William L. Dayton to William H. Seward, June 24, 1864

Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward

Sir: The Yeddo, one of those vessels built by Arman, at Bordeaux, for the confederates, left port yesterday morning at about 6½ a. m. She left port under French colors, ostensibly for Amsterdam, and our consul thinks will go there. You will recollect I told them I would prefer that she should be delivered in Amsterdam rather than off Bordeaux, if permitted to go out of port at all. It will now be seen if Holland will permit her to be armed there, or will, in any respect, aid and abet this fraud (if it be such) against us.

The Osacca, a twin ship, and sold, as I am informed, to the same parties, will not be ready to leave for perhaps a week or two more. They are pressing her to completion as fast as possible, a large number of hands being constantly engaged. She will of course be permitted, like the Yeddo, to leave port. Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys professes to be convinced, as I have heretofore informed you, that the sale is a fair one, and that these vessels will not get into the hands of the confederates; but I am not at all satisfied, though I have nothing except circumstances and my utter distrust of the good faith of Arman on which to rest my suspicions. You will find an account of her sailing in Galignani, of this morning. In renewing my remonstrances to Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys yesterday on this subject, he said they could do no more than they had done; they had exercised a proper caution and prudence to see that the sale was to a neutral and bona fide; that the builder had a right to sell his ship, and they could not stop him without being subject to damages. I told him it was certainly better to take this hazard than the hazard of war between the two countries. He answered that they were subject to laws as well as we, and that they, like us, must respect the rights of their citizens; that, notwithstanding all the “reproaches” against France, nothing had happened, up to the sailing of the Yeddo at least, against which we could in any way complain. I made no reply to, or rather disclaimer of, this word “reproaches,” though I certainly have used no language which could be justly so termed; but I have used frequent and strong remonstrances in reference to the completion and sailing of these ships, which was, doubtless, about what M. Drouyn de l’Huys meant. I certainly ought not, and indeed cannot, go further on this subject than I have done. I hope that my suspicions will all turn out to be groundless, but I wish the Niagara and Dictator were here. Some increased force on this coast, and in these waters, may be necessary at an early day. Its presence, at all events, will be useful.

The whole government press of France sympathizes with the Alabama. You would suppose from its descriptions that that vessel had gone out to fight only from a high sense of honor, though conscious that she was every way overmatched in size, armament, and crew; that, in fact, she was a mere martyr to a chivalrous sense of honor. I enclose you a printed statement of what purports to be an official report of the combat, from Captain Semmes. To whom this report is made, or how it happens to be published immediately here, does not appear.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,