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

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

No. 579.]

Legation of the United States, London, January 21, 1864.

Sir: Despatches, numbered 796 to 800, inclusive, have been received at this office. Likewise copies of certain additional papers in the claim of Rufus Greene & Co. previously received with No. 792. Also a slip from a newspaper, in which are printed some of the letters intercepted in the steamer Ceres.

Finding by the transmission of two copies of the report of Mr. Mallory, as printed in the Washington Chronicle, that no doubt whatever seems to be entertained by you of the genuineness of that paper, I had no further hesitation in forwarding to Lord Russell the note already drawn by me last week. I send a copy of it herewith. You will perceive that it closely follows the text of your despatch No. 789. The chief variation is in the omission to allude to the reciprocity treaty.

The unsettled state of the Danish question, which is now brought to the verge of actual hostilities, and the uneasiness in the money market, have contributed greatly to draw off attention just now from American affairs. I think I perceive a good deal of actual change going on in the public sentiment. One of the symptoms of it may be found in the January number of the Edinburgh Review, which admits an article on the government policy in regard to emancipation as reasonable as could be desired. Indeed, the bearing of the war on the slave question is becoming less disputed. The pretence that the tariff has anything to do with it is quite exploded. In this connexion I feel it proper to call your attention to the report of the speech of Mr. Milner Gibson, at Ashton-under-Lyne, in the newspaper which I transmit. As an indication of the policy of the liberal section of the ministry it is encouraging. At the same time it is difficult to predict how far it may prevail in modifying the passive nature of its position. Prosecutions have indeed been commenced, not only against certain parties at Liverpool, but against one of the principal officers in the dockyard at Sheerness, for violations of the enlistment law. The case of Mr. Rumble was so thoroughly made out by the evidence I have presented that it could not indeed be neglected. All this shows signs of progress, though not to the extent which we might desire, or which will have the effect to break up the operations of the rebels and their friends in this kingdom. I have reason to believe that these are still carried on with great activity. They are now mainly directed to the outfit and manning of the vessels lying in France.

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

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

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

Extra Parliamentary utterances.

THE RIGHT HON. T. M. GIBSON.

[By electric telegraph.]

The Right Hon. T. M. Gibson, president of the Board of Trade, addressed a crowded meeting of his constituents last evening, at Ashton-under-Lyne town hall; the mayor presided.

Mr. Gibson, who was received with loud cheering, said: Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, I have sometimes seen it stated in the public journals that, at the present moment, when there is no active contest between the great political parties of the country upon any stirring question of domestic interest, it is difficult for one speaking upon public affairs much to interest his audience; and I must say, that if there be any truth in that, I feel that it requires a much better orator than I can ever pretend to be to make anything but a dull speech. I am afraid your worthy mayor has given rise to expectations which I shall be unable to fulfil, if he tells you that I can either instruct or edify; for it is my belief that instruction and edification must in these days come from constituents to members, and will not be conveyed by members to those whom they represent. [“Hear, hear,” and cheers.] However, there is one duty which obviously devolves upon me—to present myself in public to my constituents, to pay to them my personal respects, and to thank them for the confidence which they have hitherto reposed in me. I think that meetings such as this are salutary, and that they are useful, more especially so in a great and populous constituency like that of Ashton-under-Lyne, where the relation between a member and his constituents is more real, and where the representation is more free, than in many parts of this kingdom, which it would be difficult for me to point out. [Hear, hear.] When last I had the honor of addressing this constituency, some months since, there existed a condition of great suffering among the operative and other classes, and the future was dark and gloomy. At the present moment suffering to a great extent still exists, but I think I may say, in the presence of those better informed than I am, that the future at no distant period promises to be better; that there is blue sky appearing in the clouds, and that, although there may not be any immediate amelioration in this particular union of Ashton-under-Lyne such as you could desire, filled as it is for the most part—I speak of those who are out of employment—with cotton operatives, suffering probably from the absence of adequate supplies of cotton; yet from all the information I can get, and I have consulted those most competent to advise me, I think we may look forward to an approaching period of reviving prosperity in the cotton trade of this district. [Hear, hear.] I judge so from the returns of last year, the imports of cotton from India, from Egypt, and from other countries having very materially increased, showing a tendency to make us almost, if not altogether, independent; for probably it will be long before we arrive at the state of affairs of American supplies. Still, to a great extent, this increase will make up that large deficiency in the supply of the raw material of your industry which has been occasioned by the American war. [Hear.] But, sir, speaking of the distress that has prevailed in this district, I will undertake to say that the history of the world does not afford such an example of such a bitter trial having been borne with so much fortitude, and having been got through, as it were, with so much smoothness. I remember the attacks, at the outset, upon the manufacturers and others; and I would ask now, after the long period of distress which has existed, has this locality done its duty or has it not? The county of Lancaster, I believe, has subscribed as much as the whole of the United Kingdom. The management of these great difficulties has been mainly in the hands of local authorities. The distress has been grappled with, not by the state, but by the local authorities; and when we read advertised in the newspapers the large subscriptions received from various parts of the United Kingdom, we must not forget that there has been an amount of and in published contributions in this district of which, perhaps, the world at large are little aware, and from which, if we could get an accurate account, we should form a more just estimate of the suffering and the difficulties that had to be encountered, as well as of the beneficence with which they had been met. Now, it is the fashion to say the country is prosperous; and what does it signify? We were always told that the cotton industry was the main foundation of England’s prosperity, and now we see that industry almost prostrate, and yet there is considerable trade, gradually increasing exports, and much prosperity in various parts of the kingdom. Now, though I am obliged constantly to make use of statistics, I am not an entire believer that figures give you the full truth. In these respects, of the condition of the country, I do not believe it possible that this country can be so wealthy, or that there can be so much happiness among the masses of the people as there would have been if this great American war had not taken place, and as if there had not been this prostration of your great cotton manufacture. I have heard it said, “It is an advantage to England that this blow should have fallen upon the United States of America,” as if a nation prospered by the downfall of neighboring countries. [Hear, hear.] I hold no such opinion. [Hear, hear.] I believe that the nations of the world are like the individuals in a particular nation, that they are dependent upon each other for their prosperity and their happiness, and that if there be a great destruction of wealth in any one nation, the common stock is thus invaded, and there is less to be distributed by the channels of commerce through other countries of the world; therefore I believe that this and other countries of Europe must, of necessity, share in the losses that have arisen from that desperate civil strife that has prevailed in the United States, but there are undoubtedly signs of progress in our trade that are worth mentioning. Take the shipping interest. We used to be told that free trade in shipping (the power to employ the foreign ships as well as the English ships) would be damaging to British navigation; but what is the case? We find that the tonnage of British ships entering in and clearing out with cargoes in the United Kingdom has increased in the present year to an amount of something like 14,000,000 tons and upwards, against 7,000,000 tons of foreign shipping, thus showing that, with a great increase altogether, British shipping has kept gradually in advance of foreign shipping in the trade with the United Kingdom. But it would not be fair to take credit for this improvement in shipping as due to any policy in this country. I am afraid that some of it is due to the transferrence of the carrying trade from American ships to British ships; and why this transferrence from American ships to British ships? No doubt partly in consequence of the war that prevails in America. There may not be the same power in manning and fitting out merchant vessels, but I am afraid there is something more than that: there is the fear among the American merchant shipping of attacks by certain armed vessels that are careering over the ocean, and which are burning and destroying all the United States’ merchant ships which they find upon the high seas. The fear, therefore, of destruction by these cruisers has caused a large transfer of American carrying to British ships. Now, the decrease in the employment of American shipping is very great. In the trade between England and the United States it is something like 46 or 47 per cent. I mention these facts to show you it is right that the attention of this great commercial nation should be seriously turned to those laws which govern the action of belligerents upon the high seas. [Hear, hear.] For if some two or three armed steamers which a country with no pretensions to a navy can easily send upon the ocean armed with their one or two guns can almost clear the seas of the merchant shipping of a particular nation, what might happen to this country with her extensive commerce over the seas if she went to war with some nation that availed herself of the use of a similar description of vessels. [Hear, hear.] Why, the whole system of maritime warfare is altered by the introduction of steam, and these fast steamers cannot be overtaken by the most powerful navies. The sea is a very broad place, and they can roam about for there is no saying how long, capturing and destroying commerce, and it is not in the power of navies to prevent them. Well, if it be so, is it not rendered worse if neutral nations are to supply such vessels to belligerents? [Hear, hear.] We might with our great navy, for instance, if we were at war with some country, blockade its ports, and we might prevent vessels from sailing forth from its harbors; but if that nation with whom we were at war is to be at liberty to go to some distant region, some country friendly to ourselves, and there be furnished with these armed privateers to cruise about the ocean, I should like to know what possible protection the great navy of England, and the great expenditure upon which it rests, will be able to give to the commerce of this country; [hear, and cheers;] and therefore the government have seen, not only in an international point of view, the great evils of neutrals furnishing ships-of-war to belligerents as a principle, and contrary to the general good understanding among countries—feeling this, and also the still more paramount consideration that it is vital to the interests of England that this fitting out of vessels in countries not themselves engaged in the warfare should be prevented, they have taken a course which the laws of this country have required from them; they have endeavored, to the best of their ability, to put the laws of this country in force against those who are engaged in supplying the so-called Confederate States of America with those vessels to cruise against the commerce of the United States, a nation with whom, at this present moment, we are on terms of friendly alliance. [Cheers.] I don’t know whether any gentleman here has taken the trouble to read the legal arguments upon this question; but really I confess, for one, that I am unable to understand much of what has been said upon the subject. I am told that you may sail a fleet of ships through the foreign enlistment act. It may be so; but I will undertake to say that I will sail another fleet of ships through the construction which any one of the lawyers has hitherto put upon that act. [Laughter and cheers.] Common sense tells me that the confederate government are the parties who have, directly or indirectly, caused these ships to be built in this country, and that in so doing they entered upon a deliberate course of violating and evading the laws of England. [“Hear,” and loud cheers.] I am no lawyer, but that is my construction, [hear, hear,] and I do not think you can sail a fleet of ships through that. [Cheers and laughter.] I have touched upon this question of shipping, not so much for the purpose of calling your attention to the fact, with which I dare say you are familiar, of the great increase of our shipping, but to point out that it is a subject that well deserves the grave consideration of every commercial constituency. [Hear.] With regard to the expectations of the country, it is a remarkable fact that the exports during the eleven months of the year which has just expired (we have not the tables complete for the whole eleven months) show in point of value the largest exports on record in this kingdom; but, as I am sure it must occur to every gentleman present there is a little delusion here, there may have been an increased value without an increased quantity, and therefore without a corresponding employment of the operative classes. [Hear.] I believe that to be true to some extent, but not entirely true, for that there is a considerable increase in the actual quantities of some articles exported from this country. The total value of the exports for the eleven months amount to £132,000,000. The largest amount, I believe, on record for a period of eleven months in the history of the country. In 1862 it was £113,000,000 for the eleven months; in 1861, £115,000,000, and so forth, showing that there has been a very considerable recent increase; and it is remarkable that, although our imports of raw cotton have been so small, and therefore the amount of the cotton manufactured correspondingly diminished, yet the proportion of the value of the total exports of cotton to the whole was thirty-two per cent. in 1863, and only thirty-eight per cent. in 1860, before the cotton trade was so seriously impaired. There has been an increasing quantity in some goods no doubt, particularly arising from the fact of the substitution of the linen and woollen for cotton. I find that of linen yarns and manufacture they have increased in quantity twenty-one per cent. and twenty-six per cent. for the eleven months; of iron and steel, fifteen per cent.; of woollen and worsted yarn, seventeen per cent. I merely mention this to show you that, although it is true in the main, no doubt, that the total declared value of all exports become so large from the greatly increased price of some particular goods, yet in some trades there is not only an increase in value in the exports, but also an increase in the quantity; and I am glad to find a growing increase in the trade with those countries with which we might expect improvement. I take Italy, where it is to be hoped more free institutions and a more liberal system of government will give greater scope to commerce, and I find an increase in the nine months of last year, compared with the nine months of 1860, from £3,106,000 to £4,411,000, [hear, hear,] in consequence mainly of the treaty with France; and I will never mention that treaty without asserting positively that the country is mainly and almost entirely indebted for it to the exertions of my honorable friend, Mr. Cobden. [Loud cheers.] It is not ancient and orthodox diplomacy that succeeded in brealdng the ice in France, and, for the first time, induced the French government to turn a favorable view upon the policy of free trade. [Hear, hear.] Well, we have got from 1860 to 1863, during the nine months, (unfortunately I have not got the twelve months’ returns,) an increase from £3,656,000 of exports to £6,573,000. With Egypt we have a considerable increase. With the United States we had gone up, since 1861, when the exports had fallen down to £6,802,000 in the nine months, during the nine months of 1863 to the amount of £10,492,000, showing the tendency there is for a great extension of trade with the United States. Now, we have got something still to look forward to, for you must bear in mind that we have not got the benefit of the French treaty. On the 1st of October, 1864, there will take place important reductions of import duties in the French and Belgium tariffs. In France there will be a considerable reduction upon iron and other materials, woollen and jute tissues, chemicals, earthenware, and paper. In Belgium there will be a reduction upon similar articles, and cotton, linen, and woollen yarns; therefore, whatever increase in trade we have hitherto had in consequence of these excellent commercial arrangements which have been made by this government with France and Belgium, we shall, we hope, derive increased benefits when the future reduction of duties takes effect. Before I have done with commercial questions, I must take leave to make one or two respectful observations with reference to the proceedings of a body of men which have lately taken place in Manchester—I mean the proceedings of the paper-makers. I have the greatest possible respect for that important trade. I think the men connected with it are an example of everything that is most respectable in the manufacturing classes of England, and I should be extremely sorry to see any policy persisted in which, unless the claims of justice seem paramount for taking an opposite course, had the effect of depressing the paper manufacturers to a state of difficulty. One of the main objects of the repeal of the paper duty was to give scope and freedom to the press. It was not the only object, because there were commercial objects of high importance; but it was felt that an artificial enhancement of the price of paper was an obstacle in the way of the extension of the cheap press of this country, and it was felt at the same time that, with such institutions as we have in England, institutions which we hope to improve, nothing is so vital for the mental, moral, and intellectual welfare of the people as the diffusion of knowledge, political and all other knowledge, by a cheap and a good press. [Applause.] That press is beginning to develop itself; it is not what it will be. With the progress of education in this country you will have a larger press, growing with the taste for reading and information that must follow the general spread of instruction. But so far as the paper duties were concerned, I thought, for one, that we should never have revived that question; but it seems that paper-makers met in conference at Manchester the other day, and they passed resolutions to the effect that they were suffering in their trade, and that the legislature were bound to give them relief. I think, with all respect to these gentlemen, that the day is past for the imposition of any protecting duties to raise the price of any production of native industry. [Applause.] All classes have been subjected to competition—the farmer, the manufacturer, the tradesman; and the paper-maker must fall in with the rest, and by his enterprise and his exertion he must overcome the difficulties which he may have to encounter; and I am one of those who prognosticate most confidently that those difficulties will be overcome, and that the paper manufacture of England will be one of the greatest and most prosperous industries. Why do I say this? I find that our friends, the paper-makers, can manage to export a good deal of paper to foreign countries, and sell that paper in foreign countries in competition with foreign-made paper, and that this is an increasing trade. I don’t understand why. If we can export paper and sell it at a profit in the market of the world, we need not be afraid of the competition of the foreign paper-maker in our own market. In 1863 there were imported of paper, for consumption, 112,503 cwt., and exported out of the country 13,000 cwt.; so that, in point of fact, in round numbers, there were 100,000 cwt. of foreign paper for printing or writing purposes imported for consumption in the United Kingdom in the eleven months of 1863. Well, how much was there exported of British-made printing and writing paper during the same period? Why, 103,974 cwt.; so that the paper-makers had, at any rate, the advantage themselves of selling in foreign countries a large amount of British-made paper. Well, then, where does the ruin come from? There is a larger amount of paper made in this country than ever before, and I believe the whole imports form a very inconsiderable percentage of the paper consumption of British manufacture in the United Kingdom. The value of British paper of all kinds (except hangings) exported for the eleven months of 1863 was £511,737; in 1862, the value was £411,776; in 1861, the value was £327,986, showing, under the operation of free trade in paper, a gradual increase in the production of paper in this country for exportation. The importation of rags has also increased. In 1863 there were imported 34,746 tons of rags, against 18,084 tons in 1862. These facts I should like to have explained, because it appears to me totally inconsistent with the allegation that good trade is depressed and going to ruin to find increased production for home consumption, accompanied at the same time with increased production for foreign exportation. Our worthy chairman alluded to this American war. I do not know whether I should say a word upon the subject. Very likely, if I were to avoid it altogether, and say it was a foreign question, and that with it; we have nothing to do, I should be charged with having some reason for the reserve, and with being unwilling to state frankly the faith that is in me. [Applause.] Now, when I am before my constituents, I feel as if I am a little bit out of harness. We meet together as friends, and I just speak my own opinions, and very likely I am not experiencing the amount of reserve becoming an official; but, however, I will avoid saying anything I ought not to say [laughter and applause,] because I feel, and I beg you clearly to understand, that what I say with regard to these matters are my individual opinions, consistent with the general principles of the cabinet to which I belong. But in all governments, as under all circumstances in which men are placed, there are certain moderate diversities; some go in one direction rather further than others; but, provided there be an agreement in general principles, the questions of degree are not such as ought to prevent men from acting together for the benefit of their country. [Cheers.] With regard to the American question, the government officially is strictly neutral; their policy has been to do nothing and to say nothing as a government that should favor the views of either of the contending parties. I think generally that policy of neutrality has been approved by the country. We have been urged to recognize the south, to take steps to bring about a cessation of the blockade, not recently, but formerly, and it is a circumstance which I cannot pass without observation, that the people in this part of the United Kingdom, whose own interests would appear the most likely to be promoted by putting an end to the blockade, have most desired that our policy should be guided by justice and good feeling, with a fair allowance for the enormous difficulties which the government of the United States have had to encounter. [Cheers.] These urgings about America have not come from the cotton districts. I suppose it is found out by this time that the cotton districts have souls and intellects, and the power of appreciating what is just and right in our national policy, and are not prepared to recommend that this country should take an unworthy course for promoting the pecuniary interests of the class to which they belong. [Loud cheering.] I am one of those who think that at the commencement of this American war many persons too hastily formed the opinion that it was impossible the Union could be restored. The common saying was, in many parts of the country with which I am acquainted, “There is one thing certain—that, whatever else happens, the Union cannot be restored.” I never came to that conclusion. [Hear.] I do not know whether it will be restored. I can’t look into futurity, but I cannot go the length of seeing so clearly before as some, and showing that it is impossible the Union should be restored. When the southern leaders took up arms—for be it remembered they commenced this war [“hear,” and cheers]—it was a war of aggression on their part—when they took up arms for the purpose of compelling the government of the United States to acquiesce in breaking up the integrity of the country, I always felt that the south had undertaken a task which it would be difficult to accomplish. Nothing short of something like such a conquest of the north as would compel them to lay down their arms in despair was likely to induce the government of that country to agree to separate in the way which was proposed. But when I am told by the southern leaders that their object in taking up arms was not merely the enjoyment of their own independence, but the establishing of a model slave republic, which should perpetuate the institution of slavery, and hold it up as an institution which should be cherished, and not condemned, I then said to myself, if these men are right, and are going to succeed in establishing these principles as foundation-stones of a new empire, what have we been about for years and years in preaching and teaching that slavery is a curse, and that it is the greatest degradation that can fall upon a country? What! Have we been endeavoring to innoculate every country with which we have come in contact with our ideas as to the necessity of abolishing the slave trade, and therefore I say slavery also; because if slavery is right, then the slave trade is not wrong? Well, if the southern States of America are right in endeavoring by force of arms to establish this model slave republic, then, I say, we have all been previously in the dark; we have been poor-benighted beings that have lost sight, or have not been aware of the great truth which Mr. Stephens and others have taught in the southern States of America, that the normal condition of the negro, his only proper, natural condition in the world is that of shame. But, as we are told by this same gentleman, Mr. Stephens, that this government of the Confederate States which is about to be established will be the first government in the history of the world that is giving the lie, as it were, to all the canting policy which has been supported by England and other countries against slave institutions; if this be the state of affairs, can I as an Englishman wish or hope for success to such a cause? I sympathize with nations struggling for independence, but that is not the question here. [Hear, hear.] No man has alleged a grievance in the southern States, except the growing sentiment of the north against the institution of slavery. No man has said that in the south any right has been withheld, or that any wrong has been without a remedy, and, in fact, Mr. Jefferson Davis himself has lauded the institutions of the country in reference to the past; but has only said that in the future he sees looming that growing sentiment which will endanger the slave institutions of the south, and which must continue to embitter the relations between the north and the south if it went on, and that therefore it was better to separate. Well, I believe myself that one end of this great civil war in America, that one termination, at any rate, will be the abolition of slavery. [Cheers.] My honorable and respected friend, Mr. Bright, [loud cheers,] is often charged with wanting to introduce American institutions into England. Well, I say with regard to this American war, the south rebelled and raised this insurrection because they foresaw that an English institution, viz., the emancipation of the slave, was about to be introduced into their country. It was the resistance to this policy of ours—to the policy of England of all other countries in the world—that gave rise to this great insurrection. [Hear, hear.] We are told sometimes that tariff questions had something to do with it. Disabuse your mind entirely of that idea. I assert, and if there were time I could prove to you by the clearest demonstration, that tariff questions had nothing on earth to do with the quarrel between north and south. Why, the south was never united upon the question of free trade, the south never held one opinion upon the question of protective duties. On the contrary, Louisiana was for protecting her sugar, and other States of the south were for protecting their produce; but as for its having anything to do with the form of government—why, if America had been a monarchy, if it had been an empire like France when these two great sentiments, freedom of labor on the one side and slavery on the other, came into collision on the scale on which they exist in America, what would have been the certain consequences? Why, we did not find it so easy to emancipate our slaves in England. We had some trouble. We paid £20,000,000 and we had a long, eager agitation, in which there was much embittered feeling, and my firm belief is, that if the slave party in England had borne the same proportion to the rest of the community when emancipation was demanded in this country which they bore in the United States at the commencement of the civil war, it is very probable you would not have been able to get through your emancipation in this country without a resort to arms, or perhaps to the secession of your slave countries to some other slave country, where there would have been a greater affinity to themselves. [Hear.] Now, it is remarkable what is going on at the present moment in the north, notwithstanding this tremendous pressure upon their resources, which no doubt will raise a very large debt, but which debt I believe that country will, with its growing population and its vast means, be enabled to bear. I have got in my hand a report of the Commissioner of Agriculture in the United States for the last year, and I find that in 1862 there were grown in that country 169,993,500 bushels of wheat. I find, in 1863, that that quantity has increased to 191,068,239 bushels. I find that nearly all articles of agricultural produce have increased considerably, even during this war, and notwithstanding the fact that no less than a million of men employed in the army and navy have been withdrawn chiefly from the agricultural producing classes, notwithstanding we see this remarkable statement. Perhaps emigration may in some measure account for it, for I find that large numbers of adventurers from every part of Europe are still crowding the shores of the United States. I find that the Commissioner says that, “While some, as adventurers, seek the western world for military fame, stimulated by our large bounties and chance of promotion to fight sincerely the battles of freedom and equality, the greater part come to labor, to enjoy independence and quiet, and to make happy the humble homes for themselves and their children. According to the report of the New York commissioners of emigration, the number of emigrants arriving at that port was 146,519, against 67,307 during 1862. This proportionate increase holds good in respect to the other great ports of our country, and independent of the large number of persons from Canada for portions of America.” I will read only one small passage more of the Commissioner’s report, because if I were to go on at any length I should read some opinions which would be held to be unpalatable in certain quarters. [Laughter.] I shall confine myself to one passage in which he wishes to indicate some of the causes which have led to this great immigration, at this particular time, to the United States. He says, to an intelligent mind, and especially to every American, the causes of this influx of foreign population, even during a period of war, are very evident and gratifying. I shall simply indicate some of them without discussing them at length. In the first place, the present rebellion is being understood abroad in its true light, as a revolt against democracy, the rights of labor, and human nature, and that the triumph of the government guarantees to immigration its great reward of peace, prosperity, and freedom. [Cheers.] I hope I may be forgiven for speaking out so much on this question, but I could not disguise my feelings, and I think the contest has arrived at a stage when we should frankly express our views and interchange our ideas. [Hear, hear.] I will next touch briefly on some questions of domestic reform. No doubt I ought to do so; I ought to say a great deal on reform. [Hear, hear.] I shall be asked what has become of the reform bill? is it put in a pigeon-hole, never to be taken down again until it is covered inches deep with dust? [Laughter and applause.] I would say the reform bill, when brought forward, was a question which had neither friends nor foes. [Applause.] It was smothered with kindness; everybody was a reformer. Lord Derby proposed a considerable reduction of the county franchise, and said, “Go to £10 in the counties.” Mr. Disraeli thought the borough franchise ought also to be extended, and if so, effectually, and that the promise should be kept in the spirit as well as in the letter. The government brought in a reform bill proposing a £10 franchise in counties and £6 in boroughs, but that bill was completely talked out of existence. What was the cause? I think it would not have been in the power of any government to withdraw a bill of such importance after it had been laid on the table of the House, unless they found on the part of the country and the House of Commons indifferent and lukewarm support. [Hear.] My opinion remains unchanged. I think it is a mistake to postpone the question of reform. I believe that England’s greatness, happiness, and prosperity have rested upon the fact that our reforms have been progressive and gradual, not effected by sudden and extensive leaps. If the reform bill were put off till an indefinite period, a reform may then be asked, and have to be granted, which will not then receive the sanction of parties that would now support a useful measure of reform. It would be useful for a government, if backed by the country, to bring forward, at no distant day, a measure of reform which would extend the franchise to a large number of the working classes, and thus place the institutions of the country on a broader and surer foundation. [Applause.] These are no new opinions; they have been expressed by the leaders of both parties in the House of Commons. All parties are committed to reform, and none wish it to be understood that they have abandoned those opinions upon which the present government was brought into power and the present Parliament elected. All say, “Bring on reform at a convenient season.” However, who is to say when it is convenient? I say that the constituencies, the country, must answer the question. Reform, political reform, was never made a free gift to any people, and yet was never granted by any governing body or Parliament, except at the demand of the country and in accordance with public opinion. The laws of England have never anticipated public opinion, and I hope will never do so. A reform must be such as public feeling can support and co-operate with; and, being so, nothing would have a greater tendency to sweeten the political atmosphere and to increase the general confidence of all classes throughout the country. [Applause.] I am precisely where I was. I have already expressed my views on the question of votes by ballot, upon which I am also where I was. I believe you cannot have a genuine vote from a constituent body, whatever that constituent body may be, if you impose as a restriction on the voter that his vote shall be published. Unless you give the voter power to vote by ballot if he sees fit. you cannot secure that the electoral body will give expression to its pure and genuine opinion. There may be countries in which the classes are so equal in social position—there may be circumstances in which the ballot is rendered a question of no moment; but I believe there was never a country of our social feelings, our sense of caste, our aristocratic predilections, our gradations of wealth and poverty—there never was a country in the world which requires for the eliciting of the genuine vote of a constituent body the power of secret voting so much as England. [Cheers.] [A voice, “Denmark,” laughter and cheers. Another voice, “Ay, that’s it.”) Mr. Gibson. Well, I am asked to say a word about Denmark. [Cheers.] One of our eminent statesmen on the conservative side said that the Danish question, or rather the Schleswig-Holstein question, was one which few had studied and which none understood. [Laughter.] I confess my studies have not been very diligent in regard to the Schleswig-Holstein question, but I do not know that anybody who is not a German professor is expected to be able to explain all the refinements of German law, and all the difficulties which surround the question of succession to the two duchies of Schleswig and Holstein; but it appears to me that this is a question which ought to be settled without fighting. [Cheers.] I remember that when the congress of Paris met after the Russian war, which congress was attended by delegates from all the chief powers of Europe, I think my Lord Clarendon, very much to his honor, moved a resolution, which was supported cordially by the French representative, to the effect that for the future it was very much to be desired that when questions arose between the different countries in Europe—questions of dispute—that it was very much to be wished that, before having recourse to arms, the offices of some friendly power, by way of a mediator, should be invited. I have not the resolution before me, but it comes to this, “Try if you cannot settle the difficulties in future in Europe which may arise, and which are sure to arise, by reference to some third party before you resort to arms.” Well, I think that was a very sensible resolution, and I wish they could see their way to act upon it in this Danish Schleswig-Holstein question. [Cheers.] All I know as regards the policy of this government is, that the object they have had in view in any advice that they may have given, or any moral influence that they may have attempted to exercise, their object has been to promote faith to engagements, whether on one side or on the other; to promote justice, and also to secure peace. [Loud cheers.] But beyond telling you that the question is one which I hope may not give rise to war between any powers of Europe, beyond telling you that it is impossible for me to form any opinion as to what may be the ultimate views of Prussia, or Austria, or Denmark, on this matter, I know not the grounds upon which they are prepared to settle the question. Our obligation is a very limited one in the matter, and merely relates to the succession. [Hear, hear.] We, no doubt, are parties to the treaty in 1852, which attempted to settle the question of succession of Holstein and Schleswig to the crown of Denmark. Beyond that I should rather avoid saying anything, for fear I should mislead. [A laugh.] I fear that at the present moment the question is in a very peculiar position, all hoping for peace everywhere in respect to it. Still, it looks dark and threatening; and if we express any confident opinion, perhaps we should be only misleading; [hear, hear;] but my earnest desire is, that it may be settled by some kind of conference or arbitration rather than having recourse to arms, which only settles who is the strongest, and very often leaves unsettled who is in the right and who has justice on their side. [Cheers.] I thank you once more for your kindness. You have heard me with great indulgence. I have told you that my opinions upon reform are where they were. I know that official men are supposed to part with their first loves and to form new connexions. I have not done that yet, [cheers,] and I mean upon every occasion when it is in my power to do so to promote those views which gained me favor in the first instance with this constituency—reform, religious equality, extension of education, freedom of vote—I mean vote by ballot—extension of the franchise. [A voice, “Retrenchment!” laughter.] My honorable friend says “retrenchment,” so say I. [Cheers.] I am for retrenchment. I am sorry to say I don’t think the House of Commons is for retrenchment. It is very popular is a large expenditure, and very difficult for a government to reduce expenditure if the income shows that there is more money able to be spent. There are always excuses rising up from one of the services or the other, and demands are made for increased expenditure, which it is exceedingly difficult for the chancellor of the exchequer—than whom, I assure you, there is no man more inclined for economy—to resist. During the last few years there has been a considerable reduction of expenditure. My belief is, that your expenditure may be reduced below what it is at present without impairing the value of your establishments; [cheers;] and I think if her Majesty’s present government are permitted much longer to carry on public affairs, in all probability there will be reductions, following that course of reduction which has taken place during the last two years; and now, gentlemen, if there are any questions which you may wish to address to me I shall be most happy to answer them. I perhaps could better discharge my duty to my constituents by putting the matter before them in that light than I could by commencing to dilate upon some subject in which they cannot take a particular interest.

The right honorable gentleman, after repeating the expression of his readiness to answer any inquiries from his constituents, sat down amid hearty cheering.

A hearty vote of thanks was given to Mr. Gibson, and a similar compliment to the mayor closed the proceedings.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

Legation of the United States, London, January 19, 1864.

My Lord: I have the honor to submit to your consideration a copy of what purports to be the annual report of Mr. S. E. Mallory, the person who is known to be officiating at Richmond as director of the naval operations of the insurgents in the United States. Although this paper has been received only in the form here presented, I entertain little doubt that, in substance, it may be relied on as authentic.

If this be once assumed, I am sure I need not point out to your lordship the great importance of the admissions therein made of the systematic violation of the neutrality of her Majesty’s kingdom, which it has for a length of time been my chief labor to make apparent. This report boldly assumes the responsibility for the action, both in Great Britain and France, in the construction and outfit of powerful war vessels in their ports for the use of the insurgents in carrying on war from those countries against the United States. In this particular there can be found little or nothing in the allegations made by me in the notes which I have heretofore had the honor to address to you on this subject, however strong their language, that is not fully sustained by this paper.

Furthermore, there appears to be an avowal with similar frankness of the expediting of twenty-seven so-called commissioned officers and forty trustworthy petty officers from Richmond to the British provinces, with orders to organize an expedition from thence, in co-operation with so-called army officers, to make war on the northern adjoining border of the United States. Of the fact that such an enterprise was actually undertaken your lordship is already well apprised. This paper does not hesitate to confess that, although so cunningly contrived to operate from a known neutral territory as a base, it has failed because the British provincial authorities gave information to the government of the United States in season to render it abortive.

Lastly. In connexion with these two explicit avowals, the same authority announces that another courier has been despatched with instructions which will shortly be made apparent to the enemy nearer home, which declaration, construed by later events, may be fairly understood to allude to the directions under which the persons employed to perpetrate the piracy and murder committed on board of the steamer Chesapeake proceeded in that enterprise, making the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia the base of their Criminal operations to and fro.

In laying this information before your lordship, I am directed to convey the opinion of my government that the proof thus furnished is sufficient to remove all doubt that may as yet be lingering over the objects, character, and designs of the builders of the steam-rams, now under detention in the ports of this kingdom, upon the strength of former representations which I have had the honor to make to her Majesty’s government.

Secondly. Whilst readily acknowledging on the part of my government the friendly services of the British provincial authorities in the case referred to, I am instructed to solicit your lordship’s attention to the fact that a toleration within this kingdom or any of its dependencies of the practices of the insurgents, since they have been so openly published to the world, and after the knowledge of them now communicated, would be not simply inconsistent with neutrality, but equivalent to a permission to the enemies of the United States to make war against them from the British shores.

Thirdly. I am further directed, respectfully, to represent that the toleration of these armed enemies of the United States, whilst known to be carrying on these hostile practices, now fully revealed within the British realm and its dependencies, without restraint of any kind, cannot be regarded as an exercise of the unquestioned right of sheltering political exiles, but rather as equivalent to permitting them to abuse that right for the purpose of more effectually availing themselves of British and and co-operation, now notoriously given them, in waging war with a country with which Great Britain is at peace.

Fourthly. It is the deliberate conviction of my government that there has been and continues to be in all these proceedings a fixed purpose to plunge Great Britain into a war with the United States, in order to extricate the conspirators from the perilous embarrassments in which they have involved themselves. The tendency to produce that evil is so obvious that it would seem to call for the strongest and most persevering efforts of both countries to prevent it.

Fifthly. It has been the desire of my government, under the constant pressure of these annoyances which have so materially contributed to procrastinate the painful struggle, to bear itself in the spirit and in the manner best calculated to defeat this wicked design, without giving cause of offence or irritation to her Majesty’s government or to the British people.

The President sincerely wishes that he could suggest any adequate remedy for the deplorable state of things thus presented that is not inconsistent with the policy which Great Britain has pursued in regard to this insurrection. It must ever be his opinion that it has directly resulted, although unexpectedly and unintentionally on the part of her Majesty’s government, from the earliest steps taken in that policy. The speedy recognition of the insurgents at a moment when they were without navy, ports, courts, or coasts as a belligerent power on the ocean, was unquestionably construed by them, and ill-disposed British subjects conspiring with them, as an invitation to use British ports, ships, men, money, and coasts, so as to make themselves the naval power which they never could by any possibility become from their own unaided resources.

Indications of active co-operation in the designs of the insurgents have been all along but too painfully apparent in British communities. The evidences have already constituted a large part of the correspondence which I have had the honor to conduct with your lordship since the day of my arrival. And much more that I have been unable to put into official form has not escaped my observation. None of these movements, however, are likely to assume so dangerous a character as those which are perceived to originate, or to be encouraged, in territories coterminous with those of the United States, where the opportunities abound for aggressive and injurious acts, and the temptation as well as the power to retaliate is correspondingly strong. It must be manifest that this danger is one which my government can do no more to avert than it has already done. If it is to be prevented at all, it would seem that a resort to some measures of greater stringency than have as yet been taken is necessary on the part of her Majesty’s government.

In making in the most respectful manner these frank explanations of the difficulties under which the respective countries at present labor, I pray your lordship to believe that my government is desirous to act in a spirit of perfect friendliness, and with an earnest desire to confirm the most cordial relations between them. Having acquitted myself of the duty with which I have been charged, I propose for the present most respectfully to leave the whole subject to your lordship’s just consideration.

I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c., &c.