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identifiable at sea, unlike the profile of more modern screw-propeller vessels in the fleet. 42 It was, without a doubt, a very clever depiction. Anyone looking at this addition to the panorama might conclude that it was simply a commercial steam vessel departing San Francisco. But an informed individual— such as a diplomat—could easily wonder whether this new vessel was meant to send a message above and beyond the new flags: the United States had the means to defend the entire Pacific Coast, thanks to the power of steam (fig. 12). If there was one person who had the motive to make such a declaration, it was Seward. It was he who had fought for California's admission as a U.S. senator. It was he who had been tasked by Lincoln with thwart- ing any attempt to capture the Golden State. And it was he who seemed to remember California in his commu- nications, both public and private. Furthermore, it was Seward who had such close personal ties to Leutze, a friendship that would continue as the artist painted additional portraits of the Seward family in the years to come. 43 ere was perhaps no better evidence of Seward's ongoing state of mind than the communication he wrote to Dayton in early February 1863, as the French continued to commit more ships and soldiers to their Mexican adventure: It is a great mistake that European Statesmen make if they suppose this people are demor- alized. Whatever in the case of an insurrec- tion the people of France or of Great Britain… would do to save their national existence,… just so much and certainly no less the people Fig. 12. Symmetry by design: Leutze appears to have deliberately depicted the settlers and their wagons in the form of a rising peak, leading the viewer right up to the pinnacle, with the scout waving his hat and the settler handing him the newly-added American flag. Straight down from that flag, at the bottom of the painting, is the newly-added steamship. THE CAPITOL DOME 57