Language such as this, held at the moment when the fortunes of the Federals were at their blackest, could not but arouse the bitterest feeling. Mr. Gladstone was apt to be anything but happy when he dealt with the susceptibilities of foreign nations. A passage in a speech of his, delivered on the 17th of March, 1880, during the famous Midlothian campaign, is unforgettable. I shall allude to it at length elsewhere. His utterances in regard to the War of Secession in America were even more dangerous than this. Austria might be offended by his insults, but they would not, could not, lead to open hostilities. But there were moments during the great contest across the Atlantic which were crucial, and no responsible statesman should have hampered friendly negotiations, the object of which was to avoid a fratricidal war between two peoples of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is necessary, in order to understand the difficulties with which Lord Lyons had to deal, to show what were the elements of conflict working on both sides of the Atlantic which he had to meet and overcome. That he succeeded, that when he went home on leave to consult with the Cabinet he was able to write to Lord Russell, “I had quite an affectionate parting with the President this morning,” was one of those triumphs of peace of which the laurels are greener and more fragrant than any that ever hid the baldness of a Cæsar. The course of the great War of Secession is followed with conspicuous ability in Lord Newton’s life. It is impossible to say more about it here than that throughout those terrible years in which gifts of the most consummate tact and judgment were put to the test, Lord Lyons continued to work with patriotic patience and with such great restraint that one is almost tempted to say silently; indeed, in one letter to Lord Russell he himself talks of “my language, or rather silence.” One only goal was ever before his eyes, and that goal the prevention of any cause or excuse that might lead to an outbreak of hostilities between the two countries. I can go into no details here, but there were two episodes in which his moderating influence curbed the hot heads of both nations.