Roebuck went home to report
to the Southern party that Napoleon was ready to intervene, and
that all he waited for was England's cooperation. A motion "to
enter into negotiations with the Great Powers of Europe for the
purpose of obtaining their cooperation in the recognition" of the
Confederacy was introduced by Roebuck in the House of Commons.
The debate which followed was the last chance of the Southern
party and, as events proved, the last chance of Napoleon. How
completely the British ministry was now committed to the North
appears in the fact that Gladstone, for the Government, opposed
Roebuck's motion. John Bright attacked it in what Lord Morley
calls "perhaps the most powerful and the noblest speech of his
life." The Southern party was hardly resolute in their support
of Roebuck and presently he withdrew his motion.
But there were still the ironclads at Liverpool. We have seen
that earlier in the war, the carelessness of the British
authorities had permitted the escape of ship 290, subsequently
known as the Confederate commercedestroyer, Alabama. The
authorities did not wish to allow a repetition of the incident.
But could it be shown that the Laird ships were not really for a
French purchaser? It was in the course of diplomatic
conversations that Mr.
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