Excerpt from Correspondence Relating to the Civil War in the United States of North America

I Have the honour to inclose copies of an article which has appeared in the "National Intelligencer" newspaper this morning, on the subject of rumours which have reached this country from Europe of an intention on the part of England and France to intervene in the present civil war. It is temperate in tone, and is deserving of attention, as it may be taken to express the view of the subject taken by this Government.

Mr. Seward, indeed, spoke himself to me in very much the same language three days ago. The French Government had, he said, all along very frankly communicated to the Government of the United States its perplexities and the sufferings endured by its people in consequence of the interruption of commerce with the South. He had been unable for some time to do more than exhort that Government to have patience and wait with confidence for the alleviation he had promised as the result of the first successes of the United States' arms. He had now redeemed the promises he had made. Three ports were already opened; it would soon be possible to open others. The United States were no longer responsible for the interruption of commerce. If trade should not revive, if foreign nations should still be unable to provide themselves with cotton, tobacco, and other Southern products, the fault would lie, not with the United States but with the "rebels." If the rebels destroyed the cotton and tobacco already in existence, if they gave up the cultivation of those articles, they would do so in opposition to the wishes and in defiance of the authority of the United States. The only course for foreign Powers to take in order to relieve themselves from the sufferings which they already endured, and to secure themselves from the still greater sufferings which threatened them, would be to exert their influence in favour of the prompt restoration of the Federal power in the insurgent States. Peace, the return of confidence, and the consequent resumption of trade and agriculture, would immediately follow the re-establishment of the Union and the Constitution. Mr. Seward added that he did not attach any belief to the rumours that England and France were in communication with a view to intervene in the affairs of this country. He had, indeed, received numerous letters from Europe stating it to be the fact; but he thought that the reports might be traced to the friendly representations to the United States which had been from time to time made by the French Government; that perhaps that Government was willing that such reports should be spread, in the hope that they might tend to make the French people patient.

I observed, that in this conversation Mr. Seward did not speak so confidently as he had formerly done of the opening of the ports being followed by an immediate resumption of trade; nor did he deny so positively that the Southern people would destroy their cotton rather than bring it to market. In fact, such accounts as have become public seem to show that at New Orleans and elsewhere the threats of destroying the cotton have been already to a great extent executed. The article from the "National Intelligencer" to which I have already drawn your Lordship's attention quotes a proclamation from General Beauregard, calling on all patriotic planters to apply the torch without delay to all cotton "in the possible reach of the enemy." So far as the scanty and somewhat uncertain information attainable here at this moment warrants an opinion, this Proclamation is in accordance with the general feeling of the South; an accurate and impartial account of what has really occurred at New Orleans since the capture would give an insight into the probable conduct of the Southern people in other places.