champion. Forster and John Bright were the two leading "friends of the North" in Parliament. The latter already had established reputation, but was more influential out of Parliament than in it. Forster, with a reputation to make, showed skill in debate, and soon achieved prestige for himself and his American cause. Henry Adams, son and private secretary of the American Minister to England, once told the writer that he regarded Forster's services as, on the whole, the most valuable rendered by any Englishman to the North.] [Footnote 84: F.O., Am., Vol. 780, No. 30.] [Footnote 85: Newton, _Lord Lyons_, Vol. I, p. 30.] [Footnote 86: F.O., Am., Vol. 760, No. 40.] [Footnote 87: Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, February 4, 1861.] [Footnote 88: F.O., Am., Vol. 760, No. 59.] [Footnote 89: Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, February 12, 1861.] [Footnote 90: _Parliamentary Papers_, 1862, _Lords_, Vol. XXV. "Correspondence on Civil War in the United States," No. 17. Russell to Lyons, February 20, 1861.] [Footnote 91: F.O., Am., Vol. 761, No. 78. Received March 11. It is curious that in the first period of the war Lyons made no extended characterization of Lincoln. Probably his contacts with the new President were insufficient to justify it. The first record of personal impressions was that made by W.H. Russell and later printed in his "Diary" but not reproduced in his letters to the _Times_. Russell was taken to the White House. "Soon afterwards there entered, with a shambling, loose, irregular, almost unsteady gait, a tall, lank, lean man, considerably over six feet in height, with stooping shoulders, long pendulous arms, terminating in hands of extraordinary dimensions, which, however, were far exceeded in proportion by his feet.... The impression produced by the size of his extremities, and by his flapping and wide-projecting ears, may be removed by the appearance of kindliness, sagacity, and awkward bonhomie of his face ... eyes dark, full, and deeply set, are penetrating, but full of an expression which almost amounts to tenderness.... A person who met Mr. Lincoln in the street would not take him to be what--according to usages of European society--is called a 'gentleman' ... but, at the same time, it would not be possible for the most indifferent observer to pass him in the street without notice."--_My Diary_, I, pp. 37-8.] [Footnote 92: Lyons Papers.] [Footnote 93: F.O., Am., Vol. 761.] [Footnote 94: F.O., Am., Vol. 762, No. 122. March 30, 1861. Received