Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward
No. 60.]
Legation of the United States,
Paris,
March 17, 1865.
Sir: A few weeks since Mr. J. Zumpstein, an
accredited agent for Europe of the American Emigration Company, of which
Mr. A. G. Hammond, of Hartford, Connecticut, is president, called upon
me to say that an application which he had made for an authorization to
contract for the transport of emigrants through Havre to the United
States had been refused by the minister of the interior, and requesting
my mediation. As this unexpected obstacle disarranged
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all the plans of the company very
seriously, I called upon Mr. Behic, the minister of the interior, to
know if his refusal rested upon facts or impressions which were
susceptible of explanation or modification; if so, I said I should be
happy to mediate in behalf of Mr. Zumpstein, who represented an
enterprise for which France, I was persuaded, had no reason to feel
otherwise than kindly. Mr. Behic remembered having signed the letter I
referred to, but the motives of his refusal had passed from his mind,
and he requested me to send him a written communication on the subject,
when he promised to look into it.
I replied that I had no authority nor intention to make a diplomatic
question of the matter; if I had, I should have addressed myself
directly to the minister of foreign affairs. I came to his excellency,
not to discuss the right or the propriety of refusing the privilege
solicited by Mr. Zumpstein, but simply to offer such explanations as
might do away with erroneous impressions, if any existed, in regard to
his enterprise. Mr. Behic then suggested that Mr. Zumpstein should
address a note to him, through me, and he would send me his answer. I
promised that Mr. Zumpstein should avail himself of this proposal, and
in a day or two addressed to his excellency enclosures Nos. 1 and 2.
After the lapse of a couple of days, the head of one of the bureaus of
the ministry of the interior called and said that Mr. Behic had
instructed him to say, in reference to the subject of my communication,
that I must address myself to the minister of foreign affairs. I replied
by stating the circumstances which led me to make my communication of
the 8th instant to Mr. Behic; that I had no instructions to make a
diplomatic question of it, and, without instructions, I did not feel
authorized to bring it to the attention of the minister of foreign
affairs. There the matter now rests. I shall not renew the subject,
unless you instruct me to do so. If the ministers should revive it, I
presume I can satisfy them of the harmlessness of Mr. Zumpstein’s
enterprise, unless it should seem to them likely to interfere with
recruiting for Mexico. Should the weather continue so unfavorable for
another fortnight as for some time past, I think this government will
feel grateful to any company that will relieve them of a few thousand of
their surplus population before another New Year’s day is past.
I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State,
Mr. Bigelow to Mr Behic
Legation of the United
States,
Paris,
March 8, 1885.
Dear Sir: In compliance with the intimation
which I had the honor to receive on Thursday last from your
excellency, I take leave to enclose a note I have received from M.
Zumpstein, agent for France of the American Emigrant Company. Will
your excellency have the goodness to inform me whether the grounds
upon which Mr. Zumpstein’s application was denied are of a nature to
he modified by any explanations as to the character and objects of
the company which I might be able to make? If so, I should be most
happy of an opportunity to wait upon your excellency at your
convenience.
I embrace this occasion to assure your excellency of the high
consideration with which I have the honor to be your excellency’s
most obedient and most humble servant,
JOHN BIGELOW, Charge
d’Affaires.
His Excellency the Minister of
Agriculture, Commerce, and Public
Works.
Mr. Zumpstein to Mr. Bigelow
Grand Hotel,
March 9, 1865.
Sir: The American Emigrant Company,
chartered under the act of Congress of July 4 1864. for the
promotion of foreign emigration, appointed me in December last its
general agen
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for the
empire of France. My authority and my instructions require me to
reside at Havre to organize agencies and correspondencies in France,
Belgium, and Switzerland, and through them, and by the circulation
of information in regard to the United States, to invite and
encourage emigration thither. A copy of my instructions, and of the
power under which I am to act, are enclosed for your better
information. On my arrival, and under the advice of M._______,
commissioner imperial de l’emigration au Havre, I addressed to his
excellency the minister of agriculture, commerce, and public works a
request for an authorization to engage and transport emigrants from
the port of Havre to the United States, that being the most
convenient port of departure for emigrants from Belgium,
Switzerland, and France.
On the 19th of February last I received a note from his excellency
the minister of agriculture, commerce, and public works, informing
me, briefly, that he was not able to accede to my request. But for
the conviction that his excellency is laboring under some erroneous
impression in regard to the nature and motives of the agency with
which I am charged, I should feel that my business at Havre was
closed, and should have retired without troubling you further than,
perhaps, to notify the legation of what had occurred. But, as the
company which I represent consists of some of the most distinguished
and philanthropic men in the United States, as it was organized to
operate under the laws and institutions of foreign nations, and not
in conflict with any of them, as its ends are all humane, and as, in
the opinion of its projectors, it reserves the special encouragement
of the more populous countries of Europe, where land is dear and
labor cheap, I have deemed it my duty to bring my situation to your
notice, that you may determine whether it would serve any useful
purpose for you to invite an opportunity of explaining the character
and objects of the American Immigrant Company, and of ascertaining
whether the ports of France are irrevocably closed against such
passengers as this company may undertake to send to the United
States. If, upon the oral explanations I have already given you, and
after a perusal of the papers which I leave with you, you think it
worth while to inquire whether the motives of the imperial
government for refusing my request originate in an incorrect or an
imperfect view of the facts,’ and that with proper explanations his
excellency the minister of agriculture, commerce, and public works
might be disposed to reconsider his decision, I take leave to invite
your media tion with his excellency in our behalf.
I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. John Bigelow, Chargé d’Affaires.
