Adams, by mid-December, 1863, was sure that previous British confidence in the ultimate success of the South was rapidly declining[1125].
Such utterances, if well founded, might well have portended the cessation of further Southern effort in England.

That a renewal of activity soon occurred was due largely to a sudden shift in the military situation in America and to the realization that the heretofore largely negative support given to the Southern cause must be replaced by organized and persistent effort.

Grant's victorious progress in the West had been checked by the disaster to Rosencrans at Chicamauga, September 18, and Grant's army forced to retrace its steps to recover Chattanooga.

It was not until November 24 that the South was compelled to release its grip upon that city.

Meanwhile in the East, Lee, fallen back to his old lines before Richmond, presented a still impregnable front to Northern advance.