Hence December 23 became the day from which the seven days permitted for consideration and reply dated.

In the meantime, Mercier, on December 21, had told Seward of the strong support given by France to the British position.
The month that had elapsed since the American outburst on first learning of Wilkes' act had given time for a cooling of patriotic fever and for a saner judgment.

Henry Adams in London had written to his brother that if the prisoners were not given up, "this nation means to make war." To this the brother in America replied "this nation doesn't[470]," an answer that sums up public determination no matter how loud the talk or deep the feeling.

Seward understood the change and had now received strong warnings from Adams and Weed in London, and from Dayton in Paris[471], but these were not needed to convince him that America must yield.

Apparently, he had recognized from the first that America was in an impossible situation and that the prisoners must be released _if the demand were made_.