Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Despatches from the department, numbered from 747 to 752, inclusive, have been received at this legation.
The events of the week have been of more than usual interest. The rather sudden demise of the King of Denmark has added one more to the already grave complications of European politics, as a question of disputed succession comes in to aggravate the old differences between Germany and Denmark, respecting the relation of Schleswig and Holstein. In the mean time the responses to the invitation of the Emperor of France come in slowly, and with hesitation about conditions not altogether welcome. The uneasiness as to the future has increased, until, in some of the great commercial points on the continent, it has reached a state of panic. Most of the trading houses are busy in contracting [Page LXIII] their operations in anticipation of a rupture in the spring. The drain of the precious metals eastward has now continued so long as to call for a rapid advance of the rate of interest in all the markets of Europe, without, as yet, producing a sensible check. The evidences of restlessness, and of the sense of insecurity, multiply. The conviction is strong that things will not remain much longer as they are now, though no one pretends to foresee the precise form of trouble that may ensue. Even the proposed Congress, should it finally be assembled, is viewed as far more likely to terminate in a rupture than in a pacification and general disarmament.
In the same degree that the public mind of Europe becomes absorbed in these domestic speculations, will the struggle in the United States decline in interest. The cotton question has been so far disposed of as to render the possibility of the reopening of the American supply a matter of quite as much danger to existing interests as of possible benefit. I think I perceive a gradual, but steady, relaxation of the policy of settled hostility to the United States, which was adopted here soon after the commencement of the war. I am growing very hopeful that the way is opening to the maintenance of peace between the two countries throughout the period of our great trials: indeed, with any average amount of further success in the field, I should venture to say it was tolerably secure.
I shall make the pending proceedings in the Court of Exchequer, on the motion for a new trial in the case of the Alexandra, the subject of a separate despatch at the latest moment before the closing of the bag. Meanwhile I beg to call your attention to a very fair pamphlet on the Enlistment Act, by Mr. F. W. Gibbs, just published, a copy of which I transmit herewith.
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.