America was the policy of Lord John Russell, unhampered by friend
or foe.

This being the case, what did Russell know about the American crisis?
Briefly, no more than has already been stated as derived from the
reports of British officials in the United States, and from the pages of
the public press. The salient facts known to Russell were few. Lincoln's
Cabinet had been named. Lincoln himself was absolutely an unknown
quantity, but it was unbelievable that a man of his origins and history
could be more than a mere figurehead--an opinion then held as widely in
America as in England. But someone must determine American policy, and
by universal consent, this would be Seward.

The new Secretary of State was at the moment better known in England
than any other American statesman, with the possible exception of
Charles Sumner, whose visits and personal contacts had established a
circle of British friendships. Both men were accepted as champions of
anti-slavery, Sumner for his vigorous denunciations and his so-called
"martyrdom" under the physical violence of the South Carolinan, Brooks;
and Seward for his clever political anti-Southern leadership in the
United States Senate. But Seward's reputation in this respect was offset
by the belief that he was anti-British in his personal sentiments, or at
least that he was very ready to arouse for political ends the customary
anti-British sentiment of his Irish constituents in the State of New
York. In 1860, on the occasion of the visit to the United States of the
Prince of Wales, Seward is alleged to have stated to the Duke of
Newcastle that in case he became Secretary of State it would then
"become my duty to insult England, and I mean to do so"--a threat,
whether jocose or not, that aroused much serious and anxious speculation
in British governmental circles[129]. Moreover Seward's reputation was
that of a wily, clever politician, rather unscrupulous in methods which
British politicians professed to disdain--a reputation serving to dim
somewhat, as indeed it did in America also, the sincere idealisms and
patriotism of the statesman. Altogether, Seward was regarded in Great
Britain as a rather dangerous man, yet as the inevitable guiding power
in the new Republican administration.

This estimate was shared by many in the United States also, but not by
all. The new American Minister to London, Charles Francis Adams, himself
a most stiffly upright politician, both regarded Seward