empt were
made by the Government in any way to commit us to the South, a spirit
would be instantly aroused which would drive that Government from
power."

I lay emphasis at this point upon these instances (many more could
be given) because it has been the habit of most Americans to say that
England stopped being hostile to the North as soon as the North began
to win. In January, 1863, the North had not visibly begun to win. It had
suffered almost unvaried defeat so far; and the battles of Gettysburg
and Vicksburg, where the tide turned at last our way, were still six
months ahead. It was from January 1, 1863, when Lincoln planted our
cause firmly and openly on abolition ground, that the undercurrent
of British sympathy surged to the top. The true wonder is, that this
undercurrent should have been so strong all along, that those English
sympathizers somehow in their hearts should have known what we were
fighting for more clearly than we had been able to see it; ourselves.
The key to this is given in Beecher's letter--it is nowhere better
given--and to it I must now return.

"I soon perceived that my first error was in supposing that Great
Britain was an impartial spectator. In fact, she was morally an actor in
the conflict. Such were the antagonistic influences at work in her own
midst, and the division of parties, that, in judging American affairs
she could not help lending sanction to one or the other side of her own
internal conflicts. England was not, then, a judge, sitting calmly on
the bench to decide without bias; the case brought before her was her
own, in principle, and in interest. In taking sides with the North, the
common people of Great Britain and the laboring class took sides with
themselves in their struggle for reformation; while the wealthy and the
privileged classes found a reason in their own political parties
and philosophies why they should not be too eager for the legitimate
government and nation of the United States.

"All classes who, at home, were seeking the elevation and political
enfranchisement of the common people, were with us. All who studied
the preservation of the state in its present unequal distribution of
political privileges, sided with that section in America that were doing
the same thing.

"We ought not to be surprised nor angry that men should maintain
aristocratic doctrines which they believe in fully as sincerely,
and more consistently, than we, or many amongst us do, in