Thursday, June 20, 2013

July 16, 1862---The Confederacy makes France an offer it can refuse



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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