Course 2, Volume 1A. American Foreign Policy in Growth and Action Page: 24
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AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IN GROWTH AND ACTION
Canada, and pro-Southern sentiment in Britain
ran high. Earl Russell, British Foreign Secre-
tary, sent an ultimatum to Washington demand-
ing release of the prisoners and an apology for
the affront to the British flag. France and sev-
eral other powers supported the British stand.
The United States found itself in the role of
denying the same principles for which it had
fought Britain in 1812, opposition to the search
and seizure of individuals aboard a neutral ship.4
President Lincoln's cabinet, after long consid-
eration, decided to release the prisoners and make
an official explanation to Great Britain. This
latter task fell to Secretary Seward who communi-
cated the explanation to Lord Lyons, British Min-
ister in Washington.
SECRETARY SEWARD'S LETTER TO LORD
LYONS, WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 26, 1861:
. . . The British government has rightly conjectured,
what it is now my duty to state, that Captain Wilkes
... acted upon his own suggestions of duty, without
any direction or instruction, or even foreknowledge
of it, on the part of this government. . . . The British
government will justly infer from these facts that the
United States not only have no purpose, but even
no thought, of forcing into discussion the question
which. has arisen, or any other which could affect in
any way the sensibilities of the British nation. . . . In
the present case, Captain Wilkes, after capturing the
contraband persons and making prize of the Trent in
what seems to be a perfectly lawful manner, instead
of sending her into port, released her from the cap-
ture, and permitted her to proceed with her cargo
upon her voyage. He thus effectually prevented the
judicial examination which might otherwise have oc-
curred. ... I have not been unaware that, in examin-
ing this question, I have fallen into an argument for
what seems to be the British side of it against my
own country. . . . I discovered that I was really
defending and maintaining, not an exclusively British
interest, but an old, honored, and cherished American
cause. . . . If I decide this case in favor of my own
government, I must disavow its most cherished prin-
ciples, and reverse and forever abandon its essential
policy. . . . It will be seen, therefore, that this govern-
ment could not deny the justice of the claim presented
to us in this respect on its merits. We are asked to do
to the British nation just what we have always in-
sisted all nations ought to do to us....
This handsome disclaimer by Seward satisfied
the British and placated Northern sentiment for
punishment of the Confederate agents as well as
for a determined stand against the British-a
stand which might have led to a war which
4 See pp. 5-6 above.neither the Federal Union nor the British could
have really wished.
Another complication in the foreign relations of
the United States during the Civil War related to
the Confederate commerce destroy-
The ers built abroad. By avoiding the
Confederate letter of the British law several ves-
commerce sels were constructed in English
destroyers shipyards and then fitted out as
warships at points beyond British
jurisdiction. The most famous of these was the
Alabama. The Florida and the Shenandoah were
others. Very little secrecy surround-
Britain violates ed these ship-building enterprises,
the spirit of and the American Minister in Lon-
neutrality don, Charles Francis Adams, repeat-
edly called to the attention of the
British government this violation of true neutrality
as well as of the spirit of the British laws.
However, the partially completed Alabama
slipped to sea on July 29, 1862 before any attempt
was made by the British to detain the vessel. The
Alabama put in at the Azores and there received
her equipment and crew sent from England on
two other ships. With her sister raiders, the Ala-
bama roved the high seas and burned, sank, or
otherwise disabled more than 250 Northern vessels
from European to Far Eastern waters. Adams kept
the British Foreign Office bombarded with lists of
depredations by the Confederate raiders and
claims for damages. Finally, in 1863, the British
seized the Alexandra, a warship being built for
the Confederacy in England. This belated recog-
nition by the British of the violations of its neutral-
ity did not undo the damage already inflicted by
the ships, but it did end the construction in
Britain of such vessels.
At the same time the Alabama and other ships
were being built in England, the Laird shipyards
at Birkenhead began the construction of a num-
ber of powerful ironclad rams designed to break
the Northern blockade of the Confederacy.
When the rams were nearly completed, Lord
Russell, the British Foreign Minister, issued con-
fidential orders, on September 3, 1863, to detain
the rams. Adams, not knowing of Russell's order,
protested to Russell.
MINISTER ADAMS' NOTE TO EARL RUS-
SELL, LONDON, SEPTEMBER 5, 1863: . . . It
would be superfluous in me to point out to your24
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Air University (U.S.). Extension Course Institute. Course 2, Volume 1A. American Foreign Policy in Growth and Action, book, April 1959; Alabama. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1077937/m1/38/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.