“True, the religious public, or rather the Dissenters, have shown right feelings; and I wrote letters of thanks to Dr. Newman Hall and to Mr. Spurgeon for what they had done, and received very kind answers; but very few of the Church Establishment have shown right feelings.
“I was always the friend of England, and few have written or spoken more in commendation of her; but I must in truth say that my feelings have changed since I have been here. England would rejoice to-day to see our country divided. She sees our growing greatness, and envies and fears it.”
In close connection with letters from abroad is that of E. Littell, founder and editor of the Living Age, close student of the English press, and warmly attached to England, who wrote from Boston:—
“Allow me to congratulate you upon the speech on the Trent affair. ‘They of the contrary part,’ even, ‘cannot gainsay it.’
“After feeling so deeply the almost unbroken attitude of the London press as to be forced to think and say that I must give up my love for England (which was a part of my inmost heart), I have reverted to her again, pleading that that press does not represent either her people or her Government.”
Hon. Henry L. Dawes, the eminent Representative in Congress, wrote:—
“I congratulate you on your great effort to-day. It was worthy of you. I regret I could not hear it all. But I shall have the greater pleasure in reading it.”
Hon. Hamilton Fish, afterwards Secretary of State, wrote from New York:—
“Exactly right; you have done justice to the question, the country, its history, its policy, and its late action. On such ground as you have placed the subject we stand proudly before the world.…