CHAPTER X. KING COTTON For two weeks there was no lightening of
Southern depression in England. But on June 28 McClellan had
been turned back from his advance on Richmond by Lee, the new
commander of the Army of Virginia, and the much heralded
Peninsular campaign was recognized to have been a disastrous
failure. Earlier Northern victories were forgotten and the
campaigns in the West, still progressing favourably for the
North, were ignored or their significance not understood. Again,
to English eyes, the war in America approached a stalemate. The
time had come with the near adjournment of Parliament when, if
ever, a strong Southern effort must be made, and the time seemed
propitious. Moreover by July, 1862, it was hoped that soon, in
the cotton districts, the depression steadily increasing since
the beginning of the war, would bring an ally to the Southern
cause. Before continuing the story of Parliamentary and private
efforts by the friends of the South it is here necessary to
review the cotton situation - n