No. 397.]. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, April 30, 1863. SIR: In obedience to the instructions contained in your despatch No. 542, of the 12th of April, I have transmitted a note to Lord Russell, together with a copy of the memorial of the Panama Railroad Company. A copy of that note is herewith transmitted. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. [Enclosure.] Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, with memorial, April 29, 1863. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: I am directed by the government of the United States to submit to your consideration a copy of a memorial addressed to the President by the directing authorities of the Panama Railroad Company. I am further instructed to say that this case is regarded as coming within the category described in my note to your lordship of the 20th November last, touching the depredations committed by gunboat "290," now known as the Alabama, but attended by some peculiar circumstances fully set forth in the memorial itself. Renewing, &c., &c., Right Hon. EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 398.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to transmit a copy of one of the official publications made for the use of Parliament, containing the correspondence which bas passed between Lord Russell and myself on the subject of alleged enlistments on account of the United States in Great Britain. One additional note has been written by me since the date of this publication; a copy of which, with its enclosures, is likewise forwarded. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, &c. [Enclosures.] 1. Parliamentary paper, (No. 9,) North America. Enlistment of British subjects in federal army. 2. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, April 29, 1863. 3. William H Aspinwall to Mr. Adams, April 28, 1863. 4 McAndrew & Wann to Mr. McHenry, March 27, 1863. 5. Mr. J. M. Forbes to Mr. Adams, April 28, 1863. (See printed correspondence-London, &c) Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: In further explanation of the views which I had the honor to submit to you, in my note of the 18th instant, as to the causes of the present emigration, I have the honor to submit copies of notes addressed to me by gentlemen of high character in the United States, who are in a position to write with knowledge of the facts. The original memorandum, a copy of which is likewise submitted, is now in my hands. I pray, &c., Right Hon. EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. TUESDAY MORNING. MY DEAR SIR: I mentioned to you, some days ago, that several railroads were looking to Great Britain and to Canada for laborers exempt from the conscription act. Two or three companies were, to my own knowledge, making such arrangements. To-day I hap pened to speak of the matter to Mr. McHenry, the agent of the Atlantic and Great Western railroad, now being extended through the State of Ohio, and I received from him the enclosed memorandum from the agents in New York, on the promise to return it to him this week. McAndrew and Wann are British subjects; the latter brother to the manager of the Belfast Bank. And Mr. Kennard, the consulting engineer alluded to in memorandum, is an Englishman, nephew to the bankers in this city. Very truly and respectfully, yours, His Excellency C. F. ADAMS, &c. [Memorandum.] WILLIAM H. ASPINWALL, Edwards's Hotel. NEW YORK, March 27, 1863. riveters, $1 50 to $2; fitRiveters wanted particu DEAR SIR: Mr. Kennard wishes you to send out 500 mechanics. He will have work for them, and more. Wages here-say, blacksmiths, $2 to $2 50; ters, the same; moulders, $1 50; and trimmers, do., per day. larly. He also would like you to send out 3,000 laborers. Their wages will be $1 25 per day. They should pay their own way out. Mechanics can be had in Belfast and Scotland. Truly, yours, JAMES HENRY, Esq., London. MCANDREW & WANN. Mr. Forbes to Mr. Adams. LONDON, April 28, 1863. MY DEAR SIR: The extraordinary misapprehension which seems to exist here, even among sane people, in regard to enlistments in this country for the United States, leads me to state that more than two months ago I was called upon, as a director in one of our Lake Superior land companies, to vote upon an appropriation of money, to be used in combination with other companies there, for bringing miners and other laborers over to supply the great want of labor that had already been felt there. I know, too, that the great railroad lines of the west were suffering under the increase of wages and the scarcity of men, especially of those exempt from draft. Even on the seaboard, in our short winter days, common labor was at $1 25 per diem. It seems to me the plain facts of the case are quite enough to explain the emigration, without supposing want of good faith in our government as its cause or stimulant. SIR: In obedience to so much of the instructions contained in your despatch No. 545, of the 10th of April, as relates to the loan made here in behalf of the rebels, I have addressed a note to Lord Russell on that subject, a copy of which is herewith transmitted. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.' Secretary of State. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED States, MY LORD: I am instructed to inform your lordship that the government of the United States has heard with surprise and regret of the negotiation of a loan in this city, with conditions of security and payment openly hostile to the United States, and under the strongest presumption that the funds thus supplied are to be used in fitting out expeditions, in violation of her Majesty's proclamation and of the law of the land, as well as of treaties and the law of nations. The President does not for a moment believe that her Majesty's government have lent or will lend any sanction or approval to these proceedings. The painful fact, nevertheless, is forced upon his attention that this loan contains a direct engagement with the armed insurgents, who have assumed to control, supply, and deliver cotton for the reimbursement of the money advanced, with interest. Hence it becomes an imperative duty to apprise her Majesty's government that this transaction must bring an end to all concessions, of whatever form, that may have been heretofore made for mitigating or alleviating the rigors of the blockade in regard to the shipment of cotton. Neither can any title of any person, whether citizen of the United States or subject of a foreign power, to any cotton or other merchandise, which title is derived from or through any pretended insurgent authority, or other agency hostile to the United States, be respected. It has always been, and it still continues to be, the desire of my government to do everything in its power to lighten the difficulties which inevitably follow a state of war to all friendly nations. I am sure that it is with the greatest reluctance it finds itself compelled by the offensive acts of apparently irresponsible parties, bent upon carrying on hostilities under the shelter of neutrality, to restrict rather than to expand the avenues of legitimate trade. The responsibility for this must rest mainly upon those who, for motives best known to themselves, have labored and continue to labor so strenuously and effectually to furnish the means for the protraction of the struggle. Renewing, &c., SIR: On Saturday last I sent you copies of newspapers containing reports of the debates, on the evening previous, in the House of Commons, on American affairs. I did not then think it necessary to accompany them with any comments of mine. It is proper for me, however, to say that the concurring testimony of all persons present whom I have seen was to the effect that the general tone of the members indicated an indisposition to disturb the friendly relations between the two countries. No. 403.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. [Extracts.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: In the House of Lords, last evening, Lord Russell is reported as announcing that the Peterhoff has been sent to the prize court. The effect of this news here will be to prolong the delay in reorganizing the scheme of smuggling by way of the Rio Grande. Seven steamers are now awaiting orders. But I feel it my duty to call your attention to the necessity of taking advantage of it, so far as, if possible, to provide in season against the assumption of operations in that quarter. No equally subtle and dangerous expedient to annul the blockade has yet been devised. The plan has been entered into very deeply by wealthy and influential merchants and capitalists in this city, and it has an inti mate connexion with the base of the confederate loan. * * * * I know not whether anything short of the possession of the eastern bank of the river will avail to defeat these machinations. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, &c. No. 575.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Your despatch of the 17th of April (No. 379) has been received. The promptness with which you have laid before the government of Great Britain the facts ascertained by you in regard to the unlawful equipment and departure of the Virginia is appreciated, and the President indulges a confident expectation that that government will do all that may be within its power to avert from the international commerce the danger which the transaction menaces, and to prevent similar transactions in future. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 576.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 4, 1863. SIR: Your despatch of the 16th of April (No. 373) has been received. The late Sir George Cornwall Lewis, secretary of war, has been regarded in this country as a faithful, able, and enlightened minister of the crown, while the firm, just, and dignified course he so constantly pursued in regard to our national affairs, has seemed to be a guarantee of the continuance of peaceful and friendly relations between the two nations. His death is therefore mourned perhaps as profoundly on this side of the Atlantic as it is in the country which that sad event deprives of his wise counsels and great administrative services. SIR: Your despatch of April 16 (No. 376) has been received, together with the resolutions of the public meetings held at Leicester and Preston, in Lancashire. I have also the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 17th of April, (No. 381,) together with its accompaniment, the address to the President of the inhabitants of Coventry, in Warwickshire. All these kind and generous expressions of sympathy with the American Union and its cause have been submitted to the President, and read by him with the most grateful emotion. Having in a recent communication authorized you to acknowledge similar proceedings of like assemblages, held in various parts of Great Britain, I have now the President's directions to ask you to embrace the proceedings now before me in that general acknowledgment, if it be not too late; and if it shall be too late for that purpose, then I have to request that you will make special and proper acknowledgments to the citizens of Leicester, Preston, and Coventry. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. |