Autograph letter signed : place not specified, to Richard Lyons, 1862 October.

Concerning peace negotiations in the American Civil War: saying that Her Majesty's Government would like to take "the first favourable opportunity of advising the two parties now engaged in Civil War in America to agree to a suspension of arms with a view to a negotiation for peace"; discussing possible obstacles to this; writing that should "the continuance of slaughter without adequate result, and the sacrifices entailed by the immense pecuniary costs of the war, & the increasing burthen of taxation produce a sense of weariness," then the British government would immediately communicate with its European allies and attempt to bring about a resolution; stating that "in no case will H. M. Govt take an active part in the contest"; asking Lyons to report on the state of the war, paying special attention to enlistment and taxation, and to "inform me with as much detail as possible what effects have been produced by President Lincoln's proclamation of the 22d of Septr declaring freedom to the enslaved in the Confederate States"; directing Lyons to communicate confidentially with "the Ministers of France & Russia upon these topics."