ow.
He used to pay some little attention to any opinions I
ventured to express to him, and I am _not_ without hope. I
may add that I was as frank with Lord Palmerston as he has
been pleased to be with me, and I told him at parting to-day,
that my present intention was not to proceed with the Motion
at least for 10 days or a fortnight, unless he was prepared
to support me. He highly commended this course, and seemed
much gratified with what I said. The fact is, _sub rosa_, it
is clear to me that _no_ motion will be carried unless it is
supported by the Government for it is clear that Lord Derby
is resolved to leave the responsibility with the Executive,
and therefore, _in the present state of matters_, it would
seriously injure the cause of the South to bring forward any
motion which would not be carried."

Lindsay then urges Mason to come at once to London.

"Now apart altogether from you seeing Lord Palmerston, I must
earnestly entreat you to come here. Unless you are much
wanted in Paris, your visit here, as a private gentleman, can
do no harm, and _may, at the present moment, be of great
service to your country_[1180]."

Palmerston's willingness to listen to suggestions of what would have
amounted to a complete face-about of British policy on America, his
"gratification" that Lindsay intended to postpone the parliamentary
motion, his friendly courtesy to a man whom he had but recently rebuked
for a meddlesome "amateur diplomacy," can be interpreted in no other
light than an evidence of a desire to prevent Southern friends from
joining in the attack, daily becoming more dangerous, on the
Government's Danish policy. How much of this Lindsay understood is not
clear; on the face of his letters to Mason he would seem to have been
hoodwinked, but the more reasonable supposition is, perhaps, that much
was hoped from the governmental necessity of not alienating supporters.
The Danish situation was to be used, but without an open threat. In
addition the tone of the public press, for some time gloomy over
Southern prospects, was now restored to the point of confidence and in
this the _Times_ was again leading[1181]. The Society for Promoting the
Cessation of Hostilities in America quickly issued another circular
letter inviting Members of Parliament to join in a deputation to call on
Palmerston to urge action on the lines of Lind