Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II
Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward.
Sir: The imposing ceremony of the opening of the Chambers by the Emperor came off yesterday. His Majesty’s speech was much applauded; that portion of it in reference to Poland particularly so. The speech is thought to be an important one, especially as affects Russia. The general impression among the diplomatic corps, so far as I heard it, was that it foreshadowed an ultimate war with Russia. I doubt it. Russia, it is said, is ready for a European conference, as to all general matters, Poland included, but that other of the great powers are [Page 1322] not. Should this be so, the Emperor will gain time, and his programme ultimately fall to the ground without, it will be said, his fault. In any event, he will have it to say that he has proposed the only practical relief for Poland, whose cause is so popular in France.
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I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Translation.]
“Messieurs les Senateurs—Messieurs les Députés:
“The annual assembly of the great bodies of the State is always a happy opportunity for bringing together the men who are devoted to the public welfare and for manifesting the truth to the country. The frankness of our mutual intercourse calms anxiety and strengthens our resolutions. I therefore bid you welcome. The legislative body has been renewed a third time since the foundation of the Empire, and for the third time, in spite of some local dissents, I can only congratulate myself upon the result of the elections. You have all taken the same oath to me. That is a guarantee to me of your support. It is our duty to attend to the affairs of the country promptly and well, remaining faithful to the constitution which has given us eleven years of prosperity, and which you have sworn to uphold.
“The exposé of the situation at home will show to you that, despite the forced stagnation of labor in certain branches, progress has not been slackened. Our industry has contended successfully against foreign competition, and, in presence of undeniable facts, the fears engendered by the treaty of commerce with England have vanished. Our exports during the first eight months of the year 1863, compared with those of the corresponding months of the year 1862, show an increase of 233,000,000f. During the same period our shipping trade shows an excess over that of the preceding year of 175,000 tons, of which 136,000 are under the French flag. The abundant harvest of the present year is a blessing of Providence, which will assure to the population a cheaper price of food. It is also a proof of the prosperity of our agriculture. Public works have been actively carried on. About 1,000 kilometres of new lines of railway have been thrown open to traffic; our ports, our rivers, our canals, our high roads have been continually improved. As the session has met earlier than has been customary, the report of the minister of finance has not yet been published. It will be produced shortly. You will find therein that, if our expectations have not been fully realized, the revenues have followed a continuous rise, and that, without extraordinary credits, we have been able to meet the expenses caused by the war in Mexico and in Cochin China. I shall have to point out to you various reforms which are deemed advisable—among others, one relating to the freedom of the baking trade, one which will render the maritime conscription less onerous to the populations on the coast, a project for modifying the law on joint-stock companies, and one for suppressing the exclusive privileges for theatres. I have also ordered a bill to be taken into consideration with a view to increase the powers of the general and communal councils, and to remedy the excess of centralization—in fact, to simplify administrative formalities, to modify the laws applicable to the classes deserving [Page 1323] of all our solicitude. This will be a step in advance to which you will gladly associate yourselves.
“The sugar question will also be submitted to your consideration—a question which stands in need of a final solution by a more distinct enactment. The project submitted to the council of state tends to grant to home produce the facility of exportation which is granted to sugars of other parts. A bill on registration will abolish the double décime, and will replace that impost by more equitable repartition.
“In Algeria, despite the anomaly which subjects the same populations, some to the civil, some to the military authorities, the Arabs have learned to understand the mild and equitable sway of the French rule, while the Europeans do not place the less confidence in the protection of the government.
“Our ancient colonies have seen removed the barriers which obstructed their transactions, but circumstances have not been favorable to the development of commerce.
“The recent establishment of credit institutions will, I trust, improve the state of affairs. In the midst of these material considerations nothing has been neglected which concerns religion and public morals. Religious and benevolent institutions, science, and public instruction have received great encouragement.
“Since 1848 the population of the schools has increased one-quarter. At the present day nearly 5,000,000 children (one-third of them gratuitously) are admitted into the primary schools; but our efforts must not be slackened, as there are still 600,000 devoid of instruction. The higher class of studies has been encouraged in the secondary schools, where special instruction is under reorganization.
“Such, gentlemen, is the substance of what we have already done, and of what we still intend to do. Certainly the prosperity of our country would take a more rapid course if political preoccupations did not trouble it; but in the life of nations events unforeseen and inevitable arise, which must be met without fear and supported without faltering. Of this number are the war in America, the compulsory occupation of Mexico and Cochin China, the insurrection in Poland. The distant expeditions, the objects of so much criticism, are not the result of a premeditated plan. The force of events has brought them about, and nevertheless they are not to be regretted. How, in fact, could we develop our foreign commerce if, on the one side, we were to renounce all influence in America, and if, on the other, in the presence of immense territories occupied by the Spanish and Dutch, France alone remained without possessions in the Asiatic seas? We have conquered in Cochin China a position which, without subjecting us to the difficulties of local government, will permit us to make use of the immense resources of these countries, and to civilize them by commerce. In Mexico, after an unexpected resistance which the courage of our soldiers and sailors have surmounted, we have seen the population welcome us as ‘liberators.’ Our efforts will not be in vain, and we shall be largely compensated for our sacrifices when the destinies of that country which will owe to us its regeneration shall have been confided to a prince whom his enlightenment and qualifications render worthy of so noble a mission. Let us, then, have faith in our enterprises beyond the sea. Commenced to avenge our honor, they will terminate in the triumph of our interests; and if prejudiced minds do not divine the fruitfulness enclosed in the germs deposited for the future, let us not tarnish the glory thus acquired, so to speak, at the two extremities of the globe—at Pekin and at Mexico. The Polish question exacts more of explanation. When the insurrection broke out in Poland the governments of Russia and France were on the best relations. Since the peace the great European questions had found them in accord, and I do not hesitate to declare it. During the Italian war, as well as at the time of the annexation of the provinces of Nice and [Page 1324] Savoy, the Emperor lent me the most sincere and candid support. That good understanding demanded scrupulous care, and I must have believed the Polish cause very popular in France not to hesitate to compromise one of the first alliances of the continent, and to raise my voice in favor of a nation rebellious in the eyes of Russia, but in our eyes the heir of a right inscribed in history and treaties.
“Nevertheless, the question touched the gravest European interests. It could not be treated in isolation by France. An offence to our honor, or a menace against our frontiers, would also impose on us the duty of acting without preliminary concert. It became, therefore, necessary, as to the epoch of the events in the east and in Syria, to come to an understanding with the powers which had reasons and rights on which to pronounce similar to our own.
“The Polish insurrection, on which its endurance has imprinted a national character, awakened sympathies everywhere, and the object of diplomacy was to attract to that cause the greatest possible number of adhesions, in order to bring to bear on Russia the whole weight of the public opinion of Europe. This almost unanimous concurrence of wishes seemed to us the most proper means of inducing a conviction in the cabinet of St. Petersburgh. Unhappily, our disinterested counsels have been interpreted as an intimidation, and the steps of England, Austria, and France, in the place of checking the struggle, have done nothing but to embitter it. On both sides are committed excesses which, in the name of humanity, we must equally deplore. What, then, remains to be done? Are we reduced to the sole alternative of war or of silence? No! Without rushing to arms, and without remaining silent, a means is left to us— that is, to submit the Polish cause to a European tribunal. Russia has already declared that a conference in which all the other questions now agitating Europe should be debated would in nowise wound her dignity. Let us note and act upon that declaration. Let it serve us to extinguish once for all the fermentations of discord which are ready to burst out on all sides, and out of the very disquiet of Europe, agitated everywhere by the elements of dissolution, let a new era of peace and of order be born. Has not the moment come for reconstructing on a new base the edifice shaken by time and destroyed piecemeal by revolutions? Is it not urgent to recognize by new conventions that which is irrevocably accomplished, and to accomplish by common agreement that which the peace of the world demands? The treaties of 1815 have ceased to exist. The force of events has overthrown them, or tends to overthrow them. Almost everywhere they have been violated—in Greece, in Belgium, in France, in Italy, as upon the Danube Germany is endeavoring to change them. England has generously modified them by the cession of the Ionian islands, and Russia tramples them under foot in Warsaw. In the midst of these successive violations of the fundamental European compact ardent passions have been excited, and in the south as in the north powerful interests demand a solution. What, then, more legitimate and more sensible than to invite the powers of Europe to a congress, in which self-interests and resistance would disappear before a supreme arbitration? What more conformable to the ideas of the epoch and the will of the greater number than to speak to the consciences and reason of the statesmen of every country, and say to them: Have not the prejudices and rancor which divided us lasted long enough? Shall the jealous rivalries of the great powers unceasingly impede the progress of civilization? Are we still to maintain mutual distrusts by exaggerated armaments? Must our most precious resources be indefinitely exhausted in a vain display of our forces? Must we eternally maintain a condition of things which is neither peace with its security nor war with its happy chances? Let us no longer lend a factious importance to the subversive spirit of extreme parties by opposing ourselves on narrow calculations to the legitimate aspirations of peoples. Let us have the courage to substitute for a sickly and precarious condition of things a situation solid and [Page 1325] regular, even should it cost us some sacrifices. Let us assemble without preconceived system, without exclusive ambition, animated alone by the thought of establishing an order of things founded for the future on the well-understood interests of sovereigns and peoples.’
“This appeal, I am happy to believe, will be listened to by all. A refusal would suggest the existence of secret projects which shunned the light. But even should the proposal be not unanimously agreed to, it would produce the immense advantage of having pointed out to Europe where the danger lies, and where the safety. Two roads are open—the one conducts to progress by conciliation and peace; the other, sooner or later, leads fatally to war, from obstinacy in maintaining a path which is sinking beneath the feet. You know now, gentlemen, the language which I propose to hold toward Europe. Approved by you, sanctioned by the public, it cannot fail to be listened to, since I speak in the name of France.”