Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: You will communicate to the thirteen thousand five hundred inhabitants of Birmingham the sincere and grateful thanks of the President for the sentiments which they have expressed in their address, which, through my hands, has been laid before him.
You will say to them that they have truly interpreted the character and nature of the contest in this country, which so largely engages the attention of foreign nations. The question which is being decided in arms is, as they have truly said, whether a nation shall be built and established, even here in the heart of this hitherto free country, and upon this yet new and imperfectly reclaimed continent, upon the principles that labor shall be not free and compensated, but involuntary and unpaid; and that African men, women, and [Page 169] children, once made captive on their native coasts by fraud or force, and imported here thereby, shall lose at once all the rights of manhood, and forever thereafter, through all generations, shall be merely lawful goods and chattels, wares, and merchandise. It is not, however, the President, nor yet the loyal people of the United States, who have raised this issue, or brought it to the trial of civil war. Lawfully standing under, and solemnly bound by, the public will and the laws of the Union, to uphold a Constitution which was established with the concurrence of the insurgents themselves upon the broad foundation of human rights, this government and the American people have accepted the fearful issue only when that Constitution itself must be surrendered, if the conflict should be longer declined. We occupy at one and the same time the position of lovers of peace and defenders of humanity. The President has not for one moment believed—he refuses to believe—against all expositions of British and of European opinion to the contrary, no matter how assuming or how authoritative they may appear, that the deliberate judgment of the British nation in such a case has been or can well be pronounced against the American people.
Under these circumstances the President could not fail to appreciate the evidence which is now so spontaneously furnished to him by the men of Birmingham, so well known to all the world by their genius, their arts, their industry, their political sagacity, and their indomitable devotion to freedom, in support of his judgment upon a question that affects so deeply the interests of our country, and the prospect of civilization throughout the world.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.