Mr. Seward to Mr. Motley

No. 189.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 21st of May, No. 177. It is accompanied by a copy of a note which was addressed to you by Count Mensdorff on the 20th of May last.

Count Mensdorff announces to us in the said note that the departure of the volunteers lately enlisted in Austria for service in Mexico will not be allowed to take place. This decision of the imperial royal government is received by the President with sincere satisfaction. It is in harmony with the spirit which has governed the proceedings of Austria in her intercourse with the United States throughout the whole period in which political disturbances in America have been the subject of discussion between the United States and the Emperor.

You are authorized to communicate these sentiments to Count Mensdorff, and to assure him that the present just, liberal, and friendly proceeding on the part of Austria will not fail to enhance the good will and cordial friendship which the United States so habitually cherish for the government and people of Austria.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

J. Lothrop Motley, Esq., &c., &c., Vienna.

[Untitled]

[Translation.]

We have good reason to call in question the news of the departure of Austrian volunteers for Mexico, published in the Memorial Diplomatique. Nothing, in fact, could be more unlikely after the despatches from the government of the United States which we have laid before our readers. Correspondents at Trieste announce not merely that the Austro-Mexican detachment has not embarked, but that it will be disbanded, and that the men who compose it have for the most part requested to take service in the corps of volunteers which is organizing in view of the approaching war. The Austrian government (they write from Trieste) was under the greater obligation not to withdraw its forces from the service of the country, because it at the same time avoided assuming an offensive attitude towards the United States of America. Thus our own previous impressions are confirmed, notwithstanding the pretended information of the Memorial Diplomatique.