Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 13th of March, No. 215, together with the accompanying highly curious and interesting [Page 389] exposition of the failing condition of the slaveholders’ rebellion; also your despatch of the 21st of March, No. 216.
The current of opinion in Europe changed decisively in regard to the probable results of our conflict when General Sherman took Atlanta, as I then had the honor to report. From that time until now, the hopes of our enemies here have been growing feebler and feebler, until we no longer hear any expression of them. If this exposition be anything near the truth, the reason for this silence is manifest. The emissaries of the rebellion in Europe should know the substantial truth in regard to its condition, and it would seem that nothing but a profound conviction that it was near its end can account for their failure even to boast—a faculty which with them must be the last to die, for its vigor has been trained by a practice such as the world has seldom witnessed. *******
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington.