I offer to your excellencies the assurance of my very high and distinguished consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 1, 1861. The President of the United States to the Tycoon of Japan. A. LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. To his Majesty the Tycoon of Japan : GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND: I have received the letter which you have addressed to me on the subject of a desired extension of the time stipulated by treaty for the opening of certain ports and cities in Japan. The question is surrounded with many difficulties. While it is my earnest desire to consult the convenience of your Majesty, and to accede, so far as I can, to your reasonable wishes, so kindly expressed, the interests of the United States must, nevertheless, have due consideration. Townsend Harris, minister resident near your Majesty, will be fully instructed as to the views of this government, and will make them known to you at large. I do not permit myself to doubt that these views will meet with your Majesty's approval, for they proceed not less from a just regard for the interest and prosperity of your empire than from considerations affecting our own welfare and honor. Wishing abundant prosperity and length of years to the great state over which you preside, I pray God to have your Majesty always in His safe and holy keeping. Written at the city of Washington this 1st day of August, 1861. Your good friend, By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. A. LINCOLN. Mr. Seward to the ministers for foreign affairs of Japan. To their excellencies the ministers for foreign affairs of his Imperial Majesty the Tycoon of Japan: Your communication of the fourth day of the eleventh month of the first year of Runkin has been submitted to the President. I cannot express strongly enough the satisfaction he has derived from the testimony you bear to the good character and wise conduct of Townsend Harris, our late minister in Japan. It is a deserved crown of his long period of public service that the same high appreciation of his merits and usefulness is entertained by the government which sent him abroad and by the government near which he has been accredited. It was the President's deliberate purpose to continue him in his mission, but Mr. Harris, by pleading increase of years and the failure of health, obliged this! ANNUAL MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. government to accede to his desire to be recalled. Doubtless his successor has already arrived at Yedo, and Mr. Harris is on his return to the United States. The change has been reluctantly made, but knowing Mr. Pruyn very well, and having the highest confidence in his ability and virtue, I feel entirely assured that he will soon render himself acceptable to the Tycoon, and will succeed in preserving the good relations now so happily existing between the United States and Japan. I pray your excellencies to accept the assurance of my highest consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 5, 1862. . Mr. Seward to the ministers for foreign affairs of Japan. To their excellencies Kudsi Yamato no Kami and Ando Tsusima no Kami, ministers for foreign affairs of the empire of Japan: I have received the letter which your excellencies did me the honor to address to me on the 5th day of May last, in which, while regretting the retirement of the late minister, Mr. Townsend Harris, you express the hope and belief that the new minister, Mr. Robert H. Pruyn, will prove not less acceptable to your government than his predecessor has been, and that he may be equally successful in preserving the most friendly relations between the two countries. I assure your excellencies, in all sincerity, that in yielding to Mr. Harris's desire to return to his native country, we felt the difficulty of selecting a fit successor to him, and regretted the necessity which compelled him to request his recall. I am sure, however, that in Mr. Pruyn your excellencies will soon discern the same qualities that commended Mr. Harris so warmly to your regard-the same just and conciliatory disposition, and the same earnest desire to advance the interests of your country, and, indeed, of all countries, without I am also sure that when Mr. Pruyn shall have sacrificing those of his own. resided long enough at the court of your empire to acquire a thorough knowledge of your affairs, he will be not less useful than the late minister was, nor less successful in winning your esteem and confidence. Wishing you health and prosperity, I assure your excellencies of my highest consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 7, 1862. No. 3.] CHINA. Mr. Burlingame to Mr. Seward. [Extracts.] HONG KONG, November 14, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that I have visited Canton, where I had an interview with Laon, the governor general of the provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. These provinces contain a population of thirty-five millions of people. The visit was made upon him at his official residence, and resulted in the fullest expression, on his part, of the good will of his people for us and our institutions. He informed me that the young Emperor would enter upon his official duties on the 9th of this month, and that Prince Kung would remain minister of foreign affairs, thus securing a continuance of the friendly relations which now exist between the Chinese and foreigners. When the governor desired to return my visit, I left it optional with him to do so either at the house of Russell & Co., whose guest I was, or on board of the Hankow, a fine American steamer, which was kindly placed at my service. He instantly chose the latter. He came with a large retinue and seemed much pleased with what he heard and saw. The manner of the interview is only important in that it was the first time any one of his rank, among the Chinese, ever came so near our western civilization, as manifested in the complex machinery of a steamboat. I have received a despatch from Mr. M. C. Morrison, the British consul at Tangchowfoo, Yentai, informing me that, as he was the only foreign official at that place, he felt that it was his duty-the friends of the deceased consentingto procure a post mortem examination of the bodies of the Rev. Mr. Holmes and the Rev. Mr. Parker, our missionaries, who were murdered by the rebels. The examination was made by Mr. Lagarde, surgeon of the first class of the French navy, who sent me a full report, for which he refused to accept the fee usual in such cases. I addressed warm letters of thanks to each of these gentlemen, and wrote them that I should bring their noble conduct to the attention of my government. Our consuls, Messrs. Carpenter and Mangum, whose loss I feared in my last despatch, have arrived. I shall transfer the legation from Macao to Shanghai by the next steamer. Your obedient servant, SIR: I have the honor to inform you that I arrived at this place Saturday, the 21st of December. I here learn that Ningpo, a city about ninety miles from this place, has fallen before the rebels. The manner in which it was taken I have learned from despatches which I have just received from our consul, Mr. Breck, copies of which, marked A, B, C, and D, I herewith send. From those you will learn that Ningpo, after years of threatening, was gradually approached and finally taken after a feeble defence. In the terror created by the rebel approach, the consuls of the foreign nations, including our own, met at the British consulate to concert measures of safety for their countrymen. They made a statement of their views, which, by the hands of Mr. Breck, was placed before the rebels and responded to by them. It will be perceived that the consuls held an attitude of neutrality, and warned the rebels against any injury to their countrymen, and that the rebels cordially accepted their views and guaranteed the safety of the property and lives of the foreigners. It is evident, from the answers of the rebel generals, (copies of which, full of errors, just as they came to me, I enclose,) that they imagined that they were treating with the foreign officials, and that they were delighted at securing so great a recognition. It may be barely possible that the imperial government may suggest that the consuls went too far; but it may be replied that the government failed to do its duty, and the consuls did the best they could under the circumstances. It is clear that we cannot rocognize the rebels without a violation of our treaty obligations, and I shall, in this most delicate condition of affairs, act with the greatest caution. The news this morning is that the rebels, so far from preserving order, are robbing and killing in the most barbarous manner. As to trade, they wish to buy only arms and opium, and men are trading with them in these articles to the great injury of legal commerce. There is great anxiety touching the future. If the rebels continue to hold Ningpo, the whole system by which duties are collected, which has been settled with infinite trouble, will be menaced. Sir Admiral Hope, with Mr. Parkes, left this morning for Nankin to inform the rebels that if they approach within thirty miles of Shanghai they would be attacked. The English and French are covering every point of danger with their numerous soldiers and war vessels, and I must write that I feel quite sad when I remember that we have not one soldier or sailor in all this region. I shall probably go to Ningpo to see what I can do for my countrymen and to aid our consul in this most serious time. I send copies of letters from the English and Russian ministers. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, A. BURLINGAME. Secretary of State. A. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, SIR: I have the honor to advise you in regard to the present state of affairs at this port, and the measures adopted by the official representatives of treaty powers for the protection of life and property. The approach of the rebel army upon Ningpo has been very gradual, and many times during the past few years it has been rumored that the city was about to be besieged. Until within a few weeks past, however, the people have continued in the city pursuing their usual avocations and but little alarm excited. About six or eight weeks since the insurgents captured some of the towns and cities in the interior which commanded the approach to Ningpo. The people of |