Leave for three months having been granted, the sanguine Mr. Seward did not fail to draw hopeful conclusions from the circumstance, and there appeared to be no sign of immediate trouble in the near future.
Lord Lyons to Lord Russell.
Washington, June 9, 1862.
I was so unwell yesterday that I was unable to do anything, which has prevented my sending you by this mail some general information on the prospects of the war and some other matters.
I did not think that Mr. Seward would object to my going. He has, in fact, taken up the idea with so much enthusiasm that I have been obliged to endeavour to check his anticipation of the wonders I am to effect, or rather to make him understand that my own views, not his, are those which I must express to you.
I take his willingness that I should go as a sign that he does not expect serious trouble, for I think that he would rather be in my hands than those of a man new to him if he did.
I am afraid that there are three things to which we must not blind ourselves:
1. That we have a very small chance of getting cotton from this country for a long time to come.
2. That there is no Union feeling in the South.
3. That the war has become one of separation or subjugation.
Lord Lyons to Lord Russell.
Washington, June 13, 1862.
I had quite an affectionate parting with the President this morning. He told, as is his wont, a number of stories more or less decorous, but all he said having any bearing on political matters was: 'I suppose my position makes people in England think a great deal more of me than I deserve, pray tell 'em that I mean 'em no harm.' He does not pay much attention to foreign affairs, and I suppose did not like to talk about them without Mr. Seward. I am to hear Mr. Seward's last words at New York on Tuesday evening. I embark the following morning, and hope to pay my respects to you in person a few days after this letter reaches you.
It is quite time for me to get away from this place. The heat to-day is overpowering.
Lord Lyons arrived in London about the end of June, and a letter to Mr. Stuart who had been left in charge of the Legation at Washington shows that he was considerably alarmed at the hostile feeling prevailing throughout the country against the North, largely due to the inability to obtain cotton, but also embittered by the tone of the American press. As an instance of this feeling, alluding to the rumour that McClellan had suffered a serious defeat, he adds: 'I am afraid no one but me is sorry for it.' McClellan's misfortunes certainly provoked demonstrations of pleasure in the House of Commons during an ill-timed debate which took place in July, and a celebrated speech by Gladstone in which he asserted that 'Jefferson Davies and the leaders of the South have made an army; they are making, it appears, a navy; and they have made, what is more than either—they have made a nation,' certainly tended to show that however impartial the Cabinet intended to be, the sympathies of England were to a great extent with the South.