What were the views of British political leaders regarding the US Civil War?

Answer 1

British political leaders had no reason to support the United States in the US Civil War. This was especially true in the early stages of the war. A divided Union only would reap benefits for the British. Throughout the war the government of Great Britain allowed shipyards in Liverpool for example to build ships for the Confederate navy. Arms were also exported to the South and frequently privateers were able to slip past Union blockaders. The fact that Major General US Grant discovered thousands of British made Enfield rifles when Vicksburg surrendered is evidence of the ongoing trade with the South as the Civil War dragged on.Immediately after the Confederate victory of the Second Battle of Bull Run, two key British politicians expressed pro-Confederate views. Britain's Prime Minister Palmerston and Foreign Secretary Lord Russell were confident that the North would find it impossible to defeat the South. They concluded that Britain and France should jointly recommend an end to the conflict on the basis of the separation of the US as it had been prior to 1861. Lord Russell wrote to Palmerston that if the Union refused to negotiate, Britain should recognize the South as an independent nation.

In the end, Britain pulled back on this idea, however, trade to the South continued. The idea that British workers objected to slavery did not prevent workers from building ships. Nor did it end child labor in British possessions.