Government was going to tolerate such an outrage as a naval engagement in an English creek. Lord Russell warned Mr. Adams that Captain Craven of the _Tuscarora_ must respect our neutrality, and that whichever ship left first must have twenty-four hours’ “law” before the other was allowed to follow. H.M.S. _Dauntless_ and _Shannon_ were sent to Southampton to overawe Captain Craven, who ultimately put to sea. The _Nashville_ followed, and thus escaped her antagonist. A more romantic and perplexing case was that of a British ship, the _Emilie St. Pierre_. She had sailed from Calcutta for St. John’s, New Brunswick, and had gone to Charleston to see if the port was blockaded. The Federal cruiser, _James Adger_, seized her, and put a prize crew on board. The skipper of the _Emilie St. Pierre_--a Scotsman called Wilson--aided by the cook and steward, one morning overpowered the prize crew and their officers by a clever stratagem, and after escaping many dangers brought the ship safely into Liverpool on the 31st of April. Wilson for the moment was the idol of the seafaring population, and Mr. Adams, somewhat nettled at the defeat of the prize crew, demanded the surrender of the vessel. Lord Russell refused, alleging that the Government had no legal power to seize her, or “interfere with her owners in relation to their property in her.” These controversies rather embittered the relations between Americans and Englishmen in this country. It was therefore most gratifying to the Queen to learn that a kind-hearted citizen of the United States, whose princely charity has endeared his memory to the English-speaking race, had bestowed on the poor of London a gift of surpassing munificence. Mr. George Peabody had a high reputation as a merchant in the City, where his generosity and courageous use of his credit had saved many firms from ruin in the financial crisis of 1857. In the spring of 1862 he made over to Trustees the sum of £150,000, to be applied for the benefit of the poor of London, his only stipulation being, that the management and application of the fund should be free from all sectarian bias. He did not limit the discretion of the Trustees, though he suggested that they would best spend the money in providing improved dwellings for the people. His ideas were not quite carried out, for the blocks of buildings erected by the Peabody Trustees were soon occupied, not by the poor of London, but by the lower middle class, who were not meant by Mr. Peabody to participate in the benefits of his gift.