Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Your despatch of May 23, No. 165, has been received. You will express confidentially to Earl Russell the satisfaction with which the President has received the explanations made through you by Earl Russell on the subject of the changed condition of affairs in Mexico.
You have expressed to his lordship, as well as to myself, some doubts of the candor and loyalty of the Spanish government in the declarations of approval of the Commanding General Prim which that government has made to Earl Russell. It gives me pleasure to inform you that these declarations harmonize entirely with the tone of all the communications on the same subject which have been received at this department from Mr. Calderon Collantes.
The new complication of affairs in Mexico is a cause of serious concern to the government of the United States. Mr. Corwin has negotiated a treaty which stipulates a loan of eleven million of dollars to the Mexican government. But the condition of affairs in our own country, to say nothing of the state of things in Mexico, is such as to make it extremely doubtful whether that measure would receive at present the approval of the Senate of the United States. The President therefore holds the subject in reserve.
The contents of this despatch may be made known in confidence to Earl Russell.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.