The other reason why Lord Palmerston has withheld open comfort from the Rebels is doubtless to be found in the steady adherence of our Government to the position which it assumed at the beginning,—­in the promptness with which we have insisted upon our rights throughout the world,—­the grace with which we have disavowed the evident errors of public servants,—­the steadiness of our military progress,—­the ease with which we have borne the strain upon our resources in respect both of men and money,—­the possible, if not probable, success of the war,—­the certainty that that success would strengthen our system, and render us capable of resenting foreign insult.  For while Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell are very apt to stalk about and threaten and talk very loudly at nations whose weakness causes them not to be feared, and by bullying whom some power or money may slide into British hands, they are slow to provoke nations whose resentment either is or may become formidable to British weal.  The British lion roars over the impotence of Brazil:  he lies still and watches before the might of Napoleon.  In the one case he stands forth the lordly king of beasts; in the other he seems metamorphosed into the fox.  The hope that America would descend incontinently to the rank of an inferior power was quickly dispelled; so the lion crouched and the foxy head appeared.  The everlasting caution came in and said,—­“Wait your chance; a hasty judgment is always a poor judgment; let events take their course, and if occasion offers, strike the right blow at the right time; but do not decree away the stability of the Union either by the illusion of hope or by an expectation as yet ill-founded.”  It was the wisdom of the serpent, eager, and conquering eagerness.

Under the cloak of a pretended neutrality, the ministry have had opportunity to watch the course of events, to connive at aid to the Rebellion, and to leave themselves unembarrassed when the success of one side or the other should make it expedient to declare in its favor.  It has been with the greatest difficulty that Mr. Adams has been able to bring the Foreign Office to exert its authority against violations of that neutrality.  Vessels, known well enough to be in the service of the Confederates, or intended for their use, have been allowed to escape from the Clyde, and to put into British ports to refit.  Frequent conflicts on questions of international law have arisen, in which our Government has invariably insisted upon the known precedents set by Great Britain, and which that power has generally deemed it prudent to follow.  In the case of the Trent, if we lost the possession of two valuable prisoners of war, we at all events, by promptly disavowing the act of Commodore Wilkes, set England an example of fairness which she has been loath to follow, but which it would have been folly totally to disregard.  Yet it has been apparent that the British ministers have borne us no good-will.  Whatever justice has been done us has been done grudgingly,—­with