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THE SECRET SERVICE

OF THE

CONFEDERATE STATES IN EUROPE.

CHAPTER I.

English Political Parties and the Civil War.-Pertinacity of Mr. Secretary Seward.-Vacillation of the Liberal Government.Present Position of the Liberal Party.-The French Proclamation of Neutrality.-Arrangements for building cruisers at Bordeaux.Appropriation of £2,000,000 for Ironclads by Congress.—Financial difficulties.-Propositions to purchase vessels from the French Navy.-Correspondence concerning the vessels building in France. -Deceptive attitude of the French Government.-The vessels sold by their imperative orders.-Panic at Boston and New York regarding the Confederate cruisers.

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THE Compilers of the 'Case' which was laid before the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva on behalf of the United States, asserted that England was the arsenal and treasury' of the Confederate States. The Board of Trade returns demonstrate that both belligerents drew upon Great Britain for the 'sinews of war,' but that the United States obtained them in far greater quantities and with incomparably less difficulty than their adversary. However, the statement was in itself true, although the

VOL. II.

30

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inference which it was the purpose of the Case' to suggest was not true.

It is hardly an exaggeration-it certainly is not a mere 'figure of speech'-to say that Great Britain is the arsenal, treasury, and dockyard of the greater part of the world. There is scarcely a civilized country which is not a debtor to England, either for a direct loan, or for help to develop her resources by the construction of what are called 'internal improvements.' British guns and British powder do duty in every war. British-built ironclads form a part of nearly every foreign navy, and the commercial flags of many countries cover hulls of the well-known British type. No one whose faculties are not dwarfed by prejudice, or whose powers of observation are not contracted by national conceit, can or will deny that in the great mechanic arts, in building ships and manufacturing the heavy engines to propel them especially, Great Britain has outstripped all competitors. She actually owns about sixty per cent. of the world's shipping, and has supplied to others a portion of the remaining forty per cent.

France, in regard to ships, at least, has been exceptionally independent, and both Germany and Italy are diligently extending their dockyard capacities; but I think a practical man who wanted a first-class ship and engines, or a large quantity of well-made arms for quick delivery, or a batch of great guns in which he could feel confidence, or any heavy iron or steel work, would almost instinctively come to England to supply his want; and if a foreign company wished money for some great engineering enterprise, they would be more likely to carry the scheme to London than to any other capital, and would look for the money in Lombard Street before going anywhere else.

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