Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow
Sir: I have submitted to the President the letter which you wrote at Dieppe on the 21st of August, and which was marked unofficial. In that letter you discuss at large the present aspect of the relations between the United States and France as they are affected by the situation in Mexico.
On this subject this government does not think itself called upon to volunteer opinions, counsel, or advice, or gratuitously to offer explanations to the governments of Europe. On the contrary, we have been content to stand upon what we have already very frequently set forth, while every proper care has been taken to prevent or allay irritations which might tend to bring about unexpected and undesired collisions. It is possible, however, that the French government may think it proper to ask you for explanations to some extent of the President’s opinions and policy.
This paper is intended to enable you, in such a case, to submit to the imperial government, in an earnest and yet altogether friendly manner, certain views which the President has taken of the political situation in Mexico. Those views are by no means new, and they are as distinct and full as the present condition of the question involved enables us to express.
It can hardly be deemed necessary to repeat on this occasion what has been so often and so constantly avowed by this government, namely, that the people of the United States cherish a traditional friendship towards France. We also habitually indulge a conviction that the existence of friendly relations between the United States and France is by no means unfavorable to the interests of that great nation. These sentiments have survived the many interesting national changes which, during the present century, have occurred in the two countries concerned, and they may therefore be deemed to be independent of all merely partisan or dynastic influences in the one country or in the other.
It is perceived with much regret that an apparent if not a real, a future if not an immediate, antagonism between the policies of the two nations seems [Page 413] to reveal itself in the situation of Mexico before mentioned. The United States have at no time left it doubtful that they prefer to see a domestic and republican system of government prevail in Mexico rather than any other system. This preference results from the fact that the Constitution of the United States itself is domestic and republican, and from a belief that not only its constituent parts ought to preserve the same form and character, but that, so far as is practically and justly attainable by the exercise of moral influences, the many American states by which the United States are surrounded shall be distinguished by the same peculiarities of government. I think it not improper to add, that although the Constitution of this government and the habits of the American people formed under it disincline us from political propagandism, and although they still more strongly disincline us from seeking aggrandizement by means of military conquest, yet that the nation has, at various times since its organization, found it necessary for expansion, and that the like necessity may reasonably be expected to occur hereafter. That expansion has thus far been effected by the annexation of adjacent peoples, who have come into the Union through their own consent as constituent republican States under the Constitution of the United States. To these two facts may be added the general one that peace and friendship between the United States and other nations on this continent, and, consequently, the advance of civilization in this hemisphere, seem to us more likely to be secured when the other American states assimilate to our own.
It is hardly necessary for me to indicate wherein the present attitude and proceedings of the French government in regard to Mexico seem to be variant from the policy and sentiments of the United States which I have thus described. I may remark, however, in general terms, that France appears to us to be lending her great influence, with a considerable military force, to destroy the domestic republican government in Mexico, and to establish there an imperial system under the sovereignty of an European prince, who, until he assumed the crown, was a stranger to that country.
We do not insist or claim that Mexico and the other states on the American continent shall adopt the political institutions to which we are so earnestly attached, but we do hold that the peoples of those countries are entitled to exercise the freedom of choosing and establishing institutions like our own, if they are preferred. In no case can we in any way associate ourselves with efforts of any party or nation to deprive the people of Mexico of that privilege.
Passing by all historical questions connected with the subject as not now necessarily requiring discussion, I have next to remark that this government finds itself neither less obliged nor less disposed at the present moment than it has hitherto been to adhere to its settled policy. Perhaps the French government may be supposed to have taken notice of the fact that, owing to the popular character of our government, our national policy is not adopted from the choice of any President or any particular administration, and that, on the contrary, every important or cardinal policy is a result of the determination of the national will legally expressed in the manner appointed and prescribed by the Constitution. Experience has shown that, in every case, any policy which has arisen from such popular sources, and which has been perseveringly supported by the general national conviction through a long series of years, has been found to be essential to the safety and welfare of the Union.
The intense popular interest which was awakened by the prevalence of a civil war of vast proportions during a few years past has tended in some degree to moderate the solicitude which the situation of foreign affairs was calculated to Create; but that interest is now rapidly subsiding, and it may be reasonably anticipated that henceforth the Congress of the United States and the people in their primary assemblies will give a very large share of attention to questions of extraneous character, and chief among these is likely to be that of our relations towards Fiance with regard to Mexico. Nor does it seem unwise to take [Page 414] into consideration the fact that the presence of military forces of the two nations sometimes confronting each other across the border, has a tendency, which both of them may well regret, to produce irritation and annoyance. The French government has not shown itself inattentive to this inconvenience hitherto, while this government has been desirous to practice equal prudence But a time seems to have come when both nations may well consider whether the permanent interests of international peace and friendship do not require the exercise of a thoughtful and serious attention to the political questions to which I have thus adverted.
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I am, sir, your obedient servant,
John Bigelow, Esq., &c., &c., &c.