No. The Idea In England Then Was
That His Message Was, If Anything, Too Mild.
"If he means to be
President of the whole Union," England said, "he must come out with
something stronger than that." Then came Mr. Seward's speech,
which was, in truth, weak enough.
Mr. Seward had ran Mr. Lincoln
very hard for the President's chair on the Republican interest, and
was, most unfortunately, as I think, made Secretary of State by Mr.
Lincoln, or by his party. The Secretary of State holds the highest
office in the United States government under the President. He
cannot be compared to our Prime Minister, seeing that the President
himself exercises political power, and is responsible for its
exercise. Mr. Seward's speech simply amounted to a declaration
that separation was a thing of which the Union would neither hear,
speak, nor, if possible, think. Things looked very like it; but
no, they could never come to that! The world was too good, and
especially the American world. Mr. Seward had no specific against
secession; but let every free man strike his breast, look up to
heaven, determine to be good, and all would go right. A great deal
had been expected from Mr. Seward, and when this speech came out,
we in England were a little disappointed, and nobody presumed even
then that the North would let the South go.
It will be argued by those who have gone into the details of
American politics that an acceptance of the Crittenden compromise
at this point would have saved the war.
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