Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams
Sir: In recurring, as I am now for the first time able to do, to communications which were received in the early portion of the summer, but which were left unattended to by reason of my illness, I fall back upon your despatch of the 2d of June, No. 975.
When I saw the trans-Atlantic announcement of that period that new demands had been made in an intemperate manner by this government upon her Majesty’s government for claims arising out of the depredations of the Alabama, I was at no loss for the explanation which your despatch afterwards conveyed to me. It is now a matter not only of curiosity but of amusement to observe how imperfectly the condition of affairs then existing in this country was understood in European political circles.
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I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c.,&c.,&c.