No. 25.-Mr. Seward to Mr. Dallas.—(Communicated to Lord J. Russell by Mr. Dallas, April 8.)

SIR,

Washington, March 9, 1861. My predecessor, in his despatch addressed to you on the 28th of February last, instructed you to use all proper and necessary measures to prevent the success of efforts which may be made by persons claiming to represent those States of this Union in whose name a Provisional Government has been announced, to procure a recognition of their independence by the Empire of Great Britain.

I am now instructed by the President of The United States to inform you that, having assumed the administration of the Government, in pursuance of an unquestioned election, and of the direc tions of the Constitution, he renews the injunction which I have mentioned, and relies upon the exercise of the greatest possible diligence and fidelity on your part to counteract and prevent the designs of those who would invoke foreign intervention to embarrass or overthrow the Republic.

When you reflect on the novelty of such designs, their unpatriotic and revolutionary character, and the long train of evils which must follow, directly or consequently, from even their partial or temporary success, the President feels assured that you will justly appreciate and cordially approve the caution which prompts this communication.

I transmit herewith a copy of the address pronounced by the President on taking the constitutional oath of office. It sets forth clearly the errors of the misguided partisans who are seeking to dismember the Union, the grounds on which the conduct of those partizans is disallowed, and also the general policy which the Government will pursue with a view to the preservation of domestic peace and order, and the maintenance and preservation of the Federal Union.

You will lose no time in submitting this address to the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, and in assuring him that the President of The United States entertains a full confidence in the speedy restoration of the harmony and unity of the Government, by a firm, yet just and liberal bearing, co-operating with the deliberate and loyal action of the American people.

You will truthfully urge upon the Government of Great Britain the consideration that the present disturbances have had their origin only in popular passions, excited under novel circumstances of very transient character, and that while not one person of well-balanced mind has attempted to show that dismemberment of the Union would be permanently conducive to the safety and welfare of even his own State or section, much less of all the States and sections of

our country, the people themselves still retain and cherish a profound confidence in our happy constitution, together with a veneration and affection for it, such as no other form of government ever received at the hands of those for whom it was established.

We feel free to assume that it is the general conviction of men, not only here, but in all other countries, that the Federal Union affords a better system than any other that could be contrived to assure the safety, the peace, the prosperity, the welfare, and the happiness, of all the States of which it is composed.

The position of these States, and their mining, agricultural, manufacturing, commercial, political, and social relations and influences, seem to make it permanently the interest of all other nations that our present political system shall be unchanged and undisturbed. Any advantage that any foreign nation might derive from a connection that it might form with any dissatisfied or discontented portion, State, or section, even if not altogether illusory, would be ephemeral, and would be overbalanced by the evils it would suffer from a disseverance of the whole Union, whose manifest policy it must be hereafter, as it has always been heretofore, to maintain peace, liberal commerce, and cordial amity with all other nations, and to favour the establishment of well-ordered government over the whole American Continent.

Nor do we think we exaggerate our national importance when we claim that any political disaster that should befall us, and introduce discord or anarchy among the States that have so long constituted one great, pacific, prosperous nation under a form of government which has approved itself to the respect and confidence of mankind, might tend by its influence to disturb and unsettle the existing systems of government in other parts of the world, and arrest that progress improvement and civilization which marks the era in which we live.

The United States have had too many assurances and manifestations of the friendship and goodwill of Great Britain to entertain any doubt that these considerations, and such others as your own large experience of the working of our Federal System will suggest, will have their just influence with the British Government, and will prevent that Goverument from yielding to solicitations to intervene, in any unfriendly way, in the domestic concerns of our country.

The President regrets that the events going on here may be productive of some possible inconvenience to the people and subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, but he is determined that those inconveniences shall be made as light and as transient as possible; and, so far as it may rest with him, that all strangers who may suffer any injury from them shall be amply indemnified.

The President expects that you will be prompt in transmitting

to this Department any information you may receive on the subject of the attempts which have suggested this communication.

G. M. Dallas, Esq.

I am, &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 26.-Lord J. Russell to Lord Lyons.

MY LORD, Foreign Office, April 12, 1861. MR. DALLAS called upon me on the 8th instant, in pursuance of an appointment, and communicated to me a despatch which he had received from Mr. Seward, United States' Secretary of State, and of which I inclose a copy.

There are several passages in this despatch at which I might have taken exception, but I thought it best not to raise unnecessary questions; I therefore confined myself to the following observations:

I said that it was not the wish or intention of Her Majesty's Government to pronounce any judgment on the causes which had induced 7 of the United States to secede from the rest; whether, as to the past, those States had reason to complain that the terms of the compact of Union had not been observed, or whether they had reason to apprehend that, for the future, justice would not be done to them, were questions which Her Majesty's Government did not pretend to decide. They had seen in The United States a free and prosperous community, with which they had been happy to maintain the most amicable relations.

Now that a secession had taken place, they were in no hurry to recognize the separation as complete and final. But, on the other hand, I could not bind Her Majesty's Governmant, nor tell how and when circumstances might arise which would make a decision necessary. That I must, therefore, decline to enter into any further discussion at the present moment, and could only assure him of our regret at the events which had recently occurred. I am, &c.

Lord Lyons.

J. RUSSELL.

No. 27.-Lord Lyons to Lord J. Russell.—(Received April 30.) (Extract) Washington, April 15, 1861. On the 8th instant a messenger from this Government informed the Governor of South Carolina and the Military Commandant at Charleston, that President Lincoln had determined to supply Fort Sumter with provisions, peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary.

On the 11th instant the Military Commandant, in obedience to orders from Montgomery, from the Government of the southern Confederacy, summoned Fort Sumter to surrender,

On the 12th instant, at half-past 4 o'clock in the morning, the batteries prepared by the troops of the Confederate States opened their fire on the fort.

The day before yesterday Fort Sumter was surrendered unconditionally.

At Washington, the day before yesterday, President Lincoln, in answer to questions from Commissioners sent by the Legislature of Virginia, gave an authoritative interpretation of his inaugural address, leaving no doubt that he had resolved to adopt coercive measures against the south.

This morning the President has issued a proclamation calling out 75,000 men of the militia, and summoning a special session of Congress, for the 4th of July, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Lord J. Russell.

LYONS.

No. 28.-Lord J. Russell to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. MY LORDS, Foreign Office, May 1, 1861. THE intelligence which reached this country by the last mail from The United States gives reason to suppose that a civil war between the northern and southern States of that Confederacy was imminent, if indeed it might not be considered to have already begun.

Simultaneously with the arrival of this news, a telegram purporting to have been conveyed to Halifax from The United States was received, which announced that the President of the southern Confederacy had taken steps for issuing letters of marque against the vessels of the northern States.

If such is really the case, it is obvious that much inconvenience may be occasioned to the numerous British vessels engaged in trade on the coast of The United States and in the Gulf of Mexico, and that timely provision should be made for their protection against undue molestation by reason of the maritime operations of the hostile parties; and Her Majesty has accordingly commanded me to signify to your Lordships her pleasure that adequate reinforcements should forthwith be sent to Her Majesty's squadron on the North American and West Indian station, so that the Admiral in command may be able duly to provide for the protection of British shipping in any emergency that may occur.

I need scarcely observe to your Lordships that it may be right to apprize the Admiral that, much as Her Majesty regrets the prospect of civil war breaking out in a country in the happiness and peace of which Her Majesty takes the deepest interest, it is Her Majesty's pleasure that nothing should be done by her naval

forces which should indicate any partiality or preference for either

party in the contest that may ensue.

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

I am,

&c.

J. RUSSELL.

No. 31.-Lord Lyons to Lord J. Russell.—(Received May 10.) (Extract.) Washington, April 22, 1861.

I HAVE the honour to inclose copies of a Proclamation of the President of the southern Confederacy, inviting application for letters of marque, and also a Proclamation of the President of The United States declaring that southern privateers will be treated as pirates, and announcing blockade of the southern ports.

I lost no time in taking measures to communicate the contents of these Proclamations as fast as possible, both by telegraph and post, to Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne. The subsequent interruption of communication with the north has prevented my learning how far my measures were successful.

I am informed that an official notification of the blockade will be sent to the foreign Legations here in the course of the day.

Under ordinary circumstances, the season during which British vessels frequent southern ports closes in May and does not re-open until October.

I understand that some alarm is felt in the North respecting the southern privateers, but it must be supposed that the navy of The United States will suffice to arrest their operations. If these privateers, however, make any head in the Gulf of Mexico, it may perhaps be advisable that a British squadron should be sent there to insure the safety of British merchant-vessels. Lord J. Russell.

LYONS,

(Inclosure 1.)-Proclamation by the President of the Confederate States of America.—April 17, 1861.

WHEREAS Abraham Lincoln, President of The United States, has by Proclamation announced the intention of invading the Confederacy with an armed force for the purpose of capturing its fortresses, and thereby subverting its independence, and subjecting the free people thereof to the dominion of a foreign Power: and whereas it has thus become the duty of this Government to repel the threatened invasion, and defend the rights and liberties of the people by all the means which the laws of nations and usages of civilized warfare place at its disposal.

Now, therefore, I Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederated States of America, do issue this my Proclamation, inviting all those