By the end of 1860, the United States' total population had reached 31.6 million. Of these, the Northern free states had roughly 18.7 million people, while the Southern slaveholding states had 12.9 million, including as many as 5 million slaves.
Franz's butterfly effect had still come into play. The balance of strength between North and South had shifted slightly, but it was not enough to change the fact that the North was strong and the South weak.
At the Austrian Embassy in Washington, representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Austria, and Spain gathered together. Drucker, Austria's ambassador to the United States, was the first to speak. "I invited everyone here today mainly to discuss the South's independence.
"At this critical juncture, we need to maintain a united front so that we may better safeguard everyone's interests."
No one knew when it had begun, but everyone had discovered the benefits of the great powers acting in concert. Usually, whenever they did so, everyone ended up making a fortune.
The group fell into thought, as though weighing whether joining forces would bring greater profits, or whether going it alone would yield more.
As for whether slavery should be abolished, it was not even within their scope of consideration. Do not be fooled by the earth-shaking cries for "abolition" from the European nations; in truth, they were all merely watching the spectacle.
In recent years, the United States had swelled at the speed of an inflated balloon, stirring concern in many quarters. The theory of an American threat had also become a hot topic in Europe.
The propaganda Americans had created to attract immigrants had, under the guidance of interested parties, all become evidence of the American threat.
Because communications were inconvenient, the adverse impact on public opinion was beyond the American government's