also opposes the insurrection and reinvigorates the national strength and power. Under these convictions we avoid everything calculated to irritate France by wounding the just pride and proper sensibilities of that spirited nation, and thus we hope to free our claim to her just forbearance in our present political emergency from any cloud of passion or prejudice. Pursuing this course, the President hopes that the prejudgment of the Emperor against the stability of the Union may give way to considerations which will modify his course and bring him back to the traditional friendship which he found existing between this country and his own when, in obedience to her voice, he assumed the administration of her Government. These desires and purposes of ours do not imply either a fear of imperial hostility or any neglect of a pru. dent posture of national self-reliance, and in that posture we constantly aim to stand. "I speak next of the relation of France towards Mexico. Until 1860 our prestige was a protection to her and to all other republican states on this continent. That prestige has been temporarily broken up by domestic faction and civil war. France has invaded Mexico, and war exists between those two countries. The United States hold, in regard to these two states and their conflict, the same principle that they hold in relation to all other nations and their mutual wars. They have neither a right nor any disposition to intervene by force in the internal affairs of Mexico, whether to establish or to maintain a republican or even a domestic Government there, or to overthrow an imperial or a foreign one if Mexico shall choose to establish or accept it. The United States have not a right nor a disposition to intervene by force on either side in the lamentable war which is going on between France and Mexico. On the contrary, they practice, in regard to Mexico, in every phase of the war, the non-intervention which they require all foreign powers to observe in regard to the United States. But notwithstanding this self-restraint, this Government knows full well that the inherent normal opinion of Mexico favors a Government there republican in form and democratic in its organization in preference to any monarchical institutions to be imposed from abroad. This Government knows also that this normal opinion of the people of Mexico resulted largely from the influence of popular opinion in this country, which constantly invigorates it. The President, moreover, believes that this popular opinion of the United States is just in itself and eminently essential to the progress of civilization on the American continent, which civilization he believes can and will, if left free from European resistance, work harmoniously together with advancing refinement on the other continents. This Government believes that all foreign resistance to American civilization, and all attempts to control it, must and will fail before the ceaseless and ever-increasing activity of material, moral, and political forces which peculiarly belong to the American con tinent. Nor do the United States deny that, in their opinion, their own safety and the cheerful destiny to which they aspire are intimately dependent on the continuance of free republican institutions throughout America, and that their policy will always be directed to that end. They have frankly, and on proper occasions, submitted these opinions to the Emperor of France, as worthy of serious consideration, in determining how he would conduct and close what might prove a successful war in Mexico. Nor do we practice reserve upon the point that if France should, upon due consideration, determine to adopt a policy in Mexico adverse to the American opinions and sentiments which I have described, that policy would probably scatter seeds which would be fruitful of jealousies that might ultimately ripen into collisions between France and the United States and other American Republics. An illustration of this danger has occurred already. Political rumor, which is always suspicious, one day ascribes to France a purpose to seize the Rio Grande and wrest Texas from the United States. Another day rumor advises us to look carefully to our safety on the Mississippi. Another day we are warned of coalitions to be formed under French patronage between the regency that has been recently set up at the city of Mexico and the insurgent cabal at Richmond. The President apprehends none of these things, and does not allow himself to be disturbed by suspicions. But he knows also that such suspicions will be entertained more or less extensively in this country, and will be magnified in other countries, and he knows also that it is out of such suspicions that the fatal web of national animosity is most frequently woven. The President, upon the assurances which he has received from the Emperor of France, expects that he will neither deprive the people of Mexico of their free choice of government nor seek to maintain any permanent occupation or dominion there. "It is true that the purposes or policy of the Emperor of France, in these respects, may change with changing circumstances. Although we are confiding, we are not therefore unobservant, and in no case are we likely to neglect such provision for our own safety as every people must always be prepared to fall back upon when a nation with which they have lived in friendship ceases to respect its moral and treaty obligations. "In giving you this summary of our positions, I have simply drawn off from the records the instructions under which Mr. Dayton is acting at Paris. I remain of the opinion that national dignity is best conserved by confining the discussion of these affairs to the Cabinets of the United States, France, and Mexico, and that no public interest is to be advanced by opening it at Vienna, and therefore I do not direct you to communicate this dispatch to the imperial royal court." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Motley, Oct. 9, 1863; MSS. Inst., Austria; الله "I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your dispatch of the 9th instant (No. 361), which brings me the views expressed by Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys concerning the situation in Mexico. Various considerations have induced the President to avoid taking any part in the speculative debates bearing on that situation which have been carried on in the capitals of Europe as well as in those of America. A determination to err on the side of strict neutrality, if we err at all, in a war which is carried on between two nations with which the United States are maintaining relations of amity and friendship, was prominent among the considerations to which I have thus referred. "The United States, nevertheless, when invited by France or Mexico, cannot omit to express themselves with perfect frankness upon new incidents, as they occur, in the progress of that war. Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys now speaks of an election which he expects to be held in Mexico, and to result in the choice of His Imperial Highness the Prince Maximilian of Austria to be Emperor of Mexico. We learn from other sources that the prince has declared his willingness to accept an imperial throne in Mexico on three conditions, namely: First, that he shall be called to it by the universal suffrage of the Mexican nation; secondly, that he shall receive indispensable guarantees for the integrity and independence of the proposed Empire; and, thirdly, that the head of his family, the Emperor of Austria, shall acquiesce. "Referring to these facts, Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys intimates that an early acknowledgment of the proposed Empire by the United States. would be convenient to France, by relieving her, sooner than might be possible under other circumstances, from her troublesome complications in Mexico. "Happily the French Government has not been left uninformed that, in the opinion of the United States, the permanent establishment of a foreign and monarchical government in Mexico will be found neither easy nor desirable. You will inform Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys that this opinion remains unchanged. On the other hand, the United States cannot anticipate the action of the people of Mexico, nor have they the least purpose or desire to interfere with their proceedings, or control or interfere with their free choice, or disturb them in the enjoyment of whatever institutions of government they may, in the exercise of an absolute freedom, establish, It is proper, also, that Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys should be informed that the United States continue to regard Mexico as the theater of a war which has not yet ended in the subversion of the Government long existing there, with which the United States remain in the relation of peace and sincere friendship; and that, for this reason, the United States are not now at liberty to consider the question of recognizing a Government which, in the further chances of war, may come into its place. The United States, consistently with their principles, can do no otherwise than leave the destinies of Mexico in the keeping of her own people, and recognize their sovereignty and independence in whatever form they themselves shall choose that this sovereignty and independence shall be manifested." Mr. Seward, See. of State, to Mr. Dayton, Oct. 23, 1863; MSS. Inst., France 3 On April 4, 1864, it was resolved without dissent, by the House of Representatives, that the Congress of the United States are unwilling by silence to have the nations of the world under the impression that they are indifferent spectators of the deplorable events now transpiring in the Republic of Mexico, and that they think fit to declare that it does not accord with the policy of the United States to acknowledge any monarchical government erected on the ruins of any republican government in America under the auspices of any European power." As to effect of this resolution in France, see Tucker's Monroe Doct., 103. As to neutrality observed between the belligerents, see Mr. Seward, See, of Mr. Seward's policy of non-intervention in the Maximilian war in Mexico is "We recognize the right of sovereign nations to carry on war with each other if they do not invade our right, or menace our safety or just influence. The real cause of our national discontent is that the French army which is now in Mexico is invading a domestic republican gov ernment there, which was established by her people, and with whom the United States sympathize most profoundly, for the avowed purpose of suppressing it, and establishing upon its ruins a foreign monarchical government, whose presence there, so long as it should endure, could not but be regarded by the people of the United States as injurious and menacing to their own chosen and endeared republican institutions." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. de Montholon, Dec. 6, 1865; MSS. Notes, "It has been the President's purpose that France should be respectfully informed upon two points, namely; first, that the United States earnestly desire to continue and to cultivate sincere friendship with France; secondly, that this policy would be brought into imminent jeopardy unless France could deem it consistent with her interest and honor to desist from the prosecution of armed intervention in Mexico to overthrow the domestic republican government existing there, and to establish upon its ruins the foreign monarchy which has been at tempted to be inaugurated in the capital of that country." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Bigelow, Dec. 16, 1865; MSS. Inst., France. On this subject see Tucker's Monroe Doct., 97 ff. As to French occupation of Mexico, see Mr. Seward's report of Dec. 21, 1865, "With these explanations I proceed to say that, in the opinion of the President, France need not for a moment delay her promised withdrawal of military forces from Mexico, and her putting the principle of non-intervention into full and complete practice in regard to Mexico, through any apprehension that the United States will prove unfaithful to the principles and policy in that respect, which, on their behalf, it has been my duty to maintain in this now very lengthened correspondence. The practice of this Government, from its beginning, is a guarantee to all nations of the respect of the American people for the free sovereignty of the people in every other state." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. de Montholon, Feb. 12, 1866; MSS. Notes, For vindication of the policy of the United States towards Maximilian and the The United States, it was said by Mr. Seward, in a letter of March 19, 1866, to Mr. Motley (Austria), "cannot regard with unconcern" the enlistment in Paris of troops to aid the Emperor Maximilian in Mexico. See also Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Motley, March 19, 1866; MSS. Inst., Mr. Seward's report on Mexico, of March 20, 1866, is in House Ex. Doc. No. 73, On April 6, 1866, Mr. Motley was instructed by Mr. Seward, to state to the Austrian Government "that in the event of hostilities being carried on hereafter in Mexico by Austrian subjects, under the command or with the sanction of the Government of Vienna, the United States will feel them. selves at liberty to regard those hostilities as constituting a state of war by Austria against the Republic of Mexico; and in regard to such war, waged at this time and under existing circumstances, the United States could not engage to remain as silent and neutral spectators." See also Mr. Seward to Mr. Motley, Ap. 16, 1866, and also confidential letter of same date, in which Mr. Motley was instructed to withdraw from Vienna in case troops were sent from Austria to Mexico. The result was that no troops were sent from Austria to Mexico. See Mr. Seward to Mr. Motley, June 9, 1866; MSS. Inst., Austria. "You are aware that a friendly and explicit arrangement exists be tween this Government and the Emperor of France, to the effect that he will withdraw his expeditionary military forces from Mexico in three parts; the first of which shall leave Mexico in November next, the sccond in March next, and the third in November, 1867, and that upon the evacuation being thus completed, the French Government will immediately come upon the ground of non-intervention in regard to Mexico which is held by the United States. "Doubts have been entertained and expressed in some quarters upon the question whether the French Government will faithfully execute this agreement. No such doubts have been entertained by the Presi |