letter to the Dutch Government. The Dutch Government answered with spirit and found the benefit of that course. It was a subject of deep regret to many Englishmen at the time that some of the Confederate cruisers were manned, in part, by British seamen. But the armies of the North swarmed with foreigners, many of | them British subjeets, and recruited in virtual, if not in technical, violation of neutrality along the Canadian border. All nations, maritime nations especially, and not least the nation of Walker and his filibusters, have among their people roving adventurers who can scarcely be deemed citizens. British sailors serving in Confederate cruisers were struck off the list of the naval re serve. It was equally a source of sorrow to the same section of Englishmen, that British subjects were the principal blockade-runners. But where there are blockades, there will be blockade-running; the trade was in no way sheltered or facilitated by the British Government; and Great Britain was not bound to assist the Federals in maintaining the blockade-she was bound to abstain from doing so. An order was issued prohibiting officers in the British navy from taking part in blockade-running. The Goverment could do no more. Both belligerents freely purchased arms in British markets. The Northern troops in the early part of the war were to a great extent armed with British rifles. That the British Government has ever been guilty of selling arms to a belligerent is an utter cal |