This speech was made at a crisis in our foreign relations when they were watched with more than the wonted anxiety, which began with the hasty concession of belligerent rights, as early as May 13, 1861. Among painful incidents may be mentioned the affair of the Trent, with the attendant menace, the escape of the Florida, and then of the Alabama, the damage to our commerce by these British vessels, the report of other vessels building for the Rebels, the swarm of British blockade-runners with arms and powerful cannon, adverse speeches of British statesmen, offensive articles of the British press, and movements for the recognition of the Rebels as an independent power. As early as March 4, 1861, Mr. Gregory gave notice in the House of Commons that on an early day he would call the attention of her Majesty’s Government to the expediency of a prompt recognition of the Southern Confederacy of America. April 16, Mr. Gregory renewed his notice, and added a call for papers. This motion was afterward deferred from April 30 to May 13, and on May 16 until June 7, when it was finally postponed _sine die_. After that frequent debates occurred in both Houses of Parliament, involving the course of England to the United States. As late as June 30, 1863, in the summer before Mr. Sumner’s speech, a long debate was started in the House of Commons by Mr. Roebuck, on presenting a petition praying the House to enter into negotiations with the great powers of Europe with the object of recognizing the independence of the Confederate States. To all these things was now superadded the open construction at Birkenhead of two powerful iron-clad war-vessels, known as the Rebel rams.