those weighty political interests which at home have so unavailingly counselled prudence and patience in a conflict in which not merely partial or temporary interests are involved, but in which the national integrity and even the national existence are at stake. Military and naval successes, however, are in good time rewarding the careful and elaborate measures of the government. Popular apprehension and distrust have already vanished before these triumphs so signally indicative of the complete restoration of the national authority, and we may therefore justly expect similar results in Europe. The toleration that could not be allowed there to a republic that seemed unfortunate, will perhaps not be denied when it is seen that it can, when it becomes necessary, defend itself with powers surpassing those of a limited monarchy or despotism. Under no other form of constitution could any nation have encountered with so much resolution and vigor a revolution so formidably instituted for the extension of human slavery. Perhaps just new, in the light of our more cheering prospects, this extraordinary feature of our cause may again be recognized in Europe. I am,sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Your private and unofficial note of February 1 has been received, though not until this very late day. In regard to the condition of our affairs in Europe, it may, perhaps, upon the whole, be considered fortunate that the Trent affair occurred, even with all its exasperations. Passion is as natural a condition for nations as for individuals. Secession is a popular excitement, disturbance, passion. It must needs have occurred here, for this country had submitted itself to the counsels of prudence and reason, in regard to disputed points of administration, as long as even so very practical a country as this is could submit. Human nature, it is now seen, could be content no longer. It was needful that the new popular passion should culminate before it could be expected to subside, and to do this it must have time. As no one could tell how high the passion must rise, so no one could tell how long it would require for culminating. The culmination would be the point of danger, the crisis. All other nations being in some sort related to us, must be affected by the passion which disturbed us. The more intimately related, the more profoundly they must be disturbed. Great Britain and France, most intimately related, must be the two states most vehemently excited. Excitement would rise later in those countries than here, and would subside more rapidly. The culmination at home or abroad could be hastened or delayed by accidents. The Trent affair was such an accident. It has served to bring on the crisis. The crisis has been reached and passed at home, and, of course, abroad. Reason is beginning to regain its control here, and with it the government is beginning to recover its authority. We are having, and we shall continue to have, successes at home, and so we may reckon on peace abroad. I send you a copy of an instruction I have given to our representatives in London, Paris, and Madrid, concerning the new aspect of the Mexican question. * * * * I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. LOTHROP MOTLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Vienna. * * * WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 14.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Motley. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 10, 1862. SIR: Your very interesting despatch of February 12 (No. 4) has been submitted to the President. The just and generous sentiments expressed by Count Rechberg, concern ing the unhappy domestic contest in which we are engaged, are welcomed by us with sincere satisfaction. That satisfaction is enhanced by the fact that the friendship now expressed, when it may be seen that we are beginning to emerge from these troubles, is remembered by us to have been expressed with equal frankness and fervor at former periods, when many other powers seemed to assume that our struggle to save our country and its precious institutions from destruction was hopeless. The views you unofficially expressed concerning the intervention of Spain, France, and Great Britain in Mexico seem to me to be very just and wise. As Austria has not been a party in this intervention, we have not thought it necessary to explain to her the position we have assumed in regard to that transaction, and we do not instruct you to do so. Nevertheless, we have no concealments, and, on the contrary, we desire to practice perfect frankness on that as on all other subjects. The disposition of the Austrian government is now incidentally brought into discussion by authentic reports of a project of the establishment of a throne to be occupied by the Grand Duke Maximilian in Mexico. You are, therefore, entitled to information of the views of this government, and Austria may desire to know them. For these reasons, I send you a copy of a communication heretofore addressed by us to the allies, which you may, if you think proper, unofficially submit to the perusal of Count Rechberg, if he should express a desire to see it. The House of Representatives has called for the whole correspondence of the government on this subject. A copy will be transmitted to you when it shall have become public here. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. LOTHROP MOTLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Vienna. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Molley. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, No. 19.] Washington, September 16, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of August 25 (No. 7) has been received. I am not aware that you can give any other answer than you have been in the habit of sending to offers of military service. Propositions for employment as officers, and even overtures to supply the country with volunteers, are now being made to the President in all parts of Europe. He appreciates and is grateful for them. They reveal the fact, contrary to the assumptions of even the most careful foreign observers, that all Europe is not prejudiced against and hostile to this representative_republic in its struggle for selfpreservation and for free government. Practically, however, such offers cannot be accepted; our own laws do not authorize, and international law forbids, the President to enlist men for military purposes in foreign countries. There is no deficiency of officers, though too many who are in commission seem to be inefficient. The inability of foreign military gentlemen to speak the language familiar to the army has prevented even meritorious gentlemen of that class from attaining positions they have very properly desired, and from rendering the services they so cheerfully tendered All the requisitions for soldiers which the President has hitherto made have either been filled, or are being filled with promptness and alacrity, from among the resident population of the country. Such large draughts upon the population have, indeed, produced a sensible diminution of laborers in the classes of arti sans and manufacturers; the prices of labor in every department have risen; and as there has never been any other country where industry was so well rewarded as in the United States, so those rewards are now greater than at any former period in our history. It is not unlikely that any immigrants who may be attracted by these inducements will find vacancies in the army if they shall prefer military to civil pursuits. But the government cannot stipulate for their employment either in the one form or the other. It is, however, willing, and even anxious, that those inducements shall be understood; because, first, the country would derive important advantages from immigration at the present moment; and because, secondly, it offers to suffer ing populations in Europe an escape from the evils of poverty and famine. The course of the war, after the close investment of Richmond, was not auspicious. The large volunteer armies of the United States down till that time prosecuted a vigorous and very successful, though a very extensive and elaborate, campaign. But that campaign involved a waste of numbers and means which had not been foreseen, and for the repair of which no provision had been made. The people had begun to assume that the war was coming to a close, and were applying themselves with renewed energy to their industrious pursuits. The army before Richmond, and all the other armies, suddenly called for re-enforcements; but recruiting had either been suspended or enlistments had entirely ceased. The needed re-enforcements were not forthcoming, and it seemed as if they could be raised only with great difficulty and delay. At that very moment the insurgent army was filled by a very sweeping and energetic conscription. It soon became manifest that the insurgents understood the relative condition of the respective military forces. They projected and prepared an aggressive campaign against not only this capital, but also the loyal States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, while yet our forces were in the very heart of the revolutionary region. In this emergency the public mind became deeply disturbed and painfully apprehensive. Although it might have been seen that for a short time at least the attitude of the loyal States must be a defensive one, and must continue so until the national forces should be largely augmented, and the new levies should become effective, it was urged upon the President, as a necessary expedient, to meet the crisis with some form of Executive manifesto, or declaration of a purpose to wage the war with great vigor and with new rigors in the insurrectionary States. He thought, on the contrary, that mere declaration of ulterior purposes and designs in a future and dis tant campaign, while the armies were at the moment retreating towards their bases, would not be calculated to repress the treason or to repel the threatened invasion. The means which he adopted in the emergency were a requisition for six hundred thousand volunteers, with the alternative of a draft if necessary; the bringing together and consolidating of the two sepa rated armies in Virginia upon a line in that State in which they could, in case of need, be the defence of the capital; the augmentation of this consolidated army and of the other national forces, and the placing them in such a position that while we should still retain all the important positions we had already taken, we should be prepared to roll back the threatened tide of invasion, and begin a new campaign on the coast or the Mississippi and in the passes of Western Tennessee. The reverses at Richmond were followed to some extent by the disasters which had been apprehended. The army of Virginia, before it had practically absorbed the army of the Potomac was beaten by the insurgents, and driven back upon the fortifications of this capital. They then proceeded to the fordable passes of the Upper Potomac, crossed the river, occupied Frederick, a quasi capital of Maryland, and invited the people of that State to rise in arms and join the pretended confederacy. While at Frederick they menaced equally this city, Baltimore, and Pennsylvania. In like manner they spread small parties through Kentucky, everywhere raising the disaffected in the rear of General Buell, and marched towards the Ohio river, threatening Cincinnati with invasion. The pretended congress of the insurgents met and solemnly approved this aggressive policy, cheering their traitorous supporters with threats of inflicting all the calamities and horrors of invasion upon the people of the loyal and so-called free States. It was thought that this invasion would alarm and confound the loyal States, and at least induce a recognition of the insurgents by foreign nations. Thus the aggressive policy was inaugurated by the insurgents with an audacity that even lent to it an apparent prestige of success. But in this case, as in others, the bow stretched beyond its power of tension has broken. The new levies came, and are coming in with alacrity. One hundred and fifty thousand of them are already in the field, and as many more in camp. The prompt massing of a force of seventy thousand loyal troops at Cincinnati disconcerted the plans of invasion in the west, and the insurgents are reported to be retreating. General McClellan rapidly organized a new army here, followed the invaders into Maryland, and gave them battle, and defeated them on the 14th. They are leaving that State undisturbed in her loyalty, and Pennsylvania is relieved from all fears of invasion. It is supposed that these bold and baffled movements of the insurgents have impaired their strength, and taxed their resources severely, while it is thought by our military authorities that the resources of the Union are adequate, as its credit seems to be, to all the exigencies of a vigorous and decisive conflict. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. LOTHROP MOTLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 2.] Mr. Motley to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches Nos. 1 to 8. Copies of Nos. 2, 5, and 6, relating to my predecessor, Mr. * * * * * * Jones, and commending his management of the affairs of the legation, were immediately forwarded to that gentleman. I am happy to bear my testimony, also, to his fidelity to the Union, as manifested in all his conversations with me. I am happy to state, also, that Mr. Jones received me on my arrival with the greatest frankness and cordiality, and did everything in his power to facilitate my induction to office. I arrived in Vienna October 31. On the 3d of November, according to appointment made by Count Rechberg, minister of foreign affairs, in reply to my note requesting an interview, addressed to him the morning after my arrival, I called on that gentleman at his office, accompanied by my predecessor, by whom I was introduced to the minister. Mr. Jones then took leave of Count Rechberg, who assured him that the intercourse between the government of the United States and of Austria, during the period of his mission, had been most satisfactory, and that his Majesty's government were very sorry to part with so excellent and friendly an envoy as he had proved himself to be. He was kind enough to add that, as it was decided to make a change in the mission, they were very glad to receive me as his successor, and that he doubted not that I would do my best to maintain the friendly relations between the two countries which now so happily existed. Mr. Jones then left the room, and I had a long conversation with the minister. He repeated, with emphasis, that the news of my appointment had been received with especial satisfaction by the Emperor and his gov ernment, and that I was already well known to them by reputation. He added other observations, personally complimentary, which I do not repeat; but I think it necessary to inform you, even at the risk of being charged with egotism, that my reception by the minister was extremely flattering. At a moment when the leading public journals of many nations are full of vituperation of our country, and of undisguised hilarity at what is thought and hoped by a large portion of the European world-English, French, and German-to be the downfall of the great republic, and when the emissaries of the rebel confederacy are knocking at the doors of foreign powers for admission, and doing their best to poison public opinion as to the character of the great war in which we are engaged, I consider it important that the administration should be informed that its representative here has thus far met with as much courtesy and consideration as could be extended to the minister of any foreign power. Count Rechberg spoke very freely of American affairs, and seemed to appreciate the complications of our position in regard to slavery. To defend the institution, he said, was a matter of life and death to the slaveholders. I told him that the institution, where it legally existed, to wit, in the fifteen slave States, had not been attacked, and that Congress, at its last session, had affirmed that which could hardly be seriously disputed by any one, namely: that Congress had no constitutional power to interfere with the domestic institutions of the individual States. The Presidential election of last November, I told him, had, however, decided the question as to slavery in what might be called our colonies or dependencies. A majority of the voters in the free States had proclaimed to the world, in the election of Mr. Lincoln, that the normal condition of our territories was that of freedom, and that no power existed to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States. In regard to those territories, half as large as Europe, Congress had power, by the Constitution, to dispose of them, and to make all needful rules and regulations concerning them; and as the vote taken in November proved that Congress would henceforth deal with that common possession of the Union as free soil, and not slave soil, the slaveholders went to war with the United States government with the avowed |