Mr. Taylor to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches No. 20, of March 17, and Nos. 21, 22, and 23, of March 30, as well as circular No. 32, communicating a copy of the “act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public lands.”
I at once forwarded one of the copies of Mr. Blair’s letter, accompanying No. 20, to the ministry of foreign affairs. I had also decided to forward the circular No. 32 in like manner, when a correct translation of it appeared in the official Journal de St. Petersbourgh together with an article from the Siecle of Paris, calling attention to the prosperous condition of the United States. The concurrent resolutions of Congress on the subject of foreign intervention have since been published in the same paper.
I notice that the receipt of my despatch No. 30, of March 3, is not mentioned. As it contained an enclosure of some importance, I am anxious to know whether it reached you safely. In case of failure I can furnish a duplicate.
The medals and drafts designed by the President for presentation to the Finnish pilots who were instrumental in saving the crew of the American ship Hero, the forwarding of which was announced in your despatch No. 12, of January 13, have not yet come to hand.
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On Sunday morning the 12th, (Easter Sunday, O S.,) the Emperor issued a manifesto in relation to Poland, the most important portion of which is as follows: “In our solicitude for the future of the country, we are ready to ignore all past acts of rebellion. In conformity therewith, ardently desiring to put an end to an effusion of blood as fruitless for one side as it is painful for the other [Page 866] we accord a complete pardon to those of our subjects of the (Polish) kingdom implicated in the recent troubles, who shall not have incurred the responsibility of other crimes, or of violations of military law in the ranks of our army, and who shall lay down their arms and return to obedience by the 1st (13th, N. S.) of May.”
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Our national struggle has, as is natural during such a crisis, relapsed into a secondary importance. While on the one hand I am relieved from the pressure of adverse opinions, on the other I encounter not an absence, but a suspension, of active sympathy induced by the anticipation of possible events here. I have, therefore, nothing of interest to communicate in this respect. The movements which were awaited with most curiosity, especially that against Charleston, have not yet taken place, and the other brightening aspects of our cause which give American citizens abroad such renewed hopes of the issue are not so apparent to foreign observers. I am safe at least in asserting that the prestige of our government has increased here during the past three or four months. I am, sir, with the highest respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.