Mr. Adams to Mr. Sprague. Klingendan's name throws much suspicion on the sale. LONDON, January 3, 1863. You must refuse to recognize it. And if the Sumter try to slip off under a British flag, Captain Bryson must stop and take her on the high seas if he can. He need not mind the twenty-four hour rule, if outside the jurisdiction. Mr SPRAGUE, United States Consul, Gibraltar. CHARLES F. ADAMS, United States Minister, London. No. 293.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: In conformity with the directions contained in your despatch No. 429, of the 20th of December, 1862, I have transmitted to Earl Russell the copies of memorials and other papers relating to the destruction by the vessel No. 290 of the ships Virginia, Benjamin Tucker, Elisha Dunbar, Ocean Rover, Altamaha, and Ocmulgee, which were sent to me with that despatch. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Moran to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a telegram received this morning from the honorable E. Joy Morris, United States minister at Constantinople, reporting the execution on the 7th instant, at Adrianople, of the three assassins of Mr. Merriam. I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, BENJAMIN MORAN, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. PERA, January 7, 1863-6.20 p. m. Inform Mr. Seward the three assassins of Merriam were this day hung at Adrianople. B. MORAN, Secretary of American Legation, London. MORRIS. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 448.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 13, 1863. SIR Your despatches of December 24 (No. 280) and December 25 (No. 281) have been received at an hour too late to allow a mature consideration of them before the departure of the mails. The information concerning military events announced by my last despatches has been in part confirmed. General Rosecrans obtained a decisive and profitable victory at Murfreesboro'. General Sherman, on the other hand, was repulsed at Vicksburg. You will find the information of the press on the result of the affair confused and unsatisfactory. It is, therefore, proper for me to say that directions have been given to Major General Grant to reorganize and renew the expedition immediately, and in a very effectual manner. Our small force at Galveston seems to have been surprised and dislodged at the moment when re-enforcements were about to enter the harbor to secure the occupation of the place. The misfortune is not a serious one. Large land forces and an iron-clad fleet are advancing towards Charleston, and it will be not unreasonable to expect the occurrence of some important events there any time after the close of the present week. The public attention is now fastened upon the financial measures which are engaging the consideration of Congress. As is customary with fiscal questions, they excite the utmost anxiety. There is, however, good ground to expect a settlement of the subject upon a practical and acceptable basis. Our advance in the great national transaction in which we are engaged is seen in the fact that Congress is, for the first time, found seriously engaged with the proposition to aid some of the slaveholding States in their efforts for emancipation. A bill of that character, affecting the State of Missouri, has passed the House of Representatives, and is now under consideration in the Senate. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 450.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 14, 1863. SIR: Your despatch of December 25 (No. 281) has been received. The President has expressed to me his pleasure that a consideration here of Earl Russell's note upon the case of the "290" be reserved until we shall be able to have the advantage of a perusal of the note which you have authorized us to expect you would address to Earl Russell, explaining and reaffirming the views which had heretofore submitted in regard to that important subject. you I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., fr., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 296.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF the United STATES, SIR: I have to acknowledge the reception of despatches from the department, numbered from 433 to 436, inclusive, and a note dated the 26th of December, relative to Major John Foley. With respect to the instructions to bring the question of Scheldt dues to the notice of her Majesty's government, as mentioned in your No. 436, of 30th of December, I shall avail myself of the first opportunity to mention the subject to Lord Russell, without asking a special conference for that alone. There is little or no change to notice in the state of things here. The returns of the revenue for the year are regarded as highly encouraging in respect to the general condition of the country, and there are some indications that even in the distressed districts the number of unemployed persons is steadily diminishing. The intelligence of the issue of the President's proclamation has had a decided effect in concentrating the opinions of the friendly party here, whilst it has, to a corresponding extent, provoked the anger of the abettors of the rebellion. The lines are becoming more and more clearly drawn. As Parliament is to assemble for the despatch of business in less than three weeks from this time, this question becomes of considerable importance. There is a general impression abroad that the ministry may not be averse to accept an issue which will involve a dissolution and an appeal to the country. But the better opinion seems to lean the other way. Still it is very certain that the fact of the possibility of the happening of such an event at any moment is making the members of the House of Commons more and more sensitive to the currents of popular opinion. I notice that the tone of most of those who now address their constituents is becoming rather more than less cautious as it regards America. In this emergency some military successes at home might have a very decided effect in turning the scales in our favor. At this moment we are awaiting the issue of the conflicts pending at Murfreesboro' and Vicksburg with quite as much of fear as of hope. It seems quite unaccountable that with such a great disparity of forces between ́ the two sides as unquestionably exists, this advantage seldom seems to be brought to bear decisively for us. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Your despatch of January 1st (No. 287) has been received. The note you have addressed to Earl Russell, on the subject of the Sumter, is approved. You are aware that that vessel was originally called the Marquis of Havana, and under that name was captured off Vera Cruz on the 6th of March, 1860, by the United States sloop-of-war Saratoga, T. Turner, commander. She was afterwards sent into New Orleans for adjudication, and a trial of the case took place before the United States district court there, the vessel being claimed as Spanish property. There is no precise information here as to the result of the trial, but in a letter to the Solicitor of the Treasury, dated in November, 1860, the United States attorney at New Orleans asks leave to cause a sale of the vessel to be made. No answer was returned to this letter, and we are not aware whether the sale actually took place, or under what circumstances. More definite information on this point will at once be sought in the proper quarter at New Orleans. The Marquis of Havana is understood to have remained there until after the insurrection, when, as you know, she was fitted out as an armed vessel in the service of the insurgents, and having broken through the blockade at the mouth of the Mississippi, and having gone on her career of devastation, she ultimately sought refuge in Gibraltar. It is at least possible that this government may in the end have to account to Spain for her capture above referred to. This, and the great probability that there was no legal sale of the vessel, would perhaps have justified us, independently of other considerations, in directing the seizure of the Sumter on the high seas. Her capture, even after her sale at Gibraltar, would seem to be warranted at least by a passage in "Wildman's Law of Search, Capture and Prize," page 28, which is in the following words: "The purchase of a ship-of-war by a neutral, while she is lying in a port to which she has fled for refuge, is invalid." Pursuant to this, before your despatch of the 24th ultimo (No. 280) reached here, this department addressed a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, recommending that orders should be given for the capture of the Sumter anywhere on the high seas. When that despatch was received, however, another letter was addressed to Mr. Welles, requesting a suspension of any order which might have been given pursuant to the first communication. This letter reached the Navy Department before any orders had been despatched, and a suspension of them has accordingly taken place. SIR: I have received another address to the President of the United States, together with a copy of resolutions adopted at a public meeting held at Sheffield on the 31st ultimo, which I have the honor to transmit herewith. I find the following circular in the newspapers of yesterday morning. It is not without significance just at this crisis: "EMANCIPATION SOCIETY, MANCHESTER BRANCH, "DEAR SIR: We respectfully invite your co-operation in the formation of a branch emancipation society in this city, to second the efforts of the association in London, whose address we enclose you. "The committee of that society have offered to send a deputation to address public meetings throughout the manufacturing districts, provided the local arrangements for such meetings be undertaken by a branch organization, such as the one to which we ask your adhesion. "Recent events have unmistakably demonstrated that, amongst workingmen especially, true views on the American question generally prevail, and that there is in Laucashire a much stronger sympathy for the anti-slavery administration of the north than was anticipated. "The visit of a deputation from the London Emancipation Society would not only give a valuable opportunity for the expression of these opinions, but would cause the important issue of freedom vs. slavery, involved in the American war, to be better understood. "At the close of the labors of the London deputation, it is proposed to hold an influential meeting in Manchester. at which some of the leading liberal members of Parliament and representative politicians of Lancashire are expected to attend. "As it is of importance that the work in hand should be commenced at once, to hope for an early and favorable reply. "We are, dear sir, yours very truly, "ED. OWEN GREENING, Hon. Sec." we venture "THOMAS B. POTTER, Chairman. YOUR EXCELLENCY: We, the inhabitants of the town of Sheffield, in the county of York, England, in public meeting assembled, ask permission to express towards your excellency, and the free and noble country over which you have been elected to preside, the sentiments of sincere and fraternal sympathy by which we are animated. We have witnessed the career of the great republic of the United States under its wise and beneficent Constitution with feelings of profound admiration, and with a lively hope that the union of your States would not only be prosperous but permanent. In all your efforts to preserve and extend the blessings of national liberty we have heartily wished you success. We have been accustomed to look to your free and glorious country as to a beacon for the peoples and nations of the world-a country in which the sons of labor were honored, and all whose institutions were the result of the exercise of the spontaneous will of enlightened and patriotic citizens. We have seen, however, with unfeigned sorrow, that slavery, always a curse to the nation by which it is tolerated, has exerted its pestilential influence, has darkened for a time your political atmosphere, and has at length produced disorder, rebellion, and civil war. In the midst of the conflict, caused by the existence of this evil, we have witnessed with growing satisfaction the courage, devotion, and perseverance in the cause of freedom of the great majority of the States of your Union, their attachment to your Constitution, their fidelity to the lofty and humane principles on which your republic was founded, and their determination to effect the extirpation of slavery, if necessary, to preserve the integrity of your vast and powerful empire. In this great struggle you have had from the beginning, and have still more at the present time, our earnest sympathy, and we pray that its issue may be not only the reintegration of your union, but the disenthralment of the entire colored population throughout your widely extended land; thus will you prove yourselves not merely patriots, but benefactors of the human race. The recent acts of your government and Congress have called forth our warmest applause; you have purged your national District from the crime and reproach of slavery; you have recognized the negro republics of Hayti and Liberia; you have forever excluded slavery from your territories; you have entered into treaty engagements with England for the suppression of the African slave trade; you declared freedom to the slaves of rebel masters, and you have initiated a scheme of compensated emancipation in all other cases; for these things we greatly honor you, and fervently wish you God-speed in the endeavor to consummate the great and good work of freedom and union. We deeply regret that any of our countrymen should have displayed a feeling of sympathy with those in America who are fighting to establish an oligarchical government on the basis of the enslavement of a weak and defenceless race, and who seek to make slavery the chief cornerstone of a new national edifice. Accept our assurance that such degenerate Englishmen do not represent the great body of the British people; some of our aristocratic and mercantile classes may wish success to treason and slavery, but the masses of England are with the loyal and the true amongst your citizens. |