Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Cte. Mejan, Le Consul de France et al,* May 12, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,                  

New Orleans, May 12, 1862.

MESSRS.:* I have the protest which you have thought it proper to make in regard to the action of my officers toward the consul of the Netherlands, which action I approve and sustain. I am grieved that without investigation of the facts you, Messrs., should have thought it your duties to take action on the matter. The fact will appear to be, and easily to be demonstrated at the proper time, that the flag of the Netherlands was made to cover and conceal property of an incorporated company of Louisiana, secreted under it from the operation of the laws of the United States. That the supposed fact that the consul had under the flag only the property of Hope & Co., citizens of the Netherlands, is untrue. He had other property which could not by law be his property or the property of Hope & Co.; of this I have abundant proof in my own hands. No person can exceed me in the respect I shall pay to the flags of all nations, and to the consular authority, even while I do not recognize many claims made under them, but I wish to have it most distinctly understood that in order to be respected the consul, his office, and the use of his flag must each and all be respected.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

BENJ. F. BUTLER,              

Major-General, Commanding.

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*The signers of the paper next, ante.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 2 (Serial No. 123), p. 122