[Extract.]
Mr. Dayton to Mr.
Seward
No. 496.]
Paris,
June 26, 1864.
Sir: I have neglected to write you concerning
the new transatlantic steamship line from Havre to New York, inaugurated
by a banquet at Havre on Wednesday, the 15th of this month; on which day
the steamer Washington, the first and only finished ship of the line,
left for New York. The line is to consist of five large steamships, well
built and well furnished. It is on this side in the hands of Mr.
Pereire, president of the company, and who is likewise president of the
Credit Mobilier. He is a gentleman of large fortune and great business
capacity. This transatlantic steam company has a large subsidy from
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the French government, and if
properly managed, cannot fail to be a successful enterprise. I was
present at the inauguration by invitation of the company, and made a few
remarks expressive of our good wishes. Some speeches were made by French
gentlemen present, especially one by M. Michel Chevalier, (a gentleman,
as you know, of literary celebrity, and a senator of France,) highly
eulogistic of our country. Everything passed off pleasantly. The steamer
will have arrived at New York doubtless before this letter will have
reached your department. I hope such notice will be taken of her and of
her officers in that port as may gratify the national pride of France.
No people are more sensitive than they to attentions of any kind. A new
line of steamships between Havre and New York is an event of great
importance, not to our commercial interests only, but as an additional
link uniting in relations of peace and friendship the two nations more
firmly together.
* * * * * * * * *
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward
Secretary of State, &c., &c.,
&c.
P. S.—Captain Winslow has come up to Paris; the Kearsarge is yet at
Cherbourg, ready for sea.
I have received a telegram from Flushing advising me of the arrival
of the Niagara at Antwerp. I am glad she is there. There is little
doubt an effort is being made to furnish Captain Semmes with another
ship. I enclose you a slip cut from La France
of this morning, which purports to give some details. It would seem
that it is taken for granted that the men paroled will pay no
attention to their parole. I had heard this before, but could not
credit it.
D.
[Translation.]
The Alabama.
They write us from Cherbourg that the greater part of the seamen of
the Alabama have left that city after having received one month’s
pay and their travelling expenses. They have received the orders of
their captain, and have kept secret the name of the port at which
they are to meet again.
Captain Semmes has not left England. He has called near him those of
his officers to whom he has intrusted the armament of the new vessel
of which he will soon take the command. According to the information
which we have been enabled to obtain, the new Alabama will be a
small, sharp-built corvette, with covered blinds within, and
provided with a powerful battery. Captain Semmes has, it is said,
ordered to be privately made three pivot guns capable of throwing
hollow projectiles of 170 pounds English, and solid shot of 220
pounds. His crew, which consisted of 142 men, will be increased to
172 men. This information is positive. We are entirely ignorant of
the port where the vessel is to be fitted out, but it is probable
that no degree of watchfulness will prevent her from taking the
sea.
The confederates have no large squadrons like their adversaries, and,
in order to injure them effectually, they have armed, as privateers,
a portion of their war vessels, which are manned by picked officers
and crews. The Alabama was so equipped. That vessel was entered on
the register of the southern navy as No. 87; the Florida, so known,
was get down as No. 83. She is commanded by a captain of a frigate.
The war of these privateers is terrible to the commerce of the
north, to which it causes enormous losses. In the actual state of
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things, this warfare
is completely lawful. It is the same warfare which France waged with
so much success against England under the Empire, and we know the
high estimation in which Napoleon the First held the celebrated
Surcouf, upon whom he bestowed the cross of the legion of honor.
This estimation the present Emperor has continued to hold for his
memory, and he has desired that his name should be given to one of
the vessels of the imperial navy. One of our most efficient
corvettes is called the Surcouf, and also two of our
ships-of-the-line are called the Jean-Bart and the Duguay-Trouyn.
These facts must be known.
Semmes, the commander of the Alabama, has been accused of having
caused his prisoners to be put in irons. This accusation deserves a
short and irrefutable explanation. The hatred which the people of
the north have for the people of the south, and reciprocally, is
known. The war which they are waging against one another causes
these passionate feelings to be greatly aggravated. They both treat,
by reciprocity, their prisoners of war with a harshness which is
unknown in Europe.
Captain Semmes is known for his humanity. Numerous facts prove it;
but on one occasion the confederate corvette, Jefferson Davis,
fitted out as a privateer, was captured by a northern frigate. The
commander of the privateer and ten of her crew, who drew lots
therefor, were put in irons. The government of Richmond being
officially informed of this fact, ordered its officers to act in
like manner for the period of six months. It is proven that Semmes
only so acted in compliance with higher orders issued in consequence
of a reciprocity.
Our information from Cherbourg makes known to us that the Kearsarge
was still at that port, and that her repairs will not be completed
before the middle of July. It has been found necessary, in order to
have a duplicate thereof in case of an accident, to have made, by
private parties, one of the principal parts of her machinery.
