It is indeed difficult to see what would have been the outcome had Great Britain also played at that time an aggressive and selfish part.

She stayed her hand, but many British statesmen were keenly interested in the struggle, from the point of view of British interests.

They did not desire territory, but they foresaw that the permanent separation of the two parts of the United States would leave the country shorn of weight in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.

North and South, if separated, would each inevitably seek European support, and the isolation of the United States and its claim to priority in American affairs would disappear.

The balance of power would extend itself to the Western Hemisphere and the assumption of a sphere of influence would vanish with the unity of the United States.
Nor did the close of the Civil War reveal less clearly than its beginning the real international position of the United States.