so far as to prove its
power to defend and protect itself against the assaults of
enemies, and at the same time to manifest a capacity to
maintain binding relations with foreign nations, then a
measure of recognition could not be justly objected to on any
side. The case was very different when such an interference
should take place, prior to the establishment of the proof
required, as to bring about a result which would not probably
have happened but for that external agency."

This representation by the American Minister, thus early made, contains
the whole argument advanced against the British Proclamation of
Neutrality, though there were many similar representations made at
greater length both by Adams later, and by Seward at Washington. They
are all well summarized by Bernard as "a rejection ... of the
proposition that the existence of war is a simple matter of fact, to be
ascertained as other facts are--and an assertion ... of the dogma that
there can be no war, so far as foreign nations are concerned, and,
therefore, no neutrality, so long as there is a sovereignty _de
jure_[170]." But in this first representation Adams, in the main, laid
stress upon the _haste_ with which the Proclamation of Neutrality had
been issued, and, by inference, upon the evidence that British
sympathies were with the South.

One British journal was, indeed, at this very moment voicing exactly
those opinions advanced by Adams. The _Spectator_ declared that while
the Proclamation, on the face of it, appeared to be one of strict
neutrality, it in reality tended "directly to the benefit of the
South[171]." A fortnight later this paper asserted, "The quarrel, cover
it with cotton as we may, is between freedom and slavery, right and
wrong, the dominion of God and the dominion of the Devil, and the duty
of England, we submit, is clear." She should, even though forced to
declare her neutrality, refuse for all time to recognize the
slave-holding Confederacy[172]. But the _Spectator_ stood nearly alone
in this view. The _Saturday Review_ defended in every respect the issue
of the Proclamation and added, "In a short time, it will be necessary
further to recognize the legitimacy of the Southern Government; but the
United States have a right to require that the acknowledgment shall be
postponed until the failure of the effort which they assert or believe
that they are about to make has resulted in an experime