used later in
this work and here requires explanation. But four historical works of
importance deal with it extensively, (1) Richardson, _Messages and
Papers of the Confederacy_, 2 vols., 1905, purports to include the
despatches of Mason and Slidell to Richmond, but is very unsatisfactory.
Important despatches are missing, and elisions sometimes occur without
indication. (2) Virginia Mason, _The Public Life and Diplomatic
Correspondence of James M. Mason_, 1906, contains most of Mason's
despatches, including some not given by Richardson. The author also used
the _Mason Papers_ (see below). (3) Callahan, _The Diplomatic History of
the Southern Confederacy_, 1901, is the most complete and authoritative
work on Southern diplomacy yet published. He used the collection known
as the "Pickett Papers," for official despatches, supplementing these
when gaps occurred by a study of the _Mason Papers_, but his work,
narrative in form, permits no extended printing of documents. (4) L.M.
Sears, _A Confederate Diplomat at the Court of Napoleon III_. (Am. Hist.
Rev. Jan., 1921), is a study drawn from Slidell's private letters in the
_Mason Papers_. The Mason Papers exist in eight folios or packages in
the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, and in addition
there is one bound volume of Mason's despatches to Richmond. These
contain the private correspondence of Mason and Slidell while in Europe.
Slidell's letters are originals. Mason's letters are copies in Slidell's
hand-writing, made apparently at Mason's request and sent to him in May,
1865. A complete typed copy of this correspondence was taken by me in
1913, but this has not hitherto been used save in a manuscript Master's
degree thesis by Walter M. Case, "James M. Mason, Confederate Diplomat,"
Stanford University, 1915, and for a few citations by C. F. Adams, _A
Crisis in Downing Street_ (Mass. Hist. Soc. _Proceedings_, May, 1914).
The Mason Papers also contain many letters from Mason's English friends,
Spence, Lindsay, Gregory and others.]

[Footnote 551: Russell Papers. To Russell. Lyons thought France also
included in these demonstrations.]

[Footnote 552: _A Cycle of Adams' Letters_, I, 113. Henry Adams to
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Feb. 14, 1862.]

[Footnote 553: _Ibid._, p. 115. To his son, Feb. 21, 1862.]

[Footnote 554: Lyons Papers. March 1, 1862.]

[Footnote 555: _A Cycle of Adams' Letters_, I, 123. To his son.]

[Footnote 556: Palmerston MS. Feb. 9, 18