h Ambassador at
Paris, by January, 1862, and from that month until the end of March his
private letters to Russell referring to American affairs in general are
almost wholly concerned with French designs on Mexico. Cowley learned
that earlier rumours of Napoleon's purpose to place the Archduke
Maximilian of Austria upon the _Throne_ of Mexico, far from being
unfounded, were but faint indications of a great French "colonial
Empire" scheme, and he thought that there was "some ill-will to the
United States at the bottom of all this[547]...." He feared that the
Mexican question would "give us a deal of trouble yet[548]," and by
March was writing of the "monstrous claims on the Mexican Govt." made by
France[549].

These reactions of Cowley were fully shared by Russell, and he hastened,
in March, to withdraw British forces in Mexico, as also did Spain. Great
Britain believed that she had been tricked into a false position in
Mexico, hastened to escape from it, but in view of the close relation of
joint policy with France toward the Civil War in America, undertook no
direct opposition though prophesying an evil result. This situation
required France to refrain, for a time, from criticism of British policy
and action toward the North--to pursue, in brief, a "follow on" policy,
rather than one based on its own initiative. On the British side the
French Mexican policy created a suspicion of Napoleon's hidden purposes
and objects in the Civil War and made the British Government slow to
accept French suggestions. The result was that in relation to that war
Great Britain set the pace and France had to keep step--a very
advantageous situation for the North, as the event was to prove. On the
purely Mexican question Lyons early took opportunity to assure Seward
that Great Britain was "entirely averse to any interference in the
internal affairs of Mexico, and that nothing could be further from their
wishes than to impose upon the Mexican Nation any Government not of its
own choice[550]."

British dislike of France's Mexican venture served to swell the breeze
of amity toward America that had sprung up once the _Trent_ was beyond
the horizon, and made, temporarily, for smooth sailing in the relations
of Great Britain and the North. Lyons wrote on February 7 that the
"present notion appears to be to overwhelm us with demonstrations of
friendship and confidence[551]." Adams' son in London thought "our work
here is past its crisis," and th