Laertes. Well,—again.
[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes.]
Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V. Scene 2.
It is, perhaps, well that you settled the matter by sending away the men at once. Consistently with your own principles you could not have justified their detention.—Richard Cobden, MS. Letter to Mr. Sumner, January 23, 1862.
This announcement is not made, my Lord, to revive useless recollections of the past, nor to stir the embers from fires which have been in a great degree smothered by many years of peace. Far otherwise. Its purpose is to extinguish those fires effectually, before new incidents arise to fan them into flame. The communication is in the spirit of peace and for the sake of peace, and springs from a deep and conscientious conviction that high interests of both nations require this so long contested and controverted subject now to be finally put to rest.—Daniel Webster, Letter to Lord Ashburton, August 8, 1842: Works, Vol. VI. p. 325.
The case of the Trent was an important incident of the war,—most interesting for a time to the people of the United States, attracting the attention of foreign nations, and exciting England to hostile demonstrations, even to the verge of practical coöperation with a Rebellion for the sake of Slavery. The facts are few, and are authenticated by official documents.