Mr. Dayton to Mr.
Seward
No. 491.]
Paris,
June 17, 1864.
Sir: You will, doubtless, have received, before
this, notice of the arrival of the Alabama in the port of Cherbourg, and
my protest to this government against the extension of any
accommodations to this vessel. M. Drouyn de l’Huys yesterday informed me
that they had made up their minds to this course, and he gave me a copy
of the written directions, given by the minister of marine to the
vice-admiral, maritime prefect at Cherbourg, a translation of which
accompanies this despatch. But he, at the same time, informed me that
the United States ship-of-war the Kearsarge had appeared off the port of
Cherbourg, and there was danger of an immediate fight between those
vessels. That the Alabama professes its entire readiness to meet the
Kearsarge, and he believed that each would attack the other as soon as
they were three miles off the coast. That a sea fight would thus be got
up in the face of France, and at a distance from their coast within
reach of the guns used on shipboard in these days. That the distance to
which the neutral right of an adjoining government extended itself from
the coast was unsettled, and that the reason of the old rules, which
assumed that three miles was the outermost reach of a cannon shot, no
longer existed, and that, in a word, a fight on or about such a distance
from their coast would be offensive to the dignity of
France, and they would not permit it. I
told him that no other rule than the three-mile rule was known or
recognized as a principle of international law; but if a fight were to
take place, and we would lose nothing and risk nothing by its being
further off, I had, of course, no objection. I had no wish to wound the
susceptibilities of France by getting up a fight within a distance which
made the cannon shot liable to fall on her coast. I asked him if he
would put his views and wishes on this question in writing, and he
promised me to do so. I wrote to Captain Winslow this morning, and
herewith enclose you a copy of my letter. I have carefully avoided in
this communication anything which would tend to make the Kearsarge risk
anything by yielding what seemed to me an admitted right.
To deliver this letter, and understand some other matters in respect to
the alleged sale of the clipper ships at Bordeaux, I have sent my son to
Cherbourg.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward
&c., &c., &c.
Mr. Dayton to Captain Winslow
Sir: This will be delivered to you by my
son and assistant secretary of legation. I have had a conversation
this afternoon with M. Drouyn de l’Huys, minister of foreign
affairs. He says they have given the Alabama notice that she must
leave Cherbourg; but in the mean time you have come in and are
watching the Alabama, and that this vessel is anxious to meet you,
and he supposes you will attack her as soon as she gets three miles
off the coast. That this will produce a fight which will be at best
a fight in waters which may or may not be French waters, as accident
may determine. That it would be offensive to the
dignity of France to have a fight under such circumstances,
and France will not permit it. That the
Alabama shall not attack you, nor you her, within the three miles,
or on or about that distance off. Under such circumstances I do not
suppose that they would have, on principles of international law,
the least right to interfere with you if three miles off the coast;
but if you lose nothing by fighting six or seven miles off the coast
instead of three, you had best do so. You know better than I (who
have little or no knowledge of the relative strength of the
[Page 105]
two vessels) whether the
pretence of the Alabama of a readiness to meet you is more than a
pretence, and I do not wish you to sacrifice any advantage if you
have it. I suggest only that you avoid all unnecessary trouble with France; but if the Alabama can be
taken without violating any rules of international law, and may be
lost if such a principle is yielded, you know what the government
would expect of you. You will, of course, yield no real advantage to
which you are entitled, while you are careful to so act as to make,
uselessly, no unnecessary complications
with the government. I ought to add that Mr. Seward’s despatch,
dated May 20, 1864, was in the following words: “The Niagara will
proceed with as much despatch as possible to cruise in European
waters, and that the Dictator, so soon as she shall be ready for
sea, (which is expected to be quite soon,) will follow her, unless,
in the mean time, advices from yourself and Mr. Adams shall be
deemed to furnish reasons for a change of purpose in that respect.”
That you may understand exactly the condition of things here in
regard to the Alabama, I send you herewith a copy of a communication
from the minister of marine of the naval prefect at Cherbourg,
furnished me by the minister of foreign affairs.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Captain Winslow,
United States Ship Kearsarge.
The Minister of the Marine and the Colonies
to Monsieur the Vice-Admiral, maritime prefect at
Cherbourg.
[Translation.]
Cabinet of the
Minister,
Paris,
June 15,
1864—noon.
We cannot permit the Alabama to enter into one of our basins of
the arsenal, that not being indispensable to place it in a state
to go again to sea. This vessel can address itself to commerce,
(commercial accommodations,) for the urgent repairs it has need
of to enable it to go out; but the principles of neutrality,
recalled in my circular of the 5th of February, do not permit us
to give to one of the belligerents the means to augment its
forces, and in some sort to rebuild itself: in fine, it is not
proper that one of the belligerents take, without ceasing, our
ports, and especially our arsenals, as a base of their
operations, and, so to say, as one of their own proper
ports.
You will observe to the captain of the Alabama that he has not
been forced to enter into Cherbourg by any accidents of the sea,
and that he could altogether as well have touched at the ports
of Spain or Portugal, of England, of Belgium, and of
Holland.
As to the prisoners made by the Alabama, and who have been placed
ashore, they are free from the time they have touched our soil;
but they ought not to be delivered up to the Kearsarge, which is
a federal ship-of-war. This would be for the Kearsarge an
augmentation of military force, and we can no more permit this
for one of the belligerents than for the other.
