at statement, I will get my
friend, Mr. Russell, the editor of the _Scotsman_, to publish it in his
paper." I did so and sent it to the care of Dr. Brown. On the following
Sabbath afternoon I attended the great prayer meeting in the Free Church
Assembly Hall, and Sir James Simpson was to preside. There was a crowd
of over a thousand people present. Simpson did not come, and so some
other elder occupied the chair. During the meeting I arose and modestly
asked that prayer might be offered for my country in this hour of her
peril and distress. There was an awful silence! In a few moments the
chairman meekly said: "Perhaps our American friend will offer the prayer
himself." I did so, for it was evident that all the Scotchmen present
considered our cause past praying for.

On the morning of our departure my letter appeared in the _Scotsman_
accompanied by a long and bitter reply by the editor. Within a week
several of the Scotch newspapers were in full cry, denouncing that
"bloody Presbyterian minister from America."

After a hurried run to Switzerland I reached Paris in time to witness
the celebration of the imperial birthday and to see Louis Napoleon
review the splendid army of Italy with great pomp, on the Champs des
Mars. It was a magnificent spectacle. That day Mr. Slidell, the
representative of the Southern Confederacy, hung on the front of his
house an immense white canvas on which was inscribed: "Jefferson Davis,
the First President of the Confederate States of America." Our
ambassador, Hon. William L. Dayton, was a relative of mine, and I had
several conversations with him about the perilous situation of affairs
at home. Dayton said: "Our prospects are dark enough. All the monarchs
and aristocracies are against us; all the cotton and commercial
interests are against us. Emperor Louis Napoleon is a sphinx, but he
would like to help to acknowledge the Southern Confederacy. If he does
so Belgium and other powers will join him; they will break the blockade;
they will supply the Confederates with arms and then we must fight
Europe as well as the Southern States. Our only real friends are men
like John Bright, and those who believe that we are fighting for freedom
as well as for our National Union. Mr. Lincoln must declare for
emancipation and unless he does it within thirty days, I have written
to Mr. Seward that our cause is lost."

I returned to London with a heavy heart; all of our friends there with
whom I convers