To be honest, Earl of Derby felt somewhat uneasy at this moment. He was not entirely sure of the American envoy's purpose.
It was not that Britain lacked intelligence, but that it had too many sources of intelligence in the United States. The flood of information made sorting truth from falsehood vastly more difficult.
If the other side had come to surrender, Earl of Derby would naturally welcome it. But the Americans had just won a battle; the odds of them surrendering now were virtually zero.
Which meant that what awaited Earl of Derby was likely a simple, "Get out of our country."
Of course, given the British stereotype of Americans, it was not impossible that the other party might explode on the spot. After all, the Americans really had shot and killed a British mission on third-party territory before.
The Austrians had called what happened in Vienna a coincidence, but the Military Intelligence Department had investigated it thoroughly. It had been the Americans, their aim being to wipe out the British mission.
"Remember to search them!"
Earl of Derby gave that particular instruction. The situation was rather awkward, but at this point, the British Cabinet truly had no other choice.
Even Lord Palmerston, known as a fountain of ideas, was at a loss. On one hand, he was constrained by his own reputation and position; on the other, at this stage, he had no good solution either.
Palmerston viewed this war in an extremely pessimistic light. He believed it should have been a decisive battle in which everything was staked, yet these people had turned it into children playing house.
The most rational course now was to cut their losses immediately. Yet two prime ministers in succession—whether George Hamilton-Gordon or Earl of Derby—had lacked sufficient courage and decisiveness.
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