Mr. Cameron to Mr. Seward. No. 2.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, St. Petersburg, June 26, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that I arrived here on the night of the 15th instant, and was received by Mr. Clay, who was awaiting my arrival. On Monday I made application for an interview with Prince Gortchacow, minister of foreign affairs, who appointed the following day (17th) at noon. In company with Mr. Clay I called upon the prince at the foreign office. He received me with cordiality, and in the course of our brief but very satisfactory conversation expressed his most earnest desire for the termination of our domestic difficulties. He informed me that the Emperor had removed his residence to his summer palace of Tzarsko-Selo, where my presentation to his Majesty would probably take place. On the 19th, however, I received a note from the prince, stating that the Emperor would come to St. Petersburg and give me an interview at the winter palace on Tuesday, the 24th instant. This unexpected courtesy on his part was doubly agreeable, since it gave an assurance, in advance, of the special kindliness of his sentiments towards us. Shortly before the hour appointed, on the 24th, notice was sent to me that, on account of some private reason which prevented the Emperor from coming to St. Petersburg on that day, the audience was postponed until the 25th. At noon, therefore, in company with Mr. Clay-whose audience of leave was appointed for the same time-and with Mr. Taylor, secretary of legation, I proceeded to the winter palace. We were conducted to the ante-room, adjoining the Emperor's cabinet, where we were received by the grand chamberlain, Count Schouvaloff, and the master of ceremonies, Count de Ribeaupierre. Mr. Clay was first summoned to the imperial presence to deliver his letter of recall and take his official leave, after which I was presented to his Majesty. The remarks which I made on delivering to him my letter of credence are given, in substance, in the paper (A) accompanying this despatch. He listened to them with attention, interrupting me several times to express his hearty concurrence in my views. A conversation followed, which lasted for more than half an hour, and during which the Emperor, by his questions and observations, exhibited not only his profound interest in everything relating to our country, but his accurate knowledge of her present situation. He declared, frankly, that his sympathies had always been cordially with us; that he was very anxious the United States, as a nation, should suffer no diminution of power or influence; our interests and those of Russia were in many respects identical, and he was desirous to hasten, by all the means in his power, the progress of that telegraphic enterprise which will enable the two governments to communicate directly with each other. He referred to his efforts in regard to the emancipation of the serfs, and manifested a great interest concerning the solution of the question of slavery in the United States. The Emperor was exceedingly plain, frank, and unostentatious in his demeanor. The unusual length of the interview, as well as unaffected earnestness and sincerity of his expressions, gave evidence that he desired to make a special manifestation of his friendship for our country and government. Both on entering and leaving his cabinet he gave me his hand with cordial familiarity. This practical experience of the good faith of those professions of sympathy with the United States which Russia now makes, as she has heretofore made-not only unimpaired but strengthened by the knowledge of our national trials—has afforded me the most profound gratification. At the close of the interview Mr. Bayard Taylor, secretary of legation, was presented to the Emperor. Mr. Clay will leave for the United States as soon as he has had his audience of leave from the Empress and the other members of the imperial family. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, SIMON CAMERON. (A.) I am instructed by the President to convey to your Imperial Majesty the assurances of his desire to perpetuate the friendly relations which have so long existed between Russia and the United States. In addition to our obligations for ancient evidences of friendship, he as well as our whole people feel an abiding gratitude for the prompt and cordial sympathy which we have received from your Majesty in our successful efforts to subdue an unnatural rebellion. Knowing the exalted opinion entertained by the President of the United States, and by the American people, towards your Majesty, I could not but consider my appointment of minister to your court the highest honor which could have been conferred upon me. No two governments in christendom differ more widely in some respects than Russia and the United States, yet both seem best adapted to promote the happiness and prosperity of their respective people. Both are at present engaged in a social change, and have imposed upon them a national duty similar in character, and promising alike results equally vital and glorious to either nation. This social change is the emancipation of labor, in effecting which your Majesty has so nobly led the way, and which the free masses of my own country are now so heroically emulating under the guidance of divine providence. We believe that the peace as well as the material interests of all nations will be best subserved by the continuance of the power and prosperity of Russia in the Old World, and on the new continent by the perpetuity of the system adopted by the United States. Let me assure your Majesty that recent events abundantly prove that my government is able to meet all exigencies, and to perform her whole duty to humanity. Her system does not admit of large standing armies in time of peace, but the promptitude with which her citizens came to the call of the President, and the existence of our present mighty army, prove that we shall never want soldiers to maintain our domestic security or to defend our national honor. It is remarkable that Russia and the United States are the only two great powers of the world whose friendship can never be disturbed by rival interests. Your Majesty is extending civilization to the far east, while the people of my country are carrying the blessings of our government to the extreme west. In this mutual advance your telegraph will soon join ours, so that St. Petersburg and Washington may converse with each other without the wires being touched by unfriendly hands. It will afford me unfeigned pleasure to represent my country in this spirit, and to take every proper occasion for drawing still closer the bonds of amity between the two nations. Mr. Seward to Mr. Cameron. No. 5.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 23, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of June 26 (No. 2) has been received. The account which it gives of your reception by his Majesty, and by his enlightened minister for foreign affairs, Prince Gortchacow, is very gratifying. And the President especially desires that the government and people of Russia may by your good offices be kept entirely satisfied that they enjoy the cordial friendship of the United States. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that, after receiving your communication of June 9, relative to Mr. Collins's plan of telegraphic communication between Russia and the United States, I requested of Prince Gortchacow an interview, for the purpose of an informal conversation upon the subject previous to the arrival of Mr. Collins. His excellency, who has not been in the city since my presentation to the Emperor, on the 25th ultimo, at once replied, stating that he would be happy to receive me at the imperial palace of Peterhof, about 18 miles from here, on the following day, Wednesday, the 16th instant. I presented myself at the appointed time, and was very cordially received by the Prince, who, however, while expressing the greatest interest in the proposed enterprise, desired that the plan of it should be presented in a definite form. This I promised to do immediately after the arrival of Mr. Collins. You will perceive from the remarks which I made to the Emperor on presenting my credentials, (communicated in despatch No. 2,) that I had already anticipated your instructions so far as to mention the subject to his Imperial Majesty. From the readiness with which he assented to the suggestion, as well as from the expressions used by Prince Gortchacow, I consider myself justified in inferring that Russia will be ready at the proper moment to co-operate with the United States in forwarding any plan of telegraphic communication between the two countries which shall seem to offer a reasonable chance of success. I was accompanied to Peterhof by the other members of my family, including Mr. Bayard Taylor, secretary of legation, and by Mr. Haldeman, United States minister resident at Stockholm, who has paid me a brief visit. Prince Gortchacow, having been informed of the fact, (possibly by the hereditary prince, the Grand Duke Nicholas, who went to Peterhoff by the same train,) immediately despatched an imperial equipage, in order to convey the party to the palace, where a suite of rooms was placed at their disposal. After my interview a carriage and attendants were again furnished, and we were taken through all parts of the magnificent park and gardens. The immense system of artificial cataracts and fountains which is ranked among the finest hydraulic exhibitions in Europe was set in operation in order that we might witness it, and on our return to the palace we found that a sumptuous dinner had been provided. I take the liberty of mention. ing these unusual marks of attention as another gratifying evidence of a special desire, on the part of the Emperor and his ministers, to impress our government, through its representative here, with the sincerity of their friendly sentiments. There is no capital in Europe where the loyal American meets with such universal sympathy as St. Petersburg; none where the suppression of our unnatural rebellion will be hailed with more genuine satisfaction. The "Journal de St. Petersburg," the government organ here, continually cautions its readers against being deceived by the despatches from Renter's Telegraphic bureau, in London-an office which the secessionists appear to have suborned, in order to distort the American news which it communicates to all the principal newspapers of the continent. During the past week the Journal actually went so far in its generous partisanship for the Union as to omit a despatch from Renter, which appeared in the German papers, stating that the Union loss in the late battles before Richmond was from ten to thirty thousand men, and that the rebels had taken twelve thousand prisoners. Nevertheless, it is right that I should express my conviction, slowly reached after a comparison of the principal European journals, that the idea of foreign intervention in the affairs of the United States is gradually becoming more familiar. Europe is growing impatient under the loss which our struggle entails upon her; and the friends of the rebellion, counting not only its special agents, but the large class of those who view with dislike or dread the vast growth of our nation, are insidiously occupied in suggesting pretexts which would justify such an intervention in the eyes of the world. A renewal of our previous successes, or the assumption of a policy as active and vigorous as the means of the government allow, may frustrate this plan; but every day of a delay, the necessity of which is not so patent that our enemies cannot possibly seize upon it as an evidence of weakness, adds to the danger. I feel impelled to make this statement of the conclusion at which I have arrived, because I am not sure that the imminence of the danger is so apparent to the government of the United States. All those signs and indications which run before a step of this kind, and surely prepare the way for it, might easily escape the eyes of those who are so fully occupied with the great task before them. It is my duty to omit nothing, the knowledge of which may be of advantage to the government-least of all a point of such vast importance-and I trust that the foregoing words may be received, not as offered in the spirit of intrusive advice, but of solemn conviction. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect, your obedient servant, Hon, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, SIMON CAMERON. No. 7.] Secretary of State. Mr. Seward to Mr. Cameron. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 28, 1862. SIR: A communication from Mr. Clay, bearing date June 27, and not marked as a despatch, has been received. It gives an interesting account of the audience of leave granted him by the Emperor. The speech made by Mr. Clay was so just in its expressions of the sentiments of the President and of the American people, and the reply of his Majesty was so generous and faithful, that it is thought proper that you should acquaint Prince Gortchacow that the whole transaction is regarded with the highest satisfaction by this government. I cannot refrain from expressing a hope that your mission may be as fortunate as that of your loyal predecessor, who returns to us to exchange diplomacy for the sterner duties of the field." I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIMON CAMERON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Cameron to Mr. Seward. No. 5.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches of the 8th, 12th, and 14th ultimo, communicating copies of the Senate resolution in respect to the expediency of providing for the appointment of consuls at the ports of Nicolaieff and Kherson; of the new regulation relating to passports; and of the emancipation bill communicated to Congress by the President. With regard to the first of these subjects, the necessary information will be forwarded as soon as it can be procured; and I shall take occasion, at the same time, to make a few suggestions concerning the consulates already established in Russia. The order concerning passports and the registry of fees, therefore, has been put in operation. I have read with great satisfaction the bill submitted to Congress by the President, embodying his plan of emancipation in the border States. It is an equitable and practicable method of retaining those States permanently in the Union; since it is very evident, viewing the vital question which underlies our struggle from this distance, stripped of its local or temporary coloring, that upon no other basis can the future of our country be rendered secure. I am very glad to be able to inform you that the measure proposed by the President is considered, not only by all American citizens whom I have met here, but by all intelligent Russian statesmen, as exceedingly liberal and generous. It is hoped that the States in question will soon avail themselves of the offer it holds out; but if, unhappily, they should fail to do so, the judgment of Europe will uphold the President in the adoption of whatever measures may be necessary to secure the important end." The evidences of a sterner policy on the part of the administration, which the last mails from America have brought us, revive the hopes of our friends everywhere throughout Europe. Those who have been most earnestly with us heretofore seemed to be on the point of losing their faith in our success, through delays which they have not been able to understand. The journals. most friendly to our cause began to give signs of exhausted patience at the unexpected prolongation of the struggle; but I have reason to believe, now that the effect of the reverses we experienced has been, to a great extent, counteracted by the determined attitude of the government, and its readiness to use the most direct and effectual means of crushing the rebellion. As Mr. Collins has not yet made his appearance, I have nothing further to report in relation to the proposed telegraphic enterprise. I have the honor to be, with high respect, your obedient servant, SIMON CAMERON. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. |