THE “SAN JACINTO” STOPPING THE “TRENT.”
Tory Press, clamoured for war against the United States. The popular excitement increased every day, and the Prince Consort, then sickening under his last illness, grew anxious as to the result. The Crimean War had taught him that with popular passions roused, and a bellicose Minister like Palmerston in power, there was no limit to the folly which Englishmen might perpetrate. The Queen, who had steadfastly opposed every suggestion which had been made in the direction of manifesting sympathy with the Southern Confederacy, became nervous lest her policy of scrupulous neutrality should be thwarted. She was informed on the 29th of November that the Cabinet were determined to demand reparation, and Palmerston had indicated that he was ready to assume Captain Wilkes had been positively instructed by Mr. Lincoln’s Government to insult the British flag. To the Queen this seemed an absurd assumption. But she knew that if the idea was in Palmerston’s mind it would most certainly appear in some offensive form in Lord Russell’s despatches. Yet, if it was offensively manifested there, it would tempt the United States Government to refuse reparation—for Mr. Lincoln had also to contend with a stupid, boastful party in the Northern States, who were as eagerly clamouring for war with England as the same stupid party in England were clamouring for war with America.
On the 30th of November, 1861, Lord Russell forwarded the despatches to Windsor, and they confirmed the Queen’s suspicions. She disliked their tone, and took them to the Prince Consort, who quite endorsed her opinion. Though he was so ill that he could hardly hold his pen, he drafted a Memorandum for the Queen, complaining of the dispatch to the American Government, and suggesting a more courteous and friendly way of stating the case against them. Even this draft the Queen herself revised and slightly toned down. The point on which she and the Prince Consort insisted was that all through Lord Russell should emphasise the assumption that as the United States Government could not have intended to wantonly insult England, they would naturally be desirous of offering reparation for any breach of international law Captain Wilkes had committed, either by disobeying or misunderstanding his instructions. The words of the royal draft were adopted, and with the happiest result. When the despatch arrived at Washington, Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, told Lord Lyons, the British Minister, that the wording of it meant peace or war. He begged him, therefore, to let him see it privately before it was presented officially. It was sent to him. After reading it, Seward went immediately to Lord Lyons and told him that the tone of the despatch was so courteous and friendly that it would enable him to avert war, in spite of the recriminatory outcry of the press, the vote of thanks which Congress had passed to Captain Wilkes, and the ovations he had received in Northern cities. Seward was now able to extricate his Government from a false position, by the loophole of escape which the Prince Consort’s sagacity had opened for him. With some difficulty he reconciled the Government and people of the North to admit that Captain Wilkes acted without instructions, that a breach of international law had been committed, but that the prisoners must be “cheerfully liberated.” The difficulty of his task was unfortunately aggravated by the menacing warlike preparations of the English Government, and the departure of troops for Canada before he had an opportunity of answering the despatch. On the 9th of January, 1862, the news that the dispute was settled reached the Queen. She replied, in a note to Lord Palmerston, that she was sure he would recognise that the peaceful issue to which the quarrel had been brought was “greatly owing to her beloved Prince,” whose Memorandum altering the despatch to the American Government “was the last thing he ever wrote.”[129] Palmerston’s warlike preparations, which nearly rendered a diplomatic solution of the difficulty impossible, cost the country £5,000,000.
Although the houses of the grandes dames of politics were opened earlier than usual in 1862, and politicians flocked to town sooner than was their custom, it was generally known that the Session would be dull and uneventful. The death of the Prince Consort overshadowed Society, and the leaders of both parties generously agreed that political strife should be suspended till the Queen was better able to bear the anxieties of party conflicts which lead to Ministerial crises. Lord Russell was well pleased with the termination of the American quarrel, because it left the Foreign Office free to assert the ascendency of England in the councils of Europe. Lord Palmerston was not displeased that his Government had won a diplomatic victory, for which the public, ignorant of the true effect of his extravagant military preparations on American opinion, gave him credit. Rumours had at this time gone abroad that his health was seriously impaired by the death of the Prince Consort, but these he was at pains to disperse by his conspicuous energy in the hunting-field. Lord Derby did not complain of the settlement of the Trent affair, because he saw it would enable Lord Palmerston to hold office for life. But the rank and file of the Tory Party, and a small fringe of aristocratic Whigs, were disappointed, for a war in which England would have fought on the side of the Southern Confederacy had been averted. Mr. Disraeli, who has obtained great credit for never manifesting his sympathies in favour of the slave-holding confederacy, did not conceal them from his intimate friends. In conversation with Count Vitzthum he said, “The effects on England (of the American War) are incalculable. Considering the probable loss to English trade, we (the Tory leaders) cannot, of course, proclaim openly the satisfaction we naturally feel at the collapse of Republican institutions. But speaking privately, we can only congratulate ourselves if the monarchical principle comes into favour on the other side of the Atlantic.”[130]
Parliament was opened on the 6th of February, 1862. The Speech from the Throne touched on the death of the Prince Consort, the termination of the dispute with the United States, and on the Convention with France and Spain, the object of which was to obtain redress from Mexico for wrongs committed by the Mexican Government on foreign residents. It alluded to a Land Transfer Bill, and vaguely to “other measures of public usefulness” which would be submitted to Parliament. The debate on the Address mainly consisted of eloquent eulogies on the late Prince Consort—Lord Palmerston declaring that it was no exaggeration to say that so far as the word “perfect” could be applied to human imperfection, it was applicable to the character of the Prince. Out of respect to the Queen, politics were but lightly touched, Ministers promising to give full information as to the blockade of the Confederate ports, and the Mexican enterprise.
National education, curiously enough, was the first subject that produced anything like an earnest discussion in Parliament. During the Recess a Revised Code had been drawn up by Mr. Lowe, which had roused the wrath of those interested in sectarian education. The objection to the old system was that the State did not get value for the subsidies which Parliament voted for Primary Education. Subventions to the Training Colleges seemed to lessen rather than stimulate voluntary efforts to maintain them; in fact, 68 per cent. of their cost was now borne by the State. Of the 2,200,000 children who ought to be in inspected schools, only 920,000 attended them, and of these only 230,000 received adequate instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The Revised Code proposed to pay by results. A penny a head was to be given for each attendance over 100, provided the children (grouped according to age) passed examinations in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Failure in any one branch was to lead to the loss of one-third of the grant. Failure in all was to cut off the whole grant. The sectarian party, alarmed at the application of Mr. Lowe’s stern practical test to their work, first of all raised the cry of “Religion in Danger.” But when Parliament met, the Opposition attacked the Code on the ground that the Government, by embodying it in an Order in Council, had tried to evade Parliamentary criticism. This was a futile objection, for the scheme was not only criticised but modified under the fire of sharp assaults in both Houses of Parliament. These attacks were ultimately concentrated in the Resolutions which Mr. Walpole laid before the House of Commons. He condemned (1), the individual examination of the pupils; (2), the system of paying exclusively by results; and (3), the plan of grouping by age. It was, however, admitted on all sides that the existing system could not be defended. The only point to be decided was as to what was the right method of altering it. The existing system was neither cheap nor efficient, but Mr. Lowe contended that his system, if not both, would be either the one or the other. Ultimately a compromise was arranged. It was agreed that 4s. a year was to be given on the average annual attendance of each pupil; that 8s. would be given for reading, writing, and arithmetic to every pupil who put in 200 attendances, 1s. 3d. being deducted in case of failure in attendance; and managers were to be permitted to group pupils for examination as they thought best. Neglect of religious instruction in Anglican schools would forfeit the grant, and any future revision of the Code was to be laid before Parliament for a month before it became operative. In this struggle the Tories, therefore, carried most of their points.
