Mr. Van Limburg to Mr. Seward.
From the first interview which I had the honor to have with you in regard to the lamentable events which took place in the course of last month at the [Page 630] consulate of the Netherlands at New Orleans, you have evinced a spirit of conciliation the extent of which I take pleasure in acknowledging. You have assured me that all which I could reasonably ask of you would be accorded to me.
I submitted to you the information and reports which I had received. These were sufficient to induce you to take the initiative in the reparation which at first seemed to you to be due, But, from the note which, to this end, you were pleased to address to me day before yesterday, and from the answer which I made to it on the day following, it appears that you cannot at present decide as to the allegation of Major General Butler; whilst I, until the contrary is proved, must consider our consul as acting entirely in good faith, and as being perfectly in the right to receive from the hands of the agent of the firm of Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, a deposit for that firm. There was not, according to the law of nations and universally received usages, any obligation on the part of the government of the United States to verify the contents of the kegs, which the agent of the house of Hope & Co. had declared to him to contain eight hundred thousand Mexican dollars.
In this state of affairs, which your sense of justice will hasten, as you have assured me, to put an end to as soon as possible, our consul would find himself, without some new proof of conciliation and equity on your part, in a false position. Your note of the 5th says that his consular commission and the exequatur of the President (improperly taken out of his possession by Major General Butler) will be returned to him immediately, and that he will he “permitted” to resume his functions. I have no reason to suppose, sir, that you have used this term with any positive intention; therefore I flatter myself that, while reserving to yourself any ulterior action against the consul, you will not object to considering him as I do, and as justice considers every man against whom nothing has been proved, as honorable and as acting in good faith; and that, consequently, you will not refuse to “invite” him, through my interposition, to resume his functions, while adding that you cannot consider him otherwise than as acting in good faith, and as honorable, until the contrary be proved; and while waiting for the report of the commissioner whom you are going to send to New Orleans, I have the honor, Mr. Secretary of State, to request you to be pleased, also, as soon as possible, to honor me with your reply in this regard; and I profit by this new opportunity to reiterate to you the assurances of my high consideration.
Hon. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States of America, &c, &c, &c.,.