Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I thank you very sincerely for your despatch of the 15th of April, No. 660, which contains information particularly new and interesting in regard to the proceedings which have culminated in the departure of the Archduke Maximilian from Trieste, with the intention to establish an imperial monarchy in Mexico. Every thinking observer must be fully satisfied, even without special evidence, that those events had their origin in a conspiracy of Mexicans against the independence and freedom of their own country. Nevertheless it will be fortunate for the future of Mexico, and for the cause of republican government there, if the history you have given me of the details of the conspiracy shall soon become generally known.
You have very clearly explained the motives and sentiments which have induced so many of the influential statesmen and authorities of Europe to favor the subversion of the Mexican republic. All these motives and sentiments resolve themselves into a jealousy of the advancement of the United States. Their great prosperity and progress have necessarily provoked this political antagonism. You very justly lament the pertinacity with which the American people continue their suicidal division in presence of the apparent overthrow of their influence in Mexico, but it is the same blindness of faction which led us into the civil war. Only time and events can cure it, and these we may well believe are doing their work. No appeal to the reason or to the patriotism of the insurgents is heard so long as they entertain hopes of success in their desperate enterprise. The loyal people of the United States seem to have no need for new or increased devotion to the national cause. At all events, considerations of foreign and remote dangers can scarcely be expected to gain serious [Page 724] attention, when the immediate domestic perils of the conflict absorb the popular mind. I know no other way for us than to contemplate the situation calmly, do our whole duty faithfully, meet every emergency as it rises, with prudence, firmness, and force if necessary, and trust in God for a safe issue of the contest.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &. &c.