Mr. Seward to Mr. Motley.
Washington, September 20, 1861.
Sir: The despatch, No. 24, of your predecessor, Mr. Jones, under date of August, has been received. I send you a copy of my latest instructions to Mr. Adams and Mr. Dayton on the subject of the proposed accession to the declaration of the congress at Paris. You will learn from these papers that the negotiations for that object with the governments of Great Britain and [Page 193] France have been arrested, as well as the manner of suspension, and the reasons for it. You will already have discovered for yourself that this suspension of the negotiation with those two powers must operate, to a certain extent, upon the dispositions in the same respect of other European States, although it does not at all modify the views of this government. So far as such other European powers are concerned, all that remains to be said is, that acting in good faith we will cheerfully enter into convention with any State that may desire to receive our accession at this time, and that we shall not, at present, urge our proposition on those States which, for any reason of their own, may propose to await a more convenient season.
You will inform Count Rechberg that the friendly sentiments of this government towards Austria remain unchanged.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
J. Lothrop Motley, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Vienna.