The Trent Affair Essay

The Trent Affair, an event occurred in 1861 during a Civil War over the capturing of two Confederate ambassadors. The Trent, a British mail steamer, sailed through the Bahama Channel shortly before being intercepted and boarded by Captain Charles Wilkes and his ship. He captured two men known as James Mason and John Sidell but allowed the steamer to continue on with its course. Mason and Sidell were then arrested and sent to jail at Fort Warren in Boston. The people of the North exalted Captain Wilkes for his actions whilst the British were not so happy about the situation. The British have yet to chose a side, willing to assist those who wished to sail their ships for the right price. The British government mailed a strongly worded letter to the American …show more content…
This illegal act called for war all around America. The actions of Captain Wilkes was nothing to look up upon. He committed an illegal act and arrested two innocent men sailing the high seas with as much authority as Wilkes' ship had. It is awful to know that the American people would uphold such a dishonorable person just because he discovered Antarctica as a separate continent. The evil act of practically kidnapping two innocent men, especially during a war against a neutral country is nothing to be proud about. Within close to two months after the beginning encounter, a British minister to the United States named Lord Lyons scheduled to meet with Secretary of State William Seward to discuss what was to happen in regards to Mason and Sidell. After the meeting, Lyons wrote to the British foreign minister saying he felt it was best if "that unless we give our friends here a good lesson this time, we shall have the same trouble with them again very soon. Surrender or war will have a very good effect on them". President Abraham Lincoln addressed this message by saying, "One war at a