Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Resolutions at Circencester.
Circencester,
March 8,
1863.
Sir: I beg to inform you that at a public
meeting of the inhabitants of Circencester, held on the 4th of
March, and attended by about eight hundred persons, the honorable
Ashley Ponsonby, M. P. for the borough, being in the chair, the
following resolutions were adopted:
1st. Proposed by Mr. Isaac Pitt, seconded by the Rev. Jn. Dredge,
Wesleyan minister:
“That this meeting desire to express its abhorrence of the inhuman
and demoralizing system of negro slavery, and to protest against the
recognition of a government which declares slavery to be the
‘corner-stone’ of its policy.”
2d. Proposed by Mr. Thos. Brenin, seconded by Mr. Jn. Beecham, and
supported by Mr. Geo. Thompson:
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“That Abraham Lincoln having been elected President of the United
States on the avowed principle of resisting the further extension of
slave territory, and his inauguration having been met by a gigantic
rebellion, the undisguised object of which was to extend and
perpetuate slavery, he is entitled to our sympathy in the difficult
position in which he is placed, more especially considering the
earnest he has given of his antagonism to slavery by the treaty
concluded with Great Britain for suppressing the slave trade; by the
act abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, and by his
proclamation of the 1st January, declaring the slaves in the rebel
States forever free.”
3d. Proposed by the Rev. J. Stratford, independent minister, seconded
by Mr. H. Alexander:
“That this meeting, in returning thanks to the people of America for
their noble offering to the distressed operatives of Lancashire,
would express the hope that reciprocal acts of kindness and good
will may dispel the illusion that the people of England and the
United States are hostile in their feelings to each other.”
I remain, sir, your obedient servant,
His Excellency C. F. Adams.
