War's End
The turning back of Confederate advances across the war's campaigns in the last two years of war sealed the fate of Southern efforts to win support abroad. Lincoln's reelection in 1864, defeating candidates that would more likely have opted for mediation with the South, and the Union's advantages in industrialization supporting the conflict allowed the North to solidify its resolve to continue the war. This alongside Confederate losses drove outside powers away from considering intervention, believing the war to be nearing its end.
This did not mean the end for all the Confederacy's foreign activity, as diplomats and propagandists such as Henry Hotze, publishing The Index across multiple nations, remained active until the last weeks of the war. Though they had successfully built up networks of influence and communication to spread Confederate sympathies, such projects ultimately failed to generate significant traction beyond small audiences and public circles. At a governmental scale, no nation wished to pledge support and risk generating hostility in their relationship with the Union, even had the South been victorious.
Reactiosn in the aftermath of war also provide insight into views of Abraham Lincoln - his performance and prestige as a leader among them. Throughout the war, various characteristics of the Lincoln administration - his looks among them - were regularly satirized and caricatured in publications at home and abroad. British papers presented mixed portrayals of his actions as president, providing criticism of his rustic nature. However, following the assassination in April, 1865, just after the end of the war, depictions of Lincoln shift. Tributes and memoriums to the late president appeared throughout the world, highlighting his devotion ot he cause of the Union and to Emancipation.