Of All the English Clubs, only one accepted and approved Staunton's tactics and explanations:

November 26, 1858  -- Resolved: That the Cambridge University Chess Club, recognizing the important services rendered by Mr. Staunton to the cause of chess, and seeing with regret the ungenerous attacks which have for some time past been directed upon him by a certain section of the press, notorious for its anti-English tendencies, are of opinion
     1. That under the peculiar circumstances in which Mr. Staunton found himself placed, it was scarcely possible for him to do otherwise than decline the proposed match with Mr. Morphy.
     2. That his allowing the challenge to remain open for so long as there appeared the slightest hope of his being able to play, was, beyond all question, the proper course to be adopted by one really anxious for the encounter.

The Era of December 12, 1858, took strong exception to the Cambridge resolutions:

The intention, of course, was to justify Mr. Staunton in taking the course he has adopted, but it does not do so. It says he was right in allowing the challenge to remain open till the last moment. If indeed, Mr. Staunton had kept the challenge open as long as possible, no one would have blamed him, but that is precisely what he did not do. He accepted the challenge, and thereby closed with it, and his friends subscribed funds for his stakes. What Mr. Staunton did allow to remain open was the day; and after repeated promises to name it, that has been postponed to -- never.