Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams
Sir: Congress adjourned on the 3d day of March, after having passed all the laws required for the military and naval defence. The session was less disturbed by party spirit than any previous one during the civil war, except the extra session of 1861. Perhaps the most memorable proceeding of the late Congress will be its submission to the States of an amendment of the Constitution for the abolition of slavery throughout the Union. Thus far eighteen States have accepted and three have rejected the amendment. It need not be doubted that within one or two years it will obtain the majority required to give it effect. The Senate was convened in extraordinary session on the 4th instant, and the President elect and vice-President elect took the oath prescribed by the Constitution. I give you, herewith a copy of the President’s inaugural speech. The popular attendance on the occasion was unusually large, and the ceremony was far more imposing than any previous one of the kind which I have witnessed. It was a peculiarity of this inauguration that simultaneously popular demonstrations of devotion to the Union and joy in its triumphs, occurred throughout the whole country.
The representatives of foreign states had an audience yesterday, and tendered congratulations to the President.
Mr. Fessenden has resigned the Treasury Department and returned to the Senate. He is succeeded by Hugh McCulloch, of Indiana.
We have rumors of military movements not unfavorable to the Union cause, [Page 197] but their accuracy has not yet been established. What we know is, that General Sheridan is advancing up the valley of Virginia, threatening the Virginia and Tennessee railroad. That Grant remains with the army of the Potomac before Richmond; that Sherman has advanced northward from Columbia, and that Scofield and Foster are moving co-operative forces from the coast. We expect to hear soon of a demonstration against Mobile.
The Canadian legislature has passed judicious and friendly laws; but in the case of the St. Albans raiders, the proceedings upon our requisition yet linger in the courts of the province.
Beale, one of the pirates of the Philo Parsons, has been arrested, tried and convicted by court-martial, and executed for the crime of being a spy.
A Mexican reactionist general, stationed at Matamoras, is giving offence by his collusion with the rebels in Texas, and the proceeding is beginning to produce irritation.
I close this despatch just as the Canada’s mails are received, which left Liverpool on the 18th of February.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq.,
Minister of the United States, London.
(Same, mutatis mutandis, to all our principal ministers in Europe.)