Description:

WILLIAM SEWARD AVOIDS A SCANDAL!
WILLIAM H. SEWARD (1801-1872) American politician and Lincoln's Secretary of State, responsible for preventing official European recognition of the Confederacy.. Very fine content collection of manuscript material relative to a plot by agents of Maximilian of Mexico to embarrass Seward, an outspoken opponent of the French-backed regime. The affair began with Clarence Armstrong Seward, the Secretary's nephew, who had served briefly as Acting Undersecretary of State, following the attempted assassination of William and his son Frederick in April 1865. To complicate matters, Clarence, who was an attorney in New York, was acting as counsel for the Mexican Express Company: a commercial venture begun by Maximilian's government in 1861. This association aroused the interest of the Mexican government who saw an opportunity to attempt to force the Secretary of State from office. In September 1865, two men visited Clarence's New York law office. Begging secrecy, they produced a letter alluding to a "Monsieur M---" who was to arrive in New York on the next steamer, "with the proper authentication." That "authentication" was code for a $100,000 fund to be entrusted to Seward to pay off American newspaper editors to give Maximilian favorable press. According to Clarence, who writes a lengthy A.L.S. 13pp. 8vo., Galveston, Nov. 14, 1865 to his law partner, R. M. Blatchford, "…I answered as follows, 'our people believe in the Monroe Doctrine. I have heard that one Editor - naming him - was formerly in the market but I do not know that he could be purchased no, nor whether he would use his paper as you desire, but aside from that , you both now my name, and you will both agree with me, that it would no do for one of that name to be mixed up or compromised by having anything to do with the mater you propose.' We then had some desultory conversation in the course of which it occurred to me that, if that amount of money was to arrive in New York for the purpose indicated it would be better for our Government to know the fact and the Depository of the money, and, when the conversation resumed the subject, I terminated it by saying 'I will see,' and dismissed the gentlemen. " After the meeting ended, Clarence, troubled by the implications of what he had done, related the affair to Thurlow Weed, his uncle's political mentor who advised him to stay silent on the matter. However, it appears that Weed believed that Clarence had actually accepted the money and the notion of his stringing-along Maximilian's agents was merely a cover story for more nefarious ends. Soon after the meeting, Clarence travelled to Texas on legal business. It was during this trip that the story made its way to William Seward courtesy of Mr. Weed who divulged the story to the Secretary soon after Ulysses S. Grant had expressed concern about Clarence's connection to the Mexican Express Company. According to a lengthy letter to Clarence by his law partner, Richard M. Blatchford in a 10 page A.L.S. legal folio, New York, Nov. 3, 1865, "… Mr Weed … says to me that on Monday, while he, Weed was with your Uncle, Gen. Grant sent up his name to see your Uncle. That he, Weed, left, passing, as he went out, Gen. Grant going in - that some two hours afterwards he, Weed, went back and found your Uncle much troubled. That your uncle said that Gen. Grant has had been to him to complain that you had been in communication with an agent of Maximilian's and had now gone to Mexico in that interest - that your Uncle asked him, Mr. Weed, if he knew anything about it, that he Weed made no reply, and your uncle asked him again. That he then felt it his duty to tell your Uncle something which you had told him, Weed, and which was that before you left you went to him … and said that an agent of Maximilians' had put in your hands one hundred thousand dollars to be used in popularizing Maximilian's cause in this country… that he then felt it is duty to tell your uncle something you had offered to him, Weed, half of the one hundred thousand dollars to use…" Clarence addressed this issue in his letter of November 14: "I never said to Mr W-- that I had the money - That would have been an unnecessary false hood - I did not offer him half the money - but on the contrary I said, that 'if it was proper for me to become the Depository of the fund I should expect him to control the disposal of it.'" He laments that he did not confide in Blatchford about the matter, explaining "I did not wish to compromise you - I was willing to take the risk myself of 'going in' under Mr W-s guidance up to the point of the actual handling of the money and then I should have stated the fact to you…" Blatchford's letter includes manuscript copies of other letters on the matter including a terse letter from Seward to his nephew, Washington Nov. 1, 1865: "I transmit herewith a copy of a letter addressed by me today to Senor Maias Romero the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Mexican Republic which relates to the formation of the 'Mexican Express Company' recently organized in the City of New York and with which you appear to be connected." Seward's letter to the Mexican ambassador of the same date assuring him that the United States "has no knowledge on the subject other … than what is furnished by your note " Apparently Clarence also explained the matter personally to his uncle as the collection also includes a brief L.S. by the Secretary, 1p. 8vo., Washington, Dec. 13, 1865, writing, "My dear Clarence, Your letter of the 11th has been received. The matter to which it relates may rest for the present." Fortunately for all parties concerned, a scandal was averted. Maximilian would be deposed as Emperor of Mexico in June 1867. A superb and fascinating collection. Usual folds, light soiling, else fine condition overall.

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