Let us do something, as we are Christian men.
-- London Morning Herald, September 16, 1862
Antietam and the Move toward Mediation
To many British observers, both inside and outside the government, the second Union defeat at Bull Run had underlined the North's inability to subjugate the South and, by mid- September, justified a move toward ending the war on the basis of a separation. The Times and the Morning Post (both usually expressing Palmerston's views) leaned heavily toward recognition, whereas the London Morning Herald made a broader appeal: "Let us do something, as we are Christian men." Whether "arbitration, intervention, diplomatic action, recognition of the South, remonstrance with the North, friendly interference or forcible pressure of some sort . . ., let us do something to stop this carnage." Palmerston thought the time for intervention was nigh. "The Federals . . . got a very complete smashing," he wrote Russell on Sep-
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