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people whose chief rulers fell or were prostrated in a day, at a time when they were more than ever wanted, but which went on just as usual.

The simple but very hearty acknowledgments of the American Secretary seem to give us an opening for a word or two on the prevalent feelings of this country towards the United States. It would be quite idle to deny that there are points upon which this country is jealous, or sore, or without the perfect sympathy that obtains between two similar social systems. With long arrears of quarrels upon one trifle or another, and a new one every year, and with a very strong opinion on this side that our rights were often sacrificed to political exigencies in the United States, we certainly have found it difficult to appreciate the Americans as we really wish to do. We can afford to make this confession when we state what we believe to be the truth as to the great extent of our good wishes for America. We have not the least objection to the United States increasing to any extent, and annexing any amount of territory or number of States, so long as it is all done honestly, above-board, and by fair appeals to the sympathy and good sense of the people. If the population, either of our own provinces or of Mexico, freely and spontaneously declared that they thought this their best chance of peace and prosperity, the British people would only feel the most passing regret at the loss of a name, and the proportionate aggrandizement of the United States. Of course the case is altered if the object is to be obtained by fraud, by force, or by intimidation. In that case, not only is there actual wrong done upon our own loyal fellow subjects, and others entitled to our sympathy, but there is also established a prescription, a policy, and a temper ruinous to the future peace and even progress of the world. History contains some very colossal instances of continual annexation by fraud and by violence; in fact, by policies constructed with a special view to perpetual aggrandizement. But the event yet condemns them; the moral sense is opposed to them; and modern politics are mainly directed to prevent the recurrence of the evil. It is from no special jealousy of the United States that we dread their indefinite enlargement by the means too often employed, and vainly denounced by American demoralists. It is our English habit, our second nature, our historical teaching, our European law. Even in Europe we are glad to see Italians or Germans achieve more comprehensive unions than circumstances have hitherto allowed. Nor should we object to any amount of aggregation in America by equally allowable means. Only, as a great State we cannot bear to be ousted, outwitted, and coerced, and to see our own people suffer for their loyalty.

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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 month, 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,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

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

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

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SIR: I transmit a copy of an instruction of the 5th instant, addressed by this department to Mr. Nelson, the minister of the United States at Santiago de Chili. This paper will acquaint you with our views of the controversy between that republic and Spain, which has already resulted in an attempted blockade of Chilian ports by Spanish vessels of war, and which may be followed by other hostilities. These proceedings, so embarrassing to that commerce with Chili of which the United States has had a considerable share, are to be deplored on account of the interruption to business which they will occasion, and also for other obvious reasons. We have endeavored to prevent them by moral means, which if not hitherto entirely effective, may, it is hoped, if properly followed up, ultimately mitigate their effects and lead to the restoration of peace between those powers.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES F. ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Same to United States minister at Paris. Same date.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

No. 1621.]

DEPARTMENT of State,

Washington, December 11, 1865. SIR: You will receive herewith a copy of a communication of the 11th of November, addressed to this department by Mr. John Fanning, late an officer in the volunteer service of the United States. I will thank you to present to her Majesty's government a statement of the facts therein represented, and request that an early investigation of the circumstances attending this case may be made.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Captain Fanning to Mr. Seward.

DUBLIN, November 11, 1865.

SIR: I have the honor to represent that I am a citizen of the United States by adoption. I had the honor to hold a commission as captain of company A, tenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served for three years and two months in that capacity during the late rebellion. I had also the honor to serve five years in the second United States cavalry, previous to the rebellion.

*For this enclosure see correspondence with Chili.

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After settling my accounts with the departments at Washington, I desired to visit my friends in Ireland, of which country I am a native, and where nearly all my relatives reside. For that purpose I left New York on the first of September ultimo, and reached Dublin on the sixteenth of the same month. I remained in Dublin until the second of October, when I left to visit my relatives at Ballinamore, county Leitrim. I reached the town of Killeshandra on the third of October, and while waiting to change horses, was arrested by SubInspector Valentine, of the constabulary or rural police, my baggage searched, my pistol, one round of ammunition for the same, with a few caps, taken from me, and myself and Lieutenant McNeff, of the same regiment, hand-cuffed and thrown into jail at Cavan, regardless of our solemn protest against such an indignity being offered to an American citizen journeying through this place. I was incarcerated for seventeen days without trial at the instance of the police, at the expiration of which time I was discharged on bail to stand my trial at the ensuing March assizes for having a pistol in my possession. I am thus constrained to remain in the county nolens volens or forfeit my bail. Lieutenant McNeff, my fellow-traveller, after an absence of many years from the home of his childhood, over three spent in the service of his country, is yet in jail for the same crime, and, as I have been informed by the jail authorities, is obliged to wear a prison garb, and is kept breaking stone in the jail-yard; this too, without any trial or conviction. I therefore respectfully and solemnly protest that the great United States should not recognize the precedent established by England in tolerating the summary and reckless arrest and imprisonment of British subjects by the king of Abyssinia.

This is a plain statement of my case, and I refer it, as also that of Lieutenant McNeff, to you for adjudication.

Time was when no power on earth dared molest the Roman citizen untainted with crime; when the name alone was a sufficient passport through the nations of the earth. When I threw off my allegiance to Victoria, the Queen of England, and put myself under the ægis of the United States, I felt such a thrill of exultation on changing the degrading status of a mere subject to that proud one of citizenship, as could not have been known to even the Roman of old. The evidence of my devotion and sincerity is the eight years spent in the service of my adopted country.

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Now, sir, I place myself under your protection, and respectfully claim all the immunities of a citizen of the United States I am satisfied that the honor of every citizen away from his own country is safe in your hands, and I trust you will not deem me obtrusive if I claim from my government ample reparation for the outrage and indignity offered to the United States in the person of your obedient servant,

JOHN FANNING,
Ex-captain Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State, United States of America.

No. 1625.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, December 14, 1865.

SIR: Your despatch of the 23d of November, No. 1095, has been received. It is accompanied by a copy of two notes which Lord Clarendon addressed to you on the 17th and 18th of November, respectively, on the case of the Shenandoah, and by a copy of your reply made to both of those notes on the 21st of that month.

The President is content that you shall leave the case of the Shenandoah on the foundation on which it has been put by us in the long correspondence which you have so ably conducted to its present conclusion.

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SIR: Your despatch of the 22d of November, No. 1093, has been received. It is accompanied by a copy of the note which you addressed to Lord Claren

don, on the 18th of November, in rejoinder to Earl Russell's note to you of the 2d of that month. Your argument contained therein is regarded as accurate and just.

I am directed by the President to approve of the views which you have expressed in regard to a proposition made by Earl Russell for a concurrent revision by the two governments of their legislation upon the subject of the neutrality laws. You will therefore inform Lord Clarendon that the United States do not incline towards an acceptance of Earl Russell's proposition.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 1106.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, December 14, 1865.

SIR: I have to acknowledge the reception of despatches from the department numbered from 1598 to 1610, inclusive, together with a copy of a volume entitled the Tribute Book, intended for this legation.

The event of the past week is the death of the King of Belgium. This, considering his age and infirmities, can scarcely be regarded as unexpected. It has, however, been looked forward to with some uneasiness, on account of the peculiar internal condition of that kingdom, and a certain consciousness of the parties originally making the settlement of the Crown, of its insecurity, if not sustained by the personal character of the monarch. There has been a vague floating impression that the decease of Leopold would be the signal of iminediate complications in Europe. Hence the quiet manner in which his successor has been recognized has been at once construed as putting an end to every danger. These conclusions appear to be equally precipitate. The true test of the stability of Belgium will be found in the capacity of the new sovereign to meet the responsibility to which he is called. This can be proved only by time. Meanwhile, no change in the relative position of the great European powers will be perceptible to the outward eye.

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

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

No. 1107.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, December 14, 1865.

SIR: In accordance with the desire expressed in your despatches 1586, 1596, and 1597, I communicated to Lord Clarendon the copies of Mr. Hibbard's note on the slave trade, and of Mr. Savage's on the same subject. Copies of my notes and of his lordship's acknowledgment are transmitted.

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

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. Adams to the Earl of Clarendon.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, December 5, 1865.

MY LORD: I have the honor to transmit a copy of a communication, without date, addressed to the Secretary of State of the United States, by Mr. Hibbard, arbitrator of the mixed court at Sierra Leone, giving his views of the most effectual mode of suppressing the slave trade. I am instructed to submit the same for the consideration of her Majesty's gov

ernment.

I pray your lordship to accept, &c., &c.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Honorable the EARL OF CLARENDON, &c.. &c., &c.

Mr. Adams to the Earl of Clarendon.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, December 5, 1865.

MY LORD: I am directed by my government to transmit to your lordship, for the information of her Majesty's government, copies of two letters addressed to Mr. Seward by the viceconsul general of the United States at Havana. One bears date the 23d of September, the other the 4th of November. Both of them relate to the suppression of the slave trade in the island of Cuba.

I pray your lordship to accept, &c., &c.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Honorable the EARL OF CLARENDON, &c., &c.,&c.

The Earl of Clarendon to Mr. Adams.

FOREIGN OFFICE,
December 9, 1865.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the two letters which you addressed to me on the 5th instant; one enclosing copies of two despatches from the vice-consul general of the United States at Havana, on the subject of the Cuban slave trade, and the other enclosing a copy of a communication addressed by Mr. Hibbard, the United States arbitrator in the mixed commission court at Sierra Leone to his government. giving his views of the most effectual mode of suppressing the slave trade, and of reclaiming Africa.

I have to request that you will be good enough to convey to Mr. Seward the thanks of her Majesty's government for these communications.

have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

C. F. ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

CLARENDON.

No. 1110.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, December 14, 1865.

SIR: The Shenandoah having failed to make her passage across, by reason of the roughness of the weather, the person commanding her has returned to Liverpool, where she now lies under the care of the consul, Mr. Dudley. Before consulting me he sent telegrams to Admiral Goldsborough to learn whether he could detail any force from his command to take charge of her. Thus far I do not understand that he has received any reply. On many accounts I should be very glad to devolve the whole care of the vessel on the admiral if he will consent to take it in his charge and send her home, as he would a prize. But if he should decline, I have serious doubts about making a second experiment with a wholly irresponsible captain. There are objections to letting her remain in a port so ill-affected as Liverpool, but, on the whole, they seem to me less serious

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