>In Britain, Palmerston's government seriously considered intervening
>in the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy.
Palmerston favoured intervention but the Liberal government did not, and throughout the war Parliament remained neutral.
> The British
>textile industry was directly dependent on the maintenence of the
>supply of cotton from the American South. (As Michael pointed Engels'
>own firm was directly dependent on American cotton, and he suffered
>financial losses due to the war). The British aristocracy was
>notoriously
>sympathetic to the Confederacy. They readily identified with the
>Southern planters. British textile workers suffered enormously because
>of the North's blockade of shipping to and from the South. The fact that
>Marx and others were able to rally worker support for the North despite
>the fact that this was contrary to their immediate economic interests
>is a testimony not only to their persusasive skills but to the capacity
>for
>the working class leaders in Britain to see beyond their immediate
>self-interests. They were able to perceive that the destruction of
>slavery
>was in the longterm best interests of the working class, even though the
>accomplishment of this objective required significant sacrifices on the
>part of industrial workers in Britain.
Reading Marx and Engels' comments on "Britain" at this time may give a slightly skewed impression. Both men's' understanding of the working class at this time was based on experiences in Lancashire, which was overwhelmingly dependent on the cotton trade, with obvious political consequences. Almost everywhere else in Britain the organised working class sided with the North. -- Lew