Index_, forgetful that it was supposedly a
British publication, declared: "The saddest news which has reached _us_
since the fall of New Orleans is the account of the surrender of
Vicksburg. The _very day_ on which the capitulation took place renders
the blow heavier[1107]."

"The fall of Vicksburg," wrote Spence, "has made me ill all the week,
never yet being able to drive it off my mind[1108]." Adams reported that
the news had caused a panic among the holders of the Cotton Loan bonds
and that the press and upper classes were exceedingly glad they had
refused support of Roebuck's motion[1109].

If July, 1863, may in any way be regarded as the "crisis" of Southern
effort in England, it is only as a despairing one doomed to failure from
the outset, and receiving a further severe set-back by the ill-fortune
of Lee's campaign into Pennsylvania. The real crisis of governmental
attitude had long since passed. Naturally this was not acknowledged by
the staunch friends of the South any more than at Richmond it was
acknowledged (or understood) that Gettysburg marked the crisis of the
Confederacy. But that the end of Southern hope for British intervention
had come at Richmond, was made clear by the action of Benjamin, the
Confederate Secretary of State. On August 4, he recalled Mason, writing
that the recent debates in Parliament showed the Government determined
not to receive him:

"Under these circumstances, your continued residence in
London is neither conducive to the interests nor consistent
with the dignity of this Government, and the President
therefore requests that you consider your mission at an end,
and that you withdraw, with your secretary, from
London[1110]."

A private letter accompanying the instruction authorized Mason to remain
if there were any "marked change" in governmental attitude, but since
the decision of the Ministry to seize the Laird Rams had been made
public at nearly the same moment when this instruction was received,
September 15, Mason could hardly fail to retire promptly. Indeed, the
very fact of that seizure gave opportunity for a dramatic exit though
there was no connection between Benjamin's instruction and the stopping
of Confederate ship-building in England. The real connection was with
the failure of the Gettysburg campaign and the humiliating collapse of
Roebuck's motion. Even the _Times_ was now expanding upon the "serious
reverses" of the South and maki