Adams' own statement was that he had told Palmerston the _James Adger_ was seeking to intercept the _Nashville_ and "had no instruction" to interfere with a British Packet--which is not the same as saying that she already had instructions "not to meddle with any ship under a foreign flag[409]." But in any case, it would appear that the British Government had been warned by its legal advisers that if that which actually happened in the case of the _Trent_ should occur, English practice, if followed, would compel acquiescence in it[410].

This is not to say that a first legal advice thus given on a problematical case necessarily bound the Government to a fixed line of action, but that the opinion of the Government was one of "no help for it" if the case should actually arise is shown by the instructions to Lyons and by his reaction.

On November 16, Hammond wrote to Lyons stating the opinion of the Law Officers that "we could do nothing to save the Packet being interfered with outside our three miles; so Lord Palmerston sent for Adams, who assured him that the American [the _James Adger_] had no instructions to meddle with any ship under English colours ...

that her orders were not to endeavour to take Mason and Slidell out of any ship under foreign colours[411]." On receipt of this letter subsequent to the actual seizure of the envoys, Lyons hardly knew what to expect.

He reported Hammond's account to Admiral Milne, writing that the legal opinion was that "Nothing could be done to save the Packet's being interfered with outside of the Marine league from the British Coast"; but he added, "I am not informed that the Law Officers decided that Mason and Slidell might be taken out of the Packet, but only that we could not prevent the Packet's being interfered with," thus previsioning that shift in British legal opinion which was to come _after_ the event.