The news came like a thunder-clap on the feverishly expectant people of the North. The suspense of the last three months had seriously interfered with trade, and painfully affected all classes with a sense of uncertainty and insecurity. Now there must be no more parleying or coaxing; the flag of the Union had been fired at—had been lowered—it must be raised again at all hazards. Mr. Lincoln, justly interpreting the general sentiment, issued on the 15th of April a proclamation calling out the militia in all the loyal States of the Union, to the number of 75,000 men, in order to put down certain "combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings," which were obstructing the execution of the laws in the seven seceded States. The men of the Free States hastened to obey the call, and to send regiments of militia to Washington to defend the national capital. But upon the Slave States that had not yet seceded the effect of Mr. Lincoln's appeal was very different. The Governors of these States—Maryland, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky—flatly, and in most cases indignantly, refused to call out troops for any such purpose as that indicated by Mr. Lincoln's proclamation. And, since neutrality for communities situated between the North and the seceded States became every day more difficult, and the common interest of slaveholding strongly impelled the leading men in the border States to throw in their lot with their seceded brethren, it was not long before all the States above-named, with the exception of Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky, adopted ordinances of secession and voted themselves out of the Union, and Missouri afterwards did the same. Besides calling out 75,000 of the militia, Mr. Lincoln, by his proclamation of the 19th of April, declared the ports of all the seceding States to be in a state of blockade, and that any vessel attempting, after being once warned, to violate such blockade, would be captured and sent into a Federal port for adjudication before a prize court. By a supplementary proclamation of the 27th of April the blockade was extended to the ports of Northern Virginia.

These proceedings, as soon as they became known in Europe, formed the subject of anxious consideration with the British Government. The Cabinet determined on a proclamation of neutrality, which appeared in the London Gazette of the 14th of May. It began by taking notice that "hostilities had unhappily commenced between the Government of the United States of America and certain States styling themselves the Confederate States of America;" announced the Queen's determination "to maintain a strict and impartial neutrality in the contest between the said contending parties," and commanded her subjects to observe a like neutrality. The substantial part of it was the public declaration that, in the judgment of the Executive, a state of war existed, with all those incidents that are attached to a state of war by the law of nations. The "incident" most interesting to British subjects was the now recognised liability to capture and condemnation of any British vessel going to Charleston for cotton, or taking hardware to New Orleans. A few days afterwards (June 1st) an Order in Council was adopted, interdicting the vessels of war or privateers of either belligerent from carrying prizes into any British port, at home or in the colonies. The operation of this order, the adoption or nonadoption of which was entirely optional with the British Government, was exclusively favourable to the Federals, since any prizes taken by their cruisers could be carried into their own ports; whereas a Confederate captain, after taking a prize, his own ports being blockaded and British ports not open to him, had no alternative between taking a bond from her master, the future liquidation of which was highly problematical, and destroying his prize at sea. France and the other Maritime Powers quickly followed the example of Great Britain, both as regarded neutrality and the disposal of prizes (except that France allowed a captor to bring his prize into a French port, but not to sell it there); so that the Confederates soon found out that privateering was unprofitable and abandoned it. The captures and destructions of which we heard so much during the remainder of the war were all made by commissioned cruisers of the Confederate navy. The attitude of the British Government pleased neither party. The North thought, on the one hand, that even belligerent rights should not have been conceded to the seceding States. The South argued that the independence of a large and important country might fairly have been recognised. Their cause gained advocates from the result of the first campaign; the raw levies of the North were defeated in the battle of Bull Run towards the end of July, and for the next two months the forces of the South appeared to be entirely triumphant. The blockade of the Southern ports had, moreover, entailed a terrible cotton famine in Lancashire, and the Government was earnestly pressed by many competent persons to recognise the South and break the blockade. Mr. Gladstone gave expression to a prevalent feeling, when in a famous speech at Manchester he declared that Jefferson Davis had made an army, a navy, more than that a nation. The Emperor Napoleon was early in the field with remonstrances against the policy of Lord John Russell, and there was a moment when even Lord Palmerston wavered. Fortunately the Foreign Secretary stood firm, and declined to be a party to any intervention of the Foreign Powers in the contest, and his prudence was thoroughly justified by the transient character of the Confederate successes.

Meanwhile the conduct of the Federal Government, though high-handed at first, averted a menacing peril, which, had it fallen upon them, might have been fatal to all their plans of conquest, gigantic as they were. The Confederate Government, being desirous of sending accredited representatives to the principal nations of Europe, appointed Messrs. Mason and Slidell on a special mission to the Governments of Great Britain and France. The real object of this mission, it was well understood, was to obtain recognition for the new State, or, at least, to pave the way for recognition. To the Northern Americans and their Government the thought of this was intolerably exasperating. There is a well-known maxim of Sir William Scott's that "you may stop your enemy's ambassador on his passage." Fortifying themselves with this, and forgetting in their haste to inquire into the exact nature of the circumstances to which the dictum applied, and in defiance of the advice of their legal officers, the American Government gave orders to its naval commanders to seize Messrs. Mason and Slidell wherever they could catch them. The English mail-steamer Trent, Captain Muir, sailed from Havana for Southampton on the 7th of November, 1861, having on board a large quantity of specie and numerous passengers, among whom were the Confederate Envoys already mentioned, with their respective secretaries, who, having run the blockade from New Orleans, had reached Havana. On the next day, as the Trent was passing through the Bahama Channel, a large steamer, having the appearance of a man-of-war, but showing no colours, was observed ahead. As the Trent approached, the stranger—an American vessel, the San Jacinto, commanded by Captain Wilkes—fired a shot across her bows and compelled the surrender of the envoys. The Trent pursued her way, first to the island of St. Thomas, and thence to Southampton. In Great Britain upon the arrival of the news of what had befallen her, the feeling of astonishment and indignation was universal. Could anything be more infatuated, it was argued, on the part of the Federal Government than to insult thus wantonly, to provoke thus recklessly, a Power which it was of the utmost consequence to them to be on the best understanding with; and which, if their enemy, could brush away their blockading squadrons like so many flies, and supply herself at once, with full right and a clear conscience, with the cotton for want of which the population of Lancashire was in a state of semi-starvation? Anyhow, whatever came of it, the sacredness of the right of asylum must be maintained; the wrong that had been done must be undone; the guests that had been rudely torn from England's board must be given back again. Such feelings were, as nearly as possible, universal; nor did the Government show itself a dull and inapt interpreter of the people's mind. A demand, made in terms of studied courtesy, for the restoration of the captured persons was immediately forwarded to the American Government. It was the last despatch read by the Prince Consort and was modified on his sick bed in accordance with his views. M. Thouvenel, in the name of the Emperor of the French, as well as the Governments of Prussia, Austria, and Russia, wrote friendly despatches to Washington, reprehending the act of Captain Wilkes and counselling the dignified abandonment of untenable ground. But as the issue seemed doubtful, particularly since the Northern press had, with scarcely an exception, approved the seizure, and the House of Representatives had actually passed a vote of thanks to Captain Wilkes for the promptitude and vigour of his proceedings, it was thought advisable to prepare for the war that would have inevitably followed the refusal of our demand. The din of preparation resounded through our arsenals and dockyards and troops were hastily forwarded to Canada. The unexpected warmth and heartiness with which the Canadians met the appeal thus suddenly made on their loyalty, the zeal with which they called out their militia and volunteers and prepared to strengthen the defences of their frontier, awakened a warm sense of satisfaction in the Mother Country.

The language used by Mr. Seward in the despatch announcing the intention of the American Government to surrender the captives, seemed to show that that Government was so strongly disposed to consider the seizure good and lawful, that it is fair to conjecture that a very little wavering, the least sign of a disposition to recede from the resolute attitude that Britain had taken up, would have turned the scale in America in favour of a rejection of our demand. In a despatch of prodigious length, displaying great reach of thought and mastery of language, united to an extraordinary power of subtle distinction and analysis, Mr. Seward discussed the Trent incident in connection with the established principles of international law, and also with other principles not yet established, but which he thought might by parity of reasoning be deduced from those universally admitted, and without the definition of which a case that presented in many respects novel features could not easily be determined. The upshot was this—that the American Government justified the conduct of Captain Wilkes in every point but one: he was right in stopping the Trent; he was right in searching her; he was right in seizing the persons of the Confederate Envoys and their secretaries; but he was wrong in allowing the Trent to proceed quietly on her voyage after the seizure. What he ought to have done was, to put a prize crew on board the Trent, and send her to the nearest American port where there was a Court of Admiralty, in order that she might either have been condemned as a lawful prize, or else released. Thus the omission of an act, which to obtuse understandings on the British side of the Atlantic would have given to the whole incident a yet more aggravated and intolerable character than that which it already bore, was transcendentalised in the subtle apprehension of Mr. Seward into the one flaw in an otherwise perfect crystal, which vitiated the procedure of Captain Wilkes, invalidated the else unimpeachable case of America, and which—for he had to come at last to the point—compelled the American Government to accede to the demands of Britain, and place the captured persons at the disposal of Her Majesty. They were accordingly transferred on board H.M.S. Rinaldo, a ship belonging to the squadron stationed at Halifax, whence they soon found their way to their respective destinations.

The despatch of Earl Russell in reply to that of Mr. Seward, though not to be compared with the latter in point of diplomatic finesse and argumentative subtlety, nevertheless fairly met and disposed of the chief arguments by which the American Minister had endeavoured to establish that the captured persons were "contraband of war." Thus, with reference to the dictum of Sir William Scott, that "you may stop your enemy's ambassador on his passage," Earl Russell proved that the meaning of that great legist was, not that this might be done anywhere, on the territory or within the jurisdiction of a friendly neutral for instance, but that it might be done in any place of which you were yourself the master, or in which you had a right to exercise acts of hostility, that is, in any part of the enemy's country. But the American Government was not the master on board the Trent, nor had it a right to exercise acts of hostility on board of her, England being a neutral Power; it was manifest, therefore, that this dictum of Sir William Scott could not be adduced in support of the act of Captain Wilkes.

The Session of 1861 was not fruitful in important legislative enactments. The remission of excise duty in regard to paper was, perhaps, of all the measures agreed to by Parliament, the one that has been most prolific in results. This remission was proposed by Mr. Gladstone, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his speech on the Budget, and though vigorously opposed, was at length carried. Cheap literature and journalism, and along with these the harmless entertainment of the people, have benefited enormously by the change. Doubtless the cheapness of the material has led at times to the abuse of the benefit conferred. It is found, however, that the sale of corrupting works is limited and that the immense majority of the cheap newspapers and periodicals that the reduction of the paper duty has brought into existence are, though often dull and in bad taste, respectable and moral in their tone. The Government brought in a Bill for the abolition of church rates, which passed the second reading by a considerable majority. This stimulated the Tory party to unwonted efforts; the third reading of the Bill, contrary to the usual practice of the House, was opposed, and on a division the numbers were found to be equal—274 voting that the Bill do pass, and the same number supporting the amendment of Mr. Estcourt, that it be read a third time that day six months. The Speaker had to give his casting vote, and he gave it against the Bill, justifying his vote in a short and statesmanlike speech, on the ground that the exact equipoise of parties seemed to indicate that the House itself felt that the Bill might be the better for revision.

The country sustained grievous losses in the deaths this year of Sir James Graham, a politician of a somewhat "cross-bench" disposition, and Lord Herbert of Lea, better known as Sidney Herbert. The breakdown in our military departments which the Crimean War had witnessed, required unflagging diligence, strong sense, and uncommon strength of constitution in the administrator who undertook the task of reparation. Of these requisites Sidney Herbert possessed the first two in an eminent degree; and the thorough efficiency of the expeditionary force that marched to Pekin in 1860 attested the improvement which the indefatigable labours of the Secretary at War had introduced into every branch of the service. The labours imposed upon the Minister for War at this particular period were almost more than human strength could grapple with. The Volunteer movement had to be promoted and watched; the Indian army was to be fused with that of the Queen without detriment to individual rights and interests; coast defence had to be readjusted in conformity with the enlarged powers of the new rifled artillery. His name is honourably connected with the institution, as a set-off to the aggressive attitude of France, of the National Volunteer Association, which was formed on the 16th of November, 1859. In May of the same year the formation of volunteer corps of riflemen had begun, under the auspices of the Government; and by the end of the year many thousands were enrolled in all parts of Great Britain. On the 7th of March, 1860, 2,500 volunteer officers were presented to the Queen; after which they dined together, the Duke of Cambridge occupying the chair. On the 23rd of June following, there was a grand review in Hyde Park, when 18,450 volunteers defiled before the Queen in admirable order. A great national rifle shooting match was held at Wimbledon, from the 2nd to the 7th of July, when Captain Edward Ross obtained the Queen's prize of £250, and the gold medal of the association. Again, on the 7th of August, the Queen reviewed 20,000 volunteers at Edinburgh. In the beginning of 1861 the association had an annual income of £1,500, with a capital of £3,000; the volunteers in Great Britain then numbering at least 160,000. The sudden rise of this vast volunteer army, composed of the finest men in the world, was the answer which Great Britain gave to the threats of French invasion.

GENERAL ROBERT LEE.