that with, I trust, a "calm comparison of the evidence," now for the
first time available to the historian, a fairly true estimate may be
made of what the American Civil War meant to Great Britain; how she
regarded it and how she reacted to it. In brief, my work is primarily a
study in British history in the belief that the American drama had a
world significance, and peculiarly a British one.

EPHRAIM DOUGLASS ADAMS.

_November 25, 1924_



CONTENTS OF VOLUME ONE

CHAPTER PAGE

I. BACKGROUNDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF IMPENDING CONFLICT, 1860-61 . . . 35
III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A POLICY, MAY, 1861 . . . . . . 76
IV. BRITISH SUSPICION OF SEWARD . . . . . . . . . . 113
V. THE DECLARATION OF PARIS NEGOTIATION . . . . . . . 137
VI. BULL RUN; CONSUL BUNCH; COTTON, AND MERCIER . . . . 172
VII. THE "TRENT" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
VIII. THE BLOCKADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
IX. ENTER MR. LINDSAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274



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