A royal proclamation declared Britain's neutrality in the conflict between the Union and the Confederacy and warned all British subjects not to become involved. Britons were prohibited from enlisting "for sea or land service" and barred from providing arms, munitions, or war materiel to either side. Union diplomats were dismayed since the declaration gave the South equal status as a belligerent in an internationally recognized conflict. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Chronicle, The Annual Register or a View of the History and Politics of the Year 1861 (London: F. & J. Rivington, 1862), 116.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
US/the World