# John Slidell

John Slidell (1793 – July 9, 1871) was an American politician, lawyer, slaveholder, and businessman. A native of New York, Slidell moved to Louisiana as a young man. He was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He was one of two Confederate diplomats captured by the United States Navy from the British ship RMS Trent in 1861 and later released. He was the older brother of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, a U.S. naval officer.

## Early life

He was born to merchant John Slidell and Margery née Mackenzie, a Scot. He graduated from Columbia University (then Columbia College) in 1810. In 1835, Slidell married Mathilde Deslonde. They had three children: Alfred Slidell, Marie Rosine (later [on 30 Sept. 1872] comtesse [Countess] de St. Roman), and Marguerite Mathilde (later [on 3 Oct. 1864] baronne [Baroness] Frederic Emile d'Erlanger).

## Political career

He was the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1829 to 1833; his brother Thomas Slidell held the post from 1837 to 1838.
Prior to the Mexican-American War, Slidell was sent to Mexico by President James Knox Polk to negotiate an agreement whereby the Rio Grande would be the southern border of Texas. He also was instructed to offer, among other alternatives, a maximum of $25 million for California by Polk and his administration. Slidell warned Polk that the Mexican reluctance to negotiate a peaceful solution might require a show of military force by the United States to defend the border. Under the command of General Zachary Taylor, U.S. troops were sent into the disputed area between the Rio Grande and Nueces Rivers. The Mexican government, in a state of chaos at the time, rejected Slidell's mission. After Mexican forces repelled a U.S. scouting expedition, the United States declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846.
Slidell developed a close friendship with James Buchanan when Buchanan was Secretary of State.
Slidell was elected to the Senate in 1853 and cast his lot with other pro-Southern congressmen to repeal the Missouri Compromise, acquire Cuba, and admit Kansas as a slave state. In the 1860 campaign, Slidell supported Democratic presidential candidate John C. Breckinridge but remained a pro-Union moderate until Abraham Lincoln's election resulted in the Southern states seceding. At the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1860, Slidell plotted with Fire-Eaters, such as William Lowndes Yancey of Alabama, to stymie the nomination of the popular Northern Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.

## Civil War

Slidell soon accepted a diplomatic appointment to represent the Confederacy in France. Slidell was one of the two Confederate diplomats involved in the Trent Affair in November 1861. After he was appointed the Confederate commissioner to France in September 1861, he ran the blockade from Charleston, South Carolina, with James Murray Mason of Virginia. They then set sail from Havana on the British mail boat steamer RMS Trent but were intercepted by the US Navy while en route and taken into captivity at Fort Warren in Boston.
The northern public erupted in a huge display of triumphalism at this dramatic capture. Even the cool-headed Lincoln was swept along in the celebratory spirit, but when he and his cabinet studied the likely consequences of a war with Britain, their enthusiasm waned. After some careful diplomatic exchanges, they admitted that the capture had been conducted contrary to maritime law and that private citizens could not be classified as "enemy despatches." Slidell and Mason were released, and war was averted.
After the resolution of the Trent Affair, the two diplomats set sail for England on January 1, 1862. From England, Slidell at once went to Paris, where, in February 1862, he paid his first visit to the French minister of foreign affairs. His mission to gain recognition of the Confederate States by France failed, as did his effort to negotiate a commercial agreement for France to get control of Southern cotton if the blockade were broken. In both cases, France refused to move without the co-operation of England. He succeeded in negotiating a loan of $15,000,000 from Emile Erlanger & Co. and in securing the ship Stonewall for the Confederate government.

## Later life

Slidell moved to Paris, France, after the Civil War. He died in Cowes, Isle of Wight, England, at age 78. Along with Judah P. Benjamin and A. Dudley Mann, Slidell was among the high-ranking Confederate officials buried abroad.

## Family

John Slidell was the brother of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, a naval officer who commanded the USS Somers, on which a unique event occurred in 1842 off the coast of Africa during the Blockade of Africa. Three crewmen were hanged after being convicted of mutiny at sea. Mackenzie reversed the order of his middle and last names to honor a maternal uncle.
Slidell was also the brother-in-law of the American naval Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who was married to Slidell's sister, Jane. Another brother, Thomas Slidell, was chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

## Legacy

The city of Slidell in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, was named in his honor by his son-in-law, Baron Frederic Emile d'Erlanger; the village of Slidell, Texas, is also named after him.