ally, and at its own risk and peril, all the objects constructed and manufactured, being elements of the criminal acts, which reparation may be ordered before the provisions of the penal laws shall have received their application before the competent jurisdiction. Pronounced at Paris, the 12th of November, 1863. BERRYER, Ancien Bâtonnier de l'Ordre des Avocats de Paris [285] *F. CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO ARMAN RAMS. Mr. Dayton, United States minister, to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State. PARIS, September 18, 1863. SIR: I have this morning called the attention of Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys to the evidence showing that at least four, if not five, ships are being built in the ship-yards at Bordeaux and Nantes for the confederates. This evidence is the same as that sent to you from the Paris consulate, and which I referred to in my dispatch No. 344. It is conclusive, I think, as to the facts charged. Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys expressed himself as greatly surprised, and I doubt not he was so. He assured me he had no knowledge of anything of the kind, and that the government would maintain its neutrality. He thanks me for calling his attention promptly to this matter, the importance of which he fully recognized. He requested copies of the original papers; said that he would at once investigate the facts and the French legislation bearing on the question, and then let me know what would be done. [286] *It seems to me that their action on this subject is likely to afford a pretty good test of their future intentions. As to what the law may be, it does not, I apprehend, much matter; if they mean that good relations with our country shall be preserved, they will stop the building of these ships, or at least the arming and delivering of them; if they mean to break with us, they will let them go on. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c. WM. L. DAYTON. Mr. Dayton, United States minister, to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State. PARIS, October 8, 1863. SIR: The minister of marine has been absent some days recently, and this has been assigned to me by Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys as a reason why my communication as to the rebel ships now being built at Bordeaux and Nantes had not been definitetly answered. I left some additional evidence with him this morning, to wit: copy of contract between Arman and Bullock for building two iron clads, 287] dated *16th July last; copy of letter from Emile Erlanger to Voruz, sr., dated 9th June last; copy of letter from Mazeline & Co. to Voruz, sr., dated 23d June last; copy of letter from O. B. Tollet, and L. Babin, and E. Dubigeon and fils, to Voruz, 10th June last; copy of agreement between Bullock and Voruz, dated September 17, 1863, increasing the number of cannon contracted for from forty-eight to fiftysix, and the number of shells from five thousand to twelve thousand. Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys did not intimate any doubt as to the facts charged, and the minister of marine, he said, had informed him that in granting the authorization to build and arm these vessels he did it as a matter of course, as he had done in like cases before, supposing that the representation in the application, that they were intended for the China sea, &c., was true. But Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys said that he, the minister of marine, entirely agreed with him that no violation of the neutrality of France should be permitted, and he (Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys) said I might be assured that it would not be. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. WILLIAM L. DAYTON. [288] *Mr. de Lhuys, minister of foreign affairs, to Mr. Dayton, United States minister. [Translation.] PARIS, October 15, 1863. SIR: You have done me the honor to write to me, to call my attention to agreements entered into (marchés passés) in France, according to information which you have communicated to me, for the construction and delivery to the seceded States of several vessels armed for war. You have expressed the desire that the official authorization accorded for the armament of these vessels might be withdrawn, and that the government of the Emperor might take measures which it should judge proper, to prevent the completion and delivery of the vessels themselves. I hastened to speak of this matter to my colleague of the department of the marine, recommending it very particularly to his examination. I do not believe that I can do better than to transmit to you, sir, a copy of the answer which he has just addressed to me. The only information which the department of the marine had directly received concerning the operation in question attributed to them, as you will see, is of [289] such a character that, up to the present moment, there * was no motion for hindering them. It is only, then, by the explanations which he is going to call forth, by the aid of the papers which you have brought to my knowledge, that M. le Comte de Chasseloup Laubat shall be able to judge of the measures to be taken conformably to our declaration of neutrality. Accept the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant, DROUYN DE LHUYS. M. the minister of the marine to M. the minister of foreign affairs. [Translation.] PARIS, October 12, 1863. M. THE MINISTER AND DEAR COLLEAGUE: You have done me the honor to communicate to me, the 25th of September last, the copy, with its annexes, of a letter from M. the minister of the United States at Paris, relative to bargains entered into by Messrs. Arman and Voruz for the construction and delivery to the confederate government of several vessels armed for war. In pointing out to my attention the gravity of this matter, which you recommend in a manner altogether special to my examination, you express the regret that my department had not thought proper to come to an understanding with that of the foreign affairs before answering the requests of Mr. Arman, who had obtained from the marine the authorization to provide his vessel with twelve cannon of 30 pounds. As to that which concerns the authorization solicited by Mr. Arman, and which was necessary to him by the terms of the ordinance of the 12th July, 1847, I did not believe I ought to refuse it in consequence of the declaration of the constructor, who gave me the assurance, as moreover his correspondence with my department proves, that the vessels in construction in his work-yards were destined to do service in the China seas and the Pacific, between China, Japan, and San Francisco. [291] *I could not, upon such a declaration, and knowing, besides, that the vessels of commerce which navigate the parts in question ought always to be furnished with certain armament, in view of the numerous pirates which infest them, I could not, I say, answer negatively to the request of Mr. Arman, nor refuse Mr. Voruz the permission to manufacture the cannon intended to form this armament. This last authorization was the consequence of that given to the constructor to provide his vessels with artillery. In granting to Mr. Voruz the permission to procure at Reuil the elucidations necessary to the manufacture of his cannon, I followed that which has always been done by my department in analogous circumstances, commerce only exceptionally giving itself to a manufacture which, in France, is seldom carried on, save by the government. As to the regrets expressed by your excellency that the department of foreign affairs has not previously been consulted, I will cause you to remark that it was a question of arms to be caused to be manufactured by private industry, and not of material of war appertaining to the state and delivered by the magazines of the state. This difference will not escape your ex cellency, and I would not have failed to come to an understanding [292] *with you if there had been asked of my department arms of the marine. Upon the whole, my department has only conformed in this circumstance to its precedents. It could only trust to the declaration of Messrs. Arman and Voruz, and it could not be responsible for the unlawful operations which might be undertaken. I am going, however, to call forth from Messrs. Arman and Voruz explanations upon the facts of which you have spoken to me, and you may rest assured, M. and dear colleague, that the department of the marine will continue, as it has done up to the present day, to do everything which shall be necessary according to the wish of the Emperor, and conformably to the declaration of his government, in order that the most strict neutrality be observed in that which concerns the war which desolates America at this moment,&c. CHASSELOUP LAUBAT. Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys, minister of foreign affairs, to Mr. Dayton, United States minister. [Translation.] PARIS, October 22, 1863. SIR: I have the honor to announce to you, as a sequence to my [293] letter of the *15th of this month, that M. the minister of marine has just notified Mr. Voruz of the withdrawal of the authorization which he had obtained for the armament of four vessels in course of construction at Nantes and Bordeaux. Notice has also been given to Mr. Arman, whose attention has been at the same time called to the responsibility which he might incur by acts in opposition to our declar ation of the 18th of June, 1861. These measures testify, sir, to the scrupulous care which the government of the Emperor brings to the ob servance of the rules of a strict neutrality. It is in order to give to your Government a new proof of our disposition in this respect that we have not hesitated to take into consideration the information, the authenticity of which you have affirmed to me. Accept the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant, DROUYN DE LHUYS. Mr. DAYTON, Minister of the United States at Paris. Mr. Dayton, United States minister, to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State. [294] * [Extract.] *PARIS, November 27, 1863. SIR: I yesterday saw Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys for the first time within the last fortnight. His absence from Paris, and pressing engagements the week before, have prevented his receiving the diplomatic corps for business. He said, furthermore, that he had himself personally informed Messrs. Arman and Voruz, (the constructors and iron-founders,) engaged on the vessels now being built at Bordeaux and Nantes, that the work thereon must cease unless they could satisfy him that they were honestly intended for another government; and he added to me that he would at once refer their proceeding to the minister of marine. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c. * WILLIAM L. DAYTON. Mr. Dayton, United States minister, to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State. [Extract.] PARIS, December 31, 1863. SIR: In my last conversation' with Mr. Drouyn de [295] Lhuys, he informed me that *Mr. Arman, the builder of these vessels, was seeking purchasers for them other than the confed erates, and that the minister of marine did not think himself authorized, therefore, to prevent their completion, although he would prevent their being armed or delivered by Arman to the confederates. * I am, &c., Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. WM. L. DAYTON. Mr. Dayton, United States minister, to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State. * PARIS, February 5, 1864. SIR: M. Drouyn de Lhuys told me yesterday that Arman the builder of the iron-clad rams for the confederates, at Bordeaux) had just informed him that he had sold them to the Danish government, but before he (M. Drouyn de Lhuys) acted upon that assumption this gov ernment would have the best and most satisfactory evidence of the correctness of this statement. At present he does not consider the statement of the fact to me as official, but says he will make it so as soon as he shall receive the necessary proof. I am, sir, &c., Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. WM. L. DAYTON. [296] Mr. Dayton, United States minister, to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State. [Extract.] PARIS, February 19, 1864. * * SIR: M. Drouyn de Lhuys says that he believes the iron-clads at Bordeaux are sold to a neutral, but I received information from Mr. Wood, our minister at Copenhagen, that the minister of foreign affairs of Denmark says he does not know, nor has he ever heard, of any negotiation for the purchase or building for that country of any ships in France. M. Drouyn de Lhuys tells me, and I do not doubt but that he has given notice to Mr. Arman (the builder of the iron clads, and the contractor for the four other ships building for the confederates) that France must be relieved from all trouble in reference to any of them, and Arman has promised him that France shall be. He says that the four other vessels are building for commerce, and that he can and will sell them to neutral parties. In the mean time, I can and will keep a sharp eye to the entire proceeding. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. WM. L. DAYTON. |