The British press had chosen "to impute the lowest motives, to cull out and exult over all the meanness, and bragging, and disorder which the contest has brought out, and while we sit on the bank, to make no allowances for those who are struggling in the waves[339]." Besides the _Spectator_, on the Northern side, stood the _Daily News_, declaring that the South could not hold out, and adding, "The Confederate States may be ten millions, but they _are_ wrong--notoriously, flagrantly wrong[340]." The _Daily News_, according to its "Jubilee" historians, stood almost alone in steadfast advocacy of the Northern cause[341].

This claim of unique service to the North is not borne out by an examination of newspaper files, but is true if only metropolitan dailies of large circulation are considered.

The _Spectator_ was a determined and consistent friend of the North.

In its issue of September 28 a speech made by Bulwer Lytton was summarized and attacked.

The speaker had argued that the dissolution of the Union would be beneficial to all Europe, which had begun to fear the swollen size and strength of the young nation across the Atlantic.