Mr. Merrier to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Your excellency, in replying, on the 3d of November, 1862, to a communication from this legation, under date of the 29th of August of the same year, in reference to the fine which had been imposed by order No. 55, issued by General Butler, upon Messrs. Rochereau & Co., Jeannet, Questier & Co., and Lewis, French subjects, and in communicating to me the extracts from a report which General Butler had addressed upon the same subject to the War Department, did me the honor to say to me that, upon a cursory examination of that report, you had been disposed to consider the claimants as having lost all right to being treated as unoffending neutrals by taking an active part in the civil war having for its aim the overthrow of the government of the United States. Your excellency was pleased also to inform me at the same time, while recommending to my attention the report of General Butler, that the government of the United States would await a new expression of the views of the Emperor’s legation upon the affair under consideration before making a definitive reply to the note of the 29th of August.
With respect to the legality itself of the act which the Frenchmen above mentioned have had to suffer, I have already had occasion to express to your excellency, through a note under date of the 14th November, how desirable it would be that the federal government should adopt the necessary measures, that the Frenchmen who were subjected at New Orleans to an exceptional form of government should have an efficient guarantee, in the shape of a legal recourse, against the arbitrary proceedings of an authority which seemed without any control; and your excellency informed me, confidentially, in a note dated the 18th November, that a judge had been designated to go to New Orleans, with the necessary powers to inquire into, without delay, all the reclamations which might arise in that city.
This determination of the federal government cannot, doubtless, fail to produce results calculated to satisfy us; but, in the meanwhile, I have made efforts to enable me to reply to the various allegations which tend to bring (raise) suspicions upon the neutrality of our countrymen, and I take the liberty to submit to your excellency the following suggestions:
At the time of the organization of the militia in the State of Louisiana, previous to the occupation of New Orleans by the federal forces, the foreigners were included therein, notwithstanding the protests of their agents, and particularly that of the Emperor’s consul. The only thing that could be obtained was that, when formed into special corps, they should not be compelled to go beyond the limits of the city, in which they would only serve as a police. It was upon these conditions that Mr. Rochereau was elected colonel by the members of the French legion, and not as having been appointed by the governor of Louisiana.
The governor having repeatedly offered arms to the legion, the latter, having been cautioned by the consul of France, and understanding fully the difference which exists between the service in a city guard and an active service which might compromit it both towards the government of the United States and that of the Emperor, always refused to receive them. Besides, the foreign corps only did service during the week which elapsed between the arrival of the fleet and that of the federal forces, and they have contributed materially to rescue the city from the sacking with which it was threatened; this is a fact which has been acknowledged by Admiral Farragut and by General Butler himself. By proving the extent to which the action of Mr. Rochereau was confined, at the time he was the colonel of a foreign corps, it is clear that the accusation [Page 826] brought against him falls of itself to the ground; neither can it be more fully sustained against Messrs. Jeannet, Questier & Co., one of whose clerks was serving in the legion under the same conditions as Mr. Rochereau; and with respect to the secret sympathies for the southern cause which are charged to the house of Mr. Lewis, it will be enough to state that Mr. Lewis, now concerned in this case, has left New Orleans some fourteen years since, and is, since that period, established in Paris.
Finally, it is shown that the Messieurs Rochereau, as well as the Messieurs Jeannet, Questier & Co., have not subscribed to the loan for their own account, but, on the contrary, for their employers, residing in France. Their action is justified by this fact, that they had received important (large) sums for these employers, at a period when the transmission of the funds to France was out of the question, owing to the blockade, and in view of the enormous loss by exchange, which had fallen to two francs and eighty centimes to the dollar.
The collections had been naturally made in confederate bills, (notes,) and the mandatories could not think of keeping these values when they were threatened daily with a new depreciation; it was, therefore, as natural as legitimate to place (invest) them in the most advantageous manner. This is what these gentlemen thought they were doing by purchasing, from second hands and through brokers, bonds issued by the municipality of New Orleans, acting in virtue of regular powers, and without troubling themselves about the intended use of the loan, which, moreover, was never put to that to which it had been intentionally destined.
Therefore, and after having collected with respect to the neutrality of my fellow-countrymen the most satisfactory information, I again come to ask from the even-handed justice of the government of the United States the restitution of the sums the payment of which has been imposed by General Butler, by way of a fine, upon unoffending neutrals. A solution of this affair is the more pressing, since General Butler has, by a new order, under date of the 9th December, 1862, imposed upon the same persons, to the same effect and for the same reasons, a fine equal to that imposed once before—that is to say, of the one-fourth of their subscription to the loan, which now amounts to the one-half of it. I need scarcely call your excellency’s attention to the character of this new measure, and I am confident that the government of the United States will render justice therein, as in the first one.
The copy of the letter, enclosed herewith, addressed to General Butler by a Frenchman residing in Paris, whose funds were deposited in the house of Mr. Questier, and upon which a fine of $1,250 was imposed, and which the new order will raise to $2,500, will serve to demonstrate to your excellency the iniquitous and deplorable effects of a measure the legality of which could not be maintained even in principle.
I embrace this occasion, sir, to renew to your excellency the assurances of my high consideration.
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.