NAPOLEON'S POLICY IN MEXICO.

29

This expresses the convictions and the feelings of the American people, and further than this I have no desire to go.

I

XII.

HAVE spoken of the policy of Palmerston and Napoleon concerning this country, for they had to be considered together. That policy was early matured, and it was afterwards clearly developed. It has ceased to be even a matter of curi osity to get at the secret history of the conferences and intrigues of these subtle statesmen at the commencement, and during the continuance, of the rebellion. Events have withdrawn the veil from the innermost penetralia of every cabinet in Europe, as far as we are concerned. The first object of Napoleon was to imperialize the governments of all the Latin nations in the Western hemisphere. His plan embraced the overthrow of the Mexican Republic, and placing an emperor on the throne-the annexation of the Central American Statesthe intervention of Spain for the subversion of all the Republics of South America, and the establishment of a vast empire,

countries, from which those for the depredations before mentioned should be excluded. The proposition, in that very unsatisfactory form, has been declined. The United States did not present the subject as an impeachment of the good faith of a power which was professing the most friendly dispositions, but as involving questions of public law, of which the settlement is essential to the peace of nations; and, though pecuniary reparation to their injured citizens would have followed incidentally on a decision against Great Britain, such compensation was not their primary object. They had a higher motive, and it was in the interests of peace and justice to establish important principles of international law. The correspondence will be placed before

66

you.

'The ground on which the British Minister rests his justification is, substantially, that the municipal law of a nation, and the domestic interpretations of that law, are the measure of its duty as a neutral; and I feel bound to declare my opinion, before you and before the world, that that justification cannot be sustained before the tribunal of nations. At the same time I do not advise to any present attempt at redress by acts of legislation. For the future, friendship between the two countries must rest on the basis of mutual justice."

30

IMPERIALIZING THE LATIN NATIONS.

which would blot out every republic in the New World except our own, (which was to be broken up,) and thus make Imperialism the Law of Government for the entire Latin race of the West.

Under treaties with England and Spain, Louis Napoleon went to Mexico with the most solemn pledges not to interfere with her government, but to unite with Spain and England in demanding security for certain English, French and Spanish claims from the Mexican Republic.

When, in violation of that treaty, he announced his determination to overthrow the Republic of Mexico, the troops of Spain and England at once withdrew from the conflict, and returned home.

When the French troops were being more than decimated by yellow fever at Vera Cruz, Louis Napoleon was permitted to remove them to a high and healthy position on the way to Mexico, and thus saved his army from destruction, with a most solemn pledge, that if such a movement were permitted by Mexico, he would take no advantage of this position to assail that government. This engagement he most certainly violated, by moving from this interior position so evidently secured to overthrow that republic.

The movement was exclusively in hostility to the United States, to the republican system of the world, and to make monarchy or imperialism universal. It was not a mere movement against Mexico, for in his published letter on that subject, when he thought our rebellion would succeed, he announced his purpose to be to establish the equilibrium of the Latin race on this continent. By the Latin race he meant the whole American continent, from Texas and California to Cape Horn: in other words, he desired to monarchize or imperialize that whole region. In the meantime he was under secret confidential arrangements with the so-called Confederate government for moral aid and support. Whilst we were engaged in civil war, he made three desperate efforts to render the rebellion successful, by three separate attempts to induce the British govern

DEFEAT OF NAPOLEON'S SCHEME.

31

ment to unite with him in recognizing the independence of the South. Two of these efforts were diplomatic: the third was by two of his emissaries-Roebuck and Lindsay, in the House of Commons of the British Parliament. By recognition, had he succeeded, he meant, of course, war by England and France against the United States in favor of the Southern rebellion. He meant war by this recognition, because by acknowledging the South as an independent nation, France and England would, of course, have made commercial treaties with the South as an independent power, embracing reciprocal free trade, and discriminations against the United States, necessarily leading to the breach of the blockade, and to war. His object was, having monarchized Mexico and Central and South America, and established a slave-holding oligarchy in the South, to split the North into separate States, leading first to anarchy, and then to a military despotism. He was defeated in this project by the unanimous refusal of the British Cabinet to unite with him in recognizing the independence of the South. His hostility continued until he received the intelligence of the reëlection of Mr. Lincoln, in November, 1864. In the event of McClellan's election, he had prepared, as a coup d'état, acknowledging the independence of the South, and appealing to all European powers to unite with him, upon the ground that the American people, by endorsing the Chicago platform upon that election, had declared that the war to suppress the rebellion was a failure, and therefore, by the principles of international law, acknowledged by Europe and America, it was the right and duty of all neutral powers to acknowledge the admitted fact of the independence of the South. The reëstablishment of our Union necessarily involves the defeat of his Mexican scheme, and his whole imperial and monarchical policy. If we do not drive him out of Mexico, he will soon have to leave it himself, because he can never be tolerated by the Mexican people. It will be a continued struggle against the French usurpation. No revenue can be collected by the satellites of Napoleon in Mexico, and France will not submit to the further and useless

32

JOHNSON ON THE MONROE DOCTRINE.

waste of her blood and treasure in a contest so wicked and fruitless.*

On this ground the whole nation will stand.

XIII

E

INGLAND was inspired by far different motives. Her sole

object was to appease her lust for gain; and this she could do, only by maintaining her commercial supremacy throughout the world. In adhering to this cardinal tradition of her empire, she had kept the temple of Janus open for hundreds of

* The President has, in few words, disposed of the whole question of the Monroe Doctrine:-" From the moment of the establishment of our free Constitution, the civilized world has been convulsed by revolutions in the interest of democracy, or of monarchy; but through all those revolutions the United States have wisely and firmly refused to become propagandists of republicanism. It is the only government suited to our condition; but we have never sought to impose it on others; and we have consistently followed the advice of Washington, to recommend it only by the careful preservation and prudent use of the blessing. During all the intervening period, the policy of European powers and of the United States has, on the whole, been harmonious. Twice, indeed, rumors of the invasion of some parts of America, in the interest of monarchy, have prevailed; twice my predecessors have had occasion to announce the views of this nation in respect to such interference. On both occasions the remonstrance of the United States was respected, from a deep conviction, on the part of European governments, that the system of non-interference and mutual abstinence from propagandism was the true rule for the two hemispheres. Since those times, we have advanced in wealth and power; but we retain the same purpose to leave the nations of Europe to choose their own dynasties, and form their own systems of government. This consistent moderation may justly demand a corresponding moderation. We should regard it as a great calamity to ourselves, to the cause of good government, and to the peace of the world, should any European power challenge the American people, as it were, to the defence of republicanism against foreign interference. We cannot foresee, and are unwilling to consider, what opportunities might present themselves, what combinations might offer to protect ourselves against designs inimical to our form of government. The United States desire to act in the future as they have ever acted heretofore; they never will be driven from that course but by the aggression of European powers; and we rely on the wisdom and justice of those powers to respect the system of non interference which has so long been sanctioned by time, and which, by its good results, has approved itself to both continents."

ENGLAND'S COMMERCIAL SUPREMACY IN DANGER.

33

years. It was a ceaseless battle of English aggression all round the world. She was in open encroachment, or remorseless hostilities in some part of the world, steadily through successive centuries. Her mighty armaments never sailed from that miniature island without laying tribute upon the helpless nations. This is the history of her hundred colonies. Commerce then being her life, and the amount of her profits dependent upon the monopoly of the seas, she had successively broken the commercial power of every rival-the Dutch, the Danes, the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the French, till she found in the United States the most formidable contestant she had ever encountered.

It was plain enough to everbody that England's sceptre was trembling in her grasp. Something thorough must be done. In her dilemma, fortune seemed to come to her aid. The earthquake burst under the Great Republic, shaking its foundations, and opening gaping seams in the superstructure.

XIV.

IRE

RELAND-It is a sad word; the saddest of all the names, and all the nations. No people have been immolated as heartlessly, nor so long. This book is too narrow for the recital of her wrongs, or to hold even the catalogue of her sufferings. Indeed, they are nowhere portrayed with half adequate intensity, except in those mournful ballads which have descended for centuries from maternal and maiden lips, as they melted into the star-lit air. They are the richest volume in the Green Island's library-her unwritten literature. Why did not Moore do for his nation what Scott did for his. We had almost said that the "Scottish Ballads and Border Minstrelsy" would outlive "Waverley" and "Ivanhoe." But brief as must be the space we can give to Ireland, it would be filled with a more touching story than could be told of any other people, if the writing were worthy of the subject or the poor words of the writer could do any justice to his heart.