up its platform favoring peace at any price, the anxiety of the
Southern President did not abate his activities. The safety of
the western line was now his absorbing concern. And in mid-August
that line was turned, in a way, by Farragut's capture of Mobile
Bay. As the month closed, Sherman, despite the furious blows
delivered by Hood, was plainly getting the upper hand. North and
South, men watched that tremendous duel with the feeling that the
foundations of things were rocking. At last, on the 2d of
September, Sherman, victorious, entered Atlanta.



Chapter VIII. A Game Of Chance

With dramatic completeness in the summer and autumn of 1864, the
foundations of the Confederate hope one after another gave way.
Among the causes of this catastrophe was the failure of the
second great attempt on the part of the Confederacy to secure
recognition abroad. The subject takes us back to the latter days
of 1862, when the center of gravity in foreign affairs had
shifted from London to Paris. Napoleon III, at the height of his
strange career, playing half a dozen dubious games at once, took
up a new pastime and played at intrigue with the Confederacy. In
October he accorded a most gracious interview to Slidell. He
remarked that his sympathies were entirely with the South but
added that, if he acted alone, England might trip him up. He
spoke of his scheme for joint intervention by England, France,
and Russia. Then he asked why we had not created a navy. Slidell
snapped at the bait. He said that the Confederates would be glad
to build ships in France, that "if the Emperor would give only