Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
London, December 11, 1863
The success at Chattanooga has had a very considerable effect here, and the English papers acknowledge it to be an important advantage in a military point of view, though of course it only makes the ultimate independence of the South more certain than ever. A better test is the state of the Confederate loan, which under the pressure of the news and the tightness of the money market, has fallen to 35-40. It is only some eight months ago that it was brought out at 92. So that we may at length conclude that the opinion among capitalists is fairly become that the chances are against the independence of the rebels. Meanwhile the financial pressure that I mentioned last week has been checked. I don’t see much reason to suppose that this is more than a lull, and I’m quite sure that if our armies could suddenly release and send over here a million bales of cotton or so, half England would be ruined. Of course our own position here is now as comfortable as could be wished, and a victory or so more will set us in a position to put the grand finishing stroke to our work. I hope that before next September the English Government will have seen fit to recall its belligerent proclamation, and all our ports will be open again, or occupied. When this point is reached, I think our return to peaceful and private pursuits would be graceful and opportune.
