ary States, cannot but impair their ability to prosecute the war, and at the same time result indirectly in greater distress in Europe. On the other hand, this disorganization operates far less injuriously at present to the federal government and to the loyal States. Every African laborer who escapes from his service is not only lost to the support of the insurrection, but he brings an accession to the productive labor of the loyal States, and to that extent increases their ability to continue the contest in which they are reluctantly engaged. The failure of foreign_importations, as heretofore, in return for the exportation of southern staples, stimulates the manufacturing industry of the loyal States. Immigration is accelerated by an activity in these States, resulting from extended manufacture and prosecution of the war. Thus has the phenomenon appeared, disappointing so many prophecies in Europe, that the war impoverishes and exhausts only the insurrection, and not the Union. I shall not contend that these effects would be perpetual. I know there is a reckoning for every nation that has the misfortune to be involved in war, and' I do not expect for the United States any exemption from that inexorable law. But it is enough for my present purpose that the penalties are neither more severe nor more imminent than the loyal States can endure while bringing this unhappy contest to its desired conclusion. Let us now suppose that any one or more European states should think it right or expedient to intervene by force to oblige the United States to accept a compromise of their sovereignty. What other effect could it produce than to render inevitable, and even hurry on, that servile war, so completely destructive of all European interests in this country, which this government so studiously strives to avoid? I know that the danger of any foreign nation attempting such a policy, if it has ever existed, has passed, as I am happy in knowing that no foreign government has ever threatened such intervention, while several magnanimous governments have repudiated all unfriendly designs. I have put forward that hypothesis only by way of preface to a question not less significant, namely, what must be the effect of such a policy abroad as will encourage the insurgents with hopes of an intervention which is never to occur? Is not that effect visible in the obstinacy of the insurgents in their destruction of the cotton and tobacco already cultivated and liable to be brought into commerce by the return of peace, and in their studied neglect of the planting the seed of their staples, and turning so much of the African labor as they are able to save into the production of supplies of provisions and forage, to enable them to continue the war? The effect will be further developed as time goes on in opening a way for that servile war which, if it shall be permitted to come, will produce infinite suffering throughout the world, and can only at last result in an entirely new system of trade and commerce between the United States and all foreign nations. I need not say that these views are not grounded on any proceedings or expressions of the British government, and are to be submitted to them, only as they will be to other States, from a strong desire on the part of the Pres ident that the true condition of the present strife may be everywhere fully understood. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM. H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams, No. 261.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 29, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of May 9, No. 158, has been received. It communicates the decision of her Britannic Majesty's government, declining to restore to us the Emily St. Pierre, which, after having been captured in the act of violating the blockade, and put into the care of a prize crew, was reconquered from them by the officers and crew of the vessel and conducted into a British port, and, as we now learn, was repossessed by her owners. The despatch is accompanied by a note from Earl Russell explaining the grounds upon which the denial is placed. I defer an examination of these reasons until I shall have received a copy of the reply to Earl Russell, which you expected to make by way of closing the correspondence upon the subject. I think it proper, however, to observe, at present, that the reasons seem to be limited to a want of power vested in the government to restore, and do not bear at all upon the justice or the legality of the demand. Under such circumstances this government has in more than one instance admitted the claim, and appealed to legislative authority for the power to satisfy it, and it has been promptly conferred aud exercised. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Since the instruction to you (No. 248) of the 9th instant was written, it has occurred to me that an attempt might have been made to obtain the restitution of the Emily St. Pierre by libelling her in the British admiralty court. Application has accordingly been made to the Secretary of the Navy for the name of the capturing vessel and of her commander. A copy of his reply is enclosed. When this reaches you it may be too late for the judicial proceedings referred to, as the cargo of the vessel will probably have been discharged, and the vessel herself may not be within reach of process from the court. If, however, circumstances should, in your judgment, warrant it, you may at least take the advice of counsel upon the subject and charge the expense in your accounts. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., sv., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 264.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. [Extracts.]. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 2, 1862. SIR: The European mail is laid before me only this morning. My despatches for Europe must go to-morrow morning. I will defer replies to complaints abroad until the departure of another steamer. My despatches of last week gave information of the surprise and capture of Colonel Kenley's small force at Front Royal, and of an attack by Jackson with a superior force upon General Banks, and his well-conducted retreat from Winchester across the Potomac, at Williamsport. I mentioned that all due preparations had been made to retrieve these misfortunes, and that I thought they would be followed by no serious results. The week which began so inauspiciously was filled with events indicative of a general and speedy triumph of the Union armies. First. Recruiting, except under heavy restrictions, had been suspended for some months by order of the government. The reverses alluded to favored a removal of those restrictions, and an order for renewal of enlistments, with a view to re-enforce our army in Virginia and supply the waste which had occurred in all the armies. The country responded at once, with even greater enthusiasm than a year ago. There is a third uprising of the people in behalf of the Union, inspired by confidence in the administration and in the land and naval forces. General Banks's army, which was reduced to six thousand men, and so unfortunately put hors du combat, swelled in the course of the week to twenty thousand men, and it is now, in its turn, pursuing the enemy who had driven it out of the valley of Virginia. Large forces were also sent into the valley from the east, the south, and the west, to meet the retiring insurgents, and, as we trust, to bring the war in that quarter to a prompt conclusion. While these transactions of minor importance were engaging the most careful consideration of the government, the attention of the nation, and of the world, so far as it occupies itself with our affairs, was all the time fixed upon two points, Corinth and Richmond, where battles seemed imminent, which, resulting in our favor, must be decisive of the painful controversy. The insurgents, demoralized and broken, on the 28th day of last month, evacuated the former position with all its advantages and its prestige, and thus the war in the Mississippi valley may be deemed virtually ended. During the early part of the week General McClellan fought battles and won advantages at Richmond of great moment. On Saturday the insurgents, availing themselves of a severe storm which, flooding the valley of the Chickahominy, seemed likely to divide our forces, attacked our left on the south side of that river with a superior force and caused it to break, with some loss of ordnance and stores. Re-enforcements, however, were soon brought forward, and the position lost was regained. The two armies bivouacked on the field at night. The battle was renewed the next morning with the result of a repulse of the insurgents at every point. The army of General McClellan will be rapidly strengthened, although it is already deemed adequate to the capture of Richmond. Misunderstandings have occurred between General Butler and the consuls of several maritime states at New Orleans. This was, perhaps, unavoidable under the circumstances. You will receive herewith a paper which will show you the course that has been taken by the President to remove any just ground of complaint that may exist, and prevent any further difficulties of that kind. Finally, I have the pleasure to inform you that a wholesome moral sentiment is already rapidly revealing itself in the insurrectionary region. It shows itself somewhat slowly indeed, but nevertheless distinctly at Norfolk. Regiments for the federal army are forming in North Carolina. * * * * * * * In Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana there are unmistakable signs of returning loyalty. No American now indulges any doubt that the integrity of the Union will be triumphantly maintained. We have good authority for questioning the fact of any such general destruction of cotton by the insurgents as their organs have asserted. The blockade was relaxed at the ports of Beaufort, Port Royal, and New Orleans yesterday, in pursuance of the proclamation of the President, heretofore issued. SIR: The arrival of your despatch, No. 159, has been already acknowledged. The Japanese ambassadors seem to have interrupted a very interesting conversation between yourself and Earl Russell on the subject of the rela tions existing between this country and Great Britain. I cannot but think that if it had been continued it would have been closed with beneficial results. I hope that Japan may have gained an equivalent for our loss resulting from the interruption. Some materials for enforcing the views you so justly presented, with so much energy and so much candor, in that interview, have already been sent forward to you. There has just now fallen into our hands a very extraordinary document, being a report made by Caleb Huse, who calls himself a captain of artillery, and who is an agent of the insurgents in Europe, to the chief of the artillery of the war department of the insurgents. It recites purchases of arms, munitions of war, and military supplies, which have been shipped by him in England and elsewhere in the mad attempt to overthrow the federal Union. It reveals enough to show that the complaints you have made to Earl Russell fell infinitely short of the real abuses of neutrality which have been committed in Great Britain in the very face of her Majesty's government. The revolution is now approaching its end, and it is just at this moment that the proof becomes irresistible that, if it had been successful, its success would have been due to the aid and assistance it derived from the people of Great Britain, notwithstanding the appeals and remonstrances of this government. The President of the United States has persistently expressed his anxiety throughout the whole distempered period which we have passed, that it might end in the preservation of friendly and cordial relations with all the states with which we have heretofore lived in amity, and especially with Great Britain. Whoever shall read the document I now send you will not wonder that the President thinks it desirable that the government of Great Britain should consider, before the war closes, what are likely to be the sentiments of the two nations in regard to each other after that event shall have occurred. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 271.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 7, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of May 23, No. 165, has been received. You will express confidentially to Earl Russell the satisfaction with which the President has received the explanations made through you by Earl Russell on the subject of the changed condition of affairs in Mexico. You have expressed to his lordship, as well as to myself, some doubts of the candor and loyalty of the Spanish government in the declarations of approval of the Commanding General Prim which that government has made to Earl Russell. It gives me pleasure to inform you that these declarations harmonize entirely with the tone of all the communications on the same subject which have been received at this department from Mr. Calderon Collantes. The new complication of affairs in Mexico is a cause of serious concern to the government of the United States. Mr. Corwin has negotiated a treaty which stipulates a loan of eleven million of dollars to the Mexican government. But the condition of affairs in our own country, to say nothing of the state of things in Mexico, is such as to make it extremely doubtful whether that measure would receive at present the approval of the Senate of the United States. The President therefore holds the subject in reserve. The contents of this despatch may be made known in confidence to Earl Russell. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 272.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 9, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of May 22, No. 164, has been submitted to the President. He regrets that her Majesty's government does not deem it important to reconsider its attitude towards the United States. You will receive herewith information of a naval conflict at Memphis, resulting in the surrender of the city and in the restoration of the national commerce throughout the whole navigable courses of the Mississippi and its tributaries. Of all the important ports and towns, only Mobile, Savannah, Charleston, and Richmond remain in the hands of the insurgents. The investment of the three former is going on successfully. Floods have swollen the Chickahominy, which, in ordinary seasons, is only a few yards wide, into a river two miles in breadth. This inundation now for a few days delays the operations against Richmond, but they will be prosecuted with vigor as soon as the condition of the field shall permit. The condition of our relations with maritime powers is becoming a subject of popular debate, and is likely to be agitated in the House of Representatives. It is impossible here to understand the policy by which the British government is persuaded that the sensibilities of this country, upon |