Stars & Stripes Triumphant by Harry Harrison Page B

absolutely sure."
    His suspicion was well founded. They sipped silently at their pints and listened to the voices around them with growing concern. They drank quickly and left the dregs in the their glasses, went back into the rainy night.
    "Not an Irishman among them," Paddy said. "Scots to a man."
    "It's the English," McGrath said darkly. "Protestant or Catholic—they can't tell them apart. A Paddy is just a Paddy to them."
    "What do we do?"
    "Get some money and get down to the coast. Fishing's a hard life. We'll just have to find a fisherman in need of a few bob to take a passenger or two. That's what we have to do."

    Parliament was in session, and a very boisterous session it was proving to be. It was prime minister's question time and Benjamin Disraeli, the leader of the opposition, was vying with many others for the attention of the speaker. Once recognized, he climbed to his feet, looked ruefully at Lord Palmerston, and shook his head.
    "Would the house agree with the incredulity that the Prime Minister's words have stirred in my breast? Are we really to believe that Britain is best served by stopping ships at sea, searching and seizing them? Does not memory of 1812 raise certain uncomfortable memories? A useless war started at a time of great peril to this country. Started, if memory serves me correctly, by British men-of-war stopping American ships at sea and pressing their seamen into our service. America would not abide that practice then, and I doubt if they will do so now. The Prime Minister's reckless policies have led this country into two disastrous wars. Must we now look forward to a third?"
    There were shouts of agreement from the floor—mixed with boos and cries of anger. Palmerston rose slowly to his feet, then spoke when the barracking had died down.
    "Does the honorable gentleman intend that as a question—or just an exercise in demagoguery? International trade is the heart's blood of the Empire. While it flows we all profit and live in harmony. Cotton is as essential to the fields of India as it is to the mills of Manchester. I would be remiss if I did not take action against those who threaten that trade—and the Americans are doing just that. The coins in your pocket and the clothes on your back are the profits of international trade. Threaten that and you threaten the Empire, you threaten our very existence as a world power. Britain will rule the seas today and in the foreseeable future—just as she has ruled in the past. The sea-lanes of the world shall not be the pathway of American expansionism. The enemy is at the door, and I for one shall not let them in. Perilous times need positive policies."
    "Like the policy of seizing and imprisoning certain sections of our society?" Disraeli said.
    Palmerston was furious. "I have said it before, and repeat it here again—matters of military policy will not be discussed in this house, in public, in the presence of the press. If the honorable leader of the opposition has a legitimate question about matters of government policy—why, the door at Number Ten is always open to him. What I cannot, will not, abide is any mention of these matters in public. Do I make myself clear?"
    Disraeli dismissed the matter with a wave of his hand. Palmerston would not be drawn out on the matter of the Irish. What was happening was known even to the press, who dared not print it and risk the Prime Minister's wrath. But Disraeli would keep picking away at the opposition's dangerous policies. Make them known to the voters, give them something to worry about. An early election might easily see a change of government.
    Benjamin Disraeli was looking forward to that day.

TEMPTING FATE
    General Sherman came up on deck of the Aurora soon after they had dropped the pilot off at the cutter off Dungeness, when the little yacht had steamed well clear of the shoal waters at the mouth of the Thames. It had been warm and close below, and he now savored the fresh sea air with