to this department. [We intend to have a clear and simple record of whatever issue may arise between us and Great Britain.]1 The President [is surprised and grieved] regrets that Mr. Dallas did not protest against the proposed unofficial intercourse between the British government and the missionaries of the insurgents [as well as against the demand for explanations made by the British government]. It is due, however, to Mr. Dallas to say that our instructions had been given only to you and not to him, and that his loyalty and fidelity, too rare in these times [among our late representatives abroad, are confessed and]3, are appreciated. Intercourse of any kind with the so-called commissioners is liable to be construed as a recognition of the authority which appointed them. Such intercourse would be none the less [wrongful] hurtful to us for being called unofficial, and it might be even more injurious, because we should have no means of knowing what points might be resolved by it. Moreover, unofficial intercourse is useless and meaningless if it is not expected to ripen into official intercourse and direct recognition. It is left doubtful here whether the proposed unofficial intercourse has yet actually begun. Your own [present] antecedent instructions are deemed explicit enough, and it is hoped that you have not misunderstood them. You will in any event desist from all intercourse whatever, unofficial as well as official, with the British government, so long as it shall continue intercourse of either kind with the domestic enemies of this country [confining yourself to a delivery of a copy of this paper to the Secretary of State. After doing this] When intercourse shall have been arrested for this cause, you will communicate with this department and receive further directions. Lord John Russell has informed us of an understanding between the British and French governments that they will act together in regard to our affairs. This communication, however, loses something of its value from the circumstance that the communication was withheld until after knowledge of the fact had been acquired by us from other sources. We know also another fact that has not yet been officially communicated to us-namely, that other European States are apprised by France and England of their agreement, and are expected to concur with or follow them in whatever measures they adopt on the subject of recognition. The United States have been impartial and just in all their conduct toward the several nations of Europe. They will not complain, however, of the combination now announced by the two leading powers, although they think they had a right to expect a more independent, if not a more friendly, course from each of them. You will take no notice of that or any other alliance. Whenever the European governments shall see fit to communicate directly with us, we shall be, as heretofore, frank and explicit in our reply. As to the blockade, you will say that by [the] our own laws [of na 1 Leave out. ? Leave out, because it does not appear that such explanations were demanded. 3 Leave out. ▲ Leave out. VOL. II.-4. ture] and the laws of nature and the laws of nations, this government has a clear right to suppress insurrection. An exclusion of commerce from national ports which have been seized by the insurgents, in the equitable form of blockade, is the proper means to that end. You will [admit] not insist that our blockade is [not] to be respected if it be not maintained by a competent force; but passing by that question as not now a practical, or at least an urgent, one, you will add that [it] the blockade is now, and it will continue to be so maintained, and therefore we expect it to be respected by Great Britain. You will add that we have already revoked the exequatur of a Russian consul who had enlisted in the military service of the insurgents, and we shall dismiss or demand the recall of every foreign agent, consular or diplomatic, who shall either disobey the Federal laws or disown the Federal authority. As to the recognition of the so-called Southern Confederacy, it is not to be made a subject of technical definition. It is, of course, [quasi] direct recognition to publish an acknowledgment of the sovereignty and independence of a new power. It is [quasi] direct recognition to receive its ambassadors, ministers, agents, or commissioners officially. A concession of belligerent rights is liable to be construed as a recognition of them. No one of these proceedings will [be borne] pass [unnoticed] unquestioned by the United States in this case. Hitherto recognition has been moved only on the assumption that the so-called Confederate States are de facto a self-sustaining power. Now, after long forbearance, designed to soothe discontent and avert the need of civil war, the land and naval forces of the United States have been put in motion to repress the insurrection. The true character of the pretended new State is at once revealed. It is seen to be a power existing in pronunciamento only. It has never won a field. It has obtained no forts that were not virtually betrayed into its hands or seized in breach of trust. It commands not a single port on the coast nor any highway out from its pretended capital by land. Under these circumstances Great Britain is called upon to intervene and give it body and independence by resisting our measures of suppression. British recognition would be British intervention to create within our own territory a hostile state by overthrowing this republic itself. [When this act of intervention is distinctly performed, we from that hour shall cease to be friends, and become once more, as we have twice before been forced to be, enemies of Great Britain.]1 As to the treatment of privateers in the insurgent service, you will say that this is a question exclusively our own. We treat them as pirates. They are our own citizens, or persons employed by our citizens, preying on the commerce of our country. If Great Britain shall choose to recognize them as lawful belligerents, and give them shelter from our pursuit and punishment, the laws of nations afford an adequate and proper remedy [and we shall avail ourselves of it. And while you need not say this in advance, be sure that you say nothing inconsistent with it.] Happily, however, her Britannic Majesty's government can avoid 1 Leave out. all these difficulties. It invited us in 1856 to accede to the declaration of the Congress of Paris, of which body Great Britain was herself a member, abolishing privateering everywhere in all cases and forever. You already have our authority to propose to her our accession to that declaration. If she refuse to receive it, it can only be because she is willing to become the patron of privateering when aimed at our devastation. These positions are not elaborately defended now, because to vindicate them would imply a possibility of our waiving them. We are not insensible of the grave importance of this occasion. We see how, upon the result of the debate in which we are engaged, a war may ensue between the United States and one, two, or even more European nations. War in any case is as exceptionable from the habits as it is revolting from the sentiments of the American people. But if it come, it will be fully seen that it results from the action of Great Britain, not our own; that Great Britain will have decided to fraternize with our domestic enemy, either without waiting to hear from you our remonstrances and our warnings, or after having heard them. War in defense of national life is not immoral, and war in defense of independence is an inevitable part of the discipline of nations. The dispute will be between the European and the American branches of the British race. All who belong to that race will especially deprecate it, as they ought. It may well be believed that men of every race and kindred will deplore it. A war not unlike it between the same parties occurred at the close of the last century. Europe atoned by forty years of suffering for the error that Great Britain committed in provoking that contest. If that nation shall now repeat the same great error, the social convulsions which will follow may not be so long, but they will be more general. When they shall have ceased, it will, we think, be seen, whatever may have been the fortunes of other nations, that it is not the United States that will have come out of them with its precious Constitution altered or its honestly obtained dominion in any degree abridged. Great Britain has but to wait a few months and all her present inconveniences will cease with all our own troubles. If she take a different course, she will calculate for herself the ultimate as well as the immediate consequences, and will consider what position she will hold when she shall have forever lost the sympathies and the affections of the only nation on whose sympathies and affections she has a natural claim. In making that calculation she will do well to remember that in the controversy she proposes to open we shall be actuated by neither pride, nor passion, nor cupidity, nor ambition; but we shall stand simply on the principle of selfpreservation, and that our cause will involve the independence of nations and the rights of human nature. I am, sir, respectfully your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., etc. W. H. S. 1 Drop all from this line to the end, and in lieu of it write, "This paper is for your own guidance only, and not [sic] to be read or shown to any one." May 25, 1861.-LETTER TO COLONEL ELLSWORTH'S PARENTS. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 25, 186 TO THE FATHER AND MOTHER OF COLONEL ELMER E. ELLSWOR My dear Sir and Madam: In the untimely loss of your noble our affliction here is scarcely less than your own. So much promised usefulness to one's country, and of bright hopes for o self and friends, have rarely been so suddenly dashed as in his In size, in years, and in youthful appearance a boy only, his po to command men was surpassingly great. This power, combi with a fine intellect, an indomitable energy, and a taste altoget military, constituted in him, as seemed to me, the best natural tal in that department I ever knew. And yet he was singularly modest and deferential in social int course. My acquaintance with him began less than two years a yet through the latter half of the intervening period it was as in mate as the disparity of our ages and my engrossing engagemen would permit. To me he appeared to have no indulgences pastimes; and I never heard him utter a profane or an inte perate word. What was conclusive of his good heart, he nev forgot his parents. The honors he labored for so laudably, a for which in the sad end he so gallantly gave his life, he meant f them no less than for himself. In the hope that it may be no intrusion upon the sacredness your sorrow, I have ventured to address you this tribute to t memory of my young friend and your brave and early fallen chil May God give you that consolation which is beyond all earth power. Sincerely your friend in a common affliction, A. LINCOLN. May 27, 1861.-LETTER FROM THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL TO WASHINGTON, D. C., May 27, 1861. BRIGADIER-GENERAL W. S. HARNEY, Commanding Department of the West, St. Louis, Mo. Sir: The President observes with concern that, notwithstanding the pledge of the State authorities to coöperate in preserving peace in Missouri, loyal citizens in great numbers continue to be driven from their homes. It is immaterial whether these outrages continue from inability or indisposition on the part of the State authorities to prevent them. It is enough that they continue to devolve on you the duty of putting a stop to them summarily by the force under your command, to be aided by such troops as you may require from Kansas, Iowa, and Illinois. The professions of loyalty to the Union by the State authorities of Missouri are not to be relied upon. They have already falsified their professions too often, and are too far committed to secession to be entitled to your confidence, and you can only be sure of their desisting from their wicked purposes when it is out of their power to prosecute them. You will therefore be unceasingly watchful of their movements, and not permit the clamors of their partizans and opponents of the wise measures already taken to prevent you from checking every movement against the government, however disguised under the pretended State authority. The authority of the United States is paramount, and whenever it is apparent that a movement, whether by color of State authority or not, is hostile, you will not hesitate to put it down. I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant, June 5, 1861.-LETTER TO GENERAL SCOTT. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SCOTT. (Private.) EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 5, 1861. My dear Sir: Doubtless you begin to understand how disagreeable it is for me to do a thing arbitrarily when it is unsatisfactory to others associated with me. I very much wish to appoint Colonel Meigs quartermaster-general, and yet General Cameron does not quite consent. I have come to know Colonel Meigs quite well for a short acquaintance, and, so far as I am capable of judging, I do not know one who combines the qualities of masculine intellect, learning, and experience of the right sort, and physical power of labor and endurance, so well as he. I know he has great confidence in you, always sustaining, so far as I have observed, your opinions against any differing ones. You will lay me under one more obligation if you can and will use your influence to remove General Cameron's objection. I scarcely need tell you I have nothing personal in this, having never seen or heard of Colonel Meigs until about the end of last March. Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. June 19, 1861.-LETTER TO GENERAL J. K. F. MANSFIELD. GENERAL MANSFIELD. My dear Sir: The inclosed papers of Colonel Joseph Hooker speak for themselves. He desires to have the command of a regiment. Ought he to have it, and can it be done, and how? Please consult General Scott, and say if he and you would like Colonel Hooker to have a command. |