I think he saw his ultimate misadventure in Mexico as more promising. I also wonder what he could have done. In 1863 the French Bank Erlanger offered to underwrite $25,000,000 of CSA bonds repayable after the war in cotton. Jefferson Davis and his government would somewhat reluctantly take $15,000,000. There were real doubts about the ability of the Royal Navy to break the Union blockade. The French Navy could not have done so. France did not have a large army they could have sent.
So much of the discussion has focused on diplomatic recognition. The presence of French or British diplomats in Richmond would not have been a darn thing. Blockade as a legitimate tool of war was recognized by the 1855 Treaty of Paris so that would not have changed. Seward blustered that recognition = war but I can’t see Lincoln declaring war on France or Great Britain.