Yet even he was slow to appreciate the inevitability of secession.
[Illustration: LORD LYONS (_From a photograph taken at Boston, U.S.A., in 1860) (From Lord Newton's "Life of Lord Lyons," by kind permission_)] Other officials, especially those in minor positions in the United States, showed a lack of grasp of the situation similar to that of the press.

An amusing illustration of this, furnishing a far-fetched view of causes, is supplied in a letter of February 2, 1860, from Consul Bunch, at Charleston, S.C., to Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington[49].

Bunch wrote describing a dinner which had been given the evening before, by the Jockey Club of Charleston.

Being called upon for a speech, he had alluded to the prizes of the Turf at home, and had referred especially to the Plates run for the various British colonies.
Continuing, he said: "'...

I cannot help calling your attention to the great loss you yourselves have suffered by ceasing to be a Colonial Dependency of Great Britain, as I am sure that if you had continued to be so, the Queen would have had great pleasure in sending you some Plates too.' "Of course this was meant for the broadest sort of joke, calculated to raise a laugh after dinner, but to my amazement, the company chose to take me literally, and applauded for about ten minutes--in fact I could not go on for some time." Bunch evidently hardly knew what to make of this demonstration.