FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF IMPENDING CONFLICT, 1860-61.
It has been remarked by the American historian, Schouler, that
immediately before the outbreak of the Civil War, diplomatic
controversies between England and America had largely been settled, and
that England, pressed from point to point, had "sullenly" yielded under
American demands. This generalization, as applied to what were, after
all, minor controversies, is in great measure true. In larger questions
of policy, as regards spheres of influence or developing power, or
principles of trade, there was difference, but no longer any essential
opposition or declared rivalry[31]. In theories of government there was
sharp divergence, clearly appreciated, however, only in governing-class
Britain. This sense of divergence, even of a certain threat from America
to British political institutions, united with an established opinion
that slavery was permanently fixed in the United States to reinforce
governmental indifference, sometimes even hostility, to America. The
British public, also, was largely hopeless of any change in the
institution of slavery, and its own active humanitarian interest was
waning, though still dormant--not dead. Yet the two nations, to a degree
not true of any other two world-powers, were of the same race, had
similar basic laws, read the same books, and were held in close touch at
many points by the steady flow of British emigration to the
United States.
When, after the election of Lincoln to the Presidency, in November,
1860, the storm-clouds of civil strife rapidly gathered, the situation
took both British Government and people by surprise. There was not any
clear understanding either of American political conditions, or of the
intensity of feeling now aroused over the question of the extension of
slave territory. The most recent descriptions of America had agreed in
assertion that at some future time there would take place, in all
probability, a dissolution of the Union, on lines of diverging economic
interests, but also stated that there was nothing in the American
situation to indicate immediate progress in this direction. Grattan, a
long-time resident in America as British Consul at Boston, wrote:
"The day must no doubt come when clashing objects will break
the ties of common interest which now preserve the Union. But
no man may foretell the period of dissolution.... The many
restraining causes are out of sight of foreign observation.
The Lilliputian threads binding the man mountain are
invisible; and it seems wondrous that each limb does not act
for itself independently of its fellows. A closer examination
shows the nature of the network which keeps the members of
this association so tightly bound. Any attempt to untangle
the ties, more firmly fastens them. When any one State talks
of separation, the others become spontaneously knotted
together. When a section blusters about its particular
rights, the rest feel each of theirs to be common to all. If
a foreign nation hint at hostility, the whole Union becomes
in reality united. And thus in every contingency from which
there can be danger, there is also found the element of
safety." Yet, he added, "All attempts to strengthen this
federal government at the expense of the States' governments
must be futile.... The federal government exists on
sufferance only. Any State may at any time constitutionally
withdraw from the Union, and thus virtually dissolve it[32]."
Even more emphatically, though with less authority, wrote one Charles
Mackay, styled by the American press as a "distinguished British poet,"
who made the usual rapid tour of the principal cities of America in
1857-58, and as rapidly penned his impressions:
"Many persons in the United States talk of a dissolution of
the Union, but few believe in it.... All this is mere bravado
and empty talk. It means nothing. The Union is dear to all
Americans, whatever they may say to the contrary.... There is
no present danger to the Union, and the violent expressions
to which over-ardent politicians of the North and South
sometimes give vent have no real meaning. The 'Great West,'
as it is fondly called, is in the position even now to
arbitrate between North and South, should the quarrel stretch
beyond words, or should anti-slavery or any other question
succeed in throwing any difference between them which it
would take revolvers and rifles rather than speeches and
votes to put an end to[33]."
The slavery controversy in America had, in short, come to be regarded in
England as a constant quarrel between North and South, but of no
immediate danger to the Union. Each outbreak of violent American
controversy produced a British comment sympathetic with the North. The
turmoil preceding and following the election of Lincoln in 1860, on the
platform of "no extension of slavery," was very generally noted by the
British press and public, as a sign favourable to the cause of
anti-slavery, but with no understanding that Southern threat would at
last be realized in definite action. Herbert Spencer, in a letter of May
15, 1862, to his American friend, Yeomans, wrote, "As far as I had the
means of judging, the feeling here was at first _very decidedly_ on the
side of the North[34] ..." The British metropolitan press, in nearly
every issue of which for at least two years after December, 1860, there
appeared news items and editorial comment on the American crisis, was at
first nearly unanimous in condemning the South[35]. The _Times_, with
accustomed vigour, led the field. On November 21, 1860, it stated:
"When we read the speech of Mr. Lincoln on the subject of
Slavery and consider the extreme moderation of the sentiments
it expresses, the allowance that is made for the situation,
for the feelings, for the prejudices, of the South; when we
see how entirely he narrows his opposition to the single
point of the admission of Slavery into the Territories, we
cannot help being forcibly struck by the absurdity of
breaking up a vast and glorious confederacy like that of the
United States from the dread and anger inspired by the
election of such a man to the office of Chief Magistrate....
We rejoice, on higher and surer grounds, that it [the
election] has ended in the return of Mr. Lincoln. We are glad
to think that the march of Slavery, and the domineering tone
which its advocates were beginning to assume over Freedom,
has been at length arrested and silenced. We rejoice that a
vast community of our own race has at length given an
authoritative expression to sentiments which are entertained
by everyone in this country. We trust to see the American
Government employed in tasks more worthy of a State founded
on the doctrines of liberty and equality than the invention
of shifts and devices to perpetuate servitude; and we hear in
this great protest of American freedom the tardy echo of
those humane doctrines to which England has so long become a
convert."
Other leading journals, though with less of patronizing
self-complacency, struck the same note as the _Times_. The _Economist_
attributed Lincoln's election to a shift in the sympathies of the "lower
orders" in the electorate who had now deserted their former leaders, the
slave-owning aristocracy of the South, and allied themselves with the
refined and wise leaders of the North. Lincoln, it argued, was not an
extremist in any sense. His plan of action lay within the limits of
statesmanlike moderation[36]. The _Saturday Review_ was less sure that
England should rejoice with the North. British self-esteem had suffered
some hard blows at the hands of the Democratic party in America, but at
least England knew where Democrats stood, and could count on no more
discourtesy or injustice than that inflicted in the past. The Republican
party, however, had no policy, except that of its leader, Seward, and
from him might be expected extreme insolence[37]. This was a very early
judgment of Seward, and one upon which the _Saturday Review_ preened
itself later, as wholly justified. The _Spectator_, the only one of the
four journals thus far considered which ultimately remained constant in
advocacy of the Northern cause, was at first lukewarm in comment,
regarding the 1860 election, while fought on the slavery issue, as in
reality a mere contest between parties for political power[38].
Such was the initial attitude of the English press. Each press issue
for several weeks harped on the same chord, though sounding varying
notes. If the South really means forcible resistance, said the _Times_,
it is doomed to quick suppression. "A few hundred thousand slave-owners,
trembling nightly with visions of murder and pillage, backed by a
dissolute population of 'poor whites,' are no match for the hardy and
resolute populations of the Free States[39]," and if the South hoped for
foreign aid it should be undeceived promptly: "Can any sane man believe
that England and France will consent, as is now suggested, to stultify
the policy of half a century for the sake of an extended cotton trade,
and to purchase the favours of Charleston and Milledgeville by
recognizing what has been called 'the isothermal law, which impels
African labour toward the tropics' on the other side of the
Atlantic[40]?" Moreover all Americans ought to understand clearly that
British respect for the United States "was not due to the attitude of
the South with its ruffian demonstrations in Congress.... All that is
noble and venerable in the United States is associated with its Federal
Constitution[41]."
Did the British public hold these same opinions? There is no direct
evidence available in sufficient quantity in autobiography or letters
upon which to base a conclusion. Such works are silent on the struggle
in America for the first few months and presumably public opinion, less
informed even than the press, received its impressions from the journals
customarily read. Both at this period and all through the war, also, it
should be remembered, clearly, that most newspapers, all the reviews, in
fact nearly all vehicles of British expression, were in the early
'sixties "in the hands of the educated classes, and these educated
classes corresponded closely with the privileged classes." The more
democratic element of British Society lacked any adequate press
representation of its opinions. "This body could express itself by such
comparatively crude methods as public meetings and demonstrations, but
it was hampered in literary and political expression[42]." The opinion
of the press was then, presumably, the opinion of the majority of the
educated British public.
Thus British comment on America took the form, at first of
moralizations, now severe toward the South, now indifferent, yet very
generally asserting the essential justice of the Northern position. But
it was early evident that the newspapers, one and all, were quite
unprepared for the determined front soon put up by South Carolina and
other Southern States. Surprised by the violence of Southern
declarations, the only explanation found by the British press was that
political control had been seized by the uneducated and lawless element.
The _Times_ characterized this element of the South as in a state of
deplorable ignorance comparable with that of the Irish peasantry, a
"poor, proud, lazy, excitable and violent class, ever ready with knife
and revolver[43]." The fate of the Union, according to the _Saturday
Review_, was in the hands of the "most ignorant, most unscrupulous, and
most lawless [class] in the world--the poor or mean whites of the Slave
States[44]." Like judgments were expressed by the _Economist_ and, more
mildly, by the _Spectator_[45]. Subsequently some of these journals
found difficulty in this connection, in swinging round the circle to
expressions of admiration for the wise and powerful aristocracy of the
South; but all, especially the _Times_, were skilled by long practice
in the journalistic art of facing about while claiming perfect
consistency. In denial of a Southern right of secession, also, they were
nearly a unit[46], though the _Saturday Review_ argued the case for the
South, making a pointed parallel between the present situation and that
of the American Colonies in seceding from England[47].
The quotations thus far made exhibit for the leading papers an initial
confusion and ignorance difficult to harmonize with the theory of an
"enlightened press." The Reviews, by the conditions of publication, came
into action more slowly and during 1860 there appeared but one article,
in the _Edinburgh Review_, giving any adequate idea of what was really
taking place in America[48]. The lesser British papers generally
followed the tone of the leading journals, but without either great
interest or much acumen. In truth the depth of British newspaper
ignorance, considering their positiveness of utterance, appears utterly
astonishing if regarded from the view-point of modern historical
knowledge. But is this, after all, a matter for surprise? Was there not
equal confusion at least, possibly equal ignorance, in America itself,
certainly among the press and people of the Northern States? They also
had come by experience to discount Southern threats, and were slow to
understand that the great conflict of ideals and interests was at
last begun.
The British press both influenced and reflected educated class opinion,
and, in some degree, official opinion as well. Lord John Russell at the
Foreign Office and Lord Lyons, British Minister at Washington, were
exchanging anxious letters, and the latter was sending home reports
remarkable for their clear analysis of the American controversy. Yet
even he was slow to appreciate the inevitability of secession.
[Illustration: LORD LYONS (_From a photograph taken at Boston, U.S.A.,
in 1860) (From Lord Newton's "Life of Lord Lyons," by kind permission_)]
Other officials, especially those in minor positions in the United
States, showed a lack of grasp of the situation similar to that of the
press. An amusing illustration of this, furnishing a far-fetched view of
causes, is supplied in a letter of February 2, 1860, from Consul Bunch,
at Charleston, S.C., to Lord Lyons, the British Minister at
Washington[49]. Bunch wrote describing a dinner which had been given the
evening before, by the Jockey Club of Charleston. Being called upon for
a speech, he had alluded to the prizes of the Turf at home, and had
referred especially to the Plates run for the various British colonies.
Continuing, he said:
"'... I cannot help calling your attention to the great loss
you yourselves have suffered by ceasing to be a Colonial
Dependency of Great Britain, as I am sure that if you had
continued to be so, the Queen would have had great pleasure
in sending you some Plates too.'
"Of course this was meant for the broadest sort of joke,
calculated to raise a laugh after dinner, but to my
amazement, the company chose to take me literally, and
applauded for about ten minutes--in fact I could not go on
for some time."
Bunch evidently hardly knew what to make of this demonstration. He could
with difficulty believe that South Carolina wished to be re-annexed as a
colony of Great Britain, and comments upon the episode in a somewhat
humorous vein. Nevertheless in concluding his letter, he solemnly
assures Lord Lyons that
"... The Jockey Club is composed of the 'best people' of
South Carolina--rich planters and the like. It represents,
therefore, the 'gentlemanly interest' and not a bit of
universal suffrage."
It would be idle to assume that either in South Carolina or in England
there was, in February, 1860, any serious thought of a resumption of
colonial relations, though W.H. Russell, correspondent of the _Times_,
reported in the spring, 1861, that he frequently heard the same
sentiment in the South[50]. For general official England, as for the
press, the truth is that up to the time of the secession of South
Carolina no one really believed that a final rupture was about to take
place between North and South. When, on December 20, 1860, that State in
solemn convention declared the dissolution "of the Union now existing
between South Carolina and the other States, under the name of the
'United States of America,'" and when it was understood that other
Southern States would soon follow this example, British opinion believed
and hoped that the rupture would be accomplished peaceably. Until it
became clear that war would ensue, the South was still damned by the
press as seeking the preservation of an evil institution. Slavery was
even more vigorously asserted as the ignoble and sole cause. In the
number for April, 1861, the _Edinburgh Review_ attributed the whole
difficulty to slavery, asserted that British sympathy would be with the
anti-slavery party, yet advanced the theory that the very dissolution of
the Union would hasten the ultimate extinction of slavery since economic
competition with a neighbouring free state, the North, would compel the
South itself to abandon its beloved "domestic institution[51]."
Upon receipt of the news from South Carolina, the _Times_, in a long and
carefully worded editorial, took up one by one the alleged causes of
secession, dismissed them as inadequate, and concluded, "... we cannot
disguise from ourselves that, apart from all political complications,
there is a right and a wrong in this question, and that the right
belongs, with all its advantages, to the States of the North[52]." Three
days later it asserted, "The North is for freedom of discussion, the
South represses freedom of discussion with the tar-brush and the
pine-fagot." And again, on January 10, "The Southern States expected
sympathy for their undertaking from the public opinion of this country.
The tone of the press has already done much to undeceive them...."
In general both the metropolitan and the provincial press expressed
similar sentiments, though there were exceptions. The _Dublin News_
published with approval a long communication addressed to Irishmen at
home and abroad: "... there is no power on earth or in heaven which can
keep in peace this unholy co-partnership.... I hope ... that the North
will quietly permit the South to retire from the confederacy and bear
alone the odium of all mankind[53]...." The _Saturday Review_ thought
that deeper than declared differences lay the ruling social structure of
the South which now visioned a re-opening of the African Slave Trade,
and the occupation by slavery of the whole southern portion of North
America. "A more ignoble basis for a great Confederacy it is impossible
to conceive, nor one in the long run more precarious.... Assuredly it
will be the Northern Confederacy, based on principles of freedom, with a
policy untainted by crime, with a free working-class of white men, that
will be the one to go on and prosper and become the leader of the New
World[54]." The _London Chronicle_ was vigorous in denunciation. "No
country on the globe produces a blackguardism, a cowardice or a
treachery, so consummate as that of the negro-driving States of the new
Southern Confederacy"--a bit of editorial blackguardism in itself[55].
The _London Review_ more moderately stigmatized slavery as the cause,
but was lukewarm in praise of Northern idealisms, regarding the whole
matter as one of diverging economic systems and in any case as
inevitably resulting in dissolution of the Union at some time. The
inevitable might as well come now as later and would result in benefit
to both sections as well as to the world fearing the monstrous empire of
power that had grown up in America[56].
The great bulk of early expressions by the British press was, in truth,
definitely antagonistic to the South, and this was particularly true of
the provincial press. Garrison's _Liberator_, advocating extreme
abolition action, had long made a practice of presenting excerpts from
British newspapers, speeches and sermons in support of its cause. In
1860 there were thirty-nine such citations; in the first months of 1861
many more, all condemning slavery and the South. For the most part these
citations represented a comparatively unknown and uninfluential section,
both in politics and literature, of the British people. Matthew Arnold
was among the first of men of letters to record his faith that secession
was final and, as he hoped, an excellent thing for the North, looking to
the purity of race and the opportunity for unhampered advance[57]. If
English writers were in any way influenced by their correspondents in
the United States they may, indeed, have well been in doubt as to the
origin and prospects of the American quarrel. Hawthorne, but recently at
home again after seven years' consulship in England, was writing that
abolition was not a Northern object in the war just begun. Whittier
wrote to _his_ English friends that slavery, and slavery alone, was the
basic issue[58]. But literary Britain was slow to express itself save in
the Reviews. These, representing varying shades of British upper-class
opinion and presenting articles presumably more profound than the
newspaper editorials, frequently offered more recondite origins of the
American crisis. The _Quarterly Review_, organ of extreme Conservatism,
in its first article, dwelt upon the failure of democratic institutions,
a topic not here treated at length since it will be dealt with in a
separate chapter as deserving special study. The _Quarterly_ is also the
first to advance the argument that the protective tariff, advocated by
the North, was a real cause for Southern secession[59]; an idea made
much of later, by the elements unfriendly to the North, but not
hitherto advanced. In these first issues of the Reviews for 1861, there
was frequently put forth the "Southern gentlemen" theory.
"At a distance of three thousand miles, the Southern planters
did, indeed, bear a resemblance to the English country
gentleman which led to a feeling of kinship and sympathy with
him on the part of those in England who represented the old
traditions of landed gentility. This 'Southern gentleman'
theory, containing as it did an undeniable element of truth,
is much harped upon by certain of the reviewers, and one can
easily conceive of its popularity in the London Clubs.... The
'American,' so familiar to British readers, during the first
half of the century, through the eyes of such travellers as
Mrs. Trollope, now becomes the 'Yankee,' and is located north
of Mason and Dixon's line[60]."
Such portrayal was not characteristic of all Reviews, rather of the Tory
organs alone, and the Radical _Westminster_ took pains to deny the truth
of the picture, asserting again and again that the vital and sole cause
of the conflict was slavery. Previous articles are summed up in that of
October, 1863, as a profession of the _Westminster's_ opinion
throughout: "... the South are fighting for liberty to found a Slave
Power. Should it prove successful, truer devil's work, if we may use the
metaphor, will rarely have been done[61]."
Fortunate would it have been for the Northern cause, if British opinion
generally sympathetic at first on anti-slavery grounds, had not soon
found cause to doubt the just basis of its sympathy, from the trend of
events in America. Lincoln had been elected on a platform opposing the
further territorial expansion of slavery. On that point the North was
fairly well united. But the great majority of those who voted for
Lincoln would have indignantly repudiated any purpose to take active
steps toward the extinction of slavery where it already existed. Lincoln
understood this perfectly, and whatever his opinion about the ultimate
fate of slavery if prohibited expansion, he from the first took the
ground that the terms of his election constituted a mandate limiting his
action. As secession developed he rightly centred his thought and effort
on the preservation of the Union, a duty imposed by his election to the
Presidency.
Naturally, as the crisis developed, there were many efforts at still
another great compromise. Among the friends of the outgoing President,
Buchanan, whose term of office would not expire until March 4, 1861,
there were still some Southern leaders, like Jefferson Davis, seeking
either a complete surrender to Southern will, or advantages for Southern
security in case secession was accomplished. Buchanan appealed
hysterically to the old-time love of the Union and to the spirit of
compromise. Great congressional committees of both Senate and House of
Representatives were formed seeking a solution. Crittenden for the
border states between North and South, where, more than anywhere else,
there was division of opinion, proposed pledges to be given to the
South. Seward, long-time champion of the anti-slavery North, was active
in the Senate in suggestion and intrigue seemingly intended to
conciliate by concessions. Charles Francis Adams, early a Free Soiler,
in the House of Representatives Committee conducted his Republican
colleagues along a path apparently leading to a guarantee of slavery as
then established[62]. A constitutional amendment was drafted to this
effect and received Lincoln's preliminary approval. Finally Lincoln, in
his inaugural address, March 4, 1861, declared:
"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with
the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I
believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no
inclination to do so."
It should be no matter for surprise, therefore, that, as these efforts
were observed in Great Britain, a note of uncertainty began to replace
the earlier unanimity of opinion that the future of slavery was at stake
in America. This offered an easy excuse for a switch-about of sympathy
as British commercial and other interests began to be developed, and
even dismayed the ardent friends of the anti-slavery North. Meanwhile
the Government of Great Britain, from the very first appearance of the
cloud of civil war, had focused its attention on the point of what the
events in America portended to British interests and policy. This is the
business of governments, and their agents would be condemned as
inefficient did they neglect it. But did British governmental policy go
beyond this entirely justifiable first thought for immediate British
interests to the point of positive hope that England would find an
advantage in the breaking up of the great American Republic? American
opinion, both then and later, believed Great Britain guilty of this
offence, but such criticism was tinged with the passions of the Civil
War. Yet a more impartial critic, though possibly an unfriendly one
because of his official position, made emphatic declaration to like
effect. On January 1, 1861, Baron de Brunow, Russian Ambassador at
London, reported to St. Petersburg that, "the English Government, at the
bottom of its heart, desires the separation of North America into two
republics, which will watch each other jealously and counterbalance one
the other. Then England, on terms of peace and commerce with both,
would have nothing to fear from either; for she would dominate them,
restraining them by their rival ambitions[63]."
If, however, one turns from the surmises of foreign diplomats as to the
springs of British policy, to the more authentic evidence of official
and private diplomatic correspondence, there is found no proof for such
accusations. Certainty neither Lord John Russell, Foreign Secretary, nor
Lord Lyons, British Minister at Washington, reveal any animus against
the United States. Considering his many personal ties with leaders of
both factions Lyons, from the first, reported events with wonderful
impartiality, and great clarity. On November 12, 1860, he sent to
Russell a full description of the clamour raised in the South over the
election of Lincoln, enumerated the resignation of Federal officials
(calling these "ill-judged measures"), and expressed the opinion that
Lincoln was no Radical. He hoped the storm would blow over without
damage to the Union[64]. Russell, for his part, was prompt to instruct
Lyons and the British consuls not "to seem to favour one party rather
than the other," and not to express opinions or to give advice, unless
asked for by the State Governments, in which case the advice should be
against all violent action as tending toward civil war[65].
This bare statement may indeed be interpreted as indicating an eager
readiness on Russell's part to accept as final the dissolution of the
Union, but such an interpretation is not borne out by a reading of his
instructions. Rather he was perplexed, and anxious that British agents
should not gain the ill-will of either American faction, an ill-will
that would be alike detrimental in the future, whether the Union
remained unbroken or was destroyed.
Strict instructions against offering advice are therefore repeated
frequently[66]. Meanwhile the first concrete problem requiring British
action came from the seizure by South Carolina of the Federal customs
house at the port of Charleston, and the attempt of the State
authorities to collect port dues customarily paid to Federal officials.
British shipowners appealed to Consul Bunch for instructions, he to
Lyons, and the latter to the American Secretary of State, Judge Black.
This was on December 31, 1860, while Buchanan was still President, and
Black's answer was evasive, though asserting that the United States must
technically regard the events in South Carolina as acts of violent
rebellion[67]. Black refused to state what action would be taken if
Bunch advised British shipowners to pay, but a way out of the
embarrassment was found by advising such payment to State authorities
"under protest" as done "under compulsion." To one of his letters to
Bunch on this topic, Lyons appended an expression indicative of his own
early attitude. "The domestic slavery of the South is a bitter pill
which it will be hard enough to get the English to swallow. But if the
Slave Trade is to be added to the dose, the least squeamish British
stomach will reject it[68]."
Nevertheless the vigorous action of South Carolina, soon followed by
other Southern States, made a deep impression on Russell, especially
when compared with the uncertainty and irresolution manifested in the
attempted compromise measures of Northern statesmen. In a private letter
to Lyons, January 10, 1861, he wrote "I do not see how the United States
can be cobbled together again by any compromise.... I cannot see any
mode of reconciling such parties as these. The best thing _now_ would
be that the right to secede should be acknowledged.... I hope sensible
men will take this view.... But above all I hope no force will be
used[69]." And again twelve days later, "I suppose the break-up of the
Union is now inevitable[70]." To Russell, as to most foreign observers,
it seemed that if the South with its great wealth, its enormous extent
of territory, and its five and one-half millions of population, were
determined to leave the Union, no force whatever could compel a return.
History failed to record any revolution on so large a scale which had
not succeeded. His desire, therefore, was that the North would yield to
the inevitable, and would not plunge into a useless civil war disastrous
alike to the prosperity of America and of foreign nations. Russell's
first hope was that the South would forgo secession; his second, this
accomplished, that there would be no war, and in this sense he
instructed Lyons. The latter, less expectant of peaceful separation, and
more aware of the latent power of the North, maintained throughout his
entire service at Washington that there was at least a _chance_ that the
North could subdue the South by might of arms[71], but he also, looking
to British interests, saw his early duty, before war broke, in cautious
suggestions against forcible Northern action. Thus from January to
March, 1861, British effort and indirect advice were based on the hope
that British trade interests might escape the tribulations inevitable
from a civil conflict in America. Beyond that point there was no grasp
of the complications likely to arise in case of war, and no clear
formulation of British policy[72].
In fact up to the middle of March, 1861, both public and official
British opinion discounted armed conflict, or at least any determined
Northern effort to recover the South. Early British attitude was,
therefore, based on a misconception. As this became clear, public
opinion began to break from a united humanitarian pro-Northern sentiment
and to show, in some quarters, quite another face. Even as early as
January the _Economist_ expressed wonder that the Northern States had
not availed themselves gladly of the chance to "shake off such an
incubus, and to purify themselves of such a stain[73]." and a month
later professed to believe that Great Britain would willingly permit the
North to secure compensation for loss of territory by annexing
Canada--provided the Canadians themselves desired it. This, it was
argued, would directly benefit England herself by cutting down military
expenditures[74]. The _London Press_ indulged in similar speculation,
though from the angle of a Canadian annexation of the Northern States,
whose more sober citizens must by now be weary of the sham of American
democracy, and disgusted with the rowdyism of political elections, which
"combine the morals of a horse race, the manners of a dog fight, the
passions of a tap-room, and the emotions of a gambling house[75]."
Probably such suggestions had little real purpose or meaning at the
moment, but it is interesting that this idea of a "compensation" in
Canada should have been voiced thus early. Even in the United States the
same thought had occurred to a few political leaders. Charles Sumner
held it, though too wise, politically, to advance it in the face of the
growing Northern determination to preserve the Union. It lay at the
bottom of his increasing bitterness toward his old friend Charles
Francis Adams, now busy in schemes intended, apparently, to restore the
Union by compromise, and it led Sumner to hope for appointment as
Minister to England[76].
The chief organ of British upper-class opinion, the _Times_, was one of
the first to begin the process of "face about," as civil war in America
seemed imminent[77]. Viewed from the later attitude of the _Times_, the
earlier expressions of that paper, and in truth of many British
journals, seem merely the customary platitudinous British holding up of
horrified hands at American slavery. On January 19, 1861, a strong
editorial still proclaimed the folly of South Carolina, as acting
"without law, without justice," but displayed a real dismay at the
possible consequences of war to British trade and commerce. On January
22, the _Times_ reprinted an article from the _Economist_, on a probable
cessation of cotton supply and editorially professed great alarm, even
advocating an early recognition of the Southern confederacy if needed to
maintain that supply. From this time on there is no further note in the
_Times_ of the righteousness of the Northern cause; but while it is
still asserted that war would be folly, the strength of the South, its
superiority as a military nation, are depicted.
A long break of nearly six weeks follows with little editorial comment.
Soon the correspondence from New York, previously written by Bancroft
Davis, and extremely favourable to the Northern cause, was discontinued.
W.H. Russell, the famous war correspondent of the Crimea, was summoned
to London and, according to his own story, upon being given papers,
clippings, and correspondence (largely articles from the _New York
Herald_) supporting the right of the South to secede, hastily took his
departure for America to report upon the situation[78]. He sailed from
Queenstown on March 3, and arrived in New York on March 16. At last on
March 12, the _Times_ took positive ground in favour of the justice of
the Southern cause.
"No treachery has been at work to produce the disruption, and
the principles avowed are such as to command the sympathies
of every free and enlightened people. Such are the widely
different auspices under which the two rival Republics start
into existence. But mankind will not ultimately judge these
things by sympathies and antipathies; they will be greatly
swayed by their own interest, and the two Republics must be
weighed, not by their professions or their previous history,
but by the conduct they pursue and the position they maintain
among the Powers of the earth. Their internal institutions
are their own affair; their financial and political
arrangements are emphatically ours. Brazil is a slave-holding
Empire, but by its good faith and good conduct it has
contrived to establish for itself a place in the hierarchy of
nations far superior to that of many Powers which are free
from this domestic contamination. If the Northern Confederacy
of America evinces a determination to act in a narrow,
exclusive, and unsocial spirit, while its Southern
competitor extends the hand of good fellowship to all
mankind, with the exception of its own bondsmen, we must not
be surprised to see the North, in spite of the goodness of
its cause and the great negative merit of the absence of
Slavery, sink into a secondary position, and lose the
sympathy and regard of mankind."
This to Northern view, was a sad relapse from that high moral tone
earlier addressed to the South notifying slave-holders that England
would not "stultify the policy of half a century for the sake of an
extended cotton trade[79]."
The _Economist_, with more consistency, still reported the violence and
recklessness of the South, yet in logical argument proved to its own
satisfaction the impossibility of Northern reconquest, and urged a
peaceful separation[80]. The _Spectator_, even though pro-Northern, had
at first small hope of reunion by force, and offered consolation in the
thought that there would still remain a United States of America
"strong, powerful and free; all the stronger for the loss of the Black
South[81]." In short from all quarters the public press, whatever its
sympathy, united in decrying war as a useless effort doomed to failure
if undertaken in the hope of restoring the Union. Such public opinion,
however, was not necessarily governmental opinion. The latter was indeed
more slow to make up its mind and more considerate in expressing itself.
When it became clear that in all probability the North would fight,
there was still no conception, any more than in the United States
itself, of the duration and intensity of the conflict. Indeed, Russell
yet hoped, as late as the end of January, that no protracted war would
occur. Nevertheless he was compelled to face the situation in its
relation to British commerce.
On February 16, Russell addressed Lyons on that aspect of possible war
which would at once call for a determination of British policy. "Above
all things," he wrote, "endeavour to prevent a blockade of the Southern
coast. It would produce misery, discord, and enmity incalculable[82]."
Within a week Forster, a thorough friend of the North throughout the
whole war, was interrogating the Ministry in the House of Commons in
regard to the situation at Charleston, and expressing the hope that
England would not in any way attempt to interfere[83]. This was the
first reference in Parliament, its sittings but just renewed after the
long vacation, to the American conflict, but British commercial
interests were being forced to a keener attention, and already men in
many circles were asking themselves what should be the proper
governmental attitude; how soon this new Southern Confederacy could
justly claim European recognition; how far and how fast European
governments ought to go in acknowledging such a claim; what ought to be
the proper policy and position of a neutral power; whether, indeed, a
declaration of neutrality ought to be issued.
With these questions rapidly coming to the front, it became important
for British statesmen to know something about the leaders in this new
Southern movement, the attitude of the people in general, and the
purposes of the new Government. Here, unfortunately, Lord Lyons could
be no guide. The consuls in the South, however, were in a position to
give their impressions. On February 28, 1861, Bunch wrote to Russell,
describing the election of Davis and Stephens[84], to the Presidency and
Vice-Presidency of the Confederacy, and giving a personal
characterization of many members of the Government. He was rather
caustic. Davis, he said, was the only _able_ man, and he, unfortunately,
was a confirmed "manifest destiny" leader, so much so in fact that Bunch
prophesied a renewal of filibustering when once the North had acquiesced
in a Southern State and the fear of the North had passed. Bunch had no
faith in any future greatness of the South, asserting that it would be a
State despised among nations for its maintenance of slavery, and that it
could not hope for any encouragement or sympathy from the humane nations
of Europe; in fact, his entire characterization was wholly damning to
the South. Yet it is to be noted that he never for a moment questioned
that the South had already actually established its independence. This
he seems to take for granted. Thus again, and from another quarter,
there was presented the double difficulty of England in regard to the
Civil War--the difficulty of reconciling sentiments of humanity long
preached by Great Britain, with her commercial interests and her
certainty that a new State was being born.
For men in the Northern Government Lyons was in a position to report,
but up to the end of January he had not written in any great detail with
regard to the new administration and its make-up, though on January 7,
he had informed Russell that Seward would be the Secretary of State and
had expressed the fear that with regard to Great Britain he would be "a
dangerous Foreign Minister[85]." Lincoln was still in Illinois and the
constituency of the Cabinet was yet uncertain, but Seward's voice was
sure to be a powerful one. Occasionally Lyons found some opportunity to
talk with him. On February 4, 1861, in an official letter to Russell,
Lyons reported at length an interview with Seward, in which the latter
had expressed his extreme confidence that the trouble in America was but
superficial and that union sentiment in the South would soon
prevail[86]. In a private letter of the same date, however, Lyons
asserted that Seward was indeed likely to be a very dangerous Secretary
of State. He had told Lyons that if European governments interfered to
protect their commerce, he could unite America by a foreign war in order
to resist such interference[87]. Again, on February 12, while himself
expressing hope that a solution might be found for the difficulties in
America, Lyons warned Russell that there were those who would solve
these difficulties by a foreign war, especially if foreign governments
refused to acknowledge a United States declaration without formal
blockade closing the Southern ports[88]. Writing privately, Lyons
exhibited great anxiety in regard to Seward's attitude and suggested
that the best safeguard would be close union by England and France, for
if these two governments took exactly the same stand in regard to trade,
Seward would hardly dare to carry out his threat[89].
Lyons' letter of February 4 called out from Russell an instruction in
which it was repeated that advice to either party should be withheld and
a strictly neutral attitude maintained, and Russell concluded by an
assertion that if the United States attempted a jingo policy toward
England, the British Cabinet would be tolerant because of its feeling of
strength but that "blustering demonstrations" must not be carried too
far[90]. Even as early as December, 1860, Russell had foreseen the
possibility of what he considered a mere jingo policy for home effect in
America. Now, however, upon the repeated expression of fears from Lyons
that this might be more than mere "bunkum," Russell began to instruct
Lyons not to permit English dignity to be infringed, while at the same
time desiring him to be cautious against stirring American antagonism.
Lyons' earlier disquietude seems, indeed, to have passed away for a
time, and on February 26 he wrote that everyone was waiting to see what
Lincoln would do when inaugurated, that there was still hope of
compromise, and that in his own view this was still possible. In this
letter the tone is more important than the matter, and so far as Lyons
is concerned the tone is all distinctly hopeful, all favourable to a
resumption of normal relations between the North and South. He at least
had no hope of disruption, and no happiness in it[91].
Before this communication could reach England Russell had thoroughly
awakened to the seriousness of the American situation in relation to
British foreign trade. On March 9, writing privately to Lyons, he
stated, "I hope you are getting on well with the new President. If he
blockades the Southern ports we shall be in a difficulty. But according
to all American doctrine it must be an actual blockade kept up by an
efficient force[92]." Thus, before any act had really occurred in
America, the matter of a blockade was occupying the attention of British
statesmen. One difficulty at the time was that there was no one in
England qualified to speak for the new administration at Washington.
Dallas, the American Minister appointed under the Buchanan
administration, while, unlike some other diplomatic representatives
abroad, faithful to the cause of the United States, was nevertheless not
wholly trusted by Lincoln or by Seward, and was thus handicapped in
representing to Russell American conditions or intentions. Indeed he had
very little communication with Russell. Adams' nomination to England was
known to Lyons on March 20, for on that day he telegraphed to Russell,
"Mr. Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts, is appointed Minister in
London. I think it a very good appointment[93]." This news was received
in London on April 2, but over six weeks were yet to elapse before Adams
reached his post. The appointment of Adams, however, seemed to Lyons a
matter of congratulation in his hope that no vicious anti-British policy
would be indulged in by Seward. Ten days after his telegram, he wrote at
length to Russell, making an excellent statement and analysis in regard
to the character of Adams.
"Mr. Adams is son of John Quincy Adams, the fifth P. of the
U.S., and grandson of John Adams, the second P. The
grandfather was the first Am. minister in England. The father
was one of the Plenipotentiaries who signed in London the
Convention of the 3rd July, 1815. Mr. Adams as a member of
the H. of R. for one of the districts of Mass., acted with
the less violent section of the 'Republican' Party. During
the last session of Congress he made a very remarkable
speech on the state of the Union, denying the reasonableness
of the complaints of the Southern States, but stating his
desire that every concession not inconsistent with honour and
principle should be made to them. He is considered to be a
man of great independence of character, and has the
reputation of being very tenacious of his own opinions. In
manner he is quiet and unassuming. He is a man of good
fortune. Mrs. Adams comes of a considerable family in Mass.,
of the name of Brooks. The late wife of Mr. Edward Everett,
who, as your L. is aware, has held the offices of Minister in
London and Secretary of State, was her sister[94]."
Similar characterizations were being forwarded at almost the same time
by Bunch in regard to the Southern Commissioners, now being despatched
to London, but they were not so favourable. Mann, wrote Bunch, was the
son of a "bankrupt grocer." His personal character was "not good," yet
he alone of the three Commissioners appointed had had diplomatic
experience. Yancey, it was stated, was an able lawyer, a stirring
orator, and a recognized leader of the secession movement, but he was
also extremely pro-slavery in his views, had expressed himself in favour
of a renewal of the slave trade, and throughout his career had been a
"manifest destiny" man. Of Rost, Bunch had no knowledge. In conclusion
Bunch described the extreme confidence expressed in the South in "King
Cotton," and in rather bitter criticism stated that the Southern
Commissioners thought even England, the foe of slavery, would now be
compelled to bend the knee and recognize the South in order to get
cotton[95].
The Northern British Consuls on the other hand took an astonishingly
pro-Northern view of the whole situation. Archibald, consul at New York,
wrote to Russell soon after the fall of Sumter, an exceedingly strong
statement of his faith in the power of the North and its fixed and
unalterable determination to force the South back into the Union, his
confidence in Northern success, and his belief in the justice of the
Northern cause. He ventured to suggest the proper policy for England to
pursue, viz., to offer immediately her services in mediation but wholly
and clearly on the side of the North. He stated that if England did not
feel free to offer mediation, she should at least show "such a
consistent and effective demonstration of sympathy and aid" for the
North as would help in shortening the war[96]. The British Consul at
Boston wrote to Russell in much the same vein. So far, indeed, did these
men go in expressing their sympathy with the North, that Lyons, on April
27, commented to Russell that these consuls had "taken the Northern War
Fever," and that he had mildly reproved Archibald[97].
With the inauguration of Lincoln on March 4, and the installation of
Seward as Secretary of State, it was possible for Lyons to become more
active in his efforts to prevent a disruption of British Trade. On March
20 he told Seward in a confidential conversation:
"... If the United States determined to stop by force so
important a commerce as that of Great Britain with the
cotton-growing States, I could not answer for what
might happen.
"... It was, however, a matter of the greatest consequence to
England to procure cheap cotton. If a considerable rise were
to take place in the price of cotton, and British ships were
to be at the same time excluded from the Southern Ports, an
immense pressure would be put upon Her Majesty's Government
to use all the means in their power to open those ports. If
Her Majesty's Government felt it to be their duty to do so,
they would naturally endeavour to effect their object in a
manner as consistent as possible, first with their friendly
feelings towards both Sections of this Country, and secondly
with the recognized principles of International Law. As
regards the latter point in particular, it certainly appeared
that the most simple, if not the only way, would be to
recognize the Southern Confederacy[98]."
This was plain speaking, and Lyons' threat of recognizing the South did
not at the moment stir Seward to any retort. But five days later, on
March 25, Lyons gave a dinner to Seward and a number of the foreign
Ministers, and there Seward's violent talk about seizing any and all
ships that tried to trade with the South, even if there was no blockade,
made Lyons very anxious. As a host he diverted the conversation lest it
become too acrimonious, but he himself told Seward
"... that it was really a matter so very serious that I was
unwilling to discuss it; that his plan seemed to me to amount
in fact to a paper blockade of the enormous extent of coast
comprised in the seceding States; that the calling it an
enforcement of the Revenue Laws appeared to me to increase
the gravity of the measure, for it placed Foreign Powers in
the dilemma of recognizing the Southern Confederation or of
submitting to the interruption of their commerce[99]."
Lyons' advice to Russell was that no rebuff should be given the Southern
Commissioners when they arrived in London, but that they be treated
well. This, he thought, might open Seward's eyes to his folly. Still
Lyons did not yet fully believe that Seward would be so vigorous as his
language seemed to imply, and on March 29 he wrote that "prudent
counsels" were in the ascendant, that there would be no interference
with trade "_at present_," and that a quieter tone was everywhere
perceptible in Washington[100].
From the point of view of the British Minister at Washington, the
danger spot in relations between the United States and Great Britain lay
in this matter of interference with trade to Southern ports. Naturally,
and as in duty bound, he sought to preserve that trade. At first,
indeed, he seems to have thought that even though a civil war really
ensued the trade might continue uninterrupted. Certainly he bore hard
and constantly on this one point, seeking to influence not only
officials at Washington but the public press. Thus, in a letter to Bunch
dated April 12, 1861, at a time when he knew that W.H. Russell, the
_Times_ correspondent, would shortly appear in Charleston, he instructed
Bunch to remember that in talking to Russell he must especially impress
him with the idea that any interruption of trade might and probably
would result in a British recognition of the South. Lyons wrote, "...
the _only_ chance, if chance there still be of preventing an
interruption of the English commerce with the S. is the fear entertained
here, that it would lead to our recognizing the S.C.[101]" In these
words is revealed, however, as in other communications from Lyons, the
fact that he was striving to prevent an interruption of trade rather
than that he was convinced such interruption ought to result in a
British recognition of the South. Indeed, as will be seen, when the
blockade was at last declared, Lyons thought it no cause for recognition
and was most tolerant of its early ineffectiveness.
While Lyons was thus keeping in close touch with Seward, the relations
between England and America at London were exceedingly meagre. All that
the American Minister Dallas knew of Russell's intentions is summed up
in his despatches to Seward of March 22 and April 9, 1861[102]. On the
former date, he gave an account of an interview with Russell in which
the latter simply refused to pledge himself against a recognition of
the Confederacy; in the latter, presenting a long memorial written by
Seward to all of the larger European Governments arguing in friendly
spirit the cause of the North, Dallas reported that he drew from Russell
merely a general expression of England's kindly feeling towards the
United States and her hope that there might still be a peaceful
solution. Russell again refused to make any pledge in regard to English
policy. In this interview it was tacitly agreed that it would be better
for Great Britain to await Adams' arrival before taking any definite
action, or so at least Dallas understood Russell--though the latter
later denied that any pledge of delay was given. There is no doubt,
however, that in Russell's mind, whatever he might say to Dallas, the
separation in America was an accomplished fact and the hope of Great
Britain was centred upon the idea of a peaceful separation.
Up to and including April 1, indeed, Lyons had been reporting that no
definite stand was yet being taken by the American Government. At the
same time Russell was continuing his instructions to Lyons to recommend
conciliation "but never to obtrude advice unasked[103]." Yet Russell was
not wholly undisturbed by the reports of Seward's quarrelsome attitude,
for in a private letter of the same date as the preceding, he wrote to
Lyons, "I rely upon your wisdom, patience, and prudence, to steer us
through the dangers of this crisis. If it can possibly be helped Mr.
Seward must not be allowed to get us into a quarrel. I shall see the
Southerners when they come, but not officially, and keep them at a
proper distance[104]." It is an interesting query, whether this fear
thus expressed of Seward's temper was not of distinct benefit to the
United States at the moment when the Southern Commissioners arrived in
England. The inference would seem to be clear, that in spite of Lyons'
advice to treat them well, the effect upon Russell of Seward's attitude
was to treat them coolly. Russell was indeed distinctly worried by
Seward's unfriendly attitude.
In the meantime the British press and public, while still uncertain and
divided as to the merits of the conflict were now substantially a unit
in accepting separation as final. The _Times_, with judicial ponderosity
declared: "The new nationality has been brought forth after a very short
period of gestation.... and the Seceding States have now constituted
themselves a nation[105] ..." At the other end of the scale in newspaper
"tone," the _London Press_ jeered at the Northern American eagle as
having "had his tail pulled out and his wings clipped--yet the meek bird
now holds out his claws to be pared, with a resignation that would be
degrading in the most henpecked of domestic fowls[106]." Having now
veered about to expressions of confidence in the permanency of the
Southern Confederacy the _Times_ was also compelled to alter its opinion
of Southern Statesmen. An editorial gave high praise to the Confederate
Congress sitting at Montgomery, stated its personnel to be far superior
to that of the Congress at Washington, yet was unable to resist making
the customary reference to manners traditionally American;
"With regard to the Congress itself, we cannot refrain from
quoting the _naïve_ testimony of a visitor in its favour.
'Gentlemen here [Montgomery] who have spent much time in
Washington city declare that they have never witnessed such
industry, care, propriety, courtesy, and pleasant
Congressional action. _Not one member has appeared in his
seat under the influence of liquors or wines_, not a harsh
word has been uttered in debate, and all exhibit the most
unflagging energy and determination[107].'"
The most of the British press quickly followed the lead of the _Times_,
forgot its previous dictum that the South was in the control of
"ignorant ruffians," and dilated upon the statemanlike directness and
sagacity of Southern leaders as contrasted with the stupidity of the
North, displayed in its tariff policy[108]. A few journals thought that
the North might eventually win in a prolonged struggle but that such a
victory would be disastrous to the principles of federalism[109], and,
in any case, that this civil war was one without "a noble cause to
sustain either side[110]." By May nearly all the older journals were
aligned on the right of the South to secede, and on the fact of a
successful secession, though still differing as to the basic causes and
essential justice involved. In this same month, however, there emerged a
few vigorous champions of the Northern cause and prospects. In April the
_Spectator_ agreed that the Great Republic was at an end[111]; in May it
urged the North to fight it out with hope, asserting a chance of
ultimate victory because of superior resources and the sympathy of all
European nations[112]. A small newspaper of limited circulation, the
_Morning Star_, organ of John Bright, had from the first championed the
Northern cause. Now, as the armed conflict broke in America, it was
joined by a more important paper, the _Daily News_, which set itself the
task of controverting the _Times_. Moreover the _Daily News_ was all the
more influential in that it was not uncritical of the North, yet
consistently, throughout the war, expressed sympathy for the cause and
principles behind the efforts of the Northern Government. Selling for a
low price, twopence-halfpenny, the _Daily News_, like the _Westminster_
among the Reviews, appealed to a broader and more popular constituency
than the older publications, especially to a constituency not yet vocal,
since still unrepresented, in Parliament[113].
The _Daily News_ was fortunate in having, after 1862, the best-informed
New York correspondent writing to the London press. This was an
Irishman, E.L. Godkin, who, both at home and in America, was the
intimate friend of literary men, and himself, later, a great moulder of
public opinion[114]. Harriet Martineau further aided the _Daily News_ by
contributing pro-Northern articles, and was a power in Radical
circles[115]. But literary England in general, was slow to express
itself with conviction, though Robert Browning, by April, 1861, was
firmly determined in his pro-Northern sentiment. In August he was
writing in letters of the "good cause[116]." But Browning was a rare
exception and it was not until the Civil War had been under way for many
months that men of talent in the non-political world were drawn to make
comment or to take sides. Their influence at the outset was
negligible[117].
In spite of press utterances, or literary silence, alike indicative of
a widespread conviction that Southern independence was assured, there
still remained both in those circles where anti-slavery sentiment was
strong, and in others more neutral in sympathy, a distaste for the
newly-born State as the embodiment of a degrading institution. Lincoln's
inaugural address denying an intention to interfere with slavery was a
weapon for the friends of the South, but it could not wholly still that
issue. Even in the _Times_, through the medium of W.H. Russell's
descriptive letters, there appeared caustic criticisms. He wrote in his
"Diary," "I declare that to me the more orderly, methodical, and perfect
the arrangements for economizing slave labour ... are, the more hateful
and odious does slavery become[118]," and in his letter of May 8, from
Montgomery, having witnessed an auction sale of slaves he stated:
"I am neither sentimentalist nor Black Republican, nor negro
worshipper, but I confess the sight caused a strange thrill
through my heart. I tried in vain to make myself familiar
with the fact that I could, for the sum of $975, become as
absolutely the owner of that mass of blood, bones, sinew,
flesh and brains as of the horse which stood by my side.
There was no sophistry which could persuade me the man was
not a man--he was, indeed, by no means my brother, but
assuredly he was a fellow creature[119]."
This was hard printing for the _Times_, in its new advocacy of the
South, and Russell's description was made much of by the _Westminster
Review_ and other publications that soon began to sound again the
"issue" of slavery[120]. Yet the _Westminster_ itself in the same
article decried the folly of the Northern attempt at reconquest. So also
thought even John Bright at the moment, when expressing himself
privately to friends in America[121].
Slavery, then, still remained an issue before the British public, but of
what use was it to upbraid the South, if a new world State were in fact
born? And if a State in power, why not give it prompt recognition? The
extreme British anti-slavery opponents feared that this was just what
the Government was inclined to do, and with promptness. Here and there
meetings were hurriedly called to protest against recognition[122]. This
fear was unfounded. Neither in London nor at Washington was there any
official inclination to hasten recognition. Lyons had held up to Seward
the logic of such action, if British trade were illegally interfered
with. By April 9 Lyons was aware that the so-called Radical Party in the
Cabinet would probably have its way, that conciliation would no longer
be attempted, and that a coercive policy toward the South was soon to
follow. On that date he wrote to Russell stating that people in
Washington seemed so convinced that Europe would _not_ interfere to
protect its trade that they were willing to venture any act embarrassing
to that trade. He himself was still insisting, but with dwindling
confidence, that the trade must not be interfered with under any
circumstances. And in a second letter of this same date, he repeated to
Russell his advice of treating the Southern Commissioners with
deference. Any rebuff to them, he asserts again, will but increase the
Northern confidence that they may do anything without provoking the
resistance of England[123].
Like a good diplomat Lyons was merely pushing the argument for all it
was worth, hoping to prevent an injury to his country, yet if that
injury did come (provided it were sanctioned by the law of nations) he
did not see in it an injury sufficient to warrant precipitate action by
Great Britain. When indeed the Southern capture of Fort Sumter in
Charleston harbour finally brought the actual clash of arms, Lyons
expressed himself with regard to other elements in the struggle
previously neglected in his correspondence. On April 15 describing to
Russell the fall of Sumter, he stated that civil war had at last begun.
The North he believed to be very much more powerful than the South, the
South more "eager" and united as yet, but, he added, "the taint of
slavery will render the cause of the South loathsome to the civilized
world." It was true that "commercial intercourse with the cotton States
is of vital importance to manufacturing nations[124]...." but Lyons was
now facing an actual situation rather than a possible one, and as will
be seen later, he soon ceased to insist that an interruption of this
"commercial intercourse" gave reasonable ground for recognition of
the South.
With the fall of Fort Sumter and the European recognition that a civil
war was actually under way in America, a large number of new and vexing
problems was presented to Russell. His treatment of them furnishes the
subject matter of later chapters. For the period previous to April,
1861, British official attitude may be summed up in the statement that
the British Minister at Washington hoped against hope that some solution
might be found for the preservation of the Union, but that at the same
time, looking to future British interests and possibly believing also
that his attitude would tend to preserve the Union, he asserted
vehemently the impossibility of any Northern interference with British
trade to Southern ports. Across the water, Russell also hoped faintly
that there might be no separation. Very soon, however, believing that
separation inevitable and the disruption of the Union final, he fixed
his hope on peaceful rather than warlike secession. Even of this,
however, he had little real expectation, but neither he nor anyone else
in England, nor even in America, had any idea that the war would be a
long and severe one. It is evident that he was already considering the
arrival of that day when recognition must be granted to a new,
independent and slave-holding State. But this estimate of the future is
no proof that the Russian Ambassador's accusation of British
governmental pleasure in American disruption was justified[125].
Russell, cautious in refusing to pledge himself to Dallas, was using
exactly such caution as a Foreign Secretary was bound to exercise. He
would have been a rash man who, in view of the uncertainty and
irresolution of Northern statesmen, would have committed Great Britain
in March, 1861, to a definite line of policy.
On April 6, Russell was still instructing Lyons to recommend
reconciliation. April 8, Dallas communicated to Russell an instruction
from Seward dated March 9, arguing on lines of "traditional friendship"
against a British recognition of the Confederacy. Russell again refused
to pledge his Government, but on April 12 he wrote to Lyons that British
Ministers were "in no hurry to recognize the separation as complete and
final[126]." In the early morning of that same day the armed conflict in
America had begun, and on the day following, April 13, the first
Southern victory had been recorded in the capture of Fort Sumter. The
important question which the man at the head of the British Foreign
Office had now immediately to decide was, what was to be England's
attitude, under international law, toward the two combatants in
America. In deciding this question, neither sentiment nor ideals of
morality, nor humanitarianism need play any part; England's _first_ need
and duty were to determine and announce for the benefit of her citizens
the correct position, under International law, which must be assumed in
the presence of certain definite facts.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 31: Dr. Newton asserts that at the end of the 'fifties Great
Britain made a sharp change of policy. (_Cambridge History of British
Foreign Policy_, Vol. II, p. 283.)]
[Footnote 32: Thomas Colley Grattan, _Civilized America_, 2 vols. 2nd
ed., London, 1859, Vol. I, pp. 284-87. The first edition was printed in
1859 and a third in 1861. In some respects the work is historically
untrustworthy since internal evidence makes clear that the greater part
of it was written before 1846, in which year Grattan retired from his
post in Boston. In general he wrote scathingly of America, and as his
son succeeded to the Boston consulship, Grattan probably thought it
wiser to postpone publication. I have found no review of the work which
treats it otherwise than as an up-to-date description of 1859. This fact
and its wide sale in England in 1860-61, give the work importance as
influencing British knowledge and opinions.]
[Footnote 33: Charles Mackay, _Life and Liberty in America: or, Sketches
of a Tour in the United States and Canada in 1857-8_, one vol., New
York, 1859, pp. 316-17. Mackay was at least of sufficient repute as a
poet to be thought worthy of a dinner in Boston at which there were
present, Longfellow, Holmes, Agassiz, Lowell, Prescott, Governor Banks,
and others. He preached "hands across the seas" in his public lectures,
occasionally reading his poem "John and Jonathan"--a sort of advance
copy of Kipling's idea of the "White Man's Burden." Mackay's concluding
verse, "John" speaking, was:
"And I have strength for nobler work
Than e'er my hand has done,
And realms to rule and truths to plant
Beyond the rising sun.
Take you the West and I the East;
We'll spread ourselves abroad,
With trade and spade and wholesome laws,
And faith in man and God."
]
[Footnote 34: Duncan, _Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer_, Vol. I, p.
140.]
[Footnote 35: R.C. Hamilton, Manuscript Chapters and Notes on "The
English Press and the Civil War." Mr. Hamilton was at work on this
subject, as a graduate student, but left Stanford University before
completing his thesis. His notes have been of considerable value, both
for suggested citations from the English Press, and for points of
interpretation.]
[Footnote 36: _Economist_, November 24, 1860. Six months later, however,
the _Economist_ pictured Lincoln as merely an unknown "sectionalist,"
with no evidence of statesmanship--_Economist_, June 1, 1861.]
[Footnote 37: _Saturday Review_, November 24, 1860.]
[Footnote 38: _Spectator_, November 24, 1860.]
[Footnote 39: The _Times_, November 26, 1860.]
[Footnote 40: _Ibid._, November 29, 1860.]
[Footnote 41: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 42: R.L. Duffus, "Contemporary English Popular Opinion on the
American Civil War," p. 2. A thesis presented in fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Stanford University,
1911. This thesis is in manuscript. It is a valuable study of the
Reviews and of the writings of men of letters. Hereafter cited as Duffus
"English Opinion."]
[Footnote 43: The _Times_, January 12, 1861.]
[Footnote 44: _Saturday Review_, January 12, 1861.]
[Footnote 45: _Economist_, December 8, 1860. _Spectator_, January 19,
1861.]
[Footnote 46: _Spectator_, December 1, 1860. _Times_, January 29, 1861.
_Economist_, May 25, 1861.]
[Footnote 47: _Saturday Review_, January 19, 1861.]
[Footnote 48: _Edinburgh Review_, Vol. 112, p. 545.]
[Footnote 49: Lyons Papers.]
[Footnote 50: Russell, _My Diary North and South_, Boston, 1863, p. 134.
"Then cropped out again the expression of regret for the rebellion of
1776, and the desire that if it came to the worst, England would receive
back her erring children, or give them a prince under whom they could
secure a monarchical form of government. There is no doubt about the
earnestness with which these things are said." Russell's _Diary_ is
largely a condensation of his letters to the _Times_. In the letter of
April 30, 1861 (published May 28), he dilates to the extent of a column
on the yearning of South Carolina for a restoration of colonial
relations. But Consul Bunch on December 14, 1860, reported a Charleston
sentiment very different from that of the Jockey Club in February. He
wrote to Lyons:
"The church bells are ringing like mad in celebration of a
newly revived festival, called 'Evacuation Day,' being the
_nefastus ille dies_ in which the bloody Britishers left
Charleston 78 years ago. It has fallen into utter disuse for
about 50 years, but is now suddenly resuscitated apropos _de_
nothing at all."
In this same letter Bunch described a Southern patriotic demonstration.
Returning to his home one evening, he met a military company, which from
curiosity he followed, and which
"drew up in front of the residence of a young lawyer of my
friends, after performing in whose honour, through the medium
of a very brassy band, a Secession Schottische or Palmetto
Polka, it clamorously demanded his presence. After a very
brief interval he appeared, and altho' he is in private life
an agreeable and moderately sensible young man, he succeeded,
to my mind at any rate, in making most successfully, what Mr.
Anthony Weller calls 'an Egyptian Mummy of his self.' the
amount of balderdash and rubbish which he evacuated (_dia
stomatos_) about mounting the deadly breach, falling back
into the arms of his comrades and going off generally in a
blaze of melodramatic fireworks, really made me so unhappy
that I lost my night's rest. So soon as the speech was over
the company was invited into the house to 'pour a libation to
the holy cause'--in the vernacular, to take a drink and spit
on the floor."
Evidently Southern eloquence was not tolerable to the ears of the
British consul. Or was it the din of the church bells rather than the
clamour of the orator, that offended him? (_Lyons Papers_.)]
[Footnote 51: _Edinburgh Review_, Vol. 113, p. 555.]
[Footnote 52: The _Times_, January 4, 1861.]
[Footnote 53: Letter to _Dublin News_, dated January 26, 1861. Cited in
_The Liberator_, March 1, 1861. Garrison, editor of _The Liberator_, was
then earnest in advocating "letting the South go in peace" as a good
riddance.]
[Footnote 54: _Saturday Review_, March 2, 1861, p. 216.]
[Footnote 55: _London Chronicle_, March 14, 1861. Cited in _The
Liberator_, April 12, 1861.]
[Footnote 56: _London Review_, April 20, 1861. Cited in Littel's _Living
Age_, Vol. LXIX, p. 495. The editor of the _Review_ was a Dr. Mackay,
but I have been unable to identify him, as might seem natural from his
opinions, as the Mackay previously quoted (p. 37) who was later New York
correspondent of the _Times_.]
[Footnote 57: Matthew Arnold, _Letters_, Vol. I., p. 150. Letter to Mrs.
Forster, January 28, 1861.]
[Footnote 58: Julian Hawthorne, _Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Wife_, Vol.
II, pp. 271-78. _Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier_, Vol. II,
pp. 439 seq.]
[Footnote 59: _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 110, p. 282. July, 1861.]
[Footnote 60: Duffus, "English Opinion," p. 7.]
[Footnote 61: _Westminster_, Vol. LXXX, p. 587.]
[Footnote 62: Adams' course was bitterly criticized by his former
intimate friend, Charles Sumner, but the probable purpose of Adams was,
foreseeing the certainty of secession, to exhibit so strongly the
arrogance and intolerance of the South as to create greater unity of
Northern sentiment. This was a purpose that could not be declared and
both at home and abroad his action, and that of other former
anti-slavery leaders, for the moment weakened faith that the North was
in earnest on the general issue of slavery.]
[Footnote 63: _Services rendered by Russia to the American People during
the War of the Rebellion_, Petersburg, 1904, p. 5.]
[Footnote 64: _Parliamentary Papers_, 1862, _Lords_, Vol. XXV,
"Correspondence on Civil War in the United States," No. 1.]
[Footnote 65: _Ibid._, No. 6. Russell to Lyons, December 26, 1860.]
[Footnote 66: _Ibid._, Russell to Lyons, No. 9, January 5, 1861, and No.
17, February 20, 1861.]
[Footnote 67: _Parliamentary Papers_, 1861, _Lords_, Vol. XVIII.
Correspondence with U.S. Government respecting suspension of Federal
Customs House at the Port of Charleston. Nos. 1 and 3.]
[Footnote 68: Lyons Papers. Lyons to Bunch, December 12, 1860.]
[Footnote 69: _Ibid._, The same day official instructions were sent
permitting Bunch to remain at Charleston, but directing him, if asked to
recognize South Carolina, to refer the matter to England. F.O., Am.,
Vol. 754, No. 6. Russell to Lyons, January 10, 1861.]
[Footnote 70: Lyons Papers. Russell to Lyons, January 22, 1861.]
[Footnote 71: This view was not shared by Lyons' colleagues at
Washington. The Russian Minister, Stoeckl, early declared the Union
permanently destroyed, and regretting the fact, yet hoped the North
would soon accept the inevitable and seek close co-operation with the
South in commerce and in foreign relations. This view was repeated by
him many times and most emphatically as late as the first month of 1863.
(Russian Archives, Stoeckl to F.O., January 29-February 10, 1863. No.
342.) It was not until September, 1863, that Stoeckl ventured to hope
for a Northern reconquest of the South. I am indebted to Dr. Frank A.
Golder, of Stanford University, for the use of his notes and transcripts
covering all of the Russian diplomatic correspondence with the United
States, 1860-1865. In the occasional use made of this material the
English translation is mine.]
[Footnote 72: Stoeckl reported that at a dinner with Lyons, at which he,
Mercier and Seward were the guests, Seward had asserted that if Civil
War came all foreign commerce with the South would be interrupted. To
this Lyons protested that England could not get along without cotton and
that she would secure it in one way or another. Seward made no reply.
(_Ibid._, March 25-April 9, 1861, No. 810.)]
[Footnote 73: _Economist_, January 12, 1861.]
[Footnote 74: _Ibid._, February 23, 1861.]
[Footnote 75: _London Press_, March 23, 1861. Cited in Littell's _Living
Age_, Vol. LXIX, p. 438.]
[Footnote 76: Before Adams' selection as Minister to England was decided
upon, Sumner's Massachusetts friends were urging him for the place.
Longfellow was active in this interest. _H.W. Longfellow_, by Samuel
Longfellow, Vol. II, pp. 412-13.]
[Footnote 77: John Bright later declared "his conviction that the
leading journal had not published one fair, honourable, or friendly
article toward the States since Lincoln's accession to office." Dasent,
_Life of Delane_, Vol. II, p. 38. The time is approximately correct, but
the shift in policy began earlier, when it came to be feared that the
North would not submit to peaceable secession.]
[Footnote 78: Bigelow, _Retrospections_, Vol. I, pp. 344-45.]
[Footnote 79: See _ante_, p. 40.]
[Footnote 80: _Economist_, March 2, 1861.]
[Footnote 81: _Spectator_, March 16, 1861.]
[Footnote 82: Lyons Papers.]
[Footnote 83: Hansard, 3rd. Ser., CLXI, p. 814. February 22, 1861.
William E. Forster was of Quaker descent and had early taken part in
public meetings called to express humanitarian sentiment. From 1850 on
he was an acceptable public speaker in all matters liberal, as free
trade, social reform, and anti-slavery. Elected to Parliament in 1859
and again in 1861 from Bradford, where he was engaged in business as a
woollen manufacturer, he sought, after the fashion of new Members, a
cause to represent and found it in championship of the North. Having
great native ability, as shown by his later distinguished career, it was
the good fortune of the United States thus to enlist so eager a
champion. Forster and John Bright were the two leading "friends of the
North" in Parliament. The latter already had established reputation, but
was more influential out of Parliament than in it. Forster, with a
reputation to make, showed skill in debate, and soon achieved prestige
for himself and his American cause. Henry Adams, son and private
secretary of the American Minister to England, once told the writer that
he regarded Forster's services as, on the whole, the most valuable
rendered by any Englishman to the North.]
[Footnote 84: F.O., Am., Vol. 780, No. 30.]
[Footnote 85: Newton, _Lord Lyons_, Vol. I, p. 30.]
[Footnote 86: F.O., Am., Vol. 760, No. 40.]
[Footnote 87: Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, February 4, 1861.]
[Footnote 88: F.O., Am., Vol. 760, No. 59.]
[Footnote 89: Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, February 12, 1861.]
[Footnote 90: _Parliamentary Papers_, 1862, _Lords_, Vol. XXV.
"Correspondence on Civil War in the United States," No. 17. Russell to
Lyons, February 20, 1861.]
[Footnote 91: F.O., Am., Vol. 761, No. 78. Received March 11. It is
curious that in the first period of the war Lyons made no extended
characterization of Lincoln. Probably his contacts with the new
President were insufficient to justify it. The first record of personal
impressions was that made by W.H. Russell and later printed in his
"Diary" but not reproduced in his letters to the _Times_. Russell was
taken to the White House. "Soon afterwards there entered, with a
shambling, loose, irregular, almost unsteady gait, a tall, lank, lean
man, considerably over six feet in height, with stooping shoulders, long
pendulous arms, terminating in hands of extraordinary dimensions, which,
however, were far exceeded in proportion by his feet.... The impression
produced by the size of his extremities, and by his flapping and
wide-projecting ears, may be removed by the appearance of kindliness,
sagacity, and awkward bonhomie of his face ... eyes dark, full, and
deeply set, are penetrating, but full of an expression which almost
amounts to tenderness.... A person who met Mr. Lincoln in the street
would not take him to be what--according to usages of European
society--is called a 'gentleman' ... but, at the same time, it would not
be possible for the most indifferent observer to pass him in the street
without notice."--_My Diary_, I, pp. 37-8.]
[Footnote 92: Lyons Papers.]
[Footnote 93: F.O., Am., Vol. 761.]
[Footnote 94: F.O., Am., Vol. 762, No. 122. March 30, 1861. Received
April 16.]
[Footnote 95: F.O., Am., Vol. 780, No. 37. March 21, 1861. Received
April 9.]
[Footnote 96: F.O., Am., Vol. 778, No. 26. April 24, 1861.]
[Footnote 97: Russell Papers.]
[Footnote 98: Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, March 26, 1861. Printed
in Newton, _Lord Lyons_, Vol. I., p. 31.]
[Footnote 99: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 100: Russell Papers.]
[Footnote 101: Lyons Papers.]
[Footnote 102: _U.S. Messages and Documents_, 1861-2, pp, 80-81.]
[Footnote 103: F.O., Am., Vol. 754, No. 79. Russell to Lyons, April 6,
1861.]
[Footnote 104: Lyons Papers, Russell to Lyons, April 6, 1861.]
[Footnote 105: The _Times_, February 26, 1861.]
[Footnote 106: _London Press_, March 30, 1861, Cited in Littell's
_Living Age_, Vol. 69, p. 379.]
[Footnote 107: The _Times_, March 26, 1861.]
[Footnote 108: _Saturday Review_, May 11, 1861, pp. 465-6.]
[Footnote 109: _Economist_, May 4, 1861.]
[Footnote 110: _Examiner_, January 5 and (as quoted) April 27, 1861.
Cited in Littell's _Living Age_, Vol. 68, p. 758 and Vol. 69, p. 570.]
[Footnote 111: _Spectator_, April 27, 1861.]
[Footnote 112: _Ibid._, May 4, 1861.]
[Footnote 113: These four publications, the _Spectator_, the
_Westminster_, the _Daily News_, and the _Morning Star_, were the
principal British pro-Northern organs. In addition _The Liberator_ names
among the lesser and provincial press the following: _Nonconformist,
British Standard, Dial, Birmingham Post, Manchester Examiner, Newcastle
Chronicle, Caledonian Mercury_ and _Belfast Whig_. Duffus, "English
Opinion," p. 40.]
[Footnote 114: Godkin had joined the staff of the _Daily News_ in 1853.
During the Crimea War he was special war correspondent. He had travelled
extensively in America in the late 'fifties and was thoroughly well
informed. From 1862 to 1865 his letters to the _Daily News_ were of
great value in encouraging the British friends of the North. In 1865
Godkin became editor of the New York _Nation_.]
[Footnote 115: W.E. Forster said of her, "It was Harriet Martineau alone
who was keeping English opinion about America on the right side through
the Press." The _Daily News_ Jubilee Edition, p. 46.]
[Footnote 116: James, _William Wetmore Story and His Friends_, Vol. II,
p. 92.]
[Footnote 117: Moncure D. Conway's _Autobiography_ asserts that
two-thirds of the English authors "espoused the Union cause, some of
them actively--Professor Newman, Mill, Tom Hughes, Sir Charles Lyell,
Huxley, Tyndall, Swinburne, Lord Houghton, Cairns, Fawcett, Frederic
Harrison, Leslie Stephen, Allingham, the Rossettis," Vol. I, p. 406.
This is probably true of ultimate, though not of initial, interest and
attitude. But for many writers their published works give no clue to
their opinions on the Civil War--as for example the works of Dickens,
Thackeray, William Morris, or Ruskin. See Duffus, "English Opinion,"
p. 103.]
[Footnote 118: Russell, _My Diary_, I, p. 398.]
[Footnote 119: The _Times_, May 30, 1861.]
[Footnote 120: _Westminster Review_, Vol. 76, pp. 487-509, October,
1861.]
[Footnote 121: Bright to Sumner, September 6, 1861. Cited in Rhodes,
_United States_, Vol. III, p. 509.]
[Footnote 122: A meeting held in Edinburgh, May 9, 1861, declared that
anti-slavery England ought never to recognize the South. Reported in
_Liberator_, May 31, 1861.]
[Footnote 123: F.O., Am., Vol. 762, Nos. 141 and 142.]
[Footnote 124: _Ibid._, No. 146.]
[Footnote 125: See _ante_, pp. 50-51.]
[Footnote 126: _Parliamentary Papers_, 1862, _Lords_, Vol. XXV.
"Correspondence on Civil War in the United States." Nos. 24, 25 and 26.]