JULY 16, 1862:
The TRENT Affair having faded from memory, Confederate
Commissioners Mason and Slidell were finally in London and Paris, respectively, to carry out the commission
they had been sent on:
Representing the Confederate States of America to the
ruling powers of Europe.
Commissioner Slidell met
with Napoleon III on this day.
Slidell presented his case, to wit, the South had cotton, which France
wanted. And France could have it all if France would just be kind enough to offer the Confederacy formal diplomatic
recognition. There was, of course, one minor condition precedent---France would have to lend the Confederacy the use of its navy to break the United States' blockade of Southern ports. Immediately after that, Slidell promised, cotton in vast quantities would cross the
Atlantic to feed French mills.
Despite Slidell’s best efforts, Napoleon III decided not to go to war
against the United States nor to recognize the Confederacy.
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