the African coast, it is the intention of her Majesty's government to cause British ships so employed to be furnished with a passport or "safe conduct," to be signed by one of her Majesty's secretaries of state, by the governor of the British colony from which such vessel may have sailed. The passport or "safe conduct" will state the name, tonnage, and description of the vessel, and the name of the commander, and the purpose of her voyage, and will be good only for the voyage on which the vessel may be chartered. In acquainting your government with the course which her Majesty's government propose to pursue in this matter, I beg leave at the same time' to request that you will have the goodness to suggest that American vessels which may be legally employed on the African coast, and whose equipment may render them liable to seizure or detention under the terms of the treaty, may, on their part, be furnished with a similar passport or safe conduct, signed by a competent United States authority. Whilst her Majesty's government on their part guarantee that British cruisers should not molest American vessels provided with such passports, they would, of course, require that a similar guarantee should be given on the part of the United States government in regard to British vessels. I should be glad to be made acquainted with the decision of your government in this matter with as little delay as possible. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. No. 303.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. [Extracts.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 18, 1862. SIR: The narrative of a conversation held between yourself and has been received with much interest by the President. You rightly told him that the prospect of the export of cotton depends now mainly on the course of the war. But I think you overrated the importance, in that respect, of the operations before Richmond. For foreign and of course for commercial purposes the Union exists practically unimpaired by the safety with which the conspirators as yet hold their treasonable conclave in Richmond, at the head of the James river, just as much as the Union would, for all practical purposes, exist if this government should remove itself from Washington, at the head of the Potomac, to St. Paul, at the head of the Mississippi. What cotton has been already prepared for market is remaining now in the cotton-producing States. All or nearly all of them communicate with the exterior through the Mississippi river, either downward by New Orleans, or upward through the rivers, canals, lakes, and railroads of the north. The Mississippi has already been opened to commerce through its whole length, with the exception of the obstruction at Vicksburg, about 200 miles above New Orleans. All the rivers, canals, lakes, and railroads before mentioned are free from obstruction; Vicksburg is besieged and must soon fall; Mobile and Charleston will fall soon thereafter. The work of pacification in the region concerned is going on as successfully as could be expected. You hear of occasional guerilla raids, but these are only the after pangs of a revolution in that quarter which has proved an abortion. The forces employed there have proved abundant for the purposes of the government; they have not been diminished, and they will be increased. Want is pressing upon the owners and holders of the cotton, and want, daily increasing, will not be long in overcoming even faction and treason. All our information leads to the belief that the cotton which has been destroyed by the insurgent authorities has been destroyed, not by its producers or holders, but by the armed forces of the insurgents; that the quantity so destroyed has been greatly exaggerated, and that the work of destruction has ceased. If, therefore, the military condition of the region. concerned shall be improved continually as we expect, or even if it remain unchanged for the time, all the cotton which has been gathered will, in the course of a few months, under the protection of the government, find its way to the markets where it is so much wanted. I do not doubt that the quantity that can be exported exceeds half a million of bales; but upon this subject I write with caution, because a long period of non-intercourse has left us without special information from the Gulf States. Mr. a very intelligent loyal citizen of New Orleans, intimately acquainted with its commerce and with the commerce of the southern States, was despatched by this department to that city on the 24th of June to obtain and report all the information possible on the general subject of the cotton supply, and the prospect of its coming forward. His first communication is daily expected, and you shall have the results of his researches so soon as they shall have been received. I may state, moreover, that we are meditating a further relaxation of the rigor of our blockade, so as to favor, in a special way, the export of cotton. I shall probably write more fully upon this point in my next despatches to Europe. So much may be said on the subject of Mr. -'s conversation from the position which is held by the government of the United States; but the export of cotton to Europe depends, in no inconsiderable degree, on the action of the governments and peoples of that continent. All our efforts are measurably counteracted by the attitude of those governments which recognize our internal enemy as a lawful public belligerent, and thereby are understood as encouraging it to hope for recognition and intervention. Those efforts are counteracted also by an illicit British trade which supplies that enemy with ships-of-war, arms, ammunition, supplies, and credit. And still more are they counteracted by the now conceded political sympathies of European masses and classes, who improve the civil war in this country and the distresses it works to the manufacturing and commercial interests of their own countries to raise against us there a prejudice which has the moral effect of sustaining and prolonging that civil war. It must not be forgotten that the mass of the American people, including as well disloyal as loyal citizens, receive their information concerning the relations between our country and foreign nations, not from the careful, measured, and deliberate diplomatic communications with which you and I are familiar, but from the language of the press which on either side of the Atlantic assumes to interpret those relations, and interprets them according to its own interests, impulses, and prejudices. Hence it has happened that in this country the public mind, feeding on the suggestions of the press, is rapidly accepting a conclusion that certain European powers, among which are Great Britain and France, are meditating and preparing an intervention, under the idea that they can oblige the United States to consent to a dissolution of the Union to avoid foreign conflict, and if that fail, then that through such conflict they will open a passage for the free export of cotton from the insurgent States. * * * * * It is easy to see how a European statesman, surrounded by the political influences of the governing classes, and listening naturally and loyally to the complaints of masses of men thrown out, or apprehensive of being thrown out, of their needful and customary employment, and at the same time looking no further than this, can suppose that such an appeal as is thus proposed may be made harmlessly, if not with some good effect. But the same statesman would probably take a very different view of the subject if he should extend his survey and take cognizance of the fact that the people of the United States have a sensibility on the subject of their sovereignty and national honor that no domestic disputes nor any foreign dangers have ever impaired; that they already feel that the foreign states concerned have acted injuriously towards them in a crisis when they expected respect and toleration, if not generous sympathy. Under these circumstances, the limits where the magnanimity of the United States in listening to the interested counsels of Europe must end are easily discerned. I do not indicate those limits. It is enough for me to say that this people have already risen above the level of the motives which would prompt the supposed appeal in Europe, and to which this appeal must be addressed bere. They are conscious that they are contending not about stocks or tariffs, or treasure or profits, or gains or losses, or prestige or power, but for sovereignty, for self-government, for freedom, and for humanity. If there be one American citizen, not already committed and sworn to the betrayal of his country, who would listen favorably to any foreign persuasion on these great questions, I have yet to see him and to learn his name. If European states want to shorten this war, as we know they ought and must, their course is clear and easy. Let them respect the authority and the national rights of the American people. The correspondence which has just taken place between the President of the United States and the representatives of the so-called border States is herewith transmitted. It will show you that the revolution is already successfully arrested by the separation of those States from the company of the so-called Confederate States. It needs only any real or seeming danger of foreign intervention in the conflict to revive and renew devotion to the Union, even with the sacrifice of slavery, throughout the whole United States. Europe will not intervene or appeal to us except for cotton. Cotton, perhaps, could be furnished in answer to such an appeal only by saving the existence of slavery here to produce it. Intervention will end the exportation of cotton by ex tinguishing the slavery which produces it. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: You are aware of the use which has been made of the port of Nassau by the insurgents and their friends as a deposit for vessels and merchandise for the purpose of breaking the blockade. Some of the residents there, notoriously engaged in this business, recently complained, through Mr. Stuart, the British chargé d'affaires here, of certain restrictions which the Treasury Department authorized to be placed upon the transhipment of merchandise at New York from steamers from England to vessels for Nassau. Explanations have been requested upon the subject, and I now enclose a copy of a letter of the 22d instant from the Secretary of the Treasury, and of its accompaniments, which will enable you to point out the necessity for the restrictions adverted to, should inquiry be made of you on that subject; and you may even invite that inquiry. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Chase to Mr. Seward. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, July 22, 1862. SIR: The communication of Mr. Stuart, British chargé d'affaires, relative to supposed unauthorized restrictions upon trade between New York and Nassau, having been referred for explanations to the collector of customs at New York, that officer has reported in relation thereto. I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of his communication, together with a copy of a letter from the United States consul at Nassau to the collector. The paper of Mr. Stuart is also herewith returned. I have the honor to be, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Barney to Mr. Chase. CUSTOM-HOUSE, NEW YORK, Collector's Office, July 16, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, enclosing copy of communication of the acting British consul at New York to the Hon. Wm. Stuart, the British chargé d'affaires at Washington, together with a letter from Mr. Stuart to the honorable the Secretary of State of the United States, and papers explanatory of both documents, relative to supposed unauthorized restrictions upon trade between New York and Nassau, N. P. In relation to the matter of fact, and the opinions expressed thereupon in these documents, I have to report that the trade carried on between this port and Nassau in articles to be shipped thence directly to places and persons in the Confederate States is of a magnitude only equalled by the barefaced notor ety of the transactions; and it will be observed that the fixed fact of the object of this trade is not denied by the high official functionaries who complain of restrictions being put thereon by the authorities of the United States. I have further to report that in each of the several cases set forth in the letter of the British consul the articles refused to be cleared were either contraband of war, or their shippers refused to give a bond that they should not be appropriated to aid and comfort the rebels of the Confederated States. The agent of Mr. Cunard refused to give this bond; so did all the other parties for whose goods a clearance was refused, as complained of by the consul. It is worthy of remark that, just in the same ratio as it is alleged by the shippers to be absurd to suppose that such and such articles could be intended for the use of the rebels, is the facility and impunity increased with which the bond may be given. In the case of the search of the schooner William H. Clear, the proceeding of the officers of the customs was founded upon information furnished by the police department of this city, and upon the presence on board, as a passenger, of the captain of a captured blockade-breaking British vessel. Considerable excitement naturally prevailed amongst all parties during the search, and it is altogether fair to presume that the offensive language which the captain refers to in his protest was an error and a fault on both sides. I transmit to you herewith a letter just received from the United States consul at Nassau. The evils detailed therein, it would seem, can only be remedied by the non-intercourse which the exaction of the objectionable bonds will in most instances produce. It will be observed that one of the names mentioned by the consul, viz: John C. Rahming, is the party to whom several of the letters forwarded to you in mine of the 12th instant are addressed. The papers enclosed in your letter are herewith returned. Hon. S. P. CHASE, Secretary of the Treasury. HIRAM BARNEY, Collector. Mr. Whiting to Mr. Barney. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Nassau, N. P., July 6, 1862 SIR: I have the honor to inform you of the clearance at this port, to-day, of the British schooner Time, Saroyer, master, for New York. This vessel belongs to Henry Adderly & Co., the actual agents of the rebel States, and she has discharged her two last cargoes from New York directly into the secession steamers engaged in running the southern blockade. She came from New York about six weeks since, and put her cargo of coal into secession steamers, and some days since she discharged her whole cargo of provisions directly into the steamer Cecile, which sailed for Charleston the next day, but was fortunately totally wrecked at Abaco on the 14th ultimo. I append the names of Nassau merchants most largely and directly engaged in contraband trade with the southern ports, as well as being most openly abusive of the Union and the north, viz: Henry Adderly & Co., Henry Landers & Son, |