November 10th.–Visiting Mr. Mure the other day, who was still an invalid at Washington, I met a gentleman named Maury, who had come to Washington to see after a portmanteau which had been taken from him on the Canadian frontier by the police. He was told to go to the State Department and claim his property, and on arriving there was arrested and confined with a number of prisoners, my horse-dealing friend, Sammy Wroe, among them. We walked down to inquire how he was; the soldier who was on duty gave a flourishing account of him–he had plenty of whisky and food, and, said the man, “I quite feel for Maury, because he does business in my State.” These State influences must be overcome, or no Union will ever hold together.
Sir James Ferguson and Mr. Bourke were rather shocked when Mr. Seward opened the letters from persons in the South to friends in Europe, of which they had taken charge, and cut some passages out with a scissors; but a Minister who combines the functions of Chief-of-Police with those of Secretary of State must do such things now and then.