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.