Messrs. Mason and Slidell sailed for England in the British steamer Rinaldo from Halifax instead of the Niagra, and have doubtless reached England by this time. We have seen various accounts stating that the Confederate government had sent Messrs. Hunter and Breckinridge upon the same mission short time previous to the sailing of Messrs. Mason and Slidell. Canada and Halifax papers have authorized these rumors by very confident statements of their arrival at Halifax and their sailing. We were not disposed to credit the statement, and hence did not notice it, but we find some of our contemporaries begin to speak of it as a fixed fact. If so, it has been the best managed secret of the Confederate government. It is certain that Mr. Hunter, Secretary of State, has been absent from Richmond for some weeks, and that his assistant, Mr. Brown, is attending to his duties. Much silence has been observed too, of late, in regard to Gen. Breckinridge’s movements. But a remark of a late Louisville Courier that Gen. Breckinridge had positively refused to allow his name to be run for Confederate Senator or for any office that would take him from the command of his brigade, throws doubt upon the statement that he has gone to England.
Weekly Standard, Raleigh, NC