Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I
Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I transmit the originals of certain recently intercepted insurgent correspondence which have been published in the newspapers. It has occurred to the Secretary of the Navy that they might be useful to you for judicial or diplomatic purposes, and perhaps for both. If he should be mistaken in this, you may return them, in order that they may be restored to the file.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles F. Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
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The subjoined intercepted correspondence was washed ashore in the mail-bag which was thrown overboard from the R. E. Lee during the late capture of that vessel (with two others) off Wilmington:
LETTER FROM EDWIN DE LEON TO THE REBEL SECRETARY OF STATE.
Paris, September 30, 1863.
Sir: Your despatch No. 3, of 15th August last, was delivered to me by Dr. Charles Girard on the 16th instant, and in conformity with the instructions therein contained, I write you via Bermuda by the first post, and shall continue my communications by each successive steamer for that port.
Since your last despatch was written, you have doubtless received my Nos. 8 and 9; and it is scarcely necessary for me to observe that, had the views and intentions of the administration been previously confided to me, the strength of my language on one measure of policy, since adopted, would have been greatly modified, however unchanged my private opinion might have remained.
The withdrawal of Mr. Mason from London has had the good effect of reviving an interest in the southern question, and awakening the public in England from their dream of continued non-intervention. From all sources of information in my power, and from the expressed views of intelligent English friends, I am led to believe that the public feeling in England finds true expression in the editorials from the Times of 25th and 27th, which is herewith enclosed. The greatest recoil of the measure has been against Lord John Russell personally. His speech, apologetic and vindicatory of his course, is the reply to your challenge, and it proves that he will persist in his policy to “the bitter end,” and is even ready to overstep the law in order to avoid offence to the Washington government. The delivery of this speech is too recent to permit me to inform you of English sentiment in relation to it. The commentary of the Times will show that even that obsequious echo of the ministry does not accept and reiterate Lord Russell’s views without a protest, and, should he venture to carry into execution the threats he has made of violating the law and asking a bill of indemnity from Parliament, the experiment may cost him his place, the sympathy of the British people for us growing stronger every day, and in the same ratio as their antipathy for the Yankees. To foster and increase these favorable dispositions, I have caused various publications to be made in England on the topics of cotton, slavery, the oath of allegiance, federal fabrications, and kept up a running fire through the English press. Some of these publications shall be sent you by the first opportunity which presents for sending packages.
After the disposal of the Roebuck motion, the rapid increase of federal recruitment in Ireland attracted much attention, and I deemed it advisable to visit that country to see if anything could be done to check it. During three weeks’ residence, chiefly in Dublin, with a visit to Belfast in the north of Ireland, I succeeded in unmasking and exposing the enemy’s battery, and enlisted the aid of some powerful auxiliaries in the press and the pulpit to stop this cruel and cowardly crimping of recruits, under pretext of employment on northern railways. Many knew the real nature of the services required of them, but many more were entrapped by promises of high wages, their contracts containing a clause that they would take the preliminary “oath of renunciation” on their arrival in America. This, at once, would make them subject to the draft. Another drag put upon them was the exhortation to the women to accompany their husbands, as the promised wages were so high—so that the Yankees now get a good deal of dross with their good metal. The number of actual recruits thus obtained from Ireland for the past year, up to August, cannot have exceeded 20,000 able-bodied men, but has probably reached that figure. When [Page CXIV] the harvest time is over, the Yankees hope to make a grand haul, but we hope their nets will not hold. The men of intelligence, who see the drain thus made of the very bone and sinew of the country, resist it from policy and from patriotism. The priests, who are generally conscientious and earnest men, and who live on voluntary contributions of their parishioners, are also bent on arresting the exodus. The only party favorable to the Yankees is the silly and mischievous clique of demagogues who style themselves “Young Irelanders,” of whom General Meagher used to be one of the shining lights; and these men make themselves busy in selling their countrymen for the Yankee shambles. No step has been or will be taken by the British government to stop this wholesale deportation for two reasons:
1. From the difficulty of proof of actual enlistment; and,
2. Because of the unwillingness of Lord Russell to wound the susceptibilities of Mr. Seward, of whose conduct he “has no complaint to make.”
The press, the priests, and public opinion may supply the short-comings of the government in this respect. At least the attempt is making, and shall continue to be made.
Having called (of course as a private individual) on the lord lieutenant, the Earl of Carlisle, an old acquaintance, I was most courteously and kindly received, and had a long conversation with him on this and kindred topics. Subsequently I dined with him, when we again discussed the whole matter. He admitted the existence of the evil of emigration and the powerlessness of government in the matter.
Here in France I see no change either in the attitude of the government or in the popular sentiment. In fact, until the arrival of the Florida at Brest, allusions even to the confederacy (except those supplied by our friends in the press) were becoming very rare. The Polish question and the Mexican entirely obscured ours, in which Frenchmen have really but little interest. The sympathy at first felt for the federals has been forfeited by their brutality and insolence. A kind of vague admiration for the heroism of our people has succeeded, but not lively enough to prompt any action, nor give us reasonable hopes of it.
The arrival of the Florida, and the questions which arose, excited an interest, but that too has now died away, and even the arrival of the federal vessel Kearsarge, and her admission into the same docks, have not revived it. Her visit has been important, however, in settling some vexed questions, as the enclosed extracts from the Moniteur, France, and Pays, will show. The extract from the latter print (which is now the organ of the minister of foreign affairs) threw a wet blanket over our too sanguine friends, who predicated French intervention on the acknowledgment of our belligerent rights by France on water as on land.
The Emperor is now at Biarritz, where every year all the world are admitted informally to the reunions of the Empress, and French royalty goes en dishabille. Mr. Slidell’s family have passed the summer there, and he himself, for the last month, has been there. The court next week will be transferred to Compaigne, where none can go except by invitation. There the Emperor will receive the Mexican deputation after their visit to Prince Maximilian, near Trieste, and some people hope he may say something bearing on our question. I entertain no such hopes.
The withdrawal of Mr. Mason from London makes the Emperor more than ever master of the situation—the only rivalry he feared being thus withdrawn. He can amuse us with Mexican alliances in lieu of more practical intervention, in the belief that we shall continue to be very grateful for very small favors. Neither the British Parliament nor the French Chambers will meet until February next, and until then the game is entirely in his own hands, Earl Russell’s [Page CXV] speech having relieved his mind of any change in England’s inactivity. I sincerely hope that the intentions of the Emperor may be more practical, but I can only judge by the lights before me.
I remain, very respectfully,
Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State, Richmond, C. S. A.
Letter from Mr. De Leon to Jeff. Davis.
My Dear Sir: You cannot possibly imagine the very great happiness which your letter gave me, both on account of the assurance of your continued friendship and of the hopeful tone which pervaded it in relation to our public affairs.
Both of these facts are fully confirmed by my friend, Dr. Girard, who speaks of your kindness to him in the most enthusiastic terms, and he has relieved my apprehensions that, like our first great leader Calhoun, your body might prove unequal to the burden your spirit imposes upon it.
For the sake of the cause, as well as for the sake of those that love you, it is essential that you should not overtask your strength, for every day has convinced me more and more that we have no Joshua to take your place, and lead us into Canaan, if that place were rendered vacant. It is useless to disguise the fact that the men around you do not inspire confidence, and that chaos would soon come were your hand withdrawn from the helm. Military ability of the highest order our revolution has produced, but of diplomatic talent it has been most singularly barren. The old men of the old regime, like the Bourbons, seem to “have learned nothing and forgotten nothing,” and no younger ones seem springing up to supply their places. Radical democracy, which levels down instead of grading up, seems almost as strong with us as with the north, though not in such repulsive shapes, and after the war is over we shall have to fight the same old foe with a new face. I may seem to speak bitterly, but I see on this side so much pitiful self-seeking and worthless greed in the swarm of speculators and blockade-runners, and swaggering shufflers from danger, who call themselves confederates, that my soul sickens as I contemplate our future. No one can appreciate more than myself the heroic virtues of our home population, and I turn my face towards them for purer air and more hopeful presages.
As I ventured to give counsel with reference to an important public movement, I feel bound frankly to say to you what I am not warranted in embodying in a despatch, especially since being informed by Mr. B. that there were reasons and proceedings out here of which I had not been informed. In a despatch to him I therefore have only dilated upon these points by the lights before me, as there may be reasons beyond my ken.
By reference to my despatch, and my letter to yourself, it will be found that my suggestion has been treated as were the prayers of Homer’s heroes by Jupiter—one-half accepted, the rest dismissed as empty air. I suggested a policy by which you would have administered a grave rebuke to Europe, and have appealed to the conscience of Europe. This, I think, would have produced a most happy effect. The isolated action which has been taken has not the same weight and gravity, and has been attributed more to personal pique against a small minister, and to impatience of recognition, than to the calm consciousness of strength, or to deliberate and settled policy.
A general measure would have sown suspicion between the two great powers. Each would have feared secret negotiations with the other. Now it is an open game, and Louis and Pam. both see each other’s hands. I am not a prophet, [Page CXVI] and may be deceived; but, as far as I know and can see, there has been, and is to-day, as little real intention of speedy recognition by France as by England.
That we may be made a pawn in the Mexican game I think very probable, but the detected intrigue in Texas (Mr. B.’s denunciation of which was intercepted and published in New York and English papers) does not inspire confidence in that very astute gentleman who is now an arbiter of southern and Mexican destinies, the retention of Mr. Mann in Belgium not being remembered by the public.
Judge Rost, who is here now, entirely concurs in my views; and he adds further, that Mr. Dayton declares he has never had any complaint from Washington regarding French intervention in Mexico. If Seward, therefore, acknowledges Maximilian’s empire, the ground on which our action seems to have been predicated is cut away from under our feet. Even should S. make a protest, for he cannot meditate a war with France, we still will be held as a pawn, and have the shadow of a favor, while our enemy enjoys the substance of nonintervention.
Before this letter reaches you events will have proved their correctness or falsity; for we are groping in the dark at this moment. God grant I may be unduly suspicious and distrustful, and that we may get more substantial “aid and comfort” from Napoleon than I either hope or expect.
At the risk of being tedious I have exposed my inmost thoughts to you. What is past is irrevocable, but I feel our future is safe in your hands. I cannot volunteer any advice, now that you know my inmost ideas. I am working hard and incessantly, personally and by proxy, and am enlarging the sphere of my operations, for the exigencies of the hour demand. I abhor asking for money, but, as I do not appropriate a penny for myself, have given Mr. B. a reminder that a small sum in treasury drafts is not a Fortunatus purse, ever filling and ever full, at the expiration of eighteen months. “France wants money,” literally, and not figuratively; they are a far more mercenary race than the English, and we must buy golden opinions from them, if at all. Such was the secret of Dr. Franklin’s success. Mrs. De Leon was much gratified by your very kind mention and remembrance of her.
Believe me when I say she fully shares in my feelings towards yourself and Mrs. D., and heartily echoes the wish of meeting soon again and under happier auspices. As a souvenir of an old friend, I send Madam for her album the “portrait of a gentleman,” as they say in exhibitions. So soon as a good one is taken of Madam, it shall also be sent.
With the warmest wishes for your health and happiness, your obliged, sincere friend,
An agreement between certain parties to run five steamers from St. George’s, Bermuda, or Nassau, to Charleston, South Carolina, or Wilmington, North Carolina.
To all to whom these presents shall come: I, William Anderson Rose, lord mayor of the city of London, do hereby certify, that on the day of the date hereof personally came and appeared before me James Taylor Soutter, the declarant named in the declaration hereunto annexed, and by solemn declaration which the said declarant then made before me in due form of law, did solemnly and sincerely declare to be true the several matters and things mentioned and contained in the said annexed declaration.
[Page CXVII]In faith and testimony whereof, I, the said lord mayor, have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the office of mayoralty of the said city of London to he hereunto put and affixed, and the paper writing marked “A,” mentioned and referred to in and by said declaration, to be hereunto annexed.
[Untitled]
The following is a copy of the certificate of James T. Soutter, of London:
I, James Taylor Soutter, of No. 3 Alderman’s Walk, in the city of London, gentleman, do solemnly and sincerely declare that I have carefully examined the paper writing hereunto annexed and marked with the letter “A,” with the original agreement, and that the same is a true and exact copy of such original agreement.
And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously, believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of an act made and passed in the session of Parliament of the fifth and sixth years of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, entitled “An act to repeal an act of the present session of Parliament entitled ‘An act for the more effectual abolition of oaths and affirmations taken and made in various departments of the State, and to subscribe declarations in lieu thereof, and for the more entire suppression of voluntary and extra-judicial oaths and affidavits, and to make other provisions for the abolition of unnecessary oaths.’ ”
J. T. SOUTTER.
A.
It is agreed hereby between Colonel J. Gorgas, chief of ordnance, in behalf of the Confederate States, on the one side, and C. E. Thorburn, esquire; in behalf of himself, Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co., and other parties, (to be named,) of London, on the other, to run five steamers, on joint account for the parties they represent, in the proportions hereinafter named, from the port of St. George’s, Bermuda, or Nassau, N. P., to the confederate port of Charleston, South Carolina, or Wilmington, North Carolina, on the following terms and conditions:
1. The five steamers shall be owned in the proportion of two-thirds by the Confederate States and one-third by Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties.
2. The Confederate States shall pay for their two-thirds ownership in the steamers in cotton, delivered, compressed and in good shipping condition, at the port of Charleston or Wilmington, as Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties may direct; said cotton to be valued on the basis of sixpence (6d) per pound for “ middling upland.”
[Page CXVIII]3.The steamers shall be sailed at the risk and expense of the joint owners in proportion to their shares, as named in condition 1st, the Confederate States beginning to bear their proportion of the risk and expense from date of receipt of notification by Major Caleb Huse, 71 Jermyn street, London, that this agreement is ratified by Messrs. Charles H. Reid &. Co. and other parties.
4. The general management of the steamers shall be intrusted to Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties, but the Confederate States reserve to themselves the right of representing their controlling interests in all disputed questions. It is distinctly understood, also, that the steamers will be run under the general rules established by the government of the Confederate States for their own steamers engaged in the same trade.
5. The Confederate States will furnish coal and cotton at their port with all despatch for these steamers; and, for so doing a commission of 2 1/2 per cent. on value of their one-third at the seaport will be allowed them by Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties. The cotton so exported to the depots in the islands will be re-shipped there in neutral bottoms to Liverpool, and consigned to Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties, who will Sell it for the benefit of those concerned, and place the proceeds (less the usual charges and 2 1/2 per cent, commission for selling) of the two-thirds share belonging to the Confederate States to the credit of the war department, with Messrs. Frazer, Trenholm & Co., of Liverpool, unless they (Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties) should be directed to expend it themselves in the purchase of articles needed by the government, on lists furnished them as indicated in condition sixth.
6. Two-thirds of the inward cargoes shall be purchased by Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties for the Confederate States, on lists furnished them for the purpose, unless the Confederate States should prefer to purchase directly through their officers abroad. In either case, Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. and other parties are to be allowed a commission of 2 1/2 per cent. on the invoice cost of the two-thirds cargo belonging to the Confederate States. These cargoes are to be sent out in neutral bottoms to the depots on the islands, and there re-shipped to run the blockade into one of the two confederate ports named, on one of the five steamers of joint ownership. In every case, where required by the agreeing parties, the cargoes from England to the islands, and from the islands to the confederate sea-port, will be apportioned out among them in the proportions of their ownership of the five steamers; that is to say, two-thirds and one-third. Whenever one party occupies the freight room of the other by consent, or because the other cannot furnish freight, from whatever cause, he shall pay for such freight room at the rate of fifty pounds sterling per ton from Europe to port of destination in the Confederate States, or of forty pounds sterling from depot in the islands to said port, or from said port to the islands.
7. As it would imperil the safety of any one of the five steamers, it is agreed that no contraband of war shall be placed upon them, except to carry between the islands and confederate port.
8. The Confederate States will furnish, as far as practicable, officers to command the steamers.
9. In consideration of the fact that the Confederate States pay for their proportion of the five steamers in cotton on this side the water, they concede to Messrs. Charles H. Reid & Co. the use of one-half of their freight room, at price herein named, on first trip of each vessel from confederate port to island depot.
10. As the Confederate States necessarily place much confidence, not only in the skill and judgment, but also in the integrity of the other parties to this agreement, pledge is hereby given on the part of each and all of them that they will not receive any profit, drawback, or return commission, in addition to what [Page CXIX] is expressly allowed in this agreement, and that they will in no manner derive pecuniary compensation in any business arising therefrom beyond the legitimate profits of their one-third interest and specified commissions.
J. GORGAS, Chief of Ordnance.
Approved:
J. A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.
C. E. THORBURN.
CHARLES H. REID & CO.
THE MERCANTILE TRADING CO., (limited.)
EDGAR P. STRINGER, Managing Director.
London, September 23, 1863.
Witnesses to the signatures of C. E. Thorburn, Charles H. Reid & Co., the Mercantile Trading Company, limited, and Edgar P. Stringer, managing director—
J. T. Soutter.
William H. Averell.
London, September 30, 1863.
We certify the above to be a true copy of the original agreement, having carefully examined the same therewith.
Terms of agreement between Major Huse and the Mercantile Trading Company, limited.
No. 1. £150,000 advance to be made Major Huse for the purchase of goods; this amount to be extended to £300,000, but not exceeding $$$$$200,000 at any one time outstanding, except by subsequent arrangement.
No. 2 (erased.)
No. 3. The shipments to be made from this country by the company via Bermuda, Nassau, or Havana. If required by Major Huse, several cargoes to be delivered at Matamoras.
No. 4. That Major Huse gives his acceptance for the amount of each shipment as it takes place, with the charges added to the invoice.
No. 5. That the confederate government have two-thirds cargo space in each vessel, the company one-third each way.
No. 6. That the confederate government insure the entire ship from war risk, value declared on sailing, reducing value after four months by ten per cent. each voyage.
No. 7. That the freight be fixed at £20 per ton from England into the confederacy, payable in cotton at 5d. per lb. sterling f. o. b.
No. 8. That the steamer be approved by Major Huse between the neutral port and the confederacy.
No. 9. The captains of the steamers to be approved by Major Huse; pilots to be approved by the Confederate States agents at the ports.
No. 10. That the cotton received from the Confederate States be consigned to the company’s agency in Liverpool, who will, upon the payment of £20 per [Page CXX] ton freight, render account sales, deducting the acceptance given by Major Huse. That the company charge the usual commission, say two and one-half per cent. on the consignment.
No. 11. That the company charge twenty per cent. on the advance.
It is understood that this agreement is entered into by the Mercantile Trading Company, limited, by Edgar P. Stringer, managing director, and Major Huse in behalf of the confederate government; the further details to be arranged next week.
July 22, 1863.
Witness:
W. H. Pratt.
Letter from E. P. Stringer to Colonel Thorburn.
My Dear Sir: At your request I place before you actual offers for steamers and engines, instead of merely giving you the information, which I am desirous of placing before the confederate government navy department by your kind medium.
The builder, Mr. Ash, is a man who is extremely well up in his business, and sends the model of a steamer to the constructor of your navy, with a contract which is binding on him for three months from the 21st of October next, the time, I hope, you will reach the confederacy. If the government accept the proposition kindly, let Mr. Campbell, at Bermuda, know, and send us the arrangement you make as to the payment. If the government will hand over to Mr. Campbell half of the cost in cotton to be consigned to us, we will arrange the cash matters with the builders, so that no time is lost, and the government can take their time in paying the remainder.
I shall have to charge a commission for superintending the building, together with the small charges usual. I should fix the commission at two and a half per cent., and for this should undertake guaranteeing that the vessel is according to specification, and I would do all the work in fitting her for sea.
The constructor of the navy will have to sign the contract, keeping copy of the same.
ENGINES.
I have put the building of these on the simplest possible ground—that of a cost for the horse-power. Messrs. Stewart are very first-rate men, and their work exceedingly good, and to be trusted. The payment you can arrange in the same manner, and my charge for the superintendence. The shipment of the engines can be done via Bermuda, in the company’s steamers, as we will give up that room to the government.
Please bear in mind the earlier the reply reaches this the better.
Believe me, yours, truly,
Colonel Thorburn, present.
Letter from E. P. Stringer to J. M. Mason.
Dear Sir: In the month of July last this company entered into an agreement with Major Caleb Huse, acting in behalf of the Confederate States of America, to make certain advances of money, as will be seen by the copy of the informal preliminary agreement herewith, it being understood that Major Huse’s authority to bind his government should be satisfactory to the solicitor of our company before the execution of a more formal contract by the parties. Major Huse was very anxious to send out immediately some saltpetre, and, not doubting that his powers were all right, we entered, on the very day of the signing of the contract, into the active execution of it, by advancing him £20,000 on saltpetre, to be sent to Wilmington via Bermuda.
Preparatory to drawing up the formal contract, we called on Major Huse to exhibit his powers that they might be laid before our solicitor, and, in reply to our request, he produced certain extracts from letters dating back as far as the spring of 1861, under which he had acted in the large operations he had hitherto conducted for account of the Confederate States government. Our solicitor did not deem these extracts of letters a sufficient authority, and directed us to ask Major Huse for additional evidence. He thought that as the Confederate government had sanctioned all his previous acts, it was fair to presume they would ratify this arrangement also, but that it was necessary to know from him whether any of these original powers were withdrawn, as we had heard of a failure of a contract made by him in France, owing to the allegation that he had not the requisite powers. To this request Major Huse replied that there had been no change in his authority to act in full for the Confederate government. Not feeling satisfied with this, and learning that he had in some way been associated with Captain W. G. Crenshaw in supplying the government, we applied to the latter gentleman for information, if he felt at liberty to grant it to us. The result was, that we learned that, by recent order of the war department, Major Huse’s authority was now limited to the supply of ordnance stores, or, in other words, to contraband of war, and these to be sent forward by government vessels. On getting this information we declined going on with the contract until the confederate government should ratify the same. Major Huse then addressed the company a threatening note, stating that he had no doubt the government would take redress into their own hands, meaning, we presume, that they would not pay for the saltpetre, or would seize our ships when within their power. Our object in addressing you is to say that we want to give the government the saltpetre on being paid for the same the cost and such other compensation as they may deem just and right.
Very truly,
Hon. J. M. Mason.
P. S.—The saltpetre has been stored at Bermuda, to await further instructions. If you could feel free to assure us that the Confederate government would pay for the same in any equitable way, we will gladly order it forward in our ships to Wilmington, but, having Major Huse’s threat over us, we do not feel justified in sending it into Wilmington without some such assurance. We earnestly desire to give them the saltpetre, knowing that it is much wanted; but our stockholders would censure us were we to do so without having some assurance to offset the aforesaid threat of Major Huse. I trust you will be able to help us in our dilemma.
Mr. Mason’s answer.
Sir: I have received your letter of the 16th instant, with its enclosure, being the memorandum of agreement between Major Huse and the Mercantile Trading Company.
I am not aware of the extent of Major Huse’s authority in the matter to which your letter refers, but I know that as an officer of the government he has exercised large powers in sending forward supplies, and, in doing so, has had the sanction and approbation of the war department. Thus, in regard to the saltpetre which you state has been sent forward by your company under a contract with Major Huse, I feel fully authorized to assure you that it will be taken by the government on the terms mentioned in your letter, or on those of the contract referred to, the better to insure which I return your letter with its enclosures, as the papers to which this refers, (identified by my initials,) so that you can send them, with this letter, to the government when the saltpetre is shipped.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Edgar P. Stringer, Esq.
Caleb Huse to E. P. Stringer.
Sir: I duly received your communication of August 28, and am this morning in receipt of a duplicate of the same.
I gather from it that you desire to base your excuse for failing to carry out your engagement with me on the fact that Mr. William G. Crenshaw has satisfied you that I had no authority to enter upon the engagement on the part of the Confederate States government. I regret that Mr. Crenshaw should have taken upon himself the responsibility of interfering with an arrangement by which the Confederate States government would, at a comparatively early day, have received most important supplies. But while I regret this interference on the part of Mr. Crenshaw, which has enabled you to advance a plausible excuse for your breach of contract, it is not to be understood that I find in it the true reason for your failure to comply with the terms of your engagement. I perceive, in your thus placing the responsibility upon Mr. Crenshaw, only an afterthought and pretext cleverly made use of. The true reason for your breaking down in the execution of this contract has been that you have been unable to obtain the money required. The capital of your company is £ 150,000, and you have already made use of the entire amount in the purchase of goods and steamers. You expected to obtain the money for carrying out your contract with me from Mr. De Vost, through Mr. Lang. Since the confederate reverses in July Mr. De Vost has been unwilling to part with his money on the security you could give him. I have known this all the time, and also of your efforts to procure money from other sources.
Finding yourself unable to accomplish this, at the last moment you resort to the dishonorable expedient of making use of the complaint of an unsuccessful contractor—who fancies that, in some way, I am the cause of his failure to obtain funds with which he may go on with his contract—to prove that I had no authority to enter upon this contract. You have, moreover, stated to gentlemen in no way connected with the Confederate States government that Major Huse [Page CXXIII] had endeavored to make a contract with you for the Confederate States government, for which he had no authority. This statement, if generally believed, would entirely destroy my efficiency as an agent of the Confederate States government. You hoped, by such means, to escape the odium of having entered upon an undertaking which you were unable to carry out.
If you had had the honesty to state to me the true reason for your failure, I should have regretted the fact, and perhaps would have entertained an opinion as to the propriety of your having signed a memorandum of agreement to supply me with £300,000 without having first assured yourself that you would be able to carry it out. But then the matter would have ended; you would have failed in the execution of your engagement from causes beyond your control, but you would have saved your self-respect.
When Mr. Soutter first proposed to me that I should enter into an arrangement with the Mercantile Trading Company, my reply was that I would have nothing to do with any concern in which Mr. E. P. Stringer was a principal manager. I subsequently abandoned this position, not because Mr. Stringer’s character was made to appear in any more favorable light to me, but because it represented to me that such a course on my part would injure innocent persons for whom I had a high regard, who were interested in the success of the company, and particularly Mr. Soutter. I found, too, that an incorrect impression had been produced in the mind of Mr. Soutter, and of one or two distinguished persons, that my desire to injure Mr. Stringer was so great that, for the sake of gratifying it, I was willing to let pass an opportunity of making a favorable arrangement for the Confederate States government. I lost no time in correcting this impression, and entered into an arrangement finally, under which you were to supply me with £300,000. I believed that the arrangement would be carried out on the part of the company, not because I had any faith in the managing director, but because of my confidence in Mr. Soutter, a fellow co-director, who, I believed, would carefully watch the interests of the Confederate States government. My confidence in Mr. Soutter is undiminished. He enjoys a reputation that is able to bear even an association with Mr. E. P. Stringer. I ought, as I now see clearly, to have adhered to my determination, which was based on grounds which, as I intend to send a copy of this letter to Richmond, I will here state:
You had made great professions of friendship for the Confederate States, and at the same time had been perfectly unscrupulous on at least two occasions when opportunity offered for you to benefit yourself. One occasion was the purchase of the steamer Giraffe, when you caused £1,000 more to be paid for the steamer than was necessary, which thousand pounds was disposed of by you, in addition to two and a half per cent, commission upon the purchase-money, which purchase-money included the £1,000 put into your pocket. You once stated to me that this £1,000 was given to you by Mr. Collie, from whom the Giraffe was purchased. Such a statement was childish. In whatever manner the details of a transaction may be concealed, all the expense connected with the purchase of an article goes into the account of the purchaser in one way or another. You were paid a commission for purchasing the steamer. As an honorable man, you ought to have effected the purchase on the best terms possible, and charged your commission on the net amount.
On another occasion, you received from a purchaser of arms for the Confederate States government the exorbitant commission of five per cent, for introducing the party to a house from which the Confederate States government had been purchasing arms since the commencement of the war. The transaction came officially to my notice. It cannot be pretended by you that any service, whatever, was rendered for that charge. You knew, moreover, that not only would that money—about £2,000—come from the treasury of the Confederate [Page CXXIV] States government but that one hundred per cent. profit was to be paid on the face of the invoice, in which your commission appeared as an item.
I do not object to your making money in any manner allowed by your conscience and by those persons with whom you have transactions. Such transactions as the above, however, are entirely inconsistent with the position you assume to occupy, of a friend to the Confederate States government. Your well-assumed enthusiasm in the confederate cause has deceived many who, perhaps, would hardly believe the above statements unless clear evidence of their truth were furnished.
I trust it will not be necessary for me to have anything more to do with a man of whom my first unfavorable impressions were strengthened by the conversation of almost every merchant whose opinion of either W. S. Lindsay & Co. or E. P. Stringer I asked, and which have been fully confirmed by the two transactions referred to above, to say nothing of Mr. Stringer’s conduct, as manager of the Mercantile Trading Company, with reference to my contract with that company.
It is proper for me to inform you that I hold the Mercantile Trading Company to the faithful execution of the agreement of its managers with me. I shall take no further steps to convince the company that I had fall authority to make the contract. If the company doubts my authority, and requires the counter signature of one or all of the Confederate States commissioners to any contract I may sign, I will undertake to obtain such counter signatures.
Your obedient servant,
E. P. Stringer, Esq., Managing Director of the Mercantile Trading Company, 3 Alderman’s Walk, London, E. C.