265.] [Footnote 1216: This was written immediately after the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg, but the tone complained of was much more marked in 1864.] [Footnote 1217: The _Times_ average of editorials on the Civil War ran two in every three days until May, 1864, and thereafter one in every three days.] [Footnote 1218: Russell wrote to John Bigelow, March 8, 1865: "You know, perhaps, that, as I from the first maintained the North must win, I was tabooed from dealing with American questions in the _Times_ even after my return to England, but _en revanche_ I have had my say in the _Army and Navy Gazette_, which I have bought, every week, and if one could be weak and wicked enough to seek for a morbid gratification amid such ruins and blood, I might be proud of the persistence with which I maintained my opinions against adverse and unanimous sentiment" (Bigelow, _Retrospections_, Vol.

II, p.

361).

Also on June 5, 1865, Russell wrote in his diary: "...had the _Times_ followed my advice, how different our position would be--not only that of the leading journal, but of England.

If ever I did State service, it was in my letters from America." (Atkins, _Life of W.H.Russell_, Vol.