m
all the land there went up one general expression of sympathy. The
seriousness of the situation appears in the fact that the State of
Virginia felt obliged to call out a large number of troops on the day
of his execution to quell any popular disturbance. The day of the
execution was Friday, and as the audience crowded the room, it was easy
to see that there was but one thought in the minds of all. Mr. Beecher
came in and took his seat upon the platform, a strange and unusual
expression on his face, indicating the intensity of the feeling within.
After one or two short prayers, and a couple of hymns, one after another
gave expression to his sorrow and amazement at the condition of things
between the North and the South, and through all there was manifest the
conviction that war and bloodshed were sure to come. The meeting was
long and earnest, showing the deep impression made on the people of the
church.

_MR. BEECHER IN ENGLAND_

The most critical time for the North during the Civil War was when it
was thought that England would recognise the Southern Confederacy. The
close relations between the cotton manufacturers of England and the vast
cotton producers of the South created a public sentiment in England in
favour of the slave states. The feeling on both sides was intensified by
the "Trent Affair." Two Confederate envoys, sent to Europe to secure the
recognition of the Confederacy, were taken from the British steamship
_Trent_ by a United States man-of-war. Great Britain, which had
declared neutrality and thus granted the Confederacy the rights of
belligerents, demanded their surrender. Feeling in the North ran very
high, and there were most vigorous protests against yielding to the
English demands. The President and his advisers, however, realising that
the arrest of the two envoys tallied very closely with the English
actions that had brought on the War of 1812, concluded that it was wiser
to avoid so far as possible any occasion for interference on the part of
Europe, and returned the envoys. Their arrival in England and their
setting forth of their side of the conflict was a signal for a great
increase of hostility to the North, and the pressure from the industrial
centres became so great that probably only the steadfast friendship for
the North of the Queen's husband, Prince Albert, averted what would most
certainly have been a great calamity. Even Mr. Gladstone had expressed
his conviction that the s