Chap. XVI. protection, was told that, if he chose to return to the United States, he must do so at his own risk. Note. "Mr. Crutchett, a British subject, married and settled at Washington, having applied to Her Majesty's Government to procure redress for injuries inflicted on his property by the United States' forces, was informed that he must have recourse to the same remedies as any other resident in the United States. "Mr. Gray, a British subject, having been taken in a blockaderunner, was tried by court-martial and condemned to two years' imprisonment. "As he had been for many years a resident in the Southern States, and had taken an active part on behalf of the Confederates, Her Majesty's Government declined to interfere." "Status of Sons of Americans born in British Territory. "In the case of a person named Charles Cole it was decided, in 1864, that the children of American citizens born in British territory, but being in American territory, could not claim the protection of Her Majesty's Government to exempt them from American military service." "Residents in Places under Martial Law. "In July 1864 a question was raised as to the position of British subjects residing at Memphis, then under martial law; and Lord Lyons was instructed to inform them that Great Britain could not interfere with the operation of that law in a foreign State, and that British subjects who wished to secure British protection must discontinue their residence in places under such military control." "Enrolment in New Orleans Police. "A general order was issued at New Orleans on the 30th July, 1864, directing 'neutral foreigners, not being subject to compulsory military service,' to be enrolled as a local police; but Her Majesty's Government did not see any reason to interfere." "Case of Heslop, Boyle, Miss Hill, Jenkins, and Dr. Benson. "Mr. Heslop, a British subject holding landed property in Virginia, and who had been arrested at Baltimore, having requested British protection, Mr. Burnley, then Chargé d'Affaires, was informed that, as the circumstances of the case showed Mr. Heslop's active connection with the Confederates, it was not a case for interference. "A similar decision was arrived at in regard to David Boyle, and to a Miss Hill, arrested at New Orleans. “Dr. Benson, a Canadian, applied for protection against being tried Chap. XVI. by court-martial. As it appeared that he was domiciled in Kentucky and was an army contractor, Her Majesty's Government left him to the operation of the American law." "Proclamation of Penalties on Aliens concerned in Blockade Running. "In March 1865 the President issued a Proclamation imposing the penalty of confinement as prisoners of war upon domiciled aliens and non-resident foreigners, who had been or should have been engaged in violating the blockade, and making the continuance of any person (who might afterwards be decided by martial law to fall within this category) for twelve days in the United States a ground for his detention in military custody until the end of the war. "Lord Lyons was directed to remonstrate strongly against British subjects being thus imprisoned. "It does not appear that the Proclamation was enforced." Note. CHAPTER XVII. Course of the War.-Obstinate Resistance of the South.-Seizure of the Chesapeake and other Ships.-The St. Alban's Raid. Popular Feeling in England.--France proposes Joint Mediation.The British Government declines to concur.-Distress in the English Cotton-manufacturing Districts.-Resentment of the South towards Great Britain.-Fall of the Confederacy, and Conclusion of the War.-Assassination of President Lincoln.-Subsequent Negotiations. WE have now passed in review the chief questions which arose during the war, arranged partly in the order of time, but principally in reference to their connection with one another. Something remains to be said of the struggle itself; of the colour which it assumed as it wore on, and its final close; of the light in which it was regarded in England, and the feelings which her course of action excited in the Government and people of the Confederate States. The shock of arms on the Potomac and the events which immediately followed it rudely dispelled the illusion, cherished to the last moment in the South, that the people of the North-who were thought to be unwarlike, absorbed in the pursuit of gain, and largely dependent for their wealth on Southern industrywould recoil from the attempt to re-conquer a vast territory and numerous population at the frightful cost of a civil war. On the other side it had been hoped that the same terrible calamity, when seen to be inevitable, would daunt the courage of the revolted States; and that the deep attachment to the Union which was believed to animate all Americans would re-assert itself at the last extremity, and bring back the South to its Chap.XVII. allegiance. This hope also vanished not less rapidly, and with it the hallucination, real or assumed, which discerned, or affected to discern, in the revolt a mere ordinary sedition, a transient outbreak of turbulent discontent. Then were seen in the most striking light the sanguine self-reliance and unconquerable elasticity of temperament, the capacity of thoroughly apprehending a great public object, the resolute perseverance and cheerful endurance of disaster and hardship, which are among the features of the American character. The Federal plan of action was simple in itself, though apparently confused by the number of separate armies acting independently of one another, by the great area over which they moved, and by the circumstance-peculiar to America-that this area was parcelled out, not into mere provinces, but into States, to each of which, apart from the rest, its own population clung, and the re-conquest of which, one by one, was a matter of political as well as military importance. To gain possession of the Mississippi-to blockade the whole coast, cut off all foreign trade, and occupy every assailable point on the seaboard-to force back the Confederate armies from the border, wrest from them Tennessee, and thus lay open the heart of the Confederate dominion-to hem them in by these means within a constantly narrowing circle-above all to achieve the conquest of Virginia, and strike a crushing blow at the political centre of the Confederacy-these were the objects which the Government of the United States kept in view from the beginning, and which it attained slowly and painfully, at an immense sacrifice of life, by dint of sheer weight and perseverance. The country to be subdued was of vast extent; a large part of it-broken, hilly, covered with thick forest, and containing few considerable towns -presented peculiar difficulties to an invader; and every natural advantage was turned to account by the Chap.XVII. hardihood and activity of the Confederates, and, more than all, by the generalship of a very great soldier, whose genius for war, joined to a pure and elevated character, shed an extraordinary lustre over the defence of the South. New Orleans surrendered in April 1862; but it was not until the middle of the summer of 1863 that the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi fell into the hands of the North. The struggle for Kentucky and Tennessee was protracted nearly to the end of the war, the Federal forces gaining ground inch by inch with great difficulty, now winning battles, now losing them. During three successive years, great armies, the finest and most completely appointed that the North could bring into the field, and commanded by the Generals who had most distinguished themselves elsewhere, were pushed forward against Richmond, only to be defeated and driven back with heavy loss. In October 1863 Meade was retreating before Lee over the very ground on which M'Dowell had fought the disastrous action of Bull Run more than two years before. Twice the Confederates crossed the Potomac in force, and two pitched battles were fought on Northern soil-the first in Maryland, the second in Pennsylvania. A powerful navy, created by unremitting exertion and at great expense, hovered round the whole Southern coast, and reduced almost every place that could be attacked from the sea; but its strength was spent in vain on Charleston and Wilmington, and Mobile continued to hold out to the last moment, though the forts which protect the harbour were successfully assailed by Farragut in August 1864. The hostility of the South during this period grew more angry and implacable; the military spirit which the actual presence of war seems to awaken even in the most phlegmatic races spread over the country like wildfire; and the sense of a common danger, of sacrifices made and sufferings borne in common, worked its |