Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-02-08

1 vi e-SSl1nildIlOn 10 every nteu anu CIT
oumstance. Dayton's lack of previous
| training in foreign affairs was never
| apparent. On more than one occasion
| his judgment was to prove sounder
/ than Stewards, and in all his dealings
with men of the wide experience or
Thouyenel and Drouyn de Lhuys it
cannot be said that either the dignity
or the interests of the United States
suffered. In that diplomatic inter
course which is the common langu-
age of nations, he upheld with rare
prudence and ability the trust a great
country had confided to his care, al
though his task as the accredited en-.
posedly destined to failure was by no
means easy to fulfill.
| "Mr. Slidell on the other hand, the
confederate agent to France, was the
! unrecognized representative of SYM
/ pathetic and seemingly victorious
cause. He could well compare his
mission in Paris to that of Benjamin
Franklin, who eighty years earlier at
the court of Louis XVI. enlisted the
generous aid and sympathy of France
in our struggle for liberty. That SYM
pathy he enjoyed already His posi-
ton was none the less an official one
pending that recognition of the slave
states which never came. But Shden
proved interchangeable in procuring
allies to aid his cause, and of adj the
emperor's surroundings only Prince
Napoleon sided with the union.
This general sympathy OF the imper-
ial government for the southern cause
proved at first bitter disappoint-
ment to the north, which had counted
on the ancient tradition Of French
friendship without realizing that this
could be extended as well to the sou. "A.
Seward for time almost contem-
plated breaking off diplomatic rela-
tons, but wiser policy prevailed at
Washington, while Thouvenel on his
| part tactfully explained the incident
/ On at least one occasion the emperor
expressed to Slidell, unknown to the
/ minister OF foreign affairs, his sympa-
/ thies and his desire to aid the south
/ The emperor told him, however, that
1t was in accordance with diplomatic
usage to consider nothing to exist that
had not formally been, written. To
the frequent expression of Napoleon's
southern sympathies, Slidell answered
by lavish promise Of cotton and graft
tude. But the emperor took occasion
f. to remind him that the sympathy of
nations did not control their policy, and
= In so grave a matter he was unwilling
to act without England.
/, The policy of an Ang1o-French con-
cert had guided Napoleon from the be-
ginning of the war The two nations
, thought that by acting together they
would better be able to protect their
rights as neutrals. They tried to gain
| greater scope for this concert by OBJ,
tanning acquiescence at Washington,
but Seward tactfully but firmly re-
FUSED to meet the ENJOYS of the two
countries. together and win the day.
/ Again. on a little later occasion when
/ the English and French consuls at
: Charleston were instructed to act to
gether in securing from the conSeder
acy the observance of certain neutral
rights, although the federal govern
ment revoked the English consnl's
, exequatur. his French colleague was
left untouched, not to give the two
| countries a common grievance.
, Seward had recovered his balance
, as secretary of state and from this
-, time on he displayed mastery and
; grip on the diplomatic aspects of the
war which, by avoiding all oppor-
tunlty for foreign interference was TO
: prove invaluable to the success of the
, federal cause. If he failed to convince
! Europe of his theory that so far as
foreign nations we're concerned
, Amo RIGA was at peace, he was entire.
iy successful in upholding what was
, to be the cardinal principle of our
civil war diplomacy. On one essential
Z point Seward never wavered His pur-
! pose was unbending In maintaining
that foreign interference would neither
be invoked nor admitted. and that
such intervention would obhge the
, United States to treat as enemies who
| ever should yield TO II. He desired
above all to create the impression
that though not seeking foreign war
the country did not dread it.
Napoleon would certainly have
been willing to assist the south If he
could have done so safely. On more
than one occasion he was about to act
and later regretted, as he told Sliden.
that he had failed to seize the oppor,
tunity But the tide OF southern sue
cesses which he awaited never came.
II ambition spurred him on, prudence
restrained his natural indecision II is
therefore, greatly to his credit to
have had the courage to realize in
time that the vital interests of France
were not In America and to have sacr,.
feed his own ambitions by refusing to
plunged his country into useless
war
1T must be confessed that in the
end military success was at the bottom
of the north's diplomatic triumph In
preventing mediation. During onr