Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Your despatch of August 1 (No. 201) has been received.
Your proceedings in conveying to Earl Russell the explanations concerning the Mexican question, heretofore confided to you, are approved.
So also is the action you have taken in regard to the piratical vessels Oreto and 290, and our protest against the perversion of the neutral privileges of the island of Nassau. You will, on proper occasion, make known to Earl Russell the satisfaction which the President has derived from the just and friendly proceedings and language of the British government in regard to these subjects. When we consider how soon this insurrection would wither and die when deprived of the sympathies of the British nation and the hope of aid which those sympathies, now so active, have awakened; how soon commerce would revive; how beneficent, as well as how soothing, to the British nation the restoration of our domestic peace must necessarily be; and what hopes for the British race every where, and even for civilization itself, are treasured up in a necessary harmony and co-operation of the distinct [Page 175] families of that race, found on every continent and on so many islands, it seems impossible to account for the hostile disposition of a portion of the British people toward the United States, except on the ground of an unnecessary jealousy, which is feeding an unwise and unnatural ambition.
Your communication with Earl Russell on the subject of New Granada, and especially the Isthmus of Panama, including the views expressed by him, are entirely satisfactory to the President.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.