The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-04-19

justice, nor do any act to njure their late confec
| crates.
The undersigned have now the honor, in obed
| enceto the instructions of their government t
request you to appoint as early day as possible
order that they may present to the President of tn
| United States the credentials which they bear an
,and the obects of the mission with which thev ar
fcharged. We are, very respectfully, sir, you
obedent servants, JOHN FoRSYTH
MARTIN j. CRAWFORD.
The Reply Of Mr.. Se,oard.
| d. Memorandum.
| DEPARTMENT OF STATE
| WASHINGTON, March Is, 1861. I
Mr.. John FORSYTH, Of the State of Alabama, an,
Mr.. &artir j. Crawford, of the State of Georgia
on the llth inst, through the kind offices of dis
| tinguished Senator, submitted to the Secretary O
| State their desire for unofficial interview Thi
| request on the 18th inst, upon exclusivel
public considerations, respectfully declined.
On the 18th inst, while the Secretary was pre-
occupied, Mr.. A. ID. Banks, of Virginia, called a
this department and was received by the Assistan
Secretary, to whom he delivered sealed commu-
ncation, which he had been charged by Messrs
Forsyth and Crawford to present to the Secretary
in person.
In that communication Messrs. Forsyth anG
Crawford inform the Secretary of State that they
have been duly accredited by the Government oil
the Confederate States of America Commissions
ers TO the Government of the United States and
they set forth the objects of their attendance at
w Washington. They observe that seven States OF
the American Union, in the exercise of right in
herent in every free people, have withdrawn
through conventions Of their people, from the Uni
ted States. resumed the attributes of sovereign
power, and formed a government of their own and
that those Confederate States constitute an
independent nation de facto and de jure, and pos
government perfect in all its parts and fu lily
endowed with the means of selfsupport.
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford in their aforesaid
communication, thereupon proceed to inform the
Secretary that, with view to a speedy adjustment
OF all questions growing out of the political sepa-
ration thus assumed, upon such terms of amity and
goodwill as the respective interests geographical
contiguity and the future welfare of the supposed
two nations might render necessary, they are in
structed to make to the Government of the United
States Overtures for the opening of negotiations
assuring this Government that the President, Con
gresS and people of the Confederate States earnest
ly desire peaceful solution of these great cues
tons and that it is neither their interest nor their
wish to make any demand which is not founded in
srictest justice, nor to do any act to inure their
late confederateS.
After making these statements, Messrs FORSYTH
and Crawford close their communication, as they
say in obedience to the instructions of their govern
ment, by requesting the Secretary of State to ap-
point as early DAY possible, in order that they
may present to the President of the United States
the credentials which they bear and the objects of
the mission with which they are charged.
The Secretary of State frankly confesses that he
understands the events which have recently occur
red, and the condition of political affairs which ac-
tuaiV exists IN the part OF the Union TO which his
attention has thus been directed, very differently
froTa the aspect in which they are presented by
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford. He sees u them not
a rightfu and accomplished revolution and an in
dependent nation, with an established government,
bat rather perversiOn of a temporary and parti-
san excitement to the nconsiderate purposes of an
unjustiIiable and unconstitutional aggression upon
the rights and the authority vested in the Federal
Government, and hitherto benignly exercised, as
from their very nature they always must be so ex-
ercsed, for the maintenance of the Union the
preservation of liberty, and the security, peace
welfare, happiness and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the
American people.
The Secretary of State therefore, avows to
Messrs Forsyth and Crawford that he looks pa
tiently but confidently for the cure of the evils
which have resulted from proceedings so unneces-
sary, so unwise, so unusual and so unnatural, not
to irregular negotiations, having in view new and
untried relations with agencies unknown to and
acting in derogation of the constitution and laws.
but to regular and cOnsiderate action of the people
of those States in cooperation with their breth-
rem in the other States, through the Congress OF
the United States, and such extraordinary conven-
tions, if there shall be need thereof as the federal
constitution coutemplates and authorizes to be as
sembled.
1t is, however, the purpose of the Secretary of
State this occasion, not to invite or engage in
any discussion of these subjects, but simply to set
forth his reasons for declining to comply with the
request Of Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.
On the 4th of March inst. the then newly elected
President of the United States in view of all the
facts bearing on tie present question, assumed the
executive administration of the government, first
delivering, in accordance with an early and hon
ored custom, an inaugural address to the people of
the United States The Secretary of State re-
spectfuy submits copy of this address to Messrs,
Forsyth and Crawford.
simple reference to it will be sufficient to sat
isfy those gentlemen that the Secretary of State,
guioed by the principles therein announced, is
prevented altogether from admitting or assuming
hat Stota rn1 4N h,-tl tln,.
in fact, withdrawn from the Federal Union, or that
they could do so in the manner described by
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, or in any other
manner than with the consent and concert of
the people of the United States to be given
through a national convention, to be assem-
bled in conformity with the provisions of the
Constitution of the United States. OF course the
Secretary OF State cannot act upon the assumption
or in any way admit that the socalled Confederate
States constitute foreign Power with whom di-
plOmatic relations ought to be established.
Under these circumstances the Secretary OF
State, whose official duties confined, subject to
the direction of the President, to the conducting of
the foreign relations of the country, and do not at
all embrace domestic questions or questions arising
between the several States and the federal govern
ment, is unable to comply with the request OF
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, to appoint day on
which they may present the evidence of their au-
thorty and the objects of their visit to the Presi-
dent of the United States. On the contrary he is
obliged to state to Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford
that he has no authority is he at liberty to rec
ognize them as diplomatic agents, or hold CORES.
pondence or other communication with them.
Finally, the Secretary of State would observe
that, although be has supposed that he might
safely and with propriety have adopted these con-
clusions without making any reference OF the sub
ject to the Executive, yet so strong has been his
desire to practise entire directness and to act in
snirit of perfect respect and candor towards Messrs
FORSYTH and Crawford, and that portion of the
pepple of the Union in whose name they present
themselves before him, that he has cheertully sub
mitted this paper to the President, who comedies
generally in the views it expresses, and sanctions
the Secretary's decision declining official inter
course with Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.
APRIL 8, 1S6l.-The foregoing memorandum wa:
filed in this Department on the 18th of March last
A delivery of the same, however, to Messrs. For
syth and Crawford was delayed ,as was understood
with their consent. They have now, through theil
secretary, communicated their desire for defini
tive disposition of the subject. The Secretary o
State, therefore, directs that duly verified copy
of the paper be delivered.
true copy of the original, delivered to me by
Mr.. T. W. Seward, Assistant Secretary of Stat
of the United States, April s, 1861, at 215 p NJ.
in blank envelope.
Attest, J. T. PICKETT,
Secretary to the Commissioners.
THE COMMISSIONERS IN REPLY TO MR.. SEWARD, AccU
SING THE GOVERNMENT OF DECEPTION, AND ACCEPT
ING SOLUTION BY THE SWORD.
Hon. Wn. H. Setedrd, Secretary Of State of the Una
ted States, Washington
! The memorandum" dated Department of State
, Washington, March 10, 1861 with postscript unde
date of Sth instant, has been received through the
| hands of Mr.. j. T. Pickett Secretary to this Com
mission, who, by the instructions of the under
signed, called for it on yesterday at the depart
! ment.
In that memorandum you correctly state the pur
port of the official note addressed to you by tn
undersigned on the 18th utimo. Without re
| peating the contents of that note in full, it
enough to say here that its object was to invite tn
government of the United States to friendly cor
| sideration of the relations between the Unite
States and the seven States lately of the feeders
Union, but now separated from it by the sovereig
will of their people, growing out of the pregnan
and undeniable fact that those people have rejece
the authority of the United States and establishe
! a government of their own. Those relations ha
to be friendly or hostile. The people of the oil
and new governments, occupying contiguous terr
tories, had to stand to each other in the relatio
I of good neighbors, each seeking their happine
and pursuing their national destinies in their ow
way, without interference with the other, or the
had to be rival and hostile nations.
The government of the Confederate States ha
no hesitation in eecting its choice in this alterni
tive. Frankly and unreservedly, seeking the goo
of the people who had entrusted them with powe
in the spirit of humanity, of the Christian civiliz
tion of the age, and of that Americanism whic
regards the true welfare and happiness of the pc
pie, the government of the Confederate State
among its first acts, commissioned the undersigne
to approach the government of the United Stat
with the olive branch of peace, and to offer to
just the great questions pending between them
the only Way to be justified by the consciences al