SPAIN Mr. Seward to Mr. Schurz. [Extract.] No. 2.] DEPARTMENT Of State, SIR: You receive the President's instructions for the discharge of your very important mission at a moment when a domestic crisis, long apprehended with deep solicitude, is actually reached. For the first time since the foundations of this federal republic were laid with such pious care and consummate wisdom, an insurrection has developed itself, and assumed the organization and attitude of a separate political power. This organization consists of several members of this Union, under the name of "The Confederate States of America." That irregular and usurping authority has instituted civil war. The President of the United States has adopted defensive and repressive measures, including the employment of federal forces by land and by sea, with the establishment of a maritime blockade. The revolutionists have opposed to these inevitable measures an army of invasion directed against this capital, and a force of privateers incited to prey upon the national commerce, and ultimately, no doubt, the commerce of the world. It seems the necessity of faction in every country that whenever it acquires sufficient boldness to inaugurate revolution, it then alike forgets the counsels of prudence and stifles the instincts of patriotism, and becomes a suitor to foreign courts for aid and assistance to subvert and destroy the most cherished and indispensable institutions of its own. So it has already happened in this case that the revolutionary power has, as it is understood, despatched agents to Europe to solicit from the States of that continent at least their acknowledgment of its asserted sovereignty and independence. To oppose this application and prevent its success will be your chief duty, and no more important one was ever devolved by the United States upon any representative whom they have sent abroad. There would, indeed, be no danger of the success of the unpatriotic application if the governments addressed could be relied upon to understand their true interests, and fulfil the obligations of national justice and fraternity. But unhappily in the present condition of society nations are, to say the least, neither wiser nor more just or generous than individual men. You will take care that you do not yourself misunderstand the spirit in which your duty is to be performed, nor suffer that spirit to be misapprehended by the government of her Catholic Majesty. The government of the United States, in the first place, indulges no profound apprehensions for its safety, even although the government to which you are accredited, and even many others of the European continent, should intervene in this unhappy civil war. The union of these States, with the maintenance of their republican institutions, is guaranteed by material, moral, and social necessities of this continent and mankind, that will, the President feels assured, overbear all aggression that shall be committed upon them, no matter how various its forms or how comprehensive its combinations. The trial involves only the questions how long shall the struggle be protracted, and Ex. Doc. 1-17 what shall be the measure of the disasters and calamities it shall inflict. Secondly. The government neither expects nor asks, nor would it consent to receive, aid or favor from Spain or any other foreign state. It asks only that such states perform their treaty obligations, and leave this domestic controversy to the care and conduct of those to whom it exclusively belongs. Whenever this republic shall have come to need the protection or favor of any other nation, it will have become unable and unworthy to exist, however aided from abroad. The President, in the absence of all information, is left to conjecture what are the influences upon which the so-called Confederate States rely to induce her Catholic Majesty's government to grant their disloyal application. The high consideration which he entertains for her Majesty enables him to assume that the appeal taken from this government to her royal favor, proceeds, in part at least, on the ground that the revolutionists affect to have suffered oppression and wrong at the hands of the government of the United States, which entitle them to the sympathy of the Queen of Spain, if not to redress through her intervention. Her Catholic Majesty's government has not been addicted to such intervention hitherto, and the wisdom of its forbearance is seen in the revival of the energies of that great and honored nation, which now seems renewing a felicitous career. The President, however, will not rely merely on the forbearance of any foreign power, not even on that of the government of Spain. That government well understands the Constitution of the United States, and has had opportunity to learn its practical operation It therefore knows that the several States which constitute the federal Union can respectively practice tyranny or oppression upon individual citizens, and may even hinder and embarrass the general government, while, on the other hand, that government, being armed with only a few though very important powers needful for preserving domestic peace, and defence against foreign nations, can neither oppress nor impoverish nor annoy any member of the Union or any private citizen. In the present case there are some points which will not escape consideration, namely: 1st. The very interest which now resorts to insurrection, practically speaking, has directed the administration of the federal government from the hour when the first murmur of discontent was heard until now when it raises the flag of disunion. 2d. The federal government, now seventy years old, has never made a foreign war which that same interest, now so insurrectionary, did not urge or demand; has never extended its dominion a square mile by discovery, conquest, or purchase except at the instance of the same party; has never exacted an irregular contribution, or levied an illegal or unequal tax, and only in war has imposed a direct tax. It has divided civil, military, and naval honors and trusts between all classes and sections, if not impartially, at least with preference of the same interest. It has constructed all the defences required for the section where that interest prevails, and for forty years has accommodated that interest with special legislation and beneficial arrangements with foreign powers. The administration of the government has been so just and so tolerant that no citizen of any one of the States claiming to be aggrieved has ever been deprived by it of his liberty, except on conviction of crime by his peers of the vicinage, nor of his property without due compensation, nor forfeited his life under its authority except as a volunteer in the battles of his country. I will not pursue the subject. It is enough to show that while this government will submit its action in domestic affairs to the judgment of no other nation, it does not fear to encounter the moral opinion of mankind. Will the disunionists claim that they are the discoverers of a new and beneficent system of political government, which commends itself to the patrouage of her Catholic Majesty? What are the salient principles of their system? First, government shall employ no standing military force in conducting administration of its domestic concerns, but shall always be constituted by popular suffrage, and be dependent upon it But it shall, at the same time, be the right of the minority, when overruled in the elections, to resort to insurrection, not merely to reverse the popular decree, but even to overthrow the government itself, while, on the other hand, the government can never lawfully use force to coerce compliance with its laws. 2d. The several states, districts, intendencies, or provinces which constitute a nation, must be brought and held together not in any case by conquest or force, but by voluntary federation, which may be stipulated to be perpetual. But each constituent state, district, intendency, or province retains an inherent and absolute sovereignty, and its people may rightfully withdraw from the federal Union at pleasure, equally in war as in peace, leaving its common debts unpaid, its common treaties unfulfilled, its common defence frustrated. Moreover, the seceding party may seize all the federal treasures, defences, institutions, and property found within its own limits, and convert them to its own use, simply offering to come at its own future pleasure to an équitable account. It is not to be doubted that the kingdom of Spain could be dissolved by her Catholic Majesty's acceptance of this new system much more rapidly than by waiting the slow effect of foreign wars or domestic mal-administration. Castile, and Old Castile, Leon, Andalusia and Aragon, Cuba and the Philippine Islands, would be much more casily separated on this plan than New York and Louisiana, California and Massachusetts, Florida and Michigan. Perhaps the so-called Confederate States will rest their appeal on some especial ground of sympathy with Spain and the states of Spanish America. In such a case you will need only to say that the moderation which has thus far been practiced by the United States towards Spain, and the Spanish American states once her colonies, has been due chiefly to the fact that the several North American states of British derivation, exclusive of Canada, have been bound together in a federal Union, and the continuance of that Union is the only guarantee for the practice of the same moderation hereafter. Will the so-called Confederate States promise liberal or reciprocal commerce with Spain or her provinces? What commerce can there be between states whose staples are substantially identical? Sugar cannot be exchanged for sugar, cotton for cotton, or rice for rice. The United States have always been willing, and undoubtedly they always will remain willing, to establish commerce with Spain and her provinces on terms as mutually reciprocal as the government of that country itself will allow. These thoughts are presented to you by direction of the President, not as exhausting the subject, but only as suggestions to your own vigorous and comprehensive mind, and he confidently relies on your applying all its powers to the full discussion of the subject if it shall become necessary. Mr. Preston to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] No. 41.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: An interview has taken place between the minister of foreign affairs and myself in reference to the subject embraced in your circular. In conformity with your instructions, I presented the inaugural address of the President as expressive of his policy towards the seceding States, and read to him your despatch, saying that the administration conceived that the unhappy differences existing in America owed their origin to popular passions and were of a transient character, and that the President was well assured of the speedy restoration of the harmony and unity of the govern ment. The minister replied with courtesy, expressing pain at the posture of affairs in the United States, but said that her Majesty's government was informed that extensive military and naval preparations were making in the north to enforce the federal supremacy in the south, and that the consequences were to be dreaded. I replied that I felt assured his information was erro neous. No commissioners from the Confederated States have yet applied for the recognition of the Southern Confederacy, as I informed you in my former despatch. The minister has promised me that no negotiations for that purpose shall be conducted without my being fully informed. This is as satisfactory an arrangement as could be desired under existing circumstances. I have the honor to remain your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., Washington, D. C. The proclamations of the President declaring the blockade of the ports of Virginia, North Carolina, and other southern States, have been transmitted to the government of her Catholic Majesty for its official notification. No commissioners have yet arrived in Spain to apply for the recognition of the southern States which have seceded from the Union, and none will probably come until the question has been determined by the cabinets of London or Paris. * * * * * I have the honor to remain your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., Washington, D. C. W. PRESTON. No. 4.] Mr. Perry to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Your despatch of May 20, No. 1, has reached me, and varies the instructions of May 9. Please find annexed copy of my note to Mr. Calderon, dated yesterday, which I placed in his hands accompanied by a copy of your despatch. I deemed it proper to provoke a repetition to myself of the assurance given to Mr. Preston, and fix it by a statement in writing. On this subject, of the recognition by Spain of the pretended government of the Confederate States, I have had various interviews with influential personages, and with the sub-secretary and the first secretary of state. I have represented the position of the rebel party in a light which was evidently new to them. Yesterday, in a long and very satisfactory interview with Mr. Calderon, I explained to him the connexion of Mr. Jefferson Davis and other leaders in the southern rebellion with the attempt made in 1854-55 by the same parties to provoke a war with Spain for the conquest of Cuba. He was made to see that the former filibustering against Cuba had its origin, like the present rebellion at the south, in the political ambition of our slave owners. They then wished to re-enforce the slave power in the Union by the annexation of new slave States, but having failed in Cuba, in Nicaragua, in Kansas, and lastly in the recent presidential election, they had at length to turn their arms against the government of the United States, now passed out of their control. Secession was filibustering struck in. I explained that, unhappily, a class at the south called by the slave owners 'mean whites" were quite ready to follow their lead, and were a terrible instrument in their hands. Their own ignorance, their dependence upon the richer class, and their contact with the blacks had gradually reduced them, intellectually and morally, to a point of which, perhaps, there were few examples in the Anglo-Saxon race. They were as reckless of danger as they were of right, as ready to embark for the fever lakes of Central America as for the sugar fields of Cuba, or the wilds of Kansas, or a campaign against the government of their country. This was good material for a rebel soldiery; and under the more intelligent lead of the slave owners this revolt was undoubtedly serious and would cost blood. But the result was not doubtful. The disparity of force and resources on the part of the government was too overbalancing to leave the rebels a chance of long prolonging the struggle. Happily, between the ambitious class of slave owners and the so-called mean whites," their instruments, there was a middle class in the south, more numerous than the two together, loyal to the Union and the Constitution. These loyal citizens were now held in a state of duress by the violence and intimidation employed by the slave owners and their instruments. His excellency would have noticed that from the beginning to this day the rebels had not obtained the sanction of a popular vote to any of their high acts. Nevertheless this was the only basis of political right known in America. We had no king, no church, no aristocracy, no other political guarantee or sanction in our nation than the will of the people fairly expressed. None of the so-called ordinances separating States from the Union had been ratified by the people of those States themselves; nor had the pretended new confederation of those States, nor the formation of a constitution and government |