Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys not having received the diplomatic corps last week for business, I this morning have had a long conversation with him upon various matters. In the first place, I left with him the copy of a letter recently written by Captain Maffitt, of the rebel steamer Florida, at Brest, to Captain Bullock, of the rebel navy, as to the discharge of part of the crew of the Florida, &c., a copy of which letter was enclosed to me by our consul at Liverpool. A copy of the same is hereunto attached. My object in showing this letter was to prove, first, that Captain Bullock was yet in the rebel service, and, secondly, that the crew in question, or part of it, had been voluntarily discharged from the Florida; that if this vessel was, therefore, incapacitated for want of a sufficient crew, it was not the act of God, but their own act, and they were suffering from a self-inflicted impotence. This was to answer the principle suggested by Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys in conversation, that their necessary wants for purposes of navigation, not of war, they were entitled to have supplied. I reminded him, too, of the fact that if he carried out this principle to its full extent, if the term of service of a crew were known to be about expiring, a captain might run his ship into a neutral port anywhere, discharge his crew, and then reship, in the same port, a new crew for hostile purposes; that, under these circumstances, the captain of the Florida might claim the right to ship a crew of French sailors at Brest. I told him that sailors for an enemy’s ship-of-war were contraband, as much so as solders for its armies. I could not conceive, therefore, that France could fairly maintain her neutrality, and yet permit these things to be done in her ports. It is probable that I shall put these and some other views upon this [Page 788] subject, of the aid given to the Florida, in writing before she is permitted to sail. They may be of service as matter of future reference.
The neutrality of France, he said, would be maintained, and that his whole purpose was to settle these questions upon proper principles of international law.
I should add, that I learned from Liverpool that these men, owing to some difficulty with the confederate agents, have not yet signed the shipping articles. In the mean time this government is holding the question under consideration.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
Captain J. D. Bullock, Confederate States Navy, Liverpool.