Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Your despatch of April 3 (No. 140) has been submitted to the President, together with the note addressed to you by Earl Russell bearing on the subject discussed. All the grievances which disturb our people and tend to alienate them from Great Britain seem deducible from the concessions made by her to the insurgents at the beginning of this civil war. All the explanations we receive from Great Britain seem to imply a conviction that this civil war must end in the overthrow of the federal Union. The ultimate consequence of such a calamity would be that this great country would be divided into factions and hostile states and confederations, as Greece and Italy and Spanish America have been.
You can do no more in the present conjuncture than to give his lordship, from time to time, fresh and accumulating evidence of our purpose and our ability to pursue to a successful end the course which we have learned from our British ancestry, namely, to hold the constituent States of our great realm in perpetual and indissoluble union. You will, as I have before advised, do this in such way and at such times and seasons as your own discretion may approve.
If the British government shall do us full justice, they will be satisfied that the change of attitude we ask is suggested by us upon a profound conviction that it would be equally beneficial to Great Britain and to the United States. The President cannot consent to be responsible, now or hereafter, for any degree of alienation between the two countries which is now arising, or which shall reveal itself hereafter.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.