Replies of European Courts to the Confederate manifesto.
Some of the replies to the manifesto recently adopted by the Confederate Congress, and sent to its commissioners abroad to be given to the European Governments, are published. We copy those that we find:Earl Russell Reiterates the Intention of England to observe an impartial neutrality.
Foreign Office, November 25, 1864.
Gentlemen:
I have had the honor to receive the copy, which you have sent me, of the manifesto issued by the Congress of the so-called Confederate States of America.
Her Majesty's Government deeply lament the protracted nature of the struggle between the Northern and Southern States of the formerly united republic of North America.
Great Britain has, since 1783, remained, with the exception of a short period, connected by friendly relations with both the Northern and Southern States.
Since the commencement of the civil war, which broke out in 1861, Her Majesty's Government have continued to entertain sentiments of friendship equally for the North and for the South. Of the causes of the rupture Her Majesty's Government have never presumed to judge.
They deplored the commencement of this sanguinary struggle, and anxiously look forward to the period of its termination.
In the meantime they are convinced that they best consult the interests of peace and respect the rights of all parties by observing a strict and impartial neutrality.
Such neutrality Her Majesty has faithfully maintained, and will continue to maintain.
Gentlemen:
Reply of the Pope.
Bishop Lynch, of Charleston, was employed by the commissioners to convey the manifesto to the Papal Government, and an answer from the Cardinal Antonelli, dated at Rome, December 2, 1864, was some time after received. After acknowledging the receipt of the letter of the Confederate Commissioners, and the manifesto of the Congress of the Confederate States, Cardinal Antonelli says: ‘"The sentiments expressed in the manifesto, tending as they do to the cessation of the most bloody war, which still rages in your country, and to putting an end to the disasters which accompany it, by proceeding to negotiations for peace, being entirely in accordance with the disposition and character of the august head of the Catholic Church. I do not hesitate a moment in bringing it to the notice of the Holy Father."’ His Holiness, who has been most deeply afflicted by the accounts of the frightful carnage of this obstinate struggle, has heard with satisfaction the expression of the same feelings and sentiments. Being Vicar on Earth of that God who is the Pastor of Peace, he yearns to see these wraths appeased and peace restored. In proof of this he wrote to the Archbishops of New York and New Orleans as far back as October, 1863, inviting them to exert themselves in bringing about this holy object. You may, then, honorable gentlemen, feel well assured that whenever a favorable occasion shall present itself, His Holiness will not fail to avail himself of it to hasten so desirable a result, as it is his most earnest wish that all nations may be united in the bonds of charity, peace and love.The King of Sweden and Norway resolved to maintain a strict neutrality.
Stockholm, December 18, 1864.
The undersigned, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs of His Majesty, the King of Sweden and Norway, has lately received the letter addressed to him, under date of Paris, the 11th of November last, by Messrs. Mason, Slidell and Dudley Mann, Commissioners of the Confederate States of America, and which communicates to the Government of the King, his august sovereign, the manifesto adopted by the Congress of the Confederate States, June 14, as well as a resolution setting forth the intentions, principles and views of those States in reference to the war being waged between them and the United States of America; and he considers it a duty to acknowledge receipt of the same, and to state that he has not failed to place these documents under the eyes of the King.
It is by his Majesty's order that he must confine himself to a declaration to the commissioners that the Government of Sweden and Norway is resolved to maintain, as in the past, the most strict neutrality in regard to the deplorable struggle which has sprung up between the States heretofore forming the great and powerful American Confederation, at the same time that its earnest wishes are for a cessation of so disastrous a conflict, and for an arrangement that may meet the just claims of each of the States that were members of the Union, with which, from its beginning, the Government of the United Kingdom has entertained the most cordial relations.
In obeying this order, the undersigned profits by the opportunity to offer to Messrs. Mason, Slidell and Mann the assurance of his very distinguished consideration. Manderstroem.
