Mr. Harvey to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have had the honor to receive your despatches Nos. 60 and 61, both dated the 9th of July.
It became my duty, after receiving full intelligence of the result of the first demonstration of the national army before Richmond, to state, in a formal manner, and in other ways, substantially the views set forth in your No. 61, for the purpose of correcting the erroneous opinions which had gained currency in official circles, and which were also gradually impressing the public mind here. I have reason to know that those representations produced effect in influential quarters where, it is proper to say, the great cause in which our government is now engaged has always been regarded with generous interest and with the friendship which is an integral part of the good relations existing between the two countries.
Portugal herself passed through a long and severe probation of civil war, and the public men who were actors in those eventful and trying periods can neither be indifferent nor unsympathizing spectators of a struggle, the chief and, in fact, the only aim of which is to assert the authority of law and order, and to restore peace and prosperity to a people a portion of whom have been misled by designing and despotic demagogues into false and pernicious courses.
In all my official intercourse I have endeavored to preserve the idea intact, and to maintain it becomingly in practice, that our government, as a great political organization, is unchanged in any of its parts; that it is now what it has always been since entering into the family of nations; and that the disturbing elements which, for a year past, have deranged its accustomed order, are local and transitory events, to be remedied in our own way and at our own time, and with which foreign powers have no proper right to interfere. [Page 586] The assertion of this principle positively and decorously at the outset has served the purpose of preventing controversy and saved the necessity of discussions which, if encouraged, would be attended by no good result.
Having simplified my duty in its political aspects by this plain course, it has not been necessary for me to report fluctuations of opinion in regard to the question which, of all others, engrosses the interest, the anxiety, and the devotion of every true American citizen. Nor have I felt called upon to harass the department with elaborate essays on the changing phases of affairs at home, with speculations as to their issue, or with suggestions of supposed remedies which must naturally occur to those charged with the grave responsibility of administering the government at this critical juncture. The best patriots may honestly differ as to the policy which should be pursued towards the insurgent communities, arising out of a domestic relation which not only affects them but others also, with equal directness, which have loyally and faithfully observed their obligations under the Constitution; but they cannot differ at all in regard to the necessity of upholding the Union at any and at every cost. Birth, education, and peculiar habits of thought create such differences of opinion as have been referred to, but they involve no necessary estrangement between the parties holding them, nor any departure from the main purpose which it is to be hoped animates both—the purpose of preserving the Union in its entire integrity. Our system of government is the wise result of compromise, and the men of this day who, in the excess of their zeal, seem to claim an exclusive inspiration, might learn from the example of the fathers of the republic, who gave us free institutions and the instruction of their sacrifices, wisdom, and virtues, that moderation is as much needed now to preserve, as it was in the early times to prepare, the noble work of which the American Constitution and the Union are the beneficent results.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State.