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No. 56.]

Mr. Murphy to Mr. Seward.

THE HAGUE, May 27, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that no communication has as yet been made to this government on behalf of the seceding States; nor, as far as I can learn, has any attempt been made by private persons to fit out vessels to attack our commerce. I have received a letter from an officer of the Dutch cavalry, tendering his services to the United States, but I have declined to forward the same to my government, assuring him that the people of the United States would dispose of the question themselves. On the other hand, it is not to be disguised that public sentiment here is much more favorable to the seceding States than it has been. The message of Mr. Davis, recently delivered to the congress of those States, has been extensively published here, in substance, not at full length, and has had much influence on the question from the specious ground of the Union being a mere confederation of independent States. Besides, Holland, or the Netherlands, has had a bitter lesson of experience under similar circumstances. The rebellion of Belgium, in 1830, was resisted with all the power of this government, which would probably have succeeded in crushing it if England and France had not interfered, and the immense public debt with which this country is oppressed was then mostly incurred, while Belgium was, notwithstanding, lost. Reasoning from this point of view, there are not a few who regard the present position of the United States an expensive and useless effort. I state these circumstances for your information.

The

The affairs of this country are in a prosperous condition. The great calamities by inundation both here at home and also in Java have shown that there is abundant resources to meet such misfortunes. They have called forth and received liberal contributions from private persons, without requiring any aid from the government. Political matters are quiet. first chamber of the states general is now in session, and is engaged in considering the bills adopted by the other body, the most important of which are those relating to the budget and the reorganization of the judiciary. I have the honor, sir, to be yours respectfully,

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SIR: I hasten to inform you that his Majesty the King of Holland received me to-day in private audience, agreeably to the prescribed ceremonial, and that I delivered to him in person my credentials as minister resident of the United States at this court.

I arrived here on the first day of the present month and have waited till now for my audience. In my interview with his Majesty I took occasion to express the earnest desire of the President to maintain and cultivate those friendly relations that have so long and so happily subsisted between the United States and Holland, and especially with his Majesty's government.

I further observed that it would be my cherished aim, as it would be my most pleasing duty, in the discharge of my official duties, to foster and promote the good understanding now existing between the two countries. The King received me graciously, and promptly came forward to receive my credentials, and at once entered upon some friendly inquiries as to whether I had been in the country before or had been elsewhere in the diplomatic service. I replied that our American diplomatists generally were not educated after the European method, and that we labored under some disadvantage in consequence. His Majesty remarked that he had had the pleasure to meet Mr. Buchanan in Holland after he had served in Russia and in England. After some further brief conversation, in which the King expressed his pleasure at making my acquaintance, the audience terminated.

I found, on my arrival here, your despatch, No. 2, of the date of the 10th of May, covering a circular of the 6th of that month, in relation to agents of insurrectionary assemblages sent to Europe on errands hostile to the peace of the United States; also a copy of a despatch of the 24th of April, addressed to the several ministers of the United States accredited to the maritime powers whose plenipotentiaries composed the congress at Paris the 16th of April, 1856, calling their attention to the importance of endeavoring to negotiate with those powers conventions upon the subject of the rights of belligerents and neutrals in time of war; also the draft of a convention in reference to the subject therein discussed, with a full power and instructions to execute the same with the government of the Netherlands. I shall lose no time in communicating with the Dutch government upon the subject. Meantime I will observe that in an informal conversation with the minister of foreign affairs, since my arrival, I learned from him that Holland was the first power, not present at the convention referred to, to acquiesce in the propositions there laid down.

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I cannot learn that any agent or agents of the seceding States have appeared in Holland for any purpose connected with their revolutionary or warlike plans, and from what I see and hear I conclude that no countenance would be given to them if they should.

The death of Count Cavour, the news of which reached here the morning of his decease, has created a profound sensation in diplomatic circles and is deeply deplored by the friends of Italy as an irreparable loss to that country.

I beg to add that I have found my predecessor, Mr. Murphy, unceasing in his endeavors to facilitate my labors here, and it gives me unfeigned pleasure to bear this testimony in his behalf, and to the highly honorable position which I believe him to hold among his colleagues.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.

JAMES S. PIKE.

Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward.
[Extract.]

No. 2.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
The Hague, June 12, 1861.

SIR: I have taken the earliest opportunity to have an interview with the minister of foreign affairs upon the condition of the internal concerns of the United States, and also upon the subject matter of your despatch No. 2, to which I referred in my last.

I assured him of the determined purpose of the United States government to put down the rebellion of the seceding States at all hazards, and stated its determination to adopt whatever measures are necessary to accomplish that object. I explained to him the character of the rebellion, and showed it to be merely a war in behalf of African slavery, and that if we had no slavery we should have no war and no rebellion. I further explained that the government possessed extraordinary means of ending the rebellion whenever it chose to employ them. The union of the States could be restored whenever the government saw fit to render the institutions of the several States homogeneous. For when they were once made free States there would be no wish to separate and no tendency to separation. But I observed that the government was desirous to adopt only moderate measures, and hoped that such measures would be sufficient to cause the leaders of the rebellion to succumb and to restore peace. But to accomplish the high object of maintaining the government and preserving the territory of the country from dismemberment, it was ready to make any sacrifice of mere material interests that necessity demanded. I showed that the government had abundant resources, and more men offering for the military service than it could employ.

The minister of foreign affairs, in reply to my inquiries, informed me that no agent or agents of the seceding States had appeared here, though he had heard they were in London. He said they would receive no countenance if they were to come. He observed that the Dutch government had considered the question of the proposed letters of marque to be issued by the seceding States, and were upon the point of issuing a proclamation and orders forbidding the use of their ports by privateers, a copy of which he said he would furnish me as soon as issued.

He expressed the opinion that the powers of Europe were unanimously in favor of the Paris declaration abolishing privateering, and said if the United States would concur in it, that privateers would have to be regarded as "sea-robbers." He believed there would, be no opposition to negotiating treaties, based on the propositions of the Paris conference, with all the European powers which had agreed to them, of which Holland was one.

The minister seemed to be aware of the causeless character of the rebellion in the seceding States, and of the ability of the government to deal with it, concurring in the opinion that we had more men than were needed. He informed me that his government had ordered four ships-of-war to be in readiness to sail for America to look after its commercial interests there, and that the first ship would be despatched on the 15th instant, and that the others would speedily follow. I subsequently learned from the minister of marine that the fleet would consist of two frigates and two brigs-of-war, and that after the flag-ship had communicated with the Dutch minister at Washington, the fleet would rendezvous at Curaçoa, and spend the winter in the West India seas.

I forebore to press the question of the immediate negotiation of a treaty in reference to privateering. Having satisfied myself of the favorable disposition of the government in respect to the question, and having learned. its intention to issue the proclamation and orders referred to, and intimated with sufficient distinctness the ground the United States government was now disposed to occupy on that subject, I thought it prudent to await further developments of the question by our ministers at the courts of France and England, whose example Holland would be sure to wait for. I did not deem

it advisable to ask the government here to take a lead to which I was aware it would be adverse. I shall be on the alert to seize the proper moment to recur to this subject.

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I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant,
JAMES S. PIKE.

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State, Washington.

Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward.

[Extracts.]

No. 3.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
The Hague, June 14, 1861.

SIR: I received yesterday your circular of the 20th of May, relating to the purchase of articles in Europe, contraband of war, for the use of persons in insurrection against the United States government.

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The extraordinary unanimity and energy displayed by the government and loyal people of the United States in their measures to suppress the rebellion of the seceding States excites constant comment and high admiration in all quarters on this side of the Atlantic. The echoes of the first utterances of the British trading public, in favor of permitting the peaceable secession of the revolting States, have quite died away, and, instead, is now heard denunciation of the folly and madness of the secessionists, along with the expression of a general judgment that they will inevitably be forced to succumb. The growth of this sentiment, fostered by the character of the almost daily news from America, is strengthening the cause of the government on this side of the Atlantic and correspondingly weakening the cause of the secessionists. I think, therefore, that the whole weight of European opinion, which naturally desires a speedy end to the war, will soon be thrown in great force against the revolting States, and thus furnish important moral aid in putting an end to the struggle. I am satisfied, from what has come under my personal observation, that the high tone adopted by the United States government in regard to foreign interference in behalf of the secessionists has had a most salutary influence upon the action of European governments, great and small. Many of them have no objection to seeing the United States in difficulty; but they entertain a healthy apprehension that our government may find a speedy way out of it, and retain a lively recollection of those who would take advantage of its temporary embarrassments.

I have the honor to be, with high respect, your most obedient servant,
JAMES S. PIKE.

Hon. Wм. H. SEWARD.

Secretary of State.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Pike.

No. 6.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, June 14, 1861.

SIR: Mr. Murphy's despatch of the 10th of April, (No. 53,) informing us that he had submitted our circular letter, with an appropriate communication of his own, to the Baron Zuylen, his Majesty's minister for foreign affairs, was duly received; and we have also received Mr. Murphy's despatch, No. 55, with which was transmitted a copy of the reply of the government of the Netherlands to the papers thus submitted to them.

Mr. Murphy executed the duty committed to him in a very proper manner, and you are instructed to express to his Majesty's government the President's high appreciation of the just and friendly sentiments which that government has manifested and expressed in regard to the domestic disturbance in our country, which, happily, now daily loses something of the formidable character which it at first assumed.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES S. PIKE, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward.

[Extract.]

No. 4.]

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
The Hague, June 16, 1861.

SIR: I have obtained from the minister of foreign affairs copies of the proclamations about to be issued by this government in relation to the letters of marque recently issued by the Montgomery revolutionists.

I have the honor to enclose the copies transmitted to me in the original Dutch. I see the instructions to ministers forbid the application of the contingent fund to pay translators, and I infer from this that the department prefers original documents. These papers warn the Dutch people against privateering, as an unlawful proceeding which may be deemed piracy, and they forbid the use of the ports of the Netherlands to privateers under any flag. They refer also to the fact of the adhesion of Holland to the declaration of the congress of Paris, in respect to maritime rights, made in 1856. It will likewise be observed that the Dutch government abstains from following the British example in excluding prizes brought in by ships-of-war.

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I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant, JAMES S. PIKE.

Hon. Wм. H. SEWARD.

Secretary of State, Washington.

[Translation.]

In obedience to the King's orders the ministers for foreign affairs, of justice, and of the marine, present to the knowledge of all it may concern, that to guard against probable difficulties during the doubtful complications in the United States of North America, no privateers under any Ex. Doc. 1—23

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