er, who insisted on enlisting men in the United
States for service in the Crimean War, an act which pales into
insignificance in comparison with some of the things which Bernstorff
did during the early stages of the Great War.

Relations between the United States and England during the American
Civil War involved so many highly technical questions that it is
impossible to do more than touch upon them in the present connection.
Diplomatic discussions centred about such questions as the validity of
the blockade established by President Lincoln, the recognition by
England of Confederate belligerency, the _Trent_ affair, and the
responsibility of England for the depredations committed by the
_Alabama_ and other Confederate cruisers. When the United States first
demanded reparation for the damage inflicted on American commerce by
the Confederate cruisers, the British Government disclaimed all
liability on the ground that the fitting out of the cruisers had not
been completed within British jurisdiction. Even after the close of
the war the British Government continued to reject all proposals for a
settlement. The American nation, flushed with victory, was bent on
redress, and so deep-seated was the resentment against England, that
the Fenian movement, which had for its object the establishment of an
independent republic in Ireland, met with open encouragement in this
country. The House of Representatives went so far as to repeal the law
forbidding Americans to fit out ships for belligerents, but the Senate
failed to concur. The successful war waged by Prussia against Austria
in 1866 disturbed the European balance, and rumblings of the
approaching Franco-Prussian war caused uneasiness in British cabinet
circles. Fearing that if Great Britain were drawn into the conflict
the American people might take a sweet revenge by fitting out
"Alabamas" for her enemies, the British Government assumed a more
conciliatory attitude, and in January, 1869, Lord Clarendon signed with
Reverdy Johnson a convention providing for the submission to a mixed
commission of all claims which had arisen since 1853. Though the
convention included, it did not specifically mention, the _Alabama_
Claims, and it failed to contain any expression of regret for the
course pursued by the British Government during the war. The Senate,
therefore, refused by an almost unanimous vote to ratify the
arrangement.

When Grant became President, Hamilton Fish rene