of the history of their independence by their accession to the armed neutrality. With Great Britain the case has been different. She formerly contended for the opposite principles as the established rule of the law of nations. But having, in 1856, upon full consideration, determined to depart from that rule, she means to adhere to the principle she then adopted. The United States, who have always desired this change, can, it may be presumed, have no difficulty in assenting to the principle set forth in the second article of the declaration of Paris. There remains only to be considered the first article, namely, that relating to privateering, from which the government of the United States withhold their assent. Under these circumstances it is expedient to consider what is required on this subject by the general law of nations. Now, it must be borne in mind that privateers bearing the flag of one or other of the belligerents may be manned by lawless and abandoned men, who may commit, for the sake of plunder, the most destructive and sanguinary outrages. There can be no question but that the commander and crew of the ship bearing a letter of marque must, by law of nations, carry on their hostilities according to the established laws of war. Her Majesty's government must, therefore, hold any government issuing such letters of marque responsible for, and liable to make good, any losses sustained by her Majesty's subjects in consequence of wrongful proceeding of vessels sailing under such letters of marque. In this way the object of the declaration of Paris may, to a certain extent, be attained without the adoption of any new principle. You will urge these views upon Mr. Seward. The proposals of her Majesty's government are made with a view to limit and restrain that destruction of property and that interruption of trade which must, in a greater or less degree, be the inevitable consequence of the present hostilities. Her Majesty's government expect that these proposals will be received by the United States government in a friendly spirit. If such shall be the case, you will endeavor (in concert with M. Mercier) to come to an agreement on the subject binding France, Great Britain, and the United States. If these proposals should, however, be rejected, her Majesty's government will consider what other steps should be taken with a view to protect from wrong and injury the trade and the property and persons of British subjects. I am, &c., &c., &c., J. RUSSELL. The Lord LYONS. No. 41.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception at the hands of your messenger, Captain Schultz, of a bag purporting to contain public despatches from Mr. Robert Bunch, the consul at Charleston, to Lord Russell, the head of the foreign office in London. In conformity with the instructions contained in your No. 63, dated the 17th of August, I immediately addressed a note to Lord Russull, explanatory of the reasons why such a bag was received through this channel, a copy of which is herewith transmitted. In it you will perceive that I have endeavored to adhere as closely as possible to the language of your communication to me. At the same time, in obedience to the directions contained in your No. 64, dated the 17th of August, I addressed another note to his lordship stating the grounds of dissatisfaction felt by the President with the conduct of Mr. Bunch, and requesting his removal. A copy of this note is likewise appended to the present despatch. These two notes, together with the bag in exactly the same condition in which I received it from Captain Schultz, I directed my assistant secretary, Mr. Benjamin Moran, to take with him to the foreign office, and there to deliver into the hands of his lordship if present, or, if absent from town, into those of one of her Majesty's under secretaries of state for foreign affairs. Accordingly, on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 4th instant, at about quarter past three o'clock, as Mr. Moran reports to me, he went to the foreign office, and finding Lord Russell to be absent from town, he delivered the bag and the notes into the hands of Mr. Layard, one of the under secretaries. Since that time I have had no reply from his lordship, although I received on Saturday last two notes from him on matters of minor consequence. I had hoped to send something by Captain Schultz, who returns in the Great Eastern, and I shall yet do so if it should come before the bag closes. I have consented to the departure of Captain Schultz, mainly because Mr. Dayton has expressed a great desire that he should take charge of his despatches as soon as possible. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. P. S.-I have just learned from Mr. Davy that the Bermuda put into Falmouth for coals. Her cargo in arms, ammunition, and clothing, is valued at £80,000 sterling. The importance of intercepting her cannot be overestimated. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: I have the honor to inform your lordship that I have received by the hands of a special messenger of the government just arrived in the steamer Europa from the United States a sealed bag marked Foreign Office, 3, with two labels, as follows: "On her Britannic Majesty's service. The right honorable the Lord John Russell, M. P., &c., &c., &c. Despatches in charge of Robert Mure, esq. "ROBERT BUNCH." "On her Britannic Majesty's service. The right honorable the Lord John Russell, M. P., her Britannic Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, foreign office, London. "R. BUNCH." Agreeably to instructions communicated by my government to me, to see that this bag is delivered accordingly to its address in exactly the condition in which I received it, I have the honor to transmit the same by the hands of my assistant secretary, Mr. Benjamin Moran, who is directed to deliver it into your own hands, if present, or, if absent, into those of one of the under secretaries of state for foreign affairs. It now becomes my duty to explain the circumstances under which this bag has found its way from the possession of the person to whom it was originally intrusted into that of the authorities of the United States. It appears that the Secretary of State of the United States, on the 15th of August last, received information deemed worthy of confidence that Mr. Robert Mure, the bearer of this bag, was at the same time acting as a bearer of despatches from the insurrectionary authorities of Richmond to your lordship. Other information came that he was a bearer of despatches from the same authorities to their agents in London. And still other information from various sources agreed in affirming that he was travelling under a passport issued by her Majesty's consul at Charleston. Upon this information, instructions were sent forthwith to the police of New York to detain Mr. Mure, and any papers which might be found in his possession. He was accordingly detained, and is now in custody at Fort Layfette, awaiting full disclosures. A large number of papers were found upon him, an examination of which was found fully to sustain some portions of the information which had been furnished, and to prove that Mr. Mure was acting as the bearer of a treasonable correspondence between persons acting in open arms against the government of the United States and their friends and emissaries in Great Britain. He had also with him several copies of a printed pamphlet purporting to be a narrative of the events of the 21st of July at Manassas Junction, addressed to persons in England, and evidently intended to further the purposes of the conspirators in South Carolina. Robert Mure, the bearer of these papers, is represented to be a naturalized citizen of the United States, where he has resided for thirty years, and as actually holding a commission of colonel in the insurgent forces of South Carolina. It turned out to be true that in the hands of this gentleman were found in an open envelope a paper purporting to be a passport, a copy of which I have the honor to append to this note as paper marked A; and a letter of instructions, signed by Robert Bunch, her Majesty's consul for the United States, residing at Charleston, a copy of which is likewise appended, as paper marked B. In the absence of all other evidence against Mr. Bunch to prove his departure from the line of his legitimate duty, it is quite enough to call the attention of your lordship to the fact that in issuing such a paper as this passport he has acted in direct contravention of a regulation issued by the proper department of the United States of which he had received notice, which forbids all recognition of any diplomatic or consular passport so far as to permit the bearer to pass through the lines of the national forces or out of the country unless it should be countersigned by the Secretary of State and the commanding general of the army of the United States. Mr. Mure attempted to do both with a paper bearing no such signatures. There is, however, other and still more serious cause of complaint against Mr. Bunch, as disclosed by the papers of Mr. Mure, the exposition of which I am compelled to reserve for a separate communication. The present purpose is confined to an explanation of the reasons which have actuated the government of the United States in taking the extraordinary step which has had for one of its consequences the effect of diverting, be it but for a moment, a part of the official correspondence of her Majesty's government from the channel in which it was originally placed. I am directed to express the regret the government feels that such a measure had become imperative, and to assure your lordship of its earnest desire to make any suitable amends which may justly be required. If in the process there may have happened a slight interruption of the correspondence of the British consul, it is their desire that the pressing nature of the emergency may induce your lordship to excuse it. It is needless to say that the bag passes into the hands of your lordship in precisely the same condition it came from those of Mr. Mure. Comity towards the government of a friendly nation, together with a full confidence in its justice and honor, to say nothing of a sense of propriety, would deter the government which I have the honor to represent from entertaining the idea of breaking the seals which protect it even were there ten times more reason than there is to presume an intention under so sacred a sanction to perpetrate a wrong certainly on one and perhaps on both governments. Still less is it the intention of the American government to intimate the smallest suspicion of any privity whatever on the part of the authorities in Great Britain in aiding, assisting, or countenancing a supposed design inju rious to the United States and subversive of their sovereignty. Much ground as there is for presuming that it never was the intention of those who prepared the package to forward it to its nominal address, but that it was rather the design, after bringing bad matter under this sacred sanction safely through the dangers of hostile scrutiny, to open the bag themselves and to disseminate the contents far and wide among the evil-disposed emissaries to be found scattered all over Europe; this consideration has never weighed a single moment to change their views of this trust when put in the balance with the strong reliance placed upon the good faith of her Majes ty's constitutional advisers. Least of all has it been in the thought of any one that your lordship would consent in any way to receive the papers, if they are really illegal in their character or dangerous or injurious to the United States. Should it, however, prove on inspection that any abuse has been attempted in America of the confidence to which her Majesty's government is in every way entitled, I am directed to express to your lordship the hope that any papers of a treasonable character against the United States may be delivered up to me for the use of my government, and that her Majesty's consul at Charleston, if shown to be privy to the transmission of them under such a form, may be made promptly to feel the severe displeasure of the government whose good faith he has sought to dishonor. For there can be no difference of opinion as to the nature of an offence which involves the perversion by the agent of one government of the hospitality afforded to him by another to conspire against its safety, dignity, and honor. I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be your lordship's most obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. The Right Honorable EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States, deeply regrets the painful necessity that compels him to make a representation to the right honorable Lord Russell, her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, touching the conduct of Mr. Robert Bunch, her Majesty's consul for the port of Charleston, in the United States. It appears from the contents of one of the many letters found in the possession of Mr. Robert Mure, bearer of despatches from Mr. Bunch to the government of Great Britain, but detained as an agent of the enemies of the United States, that the following statement is made of the action of Mr. Bunch in Charleston. "Mr. B., on oath of secrecy, communicated to me also that the first step to recognition was taken. He and Mr. Belligny together sent Mr. Trescot to Richmond yesterday to ask Jeff. Davis, President to the treaty of the neutral flag covering neutral goods to be respected. This is the first step of direct treating with our government. So prepare for active business by 1st January." to The undersigned is instructed to submit this information to her Majesty's government with a request that, if it be found to be correct, Mr. Bunch may be at once removed from his office. The undersigned is further instructed to add that the President will cheerfully accord an exequatur to any person who may be appointed to succeed him, who will faithfully perform his functions without injury to the rights and the interests of the United States. The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to Lord Russell the assurances of his highest consideration. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. The Right Honorable EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 84.] DEPARTMENT OT STATE, Washington, September 10, 1861. SIR: I send you an extract of a letter just received from Mr. Francis Bernard, in the island of Trinidad. It shows a clear case of connivance by the authorities of that island with the insurgents of the United States, in violation of the rights and dignity of this government, if the facts are truly presented. You will bring the subject to the notice of Lord Russell, and will, if the case shall not be satisfactorily explained, ask for such proceedings in the premises as shall make the authorities of the island sensible of the displeasure of the imperial government, and prevent such occurrences in the future, For your satisfaction, I state that a new consul has been appointed at Trinidad, and that he is now on his way to that island. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Bernard to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] TRINIDAD, August 7, 1861. SIR: I beg to inform you that on the 30th ultimo a steam sloop-of-war (Semmes commander) carrying a secession flag, five guns, some of a large calibre, and a crew of from 120 to 150 men, sailed boldly in our harbor and reported herself to the authorities of this island as being on a cruise. She was last from Puerto Cabello; and since she succeeded in getting out of the Mississippi river she has already captured no less than eleven American vessels. I have ascertained the names of some of them, viz: the Joseph Maxwell, Abe Bradford, Minnie Miller, West Wind, of Westerly, with a |