THE DEPARTURE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR EUROPE.
After all necessary arrangements for their departure had been made,
Messrs. Mason and Slidell experienced some difficulty in getting out
of the country. A strict blockade of all the Confederate ports was
maintained at that time and it was necessary for these men to await a
favorable opportunity to escape on some departing blockade-runner.
In the earliest days of blockade running, it was not always foreign
vessels alone that engaged in the business. The Confederates possessed
a few steamers that were armed for the naval service of the South and
also did duty as blockade-runners, carrying cargoes in and out of
the blockaded ports as often as they could conveniently do so. These
vessels were commissioned as privateers, or bore Jefferson Davis’s
letters of marque, in order that, while on their voyages, they might
capture and burn Federal merchant ships whenever they fell in with
them. To this class of vessels belonged the Gordon, which was afterward
renamed the Theodora.
Charleston seems to have been a favorite port for the operations of
the blockade-runners. It seems to have been more difficult to guard
than any of the other ports, and it was conveniently near to the
neutral ports of the West Indies. To this port, then, the commissioners
accordingly came. It was announced by the Confederate press that they
would take passage on the privateer Nashville, a very swift vessel
which was then lying in the harbor. On the night of October 10, 1861,
the Nashville passed out of the harbor in order to draw off any Federal
cruiser which might be hovering around outside with the intention of
giving chase to the vessel that should escape with the commissioners on
board.
It was arranged for the envoys to take passage on the armed steamer
Theodora. The entire party was composed of Mr. Mason and his secretary,
Mr. McFarland; Mr. Slidell, his wife and four children; Mr. Slidell’s
secretary, Mr. George Eustis, who was also accompanied by his wife, a
daughter of Mr. Corcoran, the eminent banker of Washington city.
The night of October 12 was dark and stormy. Rain was falling in
torrents as the Theodora left Charleston harbor a little past midnight.
In the intense darkness which prevailed she escaped the watchful
cruisers of the blockading squadron and arrived at Nassau, New
Providence, on the 13th. This was a British port where blockade-runners
and Confederate vessels of whatever kind always received a warm welcome.
The United States government sent armed vessels in pursuit as soon as
it was learned that Mason and Slidell had escaped, but the ship which
conveyed the envoys was not overtaken. The secret of their movements
had been well kept and several days had elapsed before news of their
departure was published, even in the Charleston papers. It is probable,
therefore, that the Federal authorities did not learn of the escape
in time for their steamers to have any chance whatever to overtake the
Theodora.
At Nassau the envoys had fully expected to take passage on an English
steamer, but were deterred from so doing when they learned that the
vessel would stop at New York on her route to Liverpool. Their journey
was, therefore, continued on board the Theodora to Cardenas in Cuba,
whence they afterward proceeded overland to Havana, and took lodgings
at the Hotel Cubana while waiting for the English steamer. The Theodora
continued her voyage to Havana and steamed into that port on the 17th
with Confederate colors flying. She was received with great honors at
the Cuban capital. A public reception was held at the Tacon Theater
in honor of her officers and crew. Captain Lockwood, of the Theodora,
was presented with a “handsome Confederate flag” by the ladies of
Havana, who sympathized with the southern cause. After a short stay the
Confederate steamer returned to Charleston.
As soon as the envoys arrived they were waited upon by her Britannic
majesty’s consul at Havana, Mr. Crawford, in full dress. This
gentleman introduced them to Captain-General Serrano as ministers of
the Confederate States on their way to England and France,[1] but the
Spanish officer would not receive them officially but only upon the
footing of distinguished gentlemen and strangers. The English consul
was very attentive to the envoys during their entire stay at Havana.
No attempt was made to conceal their station or identity, and with a
full knowledge of this, the consul’s son, who was agent for the British
line of steamers touching at Havana, allowed them to engage passage to
Southampton.
On November 7 the envoys and their party embarked on board the British
steamer Trent at Havana, with the full knowledge and consent of her
captain, who afterward did what he could to conceal their identity by
refusing to allow his passenger list and papers of the vessel to be
seen by a boarding officer from the San Jacinto.
The Trent was a British packet which made regular trips between Vera
Cruz and the Danish island of St. Thomas. It is was one of a line
of steamers which carried the English mails under contract with the
government. At St. Thomas direct connection was made with steamers
running to Southampton. The Trent had on board probably a hundred
passengers, a cargo of considerable value and a large quantity of
specie. The departure of the envoys from Havana on board this vessel
seemed to assure the safety of the remainder of their journey, since it
was to be made under a neutral flag.
The apparently successful journey of their commissioners was a cause of
congratulation among the Confederates. In discussing this matter the
Richmond Examiner probably voiced the sentiment of the Confederacy when
it said: “By this time our able representatives abroad, Messrs. Mason
and Slidell, are pretty well on their way over the briny deep toward
the shores of Europe. We commit no indiscretion in stating that they
have embarked upon a vessel which will be abundantly able to protect
them against most of the Yankee cruisers they may happen to meet, and
the chances are consequently a hundred to one that they will reach
their destination in safety. The malice of our Yankee enemies will thus
be foiled and the attempt to capture them fail of success. Great will
be the mortification of the Yankees when they shall have learned this
result. Our ministers did not choose to leave at any other port than
one of our own or under any but the Confederate flag.
“We anticipate from Mr. Mason’s presence in England a very happy effect
upon our interests in that quarter. Mr. Mason is, in his points of
character, a very good representative of the best qualities of the
English people. He is frank, bold and straightforward, disdaining
all concealments or evasions. His diplomacy will consist in telling
the truth in the language of a gentleman and a statesman. As the
representative of a name linked with the earlier ages of the American
republic, an ex-senator of the United States for many years, and
the honored servant of the Confederate government, he will wield an
influence abroad such as perhaps no other man could hope to enjoy. He
is the very best man we could send abroad to show foreign nations that
the Southerner is a different type altogether from the Yankee--that
he scorns like the latter to lie, to evade or dissemble, to fawn
or play the bully and the braggart; that the despicable traits of
avarice, meanness, cant and vulgarity which enter into the universal
idea of a Yankee were left behind us when we seceded from the Lincoln
government. We are glad to be able to contrast such a gentleman with
Charles Francis Adams, the Puritan representative of freedom at the
Court of St. James, and he knows little of British character who is
disposed to set a slight value upon the advantages derived from the
personal character of a representative in this matter. We believe that
at no distant day Mr. Mason will have the pleasure of signing a treaty
of amity, on behalf of the Confederate States, with one of the oldest
and greatest dynasties of Europe, and thus cement those relations of
commerce upon which our future so largely depends.”[2]
AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCES.
1. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.
2. Bernard, Montague: Neutrality of Great Britain During the American
Civil War.
3. Lossing, B. J.: The Civil War in America.
4. Sharf, J. Thomas: History of the Confederate States Navy.
5. Reports of Captain Wilkes.
6. Richmond Examiner, Oct. 29, 1861.
7. Victor, O. J.: History of the Southern Rebellion.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In a letter to Lord Lyons dated Dec. 2, 1861, Mr. Crawford denied
having done this.
[2] Richmond Examiner, Oct. 29, 1861.