Lord Derby, able but indolent, occasionally indulged in caustic criticism, but made no attempt to push his attack home.

Malmesbury, his former Foreign Secretary, was active and alert in French affairs, but gave no thought to relations across the Atlantic[128].

Disraeli, Tory leader in the Commons, skilfully led a strong minority in attacks on the Government's policy, but never on the American question, though frequently urged to do so by the friends of the South.

In short for the first year of the Civil War, 1861, the policy of Great Britain toward America was the policy of Lord John Russell, unhampered by friend or foe.
This being the case, what did Russell know about the American crisis?
Briefly, no more than has already been stated as derived from the reports of British officials in the United States, and from the pages of the public press.

The salient facts known to Russell were few.