Mr. Adams to Mr.
Seward.
No. 1105.]
Legation of the United States,
London, December 6, 1865.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit a copy of a
note addressed to me by Lord Clarendon, on the 2d instant, in
acknowledgment of mine to him of the 18th of last months in reply to
Lord Russell’s valedictory.
Thus I trust, that we have reached the term of the controversial
struggle. I concur in the opinion of his lordship that it was time to
bring it to a close.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
The Earl Clarendon to Mr. Adams.
Foreign Office,
December 2, 1865.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 18th ultimo, having reference to the
letter which, my predecessor addressed to you on the 3d ultimo.
There are many statements in your letter which I should be prepared
to controvert if it were not that her Majesty’s government consider
that no advantage can result from prolonging a controvery of which
the topics are generally exhausted, but which might possibly, if
continued, introduce acrimony into the relations between this
country and the United States, two nations who, from kindred origin
and mutual interests, should desire to be knit together by bonds of
the closest friendship. Such a desire is strongly felt by the
government and people of this country, and her Majesty’s government
do not doubt that it is shared by the government and people of the
United States.
While abstaining, therefore, from any discussion of the passages in
your letter to the correctness of which I am unable to subscribe, it
is nevertheless my duty, in closing this [Page 29] correspondence, to observe that no armed vessel
departed during the war from a British port to cruise against the
Commerce of the United States, and to maintain that throughout all
the difficulties of the civil war by which the United States have
lately been distracted, but in the termination of which no nation
rejoices more cordially than Great Britain, the British government
have steadily and honestly discharged all the duties incumbent on
them as a neutral power, and have never deviated from the
obligations imposed on them by international law.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your
most obedient humble servant,
Charles Frances Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
