It is not commonly printed for many months after
reception by Congress. But the sagacity of Mr. Seward caused its
typographical preparation in advance of presidential use. It therefore
becomes an antidote to the heated poison of the Palmerston or Derby
prints, which emulate in seizing the last national outrage for party
purposes. And its inspection enables the great public, after perusing
what Secretary Seward has written during the past troublous half year,
to acquire a calm reliance upon his skill in navigating our glorious
ship of state over the more troublous waters of the next half year.
The most cursory inspection of this volume must put to shame those
Washington news-mongers, who from March to December pictured the
Secretary as locked up in his office, in order to merely shun
office-seekers, or as idling his time at reviews and sham-fights. The
collection demonstrates, that his logic, persuasion, and rhetorical
excellence have in diplomatic composition maintained their previous
excellences in other public utterances; and that his physical capacity
for labor, and his mental sympathy with any post of duty, have been as
effective, surrounded by the dogs of war, as they were when tasked amid
the peaceful herds of men.
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