Mr. Seward to Mr. Motley.
Sir. * * * * * * *
We are about beginning a new campaign. Enlistments are large, and the popular spirit is loyal and earnest. Proofs come in from all quarters that slavery will be cheerfully surrendered to the fate it has provoked. There is no part of the insurrectionary region where a slave’s entire valuation to day exceeds a year’s purchase as that property was rated three years ago. Capital, of course, now avoids investment in slaves. When slaves cease to be remunerative as property, they must immediately become an incumbrance; they can no longer be an element of aristocratic strength.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
J. Lothrop Motley, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Vienna.