Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR]. HUNTER, ROBERT MERCER TALIAFERRO, Secretary of State, C.S.A. Manuscript document signed ("R.M.T. Hunter") as Confederate Secretary of State, Richmond, Va., 23 September 1861. 1 page, folio, 401 x 266mm. (15 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.), integral blank, embossed Confederate seal at lower left, clean fold separations (repairable). JAMES MASON'S APPOINTMENT AS CONFEDERATE MINISTER TO BRITAIN A rare official appointment, executed in a calligraphic hand, with bold heading: "Confederate States of America Department of State," confirming the appointment of "The Hon. James M. Mason," who "is proceeding to England as a Special Commissioner of this Government," urging that Mason be allowed to "pass freely without let or molestation," and that he be granted "all such friendly aid, and protection as would be extended to Special Commissioners of foreign countries resorting to the Confederate States." A relic of the serious diplomatic breach between the United States and Great Britain known as the Trent Affair, which nearly provoked war between the two powers. On November 8, 1861, Mason (1798-1871) and John Slidell (Confederate minister to France) sailed together for Europe on board the British packet Trent . Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S.S. San Jacinto , learning of their departure, boarded the ship on the high seas off the Bahamas and seized the two commissioners, who were incarcerated at Boston. This blatant violation of international maritime law touched off a diplomatic uproar between Great Britain and the United States. The crisis subsided only when Secretary of State Seward ordered the commissioners released. President Jefferson Davis's letter to Queen Victoria, introducing Mason, was part of the Spiro Collection, sold at Christie's, 14 May 1992, lot 49. Provenance : Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation (sale, Sotheby's, 4 December 1981, lot 1173).