NOVEMBER 8, 1861:
The TRENT Affair: The U.S.S. SAN JACINTO commanded by Captain Charles
Wilkes U.S.N. intercepted the British commercial vessel R.M.S. TRENT and
removed Confederate diplomats James Mason and John Slidell, who were charged by
Jefferson Davis with seeking diplomatic recognition of the Confederacy by Great
Britain. Britain strenuously objected and threatened war.
Although public
opinion in the U.S. favored war with the U.K., President Lincoln realized that
the United States could not sustain simultaneous wars against the South and
Britain both, and that to rupture relations with Great Britain was to enhance
the Confederacy’s claims to independence.
After several weeks of tension and loose talk of war, the crisis was
resolved when the Lincoln administration released the envoys and disavowed
Captain Wilkes's actions. No formal apology was issued. Mason and Slidell
resumed their voyage to Britain but failed in their goal of achieving
diplomatic recognition.
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