168 THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 



did not fail to inform the Washington govern 

 ment as to what was going on. Protests were 

 at once made diplomatically at London, and 

 their result was seen in an order from the Brit 

 ish Government forbidding the further execu 

 tion of the scheme. It was asserted by Lord 

 Clarendon, the Foreign Secretary, that no vio 

 lation of the American laws had been contem 

 plated or committed, and an interpretation of 

 these laws was presented under which all that 

 had been done was legal. Mr. Marcy, the 

 Secretary of State, declined to adopt this inter 

 pretation and demanded the recall of Crampton. 

 Upon the refusal of this demand, Crampton was 

 notified that the President would have no fur 

 ther intercourse with him, and the notification 

 was accompanied with his passport. At the 

 same time, May, 1856, the exequaturs of three 

 British consuls were revoked. 



The dismissal of a minister is likely to be 

 more thrilling in popular than in official circles. 

 The whole progress of the affair was attended 

 by violent declamation in the bellicose contin 

 gent of the press in both England and America. 

 British excitement was enhanced by the simul 

 taneous reports, persistently reiterated, that a 

 ship under construction at New York was to 



