Diplomacy

 

290 Foundation

VERBATIM

A series of short articles on how the different European powers approached issues of diplomacy with both

Union and Confederate governments.

 

FRANCE: On April 12, 1861, the Civil War breaks out in the United States. It divides the Northern and Southern States of the Union, with the latter forming a new Confederation. The Confederate States stated willingness defend their rights by force is soon followed by a mobilization of the forces of the Northern government and a rapid blockade of the coastal ports feeding its rival. Faced with this unprecedented event, the imperial powers of Europe, Great Britain and France adopt similar, diplomatic attitudes. They decides not to take sides in the American conflict but despite a stated neutrality, recognise the right of belligerency on the Confederacy. This duality draws the anger of Washington, which considers the southern 'separatists' as mere rebels. Britain, with a long established commerce with the Southern States, turns a blind eye to the many blockade runners financed and operated by businessmen across England. France on the other hand seeks to establish rules for its maritime transport since its commerce ships are likely to come across vessels of both sides on their way to North America. To ensure its maritime fleet remains free of any harrassment, France states its reliance on the 1856 Declaration of Paris, an agreement prohibiting privateering but protecting neutral goods in case of war and recognizing only fully effective blockades. However, the application of these clauses is complex because the United States had not ratified the agreement and, due to the large expanse of coastline it was required to monitor, the validity of the blockade becomes doubtful under maritime law and difficult therefore to enforce. Finally, the French government was forced to review the cases of vessels dropping anchor in its territorial waters.

 

Disregarding neutrality, Napoleon III opened the shipyards of Nantes and Bordeaux to the Southerners for their ship building programme. On several occasions the Imperial Government of France attempted to propose intercession, for example in striving to overcome the serious dispute between Washington and London in the case of the Trent affair. This involved a British ship bound for Europe with two emissaries of the South being apprehended by the Federal Navy, despite the maritime rules of conflict. As the war dragged on, Napoleon III again offered his services in late 1862 and early 1863 to mediate between the North and the South - but on each occasion his proposals were dismissed and the hostilities continued.

Gradually, the Emperor who did not hide his preferences for the Southerners was tempted by the idea of recognizing their cause formally, most likely as, in addition to his sympathy for their cause, he considered that the independence of the Confederate States, seceded from the Union, would only strengthen his Mexican ambitions and the constitution of this "buffer State" offered a guarantee to protect Mexico from any annexation of its northern territories by the United States. In July 1862 and June 1863, Napoleon III unsuccessfully attempted to have England publically share his views but again, he was confronted with the disapproval of his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thouvenel then Drouyn de Lhuys who remained hostile to the idea of a division of the American Republic.

Like so many others on both sides of the English Channel, Napoleon III was hampered and frustrated by his ministers and advisors. Unsurprisingly, his attempts to circumvent their objections by entering into direct correspondence with Ambassadors by using unofficial, personally appointed emissaries, was also doomed to failure. During the term of the American Civil War, a convoluted relationships with this major European power, demonstrated to all the deep political divisions that existed in France's government.

 

GREAT BRITAIN: British neutrality during the American Civil War was complicated and remains a difficult issue to analyze. Indeed, had Queen Victoria's beloved Albert not died tragically in 1861, his strong opinions and influence amongst British politicians may have swayed Britain to taking a more openly, sympathetic view of the South. As it was, at the heart of the matter lay British self-interest. If it had been advantageous for the Empire to openly support one side or the other, it would have done so. But despite the vocal support in Britain for both sides, and despite good arguments made by both U.S. and C.S. representatives, Britain did what was best for Britain, which was to keep itself carefully in the middle.

The war itself was bad news for Britain, no matter how they felt about the two sides. Both parts of America were important trading partners with Britain, and the cotton from the South was a particularly valuable commodity. Without cotton, England's massive textile industry would grind to a halt, and in fact once the Federal blockade of the Southern states became effective, the loss of a steady supply of cotton caused a major economic crisis. Nearly one thousand mills were forced to close, with over one hundred thousand workers made redundant at least temporarily. Many industrialists, seeing their empires collapsing, quickly obtained ships and crews to run the federal blockade carrying much needed materials to the South and returning with cargoes of cotton. Despite this urgency, confederate leaders, under-estimated the importance of their cotton in their determining British political policy and the fact that the North was also an important market for British industry. Even whilst English commercial interests endeavored to make the best of a bad situation, they were happy enough to build and sell the Confederates ships including the commerce raiders Alabama, Florida, and Shenandoah, whilst engaging in a lucrative arms trade with the South for most of the war. Full recognition and support for the Confederacy presented a number of nightmare scenarios for Britain’s politicians. The U.S. made not-so-subtle hints that such a situation would make legitimate targets of Britain's huge commercial maritime fleet for privateers and bring about a state of war between the two countries. The example of what a few Confederate commerce raiders were doing to U.S. shipping was incentive enough to wish avoiding a similar situation developing among British fleets. British subjects in Canada were openly worried what a conflict between the U.S. and Britain would mean for them. Britain had already assembled a considerable military force there and if it had come to war, Canada and the border would have been the main theatre of operations for a British-American war.

Great Britain also had its relationship with other European powers to consider. France generally mirrored the British view of things but at the time, France controlled Mexico; and British intervention for a ‘rebel’ nation on that border might have caused France to adopt a very different attitude. Russia, although also technically neutral, was clearly favoring the North. Russo-British relations were still a bit delicate after the Crimean War and it was desirable for Britain to avoid antagonizing the Russians unless strictly necessary to do so.

Finally, the issue of slavery presented a moral stumbling block, though it was not the most important issue to the British. Slavery had been banned throughout the British Empire in 1833 so openly supporting the slave-owning Confederacy was problematic, unless it became very clear that the South would win the war.

In the end, neither of the two sides in the conflict was very satisfied with British neutrality. The Confederacy was denied a powerful official ally, and the Union felt that Britain bent the rules to lend too much support to the South. The very declaration of neutrality, in fact, implied a certain level of recognition and Britain moved a step closer by recognizing the South as a ‘belligerent state’ thus regarding the Confederacy as a legitimate combatant and not a mere rebellion. Great Britain's problem was not to satisfy either side, but to look after British interests and under difficult circumstances, the mother country and her Empire was successful in that. At the end of the war America was desperate to rebuild and Britain was the only country able to supply the expertise to do this. With the decimation of most of America’s whaling fleets and cargo ships, the renewed Royal Navy ruled the oceans until after the end of the First World War, virtually unopposed!