THE PEORIA COMMEMORATION O feature, perhaps, of the universal celebration of the Lincoln Centenary so well indicated the wide-spread interest in the life and history of Lincoln, as the participation of the various foreign ministers to this country. At the celebration at Peoria, Illinois, the name of Baron Takahira, Ambassador from Japan, headed the list of prominent speakers and distinguished guests. At noon, a special train convoying the distinguished guests from away was met by a committee of prominent Peorians, an elaborate luncheon being served at the Country Club at three o'clock in the afternoon, followed by a reception at the Crève Cœur Club from four to five o'clock. The Peoria observance took many forms (including exercises in all the schools, and at the churches), ending, in the evening of February 12, with a banquet at the Crève Cœur Club, where, in the big Coliseum building-starred with thousands of dazzling electric lights, and gay with red, white, and blue bunting-beneath a canopy of the Stars and Stripes, interwoven with the Sun Flag of Japan, the representative of the Island Empire spoke to seven hundred guests, of Lincoln's inauguration of "The American Diplomacy." Among the other speakers were the Hon. Charles Magoon, former Provisional Governor of Cuba, the Hon. Curtis Guild, Jr., Ex-Governor of Massachusetts, and Professor John Clark Freeman, formerly United States Minister to Denmark, also Counsel-General of Copenhagen, but now of the University of Wisconsin. Professor Freeman was a soldier and officer in the Civil War, serving from 1862 to the close of the great conflict. I LINCOLN'S DIPLOMACY KOGORO TAKAHIRA FIRST received your invitation, if I remember right, as long ago as March last. You gave me ample time to make a good speech, but I confess I have spent the most part of it carelessly, as I have always thought that I had plenty of time to do it, but when I began to prepare my speech a few days ago, I found that Lincoln's greatness as a man and as a public servant has been exhaustively described in so many "Lives" and "Biographies" that all patriotic citizens of this country must be fully familiar with it. There is no room for any additional remarks from such a stranger as myself. If, however, I should be required to say what has impressed me most strongly in his life and character, I would mention that the nobleness of his heart and the generosity of his mind, amply verified in every detail by acts and conduct which leave no trace of personal motives in his management of public affairs, but abound in every proof of the sincerity of his desire for the good of his country and fellow-beings, are fully illustrative of the life and character of a statesman idealized by all men of every nationality. Lincoln left in his life a great example of a public man, not only for his own, but for all countries. So it is no wonder that his fame is world-wide and adorns the universal history of the modern age, as one of the greatest men that ever lived. Another feature of his life which appears particularly interesting and instructive to me as a diplomat, was his method of conducting the foreign affairs of this country. The Civil War did so much to endanger the international position of the United States as to threaten the internal solidity of the Union, and in so great adversity it must have required extraordinary power of foresight and precision, as well as an unusual command of resolution and courage, to handle such intricate questions of foreign affairs as the United States had to face at that time. It is true that Lincoln had a great, able man for his Secretary of State in the person of William H. Seward, but if his biographies which I have read are to be depended on, Mr. Lincoln himself had often to examine important diplomatic documents drawn by Secretary Seward with great skill and care, and to amend them in many particulars in order to communicate to the powers interested, the exact motives and intentions of the American Government in those straightforward and forceful expressions, coupled with a sense of moderation and dignity, which made the American diplomacy so famous at the chancelleries of those Powers. Those who learned to admire his method of diplomatic transaction, called it "Lincoln's diplomacy"-the diplomacy which upheld the dignity and interest of the United States when she still remained in a less important position and under very adverse circumstances. Mr. John Hay, who was once President Lincoln's private secretary, said, in speaking of American diplomacy, "The briefest expression of our rule of conduct is perhaps the Monroe Doctrine and the Golden Rule." The origin of the Monroe Doctrine as the policy to be observed in the affairs of this hemisphere is too well known to everyone to require any explanation. But Mr. Hay's expression of the Golden Rule as the rule of American diplomacy, attracted the great admiration of every student of international affairs when it was announced. The idea was not only plausible in expression, but irresistible in effect, and it was considered most adapted to this great country from the point of view of its dignity as well as its interest. I regret I did not ask Mr. Hay, when I had to see him so often, where he obtained that expression. It may be the result of his own conviction of American diplomacy. But it is possible that he conceived such an idea when he was so closely associated with the great President, from his method of handling international dealings with all the powers, the proudest as well as the humblest. The history of the diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan and other Far Eastern countries is replete with incidents of friendly acts on the part of this country |