DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



387 



I can only again assure you that her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment have been most careful in observing strictly 

 that impartial course which neutrality enjoins. 



Mr. Adams, writing to Secretary Seward on 

 the 18th of June, says : 



It is not a little strange that this very question ap- 

 pears to have occupied the attention of the two Gov- 

 ernments so far back as in the year 1SOO. My atten- 

 tion has been called to this fact by my under secretary, 

 Mr. Moran, who happened to find th'e correspondence 

 on the subject in the third volume of the collection of 

 American State papers relating to foreign affairs. It 

 was the British Government which then made the 

 claim on almost the identical grounds taken by me, 

 and the American declined acceding to it, substantially 

 for the same reasons given by Lord Russell. 



One of the most important subjects of nego- 

 tiation during the year was a treaty for the sup- 

 pression of the slave trade. (See PUBLIC DOCU- 

 MENTS.) It admits, within certain limits, the 

 search and seizure by British cruisers of vessels 

 under the American flag supposed to be en- 

 gaged in that traffic. Mr. Seward states, in his 

 despatch to Mr. Perry at Madrid on August 

 2d : It was freely offered by this Government 

 to Great Britain," not bought, or solicited by 

 that Government. It is in harmony with the 

 sentiments of the American people. It was 

 ratified by the Senate, unanimously, and after- 

 ward distinctly approved with not less una- 

 nimity by both Houses of Congress. Not a 

 voice has been raised against it in the country/' 

 This treaty granted to Great Britain a privi- 

 hich had been inflexibly refused by the 

 American Government since it was organized. 

 Its exercise without permission had heretofore 

 caused more irritated feelings in the United 

 States against Great Britain than any other 

 subject. 



The correspondence between the two Govern- 

 ments during the year, amid all the embarras- 

 sing circumstances which existed, appears to 

 have been conducted in a most friendly spirit. 

 Her Majesty's Government seem by these papers 

 to be actuated by no other purpose then to 

 maintain a strict and impartial neutrality ac- 

 cording to the law of nations between the two 

 contending parties, and although the position 

 assumed, to regard each as belligerents, has 

 been considered by the Federal Government 

 "as unnecessary and tending injuriously to 

 prolongthe war," yet her Majesty's Government 

 have justly claimed the right to determine their 

 own position, and have inflexibly maintained 

 it. Apart from this point, each government 

 has been prompt to listen to every complaint 

 from the other, and treated it with the highest 

 respect. Nothing appears in this correspond- 

 ence to indicate that the Government of Great 

 Britain entertains any other than the mos^ 

 friendly feelings toward the Government and 

 people of the United States, and indulges the 

 sincere desire that the bitter conflict, which is 

 exhausting alike the North and the South, may 

 be speedily so closed as to promote the welfare 

 of the whole country. Still it might be asked, 

 how the building of war steamers, and the 



shipment of the munitions and supplies from 

 Liverpool to Nassau, and thence to the Confed- 

 erate States, could be consistent with the exist- 

 ence of such friendly feeling ? Such munitions 

 and supplies have been shipped with equal 

 freedom to the United States. These acts are 

 not inconsistent with a position of neutrality, 

 and the freedom of commerce of which the 

 construction of the ship Great Admiral for Rus- 

 sia, and the Hudson and others for Greece, by 

 the United States, are examples. 



France. The correspondence with France 

 represents that country as determined not to 

 interfere with the blockade of the Confederate 

 ports, but as exceedingly anxious for the ces- 

 sation of the domestic strife. Mr. Dayton 

 writes on the 12th of February : 



The Emperor, last night, in a brief conversation 

 held with him while at a private ball at the Tuileries, 

 again expressed his earnest wish that our domestic 

 strife was brought to a close. When I told him that I 

 had sanguine hopes of success at no distant day, he 

 asked me specially about the condition of the roads, 

 and the possibility of turning aside from them into 

 the open country. He referred to the great difficulty 

 of moving wago'ns, cannon, and the immense materiel 

 essential to a great army over a single road, especially 

 in a wooded country, illustrating it forcibly, as he did, 

 by his own troubles and perplexities in" his Italian 

 campaign. 



On the 18th of March, Mr. Dayton reports a 

 conference with M. Thouvenel, the Secretary 

 for Foreign Affairs. "He asked again most 

 anxiously when they should have cotton ? I 

 referred him to your despatch, and assured him 

 of our earnest desire to afford the earliest fa- 

 cilities to foreign governments for the procure- 

 ment of it. He said that petitions and memo- 

 rials were being daily addressed to the Em- 

 peror on this subject: that the suffering and 

 destitution in certain portions of France for 

 want of it were constantly on the increase. Do 

 not delay action, I beg of you, a day beyond 

 the time that you can act on this subject with 

 propriety." 



On the 25th of March, Mr. Dayton had an 

 interview with the Emperor. He writes, "I 

 was most kindly received, and he said at once 

 that he wished to have a talk with me about 

 cotton, and the prospect of opening our ports. 

 He spoke of the great inconvenience connected 

 with the existing condition of things, and feared 

 it would not speedily come to an end ; that the 

 war might yet be a long one." After explana- 

 tions on these points, Mr. Dayton referred as 

 usual on every occasion to the granting of bel- 

 ligerent rights to the Confederate Sta'es. say- 

 ing: "I told him we honestly believed that "if 

 a proclamation by France and England, with- 

 dra\g belligerent rights from the insurrec- 

 tionists, should be made, the insurrection would 

 collapse at once." During the conversation, 

 the Emperor declared he must frankly say 

 when the insurrection broke out, and this con- 

 cession of belligerent rights was made, he 

 did not suppose the North would succeed ; 

 that it was the general belief of statesmen in 

 Europe that the two sections would never come 



