 Now Lincoln wanted exactly the same protection against privateers as the European powers did in 1856, which the United States had denied.As a non-signatory of the Treaty, Lincoln could have legally raised a call for privateers himself, but he had much to lose by engaging in the practice because it could have stirred the wrath of the greatest maritime powers on earth, Great Britain, France and Spain, whom he wished instead would join in condemnation of the Confederacy as an illegal government.The Confederate States had little to lose and much to gain if they could neutralize the United States Navy and force the world to see them as a respectable world power.