The first major international incident occurred in the autumn of 1861 and is known as the “Trent Affair”. Two Confederate commissioners, James M. Mason and John Slidell, were sent to plead the South’s cause at London and Paris, respectively. The agents were en route on the British mail steamer, _Trent_, when, on November 8, a Federal warship, the _San Jacinto_, stopped the British vessel on the high seas. Mason and Slidell were removed from the _Trent_ and imprisoned at Fort Warren in Boston. Northern officials were unprepared for the storm of indignation that came from England. The _San Jacinto_, it was pointed out, had violated English neutrality by intercepting the _Trent_. Equally outrageous to the British was the fact that the _San Jacinto_ had fired two warning shots across the _Trent’s_ bow. This was equivalent to firing at the British flag; as such, it constituted an act of war against England. Fortunately for the North, Lincoln and his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, were able to resolve the incident with a minimum of ill feelings. Apologies were dispatched to London. Mason and Slidell were released from prison and allowed to continue their overseas journey without further Federal interference. [Illustration: Only five feet, four inches tall, William H. Seward nevertheless became the most powerful and respected member of Lincoln’s cabinet.] In addition to Mason and Slidell, the Confederacy utilized a number of foreign agents. Most of these commissioners pursued a policy of “King Cotton diplomacy”—that is, promising England and France large quantities of the popular staple in return for official recognition of, and active aid to, the Southern Confederacy. When the demand for American cotton dropped sharply in Europe, this approach failed. Southern agents Henry Hotze, Edwin DeLeon, and James D. Bulloch then tried new strategy. They wrote extensively about the close ties in business and society between the English aristocracy and the great Southern planters, a lower tariff on foreign-made goods if the Confederacy triumphed in the war, and a more active European participation in American commerce. The nations in Europe had other reasons for wishing to assist the Southern cause. The Federal blockade prevented English goods from reaching eager Southern markets. Many persons abroad looked on the Civil War as a struggle of the South for the right of self-determination. On the other hand, the British middle and working classes detested slavery. After Lincoln’s Emancipation, most Europeans believed that the North was waging a great struggle for freedom. [Illustration: Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana served successively as Confederate Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State.]