Mr. Harvey to Mr. Seward.
Sir:The French charge d’affaires delivered to the King on the 12th instant a special letter to the Emperor, containing an invitation to a congress of the states of Europe to be held at Paris, having in view, generally, an adjustment of the Polish and other questions which now menace the peace and political relations of this continent.
A council of state was held on the 17th instant, at which it was determined that Portugal should accept the invitation, and that fact was formally made known this morning and communicated to Paris. As the course of the different governments on this subject will, whether they be large or small, excite interest, I telegraphed Mr. Adams to inform the department of the decision.
The prompt response of Portugal has caused some surprise in those circles which have been accustomed to regard her foreign policy as being either inspired by the statesmen of Great Britain, or as resulting from the ties of interest, intercourse, and alliance with that power.
It has, however, seemed to my mind as but a natural and logical result of the proceedings which took place here last spring, when this government united with those of England and France in making representations to Russia concerning her internal administration in Poland, and took occasion also to emphasize its sympathy by encouraging a popular demonstration in that behalf, to which the King gave the sanction of his personal presence. At that period of time the ministry was hard pressed by the opposition, in and out of the Cortes, and its active zeal was, perhaps, stimulated by the hope of disarming a combination which then threatened its tenure of office.
The proposed congress is now much debated throughout Europe, according to the partialities or prejudices which have been evoked by that sudden suggestion. Every calm and intelligent observer of events must be impressed with the conviction that a solution of the existing difficulties can hardly be attained by any such conference, and simply because those difficulties lie at the very foundations upon which various governments rest. To uproot them is to prostrate if not to extinguish other nationalities in the name and with the profession of righting the oppressed, and of calling again into existence a nation which was stricken from the map of Europe by the criminal participation of some of the very powers which are now so vehement in condemning the conduct of Russia.
Let the door of general discussion as to the state of Europe be once thrown open, and the prediction may be confidently ventured that it can never be again closed in peace. Uncertain and menacing as the present is in all its aspects, agitated as the times are by the angry throes of a coming commotion, and heavily charged as the political atmosphere may be with storm clouds, still it is preferable to the almost certain and fierce explosion which would follow the severe shock of jarring elements, discordant rivalries, and revived animosities.
Hence, one of two alternatives seems to be probable—either that the congress will never meet at all, or, if it does meet, that it will separate leaving “confusion worse confounded.”
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State,