Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II
Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Herewith I have the honor to enclose to your department the copy of a communication made by me to Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys on the 22d instant, in reference to the ships now being built and the arms, projectiles, &c., now being made at Bordeaux and Nantes for the rebels of the south.
The evidence has been heretofore sent to your department.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Dayton to Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys.
Monsieur: In conformity with the request of your excellency, I herewith have the honor to enclose to you copies, furnished to me, of the original correspondence, a translation of which I read to you on Friday last.
Letter No. 1, under date of 10th June last, from Monsieur Annan, of Bordeaux, (one of the members of the chamber of deputies,) to Monsieur Voruz, (an iron-founder of Nantes,) is most important, admitting, as it does, the distinct fact of the payment of seven hundred and twenty thousand francs by Mr. Bullock, (captain in the rebel navy, and its agent for building and buying ships,) [Page 779] as a first payment on two ships of four hundred horse power which he is constructing, as he says, for the Confederate States, simultaneously with those which are intrusted to him, Mr. Voruz, and who is having them built by Messrs. Jollet & Babin and Dubigeon. The claim which the letter suggests shall be made on Captain Bullock to refund the amount paid to Monsieur Erlanger (the house negotiating, you will recollect, the three million southern loan) for guaranteeing the payment for these vessels, &c., explains the whole operation. We have, then, the contract admitted, the terms of payment, and the mode of guarantee.
Your excellency will observe from the application of Mr. Arman to the minister, dated June 1, 1863, for leave to arm these four vessels, that they have been in the progress of construction since the 15th of April last.
Letter No. 2, from J. Voruz, sen., to his son Anthony, dated 14th July last, says that Captains Bullock and Arnoux, as well as Mr. Erlanger, departed the preceding day for Bordeaux, but he fears “they will be obliged to treat with Arman for the plated ships.” From the dates here given it is evident that these ships are in addition to those first above named, and so likewise is the little shallop of Mr. Erlanger therein referred to.
Letter No. 3, being the next letter from Mr. Voruz, sen., to his son Anthony, dated July 17, says he had that day received a letter from Arnoux, one of the parties who visited Bordeaux, as above named, stating that Arman had “just signed the agreement for two plated gunboats, of three hundred horse power, for two millions each.” These are in addition to the four ships first named. The closing lines of this letter show that the two gunboats were then in the course of construction by Mr. Arman.
These letters likewise convey most full information upon another point. It would seem that the iron foundries of Mr. Voruz, senior, are extensively engaged in the construction of gun-carriages, cannon, shell and shot, for the so-called confederate government. Some of these are constructed for that government (so-called) through the agency of Mr. Blakely, of London, who has been extensively engaged in supplying it with his gun; and others are constructed expressly for arming the four ships before referred to.
Letter No. 5, from Mr. Arman to the minister of marine, and Nos. 8 and 9, from Mr. Voruz to the same, and the reply of the minister thereto, No. 10, prove that this engagement is to supply an armament direct to the confederates. It has not even the evasion or apology that it is the ordinary commerce existing between a manufacturer and his private customer. It is directly aiding and abetting the States in rebellion. Whatever question has been made elsewhere as to the rights of private commerce in the ordinary way, it has been nowhere pretended, so far as I know, that neutrals or a neutral government may rightfully supply arms directly to a belligerent without violating its neutrality.
In this case it would seem that the government of France has, through a most extraordinary misrepresentation as to the purpose and destination of these ships, been induced expressly to authorize the manufacture of these arms and the arming of these vessels: nay, that on the application of Mr. Voruz, the manufacturer, the government manufactory at Reuil has been opened to his inspection, and all its appliances subjected to his examination, that he might have every possible aid in carrying out his purpose.—(See letters No. 8 and No. 10.)
It would seem from these letters that large quantities of the arms, projectiles, &c., agreed for, have already been completed, but are yet within the jurisdiction and control of this government. There is at all times danger of the shipment of these arms and projectiles. Even those destined for the armament of the four ships may, as soon as the question is agitated, be immediately transferred elsewhere.
I respectfully ask that the authorization to provide said ships with an armament, heretofore granted by the minister of marine, be withdrawn; and that the [Page 780] manufacture of the arms and projectiles heretofore referred to be stayed, or where the fabrication of the same shall have been completed, that their delivery be prevented; and that such other proceedings be taken by the French government as it may deem most advisable to prevent the further construction and delivery of said vessels.
In our conversation your excellency was good enough to say that you would immediately examine the legislation of France on these subjects. I am happy to find, by reference to the proclamation of his Majesty the Emperor, dated the 10th of June, 1861, and published in the Moniteur on the 11th, there is full reference to that legislation, and to which I respectfully refer you. In that proclamation his Majesty declared that he is resolved to maintain a strict neutrality in the struggle between the government of the Union and the States which had assumed to form a separate confederation.
In the third paragraph of this declaration he declares: “Il est interdit á tout Francais de prendre commission de l’une des deux parties pour armer des vaisseaux en guerre ou d’accepter des lettres de marques pour faire la course maritime, ou de concourir d’une maniére quelconque á l’equipmént on l’armement d’une navire de guerre ou corsaire de l’une des deux parties.”
The fifth section declares that all persons acting in violation of these prohibitions and recommendations will be prosecuted, if there is occasion therefor, according to certain laws and articles of the penal code.
I respectfully submit to your excellency that the acts set forth in the correspondence hereinbefore referred to are in direct violation of both the spirit and the letter of the above proclamation.
Accept, sir, the assurances of high respect with which I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
His Excellency Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris.