D, with No. 165. Mr. Perry to Mr. Bigelow. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 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, Hon. JOHN BIGELOW, U. S. Chargé d Affaires, Paris HORATIO J. PERRY, Chargé d'Affaires. 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. No. 166.] Mr. Perry to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: With my number 165, sent through the despatch agent at London yesterday, you received a copy of a protest which I wrote and delivered to her Majesty's minister of state on the evening of the 9th instant. A second copy is also enclosed herewith. At about 7 o'clock in the evening of the 9th instant I had received a telegram from Mr. Fernandez, consular agent at Ferrol, in reply to mine of the morning, giving him instructions that the Stonewall was not to be repaired, and what he was to do in watching her. It informed me that everything should be executed as instructed, and that the authorities were keeping vigilant watch, and nothing would be furnished to the corsair except for the day. About two hours later, at 9 o'clock, I received another telegram from the same agent, whose copy you will find enclosed. I then immediately wrote the protest, and had it delivered the same evening. I have since known that the state department were hard at work to prepare copies of documents, and a large package was sent to Mr. Tassara two days since in order to get them thus before you, while I am still ignorant what will be the answer of this government to me. I have since seen both Mr. Benavides and Mr. Banuelos-the latter twice. No very satisfactory personal explanation can be made for the surprise practiced on me after the negotiation had been virtually terminated as to the repairs of this ship, and the decision announced to me verbally by the assistant secretary of state. I have, therefore, been disposed to accept whatever was said, and let this point drop easily out of sight. The real motives for the change I understand to be these: The present minister of marine is an old officer, the highest in rank on the navy list, and it seems he declared that he could not and would not send scamen out to sea without stopping the leak in their vessel first; he did not understand the distinction made between iron-clad and wooden ships, and if the crew of the Stonewall claimed to stop the leak in the vessel they were aboard of before going to sea they must be allowed to do it. The disposition had grown strong in the cabinet to get rid of the unwelcome visitor, but it was found he really could not go without something being done for him first. I have no doubt that the conversation of Mr. Mercier with Mr. Benavides instead of being an advantage to me was the reverse. He sustained with me the opinion which he no doubt honestly entertains in common with his government, that all that belongs to the navigabilité or seaworthiness of the ship must be conceded to mariners in the way of repairs to their ship in all civilized ports, no matter who they may be. I do not attempt to foresee how much weight this argument may have with you, called to review calmly all the incidents and bearings of this case, nor, once the position of neutrality as between belligerents is assumed, whether you might not consider this concession of repairs, so far as these relate strictly to the conditions of navagabilité, as a necessary corollary to that false conclusion originally arrived at in 1861 by the governments of Europe. The radical vice is in the first declaration of belligerent rights, and in the position of a neutral or quasi neutral taken towards the insurgents. I have produced a good deal of hestitation here by my effort to sweep this whole vicious declaration of neutrality entirely away, and if Spain had been alone I have no hesitation in saying I should have succeeded; but the representatives of France and England were consulted by this government. The O'Donnellite opposition, now powerful and menacing in the chambers, had made that declaration, and had made a precedent under it in the case of the Sumter at Cadiz; and this was what they finally fell back upon in spite of the better judgment of Mr. Benavides, and after even he had apparently carried in the cabinet the resolution of no repairs announced to me as reported. Whatever your decision upon the whole question may be, it was my business here to sustain the whole ground, and reserve the rights of my government in the presence of an adverse decision. The theoretical questions involved go to the President entire and unjudged; practically I have succeeded at least in producing ten days' hesitation and delay, which have given time for the Niagara to come from England and anchor in the mouth of the bay, where the ram has only been able to begin his repairs after Captain Craven's appearance on the scene. My protest has also had the effect to reduce these repairs to the very least possible which can be done once she is touched at all. Mr. Benavides has promised me an exact and minute statement of all that is done, which will be very much less than what she really needs. They have determined not to touch her armor plates under any circumstances. It seems the vessel is badly constructed, and makes much water around her helm-ports, both her rudders working in the helm-ports badly. But they have determined not to raise the plates, not to do any thing to her from the outside, and are fothering the helm-ports, and bracing and wedging with wood and iron from the inside. This will stop the leak while she is in smooth water, but whether it will stand the working of the ship in a seaway may be doubted. In fact, so far as I can judge, even if this ram were to meet no enemies but the elements, the attempt to cross the Atlantic ocean at this season may very probably prove disastrous to her crew. I am very much chagrined and disappointed by the failure of the Sacramento to appear where she is needed. Enclosed you will find a series of telegrams received in this legation, among which those of Mr. Harvey are answers to as many more from myself referring to this ship. She must be badly disabled, or Mr. Harvey, with so many repeated and urgent instances, would have sent her along to co-operate with the Niagara. Mr. Wurts has not been able to prepare copies of my own telegrams and letters in time for this despatch, and they will be forwarded by next steamer. In laying the principal documents in this case before you, I ought to say that, though I have felt called upon to use firm language, and to protest and reserve the rights of the United States in the presence of an adverse decision by the Spanish government, I have not to complain of anything like sympathy or a disposition to aid the insurgents, or of any unfriendly disposition towards the government of the United States or the northern people on the part of any minister or other officer of this government. On the contrary, I am persuaded that if the present cabinet had found this question completely new and unjudged by others, I should have been able to come to an understanding with the present government of her Catholic Majesty which would have proved satisfactory to you; and it is now, when I am brought by the force of circumstances into a diplomatic conflict with this government, (at least provisionally and until your better judgment can be consulted,) that I take pleasure in saying that I am convinced of the sincere friendliness and entire good will of the present counsellors of her Majesty towards the government of the United States, and that I am personally much better satisfied in this respect now than I have been with other cabinets which have preceded that of the Duke of Valencia. I have the honor to remain with the highest respect, sir, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. Protest, LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have just received, with pain and surprise, the telegram of which I enclose a copy. The vessel to which it refers is understood to have escaped from the waters of France, where she was impeded by an imperial decree, in an unserviceable condition, and to have come into the waters of Spain to make certain repairs, of which she is in need, in order to make war upon the United States. She is manned by an organized band of armed men, under the unrecognized flag of the insurgents in rebellion against the government of the United States, who, however, have no ports of their own from which she could have come or into which she can ever enter, but she is now preparing to attack the United States directly from the ports of her Catholic Majesty. This vessel is an iron-clad ram, in which the hull itself is the chief weapon of war, both for offence and defence; it cannot, therefore, be repaired or bettered in any way in the ports of her Catholic Majesty without a clear breach of that neutrality declared in the royal decree of June 17, 1861. Such being the facts of the case, it becomes my duty again to call upon the government of her Catholic Majesty to dismiss this iron-clad ram from her ports in precisely the same and no better condition than when she entered them, or, if her crew should elect to remain in the asylum they have found, I have no objection to that course, nor do I expect her Majesty's government to force them to sea in an unseaworthy vessel, then this machine of war to remain in the same condition as when it entered port, without repair and betterment of any description so long as it shall be the property of the insurgents in rebellion against my government. But if her Majesty's government shall not heed this reclamation, and will allow the repairs mentioned in the enclosed telegram to proceed, I hereby solemnly protest in the name of the government of the United States against all such proceedings, reserving the rights of that government until the President can be advised and take such measures as may seem to him best, holding the government of her Catholic Majesty responsible for all and several the hostile acts which this iron-clad ram may be aided and enabled to perform against the gov ernment of the United States, and for the losses and injuries she may inflict upon their citizens in consequence of the repairs and betterments she may have received in the ports of her Catholic Majesty. I avail myself of this occasion to renew to your excellency the assurance of my most distinguished consideration. His Excellency the MINISTER OF STATE Of her Catholic Majesty. Delivered at night on the 9th of February. HORATIO J. PERRY. Translation of the telegram. H. J. P. [Telegraphic despatch.] Station of Ferrol, February 9, 9 minutes past 8 o'clock at night.-Received in Madrid, February 9, 39 minutes past 8 o'clock at night. The Consul to the Chargé d'Affairs 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. MADRID, February 9, 1865. [Telegram.-Lisbon, February 10, 1865.] Horatio Perry, American Legation, Madrid: Sacramento is still repairing engine with all possible expedition. Cannot say when she will be ready for sea. HARVEY. [Telegram.-Lisbon, February 10, 1865.] Horatio Perry, American Legation, Madrid: JAMES E. HARVEY. [Telegram.-Lisbon, February 11, 1865.] Horatio Perry, American Legation, Madrid: Your last telegram quite indistinct. Do not know where Niagara is, and have inquired in vain. JAMES E. HARVEY. [Telegram. Ferrol, February 11, 1865.-Translation.] The United States Consul to the Chargé d'Affaires, Madrid. I receive official notice of the entry at Corunna of a United States ship-of-war. Stonewall begins to-day preparations for repairs. [Telegram.-Paris, February 11, 1865.] Perry, Legation des Etats Unis, Madrid: Has Niagara arrived? Has Stonewall sailed? Telegraph and write. [Telegram.-Corunna, February 12, 1865.] BIGELOW. Honorable Mr. Perry, American Chargé d'Affaires : Your despatch of last night was received this morning. Yours of this morning, addressed to consular agent, is before me; the agent is absent. [Telegram.-Ferrol, February 12, 1865.] CRAVEN. Señor Encargado de Negocias de los Estados Unidos: Niagara at Corunna. Stonewall will be ready in three days. Give your orders to Niagara that ship may not escape at night. I received your despatch. [Telegram.-Corunna, February 13, 1865.] FERNANDEZ. To United States Chargé d'Affaires : I have been to the Lisargas Islands; there are fragments of a vessel which I believe to be North American, and that its crew are on board the corsair Stonewall. Details by mail. FUENTES. [Telegram.-Corunna, February 13, 1865.] To United States Chargé d'Affaires : I have just returned from absence caused by important matters to the service, which I will communicate to you seasonably. All the telegrams sent by you yesterday came safely. FUENTES, Consular Agent. [Telegram.-Vigo, February 13, 1865.-Translation.] To the United States Minister: BARUNA, Consul. [Telegram.-Lisbon, February 13, 1865.] Horatio Perry, American Legation, Madrid: Craven was informed Friday night of impossibility of Sacramento going now. pairs progressing. Her re HARVEY. |