the war, issued a circular to our consuls abroad, calling their atten tion to the Homestead Act, and requesting them to make public that in no country in the civilized world are such opportunities offered as in the United States, to active, industrious, and intell gent men, for the acquisition of abundant means of support an comfortable homesteads for themselves and their families.1 In 1868, Congress failed to make the necessary provision for the support of the Bureau of Immigration, which Mr. Seward had or ganized in 1864, and it was discontinued. Some of its duties hav since been assumed by the Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury De partment. Consistently with his efforts to encourage immigration he stead ily opposed all schemes for the colonization in foreign lands d colored men, and discouraged the emigration of the emancipate race. In this he differed from President Lincoln. Having advocated the recognition of the independence of Hayt and Liberia, he had the satisfaction of receiving Ministers from those countries on equal terms with those of other foreign powers: The return of peace seemed only to increase the arduous duties of the Department of State. An increasing number and a greate: variety of questions pressed for consideration. The Paris Exposition of 1867 was, to our countrymen especially a great success. Under the management of the Department ci State, exhibitors from the United States enjoyed facilities which lightened their labors and relieved them of many embarrassments A conference for the establishment of uniform coinage was held i Paris, the same year, in which the Department was actively interested. In 1866, Mr. Seward was able to congratulate the country that. while sentiments of reconciliation, loyalty, and patriotism had in creased at home, a more just consideration of our character an rights, as a nation, had been manifested by foreign governments. The somewhat mysterious course of France toward Mexico wa a subject of much anxiety to Mr. Seward. The introduction, into a neighboring Republic, of a monarchical form of government, unde: a European prince supported by French arms, could but excite the gravest apprehensions. Mr. Seward had plainly indicated to the 1 See Vol. I., p. 289. 2 Hayti, March 3, 1863; Liberia, May 18, 1864. French government (September 26, 1863) that such a proceeding must lead to war between France and the United States. The French Minister intimated that if war must be the result, his government would naturally select their own time to commence hostilities, which would be the present, while the United States was burdened with domestic difficulties. No such intimidation moved Mr. Seward. Striving ever to maintain a strict neutrality with France and Mexico while the war between the two nations had a legitimate character, he maintained that the United States could not renounce the doctrine that the continuance of free republican institutions throughout America was required for the safety of our own institutions, and for the attainment of that destiny to which we as a nation aspire. This was the sentiment of the people. Congress attempted to give it expression in a resolution which passed the House of Representatives, but received no action in the Senate. This action served to increase the sensibilities of the French government on the subject, and to renew the correspondence between its Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Seward, who took occasion to say that the question in its decision rested with the executive branch of our government, and not with Congress, and that the President did not at the present contemplate any change in the policy so far pursued. Mr. Seward's positions were controverted by the House, and resolutions adverse thereto were adopted. The Senate took no action and expressed no opinion in the matter. The original declaration of the House was regarded by France as a menace of hostilities. Mr. Seward's explanation served to relieve the question of its warlike character, and to renew the peaceful relations of the two countries. After the war had been declared to be at an end (on the 2d of April, 1866), the occupation of Mexico by the French was no longer to be tolerated. Mr. Seward had already repeatedly notified the imperial government of France that the presence of a foreign army in an adjacent and sister Republic was inconsistent with the policy of the United States and with the doctrine proclaimed by President Monroe. On the 9th of April, 1866, assurances were 1 The "Monroe Doctrine," which had hitherto been a cherished theory, became, under Mr. Seward, an irreversible fact. See Mr. Seward's speeches in Senate on Clayton and Bulwer treaty, Vol. I., page 376. Globe App. 1855, 1856. given by the French government that its troops should, within a reasonable time, be withdrawn from Mexico. Many delays oc curred in the fulfilment of this promise, and it was not until March 19, 1867, that it was fully accomplished. Maximilian was capture and shot on the 19th of June, 1867, by the Mexicans, notwithstanding the earnest efforts of Mr. Seward to save his life.1 The Republic of Mexico, having been delivered from foreig intervention, soon reëstablished her constitutional system of gor ernment. In 1868, General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated by the Rpublican party as its candidate for President. Horatio Seymo was his opponent. Neither the candidate of the Democrats nor ti: platform on which he stood were such as to claim the support c the true friends of the Union and its restoration. Mr. Seward, in a speech 2 of great solemnity, on "the situation and the duty," at Auburn, a few days before the election (Octobe 31, 1868), made the path of duty very clear for those who had be accustomed for many years to follow his counsels in political a fairs. This was the twelfth presidential canvass in which he h.. participated, and he felt that it might be his last. His words, o this occasion, reached beyond the approaching election, and becar the farewell address of his political life. In January, 1866, Mr. Seward made a voyage to the West I dies, visiting St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, San Domingo, Hayti, an Cuba, in all of which places he was received with demonstration of hospitality and respect on the part both of the people and t authorities. In addressing the President of the Republic of S Domingo, he said that "the United States regarded the neighb ing Republics founded, like that of the United States, upon t principle of the equal rights of man, as buttresses, which it was the interest of the American people and government to multip and strengthen as fast as it could be done without the exercise t fraud or force." Mr. Seward's policy of extending the jurisdiction of the Unite States over the North American continent received a signal illtration in the acquisition of Alaska. Believing that a further ste 1 See despatches to Mr. Campbell, U. S. Minister to Mexico. See page 540. 3 General Grant was elected President, receiving 214 electoral votes. Mr. Seymour received 80. in that direction could be wisely taken, he entered into negotiations in January, 1866, with the Danish Minister, General Raasloff, for the purchase of the islands of St. Thomas and St. John in the West Indies. Neither the Maister nor his government at first listened to Mr. Seward's proposals with favor, but rejected them. He renewed them as opportunity offered, and in October, 1867, Denmark consented to part with her islands for the sum of seven million five hundred thousand dollars. In January, 1868, the cession was approved by the people of the islands, almost unanimously.1 Both houses of the Danish Rigsdag ratified the cession, and the treaty was signed at Copenhagen on the 30th of June, 1868. The Senate of the United States, however, withheld its approval, and the whole negotiation failed. Mr. Seward likewise favored the annexation of San Domingo and Hayti to the United States. He was convinced that the time had arrived when such a proceeding would receive the consent of the people interested, and also give satisfaction to all foreign nations. In his desire to obtain a foothold for his government in the West Indies, as well for defence in time of war as for the interests of commerce in time of peace, he early in 1868 laid before the Committee on Foreign Relations, in the Senate, an offer he had received, from San Domingo, of the sale of the Bay of Samana, one of the finest harbors in the world. He strongly advocated the purchase, and took some important steps toward securing it. The interests of the South American States and of the Republic or Mexico received much attention from Mr. Seward, during the last year of his administration. In the summer of 1868, Mr. Anson Burlingame, who had left the service of the United States, appeared in Washington with a Chinese Legation. They were introduced to the President, who welcomed them to the capital in a speech prepared by the Secretary of State. After a few days' stay in Washington, the embassy, with Mr. Seward, proceeded to his home in Auburn, where a treaty with China was concluded. Mr. Burlingame being the recognized chiet of the Chinese Legation, the negotiations were carried on by him. and Mr. Seward. The treaty was signed by Mr. Seward, Mr. Burlingame, and his Chinese associates, and, in time, duly ratified. By it the United States gained great commercial advantages, while, 1 The vote was 1,244 for annexation to the United States, and 28 against. prospectively, four hundred millions of people were emancipated from the bondage of a subtle combination of false philosophy and 'traditional conceit. The negotiation of this great treaty was, in some degree, made more easy and successful through the influence of our treaty with Russia, whereby Alaska had been acquired, and some troublesome international questions had been settled. Mr. Seward retired from the Department of State on the 4th of March, 1869. In August of that year he visited Utah, California, and Alaska, delivering a speech at Sitka 2 which attracted, everywhere, much attention. He also made interesting speeches 3 at Victoria in British Columbia, and at Salem in Oregon, on the route. He spoke of his journey as a visit to "Our North Pacific States" a term full of prophecy. While in California, in 1869, he did not hesitate to protest against the almost unanimous feeling pervading that community against Chinese immigration. He condemned the policy of exclusion, and persistently maintained that immigration was an element of civilization, especially to the Pacific coast, and that the attempt to suppress its "invigorating forces" would ultimately prove a failure. In the autumn of 1869, it became known that Mr. Seward was about to visit Mexico. The government of Mexico, represented by President Juarez, was anxious to honor the man who had done so much, while he was Secretary of State of the United States, to uphold the Republic of Mexico when its life was menaced by foreign intervention, and through whose instrumentality victory at last crowned her efforts for independence. He was therefore received and entertained as the guest of the nation during the entire period of his stay in the Republic - nearly three months. Commissioners were appointed and an escort provided to accompany Mr. Seward across the continent. Señors Rendon and Cañedo had charge of the party from Manzanilla to Guadalajara, where they were met by Mr. Bossero, who was the special commissioner during the remainder of the journey and the stay at the capital. Not only the general government of the Republic, but the gov 1 Secretary Seward's views of Chinese immigration are found in Article V of the treaty. See Chinese Immigration, by George F. Seward, late Minister to China. Scribners, Publishers. 1881 |