Trent affair
The Trent Affair , as Mason and Slidell-affair known, is an event in November 1861, which almost into the war Britain on the part of the Confederates in the American Civil War would have led.
background
The United States was in the Civil War with the Confederate States of America in 1861. The Confederates expected diplomatic recognition from the United Kingdom of Great Britain. In Great Britain, Confederate ships were equipped as Great Britain hoped secession would bring a balance of power in North America. Queen Victoria's government initially declared Great Britain's neutrality in the internal American conflict. But the situation between Great Britain and the United States was tense.
course
In this situation, on November 8, 1861, the USS San Jacinto, under the command of Charles Wilkes , stopped the unarmed British mail ship Trent in the Bahama Canal . This was on the way from Havana to Saint Thomas . On board were James Murray Mason and John Slidell , two Confederate politicians who were scheduled to act as ambassadors in London and Paris in the event that the Confederates were recognized by Great Britain and France . Wilkes had learned from his spies that there were two southern emissaries on the ship, whom he had arrested and taken to Monroe on the USS San Jacinto . The British mail ship was allowed to continue its voyage to London.
The landing of the British mail steamer in neutral waters led to a further tightening of relations between the two countries in November / December 1861. On November 30, 1861, the British Foreign Office informed the US government that the incident was viewed as a gross violation of the principles of international law and demanded the release of the detainees. Great Britain was strengthened by the governments in Vienna , Paris, Berlin and Saint Petersburg . The situation worsened over the next few days. Great Britain threatened to break off its diplomatic relations and to enter the war. The British increased their troops in Canada . The future British Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley was sent to Canada to prepare for a possible entry into the war on the side of the Confederate Army . On December 1st, London imposed an export ban to the United States.
consequences
On December 25, Washington gave in to pressure from London and ordered the release of the "southern agents" citing international law. On New Year's Day in 1862, Mason and Slidell were released and the affair was resolved. Mason continued his journey to London. Once there, he represented the Confederate States until their fall in April 1865. Slidell traveled to Paris to represent the interests of the Confederate States. His mission to achieve international recognition of the confederation by France, however, failed. But he managed to find private investors who gave him a loan of $ 15 million for a warship for the southern states. French law banned the equipment of warships of a conflicting party such as the Confederate States of America, but Slidell and Confederate agent James D. Bulloch were confident that the French Emperor would be better able to circumvent his own laws than the British government. Napoleon III agreed to the construction of the CSS Stonewall on condition that its purpose be kept secret. The ship later played a crucial role in the Japanese Meiji Restoration .
Individual evidence
- ↑ George L. Bernstein, "Special Relationship and Appeasement: Liberal policy towards America in the age of Palmerston." Historical Journal 41 # 3 (1998): 725-750.
- ↑ Lynn M. Case, Warren F. Spencer: The United States and France. Civil War Diplomacy. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 1970 pp. 429-33