Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams, April 4, 1862

Mr. Seward to Mr.
Adams.

Sir: I regret to be obliged to revert to a
subject upon which I have already written to you more than once with
deep concern, namely, the fitting out of vessels of war in England for
the service of the insurgents.

The report now comes to us that one or two iron-clad vessels for that
service are ready in England, and that Captain Bullock is there with men
to bring them to our shores.

It is notorious that while the government of Great Britain have formally
departed from the friendly relations which existed between the two
countries before the insurrection began, and have assumed an attitude of
neutrality between the belligerents and this government, British
subjects have become aiders and abettors of the insurrection in every
possible way, and that the arms, ammunition, and military stores of the
insurgents are constantly shipped from British ports, and those who
bring them are provided in every form with directions and facilities for
entering our country in violation of our blockade.

This government entertains no more doubt of the stability of this federal
Union than her Majesty’s government do of the stability of the union of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Under such
circumstances, the question arises whether the government of Great
Britain are actually indifferent upon the subject of the relations which
must exist between the two countries. Are they willing that, so long as
the insurgents shall be able to protract a hopeless warfare against the
peace and happiness of the American people, they shall avail themselves
of the aid and sympathy of a sordid class of persons in the British
islands, to whom the disturbance of lawful commerce and the subversion
of all honest interests of either country are of no value when weighed
against their own gains from a hostile and unlawful trade ?

The President does not believe that the British government are
consciously tolerating the injurious practices of which I have
complained. But I am instructed to ask you once more to bring these
complaints to the notice of Earl Russell, in the hope that the time may
have at last come when British subjects, deliberately and wickedly
engaged as abettors in the existing warfare against the government, may
be subjected to some restraint, or at least be made to feel her
Majesty’s severe displeasure. The President would not be content without
doing all that lies in his power to arrest a growing discontent on the
part of the American people, fast ripening into an alienation which
would perplex and embarrass the two nations for an indefinite
period.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,