Still, a commercial treaty with France, on
free-trade lines, was negotiated between Louis Napoleon and Mr Cobden; and
Mr Gladstone carried it through parliament in the face of strong
opposition. Lord John Russell again introduced a Reform Bill, but the
apathy of Lord Palmerston, and the pressure of other business, led to its
quiet withdrawal. The rejection by the Lords of a bill to abolish the duty
on paper seemed likely at one time to lead to a collision between the two
Houses. Ultimately the Commons contented themselves with a protest against
this unwonted stretch of authority, and the paper-duty was removed in
1861.
From 1861 to 1865, a civil war raged in America, between the slave-holding
Southern States (the Confederates) and the abolitionist Northern States
(the Federals). At first, British feeling was strongly in favour of the
Northerners; but it changed before long, partly in consequence of their
seizure of two Confederate envoys on a British mail-steamer, the
_Trent_, and of the interruption of our cotton trade, which caused a
cotton famine and great distress in Lancashire. With the war itself, and
the final hard-won triumph of the North, we had no immediate connection;
but the Southern cause was promoted by five privateers being built in
England. These armed cruisers were not professedly built for the
Southerners, but under false pretences were actually equipped for war
against Northern commerce.
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