Great Britain and the American Civil War | Page 2

the Muniment Room at Old Norfolk House, were used through the courtesy of the Duchess of Norfolk, who now represents her son who is a minor. The Gladstone Papers, preserved at Hawarden Castle, were used through the courtesy of the Gladstone Trustees. The few citations from the Palmerston Papers, preserved at Broadlands, were approved by Lieut.-Colonel Wilfred Ashley, M.P.
The opportunity to study these private papers has been invaluable for my work. Shortly after returning from England in 1913 Mr. Worthington Ford well said: "The inside history of diplomatic relations between the United States and Great Britain may be surmised from the official archives; the tinting and shading needed to complete the picture must be sought elsewhere." (Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, XLVI, p. 478.) Mr. C.F. Adams declared (ibid., XLVII, p. 54) that without these papers "... the character of English diplomacy at that time (1860-1865) cannot be understood.... It would appear that the commonly entertained impressions as to certain phases of international relations, and the proceedings and utterances of English public men during the progress of the War of Secession, must be to some extent revised."
In addition to the new English materials I have been fortunate in the generosity of my colleague at Stanford University, Professor Frank A. Golder, who has given to me transcripts, obtained at St. Petersburg in 1914, of all Russian diplomatic correspondence on the Civil War. Many friends have aided, by suggestion or by permitting the use of notes and manuscripts, in the preparation of this work. I have sought to make due acknowledgment for such aid in my foot-notes. But in addition to those already named, I should here particularly note the courtesy of the late Mr. Gaillard Hunt for facilities given in the State Department at Washington, of Mr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, for the transcript of the Correspondence of Mason and Slidell, Confederate Commissioners in Europe, and of Mr. Charles Moore, Chief of Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, for the use of the Schurz Papers containing copies of the despatches of Schleiden, Minister of the Republic of Bremen at Washington during the Civil War. Especially thanks are due to my friend, Mr. Herbert Hoover, for his early interest in this work and for his generous aid in the making of transcripts which would otherwise have been beyond my means. And, finally, I owe much to the skill and care of my wife who made the entire typescript for the Press, and whose criticisms were invaluable.
It is no purpose of a Preface to indicate results, but it is my hope that with, I trust, a "calm comparison of the evidence," now for the first time available to the historian, a fairly true estimate may be made of what the American Civil War meant to Great Britain; how she regarded it and how she reacted to it. In brief, my work is primarily a study in British history in the belief that the American drama had a world significance, and peculiarly a British one.
EPHRAIM DOUGLASS ADAMS.
November 25, 1924

CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE
CHAPTER PAGE
I. BACKGROUNDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF IMPENDING CONFLICT, 1860-61 . . . 35 III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A POLICY, MAY, 1861 . . . . . . 76 IV. BRITISH SUSPICION OF SEWARD . . . . . . . . . . 113 V. THE DECLARATION OF PARIS NEGOTIATION . . . . . . . 137 VI. BULL RUN; CONSUL BUNCH; COTTON, AND MERCIER . . . . 172 VII. THE "TRENT" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 VIII. THE BLOCKADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 IX. ENTER MR. LINDSAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PART ONE
LORD JOHN RUSSELL . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece From Trevelyan's "Garibaldi and the Making of Italy"
LORD LYONS (1860) . . . . . . . . . facing p. 42 From Lord Newton's "Life of Lord Lyons" (Edward Arnold & Co.)
SIR WILLIAM GREGORY, K.C.M.G. . . . . . " 90 From Lady Gregory's "Sir William Gregory, K.C.M.G.: An Autobiography" (John Murray)
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD . . . . . . . . " 114 From Lord Newton's "Life of Lord Lyons" (Edward Arnold & Co.)
C.F. ADAMS . . . . . . . . . . . " 138 From a photograph in the United States Embassy, London
JAMES M. MASON . . . . . . . . . . " 206 From a photograph by L.C. Handy, Washington
"KING COTTON BOUND" . . . . . . . . " 262 Reproduced by