as Sept. 3, 1867, Mr. Seward insisted that "in no case must [the subject of the] vote be mentioned in [the] treaty," though he waived any objection to Denmark's taking a vote outside of the treaty." "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches of the 5th of September, No. 98, and of the 7th of September, No. 100. "In regard to the notoriety which the negotiation to which you refer has attained, it is necessary to remember that the habits and practice of republican government always render even a temporary silence concerning important measures of policy suspicious and generally impossible. The press of all civilized nations, now universally employing the agency of the telegraph, has unavoidably and properly become a combination of great power, and is always more active in procuring facts which are involved in any uncertainty or mystery than in disseminating authentic information about which there is no effort at concealment. The difficulty which it was foreseen would attend the preservation of confidence between the two Governments in regard to the negotiations has been one of the strongest motives upon our part for urging speedy decision upon the Government of Denmark. 66 'As the case stands, it seems to me now more extraordinary that so little of the negotiations has transpired than it is that our proceedings have not remained altogether confidential. "You mention in your 98 that you have reason to believe that the Danish Government now regret their having dissevered the proposition by assenting to sell St. Thomas and St. John, with the reservation of Santa Cruz. You inform me further that in your opinion the Danish Government would now much desire that their own proposition for the sale of the three islands should be reinstated and accepted. You assign the reasons upon which this opinion is founded, namely, that the relations of the Government with the inhabitants of the islands, with the people of Denmark, with the legislature of that country, and with France could be more successfully managed by making a cession of all than by a cession of the two islands of St. Thomas and St. John. Impressed with this opinion, you imply rather than express a recommendation that we shall open the question and accept the cession of the three islands upon the Danish terms.` "The President has at no time entertained a doubt that the division of our original proposition, so as to exclude Santa Cruz from the negotiation, would prove a hindrance in Denmark. He remains of the opinion that our proposition was well conceived, having reference to our situation at the time it was made. Circumstances, however, seem now to have changed. I leave out of view parallel negotiations in other quarters. In the purchase of Russian America, we have @ Mr. Seward to Mr. Yeaman, telegram, Sept. 3, 1867, MS. Inst. Denmark, XIV. 288. invested a considerable capital and incurred the necessity for a large expenditure. The desire for the acquisition of foreign territory has sensibly abated. The delays which have attended the negotiation, notwithstanding our urgency, have contributed to still farther alleviate the national desire for enlargement of territory. In short, we have already come to value dollars more and dominion less. 66 Under these circumstances, it would be more difficult now than it has heretofore been to accept the three islands at the price which is set upon them by the Government of Denmark. The best we could do now, would be to accept the two upon the terms which seem to have been agreed upon. I do not hesitate to say that procrastination of the negotiation, even for those two islands, may wear out the popular desire for even that measure of partial acquisition. "The Danish negotiators have asked us to consider that the habits of Denmark are slow. Surely the statesmen of that country can well understand that on the contrary in the United States all political movements necessarily require vigor and promptitude." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, Sept. 23, 1867, MS. Inst. Den- In a confidential instruction to Mr. Yeaman of Sept. 28, 1867, Mr. Seward, October 5, 1867, Mr. Seward cabled Mr. Yeaman to waive the objection to a popular vote and to consent that one might be taken at the instance of Denmark. These instructions were reiterated by telegraph on the 24th of October, with a request to report progress." A convention for the cession of St. Thomas and St. John for $7,500,000, with stipulations for a popular vote and for the admission of the inhabitants, in case of annexation, to the rights of citizens of the United States, was concluded at Copenhagen, Oct. 24, 1867. The Russian minister at Copenhagen offered Mr. Yeaman his congratulations; the French minister said nothing; the Prussian minister observed a Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, Oct. 24, 1867, MS. Inst. Denmark, XIV. 300; same to same, Oct. 25, 1867, id. 301. Mr. Yeaman to Mr. Seward, Oct. 25, 1867; Mr. Seward to Mr. Yeaman, Oct. 26, Oct. 30, Oct. 31, and Nov. 15, 1867, MSS. Dept. of State, XIV. 304, 305, 307. [§ 123. that it looked as if the United States expected soon to need great naval facilities, in which case the acquisition would be of great advantage; the British minister coupled with his felicitations a jesting remark about Greenland and Iceland; the Spanish minister, while congratulating Mr. Yeaman personally on the success of the negotiations, declared that, for himself and his Government, he did not like it." "A strong current of economical sentiment in regard to our finances has set in during the autumn, and it has since increased in volume and in force. West India accessions in harmony with the so-called Monroe doctrine, are still deemed important, but there is so strong a disposition to retrench that the treaty for St. Thomas and St. John is not unlikely to labor in the Senate just as the transaction itself has labored in the country. "However illogical it may seem, public opinion has been much disturbed by the recent terrible displays of hurricanes and earthquakes in the lands and waters of the Virgin's Islands. "These phenomena even brought confusion into the councils of Governor Carstensten, when he was proceeding to take the public vote of St. Thomas. He conceded delay; that delay is now a subject of inquiry and a cause of hesitation here. "The lapse of time, however, always tranquilizes political excitement, just as it brings natural quiet after hurricanes, volcanoes, and earthquakes. "I hear from St. Thomas that there is no doubt of a favorable vote there, on the 9th of January next." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, Dec. 30, 1867, MS. Inst. Denmark Mr. Seward's reference to "economical sentiment" probably was suggested The Rev. Charles Hawley, D. D., of Auburn, N. Y., was sent as a confidential The vote in St. Thomas stood 1,039 to 22 for annexation; in St. John, 205 we bound in honor to pay for them?" 38-39.) "The treaty of the cession of St. Thomas and St. John was submitted by the President, to the Senate, on the 3d day of December a Mr. Yeaman to Mr. Seward, Nov. 8, 1867, MSS. Dept. of State. Mr. Yeaman refers in this dispatch to the publication of the provisions of the treaty. See Mr. Seward to Mr. Yeaman, Oct. 31 and Nov. 15, 1867, approving the conduct of the negotiations; also, as to proposed supplemental articles, relating to Santa Cruz, Mr. Seward to Mr. Yeaman, Dec. 16 and Dec. 30, 1867, MS. Inst. Denmark, XIV. 374, 310. last; the Senate were afterwards promptly advised by the President of the vote of the people of the islands in favor of annexation. Insomuch as this is the so-called long session of Congress, no inference unfavorable to the success of the treaty can be drawn from the delay of its consideration in the Senate. On the 8th day of January instant, a special envoy of the Dominican Republic arrived here to inform us that that Government had reconsidered its rejection of our propositions for the purchase of Samana, and desired now to agree upon terms of cession. It was due to the Senate and to the country, to give a fair consideration to the Dominican proposition. That subject is therefore now under discussion in this Department. It is not unlikely that the Senate will prefer to wait for the result of my conferences with the Dominican minister before proceeding to a final consideration of the Danish treaty. Certainly the treaty for St. Thomas and St. John loses nothing in popular favor by a free examination upon its merits." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, Jan. 29, 1868, MS. Inst. Denmark, "I have your private letter of the 2d of January, for which 1 give you my thanks. I should regret if you were disturbed by the reflections and criticisms concerning the progress of the negotiation for the Danish islands to which you allude. It may well be understood, once for all, that no new national policy, deliberately undertaken upon considerations of future advantage, ever finds universal favor when first announced. If it were otherwise, and if the public in every nation were so well informed as to be prepared to accept a policy of that sort immediately upon its announcement, it would be difficult to conceive what necessity there would be for statesmanship. In that case the nation would direct beforehand, and infallibly, in all cases what should be done, and what should be left undone. It is the great advantage of a free republic, that all important subjects are examined in all the lights, favorable and unfavorable, in which reason, interest, prejudice, and passion can place them. "Certainly all that could be desired, and all that can be expected, is that decisions upon public questions shall be made within a reasonable time, be wisely made, and shall receive universal acquiescence. I am not aware that the Government of the United States, although it is rendered very complex by internal checks and balances, has failed at any time to act with not only as much wisdom but also with as much promptness in the conduct of its foreign affairs as other nations generally do. "It is now seen that it was not necessary for Mr. Jefferson at any time during twelve years, to protest against hostile criticisms on the purchase of Louisiana. No one now thinks that the Government decided either rashly or unwisely in the acquisition of California. The sharpness of criticism upon the acquisition of Alaska is manifestly abated already. "The extension of the United States into the tropical seas is an affair scarcely less important than either of those. It would have been wonderful if it had escaped a searching popular investigation." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, Jan. 29, 1868, "private and confidential," MS. Inst. Denmark, XIV. 315. In an instruction to Mr. Yeaman, Jan. 2, 1868 (MS. Inst. Denmark, XIV. 312), Mr. Seward said: "It would not be becoming for me to entertain correspondence with a foreign state concerning incidental debates and resolutions in regard to the treaty for the two Danish islands, while it is undergoing constitutional consideration in the Senate and in Congress." Early in 1868 the treaty was ratified by the Government of Denmark, but, as it still remained under consideration in the Senate of the United States, the ratifications could not then be exchanged. Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, Feb. 20 and April 10, 1868, MS. "Important domestic questions which have arisen at the close of the civil war and in a periodical political crisis have largely engrossed the attention of Congress and the country during the present year, to the exclusion of external policies. Owing to this cause, as it is believed, the House of Representatives has thus far delayed proceedings to fulfill the pecuniary conditions of the purchase of Alaska, which was effected with so much alacrity and unanimity in 1867. The Senate has delayed until the present moment the consideration of the treaty with Denmark for the acquisition of St. Thomas and St. John. "Some other important treaties have been postponed. It is now manifest that the session of Congress is approaching its end. Judging from existing indications, I think the Danish treaty will be left for consideration until the next session of Congress, while the question upon the Alaska appropriation may be expected to be decided before the adjournment. "During the recess of Congress, we shall be more able than we are now to collect the public sentiment in regard to the Danish treaty, and to consider whether any change in the form of the question is needful or desirable." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, June 29, 1868, MS. Inst. Denmark, Congress having adjourned in the summer of 1869 without action by the Senate upon the treaty, Mr. Seward proposed to the Danish minister at Washington the conclusion of an additional article extending the time for the exchange of ratifications one year. Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Yeaman, No. 95, Aug. 17; No. 96, Aug. 17; and No. 98, Aug. 27, 1868, MS. Inst. Denmark, XIV. 329, 330, 331. In his No. 96, Mr. Seward said: "There is manifest in the public mind some |