The only explanation that seems plausible under these circumstances is, that the Palmerston-Russell Cabinet interrupted this telegram to Baron Gros for diplomatic purposes, or that the Baron, seeing that the debate in Parliament had taken an unfavorable turn, had prudently resolved to suppress the advice from Napoleon, in order that his master might not commit himself while England was not heart and soul with him in the enterprise. In fact, England had begun to see that she had taken a false position, and Mr. Gladstone’s eloquent spurt, to the effect that “Jefferson Davis had created a nation,” was no longer the diplomatic faith of England. She was more influenced by fear than love, as she always is, and had begun to think, after the capture of New Orleans and the destruction of the Confederate fleet, that the Federal Government was capable of organizing a formidable navy. The London _Times_, which voiced diplomatic sentiment then, said so. During this very debate on Roebuck’s motion, Lee’s army had been beaten at Gettysburg, Vicksburg had surrendered and victory was beginning to perch on the Northern banners everywhere. Napoleon also drew in his horns, complaining bitterly that “perfidious Albion” had gone back on him, and he was afraid to permit the war ships, when finished, to leave the French ports for any destination, and when he permitted the English privateer, the Rappahannock, to depart, it was under the injunction that the American minister should know nothing about it. What Lord Palmerston called a “concatenation of circumstances” contributed largely to force the Emperor to change his policy towards the United States. Maximilian’s Mexican expedition was exceedingly unpopular, trouble was brewing in several parts of the continent, and Bismarck and Von Moltke were cunningly and deliberately weaving that net in which the Man of Destiny, seven years later, was hopelessly entangled at Sedan. His dream of a French American Empire beyond the Mississippi had vanished long before his last abject act of humiliation in surrendering the sword of France to Bismarck. And ere he died, a miserable wreck of disappointed ambition, again a political exile, he had the opportunity of seeing our own Republic, which he sought to destroy, rehabilitated, and on its way to become the greatest nation in history. [Illustration: THE HON. JOHN SHERMAN, Who has taken a prominent part in financial matters since the beginning of the war, first in making treasury notes a legal tender in 1862; in proposing the Redemption Act in 1867, which was passed in 1870, and in the resumption of specie payments in 1879, which was the crowning success of the financial policy which established the Government credit on a solid basis. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER IX. SECRETARY CHASE AND THE TREASURY.