The Right Honorable Earl Russell to Charles Francis Adams, September 14, 1861
Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.
London, September 14, 1861.
Sir: I now have the honor to transmit copies of two notes received yesterday from Lord Russell, in answer to my notes of the 3d of September, transmitting to him the bag of Mr. Bunch. It appears from one of them that Mr. Bunch has been acting under secret instructions, which are only now acknowledged because they have come to light, and that his granting a safe conduct to an emissary of secession, charged with treasonable papers, is no objection to his neutral character in the eyes of his employers. With regard to the question presented in the other note, it is satisfactory to me, at least in so far as it devolves all responsibility for the further treatment of the question into more capable hands. I transmit also a copy of my reply.
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Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Untitled]
Mr. Bunch presents his compliments to her Majesty’s under secretary of state for foreign affairs, and takes leave to enclose to him herewith certain letters which are intended for the post.
They are principally letters of servants, governesses, &c., (British subjects,) which, owing to the discontinuance of the post, they are unable to send in any other way. Some also contain dividends, the property of British subjects, which they could scarcely receive without Mr. Bunch’s intervention.
Mr. Bunch hopes that there is no irregularity in this proceeding. No expense of postage is incurred by the foreign office, as the bag in which the letters are contained goes by a private hand to Liverpool.
Her Majesty’s Under Secretary of State For Foreign Affairs.