Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward
Sir: Your despatches from No. 497 to No. 502, both inclusive, are duly received. I had already informed Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys that my action as to the Rappahannock, as well as to the Florida and Georgia, had been duly approved by my government. My notice to the French government, that they would be held responsible for all damages done by the Rappahannock, in case she should be permitted to go to sea, was in anticipation of that event, and in the hope that the question, being thus plainly presented in advance, they might prevent the wrong by forbidding her departure. It has, perhaps, some effect, for she is yet shut up in her basin, with strict orders not to permit her to depart without first obtaining the direct authority of this government. The officers of the ship, Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys informs me, “grumble” very much at their enforced detention, but he has informed them that France will not permit her ports to be used for the equipment of vessels-of-war for the confederates. I have just received notice from our consular agent at Calais, that Captain Campbell, as well as the first lieutenant of the Rappahannock, have left her and gone back to England, with a view, as they said, to buy and equip another ship there; and that a man named Fonteroy (his baggage is marked “Colonel Fonteroy”) has taken command of the Rappahannock. Our consular agent thinks this is preparatory to the vessel’s leaving; but it is quite certain that she has had no permit to leave, and had, a day or two since, on board neither arms nor crew for any hostile purpose, or indeed to do anything more than navigate her from one port to a neighboring port.
The Florida, I am advised, was recently at Teneriffe, for coal, and the St. Louis watching her; but the former stole out of port by night and escaped. I have this vessel and the Georgia so often reported to me by our consuls and consular agents at impossible or improbable places, that I have not thought it worth while to trouble you or the Navy Department with their speculations and rumors on these subjects. I have, I believe, in no case failed to make known to the French government the view which our government has taken of its action in the case of the aid given to these confederate vessels; but I do not think it wise to multiply sharp points, nor dignified to do more than make this government understand distinctly our views, and the action which we contemplate in future on these subjects. I have thus managed without compromiting our government, or its interests, present or future, to keep my personal relations with French officials on the best footing. The importance of this, under all the circumstances, you will well understand.
I should add here, perhaps, as corroborative of my last despatches, that the Emperor (since the departure of the Archduke Maximilian) has said that he, the said archduke, while here, never spoke to him of recognizing the south, and made no such request of him for its acknowledgment, as is so generally reported in the English newspapers.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c.