"Having been away so long from home, I have, perhaps, no right to say what they think there, though the perseverance and enterprise of our friend Mr. Field have brought England so near to America that we ought to be able to know what is going on at home as if we were living in New York. Independently of that source, I think one is entitled to say that the feeling in America responds to the feeling of Great Britain in a degree which it has not for the last seven years. I heard with pleasure from Mr. Field that he had sent the _Alabama_ debate to New York, an instance of public spirit for which the two countries owe him a debt of gratitude; for through it there is, I suppose, this morning in every journal in America, certainly in every large journal on the Eastern coast, full tidings of the debate. It is, perhaps, such a message as was never before sent from one country to another. It was my fortune to listen to that debate. No newspaper 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 earnestness, 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 represent 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." On the same evening Mr. Field said: