Chapter II: Part 2

Our neighbouring and equally exposed county, Kent, has at length grown ashamed of its apathy, and various corps--among them the Weald of Kent Corps--are in course of formation. But the North of Britain is at present ahead of the South. Glasgow numbers its 2,000 volunteers, and the West of Scotland alone boasts that it could turn out 30,000 to meet an invader. We hear upon good authority that 20,000 volunteers are actually under drill within 20 miles of London, but for the heart of the Empire this number should be quintupled. But Manchester is now “up.” Captain Denman, an old Parliamentary candidate, has desired that £400 subscribed for a memorial to him may be applied to the purposes of a Rifle Corps; other contributions on the same scale have been made, and Manchester is soon likely to possess its little army of home defenders. The present state of feeling in France towards England tends not a little to promote this defensive movement.

That the French Army was ripe two years ago for a dash at England we know through the Colonels’ addresses; and the French Army is not a bad index of the feelings of the population with which it mixes so freely, and of which it forms so large a proportion. But we know--and it has been known for some time by all who have relations with France--that this feeling--the belief in the inevitability of an invasion of England by France, and a perfect confidence in the result--is not confined to the army. It pervades the mass of Frenchmen; it has taken possession of the host of officials who overrun France, and who are the great engine of Government influence; it extends even to Frenchmen living in England, and who, whilst inimical to Louis Napoleon’s Government, are not indisposed to accept him as a champion of French grievances against England. Of the unfounded nature of these it is useless to argue to Frenchmen. They may go back to the days of Joan of Arc, or they may date from Waterloo, but at whatever point they commence there is no doubt that they rankle in the breasts of Frenchmen much more than we have been in the habit of supposing; that it is easy to irritate these old wounds, and that process has been going on for some time, side by side with an assumption of friendship on the part of the Government. It may not be intended to put the match to this magazine of national passion, but we, who would be the victims of the explosion, cannot ignore its existence. We cannot shut our eyes and ears to the daily accumulating evidence of a growing belief in the minds of all Frenchmen that the day must come when all old scores of France against England will be wiped off; that they now possess the ability to execute this work of retribution, as they regard it, and that the man who, above all others, is most interested in accomplishing it, and so working out his destiny, is at the head of the Government with unbounded power--with enormous resources--and, above all, that this man takes no pains to check the growing feeling of hostility in the breasts of his subjects, but contents himself to-day with taking credit with us for not gratifying it, as, to-morrow, he may take credit with his own subjects for giving way to it. In such a state of things it is not to be wondered at that men hitherto the most pacific in this country are thinking how they can best defend their homes, wives, children, and property, and that, at no small inconvenience, thousands are volunteering their service as a home militia. We are glad to see the movement so well afoot, and hope it may spread until the English soil is so covered with armed men that a Frenchman would as little dare to come here on a warlike errand as he would to thrust his ungloved hand into a hornets’ nest.

THE COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH FRANCE (1860).

=Source.=--_The Greville Memoirs_, edited by Henry Reeve, C.B., vol. viii., pp. 290–292, 293, 294. (Longmans, Green and Co., 1888.)

_January 24._--Clarendon called on me yesterday and told me various things more or less interesting about passing events, about Cobden and the Commercial Treaty. Cobden went over to Paris with letters from Palmerston to Cowley, begging Cowley would give him all the aid he could in carrying out his object of persuading the leading people there to adopt Free Trade principles, saying he went without any mission and as “a free lance.” Cowley did what he could for him, and he went about his object with great zeal, meanwhile putting himself in correspondence with Gladstone, who eagerly backed him up, but all this time nothing was said to the Cabinet on the subject. At length one day Walewski sent for Cowley, and asked him whether he was to understand that Cobden was an agent of the British Government, and authorised by it to say all he was saying in various quarters. Cowley denied all knowledge of Cobden’s proceedings, but wrote a despatch to John Russell stating what had occurred, and at the same time a private letter, saying he did not know whether he would wish such a despatch to be recorded, and therefore to number it and place it in the Foreign Office, or put it in the fire as he thought fit. John Russell accepted the despatch, and at the same time told him he might endorse whatever Cobden did in the matter of commercial engagements.

Clarendon said that when he was at Paris four years ago for the Congress, the Emperor one day said to him: “I know you are a great Free Trader, and I suppose you mean to take this opportunity of advancing Free Trade principles here as far as you can.” Clarendon said certainly such was his intention, when the Emperor said he was happy to be able to take the initiative with him on this subject, and that he would tell him that it had just been settled in the Council of State that a great change in their commercial and prohibitive system should be proposed to the Chambers, which it was his intention to carry out as soon as possible. But not long after the Emperor renewed the subject, and told him he found the Opposition so strong to his contemplated measures, and the difficulties so great, that he had been obliged to abandon them for the present, and as there is no reason to doubt that the elements of opposition will be found as strong now as they were then, it is by no means certain that His Majesty will be able now to do all he wishes and has announced.

_January 27._--There is apparently a strong feeling of doubt and quasi-hostility getting up against the Commercial Treaty, and it looks as if both the English and French Governments would have great difficulties in the matter. Public opinion here remains suspended till the Treaty is produced, and till we are informed what the immediate sacrifices may be that we shall have to make for it, and what are the prospective advantages we obtain in return. The French Protectionists are more impatient, and have begun to pour out their complaints and indignation without waiting to see the obnoxious Convention. Thiers is said to be furious. So far from any Commercial Treaty like this cementing the alliance, and rendering war between the two countries more difficult, it is much more likely to inflame the popular antipathy in France, to make the alliance itself odious, and render the chances of war between the two countries more probable. In maturing his scheme Louis Napoleon has given it all the appearance of a conspiracy, which is in accordance with his character and his tastes. The whole thing was carried on with the most profound secrecy, and the secret was confined to a very few people, viz. the Emperor himself, Fould, Rouher (Minister of Commerce), Michel Chevalier, and Cobden. All the documents were copied by Madame Rouher, and Rouher was so afraid that some guesses might be made if he was known to be consulting books and returns that were preserved in the Library of the Council of State, that he never would look at any of them, and made Chevalier borrow all that he had occasion to refer to. Now the Emperor springs this Treaty upon his reluctant Chambers and the indignant Protectionist interest. His manner of doing the thing, which he thinks is the only way by which it can be done at all, naturally adds to the resentment the measure excites. They feel themselves in a measure taken in. The objections here are of a different kind and on other grounds, but Gladstone kept his design nearly as close as the Emperor did, never having imparted it to the Cabinet till the last moment before Parliament met. I do not know how the Cabinet looked at it, only that they were not unanimous.

ANTI-RITUAL RIOTS (1860).

=Source.=--_The Times_, Monday, January 30, 1860.

Yesterday evening there was a frightful riot, resulting in the destruction of much of the church property in the parish church of St. George’s-in-the-East. Unhappily, notorious as this parish has become in consequence of the religious differences which prevail, and serious as have been the disturbances which have taken place, everything which has previously occurred sinks into insignificance when compared with the terrible scene which was witnessed there last night. The morning service ... was comparatively tranquil, but at the evening service there was a scene as it would be impossible for any language adequately to describe. The conduct of the congregation, to use the only phrase at all applicable to it, was “devilish.”

Evening service commenced at seven o’clock, and at quarter of an hour before that time the church was densely packed, there being at least 3,000 persons present, of whom 1,000 were boys, who took possession of the galleries.... There was cat-calling, cock-crowing, yelling, howling, hissing, shouting of the most violent kind, snatches of popular songs were sung, loud cries of “Bravo” and “Order” came from every part of the church, caps, hats and bonnets were thrown from the galleries into the body of the church and back again, while pew-doors were slammed, lucifer-matches struck, and attempts were more than once made to put out the gas....

At seven o’clock a procession of priests and choristers entered the church and advanced to their accustomed place in front of the altar. It was headed by the Rev. Bryan King, the Rector, who was followed by the Rev. C. F. Lowder and ten or twelve choristers, habited in their white robes. Their appearance in the church caused intense excitement. People jumped on to their seats, pew-doors were violently slammed, and loud shouts of execration proceeded from every part of the church. Mr. Lowder said the first portion of the prayers, Mr. King the last. Scarcely a word was audible. Hitherto the congregation had contented themselves with “saying” the responses, in opposition to the choristers who sang them, but last night they indulged in responses which are not in the Prayer-Book, and which were nothing short of blasphemous mockery. At the close of the prayers Mr. Lowder ascended the pulpit, and was hissed and yelled at by the people with tremendous energy.... After the sermon, Mr. King, Mr. Lowder and the choristers made their way to the vestry room with great difficulty, being more than once subjected to personal violence.

At this moment a cry was raised for the demolition of the altar, which was elaborately decorated, and the threat would have been carried out had not the altar-gate been gallantly defended by Mr. Stutfield, one of the choristers. Over the apse, or quasi-altar, is a beautiful candelabrum, and this at once became an object of attack. Hassocks were collected from the pews and hurled at it. Many of them struck it, and every moment it was expected that it would come down. As it was, it was seriously damaged. Another object of attack was the large cross over the altar, at which hassocks and cushions were thrown from the gallery. All this time there was fighting, shouting, and singing in all parts of the church, with no one in authority to repress it. The scene at this time was perfectly frightful, and would, in all probability, have ended in bloodshed, had not Inspector Alison, upon his own authority, entered the church with a dozen policemen and ordered it to be cleared. Turned out of the church, the rioters suggested an attack on Mr. King’s house, and many persons who went there were very roughly handled. In the course of an hour Inspector Alison had got the whole of the disorderly mob into the street. A considerable amount of church furniture has been destroyed, the cushions in the galleries were torn up, and thrown into the body of the church, Bibles and Prayer-Books flew about in all directions, and many of the altar decorations were injured.

CHINESE WAR: CAPTURE OF PEKIN (1860).

=Source.=--_The Times_, December, 1860.

REUTER’S TELEGRAMS.

PEKIN,
_October 13_.

Pekin surrendered to the Allies this day, yielding to all demands. Thirteen soldiers have also been released.

The Emperor and the Tartar army have fled, and none of the enemy are to be seen at Pekin.

The Emperor’s Summer Palace was taken and looted on the 6th of October. The quantity of spoil was enormous.

The Pekin gates have been given up to the troops, who are all healthy and encamped on the wall.

The Allied Army will winter in the North.

Lord Elgin and Baron Gros are at Pekin.

Indemnity ready when demanded.

THE FIRST BRITISH IRONCLAD FRIGATE (1860).

=Source.=--_The Times_, December 29, 1860.

From the yard of the Thames Iron Shipbuilding Company will this day be launched the first armour-plated steam frigate in the possession of Britain. The dimensions of the _Warrior_ are, extreme length over all, 420 feet; ditto breadth, 58 feet; depth from spar deck to keel, 41 feet 6 inches. Her tonnage is no less than 6,177 tons builders’ measurement. The engines have just been completed by Messrs. Penn and Sons. They are of 1,250 nominal horse-power, and are probably the most magnificent specimens of machinery that ever left even Mr. Penn’s celebrated works. Their total weight with boilers will be 950 tons, and for these the _Warrior_ is only able to stow 950 tons of coal, or little more than enough for six days’ steaming. The armament, reckoning her as a 50-gun frigate, will weigh from 1,200 to 1,500 tons, or about the weight of the hull of the _Great Eastern_ when launched. With the fine lines, great length, and immense horse-power of the _Warrior_, a speed of not less than 14 knots is counted upon as certain. One row of the armour-plates with which the greater part of the broadside will hereafter be covered is already in its place, covering a space of 5 feet deep by 213 feet long on either side. Only the lowest row has been thus bolted, and more than this it would be unwise to place, as the immense weight might strain the ship during the launch. The others will be bolted in her piece by piece while in the Victoria Dock.

=Source.=--_The Times_, Monday, December 31, 1860.

This formidable ironclad frigate (the _Warrior_), the largest man-of-war ever built, was safely launched into the river on Saturday.

GARIBALDI AND THE GOVERNMENT (1861).

=Source.=--_Letters of Queen Victoria_, edited by A. C. Benson, M.A., and Viscount Esher, vol. iii., p. 550. (John Murray, 1907.)

QUEEN VICTORIA TO LORD JOHN RUSSELL.

_February 10, 1861._

The Queen has received Lord John Russell’s letter enclosing the draft of one to General Garibaldi, which she now returns. She had much doubt about its being altogether safe for the Government to get into correspondence, however unofficial, with the General, and thinks that it would be better for Lord John _not_ to write to him. Lord Palmerston, who was here this afternoon on other business, has undertaken to explain the reasons in detail to Lord John--in which he fully concurs.

THE BUDGET: ABOLITION OF THE PAPER DUTY (1861).

=Source.=--_The Illustrated London News_, April 20, 1861.

MR. GLADSTONE’S SPEECH ON THE BUDGET.

The estimate of revenue for the year he took as follows: In the customs the duty on chicory would be doubled, bringing in £15,000; and the estimate of the customs was £23,585,000; excise, £19,463,000; stamps, £8,460,000. It was proposed to reduce the hawker’s licence duty for the year from £4 to £2; and to allow half-yearly licences. There was to be a change in the licensing of wine and refreshment houses, which would produce about £20,000. There was to be an alteration in the mode of licensing for the selling of spirits: that is, the wholesale dealers, by paying a duty of £3 3s. would be allowed to sell spirits retail, which would bring in about £5,000. Stamps on agreements for furnished houses for a part of the year would be only five shillings instead of _ad valorem_, as now; and house agents would have to take out a £2 licence. Stamps on foreign bills of exchange would be levied in a different manner. The revenue from taxes would be £3,050,000; income tax, £11,200,000, Post Office £3,500,000, Crown Lands £295,000, and miscellaneous £1,400,000; and the indemnity from China received in the financial year £750,000, making a total revenue of £71,823,000, being a surplus of £1,923,000, over an estimated expenditure of £69,900,000.

The Government had come to the conclusion that it would not be justified in keeping so large a balance in hand and it was proposed to apply it to the diminution of taxation. There were four articles which would at once present themselves to notice--viz., the tea and sugar duties, the tenth penny of the income tax, and the paper duty. It was proposed to remit the penny on the income tax which was imposed last year. This remission would cause a loss in the present financial year of £850,000. The rate would be 9d. in the pound on incomes above £150 a year, and 6d. in the pound on those above £100.

It was next proposed to repeal the duty on paper on October 1, making a loss of revenue in the year of about £665,000. The surplus for the year would be £408,000....

Referring to what were called the minor charges on commercial operations, he stated that the charges were about £320,000, and the Exchequer could not surrender that sum.

As to the portions of the reduced income tax and the duty on paper, the loss of which would fall on the year 1862–3, to the extent of about £800,000, that would probably be provided for by the sum payable for indemnity from China, and reductions in military estimates. It was only proposed to re-enact the income tax and tea and sugar duties for one year.

BRITAIN AND ITALIAN UNITY (1861).

=Source.=--_Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville_, Third Series, pp. 369, 370. (Smith, Elder and Co., 15, Waterloo Place.)

_Saturday, April 20, 1861._--There was an interesting debate last night in the House of Lords, brought on by Lord Ellenborough, on the Roman question, in which Clarendon and Lord Derby also took part. He asked whether our Government was engaged in any correspondence with the object of reconciling the spiritual independence of the See of Rome with the exercise of temporal sovereignty by the King of Italy within the Roman territory. He thought Rome was the fitting capital of a united Italy, and that the occupation by the French of that city precluded that unity.

He then discussed the Venetian question, and though he admitted the right of Austria to maintain herself in Italy, by virtue of the Congress of Vienna, he considered the time was come when she should reconcile herself with the Italian people. Holding these views, however, he deprecated the interference of the Italians in Hungary. Lord Wodehouse replied that we were not in any correspondence on the Roman question, and that H.M.’s Government considered it was neither becoming nor desirable for a Protestant country to take the initiative in the matter. The whole question depended upon the withdrawal of the French troops from Rome, and H.M.’s Government had not disguised their opinion that it was desirable those troops should be withdrawn. Clarendon thought Rome the proper capital, and believed the Emperor Napoleon to be sincerely desirous of withdrawing his troops whenever it would be safe for him to do so, both as regarded the Pope and his own position in France, where popular opinion was in favour of their remaining. Derby said much the same thing, but expressed his opinion that it would have been far better to establish a Northern and Southern Kingdom of Italy, in which case Rome would have lain between the two countries and the solution of the difficulty would have been easy. As, however, there was only one kingdom, the desire to have Rome for their capital was quite natural; but it was a desire that created the greatest embarrassment.

LOSS OF THE COTTON SUPPLY (1861).

=Source.=--Ashley’s _Life of Viscount Palmerston_, vol. ii., pp. 210, 211. (Richard Bentley and Son, 1874.)

LETTER FROM LORD PALMERSTON TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE.

_June 7, 1861._

MY DEAR MILNER GIBSON.

It is wise when the weather is fine to put one’s house in wind and watertight condition against the time when foul weather may come on. The reports from our manufacturing districts are at present good; the mills are all working, and the people are in full employment. But we must expect a change towards the end of next autumn, and during the winter and the spring of next year. The civil war in America must infallibly diminish to a great degree our supply of cotton, unless, indeed, England and France should, as suggested by M. Mercier, the French Minister at Washington, compel the Northern States to let the cotton come to Europe from the South; but this would almost be tantamount to a war with the North, although not perhaps a very formidable thing for England and France combined. But even then this year’s crop must be less plentiful than that of last year. Well, then, has the Board of Trade, or has any other department of the Government, any means of procuring or of helping to procure anywhere in the wide world a subsidiary supply of cotton? As to our manufacturers themselves they will do nothing unless directed and pushed on. They are some of the most helpless and shortsighted of men. They are like the people who held out their dishes and prayed that it might rain plum-puddings. They think it is enough to open their mill-gates, and that cotton will come of its own accord. They say they have for years been looking to India as a source of supply; but their looks seem to have only the first effect of the eyes of the rattlesnake, viz., to paralyse the objects looked at, and as yet it has shown no signs of falling into their jaws. The western coast of Africa, the eastern coast of Africa, India, Australia, the Fiji Islands, Syria, and Egypt, all grow great quantities of cotton, not to mention China, and probably Japan. If active measures were taken in time to draw from these places such quantities of cotton as might be procured, some portion at least of the probable falling off of this next year might be made good, and our demand this year would make a better supply spring up for future years. I do not know whether you can do anything in this matter; but it is an important one, and deserves early attention.

Yours sincerely,
PALMERSTON.

THE CASE OF THE “TRENT” (1861).

=Source.=--_Annual Register_, vol. 103; _Public Documents_, pp. 288, 289.

LETTER FROM COMMANDER WILLIAMS TO CAPTAIN PATEY.

“TRENT,”
AT SEA,
_November 9, 1861_.

SIR,

There devolves on me the painful duty of reporting to you a wanton act of aggression on this ship by the United States war screw-steamer _San Jacinto_, carrying a broadside of seven guns, and a shell pivot-gun of heavy calibre on the forecastle, which took place on the 8th instant, in the Bahama Channel, abreast of the Paredon lighthouse. The _Trent_ left Havana at 8 a.m. on the 7th instant, with Her Majesty’s mails for England, having on board a large freight of specie, as well as numerous passengers, amongst whom were Messrs. Mason and Slidell, the former accredited with a special mission from the Confederate States to the Government of Great Britain, and the latter to the French Government, with their respective secretaries, Messrs. McFarland and Eustis.

Shortly after noon, on the 8th, a steamer, having the appearance of a man-of-war, but not showing colours, was observed ahead, hove to; we immediately hoisted our ensign at the peak, but it was not responded to until, on nearing her, at 1.15 p.m., she fired a round shot from her pivot-gun across our bows, and showed American colours. Our engines were immediately slowed, and we were still approaching her, when she discharged a shell from her pivot-gun immediately across our bows, exploding half a cable’s length ahead of us. We then stopped, when an officer with an armed guard of marines boarded us and demanded a list of passengers, which demand being refused, the officer said that he had orders to arrest Messrs. Mason, Slidell, McFarland, and Eustis, and that he had sure information of their being passengers in the _Trent_. Declining to satisfy him whether such persons were on board or not, Mr. Slidell stepped forward, and announced that the four persons he had named were then standing before him, under British protection, and that if they were taken on board the _San Jacinto_, they must be taken _vi et armis_; the commander of the _Trent_ and myself at the same time protesting against this illegal act, this act of piracy, carried out by brute force, as we had no means of resisting the aggression, the _San Jacinto_ being at the time on our port beam, about 200 yards off, her ship’s company at quarters, ports open, and tompions out. Sufficient time being given for such necessaries as they might require being sent to them, these gentlemen were forcibly taken out of the ship, and then a further demand was made that the commander of the _Trent_ should go on board the _San Jacinto_, but as he expressed his determination not to go, unless forcibly compelled likewise, this latter demand was not carried into execution.

At 3.40 we parted company, and proceeded on our way to St. Thomas, on our arrival at which place I shall deliver to the Consul duplicates of this letter to Lord Lyons, Sir Alexander Milne, Commodore Dunlop, and the Consul-General at Havana.

I have, etc.,
(Signed) RICHARD WILLIAMS,
_Commander, R.N._

Memorandum made by Commander Williams at the Admiralty on November 27, 1861, relative to the forcible seizure of Messrs. Slidell and Mason and their secretaries from on board the _Trent_.

On Mr. Slidell’s announcing that the four persons inquired for were then standing before Lieutenant Fairfax under British protection, and that if taken on board the _San Jacinto_ they must be taken _vi et armis_, I addressed that officer in the following terms: “In this ship I am the Representative of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government, and, in the name of that Government I protest against this illegal act--this violation of international law--this act of piracy, which you would not dare to attempt on a ship capable of resisting such aggression.” It was then that Lieutenant Fairfax waved his hand towards the _San Jacinto_, and additional force was sent. The marines were drawn up at the entry-port--bayonets fixed; and on Miss Slidell’s uttering an hysterical scream on being separated from her father--that is, on his breaking the window of his cabin, and thrusting his body through to escape from the distressing scene of forcible separation from his family, they rushed into the passage at the charge. There were upwards of sixty armed men in all, and the aforesaid gentlemen were then taken out of the ship, an armed guard on either side of each seizing them by the collar of the coat. Every inducement was held out, so far as importunate persuasion would go, to prevail on Mrs. Slidell and Mrs. Eustis to accompany their husbands, but as they did not wish their wives to be subjected to imprisonment (Lieutenant Fairfax having replied to Mrs. Slidell’s inquiry as to their disposal, if they did accompany them, that they would be sent to Washington), they remained on board the _Trent_, and came on to England in _La Plata_.

The ships getting somewhat farther apart than when the affair commenced, a boat came from the _San Jacinto_ to request us to approach nearer; to which I replied that they had the same power as ourselves, and if they wished to be nearer to us they had their own remedy.

THE AFFAIR OF THE “TRENT” (1861).

=Source.=--_Punch_, December 14, 1861. (Reprinted by special permission of the proprietors of _Punch_.)

WAITING FOR AN ANSWER.

1.

Britannia waits an answer, sad and stern,
Her weapons ready, but unsheathed they lie;
In her deep eye, suppressed, the lightnings burn,
Still the war-signal waits her word to fly.

2.

Wrong has been done that flag whose stainless folds
Have carried freedom wheresoe’er they flew:
She knows sharp words fit slaves and shrewish scolds,
She but bids those who can, that wrong undo.

3.

She has been patient; will be patient still.
Who more than she knows war, its curse and woe?
Harsh words, scant courtesy, loud-mouthed ill-will,
She meets as rocks meet ocean’s fretful flow.

4.

All war she knows drags horrors in its train,
Whate’er the foes, the cause for which they stand;
But worst of all the war that leaves the stain,
Of brother’s blood upon a brother’s hand.

5.

The war that brings two mighty powers in shock--
Powers ’tween whom fair commerce shared her crown
By kinship knit, and interest’s golden lock,
One blood, one speech, one past, of old renown.

6.

All this she feels, and therefore, sad of cheer,
She waits an answer from across the sea:
Yet hath her sadness no alloy of fear,
No thought to count the cost what it may be.

7.

Dishonour has no equipoise in gold,
No equipoise in blood, in loss, in pain;
Till they whom force has ta’en from ’neath the fold
Of her proud flag, stand ’neath its fold again.

8.

She waits in arms; and in her cause is safe.
Not fearing war, yet hoping peace the end.
Nor heeding those her mood who’d check or chafe:
The Right she seeks, the Right God will defend.

THE PEABODY TRUST FORMED (1862).

=Source.=--_Annual Register_, vol. 104; _Chronicle_, p. 41.

This great merchant (Mr. George Peabody), mindful of his reception in this city of his long sojourn, has made to its citizens the splendid gift of £150,000, with the one only condition, the exclusion from its management of all sectarianism in regard to religion, and of all exclusion in regard to politics. The following is the letter which conveyed this noble gift:

LONDON,
_March 12, 1862_.

GENTLEMEN,

In reference to the intention which it is the object of this letter to communicate, I am desirous to explain that, from a comparatively early period of my commercial life, I had resolved in my own mind that, should my labours be blessed with success, I would devote a portion of the property thus acquired to promote the intellectual, moral, and physical welfare and comfort of my fellow-men, wherever, from circumstances or location, their claims upon me would be the strongest.

... It is now twenty-five years since I commenced my residence and business in London as a stranger, but I did not long feel myself a “stranger” or in a “strange land,” for in all my commercial and social intercourse with my British friends during that long period, I have constantly received courtesy, kindness, and confidence.... My object being to ameliorate the condition of the poor and needy of this great metropolis, and to promote their comfort and happiness, I take pleasure in apprising you that I have determined to transfer to you the sum of £150,000 which now stands available for this purpose on the books of Messrs. George Peabody and Co.

... I have few instructions to give or conditions to impose, but there are some fundamental principles from which it is my solemn injunction that those entrusted with its application shall never, under any circumstances, depart.

First and foremost among them is the limitation of its uses absolutely and exclusively to such purposes as may be calculated directly to ameliorate the condition and augment the comforts of the poor, who, either by birth or established residence, form a recognised portion of the population of London.

Secondly, it is my intention that now and for all time there shall be a rigid exclusion from the management of this fund of any influences calculated to impart to it a character either sectarian as regards religion, or exclusive in relation to local or party politics.

Thirdly, in conformity with the foregoing conditions it is my wish and intention that the sole qualifications for a participation in the benefits of this fund shall be an ascertained and continued condition of life such as brings the individual within the description (in the ordinary sense of the word) of “the poor” of London, combined with moral character and good conduct as a member of society. It must therefore be held to be a violation of my intentions if any duly-qualified and deserving claimant were to be excluded either on the ground of religious belief or of political bias.

THE “ALABAMA” CRUISER (1862).

=Source.=--_The Illustrated London News_, November 15, 1862.

The Confederate screw-steamer _Alabama_, Captain Semmes, is the notorious vessel whose doings on the Newfoundland banks have frightened northern merchants out of their propriety, and occasioned a remonstrance from the New York Chamber of Commerce addressed to British merchants.

The _Alabama_, formerly the 290, was built in Mr. Laird’s yard at Birkenhead. She is a wooden vessel of 1,200 tons burden, copper-bottomed, 210 feet long, rather narrow, painted black outside, carries three long 32-pounders on a side, has a 100-pounder rifled pivot-gun forward of the bridge, and a 68-pounder on the main-deck. These are of the Blakely pattern, made by Wesley and Preston of Liverpool. She is barque-rigged, and is represented to go thirteen knots under sail and fifteen under steam. She sailed from the Mersey in August. Her officers are Americans, but her present crew are Englishmen. Captain Semmes was the dashing commander of the Confederate steamer _Sumter_. The _Alabama_ is, we believe, the only vessel which the Confederate States now have on the high seas....

The ship _Tonowanda_, which recently arrived at Liverpool from Philadelphia, reports that she was captured by the _Alabama_ (290) on the 9th of October at 4 p.m., in lat. 41, long. 55.

Captain Julius was taken on board, and found there Captain Harmon and crew of the late barque _Wave Crest_ from New York for Cardiff, and Captain Johnson and crew of the late brig _Dunkirk_ from New York to Lisbon, all prisoners and in irons on deck, their vessels having been burnt two days previous. The next day the prisoners were transferred to the _Tonowanda_, and Captain Julius alone remained on board the _Alabama_ as hostage. On the 11th of October they captured and burnt the ship _Manchester_ from New York for Liverpool. Her captain and crew were also put on board the _Tonowanda_. No more prizes were taken till the evening of the 13th, and, there being every appearance of thick weather, Captain Julius was put on board the _Tonowanda_ and allowed to proceed after having given a ransom bond. All the captains, officers and crews are “paroled” prisoners of war.

THE WAR BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH (1863).

=Source.=--_The Duke of Argyll’s Autobiography and Memoirs_, vol. ii., pp. 196, 197. (John Murray, 1906.)

SPEECH BY THE DUKE OF ARGYLL AT A BANQUET TO LORD PALMERSTON IN EDINBURGH, APRIL 1ST, 1863.

As my noble friend at the head of the Government told the meeting he addressed last night at Glasgow, we may all have our individual opinions as to the merits of the contest in America.

I, for one, have never concealed my own. As a Government and a people, we must be what we have already been--absolutely neutral. We must take no part whatever in that contest; only, let me remind you, the peace and good will we are all desirous should be maintained between these two great countries does not depend only--nay, does not depend principally--upon the conduct of the Government. My noble friend [Lord Palmerston] has spoken of the miseries of civil war, as well he may; but no word has ever fallen from his lips which implies that anyone was entitled to cast censure on the American Government for the contest in which they are engaged.

Who are we that we should speak of civil war as in no circumstance possible or permissible? Do we not remember that our own liberties have been secured through every form and variety of civil war? How much blood has been shed in the streets of this ancient capital of Edinburgh! How many gory heads have been nailed up in its streets! How many victims of civil war crowd our churchyards in every portion of the country! How many lie upon our mountains with nothing to mark them but the heath or the cairn! What do we say of these men? Do we consider their course to have been an evil one? Do we not rather turn back to those pages of history with the loving chisel of Old Mortality, to refresh in our minds the recollection of their immortal names? Yes, gentlemen, if it be true--and it is true--that the blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the Church, it is equally true that the blood of the patriots has been the foundation of the liberties of our country. Let us extend, then, to our brethren in America the liberal interpretation which we seek to be given to our own former annals. I, for one, have not learned to be ashamed of that ancient combination of the Bible and the sword. Let it be enough for us to pray and hope that the contest whenever it may be brought to an end, shall bring with it that great blessing to the white race which shall consist in the final freedom of the black.

THE BUDGET: EATING THE LEEK (1863).

=Source.=--_The Illustrated London News_, May 9, 1863.

SKETCHES IN PARLIAMENT.

When a tremendous House expressed in various ways its approbation of the Budget a fortnight ago, few, if any, persons imagined that an equally great House would assemble to behold Mr. Gladstone go through the humiliating operation of eating a financial leek. Everybody knows the story of the tax on charities, which created such a monster opposition that a Chancellor of the Exchequer could not get into his own room to meet a deputation, because it was so blocked up with Royal Dukes, Archbishops, Peers, M.P.’s, and vested interests personified in every shape. Most people knew on Monday last that this part of the Budget had been “mobbed” out of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s hands; and no one could have been surprised at the deadly pallor of his cheek, the sternness of his brow, his ghastly attempts at smiles, and his palpable efforts to appear cool and unconcerned. When Lord Palmerston came in he sat himself next to Mr. Gladstone and entered into earnest but apparently airy conversation with him; and one could not help fancying that in his humorous way the Prime Minister was asking whether Mr. Gladstone really objected to the flavour of leeks, and assuring him that when he became as accustomed to them as he, the Premier was, from eating them two or three times a week this Session, their pungency and disagreeable flavour would be found more fanciful than real.... At length the eventful moment came, and Mr. Gladstone, with the light of battle in his eye, as Mr. Kinglake would say, rose, and with unnatural calmness proceeded to deliver, all things considered, one of the greatest speeches that were ever uttered in Parliament. Conceive a Chancellor of the Exchequer honestly impressed with the belief that he had lighted on an accumulation of abuse ... and erroneously, as we think, supposing that he was striking at the abuse by taxing it, stopped short by an impassable barrier of public opinion, and having to come down to the House to give up the most darling part of his financial scheme, and oh, worst of all, with it just half of that surplus which he had announced his determination to defend against all comers. He did not part with it, however, without such a crushing denunciation of the abuse as will prove to be its knell; and as for ingenuity in illustration and power of language in holding up to scorn and derision the subject-matter of that denunciation, none but himself could have been his parallel. As to giving up his scheme, he did nothing of the kind; he hurled it at his opponents with the fierceness and scathing force of a thunderbolt....

... Later on in the debate Mr. Gladstone, in a low voice, and with a resigned expression of countenance, announced the withdrawal of his proposition. Mr. Disraeli, who has long ceased to contend on financial matters with Mr. Gladstone, and who had been, as usual, quiescent and nearly motionless all the evening, merely paying Sir Stafford Northcote the high compliment of turning slightly towards him when he was speaking, instantly rose with the leap of a tiger, and every one expected a burst of the old philippic style which made him what he is. But nothing of the sort came.

The first sentence was well enough, but the rest was all the first sentence over again, and diluted and weakened by repetition; and perhaps the only real consolation Mr. Gladstone received that night was from the poverty of that attempt at giving a kick when he was down.

DISTRESS IN THE COTTON MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS (1863).

=Source.=--_Annual Register_, 1863; _English History_, pp. 140, 141.

The maximum pressure of the distress occasioned by the stoppage, partial or total, of the cotton mills of Lancashire and Cheshire had been attained a short time prior to Christmas, 1862. In the month of December the number of persons receiving regular relief was supposed to be little short of 500,000. The weekly loss of wages at the same time was estimated at about £168,000. In the last two or three weeks of the year a partial improvement took place, and in January, 1863, according to the statement officially made to the Manchester Relief Committee, the number of persons receiving aid from the rates and from the contributions of the public together was 456,786. From this time a progressive decrease took place, the numbers relieved during the five months following being as follows:

In February 440,529
” March 426,411
” April 364,419
” May 294,281
” June 256,230

It thus appears that the number of persons dependent on parochial rates and on voluntary contributions became reduced at the end of the first half of 1863, as compared with the maximum amount in December, 1862, by almost one-half. This favourable result was due partly to the resumption of work in some of the factories, owing to an increased supply of the raw material, and partly to the absorption which had taken place to some extent of the surplus hands in other employments, and to the removal and emigration of some part of the population. This decrease in the number of unemployed operatives continued with little variation during the summer. In July the number relieved had fallen to 214,155; in August to 205,261; and in September to 184,625. The list of persons relieved at that time exhibited a steady decrease of 1,500 per week. In that month it was computed that out of the 530,000 operatives of all ages whose industry depended upon cotton, there were 362,000 in employ, of whom nearly 250,000 were at full work, and 120,251 working short time, while 171,535 were entirely out of employ. It was apprehended that, as winter approached, a reaction would take place, and that the relief lists would again begin to show a serious augmentation. But this expectation was only to a small extent realised. The number relieved in the month of October was 168,170. In November it increased in a trifling degree, being 170,859; and in December it showed an addition of about 10,000, the total being 180,900. Still, upon a comparison of the number of persons in receipt of relief in the first and last months of the year respectively, the improvement was very marked, the last week of December, as compared with January, showing the very large decrease of 275,877. The average percentage of pauperism on the population of twenty-seven unions in the last week of December, 1863, was 6·8; whereas in the corresponding week of 1862 it had been 13·2. It was further shown by a report of the Special Commissioners of the Poor Law Board on the 4th of January, 1864, that at that date, as compared with the last week in March, 1863, a reduction had taken place of 33,963 in the actual number of operatives in the cotton districts, the surplus having been transferred to other fields of employment--viz., 18,244 having emigrated to the Colonies or to the United States, and 15,725 having found other occupations within the districts.

BRITAIN AND THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA (1863).

=Source.=--_Annual Register_, 1863, pp. 128, 129.

MR. ROEBUCK’S SPEECH ON MOTION IN FAVOUR OF RECOGNISING THE SOUTHERN STATES AS A GOVERNMENT.

_June._--Mr. Roebuck repudiated with scorn the argument that the cause of the North was the cause of the slave. We are met by the assertion: “Oh, England cannot acknowledge a State in which slavery exists.” Indeed, I ask, is that really the case, and is any man so weak as to believe it? Have we not acknowledged Brazil? Are we not in constant communication with Russia? And is there not slavery in both those countries? Moreover, does anybody believe that the black slave would be at all improved in his condition by being placed in the same position as the free black in the North? I ask whether the North, hating slavery, if you will, does not hate the slave still more? (“No, no!”) I pity the ignorance of the gentleman who says “No.” The blacks are not permitted to take an equal station in the North. They are not permitted to enter the same carriage, to pray to God in the same part of the church, or to sit down at the same table as the whites. They are like the hunted dog whom everybody may kick. But in the South the feeling is very different. There black children and white children are brought up together. In the South there is not that hatred, that contempt, of the black man which exists in the North. There is a kindly feeling in the minds of the Southern planters towards those whom England fixed there in a position of servitude. England forced slavery upon the Southern States of America. It was not their doing. They prayed and entreated England not to establish slavery in their dominions, but we did it because it suited our interests, and the gentlemen who now talk philanthropy talked the other way. Every man who has studied the question will distinctly understand the difference between the feeling of the Northern gentleman and that of the Southern planter towards the black. There is a sort of horror--a sort of shivering in the Northerner when he comes across a black. He feels as if he were contaminated by the very fact of a black man being on an equality with him. That is not the case in the South. I am not now speaking in favour of slavery. Slavery is to me as distasteful as it is to anyone; but I have learnt to bear with other men’s infirmities, and I do not think every man a rogue or a fool who differs from me in opinion. But though I hate slavery I cannot help seeing the great distinction between the condition of the black in the North and his condition in the South. I believe that if to-morrow you could make all the blacks in the South like the free negroes in the North, you would do them a great injury. The cry of the North in favour of the black is a hypocritical cry, and to-morrow the North would join with the South, and fasten slavery on the necks of the blacks, if the South would only re-enter the Union. But the South will never come into the Union, and, what is more, I hope it never may. I will tell you why I say so. America, while she was one, ran a race of prosperity unparalleled in the world. In eighty years, not America, but Europe, made the Republic such a Power that, if she had continued as she was a few years ago, she would have been the great bully of the world. Why, sir, she--

“... bestrode the narrow world,
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walked under her huge legs, and peeped about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.”

As far as my influence goes, I am determined to do all I can to prevent the reconstruction of the Union, and I hope that the balance of power on the American Continent will in future prevent any one State from tyrannising over the world as the Republic did.

[For opposing view see next extract.]

OPPOSITION TO MR. ROEBUCK’S MOTION (1863).

=Source.=--_Annual Register_, 1863; _English History_, pp. 130, 131.

Mr. Bright animadverted severely upon the speech of Mr. Roebuck....

Mr. Roebuck, he said, would help to break up a friendly nation, and create an everlasting breach between the two nations, because he deemed it for the interest of England. The whole case rested upon either a miserable jealousy or a base fear. He looked upon the interest of England from a different point of view. He believed the war was more likely than anything else to abolish slavery. The supply of cotton under slavery must always be insecure. It was the interest of England that the supply of cotton should be by free labour rather than by that of slaves. As to the political aspect of the question, the more he considered this war, the more improbable he thought it that the United States would be broken into separate Republics. The conclusion to which he had come was that if there should be a separation, the interests, the sympathies and the necessities, perhaps the ambition, of the whole Continent were such that it would be reunited under a Central Government. And this Government might be in the hands of the South. Having dwelt at considerable length upon the hideous features of Southern slavery, and eulogised the Northern institutions, it was against such a Government, he observed, in such a contest with such a foe, that Mr. Roebuck asked the House to throw into the scale the weight of the hostility of England.

A POLICY OF MEDDLE AND MUDDLE (1864).

=Source.=--_Annual Register_, vol. 106; _English History_, p. 7.

ATTACK ON EARL RUSSELL’S FOREIGN POLICY BY LORD DERBY (FEBRUARY 4).

He then called the attention of the House to the portion of the Queen’s speech relating to foreign affairs. Her Majesty’s Government had for two or three years past mainly rested their claim to public confidence on their foreign policy. They had abandoned the question of Parliamentary Reform the moment it had served the purpose of putting them in office. The fulfilment of the promises they had made was defeated by Lord Russell, and when he was transferred to the more serene atmosphere of the House of Lords, he pronounced the funeral oration of Reform. He had told them ... “to rest and be thankful,” and from that time their foreign policy had been the groundwork of the claim of Her Majesty’s Government to public confidence. I think, proceeded Lord Derby, that at the commencement the foreign policy of the noble Earl opposite might be summed up in the affirmation of the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries, the extension of Liberal principles by the exercise of our moral interference, and, above all, the maintenance of uninterrupted and cordial relations with the Emperor of the French. We were told more than once that the present Government was the only one to maintain a good understanding with the Emperor of the French, or, at least, that its predecessor could not possibly have done so, and that, if the country desired to preserve cordial relations between itself and France, Her Majesty’s present advisers, and especially the noble Earl opposite, were the only persons qualified to secure that most desirable object.

Now, my lords, as to non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries, when I look around me I fail to see what country there is, in the internal affairs of which the noble Earl has not interfered.