The confidence reposed had its responsibilities increased by his position as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and, when the surrender was announced, Mr. Sumner felt it a duty to do what he could in reconciling the people to his conclusion, especially as he was satisfied that the original taking of the Rebels could not be justified without adopting most obnoxious British precedents. Besides, reform in Maritime Law seemed to be involved in the discussion, and he was not without hope of contributing to this important result. Therefore he made an early occasion to address the Senate on the subject. In his speech Mr. Sumner brought into strong relief the early and long continued pretension of England to enter our ships and take our sailors without trial of any kind, as Captain Wilkes had entered the Trent and taken the Rebel agents. In presenting this point, he was determined not only by the London press, which adopted the original American objection to any such entry and taking, but also by the unpublished opinions of the law advisers of the Crown, which he had before him in manuscript. The capture of the Rebels was known in London on the evening of 27th November. But some time before, on an intimation that such an attempt might be made, the British Government had asked the opinion of the law officers on the questions involved in such an act. An answer was returned, bearing date 12th November, which was signed by the Queen’s Advocate-General, the Attorney-General, and the Solicitor-General. In this opinion it was stated: “The United States ship of war may put a prize crew on board the West India steamer and carry her off to a port of the United States for adjudication by a Prize Court there; _but she would have no right to remove Messrs. Mason and Slidell and carry them off as prisoners, leaving the ship to pursue her voyage_.” This opinion was supposed to have greater value because it was given sixteen days before anything on the subject had appeared in the London press. Afterwards the case of the Trent was submitted to these law officers, and on the 28th of November they gave another opinion in accordance with the former, where they say: “From on board a merchant ship of a neutral power, pursuing a lawful and innocent voyage, _certain individuals have been taken by force. They were not apparently officers in the military or naval service of the Confederate Government._” They conclude that Her Majesty’s Government “will be justified in requiring reparation for the international wrong which has been on this occasion committed.” In conformity with this opinion, Earl Russell, in his letter demanding the surrender, treated it simply as a forcible taking of “certain individuals” from an innocent British vessel at sea by an