Geoege Moore to James M. Mason , Commissioner, June 16, 1863

(Lord Lyons to Earl Russell.——(Received June 28.)

Mr. Moore arrived here yesterday, and delivered to me a despatch dated the 6th instant, reporting that his exequatur had been withdrawn by Mr. Davis, which he had intended to forward to me by a messenger if the confederate authorities had allowed him to send one. A copy of it goes to your lordship today, enclosed in a despatch which Mr. Moore addressed to you on the 9th instant, and which he brought here with him.

I do myself the honor to transmit to your lordship copies of the following papers which h ave been delivered to me by Mr. Moore:

1. Despatch from Mr. Moore to me reporting arrangements made by him for the protection of British subjects.

2. Despatch from Mr. Moore to me informing me of the intention of Mr. Acting Consul Walker with regard to the objections raised in his case by Mr. Benjamin, enclosing a copy of the despatch to your lordship, No. 23, above mentioned, and asking my leave to quit Richmond.

3. Despatch from Mr. Moore to me, explaining his reasons for leaving Richmond without waiting for an answer from me, and expressing his wish to go on immediately to England.

4. Letter from the confederate adjutant general to the commandant of conscripts at Macon, Georgia, containing instructions respecting the liability of foreigners to conscription.

5. Letter from Mr. Benjamin to the French consul at Richmond, informing him that the president of the Confederate States has determined to permit no direct communication between consuls in those States and the functionaries of their governments residing within the “enemy’s lines.”

6. An extract from the Richmond newspaper, Sentinel, containing a copy of a despatch from Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Mason, stating the reasons for the withdrawal of Mr. Moore’s exequatur, and for forbidding direct communication between consuls in the Confederate States and the legations in the United States. Mr. Mason is instructed to communicate this despatch to your lordship.

I do not purpose to make any endeavor to alter the arrangements which Mr. Moore has made for the protection of British subjects. M. Mercier hastened to assure me that he should be happy to instruct M. Paul, the French consul at Richmond, (who happens to be at this moment at Washington,) to take charge of the British consulate on his return to his post. I have not, however, thought it advisable to accept this offer. It is doubtful whether the confederate authorities would recognize such an arrangement. Indeed, the fact—of which they could not be kept in ignorance—that it had been made by the British and French ministers at Washington would no doubt induce them to object to it; and at at all events they would not, it is to be presumed, allow M. Paul to interfere in any matters not pertaining to the precise district to which the jurisdiction of the consulate of which he was in charge extended. Mr. Moore is himself confident that the arrangement he has made will be in practice much more advantageous to British subjects than placing them under the protection of any foreign consul: I think it therefore better that this matter shall remain as Mr. Moore has left it, until your lordship issues orders concerning it.

It is plain that Mr. Moore’s returning to Richmond would be of no service whatever to British interests; I have therefore told him that I see no objection to his going to England as he wishes. He intends to embark in a few days.

I think that, so far as this legation is concerned, it would be an advantage that its connexion with the consular officers in territory held by the confederates should be dissolved. The communication is so slow and uncertain that intelligence seldom reaches me from those officers in time to be of any value. For the same reason they cannot obtain special instructions from me in any sudden contingency, while general instructions to them would be sent with much greater advantage from the foreign office than from this legation. The communications between the consuls in the south and the legation have always tended to give rise to suspicion in the United States; they have now been denounced as offensive by the confederate authorities. Your lordship will observe that notwithstanding my repeated instructions to the consuls never to allude to me or to the legation in their communications with those authorities, and notwithstanding the care which has been taken at your lordship’s office to address instructions to the consuls directly instead of desiring me to transmit them, Mr. Benjamin, in his despatch to Mr. Mason, dwells on the connexion between the consuls and this legation as the main reason for the measures which Mr. Davis has adopted.

There was one great advantage in the existing arrangement which can hardly be said to exist any longer. We had for some time consuls at the southern ports recognized as such by both belligerents, and this was convenient in cases in which ports in the south were attacked by the federals. I have not heard of any objection having been made by the confederates to Mr. Fullarton as acting consul at Savannah, but the recognition by them of Mr. Walker as acting consul at Charleston and of Mr. Cridland as acting consul at Mobile appears to be very doubtful; and even supposing all these acting consuls to be recognized, the confederate authorities will still refuse to allow them to interfere in behalf of British subjects beyond the exact limits to which the jurisdiction of the respective consulates extends, and this will leave the greater part of the British subjects in the Confederate States without protection.

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Despatch to Mr. Mason.—We publish, by official consent, the following despatch of the secretary of state of the Confederate States to Mr. Mason, our commissioner to England.

It makes known the causes of the late revocation of the exequatur of the British consul at this port, and in doing so takes occasion to explain the general grounds of the president’s action, and the views which govern the policy which he is firmly and steadily pursuing.

It will be seen that the confederate government is held by the president to be the agent of the States for certain purposes; that it is the successor of a similar agent whose acts while its authority existed were valid; and that succeeding to the trust, the confederate authorities are bound to respect all constitutional acts performed by the former agent with the consent of the State concerned. Hence, argues the secretary, “when Virginia seceded, withdrew the powers delegated to the government of the United States, and conferred them on this government, the exequatur granted to Consul Moore was not thereby invalidated.” Being the act of Virginia, through her agent, in the first instance, it remained her act, though her agent had been changed.

This is manifestly the true State-rights doctrine. It would be monstrous if, when a State selects a new agent to attend thenceforth to certain interests, this new servant should begin by treating as null and void whatever she might have done through her former one. This would be to assume that the sovereign authority lies in the temporary agent rather than in the abiding State. The view of the president will commend itself to the hearty approbation of the people, who will see in it another proof of the scrupulous respect which he pays to the rights of the States and the established principles of our government.

The letter to Mr. Mason shows also that the president has acted in good faith on his opinion as to the validity of existing exequaturs. He has not sought difficulties with the consuls or revoked their exequaturs with any idle and mistaken view of extorting recognition from European powers. He has conceded to foreigners all their international rights, and has cultivated the spirit of amity with other nations so far as consistent with our own honor and dignity. England is no exception to this remark.

We are fully pursuaded that the foreign policy of the president, as exhibited in the letter to Mr. Mason, will receive the warm approval and support of the confederate people. Some there may be who would perfer rash and violent counsels, but the great mass of our citizens will approve the steady course which, unmoved by thoughtless clamor, the president has pursued. They will be discerning enough to see that it is much better and far more creditable to us for our international affairs thus to be conducted with dignity and in decent temper, and that it would but expose us to ridicule to dismiss a few foreign consuls from our beleaguered ports, and withdraw the agents whom for our own interest and convenience we have sent to Europe, in the childish expectation that we should thereby intimidate and coerce Europe to recognize our independence. The day for such fancies has past. What the great need for our cotton cannot do for us, the dismissal of a few petty consuls will hardly accomplish.