238 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 



only the arbitrary and inquisitorial procedure 

 of despotic governments could have thwarted 

 them. To build a ship is the undoubted right 

 of every Englishman. To set sail with a party 

 for a foreign land, is equally the right of all. 

 To ship cannon and munitions of war to for 

 eign destinations is also a right of Britons. 

 When the ship and the party and the cannon and 

 munitions, after leaving British waters, come 

 together and coalesce into a Confederate cruiser, 

 the British Government may feel deceived and 

 flouted, but it cannot be held responsible for in 

 efficiency. On this principle every case alleged 

 against Great Britain by the United States 

 failed absolutely except that of the Alabama. 

 In this instance evidence as to her true char 

 acter was pronounced by the law officers of the 

 crown sufficient to justify her seizure, and 

 orders to hold her reached Liverpool in the 

 afternoon of the day on which she passed in 

 the morning out to sea. Lord Russell was 

 greatly angered at this peculiar coincidence, 

 and there was no room to doubt the sincerity 

 of his assurance of regret to the American min 

 ister. Yet he was wholly justified in arguing 

 that the failure of duty by subordinates of the 

 administration was no sufficient basis for the 



