“I then supposed that the influence of the Emperor was such that any view of the question which he might urge on the British Cabinet would be adopted.  I have since had reason to change entirely this opinion.  I am now satisfied that in all that concerns us the initiative must be taken by England; that the Emperor sets such value on her good will that he will make any sacrifice of his own opinions and policy to retain it[578].”

On March 28 he repeated this conviction to Mason[579].  It was a correct judgment.  Mason was thereby exalted with the knowledge that his was to be the first place in importance in any and all operations intended to secure European support for the Confederacy, but he could not conceal from himself that the first steps undertaken in that direction had been premature.  From this first failure dated his fixed belief, no matter what hopes were sometimes expressed later, that only a change of Government in England would help the Southern cause.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 502:  See ante, p. 52.]

[Footnote 503:  See ante, pp. 61 and 65-66.]

[Footnote 504:  Russell Papers.  Lyons to Russell, April 15, 1861.]

[Footnote 505:  Ibid., Lyons to Russell.  Private.  April 23, 1861.]

[Footnote 506:  Bernard, Neutrality of Great Britain, pp. 80-1.]

[Footnote 507:  Russell Papers.  Lyons to Russell, April 27, 1861.]

[Footnote 508:  Bernard, p. 229.]

[Footnote 509:  Saturday Review, May 18, 1861.]

[Footnote 510:  Hansard, 3rd.  Ser., CLXIII, pp. 188-195.]

[Footnote 511:  Russell Papers.  Lyons to Russell, June 24, 1861.]

[Footnote 512:  Ibid., Lyons to Russell, July 2, 1861.]

[Footnote 513:  Russell Papers.  Cowley to Russell.  The important correspondence on this subject is found in:  F.O., France, Vol. 1393.  No. 796.  Cowley to Russell, July 2, 1861. Ibid., No. 804.  Cowley to Russell, July 4, 1861. Ibid., Vol. 1377.  No. 704.  Russell to Cowley, July 10, 1861. Ibid., Vol. 1394.  No. 874.  Cowley to Russell, July 17, 1861. Ibid., No. 922.  Cowley to Russell, July 28, 1861. Ibid., No. 923.  Confidential Cowley to Russell, July 29, 1861.  Russell Papers.  Cowley to Russell, July 19, 1861. Ibid., Cowley to Russell, July 28, 1861.  It is interesting that the promise of France to support England in remonstrance against the “Southern Ports Bill” appears, through Cowley’s communications, in the printed Parliamentary Papers.  A study of these alone would lead to the judgment that France had been the first to raise the question with England and had heartily supported England.  The facts were otherwise, though Mercier, without exact instructions from Thouvenel, aided Lyons in argument with Seward (Parliamentary Papers, 1862, Lords, Vol.  XXV.  “Correspondence on Civil War in the United States.”  No. 68.  Lyons to Russell, July 20, 1861).]