[1227] Sept. 24, 1864.
[1228] Russell Papers. Lyons to Russell, Sept. 16, 1864.
[1229] General McClellan, the nominee of the convention, modified this in his letter of acceptance.
[1230] Oct. 10, 1864.
[1231] Nov. 10, 1864.
[1232] Nov. 12, 1864.
[1233] Ibid.
[1234] According to The Index, the French press was more divided than was the London press in portrayal of military events in America. The Siècle and the Opinion Nationale pictured Sherman as about to capture Atlanta. Readers of the Constitutionel, Patrie, Moniteur, and La France "know quite well that Sherman has neither occupied the centre, the circumference, nor, indeed, any part of the defences of Atlanta; and that he was completely defeated by General Hood on July 22." (Index, Aug. 18, 1864, p. 522.) The Paris correspondent wrote, October 19, after the news was received of Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley:
"The Siècle is triumphant. According to this humanitarian journal, whose sole policy consists in the expression of a double hatred, part of which it bestows on the priests, and part on the slave-dealers, the American contest has assumed its last phase, the Confederates are running in breathless haste to demand pardon, and true patriotism is at last to meet with its reward. This great and noble result will be due to the Northern generals, who have carried military glory to so high a pitch without at the same time compromising American Democracy!
"Your readers will doubtless consider that the writer of the above lines undertakes to speak on a subject of which he knows nothing; but what will they say of a writer who, in the same journal, thus expresses himself relative to the issues of the coming election?
'Lincoln being elected, the following will be the results: The South will lose courage and abandon the contest; the lands reduced to barrenness by servile labour will be again rendered productive by the labour of the freeman; the Confederates, who know only how to fight, and who are supported by the sweat of others, will purify and regenerate themselves by the exercise of their own brains and of their own hands....'
"These strange remarks conclude with words of encouragement to the robust-shouldered, iron-fronted, firm-lipped Lincoln, and prayers for the welfare of the American brethren.
"You will not easily credit it, but this article--a very masterpiece of delirium and absurdity--bears the signature of one of the most eminent writers of the day, M. Henri Martin, the celebrated historian of France. (Index, Oct. 20, 1864, p. 667.)
A week later The Index was vicious in comment upon the "men and money" pouring out of Germany in aid of the North. German financiers, under the guise of aiding emigration, were engaged in the prosperous business of "selling white-skinned Germans to cut Southern throats for the benefit, as they say, of the poor blacks." (Oct. 27, 1864, p. 685.) This bitter tone was indulged in even by the Confederate Secretary of State. Benjamin wrote to Slidell, September 20, 1864, that France was wilfully deceiving the South by professions of friendship. The President, he stated, "could not escape the painful conviction that the Emperor of the French, knowing that the utmost efforts of this people are engrossed in the defence of their homes against an atrocious warfare waged by greatly superior numbers, has thought the occasion opportune for promoting his own purposes, at no greater cost than a violation of his faith and duty toward us." (Richardson, II, p. 577.)
[1235] e.g., Meeting of Glasgow Union and Emancipation Society, Oct. 11, 1864. (The Liberator, Nov. 4, 1864.)
[1236] Russell Papers, Oct. 24, 1864.