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S. H. Mallory to James H. North.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA,

Navy Department, Richmond, July 12, 1862.

SIR: Your letter of the 29th of March last reached me this morning. The department notified you, on the 11th of January last, that you would receive orders to command the second vessel then being built in England, but for reasons satisfactory to the department you were subsequently assigned to the command of the first vessel, the Florida, (Oreto,) now at Nassau; and any just ground for "the surprise and astonishment" in this respect at the department's action is not perceived.

A commission as commander for the war was sent you on the 5th of May, and your failure to follow the Oreto, which left England about the 21st of March, and to take command of her as was contemplated, and as you were apprised by Captain Bullock, on the 26th of March, is not understood, and has been productive of some embarrassment.

Captain Bullock was nominated by the executive for his position in the navy under existing law, and was duly confirmed by the Senate, and your protest to this department against the action of these co-ordinate branches of your government is out of place.

Upon the receipt of this letter you will turn over to Lieutenant G. F. Sinclair the instructions which you may have received, together with any public funds in your hands, and return to the confederate States in such manner as your judgment may direct.

Should you not be provided with funds for this purpose, Commander Bullock will, upon your application, supply them.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

Commander JAMES H. NORTH,

C. S. N., London, England.

S. H. MALLORY,

Secretary of the Navy.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

No. 341.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 15, 1862.

SIR: Just at the moment when the mail is about to close authentic information reaches the government that the insurgent forces which have been approaching and menacing Cincinnati and Louisville have receded, and are retreating in Kentucky. The alarm in that quarter has passed.

The press has already announced that the insurgent army, which has been threatening Washington, Baltimore, and Pennsylvania, evacuated Frederick on the 12th instant. I now give you a despatch which has just been received from Major General McClellan, which shows the position of the two armies at the present moment.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., §c., §c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

No. 345.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 15, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of August 29 (No. 211) has been received. Since it was written, information, hastened by telegraph, has reached the country that Garibaldi has been wounded and captured by a French force on the coast of Calabria, and conveyed a prisoner to Spezzia. This event would seem sufficient to arrest the revolutionary movement which so lately threatened the peace of Europe. Nevertheless it remains a question of much interest whether the agitation will immediately go down or reveal itself in some new demonstrations of sympathy with its representative in his detention and sufferings.

Advices from Mexico do not encourage the belief that there will be any real submission to the French or any practical acquiescence in any new government they may succeed in establishing there.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

No. 347.]

DEPARTMENT OE STATE, Washington, September 15, 1862.

SIR: I herewith enclose for your information a copy of a despatch, (No. 214,) of this date, to Mr. Dayton, giving, among other things, the substance of a report recently received from General Shepley, governor of Louisiana, showing the entire freedom of the cotton market in New Orleans.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

(The despatch above referred to is placed, according to date, in the correspondence with France, in this series.)

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

No. 349.7

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 15, 1862. Sir: Since my previous despatches were put into the mail General McClellan reports that the battle yesterday mentioned in his telegram proves to have been a complete victory. The enemy was routed, and he fled during the night. McClellan is in pursuit.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.

No. 351.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, September 17, 1862.

SIR: I enclose for your information an extract from a despatch of the 9th of June last from the minister resident of the United States in Japan, relative to the cordial relations existing between himself and the ministers of England and France in that empire.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &o., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

(The extract above referred to will be found under the head of "Japan," in this series.)

Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams,

No. 353.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 19, 1862.

SIR: Your despatch of September 4, (No 214,) has been received. It sets forth a conversation which had recently been held between yourself and Earl Russell, in which explanations were exchanged concerning a statement said to have been made by J. M. Frailey, commander of the United States steamer Quaker City, at the time of his capture of the Adela, to the effect that you had justified his alleged course in making captures of all vessels which have been indicated to him as suspected ones by the Secretary of the Navy; and that you had stated as the ground of the justification that Lord Palmerston had told you that the American naval authorities might catch all such vessels if they could.

The explanations and disclaimers which you made in reply seem to have been as satisfactory to Earl Russell as they were just.

I have referred to your despatch of the 15th of November last, in which you gave to this department an account of your interview and conversation with Lord Palmerston, on the subject of the appearance of the American shipof-war the James Adger in British waters, the only one in which you have given me any relation of any interview with Lord Palmerston in regard to the operations of enforcing the blockade, or to violations of the neutrality laws. I find nothing in that despatch that could be construed so as to warrant the statement concerning Lord Palmerston imputed to the crew. I find, also, that the despatch was marked confidential, that it has never been presented nor even referred to the Navy Department. It results that this report does not originate from any communications you have ever made to this department.

I apprehended, rather, that if the statement has indeed been made by Commander Frailey, he must have given it upon some one of the thousand rumors which the press of both countries is in a habit of publishing as a part of the news of the day.

With a view to prevent any misunderstanding upon the subject, I will ask the Secretary of the Navy to communicate to the admiral of the blockading squadron so much of the despatch now before me as relates to the crew's report, and I will further ask him to call Commander Frailey's attention to

the subject, and to ask him for such explanation concerning the crew's statement attributed to him as he may be able to give.

You may, if you think expedient, show this despatch to Lord Palmerston, as nothing would be further from the desire of this government than to do him or the government over which he presides injustice in any form whatever.

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To the diplomatic and consular officers of the United States in foreign countries: GENTLEMEN: You will receive by the post which conveys this despatch evidences that the aggressive movement of the insurgents against the loyal States is arrested, and that the renewed and reinvigorated forces of the Union are again prepared for a new and comprehensive campaign. If you consult the public journals you will easily learn that the financial strength of the insurrection is rapidly declining, and that its ability to bring soldiers into the field has been already taxed to its utmost You will perceive, on the other hand, that the fiscal condition of the country is sound, and that the response to the calls for new levies is being made promptly, without drawing seriously upon the physical strength of the people.

I have heretofore indicated to our representatives abroad the approach of a change in the organization of society in the insurrectionary States. That change continues to reveal itself more distinctly every day. In the judgment of the President the time has come for setting forth the great fact distinctly for the serious consideration of the people in those States, and for giving them to understand that if they will persist in forcing upon the country a choice between the dissolution of this necessary and beneficent government or a relinquishment of the protection of slavery, it is the Union, and not slavery, that must be maintained and preserved. With this view the President has issued a proclamation in which he gives notice that slavery will be no longer recognized in any State which shall be found in armed rebellion on the first of January next. While good and wise men of all nations will confess that this is just and proper as a military proceeding for the relief of the country from a desolating and exhausting civil war, they' will at the same time acknowledge the moderation and magnanimity with which the government proceeds in a transaction of such great solemnity and importance.

I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

By the President of the United States of America.

A PROCLAMATION.

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and commander-in-chief of the army and navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the people thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed.

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued.

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figure following:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such:

"ARTICLE. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. "SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage."

Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:

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