DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 28, 1861.

Superintendent of Police, New York.

SIR: Your letter of the 26th instant with its inclosure has been received. Your proceedings in the case of John Garnett Guthrey and H. C. Hardy are approved.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

F. W. SEWARD,

Assistant Secretary.

NEW YORK, December 30, 1861.

[Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD.]

MY DEAR GOVERNOR: I have been requested to forward the inclosed to you and at the same time to testify to the high character of Mr. Moses Taylor.

Ever truly, yours, &c.,

R. M. BLATCHFORD.

[Inclosure.]

NEW YORK, December 28, 1861.

MOSES TAYLOR, Esq.

MY DEAR SIR: I beg leave to ask most respectfully your attention to the following statement:

On the 21st of August last my friend Mr. John Garnett Guthrey, of Petersburg, Va., was arrested at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in this city, deprived of a large amount of property, chiefly bonds of the Southern States bought here in the usual way, and sent to Fort Lafayette. There was no charge against Mr. Guthrey, and after about six weeks of confinement he was released on his parole of honor not to go into any of the rebellious States, &c., without first having obtained permission from the honorable Secretary of State. Since Mr. Guthrey's release he has lived very quietly in this city, and through counsel has been making efforts to obtain again possession of his property which has been libeled I believe by the parties who made the arrest, and is sought to be condemned or confiscated in the U. S. district court in this city on the ground as I learn that it was about to be carried South in violation of law. The case was to have been tried by appointment on the 26th instant.

On the 24th instant without process and so far as I can learn on no charge Mr. Guthrey was again arrested in this city by order of the superintendent of police, doubtless in obedience to instructions from the State Department at Washington, and on the 25th instant was sent again to Fort Lafayette. There are circumstances of very peculiar hardship in Mr. Guthrey's case and I earnestly invoke your kind offices in his behalf. I have known Mr. Guthrey long and well, and I believe him to totally incapable of any act unbecoming a Christian gentleman.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

H. C. HARDY.

[Indorsement.]

NEW YORK, December 28, 1861.

I have entire confidence in Mr. Hardy's statement, and in my opinion the case of Mr. Guthrey is one of great hardship and he should be released.

MOSES TAYLOR.