The Trent affair was not an accident.

wausaubob

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I am rereading Don H. Doyle's The Cause of All Nations, Basic Books, New York 2015. Secretary of State Seward knew by September of 1861 that the Confederates were planning to send Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell to Europe. p. 74. Seward in October organized his own diplomatic mission including his main operative Thurlow Weed, along with Catholic Archbishop Hughes and Episcopalian Bishop Charles McIlvaine. Winfield Scott resigned about that time and he accompanied the mission to France and England.
The US emissaries were delayed slightly by rough weather and only arrived at Le Havre on 11/24/61. A few days later news of Trent affair broke in Europe. p. 76
The context was that the US and Britain were still considering a right of inspection treaty. The treaty would allow British ships to stop US ships suspected of participating in the prohibited slave trade, which was a substantial concession of sovereignty by the US, but was also necessary, since the US could not afford to patrol the coast of Africa.
While the US reminded Britain of how large a concession was involved in the treaty, the case of Nathanial Gordon, a slave trader convicted and sentenced to death was also pending in New York.
The news of the decision to release the Confederate diplomats reached London on 01/03/62, and the diplomats themselves arrived later.
Its not hard to see how this delay helped the US administration. Before Slidell and Mason met with foreign secretary Earl Russell, the US was able to send information about the US having secured the 5 border areas to loyal participation in the US. While they were there, Gordon was executed. On top of General Thomas' victory at Mill Springs, the US also broke through in North Carolina and in Tennessee, which was better news than the summer disasters of 1861.
December 1861 was a very bleak time for the US, but it is difficult to believe that the US administration seriously considered going to war with Britain.
The US delayed Slidell and Mason reaching Europe until the US mission was already there.

General Scott signed a conciliatory letter which was published in England and in France on December 3. p 77
And on 12/6/61 Thurlow Weed met with Earl Russell at Russell's estate. The meeting went well and Russell's wife hinted that the Queen was not in favor of the proposed war with the US. p.81. That was nearly correct, but it was actually Prince Albert who was involved in modifying the British demands. Ibid.
Given the speed of communication at that time, and the high level, though informal deputation sent by the US, it seems as if the US was playing for time.
 
There is a whole lot of correspondence on the Trent Affair in the O. R. N. The Union had ships in the British Channel seeking the 'prize', and the Captain making capture claimed he was out of jurisdictional waters. It was the mode of capture, regarding the treatment of the Captain and prisoners made on board that really got the British up in arms. This interception being disputed as it was, did provide time before they were released. But I never imagined the U. S. did it purposely without the expectation of keeping Mason and Slidell for a trade off for political prisoners from the First Bull Run. Interesting!
Lubliner.
 
So you're saying the US government was angling at something?
The situation in the border areas had shifted in favor of the US by September of 1861. The US wanted time to present its case on the war both to Lyons in Washington and internationally in Europe.
Lyons had his correspondents spread out across the US and he needed time to verify what was happening and to communicate with London. But the treaty of inspection had been discussed as early as April 1861.
I think Lincoln and Wells had given Wilkes permission to make the capture, knowing that the incident would distract from the inevitability of the British getting most of they wanted with respect to the treaty and making the US Civil War much more about abolition.
Lincoln was fooling everybody, but he could not do it for long.
Thurlow Weed was an important communicator with respect to telling Russell the US was going to back down and just wanted the easiest path possible to peace.
 
Lincoln was stalling and distracting. By December of 1861 the US had already established one naval enclave in South Carolina. Plans for further naval deployments up river and in the Gulf of Mexico were advancing. The Confederacy on its own was not going to be able to defeat those plans. British intervention at that point was about the only way the Confederacy could maintain its independence. Seward and Lincoln were going to give the British whatever the British needed to stay out of the war. The US administration was hiding how much pressure they were under from the British.
 
Wilkes arrested Mason and Slidell on November 7, 1861. The Port Royal attack was successful on November 8, 1861. There were international observers aboard the US ships. It would take about a month for the news to reach London and Paris, and be confirmed by British and French naval advisors. That news affected the US administration's ability to defend the blockade as real and compliant with international law.
By December 3, 1861, the US permanently garrisoned Ship Island, MS. Ship Island meant nothing to the general public on either side of the Atlantic. But both the British and French navies knew where it was and what it was. Outside of hurricane season it was a superb staging area both for blocking the passes, and for attacking New Orleans.
By the time Mason and Slidell were released and sent to England, the US was in position to blockade not only Savannah and Charleston, but also New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola. By the time the 1861 cotton crop was arriving at southern ports, the blockade was effective. By the time Mason and Slidell spoke privately with Lord Russell, he knew that the US had taken significant steps to enforce the blockade.
Delaying Mason and Slidell was sufficient for President Lincoln's purpose, and the risk that the British would intervene was substantial.
 
Do we have any documents or evidence that such was the aim of Lincoln and his administration?
Seward and Lincoln did not write down those kinds of things. All we are left with is the time line. We do know that Lincoln sent his own four man political mission to England and France. Winfield Scott and Thurlow Weed were pretty high ranking personalities and they certainly were not on a casual mission.
 
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