170 THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 



however, which, without reference to the feeling 

 of the Americans, rendered the idea of resort 

 to the old method of recruiting by the British 

 Government ridiculous. Nor did the power of 

 Russia, as compared with that of her allied foes, 

 suggest that Great Britain would be driven to 

 desperate devices. Yet the British Govern 

 ment had never formally abandoned her claim 

 to the right of search and impressment, and the 

 memories and traditions of the way in which 

 the right had been exercised in the old days 

 undoubtedly sharpened the resentment in Amer 

 ica at the operations for the enlistment of re 

 cruits for the army. 



The time was now at hand for the termina 

 tion of the long diplomatic difference between 

 the two nations on the matter of the right of 

 search. Complaints about the detention and 

 search of American ships by British cruisers 

 led to a renewed discussion of the procedure 

 for the suppression of the slave-trade. This 

 was in 1858, when the American interests were 

 in the hands of President Buchanan and Sec 

 retary of State Cass, both men of long and 

 intimate acquaintance with the diplomacy of 

 this question. We have seen that the British 

 contention in the matter had been reduced to 



