News of Lee's check at Gettysburg reached London on July 16, but was described by the _Times_ two days later as virtually a Southern victory since the Northern army had been compelled to act wholly on the defensive.

In the same issue it was stated of Vicksburg, "it is difficult to see what possible hope there can be of reducing the city[1105]." But on July 20, full news of the events of July 4, when Vicksburg fell and Lee began his retreat from Gettysburg, was received and its significance acknowledged, though efforts were made to prove that these events simply showed that neither side could conquer the other[1106].

In contradiction of previous assertions that "another Vicksburg" might easily be set up to oppose Northern advance in the west there was now acknowledgment that the capture of this one remaining barrier on the Mississippi was a great disaster to the South.

_The Index_, forgetful that it was supposedly a British publication, declared: "The saddest news which has reached _us_ since the fall of New Orleans is the account of the surrender of Vicksburg.

The _very day_ on which the capitulation took place renders the blow heavier[1107]." "The fall of Vicksburg," wrote Spence, "has made me ill all the week, never yet being able to drive it off my mind[1108]." Adams reported that the news had caused a panic among the holders of the Cotton Loan bonds and that the press and upper classes were exceedingly glad they had refused support of Roebuck's motion[1109].
If July, 1863, may in any way be regarded as the "crisis" of Southern effort in England, it is only as a despairing one doomed to failure from the outset, and receiving a further severe set-back by the ill-fortune of Lee's campaign into Pennsylvania.