Quote Originally Posted by Gaffer View Post
And it kept England from joining the war on the side of the confederacy.
That, and European crop failures. Some say, king corn was more powerful than king cotton. Gotta give Lincoln credit, he was a resolute in his handling of outside interference-- he flat out told the world that any act of trade with the confederacy would be considered an act of piracy and would be subject to the laws of the same. He even got himself into a little hot water when union naval forces boarded a British ship and captured two confederate diplomates en route to England in an attempt to foster an English role in mediation. The Trent affair was unceremoniously squelched upon their release and a disavowing of the existance of any official order in the case at hand. The british generally viewed it as diplomatic victory, but England and, likewise, France realized it best to maintain a neutral position, as the US would not hesitate to defend itself from outside interference.