The journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Vol. II, 1899

by Various

RUSSIA THE FRIEND OF THE REPUBLIC.

BY JOSEPH SMITH, LOWELL, MASS.

At a time when so many Americans seem to be forgetting the history of their country and are fatuously pursuing the political will-o’-the-wisp called “British friendship”; when a society organized to frustrate the unwisdom of foreign alliances,—the League of American Independence,—is flouted and insulted; when the tendency of the dominant political party in the Republic is towards international folly and its motto appears to be “Away with the Constitution,” the incident embodied in the appended letter may perhaps remind sane Americans what the true attitude should be to-day towards the Russian and British empires, respectively. The letter in question is an answer to a request made by me on Mr. Jeremiah Curtin,—the scholarly translator of “Quo Vadis” and other works of Sienkiewicz, and himself the author of a number of remarkable volumes on folk-lore and kindred subjects,—for a paper on Andrew Curtin, his uncle, the famous war governor of Pennsylvania:

Warsaw, Russian Empire,

December 28, 1898.

Joseph Smith, Esq.:

Dear Sir:—I have just received your letter of December 5, and hasten to reply.

The time between this date and the meeting of the American-Irish Historical Society is so short that it would be impossible for me to prepare a paper as you suggest; were I free there would be sufficient time, perhaps, but as I am in the midst of important and urgent investigations I can do no more than write you a few lines.

There are many subjects, of course, which would be of interest to the Society and consequently to America. The time has come when men who are of more than ordinary culture, and interested in the history of America and the British empire, are beginning to understand that the political and social development of these two immense aggregations of mankind cannot be studied in a satisfactory and scientific way without a thorough knowledge of the Celtic race. But, as I understand, the Society is occupied specially at present in showing the part which the Irish have taken in the United States both in winning independence for the republic and afterward in building it up; the wider aspects of the history and career of the Celtic race may be considered at some later time, should the Society so desire.

Among men of Irish descent who have played an important part in American history, the late Governor Curtin deserves a high place. His father, Roland Curtin, when a young man, was informed by governmental authority that he had twenty-four hours in which to leave Ireland. He went to France, and from France to America. He settled in Pennsylvania, and established the first iron works, if not in the state, in that part of it where he lived.

Without entering into the details of the governor’s career and the great part which he took in defending the integrity of the American Union, it is sufficient to state here that it was owing to him that Abraham Lincoln received his first nomination for the presidency. Had it not been for Andrew G. Curtin, Abraham Lincoln would not have been president of the United States. Curtin, then governor of Pennsylvania, received Lincoln on his way to Washington at the boundary of the state; together they planned the manner of the president’s further journey, by which he escaped, if not assassination, the possibility of meeting men who had it in mind.

When a separation of the Southern states had become a fact, Governor Curtin invited all the loyal governors to meet in conference at Altoona, Pa., where he made the statement to them, that either the war must be carried on in real and deadly earnest with all the powers of the country placed at the disposal of the president, or be dropped altogether. After due consultation the governors decided to offer all the power of the states to the president, and went to Washington to lay that decision before Lincoln; all went except Governor Bradford of Maryland. After the Altoona conference and the meeting of the governors with President Lincoln at Washington, the war became that reality which won final success.

Governor Curtin’s actions during the succeeding years of the struggle were such that he, Governor Morton of Indiana and Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, were pre-eminently the great war governors, the three governors uppermost in men’s minds.

Governor Curtin’s untiring work on behalf of the soldiers of his state is well known and universally remembered. It is perhaps not so well known that he founded the first Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home in the United States, that of Pennsylvania.

Some time after the war he went to St. Petersburg, as Minister Plenipotentiary, where he gained the respect and esteem of Alexander II. At his last interview the Emperor presented him a full length portrait of himself. This portrait, painted in oil, was made expressly for Governor Curtin, and was sent to his home in Pennsylvania by the Russian government.

While at St. Petersburg, Prince Gortschakoff took the governor into the archives of the foreign office, and showed him the correspondence which took place between the Emperor Napoleon III and Alexander II of Russia concerning the recognition of the independence of the Confederate states. The Emperor Napoleon addressed an autograph letter to Alexander II, stating that the government of Her Britannic Majesty and his government were ready to acknowledge the independence of the Confederate States of America, and invited him to join with them. To this the Emperor of Russia answered, also in an autograph letter, that the people of the United States had a government of their own choice, and that they were using their best blood and treasure to defend it, and not only would he not do anything to oppose them, but he would reserve freedom of action to proceed as he deemed necessary under the circumstances. Soon after, the Russian fleets appeared in New York and San Francisco.

Governor Curtin read the two letters of the emperors himself, and gave me the contents, the substance of which I have just given.

Very sincerely yours,

Jeremiah Curtin.

The potent action of Russia in our hour of bloody stress, which held the hands of England and Napoleon the Little, speaks louder than the strident clamor of the American ingrates, who, forgetting our debt to the Muscovite, would make us the ally of the Briton, the deadly enemy of our friend and of us. Under the Providence of God, the action of Alexander II saved this republic from being torn asunder, and we were base indeed, if in these days we were to turn from the friend of our hour of need to take the hand red with the blood of a hundred helpless races.