ose one achievement
should be the revival and extension of English commercial power on
this continent. When the end came, Mr. Benjamin did not share the
disasters and sacrifices with the sincere and earnest men whom he had
done so much to mislead, and to whom he was bound in an especial manner
by the tie which unites the victims of a common calamity. Instead of
this magnanimous course which would in part have redeemed his
wrong-doing, Mr. Benjamin took quick refuge under the flag to whose
allegiance he was born. He left America with the full consciousness
that to the measure of his ability, which was great, he had inflicted
injury upon the country which had sheltered and educated him, and
which had opened to him the opportunity for that large personal
influence which he had used so discreditably to himself and so
disastrously to the cause he espoused.

Mr. Benjamin became a resident of London and subsequently won
distinction at the English Bar--rising to the eminence of Queen's
counsel. His ability and learning were everywhere recognized, but it
was at the same time admitted that he owed much of his success to the
sympathy and the support of that preponderating class among British
merchants who cordially wished and worked for our destruction,--who,
covertly throughout the entire civil conflict, and openly where safe
opportunity was presented, did all in their power to embarrass and
injure the Union. If Mr. Benjamin had been loyal, and had honorably
observed the special oath which he had taken to maintain and defend
the Constitution, he might in vain have sought the patronage of that
large number of Englishmen who enriched him with generous retainers.
No one grudged to Mr. Benjamin the wages of his professional work, the
reward of ability and industry; but the manner in which he was lauded
into notoriety in London, the effort constantly made to lionize and to
aggrandize him, were conspicuous demonstrations of hatred to our
Government, and were significant expressions of regret that Mr.
Benjamin's treason had not been successful. Those whom he served
either in the Confederacy or in England in his efforts to destroy the
American Union may eulogize him according to his work; but every
citizen of the Great Republic, whose loyalty was unswerving, will
regard Mr. Benjamin as a foe in whom malignity was unrelieved by a
single trace of magnanimity.

The Confederates had failed in war, but their leaders had not the moral