DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, June 5,
1862.
Mr. ROEST VAN LIMBURG, &c.:
SIR: In regard to the papers which you informally left with
me yesterday while waiting for the instructions of your Government, I have the
honor to say that the President deeply regrets the conflict between the
military authorities and the consulate of the Netherlands which occurred at New
Orleans just at the moment when preparations were being made for the
restoration of order and the renewal of commerce.
The statements of the transaction which have been received
show that Major-General Butler was informed that a very large sum of money
belonging to insurgent enemies was lying secreted in a certain liquor store in
the city, and he very properly sent a military guard to search the premises
indicated. The general says that it was reported to him that Mr. Couturie, who
was found there, denied all knowledge of any such deposits, and claimed that
all the property in the building belonged to himself personally. These reported
assertions of Mr. Couturie of course determined the general to proceed with the
search. Mr. Couturie at this stage of the matter avowed himself to be the
consul of the Netherlands, and pointed at the flag which he had raised over the
door. He withheld all explanation, however, concerning the property for which
search had been ordered, and protested against any examination whatever of the
premises on the ground of the immunities of the consulate. He was thereupon
detained; the keys of a vault were taken from his person; the vault was opened
and there was found therein $800,000 in specie and $18,000 of bonds or
evidences of debt, certain dies and plates of the Citizens' Bank, the consular
commission, and exequatur, and various title deeds and other private papers.
All the property and papers thus taken were removed and placed for safe-keeping
in the U.S. mint, and the transaction was reported by Major-General Butler to
the Secretary of War.
After the affair had thus been ended the consul made written
protests, in which he insisted that his detention and the search were illegal,
and that the specie and bonds were lawful deposits belonging to Hope & Co.,
subjects of the King of the Netherlands, and an agent of Hope & Co. has
also protested to the same effect and demanded that the specie and bonds shall
be delivered to them. The consul further denied that he had at any time claimed
that the specie and bonds were his own. Major-General Butler still insists that
the deposits were fraudulent and treasonable and were made with the connivance
of the consul.
The President does not doubt that in view of the military
necessity which manifestly existed for the most vigorous and energetic
proceedings in restoring law, order, and peace to a city that had been for
fifteen months the scene of insurrection, anarchy, and ruin, and in the absence
of all lawful civil authority there, the consul of the Netherlands ought, in
the first instance, to have submitted to the general the explanations which he
afterward made in his protest, with the evidences which he possessed to show
that the deposits were legitimate. If he had done this and then referred
Major-General Butler to yourself, or to this Government, the President now
thinks that it would have been the duty of the general to have awaited special
instructions from the Secretary of War. The consul, however, preferred to stand
silent and to insist on official immunities, the extent of which he certainly
misunderstood when he assumed that his flag or the consular occupancy of the
premises entitled him, in a time of public danger, to an exemption from making
any exhibition of suspected property on the premises or any explanation
concerning it.
Nevertheless, this error of the consul was altogether
insufficient to justify what afterward occurred.
It appears beyond dispute that the person of the consul was
unnecessarily and rudely searched; that certain papers which incontestably were
archives of the consulate were seized and removed, and that they are still
withheld from him, and that he was not only denied the privilege of conferring
with a friendly colleague, but was addressed in very discourteous and
disrespectful language.
In these proceedings the military agents assumed functions
which belong exclusively to the Department of State, acting under the
directions of the President. This conduct was a violation of the law of nations
and of the comity due from this country to a friendly sovereign State. This
Government disapproves of these proceedings, and also of the sanction which was
given to them by Major-General Butler, and expresses its regret that the
misconduct thus censured has occurred.
The President has already appointed a military Governor for
the State of Louisiana, who has been instructed to pay due respect to all
consular rights and privileges; and a commissioner will at once proceed to New
Orleans to investigate the transaction which has been detailed, and take
evidence concerning the title of the specie and bonds and other property in
question, with a view to a disposition of the same, according to international
law and justice. You are invited to designate any proper person to join such
commissioner and attend his investigations. This Government holds itself
responsible for the money and the bonds in question, and to deliver them up to
the consul or to Hope & Co. if they shall appear to belong to them. The
consular commission and exequatur, together with all the private papers, will
be immediately returned to Mr. Couturie, and he will be allowed to renew and,
for the present, to exercise his official functions. Should the facts, when ascertained,
justify a representation to you of misconduct on his part it will in due time
be made, with the confidence that the subject will receive just consideration
by a Government with which the United States have lived in amity for so many
years.
I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you, sir, the
assurance of my high consideration.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
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. 132-3
No comments:
Post a Comment