On the 5th instant I received a letter from him, dated the 4th, at Queenstown, enclosing a report of his doings, addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, left open for my inspection, which I forward by this steamer, and at the same time apprising me of his intention to go round to Dublin and await a letter from me prior to his return to his station at Gibraltar. To this I sent the following reply: "LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, "SIR: I will forward your letter to the Secretary of the Navy. Having in my hands sufficient evidence to justify the step, I was willing to assume the responsibility of advising you to follow the boat No. 290 and take her wherever you could find her. But I cannot do the same with other vessels of which I have knowledge only from general report. I therefore think it best that you should resume your duties under the general instructions you have from the department, without further reference to me." It may have been of use to the Tuscarora to have obtained repairs at Southampton to put her in seaworthy condition. But had I imagined that the captain did not intend to try the sea, I should not have taken the responsibility of calling him from his station. I can only say that I shall not attempt anything of the kind again. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 205.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: In my despatch (No. 201) of the 1st instant, it may be recollected that I reported Lord Russell as making a conditional promise to furnish me with a copy of his letter to the Liverpool merchants, about the uses made by them of the port of Nassau. On the evening of the 4th instant I received a note transmitting the copy, but with a restriction that it was given in confidence. The next day, however, I received a Liverpool newspaper, in which the letter seems to have been inserted by the parties to whom it was addressed. Since then it has appeared in all the London papers. therefore feel myself at liberty to transmit a copy of Lord Russell's note and of its enclosure. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. I Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. [Confidential.] FOREIGN OFFICE, August 4, 1862. Lord Russell presents his compliments to Mr. Adams, and has the honor to forward to him herewith, confidentially, for his information, a copy of a letter which Lord Russell caused to be addressed to Mr. Horsfall in reply to a memorial forwarded by him from certain British merchants and ship-owners in Liverpool respecting the proceedings of the United States cruisers off the Bahamas. Mr. Layard to Mr. Horsfall. FOREIGN OFFICE, July 5, 1862. SIR: I am directed by Earl Russell to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2d instant, enclosing a memorial from certain British merchants and ship-owners at Liverpool, in which they state that they view with considerable anxiety and apprehension the hostile attitude assumed by federal cruisers in the Bahama waters, and the memorialists pray that steps may be taken by her Majesty's government to protect British shipping in those waters, and to put a check on the seizures so repeatedly made by the federal cruisers. 1 am to state to you, in reply, that it is alleged on the other hand by Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams that ships have been sent from this country to America with a fixed purpose to run the blockade; that high premiums of insurance have been paid with this view, and that arms and ammunition have been thus conveyed to the southern States to enable them to carry on the war. Lord Russell was unable either to deny the truth of those allegations or to prosecute to conviction the parties engaged in those transactions. But he cannot be surprised that the cruisers of the United States should watch with vigilance a port which is said to be the great entrêpot of this commerce. Her Majesty's government have no reason to doubt the equity and adherence to legal requirements of the United States prize courts. But he is aware that many vessels are subject to harsh treatment, and that, if captured, the loss to the merchant is far from being compensated even by a favorable decision in a prize court. The true remedy would be that the merchants and ship-owners of Liverpool should refrain from this species of trade. It exposes innocent commerce to vexatious detention and search by American cruisers; it produces irritation and ill-will on the part of the population of the northern States of America; it is contrary to the spirit of her Majesty's proclamation; and it exposes the British name to suspicions of bad faith, to which neither her Majesty's government nor the great body of the nation are justly obnoxious." It is true, indeed, that supplies of arms and ammunition have been sent to the federals equally in contravention of that neutrality which her Majesty has proclaimed. It is true, also, that the federals obtain more freely and more easily that of which they stand in need. But if the confederates had the command of the sea they would no doubt watch as vigilantly and capture as readily British vessels going to New York as the federals now watch Charleston and capture vessels seeking to break the blockade. There can be no doubt that the watchfulness exercised by federal cruisers to prevent supplies reaching the confederates by sea will occasionally lead to vexatious visits of merchant ships not engaged in any pursuit to which the federals can properly object. This, however, is an evil to which war on the ocean is liable to expose neutral commerce, and her Majesty's government have done all they can fairly do, that is to say, they have urged the federal government to enjoin upon their naval officers greater caution in the exercise of their belligerent rights. Her Majesty's government having represented to the United States government every case in which they were justified in interfering, have only further to observe, that it is the duty of her Majesty's subjects to conform to her Majesty's proclamation, and to abstain from furnishing to either of the belligerent parties any of the means of war, which are prohibited to be furnished by that proclamation. I am, sir, &c., T. B. HORSFALL, Esq., &c., &c., &c. A. H. LAYARD. [Circular-No 19.] To the diplomatic and consular officers of the United States in foreign countries. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 8, 1862. At no former period of our history have our agricultural, manufacturing, or mining interests been more prosperous than at this juncture. This fact may be deemed surprising in view of the enhanced price for labor, occasioned by the demand for the rank and file of the armies of the United States. It may, therefore, be confidently asserted that, even now, nowhere else can the industrious laboring man and artisan expect so liberal a recompense for his services as in the United States. You are authorized and directed to make these truths known in any quarter and in any way which may lead to the migration of such persons to this country. It is believed that a knowledge of them will alone suffice to cause them to be acted upon. The government has no legal authority to offer any pecuniary inducements to the advent of industrious foreigners. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. [Circular-No. 18.] To the diplomatic and consular officers of the United States in foreign countries. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 8, 1862. It is expected that, until further notice, you will not issue a passport to any citizen between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and otherwise liable to the performance of military duty, who you may have reason to suppose shall have left the United States subsequently to this date. No. 319.] WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 8, 1862. Sır: Your despatch of July 24 (No. 193) has been received. I have anticipated and have already, as I think, met by previous instructions the re-enforcement of prejudices in Great Britain against the cause of the govern ment and of the country resulting from the disappointment of our first demonstrations against Richmond. I have nothing more to add to those instructions, except to inform you that since their date the reorganization and distribution of our forces have been going on quietly and, I believe, skilfully, with a view to decisive operations; that the three hundred thousand volunteers called for are now coming forward with such alacrity as will probably enable us to dispense with the projected draft, and that the other three hundred thousand provided for by draft will be in the field as soon as they shall be needed. The soldiers of the United States will then be near a million in number. Our naval preparations are going forward with vigor, and I trust that we shall not be unready for any emergency that can happen at home or abroad. The question. of the status of the inhabitants in the disloyal States will be speedily resolved as the army advances through their territories, which, perhaps, is as fast as public opinion in the loyal States will ripen to receive it. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Your despatch of July 31 (No. 197) has been received. I remark, with reference to the reports circulated by American traitors in London that the Emperor of the French proposes to recognize the insurgents without waiting for any new combinations, that there is nothing to confirm these reports in any communication, official or unofficial, which has been received by us from Paris. We learn from that capital that there, as in England, sentiments unfavorable to our cause and our country seem to be gaining more general favor under the inculcations of a hostile press. In all his communications with this government the Emperor of the French has preserved a tone that was frank, friendly, and respectful, letting us understand, however, that a strong pressure upon the government was made by classes which attributed their sufferings to a deficiency of a supply of cotton. The statement by disunionists that the Emperor has directed Mr. Slidell to instruct Mr. Mason to make another formal appeal to Earl Russell preliminary to his own separate and exclusive action seems improbable. Could the cupidity of British merchants resist the temptation to keep peace with us if France should go to war alone? Could France propose to go to war with us without Great Britain as an ally? Is France more ready for hazards of war than Great Britain? While we are making ourselves ready, as far as possible, for whatever emergency may happen in our foreign relations, and while we sensibly feel that the present apparent condition of suspended activity in our military operations tends to encourage hostile machinations abroad, we nevertheless rely with much confidence on other circumstances for a continuance of peace and forbearance First. All the world knows that we shall not entertain any foreign mediation in our domestic affairs; this decision was made known at an early period, and if we have not repeated it with emphasis, it has been because such repetitions would seem disrespectful to foreign powers, and would be inconsistent with the proper dignity of this government. Secondly. We are supplying Europe with grain and gold, and even cotton, to the best of our ability, and no one can safely predict that equal supplies could be obtained here or elsewhere if the maritime powers should wage or provoke a war with this government. Thirdly. Our preparations for continuing the war are vigorous and successful. On the 15th of this month we shall have enlisted and coming into the field three hundred thousand new volunteers for the war, and within forty days thereafter this force will be followed by three hundred thousand militia, who will be organized as volunteers and will be not less effective. The construction of iron-clad ships is going on, on a scale and with a vigor that promises as complete a naval defence as any other nation pos sesses. When I have told you of our large preparations, I have told you all that is important to be known, except that General Halleck evinces great skill, activity, and grasp, in reorganizing our forces for renewing military operations. Richmond is at this moment the centre of our anxieties. Our plans for operations against it are not so settled and decisive as to allow me to communicate them, for the reason that they may be modified by discoveries of the plans of the insurgents. General Pope had on Saturday, the 9th, a successful engagement with a portion of the insurgent army. There is every reason to expect important military occurrences, and, perhaps, a development of the plan for a new campaign before the departure of the next steamer. All that can be said now is, that the popular spirit is sound, and we expect that the tone of public confidence will be highly improved as the new levies, now moving from their homes, reach and join and re-enforce the apparently sedentary forces in their camps. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Your despatch of August 1 (No. 201) has been received. Your proceedings in conveying to Earl Russell the explanations concerning the Mexican question, heretofore confided to you, are approved. So also is the action you have taken in regard to the piratical vessels Oreto and 290, and our protest against the perversion of the neutral privileges of the island of Nassau. You will, on proper occasion, make known to Earl Russell the satisfaction which the President has derived from the just and friendly proceedings and language of the British government in regard to these subjects. When we consider how soon this insurrection would wither and die when deprived of the sympathies of the British nation and the hope of aid which those sympathies, now so active, have awakened; how soon commerce would revive; how beneficent, as well as how soothing, to the British nation the restoration of our domestic peace must necessarily be; and what hopes for the British race everywhere, and even for civilization itself, are treasured up in a necessary harmony and co-operation of the dis |