and Lord John Russell soon after announced in Parliament that the Government had come to the unanimous opinion that the Southern Confederacy of America must be treated as belligerents; and this declaration was followed by the proclamation of Neutrality by England between the belligerents, to the effect, that she was at peace with all Nations, but war unhappily existing in the United States, she commands all the subjects of the Queen to observe the duties of neutrality towards the combatant Powers, and to respect the exercise of their belligerent rights.

Mr. Richard approved of the action of the British Government in the recognition of the South as belligerents, and he stated his views very forcibly in an article, July, 1861, wherein he shewed it was not only in accordance with the opinions of Wheaton and Phillimore, but also with the historical precedents, during the War of Greece against Turkey, of the South American Colonies against Spain, as well as of the North American Colonies against Great Britain.

The unfortunate position taken up by Mr. Richard was the logical and inevitable result of the sympathy and support which from the beginning he extended to the Secession, and ipso facto to the rebellion of the Southern States; but in doing so he involuntarily, possibly unconsciously, committed himself, not simply to the possession by the South of the rights and privileges of belligerents, but to their recognition as a Nation, and to their right of secession by War, thus re-echoing in effect the memorable declarations of two of the most eminent members of Lord Palmerston's Government, the first by Lord John Russell, in 1862, at Newcastleon-Tyne, affirming that

This was a struggle on the one side for supremacy, and on the other for independence;"

which was followed soon after by the assertion of Mr. Gladstone at Liverpool that:

"Mr. Jefferson Davis had already succeeded in making the Southern States of America a Nation;"

and these declarations indicated the dangerous tendency of the policy of Lord Palmerston and his Cabinet, to render the powerful moral and material aid of Great Britain in favour of the Southern Cause.

This action of Mr. Richard (examining into and criticising it after an interval of 26 years), is perplexing in the extreme, and is not more astonishing than his support of the Southern cause (for the former was the consequence of the latter), for unfortunately he was unable to recognise anything good in the policy of the North, whilst for the South and its actions he was undoubtedly an ardent supporter.

This recognition by the British Government of the South as belligerents came upon the country, and especially upon the Government of the North, like a clap of thunder in a clear sky, and was followed by the rejoicings of the aristocratic and ruling classes; for it was believed by them to herald the downfall of free institutions and of the Republican Government across the Atlantic.

It was as sudden as it was precipitate, for it followed within a fortnight of the fall of Fort Sumpter, which took place on the 14th April, 1861; and on the 21st May following, the British Cabinet decided on immediate recognition, with all the rights of belligerents applicable on the ocean, as well as on land, which practically lifted the South to an equality with the North, constituted them de facto and de jure a Nation, with all the privileges of municipal and international law, to make peace or war, to negotiate treaties, to raise loans, and opened to them the ports, ship-yards, and foundries of England, and gave them a flag co-equal with the Stars and Stripes.

It was an inconsistent act for England, and especially at the bidding of a Minister of Lord Palmerston's antecedents, who had himself repeatedly pledged her to the abolition of slavery, to recognise the Government of the Southern

Confederacy, whose main purpose was, in the words of its vice-president, Mr. Stephens, "to found an Empire with Slavery as its chief corner-stone." In face of such a false position, well might Charles Sumner, from his place in the Senate at Washington, condemn in scathing indignation the policy of the Ministers of the British Crown; and the following are the closing words of his celebrated speech :—

"At a great epoch of history in the United States, not less momentous than that of the French Revolution, or that of the Reformation, when civilization was fighting a last battle with Slavery, England gave her name, her influence, her material resources, to the wicked cause, and flung a sword into the scale with Slavery."

The recognition of belligerency was no less deplorable in its results, for it not only transferred American trade to foreign and especially to English bottoms, led to the outfitting of rebel cruisers in English ports, to the destruction of upwards of twenty million dollars of the Northern Merchant Marine, rendered the blockade of the Southern ports a costly and hazardous undertaking, raised to a high rate of premium the assurance of the Northern Marine, but it led to the building, equipping and escape of the Alabama and Shenandoah, and other cruisers, to serious complications between England and America, that for a long time threatened to involve these two great Anglo-Saxon races in War.

On the contrary, had recognition not been made, no vessel could have been built in England for the South, for by the laws of Nations the building or equipping of a vessel against the United States would have constituted an act of piracy. England would not have been converted into the Arsenal and base of War operations for the South; no munitions of War could have been furnished, not one single blockade runner, laden with supplies, could have left the British shores except under a penalty, and the War with all its fearful cost of blood and treasure would not have been so prolonged.

Whatever may be our views as to the wisdom or the

justice of the position taken by Mr. Richard at this great crisis in the history of the Great American Republic, there cannot be two opinions on the course which he adopted, and the action which he took in favour of the non-intervention of England in that deplorable internecine War, not simply by force of arms, but also by any declaration of moral or any display of material aid.

"Our concern," says Mr. Richard, "on this side of the Atlantic is to do what lies in our power to prevent the evil, already sufficiently appalling, from being aggravated by England being implicated in the strife. We believe the strongest wish of the British Government and the British people is to stand altogether aloof from the unhappy struggle, to maintain a strict neutrality."

For England to maintain that policy of strict and impartial neutrality and to conform faithfully to the municipal and international law of nations, was undoubtedly the difficulty of the position; because in the desire of the British Government to maintain a friendly and not a hostile attitude to the de facto Government of the South and the Federal Government of the North, lay the danger of her being dragged into the conflict; and, as it subsequently. proved, the danger when the war was concluded, of having as a neutral State, not satisfied the requirements of international obligations and international law.

THE TRENT DISPUTE.

At this juncture a crisis arose that roused Mr. Richard into action, for it put closely to the test the pacific utterances of Ministers, and for a brief interval strained to a hair's breath, the peaceful relations between England and the Northern States of America, consequent upon the seizure on the high seas of Messrs. Sliddell and Mason and their associates from the British mail-packet the " Trent,"

by order of Captain Wilkes of the San Jacinto of the United States Navy.

The facts are briefly these: The Government of the South, despatched two ex-Senators of the United States, Sliddell and Mason, the former the author of the Fugitive Slave Land, and the latter of the filibustering system organised by the Confederacy, as ambassadors respectively to France and England; and these two gentlemen embarked from Charleston on a blockade runner, and under cover of the darkness reached Cuba, whence they took passage on board the "Trent," bound for England, viâ St. Thomas, and en route the steamer was over-hauled by the San Jacinto, the ambassadors were arrested, and conveyed back to America and incarcerated in Fort Warren.

Immediately on the facts becoming known, an angry outburst of public opinion was heard, demanding their release at the peril of War. The Minister for Foreign. Affairs, Lord Russell, echoing the National sentiment, in a despatch to the British Minister at Washington, Lord Lyons, declared ;

"That they were taken from on board a British vessel, the ship of a Neutral Power, whilst such vessel was pursuing a lawful and innocent voyage, an act of violence, which was an affront to the British flag and a violation of international law."

This communication was backed up by the despatch of the Guards and other troops to Canada, before a reply to the demand for a surrender of the Envoys to Europe had, or could have been received.

To allay this feverish excitement against the North, and the frantic cry for War, Mr. Richard spared no effort to avert the peril by issuing an Address to the various religious bodies in England, which was a powerful appeal, noble in language and pathetic in tone to the ministers of the Prince of Peace "to stand up amid the storm, and, in the name of their Divine Master, rebuke the raging tempest of human passion."