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No. 609.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, July 16, 1864.

SIR: I have to acknowledge with much appreciation, the receipt of your despatch of the 29th of June, No. 497, communicating a translation of a letter received by your son from M. Dufour, surgeon-in-chief of the government hospital at Cherbourg.

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SIR: I have to acknowledge with much satisfaction the receipt of your despatch of the 1st of July, No. 501, in which you inform me that Captain Winslow, of the United States ship Kearsarge, had arrived at Paris, with a view, as he stated, to consult some distinguished oculist residing there; that he was received by the Americans in that city with great attention and respect; that a dinner, attended by many Americans, was given to him and two of his officers who accompanied him, on the 30th ultimo, which passed off with much eclat; that on the latter date you were telegraphed by Mr. Pike, from the Hague, as follows: "Prussian corvette the Yeddo is reported arrived in the Weser, and that the newspapers have been recently alleging a sale of those vessels at Bordeaux to Prussia."

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SIR: Herewith I beg to enclose to you the translation of a note received from M. Drouyn de l'Huys in reference to the complaint by Mr. Chase, our consul at Tampico.

This note, like some others that M. Drouyn de l'Huys has written to me, is unsigned, and a mere substitute for an informal verbal communication, but, being in writing, is the more satisfactory as the less liable to be misunderstood. Our consul in this case may be, and doubtless is, right in his complaint of rudeness on the part of French officials, but it does seem to me he would have shown more judgment if he had accepted the offered withdrawal of the notes complained of (which was an implied apology) rather than made this rudeness. the subject of a serious diplomatic correspondence.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c.

WM. L. DAYTON.

[Translation.]

M. Drouyn de l'Huys to Mr. Dayton.

Memorandum.-July, 1864.

The minister of foreign affairs of the Emperor has examined the two despatches of the American consul at Tampico, relative to the threats of imprisonment to which he has been subjected, despatches which M. the minister of the United States has been directed to communicate to the government of his Majesty. It is not possible to answer Mr. Dayton definitively upon this subject before receiving the explanations requested of the commandant-in-chief of the French forces in Mexico. The attentive perusal of the second despatch of Mr. Chase cannot fail, however, to suggest to M. Drouyn de l'Huys some reflections, which it seems to him proper to offer at once to M. the minister of the United States. The circumstantial details given in regard to this affair by the American consul in his last report are in effect of a nature to lessen very much its gravity. According to the declaration of Mr. Chase himself, he had already in his hands the two letters of the superior commandant of Tampico, which now cause his demand for satisfaction when he went to this officer to represent to him that he could not answer for the good conduct of any one who might enter Tampico. The commandant excused himself for having written as he had done, in alleging that he had been led into it by the alarming rumors which were at that time in circulation.

A short time afterwards Mr. Chase made a second visit to this same officer, to present, with a view to preventing any disquieting remarks, the captain of an American ship-of-war which had arrived, in the mean time, at Tampico.

The incident seemed then completely void, when the French commandant learnt from the manager of the imperial consulate that Mr. Chase, having re-read his second note, had manifested an extreme dissatisfaction with it. The commandant of Tampico hastened then to send back the French agent to the American consul to offer to withdraw the letters by which he felt himself wounded. Mr. Chase answered to this offer by requiring written apologies, in order to transmit them to his government, and the French officer refused them.

These are the facts, as Mr. Chase himself states them. Now it appears from this recital that the misdoings of the superior commandant of Tampico would consist in having written to the American consul in terms assuredly much to be regretted, but that he hastened, upon learning the impression which they had made upon this consul, to offer him spontaneously the withdrawal of his notes. He no doubt thought that would suffice Mr. Chase, since the two visits of the latter did not allow him to suspect the importance which the incident might take in the eyes of this agent. It is not to be admitted for an instant, as the latter gives it to be understood, that it was the appearance of a federal ship which brought the commandant of Tampico to the more correct proceedings, for he had, before the arrival of this vessel, very courteously received the observations of Mr. Chase, and, to speak the truth, it is rather singular that it was only after the satisfactory explanations exchanged and after a second visit to the French officer, in order to present to him the federal captain, that Mr. Chase thought it useful to re-read more attentively, or to cause to be more faithfully translated, a note of six lines which had been the cause of all his previous proceedings.

So, by the very terms of the despatches of the consul of the United States, if there were for a moment a fault in the proceedings on the part of the superior commandant of Tampico, this officer seems to have wished, by his after conduct, to have effaced its impressions upon Mr. Chase.

No. 517.]

Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward.

PARIS, July 20, 1864. SIR: Herewith I enclose the copy of a late note from Mr. de la Montagnie, our consul at Nantes, in reference to the vessels building at that port.

He seems to think that a man named Hansarson, who has been a rebel agent, as supposed, at that port, has yet charge of those vessels, and the inference consequently is, that the rebels yet hold their interest and control in and over those two clipper ships building there. These you will remember are not the iron-clads.

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SIR: Since my last communication which I had the honor of addressing, July 2, I have to report: On Tuesday of this week (July 12) I went to St. Nazaire, hoping to learn something about the rebel ships there. If Mr. Bourcard was correct in saying that Hansarson, the rebel agent, was not in command at the time, such is no longer true, for he is again in control. Still the number of workmen is limited, and little progress has been made since my last report. I continue of the opinion that they cannot be finished before the close of August. I learned yesterday, from a respectable source, that Prussian and Peruvian agents had applied to purchase these ships, but the rebel agents had declined the sale.

Application was made some time ago by Prussian agents to a gentleman in St. Nazaire for the purchase of the Shooting Star, an American ship then in port. The price was too large and the transaction failed.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM L. DAYTON,

JOHN DE LA MONTAGNIE.

United States Minister, Paris.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 28, 1864.

No. 616.]

SIR: Your despatch of the 8th of July, No. 507, which is accompanied by a memorandum from M. Drouyn de l'Huys, concerning the case of James H. Mansfield, United States consul at Tabasco, has been received.

The spirit of that paper is highly honorable to the Emperor's government. I suspend a consideration of the explanations until the further examination which the minister for foreign affairs has promised shall result in some certainty, as to the question whether the wrongs committed against Mr. Mansfield were exclusively the acts of Mexicans, or were directed or participated in by the French military authorities intervening in Mexico. If the former supposition shall prove correct, it will be a plain duty to desist from further representation in the matter to the French government, and to acknowledge the frankness with . which M. Drouyn de l'Huys has conducted his inquiries in the case.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &r..

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 618.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton.
[Extract.]

DEPARTMENT of State,
Washington, July 28, 1864.

SIR I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 15th of July, No. 513, together with the copy of a confidential memorandum from M. Drouyn de l'Huys, on the subject of the imprisonment of Mr. Mansfield, United States consul at Tabasco. It gives me very sincere pleasure to acknowledge the delicacy and good feeling which M. Drouyn de l'Huys has shown in making me acquainted with a view of Mr. Mansfield's conduct entirely at variance with the reports from him upon which my representations to the imperial government in his case were based.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

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WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 619.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 28, 1864.

SIR: Your despatch of the 15th of July, No. 512, has been received, and its contents have been communicated to the Secretary of the Navy. The weight of information which has been received here favors a belief that the insurgent agents in Europe have become convinced of their failure to build or buy and set up in Europe a navy to break our blockade and revolutionize this government. A few weeks, if not days, will verify this conclusion, if it is correct, and in the mean time our forces now in European waters will, if properly displayed, save us from any unlooked for naval accident there.

I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 620.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 29, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 8th of July, No. 506. You will please assure M. Drouyn de l'Huys that the President appreciates highly the frankness and the good will with which the Emperor's government has received the proceedings of this government, in attempting to prevent a permanent alienation between Spain and Peru.

I give you a copy of my latest despatch to Mr. Koerner for your information concerning our views of the present condition of that interesting question.

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SIR: I have your despatch of the 13th of July, No. 510, which recalls the of an intended new design on the part of the Emperor of the French to

report

propose mediation in our civil war. I approve of the reticence you have practiced on the subject in your communication with M. Drouyn de l'Huys, and of the reasons you assign for that reserve. I have only to say upon the subject itself, that any such proceeding would meet with a prompt and decided answer from the United States. The principal of foreign mediation in our affairs cannot be, in any form or under any circumstances, admitted. You will make this explanation, or refrain from making it, in the exercise of your own discretion. But when you find it necessary to speak upon pretensions of mediation in any quarter, you will be expected to speak not doubtfully in the sense in which I have written.

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SIR: I have received your despatch of the 18th of July, No. 515, which gives me your views of the complaint of Mr. Chase, United States consul at Tampico, concerning certain notes addressed to him by a French officer on the entrance of a French military force at that place. Your despatch is accompanied by a memorandum concerning the case which M. Drouyn de l'Huys has committed to you for the information of this government.

This memorandum is written in a candid and liberal spirit, and induces an expectation that, when the minister for foreign affairs shall have received the explanations which he has asked from the military authorities, he will relieve the case of all its gravity, by showing us that the French officer addressed his offensive notes to the consul, without proper consideration of the respect due to that officer as an agent of the United States, and that the rudeness of the note is disapproved by his Imperial Majesty's government. I freely admit that I concur with you in the opinion that Mr. Chase might, with entire propriety, have consented to the proposed withdrawal of the note of which he complains; regret that he did not do so. You are quite at liberty to communicate this opinion of mine to M. Drouyn de l'Huys. This government attaches only as much importance to ceremonial questions as the prevailing state of public sentiment on this class of national issues requires. It has no desire to lift them to the dignity of diplomatic debate.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

and I

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

No. 629.]

Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, August 8, 1864.

SIR: I have your despatch of the 20th of July, No. 517, together with its accompaniments, namely: a note which was addressed to you by our excellent consul at Nantes, Mr. de la Montagnie, concerning the two clipper ships which are being built at that port.

The circumspection and vigilance which the consul practices are deemed worthy of very high commendation, and the information he gives is regarded as

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