LEGATION OF THE
NETHERLANDS,
Washington, June 7,
1862.
Hon. Mr. SEWARD,
Secretary of State of the United
States of America:
SIR: In my note of yesterday, of the 6th of this month, I
have had the honor to offer you my thanks for the ample and decided manner in
which the President and the Government of the United States have censured the
proceedings of Major-General Butler toward our consul at New Orleans, at the
time of the seizure of the values and papers deposited at the consulate of the
Netherlands. I afterward corrected a want of clearness made by Major-General
Butler, upon which you based a reproach to the consul.
In reference to the decision of the Government of the United
States to throw light upon its information as to what has occurred at the
consulate, and upon the allegations of Major-General Butler respecting the
nature of the deposit, I have stated the motives which prevent me from
participating in the species of inquiry which the Government of the United
States is immediately to cause to be instituted at New Orleans, in order to be
enabled afterward, without delay, to return the values to the consul or to the
house of Hope & Co., should it appear that they belong to that house, or,
in other words, to dispose of them according to the law of nations and justice
(“with a view to a disposal of the same according to international law and
justice”).
The sincerity of this intention and the real desire of the
President and of the Government of the United States to terminate not only in
the most just, but in the most prompt manner, this affair, highly interesting
to all the nations having relations with the United States, this sincerity and
the reality of this desire could not be, in my view, subject to the slightest
doubt. I am convinced of it, and it is this conviction which causes me, Mr.
Secretary of State, to ask you now to communicate to me the proofs which
Major-General Butler pretends to have had in his hands to accuse the consul of
the Netherlands and to seize the deposit as unlawful.
For it is upon proofs existing at the time of the seizure,
and solely upon these proofs, upon which Major-General Butler must rely. Ex
post factum, there will be nothing to allege.
You could not, I think, have any difficulty in acceding to
my request, because it can only be upon the proofs which Major-General Butler
has pretended to have that you retain in your possession the articles taken
from the consul, who, being then in possession, had in his favor the legal
presumption of a just title.
I pray you, then, sir, to be pleased, by communicating the
papers which I have the honor of asking of you, to enable me to enlighten the
Government of the King as soon as possible upon this subject; and I avail
myself of this opportunity to renew to you the assurances of my high
consideration.
ROEST VAN LIMBURG.
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. 135-6
No comments:
Post a Comment