Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress

[Extract.]

Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward

No. 16.]

Legation of the United States, Paris, February 3, 1865.

Sir: In order to have no controversy about the facts connected with the recent escape of the steam ram Olinde from the waters of France, after the lapse of time should render their verification more difficult, I prepared a statement of such as seemed at once most authentic and most material, and handed it yesterday in person to his excellency the minister of foreign affairs. A copy is annexed. His excellency asked if he should read it then. I briefly explained its tenor and purpose, and begged him to read it at his liesure, unless he had some communication to make to me then upon the subject to which it referred. He then went on to say that he was not sufficiently informed about the case to discuss it; that the subject was under investigation by the minister of marine, and as soon as his report came to hand he would communicate with me. I said that I thought there were obvious advantages in having the investigation made, and a policy, which I had no doubt would be the just one, adopted by the government before any echo of the news reached here from the other side of the Atlantic. He referred to the precautions he had previously taken to prevent the escape of these vessels into improper hands, and assured me that the subject was then receiving the earnest attention of the government. * * * * *

I am, with great respect, your very obedient servant,

JOHN BIGELOW.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Mr Bigelow to Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys

Legation of the United States; Paris, February 2, 1865.

Sir: Since the communication which I had the honor to make to your excellency on the 28th ultimo, I have ascertained, from authentic sources, the following facts in regard to the vessel-of-war clandestinely armed and equipped a few days since near the Isle of Houat and within the waters of France:

The name which the vessel bore on her arrival there was the Stoerkodder. She was built by Mr. Arman, naval constructor at Bordeaux, originally for the so-called Confederate States of America, but afterwards sold to the Danish government upon certain conditions and limitations as to price, speed, draught of water, &c. Before leaving Bordeaux an agent of the Danish government, who was sent to examine her, reported that she did not answer to the specifications, and refused to accept her.

Thinking the supreme authorities of Denmark might have reasons for judging his work more indulgently, Mr. Arman obtained from his excellency the minister of marine an authorization to send the ship to Copenhagen with a French equipage and under the French flag, in charge of a Mr. Amons de la Reviere, an agent for Mr. Arman, and already known to your excellency as a sort of contract broker for the insurgent organization in America.

On the arrival of the steamer at Copenhagen the French crew were dismissed, and she remained there some two or three months. The government of Denmark, after a new inspection, sustained the judgment of their agent at Bordeaux, and refused to accept the steamer as a fulfilment of Mr. Annan’s contract, and she was then cleared for Bordeaux, full of coals, with a Danish equipage shipped by Mr. de Reviere, who continued on board and in charge of the ship.

Instead of going to Bordeaux, however, she put in at the isle of Honat, where, apparently through some concerted arrangement, a steamer from the yard of Dubigeon Fils & Co., of St. Nazaire, under pretext of supplying her with coals, of which she stood in no need and only received thirty tons, took off her Danish officers and crew, and landed forty-two of the latter at Quiberon and four officers at St. Nazaire.

While the transshipment of the coal and crew was going on, a British side-wheel steamer came alongside of the ram, which had already taken the name of Olinde, and supplied her with guns, munitions of war, and a crew, necessarily by virtue of some arrangement concerted before her departure from Copenhagen. She left on Saturday morning last, and though within a few hours’ sail of Bordeaux has not since been heard from.

Amons de la Reviere left the Olinde with the Danish officers and came to Paris, having surrendered the ship to a new commander.

It is stated by one of the crew, shipped at isle Honat, but who refused to sail with her when he saw the military equipments of the officers and men, that by his shipping articles it appeared that the Olinde was to go to Lisbon, where, as has been reported to me from another source, she expected to complete her armament and sail thence on a five months’ voyage.

I take leave to bring these statements, which all come from authentic sources, thus promptly to the notice of your excellency in the hope that your excellency will be pleased to inform me if they differ in any important particulars, and if so in what, from the reports which have reached the imperial government, in order that my own government may be assisted by an undisputed record of facts in determining precisely where the responsibility should rest for the depredations which are to be apprehended from the irregular and presumptively piratical manner in which the Olinde quitted the waters of France.

While I sincerely hope these apprehensions may prove to have been groundless, I do not feel sufficient doubt of the final destination of the Olinde to justify me in neglecting any precaution which it would be proper for me to take if my apprehensions were convictions.

I have the honor to renew to your excellency the assurance of my highest consideration, and remain

Your very humble and very obedient servant,

JOHN BIGELOW.

His Excellency M. Drouyn de Lhuys, Minister of Foreign Affairs, &c., &c., &c.