e _Times_,
forgot its previous dictum that the South was in the control of
"ignorant ruffians," and dilated upon the statemanlike directness and
sagacity of Southern leaders as contrasted with the stupidity of the
North, displayed in its tariff policy[108]. A few journals thought that
the North might eventually win in a prolonged struggle but that such a
victory would be disastrous to the principles of federalism[109], and,
in any case, that this civil war was one without "a noble cause to
sustain either side[110]." By May nearly all the older journals were
aligned on the right of the South to secede, and on the fact of a
successful secession, though still differing as to the basic causes and
essential justice involved. In this same month, however, there emerged a
few vigorous champions of the Northern cause and prospects. In April the
_Spectator_ agreed that the Great Republic was at an end[111]; in May it
urged the North to fight it out with hope, asserting a chance of
ultimate victory because of superior resources and the sympathy of all
European nations[112]. A small newspaper of limited circulation, the
_Morning Star_, organ of John Bright, had from the first championed the
Northern cause. Now, as the armed conflict broke in America, it was
joined by a more important paper, the _Daily News_, which set itself the
task of controverting the _Times_. Moreover the _Daily News_ was all the
more influential in that it was not uncritical of the North, yet
consistently, throughout the war, expressed sympathy for the cause and
principles behind the efforts of the Northern Government. Selling for a
low price, twopence-halfpenny, the _Daily News_, like the _Westminster_
among the Reviews, appealed to a broader and more popular constituency
than the older publications, especially to a constituency not yet vocal,
since still unrepresented, in Parliament[113].

The _Daily News_ was fortunate in having, after 1862, the best-informed
New York correspondent writing to the London press. This was an
Irishman, E.L. Godkin, who, both at home and in America, was the
intimate friend of literary men, and himself, later, a great moulder of
public opinion[114]. Harriet Martineau further aided the _Daily News_ by
contributing pro-Northern articles, and was a power in Radical
circles[115]. But literary England in general, was slow to express
itself with conviction, though Robert Browning, by April, 1861, was
firmly determined in his pro-Northe