“England's course towards the United States during the rebellion exasperated the people of this country very much against the mother country. I regretted it. England and the United States are natural allies, and should be the best of friends. They speak one language, and are related by blood and other ties.”
There was a real danger that Great Britain would support the Confederacy …
The biggest issue of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency was the rebellion of the Southern states, and the Civil War that quickly erupted when they tried to leave the Union in 1861. There may be good reason for thinking of this kind of domestic rebellion as a “domestic” policy issue. But it also involved complicated foreign policy, as the Southern states tried to get European powers to intervene on their behalf. In particular, the South tried to get Queen Victoria’s British Empire to support the Confederate war efforts. If this had happened, there was a chillingly real possibility that the Civil War would have ended very differently than it did. For example, we might have been forced to become two countries, with chattel slavery living on for years in the more southern country. Abraham Lincoln was just as determined to prevent this from happening. To some degree, Civil War diplomacy also involved distant France, nearby Mexico, and the various Native American tribes who made various choices about whom to ally with. But the two sides’ respective relationships with Britain were the most important theatres of the chess game, since the British had the most power to affect the war’s outcome. Thus, an examination of the Civil War diplomacy might be in order here, to show how both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis conducted diplomacy with the mighty British Empire.
Charles Francis Adams, Sr. – Lincoln’s ambassador to Britain
Prior relations between America and Britain, and French support for our Revolution
Perhaps I should first give some background, on our prior relations with the British. Back in 1776, the thirteen American colonies had rebelled against Great Britain, and their alliance had included both Northern and Southern colonies. But these thirteen colonies had been outnumbered and outgunned, and thus courted the favor of distant France. It was because of intervention by the French (and others) that we were able to become a separate country: the United States. During the War of 1812, we were again allied with France, as we fought again against the mother country of Great Britain. The Confederacy later thought of the Civil War as a “Second American Revolution,” and was similarly outnumbered and outgunned. They knew that victory in the “War Between the States” (as they called it) depended upon an alliance with foreign superpowers. Thus, they courted the favor of the British from very early on in the conflict. They cut off trade with the British in cotton, in an attempt to put some economic pressure upon Queen Victoria. These strategies did not help their cause much, since these things hurt the Confederate economy more than they ever hurt the British. But, unfortunately for the North, the South was about to get its first real opportunity.
Lord Palmerston, the British prime minister
In 1861, there was the infamous “Trent affair” at sea, a major diplomatic incident
That opportunity came in 1861, when (out in the Atlantic) the USS San Jacinto stopped a British royal mail steamer (called the “Trent”) at gunpoint. The Union ship demanded that the British hand over two Confederate diplomats who were then on board. The British did so, but then brought the news of this outrage back to Britain with them. The British prime minister thus dispatched thousands of troops to nearby Canada. (Canada was still a part of the British Empire at this time.) But Abraham Lincoln knew that it would be pointless to hold on to these two Confederate diplomats. Thus, he quietly let the two diplomats go. This was the most dangerous moment of the war for the Union cause. Abraham Lincoln’s ambassadors did their best to assure the British that this would not happen again. Thus, the “Trent affair” (as it was called) soon passed, and things returned to normal – for a while, at least. Incidentally, the French emperor actually sent troops to Mexico starting in 1861. Thus, many in France would have liked to see the nearby Confederates become their allies in this struggle. However, without British help, the French were unwilling to ally with the Confederacy, as it meant war with the American Union. Incidentally, their war with Mexico would continue until 1867.
USS San Jacinto stops the British RMS Trent – Trent affair, 1861
Why did the British initially want to support the South? (Answer: Cotton)
During the war, the Union government’s official position was simply that “the Confederacy does not exist.” Initially, the nations of Europe were inclined to agree. But the British had an appetite for Southern cotton, and disliked the Union Navy’s blockade of the South. In the British mind, this was interfering with their rights to free trade, especially in cotton. There were even some unofficial British efforts to “run the blockade,” and get the cotton anyway. In fairness, the British were staunchly opposed to slavery, including that practiced by the American South. But, in the early parts of this conflict, the Union government had not yet dared to openly oppose slavery where it already existed. Thus, the British figured that American slavery would continue, regardless of which side won the war. Thus, there seemed to be no “moral” reason for supporting the North, and economics seemed to point them more towards Southern cotton. The British had already recognized the belligerent status of the Confederacy. Thus, when the war started to go badly for the North, Britain stood poised to recognize the Confederate States as a nation. This would have been a complete disaster for the Union cause. Therefore, it seemed like a good time for Lincoln to pursue a different strategy. That alternative strategy was simply the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln wanted to emancipate those slaves in rebel territory, as a “fit and necessary war measure” for suppressing this terrible rebellion. This would appeal to the British conscience, and convince them that the Northern cause was indeed morally superior to that of the South. But, on the battlefield, things were then going badly for the Union. Thus, Lincoln’s Cabinet (wisely) advised him to delay the release of his Emancipation Proclamation until a battlefield victory happened. If Lincoln released it at that moment, said Secretary of State William Seward, it would look like “the last shriek on our retreat” (or words to that effect). Thus, Lincoln agreed to wait for a victory. It came on the bloodiest day of the war: September 17th, 1862. This was the day of the epic Battle of Antietam.
First reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State
But the British changed their mind, when Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation
From the Northern perspective, Antietam wasn’t much of a victory. They had paid dearly for the triumph. But it was good enough to justify the release of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation wasn’t all that popular in the North, and it was hated with bitter intensity in the South. But the British reaction was very different. Again, the British were opposed to slavery, and now had reason to believe that it could be abolished … if the North were to win the war. This finally ended all Confederate hopes of a British alliance. The British were now refusing to enter the war, and no longer cared so much about the Southern cotton – or any other trade with the South. This contributed to defeatist attitudes in the South. Although Jefferson Davis tried to reassure the South that it could still win, it was nonetheless a public relations disaster for the Confederacy. But there was still a chance that Abraham Lincoln could be defeated in another way: by being voted out by the Northern public in 1864. If the war were made unpopular enough in the North, then an anti-war candidate named George McClellan might be elected, leading to a negotiated settlement – and official recognition of the Confederacy. As the election drew near, Ulysses S. Grant’s troops were stalled in a months-long siege of Petersburg, Virginia – the longest siege of an American city in history. William Tecumseh Sherman was also stalled in his army’s siege of Atlanta, Georgia – which was much further south. But, thankfully, Atlanta was soon forced to surrender to General Sherman, so the North finally got some good war news. This was enough to turn the tide of the 1864 presidential elections. Abraham Lincoln was thus elected to a second term, and the North was then able to continue its war efforts. Eventually, the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. The war was finally over.
Statue of Abraham Lincoln in Manchester, England – where England commemorates the support of local cotton workers for the Union
Conclusion: Things might have gone very differently, if the British had intervened
But it might have gone very differently, if the British had been allowed to intervene. British troops might have attacked the Union’s Northern flank from Canada, or the Royal Navy might have disrupted the Union’s blockade of the rebellious Southern states – or both. I shudder to think at what could have happened, if the British Empire (and thus the French) had actually helped the Confederacy. It is owing to Abraham Lincoln that this never happened, and that the Union was nonetheless able to triumph over the Confederacy. The British are now glad that they refused to intervene, since it might well have meant the sad prolongation of American slavery. And the African Americans were also glad that the Union had triumphed, because it meant that they were finally … “free at last.”
“The hostility of England to the United States during our rebellion was not so much real as it was apparent. It was the hostility of the leaders of one political party. I am told that there was no time during the civil war when they were able to get up in England a demonstration in favor of secession, while these were constantly being gotten up in favor of the Union, or, as they called it, in favor of the North. Even in Manchester, which suffered so fearfully by having the cotton cut off from her mills, they had a monster demonstration in favor of the North at the very time when their workmen were almost famishing.”
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