OLD-TIME ORATORY 187 
paper report can give such a notion of the tone and temper 
of the House as hearing it conveyed to me. It was not only 
the sincere purpose, it was not only the enthusiasm and earn- 
estness, the good-will to America which every speaker showed, 
but there was a certain electric sympathy which seemed to 
pervade the House. It manifested itself in cheers for every 
liberal sentiment and every kindly expression that fell from 
the speakers’ lips. Several members of the House came to 
me as I sat under the gallery, and with what I may be pardoned 
for calling an almost boyish enthusiasm, said, ‘Is not that 
capital?’ as some sentence of conciliation and of justice fell 
from the lips of Lord Stanley, of Mr. Forster, or of Mr. Mill. 
Now, sir, I should not be loyal to the journal which I repre- 
sent if I did not say that this authoritative declaration of a 
changed feeling in England is sure to be welcome in America. 
Not one but many journals came to us from the United States 
in advance of this debate breathing a similar spirit. ‘The cloud 
which for years has hung between the two countries seems to 
be passing away, and it would be ungrateful not to believe 
that a spark along this cable has helped to dispel it. At any 
rate, I cannot make a mistake in saying that any disposition 
to close up the old quarrel, any wish for future union which 
English lips may utter, is sure to find a cordial echo from the 
press on the other side of the Atlantic.” 
An English opinion was expressed at Field’s dinner by the 
Right Honorable James Stuart Wortley, who spoke of the 
sending by ‘“‘our worthy chairman of the conciliatory debate 
of the House of Commons on the Alabama claims to Amer- 
ica.” He continued: “I am very glad this has been done, as it 
is far more likely to create good feeling between the two 
countries than anything else.” 
The great Gladstone himself, at that time the most in- 
fluential man in England, was not able to attend the dinner 
because of a prolonged session that evening in the House of 
Commons, where his presence was essential. But at seven 
