Page:Australian views of England.djvu/49

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IV.]
OF ENGLAND.
37

leanings, though from very different points of view, see or feel this. The pacific settlement of the perilous difference arising out of the Trent exploit has given a tone to this feeling of kindred anxiety more generous towards the North, and apprehensions of further international embarrassments spring chiefly from the force of friendly regard. Beyond all doubt, sympathy with the Federal cause is fresher and more general in England just now than for months past.

The incidents of the seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, and the terms of the demand and surrender of the prisoners, as disclosed in the correspondence between the two Governments, would admit of a wide debate. But one thing is proved, to the discomfiture of the enemies of popular government, that the Executive authority at Washington can decide grave matters by the dictates of his own judgment, unterrified by "mob power." In due course, Messrs. Mason and Slidell were given up to Lord Lyons, and placed again under the British flag, on board the war steamer Rinaldo. Strange to say, there is a strong probability that while I write the rescued captives, who have created so great a sensation in the