Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II
Mr. Mercier to Mr. Seward.
Sir: In acknowledging the receipt, under date of the 15th of last November, of your excellency’s note dated the eighth of the same month, in relation to the reclamation of Mr. François Bougére, I informed you that I would take prompt measures for obtaining at New Orleans a more detailed information, both with respect to the facts which had caused the complaint of that Frenchman, and his previous conduct and the position he had held from the commencement of the war. I have now the honor to enclose to your excellency another memorial which Mr. Bougére has sent to the Emperor’s consul at New Orleans, and which will meet, I trust, all the objections contained in your note of the 15th November.
I again call the benevolent and just attention of the government of the United States to this matter.
I embrace this occasion, sir, to renew to your excellency the assurances of my high consideration.
[Translation.]
To the Consul of France, at New Orleans:
Sir: I have had the honor of being informed of the reply which the honorable the Secretary of State of the United States has given to the ambassador of France, respecting the reclamation which I addressed to you seeking an indemnity for the losses which the military authorities of the United States in Louisiana have caused me.
His excellency the ambassador, in order to comply with the wishes of the honorable the Secretary of State of the United States, asks that I should furnish him with more full information.
First. With respect to the conduct I have observed towards the United States.
Second. Upon the facts in themselves upon which my reclamation is based, with the recommendation to avoid every exaggeration, and only to base my reclamation upon facts, the irrefutable proof of which can be adduced.
I shall endeavor to satisfy at one and the same time both the ambassador and the Secretary of State of the United States, that my conduct towards the Unites States has been that of the most complete neutrality, and that there is nothing in my reclamation which is in the least degree exaggerated, and which is not much below the losses which I have suffered through the action of the military authorities in Louisiana.
I am now sixty-six years of age. I arrived in Louisiana in 1819, some forty-three years ago. My vocation has been that of a merchant, and I have always [Page 822] had the intention (animus) of returning to France. It was only from circumstances brought, about by the course of business that I became a sugar planter, and with a view of saving the means I had acquired, always with the hope of returning to my native country whenever favorable opportunities should enable me to realize my pecuniary means, disseminated through several parishes in Louisiana.
My course of conduct is well known. Every one knows that, during my long residence in Louisiana, I have never taken part in any political question, and that I have never troubled myself about municipal, public, parochial, or political matters. This fact is so well known and so indubitable, that I do not think it possible to find in Louisiana a single person to contradict it. I appeal thereon to all those who have known me, and to all the French agents for New Orleans, if ever they have, during more than forty-three years, heard my name mentioned as being connected, either closely or remotely, directly or indirectly, with any political association whatever. I was thus living, occupied in my own individual affairs, when the political troubles and secession broke out in Louisiana. It is not at my age, (over sixty-six,) Mr. Consul, that people change their principles and their manner of life. I was thus continuing my style of life, keeping off with care all occasions of discussing political affairs, and living in the most retired manner, sometimes upon my plantation, and at others in New Orleans. This inflexible rule of neutrality had for its unfortunate effect the bringing upon myself the suspicions, the annoyances, and the persecutions of the partisans of secession, which persecutions were seriously felt by me some days prior even to the fatal military expedition which caused me so many losses. In fact, I was threatened by the partisans of the south, who accused me of serving the cause of the federals, and who, after having invaded my domicile and having helped themselves to whatever suited them in my house, threatened me with setting it on fire, or otherwise to fire upon the steamers of the United States, and thus to cause the destruction of my property by the gunboats which pass on the Mississippi in front of my plantation.
The number of negroes in the parish of St. Charles, where I reside, as well as in the neighboring parishes, exceeds by far the number of whites, as everybody knows. During these times of civil dissensions much uneasiness was created with reference to the police of the slaves, and apprehensions of servile outbreaks were felt, in consequence of which, patrols were organized, and as I resided upon the spot, I was obliged sometimes to act with them, notwithstanding my advanced age, and my love for seclusion and retirement. On the arrival of the federals at New Orleans I ceased entirely to perform this service.
I assure you, Mr. Consul, that I have never in my life done anything which could cause me to lose the protection of the French government, to which I have ever laid claim, and which I have never renounced; for I hold as much to my character of a Frenchman as to my very existence. It is with a feeling of pain and regret that I have seen myself misrepresented to the honorable the Secretary of State of the United States, as having espoused a cause opposed to the United States, held cabals with insurgent bands, supplied them with rations, means, and equipments, for their insurrection against the United States.
Be pleased, Mr. Consul, to assure the French authorities that these accusations are false and malicious, and that to disprove them it is only necessary to question all those who know me, and who have been enabled to form an opinion of me during my long career in this country.
I shall add to this letter, Mr. Consul, if it be necessary, the attestations of several respectable persons, which will fully satisfy you as to the sentiments which I may have manifested, and as to the conduct which I have always observed towards the United States, and in which there has been nothing hostile towards them.
Referring now to the facts which are the cause of my reclamation, I remark [Page 823] that the honorable Secretary of State makes the objection that the allegations of my claim are vague, and not entirely correct, and that they are not supported either by my oath or by any other testimony.
With regard to the oath this is an erroneous assertion, for I have had the honor of being sworn by you, Mr. Consul, and my oath attesting the truth of my reclamation will be found at the conclusion of the petition which I have addressed to you. As to the reproach of the want of correctness in the allegations of my petition, I humbly refer you to my petition, and I beg you to consider whether it is possible to state with more clearness that the tropps of the United States have taken my slaves from me, and the property therein enumerated, and have caused me the damage, the reparation of which I now claim; but as the report made to the honorable Secretary of State contains many minute details, it becomes necessary to examine these minute details in order to demonstrate their want of correctness.
The honorable Secretary of State says that, agreebly to the report made to the War Department by the military authorities, the troops did not forcibly take from me any slaves; that my slaves voluntarily followed the expedition; that one-half of my slaves had already abandoned my plantation before the arrival of the expedition; that the expedition did not give any command, any order, any advice, to take my negroes from me, and that no one of the expedition has contributed to their being taken from me; that their flight was a voluntary one on the part of the slaves; that the troops of the United States received and gave an asylum to but one of my negroes, (wounded by a musket ball,) and that they only received him for the purpose of affording him medical treatment; that I came and drove my cattle in the woods, and that I placed my slaves in my sugar-house, whence they escaped to join the expedition; that they only took two poor horses upon my plantation, only one of which belonged to me, and that they did not take anything else, neither provisions nor other effects, and that if I have suffered losses, my negroes were those who took from me the effects which I am short of. Permit me, Mr. Consul, to assure you that all these assertions are incorrect. When the military expedition arrived at my house there was, at the same time, a gunboat anchored opposite my house, which is upon the river bank. A boat containing eight men, six white men and two negroes, pushed off from the gunboat, and came opposite to my house. The men landed; came into my house; they forced the locks of my cellar, and of my wardrobes, and ransacked my house; they carried off my wines, liquors, brandy, provisions, &c., &c., smashing the champagne and liquor bottles, carrying off the cases of wine and many other effects. After the seamen came the soldiers, who pillaged, stole, and ransacked everything there was in my house; they respected nothing; they took everything; my pants, my clothing, shirts, coats, family pictures, and all they could carry off; even my watch, my eye-glass, my pencil-case and gold spectacles; they went into my kitchen, into my garden, into my poultry-yard, and they laid violent hands upon everything they found, like real vandals.
The troops of the United States took my negroes from me by force, and came with that intention. I so attest it upon my honor.
I must state that, as I do not speak English, they treated me like the inhabitants, citizens of the United States, my neighbors, whom they have subjected to the same treatment; for it is thus that the troops of the United States have behaved towards the rebel citizens in my vicinity. The troops only stopped at my house but to subject me to the punishment which they have inflicted upon the reputed rebel inhabitants in my neighborhood.
My negroes have always been, and are still, at the camp of the United States troops. I have seen several of them, who have assured me that they had been compelled to leave my plantation, under threats to their lives made by soldiers of the United States. I claimed them. The military refused them to me, [Page 824] telling me that the United States needed them to arm and make soldiers of them. It is true that four or five of my slaves had gone off as runaways some time prior to the arrival of the troops of the United States. I have included them in my claim, because, in my soul and conscience, I am convinced that they have been compelled to quit me by the manœuvres and menaces of the soldiers (military) of the United States.
I drove into the woods a portion of my cattle, which I was enabled to save, but that does not signify that the troops of the United States did not take from me what I claim, and when I speak of the troops of the United States there is no error in my mind. I state that all that I claim was taken from me by white soldiers, Americans, both officers and soldiers. My negroes have taken nothing from me; the military took everything, and have compelled my negroes to follow them.
With respect to the negro wounded by a musket ball, and taken up by the federals, he had been a runaway for some time previous to the expedition, and at a time when the discipline, according to the laws of Louisiana, was in force throughout the parish. This negro, having been arrested and questioned some miles distant from my plantation, according to the information given me, refused to surrender himself, and attempted to resist and attack the person who wanted to arrest him, and who fired upon him with a shot-gun while defending himself against him. The negro succeeded in escaping, and took refuge in the camp of the troops of the United States. When I learned that it was my manager who had fired upon the negro, I rebuked him for so doing. He justified himself by telling me that he had done so in self-defence; but notwithstanding his explanations, I further rebuked him, and dismissed him and took another manager, a Frenchman like myself, who was upon my plantation when my property was invaded, and whose declaration I will send you should it be necessary.
The troops of the United States took three horses from me, one of which cost me four hundred dollars, and for which I refused six hundred dollars, another two hundred dollars, and the third one belonging to one of my friends, to whom I am responsible therefor. I can add, for the support of my statements, the depositions of many respectable persons.
You will be satisfied, (convinced,) Mr. Consul, that my reclamation is true; that the losses I have suffered are true, and sustained by proofs; and that, far from being exaggerated, the indemnity which I claim but very indifferently and imperfectly covers the injury I have experienced.
Accept, Mr. Consul, the assurance of my gratitude for the protection which you have been pleased to extend to me during these times of misfortune and ruin.
I have the honor to be your very obedient servant,
FRANÇOIS BOUGÉRE.
Mr. Francois Bougére declares, under the oath which he has regularly (duly) taken before us, the truth of the facts above stated, and protests in the most solemn manner against all or any one it may concern, and especially against the government of the United States, for all costs, damages, and interests, for the losses which he has sustained, and which he estimates at the sum of eighty-eight thousand eight hundred dollars.
And of the said depositions and protests he having asked of us a copy, we have granted the same unto him, which he has again signed after the reading thereof, on this 8th day of December, 1862.
A true copy:
FAUCONNET, The Chancellor of the Consulate,
COUNT MEJAN, Consul.
[seal of consulate.]