DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



271 



difficulties should be settled amicably ; that he 

 had been and yet was ready to offer his kind 

 offices, if such offer would be mutually agree- 

 able to the contending parties ; that whatever 

 tended to affect injuriously American interests 

 was detrimental to the interests of France, and 

 that he desired a perpetuation of the Union of 

 the States, 1 ' with some additional remarks of 

 like tenor and character. 



On the 20th of May another interview with 

 the French Minister was had, in which the 

 conversation turned on "neutral rights" and 

 ' ; belligerent rights." Mr. Dayton thus de- 

 scribes it: 



lie >aid, in substance, that they held that the flag 

 covers the cargo; and that if a Southern ship carrying 

 neutral property was captured, the property would" not 

 be condemned, &c. He hoped our Government would 

 recognize principles for which it had always contended. 

 I told him it would certainly do so, but the question 

 here was, whether there was a flag; that our Govern- 

 ment insisted that the Confederates, being merely in 

 rebellion, had no flag, and I could not exactly under- 

 stand how a foreign Government which had not recog- 

 nized them as an independent power could recognize 

 them as having a flag. He said, furthermore, th'at the 

 French Government had given no warning to their 

 citizens, <fec., (as the English Government had,) by 

 proclamation, because it was unnecessary ; that the 

 statute law of France (of 1S25, April 10, I think) de- 

 clared that any French citizen taking service under a 

 foreign power lost all claim to protection as a citizen ; 

 that if a subject of France should take service on board 

 of a letter of marque licensed by the Confederate States, 

 it would be, as I understood him, piratical on the part 

 of such subject. He said, furthermore, that no letters 

 of marque could be fitted out in their ports, or even 

 tkeltered there, unless they came in from necessity, (as 

 stress of weather, &c.,) and then could remain, I think, 

 but twenty-four hours ; that consequently there could 

 be no bringing of prizes into French ports, and while 

 'ere a condemnation of them in the courts of the 



uthern States. 



On the 30th of May, Mr. Seward, writing to 

 Mr. Dayton, alludes to the conversation be- 

 tween Mr. Faulkner and M. Thouvenel, in 

 which it was said by the latter, " that in view 

 of the great commercial interests involved in 

 the domestic controversy agitating the United 

 States, the French Government had felt itself 

 constrained to take measures in conjunction 

 with the Government of Great Britain to meet 

 a condition of things which imperilled those 

 interests. Communications of a similar tenor 

 would be addressed by both Governments to 

 the Government of the United States," &c. The 

 >ccasion is thus taken to state more explicitly 

 he position of the United States. Mr. Seward 

 rites : 



First, I desire that M. Thouvenel may be informed 

 :hat this Government cannot but regard any commu- 

 nications held by the French Government, even though 

 unofficial, with the agents of the insurrectionary move- 

 ment in this country as exceptionable and inju'rious to 

 the dignity and honor of the United States. They pro- 

 test against this intercourse, however, not so much on 

 that ground as on another. They desire to maintain 

 the most cordial relations with the Government of 

 France, and would therefore, if possible, refrain from 

 complaint. But it is manifest that even an unofficial 

 reception of the emissaries of disunion has a certain 

 though measured tendency to give them a prestige 

 which would encourage their efforts to prosecute a 



civil war destructive to the prosperity of this oonntry 

 and aimed at the overthrow of the Government itself. 

 It is earnestly hoped that this protest may be suffi- 

 cient to relieve this Government from the necessity 

 of any action on the unpleasant subject to which it 

 relates. 



Secondly, The United States cannot for a moment 

 allow the "French Government to rest under the delu- 

 sive belief that they will be content to have the Con- 

 federate States recognized as a belligerent power by 

 States with which this nation is in amity. >o concert 

 of action among foreign States so recognizing the in- 

 surgents can reconcile the United States to such a 

 proceeding, whatever may be the consequences of re- 

 sistance. 



The measures we have adopted, and are now vigor- 

 ously pursuing, will terminate the unhappy contest at 

 an early day, and be followed by benefits to ourselves 

 and to all nations greater and better assured than 

 those which have hitherto attended our national prog- 

 ress. Nothing is wanting to that success except that 

 foreign nations shall leave us, as is our right, to man- 

 age our own affairs in our own way. They, as well as 

 we, can only suffer by their intervention. No one, we 

 are sure, can judge better than the Emperor of France 

 how dangerous and deplorable would be the emer- 

 gency that should intrude Europeans into the political 

 contests of the American people. 



On the 30th of May Mr. Dayton writes to 

 Mr. Seward : 



I am happy to say that there is no disposition mani- 

 fested here, so far as I have observed, to favor the re- 

 bellion in our Southern States, or to recognize them as 

 an independent power. All recognition of rights on 

 their part is for commercial purposes only. But the 

 Government of France cannot, it says, look at this re- 

 bellion as a small matter. That, embracing as it does 

 a large section and many States, they cannot apply to 

 it the same reasoning as if it were an unimportant 

 matter or confined to a small locality. 



M. Thouvenel says he has had no application from 

 Southern Commissioners for any purpose of recogni- 

 tion, and he does not know even" that such persons are 

 or have been in Paris. 



Again, in June, he writes : 



I think I may say with some confidence that all the 

 efforts of the agents of the Confederates on this side 

 of the channel have thus far been abortive. They have 

 no encouragement to their hopes of recognition. " They 

 have met with no success in their attempts to negotiate 

 a loan. I do not believe they have got any consider- 

 able supply of arms, and I think that we "know sub- 

 stantially what they have done and are attempting to 

 do. My only fear is of a possible, not probable, re- 

 verse to our arms in Virginia, and a rush, under the 

 excitement of a first victory, upon the city of Wash- 

 ington. Should they get possession, by any possi- 

 bility, of that point, "the prestige it would give them 

 (aside from any strategic advantage) might be pro- 

 ductive of most unhappy results. God grant that no 

 such future may hang over us. 



On the 31st of May Mr. Dayton addressed to 

 M. Thouvenel the proposition for the accession 

 of the United States to the Declaration of the 

 Paris Conference with the amendment pro- 

 posed by Secretary Marcy. 



On the 17th of June Mr. Seward informs Mr. 

 Dayton of the visit of the British and French 

 Ministers to lay before him conjointly certain 

 views of their respective Governments, and that 

 he declined to receive the same officially, and his 

 reasons for adopting this course. The entire 

 despatch is one of the ablest in the correspond- 

 ence with the French Government, and ex- 

 plains very fully the views entertained by 





