The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-30

AeClnnlng OF the war-blunders at once mon
'ous in their folly and untruth, blind in their
D.. 0tive, and most disastrous in their results.
\ 1t in order comes the humiliating exhibition
otr national diplomacy presented in ITS treat
.ent of the Mexican question, from the reduc-
!,n of Vera Cruz, by the triple expedition to
tie recent armed Intervention of our Govern.
ment in the domestic concerns of Mexico, by
their arbitrary arrest and Imprisonment of a
Institutional claimant to the Presidency of
the republic.
When Mr.. Seward, IN April, 1861 advised
HuT pc, through our ministers abroad, that the
resident, so tar from rejecting, willingly ac-
-pted the dogma of the Rebels, 'that the
s. derai Government could not reduce the
g rrdng atcs to obedience by conquest -
len ne assured the world that "only an i'm.
D., rial despotc government could subiugate
,4otOlghly insurTectonary members of the
state and that this federal republican sys.
tenn ot ours Is the very one which is the most
united for such labor" the declaration nevi-
tGblY encouraged the unirendly Courts of
Europe to DOUBT both our right and our power
10 suppress the Rebellion by war, 1t furnished
them with new apologies and inducements
mad any been needed-to assist the Rebellion,
oJ their moral influence, their diplomacy and,
o lar as they dared, by loose reading OF inter-
national neutrality.
This continued until the faith and achieve
nents of the American people, dsslpating year
oy year the low-toned ideas OF American
Delled the world to recognize the fact that in
his republic the constitutional will OF the
people Is supreme, and that, when armed rebel
ION against that Will is exhibited by thoroughly
insurrectiouary members of the State, and the
occasion arises to conquer the Rebellion and
restore obedience due to law and order this
Government, of all the governments known in
history, is the best fitted for that labor.
The second blunder perpetrated about the
same time-one equally with the first confrma-
tory of a dogma of the Rebels and equally de-
yirnrr dam tITNa
taton, in mlsstating and caricaturing our posi-
ton, and sublecting us to the libes and jeers of
Chris endom-was our bold DENIAL that slavery
was connected with the Rebellion, or that 1t
would be affected by the result. On the 22d of
April. 1861, Mr.. Seward wrote to Mr.. Dayton,
aud IT is believed that this letter. like the one
already quoted, was neither inspired nor
approved by Mr.. Lincoln:-
"The revolution Is without a cause; it has not
pretext. Ii is just clear tnat it is without
an object. = The condition OF slavery IN the
several States wi remain just the whether 1t
succeed or iail The rights OF the States, and
the CONDITION of every human being in them will
remain subject to exactly the same laws and forms
OF administration, whether the revolution shall
succeed or fail.'
This incontestable statement" as the despatch
Nent en- to characterize 1t, was line by line re-
tuted by Mr. Sc ward himself In eloquent letters
Tritten in subsequent years. sho wing the
slavery was the head and front OF the Rebel
lion, and that the war continued simply because
slavery sill existed, and his attestatiOn of the
Emancipation Proclamation pronounced the
allure of his rash propheces.
How far the solemn Official assurance -
directly confirming the position taken by the
Rebel emissarIes at European Courts, that
slavery was not the cause or object Of the Re-
bel1on, and that the National Government was
as resolved to maintain slavery as that of Jei1er
son Davls-how tar that great mistake confused
for time the mind of Europe, alternating our
-icnds emboldenng our enemies, enabling
q duets to combine for our destruction, with
10 check from the ant-slavery sYmpathles of
ne people, either in England on the CONT
nent, will never be fully known. But each
new development of the secret history of the
Rebellion on the other side of the water Will
ahOw more and more plainly tue extent to
which, on sea and land our difficulties and
dangers and sacrifices were multiplied, en-
hance0, and prolonged by those terrific blum
ders OF the Government at Washington which
tel ded, for long and weary months, to tn wart
the honest aid able diplomacy of Mr.. Dayton
and Mr., Adams.
The character and object of the French inva-
sion of Mexico seem to have been, from the
start, understood and appreciated by the whole
world, excepting only the head of our State
Department. The grand object declared to our
Government was 10 recover certain debts due by
Mexico. The pretense held forth to the Mexi
cans was dsinterest led desire, on the part
the French Emperor, to assist them in forming
"a stable and durable government, based upon
peace and morality Behind these published
aVowals were the palpable motives, PLAN to be
seen and easy to be understood, afforded By the
doubt ul spcculations OF NJ. Jecker and the
Count de Morny, and by the ambitious project
of Napoleon, frankly avowed in his letter to
General Forey, to restrict the boundaries and
the power of the American republic and tC
establish French influence in the heart OF this
continent.
Apart from the general policy of the Monroe
doctrine the letter to Geueral Forey made the
invasion menace and an insult to the Ameri.
can Government and the American people.
1t was so understood in France, in England
everywhere but at Washing ton. Even in the
French Senate, that great lawyer, Nj. Berger
the venerable and eloquent advocate of world
wide fame, referring to our country, saId-
''DO not forget that there is otfense to her in
the expedition to Mexico. The expedition
was partly undertaken against the United
States.n And quoting again from the letter o
General Forey, he declared:-"The Republic o
the North will not endure the Imperial
monarchy of Mckee; and war will break ou
sooner OF later"
Our Government seems to have early resolved
to pay no regard to the caution given by Mr.
Dayton in Paris, and by MI. Corwin in Mexico
as to the falsitY of the French declaration-tC
shut their eyes to the plainest truths, and t
believe only what might be told them by Louis
Napoleon. To swallow the assurances of the
French Court, in the face of the clearest facts
one would have supposed an i'm possible task To-
any Government; bat ours received each ne Y
assurance of M. ThOuvenel with such an appear
ance of chlld-like faith that, if it were indeed
real, the, future historian, in discussing th
diplomacy OF the two Governments, will be puz
Zled which most to admire, the duplcity of th
one or the credulty OF the other On the 24tl
OfJune, 1862, Mr. Seward wrote to Mr.. CorWin:-
notwithstanding the course adopted by tn
French agents and army in Mexico, the Govern
ent of FraUce still reassures that 1t is their puI
to be content with adjustment of grievances
leaving II exclusively Win WIN the people of Mexico 7
no case to put up or 10 MAINTAIN any one that ma
come in consequence of the war"
month later July IA, 1862 Mr.. sewar