bia was defeated, and that the results of the war were
for a time secured. The congress was eager to turn to other subjects,
and perhaps the most important result of its deliberations was the
celebrated Declaration of the Maritime Powers, which abolished
privateering, defined the right of blockade, and limited the right of
capture to enemy's property in enemy's ships. Lord Clarendon has been
accused of an abandonment of what are termed the belligerent rights of
Great Britain, which were undoubtedly based on the old maritime laws of
Europe. But he acted in strict conformity with the views of the British
cabinet, and the British cabinet adopted those views because it was
satisfied that it was not for the benefit of the country to adhere to
practices which exposed the vast mercantile interests of Britain to
depredation, even by the cruisers of a secondary maritime power, and
which, if vigorously enforced against neutrals, could not fail to
embroil her with every maritime state in the world.

Upon the reconstitution of the Whig administration in 1859, Lord John
Russell made it a condition of his acceptance of office under Lord
Palmerston that the foreign department should be placed in his own
hands, which implied that Lord Clarendon should be excluded from office,
as it would have been inconsistent alike with his dignity and his tastes
to fill any other post in the government. The consequence was that from
1859 till 1864 Lord Clarendon remained out of office, and the critical
relations arising out of the Civil War in the United States were left to
the guidance of Earl Russell. But he re-entered the cabinet in May 1864
as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; and upon the death of Lord
Palmerston in 1865, Lord Russell again became prime minister, when Lord
Clarendon returned to the foreign office, which was again confided to
him for the third time upon the formation of Mr Gladstone's
administration in 1868. To the last moment of his existence, Lord
Clarendon continued to devote every faculty of his mind and every
instant of his life to the public service; and he expired surrounded by
the boxes and papers of his office on the 27th of June 1870. No man owed
more to the influence of a generous, unselfish and liberal disposition.
If he had rivals he never ceased to treat them with the consideration
and confidence of friends, and he cared but little for the ordinary
prizes of ambition in comparison with the advancement of the caus