before a judicial tribunal rather than resort to the arbitrament
of the sword.--GLADSTONE.(254)

I

One morning in the summer of 1862 a small wooden sloop, screw and steam,
of a little over a thousand tons register dropped slowly down the waters
of the Mersey. The decks were rough and unfinished, but guests on board
with bright costumes made a gay picture, flags were flying, and all wore
the look of a holiday trial trip. After luncheon in the cabin, the scene
suddenly changed. At a signal from the vessel a tug came alongside, the
cheerful visitors to their surprise were quickly transferred, and the
sloop made off upon her real business. She dropped anchor in a bay on the
coast of Anglesey, where she took twenty or thirty men mostly English on
board from a tug sent after her from Liverpool, with or without the
knowledge of the officials. Thence she sailed to the Azores, where a
steamer from London and a steamer from Liverpool brought officers,
armaments, and coal. As soon as these were trans-shipped, the British
ensign was hauled down, the Confederate flag run up, and the captain
opened sealed orders directing him to sink, burn, or destroy, everything
that flew the ensign of the so-called United States of America. These
orders the captain of the rover faithfully executed, and in a few months
the _Alabama_--for that was henceforth her memorable name--had done much to
sweep the commercial marine of America from the ocean.

(M129) On the day on which she sailed (July 29), the government made up
its mind that she should be detained, on the strength of affidavits that
had been almost a week in their hands. The bird of prey had flown. The
best definition of due diligence in these matters would seem to be, that
it is the same diligence and exactness as are exercised in proceedings
relating to imposts of excise or customs. We may guess how different would
have been the vigilance of the authorities if a great smuggling operation
had been suspected. This lamentable proceeding, for which the want of
alacrity and common sense at the foreign office and the bias or blundering
of the customs agents at Liverpool, may divide the grave discredit, opened
a diplomatic campaign between England and the United States that lasted as
long as the siege of Troy, and became an active element in the state of
moral war that prevailed during that time between the two kindred
communities. Mr. Gladstone, like other members of the Palmerston