The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-16 00:00:00

THE RETIREMENT OF NI:. ADAMS.

On Saturday afternoon a deputation from the
British branch of the International League of Peace
and Liberty waited upon his Excellency the Hon.
C. F. Adams, the United States Minister, for the
purpose of presenting him with an address previous
to his departure from England. Mr. Edmund
Beales, M.A., president of the branch, introduced
the deputation, and among those who composed it
were Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., and Mr. Candlish,

Mr. BEALES, in presenting the address, said that
the League consisted of members belonging to al-
most all European nations, and had for its president
the great patriot, General Garibaldi. It had been
formed to assist in establishing universal peace.
They looked upon war as a great crime, waged too
often by potentates at the cost of the happiness, the
property, and the lives of their subjects. They re-
garded war as the greatest infliction on the human
race and the natural ally of despotism, while they
looked upon peace as the natural ally of freedom. They
thought it was their imperative duty to do all in
their power to promote the blessed cause. In so
acting and thinking they believed they were acting
in accordance with the feelings and sentiments of
the majority of their brethren and kinsmen in the
great Republic of the United States of America.
They derived that belief from the wise and noble
example which had lately been set before the world.
Immediately upon the termination of the gigantic
struggle into which they had been driven by the
slaveholding rebels the Government of the United
States disbanded their vast naval and military forces.
this spectacle was the more forcible when contrasted
with that which they beheld at this moment on the.
continent of Europe. There they saw Kings and
Emperors rivalling each other in establishing perma-
nent and large standing armies, armies which were
maintained by impoverishing the people. Entertain-
ing these views, they thought it right to wait upon him
(Mr. Adams) and present him with an address ;
because while he had beer} the representative of the
great Republic of America in this country be bad
not only exhibited a singular combination of talents,
but had shown a most moderate, sound, and calm
judgment in matters of great difficulty. They (the
members of the League) deprecated above every-
thing a war between England and America—a war
which would be most frightful and fratricidal.
(Hear, hear.) They could not allow him to leave
these shores without expressing their deep regret at
his departure, their great estimation of him per-
sonally, their deep interest in the prosperity and
the welfare of the country to which he belonged,
and their earnest desire that the closest possible alli-
ance should be established between the two nations.
(Hear, hear.) In conclusion Mr. Beales said that,
but for the expressed wish of Mr. Adams the depu-
tation would have been a very large one.
Mr. ADAMS—I have no doubt of it.

Mr. BEALES then read the address, which said :
" You are about to return to your country
from this kingdom, where, by a rare union
of statesmanship, firmness, and courage, you have
so long discharged the duty you owed to your
own Government, and manifested the regard you
entertained for the English nation. During a term
of unexampled diplomatic exigency you have la-
boured untiringly, and with deserved success, to
maintain those peaceful relations which should ever
exist between the kindred people of America and
England. But a graver matter than that of ex-
pressing our esteem and good wishes brings us into
your presence. You depart, leaving unarranged a
question which is the evil legacy of the partisanship
shown by some few among us for the slaveowners
who sought the destruction of your Republic. Under
her wise and high-hearted President, Abraham
Lincoln, she vanquished the insurrection, and you
will return to find her stronger and more secure
than ever—consecrated by the blood of her mar-
tyrs, and famous to all time for the clemency
with which she crowned her splendid victory.
Better than any other American you will be able
to tell her how many hearts beat here in Eng-
land with joy for that grand triumph of right
and freedom over armed and rebellious wrong and
the hateful principle of human bondage. You will
assure her, as you truly can, that by millions here
the safety of the free and united Republic is re-
garded as their safety, and her interest and pros-
perity arc identified with their own. You will,
however, have to add that you leave unsettled this
one perilous question which, after much discussion
and fruitless mutual approaches, survives to threaten
mankind with the possibility of the curse of such a
fratricidal and unnatural struggle as that must be
which should array England and America in arms
against each other. We venture, therefore, to
charge you with this message to a". your country-
men who feel with us the horror of that awful me-
nace. Tell them, Sir, that the people of this land
had no part or lot in the despatch of the piratical
rovers which preyed upon yorr commerce. The
blunders of official personages and the frauds of
unscrupulously speculative tradesmen cannot
surely be called the acts of a nation. Tell them
that, so far as the newly-acquired power of
the English people can control legislation, it is in
the mind of their brothers here to do them perfect
justice. If iu your country, as unfortunately in
ours, there be mischievous men who dare to say
that such language savours of fear, answer, sir, as
we answer, that the capacity of our common race to
fight in the cause of country has been proved by
too many sad and heroic passages of history to need
at this day more proof. Challenge them for us, sir,
to a new rivalry in a nobler manhood and in a hap-
pier strife of honour ! Bid them be patient, so as
to allow us the opportunity of showing that we are
just and equitable."
Mr. ADAMS, who received the address with a very
pleased manner, made a brief reply. He said he
was very happy to have it, and to hear the senti-
ments which it expressed towards his countrymen,
and also towards himself. It was no part of his
province, nor was it his wish, to draw any line of
distinction between individuals or classes, nor yet to
enter into questions which might be unsettled. It
was enough for him to be assured of their gcodwill
—(hear, hear)—and to have reason to believe that
it was one generally entertained. (Hear, hear.)
For himself, having had the satisfaction to receive
the full approbation of his countrymen for the
action, which they likewise commended, it naturally
followed that the compliment which they had been
pleased to pay him was more deserved by that
authority, without which he would have been power-
less. If such was the ruling spirit on both sides he
was at a loss to perceive the reason of their alarm
about unsettled questions. Where the will was
good some way to an arrangement was sure ulti-
mately to follow. (Cheers.) In his belief the sum
of all true diplomaCy was to be found in the
Christian maxim of doing unto your neighbour that
which you would he should do unto you.
(Cheers.) If all nations were to carry that into
practice there would be no wars to follow contro-
versies and disputes. He begged them to accept
his most earnest wishes for the health and happiness
of each of them.

Several members of the deputation were then per'
sonally introduced to Mr. Adams, shortly after
which the gentlemen composing it withdrew.

FOX CLUB.—The second meeting of the Fob
Club this season was held on Saturday evening at Brooks'a'
Present :—Earl Grey, Mr. John W. Fitziatrick, 31. P., Sir
-William Scott, M.P., the Hon. Hamilton H. Duncan, Col.
Challouer, Lord Methuen, Sir Montague J. Cholnielei,
M.P., Mr. John St. Aubyn, M.P., Sir James Matheson'
M.P., the Earl of Fife, Mr. James Moncreiff, 31r.
Edward Ayshford Sanford, Mr. Augustus IL Stephenson'
Mr. Edward Ellice, M.P., the lion. Oowran, C. Vernon'
and Lord Carew.