Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward
Sir: I did not receive the communication for Mr. Mercier which Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys promised me until last night. It came then in an open envelope, with a note requesting me, after reading it, to seal it and send it by my next courier, (meaning thereby the next despatch bag.) Having sealed it according to request, I herewith send it in an envelope to you, begging that you will have it promptly delivered to Mr. Mercier. The despatch commences with a remark complimentary to myself, and then goes on to state that I had inquired of him as to the truth of certain rumors afloat, to wit, that the Emperor had decided to recognize the south, and had even already signed a treaty by which the south agreed to cede to France, for herself or to be reconveyed to Mexico, Texas and part of Louisiana, and that Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys, at the same time, asked me if I had not heard other rumors calculated to disturb the good relations existing between our two countries—as that the United States had made its protest against the action of the French government in Mexico; had sent its fleet to Vera Cruz; and made a treaty offensive and defensive with Russia. He goes on to say that these suggestions were made less with a view to inquiring as to their truth than for the purpose of fortifying me against a belief in the rumors I had first referred to, the truth of which rumors he expressly denied. He then tells Mr. Mercier that I said I had no knowledge of and did not believe in the report that our navy was before Vera Cruz, or that we had made a treaty offensive and defensive with Russia, and that if you had instructed me to make a formal protest against their proceedings in Mexico I should have done so, which I had not; although, under the influence of your general correspondence on this [Page 773] subject, I had made him aware of the painful impression caused in my country by European intervention in Mexico, and our anxious solicitude as to any interference with the form of government there. He then tells Mr. Mercier that he had attached little importance to the rumors he had referred to, which probably originated in the same source as those to which I had referred. He then says to Mr. Mercier, “I repeated to him (Mr. Dayton) that which I had already often said to him, that we were not seeking, either for ourselves or others, any acquisition in America. I added (says he) that I hoped the good sense of the people of the United States would do justice to the exaggerations and false suppositions by the aid of which it was sought to mislead and embitter opinion, and that I counted upon his concurrence to try and make prevail a more just appreciation of our intentions and of the necessities which our policy obeyed.”
He then directs Mr. Mercier to communicate this conversation to you, and to use the text thereof to correct false judgments and unjustifiable imputations about him.
I should add that as this despatch is, in part, in reference to the intentions of France in Mexico, in which you and the country are just now so much interested, I have thought it best to avoid mistakes by sending you the above, the last twenty lines of which are little less than a translation of that part of Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys’s despatch.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c.