Agreed, Ron. There was considerable danger of the North rashly provoking the British into a war which would have been based on British national pride. If so, it would have been a disaster for the North...and perhaps for the British also, but to a lesser extent, I would think.

The North benefited enormously from its naval supremacy during the Civil War. They would not have been in that position long if they had taken on the British...and the benefit to the South from that would have been profound.

Oddly enough, a distant relative of my Mother's (a Canadian) volunteered for the South in that war, went down and served in the Confederate armies, and died fighting. I don't know why he identified with the South, but it could have been for any number of reasons. As far as slavery goes, there was no support at all for that in Canada at the time, as it was illegal throughout the British Empire.