Mr. Dayton to Mr.
Seward
No. 476.]
Paris,
May 31, 1864.
Sir: Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys has sent me a written
answer to the late application which I again addressed to him in the
case of Mr. Mansfield, our consular agent at Tabasco, of which answer I
herewith send you a translation,
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward
Secretary of State, &c., &c.,
&c.
[Translation.]
Memorandum.
M. the minister of the United States has again called the attention
of the minister of foreign affairs to the alleged arrest of Mr.
Mansfield, consular agent of the United States at Tabasco.
Up to the present moment M. Drouyn de l’Huys is unable to add
anything to the communication which he has already addressed to Mr.
Dayton on this subject. He took care, as he announced to him, to
write to Vera Cruz to obtain some explanation of this affair, on the
subject of which nothing had reached either his department or those
of the war and the navy; but the time which has passed since the
departure of this request for information in Mexico is not
sufficient to have been able to receive an answer.
On the other hand, it appears from a communication from Mr. Seward to
the chargé d’affaires of his Imperial Majesty that the cabinet of
Washington had itself no positive information upon the fact which
had been reported to it; that it was from this motive more
particularly that it had directed M. the minister of the United
States at Paris to make inquiries as to what the French government
might have received. It is the same desire to be better informed
upon the incident in question which had decided it to send a federal
vessel to seek upon the spot some surer information.
