A World on Fire_ Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War - Amanda Foreman [523]
29. Kenneth Bourne, Britain and the Balance of Power (Berkeley, 1967), p. 271. The source for the footnote is Somerset RO, Somerset MSS, d/RA/A/2a/270/13, Donald McKay to Rear Admiral Robinson, February 14, 1864.
30. Dean Mahin, One War at a Time (Dulles, Va., 1999), p. 226.
31. Scott Thomas Cairns, “Lord Lyons and Anglo-American Diplomacy During the American Civil War,” Ph.D. thesis, London School of Economics, 2004, p. 362, Journal of Queen Victoria, March 10, 1865.
32. PRFA, part 1 (1866), pp. 69–71, Adams to Seward, December 30, 1864.
33. Ibid., p.176, Russell to Mason, Slidell, and Mann, February 13, 1865. Brian Jenkins, Britain and the War for the Union, 2 vols. (Montreal, 1974, 1980), vol. 2, p. 366. The Queen thought it was somewhat undignified to ask for Seward’s help in delivering the letter. But Russell replied that if the only reason against sending the letter was “because we do not like to be thought afraid,” he was prepared to suffer that consequence “for the humanity of the country.”
34. MHS, Adams MSS, Diary of Charles Francis Adams, February 14, 1865, and PRFA, part 1 (1866), p. 165, Adams to Seward, February 16, 1865.
35. Ibid., p.183, Adams to Seward, February 23, 1865.
36. The situation in France also worried Adams after hearing in confidence from General McClellan’s former military adviser the Prince de Joinville that the emperor was building a large fleet at Cherbourg which he would be prepared to employ on behalf of the Confederates if Seward showed the slightest inclination to meddle in Mexico.
37. Fitzgerald Ross, Cities and Camps of the Confederate States, ed. Richard Barksdale Harwell (Champaign, Ill., 1997), p. xix, Ross to Blackwood, March 24, 1865.
38. Library of Congress digital online MSS, Lincoln MS, Belle Boyd to Lincoln, January 24, 1864. Sala had a robust view of sex and extramarital relations and Belle was not in a position to dictate their relationship. Sala’s contribution to the development of Victorian pornography is well documented, not least his co-authorship of the underground magazine the Pearl. After helping Belle, Sala became the ghostwriter for Lieutenant Colonel Heros von Borcke, Jeb Stuart’s staff officer, who published his memoir in 1866.
39. See Louis A. Sigaud, Belle Boyd—Confederate Spy (Richmond, Va., 1944), pp. 185–87. Sigaud ponders the various rumors and half-truths concerning Hardinge and Grace.
40. “We all agree, however,” wrote Slidell, “that the letter of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs is extremely insolent and offensive.” ORN, ser. 2, vol. 3, p. 1263, Slidell to Benjamin, February 24, 1864. Shortly after Kenner’s arrival in France, another emissary arrived: the French volunteer in the Confederate army Prince Camille de Polignac, who reached Paris on March 21, 1865, hoping to persuade the emperor that giving aid to the Confederacy would be beneficial to his long-term plans for Mexico. “When I left the country on what I expected to be a six month’s absence, I was unaware of the hopeless conditions of the affairs in the east,” he wrote subsequently. Jeff Kinaird, Lafayette of the South (College Station, Tex., 2001), p. 184.
41. “The rumors lately prevalent coming from the South … [have] attracted much attention in England,” Mason wrote to Benjamin. “Many enquiries have been made of me by our well-wishers whether I thought it would be done. It is considered by them with much favor as a measure … whilst in their opinion it would be a first step toward emancipation.” Mason reassured Benjamin that he had disabused them of the idea. ORN, ser. 2, vol. 3, p. 1258, Mason to Benjamin, January 21, 1865.
42. Robert W. Young, Senator James Murray Mason (Knoxville, Tenn., 1998), p. 180.
43. Craig A. Bauer, “The Last Effort: The Secret Mission of the Confederate Diplomat, Duncan F. Kenner,” Louisiana History, 22 (1981), pp. 67–95.
44. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers