364 CONCLUSION 



ginning of this period, were at its close once 

 more on cordial terms through the Reciprocity 

 Treaty of 1854. There was indeed, in 1860, 

 a general spirit of trans-Atlantic friendliness 

 among the English-speaking peoples, to which 

 the visit of the youthful Prince of Wales in the 

 United States and Canada was a witness. The 

 American Republic itself was, however, per 

 meated with the animosities of the sections, 

 and the fiercest antipathies that ever divided 

 English-speaking peoples were about to be 

 manifested in the conflict between North and 

 South. 



The period of the American Civil War was 

 one of utter distraction, as to both feeling 

 and convictions, among the English-speaking 

 peoples. From the outset there was in both 

 the warring sections as much fear and distrust 

 of Great Britain as hatred of each other. 

 British sentiment was at the same time almost 

 as badly divided as American. No assertion 

 could be more inaccurate than that the British 

 in general favored the South. There was a 

 large and influential body of Southern sympa 

 thizers, moved by the conviction that the 

 secession rested on a just claim to independence 

 and self-government. There was an equally 



