patronizing
self-complacency, struck the same note as the _Times_. The _Economist_
attributed Lincoln's election to a shift in the sympathies of the "lower
orders" in the electorate who had now deserted their former leaders, the
slave-owning aristocracy of the South, and allied themselves with the
refined and wise leaders of the North. Lincoln, it argued, was not an
extremist in any sense. His plan of action lay within the limits of
statesmanlike moderation[36]. The _Saturday Review_ was less sure that
England should rejoice with the North. British self-esteem had suffered
some hard blows at the hands of the Democratic party in America, but at
least England knew where Democrats stood, and could count on no more
discourtesy or injustice than that inflicted in the past. The Republican
party, however, had no policy, except that of its leader, Seward, and
from him might be expected extreme insolence[37]. This was a very early
judgment of Seward, and one upon which the _Saturday Review_ preened
itself later, as wholly justified. The _Spectator_, the only one of the
four journals thus far considered which ultimately remained constant in
advocacy of the Northern cause, was at first lukewarm in comment,
regarding the 1860 election, while fought on the slavery issue, as in
reality a mere contest between parties for political power[38].

Such was the initial attitude of the English press. Each press issue
for several weeks harped on the same chord, though sounding varying
notes. If the South really means forcible resistance, said the _Times_,
it is doomed to quick suppression. "A few hundred thousand slave-owners,
trembling nightly with visions of murder and pillage, backed by a
dissolute population of 'poor whites,' are no match for the hardy and
resolute populations of the Free States[39]," and if the South hoped for
foreign aid it should be undeceived promptly: "Can any sane man believe
that England and France will consent, as is now suggested, to stultify
the policy of half a century for the sake of an extended cotton trade,
and to purchase the favours of Charleston and Milledgeville by
recognizing what has been called 'the isothermal law, which impels
African labour toward the tropics' on the other side of the
Atlantic[40]?" Moreover all Americans ought to understand clearly that
British respect for the United States "was not due to the attitude of
the South with its ruffian demonstrations in Congress.... All that is
noble a