e; and when I am told that I
should have sympathy for the Northern States of America, I turn in
absolute disgust from their hypocrisy. If there is a sink of political
iniquity, it is at Washington. They are corrupt; they are base; they
are cowardly; they are cruel." This highly indecorous speech was made
in the presence of members of the British Ministry. The Premier, Lord
Palmerston, followed Mr. Roebuck on the floor, calling him his
"honorable and learned friend," and offering neither rebuke nor
objection to the words he had used. On the contrary, with jaunty
recklessness he accused the American Government of secretly and
cunningly recruiting its armies in Ireland, by inducing Irishmen to
emigrate as laborers and "then to enlist in some Ohio regiment or
other, and become soldiers with the chance of plunder, and God knows
what besides."

Lord Robert Cecil, since known as the Marquis of Salisbury, and at
present (1885) Premier of England, only a few months before Mr.
Roebuck's disreputable speech, attacked the Judiciary of the United
States, and told a story so remarkable that it needs no
characterization. "American courts," said his lordship, "are not
free from circumstances of suspicion attaching to them peculiarly.
It might be that in old times judges sat on the American Bench who enjoyed
world-wide reputation, but within the last two or three years the
American tribunals have delivered their decisions under the pressure
of fixed bayonets. The Supreme Court of America two years ago was
applied to for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of the American
Constitution; but the Judges were unable to pronounce the judgment
which their consciences would have prompted them to deliver, _because
the soldiers of President Lincoln, appearing at their doors in arms,
so terrified them that they perverted the law to suit the design of
the Executive_." If his Lordship believed this groundless calumny,
his ignorance concerning the United States would be subject of pity.
If his Lordship did not believe it, the just accusation against him
is too serious to be stated in these pages.

During the first year of the war Lord Robert Cecil had so frankly
expressed his view of the situation and his belief in the gain to
England which would result from the destruction of the American Union,
that his extraordinary madness may at least be said to have had a
method. He was already a prominent member of the party of which he
is now