The backwoods lawyer questioned, too, the right of a naval officer to
turn his quarter-deck into a court and decide questions of international
law offhand. He raised the point at once whether these men thus captured
might not be white elephants on the hands of the Government. Moreover
he reminded his Cabinet that we had fought England once for daring to do
precisely this thing.
Great Britain promptly drew her sword and made ready for war.
Queen Victoria's Government not only demanded that the return of these
passengers be made at once with an apology, but did it in a way so
offensive that a less balanced man in power would have lost his head and
committed the fatal blunder.
The tall, quiet Chief Magistrate was equal to the occasion. Great
Britain had ordered her navy on a war footing, dispatched eight thousand
troops to Canada to strike by land as well as sea, allowing us but seven
days in which to comply with all her demands or hand Lord Lyons his
passports.
The President immediately dictated a reply which forced her Prime
Minister to accept it and achieved for the Nation the establishment of a
principle for which we had fought in vain in 1812.
He ordered the prisoners returned and an apology expressed. His apology
was a two-edged sword thrust which Great Britain was compelled to take
with a groan.
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