Goldwin Smith, whose words during the
conflict were bitter toward the aristocracy, declared that "the
territorial aristocracy of this country and the clergy of the
Established Church" would have been excusable "if they could only have
said frankly that they desired the downfall of institutions opposed to
their own, instead of talking about their sympathy for the weak, and
their respect for national independence, and their anxiety for the
triumph of Free Trade[1398]." This was stated before the democratic hope
in England had been realized. Three years later the same staunch friend
of the North, now removed to America and occupying a chair of history at
Cornell University, wrote of the British aristocracy in excuse of their
attitude: "I fought these men hard; I believed, and believe now, that
their defeat was essential to the progress of civilization. But I
daresay we should have done pretty much as they did, if we had been born
members of a privileged order, instead of being brought up under the
blessed influence of equality and justice[1399]."

Such judgment and such excuses will appear to the historian as
well-founded. But to Americans who conceived the Civil War as one fought
first of all for the preservation of the nation, the issue of democracy
in England seemed of little moment and little to excuse either the "cold
neutrality" of the Government or the tone of the press. To Americans
Great Britain appeared friendly to the dissolution of the Union and the
destruction of a rival power. Nationality was the issue for the North;
that democracy was an issue in America was denied, nor could it, in the
intensity of the conflict, be conceived as the vital question
determining British attitude. The Reform Bill of 1867 brought a new
British nation into existence, the nation decrying American institutions
was dead and a "sister democracy" holding out hands to the United
States had replaced it, but to this the men who had won the war for the
North long remained blind. Not during the generation when Americans,
immersed in a life and death struggle for national existence, felt that
"he who is not for me is against me," could the generally correct
neutrality of the British Government and the whole-hearted support of
Radical England be accepted at their true value to the North. For nearly
half a century after the American Civil War the natural sentiments of
friendship, based upon ties of blood and a common heritage of literature
and