Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton
Sir: Your despatch of March 6, No. 283, has been received.
Reports of communications between emissaries of the insurrection and foreign courts no longer produce great excitement here. The nation seems to have fully apprehended the crisis, and resolved to meet it. The tone of [Page 722] the public mind has greatly improved. The relative resources and positions of the Union and its enemies are coming to be understood and justly valued. It is no longer possible to decry with success the credit of the government or the advantages of the national forces, while it is equally impossible to conceal the destruction of the revolutionary credit, and the destitution that is stalking through the insurrectionary region.
The disloyal citizens who appeared in the political canvass of the last autumn, misled by their apparent success at home and effect abroad, have now discerned that they pushed their designs too boldly. A vigorous reaction is apparent, and it is daily increasing. No discreet or thoughtful person now apprehends any resistance to the authorities of the government, or any embarrassment of its necessary measures, in the loyal States. Nor is there any fear that it will fail to find all the material and men it may need for maintaining the integrity of the country, and restoring the authority of the Union.
Neither Mr. Mercier nor myself has been able to discern any discrepancy in our respective statements in regard to the matters which have been the subject of so much comment here as well as abroad. Our relations have been amicable and cordial throughout, and they are likely, I trust, to remain so. Indeed, the fact that there was manifestly no alienation between us, when his government seemed to be pressing with so much urgency upon us, caused the apprehension to obtain here that the department over which I preside was not unfavorable to inadmissible schemes of pacification under the influence of France. Mr. Mercier has understood all the time my position to be just what I have officially stated.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
William L. Dayton, Esq., &c., &c., &c.