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GEORGE W CHILES PUBLISHER 628 & 630 CHESTNUT ST PHILADELPHIA
JBNeagle Se

STOCK SPECULATIONS.

161

mentioned the fact that no words on the subject had passed between himself and the British minister, and that he should say nothing until advised of the action of the British Government in the matter. At the same time he called Mr. Adams's attention to the fact that Captain Wilkes did not act under instructions from his Government, and therefore the subject was free from much embarrassment. Mr. Seward expressed a hope that the British Government would consider the subject in a friendly temper, and declared that it might expect the best disposition on the part of the Government of the United States. He gave Mr. Adams leave to read his note, so indicative of a desire to preserve a good understanding with the Cabinet of St. James, to Earl Russell and Lord Palmerston (the Prime Minister), if he should deem it expedient. Mr. Adams did so, and yet the British Government, with this voluntary assurance that a satisfactory arrangement of the difficulties might be made, continued to press on its warlike measures with vigor, to the alarm and distress of the people.' The fact that such assurance had reached the Government was not only suppressed, but, when rumors of it were whispered, it was semi-officially denied. And when the fact could no longer be concealed, it was, by the same authority, affirmed, without a shadow of justice, that Mr. Adams had suppressed it, at the same time suggesting, as a reason, that the minister might profit by the purchase of American stocks at panic prices. The most absurd stories concerning the

a Dec. 19, 1861.

1 Lieutenant-General Scott was in Paris at the time of the arrival of the news of the capture of the conspirators. He wrote and published a very judicious letter (Dec. 3), in which he gave assurance of friendly feeling toward Great Britain on the part of the Government of the United States. But this semi-official declaration from so high a source was not allowed to have any weight.

* Letter of Charles Francis Adams to Mr. Seward, January 17th, 1862.

Letter of Charles Francis Adams to Mr. Seward, January 17th, 1862. An incident occurred on this side of the Atlantic in connection with the Trent affair, and stock speculations, which gave rise to much comment. Dr. Russell, the correspondent of the London Times (see page 858, volume I.), was then in Washington City, and remained there for some time. He had so persistently disparaged the National Government and its supporters, and predicted success for the rebellion with an earnestness which indicated the wish that is "father to the thought," that the confiding courtesy which had been shown him by the National authorities was withdrawn. He was now, it was said, in daily and intimate intercourse with Lord Lyons. On the 26th of December, Secretary Seward communicated to that Minister his letter announcing that Mason and Slidell would be given up to the British Government. The fact was intended to be kept in most profound secrecy from the public for the moment; but on the following day Russell, possessed of the secret, was allowed to telegraph to a stock speculator in New York: "Act as though you heard some very good news for yourself and for me, as soon as you get this." At that time, operations in New York, in Government stocks, were active and remunerative. Those stocks had been depressed by the menaces of war. Words that would give assurance of peace would send them up. These had been spoken in secret, and the first man who was allowed to profit by them pecuniarily was a British subject, a representative of the British journal in the interest of the Crown, most abusive of the American people, and who was then in intimate relations with the British embassy. What is still more strange is the fact that, in violation of a positive order to the Censor of the Press and Telegraph at Washington, to suppress all communication concerning the Trent affair, this dispatch, so palpably burdened with contraband information, was allowed to be sent forty-five minutes after the order for suppression was received. Still more strange is the fact that, while the reporters of the Press were not allowed to send any dispatches, for all of which they were ready to pay, on the back of the favored Dr. Russell's message (the original is now before the author) were these words, written in pencil: "Mr. Russell's messages are free, by order of Mr. Sanford," who was the Censor. For a further elucidation of this subject, see the Report of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, on the Censorship of the Press at Washington.

With words calculated to keep up the excitement and alarm, and warlike measures on the other side of the Atlantic, and still further to depress the stocks of the United States, Russell wrote to the London Times, on the day when his profitable dispatch was sent to New York free, saying: "As I write there is a rumor that Messrs. Slidell and Mason are to be surrendered. If it be true, this Government is broken up. There is so much violence of spirit among the lower orders of the people, and they are so ignorant of every thing except their own politics and passions, so saturated with pride and vanity, that any honorable concession, even in this hour of extremity, would prove fatal to its authors. It would certainly render them so unpopular that it would damage them in the conduct of this civil war." He had already ventured to make many predictions of evil to the Republic. So early as the previous April he had said to Europe, through the Times, "The Union is gone forever, and no serious attempt will be made by the North to save it." In August he had said, “General bankruptcy is VOL. II.-11

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