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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

which might be considered as an application of the Golden Rule; and there is every reason to believe that such application of the Golden Rule in your diplomatic dealings with those countries is being rewarded by the adoption of the same rule in their diplomatic attitude towards you.

Now, let me make a few remarks here about our relations, in order to show you how the Golden Rule has been observed between the two countries, and also why it must be observed.

I have necessarily to begin with the remarkable success of Commodore Perry's mission to Japan some half century ago, to open and introduce into the community of nations the country which was then only terra incognita. Not speaking of the great debt of gratitude Japan owes the United States for her friendly introduction into the international community, it is a noteworthy fact that the American Government has been particularly careful in the selection of its representatives in Japan in order to accomplish what has been left for them to do by Perry's mission.

Townsend Harris, your first Minister to Japan, was especially remarkable as a man of large heart and broad mind. In regard to his achievements in Japan, a certain writer says:

"It was thus that from the very outset, American diplomacy assumed in the eyes of the Japanese a distinctive aspect. They learned to regard the Washington statesmen as their country's well-wishers, whose policy no element of aggressive masterfulness disfigured or would ever disfigure."

The example thus set by Townsend Harris was followed by almost all American representatives who came to Japan thereafter, and it is interesting to look back at what has characterized their action and attitude in all the vicissitudes of life Japan has had to pass through since then. She had, from time to time, to meet complications of all kinds, to face revolutionary movements of her own people, to recognize the political system of the Empire, to remodel the administrative and judicial systems of the country, to introduce a representative form of government, to revise the treaties with the Western powers, and even to fight two great foreign wars.

[graphic]

Distinguished Guests on Centenary Day at the Tomb of Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois (In the group are Ambassadors Bryce and Jusserand, Mr Bryan, Senator Dolliver, and U. S. Judges, Grosscup,

Humphrey, and Landis)

[graphic]

Copyright, Francis D. Tandy Company, New York
Thomas Lincoln's Home in Illinois, where He Died in 1851

(Built by Thomas Lincoln in 1831 on Goose Nest Prairie. Coles County)

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