The Republican journal., 1880-11-18
The Mysterious Hand.


~ was ~ lAe yeal 1901. shortly after
me commencement OF hostllltleS between
the North and the South. that | found
myself a passenger from Gibraltar to
southampton on one ot the Pennsulal
ANA oriental company steamships. With
the exception OF young English attache,
personal lIiena OF mlne the passengers
were composed OF british officers, order
ed nome 10 loln their regiments, ill antlcl-
ptIl"n OF 4 war between Great Britain
ana lnc hllcu states, growing out OF
"hdl lS caIItu thc "llent affair. two
southern NoNS-namelN, Messrs. Nlldcll
ana Mason en- route Tor England and
France, hdNlnG been torclbiy taken from
the British steamer Trent" by the com
hahdl1G "IlIccr o1 an American m@n-ot-
war.
am invariably sea SICK when on
the ocean, tm tins occasion | was, rs
usual, confined to my stateroom, where !
was visited by the Young Engllslnnan re
terred To- who, after sympathlzing with
my Affections, very kindly said to me "Bc
careful. my dear fellow, when You come
out to the cabin. With the exception OF
ourselves, dil the passengers are British
officers. otdcred home To join their regl-
mentS. War between the nited States
ana Great l}mtaln although not declared,
is imminent. and 'our fellows have GOT
their lighting blood up, and You being
the only American on board, they will
naturally want to pitch into YOU, and will
do SO un the slightest Irovocation. 50 bc
careful for heavens sake"
| was too Sca-sick t. pay much atten-
ton to my friend : warming. feeling per
tectlY well convinced that no human
'pltchln- ln' could be much worse than
the terrible pitching up and down of the
ship. then laboring in the trough Of a
heavy sea In fact, very soon forgot
all about il.
In a couple Of days, however. | found
my Ise}t seated at the dinner table, imme-
diateIy opposite The Hon. Col. Anneslie,
OF the Scots FuSiljers. his regiment being
4 portion OF the household troops, then in
LONDON. After formal introduction,
the subject Of the anticipated difficulty
between the two nations was introduced
by Col. Annesiic, by his asking me what
/ thought about the great insult Great
Britain had received replied that I
saw nothing that diplomacy between two
kindred nations could not remedy. The
colonel expressed surprise at nyremdrk
adding that no nation like Great Britain
could submit II such 4 Slap iii the face
without drawing the sword | smiled
and said that a military man would nat
urally feel that the arbitrament of the
sword Wus the proper method of dispos
INC Of such a difficulty, but that men of
peace preferred to resort to every other
remedy before that Of bloOd-letting. By
this time many OF the officers had left
their seats, and We're eagerly listening to
the conversation. Much to the horror OF
my young English friend, who in the
kindness of his heart had taken 4 seat at
nv side, in order to shield me as much as
possible from what might prove to be an
outburst of INDIGNATION on the part Of his
countrymen | then said:
..With all due respect for Your senti-
ments, colonel, permit me to add that the
views which | have expressed are sus-
tanned by the highest living English au-
thOrity ON international law. namely.
YOUR OWE Mr.. Philimore. who, in Il com
municaton to the London Times of a re-
cent date, which | perused at Gibraltar
inst before coming On board. saws. if nv
memory is not ut fault, that the Ameri-
can naval commauder was not ONLY justi-
fed in taking from the TRENT Ncssrs.
>lidell and Mason, but would have been
justified il carrying the Trent into the