hrough the newspapers. Up to
November, 1862, _The Index_ records no Southern public meeting. But by
the summer of 1863, the indefatigable Spence had come to the conclusion
that something must be done to offset the efforts of Bright and others,
especially in the manufacturing districts where a strong Northern
sympathy had been created. On June 16, he wrote to Mason that on his
initiative a Southern Club had been organized in Manchester and that
others were now forming in Oldham, Blackburn and Stockport. In
Manchester the Club members had "smashed up the last Abolitionist
meeting in the Free Trade Hall":

"These parties are not the rich spinners but young men of
energy with a taste for agitation but little money. It
appears to my judgment that it would be wise not to stint
money in aiding this effort to expose cant and diffuse the
truth. Manchester is naturally the centre of such a move and
you will see there are here the germs of important work--but
they need to be tended and fostered. I have supplied a good
deal of money individually but I see room for the use of L30
or L40 a month or more[1129]."

The appeal for funds (though Spence wrote that he would advance the
required amounts on the chance of reimbursement from the Confederate
secret service fund) is interesting in comparison with the contributions
willingly made by Bright's friends. "Young men of energy with a taste
for agitation but little money" reveals a source of support somewhat
dubious in persistent zeal and requiring more than a heavy list of
patrons' names to keep up a public interest. Nevertheless, Spence
succeeded, for a short time, in arousing a show of energy. November 24,
1863, Mason wrote to Mann that measures were "in progress and in course
of execution" to hold public meetings, memorialize Parliament, and form
an association for the promotion of Southern independence "under the
auspices of such men as the Marquis of Lothian, Lord Robert Cecil, M.P.,
Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Eustace Cecil, Messrs. Haliburton, Lindsay,
Peacocke, Van Stittart, M.P., Beresford Hope, Robert Bourke, and
others[1130]...." A fortnight later, Spence reported his efforts and
postulated that in them, leading to European intervention, lay the
principal, if not the only hope, of Southern independence--a view never
_publicly_ acknowledged by any devoted friend of the South:

"The news is gloomy--very, and I really do not see ho