hen they will know
that they cannot shell an army provided with as powerful
artillery as their own out of a position.... The Northerners
have, indeed, lost the day solely owing to the want of
average ability in their leaders in the field[1225]."

On the very day when Russell thus wrote in the _Gazette_ the city of
Atlanta had been taken by Sherman. When the news reached England the
_Times_ having declared this impossible, now asserted that it was
unimportant, believed that Sherman could not remain in possession and,
two days later, turned with vehemence to an analysis of the political
struggle as of more vital influence. The Democrats, it was insisted,
would place peace "paramount to union" and were sure to win[1226].
Russell, in the _Gazette_, coolly ignoring its prophecy of three weeks
earlier, now spoke as if he had always foreseen the fall of Atlanta:

"General Sherman has fully justified his reputation as an
able and daring soldier; and the final operations by which he
won Atlanta are not the least remarkable of the series which
carried him from Chattanooga ... into the heart of
Georgia[1227]."

But neither of these political-military "expert" journals would
acknowledge any benefit accruing to Lincoln from Sherman's success. Not
so, however, Lyons, who kept his chief much better informed than he
would have been if credulous of the British press. Lyons, who for some
time had been increasingly in bad health, had sought escape from the
summer heat of Washington in a visit to Montreal. He now wrote correctly
interpreting a great change in Northern attitude and a renewed
determination to persevere in the war until reunion was secured.
Lincoln, he thought, was likely to be re-elected:

"The reaction produced by the fall of Atlanta may be taken as
an indication of what the real feelings of the people in the
Northern States are. The vast majority of them ardently
desire to reconquer the lost territory. It is only at moments
when they despair of doing this that they listen to plans for
recovering the territory by negotiation. The time has not
come yet when any proposal to relinquish the territory can be
publicly made[1228]."

The _Times_, slowly convinced that Atlanta would have influence in the
election, and as always clever above its contemporaries in the delicate
process of face-about to save its prestige, arrived in October at the