Charles Francis Adams to William. H. Seward, February 16, 1865

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward

Sir. I have the honor to transmit copies of correspondence held with Lord Russell on the subject of outfits of vessels for account of the rebels, as per list annexed.

When I received his lordship’s latest note of the 8th, I thought it susceptible of so triumphant a reply that I had it in my mind to prepare one without delay.

Subsequent reflection, however, caused by information of a peculiar character which had then reached me, modified my views, and determined me to desist from any such proceeding.

I am utterly at a loss in attempting to give the proper measure of confidence to the intelligence referred to, which has come to me indirectly from France, but not through English or American agency. I can only say that the two sources of it are of high character, though by no means to be presumed to possess the confidence of the Emperor, and that they are wholly distinct from one another. The substance of the story is, that the Emperor felt so keenly the danger of his Mexican creation, in the event of a reconciliation in America, that he was organizing a powerful naval armament at Cherbourg to meet any sudden emergency, and at the same time was making earnest efforts to press this government to an engagement to co-operate in any line of policy which might be deemed necessary to anticipate future hazards to both parties in America, even to the extent, if necessary, of giving aid to the rebels. to prevent their sinking under pressure. At the same time it was said that the Emperor would not act at all unless sure of this co-operation.

So many rumors of the same sort have been spread by the adroit and intriguing emissaries in the French capital, for their own purposes, and have proved so utterly unfounded, that I habitually give no faith to them. But I was at the same time told that the solicitation to this government was not likely to prove successful, provided the fears of this country were not played upon by the powerful interest in sympathy with the rebels to such an extent as to overbear the resistance of the majority of the cabinet. Although, in my own mind, I was fully convinced that the more any such urgency might be used from that quarter, the less would be the probability of any consent of this government to be made an instrument for any such purpose. I had not been unaware of the efforts in the press and elsewhere to stir up the popular apprehension of what was to follow in case the rebellion should be subdued. I had heard—

1st. That enormous claims for damages for the ravages of the vessels let out of English ports would be immediately presented, to which Great Britain could never give any countenance.

2d. That the rescinding of all the various treaty engagements, especially in connexion with Canada, was to be only a prelude to an advance into that country of the great armies liberated from the war.

Seeing the bearing of all these movements to be to stimulate the notion that a quarrel was about to be picked by ourselves, and that the more decided and irrefutable any note of mine to Lord Russell at this time might be, the more it might have a tendency to add to these suspicions, I deliberately came to the conclusion, for the present, to let the correspondence drop.

I presume that you must have received by the last week’s steamer a report of the proceedings of the House of Commons on Friday evening, the 10th instant. You will there have noticed the elaborate and bitter attack of Sir John Walsh, opening out the whole policy heretofore imputed to the party to the policy hostile to us. I am happy to be able to say, however, that on all sides it is pro-nounced to have been an entire failure, and not to have elicited even from our best-known enemies a single cheer of approbation. The reply of Lord Palmerston was, on the contrary, received very favorably, and was regarded as a complete check upon all similar demonstrations. I thought it, on the whole, the most unexceptionable speech I had known him make on the subject; and the next evening, being at a reception at his house, I took the opportunity privately of expressing my thanks to him, for it is at once serving the best interests of both countries. I thought he seemed a little gratified by what I said.

It was plain to me, from the proceedings, that even if the Emperor had ventured upon any overtures, of which I feel great doubts, he had not yet taken much by his motion. It was at this moment I received a note from Lord Russell, asking me to call upon him on Tuesday, at 3 o’clock. I went accordingly. Then it was that I received the communication of which I gave you intimation in my hurried despatch, No. 877, of the 15th instant, which went out of the customary course in the steamer of that date. I now proceed to report to you my interview.

His lordship said he had asked to see me in order to let me know the result of the deliberations of the cabinet on American affairs. With regard to the state of things in Canada, in view of the instructions which had been sent by Mr. Cardwell to Lord Monck, of the action that had been taken by Lord Monck himself of the measures in progress in the legislature, and of the decisions of the courts of the province, it was thought that enough had been done to establish confidence there.

With respect to the difficulties that had been occasioned on this side by the proceedings of the confederate agents and their friends, in fitting out vessels and enlisting men to carry on the war, from this country as a base, the cabinet had come to a determination. This was to direct him to address a letter to the three persons who had, some time since, written to him as authorized agents of the confederates at Richmond, on another subject, Messrs. Slidell, Mason, and Mann. These persons were believed to be, all of them, now at Paris. Such a letter had accordingly been prepared. He proposed now to read to me its contents. Accordingly, he read it over slowly and deliberately. After he finished, he said it was proposed to furnish me with a copy for my government. He had already, on Monday, sent the letter to Lord Cowley, at Paris, to be forwarded to his address. In order to be still more sure of its destination, however, he proposed to send a duplicate to Washington, with a request that, through the channels of communication which appear to have been established between that place and Richmond, it might, if thought proper, be transmitted by us.

I then said that I had listened to the reading of the letter with much satisfaction. That I could not, at the moment, say what view my government would take of it, or of the proposition to transmit it through its agency. I could, myself, perceive no objection. Possibly the other side might be disposed to refuse to receive it, because it came in that way. His lordship remarked that he had first sent it directly to the agents to guard against that difficulty. He alluded to the refusal of the government to permit a vessel to pass, on a former occasion, as having been based upon other reasons which did not seem to apply to this case. I said it had always seemed to me a matter of surprise that some course of this kind had not been earlier taken. The proceedings complained of were of a most outrageous kind. Indeed, so far as I could remember, a deliberate, systematic attempt like this to conduct a naval war from the territory of a neutral power was wholly unprecedented. I had regretted it the more that the toleration of it appeared to be establishing a precedent of a most pernicious character in all future cases; and, particularly, to us it was setting an example which would hardly fail to be followed by myriads of loose people, among us, who might be induced, by the hope of profit or of adventure, to embark in any cause, no matter how unprincipled or desperate, that promised fair returns of spoils on the ocean. His lordship said that such ships might be anywhere taken; to which I assented, but at the same time reminded him that this was a war of a novel character, that depended mainly upon the skilful use of modern science, in furnishing vessels of the most speed, at once to overtake the helpless and run away from the strong. In short, it was an emulation in racing in which the governing power took the chances against itself. His lordship did not seem disposed to contest this. He alluded to the various efforts that had been made to stop these outfits under the law, and to the difficulties which had been met with at every step. I remarked that I had become convinced, from the result of the last trial, that the United States could stand no chance before a jury. His lordship said that it was in consequence of doubts of the Crown lawyers, in the case of the ironclads, as to the possible presence of one or two advocates of the confederates on the jury; that it had been decided to buy them up. People here now took sides, almost as vehemently on our question as we did ourselves. It was to be regretted, but there was no help for it. Under the circumstances, they must do the best they could.

From all which it appears, plainly enough, that this measure of a letter has been finally adopted, as the only alternative, after consciousness of the utter failure in a resort to the law as a means of preventing this gross abuse, and of the impossibility of procuring from Parliament any amendment to make it more effective.

The closing remark of his lordship, as I took my leave, was significant. Alluding to the possibility of a failure of this letter in producing any effect, he remarked that the question would be of going on; to which I replied, that I hoped it might prove equally convenient to us whether the one party should be made to stop or the other to go on.

This conference was one of a most friendly character, and convinced me that, whatever might be the desires of the French Emperor, nothing but the grossest mismanagement on our part would effect any change in the established policy of this ministry towards us.

I have since received a note from Lord Russell, with a copy of the letter. I send a copy of the former with the latter, just as it came to me, preserving a copy of it to place in the archives of this legation.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,