Show taking of envoys promised Promis dd trouble civil war occurrence that threatened to bring on new war 0 SINGLE incident in the history NO of the civil war threatened more serious consequences consequence a and none more excited the country than the seizure of the confederate envoys to europe james M mason of virginia A and nd john slidell of louisiana on art board the british mall mah steamer trent by officers of the U S navy mason and slidell were delegated to solicit the recognition of the confederacy by england and france they had run the blockade at charleston and boarded the trent at havana to so go to st thomas where they were ft ere to board a steamer for england Engin nd captain wilkes of the united states war steamer san jacinto heard of their it air movements and made inquiries at havana which led him to form A plan for stopping the trent and taking the envoys from her to tills end he took up a station in the old bahama channel on the north shore of cuba where the steamer must pass the san jacinto sent a solid shot across the bow of tile the trent as the she came near about noon on nov 8 1861 the captain of bf the english steamer affected not to understand and a shell was next sent across his bow the trent stopped captain wilkes ordered an all armed party to board her and take off the confederate envoys this party was headed by aleut donald mcneill fairfax I 1 by a curious fate the important fluty duty of apprehending these representatives of the confederacy fell to an officer of southern birth fairfax was a member of the famous fairfax family of virginia a great great grandson of bryan brian eighth daron baron fairfax and he had entered tile he navy from north carolina mounting to the steamers deck alone lieutenant fairfax requested the captain to show him her passenger list the captain cantal refused hearing their names mason and slidell came fram the cabin lieuten ant fairfax told them it was his duty to take them with him to the san jacinto Jacl nto they replied that force only could make them go they then retired to their cabins their families were with them thein and here a scene of a trying nature took place the armed men in the naval boat alongside hearing an altercation on dock deck many of the passengers were roundly abusing lieutenant fairfax had by this time come up the pe side lieutenant fairfax sent to the san jacento Jacl nto for more men and twenty tour four came these were stationed in the cabin and on the deck odthe trent lieutenant fairfax took senator mason by the shoulder and escorted him to the gangway where he was taken in charge by another officer senator slidell declared more force would be needed to take him but he was led by the arm to the side the two secretaries of the envoys went with them when th the boats of the san jacinto shoved off the trent resumed her voyage I 1 the confederate envoys were taken to boston and put into fort warren the british government demanded their release on penally of war they having been taken when under the british flag and as there was a technical flaw in captain wilkes act in his not having seized the vessel for adjudication before a prize court the united ailed states government under the U pacific influence of president lincoln surrendered the envoys the incident served however greatly to lessen their influence when finally they arrived in europe us as the governments ern ments of both england and france recognized laed them only as private gentlemen |