We had to rely upon the Duke. Our
difficulty was with Mr. Gladstone.
In the time of waiting, Howe, Tilley, and I, attended meetings at
Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Oldham, Ashton, and other places,
endeavouring, with no small success, to make the Intercolonial Railway
a public question.
But the delays; the "pillar to post"; the want of knowledge of
permanent officials, whose geography, even, I found very defective,
made our efforts irksome, and now and then, apparently, hopeless.
But an event had startled England, like a thunderclap in a summer sky.
On the 8th of November, 1861, Captain Wilkes, of the United States ship
"San Jacinta," took the Southern States envoys--Messrs. Slidel and
Mason--and two others, forcibly from the deck of a British mail ship,
"The Trent." The country was all on fire. Palmerston showed fight, and
the Guards and other troops, and arms and stores to the value of more
than a million sterling, were sent out to Canada. The delegates were
sent for to the War Office, and, as desired, I accompanied them. At the
time all seemed to hang in the balance. The powers had joined England
in protest, and our ambassador was instructed by despatch, per ship
--for the submarine wires were not at work--to leave Washington in seven
days if satisfaction were not given.
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