he _spirit_ of all of Mr.
Lincoln's acts is altogether against Slavery in the end[492]." He
assured Story that the latter was in error "as to men's 'fury' here": "I
have not heard one man, woman or child express anything but dismay at
the prospect of being obliged to go to war on any grounds with
America[493]." And after the affair was over he affirmed: "The purpose
of the North is also understood at last; ... there is no longer the
notion that 'Slavery has nothing to do with it[494].'"

A few extreme pro-Northern enthusiasts held public meetings and passed
resolutions commending the "statesmanlike ability and moderation of
Seward," and rejoicing that Great Britain had not taken sides with a
slave power[495]. In general, however, such sentiments were not
_publicly_ expressed. That they were keenly felt, nevertheless, is
certain. During the height of the crisis, Anthony Trollope, then touring
America, even while sharing fully in the intense British indignation
against Captain Wilkes, wrote:

"These people speak our language, use our prayers, read our
books, are ruled by our laws, dress themselves in our image,
are warm with our blood. They have all our virtues; and their
vices are our own too, loudly as we call out against them.
They are our sons and our daughters, the source of our
greatest pride, and as we grow old they should be the staff
of our age. Such a war as we should now wage with the States
would be an unloosing of hell upon all that is best upon the
world's surface[496]."

The expressions of men like Browning and Trollope may not indeed, be
regarded as typical of either governmental or general public reactions.
Much more exactly and with more authority as representing that
thoughtful opinion of which Adams wrote were the conclusions of John
Stuart Mill. In an article in _Fraser's Magazine_, February, 1862,
making a strong plea for the North, he summarized British feeling about
the _Trent_:

"We had indeed, been wronged. We had suffered an indignity,
and something more than an indignity, which, not to have
resented, would have been to invite a constant succession of
insults and injuries from the same and from every other
quarter. We could have acted no otherwise than we have done;
yet it is impossible to think, without something like a
shudder, from what we have escaped. We, the emancipators of
the slave--who have wearie