The Georgiana has departed on her voyage, and therefore I deem it unnecessary to pursue the subject further. But I regret to say that I am not entirely convinced of the incorrectness of the information upon which my representation of the 16th instant was based. After the experience had in the instances of the Oreto and of No. 290, I hope I may be pardoned for distrusting the result of any investigation arrived at in similar cases at Liverpool when conducted by the same parties. On the other hand, the further evidence which I have obtained since writing my note tends to confirm me in the impression first received, that the vessel was pierced for four port-holes at Liverpool, and she sailed carrying both cannon and small arms, as well as iron plates in her hold, to be hereafter put on to protect her sides. Time will show which view of the subject is the true one. In any event I feel safe in asking of your lordship the favor to take such measures as may at least prevent the possibility of completing the outfit and armament of this vessel at Nassau, if such a proceeding should prove to have been contemplated. I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Right Hon. EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, January 27, 1863. SIR: With reference to my letter of the 24th instant. I have the honor to transmit to you, for your information, a copy of a further report which has been received through the mayor of Liverpool from the head constable of that borough, relative to the screw steamer Georgiana. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. No. 313.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Owing to the delay of the steamer Asia, I did not receive until last evening despatches from the department, numbered from 445 to 448, inclusive. There seems to be nothing in them calling for particular notice. I transmit herewith a copy of this morning's Star, which gives the fullest account published of the great meeting last night at Exeter Hall. It seems to have been a most significant indication of the popular sentiment of the middle classes. Some gentlemen tell me that there has been nothing like it here since the time of the anti-corn law gatherings. At the same time a similar meeting was held at Bradford, in Yorkshire, and one at Stroud, in Gloucestershire, with the same results. I likewise transmit a copy of the Bristol Daily Post of yesterday, giving a report of a meeting held in that place the previous evening. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. No. 462.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 30, 1863. SIR: I transmit a communication made by the Secretary of the Navy to this department, which shows that the insurgents in this country have instructed James Spence, a confederate of their own, who is a British subject residing at Liverpool, to effect, if he can, an arrangement by which gold which they have colfected and are preparing to use in Great Britain to buy and fit out three shipsof-war to be used against the government of the United States, shall be conveyed from ports which are in the possession of the insurgents, but are blockaded by the United States naval forces, to their agents and confederates in Europe, in the British vessels which are permitted to enter those ports in virtue of the treaties existing between the United States and Great Britain. So much care has hitherto been practiced by the British authorities in regard to the proceedings of such vessels that the discovery of the designs of the insurgents, to which I have alluded, would have excited no apprehension on the part of this government, had there not appeared some ground to believe that one British ship-of-war, as well as one Spanish vessel of the same kind, has already been engaged in carrying gold of the insurgents from such ports to such insurgents. This ground, so far as the British man-of-war is concerned, is found in a statement of a newspaper published at the Bahamas, a copy of which is appended to the communication of the Secretary of the Navy. It is sincerely believed by this government that the statement of the Bahama paper is erroneous and untrue. The gravity of the matter, however, requires that you shall bring the subject as early as possible to the attention of Earl Russell, and ask for such investigation and such instructions to the naval officers of Great Britain as the occasion seems to require. It is hardly necessary to say that, in the opinion of this government, the plan of the insurgents could not be carried out except by practices which would be a fraud against the treaties which secure admission of British vessels into the ports of the United States, such as the British government would be the last to lend its sanction to, or even its toleration. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 466.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 2, 1863. SIR: Herewith I enclose, for presentation to the British government, a copy of a memorial just received at this department from the New York Mutual Insurance Company, of the city of New York, relative to losses sustained by it on account of the destruction of the ships Brilliant and Manchester on the high seas by the piratical steamer Alabama. I am, sir, *your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 467.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 3, 1863. SIR: Your despatch of January 16 (No. 299) has been received, and I have submitted to the President the resolutions which were presented to you by the executive committee of the Emancipation Society. The President approves of the address which you made on that occasion, and authorizes you, in any proper manner, to make known to the gentlemen of the committee his high appreciation of the liberal and friendly sentiments towards this country which they have expressed in their resolutions. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 468.] Department of STATE, Washington, February 3, 1863. SIR: Your despatch of January 16 (No. 298) has been received, and I thank you for giving me a copy of the significant proceedings of the Emancipation Society at Manchester. Your despatch describes, as enclosures, certain papers which were not found within the envelope, namely: 1st, Address to President, Sheffield, 31st December, 1862; 2d, Resolutions of same meeting; 3d, Resolutions of Sheffield meeting, 10th January, 1863; 4th, Copy of Mr. Clegg to Mr. Adams, 15th January, SIR: Your despatch of January 15 (No. 296) is received only now, after a lapse of nineteen days. The results of military operations during the last three months are sufficiently manifest to have a determinate value. The reverses were the repulse at Fredericksburg and the repulse at Vicksburg. Each of these reverses was practically fruitless to the insurgents. The successes were the battle at Murfreesboro' and the capture of the Post of Arkansas. Each of these not only weakened the insurgents, but enlarged the field of federal authority. It is understood that the expeditions at Charleston and Vicksburg are now in full activity, and we shall not long wait for important results. It is never easy to know what value to put upon popular expectations and popular fears as omens of ultimate success. It could not be concealed that there has been a season of deep anxiety since the reverse at Fredericksburg. It is apparent that there is now a measured return of public confidence. The last change is probably not more reliable than the one which preceded it. However this may be, it is certainly cheering to perceive that the idle speculations upon mediation and the spasmodic demands of certain impulsive politicians for armistices and concessions have failed to pervert the public mind, and that there remains the same firm determination to maintain the Union that was everywhere manifested at the beginning of the contest. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 315.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have to acknowledge the reception of despatches from the department, numbered from 449 to 455, inclusive. Also printed circular (No. 30) of the 24th of December last. I shall endeavor to attend to the various subjects to which they refer as promptly as possible. Since the date of my last despatch I have received, for transinission to the President, resolutions and addresses adopted at public meetings held in Bradford, Bristol, Stroud, and Glasgow. I have also been notified by the chairman of the London meeting, William Evans, esquire, that the resolutions adopted by it are in process of engrossment on vellum, prior to transmission to the same destination. Should they reach the legation in season I shall send them by the steamer of this week. I likewise send a minute of the proceedings of the executive committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, formally presented to me by a very large and respectable deputation, which waited upon me on Tuesday last, to be forwarded in the same manner. I feel it my duty to notice a portion of the observations contained in the minute, which I did in as brief a reply as I could prepare to answer the purpose. A report of the proceedings which appeared in most of the newspapers of the next day is also appended. I think there can be no doubt that these manifestations are the genuine expression of the feelings of the religious dissenting, and of the working classes of Great Britain. The political effect of them is not unimportant, coming, as they do, at a period when a sudden dissolution of Parliament, at any moment, is regarded by all as very possible. Under such circumstances, the agitation of a proposition to recognize the insurgents looks much less likely than I could have anticipated some months ago. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Nichols to Mr. Adams. BRADFORD, Yorkshire, January 30, 1863. SIR: I have the highest satisfaction in forwarding to your excellency, as the representative of the United States, the enclosed resolutions of a crowded meeting, held in our largest building, at which not fewer than 4,000 persons were present, begging you will have the kindness to submit the document to the President. So many gentlemen in public station having, of late, expressed opinions favorable to the recognition of the rebel States, it was felt no longer to be tolerable that the sympathies and opinions of the English people should be so mis-represented It would not be possible for sympathizers with the slave power to obtain such a demonstration on behalf of the south, in any part of England, as those now afforded by the great centres of industry against slavery and its abettors. Our worthy representative in the British Parliament, of whom we are proud as taking a position in the fore front of the enemies of oppression, and who presided over this meeting, can assure you of the unmistakable enthusiasm of the people of Bradford in passing the resolutions I have the honor to hand you, and their determined opposition to. any interposition on behalf of the rebel slave-owners. The proceedings closed with three hearty cheers for President Lincoln, which expressed our earnest solicitude that he may be sustained by the Almighty Father of bond and free, in his righteous determination to bring to an end the accursed evil which has, for a time, severed the Union and provoked the just retribution of the Avenger of the oppressed on all who have been accessory to it. That, on the basis of equal rights and justice to all inhabitants of the States, without distinction of race, your Union may speedily be restored, in its integrity, to peace and prosperity; and that, by the fellowship of an unfettered commerce, all nations may be bound up in your well-being, is the prayer of Yours, most truly, His Excellency the Hon. C. F. ADAMS, London. W. S. NICHOLS, Secretary of the Meeting. Mr. Adams to Mr. Nichols. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I shall be pleased to transmit to the President of the United States the resolutions of the crowded meeting at Bradford, which you have done me the favor to commit to my care. I doubt not that this and other similar manifestations of the public sentiment which have lately passed through my hands will have an excellent effect in establishing the most friendly state of feeling among my countrymen in America towards their well-wishers here. Such is the only solid foundation on which to rest the amity of nations. I am, sir, &c., &c., CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. W. S. NICHOLS, Esq., Bradford, Yorkshire. MEETING AT BRADFORD. Resolutions passed unanimously at a public meeting of the inhabitants of Bradford, Yorkshire, held in St George's Hall, January 29, 1863, to promote the emancipation policy of the President of the United States of North America. W. E. Forster, esq., M. P. for Bradford, in the chair.. 1st. That, in the opinion of this meeting, the war now raging in America had its origin in slavery, is continued in its defence, for its extension and perpetuation; that slavery is in antagonism to Christianity, to free institutions, a scourge, a blight and a curse on the human race, and a stain upon the civilization of the nineteenth century, 2d. That this meeting, abhorring slavery as unchristian and inhuman, deprecates all efforts to induce her Majesty's ministers to transgress the policy of non-intervention on behalf of the slaveholders, who, by rebelling and fighting for slavery, have brought incalculable misery upon their own country and upon this. 3d. That any intervention, physical or moral, on behalf of the slave power would be especially disgraceful, now that the government of the United States has avowed an emancipation policy, in which this meeting rejoices, as giving ground for the belief that this terrible war will be overruled to the destruction of the system of slavery. 4th. That this meeting deeply sympathizes with the working classes of the cotton districts in their privations resulting from the war, and regards with admiration their magnanimity in being the first publicly to declare the undiminished hatred of Englishmen to slavery, and their unalterable determination at all risks to seek its extermination. |