Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the reception of despatches from the department numbered from 1626 to 1644 inclusive, together with four printed copies of a paper announcing the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the Union.
Matters remain very quiet here. As the time approaches for the opening of the new Parliament, I find that doubts increase as to the ability of the ministry to sustain itself upon the reform bill. The selection of Mr. Goschen to fill the vacancy in the cabinet, though admitted to be in itself unexceptionable, produces more or less uneasiness among rival aspirants in the less advanced ranks of the party. What is most feared is, that sort of half-heartedness, which really betrays the cause it professes to befriend. The apparent state of indifference among the constituencies is not ill calculated to encourage this tendency among members whose real feeling is adverse to any movement at all.
I learn from several sources that the uneasiness and discontent in Ireland are not thought to have been diminished by the conviction and sentence of the offenders who have been brought to trial. The Fenian organization is affirmed to be spreading in every direction, carrying with it many of the more intelligent class of the tenantry, and even compelling the acquiescence of some of the priests. Thus far the Orange party, though much alarmed, has committed itself to no overt effort at counteraction, so that things wear an appearance of calm which [Page 59] is not warranted by the reality. It is not unlikely that some effort will be made in Parliament to reform the ecclesiastical condition of the island, in which case the passions now latent may seek a vent in some form likely to augment the embarrassments of the ruling party.
On the whole, the chances seem to be of a good deal of public agitation to follow the last few years of remarkable repose.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.