Is there any prospect of a War with France?
This question may be better answered by
W. H. Seward than by any one else; and he does so, we take it, in the following editorial article in the New York
Times.
That paper argues earnestly in declaring:
‘
"Neither in the message of
President Johnson, in the diplomatic correspondence of
Secretary Seward, in the
War and Navy Department reports, nor in any of the other official documents recently given to the country, do they find the least encouragement given to any one of their schemes, or the least prospect held out of their being treated with anything but reprobation.
In treating of our controversies with other Powers, the
President was careful to adopt a tone at once vigorous and conciliatory.
So far as was necessary, our relations with other Powers were commented upon; but in regard to none of them was a word used indicating that any of our controversies were of such a character as to require war or menace for a solution.
He appreciates too profoundly the natural position, necessities and spirit, to speak otherwise; and while the report of the
Secretary of War shows the immense amount of military material we have on hand, and the facility with which armies could be raised in case of emergency, it also shows what energetic measures of a pacific character have been carried out."
’
The New York
News evidently regards the above as
Mr. Seward's views; for it thus speaks of the
Mexican question:
‘
"
Mr. Seward may mean well in his
Mexican diplomacy, but we cannot discharge our mind of the suspicion that he is preparing to compromise American honor in that delicate negotiation.
We have an instinctive aversion to the arts of diplomatic intrigue; and when a
Secretary of State shuffles and temporizes, we instantly apprehend some concession discreditable to the dignity of the nation.
"We perform a friendly office for
Mr. Seward when we admonish him that this people will not be trifled with in the
Mexican business.
The
Monroe doctrine is a sacred tradition of American history; and dear to the heart of the nation is the resolve that the
American continent shall be reserved as a theatre for the development of republican institutions.
If he would consult the security of his own position, and his reputation in history as an American statesman, he should at once interpose with some practical exertion of diplomacy to effect an abandonment of
Mexico by the adventurers who have usurped possession and dominion of that splendid empire."
’
