Mr. Pennington to Mr. Seward
No. 2.]
Legation of the United States,
Paris,
December 7. 1864.
Sir: In my despatch, No. 1, of Friday, December
2, I hurriedly communicated the melancholy fact of the sudden death of
the Hon. Mr. Dayton. He was apparently quite well up to the time of his
death, and died so calmly that the person sitting by his side did not
think him dead but sleeping. His physician says nothing could have been
done for him, it was positive apoplexy.
I communicated at once the sad event to the minister of foreign affairs,
the doyen of the diplomatic corps at Paris, and
to the grand master of ceremonies of his Majesty, the Emperor and
Empress, through the Duc de Bassam, grand chamberlain to their
Majesties, and to their Imperial Highnesses the Prince Napoleon and
Princess Chlotilde, and her Imperial Highness the Princess Mathilde,
through their respective aide-de-camp and chamberlains.
By authority from the Emperor suitable honors were paid to the remains of
the minister of the United States to France, in addition to the
religious service held over his remains in the American chapel in the
city. The services at the chapel were conducted by the Rev. Mr.
Sunderland, the pastor of the American chapel, assisted by the Rev. Mr.
Cleveland, of Connecticut, and the American Mr. Lamson of the American
Episcopal church at Paris. A few remarks were also made by Mr. Bigelow,
our consul, and also by Mr. Laboulaye, member of the Institute of
France. The Emperor had sent to represent him the Baron de Lajus, and
Prince Napoleon, his aide-de-camp, Brigadier General de Franconniere,
and the services were attended by his excellency Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys,
the Due of Cambaceries, grand master of ceremonies, the heads of the
foreign missions and the members of all the diplomatic corps. The
ceremonies gave general satisfaction, and also convincing proof of the
estimation in which Mr. Dayton was held.
Enclosed I send you slips cut from the daily journals of Paris. His
remains will be taken early next week to Havre, and will be escorted by
several distinquished Americans living in Paris to that place, and leave
for America in charge of Mr. Brooks, vice-consul of the United States at
Paris, in the steamer Lafayette, which leaves Havre for New York on next
Wednesday, the 14th instant. In accordance with my circular
instructions, I have assumed the duties of charge d’affaires of the
United States, ad interim, and will be obliged if
you will cause to be forwarded to me an authority to draw and
appropriate the contingent fund of this legation, in the same manner as
was allowed to Mr. Dayton.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State,
&c., &c., &c.
[Page 200]
[From Galignani’s Messenger of December 5, 1864.]
The lamented death of Mr. Dayton, the United States representative,
is touched on by several of the Paris journals in terms of merited
regret. The Constitutionnel says:
“Mr. Dayton was one of the most distinguished and enlightened men of
the United States. From his courteous manner and his always
well-chosen and measured language, every one could recognize in him
a diplomatist who had followed the good traditions bequeathed by the
first generation of statesmen of the American republic.”
The Patrie, which had always supported the confederate cause, is not
less warm in its appreciation:
“Our political differences,” it observes, “do not prevent us from
joining with the Unionists in their regret for the death of the able
diplomatist, as well as honest man and perfect gentlemen, whom their
cause has just lost. In the difficult circumstances in which his
country was placed, Mr. Dayton never departed from the dignity
becoming a diplomatist. Being obliged to make himself the echo of
the haughty and sometimes excessive exigencies of Mr. Seward, Mr.
Dayton found means to mitigate their harshness, and thus to
neutralize the just influence which the confederate representatives
had acquired in Europe. Mr. Dayton was personally known to the
Emperor Napoleon III, whom he frequently met during his residence in
the State of New Jersey.”
The subjoined passage is from the Opinion Nationale:
“The honorable gentleman fulfilled his diplomatic functions with a
rectitude and tact which procured him the esteem of even his
political adversaries; and assuredly he had to take an active part
in a whole series of important and delicate questions. It will
suffice to mention the affair of the Trent; the repeated visits of
the confederate war vessels in ports of France; the different phases
of the Mexican expedition; the offers of European mediation rejected
by the United States; and the building of war vessels for the south
at Nantes and Bordeaux. In all those difficult circumstances he
always had a safe rule of conduct, an infallible guide political
probity.”
The public funeral services of his excellency the Hon. William Lewis
Dayton, late ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
at the court of the Tuileries, will be solemnized at the American
Chapel in the Eue de Berry this day at two o’clock in the afternoon.
The funeral cortege will proceed from the hotel of the legation, Eue
de Presbourg, Champs Elysees, to the chapel, and after the service
the body will be taken to the Western Railway to be conveyed to
Havre, on its way to the United States.
[Untitled]
[From Galignani’s Messenger of
December 7,
1864.]
The funeral service for the late Mr. Dayton was celebrated yesterday
afternoon at the American chapel in the Eue de Berry, as announced,
in presence of a great concourse of persons, the building and
approaches to it being thronged. The Emperor was represented by
Baron de Lajus, master of the ceremonies, the Duke de Cambaceres,
and Count de Baciocchi; and Prince Napoleon by General de
Franeonniere. M. Drouyn de Lhuys, minister of foreign affairs, Lord
Cowley, and the other members of the diplomatic body, were all in
attendance with the principal members of their legations. The coffin
was placed on the communion-table and covered with the United States
flag, which in its turn was partly concealed by wreaths and flowers
placed there by the friends of the deceased. All the principal
citizens of the United States now in Paris were present, as well as
a number of Americans of the south. Near Mr. Dayton, son of the
deceased diplomatist, were to be seen Mr. Pennington, secretary Of
legation; Mr. Bigelow, American consul; Mr. Aspinwall, of New York,
and a great number of political and literary men of France. A
detachment of the 65th regiment lined the interior of the chapel.
The service for the dead was read by the Rev. Mr. Lam son, after
which an address appropriate to the occasion was delivered by the
Rev. Mr. Sunderland, who, after touching on the early career and
distinguished, services of the deceased, referred to the events now
in progress beyond the Atlantic, and declared that the United States
government was resolved to maintain the struggle to the last. Mr.
Bigelow and M. Laboulaye also spoke, after which the crowd withdrew
in silence.
