3d. If the papers contained in the bag are not illegal in their nature or purpose, it is not seen why their safe transmission was not secured, as it might have been by exposing them in some way to Lord Lyons, British minister residing at this capital, whose voucher for their propriety, as Mr. Bunch must well know, would exempt them from all scrutiny or suspicion. 4th. The consul's letter to the bearer of dispatches attaches an unusual importance to the papers in question, while it expresses great impatience for their immediate conveyance to their destination, and an undue anxiety lest they might, by some accident, come under the notice of this government. 5th. The bearer is proved to be disloyal to the United States by the pamphlet and the letters found in his possession. I have examined many of the papers found upon the person of Mr. Mure, and I find them full of treasonable information, and clearly written for treasonable purposes. These, I think, will be deemed sufficient grounds for desiring the scrutiny of the papers and surveillance of the bearer on my part. Comity towards the British government, together with a perfect confidence in its justice and honor, as well as its friendship towards the United States, to say nothing of a sense of propriety, which I could not dismiss, have prevented me from entertaining, for a moment, the idea of breaking the seals which I have so much reason to believe were put upon the consular bag to save it from my inspection, while the bearer himself might remove them on his arrival in London, after which he might convey the papers, if treasonable, to the agents of the insurgents, now understood to be residing in several of the capitals in Europe. I will not say that I have established the fact that the papers in question are treasonable in their nature, and are made with purposes hostile and dangerous to this country. But I confess I fear they are so, and I apprehend either that they are guilty despatches to the agents of disunion, or else that, if they are really addressed to the British government, they are papers prepared by traitors in the insurrectionary States, with a view to apply to the British government for some advantage and assistance or countenance from that government injurious to the United States and subversive of their sovereignty. Of course, I need hardly say that I disclaim any thought that Earl Russell has any knowledge of the papers or of their being sent, or that I have any belief or fear that the British government would, in any way, receive the papers if they are illegal in their character, or dangerous or injurious to the United States. It is important, however, to this government that whatever mischief, if any, may be lurking in the transaction, be counteracted and prevented. I have, therefore, upon due consideration of the case, concluded to send the bag by a special messenger, who will deliver it into your care, and to instruct you to see that it is delivered accordingly to its address in exactly the condition in which you receive it. You will also make known to the Earl Russell the causes and the circumstances of the arrest and detention of Mr. Mure and his papers, adding the assurance that this government deeply regrets that it has become necessary; and that it will be very desirous to excuse the brief interruption of the correspondence of the British consul, if it is indeed innocent, and will endeavor, in that case, to render any further satisfaction which may be justly required. On the other hand, you will, in such terms as you shall find most suitable and proper, intimate that if the papers in question shall prove to be treasonable against the United States, I expect that they will be delivered up to you for the use of this government, and that her British Majesty's consul at Charleston will, in that case, be promptly made to feel the severe displeasure of the government which employs him, since there can be no greater crime against society than a perversion by the agent of one government of the hospitality afforded to him by another, to designs against its safety, dignity, and honor. I think it proper to say that I have apprised Lord Lyons of this transaction, and of the general character of this letter, while he is not in any way compromised by any assent given to my proceedings, or by any opinion expressed by him or asked from him. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES F. ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 64.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 17, 1861. SIR: Among the letters found on the person of Robert Mure, mentioned in my despatch No. 63, of this date, there are many which more or less directly implicate Mr. Robert Bunch, the British consul at Charleston, as a conspirator against the government of the United States. The following is an extract from one of them: "Mr. B., on oath of secrecy, communicated to me also that the first step to recognition was taken. He and Mr. Belligny together sent Mr. Trescot to Richmond yesterday, to ask Jeff. Davis, president, to the treaty of to the neutral flag covering neutral goods to be respected. This is the first step of direct treating with our government, so prepare for active business by January 1." You will submit this information to the British government, and request that Mr. Bunch may be removed from his office, saying that this government will grant an exequatur to any person who may be appointed to fill it, who will not pervert his functions to hostilities against the United States. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, CHARLES F. ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 32.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to transmit a copy of a note addressed to me by Lord Russell, transmitting to me a copy of a declaration which he proposes to make upon signing the convention, embodying the articles of the declaration of Paris, in conjunction with myself. I have waited to communicate with Mr. Dayton until I now learn from him that Mr. Thouvenel proposes to him a similar movement on the part of France. This proceeding is of so grave and novel a character as, in my opinion, to render further action unadvisable until I obtain further instructions; and I find Mr. Dayton is of the same opinion on his side. I propose to address a letter to his lordship stating my reasons for declining to proceed, as soon as possible, but I fear I shall not have time to get it ready and a copy made in season for the present mail. I shall therefore postpone any further elucidation of my views until the next opportunity. I do so the more readily that I am informed by Mr. Dayton that you have ceased to consider the matter as one of any urgent importance. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. FOREIGN OFFICE, August 19, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to enclose a copy of a declaration which I propose to make upon signing the convention of which you gave me a draft embody ing the articles of the declaration of Paris. I propose to make the declaration in question in a written form, and to furnish you with a copy of it. You will observe that it is intended to prevent any misconception as to the nature of the engagement to be taken by her Majesty. If you have no objection to name a day in the course of this week for the signature of the convention, Mr. Dayton can on that day, and at the same time, sign with M. Thouvenel a convention identical with that which you propose to sign with me. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, C. F. ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. Draft of Declaration. In affixing his signature to the convention of this day between her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America, the Earl Russell declares, by order of her Majesty, that her Majesty does not intend thereby to undertake any engagement which shall have any bearing, direct or indirect, on the internal differences now prevailing in the United States. No. 74.] Mr. F. W. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 27, 1861. SIR: Your despatch of August 8, No. 25, has been received. The account you have given us of the impression made by the reverse of our arms at Manassas does not surprise me. But there are to be very many fluctuations of opinion in Europe concerning our affairs before the Union will be in danger from any source. The insurgents are exhausting themselves. We are invigorated even by disappointment. To-day the capital is beyond danger, and forces are accumulating and taking on the qualities which will render them invincible. The Union armies are preparing for movements which will, in a few weeks, remove the war from the present frontier. The blockade is effective, and is working out the best fruits. We do not at present depart from that policy, but we are preparing for any emergency in our foreign relations. The sentiment of disunion is losing its expansive force, and every day it grows weaker as a physical power. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, F. W. SEWARD, Assistant Secretary. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 34.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: It is not without regret that I am compelled to announce the failure of the negotiation which I am led, by the tenor of your despatches, Nos. 55 and 58, to infer you considered almost sure to succeed. I have now the honor to transmit the copy of a note addressed by me to Lord Russell on the the 23d instant, assigning the reasons why I felt it my duty to take the responsibility of declining to fix a day for signing the convention agreed upon between us, burdened, as it was to be, with a contemporaneous exposition of one of its provisions in the form of an outside declaration made by his lordship on behalf of her Majesty the Queen. I have gone so fully into the matter in that note as to render further explanation unnecessary. At the same time I take the liberty to observe that, in case the President should be of opinion that too much stress has been laid by me upon the objectionable character of that paper, an opening has been left by me for the resumption of the negotiation at any moment under new instructions modifying my views. I transmitted to Mr. Dayton a copy for his information immediately after the original was sent. I have not received any later intelligence from him; but I do not doubt that he will forward to the department by this mail his representation of the state of the corresponding negotiation at Paris, so that the whole subject will be under your eye at the same moment. From the tenor of his last note to me, I was led to infer that M. Thouvenel contemplated a parallel proceeding in the conclusion of his negotiation, and that he regarded it there very much in the same light that I did here. From a review of the whole course of these proceedings I am led to infer the existence of some influence in the cabinet here adverse to the success of this negotiation. At the time of my last conference with Lord Russell I had every reason, from his manner, to believe that he considered the offer of the project as perfectly satisfactory. The suggestion of a qualification did not make its appearance until after the consultation with his colleagues, when it showed itself first in the enigmatical sentence of his note to me of the 31st of July, of which, in my despatch No. 22 to the department, I confessed my inability to comprehend the meaning, and afterwards in the formal announcement contained in his note of the 19th of August. That the failure of the measure, by reason of it, could not have been altogether unexpected I infer from Mr. Dayton's report to me of M. Thouvenel's language to him, to the effect that his government would prefer to lose the negotiation rather than to omit making the exception. Although the matter is not altogether germane to the preceding, I will not close this despatch without calling your attention to the copy of a letter of Lord John Russell to Mr. Edwardes, which I transmit as cut from a London newspaper, The Globe. It purports to have been taken from parliamentary papers just published, although I have not seen them, nor have I found it printed in any other newspaper. You will notice the date, the 14th of May, being the very day of my first visit to his lordship in company with Mr. Dallas, when he did not see us, as well as of the publication of the Queen's proclamation. I have reason to believe that the original form of that proclamation described the parties in America in much the same terms used by his Lordship, and that they were only qualified at a very late moment, and after earnest remonstrance. The tone of the letter corresponds very much with that used to me, a report of which was transmitted in my despatch No. 8. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the reception of the note of the 19th instant, of Lord Russell, her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, covering the copy of a declaration which his lordship proposes to make upon signing the convention which has been agreed upon between her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and the United States of America, embodying the articles of the declaration of Paris, and at the same time requesting him to name a day in the course of this week for the signature of the convention, in conjunction with a similar proceeding, to be arranged to take place at Paris, between Mr. Dayton and the minister of foreign affairs on the part of the French government. The first step rendered necessary by this proposal was that the undersigned should communicate with Mr. Dayton in order to know whether a similar declaration was contemplated on the part of the Emperor of the French, and in case it was, whether Mr. Dayton was still prepared to proceed. Mr. Dayton's letter containing that information was received only yesterday, which fact, in conjunction with a brief absence of the undersigned, will account for the apparent delay in answering his lordship's note. In order perfectly to understand the position of the undersigned, it will be necessary briefly to recapitulate the particulars of this negotiation. But a few weeks after the accession of the President of the United States to office, his attention was turned to the state in which the negotiation on the subject of the four articles of the declaration of Paris had been left by his predecessor; and his disposition manifested itself to remove so far as he could the obstacles which had been interposed in the way of completing it. To that end, among the duties with which the undersigned was charged immediately upon his arrival at his post, was an instruction at once to make overtures to her Majesty's government for a revival of the negotiation here. And, in case of the manifestation of a favorable disposition, he was further directed to |