"What was that?" interjected the first lady of the land.
"You shall know soon, my dear." Then the beautiful smile came to the President's firm lips and overflowed into his deep-set eyes as he said to Tom: "The highest honor the old Romans could give to a fellow-citizen was to decree that he had 'deserved well of the Republic.' That can be said of your father now. He has deserved well of the Republic. Before long, the world will know what he has done. Until then," he turned as he spoke to his wife, "until then we'd better not talk about it."
This talk was in early June of 1863. By September the whole world, or at least all the governments of the world, did know what Mr. Strong had done after Lincoln sent him abroad. The whole world saw the symbol of his work, without in many cases knowing what the symbol signified. That symbol was the famous visit of the Russian fleet to New York City in September of 1863.
The governing classes of both England and France were in favor of the South during our Civil War. The English and French Empires were jealous of the growth of the Republic and wished to see it torn asunder. France hoped to establish a Mexican Empire, a vassal of France, if the Confederacy won. England needed Southern cotton and could not get it unless our blockade of Southern ports was broken. The people of both France and England had little to say as to what their governments would do. Many distinguished Frenchmen took our side and the mass of Englishmen were also on our side, but the latter were helpless in the grip of their aristocratic rulers. They testified to their belief, however, splendidly. In the height of what was called "the cotton famine," when the Lancashire mills were closed for lack of the fleecy staple and when the Lancashire mill-operatives were facing actual starvation, a tiny group of great Englishmen, John Bright and Thomas Bayley Potter among them, spoke throughout Lancashire on behalf of the Northern cause. There was to be a great meeting at Manchester, in the heart of the stricken district. The cost of hall, lights, advertising, etc., was considerable. Someone suggested charging an admission fee. It was objected that the unemployed poor could not afford to pay anything. Finally it was arranged to put baskets at the door, with placards saying that anyone who chose could give something towards the cost of the meeting. When it was over, the baskets were found to hold over four bushels of pennies and ha'pennies. The starving poor of Lancashire had given them, not out of their abundance, but out of their grinding want.
This was the widow's mite, many times multiplied.
The crafty Napoleon the Third, "Napoleon the Little," as the great French poet and novelist, Victor Hugo, called him, asked England to have the English fleet join the French fleet in breaking our blockade and in making Slavery triumph. England hesitated before the proposed crime, but finally said it was inclined to follow the Napoleonic lead, if Russia would do likewise. Then the French Emperor wrote what is called a holographic letter, that is, a letter entirely in his own handwriting, to the then Czar of Russia, asking him to send part of his fleet on the unholy raid that was in contemplation.
Russia was then a despotism, with one despot. It was not only a European and an Asiatic Power, but an American Power as well, for it did not sell Alaska to the United States until 1867. Despotism does not like to see Liberty flourish anywhere, least of all near itself. Liberty is a contagious thing. Might not the American example infect Alaska, spread through Siberia, even creep to the steps of the throne at St. Petersburg? But this time, thanks to the work of our Minister to Russia and of our extra-official representative there, the Hon. Thomas Strong, Despotism stood by Liberty. The Russian Czar wrote the French Emperor that the Russian fleet would not be a party to the proposed attack upon the Northern navy, but that on the contrary it was about to sail for New York in order that its commander might place it at the disposal of the President of the United States in case any Franco-English squadron appeared with hostile intent at our ocean-gates.
This was the beginning of the traditional friendship between America and Russia. It explains why New York and Washington went mad in those September days of 1863 in welcoming the Russian fleet and the Russian officers. It explains why Lincoln told Tom that his father had "deserved well of the Republic."
It was at about this time that John Hay once asked Tom: