The case of the Jews was making considerable progress, and other enlightened governments also made representations to Switzerland in favor of the Jews; still nothing definite was accomplished under Buchanan’s administration, either. In March, 1861, Rabbi Leeser expressed, in the “Occident,” his regret, that nothing was done, and wrote that he expected that nothing would be done until “Switzerland herself will render the laws harmless by repealing through her Cantonal Councils all inequality laws existing against us.” This prediction proved correct; for while the succeeding Secretary of State, William H. Seward (1801–72) took up the matter with Mr. George G. Fogg, who was then minister to Switzerland, several years passed before another favorable report reached the State Department on the subject. The appointment by the Government of the United States of a Jewish citizen, Mr. Bernays, as its Consul to Zürich created a stir in both countries, and clearly indicated the favorable disposition of the administration of President Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) towards the Jews. In 1864 Mr. Fogg wrote to Mr. Seward that the President of the Confederation, Mr. Dubs, had informed him that the Federal Council were then disposed to so amend the treaty that no discrimination founded on religious belief should thereafter be made or endured by citizens of the United States within the limits of the Swiss Confederation. The remaining Cantons were removing the Jewish disabilities one after another; but in some of them, as in Basle, the hotbed of opposition and prejudice against the Jews, full civil rights were not granted until 1872, although the right of residence was freely accorded ten years earlier. The new Swiss Constitution, which was adopted in 1874, at last established full religious liberty, and also made the question of treatments of aliens a Federal, as distinguished from a Cantonal, matter. It was not until then that the question was solved, so to speak, automatically; but it is conceded that the efforts of the Government of the United States contributed to the result, although it could not attain its object by direct diplomatic negotiations. PART V. THE CIVIL WAR AND THE FORMATIVE PERIOD. CHAPTER XXIV. THE DISCUSSION ABOUT SLAVERY. LINCOLN AND THE JEWS. Pro-slavery tendencies of the aristocratic Spaniards and Portuguese――David Yulee (Levy)――Michael Heilprin and his reply to Rabbi Raphall’s _Bible View on Slavery_――Immigrants of the second period as opponents of slavery――Two Jewish delegates in the Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and one member of the Electoral College in 1860――Two other Jews officially participate in Lincoln’s renomination and re-election in 1864――Abraham Jonas――Encouragement from the Scripture in original Hebrew.