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surgents, which occurred on the 24th and 25th days of November, in front of Chattanooga, was followed by the rapid movement of reinforcing columns of the army at that point to the support of General Burnside, at Knoxville. The siege of that town was immediately raised, and thus the great Alleghany ridge, next in military importance only to the great river channel of the west, is effectually reclaimed by the national government.

Congress assembled on the 7th instant, and the session was inaugurated on the 9th by the delivery of the President's annual message. It was well received by the national legislature, and it seems to be no less satisfactory to the loyal people of the United States.

The confidence of our fellow-citizens in the stability of the Union, which has been rapidly reviving since the great victories of July, has been entirely restored by the expositions of our moral, material, and physical resources, which are furnished by the heads of the several departments.

Through what seems a fortunate coincidence, the insurgent chief at Richmond has put forth an explanation of the present state of the rebellion simultaneously with the publication of the message of the President of the United States. It would be difficult, I think, to decide which of the two documents, namely, that message, or the appeal of the insurgent leader to his misguided faction, most clearly illustrates the absurdity of the attempt to build up an independent state on the foundation of human bondage within the existing boundaries of this firmly established and compactly organized free American republic. European statesmen will doubtlessly collate them. I shall be surprised if that process does not result in producing a universal conviction that the American people are, and must continue henceforth to be, one indivisible nation.

January 7, 1864. At home the question first in practical importance is the renewal of our army, rendered necessary by an early expiration of the first enlistments. The process of renewal is successful.

The second question is that of reorganization in the insurrectionary states. Not time enough has elapsed to enable us to judge whether the plan suggested by the President will be generally adopted. It meets, however, less opposition than the policy in regard to slaves announced in the annual message of 1862-63, and

there is reason to hope that if it shall not prove acceptable it will open the way to some other plan that will be at once feasible and satisfactory to the country. Major-General Butler reports that 8,000 citizens of Virginia, within the military district under his command, have already taken the oath of allegiance proposed in the President's recent proclamation.

February 1, 1864. - There are some indications of a movement concerted in the insurgent region, and extending into Great Britain, to bring a supposed influence of her Majesty's government or of Parliament to bear upon this government, by some form of mediation or representation, with a view to obtain concessions or terms for the insurgents as conditions of the abandonment by them of their wicked and unnatural war against the United States.

February 1, 1864. - The President does not distrust the friendship of the King of Italy. The correspondence between Jefferson Davis and the Holy Father, although it necessarily assumes some significance in Italian and certain other continental circles, produces no effect here. The temper of the people has become too calm and firm to be disturbed by foreign speculations upon our domestic affairs.

February 4, 1864. Our civil war is exhibiting a new phase! There is manifestly a very general confidence in a speedy success of the Union, and a willingness to make all the material contributions and sacrifices necessary to secure that consummation. On the other hand there are discouragement and alarm, attended by unmistakable financial embarrassments, in the region of the insurrection.

The most reliable test of despondency on the part of the insurgents is the depreciated estimate they now put upon slaves. I have noticed that one hundred and fifty or two hundred dollars of United States currency is the highest price which the most marketable slave commands, either in Virginia or in Georgia. The Richmond. papers declare that board and clothing are a full equivalent for the hire of the best servants in that market. I need not say that this is a confession that slaves as property are absolutely worthless. If this is true, how long can it be before they become an incumbrance and a source of danger? It is specially to be remarked that other property is not depreciated. Provisions, clothing, and, I believe, even lands retain the market value they had before the war. Is not this an indication that the slave states are already assimilating their economy to that of the free states? . . .

February 15, 1864. We are about beginning a new campaign. Enlistments are large, and the popular spirit is loyal and earnest. Proofs come in from all quarters that slavery will be cheerfully surrendered to the fate it has provoked. There is no part of the insurrectionary region where a slave's entire valuation to-day exceeds a year's purchase as that property was rated three years ago. Capital, of course, now avoids investment in slaves. When slaves cease to be remunerative as property, they must immediately become an incumbrance; they can no longer be an element of aristocratic strength.

February 23, 1864.- Military proceedings are satisfactory. The army is already largely renewed. About 200,000 men have been enlisted since the 1st of November, including the reënlistment of 75,000 out of 80,000 whose first term of service will expire in the coming spring and summer.

The reoccupation of Florida strikes a severe blow at the insurrection, by cutting off its chief source of meat supplies. General Sherman's flank movement from the Mississippi across the country towards Atlanta is thus far eminently successful.

Admiral Farragut is again active in the Gulf. The navy is increasing. The Dictator will soon try her destined element. The process of reconstruction seems to be going on successfully.

The canvass for the presidential election is opening. That election will probably be the first one held in forty years in which slavery will have been held by all parties as incapable and unworthy of political defence. Of course the occurrence of the canvass at this conjuncture is a subject of some anxiety among thoughtful citizens, who would desire to confine the public mind to the duties of the war, if it were possible. Nevertheless, this anxiety seems to be rather of a speculative character, and, judging from existing indications, the nation has all the constancy and fidelity necessary to secure its passage safely through this new political trial, as it has already surmounted so many others.

February 29, 1864. The military situation is gaining interest. The first success of the expedition to Florida has been followed by a painful reverse. Our information is imperfect, but we have reasons for hoping that the ground that has been gained in that state will not be lost.

It is not doubted that Longstreet is retiring from the position he

has held in the front of Knoxville. We are waiting with much interest the results of General Sherman's movement in Alabama. Our earliest information concerning him is expected through insurrectionary channels.

April 4, 1864. We are still expecting that the ships-of-war on which the insurgents are relying will not be suffered to depart from European ports.

In the confusion incident to national legislation and to the speedy organization of vast forces, it has happened that superior advantages have been unconsciously afforded to military enlistments over enlistments for the naval service. In consequence of this error the navy is now suffering for the want of twelve thousand seamen, while the armies of the United States are filled to the entire satisfaction of the government. Measures have, however, been taken. to correct this inequality promptly, and I do not apprehend any inability to maintain our blockade and to restore the national prestige on the ocean.

You1 intimate a dissatisfaction with the military operations of the season, and you seem to apprehend a recognition of the insurgents by maritime powers if we shall not be more successful. I do not think that this country can again be alarmed by the fear of foreign recognition of the insurgents. We believe that the war has passed the crisis when recognition could guarantee success to the enemy. Recognition could, therefore, in our view, only enlarge the field of war. At the same time, I am sure that I need not say that we are no less earnestly desirous than we have been, at all times heretofore, to guard against any new complication in our foreign affairs. I think that the discontent with our military operations, which you are experiencing, is the consequence of expectations unreasonably excited by the press of the United States. The defeat of General Seymour at Olustee, in Florida, was a surprise and was a disaster, but it was no more than that; it drew neither serious consequences nor strategic embarrassments after it. All our armies have been renewing themselves by the reënlistment of veterans, whose terms of service were to expire in the spring, summer, and autumn. With a view to this end, many regiments have received furloughs of thirty days upon their reënlistment, and thus the armies in the field have been temporarily much reduced dur

1 Mr. Dayton.

ing the inclement season, so that necessarily only two great military movements have hitherto been attempted or even meditated. The first of these was a movement of Sherman through central Mississippi, from Vicksburg to Meridian, with a view to break up the communications of the enemy, and relieve this government from the necessity of maintaining a large force on the banks of the Mississippi River during the coming campaign. Grierson's and Smith's movements were merely diversions auxiliary to, but not indispensable to the success of this purpose; and Admiral Farragut's demonstration against Mobile was a movement of the same character. Sherman accomplished all that he proposed, and so the one end of all these movements was attained. The Adjutant-General is now placing colored troops in the garrisons on the river, while the veteran forces are proceeding to active duty elsewhere. The other movement which, as I have said, was contemplated in the inclement season, was an expedition up the Red River, to scatter the insurgents and destroy stores and communications on the west side of the Mississippi, so far as the border of Texas. The movement is now in progress, and thus far has been attended with success. We last heard of the combined land and naval force at Natchitoches, in Louisiana. It is not surprising that the enemy took alarm at these movements, and attributed to our generals designs more stupendous and much more hazardous than those really entertained. Our own press, of course unenlightened, gave license to its imagination, and promised achievements which were not even meditated by our commanders.

It is not unlikely that similar expectations may be based upon the reports of the press concerning the campaign which General Grant, who now is in command of all the military forces of the country, is organizing. It will be well, therefore, to be on your guard in this respect. What you may be assured of is, that our forces in the field and fit for duty are, independently of the new conscription, eight hundred thousand men; that they are distributed with a view to hold all the country we have reclaimed, and to bring the insurgents into battle whenever the circumstances are favorable. We do not expect cheap or easy victories, but we look for firm and steady progress. In this view the operations of the present year, although they have disappointed the public, have not been unsatisfactory to the government. It is the insurgents and not we who are the weaker for what has thus been done.

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