"The Cabinet of London is watching attentively the internal dissensions of the Union and awaits the result with an impatience which it has difficulty in disguising." Great Britain would soon, in return for cotton, give recognition to the South and, if required, armed support.

For this same cotton she would oppose emancipation of the slaves.

The break-up of the Union was no less than a disaster for all nations save England, since hitherto the "struggle" between England and the United States "has been the best guarantee against the ambitious projects and political egotism of the Anglo-Saxon race[1320]." This prophecy, made over a year in advance of events, was repeated frequently as the crisis in America approached and during the first two years of the war.

Stoeckl was not solitary in such opinion.

The French Minister of Foreign Affairs held it also--and the French Emperor puzzled himself in vain to discover why Great Britain, in furtherance of her own interests, did not eagerly accept his overtures for a vigorous joint action in support of the South[1321].
The preceding chapters of this work will have shown how unfounded was such prophecy.