Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams,.
Sir: Your despatch of June 26 (No. 180) has been submitted to the President,
You inform us that the anxiety arising from the reduction of the supply of cotton in Great Britain increases, while it is also very clear that at the time when your letter was written the government and people of that country had attained a more temperate condition, and were indulging somewhat a more hopeful view of the result of the civil war in this country.
The events which have occurred at Richmond have produced so much perturbation here that it is hardly to be expected that they will not seriously disturb the public mind in Europe. I shall endeavor, by the President’s direction, to give you the information which, used at your discretion, may enable you to deal with this new agitation.
Since my last despatch no new military event of any significance has occurred. We have carefully ascertained the character and the results of the recent battles before Richmond, and have considered and adopted such measures as the new exigencies have seemed to us to require. What I have before written to you is in the main confirmed. The seven days’ battles were accepted by our army upon a compulsory change of base. Our losses were large, but much less than the first reports represented. They amount to about 12,000 men. The losses of the insurgents were greater. Each battle was, in fact, a victory of our army, although the flank movement from the field towards the new base gave the whole series the character of a retreat. The result is that the new base is a safer one, and the new position an impregnable one. The federal army, with General McClellan, now thus safely lodged on the north bank of the James river, twenty-five miles below Richmond, numbers eighty thousand to ninety thousand, and a force which is not very much disproportioned to the insurrectionary army which occupies that city. The federal army, however, has the co-operation of a very large naval force. The federal army in front of this city, adding those which will probably be consolidated with it, is nearly equal in numbers. This last force is now under command of Major General Pope, who has achieved great successes in the western States, and is esteemed an officer of great ability. A general military command over all the land forces of the United States will be given to Major General Halleck, who will come from the western department to this capital.
* * * * * *
Great battles are said to demoralize armies; they certainly perplex the press, and the press for a time bewilders the people. These effects have been seen in the indecision and nervousness of our citizens since the affair at Richmond. But time restores equanimity and fixes popular determinations, based upon convictions of duty and patriotism. Our recruiting of the new levies has begun, and each day it is found easier and more successful. At the same time Congress indicates that it will not adjourn until it has armed the President with power to call out, at his discretion, any number of troops by draft, and to organize the militia of the seas by issuing letters of marque and reprisal. The devotion of the people to the Union increases in intensity, and the purpose to maintain it at whatever cost or sacrifice is now universally and resolutely manifested.
The disturbance of exchange does not seem to affect the prosperity of the country. We now have reduced cotton from its high place in exports; but the grain crops, especially in the north and in the west, are immense. These, together with our supplies of gold from California, are sufficient to [Page 135] sustain the business of the country in its present prosperous commerce. Europe will have the benefit of the grain and the gold. How much it is to be regretted that all our arguments and persuasions have failed to induce the maritime states of that continent to discourage and so to repress an insurrection that not only temporarily prevents the exportation of cotton, but madly forbids the planting of that staple, and sooner or later disengages both planter and laborer from all cultivation whatever. The escape of fugitive slaves from the plantations upon the Peninsula between York and James rivers during the recent battles was very large, and that one loss, perhaps, counterbalances all the advantages, if any, which the insurgents have gained.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.