I herewith enclose to you a copy and translation of a communication recently received by me from Mr. Thouvenel on the subject of the execution of the convention as to maritime rights. It contains nothing that I have not referred to before, but it is evident he wanted to put the specific grounds of exception to an unconditional exception of the treaty on record. SIR: I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me, the 26th of the month of August, in order to explain to me the reasons which induced you to await further instructions from your government before proceeding to the signing of the convention relative to maritime rights. In this state of affairs, I could but await the arrival of the instructions which you have requested, and, consequently, I do not wish to enter into the discussion of the motives which have prevented you from signing the contemplated convention, and which you were pleased to bring to my knowl edge. I desire, however, to set forth clearly, by some further explanations, what is the train of thought followed by the government of the Emperor, in judging, like the government of her Britannic Majesty, that it is expedient to accompany the proposed treaty with a special declaration. If the United States, before the actual crisis, had adhered to the declaration of the congress of Paris, as this adhesion would have bound the whole confederation from that moment, the cabinet of Washington might, at the present time, have availed itself of it to contest the right of the southern States to arm privateers. Now, if this supposition be correct, (fondée,) one could not be astonished that the government of Mr. President Lincoln, according to the principles which it has set forth in its manner of viewing the present conflict, should wish to consider the contemplated convention as much obligatory upon seceded States, in the present circumstances, as if it had preceded the hostilities. But if this opinion be quite explicable on the part of the cabinet of Washington in the situation in which events have placed it, it could not be thus with governments which have proposed to themselves to preserve the strictest neutrality in a struggle, the gravity of which it has no longer been possible for them to disregard. In accepting, then, a proposition presented (formulée) by the federal government, when the war had already unhappily broken out between the northern and southern States of the Union, it was natural that the government of the Emperor, having decided not to turn itself aside from the attitude of reserve which it had imposed upon itself, should consider beforchand what extension the cabinet of Washington might be induced, on account of its position, to give to an arrangement, by which it declared that the United States renounced privateering. The hostilities, in which the federal government is actually engaged, offering to it the opportunity of putting immediately into practice the abandonment of this mode of warfare; and its intention, officially announced, being to treat the privateers of the south as pirates, it was manifestly of importance to caution the cabinet of Washington against the conviction, where it might exist, that the contemplated treaty obliged us thus to consider the privateers of the south as pirates. I will not dwell upon the matter (n' insisterai pas) in order to show how much we would deviate from the neutrality we have declared ourselves desirous of observing towards the two factions of the Union, if, after having announced that they would constitute for us two ordinary belligerents, we should contest the primitive rights of a belligerent to one of them, because the other should consent voluntarily to the abandonment of it in a treaty concluded with us. There is no need to point out, further, how we would forcibly break through our neutrality as soon as we should be constrained, in virtue of the contemplated convention, to treat as pirates the privateers which the south will persist in arming. The cabinet of Washington might, then, I repeat, be led, by the particular point of view in which it is placed, to draw from the act which we are ready to conclude such consequences as we should now absolutely reject. It has seemed to us that it is equally important to the two governments to anticipate (prevénir à l'avance) all difference of interpretation as regards the application to the actual circumstances of the principles which were to become common to them both. Otherwise, it would have been to be feared, if the same explanations had had to be exchanged later, that there would have been attributed to them a character altogether different from that which they really possess. We would regret, too, sincerely that the least misunderstanding should be produced in our relations with the United States, not to be anxious, from this moment henceforth, to enlighten them upon a reserve, which, being officially stated to the cabinet of Washington before the signing of the convention, maintains strictly one line of neutrality, without taking away from the value of the agreement, which, in this case, we will be happy to establish with the United States. Accept the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant, Mr. DAYTON, Minister of the United States at Paris. THOUVENEL. Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. No. 50.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 23, 1861. SIR: Your despatch of the 29th of August (No. 37) was duly received. The proceedings it relates had, however, been anticipated, and it only remains to be said in regard to them, that your conduct therein is fully approved I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 66.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. Department of State, Washington, October 10, 1861. SIR: Some unaccounted for obstruction of the mails has caused a delay in the receipt of your despatch of the 7th of September (No. 44) until this time. As I expected, you very properly anticipated my instructions on the subject of the conditional execution of the treaty proposed by Mr. Thouvenel, and your proceedings in that respect are entirely approved. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 59.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, October 14, 1861. SIR: After a careful examination of your despatch (No. 36) in reference to an accession by the United States to the declaration of the congress of Paris, I have thought it best to submit a copy of the same to Mr. Thouvenel, to be read. As your despatch recapitulates the points made by Mr. Thouvenel in the conversation with me and reported by me to the government, it was perhaps due to him that he should see if he has been correctly reported. Upon one side, it was equally important that, in a matter of so much interest, the view taken by our government should not be misstated nor misunderstood. It seems to me now that the case stands, upon the whole correspondence, as well for the government of the United States as could be desired. With much respect, your obedient servant, His Excellency WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c. WM. L. DAYTON. Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. No. 71.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 21, 1861. SIR: Your despatch of September 30 (No. 54) has been duly received. Your vigilance in communicating to me Mr. Brown's comments on the subject of confiscation is approved. You will have learned, however, from the press, before this paper shall reach you, that the crises he apprehended were unreal. SIR: Your despatch of September 30 (No. 55) has been received. I thank you for your diligence in transmitting the papers concerning our blockade, which it contains. The blockade is already very effective, quite as much so as any nation ever established. Proceedings are now on foot which will remove the premature objections of the French consul to which you allude. I am your obedient servant, WM. L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 69.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, October 22, 1861. SIR: You will recollect that in despatch No. 59 I informed you that I had thought it proper, under all the circumstances, to submit a copy of your last despatch, No. 56, in reference to the projected treaty, &c., to Mr. Thouvenel, to be read and returned. Herewith I send you a translation of his note, acknowledging the reception of the copy of your despatch, and returning the same. He makes no comment on your despatch, and his note is of no importance except that you may have in your department the entire correspondence upon this important subject. Respectfully, your obedient servant, His Excellency WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c. WM. L. DAYTON. [Translation.] PARIS, October 18, 1861. SIR: You have been pleased to transmit to me, the 14th of this month, a copy of a despatch in which Mr. the Secretary of State of the Union sets forth the motives which do not permit the cabinet at Washington to accept, in signing a convention of adhesion to the principles of maritime right proclaimed by the Congress of Paris, the declaration of which I had sent you the rough draft. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of this communication, in returning to you, according to your desire, the despatch with which you have made me acquainted. Accept the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant, ENEL THOUVENEL. Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. No. 80.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 7, 1861. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of October 22, (No. 69,) which is accompanied by a note from Mr. Thouvenel on the subject of my despatch to you, No. 56. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 75.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. PARIS, November 7, 1861. SIR: I acknowledge the receipt this morning of despatches Nos. 68, 69, 70,' 71, and 72. Their contents relate principally to the reception of sundry despatches from me, with brief answers, for which I am much obliged. I asked any information that it might be proper to give as to the future course of events in the United States, (beyond what is found in the newspapers,) not from curiosity, merely, but because I am sometimes questioned here by parties in the government, and fear that I indicate an unwarrantable ignorance, for I am constrained to say that I know nothing beyond what is common to all the world; while the government and diplomats here take it for granted that I ought to know a great deal more. Your despatch (No. 68) informs me of Mr. Adams's communication of an intended couuter-proposition to be made by England and France to our government in respect to Mexican affairs. Of this I had heard before, and it made me less anxious as to the question here; for the fact that a counterproposition was to be made and answered would, of necessity, as I thought, occupy time and give the United States a chance for reflection, and perhaps action. The prompt consummation of this matter in London has rather taken me by surprise. I fear that some misunderstanding of each other's meaning may have occurred upon the part of Mr. Adams and Earl Russell, or one of them. At all events a point has been reached at a much earlier day than an intimation of such intended proposition led me to anticipate. I am, with respect, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON. His Excellency WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. No. 84.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 23, 1861. SIR: Your despatch of November 7 (No 75) has been received. I have regretted quite as much as you have my inability at this moment to give advices to you and each other of our representatives abroad of the course of events occurring at home, and of the general drift of our correspondence with other nations; but this domestic commotion has ripened into a transaction so vast as to increase more than fourfold the labors of administration in every department. You can readily imagine how vast a machinery has been created in the War Department, in the Navy Deparment, and in the Treasury Department, respectively. The head of each is a man of busy occupations, high responsibilities, and perplexing cares. You would hardly suppose that a similar change has come over the modest little State Department of other and peaceful days; but the exactions upon it are infinite, and out of all that offers itself to be done, I can only select and do that which cannot be wisely or safely left undone. Thus far we have no official notice from Europe of the proceedings there in regard to Mexico. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM L. DAYTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. |
