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the joint resolution on Mexican affairs with the profound respect to which it is entitled, because of the gravity of its subject and the distinguished source from which it emanated.

"They regret that the President should have so widely departed from the usage of Constitutional governments as to make a pending resolution of so grave and delicate a character the subject of diplomatic explanations. They regret still more that the President should have thought proper to inform a foreign government of a radical and serious conflict of opinion and jurisdiction between the depositories of the legislative and Executive power of the United States.

"No expression of deference, can make the denial of the right of Congress Constitutionally to do what the House did with absolute unanimity, other than derogatory to their dignity.

"They learn with surprise that, in the opinion of the President, the form and term of expressing the judgment of the United States on recognizing a monarchical government imposed on a neighboring republic is a 'purely Executive question, and the decision of it Constitutionally belongs not to the House of Representatives, nor even to Congress, but to the President of the United States.'

66

"This assumption is equally novel and inadmissible. No President has ever claimed such an exclusive author

ity.

No Congress can ever permit its expression to pass without dissent."

If the course of the Administration in dealing with this Mexican affair was liable to criticism at the outset, there need be no question as to its sound

ness

on the Monroe Doctrine. A war with France at such a time would have been unwise, and it would be difficult now to apologize for a policy leading to The diplomatic skill which prevented a foreign

one.

war, when the domestic one taxed so heavily the resources and patriotism of the country, is now an occasion of national congratulation and admiration, whatever regret may be felt touching the necessities which sometimes surrounded the situation.

When the Government reached the point in which it could be done with effect, the demand for the removal of the French troops was persistently pressed, until France became as eager to get them away from Mexico as the United States was to have them away. The French were dissatisfied with their mean and unwise adventure, and even plotted for the downfall of the unfortunate man whom they had duped into trying to sit on an imaginary throne in Mexico. And the Pope, having utterly failed in his avaricious scheme, also abandoned Maximilian, and turned a deaf ear to the lamentations of his distracted queen. The American Secretary of State, in oily words, urged the evacuation of Mexico, and as the ultimate success of the Government in conquering the rebels became certain, the French emperor exhibited great anxiety to comply with the demand.

Mr. Seward said: "You will assure the French government that the United States, in wishing to free Mexico, have (has) nothing so much at heart as preserving peace and friendship with France."

However true were these diplomatic words, France had but one thing at heart, and that was to get out of the mad abyss in which all her evil purposes and hopes had been swallowed up. The demands of the United States were complied with; the French troops

left Mexico, and the anarchic democracy murdered the deluded and deserted Austrian prince, and sent his Corpse and his broken-minded widow to Europe as Mexico's legacy and warning to monarchic ambition. So ended another of the wonderful political dramas of the nineteenth century, whose bloody skeleton history has dragged itself through the ministry of "Lord" Palmerston to the tomb of Napoleon and the door of the Vatican.

CHAPTER IX.

1862-1863-WAR OF THE REBELLION

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FINANCE-THE GREENBACK MR. CHASE POLITICS, ELECTIONS, DRAFT-RIOTS-THE GREAT BATTLES OF THE REBELLION FOUGHT AT THE NORTH-THE NEWSPAPERS— MR. LINCOLN AND THE AIDERS AND ABETTORS—“UNCONSTITUTIONAL" BECOMES A BY-WORD.

THE

HE war gave rise to extraordinary demands on the financial resources of the Government, which at the outset were met without very great difficulty by the skill of the Secretary of the Treasury and the patriotism of the bankers and the people. Still the demands increased, and the credit of the country was shaken by its reverses on the battle-field, the general uncertainty as to the future course of events, and, to some extent, by the intrigues of misguided and disloyal men of the loyal section. Extraordinary efforts were necessary to furnish means for the prosecution of the war. To this end Mr. Chase recommended in his report in December, 1861, that Government notes or bills, properly secured by the bonds of the Nation and convertible into coin, be provided and placed in the hands of banks and associations; this plan being based upon the idea that the vast loan without interest made by the people to the various banking institutions might, with great propriety, be turned to

the advantage of the Government, and hence to the people themselves, instead of to a few hundred private corporations.

During the winter of 1861 the banks suspended specie payment, generally, throughout the country, and the Government was forced to do the same with its own notes in circulation. Congress had authorized the issue of a considerable quantity of notes to supply the deficiency between the amount obtained from

the revenues and the loans provided for, and the amount needed for current expenses, but not for a general circulating currency. In his report in December, 1862, Mr. Chase again renewed his recommendation of the previous year, and both Houses of Congress accepted it. Under this plan the notes of

the United States would go into circulation as money to supply the demands of the country and the Government. It was a choice between a currency furnished by hundreds of individual banks without responsibility beyond the resources of each separate institution, and a currency furnished by the Gov

ernment.

There were other considerations in favor of adopting the plan of Mr. Chase which he ably set forth. He said a uniform national currency would thus be established on the honor and credit of the Government, and also supported by private capital; this would give the currency of the country the highest possible value and security; it would greatly facili tate home and foreign business; it would reconcile the interests of the banks and the people, more

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