e scale turned
against the Confederacy, and Gettysburg was supplemented by the seizure
of the Laird rams by the British authorities. These events explain the
bitter turn given to Confederate feeling toward England in the latter
part of 1863. On the 4th of August Benjamin wrote to Mason that "the
perusal of the recent debates in 'Parliament satisfies the President"
that Mason's "continued residence in London is neither conducive to
the interests nor consistent with the dignity of this government," and
directed him to withdraw to Paris.

Confederate feeling, as it cooled toward England, warmed toward France.
Napoleon's Mexican scheme, including the offer of a ready-made imperial
crown to Maximilian, the brother of the Emperor of Austria, was fully
understood at Richmond; and with Napoleon's need of an American ally,
Southern hope revived. It was further strengthened by a pamphlet which
was translated and distributed in the South as a newspaper article
under the title France, Mexico, and the Confederate States. The reputed
author, Michel Chevalier, was an imperial senator, another member of the
Napoleon ring, and highly trusted by his shifty master. The pamphlet,
which emphasized the importance of Southern independence as a condition
of Napoleon's "beneficent aims" in Mexico, was held to have been
inspired, and the imperial denial was regarded as a mere matter of form.

What appeared to be significant of the temper of the Imperial Government
was a decree of a French court in the case of certain merchants who
sought to recover insurance on wine dispatched to America and destroyed
in a ship taken by the Alabama. Their plea was that they were insured
against loss by "pirates." The court dismissed their suit and assessed
costs against them. Further evidence of Napoleon's favor was the
permission given to the Confederate cruiser Florida to repair at Brest
and even to make use of the imperial dockyard. The very general faith in
Napoleon's promises was expressed by Davis in his message to Congress
in December: "Although preferring our own government and institutions
to those of other countries, we can have no disposition to contest the
exercise by them of the same right of self-government which we assert
for ourselves. If the Mexican people prefer a monarchy to a republic,
it is our plain duty cheerfully to acquiesce in their decision and
to evince a sincere and friendly interest in their prosperity.... The
Emperor of the French