In popular opinion, Lincoln came to be regarded as a far-visioned statesman in anticipating that which ultimately came to pass.

This has important bearing on the relations of the United States and Great Britain.
There is no doubt that nearly every Northern American had believed in 1860, that anti-slavery England would sympathize strongly with the North.

The event did not prove this to be the case, nor could the North justly complain in the face of administration denials of an anti-slavery purpose.

The English Government therefore was widely upheld by British opinion in regarding the struggle from the point of view of British interests.

Yet any Northern step antagonistic to the institution of slavery compelled British governmental consideration.