Ok heres what I have so far.
Nov 8, 1861 - The beginning of an international diplomatic crisis for President Lincoln as two Confederate officials
sailing toward England are seized by the U.S. Navy. England, the leading world power, demands their release,
threatening war. Lincoln eventually gives in and orders their release in December. "One war at a time," Lincoln remarks.
=================================================
Although in history Russia and the US went their different ways, at the turning-point, crucial moments common
interests invariably united them. During the war of the British colonies in North America for independence
(1775-1783) the stand of Russia, which proclaimed in 1780 the Declaration of Armed Neutrality, actually scuttled the
attempt by Britain to establish a naval blockade of the young overseas republic. Later, in the years of the Civil
War in the US (1861-1865), Russia, by rejecting France's proposal to jointly intervene with Britain in favor of the
rebellious South, showed itself to be the only power interested in preserving the integrity of the United States. It
is equally symbolic that serfdom in Russia and slavery in the US were abolished almost simultaneously - in 1861 and 1863.
http://www.ransac.org/Official%20Docume ... 113PM.html
Singularly enough, the one European country which showed a definite friendship for the Northern government was Czarist Russia. In the fall of 1863 two Russian fleets entered American waters, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific. They put into New York and San Francisco harbors and spent the winter there, and the average Northerner expressed both surprise and delight over the visit, assuming that the Russian Czar was taking this means of warning England and France that if they made war in support of the South, he would help the North. Since pure altruism is seldom or never visible in any country's foreign relations, the business was not quite that simple. Russia at the time was in some danger of getting into a war with England and France, for reasons totally unconnected with the Civil War in America; to avoid the risk of having his fleets icebound in Russian ports, the Czar simply had them winter in American harbors. If war should come, they would be admirably placed to raid British and French commerce. For many years most Americans believed that for some inexplicable reason of his own the Czar had sent the fleets simply to show his friendship for America.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/europeandcivilwar.htm
for some inexplicable reason of his own the Czar had sent the fleets simply to show his friendship for America.
I can explain this and so can paul.
Peace