November 11, 1862---British wishes for a mediated peace die a delayed death

NOVEMBER 11, 1862:        

Great Britain was officially neutral throughout the Civil War, though elite opinion tended to favor the Confederacy, while the general public heavily favored the United States. Large scale trade continued between the U.S. and the U.K. throughout the war. The U.S. provided much of the U.K.’s grain supplies. Britain sent manufactured items and munitions. British immigration also continued into the U.S., chiefly from Ireland.

British trade with the Confederacy was limited due to the blockade, with small amounts of cotton going to Britain, and munitions slipped into the C.S.A., by numerous small blockade runners.

Confederate foreign affairs were very poorly managed. The Confederate strategy for securing independence was largely based on the hope of recognition by the European Powers, followed by military intervention by Britain and France. The Confederacy tried to pressure the British and the French into acting by imposing a cotton embargo immediately after “independence.” The dominance of “King Cotton” led to the Confederate notion that British dependence on cotton for its large textile industry would lead to diplomatic recognition and mediation or military intervention; but, foolishly, the Confederate Government did not send agents ahead of time to determine if the King Cotton policy would be effective. Rather than working in their favor, this coercive policy boomeranged on the Confederacy; it slowed any impetus for diplomatic recognition and caused Britain to begin a cotton-growing industry in India and Egypt. The British Government tended to favor the Confederacy, but needed U.S. goods, and so did little more than pay lip service to the Confederacy. The Confederacy’s restrictive policies toward foreign nationals also caused consternation in the European capitals. Additionally, in 1863, the Confederacy expelled all foreign consuls. W. E. Gladstone’s October 7^th speech, in which he said, "Jefferson Davis and other leaders of the South have made an army; they are making, it appears, a navy; and they have made what is more than either---they have made a nation....” was an international bombshell, and the acme of the British Empire’s and the Confederate States’ relationship.

Repeated reports of Confederate victories in the summer of 1862 convinced Britain’s Lord Russell to put forth a “Mediation Plan” to end the war. The French agreed to work with the British. The Russians refused. Although efforts to have the Confederacy recognized internationally were at their high-water mark in the summer and fall of 1862, Antietam, and then the Emancipation Proclamation, put an end to any European contemplation of diplomatic recognition. On this day in 1862 Lord Russell declared his “Mediation Plan” a dead letter.