Xxii.
Mr. Sumner's able speech on the surrender of
Mason and
Slidell, the
Rebel agents taken from the
British mail steamer
Trent, must receive a notice, however brief we may be compelled to make it.
After the Senate had been purged by the flight of some of the
Rebel members, the quiet retirement of others, and the expulsion of the rest,
Mr. Sumner was appointed chairman of the
Committee on Foreign Relations.
Little objection was made to the choice, for it was universally known that he was not only better qualified to fill that place than any other member, but that his familiarity with the condition of Foreign Nations, his profound and minute knowledge of International Law, and his clear conception of the position of our government during the crisis, towards the other governments of the world,—all stamped him as the ablest man in the country.
It was, therefore, a most fortunate occurrence that when the
Trent difficulty came up, the whole question would be illuminated by his knowledge, and enforced by his eloquence.
Here a few words of explanation become necessary.
Soon after the
Rebellion began, its leaders appointed two of their ablest men,
James M. Mason, of
Virginia, and
John Slidell, of
Louisiana, Commissioners,—the first to
England, and the second to
France,—with instructions and despatches, the exact purport of which did
[
376]
not become known.
But the object of their mission was to obtain a recognition of the Southern Confederacy as an independent State, if possible; or in any event, the recognition of the
Southern States as belligerents.
The Rebel ports being under strict blockade, they could cross the
Atlantic only by reaching
Havana, where, under a neutral flag, they might get conveyance to
Europe.
They took passage in the
Trent, bound from
Havana to
St. Thomas, from which island a regular line of British steamers ran to
England.
In
Mr. Richard H. Dana's notes to
Wheaton's
Elements of International Law, he says of the envoys: ‘Their character and destination were well known to the agent and master of the
Trent, as well as the great interest felt by the
Rebels that they should, and by the
United States officials that they should not, reach their destination in safety.’
As passengers, they were now on the high seas.
Within a few hours' sail of
Nassau, the
Trent was stopped and searched by the
United States war vessel
San Facinto, commanded by
Captain Wilkes, who, without instructions, and entirely on his own responsibility, seized the two commissioners and their secretaries, and returned with them as prisoners to the
United States, while the
Trent was left to proceed on her voyage.
