In order to give your lordsphip by a public document a proof that you have acted strictly according to the instructions you have received I inclose an extract annexed to this dispatch* of a private letter I addressed to you on the 1st of December last.

I am, &c.,

RUSSELL.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Turin, January 13, 1862.

Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

SIR: * * * The news of the settlement of the difficulty between the United States and England on the affairs of the Trent has been received in Italy with lively satisfaction, and although on the question of the legal right the opinion of lawyers and statesmen was nearly unanimous against the seizure yet I believe that both here and elsewhere in Europe the conduct of the American Government as now understood is thought to have been not only more dignified butat least not less honorable than that of England. The violent and mendacious language of the British press now receives the condemnation it deserves, and I have no doubt that the cause of the Union will be essentially advanced in European estimation by an event which the President and his Cabinet have with such wisdom and skill converted from an apparently unlucky accident into an instrument of good.

The result will serve I think to do something toward dispelling an error almost universal among European statesmen and which I have seldon passed a day on this side of the Atlantic without having occasion to combat-the assumption namely that the American Union is less a Republic than an unbridled democracy, of which the Federal Government is but a blind instrument. The illumination in some of the great cities on the receipt of the inteligence of the capture of the commissioners, the compliments to Captain Wilkes, the variors spirited resolutions proposed in the House of Representatives, were cited as evidences of a popular feeling which an Executive elected by the people would be powerless to resist, and nothing short of the actual result of the affair could have convinced Europe that in this as in most other important crises the Government is left to initiate the national policy.

* * * * * * *

I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

GEORGE P. MARSH.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Brussels, January 14, 1862.

Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

SIR: The news of the settlements of the Trent affairs has given universal satisfacion here. As influencing public opinion it has caused a very considerable reaction in our favor which I doubt not will gather strength.

The surrender by England when they are applied to herself of her own cherished principles of international law-principles which she has ever enforced and practiced upon unwilling Europe-is considered a great gain. I hope she will not prove a apostate to her new faith; and

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* See Russell to Lyons, "Extract from a private letter," p. 1113.

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