The Trent Affair

At the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861, the United States had a strained relationship with Great Britain, prompting Prime Minister Lord Palmerston of Britain to protect Great Britain’s economic interests and support the Confederate States of America. As Confederate diplomats James Mason and John Slidell traveled to Great Britain to lobby for British support, Union Captain Charles Wilkes intercepted their vessel and removed the two men. This seemingly small event sparked an international conversation that forced the United States and Great Britain to take diplomatic action. This investigation will seek to answer the question: to what extent did the Trent Affair threaten war between the United States and Great Britain during

the American Civil War? During the American Civil War, which was fought between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America (or the Confederacy) from 1861 to 1865, the Trent Affair, which was the seizing of two Confederate diplomats by the United States military in November of 1861, was an opportunity for Great Britain to create a two-front war for the United States and support the Confederacy. Before November of 1861, tensions between the United States and Britain over the recognition of the Confederacy as a sovereign nation would eventually boil over with the Trent Affair. Numerous factors, including pressure from British citizens on the British government, as well as European anti-Union sentiments, provided Great Britain with fuel to start a fire. The Trent Affair would be the closest that the United States and Great Britain would come to war throughout the American Civil War and a conflict would have occurred had it not been for a mutual desire for diplomacy and the lack of desire for war.
The United States threatened war if Great Britain officially recognized the Confederacy diplomatically, as it would increase credibility on the Confederate path to independence as well as pave the way for trade deals between the Confederacy and other European countries. Initially, both Great Britain and the Confederacy suffered economic losses after the Union blockaded cotton trade ships, providing a valid reason for Great Britain to begin diplomacy with the Confederate government and therefore increasing tensions between Great Britain and the United States. The Confederacy, due to a lack of resources, sought out diplomacy with other European powers, especially Great Britain, near the beginning of the American Civil War and any conflict between Great Britain and the United States would guarantee British support for the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, made it very clear to Great Britain and other foreign powers that recognizing the Confederacy as an official country and sending aid would constitute American action. Lincoln proclaimed that the Confederate rebels were merely insurrectionists and therefore were not able to be officially recognized under international law; instead, the United States would recognize the Confederacy as a belligerent power and not a sovereign state. This proved to be beneficial to the Confederacy as Great Britain and other European countries did the same. Victoria, the Queen of Great Britain, issued a proclamation of neutrality on May 13, 1861 and stated that they would remain formally neutral in United States affairs unless otherwise provoked. This opened the door for British-Confederate diplomacy as the Confederacy’s belligerent status and Britain’s policy of neutrality worked hand-in-hand. According to international law that was signed in 1856 after the Crimean War, belligerency status gave the Confederacy the right to contract loans and purchese arms from neutral nations. While not officially recognizing the Confederacy as a sovereign nation, Britain did not directly provoke a war with the United States; thus, Great Britain began a diplomatic plan that would eventually collapse after the events of the Trent Affair.
Despite the fact that neither the United States or Great Britain truly wanted to go to war, the break in neutrality caused by the Trent Affair forced Britain into a situation that would require war unless an action was made by the Union.

Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, formulated a plan to send James Mason, former Chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee and John Slidell, a prominent New Orleans lawyer, to Great Britain to garner British support and create a partnership between the two nations after Great Britain had proclaimed neutrality. On November 8, 1861, the two Confederate representatives were captured aboard the Trent, a British mail ship, by Union Navy Officer Charles Wilkes. Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister of Great Britain, was outraged, sternly calling his cabinet together by stating “I don’t know whether you are going to stand this, but I’ll be damned if I do!” Great Britain claimed that this conflict was in clear violation of their neutrality by the United States; the Confederacy’s belligerent status and Britain’s policy of neutrality formed a loophole in the United States’ foreign policy that made the United States look like the wrongdoer to the rest of the world. The Trent Affair appeared to Great Britain as the ‘climax of American arrogance,’ according to historian Ephraim Douglass Adams, and would require diplomatic maneuvering by the United States to keep them out of a second

war.
Cooler heads prevailed as diplomatic efforts made by both the Union and British governments reduced tensions and slowed down British-Confederate relations. After the events of the Trent Affair, Northerners ‘hailed’ Captain Wilkes for capturing the diplomats, while British officials were ‘outraged’ when word of the capture reached Britain in late November. Great Britain’s working class and ruling class were split on who to support over the duration of the American Civil War, especially after the Trent Affair. While the British government was ‘openly sympathetic’ to the Confederacy, the working people of Britain ‘were pulling’ for the Union, dividing British opinion on how aggressively Britain should respond to the Trent Affair. Lord Lyons, the British Ambassador to the United States, warned Lord Russell, the British Foreign Minister that unless the Union was given a “good lesson,” the British would “have the same trouble” with the Union again in the future; Abraham Lincoln and his administration understood and responded “one war at a time” and decided not to push the issue any longer. Charles Francis Adams, the U.S. Ambassador to Britain, was sent to assure the British government that war with Britain was the last thing the Union wanted and gave an informal apology. Adams’ diplomatic venture eased British-Union tensions and led to ‘smooth sailing in the relations of Great Britain and the North.’
Great Britain viewed the Confederacy as a possible ally and needed the Southern cotton supply, but knew that a relationship with the United States was not worth giving up in order to further Britain’s influence in the South. Great Britain stuck to their neutrality pledge and did not officially recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation, easing any Union apprehension. Despite the outrage of the British after the Trent Affair, their pride was outweighed by their overall desire to stay out of conflict and the Union was open to any diplomatic options that would prevent a two-front war. Although Great Britain viewed the Union as arrogant after the Trent Affair, it did not push Britain far enough to pursue the issue and start a war. While the Confederate government assumed that the Trent Affair was the beginning of another British-American conflict, diplomatic efforts by both Great Britain and the United States prevented any escalation in tensions.