An important article on the United Kingdom and debates concerning their potential involvement in the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) is that of Niels Eichhorn, “The Intervention Crisis of 1862: A British Diplomatic Dilemma?,” American Nineteenth Century History 15, no. 3 (2014): 287-310. The following is from the abstract:
In the fall of 1862, William Ewart Gladstone
opened a cabinet debate whether Great Britain should intervene in the American
Civil War. Influenced by the staggering death toll and lack of results, the
British cabinet contemplated a humanitarian intervention. Coinciding with the
debate was a cabinet crisis in France over French policies toward Italy and
more importantly the overthrow of the Greek king. The revolution in Greece
reopened the Eastern Question and forced the Palmerston Government to carefully
consider its foreign policy. By closely looking at the chronological overlap of
the intervention debate, the French cabinet crisis, and the Greek Revolution,
this article shows the interplay of the entangled global crises during the fall
of 1862 and their impact on trans-Atlantic diplomacy. The British Government
had to determine whether the situation in North America or the containment of
Russia and the Eastern Question required attention more urgently. The British
Government determined that threats closer to home mattered more.
Such debates continued into 1863. For example, the UK House
of Parliament, on June 30, 1863, debated “United
States—Recognition Of The Southern Confederacy.”
It was rather common for members of the UK House of
Parliament to give speeches on the floors of the House of Commons supporting
the Confederacy. On Tuesday, October 7, 1862, Gladstone made a speech in Newcastle.
He stated that the Confederacy “had “made a nation” and that the time may come
in the future when it would be the duty of the European powers, Britain
included, to “offer friendly aid in compromising the quarrel.” Gladstone also noted
that the British government of the time “have permitted the export of arms and
warlike stores to the Confederates, whose ports are blockaded, and to the
Federals, who have perfect freedom to import whatever they please.” To read a
transcription of his speech, see “Mr.
Gladstone at Newcastle,” The Observer (October 12, 1862): 3.
Further Reading:
