the Mississippi. This achievement will effect deliverance of Eastern Tennessee, distinguished for its loyalty, and so crown the pacification of the whole region west of the Alleghany mountains, north of Georgia and Alabama, and south of the Ohio river. But it is the vicinity of Richmond that has been the scene of military events of the intensest interest during the last two weeks, and it is that quarter that now chiefly engages the attention of the government. General McClellan's original design for the capture of Richmond embraced a march up the peninsula from Fortress Monroe and Yorktown, supported by naval forces on both the York and the James river. The sudden appearance of the Merrimack, with her terrible power of mischief, obliged him to confine his march to the bank of the York river, with the aid of a fleet in that river alone. He had, then, the Chickahominy, with its variable flow, and its almost impassable swamps, between him and Richmond. The Pamunkey, the chief tributary of the York, afforded him navigation only to the White House, where he held his forces, twenty miles from Richmond, without any other co-operation from our naval force on both rivers there than protection they afforded to his rear. A large force that was intended to be auxiliary to the army of the Potomac was retained in front of Washington, necessarily, as it was thought, with a view to the safety of the capital against forces sent to menace it from Richmond. While General McClellan was thus obtaining a foothold on the peninsula north of the Chickahominy, the insurgents succeeded in obstructing the James river a distance of seven miles below Richmond, and in constructing fortifications at Fort Darling, up a precipitous elevation on the south bank of the James river, which rendered it impossible for the fleet on that river to remove the obstructions without the aid of a land force to carry that fort. General McClellan was steadily, and, as it seemed, successfully, moving his army across the Chickahominy to change his base to the James river, below Fort Darling, on Wednesday last, when the insurgents concentrated large forces upon what was yet the front of the moving column, and a series of battles began which filled up seven successive days, at the end of which the general, with his army, and substantially all his material, had reached and established himself at Harrison's Bar, upon the bank of the James river, in full co-operation with the fleet of seventeen gunboats, while the insurgents have not one man-ofwar. This movement, which was a meditated, prepared one, undoubtedly became a retreat when the enemy pressed upon the withdrawing forces. The change of base involved a loss of communication for a time between the army and the government and the country. During this suspense, which lasted seven days, extravagant reports of disasters and losses, and the wildest alarm for even the safety of the army itself, obtained currency, and oppressed the public mind. At length we have the results so far as they affect the military situation. There have been immense losses, but more severe on the part of the insurgents than on that of the Union. The efficiency of the army of the latter is improved. That of the former, it is believed, is even more reduced. Every one of the battles was a repulse of the insurgents, and the two last, which closed the series, were decided victories. The army of the Potomac is rapidly receiving reinforcements from several sources, while the fleet is thought already equal in effect to an additional army. General Pope, having taken command of all the troops in Virginia, is pushing them forward from the north to cut off the railroad communication beyond the Rappahannock, and threatens them on the approach from the northwest. Within the next thirty days our navy, already large, will receive an augmentation of ten new iron-clad vessels, each equal to the Monitor. At the same time, the President, upon the invitation of the governors of twenty of the thirty-four States, has called out three hundred thousand men, a force amply sufficient to save all that has been gained, and sepedily close the civil strife. You will read with interest and admiration General McClellan's modest conduct; his firm and decisive despatches and proclamation. The government and popular bodies who have heretofore been so efficient in filling up the armies are already in activity, and the prompt success of the call is deemed assured. The destruction of human life which has occurred is a sad and painful theme. But it brings its compensation in a military and in a political view-aspects in which it is now our stern duty toc ontemplate it. The delusion that the soldiers of the Union would not fight for it with as much courage and resolution as its enemies will fight against it, has been one of the chief elements of the insurrection. It has now been effectually dispelled. Secondly. If, as fatalists argue, a certain quantity of human blood must flow to appease the dreadful spirit of faction, and enable a discontented people to recover its calmness and its reason, it may be hoped that the needful sacrifice has now been made. Thirdly. If the representative parties had now to choose whether they would have the national army where it is and as it is, or back again where it was and as it was, it is not to be doubted that the insurgents would prefer to it the position and condition on the Pamunkey, and the friends of the Union the one now attained on the bank of the James. Fourthly. The insurgents and the world abroad will see that the virtue of the people is adequate to the responsibilities which Providence has cast upon them. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 290.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 8, 1862. SIR: As inquiry may be made of you as to the approbation by this gov ernment of a treaty recently concluded by Mr. Corwin with the government of Mexico, by one of the stipulations of which a sum of money was to be paid to that government, I have to inform you that the instrument was submitted to the Senate, but the Committee on Foreign Relations of that body has reported adversely thereon. It is not probable, therefore, that at this session at least the Senate will advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. [Same to W. L. Dayton, No. 177.] No. 295.1 Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: Mr. Stuart, in a very courteous manner, verbally expressed to me the opinion of her Majesty's government, that Major General Butler's order concerning the females in New Orleans who gave offence to the Union soldiers was an improper one in respect to the expressions employed in it, whatever constructions might be placed upon them, and their hope, therefore, that it might be disapproved. I answered him that we must ask his government, in reading that proclamation, to adopt a rule of construction which the British nation had elevated to the dignity of a principle and made it the motto of their national arms-"Honi soit qui mal y pense." That it was not until a gross construction of the order was brought to the knowledge of this government that we saw that the proclamation contained un double entendre. That gross meaning the government of course rejected, and it regretted that in the haste of composition a phraseology which could be mistaken or perverted had been used. I was happy, however, to inform him that all sensibility about the order seemed to have passed away, and no complaints were now heard of any impropriety of conduct on the part of the ladies of New Orleans. I explained also to Mr. Stuart the ground of the sensibility of our army to female discourtesy. Our soldiers are mainly young American citizens of education and respectability. Chivalrous respect to the sex is a national sentiment, Hitherto it has been met by gentle and respectful courtesy by those to whom the homage is so properly paid. It has not been expected that disloyalty to the common government of both parties would be regarded as a plea for a change of national manners. Happily all classes of citizens casily learn to meet the changes which this unhappy civil war brings upon us. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 293.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 9, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of June 13, (No. 174,) accompanied by Earl Russell's final explanation on the case of the Emily St. Pierre, has been received. We have been unable here to find the parallel case in the diplomatic correspondence referred to by you in connexion with this subject, and I reserve further remarks upon this case until you shall have been able to send it to us or direct our search for it. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 184.] [Extracts.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have to acknowledge the reception from the department of despatches numbered 274, 275, and 276. I likewise forward copies of the correspondence, so far as it has gone, touching the preparation of the formidable gunboat at Liverpool for the use of the rebels. In accordance with the suggestion in Lord Russell's note of the 4th instant, I have directed the vice-consul at Liverpool, in the absence of Mr. Dudley, to prepare and send to the collector of customs there such further evidence as he may obtain of the true destination of that vessel. At the same time I have requested him to send me the same information with a view to take professional advice as to the practicability of proceeding against it in the courts, and, as a last resource, I have taken the responsibility of sending for the Tuscarora. Captain Craven has arrived at Southampton, and has been here to see me. I regard the case as so important that if the evidence shall prove in any way sufficient to justify the step, I shall authorize him to try to intercept her on her way out. This may have the effect of taking the vessel off of her present station and far over to the United States. I know nothing of the naval arrangements, but I presume that the Tuscarora can be replaced by some other ship of less power which would equally serve the purpose of the government as a safeguard against privateering in these waters. I have not yet taken advice in regard to proceedings at law to recover the Emily St. Pierre, for the reasons already given. After the experience had in the case of the Nashville, I have not the smallest confidence in their utility. Should you, however, persevere in your wishes after receiving my despatch of the 18th of June (No. 175,) I shall readily comply. So much time has already elapsed since the event, that a little more delay will make no difference. Strange as it may seem, Lord Russell has written to me to inquire the date of the claim made by the British government on that of the United States for the restoration of the three vessels rescued from their officers. The note of Mr. Liston, advancing the claim, was published in the last Observer, a newspaper of Sunday morning. It makes a very awkward record. The newspapers which previous to its appearance were disposed freely to comment on my share of the published correspondence in the case of the Emily St. Pierre have since been silent. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: Some time since, it may be recollected by your lordship that I felt it my duty to make a representation touching the equipment, from the port of Liverpool, of the gunboat Oreto, with the intent to make war upon the United States. Notwithstanding the statements returned from the authorities of that place, with which your lordship favored me in reply, touching a different destination of that vessel, I have the strongest reason for believing that that vessel went directly to Nassau, and that she has been there engaged in completing her armament, provisioning, and crew for the object first indicated by me. I am now under the painful necessity of apprising your lordship that a new and still more powerful war steamer is nearly ready for departure from the port of Liverpool on the same errand. This vessel has been built and launched from the dock-yard of persons, one of whom is now sitting as a member of the House of Commons, and is fitting out for the especial and manifest object of carrying on hostilities by sea. It is about to be commanded by one of the insurgent agents, the same who sailed in the Oreto. The parties engaged in the enterprise are persons well known at Liverpool to be agents and officers of the insurgents in the United States, the nature and extent of whose labors are well explained in the copy of an intercepted letter of one of them, which I received from my government some days ago, and which I had the honor to place in your lordship's hand on Thursday last. I now ask permission to transmit, for your consideration, a letter addressed to me by the consul of the United States at Liverpool, in confirmation of the statements here submitted, and to solicit such action as may tend either to stop the projected expedition, or to establish the fact that its purpose is not inimical to the people of the United States. Renewing the assurances of my highest consideration, I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant, Right Hon. EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, June 25, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d instant, calling attention to a steam vessel which you state is now fitting out at Liverpool with the intention of carrying on hostilities against the government of the United States, and I have to acquaint you that I have lost no time in referring the matter to the proper department of her Majesty's government. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, July 4, 1862. SIR: With reference to my letter of the 25th ultimo, I have the honor to enclose a copy of a report from the commissioners of customs respecting the vessel which you have been informed is being built at Liverpool for the government of the so-styled Confederate States, and, in accordance therewith, I would beg leave to suggest that you should instruct the United |