[Extracts.]
Mr. Perry to Mr.
Seward
No. 165.]
Legation of
the United States,
Madrid,
February, 1865.
Sir: I take up the relation of what has been
done in the case of the rebel ram Stonewall, where it was left by my No.
164, of the 8th instant.
On that day, in the morning, I sent to Mr. Bigelow the telegram No. 16,
enclosed in despatch No. 164, informing him that the Stonewall is the
same ship which was called Stoerkodder at Bordeaux, and Olinde in the
bay of Quiberon, and that she is manned by the old crew of the pirate
Florida. In the afternoon I received a telegram from Mr. Harvey, at
Lisbon, saying that the Sacramento had entered that port, and asking for
information. This telegram was also forwarded with despatch No. 164.
* * * * * *
I received also a communication from Mr. Bigelow, at Paris, dated 5th
instant, giving me important information, to which 1 replied in the
evening of this day, and beg to call your especial notice to the copies
of these documents, which go enclosed. My own letter, February 8, was
the exact statement of the state of this business at the time it was
written, as well as an expression of my own idea of what the government
of France was called upon to do in view of the facts as reported to this
legation.
I had in fact seen Mr. Banuelos the same afternoon, and had received from
him the statement that he had shown your despatch No. 6, of February 4,
1862, to Mr. Benavides, who had found it excellent; that the draught of
a note I had also left with him the day before was very good and
entirely acceptable; that it was decided there should be no repairs on
the Stonewall, but the Spanish government could not undertake to arrest
her definitively in their port, first, because they had not the material
power to to do it, and, second, because they did not think they had a
right to do it. If they let her go away in precisely the same condition
in which she was when she entered,the Spanish jurisdiction, they were
not responsible for anything this ship might do afterwards.
This was what they would do. He would send me back my draught of a note,
which I might sign under the same date as the one it was to replace, and
withdrawing the latter, the whole matter would be arranged. I confess
that having obtained this much, (apparently,) I did not feel disposed to
pres the extreme point of definitive detention of this ship, by the
direct exercise of the authority of the Spanish government.
I had put it into my note of the 5th instant, in-order to cover the whole
ground which my government might wish to occupy, in case this question
should not be resolved to my satisfaction. But I had the consul’s report
that the Stonewall could not sail, in point of fact, unless the repairs
were made, and I confess I would have dropped that point of theoretical
right, and contented myself with the practical result of no repairs, if
the Spanish government had itself fulfilled what I was that afternoon
led to expect.
On the 9th of February I sent to the consular agent at Ferrol a telegram,
in which I authorized him to employ what people he might need to watch
the ram and see that she made no repairs, that she took no coals, nor
provisions and water, except what might be necessary to keep her crew
from day to day, &c, ordering him to do all in good accord with the
authorities of the port, and, announcing a letter of credit by mail to
cover the expenses of this service.
* * * * * *
[Page 486]
I am forced to close here to save the mail, enclosing copy of my
protest,* night of 9th instant, to be
explained in next despatch.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.
Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Perry
Legation op the United
States,Paris,
February 5, 1865.
Sir: The confederate steamer Stonewall,
referred to in your telegram received this morning, is undoubtedly
one of the rams built at Bordeaux, originally for the confederates
but ultimately sold conditionally to the Danish government. She left
Bordeaux last September for Copenhagen, but not answering to the
specification of the contract, was refused. She-left as was given
out to the public, and stated in the shipping articles of the crew,
for Bordeaux, early in January, with a Danish crew shipped by Arnous
de la Rivière, (the agent of the builder, M. Arman,) who accompanied
her to Copenhagen and returned with her. She stopped in the bay of
Quiberon, just inside the isle of Houat, where she discharged her
Danish crew, and received at the same time from the Duke of
Richmond, an English steamer, a crew, guns, and munitions of all
kinds. From a steam-tug sent from St. Nazaire she also received 30
tons of coal, which replaced what had been consumed on her voyage
from Copenhagen, where she had also taken thirty tons, that being
the extent of her capacity at that time, from which I infer that she
left Bordeaux full of coal, and that her final destination for the
confederates was planned before she left Bordeaux.
The name she bore when she left Bordeaux was the Stoerkodder; after
passing into the confederate hands, as I presume she did immediately
after clearing at Copenhagen, she took the name of Olinde, which she
bore on her stern while lying in Quiberon bay. I heard a report
current a day or two after she sailed that great things were
expected from a ram which had just left France, called the
Stonewall, and that the utter destruction of our blockading fleet
off Charleston was to be one of the least considerable of its
achievements.
Of the identity of these two vessels I have no doubt, nor do I
believe any is entertained here, either in the department of marine
or foreign affairs, both of which I visited immediately upon the
receipt of your despatch.
I proposed that his excellency the minister of foreign affairs should
telegraph this afternoon to his minister at Madrid to ask the
Spanish government to detain the Stonewall, at least until the
investigation which the government here is now making be completed,
and the guilty parties, if there be any, to the equipment of this
vessel in French waters, be ascertained. I assured him that our
legation at Madrid would unite in such an application if
necessary.
Unfortunately he had not yet received a report from the department of
marine, without which he could not take any step of that
gravity.
I took measures to have the report of the minister of marine reach
him within an hour after my interview, and I hope that one of the
results of a perusal of the evidence will be a telegraphic direction
this afternoon to M. Mercier to do what is necessary to detain the
vessel.
I write you all these facts in detail that you may understand the
position which the French government occupies, and to suggest that
you put yourself at once in relation with M. Mercier, and urge him
to do what he can to make the Spanish government seize or at least
detain the Stonewall. The more France can be made to take the
initiative in this matter, the more will our future course be
simplified.
Should M. Mercier receive no instructions, or should he decline to
act, I would suggest. that you make the application in behalf of
your own government.
France has recently furnished Spain an excellent precedent for such a
step in the case of the Rappahannock, which was fraudulently taken
from English waters into Calais, to be fitted out and equipped for
the confederates. This government refused to let her leave upon
grounds which apply with exactness to the case of the Stonewall. In
both cases they got an opportunity of flying the confederate flag by
a fraud upon the government under which they were equipped in part.
France refused to recognize a nationality acquired in that way, and
the Rappahannock lies at Calais to this day.
Have you any agent at Ferrol? If not, would you not do well to send
one there at once? I hope you will keep me advised of the movements
of the Stonewall by telegraph.
I am, sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant,
Horatio J. Perry, Esq., Secretary of
Legation.
[Page 487]
D. with No. 165.
Mr. Perry to Mr. Bigelow
Legation of the United
States,
Madrid,
February 8, 1865.
Sir: The confederate steamer Stonewall, now
at Ferrol, is the same ship mentioned in your letter of the 5th
instant, under the names of Stoerkodder and Olinde. Her crew is
reported by my consular agent at Corunna to be in great part the old
crew of the pirate Florida, This, then, is an armed expedition,
begun and completed in the waters of France to make war upon the
United States.
I can see nothing in point of international law to distinguish this
from the expedition Organized, armed and equipped in the Canadian
territory of England to carry on hostile operations at St.
Albans.
The Alabama and her sister ships escaped from the waters of England
unarmed and in the guise of peaceful vessels, and were armed
subsequently out of English jurisdiction. but aside from the fact
that a steam-ram cannot be reduced to the condition of an unarmed
ship, since the hull itself is the arm both for offence and defence,
in this case the confederates seem to have made the mistake of
putting the crew and officers, the cannon, coals, and ammunition,
aboard the Stonewall within the jurisdiction of France, where she
was also built. They have thus involved the responsibility of the
imperial government in a way which cannot but prove prejudicial to
themselves. They start for the first time out of the jurisdictional
waters of France, fully organized, armed, and fitted, to make war
upon the United States.
The complete good faith and the executive efficiency with which the
Emperor’s government has caused the decree of neutrality to be
obeyed up to this time, as in the case of the Rappahannock, and in
that of this very steam-ram, until the rebels found means to deceive
the imperial government and mock its authority, makes me confident
that when you represent these facts to Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys, with
your accustomed ability, you will find it easy to obtain from that
clear-headed statesman some sufficent action designed to stop the
career of this formidable ship before she has an opportunity to come
into hostile contact with the forces or the ships of the United
States. I do not really see how the responsibility of the French
government can be disengaged, unless some adequate effort of this
kind is made, and made promptly.
Fortunately the ram has entered the arsenal at Ferrol in a partially
disabled state, and our consular agent reports that she cannot keep
the seas till she is repaired. I have obtained from the Spanish
government positive orders that these repairs shall not be made; she
is closely watched, and only allowed to purchase provisions, &c,
enough to maintain her crew from day to day. I have claimed also
that she should not be allowed to go out of the port at all; but I
am informed confidentially that if the ram chooses to go, there is
not power enough in the batteries and vessels in the port to stop
her. She is detained, however, provisionally, so far as orders to
that effect can detain her. I have the second-class screw sloop
Sacramento, also out of repair, coming round as fast as possible
from Cadiz, and ought to be on the ground by to-morrow.
Will not France consider herself called upon to arrest this armed
expedition even by force on the high seas for having violated her
orders, and armed, organized, and equipped in her waters, and
started thence against the United States, with which government
France is at peace? Is it not due to her own dignity and to the
vindication of her own violated sovereignty that she should do all
she reasonably can to arrest this armed expedition and bring it back
to her ports, and reduce it to a condition of quiet and
harmlessness?
I make these suggestions, sir, not as forestalling the decisions of
your own better judgment, but simply to present to you the whole
case as it appears to me in the light of the facts reported to this
legation, and that you may understand the grounds and course of my
own action here.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
HORATIO J. PERRY, Chargé
d’Affaires.
Hon. John Bigelow,
U. S. Chargé d Affames, Paris
Translation of the telegram.
Station of Ferrol, February 9th, 9 minutes past 8 o’clock at
night.—Received in Madrid,
February 9th, 39 minutes past 8 o’clock at night.
The Consul to the Chargé d’Affaires of the United
States:
I am officially informed that it has been ordered by the superior
authority to execute on the Stonewall the works indispensable to
guarantee the safety of her crew on the sea; that she shall be
furnished with provisions, water, and coal, and that she immediately
leave the port in fact.
ALFRED V. DE ARCE, Chief Clerk in
Service,
Madrid, February 9, 1865.
Sent out at 8 o’clock 45 minutes of the 9th of February.
