It was all important for the Confederacy to secure recognition from England and France. The Confederate government thought they could be induced to act, if the proper arguments were laid before the respective governments. Accordingly, James M. Mason, of Virginia, and John Slidell, of Louisiana, both of whom had been United States senators, were appointed commissioners, the former to England and the latter to France. They succeeded in running the blockade to Havana, where they took passage on the British steamer _Trent_ for England. Captain Charles Wilkes, of the steamer _San Jacinto_, knew of their intended sailing and was on the lookout for them. Before they were fairly on their way, Captain Wilkes stopped the _Trent_, and, despite the protests of the captain and the rebel commissioners, he forcibly took them off and carried them to the United States. In acting thus Captain Wilkes did the very thing that caused the war with England in 1812. It was our opposition to the search of American vessels by British cruisers that caused that war, while England was as persistent in her claim to the right to make such search. The positions were now reversed, and England expressed indignation, and demanded the return of the commissioners and a disavowal of the act of Captain Wilkes. The position of our government was untenable, and Secretary Seward gracefully confessed it, and surrendered the prisoners, neither of whom was able afterward to be of the slightest benefit to the Confederacy. SUMMARY OF THE YEAR'S OPERATIONS. The close of 1861 was to the advantage of the Confederates. The two real battles of the war--Bull Run and Wilson's Creek--had been won by them. In the lesser engagements, with the exception of West Virginia, they had also been successful. This was due to the fact that the people of the North and West had been so long at peace that they needed time in which to learn war. In the South the men were more accustomed to the handling of firearms and horseback riding. Moreover, they were on the defensive, and fighting, as may be said, on inner lines. It must not be forgotten, however, that the Union forces had saved Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri from joining the Confederacy, despite the strenuous efforts of their disunion governors and an aggressive minority in each State. Washington, which more than once had been in danger of capture, was made safe, and the loyal section of Virginia in the West was cut off and formed into a separate State. In wealth and resources the North vastly preponderated. An immense army had been raised, money was abundant, commerce thriving, the sentiment overwhelmingly in favor of the prosecution of the war, and the manufactories hummed with work made necessary by the building of hundreds of ships for the navy and the furnishing of supplies and equipments to the armies. [Illustration: THE ATTACK ON FORT DONELSON.