It would have been more gratifying
to find that the good will, so recently universally felt at my home for
your country, was unequivocally manifested here.
_Lord Russell (smiling blandly)_. To what do you allude?
_Mr. Adams_. It is with pain that I am compelled to admit that from the
day of my arrival I have felt in the proceedings of both houses of
Parliament, in the language of her Majesty's ministers, and in the tone
of opinion prevailing in private circles, more of uncertainty about this
than I had before thought possible. (_Lord Russell silent and still
smiling blandly_). It is therefore the desire of my government to learn
whether it was the intention of her Majesty's ministers to adopt a
policy which would have the effect to widen, if not to make irreparable
a breach which I believe yet to be entirely manageable.
_Lord Russell_. I beg to assure your Excellency there is no such
intention. The clearest evidence of this is to be found in the assurance
given by me to Mr. Dallas, before your arrival. But you must admit that
I hardly can see my way to bind my government to any specific course,
when circumstances beyond our agency render it difficult to tell what
might happen.
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