DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, August 21, 1861.

E. DELAFIELD SMITH, Esq.,

U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

SIR: I inclose a copy of a letter* of the 5th instant from O. G. Parsly & Co., of Wilmington, N. C., to B. C. Watson, Liverpool, found on L. de Bebian, a Frenchman who was on board the British vessel Adelso which has been seized at Newport, R. I. It is suggested that any funds the writers may have in the possession of the branch of Mr. Watson's house at New York to which allusion is made in the letter might be attached for the benefit of the United States.

I am, your obedient servant,

F. W. SEWARD,

Assistant Secretary.

OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT METROPOLITAN POLICE,

New York, August 22, 1861.

Honorable W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State:

He says that he is a French subject; that he never was naturalized.

JOHN A. KENNEDY,

Superintendent.

FORT HAMILTON, August 22, 1861.

Lieutenant col. E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington Ciy, D. C.

SIR: I inclose two+ French letters. As I do not understand the language and it will be but a short delay I thought it best to send them through your office.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

MARTIN BURKE,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.

[Inclosure.]

FORT LAFAYETTE, August 21, 1861.

[COUNT MONTHOLON, Consul of France, New York:]

A Frenchman resident for nearly five years at Wilmington, N. C., I embarked on the 6th August instant on the English schooner Adelso, Captain Thomas Kimball, cleared for Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was going to take at Halifax the English line of steamers to go to Liverpool, England, provided with a passport from the Governor of Martinique viseed by the French consular agent at Wilmington for business purely commercial. The schooner Adelso appears to have been chartered by an American house at Boston to go and take o a cargo at Wilmington. She arrived off the bar on the 30th of July and was obliged to come to anchor outside until next morning waiting for a tide and fair winds. Eight days afterward she went down the river just at the same time the English schooner Beverly which had been twenty-four hours ahead of her. These two schooners were obliged to anchor inside the bar to wait for the tide, and went out together at 4 or 5 o'clock on the afternoon of the 6th of August. I was passenger on board the Adelso. During the day on the 12th of August a heavy squall having carried away

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*Omitted here. See inclosure Numbers 2, Macy to Welles, August 19.

+Only one inclosure found.

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