No. 34.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Perry. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Your despatch of May 30 (No. 58) was duly received. It gives us a full and interesting account of your conversation with Mr. Calderon Collantes on the subject of the change of position of the late European allies in Mexico. I have, however, in a previous despatch communicated the views of the President on that subject so far as it is deemed wise to expose them at the present moment. We are in a crisis in our own domestic affairs indicative of a close of the struggle. Events in Mexico are only at their beginning. We shall see more clearly and be able to determine more fully after a little time. Meantime it is proper that you should know that Mr. Corwin lately negotiated a treaty for a loan of eleven millions of dollars with Mexico; that this treaty was made in the absence of any instructions, and that it may perhaps be thought by the Senate to conflict with the policy that it has heretofore indicated. The treaty, however, has been submitted to the Senate for its information and consideration without an expression of opinion upon it by the President. It is hardly necessary to repeat on this occasion the former expressions of satisfaction with the loyal and enlightened course of the Spanish govern SIR: Your despatch of July 8 (without a number) has been received. Long before this reply shall reach its destination you will have learned that the treaty negotiated by Mr. Corwin with Mexico was submitted by the President to the Senate for its consideration without any expression of opinion on his part, and that the Senate decided that it would not act upon the subject. This government takes no interest whatever in the changes of ministries which sofrequently occur in states with which it maintains friendly relations. It regar s such changes as being matters purely of domestic concern in the countries where they occur. It does not confess to a solicitude that bias in favor of the United States shall exist in any foreign cabinet. It concerns itself as little about debates which the European states may hold among each other in relation to our affairs. It practices upon the principle that each state is just, prudent, and friendly in its purposes towards us as we are towards them, and thinks it will be time enough to change its habits in regard to any state when that state shall unmistakably manifest a different spirit towards the United States. While, however, this is the tone of our sentiments, it is not improper for me to say that the present ministry of Spain and the minister of that country now in the United States have, by a loyal, frank, and honorable conduct of the affairs in which we have been concerned, won the respect and esteem of this government, and secured not only for themselves, but for her Catholic Majesty and the Spanish people, the most generous sentiments and best wishes on the part of the American people. If we might indulge ourselves in criticising domestic affairs of a foreign state at all, we should think it would be an unfortunate change which should deprive Spain of the services of so enlightened and honorable a cabinet. I am, sir, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Perry. No. 40.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 2, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of July 11 (No. 69) has been received. The African slave trade which has been so long clandestinely carried on from American ports was a mercenary traffic without even the poor pretext that it brought laborers into our country, or that other and worse pretext that it was necessary to the safety or prosperity of any State or section. It was carried on in defiance of our laws by corrupting the administration of justice. The treaty to which you refer contains no provisions that can embarrass an honest and lawful trade, and none that can inflict a wound upon the national pride. It was freely offered by this government to Great Britain, not bought or solicited by that government. It is in harmony with the sentiments of the American people. It was ratified by the Senate unanimously, and afterwards distinctly approved with not less unanimity by both houses of Congress. Not a voice has been raised against it in the country. I send you a copy of it for Mr. Calderon, as you have requested. I am, sir, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Perry. No. 41.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 5, 1862. SIR: I have received and have read with much interest your despatch of the 7th of July, (No. 68,) giving a detailed account of a recent conversation between Mr. Calderon Collantes and yourself on the subject of the affairs of Mexico. In view of what I have so lately written to you in relation to this subject, I do not deem it necessary or important at this time to do more than assure you of my approval of the part taken by you in the conversation referred to. You were quite right in assuming and in stating, as you did to Mr. Calderon Collantes, that this government has not the least purpose or desire to extend its jurisdiction. It needs no more territory, and it will scrupulously respect the rights of other nations, as it purposes to maintain its own. I am, sir, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 2.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Koerner. DEPARTMENT Of State, Washington, August 18, 1862. SIR: Our relations with Spain at the present time are fortunately not of a character to render it necessary that I should give any detailed or specific instructions for your government on assuming charge of the mission at Madrid. Those that were given to your predecessor, and which will be found on the files of the legation, were sufficiently ample, and are not less applicable to present circumstances than they were to those which existed at the time they were written. The fierce civil strife which then convulsed our country still rages, and is carried on by those who provoke it with a recklessness characteristic of their desperate fortunes. Thus far the nations of Europe, resisting the insidious appeals of the insurgents through their emissaries abroad, have stood aloof from the contest, though in somewhat varying attitudes. That of Spain has given no cause of complaint, and has been consistently maintained. We have no apprehension that it will be changed. The government of her Catholic Majesty knows that, while insisting on our own rights, we scrupulously respect the rights of other nations; and the high sense of honor for which Spain has ever been distinguished forbids the belief that she would ever practice less justice than ourselves. Neither can we believe that her sympathies will ever be given to those who, without cause and without even a reasonable pretext, have sought to subvert a government founded on law and order, and with which the government of her Catholic Majesty has always maintained unbroken relations of amity and good will. There are, as you are no doubt aware, questions between the two governments concerning claims, &c., which still remain unadjusted. It is deemed expedient that those should, for the present, be suffered to rest in abeyance. I am, sir, your obedient servant, GUSTAVUS KOERNER,, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Koerner. No. 3.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 25, 1862. SIR: Mr. Perry's despatch of August 1 (No. 73) has been received. It brings information of the appointment of Don José de la Concha to be ambassador at Madrid, and Mr. Perry infers from that proceeding and other events a probable combination by the government of Spain with that of France in the war waged by the Emperor against Mexico. That war, regarded in the light of the explanations of it which have been given to this government by that of the Emperor, is a foreign affair, and the new phase of Spanish policy in regard to it, for that reason, does not require any special notice on the part of the United States. It is believed here that the maritime powers, if indeed they have heretofore entertained doubts, are now becoming satisfied that proceedings on their part, injurious or hostile to the United States, would be productive of no results advantageous to European interests. Certainly this government, when it considers the military and naval forces that it has at its control, the success that it has achieved already in the present unhappy civil war, and the favorable prospects of the campaign which it is now preparing, is not disposed to be disturbed by apprehensions of interference by foreign powers. Doing all that it ought and can to preserve peace with foreign nations, it will not suffer itself to be alarmed by fears of wrong on their part, whether victory continually attends our arms, or at times manifests its habitual caprice. There are indications of growing uneasiness in Europe, which seems to us likely to engage the thoughtful consideration of the foreign powers with whom treasonable emissaries from this country have been seeking to bring the United States into collision. We have at least an important guarantee of peace, in the fact that traitors are always justly suspected by ingenuous parties whom they address. I am, sir, your obedient servant, GUSTAVUS KOERNER, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Perry. No. 47.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 15, 1862. SIR: Your despatches (Nos. 73 and 74) of the 16th and 17th ultimo have been received. The information communicated in the latter is particularly important and interesting. I have transmitted to the Secretary of the Navy a copy of that part of your despatch which relates to the departure from Barcelona of the rebel brig Mary Scaife, and have again called the attention of the Secretary of War to the subject of your purchase of 340 rifled muskets. I am, sir, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Mr. Seward to Mr. Koerner. No. 6.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 21, 1862. SIR: Mr. Perry's interesting despatch of September 21 (No. 81) has been received. Manifestly it was written when the European political atmosphere was highly disturbed by the news of the insurgent successes which occurred in August last, and by the confident expectations which heralded there the secretly projected campaign of invasion of the loyal States, which was to culminate in the occupation of many of the chief marts of internal as well as those of foreign trade, and the capitulation of Washington. The campaign has already proved a failure, and it is now supposed here that the hopes of recognition which were built upon it have abated under the influence of so serious a disappointment. It is observed that when this subject of recognition is discussed in foreign capitals, it is at least tacitly assumed that the United States would be passive upon the adoption of such a measure by friendly nations. There is no ground whatever for this assumption. However our military position may be regarded abroad, it is known and felt here that the national strength, wealth, and power were never before so great or so available for any struggle as they are now; and if anything were wanting to intensify the national loyalty and excite the national zeal, it would be furnished by any foreign invasion of the country or its sovereign rights. You will already have learned that the President has impressed on the war the feature of a withdrawal of the national protection from slavery in the insurgent States, which Mr. Perry has so confidently and earnestly, and yet with entire propriety, recommended. You will exercise your discretion as to bringing the views which I have thus furnished to the notice of Mr. Calderon Collantes. If you do so, you will, at the same time, assure him, in the most frank and confiding manner, that this government entertains not the least distrust of the fidelity of Spain to her treaty obligations, or of her abiding friendship towards the United States. Mr. Tassara, who is always respected by this government, called upon me yesterday, and in a very earnest and zealous manner represented to me that he had learned from the captain general of Cuba that a British vessel, the Blanche, had been driven by an American cruiser ashore on the Island of Cuba, and that the cruiser assumed and exercised force against the British vessel and her crew within the waters and even on the soil of Spain. But Mr. Tassara had not yet had time to prepare a formal representation upon the subject. Meantime this government has no other knowledge of the transaction except some very uncertain and highly-inflamed articles in relation to it extracted from the Havana press. You are requested to lose no time in calling upon Mr. Collantes, and in assuring him that an investigation of the transaction has been already ordered by the President; and that, in just the extent that the case shall be found to justify Mr. Tassara's representations, the displeasure of this gov ernment will be visited upon agents who have abused equally its authority and its instructions, and the most ample redress will be promptly afforded. I am, sir, your obedient servant, GUSTAVUS KOERNER, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 35.] Mr. Schurz to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Your despatch No. 30, together with accompanying documents, has at last arrived. I had already instituted inquiries in every possible manner in order to ascertain where and by whom it might have been intercepted, for it was impossible for me to conjecture that an important despatch addressed to the American legation at Madrid could have been detained in the State Department until the 4th of October, after having been communicated to the Spanish legation at Washington on the 18th of September. I must therefore beg your pardon for the reflections offered in former despatches on the carrying service, although the latter is not quite incapable of improvement. Immediately upon receipt of the despatch I called upon Mr. Calderon for the purpose of laying the information it contained before him, with most of which he was already familiar. I directed his attention to several points in General Serrano's order, which seemed to me objectionable. Mr. Calderon |