Seward's reply to the Paisley Parliamentary Association.
The Glasgow (Scotland) Mail says the following reply has been received to the address lately forwarded to the Government of the United States by the Paisley Parliamentary Reform Association, of that city; Department on State, Washington, August 14, 1862
To Alexander McAndrew President, and Robert Cockran,Secretary, of the Paisley Parliamentary Reform Association:
Gentlemen: I have had the pleasure of receiving the liberal and courteous address of the Paisley Parliamentary Reform Association, and have submitted it to the President of the United States and the heads of the Departments of this Government.
Engaged in maintaining, against an unprovoked and causeless sedition, a Government whose principle is the political equality of the members of the States, and whose policy is peace and good will to wards all States and all men, it has been a disappointment to learn that our struggle is at best a matter of indifference to the Governments of Europe, while it is generally represented to us that the nations of that continent sympathize not with us, but with the insurgents, and desire nothing less than our national ruin.
If these representations are true, it is a new and melancholy illustration of the disposition of mankind to seek to do harm to each other, at the cost of common sacrifices and sufferings.
For your better appreciation of the character of this contest, and for your most generous wishes for the safety, welfare, and happiness of our country, you will please to accept the thanks of the people of the American Continent.
I speak in the name of the Continent, because I know that the cause of the United States is accepted by all the American nations as one involving ultimately their safety and their destiny.
The North does not, however, stand alone in upholding the beneficent Government.
The West is equally loyal and equally devoted to our institutions, and equally energetic in defending them. --Nor is the South, as you seem to imagine, altogether insensible or unfaithful.
Time, which always subdues passions otherwise uncontrollable, is gradually freeing that region from the terrors of the insurrection, and preparing the way for its return to its constitutional duties, and for the restoration of national unity and peace.
It is an occasion of sincere regret for the people of this country that nations, for whom we have cherished only sentiments of friendship and affection, are disturbed in their industrial occupations in consequence of this unhappy civil strife.
We find in this circumstance a new and distinct motive to bring the war to a safe and speedy conclusion — Nations, in modern times, are not absolutely independent of each other.
On the contrary, they constitute a general society. If all Europe could not only think, but speak as you do, there would soon be no civil war or insurrection here. In return, Europe would have our suffrages and influence for peace and harmony everywhere. To Alexander McAndrew President, and Robert Cockran,Secretary, of the Paisley Parliamentary Reform Association:
