According to your desire I have taken true pleasure in transmitting to Messrs. Dufour and Aubin, surgeons of the imperial navy, the thanks which you have been pleased to address me in the name of the government of the United States, begging me to extend them to these gentlemen. Accept, Monsieur le Ministre, the assurance of my high consideration, The MINISTER of the United States, at Paris. No. 512.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, July 15, 1864. SIR: I send you two slips, one cut from Galignani of this morning, and the other from La France, merely to illustrate the mode in which the secessionists and their sympathizing friends try to keep up the idea in the European mind that they yet have the means and are ready to meet the United States even on the sea. The result of the fight between the Kearsarge and the Alabama was a hard blow, not to secession alone, but to the pride and vanity of Englishmen, and especially to English ship-builders. In every mode possible they seek to break their fall. It is scarcely necessary to say that the Florida and Kearsarge have not met, and that the above slip which makes the statement is entirely false. My son has received a letter from one of the officers of the Kearsarge, dated the 14th instant, the day after the pretended fight. The ship was then, and I presume is now, at Dover. I have no knowledge, as I have heretofore written you, of the Robert Lee, referred to in the other slip, and am equally ignorant of any confederate corvette passing through the straits of Gibraltar. If I had known such vessels to exist I should have written to you otherwise than I did in despatch No. 508. In that event additional force might be needed in European waters. The old sailing ship St. Louis, which, with a large crew, has been drifting so long about the Mediterranean, would be in an unsafe condition if a modern built confederate steamship, heavily armed, should get into those waters. By the way, it would seem to me that a steamship might be advantageously substituted for that vessel. A steamer with an armament of modern description, and half the crew of the St. Louis, would be much more serviceable, and if a good sailer, I suppose less expensive. The other half of the crew could be, I should think, much more useful on vessels at home; at least, such is the opinion of some officers with whom I have consulted. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. WM. L. DAYTON. "SOUTHAMPTON, 14th.-Intelligence has arrived here that an engagement took place yesterday near Jersey between the federal corvette Kearsarge and the confederate steamer Florida. The Kearsarge, being much injured, was obliged to take refuge in a neighboring port. The Florida remains outside, ready to renew the engagement.' 'SUEZ, 14th.-According to accounts from Bombay to the 24th ultimo, the Emir of Caboul has defeated Afza-Khan in a grand battle fought near Bavncea." The France says: "The federal corvette Sacramento left Cherbourg yesterday morning, and steered to the westward. She has, it is said, arranged to meet the Niagara, a frigate of the same nation. On the other hand, the General Lee, a confederate frigate, left the Azores a few days since, after having taken in water and provisions. A confederate corvette has also passed through the straits of Gibraltar. A report is current that a challenge has been exchanged between the officers of the northern and southern vessels to regulate the conditions of a fresh combat to take place in about ten days, and in which a frigate and a corvette of each nation is to be engaged. The fight is proposed to come off nine or ten miles from Cherbourg." The Lafayette, the second steamer of the Transatlantic Company, has just arrived at Havre from Greenock, where she had been constructed. She is in every point similar to the Washington, the other vessel of the same company, and will start on her first passage to New York on the 24th August. Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. No. 607.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 16, 1864. SIR: Your despatch of June 26, No. 496, has been received. Your procecdings in relation to the new French steamship line are cordially approved. I am not aware that the vessel of that line just despatched from Havre has arrived at New York. Measures will be adopted to have your suggestions about her reception carried out in the commercial metropolis, and her officers will receive a courteous welcome if they come to this capital. I am not inattentive to the indication of a hostile disposition indulged by the government party in France against the United States. It is, however, as wise as it is honorable to our national character to treat France frankly and courteously in all our intercourse. Nor do I now apprehend any serious complications of our relations with that government or with the government of Great Britain. European questions have become too critical to allow active hostilities against us at present. Our civil war has had the effect of developing political and martial forces here which are sufficient to arrest the attention of statesmen, however unwillingly, in foreign countries. We may not unreasonably believe that we are approaching the end of revolutionary war. And it is hardly less probable that France and Great Britain are now not so far from the verge of that abyss as to allow them to be reckless of our rights. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 608.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. Department of STATE, Washington, July 16, 1864. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of June 30, No. 499, communicating a copy of a letter addressed by you to the minister of marine, expressing your thanks and appreciation of the kindness and attention shown to the wounded at Cherbourg by the surgeon at the naval hospital at that port You are instructed to say to the minister of marine that your proceedings in the matter are approved by this government. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 609.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 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. 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." 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. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &e. WM L. DAYTON. Mr. John de la Montagnie to Mr. Dayton. No. 41.] CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 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, 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. |