Mr. Seward to ministers of the United States in Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, and Denmark, April 24, 1861

Mr. Seward to
ministers of the United States in Great
Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, and
Denmark.

CIRCULAR.

Sir: The advocates of benevolence and the
believers in human progress, encouraged by the slow though marked
meliorations of the barbarities of war which have obtained in modern
times, have been, as you are well aware, recently engaged with much
assiduity in endeavoring to effect some modifications of the law of
nations in regard to the rights of neutrals in maritime war. In the
spirit of these movements the President of the United States, in the
year 1854, submitted to the several maritime nations two propositions,
to which he solicited their assent as permanent principles of
international law, which were as follows:

• Free ships make free goods; that is to say, that the effects
  or goods belonging to subjects or citizens of a power or State
  at war are free from capture or confiscation when found on board
  of neutral vessels, with the exception of articles contraband of
  war.
• That the property of neutrals on board an enemy’s vessel is
  not subject to confiscation unless the same be contraband of
  war.

Several of the governments to which these propositions were submitted
expressed their willingness to accept them, while some others, which
were in a state of war, intimated a desire to defer acting thereon until
the return of peace should present what they thought would be a more
auspicious season for such interesting negotiations.

On the 16th of April, 1856, a congress was in session at Paris. It
consisted of several maritime powers, represented by their
plenipotentiaries, namely, Great Britain, Austria, France, Russia,
Prussia, Sardinia, and Turkey. That congress having taken up the general
subject to which allusion has already been made in this letter, on the
day before mentioned, came to an agreement, which they adopted in the
form of a declaration, to the effect following, namely:

• Privateering is and remains abolished.
• The neutral flag covers enemy’s goods, with the exception of
  contraband of war.
• Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are
  not liable to capture under enemy’s flag.
• Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective; that is
  to say, maintained by forces sufficient really to prevent access
  to the coast of the enemy.

The agreement pledged the parties constituting the congress to bring the
declaration thus made to the knowledge of the States which had not been
represented in that body, and to invite them to accede to it. The
congress, however, at the same time insisted, in the first place, that
the declaration should be binding only on the powers who were or should
become parties to it as one whole and indivisible compact; and,
secondly, that the parties who had agreed, and those who should
afterwards accede to it, should, after the adoption of the same, enter
into no arrangement on the application of maritime law in time of war
without stipulating for a strict observance of the four points resolved
by the declaration.

The declaration which I have thus substantially recited of course
prevented all the powers which became parties to it from accepting the
two propositions which had been before submitted to the maritime nations
by the President of the United States.

The declaration was, in due time, submitted by the governments
represented in the congress at Paris to the government of the United
States.

The President, about the 14th of July, 1856, made known to the States
concerned his unwillingness to accede to the declaration. In making that
announcement on behalf of this government, my predecessor, Mr. Marcy,
called the attention of those States to the following points, namely:

• 1st. That the second and third propositions contained in the
  Paris declaration are substantially the same with the two
  propositions which had before been submitted to the maritime
  States by the President.
• 2d. That the Paris declaration, with the conditions annexed,
  was inadmissible by the United States in three respects, namely:
  1st. That the government of the United States could not give its
  assent to the first proposition contained in the declaration,
  namely, that “Privateering is and remains abolished,” although
  it was willing to accept it with an amendment which should
  exempt the private property of individuals, though belonging to
  belligerent States, from seizure or confiscation by national
  vessels in maritime war. 2d. That for this reason the
  stipulation annexed to the declaration, viz: that the
  propositions must be taken altogether or rejected altogether,
  without modification, could not be allowed. 3d. That the fourth
  condition annexed to the declaration, which provided that the
  parties acceding to it should enter into no negotiation for any
  modifications of the law of maritime war with nations which
  should not contain the four points contained in the Paris
  declaration, seemed inconsistent with a proper regard to the
  national sovereignty of the United States.

On the 29th of July, 1856, Mr. Mason, then minister of the United States
at Paris, was instructed by the President to propose to the government
of France to enter into an arrangement for its adherence, with the
United States, to the four principles of the declaration of the congress
of Paris, provided the first of them should be amended as specified in
Mr. Marcy’s note to the Count de Sartiges on the 28th of July, 1856. Mr.
Mason accordingly brought the subject to the notice of the imperial
government of France, which was disposed to entertain the matter
favorably, but which failed to communicate its decision on the subject
to him. Similar instructions regarding the matter were addressed by this
department to Mr. Dallas, our minister at London, on the 31st day of
January, 1857; but the proposition above referred to had not been
directly presented to the British government by him when the
administration of this government by Franklin Pierce, during whose term
these proceedings occurred, came to an end, on the 3d of March, 1857,
and was succeeded by that of James Buchanan, who directed the
negotiations to be arrested for the purpose of enabling him to examine
the questions involved, and they have ever since remained in that state
of suspension.

The President of the United States has now taken the subject into
consideration, and he is prepared to communicate his views upon it, with
a disposition to bring the negotiation to a speedy and satisfactory
conclusion.

For that purpose you are hereby instructed to seek an early opportunity
to call the attention of her Majesty’s government to the subject, and to
ascertain whether it is disposed to enter into negotiations for the
accession of the government of the United States to the declaration of
the Paris congress, with the conditions annexed by that body to the
same; and if you shall find that government so disposed, you will then
enter into a convention to that effect, substantially in the form of a
project for that purpose herewith transmitted to you; the convention to
take effect from the time when the due ratifications of the same shall
have been exchanged. It is presumed that you will need no special
explanation of the sentiments of the President on this subject for the
purpose of conducting the necessary conferences with the government to
which you are accredited. Its assent is expected on the ground that the
proposition is accepted at its suggestion, and in the form it has preferred. For your own
information it will be sufficient to say that the President adheres to
the opinion expressed by my predecessor, Mr. Marcy, that it would be
eminently desirable for the good of all nations that the property and
effects of private individuals, not contraband, should be exempt from
seizure and confiscation by national vessels in maritime war. If the
time and circumstances were propitious to a prosecution of the
negotiation with that object in view, he would direct that it should be
assiduously pursued. But the right season seems to have passed, at least
for the present. Europe seems once more on the verge of quite general
wars. On the other hand, a portion of the American people have raised
the standard of insurrection, and proclaimed a provisional government,
and, through their organs, have taken the bad resolution to invite
privateers to prey upon the peaceful commerce of the United States.

Prudence and humanity combine in persuading the President, under the
circumstances, that it is wise to secure the lesser geode offered by the
Paris congress, without waiting indefinitely in hope to obtain the
greater one offered to the maritime nations by the President of the
United States.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant.

Convention upon the subject of the rights of
belligerents and neutrals in time of war, between the United
States of America and her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and
Ireland.

The United States of America and her Majesty the Queen of Great
Britain and Ireland, being equally animated by a desire to define
with more precision the rights of belligerent and neutrals in time
of war, have, for that purpose, conferred full powers, the President
of the United States upon Charles F. Adams, accredited as their
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to her said
Majesty, and her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland,
upon

And the said plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full
powers, have concluded the following articles:

Article I.

1. Privateering is and remains abolished. 2. The neutral flag covers
enemy’s goods, with the exception of contraband of war. 3. Neutral
goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to
capture under enemy’s flag. 4. Blockades in order to be binding,
must be effective; that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient
really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy.

Article II.

The present convention shall be ratified 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 and Ireland,
and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington, 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.)