English Friend on the Rebellion in the United States_, p. 23. Boston,
1862.) Also by English friends; Cobden thought Palmerston had
intentionally prolonged British feeling for political purposes.
"Seward's despatch to Adams on the 19th December [_communicated to
Russell_ on the 19th]... virtually settled the matter. To keep alive the
wicked passions in this country as Palmerston and his _Post_ did, was
like the man, and that is the worst that can be said of it." (Morley,
_Cobden_, II, p. 389. To Mr. Paulton, Jan., 1862.)]

[Footnote 455: Davis to Adams. New York. Dec. 21, 1861. C.F. Adams, _The
Trent Affair, (Proceedings_, Mass. Hist. Soc., XLV, p. 107.)]

[Footnote 456: There has crept into American historical writing of
lesser authenticity a story that just at this juncture there appeared,
in the harbours of New York and San Francisco, Russian fleets whose
commanders let it be understood that they had come under "sealed orders"
not to be opened except in a certain grave event and that their presence
was, at least, not an unfriendly indication of Russian sentiment in the
_Trent_ crisis. This is asserted to have bolstered American courage and
to give warrant for the argument that America finally yielded to Great
Britain from no fear of consequences, but merely on a clearer
recognition of the justice of the case. In fact the story is wholly a
myth. The Russian fleets appeared two years later in the fall of 1863,
not in 1861. Harris, _The Trent Affair, _ pp. 208-10, is mainly
responsible for this story, quoting the inaccurate memory of Thurlow
Weed. (_Autobiography_, II, pp. 346-7.) Reliable historians like Rhodes
make no mention of such an incident. The whole story of the Russian
fleets with their exact instructions is told by F. A. Colder, "The
Russian Fleet and the Civil War," _Am. Hist. Rev_., July, 1915.]

[Footnote 457: Weed, _Autobiography_, II, pp. 354-61.]

[Footnote 458: _Ibid._, p. 365. Peabody to Weed, Jan, 17, 1862.]

[Footnote 459: _A Cycle of Adams' Letters_, I, p. 91. Charles Francis
Adams to his son, Dec. 27, 1861.]

[Footnote 460: See _ante_. Ch. IV.]

[Footnote 461: The _Times_, Dec. 25, 1861.]

[Footnote 462: James, _William Wetmore Story and his Friends_, II, pp.
108-9. The letters were sent to Robert Browning, who secured their
publication through Dicey.]

[Footnote 463: C.F. Adams, _The Trent Affair_. Adams to Motley, Dec. 26,
1861. (_Proceedings_, Mass. Hist. Soc., XLV, p. 109).]

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