Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow.

No. 46.]

Sir: Your despatch No. 60, making inquiry respecting the pay and bounty of volunteers in our army, has been received. In reply, I enclose a copy of a communication from the Secretary of War to this department, with accompanying enclosure, containing full particulars upon those subjects.

It is believed that, with the materials thus furnished, added to those which you already possess in the provisions of the homestead bill, and the facts abundantly supplied by the public press in regard to the great demand for labor, the high prices paid for it, and the low rates of living in various parts of the country, especially in the western States and Territories, where the crops have been so exuberant, you will be prepared to answer satisfactorily the inquiries which are made of you.

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You may perhaps find it advisable to prepare for publication, as you will readily be able to do, a paper embodying the information of which you are now possessed, and unofficially, either through the daily press or otherwise, giving it a wide circulation.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

J. Bigelow, Esq., U. S. Consul, Paris.