"To slavery we have ever entertained the most rooted aversion. Not all the valour, not all the success of the South, has ever blinded us to this black spot on their fair escocheon. But even tainted as they are with this foul stain..."
The Palmerston government wouldn't recognize the confederacy so long as they retained their connection with slavery. Which meant that the Palmerston government would never recognize the confederacy.
Uh, no. I quoted it. And you have the effrontery to tell me I "breezed right by" it?
Nice herring, btw -- what color was it before you painted it?
The Palmerston government wouldn't recognize the confederacy .....
But they almost went to war over the Trent affair.
They said they wouldn't recognize the Confederacy, like we said we wouldn't recognize Soviet Russia. And we didn't, for a long time.
It'll have to remain a matter of historical conjecture, whether your statement of Palmerston's determination is valid. A Confederate victory at Gettysburg, or a series of them -- Meade would have been expected to wreck his army, to keep the Confederates off Philadelphia -- might have clarified Lord Palmerston's view of the practical side of things. The British are amazingly dry that way.