Trent Affair

Categories: Ships involved in international incidents | American Civil War

The Trent Affair is the name given to an international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War. In an attempt to gain support for the Confederate States of America from European nations during the war, the CSA dispatched two diplomats, James M. Mason of Virginia as minister to Britain and John Slidell of Louisiana as minister to France via RMS Trent, a British mail steamer. The Trent departed from Havana, Cuba, but was stopped by Captain Charles Wilkes of USS San Jacinto on November 8, 1861 and the two Confederate diplomats and their secretaries were removed. The Trent was then allowed to resume its voyage.

The San Jacinto met with acclaim when it landed in Boston on November 23 to deliver the Confederate prisoners at Fort Warren. The war had been going badly for the Union, and this was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal year. Northern newspapers praised Wilkes' conduct. The House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring him. Reaction to the news in Britain, although equally passionate, could hardly have been more different. News of the affair arrived in London on November 27, where many perceived it as an outrageous insult to British honor. Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, began an emergency cabinet meeting by throwing his hat on the table and declaring, "I don't know whether you are going to stand this, but I'll be damned if I do." The British Government issued an ultimatum demanding an apology and the release of the Confederate diplomats. Prince Albert, husband and consort of Queen Victoria, although ill with typhoid, intervened from his sickbed to soften the ultimatum, which he felt was too belligerent. This was his last official act, as he died shortly afterwards. The revised message was sent to Lord Lyons, the British minister in Washington. Lyons presented it to Secretary of State William H. Seward on December 19. Meanwhile, the Government of France declared its willingness to support Britain in a war with the United States.

The British colony of Canada felt directly threatened by the affair. The Canadian militia grew substantially as the Canadas and Maritime colonies were called on by the colonial Minister of Militia and Defence, John A. Macdonald (a future Father of Confederation and later the first Prime Minister of Canada), to increase their active militia from 50,000 men to 100,000. The colony of Nova Scotia alone trained and armed 45,000 men. Britain and the Southern states had close economic links because of their mutual involvement in the cotton trade (see cotton diplomacy).

Capitulation to British demands was difficult for the U.S. Government, since Wilkes' action was popular in the North. Nonetheless, President Lincoln and Seward had room for maneuver because they waited to hear from Britain before they decided the fate of the Confederate prisoners. After heated meetings with his cabinet, Lincoln decided upon a policy of "One war at a time." The question remained how to accept British demands while maintaining U.S. popular support. Seward resolved this conundrum by presenting to Lyons a brilliantly crafted reply to the British note on December 27. Seward conceded the issue at hand by announcing that the Confederates would be freed, but he salvaged American pride by forcefully asserting that Britain had finally adopted the American conception of neutral rights over which the two nations had fought the War of 1812. On January 1, 1862, Mason and Slidell and their secretaries were released and went to Europe. However, their missions were not successful, since none of the European powers intervened on behalf of the Confederacy.

Many consider the Trent Affair one of the great "what ifs" of the American Civil War. Some contend that had the United Kingdom and the United States gone to war, it is possible that the Union war effort would have failed and the Confederacy would have become an independent nation. Others maintain that a British invasion might have unified North and South in defiance against American submission to an old-world power.

The Trent affair built confidence between the Governments of Britain and the United States. Before the crisis many English officials, whose sympathies generally lay with the Confederacy, had seen Seward as an aggressive demagogue who sought a war with Britain. Seward's moderate and sensible behavior during the Trent affair gave them confidence that they could work with him. The successful resolution of the crisis produced a sense that continued peace with the United States was likely, and this perception became a self-fulfilling prophecy despite subsequent strains in the Anglo-American relationship.

Sources

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• Library of Congress Memory Archive for November 8
• civilwarhome.com
• First Edition Report of the Trent Affair