toria, had been kept up to date with the
cabinet’s deliberations, and he was con-
vinced that their reaction would be overly
aggressive. Prince Albert was ill at the time;
officially, he was said to be suffering from
a chill, but in fact he had a serious case of
typhoid fever. Yet he dragged himself from
his bed, barely able to hold a pen, and
amended the proposed text. He felt that
there should be “the expression of hope
that the American captain did not act
under instructions, or if he did, that he
misapprehended them—that the United
States Government must be fully aware
that the British Government could not
allow the flag to be insulted, and the secu-
rity of her mail communications be placed
in jeopardy, and Her Majesty’s Govern-
ment are unwilling to believe that the
United States Government intended wan-
tonly to put an insult upon this country ...
and that we are therefore glad to believe
that they would spontaneously offer such
redress as alone could satisfy this country,
viz: the restoration of the unfortunate pas-
sengers and a suitable apology.”
It was a loophole, an exit route that
would allow the American government to
withdraw with honor. This redrafting by
Prince Albert was the last service he per-
formed for his adopted country. When he
presented the document to the queen for
her signature, he complained, “I feel so
weak I have hardly been able to hold my
pen.” He collapsed the next day and died
12 days later at the age of 42. Victoria
mourned him for the rest of her lengthy
life, always wearing widow’s black.
Lord Russell agreed with the prince’s
additions and changes but still doubted
that Seward would climb down. He com-
posed a third letter to Lyons outlining the
presentation of Her Majesty’s demands.
Above all, the Confederate commissioners
must be released from prison. No apology
would appease Britain if they were kept in
custody. There was to be no bargaining on
that point.
The next day Captain Conway Seymour
boarded the Boston-bound Europawith
the British government’s letters. Even with
reasonable weather it would still take theletters 12 days to reach Lyons and another
12 to return. Meanwhile, Russell worried
that the Americans would prevaricate. He
wrote, “I cannot imagine their giving a
plain yes or no to our demands, I think
they will try to hook in France and if that
is, as I hope, impossible, to set Russia to
support them.” Palmerston, for his part,
doubted that the United States would even
bother to negotiate. “The masses make it
impossible for Lincoln and Seward to
grant our demands,“ he said, “and we
must therefore look forward to war as the
probable result.”
While British diplomats fretted and ful-
minated, Southerners watched the loom-
ing crisis with glee. As one observer noted,
most Confederates “rejoiced in the
prospect of retaliation by England” against
the Federal government. The Richmond
Enquirer editorialized against Wilkes,
charging that he had “violated the rights of
embassy, long held sacred, even among
barbarians.” The Confederacy seemed on
the verge of gaining a valuable ally in the
war against the North and official recog-
nition by European powers that it so des-perately sought. “The opinion now pre-
vails,” wrote a Confederate envoy in Lon-
don, “that there will be war. England will
have a vast steam fleet upon the American
coast and will sweep away the blockading
squadrons from before our ports.”
On December 3, another cabinet meet-
ing was held after it was revealed that
United States agents had been buying up
Britain’s entire saltpeter reserves, most of
it due to be shipped. An immediate export
ban was put into effect. The Americans,
lacking their own supplies of saltpeter,
would be severely restricted in the pro-
duction of gunpowder by this action. An
arms and ammunition ban was also insti-
tuted, and the Admiralty issued a world-
wide alert to the fleet to prepare for action.
The first wave of 11,000 troops for
Canada left Southampton.
Charles Francis Adams complained to
the State Department that all he knew of
the Trentaffair was what he found in the
pages of the London Times.In three
weeks, he said, he had heard nothing from
his government, most importantly whether
or not Wilkes had acted on official gov-An anti-Confederate cartoon shows James M. Mason and John Slidell carrying bales of cotton as
they approach money lenders Napoleon III of France and English representative “John Bull.” Two
crudely sketched slaves are visible in the rear.Both: Library of CongressCWQ-EW16 Trent Affair_Layout 1 10/22/15 1:19 PM Page 35