Replies

On October 15, with coal bunkers nearly empty, Theodora cruised in sight of Cuba. An approaching Spanish warship hailed the little vessel. Slidell and Eustis went on board and were informed that British mail steamers did indeed dock at the port of Havana, but the latest one had just left. The next British packet would not arrive for three weeks. Mason decided they would wait in Cardenas, Cuba, and enjoy that city's hospitality before making an overland trek to Havana.

CSS Nashville

The Federal government, in the meantime, reacted to the rumors that Slidell and Mason had made good their escape from Charleston aboard Nashville. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles ordered Admiral Samuel F. DuPont to dispatch a fast warship to Britain to intercept the blockade runner. On October 15, Commander John B. Marchand steamed the heavily armed James Adger toward Europe with orders to pursue Nashville all the way to the English Channel if necessary. Little did Marchand or any of the Washington hierarchy realize that the Confederate emissaries were soaking up the Caribbean sun in Cuba while Nashville remained placidly moored to her pier in Charleston.

When James Adger docked in England's Southampton harbor in early November, British officials were clearly worried. They were well aware that Mason and Slidell would eventually arrive on a British mail packet. Certainly Marchand could do little against the ship if it was in British territorial waters, but on the high seas it was understood that the American vessel could, in fact, search the English steamer and claim it as a prize of war if Confederate dispatches were found aboard it. Once claimed, a maritime prize court, acting under international law, would determine whether the mail ship had been seized legally and if it should be sold for profit or released to the British government. London legal experts, however, determined that James Adger "would have no right to remove Messrs. Mason and Slidell and carry them off as prisoners, leaving the ship [the mail packet] to pursue her voyage." If seizure was the name of the game, it would have to be an all-or-nothing case.

U.S. Secretary of State William Seward

While a Federal envoy to London, Charles Francis Adams, worked to convince British authorities that Marchand was on the lookout for Nashville alone, another Union naval officer in the Caribbean was about to light the fuse that would drive the United States and Great Britain to the brink of war. Sixty-two-year-old Captain Charles D. Wilkes had a less than enviable reputation in the United States Navy. Early in his career he had won accolades on his voyages of discovery to Antarctica and the Fiji Islands. A gifted astronomer, Wilkes had run afoul of his superiors with untimely displays of temper and insubordination. Consequently, he had been shunted aside to a minor bureaucratic role in Washington until receiving orders to take command of the steam warship San Jacinto on patrol off the coast of West Africa. Wilkes was simply to sail the ship home for refitting.

When Wilkes stepped aboard San Jacinto at the island of Fernando Po (now Bioka, Equatorial Guinea) on August 28, 1861, he was in no mood to simply steam complacently back to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He believed that this command might be his only chance for action, so he proceeded to cruise along the African coast for nearly a month in search of Confederate raiders. When he finally turned the prow of his ship westward, he set course for the West Indies, once more in search of Rebel shipping. After stops at Jamaica and Grand Cayman, Wilkes eased into Cienfuegos on Cuba's southern coast. There he learned that Mason and Slidell were leaving Havana for Europe.

Lord Palmerston

Wilkes was ecstatic when he discovered that the Confederate diplomats were still in Havana on October 30. They were due to leave on November 7 aboard the British mail ship Trent, which was bound for the island of St. Thomas before heading for England. Poring over his maritime law books, Wilkes decided he could legally take Trent with its passengers once she left Spanish territorial waters. "If she [Trent] left at the usual time," Wilkes noted, "she must pass us about noon on the 8th" in the Bahama Channel, "and we could not possibly miss her."

At 11:40 a.m. on November 8, 1861, lookouts on San Jacinto spotted Trent. As the mail packet neared, it unfurled the Union Jack. Wilkes responded by firing a shot well in front of its bow. When the British ship did not slow down, he ordered his forward pivot gun to place a shell just in front of the little steamer. Finally, Trent hove to.

THE SEIZURE BY CAPTAIN WILKS, OFTHE UNITED STATES' WARSHIP SAN JACINTO, OF MESSRS. SLIDELL AND MASON, CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS, ON BOARD THE BRITISH MAIL-STEAMER TRENT

Lieutenant Fairfax was summoned to the quarterdeck, where Wilkes presented him with his orders. "Should Mr. Mason, Mr. Slidell, Mr. Eustis and Mr. Macfarland be on board," they read, "make them prisoners and send them on board this ship immediately and take possession of [Trent] as a prize." He was also to seize any dispatches and correspondence he might find.

Armed with cutlasses and pistols, Fairfax's boarding party of 20 men rowed toward the mail packet. Realizing what was about to happen, Mason ordered Macfarland "to take the dispatch bag which contained my public papers, credentials, instructions, etc., ... and deliver it to the mail agent of the steamer," where it could be locked in the mail room.. The agent, Richard Williams, promised he would see that the papers reached London.

Fairfax was certain that Wilkes was creating an international incident and he had no intention of enlarging its scope. Ordering his armed escort to remain in the whaleboat, the lieutenant stepped aboard Trent to meet an obviously angry Captain James Moir. As British crewmen and Southern passengers crowded around, Fairfax announced he had orders "to arrest Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell and their secretaries, and send them prisoners on board the United States war vessel near by."

Upon hearing these words, the British crew and passengers threatened the American officer. Union sailors, in turn, clambered on deck to protect Fairfax. For a long moment, it looked as if a scuffle would break out. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and violence was avoided. Both Mason and Slidell decided to go into custody peacefully, especially since the latter's family was on board. When Fairfax requested to examine the Trent's mailroom for Confederate papers, the British firmly refused. To gain access, he was sure, would require San Jacinto to take Trent as a prize--a certain act of war.

As the Southern diplomats were being transferred to the whaleboat, Slidell's wife and daughters heaped verbal abuse on the Yankee sailors. When Trent's deck pitched in the roll of a wave, one of Slidell's daughters lost her balance and half fell against Fairfax, who quickly steadied her. In later descriptions of the affair, Fairfax would be charged with callous behavior.

Caption: AN AMERICAN ANSWER: In this "Harper's Weekly" cartoon after the United States had released Mason and Slidell to British custody, Uncle Sam is telling John Bull that he can have the two prisoners and that there are plenty more like them at Sing Sing prison, if he is interested.

A strict disciplinarian, Wilkes was unhappy that Fairfax had not seized Trent as a prize of war. He did, however, accept the lieutenant's argument that placing a prize crew aboard the packet to take her back to a Northern port would weaken San Jacinto's capacity as a fighting ship. Fairfax also brought attention to the plight of innocent passengers, including British civilians, if the mail ship was taken north.

As Wilkes steered along the eastern seaboard, he telegraphed news of his fateful seizure of the Confederate agents. His story spread like wildfire as Northern newspapers' headlines trumpeted the feat. The November 19 edition of The New York Times proudly proclaimed, "We do not believe the American heart ever thrilled with more genuine delight than it did yesterday, at the intelligence of the capture of Messrs. Slidell and Mason." To a Northern populace strong in its belief that Britain was decidedly pro-South, the Trent affair seemed designed to put John Bull in his proper place.

Wilkes was ordered by an ebullient Federal administration to take the Rebel envoys to the prison at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. But members of Abraham Lincoln's cabinet began focusing on the broader implications of the seizure of Trent's passengers. The affair, they urged, should be settled peacefully with Great Britain--and the quicker, the better.

CAPTAIN MOIR, OF THE TRENT.

In London, meanwhile, news of the Trent incident broke on November 27. Lord Palmerston,, the British prime minister, called an immediate cabinet meeting. From the information that had filtered into the Foreign Office, it appeared that Wilkes had committed an illegal act at sea by taking passengers but not seizing the ship. It also appeared that the Federal government had ordered him to do so. The British administration called the affair "a gross outrage and violation of international law." Palmerston advocated placing an embargo on arms shipped to the United States and preparing the powerful Channel Fleet to sail to North American waters. War seemed imminent--British pride was at stake.

Indignation and war fever flared among the British populace and newspapers. Pro-Northern politician John Bright described public sentiment as being "every sword leaping from its scabbard, and every man looking about for his pistols and blunderbusses." An American resident in London noted that "the people are frantic with rage, and were the country polled, I fear 999 men out of a thousand would declare for war."

In assuming a bellicose posture, Britain also prepared its Canadian dominion for the likelihood of war with the North. Canada, in fact, was woefully underprepared for hostilities with its powerful neighbor to the south. At the end of March 1861 there were only 4,300 British regulars in Canada, with 2,100 of those stationed in the maritime province of Nova Scotia. The available supply of ammunition consisted mostly of balls for antiquated muskets.

Governor General of Canada Sir Charles Stanley Monck nevertheless ordered his provincial militia to be ready for action. He instructed the British military commander in North America, Sir Fenwick Williams, to assemble his troops "as quiet as possible, not on account of the Americans but lest an alarm and panic should be excited amongst our people." Dispatches from England ordered a concentration of troops along the Beauharnois, Cornwall and Welland canals. If war erupted, Canadian regulars and militia were to seize Fort Montgomery at Rouse's Point and Fort Niagara, both in New York state, to prevent any Yankee invasion toward Montreal and Toronto.

Eighteen British transport ships loaded with men, arms and supplies were ordered to Canada to bolster the feeble force already there. Sixteen batteries of Royal Artillery were earmarked for the dominion, along with four companies of Royal Engineers and 11 battalions of infantry, a total of more than 11,000 men. Although London's Colonial and War offices had promised 100,000 rifles for the defense of Canada, only 50,000 were sent, with 2 1/4 million rounds of ammunition.

Additional Sources:

www.scv674.org
www.photolib.noaa.gov
www.civil-war.net
dosfan.lib.uic.edu
www.etsu.edu
cti.library.emory.edu
www.geocities.com/theprezz/trent
hpd.dnr.state.ga.us
en.wikipedia.org
www.canadianheritage.org
www.nlc-bnc.ca

On this Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on January 20:
1716 Carlos III king of Naples/Spain (1759-88) Pompei/Jesuits
1732 Richard H Lee US farmer (signed Declaration of Independence)
1763 Theobald Wolfe Tone Irish patriot
1806 Nathaniel Willis writer/editor/founder (American Monthly Magazine)
1812 Ralph Pomeroy Buckland Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1813 Jacon Gartner Lauman Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1820 Anne Jemima Clough England, promoted higher education for women
1844 Johan Peter Selmer composer
1847 W R Pettiford Founder (Alabama Penny Savings Bank)
1883 Betram Home Ramsay English admiral/Commander Allied Naval Forces
1884 AP Merritt US, sci-fi author (Moon Pool, Creep Shadow!)
1889 Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter Mooringsport LA, blues 12 string guitarist (Rock Island Line)
1894 Harold L Gray creator (Little Orphan Annie) ARF
1896 George Burns [Nathan Birnbaum], New York City NY, actor/comedian (Oh God)
1903 Leon Ames Portland Indiana, actor (Mr Ed, Father of the Bride)
1915 Joe Hitchcock darts player (leader of St Dunstan's Four)
1920 DeForest Kelley Atlanta GA, actor (Dr McCoy-Star Trek)
1920 Federico Fellini Rimini Italy, director (8½, Satyricon, La Dolce Vita)
1926 Patricia Neal Packard KY, actress (Hud, Subject Was Roses)
1928 Martin Landau Brooklyn NY, actor (Mission Impossible, Tucker, Space 1999)
1929 Arte Johnson Chicago IL, comedian (Laugh-in, Don't Call Me Charlie)
1930 Edwin E "Buzz" Aldrin Jr Montclair NJ, USAF/astronaut (Gemini 12, Apollo 11)
1934 Tom Baker actor (Dr. Who) Have a jellybaby
1942 Slim Whitman yodeler/country singer (Home on the Range)
1946 David Lynch Missoula MT, actor/director (Blue Velvet, Dune, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks)
1948 Jerry L Ross Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel USAF/astronaut (STS 61B, 27, 37, 55, 74, 88)
1948 Anatoly(Natan) Shcharansky Soviet human rights activist/émigré/author
1955 Joe Doherty Ireland, IRA activist (jailed in US)
1956 Bill Maher comedian(?) (He used to be someone)
1956 John McNally Naha Okinawa, US rapid fire pistol (Olympics-84, 88, 92, 96)
1966 Tia Carrere Honolulu HI, actress (Wayne's World, General Hospital)
1971 Karin Smith Miss Minnesota USA (1996)

Deaths which occurred on January 20:
0250 Fabianus Pope (236-50)/saint, dies
0820 Abu Abdallah M ibn Idris al-Sjafi'i Islamic (Book of Mother), dies
0842 Theophilus Byzantine kaiser (829-42), dies
0882 Louis II/III the Younger German king (876-82), dies
1569 Miles Coverdale English bible translator Great bible, dies at 80
1612 Rudolf II von Habsburg emperor of Germany (1576-1612), dies at 59
1639 Mustapha I sultan of Turkey (1622-23), dies
1745 Charles VII Albert German emperor (1742-45), dies at 47
1862 General Felix Zollicoffer killed after mistakenly riding into union lines
1882 John Linnell British painter/miniaturist/engraver, dies
1891 David Kalakahua emperor of Hawaii, dies
1900 R D Blackmore English novelist (Lorna Doone), dies at 74
1936 King George V of Britain dies at 70, succeeded by Edward VIII
1947 Josh Gibson Negro League slugger, dies of a brain tumor at age 35
1948 Mahatma Gandhi India's pacifist, assassinated
1965 Alan Freed DJ (Named Rock and Roll), dies at 42
1984 Peter John [Johnny] Weissmuller actor (Tarzan, Jungle Jim), dies after a series of strokes in Acapulco at 79
1984 Jackie Wilson rocker, dies at 49 from a heart attack
1988 Philippe de Rothschild Bordeaux Vineyard manager, dies in Paris at 86
1989 Beatrice Lillie actress (Thoroughly Modern Millie), dies at 94
1992 Muhammad Abd al-Khaliq Hassuna Secretary-General of Arab League (1952-72), dies
1992 Roberto d'Aubuisson leader of El Salvador, dies
1993 Audrey Hepburn actress (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday), dies at 63
1996 Gerald Joseph Mulligan baritone saxophonist/composer, dies at 68
1997 Curt Flood centerfielder (Cards), dies of throat cancer at 59

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1968 HOLLEY TILDEN S.---CAMERON TX.
["BELIEVED DEAD, EJEC, KILLED IN SHOOTOUT"]
1968 KETTERER JAMES A.---MILWAUKEE WI.
1972 BERDAHL DAVID D.---MINOT ND.
1972 EDWARDS HARRY J.---HOLLY HILL SC.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 01 JULY 85]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0250 St Fabian ends his reign as Catholic Pope (236-50)
0820 Book of mother, published
1045 Giovanni di Sabina elected Pope Sylvester III
1265 1st English Parliament called into session by Earl of Leicester
1320 Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland
1503 Casa Contratacion (Board of Trade) found (Spain) to deal with American affairs
1778 1st American military court martial trial begins, Cambridge MA
1783 Hostilities cease in Revolutionary War
1785 Samuel Ellis advertises to sell Oyster Island (Ellis Island), no takers
1788 Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah GA
1801 John Marshall appointed US chief justice
1809 1st US geology book published by William Maclure
1840 Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica
1841 China cedes Hong Kong to the British
1850 Investigator, 1st ship to effect northwest passage, leaves England
1868 Florida constitutional convention meets in Tallahassee
1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton becomes 1st woman to testify before Congress
1870 "City of Boston" vanishes at sea with all 177 aboard
1870 Hiram R Revels elected to fill unexpired term of Jefferson Davis
1879 British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana
1887 US Senate approves the naval base lease of Pearl Harbor
1921 Turkey declared in remnants of the Ottoman Empire
1929 1st feature talking motion picture taken outdoors, "In Old Arizona"
1930 1st radio broadcast of "Lone Ranger" (WXYZ-Detroit)
1934 Japan sends Henry Pu Yi as regent to emperor of Manchuria
1936 Edward VIII succeeds British king George V
1937 -45ºF (-43ºC), Boca CA (state record)
1937 1st Inauguration day on Jan 20th, (held every 4th years thereafter)
1939 Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews
1942 Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin deciding on "final solution" calling for extermination of Europe's Jews
1942 Japanese air raid on Rabaul New Britain
1942 Japanese invade Burma
1943 Lead SD, temp is 52ºF, while 1.5 miles away Deadwood SD records -16ºF
1944 RAF drops 2300 ton bombs on Berlin
1945 FDR sworn-in for an unprecedented 4th term as President
1949 President Truman announces his point 4 program
1949 J Edgar Hoover gives Shirley Temple a tear gas fountain pen (For the woman who has everthing)
1952 British army occupies Ismailiya, Suez Canal Zone
1953 1st live coast-to-coast inauguration address (Eisenhower)
1957 Gomulka wins Poland's parliamentary election
1961 Arthur M Ramsay becomes archbishop of Canterbury
1964 "Meet The Beatles" album released in US
1965 JPL proposes modified Apollo flight to fly around Mars & return
1965 The Beatles appear on Shindig (ABC-TV)
1965 The Byrds record "Mr Tambourine Man"
1965 Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain
1969 Richard M Nixon inaugurated as President
1969 U of Arizona reports 1st optical id of pulsar (in Crab Nebula)
1970 Super Fight, computer mock championship between Ali & Marciano
1977 George Bush, ends term as 11th director of CIA
1980 President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow
1980 Super Bowl XIV Pittsburgh Steelers beat Los Angeles Rams, 31-19 in Pasadena; Super Bowl MVP Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, Quarterback
1981 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed
1981 Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN (Retired), ends term as 12th director of CIA

1981 Ronald Reagan inaugurated as President

1985 Cold front strikes US, at least 40 die (-27ºF (-33ºC) in Chicago)
1986 Chunnel announced (railroad tunnel under English Channel)
1988 Arizona committee opens hearing on impeachment of Governor Evan Mecham
1989 George H W Bush inaugurated as 41st President & Quayle becomes 44th Vice President
1989 Reagan becomes 1st President elected in a "0" year, since 1840, to leave office alive
1991 Iraq pardes captured Allied airmen on TV
1991 US Patriot missiles begins shooting down Iraqi missiles
1993 Bill (Willard) Clinton inaugurated as 42nd President
1997 Comet Hale-Bopp crosses Mars' orbit
2001 George W Bush inaugurated as President
2005 George W Bush inaugurated as President

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Bulgaria : Grandmother's Day/Babin Den
Mali : National Army Day
UK : St. Agnes Eve
Brazil : San Sebastian Day
US : Cuckoo Dancing Week (Day 3)
US : Stay Young Forever Day
March of Dimes Birth Defects Month

Religious Observances
Anglican, Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Fabian, 20th pope (236-50) (opt)
Memorial of St Sebastian, martyr/patron of Andorra (opt)
Roman Catholic : Eve of St Agnes

Religious History
1669 Birth of Susannah Annesley, "Mother of Methodism." Born the 25th child in her family, she married Samuel Wesley in 1689 and bore him 19 children, the last two being John (1703) and Charles (1707) Wesley.
1758 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'I cannot think of you, without thinking of God. Others often lead me to Him, as it were, going round about. You bring me straight into His presence.'
1879 Birth of Albert S. Reitz, American Baptist evangelist and clergyman. He published over 100 hymns during his lifetime. Of these, the one best remembered today is "Teach Me to Pray, Lord."
1918 In Russia, following the Bolshevik Revolution, all church property was confiscated and all religious instruction in the schools was abolished.
1942 At the notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin, German Nazi officials decided on their "final solution," which called for a mass extermination of all the Jews in Europe.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

MASON, James Murray, (1798 - 1871)

Senate Years of Service: 1847-1861
Party: Democrat

MASON, James Murray, a Representative and a Senator from Virginia; born on Analostan Island, Fairfax County, Va. (now Theodore Roosevelt Island, Washington, D.C.), November 3, 1798; studied under a private tutor and at an academy at Georgetown, D.C.; graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1818 and from the law department of William and Mary College at Williamsburg in 1820; admitted to the bar and practiced in Winchester, Va., in 1820 and 1821; delegate to the Virginia constitutional convention in 1829; member, State house of delegates 1826-1832, with the exception of 1827-1828; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1832; elected as a Jackson Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1837-March 3, 1839); elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1847 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Isaac S. Pennybacker; reelected in 1850 and 1856 and served from January 21, 1847, until March 28, 1861, when he withdrew; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses; expelled from the Senate in 1861 for support of the rebellion; chairman, Committee on Claims (Thirtieth Congress), Committee on the District of Columbia (Thirty-first Congress), Committee on Foreign Relations (Thirty-second through Thirty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Naval Affairs (Thirty-second Congress); delegate from Virginia to the Provisional Congress of the Confederacy; appointed commissioner of the Confederacy to Great Britain and France and while on his way to his post was taken from the British mail steamer Trent November 8, 1861, and confined in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor; released in January 1862; proceeded to London and represented the Confederacy until its downfall in April 1865; resided in Canada after the close of the war until 1868, when he returned to Virginia; died near the city of Alexandria, Va., April 28, 1871; interment in Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery, Alexandria, Va.