Mr. Perry to Mr.
Seward
No. 152.]
Legation of the United States,
Madrid,
December 16, 1864.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose the
translation of an address to the President of the United States, on the
occasion of his re-election, which has appeared in the Spanish
newspapers, and is now receiving signatures, to be in due time forwarded
to its destination.
It will be remarked that the abolition of slavery is, for the signers of
this address, the grand idea of the war, the grand idea of the
re-election of Abraham Lincoln, and the only point they think it worth
while to dwell upon.
This source of sympathy for our cause is strong, and its manifestations
constant.
I beg to confirm to-day the same observations I had the honor to
communicate to you on the 21st September, 1862, (despatch No. 81,) and
which coincided at that time with the President’s memorable proclamation
of September 22, confirmed on the 1st January, 1863.
I have no doubt now that the recommendations which the President has
perhaps already addressed to both houses of Congress, and which will
have been determined by the exigencies of our interior needs, will again
coincide, will again display the same remarkable harmony of his action,
with this demand for the development and completion of the policy of
slave emancipation, which the exterior service of our government makes
it once more my duty to report to you from this standpoint of Spain.
The address of the Catalans is dated the 6th instant, and it was
published today simultaneously by various journals.
With sentiments of the highest respect, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.
[Translation.]
To the citizen Abraham Lincoln, President of the
republic of the United States:
The undersigned, members of the democratic party of Barcelona,
congratulate you sincerely upon the vote which that great people has
given in your favor, securing you for another term of four years in
the high office of President of the republic.
This event proves that the grand idea—cause of the grandest war which
the annals of the world record—existed not alone in the mind of one
man, but in the consciences of a whole people, proves that the
President’s proclamation for the abolition of slavery well expressed
the noble aspiration of the people of the United States, who could
no longer sustain so unworthy an inheritance under a flag in whose
shadow do battle justice against iniquity, liberty against
servitude, morality against the most horrible crime.
Youthful America regards with consternation your fields soaked with
blood, and old Europe shudders with anguish. What matter?
Your idea is superior to all; the end you reach at higher than all
lesser considerations,more sacred than those smaller interests of
the moment, which noble hearts sacrifice cheer fully upon the altar
of the greater good, and whose loss draws vile tears only from base
egotism.
The good, the honorable of all countries are with you and with the
people you lead victorious in the noble strife. What matters to you
the non-adhesion of the rest?
Worm-eaten relics of times which will never return—hypocrites who
raise to God prayers from lips which preach the slavery of their
fellow-man, and lift toward heaven hands which smite the face and
forge the chains of their brother—where should their sympathy be,
where their heart, except in the den which hides the sordid treasure
of their cupidity?
How can the humanitarian sentiment penetrate breasts hardened by the
most ignoble of the passions? How can they comprehend that the
emancipation of a slave, whose bondage has cost them their gold, is
worth the sacrifice of one sole drop of the blood of a freeman?
The good and the honorable of all countries are with you; and a part
of these, few but faithful, congratulate you from one of the
provinces of Spain.
[Page 471]
Persevere, illustrious President, in your work; and when the solemn
hour of your complete triumph shall sound, let the abolition of
slavery in the United States be the signal for the abolition of all
slavery among mankind.
Barcelona, December 6,
1864
