Confederate Government seeks asylum in the UK?

Lets say insteed of surrendering the top echolon of the Confederate Government seeks politican Asylum in the UK. If the UK Government gives then asylum how does Lincoln react?
 
Lets say insteed of surrendering the top echolon of the Confederate Government seeks politican Asylum in the UK. If the UK Government gives then asylum how does Lincoln react?

a) They'll never make it to the coast, let alone an ocean-worthy ship, let alone the high seas, let alone the UK.

b) Why would Britain? The last time Britain was even slightly pro-Confederate was just before the Emancipation Proclamation - that, as it was intended to, blew any hope of European support for the Confederates out of the water. This is tantamount to a recognition of Confederate independence, and that, as has been endlessly hashed out here, would never happen unless the Confederates had already effectively won. Britain would never do it in April 1865.
 
a) They'll never make it to the coast, let alone an ocean-worthy ship, let alone the high seas, let alone the UK.

b) Why would Britain? The last time Britain was even slightly pro-Confederate was just before the Emancipation Proclamation - that, as it was intended to, blew any hope of European support for the Confederates out of the water. This is tantamount to a recognition of Confederate independence, and that, as has been endlessly hashed out here, would never happen unless the Confederates had already effectively won. They'd never do it in April 1865.

So what if the Confederates had something to offer ?
 
No like the CSA had (If I remember correctly) some advanced ships like their early version subs. Maybe they offered the design to the british?

You can tempt the most powerful navy in the world with some trinkets in exchange for the end of relations with an emerging power.
 
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67th Tigers

Banned
b) Why would Britain? The last time Britain was even slightly pro-Confederate was just before the Emancipation Proclamation - that, as it was intended to, blew any hope of European support for the Confederates out of the water. This is tantamount to a recognition of Confederate independence, and that, as has been endlessly hashed out here, would never happen unless the Confederates had already effectively won. Britain would never do it in April 1865.

The Emancipation Proclamation triggered a crisis so serious it was the closest the British ever got to intervention (the Trent Affair wasn't about intervention, it was about a straight up war against the Union). The last time intervention was debated in Parliament was in July 1863, when the French sponsored an MP to raise a private members bill in Parliament recognising the CSA. After news of the defeat at Gettysburg the bill was dropped as all support for it collapsed.

I agree that the British wouldn't host a government in exile.
 
No like the CSA had (If I remember correctly) some advanced ships like their early version subs. Maybe they offered the design to the british?

The confederates had a few ironclads and a couple of primitive subs. Unfortunatly for them, most of them are destroyed and the rest were being blockaded by the union. And the idea that the british would accept the government in exile simply for a few pretty much worthless confederate designs is silly.
 
It occurs to me that Jefferson Davis reaches London around the time that news of Lincoln's muder arrives. I do not believe that the CSA goverment (though it existed to promote the evil cause of slavery) had any hand in the killing but I suspect the public opinion would be pretty peaved...
 
The confederates had a few ironclads and a couple of primitive subs. Unfortunatly for them, most of them are destroyed and the rest were being blockaded by the union. And the idea that the british would accept the government in exile simply for a few pretty much worthless confederate designs is silly.

Yeah, the ACW ships were a joke compared to the stuff the British could make.

Technology doesn't work that way anyway. You can't just sell 'tech' ala civilization.
 

MrP

Banned
Lets say insteed of surrendering the top echolon of the Confederate Government seeks politican Asylum in the UK. If the UK Government gives then asylum how does Lincoln react?

Perhaps you would have greater scope if you posited a holiday to France for the Confederacy's leaders and some sort of offer of propaganda in support of French aims in Mexico. I make no claim as to the plausibility of this, but there is less implausibility to it than a holiday in Britain.
 
Yeah, the ACW ships were a joke compared to the stuff the British could make.

Technology doesn't work that way anyway. You can't just sell 'tech' ala civilization.

And the confederate warships were for the most part entirely unsuitable for british requirements. Most notably, they were pretty much entirely designed for freshwater or litorial engagements, as they were built to defend southern ports, engage american vessels on inland waterways, and to break the US blockade. Not exactly the sort of ship that would appeal to a royal navy at the height of its power.

The submarine idea is also a non-starter. Leaving aside the issues involved (such as the Hunley sinking on its first voyage), the craft was basically only useful against a blockade (not a position the british were likely to face), at best it could only threaten the preeminence of the british fleet proper, and thus would not be encouraged.

As you said, technology transfer is rarely such a simple process. In this case, the confederates dont really offer anything superior to the british model (at least, in british eyes), and their designs are made for a certain strategic and tactical situation which would not be envisioned by british officers.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Undoubtedly, since Judah Benjamin made it out of the country and eventually to Britain it isn't that impossible.

Don't forget Breckinridge. Clearly, their escapes demonstrate that it would perfectly possible for the high-ranking officials of the Confederate government could have escaped to Britain. If not as a government-in-exile, then at least as individuals.

Even if they had attempted to function as a government-in-exile (doubtful, in my view), the British might have simply ignored them, rather as the post-WWII more or less ignored the Polish government-in-exile.
 
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