New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-12-18
GOV. sEWARD,s DIPLOMACY.

with foreign Governments mas been lald on Tue
desks of the Members of Congress in com
pact volume which does credit to the Public
Printer. ..We believe that its contents will gen.
orally be regarded as rejecting honor likewise
on the Government from which they have
mainly proceeded, and whose attitude and bear
ing toward other nations are therein faithfully
reflected. Certainly, we are confident that the
readers of leading British journals especially The
London Times and The Saturday Rerie1, who
have from day to day been treated to Wholesale
inculpations of Mr.. Stewards demagogue pander-
ing to popular passions, his bullying, hcctoring,
menacing, insulting treatment Of European
Powers, &C., &C., would be surprised if the
contents Of this volume could be fairly laid be-
fore them. In vain would they turn page after
page in eager quest Of the passages wherein
the ordinations of their favorte journals were
based; they do not appear because they do NOT
exist Whatever may have been Gov. Stewards
personal demeanor toward the diplomatists ac-
credited to Waslington-and it is quite prob
able that to those known as favorable
to triumph of the Secessionists he has
been no more cordial than the eti-
quette of his position required-we find
no trace Of arrogant assumption or naughty ex-
action in this volume. The tone of the Secre-
tary of State is assured and firm, but not at
all defiant; he does not concede, whether IN
word or deed, that the Union is divided or
the seeded States permanently alenated; he
regards Secession aud the civil war it has in
augurated merely as passion-gusts sweeping
over our country and temporarily disordering
much that appears on its surface; but be never
doubts that tie tornado will soon have spent
its force, and that the country, reunited. viii
be stronger and more prosperous than ever be-
fore. Foreign Governments and their agents
nave a perfect right TO smile at this as delu-
sion; but they have no right to resent II as AFRO
gauce or insult. And it is only on The London
Tfm,s's cool assumption that we have no right
10 assimilate the Shareholders Rebellion TO one
which should break out in the British Isles
and threaten their dismemberment, that the
most determined European cayiler can find
anything in GOV. Stewards dispatches to dis
pute, much less 10 resent.
Looking at the whole subject from an Amer
lean standpoint, however, We think our Gov
eminent has made one fundamental if not vital
mistake, in declining on its own part and viz
tually interdicting to its agents any discussion
with foreigners of our intestine troubles. We
are familiar with the arguments by which this
policy Of reticence ID justified, but they do not
convince us. In an age when Opinion is SO
mighty force, restoring long shattered na-
tions and pulling down venerable dynasties, We
cannot overbear the conviction that every fair
opportunity should be improved 10 convince the
civilized world that the UniOnists are eminently
right and the Seces sionists atrOcously wrong
ON every point with regard to which they are
at variance. When the air Of Europe is
murky with the mpudent ialsehoods of Yancey
& Co., importing that they have rebelled on
an issue affecting mainly our Economic or
Tariff policy, and having little or no relation
to Slavery, it seems hard that Mr.. Adams
should, in addressing Gin enecD the Brit
ish nation, be constrained to ignore the
one topic on which he was natu-
rally best qualified to speak, and they
most anxious TO hear. SO when the Emperor
OF Russia directed his Minister of Foreign Al.
fairs TO address our Government on his behalf
in terms of cordial and evidently earnest
sympathy with our trials and solictude
for our happy deliyerance therefrom, it
seems TO US misfortune that Gov.
Seward should have felt constrained to
limit his response to coldly polite acknowl-
edgment of the Emperor's kind Offices and
an assurance that they are not unappreciated.
Never before had a Statesman so fair an oppor-
tunity to indte really great paper-one
which every statesman aud publicist in Christen-
dom must necessarily and carefully read-one
which, without seeming to argue the justice of
our position, might yet, in merely stating it,
make an impression on the general ear which
treason could never disturb nor tho clamorous
iteration of misleading sOphisms wear away.
We do not here take special account of the
mistake of our Government in failing to recog-
nize-we mean formally and publicy-that this
is essentially a struggle between Liberty and
Slavery. If it be wrong to discuss with foreign
Powers the grounds of this rebellion at ALL it
is of course wrong to discuss any particular
aspect of them. But, feeling sure that ours is
a cause which challenges scrutiny and must
profit by the fullest publicity We cannot but
regret the Secretary's settled resistance to any
discussion with European statesmen of the
right and wrong of our Secession controversy.
Yet after making every proper abatement,
we feel that tho dispatches Of Gov. Seward are