1895.] 123 [Potts. 



In 1872, after his service at Geneva, he was appointed Assistant Attor- 

 ney-General of the United States to settle certain claims against the Gov- 

 ernment. 



The Consulate of Liverpool, being both famous and lucrative, was 

 eagerly sought even during his incumbency, but no pressure of the many 

 office-seekers could induce the Government to remove him, he was too 

 valuable a man for the place. At the time of his voluntary resignation 

 in 1872, it is said there were no less than fifteen hundred applicants for 

 the position. He had before repeatedly desired to resign when the war 

 was over, but was told, by Mr. Seward, his services could not be spared, 

 and begged to remain. 



These are but a few of the incidents of national importance which 

 occurred during his long sojourn of eleven years as Consul at Liverpool ; 

 they were closely interwoven with the history of his active life. Of minor 

 importance were the opportunities the position gave him for social inter- 

 course with his gi'ateful countrymen, many of whom of the most distin- 

 guished character he entertained at his own house in Liverpool, of his 

 frequent travels on the continent, and during this time his careful obser- 

 vation and study on the Tariff question gave him excellent and well- 

 digested material for his numerous pamphlets on the subject written on 

 his return, which are given in the bibliography below. These were 

 widely circulated throughout the country. We wish to call attention to 

 three of considerable political interest ; that written in Liverpool, the case 

 of the Alabama contrasted with that of the Maury at New York during 

 the Crimean War, which pamphlet excited John Bright's just indigna- 

 tion ;* the able reply to Augustus Mongredien's pamphletf on the Tariff, 

 which passed through many editions, and was in one especially com- 

 mended by a letter from Peter Cooper, and the last paper which he wrote. 

 The Three Critical Periods in Our Diplomatic Relations with England Dur- 

 ing the Late War. This is different in style and subject from the others, a 



* In his Three Criticnl Periods in Our Diplomatic Relations with England During the Late 

 War, Mr. Dudley (p. 17) saj's : " During the Crimean War in 1855, Mr. Barclay, the Eng- 

 lish Consul at Kew York, wrote Mr. Crampton, the English Minister at Washington, that 

 he had reason to believe that the barque Maiuy was being fitted out in New York as a 

 cruiser for Russia against England. Mr. Crampton wrote to the Secretary of State, Mr. 

 Marcy, and he communicated with Mr. Gushing, the Attorney-General, who directed 

 the United States District Attorney at New York to take Immediate steps for the deten- 

 tion of the vessel, and this was done. In 1S38, during the Canadian Rebellion, the 

 United States, at the instance of England, passed a special Act of Congress to prevent our 

 people from aiding the Rebellion. I prepared a pamphlet, containing the correspon- 

 dence in the case of the Alabama and the barque 31awy, and the special Act of Congress 

 just referred to, to show the difference between the United States and England in enforce- 

 ment of neutrality. I sent a copy of this pamphlet to all the members of the House of 

 Commons, the leading members of the House of Lords and many of the prominent peo- 

 ple in the kingdom. The English Government, in a dispatch dated September 25, 1863, 

 addressed to Mr. Adams, refused to pass a new law to preserve its neutrality." 



tThe Western Farmer o/ ^??tenca, by Augustus Mongredien, author ot Free Trade and 

 English Commerce. Cassell, Fetter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris and New York. All 

 rights reserved, ls80. 12mo, pp. 30. The second title page has the seal of the Cobden Club. 



