preciated by the government of the United States, and they
expressed their wish that with our aid the settlement of all
differences between the two governments should be accomplished.
They sent here a plenipotentiary, an honorable gentleman, very
intelligent and possessing general confidence. My noble friend near
me, with great ability, negotiated a treaty for the settlement of
all these claims. He was the first minister who proposed to refer
them to arbitration, and the treaty was signed by the American
government. It was signed, I think, on November 10th, on the eve of
the dissolution of Parliament. The borough elections that first
occurred proved what would be the fate of the ministry, and the
moment they were known in America the American government announced
that Mr. Reverdy Johnson, the American minister, had mistaken his
instructions, and they could not present the treaty to the Senate
for its sanction--the sanction of which there had been previously no
doubt. But the fact is that, as in the case of the Crimean War, it
was supposed that our successors would be favorable to Russian
aggression, so it was supposed that by the accession to office of
Mr. Gladstone and a gentleman you know well, Mr. Bright, the
American claims would be considered in a very different spirit. How
they have been considered is a subject which, no doubt, occupies
deeply the minds of the people of Lancashire. Now, gentlemen,
observe this--the question of the Black Sea involved in the
Crimean War, the question of the American claims involved in our
negotiations with Mr. Johnson, are the two questions that have again
turned up, and have been the two great questions that have been
under the management of his government.

How have they treated them? Prince Gortschakoff, thinking he saw an
opportunity, announced his determination to break from the Treaty of
Paris, and terminate all the conditions hostile to Russia which had
been the result of the Crimean War. What was the first movement on
the part of our government is at present a mystery. This we know,
that they selected the most rising diplomatist of the day and sent
him to Prince Bismarck with a declaration that the policy of Russia,
if persisted in, was war with England. Now, gentlemen, there was
not the slightest chance of Russia going to war with England, and no
necessity, as I shall always maintain, of England going to war with
Russia. I believe I am not wrong in stating that