In the course of his speech on the Alabama Claims,
Lord Russell, as usual, became historic, and went back to his own share in the Trent Affair, declaring that when he demanded the rendi- tion of Messrs. Slidell and Mason, he told Lord Lyons to add, that if they were not soon given up, "the matter might assume a very serious aspect." He told the story in order to add, that asking Lord Lyons the other day whether this had produced un- comfortable relations between him and Mr. Seward, Lord Lyons replied that, on the contrary, it had made their relations much more friendly, whence, argued Lord Russell, the Americans really do like "pluck." Lord Granville's reply shows how curiously imperfect is the theoretically perfect responsibility of Cabinets. He said that the Cabinet had known nothing of the threat with which Lord Russell had directed Lord Lyons to accompany his demand, and that Lord Russell was probably solely responsible for it. Yet one would think that if Cabinets are collectively re- sponsible for anything in the world, it would be for the precise nature of a message which they all know to be not unlikely to end in war.
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