(Hear, hear.) Now,
it has been stated--and by way of comparison treated as matter
of complaint--that during the Crimean war the Americans behaved
so well that the honourable member for Bradford and the
member for Birmingham both lauded their action as compared
with that of our own Government. Now, I have heard that a
vessel sailed from the United States to Petropaulovski. (Cries
of "Name.") If honourable members will allow me I will go
on, and first I propose to read an extract from the _Times_, written
by their correspondent at San Francisco, dated the 29th of
January, 1863:--
"Now, this case of the Alabama illustrates the saying that
a certain class should have a good memory. During the Crimean war,
a man-of-war (called the America, if I remember) was built in America
for the Russian Government, and brought out to the Pacific, filled with
arms and munitions, by an officer in the United States navy. This
gentleman took her to Petropaulovski, where she did service against
the allied squadron, and she is still in the Russian navy. (Cries of 'No,'
and 'Hear, hear.') We made no such childish fuss about this act
of 'hostility' by a friendly Power, which we could not prevent,
as our friends are now making about the Alabama, whose departure
from England our Government could not stop."
The America was commanded by a Lieutenant Hudson, who--if
my information be correct, and I have no doubt that it is--was
then, or had been just previously, a lieutenant in the American
navy; he was the son of a most distinguished officer in the
same service, Captain Hudson.
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