Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 8th of September, (No. 492,) together with the correspondence which took place between Earl Russell and yourself on the occasion of the decision of her Majesty’s government to prevent the departure of the iron-clad steamships which have been prepared at Liverpool to make war against the United States.
You are already aware of the considerations affecting the safety of our country which make this proceeding eminently gratifying. There are, however, other circumstances which ought not to be overlooked. This government has not been forgetful of the agency of disloyal citizens of the United States in inaugurating the hostile enterprise, and in instigating debates in Parliament and in the press, which have tended to embarrass the British ministry, and aggravate the responsibility which has devolved upon them. The President, therefore, thinks that he apprehends in some degree the firmness and fidelity to just principles which the cabinet of London has exercised. Nor does he for a moment doubt that a sincere desire to cultivate the friendship of the United States has had its proper influence in the determination at which the cabinet has arrived. You Will, therefore, specially inform Earl Russell that the government of the United States will hereafter hold itself obliged, with even more care than heretofore, to endeavor to conduct its intercourse with Great Britain in such a manner that the civil war in which we are unhappily engaged shall, when it comes to its end, leave to neither nation any permanent cause of discontent.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.