February, 1873
Bombay
Lord Lucan would read between the lines of the correspondence from Britain - the Commander-in-Chief, the Minister of War, the Foreign Secretary, the First Lord of the Treasury and even the Queen herself - and come to the obvious conclusion that the whole of Britain was castigating him for his failure to shift the Russians and Afghans from the Passes of Eastern Afghanistan.
Slightly more subtle were the urgings to accomplish SOMETHING so Britain could sit down at the negotiating table with something resembling leverage. As it was, Britain had gained nothing.
There had been talk about Royal Navy and British Army directly aiding the North African rebels.....or even invading Egypt.
Caustic comments had been levied about that the British Indian Army was better off invading French Indochina that protecting against a Russian incursion from Afghanistan.
Lucan took this to heart and prepared his Generals for even greater pushes into the Kush Mountain chain in the Spring. Many of his subordinates objected, in some cases publicly, of this directive. In the end, the passes practically defended themselves. Filled with a hundred thousand Russian and Afghan troops with superior weapons and years to dig in would only extend the slaughter more. In the past two years, over 50,000 had died of injuries and disease. This dwarfed the Crimean War already.
The Earl's snide reply that there were always more Indians to fill the ranks would unfortunately be captured by the press - native, British and foreign. By Spring, even the most remote Indian villager had heard THOSE words.
In the meantime, the once-moderate educated Indian class, having be excluded from power in the past decade and forbidden from forming a legal political group, would start to form ILLEGAL political groups.
Gangwa Island, Joseon Kingdom
At length, the various European and Japanese forces which maintained an uneasy truce on Gangwa Island would depart one by one. The Americans were the first, having no patience for such work. The Japanese, having been defeated by the Chinese, also withdrew effectively ending their claim to influence.
Finally, the French withdrew their ships, tertiary though they were to the powerful vessels now menacing the seas.
In the end only the Russians remained. Easily supplied from their bases in China and the Pacific, would remain, hoping to wait out the Joseon Kingdom.
Sakhalin and Kuril Islands
With the defeat of the Japanese fleet in the Ryukyu Islands, the Russians had quietly assumed control over the lightly governed Sakhalin and Kuril Island chain.
The Japanese population on Sakhalin, usually small and reserved mainly to traders which used Sakhalin as a middle-man for Chinese silk, would immediately urge the Emperor to do something about this.
At the moment, though, the Japanese confidence was low and, given the modest value of the northern islands, were not inclined to make war over such a thing.
Washington
The delegation of Tennessee notables was politely received by the President. He pronounced that the State Legislature may be reembodied.....IF.....the vote was deemed fair and free for all individuals.
Years before, Tennessee had sought readmission to the Union but violence had marred the election so badly that the results were thrown out by the National Government. In the time since (and the assassination of the Longstreets and Sheridans in Louisiana), the American Army had ruthlessly hunted down any glimmer of organization of these "raiders" who would frequently burn black churches and assault Freedmen....among even worse atrocities.
While the organizations had largely been laid low, the violence would continue on such a regular basis that Hamlin had not even considered reestablishing these states as viable partners in the Union. Freedmen bureaucrats taking voter registration and receiving the "Oath of Loyalty" from white southerners had so inflamed passions that South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama (minus the new state carved from her northern borders) and Louisiana had not even bothered requesting readmission in years.
Only North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee had repeatedly attempted to regain their political rights of the remaining holdouts.
Arkansas was still heavily divided. Ante-bellum Arkansas has largely seen her population centered along the western shore of the Mississippi. Virtually all of the black population of this region, while remaining in the state, had left the Mississippi and settled in western Arkansas on land grants. However, the two sides, armed to the teeth, were only kept apart by Union soldiers.
Tennessee, on the other hand, had been less violent due to her position as an economic "middle state" which was already much more industrialized than other portions of the south (only Virginia had more manufacturing that Tennessee). Hoping to end the occupation, Tennessee's political leaders had actively sought to halt any organization of "raiders" and would even form conventions stating their acceptance of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments (non-binding as they were not recognized political meetings).
President Hamlin would determine that Tennessee and North Carolina would be allowed to vote on a new State Legislature in 1873, which would be embodied in 1874 IF and ONLY IF, the elections were fair and free.
North Carolina, always so genteel, had hoped to emulate Virginia and regain her citizenship as well.
Hamlin was not terribly hopeful that a truly free election in either state was likely. Worse, if he annulled the results, he would be playing into the Democrats' hands. However, there had been legitimate efforts made on the part of MANY of those states' leaders to meet the Union's requirements and he could not in good conscience refuse them the opportunity to prove themselves.
Paris
Emperor Napoleon III had not cared much when France lost the French West Indies in the last war.
He would not care if he lost the prison colony of New Caledonia in THIS war.
However, he sure as hell DID care about the prospect of losing North Africa. Located so close to the Metropolis, and bearing a large population and fertile fields, this had been a cornerstone of French policy since before the Restoration of the House of Bonaparte (it actually had been the House of Bourbon that had first seized the region).
More than any other event, the Emperor knew that he could not lose North Africa. THAT was the reason he sent out peace feelers last year. But the British had apparently deemed the Queen's hand stronger and only doubled-down on the blockades in the Mediterranean. This left the Arab-Berber population free to rise up with Moroccan help on land and British at sea.
By February of 1873, only the cities of Algiers and Tunis remained under French control.
And, of course, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica.
Had the Emperor known of the Egyptian Khedive's plots, he would have collapsed.
Alexandria
An Egyptian ship bearing several high-ranking negotiators quietly slipped from their moorings and sailed towards the Royal Navy blockading fleet. Expected, they were met with courtesy by the commander of the British force.
That man would send his swiftest ship back to London bearing this unexpected but welcome offer.