Mr. Seward to Mr. Pike.
Washington, May 16, 1861.
Sir: The government is preoccupied with the civil war which has been inaugurated with the reckless purpose of overthrowing the Constitution and the federal Union. It has little time to think of our foreign relations, and when it does think of them it is chiefly to consider how and in what way it can most effectually counteract the efforts of the revolutionists to procure European intervention in their favor.
The Netherlands lost even their independence for a time through the disastrous operations of the French revolution of 1789. They are slowly, but surely, recovering advantages and prestige which they enjoyed before that calamity occurred. Their policy is peace and friendship with all nations, and certainly they have always manifested the most liberal sentiments towards the United States. In view of these circumstances and dispositions the President does not apprehend any danger that the government of the Netherlands, or its very intelligent people, will lend aid, countenance, or sympathy to the misguided partisans who, in a frenzy of passion, are compassing the ruin of our country.
I have looked through the correspondence of this department with your legation, and I find that, although our commerce is known in every part of the world, and although the Netherlands have no insignificant possessions in each of its great continental divisions, yet that there is not even one case of controversy or dispute between the two nations.
What, then, will you do at the Hague? You can do much, and, first, in relation to Japan. The government of the Netherlands is probably an ally of Japan. I enclose the copy of a note of the 14th instant, addressed by this department to the respective diplomatic representatives of Christian powers here who have treaties with Japan. You will submit the suggestions contained therein to his Majesty’s government, and if they should be frankly received, I shall be prepared to submit a project of a convention to carry them into effect.
I have especially called the attention of Baron de Limburg here to this matter, and invited him to consult with his government. Should he comply with this request, your own action will be merely in co-operation with him, and the needful negotiations may be had with him here if his government shall prefer.
The government of the Netherlands may perhaps have forgotten that New York, one of the largest and most prosperous of these States, was colonized by emigrants from that country, and that their descendants still cherish lively affection for the land of their ancestors. The flow of emigration from the Netherlands to this country was arrested by the revolutionary wars which occurred in both countries at the close of the last [Page 342] century; but it has resumed its course within the last twenty years, and the thrifty adventurers already constitute an important portion of the population in some of our new western States. The intercourse between persons of this class and their relations and friends is very intimate. All who come hither from the Netherlands, whether as settlers or transient passengers, are admitted and enjoy entire freedom of movement, and are never required to exhibit a passport under any circumstances. It is a fact very honorable to themselves, and to their native country, that not one of them has ever manifested a purpose or even a thought of hostility against this government. I am sure that the citizens of the United States who have occasion to visit the Netherlands are equally free from any sentiments of unkindness, or of hostility against the government or people of that country. Why, then, should not the government of the Netherlands relax the rigor of its police system so far as to dispense with the requirement that the citizen of the United States shall arm himself with a passport when visiting that country? The President desires that you submit these thoughts to the minister for foreign affairs in an earnest, but not importunate manner. If they should be favorably received, you will be authorized to enter into a convention to give them effect.
One of our first treaties was made with the Netherlands in the year 1782. Article XIX of that treaty was as follows:
“No subject of their high mightinesses, the states general of the United Netherlands, shall apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the said United States of America, or any of them, or the subjects and inhabitants of the said United States, or any of them, or against the property of the inhabitants of any of them, from any prince or State with which the United States of America may happen to be at war; nor shall any subject or inhabitant of the said United States of America, or any of them, apply for or take any commission or letters of marque for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the high and mighty lords, the states general of the United Netherlands, or against the subjects of their high mightinesses, or any of them, or against the property of any one of them, from any prince or State with which their high mightinesses may be at war. And if any person of either nation shall take such commission or letters of marque, he shall be punished as a pirate.”
There have been several changes of the government of the Netherlands since that time, and it has thus become doubtful whether that treaty is now in force.
You will have perceived in the archives of the legation a letter which was addressed to you on the 10th instant, on the subject of the amendments to the law of nations in regard to the laws of maritime war applicable to neutrals, which was proposed by the congress at Paris in 1856. It is presumed that the government of the Netherlands will be well disposed to enter into a convention for the acceptance of these propositions, the material one being in effect the same as the treaty stipulations to which I have thus referred.
I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
James S. Pike, Esq., &c., &c., &c.