232 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 



over, and some of the smaller German fry were 

 crushed two years later; all the world knew 

 that war with France was coming next. How 

 far the unifying energy of the new Germany 

 would extend, was uncertain. That Great Brit 

 ain might become involved in war, if Holland 

 or Belgium should be proclaimed indispensable 

 to the territorial integrity of the German or the 

 French nation, was obvious to all. When Den 

 mark was attacked in 1864 it had not been per 

 fectly easy to keep Great Britain out of the 

 fray, though the non-interference policy had 

 prevailed. The difficulty of such a policy in 

 connection with aggression upon the Low Coun 

 tries would be insuperable. And what was 

 clear to all who stopped to think at all on the 

 subject was, that the day when Great Britain 

 declared war would witness the adoption by 

 the United States of a policy as to neutrality 

 that would encourage the use of American ship 

 yards and ports by the enemies of Britain for 

 the destruction of her commerce. Even in lack 

 of formal announcement of such a policy Flori- 

 das and Alabamas would be sure to escape the 

 drowsy vigilance of the authorities, and to pur 

 sue their devastating careers under guarantee 

 of the same non possumus with which Earl Rus- 



