Hence in roundabout language, "with such form of
allusion to the _concession_ we held in reserve, as would make him
necessarily comprehend it[1266]," and turning again and again to a
supposed "latent, undisclosed obstacle[1267]" to British recognition,
Mason yet made clear the object of his visit. The word slavery was not
mentioned by him, but Palmerston promptly denied that slavery in the
South had ever been, or was now, a barrier to recognition; British
objections to recognition were those which had long since been stated,
and there was nothing "underlying" them. On March 26, Mason called on
the Earl of Donoughmore, a Tory friend of the South with whom he had
long been in close touch, and asked whether he thought Palmerston's
Government could be induced by a Southern abolition of slavery to
recognize the Confederacy. The reply was "that the time had gone by
now...." This time the words "slavery" and "abolition" were spoken
boldly[1268], and Donoughmore was positive that if, in the midsummer of
1863, when Lee was invading Pennsylvania, the South had made its present
overture, nothing could have prevented British recognition. The opinion
clashed with Mason's own conviction, but in any case no more was to be
hoped, now, from his overture. Only a favourable turn in the war could
help the South.
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