Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Your despatch of October 24 (No. 248) has been received. It is a source of satisfaction to know that the expectations that Great Britain would speedily give her aid to sustain the failing insurrection here, which disloyal citizens at home and abroad had built upon the extra-official speeches of the British chancellor of the exchequer, were unreal and purely imaginary. The President trusts that the day is far distant, indeed he hopes a day may never come, when two kindred nations shall consent to apply to purposes of mutual destruction energies which, if combined, are capable of carrying forward to a pitch never yet fully contemplated the improvement in the condition and character of mankind. Such an apprehension could never have entered the American mind if it had not been schooled by the experiences of our unnatural civil war to fear that popular but ephemeral passion and prejudice may sometimes, in any country, over-master all sentiments of national prudence, truth, justice, and humanity.
This government does not fail to see what Europe wants, and to see that it is just what the United States want, namely, a speedy and absolute conclusion of the war. Nor does the government fail to see that it is demanded with equal impatience on both continents. It may be possible that greater activity and energy than have been exhibited could have been put forth to secure that end. But it is believed that on a calm and critical examination it will appear that, considering the situation of the country, the very popular character, and the very complex republican form of the constitution, the magnitude of the insurrection, the peculiarity of the moral and dynastic principles which are involved, and the foreign influences which have intervened, the progress which the government has made in suppressing the insurrection is an achievement which has never been surpassed.
At the present we are apprehending no insurmountable obstacles to complete success. Our army in Virginia, as you will learn from the newspapers, is already approaching the Rapidan, without having encountered serious opposition. General Grant is advancing into the heart of Mississippi. General Rosecrans is moving forward in Tennessee. Expeditions by land and water, greater in force than any preceding one, will soon be on its way to the southern coast.
The conviction which I have so confidently expressed to you during the last six weeks, that the insurrection is becoming exhausted, and which event seemed so strange at the time and under the circumstances when it was expressed, is now becoming generally accepted, and I see with pleasure that it begins to find favor in England. You did not exaggerate, in your conversation with Earl Russell, the injurious influences here of the speech of the chancellor of the exchequer. [Page 233] Indeed, no one can even fully appreciate the importance which nations, when excited, attach to the conventional utterances of persons in authority. When it is remembered that a year ago the public mind in Great Britain, and even that of her Majesty’s government, was affected by the representation of alleged speeches and conversations of my own, delivered before my coming into my present position, it seems strange that a British minister should be willing to speak, extra-officially and without a government purpose, upon an American question in a sense which might be interpreted as one of intervention, if not of menace. It was to prevent all such unfortunate proceedings on the part of the representatives of the United States that the new restraints upon our ministers and consuls, of which you have already been advised, were imposed.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.