Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/341

 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 277 put an end to all discussion of overtures of inter vention from European powers. The diplomatic relations with England were exceptionally strained at several periods during the war. The building and fitting out of Confederate cruisers in English ports, and their escape, after their construction and its purpose had been made known by the American minister, more than once brought the two nations to the verge of war; but the moderation with which the claims of the United States were made by Mr. Lincoln, the energy and ability displayed by Sec. Seward and by Mr. Charles Francis Adams in pre senting these claims, and, it must now be recog nized, the candor and honesty with which the mat ter was treated by Earl Russell, the British min ister for foreign affairs, saved the two countries from that irreparable disaster; and the British gov ernment at last took such measures as were neces sary to put an end to this indirect war from the shores of England upon American commerce. In the course of two years the war attained such pro portions that volunteering was no longer a suffi cient resource to keep the army, consisting at that time of nearly a million men, at its full fighting strength. Congress therefore authorized, and the depart ment executed, a scheme of enrolment and draft of the arms-bearing population of the loyal states. Violent opposition arose to this measure in many