se the war spirit of the nation. Transports loaded with troops were
immediately ordered to Canada; the reserves were called out; the
ordnance factories were set running day and night; while the press of
the nation, and the British minister at Washington, demanded the
immediate release of the captives, and a full apology from the United
States.

The matter was conducted on this side with the utmost diplomacy. We
were undoubtedly in the wrong, and the only thing was to come out with
as little sacrifice of national dignity as possible. The long time
necessary for letters to pass between this country and England was an
important factor in calming the people. Minister Adams said, that, had
the Atlantic cable then been in operation, nothing could have
prevented a war. In the end the demands of Great Britain were acceded
to, and the commissioners proceeded on their way. The last note of the
diplomatic correspondence was a courteous letter from President
Lincoln to the British minister, offering to allow the British troops
_en route_ for Canada to land at Portland, Me., and thus avoid the
long winter's march through New Brunswick. The peaceful settlement of
the affair chagrined the Confederates not a little, as they had hoped
to gain Great Britain as a powerful ally in their fight against the
United States.

Soon after the capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet, the authorities
of the Union again turned their attention in that direction, with the
result of sending the Burnside expedition to Albemarle Sound.

The coast of North Carolina is honeycombed with rivers, inlets, and
lagoons, which open into the two broad sounds known as Pamlico and
Albemarle, and which are protected from the turbulence of the Atlantic
by the long ridge of sand which terminates at Cape Hatteras. While the
capture of the Hatteras forts had given the Union authorities control
of Hatteras Inlet, the chief entrance to the sounds, yet the long,
narrow island was broken by other lesser inlets of a size sufficient
to permit the passage of light-draught steamers. The Confederates had
quite a fleet of swift, light vessels of insignificant armament, often
only a single gun, with which they occasionally made a descent upon
some coaster or merchantman, running close inshore, and dragged her in
as a prize. With these swift steamers, too, they effectually
controlled all navigation of the sounds. But the greatest advantage
that they derived from their control of th