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principles of the
Republic; and the Prussian and Austrian Governments, through their respective Ministers, had also given their views of the policy of releasing the prisoners, in deference to the principles to which the
Americans were so firmly pledged.
To their communications, which were read to
Secretary Seward, that Minister made the most friendly responses; and from that time, during the entire war, there was never any serious danger of the recognition of the independence of the so-called “
Confederate States” by
France and
England, however much their respective Governments may have wished for a reasonable excuse to do so. This the conspirators, and their chief supporters North and South, well knew; yet they continued to deceive the people within the
Confederacy with false hopes of foreign aid, while they were being robbed of life, liberty, and property by their pretended friends.
So persuaded was the
Secretary of State that war would certainly be averted, that, with a playful exhibition of his consciousness of the strength of the
Republic, he telegraphed
to the
British Consul at
Portland, Maine, that British troops that must be sent over to fight the
Americans night pass through the
United States territory, whilst on their way to
Canada to prepare for hostilities!
the public mind was just becoming tranquil after the excitement caused by the
Trent affair, when its attention was keenly fixed on another expedition to the coast of
North Carolina, already alluded to. The land and naval armaments of which it was composed were assembled in
Hampton Roads early in January, 1862, ready for departure, after a preparation of only two months. Over a hundred steam and sailing vessels, consisting of gun-boats, transports, and tugs, and about sixteen thousand troops, mostly recruited in
New England, composed the expedition.
General Ambrose Everett Burnside, an Indianian by birth, a West Point graduate,
and a resident of
Rhode Island when
the war broke out, was appointed the
commander-in-chief and the naval operations were intrusted to
flag-officer Louis M. Goldsborough, then the commander of the
North Atlantic naval squadron.
