both the commercial ambition of England and the military aspirations
of France in Mexico hoped to find profit in the event.

ENGLAND'S RECOGNITION OF BELLIGERENCY.

2. This recognition of belligerency in defiance of the known wishes
and interests of the United States, accompanied by the discourteous
refusal to allow a few hours' delay for the reception of the American
minister, was a significant warning to the seceded States that no
respect due to the old Union would long delay the establishment of
new relations, and that they should put forth all their energies
before the embarrassed Administration could concentrate its efforts
in defense of the National life.

3. The recognition of the belligerent flag of the Southern
Confederacy, with the equal right to supplies and hospitality,
guarantied by such recognition, gave to the insurgents facilities
and opportunities which were energetically used, and led to
consequences which belong to a later period of this history, but
the injury and error of which were emphatically rebuked by a judgment
of the most important tribunal that has ever been assembled to
interpret and administer international law.

The demand which naturally followed for a rigid enforcement of the
blockade, imposed a heavy burden upon the Government of the United
States just at the time when it was least prepared to assume such
a burden. Apologists for the unfriendly course of England interpose
the plea that the declaration of blockade by the United States was
in fact a prior recognition of Southern belligerency. But it must
be remembered that when the United States proposed to avoid this
technical argument by closing the insurgent ports instead of
blockading them, Mr. Seward was informed by Lord Lyons, acting in
concert with the French minister, that Her Majesty's Government
"would consider a decree closing the ports of the South actually
in possession of the insurgent or Confederate States, as null and
void, and that they would not submit to measures on the high seas
in pursuance of such decree." Bitterly might Mr. Seward announce
the fact which has sunk deep into the American heart: "It is indeed
manifest in the tone of the speeches, as well as in the general
tenor of popular discussion, that neither the responsible ministers
nor the House of Commons nor the active portion of the people of
Great Britain sympathize with this government, and hope, or even
wish