by our Government throughout this difficult
affair was of the highest order. Credit for it has been given to Mr.
Seward, the Secretary of State, by whom the correspondence and
negotiations were conducted. Few men could have managed these details
better; yet the course that was so happily determined on was undoubtedly
due to the good sense and shrewd wisdom of the President. He not only
dictated the policy to be followed by Mr. Seward in his despatches to
the American Minister in London, but the more important documents were
revised and materially altered by Lincoln's own hand. His management of
the Trent affair alone, it has been said, would suffice to establish his
reputation as the ablest diplomatist of the war. Coming, as it did, at a
time when Lincoln was overwhelmed with the burden of home affairs, it
showed the surprising resources of his character. The readiness and
ability with which he met this perilous emergency, in a field in which
he had had absolutely no experience or preparation, was equaled only by
his cool courage and self-reliance in following a course radically
opposed to the prevailing public sentiment, to the views of Congress,
and to the advice of his own Cabinet. The Secretary of the Navy had
hastened to approve officially the act of Captain Wilkes, commander of
the "San Jacinto," and Secretary Stanton "cheered and applauded" it.
Even Mr. Seward, cautious and conservative diplomat as he was, at-first
"opposed any concession or surrender of the prisoners." But Lincoln said
significantly, "_One war at a time_." Events have long since afforded
the most ample vindication of his course in this important matter. He
avoided a foreign war, while at the same time, by committing Great
Britain to the doctrine of "peace between neutrals," gained a
substantial diplomatic victory over that government.

An excellent account of the circumstances of the Trent affair is given
by Benson J. Lossing, the author and historian, who was in Washington
when the events occurred. "The act of Captain Wilkes," says Mr. Lossing,
"was universally applauded by all loyal Americans, and the land was
filled with rejoicings because two of the most mischievous men among the
enemies of the Government were in custody. For the moment, men did not
stop to consider the law or the expediency involved in the act. Public
honors were tendered to Captain Wilkes, and resolutions of thanks were
passed by public bodies. The Secretary of the Navy wr