Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Your despatch of April 23 (No. 385) has been received. This government will not fail in doing ample justice to the good, disposition which her Majesty’s government is manifesting to repress the equipment of hostile vessels from British ports. Our naval force in the immediate vicinity of Charleston seems to have rendered the running of the blockade there too hazardous for profit. The attempt to carry stores and supplies to the insurgents through Matamoras has given us much apprehension; but the danger of seizure it encounters will probably cause some slackening of that form of enterprise, while our recovery of the navigation of the Mississippi and its tributaries on the western side, which has now practically been accomplished, must tend very strongly to its further discouragement. The condition of affairs upon the Mississippi now is that we have dissevered the region west of that river from the field of military operations on the eastern side; while the occupation of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, yet maintained by the insurgents, simply enables, them to obstruct our land and naval forces in their manoeuvres upon the river and its banks. We hope soon to overcome even this embarrassment.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.