Chapter 12 Eccentricity (1863) Summary

Nearly everyone in England seems, to Adams, to be eccentric. The eccentrics are attracted to the Rebels cause, excepting those like Milnes, Forster, Cobden, and Bright. In the end, the eccentrics help the Union cause just by being so eccentric that their support of the South does little good. The Confederates contributed their own eccentrics as well. Mason is a terrible choice for Ambassador, who accomplishes little, despite have a field of near-total opportunity. The position, as during the American Revolution, calls for someone like Benjamin Franklin, but Mason doesn't know much of the world, and doesn't have a sense of humour. Lamar, the Confederate ambassador to Moscow, would have been a much better choice. Not true eccentric, he was amused most by his English allies, who assure him that their government will not act against the Lairds and the rams...