James Ford Rhodes (18481927). History of the Civil War, 18611865 1917.
and the blow was the harder to bear, inasmuch as England, from whom sympathy was ardently desired, now regarded the dissolution of the Union as an accomplished fact. Friends of the South saw in this victory a promise of her eventual triumph and to help forward her cause, endeavored to cloud the issue. It is surprising, wrote Charles Francis Adams, our minister to Great Britain, in a private letter from London, to see the efforts made here to create the belief that our struggle has nothing to do with slavery, but that it is all about a tariff. I cannot conceal from myself the fact that as a whole the English are pleased with our misfortunes.1
Fifty-two years after the struggle, this feeling may be accounted for by the remark of Rochefoucauld, The misfortunes of our best friends are not entirely displeasing to us; but such an attitude during the war on the part of the kin across the sea was felt bitterly by men who were risking life and fortune in what they deemed a sacred cause.2
Note 2. Authorities on Bull Run, III, 437, 443457; O. R., II; N. & H., IV; W. Sherman, I; Johnston; J. Davis, I; Ropes, I; R. M. Johnston; C. W., Pt. 2; Swinton; Chesnut; B. & L., I; Globe; Hosmers Appeal; Seward, II; Early; characterizations of Johnston and Jackson, III, 458, 462. [back]