Great Britain and the American Civil War Part 55

(3) _The Spectator_ (Northern).

(4) _The Sat.u.r.day Review_ (Southern).

(5) _The Economist_ (Neutral).

(6) _The Press and St. James' Chronicle_. Small circulation (Southern).

In addition to British newspapers listed above as Northern in sentiment _The Liberator_ names for Great Britain as a whole _Westminster Review, Nonconformist, British Standard, Birmingham Post, Manchester Examiner, Newcastle Chronicle, Caledonian Mercury, Belfast Whig_, and some few others of lesser importance. (_Liberator_, June 30, 1863.) The att.i.tude of the _Manchester Guardian_ seemed to _The Liberator_ to be like that of the _Times_.

[Footnote 1223: _The Index_, April 14, 1864, p. 231.]

[Footnote 1224: August 8, 1864.]

[Footnote 1225: Sept. 3, 1864.]

[Footnote 1226: Sept. 20 and 22, 1864.]

[Footnote 1227: Sept. 24, 1864.]

[Footnote 1228: Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, Sept. 16, 1864.]

[Footnote 1229: General McClellan, the nominee of the convention, modified this in his letter of acceptance.]

[Footnote 1230: Oct. 10, 1864.]

[Footnote 1231: Nov. 10, 1864.]

[Footnote 1232: Nov. 12, 1864.]

[Footnote 1233: _Ibid._]

[Footnote 1234: According to _The Index_, the French press was more divided than was the London press in portrayal of military events in America. The _Siecle_ and the _Opinion Nationale_ pictured Sherman as about to capture Atlanta. Readers of the _Const.i.tutionel, Patrie, Moniteur_, and _La France_ "know quite well that Sherman has neither occupied the centre, the circ.u.mference, nor, indeed, any part of the defences of Atlanta; and that he was completely defeated by General Hood on July 22." (_Index_, Aug. 18, 1864, p. 522.) The Paris correspondent wrote, October 19, after the news was received of Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley:

"The _Siecle_ is triumphant. According to this humanitarian journal, whose sole policy consists in the expression of a double hatred, part of which it bestows on the priests, and part on the slave-dealers, the American contest has a.s.sumed its last phase, the Confederates are running in breathless haste to demand pardon, and true patriotism is at last to meet with its reward. This great and n.o.ble result will be due to the Northern generals, _who have carried military glory to so high a pitch without at the same time compromising American Democracy!_

"Your readers will doubtless consider that the writer of the above lines undertakes to speak on a subject of which he knows nothing; but what will they say of a writer who, in the same journal, thus expresses himself relative to the issues of the coming election?

'Lincoln being elected, the following will be the results: The South will lose courage and abandon the contest; the lands reduced to barrenness by servile labour will be again rendered productive by the labour of the freeman; the Confederates, _who know only how to fight, and who are supported by the sweat of others_, will purify and regenerate themselves by the exercise of their own brains and of their own hands....'

"These strange remarks conclude with words of encouragement to the robust-shouldered, iron-fronted, firm-lipped Lincoln, and prayers for the welfare of the American brethren.

"You will not easily credit it, but this article--a very masterpiece of delirium and absurdity--bears the signature of one of the most eminent writers of the day, M. Henri Martin, the celebrated historian of France.

(_Index_, Oct. 20, 1864, p. 667.)

A week later _The Index_ was vicious in comment upon the "men and money"

pouring out of _Germany_ in aid of the North. German financiers, under the guise of aiding emigration, were engaged in the prosperous business of "selling white-skinned Germans to cut Southern throats for the benefit, as they say, of the poor blacks." (Oct. 27, 1864, p. 685.) This bitter tone was indulged in even by the Confederate Secretary of State.

Benjamin wrote to Slidell, September 20, 1864, that France was wilfully deceiving the South by professions of friends.h.i.+p. The President, he stated, "could not escape the painful conviction that the Emperor of the French, knowing that the utmost efforts of this people are engrossed in the defence of their homes against an atrocious warfare waged by greatly superior numbers, has thought the occasion opportune for promoting his own purposes, at no greater cost than a violation of his faith and duty toward us." (Richardson, II, p. 577.)]

[Footnote 1235: e.g., Meeting of Glasgow Union and Emanc.i.p.ation Society, Oct. 11, 1864. (_The Liberator_, Nov. 4, 1864.)]

[Footnote 1236: Russell Papers, Oct. 24, 1864.]

[Footnote 1237: _Ibid._, Lyons to Russell, Oct. 28, 1864.]

[Footnote 1238: Lyons Papers. Russell to Lyons, Nov. 19, 1864. Lyons reached London December 27, and never returned to his post in America.

Lyons' services to the friendly relations of the United States and Great Britain were of the greatest. He upheld British dignity yet never gave offence to that of America; he guarded British interests but with a wise and generous recognition of the difficulties of the Northern Government.

No doubt he was at heart so unneutral as to hope for Northern success, even though at first sharing in the view that there was small possibility of reunion, but this very hope--unquestionably known to Seward and to Lincoln--frequently eased dangerous moments in the relations with Great Britain, and was in the end a decided a.s.set to the Government at home.]

[Footnote 1239: Nov. 26, 1864.]

[Footnote 1240: Nov. 22, 1864.]

[Footnote 1241: The gradual change in _Punch's_ representation of a silly-faced Lincoln to one which bore the stamp of despotic ferocity is an interesting index of British opinion during the war. By 1864 those who watched his career had come to respect Lincoln's ability and power though as yet wholly unappreciative of his still greater qualities.]

[Footnote 1242: _The Liberator_, Sept. 23, 1864. Letter from T.H. Barker to Garrison, August 27, 1864.]

[Footnote 1243: _Ibid._, Nov. 4, 1864.]

[Footnote 1244: _The Index_, Sept. 29, 1864, p. 618, describing the meeting at Ashton.]

[Footnote 1245: _The Liberator_, Nov. 4, 1864.]

[Footnote 1246: _The Index_, Nov. 3, 1864, p. 699.]

[Footnote 1247: _The Liberator_, Nov. 4, 1864.]

[Footnote 1248: _The Index_, Nov. 10, 1864, p. 713.]

[Footnote 1249: F.O., Am., Vol. 975. Slidell, Mason and Mann to Russell, Nov. 11, 1864, Paris. Replies were received from England, France, Sweden and the Papal States. (Mason Papers, Mason to Slidell, Jan. 4, 1865).]

[Footnote 1250: F.O., Am., Vol. 975. Draft. Russell to the "Commissioners of the so-called Confederate States," Nov. 25, 1864.]

[Footnote 1251: Dec. 1, 1864.]

[Footnote 1252: _A Cycle of Adams' Letters_, II, p. 207. Henry Adams to his brother, Oct. 21, 1864.]

[Footnote 1253: See _ante_, p. 233.]

[Footnote 1254: Nov. 12, 1864.]

[Footnote 1255: Dec. 22, 1864.]

[Footnote 1256: Dec. 26, 1864. But this was in reality a mere "keeping up courage" editorial. See Ch. XVIII, p. 300.]

[Footnote 1257: That this was very effective champions.h.i.+p is shown by Henry Adams' letter to his brother, Dec. 16, 1864. (_A Cycle of Adams'

Letters_, II, p. 232.) "Popular opinion here declares louder than ever that Sherman is lost. People are quite angry at his presumption in attempting such a wild project. The interest felt in his march is enormous, however, and if he arrives as successfully as I expect, at the sea, you may rely upon it that the moral effect of his demonstration on Europe will be greater than that of any other event of the war."]

[Footnote 1258: State Department, Eng, Adams to Seward, Dec. 16, 1864.