commandant of the French forces there, who, it appears, instructed the viceconsul of France to break the seal and take possession of the contents of said bag, which was done while 'n transit from the American steamer Golden City to the office of Mr. Ely. You will at once make known the facts of the case to the French government, and ask that an explanation may be given of this unusual proceeding. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Ely to Mr. Seward. CONSULATE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR: I have the honor to inform you that on the 30th day of September, A. D. 1864, the commandant of the French forces in Acapulco ordered the viceconsul of the French to seize the United States mail bag and to break the seal and take charge of the contents. The bag was taken while in transit from American steamer Golden City to my office. Had the commandant required the mail matter, after I had opened the bag and found a public mail therein, I should have given it to him without protest, notwithstanding I am acting under an arrangement between the French consul and our consul at Panama, which was that I should open all mails coming into Acapulco and distribute and forward to address, which arrangement has not been disturbed until this sudden seizure of our mail bag and the seal violated. Hence I deemed it my duty to protest against the proceedings. No plea of contraband matter or anything improper passing through the mails was set up, but an assumed arbitrary power was exercised in demolishing the sacredness of a government seal for civil purposes. I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. United States Consul. Mr. Ely to the French Commandant. CONSULATE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SIR: I am informed, officially, that it was by your order that the United States mail, addressed under seal to the United States consul at Acapulco, was seized on the 30th day of September, A. D. 1864, the seal broken, and the contents removed beyond my reach. As the land and naval forces of his Majesty the Emperor of the French here have no post roads or post routes, and as they perform no established postal service, and as the seizure of the United States mail was not done under cover of military surveillance, but by a civil officer of the French government, acting under your orders; and, more especially, as this mail service is performed by the United States of America, and the mails being forwarded to their legally constituted agent here, it becomes my duty to PROTEST, in the name of my government, and in this solemn manner, against the seizure, and against all and every person or persons whom it doth or may concern. Given under my hand and the seal of this consulate the day and year [L. S.] above written. LEWIS S. ELY, United States Consul. The COMMANDANT of the Land Forces of No. 556.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, November 4, 1864. SIR: Your despatches, from No. 669 to No. 683, both inclusive, have been duly received. I am especially glad to find that you so cordially approve my action in reference to the vessels which have been so long in the course of construction for the confederates at Bordeaux and Nantes. I accepted the assurance of this government that they should not be delivered to the confederates, as well from respect to this government as from sound policy. We have no force here which could at all interfere with the French iron-clads, with which it was threatened to convoy them if necessary on their trial trips, and it was certainly bad policy to get in difficulty with this government on such a question if we could avoid it. But the corvettes at Nantes have now made their trial trips and returned into port. One of them, our consul at that port reports to me, made fourteen and a half knots, and the other sixteen knots per hour, an extraordinary speed. Peru, it is said, is yet negotiating for one or both of them. Commodore Craven, of the United States ship Niagara, has been to see me, according to orders recently sent from Mr. Welles. I have informed him of the present condition of things in respect to these vessels, and the understanding between myself and this government, which had been approved by you. Indeed, I have read to him your despatch No. 681. He will, therefore, not feel it his duty, under the circumstances, to attempt to seize either of those vessels built at Nantes. The description of these vessels made to you, and a copy of which you have forwarded to me, to be shown to M. Drouyn de l'Huys, is, in the existing condition of things, of no You will recollect, too, that I have already on my files a copy of the contract under which these vessels are built, and, of course, much more accurate than any description, made by a casual visitor on an outside inspection, can possibly be. Of this contract you have long had a copy on the files of the State Department, and M. Drouyn de l'Huys has likewise a copy on his files. Some person or persons are constantly writing descriptions and information about these vessels, which are not of the slightest service, and of which to suppose us ignorant is to suppose our consul at Nantes (a most intelligent and trustworthy officer) inattentive to the most obvious requirements of official duty. use. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, WM. L. DAYTON. Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, November 4, 1864. No. 557.] SIR: I visited M. Drouyn de l'Huys on yesterday for the purpose of communicating to him more in detail the orders and proceedings of our government in reference to Cortinas and his force which crossed the Rio Grande into Texas. The papers which you forwarded to me on this subject were shown to him. They contained, in substance, little that I had not already said to him, and with which, when I communicated it to him heretofore, he seemed entirely satisfied. If, on reflection, he is disposed to complain, I suppose I will hear from him in writing. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. WM. L. DAYTON. No. 695.] Mr. Hunter to Mr. Dayton. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 7, 1864. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 21st ultimo, No. 552, relative to the answer of Mr. Bigelow, consul at Paris, to the comments of his excellency upon a previous report of Mr. Bigelow on the movements of commerce between France and the United States, and to the satisfaction expressed by M. Drouyn de l'Huys with the action of the government of the United States in regard to the Mexican troops under Cortinas which recently crossed the Rio Grande into Texas, and, in reply, to express my approval thereof. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: I have to acknowlege the receipt of your despatch of the 19th ultimo, No. 551, and to express my interest in the information therein contained relative to the trial trip of the corvette San Francisco; the change in the name of the iron-clad Sphinx to that of the Staerkodder, which is surmised to be bound for Denmark, and to the falsity of the reports contained in the "Moniteur" concerning the movement of alleged insurgent vessels-of-war. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. No. 559.] PARIS, November 8, 1864. SIR: You will doubtless have observed that M. Galvez, the minister from Peru at this court, has been recently recalled and a successor appointed to the post. At our last interview M. Drouyn de l'Huys informed me that he had again recently communicated the views of France to Spain urging peace between her and Peru. He says, furthermore, that Mr. Mercier, the new ambassador to that court, will go out specially instructed to do what he can in the interest of peace between those two countries. These things were mentioned to me incidentally, and not, as it seemed to me, with any special view to have them communicated by me to your department. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. WM. L. DAYTON. No. 560.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, November 8, 1864. SIR: A letter received from Commodore Craven, of United States ship Niagara, sent to me last night, informed me that Mr. Morse, United States consul at London, has sent a report to him that Captain Semmes, late of the Alabama, is at Cape Bajado, on the coast of Africa, with the Sea King and two other ships, preparing for a cruise, and it was suggested that Commodore Craven should go with the Niagara to that port. He sought to obtain my advice or direction in this matter. I told him the information was too vague and unreliable to justify me in advising so distant a cruise, but if he had full confidence in the correctness of this information to go, not otherwise. The point indicated is about 2,200 or 2,400 miles from Antwerp, where the Niagara now lies, and which port he was directed by the Secretary of the Navy to make his headquarters. I left the matter, therefore, to his own judgment, and am not aware as yet to what conclusion he will come. I have so frequently been deceived by these reports coming through Mr. Morse that I have little confidence in their reliability. I sincerely hope that the account we have received of the taking of the Florida in the harbor of Bahia may be an erroneous statement of the facts, or, if it be a correct statement of facts, then that the action of the United States consul and the captain of the Wachusett may be promptly disclaimed and they punished. The accounts published in all the European papers (the Moniteur among the rest) make it out to be a gross outrage on Brazil, committed after express warning from her authorities, and an express promise on the part of our consul to respect the neutrality of the port. I cannot believe that the facts are correctly stated. If they are, it would be better for us that the Florida was yet in the hands of the confederates. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. WM. L. DAYTON. A No. 699.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 15, 1864. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 17th ultimo, No. 549, transmitting a slip from the Courier de Lyon in regard to the alleged improper enlistment of certain French and Belgian emigrants who arrived at Boston in the ship Guerland, and informing me that our vice-consul at Lyons says that the statement referred to, and others of a similar kind, are interfering seriously with emigration to the United States from that district of France. Complaints upon this subject have been received at the department from some individuals directly, and from others through Baron Grabow, the chargé of Prussia, and Mr. Blondeel, the minister from Belgium. Explanations have consequently been asked, both of the War Department and of the governor of Massachusetts, the persons referred to having been incorporated in regiments of that State. A copy of a reply of Governor Andrew is herewith transmitted. It seems to be a fair and even satisfactory statement of the case, and may, in substance, be made use of towards correcting the misrepresentations which are the subject of your despatch. I am, sir, your obedient servant. WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Governor Andrew to Mr. Seward. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Executive Department, Boston, November 4, 1864. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt from the Department of State of the communication addressed to Mr. John P. Cumming, superintendent of immigration at New York, and by you referred to this department, from Jean Barbier, jr., and others, who claim to have been deceived and unfairly enlisted into the military service of the United States, whose complaints you desire me investigate. In reply, I have the honor to enclose the report of Lieutenant Colonel Wm. S. King, 35th Massachusetts volunteers, superintendent of recruits in Massachusetts, who was personally present when the men in question were landed and mustered, and to whose regiment they have been assigned by the War Depart ment. The difficulty under which Barbier appears to labor would probably be obviated by informing him that in this country a substitute, as soon as mustered, stands upon the same footing as to promotion (as in all other respects) as a volunteer; indeed, is a volunteer. With regard to Krone and Papot, their complaints are entirely groundless. It is beyond a doubt that they came here to be soldiers, were knowingly mustered as such, and are to be regarded, and should be treated, simply as deserters. I have the honor also to acknowledge the receipt of several documents from the Department of State of the United States, covering similar cases of complaints, which are all in process of investigation, and will be the subject of early and careful replies as soon as it is possible to complete the needful inquiries. |