260 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



by the President of the United States of America, by 

 and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and by 

 her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain aud Ireland;, 

 and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washing- 

 ton, within the space of six months from the signature, 

 or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, the respective 

 plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention 

 in duplicate, and have thereto affixed their seals. 



Done at London, the day of , in the year of 

 our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one 

 (1861.) 



Prussia. These circulars are followed by 

 extracts from the correspondence with each of 

 the ministers of this country to foreign courts, 

 in copious detail. Commencing with Prussia, 

 the letter of instructions to Mr. Judd, the newly- 

 appointed minister, is under the date of March. 

 Mr. Seward writes : 



SIR : Contrary to what usually happens in giving in- 

 structions to a minister going abroad, I am directed by 

 the President to ask you to fix your attention in the 

 first instance, and to keep it constantly fixed, on the 

 actual condition of affairs at home. I allude, of course, 

 to the unlawful and unconstitutional attempt which is 

 being made to detach several of the States from the 

 Federal Union, and to organize them as an independ- 

 ent republic under the name of the "Confederate 

 States of America." 



You are well aware of what you will find Europeans 

 unable to understand, namely, that owing to the very 

 peculiar structure of our Federal Government, and the 

 equally singular character and habits of the American 

 people, this Government not only wisely but neces- 

 sarily hesitates to resort to coercion and compulsion 

 to secure a return of the disaffected portion of the peo- 

 ple to their customary allegiance. The Union was 

 formed upon popular consent, and must always prac- 

 tically stand on the same basis. The temporary causes 

 of alienation must pass away ; there must needs be 

 disasters and disappointments resulting from the exer- 

 cise of unlawful authority by the revolutionists, while 

 happily it is certain that there is a general and pro- 

 found sentiment of loyalty pervading the public mind 

 throughout the United States. While it is the inten- 

 tion of the President to maintain the sovereignty and 

 rightful authority of the Union everywhere with firm- 

 ness as well as discretion, he at the same time relies 

 w.ith great confidence on the salutary working of the 

 agencies I have mentioned, to restore the harmony and 

 Union of the States. But to this end it is of the great- 

 est importance that the disaffected States shall not 

 succeed in obtaining favor or recognition from foreign 

 nations. 



It is understood that the so-called Confederate 

 States of America have sent, or are about to send, 

 agents to solicit such recognition in Europe, although 

 there is no special reason for supposing Prussia to be 

 one of the nations to which application will be made. 

 An almost electric political connection, however, ex- 

 ists between the several capitals of western Europe, 

 and therefore your most efficient and unfailing efforts 

 must be put forth directly, and even indirectly, to 

 prevent the success of that ill-starred design. 



Mr. Seward then calls the attention of Mr. 

 Judd to his general circular to all our ministers, 

 dated March 9th, and says : 



It may be well to call your attention to the fact that 

 in that communication, as in this, I have forborne 

 altogether from discussing the groundless complaints 

 and pretexts which have been put forth by the organs 

 of disunion to justify the rash and perilous revolution 

 which they are attempting to inaugurate. I have 

 practised this reticence not because the point is unim- 

 portant, but because the dispute is purely a domestic 

 one, and the President would not willingly have the 

 archives of our legations bear testimony to so un- 



American a proceeding as an acknowledgment, even 

 by indirection, that this Government ever consented to 

 join issue upon a purely family matter of this kind 

 with a portion of our own citizens before a foreign 

 tribunal. Nevertheless, should you find that any 

 weight is given to those complaints and pretexts in the 

 court to which you are accredited, your perfect knowl- 

 edge of all the transactions involved, will, I am sure, 

 enable you to meet them conclusively and satisfactorily 

 without precise instructions on that point. 



Mr. Wright, who continued to represent the 

 United States at the Court of Prussia until the 

 arrival of Mr. Judd, writes to Mr. Seward under 

 date of Berlin, May 8th : " Baron Schleinitz, 

 the Minister for Foreign Affairs, gave me the 

 most positive assurance that this Government, 

 from the principle of unrelenting opposition to 

 all revolutionary movements, would be one of 

 the last to recognize any de facto government 

 of the disaffected States of the American 

 Union." 



Again, under date of May 15th, he writes : 

 "Baron Schleinitz informed me that, in his 

 opinion, no apprehension need be entertained 

 as to Prussian subjects engaging under the au- 

 thority of the so-called Confederate States in 

 fitting out privateers, or in any manner inter- 

 fering with our commerce." 



Again, under date of May 26th, he writes to 

 Mr. Seward : " Prussia will take efficient steps 

 to sustain the Government of the United States 

 in the protection of property and commerce, 

 and will do all she can, consistently with her 

 obligations to other Governments, to sustain 

 the vigorous action of our Government in main- 

 taining law and order." 



On the 13th of June, Baron Schleinitz ad- 

 dressed a note to Baron Gerolt, the Prussian 

 Minister at Washington, referring to doubts pre- 

 vailing in Europe about the treatment to which 

 neutral shipping might be subjected during the 

 continuance of the disturbances in the United 

 States, and requests him to obtain an explana- 

 tion of the views of the Federal Government 

 thereupon. 



Mr. Seward, in reply, on the 16th of June, 

 further adds : 



Baron Schleinitz, in this communication, has re- 

 marked that it would certainly be most desirable for 

 Prussia that this Government should embrace this 

 occasion to announce its adhesion to the celebrated 

 declaration of Paris. But that if this could not be 

 attained, then, for the present, the Government of 

 Prussia would urge that an exposition might be made, 

 to be obligatory during the present intestine disturb- 

 ances in the United States, in regard to the applica- 

 tion generally of the second and third principles of the 

 Paris declaration to neutral shipping. 



The second principle of the Paris declaration is, that 

 the neutral flag covers the enemy's goods, not contra- 

 band of war. 



The third principle is, that the goods, not contra- 

 band of war, of a neutral found on ooard an enemy's 

 vessel are exempt from confiscation. 



The undersigned has. the pleasure of informing 

 Baron Gerolt, by authority or the President of tliu 

 United States, that the Government cheerfully declares 

 its assent to these principles in the present case, and 

 to continue until tlie insurrection which now unhap- 

 pily exists in the United States shall have come to an 

 end, and they will be fully observed by this Govern- 

 ment in its relations with Prussia. 



