Indemnity for conflagration of legation paid; 543 544 Oct. 14 544 544 Departure of combined fleet to open the straits Interview with the Gorogio on the opening Convention with the Japanese government.. 553 553 578 579 581 587 587 CORRESPONDENCE. FRANCE No. 378.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, November 19, 1863. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 425; and so likewise your despatch enclosing me a copy of the communication from the government of France to that of the United States, on the subject of equipping, victualling, or receiving Russian privateers into our ports, was duly received; but, as you will already have learned by my despatches, which you have doubtless received since yours was written, it was unnecessary. Having found copies of that despatch from the French government in the British parliamentary papers, as well as in the 6th edition of Wheaton's International Law, I had fully anticipated your wishes, by communicating the same to Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys, accompanied by a communication, dated November 6, anticipating all the suggestions made by you. A copy of this communication to Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys I enclosed to you in my despatch No. 372, to which I beg to refer you. I have only to add that no answer has been received to my communication from Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys. It is proper to say, however, that I believe he has been much engaged recently upon pending European questions, and at present he is not in Paris, but with the Emperor at Compiegne, where he will yet remain for some days. The Emperor's speech at the opening of the Corps Legislatif, and his subsequent letter to the different governments of Europe, inviting them to a congress at Paris, continue to attract much attention. Questions connected with this subject, I am inclined to think, occupy principally the attention of the cabinet here. I am anxious to see Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys upon a number of pending questions, but there is no chance of doing so until his return. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: I yesterday saw Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys for the first time within the last fortnight. His absence from Paris, and pressing engagements the week before, have prevented his receiving the diplomatic corps for business. [*38th Congress, 1st session, House Ex. Doc. No. 1, page 803.] I called his attention at once to the Florida at Brest, and to the repairs and recruitment of her crew, reading to him extracts from letters I had received on the subject. He begged I would give him a copy of these papers, and I have this morning sent the same to him. I send you herewith a copy of my communication to him, which will itself explain the condition of things here, both as respects the Florida and the vessels now being built at Bordeaux for the confederates. I ought to add that he said that if any change or improvement in the batteries or fighting powers of the Florida had been made, it was against law and against orders. He said, furthermore, that he had himself personally informed Messrs. Arman & Voruz, (the constructor and iron founder,) engaged on those vessels now being built at Bordeaux and Nantes, that the work thereon must cease, unless they could satisfy him that they were honestly intended for another government; and he added to me that he would at once refer their proceedings to the minister of marine. We have obtained an elaborate opinion from that all the parties engaged on those vessels, at Bordeaux and Ñantes, are responsible to the criminal laws of France. We cannot proceed, however, against Mr. Arman personally, except by an application to and permission from the Corps Legislatif, of which body he is a member. I have already asked you what you thought of the propriety, or rather the wisdom, of this course of proceeding. I am very averse to initiate a proceeding at law unless quite sure of the result. If adverse, the consequences would be injurious. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM L. DAYTON. PARIS, November 27, 1863. MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE: Herewith I enclose to your excellency the copy of an extract from a letter addressed to me by Mr. Davisson, United States consul at Marseilles, dated November 24, 1863, in reference to the construction of two of the vessels now being built for the confederates at that port. One of these vessels is advertised in the "Gironde," of that city, to sail on the 28th of February, and the other on the 31st of March. The pretence that they are intended for the China seas is yet kept up in this advertisement, though the papers heretofore shown to your excellency (especially the letter of Mr. Arman) afford the clearest evidence that this pretence is a false one. I enclose you, likewise, the copy of an extract of a letter from Captain Winslow, of the United States ship Kearsarge, in reference to the assistance and repairs made upon the confederate ship Florida, at Brest. To these two subjects I called the attention of your excellency on yesterday, when I likewise apprised you of the fact that they were recruiting a crew for that vessel in the ports of France, and that twenty-six men had already been enlisted in the ports of Havre and Nantes, prior to the 11th instant. They have not yet been received on board the Florida, though kept in pay by that vessel, and ready to be shipped when the complement is complete. The Florida is ready now to go to sea, and may do so at any day, unless prevented by the authority of this government. I regret, likewise, to be under the necessity of enclosing to your excellency the copy of a letter received this morning from our consul at Calais. It would seem from this that another confederate steamer, the Rappahannock, has just arrived in that port, and is awaiting aid. The same protests which have been made in respect to the others, I beg to extend to her. I am, sir, your very obedient servant, His Excellency M. DROUYN DE L'HUYS, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris. WM. L. DAYTON. No. 380.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, November 27, 1863. SIR In the course of my conversation with Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys yesterday, I referred briefly to what he had some time since said to me in reference to an early acknowledgment of the new government of Mexico. He said, pleasantly, that he feared he had been too sanguine. I told him that our kind relations with the Juarez government were unbroken, and that we did not anticipate an early and permanent establishment of a monarchy in Mexico. In the present condition' of things, therefore, you did not feel at liberty to consider the question he had propounded. I do not think that he was either surprised or disappointed by this answer. He informed me that the Emperor had been much gratified by your recent action in forbidding the recruitment of men in the United States for Mexico. This had been reported to him by Mr. Mercier. I reminded him, in passing, that this action seemed to contrast somewhat with that of the French authorities, in permitting the shipment of a crew for the Florida in a French port. It seemed to me that the allusion was felt. He made a note of it, as I supposed, and the conversation there dropped. I reminded him, however, that I had some time since sent him a copy of that despatch in reference to Russian privateers, sent to us at the beginning of the Crimean war. He said that, owing to his absence, he had not yet seen it, nor my communication which accompanied it. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. WM. L. DAYTON. P. S.-The proposition for a congress yet engrosses all attention; but each of the great powers is distrustful of the others, and I am greatly mistaken if the proposition does not turn out an abortion. No. 382.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, December 4, 1863. SIR: Your despatches from No. 427 to No. 431, both inclusive, have been duly received. Another confederate vessel, formerly the Victor, of the English navy, now called by her captain the Rappahannock, has escaped from the English port of Sheerness and run into Calais. I communicated the fact to Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys last week, and he informed me that he immediately referred the case to the minister of marine, from whom he has not yet received an answer. Having since obtained additional information as to this vessel, I had a conversation with him on the subject yesterday, and at his request I have put that information in writing and sent it with copies of affidavits to-day. Of this communication I herewith send you a copy. The copies of the affidavits made by Joseph Murray, Thomas Kelly and Wm. Wynn, which I enclose to Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys, have doubtless been already forwarded to you from London. My despatch to Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys will apprise you of the present condition of the Rappahannock, now at Calais. I learn that this vessel had for some reason been rejected by the British admiralty, and sold to a private purchaser, from whom she was bought by the confederates, and subjected to great changes and repairs. Mr. Drouyn de l'Huys seems to be quite restive under this recent and con |