many thousands of hardy seamen, and it was the proud boast of every American that the national flag floated on every sea and was displayed in almost every port of the globe. When we reflect that this great industry has never recovered from that destructive blow, and that it was brought about by the criminal failure of the British authorities to observe the principles of international law and their own domestic statutes, it is little wonder that resentment at the wrong has not become wholly extinct.

While the news of the devastating work in all waters of the British-built Confederate cruisers was being received in England and America, authentic intelligence was brought to Mr. Adams that the British sympathizers with the rebellion, not satisfied with the severe blow they had already inflicted upon the Union cause, were preparing a still more deadly measure of attack. Contracts had been entered upon with the builders of the Alabama for the construction of two powerful ironclad rams, designed to raise the blockade of the Southern ports and put in peril the Northern seaboard cities. Bulloch, the intelligent agent having the construction of these vessels in charge, wrote the secretary of the navy at Richmond that with them he expected to sweep the blockading fleet from the sea-front of every harbor," ascend the Potomac, render Washington untenable, and lay the Northern cities under contribution.1 Captain Page, who had been detailed by the Confederate government to command the vessels, has recently stated that it was his purpose to sail at once to Wil

1 1 Bulloch's Secret Service of the Confederate States, 411.

of discharging his plain duty, he referred the the law officers of the crown.

papers to

Meanwhile, No. 290, christened the Alabama, was being as rapidly as possible prepared for sea. Six days elapsed before the law officers gave their opinion, on July 29, that without loss of time the vessel should be seized. On that very morning the Alabama left her ' dock and went down the Mersey, under the pretense of a trial trip, with a party of Confederate sympathizers on board. The party returned on a tug, but the Alabama went to sea flying the British flag, and after taking on board in the Azores her armament, she entered upon her career of devastation.1

She was built with British money, under a Confederate loan, in a British port, armed with British guns, manned by British seamen, frequently displayed the British flag, and was given a hearty welcome in British ports throughout the world. At a meeting in Oxford, England, a few months later, Professor Goldwin Smith said: "No nation ever inflicted upon another a more flagrant or more maddening wrong. No nation with English blood in its veins had ever borne such a wrong without resentment." 2

Within a year it and its sister cruisers had swept the American shipping from the seas.3 At the opening of the Civil War, this shipping was second in the world's commerce, and was pressing the British mercantile marine with a sharp competition. It was a source of great national wealth, furnished employment to

1 For official correspondence, Dip. Cor. 1862, pp. 128, 149, 162. 2 London News, April 8, 1863.

3 12 Sumner's Works, 77.

many thousands of hardy seamen, and it was the proud boast of every American that the national flag floated on every sea and was displayed in almost every port of the globe. When we reflect that this great industry has never recovered from that destructive blow, and that it was brought about by the criminal failure of the British authorities to observe the principles of international law and their own domestic statutes, it is little wonder that resentment at the wrong has not become wholly extinct.

While the news of the devastating work in all waters of the British-built Confederate cruisers was being received in England and America, authentic intelligence was brought to Mr. Adams that the British sympathizers with the rebellion, not satisfied with the severe blow they had already inflicted upon the Union cause, were preparing a still more deadly measure of attack. Contracts had been entered upon with the builders of the Alabama for the construction of two powerful ironclad rams, designed to raise the blockade of the Southern ports and put in peril the Northern seaboard cities. Bulloch, the intelligent agent having the construction of these vessels in charge, wrote the secretary of the navy at Richmond that with them he expected to "sweep the blockading fleet from the sea-front of every harbor," ascend the Potomac, render Washington untenable, and lay the Northern cities under contribution.1 Captain Page, who had been detailed by the Confederate government to command the vessels, has recently stated that it was his purpose to sail at once to Wil

1 1 Bulloch's Secret Service of the Confederate States, 411.

mington, to raise the blockade there and at Charleston, thence proceed to the gulf ports, and cut off all water communications with New Orleans. He adds: "I had at the time perfect confidence in my ability to accomplish my purpose, and I now [1898] believe, in the light of what I have since learned, that if the rams had been permitted to leave England I would have been successful." 1

In the light of these declarations, it is seen that a great danger menaced the Union cause, and our indefatigable minister in London might well be concerned for the result of his efforts to avert it. In order to secure the funds for the construction of the rams a Confederate loan for £3,000,000 was openly put upon the London market, secured by a pledge of cotton, and was readily and largely oversubscribed at better figures than United States government bonds could command. A noble peer boasted in the House of Lords: "Is the issue doubtful? The capitalists of London, Frankfort, Paris, Amsterdam, are not of that opinion. Within the last few days the Southern loan has reached the highest place in our market. £3,000,000 were required; £9,000,000 were subscribed for." This loan was made the subject of a remonstrance by Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, but to no purpose.2

A debate which occurred in the House of Commons, March 27, 1863, had an ominous aspect for the North. Forster called attention to the construction and departure of the Alabama, and the solicitor-general contended that the government was without blame. John Bright 2 Dip. Cor. 1863, p. 239.

14 Rhodes's U. S. 385, note.

charged that a Confederate cruiser had just been launched at Liverpool, and that the two ironclad rams were intended for the same purpose. The Prime Minister closed the debate and treated the American grievances with indifference, as will be seen from this statement in reply to Forster and Bright: "Whenever any political party, whether in or out of office in the United States, finds itself in difficulties, it raises a cry against England as a means of creating what in American language is called political capital. . . The solicitor-general has demonstrated, indisputably, that the Americans have no cause of complaint against us."1 Mason, the Confederate commissioner, wrote to Richmond: "It was felt on all hands that the debate was a most damaging one to the arrogance of the Yankee pretensions." ." The feeling of the friends of the North in England was that the debate meant war.3

The summer of 1863 was filled with anxiety for Mr. Adams. The work on the Confederate ironclads went on apace, and as fast and as often as he could obtain evidence as to their purpose and destination, he addressed the Foreign Office on the subject. The published correspondence of the Department of State shows how industrious he was in this respect. So pressing and embarrassing were the efforts of Mr. Adams, that the Confederate agents found it necessary to take measures to disguise their purpose, and the services of a French firm were enlisted to this end. A contract was

1 For report of debate, Dip. Cor. 1863, p. 164. 2 March 30, 1863, Confederate Dip. Cor. MS. 3 4 Rhodes's U. S. 369.

4 Dip. Cor. 1865, pp. 82-341.