The ladies are all occupied, so he is writing to her now and will read the London Times later; was late to dinner because it took him so long to copy Fontaine's memoir and the letter to his Uncle Horatio [Hughes]; he also had to write a letter to Matthew about what Fontaine had written; he had just re-read Horation Hughes's letter of 20 [Jan] and discovered that he said that the case would already be in Mr. Ewart's hards, not Mr. Evart's; assumed that Mr. Highes had heard, as he did, that Mr. Low and Mr. Green of Savannah had employed Mr. Evarts to argue their case and Mr. Low had been released; thinks it would be good to hire Mr. Evarts; does not think Joe Ewart would be of much help; does not think Fontaine's memoir tells the whole truth; does not think Consul Mure [?] would want it known that he sent contraband under the consular seal; their nephews are charged with carrying letters from the North to the South, which has nothing to do with the consular bag; does not think Fontaine should consider himself an agent of the British government; thinks Joe Ewart would be offended by this; thinks they should plead guilty and ask for mercy; will pay for the expenses of Cropper; she was very interested by the account; she also told him that the late Prince [Albert] eliminated the parts of Lord Russell's letter to Washington about replying within two days and demanding an apology; thinks it was very good of the prince to do this; the boys' lawyer must be informed of all aspects of the case; [the letter torn]; asks her to keep quiet about his criticism of Fontaine's letter to Mr. Hughes. 4pp. ALS