Mr. Adams to Mr.
Seward.
No. 250.]
Legation of the United States,
London,
October 28, 1862.
Sir: There is so decided an official tone in
the leader in the Globe of Saturday last, that I
deem it advisable to put you in possession of it out of the ordinary
course. The cabinet meeting which was called for Thursday did not take
place; but there can be no doubt that the policy marked out in this
publication must have been informally agreed upon for the guidance of
Lord Lyons on his departure the same day. Doubtless his lordship will
have himself enlightened you before this arrives.
The insurrection in Greece is a new event, not unlikely to be productive
of further complications in Europe. The agitation of the eastern
question, as indicated in the published correspondence between the
Russian and the British cabinets, is also an element of importance in
estimating the probabilities of the approaching year. Possibly the rapid
increase of clouds in this atmosphere may have had its effect in
producing the most decided manifestation of good will to the President
that has been made since I have been here. The effect here will be
beneficial.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Page 226]
[From the
London Daily Globe of October
25.]
[Untitled]
Lord Lyons leaves England to-day to resume his post as the
representative of her Majesty at Washington. We have no doubt that
the ability and discretion by which his tenure of that office has
been hitherto marked will continue to stand the country in good
stead, and that our intercourse with the President’s government will
remain as peaceful and uninterrupted as the best friends of England
and America could wish. At a moment of great delicacy and difficulty
Lord Lyons comported himself to the complete satisfaction of his
government and the public, and should he have any similarly grave
task before him, he will doubtless fulfil it with equal success. But
the principal reason for our confidence in anticipating smoothness
in our transatlantic relations is based upon the great improbability
of any cause of political differences arising between the government
at Washington and our own. We hear, indeed, of something like an
inadmissible course of proceeding on the part of Commodore Wilkes in
the Bahamas. As yet our information is imperfect, and we are unable
positively to say how far that officer may have been trying to lay
the foundation of a new chapter on international law, based on his
own abnormal views, or whether he is merely exercising those rights
in a somewhat vexatious manner, which are liberally accorded to
belligerents by the usages of nations. But we feel sure that if
Commodore Wilkes transgresses the fair bounds of warfare, his
government will not sanction his acts, and as they repudiated him
before, so, if there be occasion, they will repudiate him again. We
have the fullest confidence that President Lincoln’s government will
not act in a manner to impose any unpleasant duty upon our
representative at their capital.
On the part of her Majesty’s ministers we may feel equally confident
that no course will be pursued calculated to give any just cause of
offence to the still great state beyond the Atlantic. Up to this our
policy as regards the northern States has been clear, wise, and
unselfish, and it will continue so. If impressions have arisen that
any immediate change in our position as regards the belligerents was
about to take place, and that Lord Lyons was to carry off in his
pocket instructions likely to lead to a crisis on his landing, they
have only originated in a kind of superabundant mental agility on
the part of some of the public who have turned a fixed plank into a
springboard, and have jumped from a minister’s plain narration of a
fact scarcely to be denied, to an extravagant and unjustifiable
hypothesis. Many, no doubt, believed that the meeting of the cabinet
appointed for last Thursday would result in the recognition of the
southern confederacy, and those who somewhat inconsiderately press
such an important step at the present moment upon the government
have precedents cut and dried for our taking such a course. There is
scarcely a single diplomatic step for which a precedent cannot be
unearthed on both sides, and if the government were merely to follow
precedent in a case of such extreme gravity, they would be miserable
doctrinaires, instead of statesmen fit to
judge of a great question upon its merits and its practical bearings
on the vast interests involved. Pedants and enthusiasts may not look
at consequences; but those who undertake to guide the councils of a
great country must well weigh the advantages, and not only the
probable but even the possible effects of what they recommend. Even
those who are most eager for the recognition of the southern States
as a member of the family of nations, even those who form the most
sanguine estimate of its effects upon our own material interests,
must admit that its accomplishment will precipitate upon us a future
of great gravity, which it would be almost criminal for us to seek
to hasten without the strongest reason and the most solemn
consideration. We do not expect to find that her Majesty’s
government have resolved on such a course, or that they have adopted
a policy the very expediency of which is debatable, even if its
accomplishment were less difficult. When we speak of its expediency
we do not use the word in any narrow or unworthy sense, but as
regards the practical effect of the step
[Page 227]
in prolonging or terminating the contest by
which America is convulsed and Europe shocked. We have no doubt that
in the interests of humanity and civilization the government of
Great Britain would be glad to take any steps and assume any
responsibility if there were a prospect of their being able to
change this vast scene of fratricide into one of peace. But
suggestions, still less interference, should only be offered where
the circumstances render it probable that they would be effectual.
In the present instance they would be met with difficulties at the
very threshold, and might defeat their own object. While we all
deplore the continuance of this struggle—while we would all make
sacrifices to bring it to a termination—we must not forget the
dictates of wisdom and avoid interference, at least until we have
good reason to think it will not be useless or mischievous.
