The compliment to the Supreme Court of the United States, which, like the House of Lords and the Privy Council, is not a court of original jurisdiction in prize cases, will hardly excuse the reflection upon the District Courts, which are the Admiralty Courts of the United States,—especially when it is considered that those at Boston and New York, where the prize cases chiefly occurred, were administered at the time by judges who would compare favorably with the contemporary judge of the English Admiralty. Judge Sprague, of Boston, and Judge Betts, of New York, were “very eminent” and “perfectly well acquainted with the Law of Nations,” although only judges of District Courts.
The speech of Earl Russell was noticed by Mr. Adams, in a despatch to Mr. Seward, under date of October 1, 1863:—
“The event of the week has been the speech of Earl Russell at Blairgowrie, evidently drawn forth by the report of Mr. Sumner’s address at New York.”[174]
It was the subject of comment by the press of England and the United States. The sympathetic Morning Star said:—
“Mr. Sumner’s oration has had an unexpected effect. It has stirred the phlegmatic nature of Earl Russell. The Foreign Secretary has replied from his Scottish retreat to the complaints and reproaches of the New England Senator. Absurdly contemptuous in his personal allusions to the distinguished Senator, Lord Russell confesses the force of his accusations by taking the trouble to reply to them.…
“It would also have been well, if our Foreign Secretary had included in his reply some notice of one of the most distinct and gravest of Mr. Sumner’s complaints. The defence of our recognition of the Confederates as belligerents is without novelty. It is a simple repetition of the old statement, that our naval commanders required to be instructed whether they should respect the new flag or treat it as that of a pirate. Lord Russell does not touch the objection raised by Mr. Sumner, that the Confederates had no ocean navy, and could provide one only from neutral ports. Neither does his Lordship explain why the resolution to recognize the Confederates as belligerents was taken in the absence from this country of a Federal minister.
“But, notwithstanding these defects, Lord Russell’s speech at Blairgowrie is an immense advance upon his previous utterances on the American Question. It is evident that he begins to perceive the real issue of the conflict, and rightly estimates the direction of British sentiment.”
The Boston Traveller said:—
“Earl Russell has fallen into several grave errors in the course of his remarks. He has utterly misconceived the whole temper of Mr. Sumner’s speech, when he says that ‘it weighs the difficulties of the English Government in an unequal balance,’ and that it is ‘an epitome of almost all that has been contained by the press of America’ on the subject of the ill-feeling against Great Britain and her neutrality, so generally prevalent among us. The feeling evoked by the belligerent articles of the New York Herald is one of far different character from that produced by Mr. Sumner’s remarks. Lord Russell charges him with injustice to the English people. Had he read the speech to which he professes to reply with more care, there would have been found no ground to sustain such a charge.”
In France the speech of Mr. Sumner was published in an abridged form, under the following title:—