1. Lord Russell to Mr. Adams, May 1, 1863.
2. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, May 2, 1863.
Lord Russell to Mr. Adams.
Foreign
Office, May 1,
1863.
Sir: Your letter of the 25th of April,
in reply to mine of the 20th of that month, did not reach me
until the morning of the 28th. I mention this to explain to you
why it was not included in the collection of papers presented to
Parliament on the 27th, of which my letter formed a part.
I think it necessary, in consequence of the tenor of your letter,
to point out to you that you have entirely misapprehended the
purport of my letter of the 20th of April. My object in that
letter was not to discuss the question of the practice of
nations to admit into their naval or military service the
subjects or citizens of other states, but merely to point out
that the government of the United States had no right to
complain, as of an unfriendly act on the part of this country,
that British subjects took service with the so-called
Confederate States, so long as the government of the United
States allowed and encouraged other British subjects to enter
into their own military service.
The government of the United States must either proceed on the
principle of admitting all British subjects to voluntary service
in its ships and military
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bodies, and then it has no reason to
complain that the confederates do the same; or it must appeal to
the foreign enlistment act, and, in that case, it ought not to
encourage in its own practice that which it denounces in the
case of the confederates.
The government of the United States cannot ask the British
government to act partially and unfairly. If thousands of
British subjects are to be found fighting in the ranks of the
federals, on the invitation of the United States authorities, it
is no breach of neutrality that some hundreds should be found in
the ships and armies of the confederates upon a similar
invitation on their part.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your
most obedient, humble servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c.
Mr. Adams to Lord Russell.
Legation of the United
States,
London,
May 2,
1863.
My Lord: I am very happy to understand,
by the terms of your lordship’s note of the 1st instant, what I
did not doubt must have been the fact, that no intention was
entertained on the part of her Majesty’s government to put
obstacles in the way of remonstrances on the part of my
government against the enlistment, by parties within this
kingdom, of her Majesty’s subjects, for the purpose and with the
intent to carry on war against a nation with which she is at
peace. It has seemed to me that such proceedings have been and
are carried on, in violation of the neutrality declared in the
present contest, and to that extent become just subjects of
complaint on my part. I am not aware that I have ever carried my
representations beyond that point.
I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest
consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your
most obedient servant,
Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c.
