Excerpt from The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe, Vol. 1 of 2: Or, How the Confederate Cruisers Were Equipped The American Civil War of 1861-65 will always remain a notable event in history; and its effects upon the character of the American people and the political institutions of the country are questions which have not yet received a final solution. Thus it is probable that every addition to the history of that great struggle which is founded upon facts not hitherto known, will be received with some favour by those who were actors in the events, or who, from their position as statesmen, are led to ob serve and to carefully note the political disasters which periodically disturb contemporary nations. But it is, nevertheless, manifest that the subject has already lost its interest with the general public, who are mostly absorbed in practical affairs of present importance, or who seek amusement in literature of a wholly different kind. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.