Great Britain and the American Civil War | Page 2

representative of her father, Mr.
Rollo Russell, his son, having died in 1914. The Lyons Papers,
preserved in 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.