Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part IV

Mr. Perry to Mr. Seward.

No. 40.]

United States Consulate, Tunis , May 28, 1864.

Sir:Little progress has been made within the last two weeks in the Tunisian question. Some robberies have been committed at various points along the shore, and several of the Bey’s former officers have been slain. Other chiefs have submitted to the Bey, and serious quarrels have arisen among the rebels. The most serious difficulty, however, which the Bey has to encounter is the want of fidelity among his own troops. These desert in large numbers, and many of them join with the rebels. Considerable development is visible in the diplomatic bearings of the question. The consul of France has explained the object of the Emperor in having a large fleet at hand, and also the object of the Ottoman ambassador in coming here. The ambassador has exchanged calls with most of the consuls, and has shown himself disposed to maintain relations especially intimate with this consulate. He would be glad to have the Bey acknowledge himself the subject of the Sublime Porte, but says that France puts herself in the way to prevent such an acknowledgment. The English consul has shown me a despatch from Earl Russell, stating that the French government had agreed not to intervene in Tunisian affairs. England is uniting with Turkey in favor of reasserting the statu quo, the leading principles of which are—

1. Hereditary right of succession of the Bey.

2. Independence of the Bey in internal administration.

3. Freedom of action in his foreign relations.

4. The investiture of the Bey by the Sultan on succeeding to the throne.

5. Coining money in the Sultan’s name.

6. Every Friday prayer be offered in the Sultan’s name.

A rich gold snuff-box, sent by the Bey’s chief minister some four months ago to the French minister of foreign affairs, with a view to getting the French consul recalled from Tunis, has been brought back by a French admiral and returned to the Bey by the consul in the name of the Emperor.

There are here now two French rear-admirals and two French vice-admirals, seven war vessels of the line, and I counted in the harbor at the Goletta day before yesterday twenty-five men-of-war belonging to various nations.

The Constellation, Captain Stellwagen, arrived here on the 19th instant and left yesterday. The commander visited, with me, the Bey and the Turkish ambassador, and received from them and others marked attention.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

AMOS PERRY.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

[Enclosure No. 1.]

Tunis, May 11, 1864.

You know, sir, that France has here important naval forces, and that if, unhappily, circumstances should become still more grave she would augment them; but our squadron has, I need not inform you, no other object than to secure the safety of our countrymen, and to witness, by the presence of the French flag, that the government of the Emperor does not neglect their interests. But the respect which we bear to the independence of all nations, and especially the care which France takes in a feeble neighboring nation, render it desirable to disembark troops only in case of imperious necessity.

I request you to inform our countrymen placed under your jurisdiction of the manœuvres, which I need not characterize, calculated to give to the natives a wrong idea of our intentions. You will say to them also that if private convenience and the shallowness of the water in certain ports do not permit the national colors to appear often, the consulate general is nevertheless ready to come to their assistance in case of emergency. The ambassador of his Highness the Sultan of Turkey has just arrived, with the title of Mushir. He has come to Tunis only after a good understanding between the courts of France and Turkey.

&c., &c., &c.

DE BEAUVAL, Consul General of France.

The Vice-Consul of France, at the Goletta.

[Enclosure No. 2.]

Consulate General of France, Tunis , May 12, 1864.

Sir: I should be unwilling that you should misunderstand the meaning of the presence of the Turkish ambassador at Tunis. He has not come here without having an understanding with France, and without the intention formally expressed to respect and regard the position and interests which the neighborhood of Algeria gives us in this regency. Say, then, frankly that it will gratify us to see his influence establish in these provinces order and security, which are equally for the advantage of Arabs and Europeans, and that the satisfaction of France will be complete if fulfilling here, as everywhere, her mission of humanity and civilization, she see her influence serve for the prosperity of a country for which his Majesty has never ceased to manifest his good will and sympathy.

&c., &c., &c.,

DE BEAUVAL, Consul General of France.

To the Vice-Consul of France, at the Goletta.