acquainted with the true state of things in America can believe for an instant the existence of one particle of good faith in any professions of this kind that may be countenanced by the rebel emissaries here. But I have thought it might not be without its use to recommend that the fact of their sanction of such an agitation should be made known pretty generally in the United States, especially among the large class of friends of the Union in the border States. If the issue of this contest is to be emancipation with the aid of Great Britain, surely the object for which the rebellion against our government was initiated--the protection and perpetuation of slaveryceases to be a motive for resisting it further. If the course of the emissaries here be unauthorized, it ought to be exposed here to destroy all further confidence in them. If, on the contrary, it be authorized, it should be equally exposed to the people in the slaveholding States. In either event the eyes of the people both in Europe and America will be more effectually opened to a conviction of the nature and certain consequences of this great struggle. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: The only event of any importance connected with American affairs that has happened during the last week is the revocation of the orders prohibiting the exportation of arms and munitions of war. This will release the large quantity of saltpetre in the hands of parties here, and will probably renew the activity of the confederate emissaries in forwarding supplies to the insurgents. Mr. Davy reports to me the arrival of the Bermuda at Hartlepool. Though it is denied that she is to be despatched again, I am inclined to believe it only a pretence in order to quiet suspicion. In the meanwhile the relative position of the Nashville and of the Tuscarora in the harbor of Southampton remains unchanged. On the other hand, the Sumter, having been warned to leave Cadiz, has put into Gibraltar, after capturing two vessels. This tendency to take refuge in British ports is becoming so annoying to the government here that I shall not be surprised if the limit of twenty-four hours' stay be soon adopted. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 171.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 31, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of January 10, No. 99, has been received. If it be true, as you seem to think possible, that we have only averted an occasion for the hostilities which the British government indicated, and have not at all removed the cause of those hostilities, we still have every reason to be satisfied with our course in the Trent affair. The American people could not have been united in a war which, being waged to maintain Captain Wilkes's act of force, would have practically been a voluntary war against Great Britain. At the same time it would have been a war in 1861 against Great Britain for a cause directly the opposite of the cause for which we waged war against the same power in 1812. We shall practice towards Great Britain not only justice, but moderation, and even liberality, in all the exciting transactions which this unhappy domestic contest of ours shall produce. We have not left Great Britain in doubt of our own confidence in our ability to maintain the integrity of the Union, or of our grounds for it, notwithstanding the embarrassment which we experience in the indirect support which the insurgents derive from nations whose rights we have invariably respected. We are not unaware, nor do we complain of the impatience in Europe which exacts from us quick and conclusive victories. We can excuse it because, even among ourselves at home, there is a failure to apprehend that the insurrection has disclosed itself over an area of vast extent, and that military operations, to be successful, must be on a scale hitherto practically unknown in the art of war. At the same time we are not unaware of the fact that the impatience of European nations is due chiefly to the inconveniences which they suffer from the contest, and not to a careful consideration of the strength and energies of the parties engaged in it. We have every motive they can. have, and many other infinitely stronger motives, for bringing the war to the speediest possible successful conclusion. We expect that Great Britain will realize not only this truth, but another important one, namely, that any solution of this controversy by a division of the Union would be detrimental to British commerce and to British prestige. Believing this, we expect that Great Britain will not become a party in the contest against the United States. If, insensible to these considerations, the British government shall intervene, then we must meet the emergency with the spirit and resolution which become a great people. The tone of the public virtue is becoming sounder and stronger every day. Military and naval operations go on with success, hindered only by the weather, which, for almost a month, has rendered the coasts unsafe and the roads impassable. I have observed that the British people were satisfied with the vigor and the energy of the preparations which their government made for the war which they expected to occur between them and ourselves. It may be profitable for us all to reflect that the military and naval preparations which have been made by this government to put down the insurrection have, every day since the first day of May last, equalled, if not surpassed, the daily proportion of those war preparations which were regarded as so demonstrative in Great Britain. SIR: I learn from reports received at the Navy Department from the commander of the American steamer Flambeau that, although the United States nave a deposit of coal at Nassau, our steamers are denied the right of taking it for use by the colonial authorities at that place. I do not send you a formal statement of the fact, because, although it is presumed that those authorities have not acted under instructions from London, yet that they nevertheless must themselves have reported their proceedings to the home government. Justified, as I think, by this circumstance in assuming that the fact which I thus bring to your attention is already known to Earl Russell, I have to request you to ask from him an explanation of the proceeding, and to inquire whether we are to understand that the colonial ports are to be closed against our vessels-of-war when entering them for coal, or that such vessels are to be denied the right of sup plying themselves from stores of our own lying in such ports. Liberal as we are in all our intercourse with the British government in American waters, the President declines to believe that that government has sanctioned or will sanction the proceedings of the authorities at Nassau. Should you find this to be the fact, you will suggest to Earl Russell our desire that proper instructions may be given to the authorities there. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 109.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: The expectations of a declaration of some kind from the Emperor of the French on the subject of the American difficulty which might be made. the basis of an agitation here have been disappointed. Whatever is to be done must be originated in Parliament by the avowed friends of the rebels. All the particular grounds of complaint against the United States have been successively removed from under them. The parties seized in the Trent are now safe on this side of the Atlàntic. The blocking up of Charleston harbor is shown to be no real grievance. The inefficiency of the blockade is the only remaining proposition which it is attempted to support by evidence." Even that would be met by proof drawn from the admissions made by the insurgents at home, if it could have been supplied in a tolerably authentic form. I regret that I have not at my command any official tabular statement of the number of vessels turned off or taken during the period of blockade, or evidence of the price of the various commodities of foreign growth or manufacture rendered scarce by the operations of the blockading force. But inasmuch as the government is obviously disinclined to sustain an objection of this kind just now, the probability is that nothing will be made out of it. There is, then, not a particle of solid material for the dissatisfaction with the government of the United States, based on its own policy, to make a quarrel out of. Resort must then be had to the simple objection that the rebellion has not been suppressed. This will be urged. as justifiable cause for early recognition; and upon that issue the sense of the House of Commons will probably be sooner or later taken. At this moment it is impossible to estimate the strength of parties, or the character of the division. The impression is that the conservatives generally favor such a measure, of which thus far I see no evidence beyond the general tendency of one or two newspapers in that interest, which I have had occasion to suspect not to be trustworthy organs. I am rather inclined to the belief that this subject has not yet become a party question in the eyes the members of either side. Each individual, therefore, indulges his partic of ular opinion. There is no knowing how soon it may become so. That will depend upon the chances of making anything out of it in case of a conflict. The ministry are notoriously feeble in Parliament, whilst the conservatives are strong only whilst confining themselves strictly within a negative position. Hence the situation of both parties rests equally upon an avoidance, at least for the present, of test questions. Lord Palmerston is sufficiently popular to make it hazardous to attempt to dislodge him by a coup de main in Parliament, which would inevitably be followed by a formidable opposition headed by him. The more eligible course has thus far been thought to be to await the moment, which cannot be long delayed, of his retreat, when Lord Derby is expected to be summoned to take his place with the consent of all but the radical section of the people. This will be an era for a reconstruction of parties. Such has been the programme down to the assembling of Parliament. What shape things may take afterwards it is impossible to predict. That the American question is to be a serious element in any calculation of its action everything conspires to make us believe. I shall endeavor, so far as it may be within my power, to keep you informed of the movements as they occur. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 178.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 4, 1862. SIR: The Africa came so late that I had only time, before the then next mail day, to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 102, in a paper which was devoted to subjects different from those you have discussed. I am gratified with the information that, in your opinion, the mind of the government, as well as that of the British nation, is now somewhat disabused of the very unjust idea that this government entertains sentiments of hostility towards them. I transmit herewith a copy of an unofficial letter I have sent to Lord Lyons, together with a copy of a letter that, amid the intensest heat of the late excitement, I had occasion to address to his excellency the governor of the State of Maine. This correspondence may perhaps be properly used for the purpose of more effectually removing impressions so unjust to us and dangerous to the peace of the two nations. Some correspondents and many journals write to us that the Parliament and the Chambers are to be pressed into discussions designed to induce Great Britain and France to recognize the insurgents and intervene to raise our blockade. I have already made some suggestions to you with a view to counteract those dangerous designs. I am not aware that I can now profitably do more in that direction. I turn, therefore, to another subject. Let us suppose that the European states had been content to leave the insurrection unnoticed until now. Does any one believe that in that case a single European vessel engaged in lawful trade would have ever been molested by the insurgents, who have not been able to possess, occupy, and keep open, one solitary port on the whole coast of this continent. Does any one believe that, in the case supposed, a single piratical insurgent vessel would have been found demanding entrance into an European port with trophies, spoils, or captives taken from American merchantmen sunk or burned in European waters? Does not every one see that, in that case, the unseemly scenes recently enacted in the ports of Cadiz and Southampton could never have occurred? Toward what end have these and all other such unhappy occurrences led but the prolongation of a strife now only less injurious to European interests than to our own, while it is demoralizing political society in all nations? Now, when passion and alarm are subsiding in Europe, may there not be found in the government and in the Parliament of Great Britain statesmen who will see that the true path to peace is in retracing the steps which only lead through disastrous conflict upon the soil of this continent between this truly popular and long-established government and those who would subject it all to the power of slavery rather than conform their political institutions to the spirit of the age? You are not expected to present these suggestions formally to the British government, but, being just in themselves, you will use them, in your discretion, to promote the great interests of both countries. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. P. S.-I also enclose to you herewith a printed copy of the proceedings of the legislature of Maine on the subject of the passage of British troops through that State. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 179.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 5, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of January 17, No. 103, fell upon the department as merely a small part of the largest foreign mail ever received here, and only after such delays as left insufficient time to dispose of the same before the departure of the outgoing steamer. I approve entirely of your proceeding in regard to the Nashville, while I hail the solicitude of the British government for the preservation of peace in the British waters as a favorable indication. I have given to the Navy Department the information received from you concerning the probable attempt to transfer the Nashville to British owners. I have given to Mr. Perry substantially the same ideas which I have expressed to yourself in regard to the uselessness to European maritime powers of a policy on their part which invites only insurgent privateers and repels loyal American commerce from their ports. It is easy to see that this is the effect of a premature recognition of the insurrection as entitled to belligerent rights. We hear from various correspondents, as you do, that France proposed three months ago to Great Britain a recognition and intervention to break the blockade. The communication of this kind which appeared to wear the highest character for authority was said to have come from the innermost circle of the British government. We have not credited it for this, among other reasons, namely: Lord Lyons, who, although a man of prudent reserve, is, |