Mercier thinks it quite within the range of possibility that the South may be victorious both in the battle in Virginia and in that in Tennessee.

He is at all events quite confident that whether victorious or defeated, they will not give in, and he is certainly disposed to advise his Government to endeavour to put an end to the war by intervening on the first opportunity.

He is, however, very much puzzled to devise any mode of intervention, which would have the effect of reviving French trade and obtaining cotton.

I should suppose he would think it desirable to go to great lengths to stop the war; because he believes that the South will not give in until the whole country is made desolate and that the North will very soon be led to proclaim immediate emancipation, which would stop the cultivation of cotton for an indefinite time.
I listen and say little when he talks of intervention.

It appears to me to be a dangerous subject of conversation.
There is a good deal of truth in M.Mercier's anticipations of evil, but I do not see my way to doing any good.
If one is to conjecture what the state of things will be a month or six weeks hence, one may "guess" that McClellan will be at Richmond, having very probably got there without much real fighting.