agnitude and horrors of the war
startled English onlookers, the odium, in the opinion of many, attached
to the North: a view which, though it might not stand the test of strict
investigation, or of a severe discussion of principles and provocations,
was superficially maintainable, and not to be anyhow argued out of all
plausibility. "The South is defensive, and the North aggressive," one
disputant might say. "Yes," would be the reply, "at this stage of the
contest; but ascend a step higher, and it is the South which made an
aggression on the Union, and the North is defending that." "Still, the
North might have abstained from defending it, and might have said,
'Wayward sisters, go in peace!'" "It might; but it saw good reason for
saying the reverse." "Still, it might." This seems a fair enough
statement of the case between North and South, so far as the mere
question of fact as to responsibility for the war is concerned. Beyond
this, one must go to the larger questions, whether any causes justify
war, and whether this individual cause was one of them,--questions, as I
have said, to which the English mind tends to return a negative answer,
save when England herself is affected. The very men who could least see
a pretext for a war by the Federal people against the seceded States
were those who would most eagerly have rushed into a war to sustain the
British claim in the Trent affair.

Lastly, there was a generous and an especially English motive for
anti-Northern partisanship,--the feeling of sympathy with the weaker
side, which was unmistakably the Southern; a generous motive, but not to
be trusted too far in deciding between any two litigants. Besides the
mere inferiority of strength, the splendid valor and enterprising spirit
of the South stirred the British heart and blood, and commanded
numberless good wishes; while, for some time after the first battle of
Bull Run, a prejudice, not readily amenable to reasoning, clung around
the Northern arms, and impeded many from doing full relative justice to
the military temper and prowess of the Unionists. There was, moreover, a
very widespread impression that the North was carrying on the war
chiefly by means of mercenaries,--Germans, Irishmen, and "the
offscourings of Europe," as the uncomplimentary phrase ran,--who
enlisted for the sake of the bounty, and were equally prompt at
exhibiting their indifferentism to the grave issues at stake and their
blackguardism in dealing wit