THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 169 



be a Russian privateer. Later the ministry 

 thought wise to reinforce the naval force at the 

 Bermudas, and this further nourished the pre 

 vailing war spirit. There was a good deal of 

 sentiment in England that the rather unsatis 

 factory meed of military glory acquired in the 

 now finished Crimean War should at once be 

 supplemented in a contest with the aggressive 

 Americans. No such feeling made any headway, 

 however, in the cabinet. Crampton s dismissal 

 was accepted as within the rights of the Amer 

 ican Government. But he was knighted and 

 promoted. A new minister, Lord Napier, was 

 soon sent to replace him at Washington, and 

 to Napier s lot fell the duty of confirming a 

 satisfactory adjustment of all the outstanding 

 controversies between the two governments. 



The war with Russia furnished the first sit 

 uation since 1815 that might raise anew the 

 question of the right to impress sailors into 

 the British navy from American merchant ves 

 sels. There was some speculation as to the 

 possibility of a revival of the practice, and some 

 bristling discourse in the jingoistic American 

 press as to the dire consequences that would 

 follow. The generation that had elapsed since 

 the Napoleonic wars had brought changes, 



