minated Jefferson Davis as their President,
Abraham Lincoln having been previously elected as the new President
of the United States. The first shot had been fired, on the 9th of
January, in Charleston Harbour, where a Secessionist battery opened
its guns on a vessel sent by the Federal Government to reinforce Fort
Sumter. In April, the Confederate troops attacked the Fort, which
was compelled to surrender, whereupon President Lincoln issued a
proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers; President Davis replied
by issuing (in default of an official fleet) letters of marque to
privately owned vessels, and Lincoln declared the Southern ports in
a state of blockade. In May, Lord John Russell announced that the
British Government would recognise the South as a belligerent power,
and a proclamation of neutrality was issued. At Bull Run, on the
21st of July, the Federals were defeated, and fled in confusion to
Washington. Hostilities continued during the year, and Great Britain
was nearly involved in war, by the seizure, on the 8th of November, by
the captain of a Federal vessel, the _San Jacinto_, of Messrs Slidell
and Mason, the envoys accredited by the Confederate States to Great
Britain and France. This high-handed action was taken while the envoys
in question were passengers to Europe, by the British mail steamer
_Trent_, between Havana and St Thomas, and the public mind of Great
Britain was greatly excited in consequence; but eventually the envoys
were transferred to a British ship-of-war, and arrived in Great
Britain, not, however, until in view of a threatened aggression on
British North America, troops had been despatched from England to
strengthen the Canadian garrisons on the frontier. The despatch
of Lord Russell to the American Government, which led to a pacific
result, had been revised by Prince Albert, in the direction of leaving
open to that Government an honourable retreat from the aggressive
attitude they had taken up; the Prince's action in this respect, the
beneficial effect of which it would be difficult to exaggerate,
was destined to be the last of a long series of political services
rendered to this country.

It had become apparent in the autumn that Prince Albert's normal
health was impaired, and in November he began to suffer from
persistent insomnia; towards the end of the month the fever originated
which was to prove fatal to him. He suffered at first from rheumatic
pains and constant weakness, unti