Chasseloup Laubat to M. Drouyn de l’Huys, September 17, 1864

M. Laubat to M. Drouyn de l’Huys

M. Le Ministre and dear Colleague: You did me the honor to transmit to me the 5th of this month the copy of a letter which M. the minister of the United States had written to you on the 29th of August last, on the subject of the two clipper ships in course of construction at Nantes, and the two iron-clad vessels in the ship-yards at Bordeaux. These vessels are still, according to him, the property of the confederates, and this, circumstance would subject them, if they went to sea, to being captured by the federal cruisers.

I recently authorized M. Voruz, senior, to proceed to a trial of the engines of the Shanghai and of the San Francisco. This step is indispensable to insure the sale of these ships, and we could not refuse it without prejudice to the interests of our commerce, but, as in the case of the Yeddo and Osacca, I made known to this constructor that the two above mentioned ships could not definitively leave the Loire until he should have proved to the department of foreign affairs their regular sale to a foreign non-belligerent power. It would only be then, in case your excellency made known to me that this be so, that I would give the necessary authorization to M. the chief of service at Nantes.

The same precautions will be taken in regard to the two iron-clad vessels at Bordeaux; but, as far as I know, no step has yet been taken concerning their armament.

We can then give to M. the minister of the United States the assurance that the four vessels in question will not be delivered to the Confederate States. (“Nous pouvons done donner à M. le ministre des États Unis l’assurance que les quatre navires en question ne seront pas livrés aux États Confédérés.”)

This being well established, I cannot avoid calling to the attention of your excellency that the letter of Mr. Dayton is conceived in terms that we cannot accept, if it contains, as seems to result from a phrase of M. the minister of the United States, the threat of seizing the vessels whose trial trips I believe it my duty to authorize, and that upon the occasion of these very trial trips. It should not, indeed, be forgotten that these vessels under the French flag, manned by a French crew, are still French; it would only be when they were delivered to an enemy of the northern States that the federal vessels might seize them. But, as I have above said, this delivery shall not take place, and our declaration ought to suffice. We have shown sufficient loyalty when, in a recent circumstance, we stopped all sale, all departure of a ship, in order that our sincerity might not be doubted; and since the commencement of the war, the government of the Emperor has observed quite scrupulously the rules of the strictest neutrality, in order that no one might be permitted to raise doubts on this point. I add, M. le minister and dear colleague, that it would be fortunate not to find in Mexico more American arms and American combatants than the States of the north have met of French combatants and French arms among the confederates.

However, to avoid new difficulties, I have given directions until further orders to suspend the trials of the San Francisco and of the Shanghai. I desire that you should have an interview on this subject with Mr. Dayton.

At the same time, if M. the minister of the United States persists in his menace, the ships would none the less make their trial trips, but then under the protection of one of our iron-clad vessels. In fine, from the moment that an attempt should be made against a vessel under such circumstances, we would find ourselves under the necessity of forbidding all American vessels of the north to remain any longer in French waters.

To sum the matter up, M. le minister and dear colleague, without awaiting the proof which the constructors of Nantes and Bordeaux will have to produce to your department on the subject of the regular sale of the two clipper ships, and the two iron-clad batteries above mentioned, in order that they may be authorized to leave these two ports, your excellency will appreciate if the preceding observations would not permit you to answer in a peremptory manner the reclamation of Mr. Dayton.

Accept, &c.,