French opinion, like that expressed in England, appears to have been that the Northern successes in the spring of 1862 might result in such a rehabilitation of Northern self-esteem that suggestions of now recognizing the facts of the situation and acknowledging the independence of the South would not be unfavourably received.  In this sense Thouvenel wrote to Mercier, privately, on March 13, but was careful to state that the word “mediation” ought not to be uttered.  His letter dilated, also, on French manufacturing difficulties at home due to the lack of cotton[592].  This was in no way an instruction to Mercier, but the ideas expressed were broached by him in a conversation with Seward, only to be met with such positive assertions of intention and ability soon to recover the South as somewhat to stagger the French Minister.  He remarked, according to his report to Thouvenel, that he wished it were possible to visit Richmond and assure himself that there also they recognized the truth of Seward’s statements, upon which the latter at once offered to further such a trip.  Mercier asserted to Thouvenel that he was taken by surprise, having foreseen no such eager acquiescence in a suggestion made without previous thought, but that on consideration he returned to Seward and accepted the proposal, outlining the substance of what he intended to say at Richmond.  He should there make clear that the anxiety of France was above all directed toward peace as essential to French commercial interests; that France had always regarded the separation of North and South with regret; that the North was evidently determined in its will to restore the Union; and, in repetition, that France wished to aid in any way possible the early cessation of war.  Seward, wrote Mercier, told him to add that he, personally, would welcome “the presence in the Senate” of any persons whom the South wished to elect[593].

Mercier, writes Bancroft, “from the first had been an impatient sympathizer with the Confederacy, and he was quite devoid of the balance and good judgment that characterized Lord Lyons.”  “Quite unnecessarily, Seward helped him to make the trip[594].”  A circumstance apparently not known to Bancroft was Mercier’s consultation with Lyons, before departure, in which were revealed an initiative of the adventure, and a proposed representation to the authorities in Richmond materially different from the report made by Mercier to Thouvenel.  These merit expanded treatment as new light on a curious episode and especially as revealing the British policy of the moment, represented in the person of the British Minister in Washington[595].

On April 10 Mercier came to Lyons, told him that he was about to set out for Richmond and that he had “been for some little time thinking of making this journey.”  He told of making the suggestion to Seward, and that this “rather to his surprise” had been “eagerly” taken up.