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No. 1587.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

London, May 9, 1868.

SIR: I am happy to inform you that this government has at last adopted measures to arrive at the liberation of Colonel Nagle and the remainder of the persons connected with the expedition of the Jacmel. I learn from Mr. West that four of them, including Colonel Nagle, have departed to take the steamer at Queenstown, and the two others will doubtless follow in a few days. The expense of the return passage has been defrayed by Mr. West.

Thus I believe that this source of irritation is at last dried up.

Had it not been for the succession of events wholly extraneous but incidentally bearing upon the situation of these prisoners, I have no doubt they would have been released long ago.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

No. 1590.]

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

London, May 13, 1868. SIR: I have just returned from Buckingham Palace, where the Queen granted me an audience at three o'clock for the purpose of receiving my letter of recall. I said only a few words, reminding her of the amicable assurances I had been instructed to give on my first arrival, and of their having been fully sustained in fact. I then recognized her own disposition to reciprocate the feeling, and alluded to one of the latest acts of conciliation in the life of the prince consort as being fully appreciated in America. With these evidences of good feeling I could confidently entertain the belief that the promise of the future would be fully as good as the performance of the past.

The Queen said a few words in the same sense, acknowledged that she had been touched by my allusion, and referred to my own performance of my duties here in a complimentary manner. I then took my leave. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

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Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

Mr. Moran to Mr. Seward.

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*OXFORD

LIBRARY

No. 33.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, May 19, 1868.

SIR: On the 9th instant Mr. Adams addressed a note to Lord Stanley, her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, announcing his desire to deliver to the Queen at an early day the letter of recall forwarded to him at his own request by the President, and on the 11th

instant he received his lordship's reply. I now have the honor to inclose copies of these notes. The Queen granted the audience on the 13th at 3 p. m., and Mr. Adams accordingly took his leave of her Majesty at that time, as reported in his dispatch No. 1590 of that date.

I should be remiss in my duty both to him and myself if I were to permit this occasion to pass without giving expression to my sense of the courtesy I have experienced at the hands of Mr. Adams during the seven years it has been my fortune to serve under him, and of the sincere regret I feel at his retirement from a post he filled so ably and with so much credit to his government and himself.

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I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant,
BENJAMIN MORAN.

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

Mr. Adams to Lord Stanley.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, May 9, 1868.

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The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, has the honor to inform the right honorable Lord Stanley, her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, that he has been intrusted with the delivery of a letter addressed to her Majesty the Queen by the President of the United States, granting him the permission, which h had solicited, to retire from the public service. In consequence thereof, the undersigned, in transmitting to his lordship a copy of that letter, would respectfully request that his lordship would be kind enough to procure for him the honor of an audience of her Majesty for the purpose of delivering the original and assuring her Majesty of the sincere desire which has animated the President to foster and extend the amicable intercourse subsisting between the two nations.

The undersigned has the honor to further acquaint Lord Stanley that he has been instructed to leave the archives of the mission in charge of Mr. Benjamin Moran, the secretary of legation, to whom, for the present, such communications as may be necessary can be addressed.

The undersigned, in closing the labors of a mission more arduous and extended than has fallen to the lot of any one of his predecessors at this court, would do violence to his feelings if he did not seize this last occasion to express his high sense of the courtesy and kindness he has uniformly experienced in his intercourse, as well with the two eminent noblemen who have, during his residence, successively preceded Lord Stanley as with his lordship himself.

The undersigned avails himself of this last opportunity to tender to Lord Stanley the assurances of his highest consideration and esteem.

The Right Honorable LORD STANLEY, &c., &'c., &'c.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Lord Stanley to Mr. Adams.

FOREIGN OFFICE, May 11, 1868. SIR: I have had the honor to receive your note of the 9th instant, in which you inclose copy of a letter from the President of the United States to the Queen, granting you permission to retire from the post of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States at her Majesty's court, and you request an audience of her Majesty for the purpose of delivering the original.

I shall not fail to take the Queen's pleasure with regard to granting you the audience which you solicit, and will hereafter have the honor of writing to you on that subject. But in the mean time I cannot delay expressing to you my unfeigned regret at the approaching termination of your mission, and my high sense of the manner in which, in a time of peculiar difficulty and importance, you have fulfilled the arduous duties of your mission, proving the sincere desire of the President to maintain and improve the friendly relations which subsist between the two countries, a desire cordially reciprocated by her Majesty's government.

I shall be happy to communicate with Mr. Moran, after your departure, upon any matters relating to the affairs of the two countries.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

STANLEY.

Mr. Moran to Mr. Seward.

No. 35.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, May 22, 1868.

SIR: I learn this morning from Mr. West, the consul at Dublin, that Mr. Denis O'Connor, the last imprisoned American citizen in Ireland known to him, has accepted his release. Mr. West has provided him. with his passage to the United States at the expense of the government, and be expects to sail for home in the Tariffa on the 3d of June. Thus ends the anxiety created by these troublesome cases. Mr. West has conducted the perplexing business connected with them, under Mr. Adams's directions, with marked patriotism, tact, and sound sense. has had no easy task, but he has performed it well.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

BENJAMIN MORAN.

He

No. 5.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Moran.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, May 27, 1868.

SIR: I learn from the cable that a commission of Lord Clarendon and others have been appointed to examine the British naturalization laws. Please sound the government again upon the question of their empow ering Mr. Thornton to negotiate with us here on the principle of the North German treaty. Such a treaty would be very beneficial to the United States, and much more so to Great Britain. Had such a treaty been in existence, I think it would have avoided most of the trouble and difficulties which have arisen between the two governments during the last three years.

Answer by telegraph if the indications are favorable.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

BENJAMIN MORAN, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Moran to Mr. Seward.

No. 38.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, May 29, 1868.

SIR: In view of the interest manifested in the United States in the present political situation in England, I venture to lay before you some observations upon it which I trust will not be unacceptable to the government. And allow me to say that I do not pretend to a superior

knowledge of the domestic politics of this country, but shall simply narrate facts as they stand. To begin, the political situation is by most English writers pronounced to be very unusual, a sudden subversion of all ordinary constitutional practice, quite abnormal. It will soon be seen in what its peculiar character consists; but it is not so strange or sudden as superficial observers fancy.

There is in power, no doubt, a conservative government, that is, a cabinet representing what is still called the tory party. It was for the want of consistency, however, in sustaining the doctrines of that party that Lord Carnarvon and Lord Cranborne felt that the ministry was not true to the party principles and they resigned. The plain truth is, however, that scarcely a veteran could be found now-a-days to abide by the old tory principles, the right divine of the royal authority, the duty of "keeping down" the people, protection and such doctrines; and there are many leading men among the conservatives who differ only in degree, if at all, from the liberals. Such men are Colonel Wilson Patten, Mr. Adderley, and Lord Stanley. The party is kept as one chiefly by the fact that its members have usually acted together. It possesses only a minority in the House of Commons, and got into power chiefly through a casual and temporary failure of unity among the liberals. The opportunity offering, it became urgently necessary to strike out a course that should render a tory government possible, if not actually popular, and Mr. Disraeli, who is by genius more of a litterateur than a statesman, struck out a policy which should reconcile the past of the party with its desired future, should reconcile tradition with progress, concession with something that looked like unity and should, above all, aid conservatism in competing with liberalism for popularity. He did invent his device. Mr. Gladstone had proposed a borough franchise based on a seven-pound rental. Mr. Disraeli proposed simply a household suffrage, with no limit, save that the registered elector should pay poor rates. Thus he offered a far more liberal extension of the franchise, and yet restored in spirit the ancient "scot and lot" system, the system under which that burgess should bear his "lot," or share, of the "scot," or money levied for the municipal uses of the place where he lived. The liberalism of the plan frightened many "consistent" tories like Lord Carnarvon, who is nevertheless a really liberal man. It delighted the bulk of the party as promis ing a final settlement of the franchise question.

The liberal party was weakened in various ways. Lord Palmerston had never impeded liberal measures, but had adroitly staved them off as much as possible. He was personally liked; his great age made opponents forbearing; and thus he kept down all strong party feeling. When Lord Palmerston died, the lead of the party naturally fell to the next most conspicuous member, William Ewart Gladstone, the friend and colleague of Peel. But many, especially among the whig section of the liberals, mistrusted his leaning to a liberalism too strong for them; low church, on the other hand, suspecting him-it is believed erroneously-of high church proclivities; and all rather charged him with an infirm temper-an idea which is more the result of his somewhat stern features and great earnestness than of real temper properly so called. The defection of liberals who thought him too forgiving helped his opponents, and he was thrown out on Lord Dunkellin's amendment, to base the franchise on rating instead of rental. But for general purposes the liberals still hold a majority; and thus the government passes its measures solely by leave and license of the opposition.

Such was the position of parties when Mr. Disraeli introduced his budget of measures for the reform of the electoral system, including

three bills to extend the franchise severally in England, Scotland, and Ireland, one to re-arrange the boundaries of parliamentary boroughs in England, and one to provide a more effectual check against bribery of electors. The English bill, as you know, is passed, notwithstanding the blunder, as some believe it, about personal rating, which disfranchised all "compound householders," or occupants of houses owned by a landlord who has "compounded" for the rates or taxes on them in the lump, at a heavy discount allowed by the parish, and who recharges the amount paid in the rental; the tenant thus being exempted from one form of irksome and inconvenient payment. The liberals opposed the change, but it was allowed to pass, and it stands for probable reconsideration in a future Parliament. The grand business remaining before Parliament is to complete the series of reform measures, so as to come into operation simultaneously with the English act in 1869; but the work has been hindered lately by a remarkable succession of ministerial crises.

The condition of Ireland, the outbreaks of Fenianism, the indifference rather than the active disloyalty of the majority among the population of the three Roman Catholic provinces had drawn serious attention to the "grievances" of the island; and among the grievances least justifiable, and least likely to be amended by the mere progress of improvement, was the existence of the established church in Ireland. It is vindicated as a "missionary church," preaching the true doctrine of the Anglican faith; but it is supported by a compulsory impost, levied in the shape of clerical tithes mainly from a Romanist population. It was to abolish that grievance by "disestablishing" the church-though with ample consideration for existing interests-that Mr. Gladstone introduced his three resolutions, asserting the principle, declaring that until further legislation no new appointments should be made, and inviting the Crown to place its "rights" at the disposal of Parliament. Ministers acknowledged the justice of extending religions equally in Ireland, but preached the policy of "levelling up" rather than "levelling down," with a hint at endowing other creeds besides the established Protestant faith. So spoke Lord Mayo, the secretary of state for Ireland, early in March last; although the idea of endowment has since been disavowed by himself and his colleagues, and it is believed they had not definitively made up their minds when they first alluded to the subject. On the 3d of April Mr. Gladstone carried his motion that the House of Commons should go into committee on his resolutions by a net majority of 60, and on the 30th he carried his first resolution, in committee, by the larger majority of 65. Here was a ministerial crisis; and according to usage, ministers ought either to have resigned, or to have appealed to the judgment of the constituencies by dissolving Parliament.

This is the crucial difficulty of the whole situation. The very circumstance that a general election must follow the completion of the reform measures, renders a dissolution now equally objectionable to popular feeling and to sound judgment. Two elections within so short a period would entail a vast expense on nearly every class in the country; the principal exceptions being publicans, election agents, and bribed electors, who would reap a double harvest. At the same time, the conservatives very wisely represented that the proper arbiters on the new and great question of the Irish church would be the new constituencies, and not those already doomed to be extinguished, or rather merged. Therefore, said the liberals to the ministers, you must not dissolve, but resign. On the contrary, the ministers rejoined, with perfect warrant from the usage and settled opinion of the country, that a cabinet-especially one which has come into office in presence of a Parliament elected under a

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