[TwelveOfTwenty]

There was zero prospect of the British Empire "recovering" any American state. You're just projecting fanciful motives onto them now.

I never said there was, but there was still a feeling of wanting to knock us down a peg or two. Also, not all supported the South. Many exploited workers sympathized with the slaves.

There is a lot of commentary here if you're interested.

Were the British hoping to retake the American colonies with the divisions and disunion of the Civil war?

[FLT-bird]

Oh I’m well aware of the fact that there were divided opinions in Britain. To try to ascribe any analysis that noted secession and Lincoln’s decision to start a war to impose federal government rule over the Southern states without their consent to “they wanted to take the US down a peg” is ridiculous. Many of them could see exactly what was going on and it wasn’t about slavery.