Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

not adaressed either to Austria or Hungary, nor was it any public manifesto to which any foreign state was called on to reply. It was an account of its transactions communicated by the Executive Government to the Senate at the request of that body-made public, indeed, but made public only because such is the common and usual course of proceeding and it may be regarded as somewhat strange, therefore, that the Austrian cabinet did not perceive that, by the instructions given to Mr. Hülsemann, it was itself interfering with the domestic concerns of a foreign state, the very thing which is the ground of its complaint against the United States.

"This Department has on former occasions informed the ministers of foreign powers that a communication from the President to either house of Congress is regarded as a domestic communication, of which, ordinarily, no foreign state has cognizance, and in more recent instances the great inconvenience of making such communications subjects of diplomatic correspondence and discussion has been fully shown. If it had been the pleasure of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria during the struggles in Hungary to have admonished the provisional Government or the people of that country against involving themselves in disaster by following the evil and dangerous example of the United States of America in making efforts for the establishment of independent governments, such an admonition from that sovereign to his Hungarian subjects would not have originated here a diplomatic correspondence. The President might, perhaps, on this ground have declined to direct any particular reply to Mr. Hülsemann's note; but out of proper respect for the Austrian Government it has been thought better to answer that note at length, and the more especially as the occasion is not unfavorable for the expression of the general sentiments of the Government of the United States upon the topics which that note discusses.

“A leading subject in Mr. Hülsemann's note is that of the correspondence between Mr. Hülsemann and the predecessor of the undersigned, in which Mr. Clayton, by direction of the President, informed Mr. Hülsemann that Mr. Mann's mission had no other object in view than to obtain reliable information as to the true state of affairs in Hungary by personal observation.' Mr. Hülsemann remarks that this explanation can hardly be admitted, for it says very little as to the cause of the anxiety which was felt to ascertain the chances of the revolutionists.' As this, however, is the only purpose which can, with any appearance of truth, be attributed to the agency, as nothing whatever is alleged by Mr. Hülsemann to have been either done or said by the agent inconsistent with such an object, the undersigned conceives that Mr. Clayton's explanation ought to be deemed not only admissible but quite satisfactory. Mr. Hülsemann states in the course of his note that his instructions to address his present communication to Mr. Clayton

reached Washington about the time of the lamented death of the late President, and that he delayed from a sense of propriety the execution of his task until the new Administration should be fully organized, ‘a delay which he now rejoices at, as it has given him the opportunity of ascertaining from the new President himself, on the occasion of the reception of the diplomatic corps, that the fundamental policy of the United States, so frequently proclaimed, would guide the relations of the American Government with other powers.' Mr. Hülsemann also observes that it is in his power to assure the undersigned that the Imperial Government is disposed to cultivate relations of friendship and good understanding with the United States.' The President receives this assurance of the disposition of the Imperial Government with great satisfaction, and, in consideration of the friendly relations of the two Governments thus mutually recognized, and of the peculiar nature of the incidents by which their good understanding is supposed by Mr. Hülsemann to have been, for a moment, disturbed or endangered, the President regrets that Mr. Hülsemann did not feel himself at liberty wholly to forbear from the execution of instructions, which were of course transmitted from Vienna without any foresight of the state of things under which they would reach Washington. If Mr. Hülsemann saw in the address of the President to the diplomatic corps satisfactory pledges of the sentiments and the policy of this Government in regard to neutral rights and neutral duties, it might, perhaps, have been better not to bring on a discussion of past transactions. But the undersigned readily admits that this was a question fit only for the consideration and decision of Mr. Hülsemann himself; and although the President does not see that any good purpose can be answered by reopening the inquiry into the propriety of the steps taken by President Taylor to ascertain the probable issue of the late civil war in Hungary, justice to his memory requires the undersigned briefly to restate the history of those steps and to show their consistency with the neutral policy which has invariably guided the Government of the United States in its foreign relations, as well as with the established and well-settled principles of national intercourse and the doctrines of public law.

"The undersigned will first observe that the President is persuaded His Majesty the Emperor of Austria does not think that the Government of the United States ought to view, with unconcern, the extraordinary events which have occurred, not only in his dominions, but in many other parts of Europe, since February, 1848. The Government and people of the United States, like other intelligent governments and communities, take a lively interest in the movements and the events. of this remarkable age, in whatever part of the world they may be exhibited. But the interest taken by the United States in those events has not proceeded from any disposition to depart from that neutrality H. Doc. 551-15

toward foreign powers which is among the deepest principles and the most cherished traditions of the political history of the Union. It has been the necessary effect of the unexampled character of the events themselves, which could not fail to arrest the attention of the contemporary world, as they will doubtless fill a memorable page in history. But the undersigned goes further, and freely admits that in proportion as these extraordinary events appeared to have their origin in those great ideas of responsible and popular governments, on which the American constitutions themselves are wholly founded, they could not but command the warm sympathy of the people of this country.

"Well-known circumstances in their history, indeed their whole history, have made them the representatives of purely popular principles of government. In this light they now stand before the world. They could not, if they would, conceal their character, their condition, or their destiny. They could not, if they so desired, shut out from the view of mankind the causes which have placed them, in so short a national career, in the station which they now hold among the civilized states of the world. They could not, if they desired it, suppress either the thoughts or the hopes which arise in men's minds, in other countries, from contemplating their successful example of free government. That very intelligent and distinguished personage, the Emperor Joseph the Second, was among the first to discern this necessary consequence of the American Revolution on the sentiments and opinions of the people of Europe. In a letter to his minister in the Netherlands in 1787, he observes that it is remarkable that France, by the assistance which she afforded to the Americans, gave birth to reflections on freedom.' This fact, which the sagacity of that monarch perceived at so early a day, is now known and admitted by intelligent powers all over the world. True, indeed, it is, that the prevalence on the other continent. of sentiments favorable to republican liberty, is the result of the reaction of America upon Europe; and the source and center of this reaction has doubtless been, and now is, in these United States. The position thus belonging to the United States is a fact as inseparable from their history, their constitutional organization, and their character, as the opposite position of the powers composing the European alliance is from the history and constitutional organization of the government of those powers. The sovereigns who form that alliance have not unfrequently felt it their right to interfere with the political movements of foreign states; and have, in their manifestoes and declarations, denounced the popular ideas of the age in terms so comprehensive as of necessity to include the United States, and their forms of government. It is well known that one of the leading principles announced by the allied sovereigns, after the restoration of the Bourbons, is, that all popular or constitutional rights are holden no otherwise than as grants and indulgences from crowned heads. Useful and necessary changes in legis

lation and administration,' says the Laybach Circular of May, 1821, ought only to emanate from the free will and intelligent conviction of those whom God has rendered responsible for power; all that deviates from this line necessarily leads to disorder, commotions, and evils far more insufferable than those which they pretend to remedy.' And his late Austrian Majesty, Francis I, is reported to have declared in an address to the Hungarian Diet, in 1820, that the whole world had become foolish, and, leaving their ancient laws, was in search of imaginary constitutions.' These declarations amount to nothing less than a denial of the lawfulness of the origin of the Government of the United States, since it is certain that that Government was established in consequence of a change which did not proceed from thrones, or the permission of crowned heads. But the Government of the United States heard these denunciations of its fundamental principles without remonstrance, or the disturbance of its equanimity. This was thirty years ago.

"The power of this Republic, at the present moment, is spread over a region, one of the richest and most fertile on the globe, and of an extent in comparison with which the possessions of the house of Hapsburg are but as a patch on the earth's surface. Its population, already 25,000,000, will exceed that of the Austrian Empire within the period during which it may be hoped that Mr. Hülsemann may yet remain in the honorable discharge of his duties to his Government. Its navigation and commerce are hardly exceeded by the oldest and most commercial nations; its maritime means and its maritime power may be seen by Austria herself, in all seas where she has ports, as well as it may be seen, also, in all other quarters of the globe. Life, liberty, property, and all personal rights are amply secured to all citizens, and protected by just and stable laws; and credit, public and private, is as well established as in any government of continental Europe. And the country, in all its interests and concerns, partakes most largely in all the improvements and progress which distinguish the age. Certainly, the United States may be pardoned, even by those who profess adherence to the principles of absolute governments, if they entertain an ardent affection for those popular forms of political organization which have so rapidly advanced their own prosperity and happiness, and enabled them, in so short a period, to bring their country and the hemisphere to which it belongs to the notice and respectful regard, not to say the admiration, of the civilized world. Nevertheless, the United States have abstained, at all times, from acts of interference with the political changes of Europe. They can not, however, fail to cherish always a lively interest in the fortunes of nations struggling for institutions like their own. But this sympathy, so far from being necessarily a hostile feeling toward any of the parties to these great national struggles, is quite consistent with amicable relations with them all,

The Hungarian people are three or four times as numerous as the inhabitants of these United States were when the American Revolution broke out. They possess, in a distinct language, and in other respects, important elements of a separate nationality, which the Anglo-Saxon race in this country did not possess, and if the United States wish success to countries contending for popular constitutions and national independence it is only because they regard such constitutions and such national independence not as imaginary, but as real blessings. They claim no right, however, to take part in the struggles of foreign powers in order to promote these ends. It is only in defense of his own Government, and its principles and character, that the undersigned has now expressed himself on this subject. But when the United States behold the people of foreign countries without any such interference spontaneously moving toward the adoption of institutions like their own, it surely can not be expected of them to remain wholly indifferent spectators.

"In regard to the recent very important occurrences in the Austrian Empire, the undersigned freely admits the difficulty which exists in this country, and is alluded to by Mr. Hülsemann, of obtaining accurate information. But this difficulty is by no means to be ascribed to what Mr. Hülsemann calls-with little justice, as it seems to the undersigned the mendacious rumors propagated by the American press. For information on this subject, and others of the same kind, the American press is, of necessity, almost wholly dependent upon that of Europe; and if 'mendacious rumors' respecting Austrian and Hungarian affairs have been anywhere propagated, that propagation of falsehoods has been most prolific on the European continent, and in countries immediately bordering on the Austrian Empire. But, wherever these errors may have originated, they certainly justified the late President in seeking true information through authentic channels. His attention was, first, particularly drawn to the state of things in Hungary, by the correspondence of Mr. Stiles, chargé d'affaires of the United States at Vienna. In the autumn of 1848, an application was made to this gentleman, on behalf of Mr. Kossuth, formerly minister of finance for the Kingdom of Hungary by imperial appointment, but at the time the application was made chief of the revolutionary government. The object of this application was to obtain the good offices of Mr. Stiles with the Imperial Government, with a view to the suspension of hostilities. This application became the subject of a conference between Prince Schwarzenberg, the imperial minister for foreign affairs, and Mr. Stiles. The prince commended the considerateness and propriety with which Mr. Stiles had acted; and, so far from his disapproving his interference, advised him, in case he received a further communication from the revolutionary government in Hungary, to have an interview with Prince Windischgrätz, who was charged by

« PředchozíPokračovat »