— Ch. 1 · Background Tensions —
Trent Affair.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
In the early 1840s, a boundary dispute between the United States and Great Britain over Oregon nearly sparked war. British leaders in London grew increasingly annoyed by what they perceived as Washington's pandering to public mobs during that conflict. These tensions simmered through the 1850s despite minor incidents like the Pig War of 1859 in the Pacific Northwest. By 1861, Secretary of State William H. Seward intended to maintain long-standing American foreign policy principles regarding non-intervention. He sought to prevent any European power from interfering in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. Lord Palmerston, the British Prime Minister, urged a policy of neutrality while focusing his own attention on rising threats from Napoleon III in France and Bismarck in Prussia. The Russian Minister Eduard de Stoeckl observed that the Cabinet of London watched American internal dissensions with impatience. Cassius Clay, the U.S. minister to Russia, stated that England hoped for American ruin and cared neither for the North nor the South. Charles Francis Adams served as the U.S. minister to the Court of St. James and made clear that Washington considered the Civil War an internal insurrection. Any movement by Britain toward officially recognizing the Confederacy would be viewed as an unfriendly act.
Confederate Diplomatic Mission
In February 1861, the Confederate States created a three-person European delegation consisting of William Lowndes Yancey, Pierre Rost, and Ambrose Dudley Mann. Their instructions from Confederate Secretary of State Robert Toombs were to open diplomatic relations and negotiate treaties of friendship. By August 1861, President Jefferson Davis decided he needed diplomats better suited to serve if international recognition was achieved. He selected John Slidell of Louisiana and James Murray Mason of Virginia. Both men had extensive backgrounds in foreign affairs and were widely respected throughout the South. Slidell had been appointed as a negotiator at the end of the Mexican War under President Polk. Mason had chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1847 to 1860. Their mission was to emphasize the stronger position of the Confederacy which now included eleven states. They carried documents arguing against the legality of the Union blockade and likening their cause to Italy's struggle for independence. The intended departure of the envoys was no secret, yet Union intelligence received daily updates on their movements. An original plan to run the blockade in the steamer Nashville failed due to deep draft issues and guarded channels.