Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

No. 307.]

Legation of the United States, London January 23, 1863.

Sir: Without any movement on my part you would scarcely fail to fix your attention upon the reports of two speeches made during the past week—one by Mr. Milnor Gibson, the president of the Board of Trade, to his constituents at Ashton-under-Lyne, and the other by the Duke of Argyle, at the meeting of the National Bible Society of Scotland, held at Edinburgh on Tuesday last. Both of them indicate, what is now perceptible in many other quarters, much greater confidence in the treatment of the American question, and its relations to slavery.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.