Bright wrote to Sumner: "Neutrality is agreed upon by all, and I
hope a more fair and friendly neutrality than we have seen during the
past two years[1122]." George Thompson, at Exeter Hall, lauding Henry
Ward Beecher for his speech there, commented on the many crowded open
public meetings in favour of the North as compared with the two
pro-Southern ones in London, slimly and privately attended[1123].
Jefferson Davis, in addressing the Confederate Congress, December 7, was
bitter upon the "unfair and deceptive conduct" of England[1124]. Adams,
by mid-December, 1863, was sure that previous British confidence in the
ultimate success of the South was rapidly declining[1125].
Such utterances, if well founded, might well have portended the
cessation of further Southern effort in England. That a renewal of
activity soon occurred was due largely to a sudden shift in the military
situation in America and to the realization that the heretofore largely
negative support given to the Southern cause must be replaced by
organized and persistent effort. Grant's victorious progress in the West
had been checked by the disaster to Rosencrans at Chicamauga, September
18, and Grant's army forced to retrace its steps to recover
Chattanooga. It was not until November 24 that the South was compelled
to release its grip upon that city.
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