Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Owing to an accident that befel the Africa, her mails, which are reported to be safe, have been delayed, and thus the department is without foreign advices since my last despatches were written.
Recent domestic military events have no striking importance. Our forces in East Tennessee have made successful advances. General Rosecrans has remained unmolested while fortifying and being re-enforced at Chattanooga. The attempts of the insurgents to break his communications have failed, and they have suffered some disasters. Lee’s army having crossed the Rapidan, General Meade withdrew to Centreville, where he observes the enemy. The siege of Charleston continues. We have heard favorable reports from General Banks’s movement against Texas.
The annual elections have taken place in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Iowa, and the results, compared with those of the previous year, are auspicious to the Union.
The President has called for three hundred thousand troops by voluntary enlistment, with the alternative of a draft, and the public sentiment cheerfully sustains the call.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams,.Esq., &c., &c., &c.
Same to Messrs. Dayton, Clay, Pike, Koerner, &c.