2i 8 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 



in the attempt was inhuman and should be 

 stopped. In Lancashire poverty and distress 

 among the cotton-workers became extreme, and 

 added a powerful practical argument in favor 

 of steps toward opening the ports of the South. 

 Yet the ministry persisted in its refusal to re 

 ceive Mason or to adopt the projects of media 

 tion and intervention that were from time to 

 time seriously considered. Its rigidly correct 

 attitude as a neutral in this respect resulted in 

 a steadily growing hatred on the part of the 

 South, which abandoned in the autumn of 1863 

 all efforts at diplomatic intercourse. 



The alienation of the South from the British 

 Government was not accompanied by any 

 access of friendly feeling on the part of the 

 North. On the contrary, the angry passions 

 kindled by the proclamation of neutrality and 

 the Trent affair found ever fresh fuel to main 

 tain the flame. During 1862 blockade-run 

 ning between the Confederacy and the British 

 ports of the Bermudas and the Bahamas as 

 sumed large and spectacular proportions, and 

 the cruisers Florida and Alabama began their 

 destructive raids on the maritime commerce of 

 the North. Popular sentiment, little versed 

 in the niceties of neutral obligations, instinc- 



