CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR IN THE UNITED STATES. No. 1. Mr. Seward to Mr. Dallas.-(Communicated to Lord J. Russell by Mr. Dallas, April 8.) DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Commencement of in the United States. SIR: My predecessor, in his dispatch addressed to you on the 28th of February last, instructed you to use all proper and necessary measures to prevent the success of efforts which the civil war may be made by persons claiming to represent those States of this Union in whose name a provisional government has been announced, to procure a recognition of their independence by the empire of Great Britain. I am now instructed by the President of the United States to inform you that, having assumed the administration of the Government, in pursuance of an unquestioned election, and of the directions of the Constitution, he renews the injunction which I have mentioned, and relies upon the exercise of the greatest possible diligence and fidelity on your part to counteract and prevent the designs of those who would invoke foreign intervention to embarrass or overthrow the republic. When you reflect on the novelty of such designs, their unpatriotic and revolutionary character, and the long train of evils which must follow, directly or consequently, from even their partial or temporary success, the President feels assured that you will justly appreciate and cordially approve the caution which prompts this communication. I transmit herewith a copy of the address pronounced by the President on taking the constitutional oath of office. It sets forth clearly the errors of the misguided partisans who are seeking to dismember the Union, the grounds on which the conduct of those partisans is disallowed, and also the general policy which the Government will pursue with a view to the preservation of domestic peace and order, and the maintenance and preservation of the Federal Union. You will lose no time in submitting this address to the British minister for foreign affairs, and in assuring him that the President of the United States entertains a full confidence in the speedy restoration of the harmony and unity of the Government, by a firm yet just and liberal bearing, co-operating with the deliberate and loyal action of the American people. You will truthfully urge upon the government of Great Britain the consideration that the present disturbances have had their origin only in popular passions, excited under novel circumstances of very transient character, and that while not one person of well-balanced mind has attempted to show that dismemberment of the Union would be permanently conducive to the safety and welfare of even his own State or section, much less of all the States and sections of our country, people themselves still retain and cherish a profound confidence in our the happy Constitution, together with a veneration and affection for it, such as no other form of government ever received at the hands of those for whom it was established. We feel free to assume that it is the general conviction of men, not only here but in all other countries, that the Federal Union affords a better system than any other that could be contrived to assure the safety, the peace, the prosperity, the welfare, and the happiness of all the States of which it is composed. The position of these States, and their mining, agricultural, manufacturing, commercial, political, and social relations and influences seem to make it permanently the interest of all other nations that our present political system shall be unchanged and undisturbed. Any advantage that any foreign nation might derive from a connection that it might form with any dissatisfied or discontented portion, State, or section, even if not altogether illusory, would be ephemeral, and would be overbalanced by the evils it would suffer from a disseverance of the whole Union, whose manifest policy it must be hereafter, as it has always been heretofore, to maintain peace, liberal commerce, and cordial amity with all other nations, and to favor the establishment of well-ordered government all over the whole American Continent. Nor do we think we exaggerate our national importance when we claim that any political disaster that should befall us, and introduce discord or anarchy among the States that have so long constituted one great, pacific, prosperous nation, under a form of government which has approved itself to the respect and confidence of mankind, might tend by its influence to disturb and unsettle the existing systems of government in other parts of the world, and arrest that progress of improvement and civilization which marks the era in which we live. The United States have had too many assurances and manifestations of the friendship and good-will of Great Britain to entertain any doubt that these considerations, and such others as your own large experience of the working of our Federal system will suggest, will have their just influence with the British government, and will prevent that government from yielding to solicitations to intervene, in any unfriendly way, in the domestic concerns of our country. [2] *The President regrets that the events going on here may be productive of some possible inconvenience to the people and subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, but he is determined that those inconveniences shall be made as light and as transient as possible; and, so far as it may rest with him, that all strangers who may suffer any injury from them shall be amply indemnified. The President expects that you will be prompt in transmitting to this Department any information you may receive on the subject of the attempts which have suggested this communication. I am, &c., WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 2. Lord J. Russell to Lord Lyons. FOREIGN OFFICE, April 12, 1861. MY LORD: Mr. Dallas called upon me on the 8th instant, in pursuance of an appointment, and communicated to me a dispatch which he had received from Mr. Seward, United States Secretary of State, and of which I inclose a copy.1 There are several passages in this dispatch at which I might have taken exception, but I thought it best not to raise unnecessary questions; I therefore confined myself to the following observations: I said that it was not the wish or intention of Her Majesty's government to pronounce any judgment on the causes which had induced seven of the United States to secede from the rest; whether, as to the past, those States had reason to complain that the terms of the compact of Union had not been observed, or whether they had reason to apprehend that, for the future, justice would not be done to them, were questions which Her Majesty's government did not pretend to decide. They had seen in the United States a free and prosperous community, with which they had been happy to maintain the most amicable relations. Now that a secession had taken place, they were in no hurry to recognize the separation as complete and final. But, on the other hand, I could not bind Her Majesty's government, nor tell how and when circumstances might arise which would make a decision necessary. That I must, therefore, decline to enter into any further discussion at the present moment, and could only assure him of our regret at the events which had recently occurred. I am, &c., J. RUSSELL. No. 3. Lord Lyons to Lord J. Russell. [Extract.] WASHINGTON, April 15, 1861. (Received April 30.) On the 8th instant a messenger from this Government informed the governor of South Carolina and the military commandant at Charleston, that President Lincoln had determined to supply Fort Sumter with provisions, peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. On the 11th instant the military commandant, in obedience to orders. from Montgomery, from the government of the southern confederacy, summoned Fort Sumter to surrender. On the 12th instant, at half past 4 o'clock in the morning, the batteries prepared by the troops of the Confederate States opened their fire on the fort. The day before yesterday Fort Sumter was surrendered unconditionally. At Washington, the day before yesterday, President Lincoln, in answer to questions from commissioners sent by the legislature of Virginia, gave an authoritative interpretation of his inaugural address, leaving no doubt that he had resolved to adopt coercive measures against the South. 2 This morning the President has issued a proclamation, calling out 75,000 men of the militia, and summoning a special session of Congress for the 4th of July, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 2 Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too power [3] *Civil war is now imminent, or rather has already begun. Had Mr. Lincoln adhered to his determination to evacuate Fort Sumter, hostilities might undoubtedly have been deferred for some time longer. A prudent policy consistently pursued might have led to a peaceful separation, possibly even to a peaceful reconstruction of the Union. Mr. Lincoln, however, has decided upon war, and has carried his cabinet with him. An expedition was prepared in the utmost haste at New York. Upon being informed of the intentions of this Government, the forces of the southern confederacy immediately summoned the fort, and after a bombardment of less than forty hours took it. No more certain intelligence than the telegraphic dispatches to the newspapers have yet been received here from Charleston. The most extraordinary statement which they contain is, that no one was killed on either side during the bombardment. The ships forming the expedition from New York appear to have been off Charleston Harbor, but to have taken no part in the contest. The tempestuous state of the weather is supposed to have rendered their approach impracticable. The loss of Fort Sumter is not of itself of much importance, in a military point of view, to this Government. As the beginning of civil war, it is a most serious and a most unhappy event. It seems calculated to arouse feelings of resentment and humiliation in the North, which will overwhelm the party of peace, and throw the people with bitter eagerness into the war. The immediate apprehensions of the Government are for this city. The chiefs of the southern confederacy loudly declare their intention of attacking it immediately, if the border States join them. This Government, previously to the issue of the proclamation this morning, were already making arrangements with the governors of Northern States to obtain volunteers and militia to defend it. full to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law; Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth the militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number of 75,000, in order to suppress said combination and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and existence of our national Union and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. Ideem it proper to-say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby comand the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date., Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their respective chambers at 12 o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. (Signed) By the President: (Signed) WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. |