Mr. Seward to Mr. Haldeman.
Washington, July 30, 1861.
Sir: Your despatch of July 4, 1861, (No. 3,) has been received, and it is entirely satisfactory in regard to your own activity in your mission, and the favorable dispositions of the enlightened government to which you are accredited.
We notice with much pleasure the willingness of military gentlemen of talent and experience in Sweden, as in other nations, to enter the army of the United States. It is a proof of a sympathy with our great cause of inestimable value. We wish, indeed, that we were able to engage to accept all who should come. But this is impossible, for the reason that they are coming in unknown numbers from various European states, while at the same time a long repressed martial spirit has broken out among our own countrymen, which gives us more candidates than we have places for.
Gradually we have taken into the service several able and spirited military [Page 400] men from Prussia, Italy, France, and Hungary. I shall be happy to recommend any the government of Sweden may desire us to accept.
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I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
Jacob S. Haldeman, Esq.,
&c., &c., &c., Stockholm.