However, in spite of the bluster and the determination of the envoys to go only when compelled to do so by force, the four were taken on board the American warship. The force used was not violence, of course. “Three officers laid their hands on an envoy, after which the envoy walked down a ladder to the boat.” It is conceded on all hands that Lieutenant Fairfax and his men acted in a manner entirely becoming to gentlemen of the navy. Having taken the Confederate envoys, Captain Wilkes permitted the _Trent_ to proceed on her voyage. He says: “It was my determination to have taken possession of the _Trent_, and sent her to Key West as a prize, for resisting the search and carrying these passengers, whose character and objects were well known to the captain; but the reduced number of my officers and crew, and the large number of passengers on board, bound to Europe, who would be put to great inconvenience, decided me to allow them to proceed.” It is worth noting, as illustrating the character of Wilkes and his officers, that they were absolutely certain that if they took the ship to Key West she would be sold as a good prize for a sum that would have given many thousand dollars to the _San Jacinto’s_ crew. But for the sake of the convenience of the passengers, they allowed her to go on. After the _Trent_ started on her way to St. Thomas, the _San Jacinto_ headed for Boston. “Why he did not go into New York or Hampton Roads, where he could have communicated with the Government, is unexplained, but the information of the capture was kept from the Department four days longer than it should have been.” But when at last he did reach port, and the news of the capture was given to the reporters, the whole North went wild with joy, and the rest of the civilized world, and especially Great Britain, was stirred as rarely, if ever before, by the capture of an envoy. Even Secretary of the Navy Welles lost his head and officially wrote to Wilkes: “Your conduct in seizing these public enemies was marked by intelligence, ability, decision, and firmness, and has the emphatic approval of this department.” As for the people of Boston, it may be said that not in all the years since the War of 1812 had they made such demonstrations over a naval officer. Even Hull, with the _Guerrière_ crew on board the _Constitution_, did not receive so much banqueting; and Congress passed enthusiastically a resolution requesting the President to give Wilkes a gold medal.