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be a little difficult for this government to justify its want of energy in enforcing the provisions of the law in regard to that vessel.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

[Enclosure ]

Mr. Adams, to Lord Russell, with deposition, September 30, 1862.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, September 30, 1862.

MY LORD: I have the honor to submit to your consideration the copy of another deposition taken at Liverpool before the collector of the port, which, in connexion with the papers heretofore presented, goes to establish beyond reasonable doubt the fact that the insurgents in the United States and their coadjutors at that place have been engaged in fitting out vessels at that port to make war on the United States, in utter contempt of the law and of her Majesty's injunctions in her proclamation. I expect to be in possession of some stronger evidence of the same nature in relation to past transactions, which I hope to be able, likewise, to submit in a few days.

The injuries to which the people of the United States are subjected by the unfortunate delays experienced in the case of my remonstrance against the fitting out of the gunboat 290, now called the confederate steamer Alabama, are just beginning to be reported. I last night received intelligence from Gibraltar that this vessel has destroyed ten whaling ships in the course of a short time at the Azores.

I have strong reason to believe that still other enterprises of the same kind are in progress in the ports of Great Britain at this time. Indeed, they have attained so much notoriety as to be openly announced in the newspapers of Liverpool and London. In view of the very strong legal opinion which I had the honor to present to your lordship's consideration, it is impossible that all these things should not excite great attention in the United States. I very much fear they will impress the people and the government with a belief, however unfounded, that their just claims on the neutrality of Great Britain have not been sufficiently estimated. The extent to which her Majesty's flag and some of her ports have been used to the end of carrying on hostile operations is so universally understood that I deem it unnecessary further to dwell upon it. But in the spirit of friendliness with which I have ever been animated towards her Majesty's government, I feel it my duty to omit no opportunity of urging the manifestation of its well known energy in upholding those laws of neutrality upon which alone the reciprocal confidence of nations can find a permanent basis.

I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Hon. Earl RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c.

No. 362.J

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, October 4, 1862.

SIR: Your despatch of the 18th of September has been received, and your proceedings in relation to the delivery of the autograph letter of the President to her Majesty therein mentioned are approved.

No marked event has occurred since the date of my last communications. The insurrectionary advances seem to have been arrested; our naval preparations are steadily proceeding. Our armies, which are being rapidly re-enforced, are preparing for new and energetic movements. The perturbation of the public mind abates, and cheerful views of the future are beginning to prevail. There are indications of returning loyalty in Louisiana and in North Carolina.

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SIR: Your despatch of September 26 (No. 227) has been received, and your proceedings in relation to the armament of the gunboat 290 in British waters, as there recited, are approved.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., sc., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 368.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 10, 1862.

SIR: Your despatch of the 25th of September (No. 226) has been received The President is gratified by the tribute you have paid to the prudence and fidelity of Mr. Dayton.

Mr. Dayton has given me an account of an informal and unofficial conversation with which he was lately favored by Mr. Thouvenel, which indicates a harmony between him and Mr. Mercier in despondency concerning the success of the Union arms, but not any sentiments of hostility or of unfriendliness to this government.

I learn, also, from Mr. Sanford that Baron Talleyrand, on his recent return from Paris to Brussels, informed Mr. Sanford that Mr. Thouvenel had said to him that business was suspended at Paris until the return of the Emperor from Biarritz, after which they should take up the Italian and the American questions.

This government has nothing to say concerning the first of these subjects. In regard to the latter, it is certain that the aspect of the case for the enemies of the Union, when the time for that consideration shall have come,

will be found to have changed much for the worse from what it was when Mr. Thouvenel was conversing with Baron Talleyrand. Recent events indicate a loss by the insurgents of even more than the prestige they won by their desperate attempt to invade and subjugate the loyal States of the republic. The Emperor of France is extensively regarded in European circles as an arbitrator among nations; but we are not aware that he has ever affected so important and hazardous a trust. We do him no such injustice as to suppose him hostile to the United States or disposed to do them a wrong. However the case may prove in this respect, we do no such injury to our cause and no such violence to our national self-respect as to apprehend that the Union is to be endangered by any foreign war that shall come upon us unprovoked and without excuse. However public opinion, either here or in foreign countries, may veer with the varying chances of war, it must be understood by all the representatives of the United States abroad that the President indulges no apprehensions of a failure of the people in their determined purpose of maintaining the federal Union.

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SIR: The last week has been marked by only two events of any particular importance.

The first of these was the reception of the news of the President's proclamation respecting the slaves. The effect of it has been only to draw the line with greater distinctness between those persons really friendly to the United States and the remainder of the community, and to test the extent of the genuine anti-slavery feeling left in this country.

The second is the appearance of Mr. Gladstone, the chancellor of the exchequer, once more in a popular address referring to the state of things in America. From the first there has been little doubt on which side his sympathy was. But the present is the first occasion upon which he has ventured to touch upon the slave portion of the controversy. His idea that the force of the slave tenure will be diminished by the withdrawal of that portion of the governing power which had heretofore been applied to sustain it in the Free States is as ingenuous as it is sophistical.

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As this is just the season when public men are in the practice of, making their addresses all over the country, it is probable that more or less of them will be appearing from day to day in the newspapers. I find reports of two in those of this morning. There is no mistaking the spirit they contain; and as both the members are of the so-called liberal or ministerial party, generally ranked as the least unfavorable of the two to the United States, it is not unfair to infer from them the tendency of opinion everywhere in the governing classes. I think that in this connexion the tone of Mr. Gladstone may be construed as indicating the course that may be taken by government as soon as Parliament meets, should the indications of public opinion be so marked as to make any step necessary. The only thing now likely further to retard it, in my opinion, is any serious change in the character of We are yet awaiting the issue of the grand plan of operations con

war.

cocted at Richmond, only a portion of which has thus far been defeated. Of this plan, the naval portion, a consciousness of the existence of which is so singularly betrayed by Mr. Gladstone, is far the most important to us, in connexion with the position of Great Britain; for the fact is certain that the whole of it has been constructed and organized here. Any diminution of our power on the ocean would be hailed here with the greatest delight, for it is there that the greatest jealousy exists. I trust that government has been sufficiently warned of what is preparing in this direction to be able to meet the emergency with adequate forces. The great difficulty in the way of the rebels is the want of seamen. There seems thus far to be, at least on this side, no deficiency of money.

On the whole, the prospect is not quite so bright as I had hoped a few days ago, when the rebel army seemed in the greatest danger. But we have so much of unexhausted resources left, in comparison with the insurgents, that it would seem as if, with ordinary skill in the direction, the ultimate issue could not be doubtful.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

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SIR: I have the honor to transmit copies of further notes that have passed between Lord Russell and myself in regard to the outfits in behalf of the insurgents made from the ports of this kingdom.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

[Enclosures.]

1. Lord Russell to Mr. Adams, October 4, 1862. 2. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, October 9, 1862.

Earl Russell to Mr. Adams.

FOREIGN OFFICE, October 4, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th ultimo, enclosing a copy of another deposition, taken before the collector of the port of Liverpool, with reference to the proceedings of the gunboat 290, and further expressing a belief that enterprises of a similar kind are in course of progress in the ports of the United Kingdom; and I have to state to you that, much as her Majesty's government desire to prevent such occurrences, they are unable to go beyond the law, municipal and international. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., §c., §c., §c.

RUSSELL.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, October 9, 1862.

MY LORD: I now have the honor to transmit to your lordship a copy of an intercepted letter which I have received from my government, being the further evidence to which I made allusion in my note to your lordship of the 30th of September, as substantiating the allegations made of the infringements of the enlistment law by the insurgents of the United States in the ports of Great Britain. I am well aware of the fact to which your lordship calls my attention in the note of the 4th instant, the reception of which I have the honor to acknowledge, that her Majesty's government are unable to go beyond. the law, municipal and international, in preventing enterprises of the kind referred to. But in the representations which I have had the honor lately to make, I beg to remind your lordship that I base them upon evidence which applies directly to infringements of municipal law itself, and not to anything beyond it. The consequence of an omission to enforce its penalties is, therefore, necessarily that heretofore pointed out by eminent counsel, to wit: that "the law is little better than a dead letter," or result against which "the government of the United States has serious ground of remonstrance."

I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Hon. Earl RUSSELL, &c., &e.

No. 369.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 13, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of the 25th of September (No. 225) has been received and submitted to the President. While its statements are very interesting, and its suggestions seem to be wise and judicious, a special reply on my part has been rendered unnecessary by my anticipation of the subject discussed in your despatches.

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SIR: Your despatch of October 3 (No. 229) has been submitted to the President

He is gratified by the information it brings, that a reaction in Europe in regard to our affairs, which was anticipated here, has actually occurred.

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