Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I have received your confidential despatch of the 8th of April, No. 651, together with a copy of the London Times, which contains the reason assigned by the law lords for their decision dismissing the appeal of the Alexandra. I have expressed in a letter to Mr. Evarts the view I have taken of the course to he pursued on that subject in London, and I have transmitted to you a copy of that communication.
I have submitted to the President the reflections upon the temper and disposition of the British nation as they are affected by our civil war with which you have favored me. The correctness of your views is established by the fact that the insurgents manifestly have a bold, vigorous, and effective party in both houses of Parliament and in the British press, which party is confessedly influential in the general administration of public affairs, while the United States seem to have in the British legislature and in the British press no advocates or defenders, except persons who, however great their ability and worth, are, nevertheless, practically excluded from the conduct of national affairs. There is, moreover, a marked habit prevailing in Great Britain of comparing British resources and achievements with American resources and achievements, and this is done so unnecessarily, and often in a spirit so illiberal, as to indicate a sense of rivalry. Our civil war has endured three years. It has necessarily brought up many irritating and perplexing questions between the two countries. I think it would be safe to say that no belligerent state ever bore itself more forbearingly towards a neutral power, whose subjects committed so many injuries and provocations, than we have done towards Great Britain. I think it equally clear that no neutral power was ever more unyielding and more exacting towards a belligerent than Great Britain has been towards the United States. Your inference from this condition of things is, that this government must apply itself with the greatest possible energy to bring the civil war to a speedy and triumphant conclusion, or else it may have reason to expect conflict with Great Britain and with her allies. While, however, we accept this wise counsel, it would be unjust on my part toward the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments if I were to withhold the expression of a thorough and deliberate conviction that the war is conducted with all the energy and skill which any administration of the government of the United States in their circumstances could command.
The conflict is indeed a great one, and the ideas and interests which sustain the parties engaged in it render it fierce and obstinate. We must, therefore, accept the case as it is—a case of severe domestic trial, with continual danger of foreign intervention. We have before us but one line of duty—that is, the way of perseverance. It is the course we have pursued hitherto. It will save us now unless we are to be lost. That this nation can be lost is a conclusion that neither our virtue nor our patriotism nor even our reason can accept.
I will not say how great our confidence in the opening campaign is. Events are so near that we can more wisely wait for them than anticipate them. Nor can we prudently forget that of all human transactions those of war are, in their sequence, the most uncertain and capricious, although the ultimate results are a subject of political calculation. We have the conviction that the national cause is in a far stronger condition now than it has been at any previous stage of the civil war, while the disunion forces seem weaker than at any time heretofore. The maritime powers whose interference is to be apprehended if we shall be unfortunate, seem to me to be somewhat less at liberty to engage against us now than they have hitherto been. I think it certain that we have more friends [Page 639] and fewer enemies abroad now than we have had at former periods of the war. Thus time seems to be favoring us, and time is always the best friend of justice and truth. Nor is it necessary to suppress the conviction, that pacific as the temper of the American people is, yet that the efforts and sacrifices which they have hitherto made are inconsiderable compared with what they would make if now assailed by a foreign enemy. Practically there is no longer a hearing in the country for a man who counsels fear of the enemy at home; much less would there be a hearing for one who should counsel submission to aggression from abroad. These are the grounds upon which the President builds his hope that we shall pass safely through the trials which are before us.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.