Charles Francis Adams to William H. Seward, February 5, 1863

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

Sir: I have to acknowledge the reception of despatches from the department, numbered from 449 to 455, inclusive. Also printed circular (No. 30) of the 24th of December last. I shall endeavor to attend to the various subjects to which they refer as promptly as possible.

Since the date of my last despatch I have received, for transmission to the President, resolutions and addresses adopted at public meetings held in Bradford, Bristol, Stroud, and Glasgow. I have also been notified by the chairman of the London meeting, William Evans, esquire, that the resolutions adopted by it are in process of engrossment on vellum prior to transmission to the same destination. Should they reach the legation in season I shall send them by the steamer of this week.

I likewise send a minute of the proceedings of the executive committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, formally presented to me by a very large and respectable deputation, which waited upon me on Tuesday last, to be forwarded in the same manner. I felt it my duty to notice a portion of the observations contained in the minute, which I did in as brief a reply as I could prepare to answer the purpose. A report of the proceedings which appeared in most of the newspapers of the next day is also appended.

I think there can be no doubt that these manifestations are the genuine expression of the feelings of the religious dissenting, and of the working classes of Great Britain. The political effect of them is not unimportant, coming, as they do, at a period when a sudden dissolution of Parliament, at any moment, is regarded by all as very possible. Under such circumstances, the agitation of a proposition to recognize the insurgents looks much less likely than I could have anticipated some months ago.

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

Meeting at Bradford.

Resolutions passed unanimously at a public meeting of the inhabitants of Bradford, Yorkshire, held in St. George’s Hall, January 29, 1863, to promote the emancipation policy of the President of the United States of North America.

W. E. Forster, esq., M. P. for Bradford, in the chair.

1st. That, in the opinion of this meeting, the war now raging in America had its origin in slavery, is continued in its defence, for its extension and perpetuation; that slavery is in antagonism to Christianity, to free institutions, a scourge, a blight and a curse on the human race, and a stain upon the civilization of the nineteenth century.

2d. That this meeting, abhorring slavery as unchristian and inhuman, deprecates all efforts to induce her Majesty’s ministers to transgress the policy of nonintervention on behalf of the slaveholders, who, by rebelling and fighting for slavery, have brought incalculable misery upon their own country and upon this.

3d. That any intervention, physical or moral, on behalf of the slave power would be especially disgraceful, now that the government of the United States has avowed an emancipation policy, in which this meeting rejoices, as giving ground for the belief that this terrible war will be overruled to the destruction of the system of slavery.

4th. That this meeting deeply sympathizes with the working classes of the cotton districts in their privations resulting from the war, and regards with admiration their magnanimity in being the first publicly to declare the undiminished hatred of Englishmen to slavery, and their unalterable determination at all risks to seek its extermination.

5th. That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be forwarded to his excellency the Hon. C. F. Adams, with a request that he will remit them to President Lincoln.

On behalf of the meeting,

Great anti-slavery meeting.

At a large and enthusiastic meeting held in the Subscription Rooms, Stroud, on Thursday evening, January 29, 1863, John Sibree, esq., M. A., in the chair, for the purpose of expressing sympathy with the anti-slavery policy of the federal government, it was unanimously resolved that the following address be presented to the President of the United States;

To his excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America:

Sir: It is in no corporate capacity, but simply as an assembly of Englishmen, that we venture to address you a few words of sympathy and fraternal regard. We deeply deplore the calamity which has fallen upon your country, and earnestly desire to see a stop put to the painful struggle now raging in America, sincerely hoping that the system of slavery, which has been the chief cause of the war, may be buried with it.

We are bound to confess that there has ever been a misgiving in our minds when we remembered that there was an inconsistency or incongruity between your avowed principle of liberty and the existence among you of the worst form of human despotism, and that we have ever believed that such dreadful injustice, in the course of providence, would be avenged.

We would assure you of our full appreciation of the heavy burden of responsibility now resting upon you, and of our sympathy with you in all measures which have for their object the extinction of slavery; and rejoice to believe that, in spite of all that has been said or written, there exists, between the United States and Great Britain, a sound basis of cordial amity, which will be cemented and extended by the success of those measures in erasing this injurious blot from your Constitution.

Praying that you may be carried through the fiery trial to which you are subjected, and that you may be spared to reap the harvest of freedom and peace, we trust that, in the triumph of right and justice, your sorrowing widows and bereaved mothers may find an alleviation of their woes.

Be assured, also, that we deeply deplore any apparent complicity with the southern States in the clandestine equipment of war ships for their use in our waters, and that we fully appreciate the considerate feeling of the north evinced by the shipment of gratuitous supplies for our distressed operatives.

We are, with much respect, yours, &c.,

Great anti-slavery meeting.

At a large and enthusiastic meeting held in the Subscription Rooms, Stroud, on Thursday evening, January 29, 1863, John Sibree, esq., M. A., in the chair, for the purpose of expressing sympathy with the anti-slavery policy of the federal government, the following resolutions were nearly unanimously adopted:

Proposed by J. E. Barnard, esq., and seconded by J. A. Partridge, esq.:

That this meeting feels called upon to give expression to a feeling of deep sympathy with a distracted community sustaining such intimate national and fraternal relationships as those existing between the population of the republic of North America and that of the British isles.

Proposed by Handel Cossham, esq., and seconded by George Thompson, esq.:

That this meeting cannot but view with the deepest sorrow the rise and growth of that man-degrading system which has for so long a period held in bondage millions of our fellow-men in the more southern States of the Union, which has sought, by all means and at any cost, to make itself dominant through the entire republic, and which has been the main cause of the present disastrous war, and expresses its deeply-felt desire that the measures adopted by the federal States for crushing the monster evil of slavery may surely and speedily succeed.

Proposed by the Rev. T. H. Tarlton, incumbent of Stroud, and seconded by the Rev. W. Yates, dissenting minister:

That this meeting acknowledges with great pleasure the generous sympathy and kindness of the federal States shown to our fellow-countrymen, thrown into destitution and want by the war, as evinced by their contributions of money, food, and other articles of comfort and support, and regards the same as an omen that whatever misunderstanding or misrepresentations may have disturbed the harmonious relations existing between the northern States and the mother country, a more and more perfect amity will henceforth prevail between the people of the two nations.

[Untitled]

At Glasgow, and within the city hall there, on the evening of Wednesday, the 4th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1863, on the occasion of a great public meeting of the citzens summoned to consider the subject of emancipation in America, and which meeting was attended by upwards of 2,000 persons, representing all classes of the community, Bailie Govan, one of the magistrates of the city of Glasgow, being called to the chair, the following resolutions were passed by overwhelming majorities, viz:

Moved by Councillor Brown; seconded by Councillor Alexander:

1. That Bailie Govan do now assume the chairmanship of the meeting.

Moved by the Rev. Dr. Wm. Anderson; seconded by John MacGavin, esq.:

2. That this meeting of the citizens of Glasgow, publicly convened, desires to give expression to its deep sympathy with the sufferings endured by the people of the United States of America in the dire struggle now raging, and its cordial approval of every measure favorable to the abolition of slavery taken by the government and people; that this people desires to express its hope and prayer and confidence that, as the result of the present contest, personal freedom will be secured to every inhabitant of the western continent, so that the disgrace and sin of slavery may speedily, completely, and forever pass away from the civilized world.

Moved by the Rev. William Arnet; seconded by the Rev. Henry William Crosskey:

3. That this meeting hails the opening of the present year as the beginning of an epoch of closer friendship and more extended intercourse between the people of Britain and America.

Moved by Councillor Moir; seconded by Councillor Burt, and supported by Mr. James Wilkenson:

4. That the foregoing resolutions and the address, after signature by the chairman, be forwarded to the President of the United States.

Moved by J. W. McGregor, esq., and seconded by Councillor Thomson:

5. Vote of thanks to the chair.