Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/466

428 and firmly by the English government, but Mr. Seward proceeded to write, after nearly a month s delay, an elaborate argument ending only as it must have ended, in his repeating that &quot;what has happened has been simply inadvertence,&quot; and that for &quot;this error the British government has the right to expect the same reparation that we as an independent state should expect from Great Britain or from any other friendly nation on a similar case. After this explanation and apology the Secretary concluded his remarkable document by writing that &quot;the four persons in question are now held in military custody at Fort Warren in the State of Massachusetts. They will be cheerfully liberated. Your Lordship will please indicate a time and place for receiving them. &quot; Mr. Seward must have felt the sting which was put in the acceptance of his apology by the English government. That final rejoinder which went through the hands of Lord Lyons to the table of the secretary of state very coolly declared the apology to be full and the British demand complied with. Such pungent sentences as the following appeared in the final British communication: &quot;No condition of any kind is coupled with the liberation of the prisoners&quot;—&quot;The secretary of state expressly forbears to justify the particular act of which her Majesty’s government complained&quot; and Lord Russell threateningly says that if the United States had sanctioned the action of Wilkes, it &quot;would have become responsible for the original violence and insults of the act&quot;—&quot;It will be desirable that the commanders of the United States cruisers be instructed not to repeat acts for which the British government will have to ask for redress and which the United States government cannot undertake to justify.&quot; The illustrious prisoners were placed under the British protection with as little parade as possible and Captain Wilkes was left to enjoy as best he could the compliments hastily voted by Congress. The Confederate hope that European nations would unite with England in some policy severer