ough it did not
possess the franchise, this element was not without its influence. The
working classes of the kingdom were able to penetrate the mists that
blinded their superiors in station, and they saw from the beginning that,
whatever the ostensible purpose, the actual result of Northern triumph
would be the end of slavery. It is at once a pathetic and magnificent
fact, that no amount of specious argument, such as was frequently
addressed to him, that no reflection upon his own sufferings, could win
the Lancashire cottonspinner,--starving, because of the shortage in the
great staple of his industry,--from the cause of human freedom.

It is, perhaps, too much to say that the British Ministry had always
inclined to a recognition of the Confederacy. But as the war progressed
and its desperate and extensive character began to be revealed, the
project of some action tending to this end was frequently discussed in
Downing Street. The British premier at this time was Lord Palmerston, and
next in rank to him in the Cabinet was Lord John Russell, Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs. Practised and polished politicians both, they
had been able to adjust their ambitions and predilections in this instance
to mutual satisfaction. But a third member of the Ministry, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer gave them both great concern. William Ewart
Gladstone,--whose genius was then being revealed in full proportion to
the English public,--was too able, too popular, and, above all, too
formidable to be left out of the Coalition Cabinet. But it is well
established that he was regarded with personal dislike and with
professional jealousy by his veteran colleagues. This feeling of animosity
was to lead to a most singular consequence,--one that had a grave bearing
on American affairs.

The stopping by a United States warship of the Royal Mail Steamer _Trent_
in November, 1861, and the removal therefrom of the Confederate envoys,
Mason and Slidell, brought the two countries to the brink of war. Only the
prompt, complete, and skillful disavowal of the American Government served
to avert hostilities, preparations for which had already begun on the part
of Great Britain. The temper and disposition of Her Majesty's Ministry
were plainly shown in the truculent tone of the demand framed by
Russell,--a paper that was adopted by the Cabinet, though Gladstone
suggested some modifications. However, it would have been sent as written,
had not the Quee