Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/298

244 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS fore him. It was an exceedingly difficult time for an American representative. There was much sympathy for the U. S. government on the part of the workmen in the manufacturing districts and of many of the liberal constituencies in Great Britain, especially in Scotland; but, on the other hand, the feeling of the governing classes and of polite so ciety in London was either actively hostile or coldly indifferent. Even those students of history and politics who were most friendly to the Union side failed to comprehend the true character of the struggle as may be seen in reading the introduc tion to Mr. E. A. Freeman s elaborate "History of Federal Government from the Formation of the Achaean League to the Disruption of the United States" (London, 1862). Difficult and embarrass ing questions arose in connection with the capture of the confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell, the negligence of the Palmerston-Russell government in allowing the "Alabama" and other confederate cruisers to sail from British ports to prey upon American commerce, and the ever mani fest desire of Napoleon III. to persuade Great Britain to join him in an acknowledgment of the independence of the confederacy. The duties of this difficult diplomatic mission were discharged by Mr. Adams with such consummate ability as to win universal admiration. No more than his father or grandfather did he belong to the school of crafty