The New York herald., 1863-08-17

through the cowardice and incompetency OF
Tom Ford and some others at Harper's Ferry.
Pleasure Excursion OF the Dipiomats-
l. What IL Its BIcaningf
Our astute, good tempered, clear headed Pre-
mier is of on pleasure tour among the lakes
and rivers of Northern New York, but not
alone He has taken in his train the French,
British Russian, Prussian, Spanish, Italian,
Swedish, Hanseatic, Chilean aud Nicaraguan
Ministers, leaving Washington bereft of the
whole diplomatic corps. The State Department
is no longer stationary. Mr.. Seward has folded
his tent like the Arab, and as silently stolen
away. If Earl Russell has any communication
to make to our government in regard to those
pirate vessels of the Euglish-confederacy his.
bearer Of dispatches must seek Lord Lyons on
| the Hudson river, or at Saratoga or Sharon
| Springs or within the sound Of the great cata-
| ract, or on steamer on Lake Ontario or fish,
| ing off one of the Thousand Islands of the st.
Lawrence, or up the dark Saguenay, or where
ever else our humorous Secretary of State may
happen to chaperone him. If the French Minister
of Foreign Affairs desires to give hint to M.
Mercier In regard to Mexican matters, or if
Prince Gortschakof wants Baron Stoeckl to
sound our government on the subject of .
treaty of alliance against France and England,
their messengers must 60 off on q voyage Of
discovery after the truant diplomats and
should they even be found they will have
little. disposition to pay any attention to the
dry business 6f craftsmanship.
It was capital. stroke of policy for Mr..
Seward to gather together all the discordant
elements Of European diplomacy and carry
them off with him. He was himself blue
moulding in Washington, and wanted to get of
to the charming scenes Of home; but he could
not afford to leave the diplomatic corps behind.
Fred. Seward might not be able to manage
them. It would be as dangerous as for Van
Amburgh to leave his menagerie without a
keeper. And so, with his soft tongue, he
persuaded them all to 60 along with him,
not leaving behind them solitary secretary or
attache; and we have no doubt that, with the
kind, easy and natural hospitality of their host,
the polite attentions Of his colored man John,
the beauty of the scenery, and the pleasure
which freedom from ell care and restraint
brings with it, the whole diplomatic corps
will be blended into happy family, and
will forget all their national and personal
antipathies in the general enjoyment Of the
hour.
Louis Napoleon says that the grand mistake
Of his uncle was that he failed to cement al
liances as his arms progressed; and he himself,
seeing the error, resolved to avoid it in his own
case He has done SO quite consistently and
successfully. After the fall Of Sebastopol he
declined to push Russia to the wall, and so
made peace with her. After the victory Of Sol
ferino, when it appeared as if the Austrians
might be finally expelled from Italy, he
entered into an armistice, and made friend
of Francis Joseph by the treaty of Villa
franca by still leaving venetia to him. After
making the French arms prevail last year in
Cochin China he entered into treaty with the
| King Of AMMAN, granting terms that were not
| regarded as onerous And even now he is try
ing, by diplomatic means, to make his conquest
of Mexico less humiliating to her people In
fact he Is the prince Of diplomats in Europe.
His summer headquarters are usually at Biar-
ritz, or some Of the other spas OF seaside ham,
lets which he may choose to make fashionable.
There he draws to himself all the foreign am
bassadors, and there regulates the foreign
policy Of his empire. Mr.. Seward, equally
able, equally courteous In his personal de-
meanor, and perhaps equally ambitious, seems
to have taken leaf out of Louis Napoleon's
book, and to have improved upon it. He will
not coniine foreign ministers for the season to
Sharon or to Saratoga, as Napoleon does to Biar-
ritz or Boulogne, but will keep them on the
wing, moving from one place Of attraction to
another, and inspiring them unconsciously with
sense of the wealth, activity and greatness OF
the republic.
We will not say that Mr.. Seward has or has
not any deeper views underlying the pleasure
trip on which he has embarked. And yet ii
may be that, incidental to the main object Of
it-a summer holiday-he recognizes that it
will have some good effects in public point
of view. 1t may be designed to prove that
our relations with other countries are not as
menacing as may have been supposed that we
are not yet going to declare war against Eng
land for her unfriendly course in fitting out
rebel pirate vessels, or to get into trouble with
France on account of her doings in Mexico, or
to join Russia in an alliance against France and
England; and, finally, that our serious occupa-
tons in putting down the Southern rebellion
do not prevent our enjoying, in the proper times
and places, those pleasures and relaxations
which serve to counteract the i'll effects Of too
close attention to business.
These and some other speculations as to the
main and incidental objects of the diplomatic
pleasure excursion may be harmlessly INDUCED
in, and some Of them may chance to hit the
mark But, whether II has its serious sides, as
we'll as Its light and merry ones, II can hardly
fail to be delightful trip, and we hope that in
all its saspects-diplomatc, political and perso-
malt will turn out to be success.
r. n.