The first was the famous case of the _Trent_. On the 8th of November, 1861, “the English mail steamer _Trent_, one day out from Havana, was met by the American warship _San Jacinto_, and stopped by a shell fired across her bows. She was then boarded by a party of marines, and the officer in command of the party demanded a list of the passengers. The production of the list having been refused, the officer stated that he knew the Confederate delegates to Europe, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, to be on board, and insisted upon their surrender. While the discussion was in progress, Mr. Slidell made his appearance and disclosed his identity. Thereupon, in defiance of the protests of the captain of the _Trent_ and of the Government mail agent, Mr. Slidell and Mr. Mason, together with their secretaries, were seized and carried off by force to the _San Jacinto_, and taken as prisoners to New York.” When the news arrived in England the excitement and indignation were such that no one who witnessed them will ever forget that fever of wrathful resentment. On the other side the less thoughtful portion of the American public worked itself up into a perfect delirium of patriotic enthusiasm. Captain Wilkes, the commander of the _San Jacinto_, was raised to the dignity of a national hero; banquets were held in his honour and the Governor of Boston made a speech in which he said “That there may be nothing left to crown this exultation, Commodore Wilkes fired his shot across the bows of the ship that bore the British lion at its head.” Promotion to the rank of Admiral was the heroic captain’s reward. Peaceful and conciliatory as Lord Lyons was, and deeply concerned as he had shown himself in the avoidance of giving or of unnecessarily accepting any cause of offence, he was as convinced as the Home Government that in this procedure of Captain Wilkes the limit at which patience was possible had been reached, and it must have been a relief to him to receive the despatch in which “The United States Government were informed that International Law and the rights of Great Britain had been violated, that Her Majesty’s Government trusted that the act would be disavowed, the prisoners set free and restored to British protection. Should this demand be refused, Lord Lyons was instructed to leave Washington.”