CONFEDERATE STATES. 



213 



not have been tolerated by the law without 

 giving to the United States a ground for com- 

 plaint, and which, though not so tolerated and 

 furnished with the utmost secrecy, brought the 

 United States and England to the verge of war. 

 It appeared by despatches of the Confederate 

 Government, which were intercepted near the 

 beginning of the year, that it had contracted 

 for six ironclad steamers, combining the capa- 

 cities of freighting and fighting ships, to be con- 

 structed in England, and to be paid for with 

 cotton. 



On the 5th of June, President Davis address- 

 ed a letter to the British consul, Moore, at 

 Richmond, revoking his exequatur. The rea- 

 son given for this was, that Moore " assumed 

 to act as consul for a place other than the city 

 of Richmond, and a State other than the State 

 of Virginia, and was thereupon, on the 20th day 

 of February, 1803, requested by the Secretary 

 of State to submit to the Department of State 

 his consular commission, MS well as any other au- 

 thority he may have received to act in behalf of 

 the Government of her Britannic Majesty before 

 further correspondence could be held with him 

 as her Majesty's consul at the port of Rich- 

 mond ; and whereas the said George Moore has 

 lately, without acceding to said request, en- 

 tered into correspondence, as her Majesty's con- 

 sul, with the Secretary of "War of these Con- 

 federate States, thereby disregarding the legiti- 

 mate authority of this Government." 



Subsequently, Mr. Fullerton, the British con- 

 sul at Savannah, was dismissed, and all the other 

 British consuls. In a letter to Mr. Fullerton, 

 Mr. Benjamin, Secretary of State, thus explains 

 the ground for the action of the Government : 



It thus appears that the Consular Agents of the Brit- 

 ish Government have been instructed not to confine 

 themselves to an appeal for redress, either to courts of 

 justice or to this Government, whenever they may 

 conceive that grounds exist for complaint against 

 the Confederate authorities in their treatment of Brit- 

 ish subjects (an appeal which has in no case been made 

 without receiving just consideration), but that they 

 assume the power of determining for themselves 

 whether enlisted soldiers of the Confederacy are prop- 

 erly bound to its service ; that they even arrogate the 

 right to interfere directly with the execution of the Con- 

 federate laws, and to advise soldiers of the Confeder- 

 ate armies to throw down their arms in the face of the 

 enemy. 



This assumption of jurisdiction by foreign officials 

 within the territory of the Confederacy, and this en- 

 croachment on its sovereignty, cannot be tolerated for 

 a moment ; and the President has no hesitation in di- 

 recting that all Consuls and Consular Agents of the 

 British Government be notified that they can no longer 

 be permitted to exercise their functions, or even to re- 

 side with the limits of the Confederacy. 



It was deemed proper to explain this pro- 

 ceeding to the Emperor of France, and in a 

 letter to Mr. Slidell, October 8th, Mr. Benjamin 

 says: 



The exercise of the droit de renvoi is too harsh, 

 however, to be resorted to without justifiable cause, 

 and it is proper that you should have it in your power 

 to explain the grounds on which the President has 

 been compelled to enforce it. Lest also the Govern- 

 ment of his Imperial Majesty should be misled into the 



error of supposing that the rights of French citizens 

 are in any manner involved in the action of the Presi- 

 dent, which has been rendered necessary by the repre- 

 hensible conduct of the British Consular Agents, you 

 are Requested to take an early occasion for giving such 

 explanation to M. Drouyn de 1'Huys as willobviate all 

 risk of misapprehension. 



In August, Mr. Mason received instructions 

 to withdraw from England. He had been sent 

 to that country to endeavor to obtain the rec- 

 ognition of the Confederacy by Great Britain, 

 and to act as minister upon such recognition. 

 In the order of recall to him, Mr. Benjamin 

 said: 



The President believes that the Government of her 

 Majesty has determined to decline the overtures made 

 through you for establishing, by treaty, friendly rela- 

 tions between the two Governments, and entertains no 

 intention of receiving you as the accredited minister 

 of this Government near the British court. Under 

 these circumstances, your continued residence in Lon- 

 don is neither conducive to the interest, nor consistent 

 with the dignity, of this Government. 



He retired to France, but subsequently re- 

 turned to England as a private citizen. In a let- 

 ter to Mr. Lamar, commissioner to St. Peters- 

 burg, June 15th, Mr. Benjamin says : 



It has been suggested to this Government, from a 

 source of unquestionable authenticity, that, after there- 

 cognition of our independence by the European Powers, 

 an expectation is generally entertained by them that in 

 our treaties of amity and commerce a clause will be in- 

 troduced making stipulations against the African slave 

 trade. It is even thought that neutral Powers may be 

 inclined to insist upon the insertion of such a clause as 

 a sine qua non. 



He then proceeds to state the principles upon 

 which the Confederacy is organized, and says : 



Moreover, any attempt on the part of the treaty-mak- 

 ing power of this Government to prohibit the African 

 slave trade, in addition to insuperable objections above 

 suggested, would leave open the implication that the 

 same power has the authority to permit such introduc- 

 tion. No such implication can be sanctioned by us. 

 This Government unequivocally and absolutely denies 

 its possession of any power whatever over the sub- 

 ject, and cannot entertain any proposition in relation 

 to it. 



(See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, MESSAGES TO CON- 

 FEDERATE CONGKESS.) 



The Proclamation of Emancipation to all per- 

 sons held as slaves in certain States and Dis- 

 tricts, issued by President Lincoln, on January 

 1st, 1863, caused great excitement in the 

 Southern States. It stated that " the Executive 

 Government of the United States, including the 

 military and naval authorities thereof, will rec- 

 ognize and maintain the freedom of such per- 

 sons ; " also, " such persons will be received into 

 the armed service of the United States," &c. Its 

 immediate effect was expected to arise under 

 these clauses. The Confederate Congress took 

 action at once on the subject. It was at first 

 contemplated to make slaves of all free negroes 

 found with arms in their hands; to kill all 

 slaves found armed, and to hand over to the 

 State authorities all their officers, to be dealt 

 with according to the laws of the States rela- 

 tive to persons exciting insurrection. Severe 

 measures were proposed in the Confederate 



