The "premature" issue of the Proclamation averted an inevitable rupture of relations on a clash between the American theory of "no state of war" and the international fact that war existed.

Had that rupture occurred, how long would the British Government and people have remained neutral, and what would have been the ultimate fate of the United States[196]?
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 127: Sir George Cornewall Lewis was better informed in the early stages of the American conflict than any of his ministerial colleagues.

He was an occasional contributor to the reviews and his unsigned article in the _Edinburgh_, April, 1861, on "The Election of President Lincoln and its Consequences," was the first analysis of real merit in any of the reviews.] [Footnote 128: In his _Memoirs of an Ex-Minister_, Malmesbury makes but three important references to the Civil War in America.] [Footnote 129: Adams, _Charles Francis Adams_, p.

165.] [Footnote 130: Dodd, _Jefferson Davis_, pp.

227-8.] [Footnote 131: _Ibid._] [Footnote 132: It was generally whispered in Southern political circles that Davis sent Yancey abroad to get rid of him, fearing his interference at home.