Mr. Adams to Mr.
Seward
No. 867.]
Legation of the United States.
London,
February 2, 1865.
Sir. Previous to sending the replies to the
various addresses “to the President, copies of which I now transmit, I
did not omit the injunction you placed upon me in your No. 1215, to
submit the essential portions to the consideration of Lord Russell. To
this end I had a conference with him on Saturday last. He observed, on
my reading them, that the answers had always seemed to him judicious and
proper.
Some general conversation followed, but not of a character important
enough to report. In regard to Lord Lyons, his lordship said he was glad
to learn from him that he was better. He had been on a visit to the Duke
of Rutland at Belvoir castle, and had written to him from there that he
hoped to see him soon; but his lordship made no allusion to the question
of the probability of his return.
His lordship also made some reference to the measures in agitation at
Washington for the repeal of the reciprocity treaty, to the passport
system, and other arrangements on the frontier. He spoke of them with
some appearance of regret. I ventured to say that I regretted them also.
It was not yet positively certain that the Senate would pass the
resolution that had come from the House, though I presumed it highly
probable. In my belief all these measures were the result rather of a
strong political feeling than of any commercial considerations. I should
not disguise the fact of the prevalence of great irritation in
consequence of the events that had taken place in Canada; neither should
I conceal my regret, as it seemed to me to be one of the cardinal points
of our policy, both in a political and commercial sense, to maintain the
most friendly relations with the whole population along our northern
border. His lordship intimated that if any of our measures had the
effect of repressing, the tendency to active sympathy with the other
party in the war among the colonists, to that extent it would do no
harm.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William. H. Seward. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Enclosures.]
1. Mr. Adams to London Emancipation Society, January 28, 1865.
2. Mr. Adams to International Workinginen’s Association, January 28,
1865.
Mr. Adams to Mr. Evans
Legation of the United
States. London,
January 28,
1865.
Sir. I am directed by the President to
express, through you, to the executive committee of the
Emancipation Society of London, the assurance of his profound
gratification on receiving an expression of their friendly
sentiments towards him and his country. At the same
[Page 112]
time I am advised to
explain that, lie does not feel himself ai liberty to assume the
result of his re-election, to which they particularly refer, as
a fact in advance of the constitutional process by which it is
customarily ascertained and declared to the country in the
Congress of the United States.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
William Evans. Esq., President of the Emancipation Society,
London.
Mr. Adams to Mr. Cremer
Legation oF the United
States. London,
January 28,
1865.
Sir. I am directed to inform you that
the address of the central council of your association, which
was duly transmitted through this legation to the President of
the United States, has been received by him.
So far as the sentiments expressed by it are personal, they are
accepted by him with a sincere and anxious desire that he may be
able to prove himself not unworthy of the confidence which has
recently been extended to him by his fellow-citizens, and by so
many of the friends of humanity and progress throughout the
world.
The government of the United States has a clear consciousness
that its policy neither is nor could be reactionary, but, at the
same time, it adheres to the course which it adopted at the
beginning, of abstaining everywhere from propagandism and
unlawful intervention. It strives to do equal and exact justice
to all States and to all men, and it relies upon the beneficial
results of that effort for support at home and for respect and
good will throughout the world.
Nations do not exist for themselves alone, but to promote the
welfare and happiness of mankind by benevolent intercourse and
example. It is in this relation that the United States regard
their cause in the present conflict with slavery-maintaining
insurgents as the cause of human nature; and they derive new
encouragement to persevere from the testimony of the workingmen
of Europe that the national attitude is favored with their
enlightened approval and earnest sympathies.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Mr. W. R. Cremer. Honorary Secretary of the International Workingmen’s
Association.
