Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward
Sir: * * * * * * * *
The internal affairs of this country continue in a highly prosperous state, and the finances of the kingdom are peculiarly flourishing, owing to the present high prices of tropical productions. This is not the only country in the Old World which has derived commercial and financial advantages from our disorders.
The public feeling continues feverish over Danish affairs. I do not suppose the war will involve other powers besides those already engaged, but no man can say what may result from the odious pressure put upon Denmark by Germany. It looks now as if there would be no eompromise, and as if Denmark would be forcibly dismembered.
Our securities continue depressed. The doubt now expressed is, not of the unwillingness of the country to go on with the war, but of its ability to prosecute it. This is but one of the ever-varying phases of continental opinion which has marked the progress of our contest from the beginning. How soon it will give place to another depends on our military operations.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.