I know that the south started shipping their cotton out of Charleston, directly to Britain & France. It only makes good business sense to cut out the costly middle man..northern bankers. The painful part for the north was likely the loss of a market for manufactured goods, since the cotton was buying British manufactured goods.
Obviously the fact that the war started at Ft Sumpter (in Charleston harbor) seems to back Ga Windbreak's claim. I haven't heard anything about the Britain/France troops gathering along the northern border. I am going on 74 yrs of age, live within 50 miles of the Canadian border at it's busiest ports of entry and never even heard the old timers (American or Canadian) ever speak of such a thing. There is still much history, legend etc concerning the war of 1812 around here on both sides of the border, so it's not likely such a gathering of armies would have been completely forgotten. I'm not saying it didn't happen but I just have no knowledge of it. I would like more info on the claim.
I view A. Lincoln as not all good nor all bad, but simply a human being doing his best with a bad situation. I believe he was a tremendously wise man but like many of us, did not always apply his store of wisdom impartially.