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OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS:

SHOWING

PRESENT PERILS FROM ENGLAND AND FRANCE; THE NATURE AND
CONDITIONS OF INTERVENTION BY MEDIATION; AND ALSO BY
RECOGNITION; THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ANY RECOGNITION

OF A NEW POWER WITH SLAVERY AS A CORNER-

STONE; AND THE WRONGFUL CONCESSION

OF OCEAN BELLIGERENCY.

SPEECH

OF

HON. CHARLES SUMNER,

BEFORE THE

CITIZENS OF NEW YORK, AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE,

SEPT. 10, 1863.

BOSTON:

WRIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, 4 SPRING LANE.
1863.

SPEECH.

FELLOW-CITIZENS,-From the beginning of the war in which we are now engaged, the public interest has alternated anxiously between the current of events at home and the more distant current abroad. Foreign Relations have been hardly less absorbing than Domestic Relations. At times the latter have seemed to wait upon the former, and a packet from Europe has been like a messenger from the seat of war. Rumors of Foreign Intervention are constant, now in the form of Mediation, and now in the form of Recognition; and more than once the country has been summoned to confront the idea of England, and of France too, in open combination with Rebel Slave-mongers battling, in the name of Slavery, to build an infamous Power on the destruction of this Republic.

It may be well for us to turn aside from battle and siege here at home-from the blazing lines of Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Charleston-to glance for a moment at the perils from abroad; of course I mean from England and France, for these are the only Foreign Powers that thus far have been moved to intermeddle on the side of Slavery. The subject to which I now invite attention may not have the attraction of waving standards or victorious marches, but, more than any conflict of arms, it concerns the Civilization of the age. If Foreign Powers can justly interfere against Human Freedom, this Republic will not be the only sufferer.

There is always a natural order in unfolding a subject, and I shall try to pursue it on this occasion, under the following heads; First-The perils to our country from Foreign Powers, especially as foreshadowed in the unexpected and persistent conduct of England and France since the outbreak of the war.

Secondly-The nature of Foreign Intervention by Mediation, with the principles applicable thereto, as illustrated by historic instances showing especially how England, by her conspicuous, wide-spread and most determined Intervention to promote the extinction. of African Slavery, is irrevocably committed against any act or policy that can encourage this criminal pretension.

Thirdly-The nature of Foreign Intervention by Recognition, with the principles applicable thereto, as illustrated by historic

instances showing that by the practice of nations, and especially by the declared sentiments of British Statesmen, there can be no Foreign Recognition of an insurgent Power where the contest for Independence is still pending.

Fourthly-The moral impossibility of Foreign Recognition, even if the pretended Power be de facto Independent, where it is composed of Rebel Slave-mongers seeking to found a new Power with Slavery for its declared "corner-stone." Pardon the truthful plainness of the terms which I employ. I am to speak not merely of Slave-holders; but of people to whom Slavery is a passion and a business-therefore Slave-mongers; now in Rebellion for the sake of Slavery-therefore Rebel Slave-mongers.

Fifthly―The absurdity and wrong of conceding Ocean Belligerency to a pretended Power, which, in the first place, is without a Prize Court-so that it cannot be an Ocean Belligerent in factand which, in the second place, even if Ocean Belligerent in fact, is of such an odious character, that its Recognition is a moral impossibility.

From this review, touching upon the present and the past; leaning upon history and upon law; enlightened always by principles which are an unerring guide, our conclusion will be easy.

[I.]

PERILS FROM FOREIGN POWERS.

The perils to our country, as foreshadowed in the action of Foreign Powers since the outbreak of the war, first invite our attention.

There is something in the tendencies of nations, which must not be neglected. Like individuals, nations influence each other; like the heavenly bodies, they may be disturbed by each other in their appointed orbits. This is apparent even in peace; but it becomes more apparent in the convulsions of war, sometimes from the withdrawal of customary forces and sometimes from their increased momentum. It is the nature of war to enlarge as it continues. Beginning between two nations, it gradually widens its circle, sucking other nations into its fiery maelstrom. Such is human history. Nor is it different, if the war be for Independence. Foreign Powers may for a while keep out of the conflict; but the examples of history show how difficult this has been.

The Seven United Provinces of Holland, under that illustrious character, William of Orange, the predecessor and exemplar of our Washington, rose against the dominion of Spain, upheld by the bigotry of Philip II., and the barbarity of his representative, Alva; but the conflict, though at first limited to the two parties, was not slow to engage Queen Elizabeth, who lent to this war of Independence the name of her favorite Leicester and the undying

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