Germany and England During the Civil War.—The attitude of England during the Civil War contrasted strangely with that of the German States, and this attitude is rather clearly shown by the “Investment Weekly,” of New York, for June21, 1917, though not intended as a reproach to England. In the course of an article, headed “Bond Market of the Civil War,” the “Investment Weekly” says:

Another difference is that the United States until recently had been the greatest neutral nation in the world, whereas then Great Britain was the greatest neutral nation. Still a third difference is that whereas Great Britain was able to borrow freely from us even before we entered the war, our government during the Civil War was unable to obtain any help from Great Britain. In March, 1863, an attempt was made to negotiate a loan of $10,000,000 there, but the negotiations utterly failed.

The significance of this paragraph will appear from reflection on the state of distress prevailing in1863, a period when the outlook for the success of the Union was veiled in gloom, and many of the most stout-hearted trembled for the outcome. England was sending fully-equipped and English-manned warships over to aid the Confederacy; the “Alabama” and the “Florida” were sinking our ships and sweeping American commerce from the seas. Justin McCarthy, in “The Cruise of the ‘Alabama’” (“A History of Our Own Times,”II, Chap.XLIV), says:

The “Alabama” had got to sea; her cruise of nearly two years began. She went upon her destroying course with the cheers of English sympathizers and the rapturous tirades of English newspapers glorifying her. Every misfortune that befell an American merchantman was received in this country with a roar of delight.

At that time England was on the eve of entering the war on the side of the South, and only the news of General Grant’s decisive victory at Vicksburg and Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg brought the House of Commons to a more sober reflection.

McCarthy shows that a motion for the recognition of the Southern Confederacy, which Minister Adams had said would mean a war with the Northern States, was already in process of passing in the House of Commons, for he writes:

The motion was never pressed to a division; for during its progress there came at one moment the news that General Grant had taken Vicksburg, on the Mississippi, and that General Meade had defeated General Lee, at Gettysburg, and put an end to all thought of a Southern invasion.... There was no more said in this country about the recognition of the Southern Confederation, and the Emperor of the French was thenceforth free to follow out his plans as far as he could, and alone.

It was during these dismal hours of trembling hope that Germany proved herself the friend of the Union. Whereas England would not loan the Lincoln administration $10,000,000, six times that amount was forthcoming from Germany.

When in 1870 a disposition developed here to supply France with arms against Germany, some heated debates took place in the Senate, in which events of 1861-65 were naturally brought up for review, and it is interesting to quote from the debates of that period as reported in the “Globe Congressional Record,” 3rdSession, 41stCongress. PartII. From pp.953-955:

Mr. Stewart, Senator from Nevada: “Allow me to call the attention of the Senator from Tennessee to the fact, which he must recollect, of the amount of our bonds that were taken in Germany at the time we needed that they should be taken, and when they were prohibited from the Exchange in London and from the Bourse in Paris, and not allowed to be on the markets there at all on account of the state of public opinion there, while Germany alone came in and took five or $600,000,000 at a time when we needed money more than anything else, to sustain our credit. That is a fact showing sympathy, certainly.”

Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, quoted on p.954, said:

They (the Germans) sent us men; they recruited our armies with men; they helped to save the life of this nation. Though the French were our ancient allies, the Germans have been our modern allies.

And well did Senator Charles Sumner put it when he declared in the United States Senate, (“Congressional Record,” 3rdSession, 41stCongress, Page956): “We owe infinitely to Germany.”

A formal acknowledgement of our debt to Germany during the most critical stage of our history was made by Secretary of State William H. Seward through the American Minister at Berlin, in May, 1863, as follows:

You will not hesitate to express assurance of the constant good will of the United States toward the king and the people who have dealt with us in good faith and great friendship during the severe trials through which we have been passing.

At the close of the war, the Prussian deputies, some 260 in number, on April26, 1865, submitted an address to the American Minister in Berlin, in which the following language occurs:

Living among us you are witness of the heartfelt sympathy which this people have ever preserved for the people of the United States during the long and severe conflict. You are aware that Germany has looked with pride and joy on the thousands of her sons, who, in this struggle, have arrayed themselves on the side of law and justice. You have seen with what joy the victories of the Union have been hailed and how confident our faith in the final triumph of the great cause of the restoration of the Union in all its greatness has ever been, even in the midst of adversity.

While there is a strong tendency in certain directions to ignore or obscure the facts of American history by imputing some vaguely unpatriotic motive to those who prefer to see the United States travel the same conservative path which has made it the dominating power of the world, after 140years of devotion to the patriotic standards established by the founders of the Republic, it shall not deter us from calling attention to the testimony of a great American, James G.Blane, by quoting certain passages from his book, “Twenty Years in Congress,” which leave no doubt what his attitude would be to-day. The quotations are taken from Vol.II, p.447:

England confidently believed that the North would suffer a crushing defeat, and the same opinion was held by the French government. Napoleon the Third felt absolutely confident that the South would triumph. (See “France’s Friendship for the United States.”)

The London “Times” in1862 voiced English sentiment against the Union in a manner that has been paralleled only by its denunciations of Germany at the present time. It said:

“To bully the weak, to triumph over the helpless, to trample on every law of country and customs, wilfully to violate the most sacred interests of human nature—to defy as long as danger does not appear, and as soon as real peril shows itself, to sneak aside and run away—these are the virtues of the race which presumes to announce itself as the leader of civilization and the prophet of human progress in these latter days.”

A clear statement of the English Parliament’s attitude toward the United States in the Civil War is contained in the autobiography of Sir William Gregory, K.C.M.G. (Member of Parliament and one-time Governor of Ceylon), edited by Lady Gregory (London, 1894), pp.214-6: “The feeling of the upper classes undoubtedly predominated in favor of the South, so much so that when I said in a speech that the adherents of the North in the House of Commons might all be driven home in one omnibus, the remark was received with much cheering.”

Among those who invested in the Confederate bonds were many Members of Parliament and editors of London newspapers. Prominent among them was Gladstone. “Donahoe’s Magazine,” April, 1867, published a list of prominent investors in Confederate bonds, which shows that 29persons lost a total of $4,490,000 in such investments. The list follows:

The present holders of these bonds have never despaired of being able some day to collect the amounts from the United States Treasury, and it will only need a closer alliance between the United States and Great Britain, as proposed by the advocates of an Anglo-Saxon amalgamation, to bring these claims to the front.