Mr. Haldeman to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, * * * * SIR: It is impossible to convey to you the excitement and joy created in this city by the news of the naval battle between the Monitor and Merimack. Captain Ericsson is a Swede; born, and educated in this city; his brother, Colonel Ericsson, whose acquaintance I have made, is engineer-in-chief of all the railways in Sweden and Norway. Captain Dahlgren's parents were Swedes who emigrated to America; hence they say, with that pride peculiar to a brave and spirited though numerically weak nation, that a Swede invented the Monitor, a Swede invented the guns with which she was armed: "Ergo,” how great is the obligation-the debt of the United States to the genius of Sweden. We have also received a telegram of the great victory near Corinth. No one now doubts of a speedy termination of the rebellion and triumph of the government. The result of my diplomatic experience is that in all international affairs respect and sympathy are the natural parasites of success. * * I remain your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H, SEWARD, Secretary of State. * * J S. HALDEMAN. No. 23.] * Mr. Haldeman to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, * SIR: I have also the honor to acknowledge the receipt of circulars Nos. 20 and 21. I think all idea of intervention has passed (if once entertained) from the mind of the governments of Europe. France, it is said and admitted, urged England to interfere to involve England in war or entangle her with America. The result would have left French influence supreme on the continent of Europe, and enabled the Emperor to extend the boundaries of the Empire to what is called, in political parlance, the "ancient and natural frontiers of France." TURKEY. No. 19.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Morris. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Your despatch of February 23 (without a number) has been received. You did very well in submitting our propositions to the Sultan's government for meliorations of the law in regard to neutral rights in maritime war, and the President is gratified with the very favorable attention which was bestowed upon the subject by the minister for foreign relations. In submitting these propositions to all the maritime powers the United States were moved by a sincere desire for such a general acceptance of them as would insure their incorporation into the law of nations. Some of the powers most deeply interested, however, having insisted upon attaching to their acceptance of the propositions a condition which the United States cannot grant, the President has instructed me to suspend the negotiations for the present, not only with these powers, but with all other states. You will thus see that the result at which you have arrived at Constantinople is exactly the one which we have contemplated and desired. SIR: Your despatch of February 25 (No. 11) has been received. Seeing no cause to question the justice or the expediency of the provisions of the treaty you have negotiated, I have the President's instructions to submit the same to the Senate for its consideration. Your proceedings in the negotiation and the reasons assigned for them in your despatch are approved. Your suggestions of the desirableness of a naval force in the Levant have been referred to the Navy Department. It is but too manifest, as you have remarked, that our national prestige is impaired in foreign countries. It would be strange if the Turkish people and the dwellers in the Levant generally, accustomed as they are to wait upon power with respect, and visit weakness with disdain, should have failed to discern this change of our condition. Happily we know how it has occurred. We are a house divided against itself. But experience of faction is an instruction often necessary to the most generous states. I feel quite sure that the unhappy domestic strife which has so severely shaken the republic, and has betrayed it to the disre spect of even barbarous powers, will soon come to an end. It may be confidently expected that the adjustment of the balance of political forces of the country, which will result from the present conflict, will be satisfactory and permanent, because it will be determined with reference to the actual condition and anticipated progress of the country, and not with reference to the interests and prejudices of past generations. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. EDWARD JOY MORRIS, Esq., &c., &c., Constantinople. No. 26.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Morris. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 4, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of May 6 has been received. The President received with profound satisfaction the decree of his Majesty the Sultan, which interdicts the entrance of pirates engaged in depreda ting upon the commerce of our country into the ports of the Turkish empire. This proceeding is the more honorable to that prince, and it will be the more gratifying to the United States, because it is an unreserved acceptance and application of the principles of international law, which this government has maintained from the beginning of the civil war in which we have so unnecessarily and so unfortunately been involved during the past year. Nor is the proceeding any the less entitled to our grateful acknowledgments because the piratical operations of the insurgents, such as they have been, have already been brought to an end. It will, on the contrary, be to the honor of the Sultan of Turkey that he took the lead in conceding to the United States rights which it is now expected will soon be conceded by all the other maritime powers. You cannot express these sentiments too strongly in your conversation with the minister for foreign affairs. Care will be taken to give due publicity to the decree and also to the imperial order prohibiting, for the present, the importation of gunpowder into the Turkish dominions. I am specially charged by the President to renew the assurances of his satisfaction with the manner in which you have performed thus far the duties of your important mission. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. EDWARD J. MORRIS, Esq., &c., &c., Constantinople. No. 36.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Morris. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 19, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of August 28 (No. 28) has been submitted to the President. It is a source of sincere satisfaction that the Turkish gov ernment has taken means to bring to just punishment the police officers through whose delinquency the assasins of the late lamented missionary, Mr. Merriam, made their escape, and it is still more gratifying that even several of the murderers have been arrested and are likely to receive the reward of their atrocious crime. It is perceived that the position which you hold between the missionaries of our country, zealous in the work of their minis try, and the Turkish government, which, of course, is sensitive in any case of difference between those missionaries and their converts, on the one side, and Musselman subjects on the other, is a very peculiar and trying one. The authority of this government, so long as our country remained undivided and harmonious, not only secured acquiescence at home but respect and concession everywhere abroad. Many of our citizens, still pursuing the same course of duty and of interest which they prosecuted so safely before the occurrence of the present insurrection, are unable to see how it is that they meet with obstacles heretofore unknown. Some of them complain that travel across our inland plains is suffered to be molested and interrupted, and that Indian massacres on our frontiers go unpunished. The Mormons assume an unfriendly and menacing attitude. Merchants importunately demand redress for injuries and insults alleged to be offered to them in the SpanishAmerican republics. Naturalized German emigrants invoke the protection of this government against conscription, experienced when they return to their native States. Claims on foreign countries are unheeded, and piratical vessels are entertained, while our own national vessels are denied the hospitalities guaranteed by treaties in some of the maritime states. The Turkish government becomes restless in view of the activity of our missionaries. The reason for all this is plain enough. We are divided and at war among ourselves. The division is not a peaceful quarrel, and the civil war is not a mild one. We have divided upon the question of fealty to our Constitution, to say nothing of freedom or slavery. The war thus far has been one of the greatest of human conflicts. All the world knows, even if we do not, that we cannot wage this war, on our part, with effect, and, at the same time, unnecessarily and rashly engage in wars with other nations which may deny us justice or withhold from us their accustomed respect. However it may be with our citizens, the government, at least, does not misunderstand the crisis. It knows that our enemies are not strangers, but those of our own household. That if we lose the national life every foreign interest must perish. While in saving the national life we shall recover the power of saving everything else at home or abroad that is valuable to us. But, to save the national life, we must refrain, as heretofore, from foreign controversies. The Turkish government has been singularly just and liberal towards us in this emergency. It deserves our forbearance and our friendship. But the government is far more enlightened than the people over whom it presides. The President thinks that much of the friendship manifested by the Turkish government towards the United States results from the discretion, gentleness, and frankness which you have hitherto practiced in executing your mission. He is content to recommend to you a perseverance in the same course. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 50 M I have visited the Grand Vizier and other functionaries of the Sublime Porte, with whom I have official relations. I was cordially welcomed as the representative of the United States, and the most friendly feeling was manifested to the government which I have the honor to serve. As my predecessor, whose sympathies were entirely with the secession movement, had conveyed erroneons impressions to the Ottoman government, touching the existing war in the United States, I represented the struggle in its true light, as one for the maintenance of the government, whose existence was assailed by a conspiracy without any pretext cr justification whatsoever. The Grand Vizier, as the organ of the government, expressed his desire for the preservation of the Union of the States, and exhibited a warm sympathy with the Union cause. He spoke of the friendly relations that had always existed between the two nations, and assured me that the disinterested friendship of the United States was properly appreciated, and that it would always give the Ottoman government pleasure to reciprocate it. Nothing could be more grateful to me than the sincere good-will shown to the government of the United States by the Turkish cabinet in this dark hour of its history, and that, too, when some of the Christian powers of Europe seem to be indifferent to its fate. It shall be my constant aim to cherish and confirm this friendly spirit. In this connexion I am happy to say that every one connected with the representation of the United States at this place is ardently loyal to the Union. Mr. John P. Brown, the dragoman and secretary of the legation, has exerted his well known influence with the Turkish government in behalf of the Union, and with great effect. In this emergency, as at all times, he has shown himself a trustworthy, loyal, and valuable officer of the United States, eminently worthy of its confidence. The consul general, Mr. Heap, is equally true to his country. This unity of sentiment of course increases the influence of the United States representation at this point. * * LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, * * * SIR: I have the honor to advise you that I had an audience with the Sultan on the 22d ultimo, on which occasion I delivered my letter of credence as minister resident, and presented to him the congratulations of the President of the United States on his accession to the throne. On that occasion I pronounced the following address to the Sultan. It was spoken in French, |