Mr. Black (Secretary of State) to all the ministers of the United States, February 28, 1861

Mr. Black (Secretary of State) to all the
ministers of the United
States.

CIRCULAR.

Sir: You are, of course, aware that the
election of last November resulted in the choice of Mr. Abraham Lincoln;
that he was the candidate of the republican or anti-slavery party; that
the preceding discussion had been confined almost entirely to topics
connected, directly or indirectly, with the subject of negro slavery;
that every northern State cast its whole electoral vote (except three in
New Jersey) for Mr. Lincoln, while in the whole south the popular
sentiment against him was almost absolutely universal. Some of the
southern States, immediately after the election, took measures for
separating themselves from the Union, and others soon followed their
example. Conventions have been called in South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and those
conventions, in all except the last-named State, have passed ordinances
declaring their secession from the federal government. A congress,
composed of representatives from the six first-named States, has been
assembled for some time at Montgomery, Alabama. By this body a
provisional constitution has been framed for what it styles the
“Confederated States of America.”

It is not improbable that persons claiming to represent the States which
have thus attempted to throw off their federal obligations will seek a
recognition of their independence by the Emperor of Russia. In the event
of such an effort being made, you are expected by the President to use
such means as may in your judgment be proper and necessary to prevent
its success.

The reasons set forth in the President’s message at the opening of the
present session of Congress, in support of his opinion that the States
have no constitutional power to secede from the Union, are still
unanswered, and are believed to be unanswerable. The grounds upon which
they have attempted to justify the revolutionary act of severing the
bonds which connect them with their sister States are regarded as wholly
insufficient. This government has not relinquished its constitutional
jurisdiction within the territory of those States, and does not desire
to do so.

It must be very evident that it is the right of this government to ask of
all foreign powers that the latter shall take no steps which may tend to
encourage the revolutionary movement of the seceding States, or increase
the danger of disaffection in those which still remain loyal. The
President feels assured that the government of the Emperor will not do
anything in these affairs inconsistent with the friendship which this
government has always heretofore experienced from him and his ancestors.
If the independence of the “Confederated States” should be acknowledged
by the great powers of Europe it would tend to disturb the friendly
relations, diplomatic and commercial, now existing between those powers
and the United States. All these
are consequences which the court of the Emperor will not fail to see are
adverse to the interests of Russia as well as to those of this
country.

Your particular knowledge of our political institutions will enable you
to explain satisfactorily the causes of our present domestic troubles,
and the grounds of the hope still entertained that entire harmony will
soon be restored.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,