[With two enclosures.]
Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward
No. 66.]
Legation of the United States,
Paris,
March 28, 1865.
Sir: I have received a “note verbale” from his
excellency Drouyn de Lhuys, in reply to my note of the 9th instant, and
in defence of the seizure of one hundred casks of powder in the gulf of
La Paz, on board the United States schooner W. L. Richardson, by a
French vessel-of-war. I enclose a copy and translation;
And am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c.
Verbal note.
[Translation.]
The minister of foreign affairs has had the honor of receiving the
note addressed to him by M. the chargé d’affaires of the United
States, on the 9th instant, concerning one hundred casks of powder
seized in the gulf of La Paz, on board of the United States schooner
Wm. L. Richardson, by a vessel of the French division, on the
Pacific station. The information received direct by the department
of foreign affairs on this subject leaves no doubt that that seizure
was made under the rule explained last year to Mr. Dayton,
Circumstances were as follows:
A certain number of merchants at San Francisco had asked, through the
medium of the legation of the United States, to be authorized to
send every month to the ports of Chayatlan and La Paz powder
destined for the working of the mines at Charique. Upon reflection
the imperial government decided that it was the less disposed to
depart from the rule, that so long as there is fighting going on at
any point, it must consider any invoice of powder shipped to that
point as essentially a contraband of war, inasmuch as it had
ascertained that such operations had already been carried on for the
benefit of its adversaries, from Mexican points on the Pacific
coast. An answer to this effect was therefore returned to Mr. Dayton
in May last by a verbal note, which is doubtless still to be found
among the records of the legation.
The schooner Wm. L. Richardson having taken a cargo of powder to the
port of La Paz, fell, necessarily, under the provisions of the rule
recalled above, and there was all the less reason to depart from it,
as reliable information had denounced this fresh invoice of powder
to the French authorities as destined for the “guerillas” whom M.
Veza was at the time endeavoring to raise in the States of Sonora
and Sinaloa.
