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the island of Terceira, Azores, and were two days engaged in passing cargo from the ship to the steamers, of which this is probably one, and there may have been two fitted out at that time.

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SIR: I transmit herewith, for your information, a copy of an instruction of yesterday (No. 237) addressed to Mr. Dayton, in relation to alleged purposes of Great Britain and France to recognize the independence of the States in insurrection against this government. You may make any use of this despatch which you may deem advisable.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

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

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

[The instruction above referred to is placed according to date in the correspondence with France.]

No. 378.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 25, 1862.

SIR: Your despatch of October 10 (No. 238) has been received. Your reply to Earl Russell's note of the 4th instant on the subject of British outfits of British-built vessels from British ports, with British-shipped crews, to depre date on American commerce on the high seas, is approved by the President. I do not know how I could add a word to fortify or improve the clear, calm, and energetic protest which that paper contains.

I am sir, your obedient servant,

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

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

No. 379.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 25, 1862.

SIR: Your despatch of October 10 (No. 237) has been received. It shows that the President's proclamation has produced in Great Britain an impression similar in nature, and differing only in degree, from the effect which it has had here. Although, for obvious reasons, little was said on the subject in the correspondence of this department in anticipation of the proclamation,

yet you must have well understood that the President did not adopt the sanguine expectations of those who assumed that it would instantaneously convert the foreign enemies of our country into friends. It is not now proposed to discuss with those persons the questions they so ingeniously raise, namely, whether the proclamation has not come too late, whether it has not come too early, or whether its effect will not be defeated by the fact that it is based upon military necessity, and not upon philanthropy. In regard to the first two points, they are raised by those for whom distasteful events are always unseasonable. In regard to the latter, it may be said that the Christian religion has proved none the less successful and beneficent to Europe, although it must be confessed that the mere charity inculcated by that religion was not the exclusive motive of Constantine in adopting and proclaiming it.

Time advances, and the national power will not lag behind it in bearing the proclamation into the homes which slavery has scourged with the crowning evils of civil war, and the most flagrant of political crimes-treason against the best constitution and the best government that has ever been established among men. There is reason to hope that the proceeding will divide and break the insurrection. The public mind has been disturbed, and the periodical occurrence of popular elections has been attended by extravagant expressions, as usual. But the policy of the administration will be practically acquiesced in and ultimately universally approved.

Your warning against hostile designs of a naval character have been submitted to the Secretary of the Navy. The delays of our new iron-clad vessels are painful and mortifying, but one cannot see where to charge fault; and we have some reason to hope that our energies, however unsatisfactory to ourselves, cannot be surpassed in effect by the enemies and their colaborers in Great Britain. We have now promises, which seem reliable, of all the vessels we need, within the period that is spent in a voyage across the ocean and back again.

Kentucky and Missouri, like Maryland, are free again. The war retires into Tennessee, as it has into Virginia. Expeditions up and down the Mississippi are nearly in readiness. General McClellan is preparing operations in Virginia, not so rapidly as our impatience demands, but, doubtless, with his customary care and comprehensiveness. General Mitchell will not long be idle before Charleston.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

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

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 381.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 25, 1862.

SIR: I send herewith copies of papers which have just been received from James E. Harvey, esquire, our minister at Lisbon, touching the depredations of piratical vessels built, armed, manned, and equipped in British ports, and despatched from such ports upon the American merchant vessels on the high seas near the island of Flores.

The President desires that you lay copies, or the substance of them, before Earl Russell in such manner as shall seem best calculated to effect two important objects: first, due redress for the national and private injuries sus

tained; and secondly, a prevention of such lawless and injurious proceedings hereafter.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

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

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

[The papers above referred to are printed in this series in the correspondence with Portugal.]

No. 382.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 27, 1862.

SIR: The military events which seem to require a notice, when the mail is departing, are, first, the escape of the insurgents from Kentucky back into the mountains of Tennessee. General Buell's proceedings are, in some military quarters, thought to have been unnecessary dilatory; he has been relieved, and General Rosecrans, a very vigorous and accomplished officer, assumes the vacated command. Second, General Scholefield has defeated the insurgents in Arkansas, in which State they were attempting to make a stand after their second expulsion from Missouri. Third, General McClellan is on the eve of crossing the Potomac to challenge the insurgents as a beginning of the new campaign in Virginia. Fourth, re-enforcements are going to our forces in North Carolina, South Carolina, and New Orleans. These re-enforcements will have all needful naval co-operation. There are various political manifestations in North Carolina, Virginia, and Louisiana, which are not destitute of significancy, but it would be premature perhaps to specify them. It must suffice to say that it is a mistake to assume, as seems to be so freely assumed in Europe, that the President's proclamation of warning to the insurgent States will be either unfruitful or even unheeded. After there shall have been time to collect and ascertain the true effect of the extraordinary speeches and publications concerning our national affairs, which the last mail has brought us from Europe, I shall give you the impressions they shall have made on the mind of the President.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

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SIR: You will receive herewith the resolutions of the Chambers of Commerce of the State of New York, on the subject of the recent destruction at sea of American vessels near the Azores by pirates, who went forth upon that unlawful errand from British ports and waters.

You will judge how far the submission of these resolutions, which are so just in themselves, and so humane, to the notice of Earl Russell may conduce to the desired ends of redress for the past and prevention for the future which are indicated in another instruction sent to you under this date.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

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

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

[Circular-No. 27.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, October 27, 1862.

To the diplomatic and consular representatives of the United States:

Under the leave of the President, I transmit herewith loyal, patriotic, and humane resolutions which have been adopted by the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York in relation to the late destruction of American vessels in the vicinity of the Azores by vessels built, equipped, armed, manned, and despatched for that enterprise in the ports of a friendly nation.

Representations upon the same subject have been made by this department to the government of Great Britain. It will, therefore, not be expected that you shall publish these resolutions or adopt any official proceedings thereon, but will regard them as sent to you simply for your own information with reference to the condition of public sentiment in our country.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, held to consider what action, if any, should be taken in consequence of the burning at sea by the steamer Alabama of the ship Brilliant and other vessels, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, to wit:

Resolved, That this chamber has heard with profound emotion the graphic account given by Captain Hager of the burning of his ship Brilliant on the 3d day of October instant, a portion of which is in the following words:

"At sunset the Brilliant was fired-at 7. p. m. was in flames fore and aft, the E. F. lying about a mile from her. The ship continued to burn all night. In the morning the steamer was close at hand, and the ship seen the afternoon before had worked up to the burning wreck during the night, probably with the expectation of saving life, but at daylight found herself in the clutches of her destroyer! It continued calm during all day, and but a light air during the night. Towards midnight a bright light was seen in the direction of the steamer, and it is more than probable it was from the third ship."

Resolved, That, in view of this atrocity, it is the duty of this chamber to announce, for the information of all who are interested in the safety of human life-the life of shipwrecked passengers and crews-that henceforth the light of a burning ship at sea will become to the American sailor the signal that lures to destruction, and will not be, as in times past, the beacon to guide the generous and intrepid mariner to the rescue of the unfortunate. Resolved, That henceforth self-preservation will be the first dictate of prudence, as it is the "first law of nature," and, consequently, that the destruction of the Brilliant can be only characterized as a crime against humanity; and all who have knowingly and willingly aided and abetted must be considered as participators in the crime.

Resolved, That this chamber has not failed to notice a rapid change in British sentiment, transforming a friendly nation into a self-styled “neutral” power-the nature of which neutrality is shown in permitting ships to go forth with men, and in permitting an armament to follow them, for the detestable work of plundering and destroying American ships; thus encouraging, upon the high seas, an offence against neutral rights, on the plea of which, in the case of the Trent the British government threatened to plunge this country into war.

Resolved, further, That the outrage consigning to destruction by fire, without adjudication, British and American property together, is an aggravation of the offence against the rights of neutrals, and ought to be denounced as a crime by the civilized nations of the world.

Resolved, That this chamber has heard with amazement that other vessels are fitting out in the ports of Great Britain to continue the work of destruction begun by the Alabama-an enormity that cannot be committed on the high seas without jeopardizing the commerce and peace of nations. Resolved, further, That it is the duty of this chamber to warn the merchants of Great Britain that a repetition of such acts as the burning of the Brilliant by vessels fitted out in Great Britain, and manned by British seamen, cannot fail to produce the most wide-spread exasperation in this country; and hence they invoke the influence of all men who value peace and good will among the nations to prevent the departure of other vessels of the character referred to from their ports, and so to avert the calamity of war.

Resolved, That it is the desire of this chamber, as it is the interest of all its members, to cherish sentiments of amity with the people of Great Britain, to maintain those cordial relations which have led to profitable intercourse, and to strengthen the ties that knit them together in mutual courtesy and respect.

Resolved, That copies of the foregoing preamble and resolutions be sent to the Hon. Secretary of State of the United States and to the Board of Trade of London and Liverpool, and that the Secretary of State be requested to transmit copies of the same to the diplomatic agents of the United States for distribution in other commercial countries.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the resolutions from the minutes of the chamber.

JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS, JR.,

Secretary.

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

No. 242.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, October 16, 1862.

SIR: I now transmit copies of further notes on the subject of the gunboat 290, in continuation of those sent with my despatch (No. 227) of the 26th of September. It is very manifest that no disposition exists here to apply the powers of the government to the investigation of the acts complained of, flagrant as they are, or to the prosecution of the offenders. The main object must now be to make a record which may be of use at some future day.

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 9, 1862.

2. Mr. Hamilton to Mr. Hammond, September 27, 1862.

3 Commissioners of Customs on No. 290, September 25, 1862.

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