I have only time to say that this communication is in reply to my note to
his excellency, accompanying copies of the proclamations referred to in
your de-spatch No. 112.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington.
[Enclosure No. 2.—Translation of No,
1.]
Monsieur Drouyn de Lhuys to
Mr. Bigelow.
Sir: You have been good enough to
communicate to me officially various proclamations issued by
President Lincoln in the course of the last month. These documents
call for some observations on my part, which I have the honor to
submit to you.
The ships of the United States, says Mr. Lincoln, have been subjected
in certain countries to a regime restricting them from immunities
and privileges which were assured to them by treaties, custom, and
international law, while the ships of those same countries have
continued to enjoy the same privileges and immunities previously
enjoyed by them in the ports of the United States. This difference
must henceforth cease, and foreign ships-of-war will be treated in
the ports of the United States in the same way as are the federal
ships in the ports of those countries.
As far as we are concerned, the treatment applied to federal
ships-of-war, and to which it is intended to submit ours, is that
which is prescribed by the obligations of neutrality with
[Page 299]
respect to belligerents,
the object being to protect the dignity and responsibility of
neutrals. Federal belligerent ships cannot now remain in our ports
more than 24 hours, unless under certain unavoidable circumstances;
they cannot sell their prizes there, nor provide themselves with
arms and ammunition; they can only procure whatever is necessary for
the subsistence of their crews and the safe navigation of the ship.
In case of the simultaneous presence in a French port of
ships-of-war, cruisers, or merchant ships, of the two belligerents,
an interval of 24 hours at least is to elapse between the departure
of the ships of one of the belligerents and the subsequent departure
of the ships of the other. Such are the regulations consecrated by
the almost universal custom of all nations, and which we have
observed in the present war. Now, by what assimilation are these
regulations to be applied to our flag? We are not at war with any
one; we take no prizes, therefore, into the ports of the United
States; nor do we go there to obtain means of aggression against an
enemy, nor to seek the opportunity of a collision. Where, then, are
the reasons which would justify this pretended reciprocity of
treatment in situations so dissimilar?
I do not dispute, however, sir, that the results of the late military
operations have considerably modified the situation of the two
belligerent parties; but I must observe that the federal government
itself furnishes proof that the state of war still exists, and falls
into a kind of contradiction if, while demanding of neutrals the
abandonment of the conditions of neutrality, it persist in
exercising against their ships the right of search and capture—a
right which it claims solely from its quality of belligerent.
Receive the assurances of the high consideration with which I have
the honor to be, sir, your very humble and very obedient
servant,
Monsieur Bigelow,
Minister of the United States at
Paris.
