of perfidious Albion. This explanation is not borne out either by the known character of the Americans, who have never been known to refuse a fight because the odds were against them, nor by the accounts of the cabinet meeting which are extant. Stripped of the high feelings of the moment, the temper of the people and the political dangers at home attendant upon a yielding decision, the case was plain enough. And it appears that from the first Abraham Lincoln had perceived this. And it is not the least of the many great decisions to his credit. He decided to yield because the English were right. Not because they were strong. And because the United States was wrong, and not because she was weak.
The prevailing view in the cabinet after the discussion was expressed by Secretary Salmon P. Chase. He sacrificed his feelings to his sense of justice. Here is the way he expressed it:
"It is gall and wormwood to me. Rather
