s surmises were being made even in England, as to
Russian intentions, though there is no evidence that the Government was
at all concerned. The truth was that the Russian fleet had been ordered
to sea as a precaution against easy destruction in Baltic waters, in
case the difficulties developing in relation to Poland should lead to
war with France and England[991].

In England, among the people rather than in governmental England, a
feeling was beginning to manifest itself that the Ministry had been lax
in regard to the _Alabama_, and as news of her successes was received
this feeling was given voice. Liverpool, at first almost wholly on the
side of the Lairds and of Southern ship-building, became doubtful by
the very ease with which the _Alabama_ destroyed Northern ships.
Liverpool merchants looked ahead and saw that their interests might,
after all, be directly opposed to those of the ship-builders. Meetings
were held and the matter discussed. In February, 1863, such a meeting at
Plaistow, attended by the gentry of the neighbourhood, but chiefly by
working men, especially by dock labourers and by men from the
ship-building yards at Blackwall, resolved that "the Chairman be
requested to write to the Prime Minister of our Queen, earnestly
entreating him to put in force, with utmost vigilance, the law of
England against such ships as the _Alabama_[992]." Such expressions were
not as yet widespread, nor did the leading papers, up to April, indulge
in much discussion, but British _doubt_ was developing[993].

Unquestionably, Russell himself was experiencing a renewed doubt as to
Britain's neutral duty. On March 23, he made a speech in Parliament
which Adams reported as "the most satisfactory of all the speeches he
has made since I have been at this post[994]." On March 26, came the
presentation by Adams of Seward's instruction of which Russell wrote to
Lyons as made in no unfriendly tone and as a result of which Adams
wrote: "The conclusion which I draw ... is, that the Government is
really better disposed to exertion, and feels itself better sustained
for action by the popular sentiment than ever before[995]." Russell told
Adams that he had received a note from Palmerston "expressing his
approbation of every word" of his speech three days before. In a portion
of the despatch to Seward, not printed in the Diplomatic Correspondence,
Adams advised against the issue of privateers, writing, "In the present
favourable state of