Apparently, both he and Lincoln were
divided between fear of a French alliance with the Confederacy
and fear of premature action in the North that would render
Napoleon desperate. Just how far they comprehended Napoleon and
his problems is an open question.
Whether really comprehending or merely trusting to its instinct,
Congress took a bolder course. Two men prove the antagonists of
a parliamentary duel--Charles Sumner, chairman of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations, and Henry Winter Davis, chairman
of the corresponding committee of the House. Sumner played the
hand of the Administration. Fiery resolutions demanding the
evacuation of Mexico or an American declaration of war were
skillfully buried in the silence of Sumner's committee. But
there was nevertheless one resolution that affected history: it
was a ringing condemnation of the attempt to establish a monarchy
in Mexico. In the House, a joint resolution which Davis
submitted was passed without one dissenting vote. When it came
to the Senate, Sumner buried it as he had buried earlier
resolutions. None the less it went out to the world attended by
the news of the unanimous vote in the House.
Shortly afterwards, the American Ambassador at Paris called upon
the imperial Foreign Secretary, M.
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