94 POLITICAL LIFE- III 



of the new National greenback notes which had been re- 

 cently issued by our Government. The moment the clerk 

 saw them he called out loudly, "Don't offer us any of 

 those things ; we don 't take them ; they will never be good 

 for anything/' I was greatly vexed, of course, but there 

 was no help for it. At another time I went into a famous 

 book-shop near the Haymarket to purchase a rare book 

 which I had long coveted. It was just after the Battle of 

 Fredericksburg. The book-seller was chatting with a cus- 

 tomer, and finally, with evident satisfaction, said to him : 

 " I see the Yankees have been beaten again. " ' l Yes, ' ' said 

 the customer, "and the papers say that ten thousand of 

 them have been killed." "Good," said the shop-keeper, 

 i ' I wish it had been twice as many. ' ' Of course it was im- 

 possible for me to make any purchase in that place. 



In order to ascertain public sentiment I visited certain 

 "discussion forums," as they are called, frequented by 

 contributors to the press and young lawyers from the 

 Temple and Inns of Court. In those places there was, as 

 a rule, a debate every night, and generally, in one form 

 or another, upon the struggle then going on in the 

 United States. There was, perhaps, in all this a trifle 

 too much of the Three Tailors of Tooley Street; still, 

 excellent speeches were frequently made, and there was a 

 pleasure in doing my share in getting the company on the 

 right side. On one occasion, after one of our worst re- 

 verses during the war, an orator, with an Irish brogue, 

 thickened by hot whisky, said, "I hope that Republic of 

 blackguards is gone forever." But, afterward, on learn- 

 ing that an American was present, apologized to me in a 

 way effusive, laudatory, and even affectionate. 



But my main work was given to preparing a pamphlet, 

 in answer to the letters from America by Dr. Russell, cor- 

 respondent of the London "Times." Though nominally 

 on our side, he clearly wrote his letters to suit the demands 

 of the great journal which he served, and which was most 

 bitterly opposed to us. Nothing could exceed its virulence 

 against everything American. Every occurrence was 



