Mr. Seward to Mr. Clay
Sir: The brilliant and signal defeat of the insurgents which occurred on the 24th and 25th days of November, in front of Chattanooga, was followed by the rapid movement of re-enforcing columns from the army at that point to the support of General Burnside at Knoxville. The siege of that town was immediately raised, and thus the great Alleghany ridge, next in military importance only to the great river channel of the west, is effectually reclaimed by the national government.
Congress assembled on the 7th instant, and the session was inaugurated on the 9th by the delivery of the President’s annual message. It was well received by the national legislature, and it seems to be no less satisfactory to the loyal people of the United States. You have especial ability to judge how far the exposition of our foreign relations is truthful and accurate. It is hoped that the firmness and liberality which the President manifests will exert a good influence upon public opinion in other countries.
The confidence of our fellow-citizens in the stability of the Union, which has been rapidly reviving since the great victories of July, has been entirely restored by the expositions of our moral, material, and physical resources which are furnished by the heads of the several departments.
Through what seems a fortunate coincidence, the insurgent chief at Richmond has put forth an explanation of the present state of the rebellion simultaneously with the publication of the message of the President of the United States. It would be difficult, I think, to decide which of the two documents, namely, that message or the appeal of the insurgent leader to his misguided faction, most clearly illustrates the absurdity of the attempt to build up an independent state on the foundation of human bondage within the existing boundaries of this firmly established and compactly organized free American republic. European statesmen will doubtlessly collate them. I shall be surprised if that process does not result in producing a moral conviction that the American people are, and must continue henceforth to be, one indivisible nation.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Cassius M. Clay, Esq., &c., &c., &c.