THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 167 



duced by the Crimean War. The causes and 

 issues of that strange conflict, grasped only 

 with much difficulty by the experts in Europe, 

 were quite unintelligible in the United States. 

 Sufficient for general popular feeling was the 

 fact that Great Britain was a party to the war, 

 in which case the other party must be right. 

 Such at least was the reasoning of an influen 

 tial element of American society. It was ill- 

 judged by the British Government that the 

 time should have been selected for the project 

 of raising a foreign legion in America to serve 

 in the Crimea. The enlistment of troops for 

 military service against a friendly power was, 

 of course, prohibited by the laws of the United 

 States. Success in the enforcement of the laws 

 had not been especially marked in the case of 

 the filibusters. Whether this fact was taken 

 into account by the British, need not be de 

 bated. At all events, a systematic procedure 

 was instituted through which a large number 

 of men were forwarded from the United States 

 to Halifax, to be there regularly incorporated 

 into the British army. The procedure was 

 directed by her Majesty s minister at Wash 

 ington, Mr. Crampton, and the consuls in sev 

 eral important cities. The enemies of England 



