On such affairs the world turns.
In what should have only been a diplomatic incident the Trent Affair turned to war.
The USS San Jacinto under the command of Captain Charles Wilkes attempted to intercept the British mail packet RMS Trent.
On board the Trent were two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell.
On November 8, lookouts aboard the San Jacinto spotted the RMS Trent, which unfurled the Union Jack as it neared. San Jacinto then fired a shot across the bow of Trent, which Captain James Moir of the Trent ignored. San Jacinto fired a second shot from her forward pivot gun which unfortunately landed right on the bow of Trent breaking it off.
The Trent sank rapidly before the boats of the San Jacinto could get to the Trent.
Of the 60 passengers only 28 survived included in the dead were both James Mason, John Sliddell, their secretaries and John Sliddell’s wife and children.
When the San Jacinto reached Hampton Roads a political fire storm erupted.
When the British Government learnt that a British flagged Royal mail Ship had been sunk by the US navy with the loss of more than half its passengers and crew they went ballistic.
The British demands that the Captain of the San Jacinto, Charles Wilkes be turned over to them to be tried for piracy on the high seas the US government had no choice other than to tell the British to get lost.
President Lincoln found himself between a rock and a hard place.
If he turned Captain Charles Wilkes over to the British then he was de facto admitting to allowing the US navy commit piracy on the high seas.
If he did not then he faced the real possibility of Great Britain recognising the confederacy as an independent state at best or war at worst.
Lincoln knew in his heart that he should bow to the British demands but politically he couldn’t afford to do so.
In the end he advised the British that the incident was under investigation and would be dealt with in due course.
This incensed the British government but they too were hamstrung by political opinion.
They couldn’t go to war with the USA as that would be seen as supporting slavery.
In the end they decided to take two actions that would demonstrate their displeasure with the USA’s actions.
First was the diplomatic recognition of the Confederate States of America, though the recognition proclamation stated that as a member of the family of nations they were expected to dispense with slavery at the first opportune moment.
The second act on the part of Great Britain was to finalise the Pig War by seizing the San Juan Islands as their expression of their dissatisfaction with the Trent incident.
The US government were dismayed by the British government’s actions.
In the end it was decided that the San Juan Islands were not worth bringing Great Britain into the civil war on the side of the confederacy.
With bad grace they conceded the San Juan Islands but privately they vowed to remain antagonistic towards Britain and her empire.
The US civil war would go on to last until September of 1868 with the Confederacy helped by British flagged blockade runners.
After the US civil war the US government was determined never to be in a position of having to bow to a foreign power.
Laws were enacted to ensure that the US military could deal with any attack on their possessions.
While congress would not fund a military that would be second to none it did ensure funding so that the US military had standing forces equal to any of the second or third tier powers.
The next point of contention between the two countries were the Boer Wars in southern Africa
The first in 1880-1 saw the US government support the stance of the Boer republics.
This only inflamed hostilities between the two major powers.
In a tit for tat measure Great Britain backed Spain in the Spanish – American war of 1898.
Although the USA won the war and gained Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam the British government purchased the Philippine Islands from Spain to spite the United States for the sum of £10 million.
This action only incensed the US government and population further.
When the second Boer war started the US government allowed volunteers to fight as mercenaries for the Boer Republics.
The US government constant released communiques of British forces abuses of the Boer civilians.
This further increased the hostilities between the two nations.
Finally the Boer war would end in 1905 with the status quo ante of the two Boer republics being independent but under the protection of the USA.
This outcome led to a change in approach to foreign policy from Britain, which now set about looking for more allies. To this end, the 1902 treaty with japan was expanded as the British Empire feared attack on its Far Eastern empire and saw this alliance as an opportunity to strengthen its stance in the Far East. This war led to a change from the splendid isolation policy to a policy that involved looking for allies and improving world relations. Later treaties with France and Russia (“the Entente cordiale”) caused partially by the controversy surrounding the Boer War loss, were major factors in dictating how the battle lines were drawn during World War One.
In what should have only been a diplomatic incident the Trent Affair turned to war.
The USS San Jacinto under the command of Captain Charles Wilkes attempted to intercept the British mail packet RMS Trent.
On board the Trent were two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell.
On November 8, lookouts aboard the San Jacinto spotted the RMS Trent, which unfurled the Union Jack as it neared. San Jacinto then fired a shot across the bow of Trent, which Captain James Moir of the Trent ignored. San Jacinto fired a second shot from her forward pivot gun which unfortunately landed right on the bow of Trent breaking it off.
The Trent sank rapidly before the boats of the San Jacinto could get to the Trent.
Of the 60 passengers only 28 survived included in the dead were both James Mason, John Sliddell, their secretaries and John Sliddell’s wife and children.
When the San Jacinto reached Hampton Roads a political fire storm erupted.
When the British Government learnt that a British flagged Royal mail Ship had been sunk by the US navy with the loss of more than half its passengers and crew they went ballistic.
The British demands that the Captain of the San Jacinto, Charles Wilkes be turned over to them to be tried for piracy on the high seas the US government had no choice other than to tell the British to get lost.
President Lincoln found himself between a rock and a hard place.
If he turned Captain Charles Wilkes over to the British then he was de facto admitting to allowing the US navy commit piracy on the high seas.
If he did not then he faced the real possibility of Great Britain recognising the confederacy as an independent state at best or war at worst.
Lincoln knew in his heart that he should bow to the British demands but politically he couldn’t afford to do so.
In the end he advised the British that the incident was under investigation and would be dealt with in due course.
This incensed the British government but they too were hamstrung by political opinion.
They couldn’t go to war with the USA as that would be seen as supporting slavery.
In the end they decided to take two actions that would demonstrate their displeasure with the USA’s actions.
First was the diplomatic recognition of the Confederate States of America, though the recognition proclamation stated that as a member of the family of nations they were expected to dispense with slavery at the first opportune moment.
The second act on the part of Great Britain was to finalise the Pig War by seizing the San Juan Islands as their expression of their dissatisfaction with the Trent incident.
The US government were dismayed by the British government’s actions.
In the end it was decided that the San Juan Islands were not worth bringing Great Britain into the civil war on the side of the confederacy.
With bad grace they conceded the San Juan Islands but privately they vowed to remain antagonistic towards Britain and her empire.
The US civil war would go on to last until September of 1868 with the Confederacy helped by British flagged blockade runners.
After the US civil war the US government was determined never to be in a position of having to bow to a foreign power.
Laws were enacted to ensure that the US military could deal with any attack on their possessions.
While congress would not fund a military that would be second to none it did ensure funding so that the US military had standing forces equal to any of the second or third tier powers.
The next point of contention between the two countries were the Boer Wars in southern Africa
The first in 1880-1 saw the US government support the stance of the Boer republics.
This only inflamed hostilities between the two major powers.
In a tit for tat measure Great Britain backed Spain in the Spanish – American war of 1898.
Although the USA won the war and gained Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam the British government purchased the Philippine Islands from Spain to spite the United States for the sum of £10 million.
This action only incensed the US government and population further.
When the second Boer war started the US government allowed volunteers to fight as mercenaries for the Boer Republics.
The US government constant released communiques of British forces abuses of the Boer civilians.
This further increased the hostilities between the two nations.
Finally the Boer war would end in 1905 with the status quo ante of the two Boer republics being independent but under the protection of the USA.
This outcome led to a change in approach to foreign policy from Britain, which now set about looking for more allies. To this end, the 1902 treaty with japan was expanded as the British Empire feared attack on its Far Eastern empire and saw this alliance as an opportunity to strengthen its stance in the Far East. This war led to a change from the splendid isolation policy to a policy that involved looking for allies and improving world relations. Later treaties with France and Russia (“the Entente cordiale”) caused partially by the controversy surrounding the Boer War loss, were major factors in dictating how the battle lines were drawn during World War One.
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