Lord Russell's Demand
Was Worded In Language So Mild, Was So Devoid Of Threat, Was So Free
From Anger, That At The First Reading It Seemed To Ask For Nothing.
It Almost Disappointed By Its Mildness.
Mr. Seward's reply, on the
other hand, by its length of argumentation, by a certain sharpness
of diction, to which that gentleman is addicted in his State papers,
and by a tone of satisfaction inherent through it all, seemed to
demand more than he conceded.
But, in truth, Lord Russell had
demanded everything, and the United States government had conceded
everything.
I have said that the American government behaved well in its mode of
giving the men up, and I think that so much should be allowed to
them on a review of the whole affair. That Captain Wilkes had no
instructions to seize the two men, is a known fact. He did seize
them, and brought them into Boston harbor, to the great delight of
his countrymen. This delight I could understand, though of course I
did not share it. One of these men had been the parent of the
Fugitive Slave Law; the other had been great in fostering the
success of filibustering. Both of them were hot secessionists, and
undoubtedly rebels. No two men on the continent were more grievous
in their antecedents and present characters to all Northern feeling.
It is impossible to deny that they were rebels against the
government of their country. That Captain Wilkes was not on this
account justified in seizing them, is now a matter of history; but
that the people of the loyal States should rejoice in their seizure,
was a matter of course.
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