The real motive for Seward's eagerness to sign the Slave Trade treaty was the thought of its influence on foreign, not domestic, affairs.

Lyons, being confident that Russell would approve, had taken "the risk of going a little faster" than his instructions had indicated[586].
In this same letter Lyons dwelt upon the Northern elation over recent military successes.

The campaign in the West had been followed in the East by a great effort under McClellan to advance on Richmond up the peninsula of the James river and using Chesapeake Bay as a means of water transportation and supply.

This campaign had been threatened by the appearance of the iron-clad ram _Merrimac_ and her attack on the wooden naval vessels operating in support of McClellan, but on March 9 the _Monitor_, a slow-moving floating iron-clad fortress, drove the _Merrimac_ from her helpless prey, and removed the Southern threat to McClellan's communications.

More than any other one battle of the Civil War the duel between the _Merrimac_ and the _Monitor_ struck the imagination of the British people, and justly so because of its significance in relation to the power of the British Navy.