I have the honor to be, sir, with high respect, your most obedient
servant.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Beams to Mr. Seys.
Senate Chamber,
January 15, 1868.
Sir: I have the honor, by the direction of
the senate, to forward your excellency the following resolution,
which was adopted by the senate to-day:
“Resolved by the senate, That his excellency
the minister resident and consul general of the United States of
America, near the seat of government of this republic, be informed
that the senate will be pleased to receive his official visit on
Friday, the 17th instant, at 12 o’clock m.”
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
DANIEL J. BEAMS, Secretary of the
Senate.
His Excellency John Seys,
Minister Resident and Consul General.
Address to the Senate.
Mr. President and members of the senate of the
republic of Liberia:
This is to me an hour of no ordinary interest, an event of no common
occurrence. Occupying as I do a position in which, however
imperfectly, I yet represent one of the greatest republics on which
the sun ever shone, or about which the historian ever wrote, a grade
of office, too, because the more elevated, therefore the more
responsible, than any which has preceded me. I cannot from such a
standpoint witness the doings of this sister republic without deep,
strong, anxious wishes for her continued growth and prosperity as a
nation.
In this honor conferred upon me, accredited near the seat of this
government, and to-day permitted to officially appear before this
honorable body, to whose wisdom and ability so many momentous
interests are committed, I feel the privilege I enjoy to be an
enviable one, the more especially as I see causes for congratulation
to which, as a true and ardent lover of a republican form of
government, I cannot refrain from alluding.
Permit me then to congratulate the senate of Liberia in that, after
those commotions and agitations which are inseparable from a form of
human government where “majesty is in the people,” such an
auspicious calm should have succeeded; such perfect enthusiasm as
was manifested in the ushering in of the new administration; such
magnanimity as was displayed by those whose wills succumbed to the
popular will.
In these events we see the nucleus of a future nation of
indestructible material, a government of lasting and enduring
perpetuity, because it exists in the consent of the governed.
Another high source of congratulation is the most timely, wise, and
admirable combination of measures emanating from the executive,
recommended to the legislative branch of this government, and taken
hold of with such promptitude, and acted upon with such perfect
confidence, that the good of the masses, the welfare of the people
is the grand object of the executive, and not the prosperity of any
party, any favored class or aristocratic clique in high places.
When those two branches of a form of government like this, the
executive and the legislative, thus harmonize and co-operate for a
nation’s good, the nation must prosper.
When distrust, misapprehension, and discord creep in and alienate the
one from the other, the seeds of disunion are soon sown, and
germinate with a fearfully progressive tendency to disruption and
ruin.
Permit me, Mr. President and members of the senate, to assure you
that I take a peculiar pleasurein keeping the government I represent
advised of every important event in your history. While I am
speaking here this day, enjoying the honor conferred upon me, the
Secretary of State of the United States of America is perusing the
intelligence conveyed by the December mail from the United States
office of legation in Monrovia, that James S. Payne was duly
announced by the house of representatives of this government as the
people’s choice, and constitutionally elected President of the
republic of Liberia.
And I assure you, gentlemen, that any measure, which I can descry in
the distance as conducive to the perpetuation of those happy
relations which now exist between the two governments, any measure
which I can, by proper presentation to my country, conclude will
subserve the interests of Liberia, I shall not fail, most cordially
to embrace and as promptly to advocate.
Mr. President and members of the Senate:
This is a day unparalleled in the history of this republic. We have
displayed on the one side of the president of the senate the
star-spangled banner of America, and on the other side our national
pride, the brilliant lone star of this republic.
On the right side of his excellency the president of the senate, we
are favored with the presence of the right honorable John Seys,
consul general of the United States of America, and minister
resident in this republic.
This, Mr. President, and other considerations, render this an
auspicious day to the senate of Liberia; and, while we feel
flattered by the noble sentiments of our illustrious guest,
expressive of those emotions of joy which he realizes in visiting
this hall, I cannot allow this moment to pass without expressing the
sentiment of our nation.
