Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams, January 15, 1864

Mr. Seward to Mr.
Adams.

Sir: Your despatch of December 31 (No. 564) has
been received and submitted to the President.

I thank you for calling my attention to the significant declaration, in a
leading British journal, that, as for Great Britain, in regard to the
two greatest risks and largest fields of danger, her securities are of a
very opposite character—that she depends upon peace in Europe, and war
in America: upon war in America, because it is only too probable that a
restoration of the national authority here, upon any terms, would be
immediately followed by what are described as “most preposterous”
demands upon Great Britain.

That the policy which her Majesty’s government have thought proper to
pursue in regard to the insurrection existing in this country has
resulted in producing many grave claims on behalf of our citizens is a
fact which manifestly appears in the diplomatic records of both
countries. That these claims are sustained here by a deep and pervading
popular conviction of their justice is apparent to all who weigh,
however carelessly, the daily utterances of the organs of public
opinion. It is, indeed, a question of deep interest to both countries,
whether this condition of things will generate, when our domestic peace
shall have been restored, a policy of unreasonable and litigious
exactions upon the British government. We may safely refer to our
correspondence with her Majesty’s government to prove that the
government of the United States does not desire such disturbed relations
as a consequence of our war, while, if it be not disrespectful, I may
add, that we are satisfied that her Majesty’s government sincerely
deprecates it. I do not apprehend, therefore, that the British
government will take or pursue the policy indicated in the quarter to
which I have alluded, with a view to a prolongation of our civil war.
That war has its evils and dangers for Great Britain, and for Europe, as
well as for the United States, and for the American continent. Whatever
errors or misconceptions may have heretofore prevailed in Europe in
regard to the causes of the insurrection, and the freedom of this
government from responsibility to the country and to man kind for its
existence, and even for its duration, those errors and misapprehensions
are now speedily clearing away, and it is daily becoming more apparent
that the insurrection has derived its main support from European
sympathies, and rests all its future hopes upon European and and
recognition. I may even go further, and say that the British realm and
British provinces already are seen to be the bases of the naval war
which the insurgents affect to wage against our country; and that
British capital and British seamen are seen to constitute the chief
resource and strength of the pretended belligerent. I should not
distrust the ultimate judgment of the British nation in our favor, and
against its own government, if that government should pursue henceforth
a policy calculated to protract the unhappy contest. Nor will I do the
government any more than the
nation so great a wrong as to believe that it could deliberately lend
itself to any system of administration that would be calculated to
injure or endanger the safety, peace, and welfare of a kindred and
friendly nation.

The President has never failed to forecast the dangers of alienation
between Great Britain and the United States, arising out of their civil
war and surviving it; hence the earnestness of his increasing
remonstrances against the concession of belligerent rights, and the
continuance of that concession; hence his willingness to hear, and his
promptness in seeking to adjust, the reasonable claims of British
subjects, and meet the just; expectations of her Majesty’s government;
hence the cheerfulness with which he has hastened to negotiate treaties
designed to settle even difficulties which existed before the war, and
to change early policies that favored discord between the two countries.
It is his purpose to pursue this course to the end of his
administration, and so far as it shall be possible, to impress upon the
habitual policy of the government a friendly and even fraternal
disposition towards Great Britain, so that the two nations may go on
harmoniously together, favoring everywhere the development of just
principles of free, responsible government, and the progress of a humane
civilization, especially in Central and Southern America, and in the
portions of the eastern world now being reopened to western
commerce.

The pursuit of this policy is not unattended by many embarrassments.
Nothing but military disasters, not now apprehended, could induce the
American people to believe themselves incompetent to grapple with all
the foreign dangers incident to the fullest assertion of their rights,
and a full redress of their wrongs, while, like every other nation, they
naturally view these rights and wrongs under the influence of
self-esteem, perhaps not altogether free from prejudices disparaging to
other nations; nevertheless, the policy is practicable, and may be
successfully established. They are only superficial observers who assume
that the United States are a litigious and contentious nation, and who
reason from that assumption that, when they shall have gained the
blessings of internal peace, they will be found impatient for aggressive
foreign war. I know that we have such interpreters in our public press;
but they reason from the excitement of the present hour, not from the
normal temperament of the American people. We have a continent to bring
forward to a higher state of development and civilization than even
Europe and the United States have yet attained We have need to extend
throughout the World a foreign commerce, which is an inevitable
outgrowth of our internal commerce. We have institutions of
self-government to maintain. These are most effectually maintained by
commending them to the favorable opinion of mankind, and they can be so
commended by showing that, in their practical operation, they do not
instigate violence either at home or abroad, but are conservative of
law, order, and universal peace.

But it is manifestly needful to the success of the President’s policy
that a corresponding spirit shall direct the action of the British
government during the period which shall intervene before our domestic
peace is restored.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,