Year: 1866

| embarrassing period, conducted the n


lations of the United States with Euro


pean powers. That his task, thoug


perhaps, not so obtrusive, has bee


as onerous as that of any exc


ctive officer, will be apparent from


the reflection of the many mis-


understandings to which the rebel
lion gave rise, and the advantage


which foreign nations have sought t,


reap from the public distress in thi


country. On the one hand It has beer


Mr.. Stewards duty to maintain the ma


tional dignity, while carefully avoiding


complications which might lead to ex


ternal war; on the other hand he hal


been constrained to keep in check tn,


indignant spirit of our people, and tC


ward OIL the consequences of suddeT


anger, ready at any time TO rush into {


second war, while the first has been il


progress. 1t is certain that there have


been times during the rebellion, Wher


the prompt and determined spirit o


the Secretary of State alone averted &


collision with other powers. 1t is in re


collection that there were periods Wher


he was denounced by the press as dila


tory and over-cautious, and wheI


there was an almost universal clamol


for decisive action. In each case


however, the results of the Secreta


rvs caution were eminently bene-


fetal; and the public has repeatedly


had occasion to confess that this resist


ance to hasty measures has saved the


country from imminent danger, if not


from absolute ruin. Yet, while thus


acting as a restraint upon an i'll consid-


cred Indignation, it is in the power OF


no one to assert that the integrity, the
dignity and solid interests of the United
States have not been maintained
throughout The first unjust act of
England and France-the recognition
of the South as belligerents-was met
by a calm and determined protest from
the State Department, in which Mr..
Seward declared that the, United States
sought no assistance from abroad, and
demonstrated, in terms eminently re-
preventative of our public sentiment,
against the erection of insurrection
into a State by neutral nations. Dur
ing the whole course of the war this
protest tacitly continued, and when it
entered into other questions which
arose, was reiterated. No occurrence
more strikingly exhibited Mr. Stewards
quality of calmness and wisdom amid
public clamor than the Trent affair.
Every one remembers with what ex-
ultauion the community hailed the
capture of the Southern Commits
and their incarceration at
Fort Warren. While the sense of tri-
umph in this event was at its very
height, the English Government blunt
ly demanded their restoration to the
protection of the British flag. The tide
of general Indignation at the demand,
and the sentiment to resist it, seemed
almost irresistible The public mind
seemed nearly unanimous in favor of
war. But with a promptness equal
with that with which the demand had
been made, the Secretary of State, en-
bracing within his view the remote
eiioots of HE policy, decided that the
capture was illegal, and gave the order
for the delivery of the captives into the
violence
with which Mr.. Seward was then as
sailed proved how earnest was the de-
sire for war with England And vet.
three months after the transaction,
who doubted the wisdom of the course
which he had adopted No man,
when deliberation had succeeded to
the first blush of disappointment and
chargrin, would have risked his reputa-
ton by denouncing the action of Mr..
Seward in that case. And so it has
been throughout the war; difficulties
which, in the midst of the greater ex-
element of victory and defeat,
have not been appreciated by the COM
have come up, have been
fearlessly met, and have been sue
cessfully surmounted by the Secretary
of State. The dignity of the nation,
and its selfrespect, has been fully
among the powers of the
globe; war has been repeatedly averted
with honor, by judicious course of &C
ton; and we have emerged into peace,
holding ourselves among sister nations
as their equal and their rival, people
whom it is their interest to honor, and
with whom they are proud to COM
mune. The last achievement of Mr..
resulting in the withdrawal of
the French from Mexico, the probable
prevention of their being substituted
by Austrians, and above all the COM
pletely successful assertion of the
American policy regarding the rest of
the continent, appeals so directly to
the appreciation and gratitude of his
and calls attention so forcibly
to his diplomatic abilities, that the COM
munity will not fail to look back upon
the diplomatic history of the past five
years, and recognize the same compe-
tent hand directing and triumphing
Lhroughout.-BoSton Post.