DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



279 





erate States, while it is, to a great degree, a practical 

 protection to the commerce aud ships of the Uiiited 

 States. 



The inefficiency of the Federal Administra- 

 tion, and the ill success of all its military efforts^ 

 are next related. The commercial resources of 

 -iuth are then stated for the purpose of 

 removing any impression which might be en- 

 tertained that the South was a poor country. 

 After which it is argued that the Abolition 

 sentiment of England can hope for nothing 

 from the Administration of Mr. Lincoln, which 

 " proposes no freedom to the slave." In this 

 connection it would be well to read the views 

 expressed in Congress at the session previous 

 to Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. [See CONGRESS 

 U. S.] The views of the Southern Commis- 

 sioners, so entirely opposite to those of South- 

 ern Senators aud Representatives, were thus 

 expressed : 



The undersigned are also aware that the anti-slavery 

 sentiment, so "universally prevalent in England, has 

 shrunk from the idea of "forming friendly public rela- 

 tions with a government recognizing the slavery of a 

 part of the human race. The question of the morality 

 of slavery it is not for the undersigned to discuss with 

 any foreign Power. The authors of the American 

 Declaration of Independence found the African race in 

 the colonies to be slaves, both by colonial and English 

 law, and by the law of nations. Those great and good 

 men left that fact aud the responsibility for its exist- 

 ence where they found it ; and thus finding that there 

 were two distinct races in the colonies, one free and 

 capable of niaintaiuing their freedom, and the other 

 slave, and, in their opinion, unfitted to enter upon 

 that contest and to govern themselves, they made 

 their famous declaration of freedom for the white race 

 alone. They eventually planned and put in operation, 

 in the course of a few years, two plans of government, 

 both resting upon that great and recognized distinc- 

 tion between the white and the black man, aud per- 

 petuating that distinction as the fundamental law of 

 the Government they framed, which they declared to 

 be framed for the benefit of themselves and their pos- 

 terity in their own language, " to secure the bless- 

 ings'of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." 



The wisdom of that course is not a matter for dis- 

 cussion with foreign nations. Suffice it to say that 

 thus were the great American institutions framed, and 

 thus have they remained unchanged to this day. It 

 was from no tear that the slaves would be liberated 

 that secession took place. The very party in power 

 has proposed to guarantee slavery forever in the 

 States, if the South would but remain in the Union. 

 Mr. Lincoln's message proposes no freedom to the 

 slave, but announces subjection of his owner to the 

 will of the Union in other words, to the will of the 

 North. Even after the battle of Bull Eun, both 

 branches of the Congress at Washington passed reso- 

 lutions that the war is only waged in order to uphold 

 that (pro-slavery) Constitution, and to enforce the laws, 

 (many of them pro-slavery,) and out of one hundred 

 and seventy-two votes in 'the Lower House they re- 

 ceived all but two, and in the Senate all but one vote. 

 As the army commenced its march, the Commanding 

 General issued an order that no slaves should be re- 

 ceived into, or allowed to follow, the camp. The great 

 object of the war, therefore, as now officially an- 

 nounced, is not to free the slave, but to keep him in 

 subjection to his owner, and to control his labor 

 through the legislative channels, which the Lincoln 

 Government designs to force upon the master. The 

 undersigned, therefore, submit with confidence that, 

 as far as the anti-slavery sentiment of England is con- 

 cerned, it can have no sympathy with the North; nay, 

 it will probably become disgusted with a canting 



hypocrisy which would enlist those sympathies on 

 false pretences. The undersigned are, however, nut 

 insensible to the surmise that the Lincoln Government 

 may, under stress of circumstances, change its policy 

 a policy based at present more upon a wily view of 

 what is to be its effect in rearing up an element in tin.- 

 Confederate States favorable to the reconstruction of 

 the Union, than from any honest desire to uphold a 

 Constitution, the main provisions of which it has most 

 shamelessly violated. But they confidently submit to 

 your lordship's consideration, that success in produc- 

 ing so abrupt and violent a destruction of a system of 

 labor which has reared up so vast a commerce be- 

 tween America and the great States of Europe, which, 

 it is supposed, now gives bread to 10,000,000 of the 

 population of those States, which, it may be safely as- 

 sumed, is intimately blended with the basis ot the 

 great manufacturing and navigating prosperity that 

 distinguishes the age, and probably not the least of 

 the elements of this prosperity, would be visited with 

 results disastrous to the world, as well as to the mas- 

 ter and slave. 



Resort to servile war has, it is true, as we have here- 

 tofore stated, not been proclaimed, but officially aban- 

 doned. It has been, however, recommended by per- 

 sons of influence in the United States ; and when all 

 other means shall fail, as the undersigned assure your 

 lordship the}' will, to bring the Confederate States into 

 subjection to the power of Mr. Lincoln's Government, 

 it is by no means improbable that it may be inau- 

 gurated. 



Other reasons are advanced for a speedy re- 

 cognition of the Confederate States. 



On the 24th of August, Lord John Russell 

 gave his reply, as follows : 



The undersigned has had the honor to receive the 

 letter of the 14th inst., addressed to him by Messrs. 

 Yancey, Rost and Mann, on behalf of the so-styled 

 Confederate States of North America. 



The British Government do not pretend in any way 

 to pronounce a judgment upon the questions in debate 

 between- the United States and their adversaries in 

 North America; the British Government can only re- 

 gret that these differences have unfortunately been 

 submitted to the arbitrament of arms. Her Majesty 

 has considered this contest as constituting a civil 

 war, and her Majesty has, by her royal proclamation, 

 declared her intention to preserve a strict neutrality 

 between the contending parties in that war. 



Her Majesty will strictly perform the duties which 

 belong to a neutral. Her Majesty cannot undertake 

 to determine by anticipation what may be the issue of 

 the contest, nor can she acknowledge the independence 

 of the nine States which are now combined against 

 the President and Congress of the United States, 

 until the fortune of arms, or the more peaceful mode 

 of negotiation, shall have more clearly determined the 

 respective positions of the two belligerents. 



Her Majesty can, in the mean time, only express a 

 hope that some adjustment, satisfactory to both par- 

 ties, may be come to, without the calamities which 

 must ensue in the event of an embittered and protract- 

 ed conflict. 



On the 30th of November, the Commission- 

 ers, under instructions from the President of 

 the Confederate States, urge upon her Majesty's 

 Government the ineffective nature of the block- 

 ade, and the paramount interests affected by 

 the blockade. To this appeal a brief reply was 

 given on the 7th of December, as follows : 



Lord Russell presents his compliments to Mr. Yan- 

 cey, Mr. Rost, and Mr. Mann. He has had the honor 

 to receive their letters and inclosures of the 27th and 

 30th of November ; but, in the present state of affairs, 

 he must decline to enter into any official communica- 

 tion with them. 



