Details
SEWARD, William H. Autograph letter signed ("William H. Seward"), as Secretary of State, to Professor Alexander D. Bache (1806-1867), Washington, 30 September 1863. 1 page, 8vo, on Department of State stationery.
"THERE IS A POWER HERE ADEQUATE TO PROVIDE FOR THE SECURITY AND FREEDOM OF THIS COUNTRY"
An enthusiastic Seward talks of the Union's improving fortunes with Benjamin Franklin's great grandson. "It is clear," Seward tells Bache, "that our transatlantic friends are beginning to think. If we hold Chattanooga firmly, and get well established in Texas while keeping the Mississippi free, it will be seen that there is a power here adequate to provide for the security and freedom of this country." At last Seward and Lincoln could ease their anxiety that Britain, France and other European powers might recognize or even intervene on behalf of the Confederacy. The diplomatic tide had begun to change after Antietam in September 1862, followed by Lincoln's preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. Britain had a powerful abolitionist constituency, and the government recoiled from fighting alongside an avowed slave power. But the military situation had remained tenuous until mid-1863, and it was by no means clear to the Europeans or anyone else, that the North could win the war. But the combined victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg meant that the South was militarily speaking cut in two, with Union forces firmly established on the eastern and western sides of the Mississippi.
Seward's relations with Bache stretched back to the 1840s, when Bache became head of the U. S. Coast survey, an immense scientific enterprise that mapped and provided valuable geological and environmental information about the eastern U. S. coastline.
"THERE IS A POWER HERE ADEQUATE TO PROVIDE FOR THE SECURITY AND FREEDOM OF THIS COUNTRY"
An enthusiastic Seward talks of the Union's improving fortunes with Benjamin Franklin's great grandson. "It is clear," Seward tells Bache, "that our transatlantic friends are beginning to think. If we hold Chattanooga firmly, and get well established in Texas while keeping the Mississippi free, it will be seen that there is a power here adequate to provide for the security and freedom of this country." At last Seward and Lincoln could ease their anxiety that Britain, France and other European powers might recognize or even intervene on behalf of the Confederacy. The diplomatic tide had begun to change after Antietam in September 1862, followed by Lincoln's preliminary announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. Britain had a powerful abolitionist constituency, and the government recoiled from fighting alongside an avowed slave power. But the military situation had remained tenuous until mid-1863, and it was by no means clear to the Europeans or anyone else, that the North could win the war. But the combined victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg meant that the South was militarily speaking cut in two, with Union forces firmly established on the eastern and western sides of the Mississippi.
Seward's relations with Bache stretched back to the 1840s, when Bache became head of the U. S. Coast survey, an immense scientific enterprise that mapped and provided valuable geological and environmental information about the eastern U. S. coastline.