Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to the Mayor and Gentlemen of the City Council of New Orleans, May 16, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,                  

New Orleans, May 16, 1862.

To the Mayor and Gentlemen of the City Council of New Orleans:

In the report of your official action, published in the Bee of the 16th instant, I find the following extracted resolution, with the action of part of your body thereon, viz:

The following preamble and resolution, offered by Mr. Stith, were read twice and adopted; the rules being suspended, were on motion sent to the assistant board. YEAS: Mr. De Labarre, Forstall, Huekins, Rodin, and Stith—5.

Whereas it has come to the knowledge of this council that for the first time in the history of this city a large fleet of the navy of France is about to visit New Orleans, of which fleet the Catina, now in our port, is the pioneer; this council bearing in grateful remembrance the many ties of amity and good feeling which unite the people of this city with those of France, to whose paternal protection New Orleans owes its foundation and early prosperity, and to whom it is especially grateful for the jealousy with which in the cession of the State it guaranteed all the rights of property, person, and religious freedom of its citizens: Be it

Resolved, That the freedom and hospitality of the city be tendered, through the commander of the Catina, to the French naval fleet during its sojourn in our port; and that a committee of five of this council be appointed, together with the mayor, to make such tender and such other arrangements as may be necessary to give effect to the same.

Messrs. Stith and Forstall were appointed on the committee mentioned in the foregoing resolution.

This action is an insult as well to the United States as to the friendly, powerful, and progressive nation toward whose officers it is directed. The offer of the freedom of a captured city by the captives would merit letters-patent for its novelty were there not doubts of its usefulness as an invention. The tender of its hospitalities by a government to which police duties and sanitary regulations only are intrusted is simply an invitation to the calaboose or the hospital. The United States authorities are the only ones here capable of dealing with amicable or unamicable nations, and will see to it that such acts of courtesy or assistance are extended to any armed vessel of the Emperor of France as shall testify the national, traditional, and hereditary feelings of grateful remembrance with which the United States Government and people appreciate the early aid of France and her many acts of friendly regard shown upon so many national and fitting occasions.

The action of the city council in this behalf must be reversed.

BENJ. F. BUTLER,              

Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 15 (Serial No. 21), p. 427

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Edwin M. Stanton, April 29, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,                  

Forts Jackson and Saint Philip, April 29, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to report that in obedience to my instructions I remained on the Mississippi River, with the troops named in my former dispatch, awaiting the action of the fleet engaged in the bombardment of Forts Jackson and Saint Philip. Failing to reduce them after six days of incessant fire, Flag-Officer Farragut determined to attempt their passage with his whole fleet, except that part thereof under the immediate command of Captain Porter, known as the Mortar Fleet.

On the morning of the 24th instant the fleet got under way, and twelve vessels, including the four sloops of war, ran the gauntlet of fire of the forts and were safely above. Of the gallantry, courage, and conduct of this heroic action, unprecedented in naval warfare, considering the character of the works and the river, too much cannot be said. Of its casualties and the details of its performance the flag-officer will give an account to the proper Department. I witnessed this daring exploit from a point about 800 yards from Fort Jackson and unwittingly under its fire, and the sublimity of the scene can never be exceeded. The fleet pressed on up the river to New Orleans, leaving two gunboats to protect the quarantine station, 5 miles above.

In case the forts were not reduced, and a portion of the fleet got by them, it had been arranged between the flag-officer and myself that I should make a landing from the Gulf side on the rear of the forts at the quarantine, and from thence attempt Fort Saint Philip by storm and assault, while the bombardment was continued by the fleet. I immediately went to Sable Island with my transports, 12 miles in the rear of Saint Philip, the nearest point at which a sufficient depth of water could be found for them.

Captain Porter put at my disposal the Miami, drawing 7½ feet, being the lightest-draught vessel in the fleet, to take the troops from the ship, as far as the water would allow. We were delayed twenty-four hours by her running ashore at Pass à l'Outre. The Twenty-sixth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, Colonel Jones, were then put on board her and carried within 6 miles of the fort, where she again grounded. Captain Everett, of the Sixth Massachusetts Battery, having very fully reconnoitered the waters and bayous in that vicinity, and foreseeing the necessity, I had collected and brought with me some 30 boats, into which the troops were again transshipped and conveyed, by a most fatiguing and laborious row, some 4½ miles farther, there being within 1 mile of the steamer only 2½ feet of water. A large portion of this passage was against a heavy current, through a bayou. At the entrance of Manuel's Canal, a mile and a half from the point of landing, rowing became impossible, as well from the narrowness of the canal as the strength of the current, which ran like a mill-race. Through this the boats could only be impelled by dragging them singly, with the men up to their waists in water. It is due to this fine regiment and to a portion of the Fourth Wisconsin Volunteers and Twenty-first Indiana, who landed under this hardship without a murmur, that their labors should be made known to the Department, as well as to account for the slowness of our operations. The enemy evidently considered this mode of attack impossible, as they had taken no measures to oppose it, which might very easily have been successfully done. We occupied at once both sides of the river, thus effectually cutting them off from all supplies, information, or succor while we made our dispositions for the assault.

Meantime Captain Porter had sent into the bayou in the rear of Fort Jackson two schooners of his mortar fleet to prevent the escape of the enemy from the fort in that direction. In the hurry and darkness of the passage of the forts the flag-officer had overlooked three of the enemy's gunboats and the iron-clad battery Louisiana, which were at anchor under the walls of the fort. Supposing that all the rebel boats had been destroyed (and a dozen or more had been) he passed on to the city, leaving these in his rear. The iron steam battery being very formidable, Captain Porter deemed it prudent to withdraw his mortar fleet some miles below, where he could have room to maneuver it if attacked by the iron monster, and the bombardment ceased.

I had got Brigadier-General Phelps in the river below with two regiments to make demonstrations in that direction if it became possible. In the night of the 27th, learning that the fleet had got the city under its guns, I left Brigadier General Williams in charge of the landing of the troops and went up the river to the flagship to procure light-draught transportation. That night the larger portion (about 250) of the garrison of Fort Jackson mutinied, spiked the guns bearing up the river, came up and surrendered themselves to my pickets, declaring that as we had got in their rear resistance was useless, and they would not be sacrificed. No bomb had been thrown at them for three days nor had they fired a shot at us from either fort. They averred that they had been impressed and would fight no longer.*

On the 28th the officers of Forts Jackson and Saint Philip surrendered to Captain Porter, he having means of water transportation to them. While he was negotiating, however, with the officers of the forts under a white flag the rebel naval officers put all their munitions of war on the Louisiana, set her on fire and adrift upon the Harriet Lane, but when opposite Fort Saint Philip she blew up, killing one of their own men by the fragments which fell into that fort.

I have taken possession of the forts, and find them substantially as defensible as before the bombardment—Saint Philip precisely so, it being quite uninjured. They are fully provisioned, well supplied with ammunition, and the ravages of the shells have been defensibly repaired by the labors of the rebels. I will cause Lieutenant Weitzel, of the Engineers, to make a detailed report of their condition to the Department I have left the Twenty-sixth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers in garrison, and am now going up the river to occupy the city with my troops and make further demonstrations in the rear of the enemy, now at Corinth.

The rebels have abandoned all their defensive works in and around New Orleans, including Forts Pike and Wood, on Lake Pontchartrain, and Fort Livingston from Barataria Bay. They have retired in the direction of Corinth, beyond Manchac Pass, and abandoned everything up the river as far as Donaldsonville, some 70 miles beyond New Orleans. I propose to so far depart from the letter of my instructions as to endeavor to persuade the flag-officer to pass up the river as far as the mouth of Red River, if possible, so as to cut off their supplies, and make there a landing and a demonstration in their rear as a diversion in favor of General Buell if a decisive battle is not fought before such movement is possible.

Mobile is ours whenever we choose, and we can better wait.

I find the city under the dominion of the mob. They have insulted our flag—torn it down with indignity. This outrage will be punished in such manner as in my judgment will caution both the perpetrators and abettors of the act, so that they shall fear the stripes if they do not reverence the stars of our banner.

I send a marked copy of a New Orleans paper, containing an applauding account of the outrage.†

Trusting my action may meet the approbation of the Department, I am; most respectfully, your obedient servant,

BENJ. F. BUTLER,              

Major-General, Commanding.

Hon. E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

_______________

* See Butler to Stanton, June 1, 1862 in Chapter XXVII.

† Not found.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 6 (Serial No. 6), p. 503-6

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Edwin M. Stanton, May 8, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,                  

New Orleans, May 8, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to report my further operations since my dispatch of the 29th ultimo.

I commenced the disembarkation of my men on May 1; when I took formal possession of New Orleans.

The Twenty-first Indiana was landed at Algiers, a small town on the right bank of the river, opposite New Orleans, at the inner terminus of the New Orleans and Opelousas Railroad. All the rolling stock of the road has been seized, and the road is now running under my direction, only for the purpose of bringing in provisions to the city. That regiment under Colonel McMillan, on the 5th of May was sent to Brashear, 80 miles (the whole length of the railway), and Berwick Bay, and there captured two brass 6-pounder field guns, With ammunition for the same, some 1,500 pounds of powder, and some other ordnance stores, and dispersed a military organization there forming, captured and brought off two citizens who persisted in insulting our troops.

There are now no Confederate forces on the right or western bank of the Mississippi within possible reaching distance of which I have any intelligence.

The remainder of my troops which I had been able to take with me by means of any transportation which I had, to wit, Thirtieth and Thirty-first Massachusetts, Fourth Wisconsin and Sixth Michigan, Ninth and Twelfth Connecticut, with Manning's and Everett's Fifth and Sixth Massachusetts Batteries, and Holcomb's Second Vermont Battery, and two companies of cavalry, I landed in the city proper, posting and quartering them at the custom-house, city hall, mint, and Lafayette Square. I thought it necessary to make so large a display of force in the city. I found it very turbulent and unruly, completely under the control of the mob; no man on either side daring to act independently for fear of open violence and assassination. On landing we were saluted with cheers for Jeff. Davis and Beauregard. This has been checked, and the last man that was heard to call for cheers for the rebel chief has been sentenced by the provost judge to three months' hard labor at Fort Jackson, which sentence is being executed. No assassinations have been made of any United States soldiers, with the exception of a soldier of the Ninth Connecticut, who had left his camp without orders in the night and was found dead the next morning in an obscure street, having probably been engaged in a drunken brawl.

My officers and myself now walk in any part of the city where occasion calls by day or night, without guard, obstruction, or annoyance. There is, however, here a violent, strong, and unruly mob; that can only be kept under by fear.

On the 5th instant I sent Brigadier-General Phelps, with the Ninth and Twelfth Connecticut and Manning's battery, to take possession of the rebel works on the north side of the city, which run from the river to the marshes of Lake Pontchartrain, about 7 miles above the city. I could make no earlier movement, because all the steamers captured and in repair were claimed by the Navy, and were used either in towing their supply ships or tugging off the Rhode Island, which had gone on shore and detained us all three days. This point, in the judgment of the engineers on both sides, is a most defensible one on the northerly side, had been fortified by the rebels with heavy earthworks, and can be maintained with a few regiments against any force, however large, that may be brought against it.

The sloop-of-war Portsmouth and the gunboat Iroquois are anchored so as to enfilade the front of the embankments which were abandoned by the rebels. These can easily be put in defensible condition, although before the arrival of the army and after the evacuation by the enemy, who spiked the guns, a party from the advanced gunboats landed and burned the gun-carriages, which we must supply from those captured at the customhouse.

All the rolling stock of the Jackson Railroad was carried away by the retreating General Lovell, and he has cut the road 14 miles above the city. I am now taking measures to possess ourselves of the whole road to Manchac Pass. The fleet have gone up the river as far as Baton Rouge. The flag-officer started yesterday, and I have sent two regiments to accompany him and make any landing necessary.

The projected expedition from Vicksburg to Jackson, of which I spoke in my last dispatch, has become nugatory, because I am reliably informed from different sources that Beauregard has fallen back upon Jackson with his whole army, and is there concentrating his means of defense. My spies inform me that he is suffering greatly for want of food; that his army is daily becoming demoralized and leaving him.

As soon as all necessary points can be occupied here and my instructions carried out as regards Mobile, I will endeavour to march upon his rear with all the force I can spare consistently with reasonable safety of this point.

As in case of defeat he must retreat upon us, it will be perceived that I must be prepared to meet the débris of his army, or indeed, as he has ample rolling stock (the Telegraph says 13 miles of cars), he may precipitate any amount of force upon me at any moment; for which we will try to be ready. I have caused Forts Pike and Wood, the defenses of Lake Pontchartrain, to be occupied by detachments of the Seventh Vermont and Eighth New Hampshire Regiments. I have not yet occupied either the Chalmette, Tower Dupré, or Battery Bienvenue. Our boats hold the lake, and these are only defenses from exterior enemies; are in no need to occupy them at present. The same observation will apply to Fort Livingston.

I have the honor to inclose copies of a proclamation and the several general orders necessary in the administration of the affairs of so large a city.*  The order most questionable is the one in regard to cotton and sugar, No. 22; but it has had a most salutary effect. Both cotton and sugar are now being sent for to be brought into this market, and the burning through the adjacent country has ceased.

My action in regard to provisions was made absolutely necessary by the starvation which was falling upon the "just and the unjust," and as the class of workmen and mechanics on whom it is pressing most heavily, I am persuaded, are well disposed to the Union, I may have to take other measures to feed these.

It will become necessary for me to use the utmost severity in rooting out the various rebel secret associations here, which overawe the Union men, and give expression to the feelings of the mob by assassination and murder, and usurping the functions of government when a government was here pretended to. I propose to make some brilliant examples.

I take leave to suggest whether it might not be well to send to this point or Mobile a large force by which to operate on the rebel rear, so as To cut him off completely.

I send this dispatch by Colonel Deming, a gentleman known to you, who is possessed of my confidence, and will present to you some matters of interest more at length than could be done in this form of communication. I desire, however, to add urgently to anything he may say that there is an immediate necessity for a paymaster here. As well for the spirit, health, and comfort of the troops, I have established the strictest quarantine at the proper point (the quarantine grounds), and hope to preserve the present good health of my command. I hope my action will meet the approval of the President and the Department of War. Much of it has been done in the emergencies called for by a new and untried state of things, when promptness and movement were more desirable than deliberation. I await with anxiety instructions from the Department for my guidance in the future.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

 BENJ. F. BUTLER,             

 Major-General, Commanding.

 The SECRETARY OF WAR.

_______________

* See “Correspondence, etc.,” post.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 6 (Serial No. 6), p. 506-8

William H. Seward to Reverdy Johnson, June 10, 1862

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,            

Washington, June 10, 1862.

REVERDY JOHNSON, Esq.:

SIR: You are aware that complaints have been made of recent proceedings of Major-General Butler, at New Orleans, in reference to foreign consuls, and particularly the consul of the Netherlands there. It being desirable to have the complaints investigated by a commissioner of high character and acknowledged ability, the President has selected you for the purpose. You will receive herewith a copy of all the papers on the subject in this Department, including memoranda of conversations between Lord Lyons and myself, Mr. Mercier and myself, and correspondence between Mr. Roest Van Limburg, the minister of the Netherlands, and this Department. You will proceed to New Orleans by the earliest opportunity and will lose no time in making your inquiries, which should be as thorough and impartial as circumstances may permit.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

_______________

[Inclosure No. 1.]

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to Edwin M. Stanton, May 16, 1862

 [Inclosure No. 2.]

Department of State Memorandum, May 30, 1862

[Inclosure No. 3.]

Department of State Memorandum, May 31, 1862

[Inclosure No. 4.]

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 5, 1862

 [Inclosure No. 5.—Translation.]

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 6, 1862

[Inclosure No. 6. —Translation.]

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 7, 1862

[Inclosure No. 7. —Translation.]

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 7, 1862

[Inclosure No. 8.]

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 7, 1862

[Inclosure No. 9.]

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 7, 1862

[Inclosure No. 10.—Translation.]

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 9, 1862

[Inclosure No. 11. —Translation.]

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 9, 1862

[Inclosure No. 12.]

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 9, 1862

[Inclosure No. 13.]

William M. Evarts to William H. Seward, June 10, 1862

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. 115-6, Sub-inclosures, p. 116-139

Amedée Couturie to Major-General Benjamin F. Butler, May 16, 1862

NEW ORLEANS, May 16, 1862.

Maj. Gen. B. F. BUTLER, U.S. Army,

Commanding Department of the Gulf, at New Orleans:

SIR: Your official communication of the 14th instant I have received, and transmitted literal copies thereof to my Government through the usual channels.

In reading it I cannot but think that you have misunderstood the communication which I had the honor of addressing you on the 10th instant, and to which it purports to be an answer.

My communication recited a series of outrages upon my person, the dignity of consulate office, and of the flag of the Government which I have the honor of representing in this city; and informed you that as those acts would be brought to the knowledge of my Government I desired to know whether they were performed with your sanction or by your order. It has pleased you to say that so far as you can judge I have merited the treatment I have received, even if a little rough. I am therefore to infer that the acts brought to your notice received your sanction.

I shall leave it with my Government to direct my future course in consequence of those acts and to pronounce the use which I have made of my consular flag, and in the meanwhile I have to inform you that I have placed the interests of the subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, heretofore in my charge, under the charge and keeping of the consul of His Majesty the Emperor of the French in New Orleans. But I must be permitted, referring to my only intercourse with your subordinate and with yourself, to insist upon the fact that none of the property covered by my consular flag was claimed by me as my private property, and that I have never admitted anything in reference thereto.

You will find herewith inclosed a copy of an additional statement of facts, subsequent to my first communication, which statement has also been transmitted to my Government. You will perceive that the property which was removed from my consular office by the armed forces under your command, except the title papers and other objects specified in said additional statement of facts, had been received by me as a deposit from Mr. Edmund J. Forstall, a highly respectable citizen and merchant of New Orleans, for many years known as the agent of the banking-house of Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, for whom he was acting in the premises.

Such being the truth of the facts in reference to said property as represented to, and as believed and acted upon by me, I must and do hereby protest against the removal from my consular office of property belonging to and placed there for account of subjects of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, against the acts of violence which preceded and the display of force which accompanied such removal, and against the violation of the privileges and immunities with which by the law of nations and the treaties of the United States I was invested in my official character.

I have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servant,

AM. COUTURIE,                 

Consul of the Netherlands.

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. 122-3

Amedée Couturie:Statement of Facts: May 13, 1862 — 11 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS, May 13, 1862—11 a.m.

A statement of the facts that occurred after I took down the consular flag:

Having hauled down the flag of the Netherlands and left the premises, I paused for a moment in front of the building, which was surrounded by a great crowd of citizens of this place. I noticed that the inside and outside of the consular office were occupied by armed soldiers.

Passing by at 9 o'clock and again at midnight I noticed armed sentinels pacing all around the building; which was then closed. On the following day, being Sunday, the 11th instant, or thereabout, a party of armed soldiers, commanded by officers in uniform with side-arms, reached the consular office, which they entered. At the same time a certain number of drays and wagons arrived in front of the consular office, and the articles hereinafter recited were removed from the vault of my consulate, placed on the sidewalk, thence upon the vehicles, carted off, and removed in presence of a large crowd of citizens. The articles removed by the military force are the following:

No. 1.—One hundred and sixty kegs containing each $5,000, being in all $800,000, Mexican silver dollars, which were deposited with me, as consul of the Netherlands, on the 12th day of April last, by Edmund J. Forstall, esq., a prominent merchant and citizen of this city, acting as agent of Messrs. Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, by virtue of an act of procuration which he then communicated to me. Said specie I was to keep and promised to keep in pledge for account of said firm and hold subject to their order. The above facts were afterward communicated by me to the minister of foreign affairs at The Hague, with a request that he would be pleased to transmit the information of the same to Messrs. Hope & Co.

No. 2.—One tin box (to which we gave the name of a bank box of this city), locked, containing, first, ten bonds of the consolidated debt of the city of New Orleans for $1,000 each, the nominal value of which is $10,000; second, eight bonds of the city of Mobile of the value of $1,000 each, the nominal value of which is $8,000. Said eighteen bonds were deposited with me on the 12th day of April last by Edmund J. Forstall, esq., in the capacity above recited as the property of Messrs. Hope & Co.; third, divers papers, being titles and deeds, my consular commission from His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, and exequatur from the President of the United States.

No. 3.—Six other tin boxes marked with my name, “Amedée Couturie,” containing private deeds, silverware, &c., which boxes are the property of divers persons for whom I am agent.

No. 4.—Two or more tin boxes, the property of the Hope Insurance Company, of this city, which occupied a portion of the premises in which my consulate was located.

Since the removal of the articles herein recited from the vault of the consulate the doors of the same have been closed and locked and armed sentinels continue to be placed at the entrance of and around the building. The coin and other articles above enumerated have been deposited, to the best of my knowledge, either in the mint or customhouse in this city, both public edifices, being occupied by the U.S. military.

AM. COUTURIE,                 

Consul of the Netherlands.

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. 123-4

Major-General Benjamin F. Butler to George Coppell, May 11, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,                  

New Orleans, May 11, 1862.

GEORGE COPPELL,

Acting as Her Majesty's Consul, New Orleans:

SIR: I have your communication of May 8. With its evasions of facts I have nothing to do. A plain statement of the matter is this:

A number of residents of this city, who were enjoying the protection and advantages of the United States Government in their large trade and property for many years (some of them more than a decade), and now claiming to have been born subjects of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, organized themselves into a military body, known as the "British Guard," and armed, and uniformed, and equipped, patrolled the streets till the fleet of the United States had the city under its guns. This body then, after a discussion in presence of its captain and at least one other officer, at 11 o'clock at night, deliberately voted, in an organized meeting, to send the arms and uniforms of the company to the army of the rebel General Beauregard, which vote was carried into effect by sending to the rebels substantially all the arms, uniforms, and equipments in their armory. This transaction was concealed from me for some days. I then sent for Captain Burrowes and he acknowledged the facts materially as above stated. For this flagrant breach of the laws of nations, of the United States, your Queen's proclamation, and the laws of God, I directed him to order the company to leave the city within twenty-four hours.

To this he objected, saying, among other things, that this would be punishing the innocent with the guilty, as there were some members absent at the time of the vote; that each soldier of the Guard owned his arms and uniform as private property, and it would be hard to compel those to leave the city who still retained their arms and uniforms and did not concur in the vote. I then modified the order, directing those to report to me who still retained their arms and uniforms; all others, having forfeited all rights of neutrality and hospitality, to leave the city within twenty-four hours, or I should have them arrested and sent to Fort Jackson as dangerous and inimical persons. These people thought it of consequence that Beauregard should have sixty more uniforms and rifles. I thought it of the same consequence that he should have sixty more of these faithless men, who may fill them if they choose.

I intended this order to be strictly enforced. I am content for the present to suffer open enemies to remain in the city of their nativity, but law-defying and treacherous alien enemies shall not. I welcome all neutrals and foreigners who have kept aloof from these troubles which have been brought upon the city, and will, to the extent of my power, protect them and their property. They shall have the same hospitable and just treatment they have always received at the hands of the United States Government. They will see, however, for themselves that it is for the interest of all to have the unworthy among them rooted out, because the acts of such bring suspicion upon all. All the facts above set forth can most easily be substantiated, and indeed are so evasively admitted in your note by the very apology made for them. That apology says that these men when they took this action, &c., sent these arms and munitions of war to Beauregard, "did it with no idea of wrong or harm." I do not understand this. Can it be that such men, of age to enroll themselves as a military body, did not know that it is wrong to supply the enemies of the United States with arms? If so, I think they should be absent from the city long enough to learn so much international law; or do you mean to say that, "knowing their social proclivities and the lateness of the hour when the vote was taken," that therefore they were not responsible? There is another difficulty, however, in these people taking any protection under the British flag. The company received a charter or commission, or some form of rebel authorization from the Governor of Louisiana, and one of them whom I have under arrest accompanied him to the rebel camp.

There is still another difficulty, as I am informed and believe, that a majority of them have made declaration of their intentions to become citizens of the United States and of the supposed Confederate States, and have taken the proper and improper oaths of allegiance to effect that purpose.

Thus far you will do me the honor to observe that I have treated your communication as if it emanated from the duly authorized consul of Her Majesty's Government at this port. The respect I feel for that Government leads me to err, if at all, upon the side of recognition of all its claims and those of its officers, but I take leave to call your attention to the fact that you subscribed yourself "Her Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul," and that I have received no official information of any right which you may have so to act, except your acts alone, and pardon me if I err in saying that your acts in that behalf, which have come to my knowledge, have not been of such a character as to induce the belief on my part that you do rightfully represent that noble Government.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

BENJ. F. BUTLER,              

Major-general, Commanding.

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. 126-7

Department of State Memorandum, May 30, 1862

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,          

May 30, 1862.

MEMORANDUM.]

Lord Lyons called to-day upon Mr. Seward and said, as perhaps was not extraordinary, the capture of New Orleans, which was expected by Mr. Seward to be a relief in the relations between the United States and other countries, on the contrary was, at the beginning, attended with new causes of uneasiness. He had received complaints from his consul in behalf of British subjects in New Orleans of harsh proceedings by General Butler. He had not time fully to digest them, but he called to see if the Secretary of State would not think it worth while to have the military authorities at New Orleans cautioned against exercising any doubtful severities, which would produce irritation and aggravate what had already happened.

Lord Lyons especially said that it had been reported to him that a British subject had been sent to Fort Jackson, which is understood to be a very unhealthy place at this season, and he trusted the military authorities would be requested not to expose the health of such prisoners to unnecessary risks. Mr. Seward replied that he cordially appreciated the value of Lord Lyons' suggestions, and that he would submit to the Secretary of War the expediency of giving instructions to General Butler of the character suggested, and he felt authorized to say at once that they would be adopted.

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. 130-1

Department of State Memorandum, May 31, 1862

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,            

Washington, May 31, 1862.

MEMORANDUM.]

Mr. Mercier called upon Mr. Seward informally to speak of some irritation among the consuls at New Orleans, resulting from irregularities and severities reported to have been practiced by Major-General Butler toward them on the occasion of his taking military possession of that city. Mr. Mercier said that he had not called now to present any complaint on the part of the French consul, and explanations which had been already made by General Butler perhaps would relieve him of any necessity for doing so.

Mr. Seward said that he had seen newspaper reports of the occurrence at New Orleans, but as yet had received nothing official either from any representative of any foreign Government or from the War Department. But he had had no hesitation about interposing in the matter at once.

Yesterday, after a brief conversation with Lord Lyons, when the subject was first brought to his notice, he had procured orders from the Secretary of War to Major-General Butler directing him to refrain from practicing any severities or strictness of doubtful right toward any consul or subject of any foreign power, which orders had been already transmitted.

To-day it had been decided to devolve the civil government of New Orleans upon a provisional military Governor, who would proceed with the utmost dispatch to New Orleans and relieve General Butler of civil administration there.

Mr. Seward said that he had already appointed a commissioner for the State Department, of distinguished ability and character, to proceed to New Orleans as speedily as possible and inquire and take evidence of the transactions which have occurred there in which any complaint of violation of consular rights, privileges, and courtesies has arisen under the administration of General Butler, to redress any such clear violation which he may ascertain to have occurred, by making restitution, and in every other case to make full report to the Secretary of State for his decision thereupon.

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. 131

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 5, 1862

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

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 6, 1862

LEGATION OF THE NETHERLANDS,                

Washington, June 6, 1862.

Hon. Mr. SEWARD,

Secretary of State of the United States of America:

SIR: I have had the honor to receive your note, dated yesterday, through which you have been pleased to inform me that the President deeply regrets the conflict which has occurred at New Orleans between the military authorities and the consul of the Netherlands. It is with a real satisfaction, which accords fully with what I was to expect from the high sense of justice of the President and of the Government of the United States, that I have seen, in the course of the note, that they view the conduct of the aforesaid authorities as a violation of the law of nations; that they disapprove of it; that they disapprove of the sanction which was given to it by Major-General Butler.

After having thanked the President and the Government of the United States therefor, I must permit myself to remark, Mr. Secretary of State, that a circumstance which, from, the inception, the consul of the Netherlands is reproached with, must evidently be attributed to a want of clearness in the statement made by Major-General Butler.

According to your note, he says, “that he had been informed that a very considerable sum, belonging to insurgent enemies, was secreted in a certain liquor store of the city;” whereupon, you observe, “that he sent, very properly, a military guard to make searches at the place indicated.” But it appears to be proven that the money and articles in question were not by any means in this liquor store, but in a very different place in the city. If, therefore, Mr. Couturie was accosted in the aforesaid liquor store, his commercial establishment, he might have said, with truth, that all that was in that store was his personal property. There would, therefore, be want of clearness on the part of Major-General Butler in making the declaration of Mr. Couturie bear upon the kegs, &c. Upon other allegations of Major-General Butler, differing (contrary to) from the allegations of the consul, I would not desire more than yourself, Mr. Secretary of State, to express an opinion.. Major-General Butler makes a very serious charge against the consul, which involves a proceeding deserving a removal from office of the one or the other; that of the consul if he has in reality received, “with connivance,” as Major-General Butler pretends (alleges), a “fraudulent” deposit; that of Major-General Butler if he fails to prove that charge. For to take from one his honor is no less culpable than to take from him his property, his life. Let the Government of the United States, Mr. Secretary of State, in order to throw light upon its information or knowledge, have the affair examined and investigated (“investigate the transaction which has been detailed”) before it pronounces between the accuser and the accused. This could not be impugned by me; but that I appoint some one to take part, to assist, in this species of inquest, which, by the proceedings themselves of the military authorities, can no longer take place upon a state of things untouched--the kegs and the boxes having been carried off without any seals, having been, as it appears, opened by Major-General Butler. This I could not do without granting, in some measure, a bill of indemnity to that which has occurred. It is what I could not take upon myself without receiving upon that point the instructions of the Government of the King. There are, besides, in this affair circumstances which strike me. It seems to me that when the question relates to “fraudulent deposit,” to “connivance” in acts of high treason, one should not impute, as Major-General Butler does; one should rather accuse. One should not limit himself to seize upon the proofs; it would also be natural to make sure of the accused persons; and notwithstanding the consul, to whom they impute so serious an act, was under arrest but during a few hours, during the searches made in his vault, whilst the agent of the house of Hope & Co., who, if the consul be guilty, must be so at least as much so as him, has not been, to my knowledge, arrested. These are circumstances, Mr. Secretary of State, which seem to me of a nature to cause one to rather presume the innocence of the agent of the house of Hope & Co. and of the consul of the Netherlands than to indicate that they are believed really guilty. You should not, therefore, be surprised that I recoil from the supposition of culpability, and that as for myself I could not consider the deposit otherwise than as legitimate until the contrary be proven. It is for Major-General Butler to prove what he alleges; ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat (the burden of proof lies upon him who asserts, not upon him who denies), say the Pandects. It is not for me, it is not for our consul, to prove that he is innocent. Prima facie, the money delivered by the Citizens' Bank to the agent of the house of Hope & Co., to be transmitted to that house or to be deposited with the consul of the Netherlands; is a legitimate money, legitimately transferred.

I could not, without having-received (obtained) the orders of the Government of the King, participate in any manner in an investigation which would tend to investigate that which I could not put in doubt—the good faith of the agent of the house of Hope & Co., the moral impossibility that that honorable house should lend itself to any culpable underplot, the good faith of the consul of the Netherlands.

Quilibet præsumitur justus, donec probatur contrarium (everyone is to be presumed honest until the contrary is proven), saith the ancient and universal rule of justice, and this rule is true especially when it applies to persons such as those as are in question here.

Consequently, while awaiting the orders of the Government of the King, I reserve all the rights and all the demands (claims) which may be based, either by the Royal Government or by the Netherlands consul or by individuals, upon the seizure of values, titles, or papers deposited at the consulate of the Netherlands at New Orleans, and more especially upon the reprehensible and censured manner in which this seizure has been made. But if on the one hand, Mr. Secretary of State, I must reserve, in their entireness, all the demands which the Government of the King, the consul of the Netherlands, and the persons interested might hereafter have to sustain, on the other hand I am happy to give you the assurance that the Government of the King, upon an eventual representation on your part against the conduct of the consul at New Orleans, will receive it with all the consideration and will right it with all the promptness which the excellent relations which for so many years have existed between the two countries may lead to expect from the Government of the august sovereign who maintains, and will ever maintain, the motto, Justitia regnorum fundamentum (Justice is the foundation of kingdoms).

I have the honor, Mr. Secretary of State, to request you to be pleased, at an early day, to acknowledge the receipt of this note from me, and I avail myself of this new opportunity to reiterate 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. 133-5

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 7, 1862

LEGATION OF THE NETHERLANDS,                

Washington, June 7, 1862.

Hon. Mr. SEWARD,

Secretary of State of the United States of America, &c.:

From the first interview which I had the honor to have with you in regard to the lamentable events which took place in the course of last month at the consulate of the Netherlands at New Orleans, you have evinced a spirit of conciliation, the extent of which I take pleasure in acknowledging. You have assured me that all which I could reasonably ask of you would be accorded to me.

I submitted to you the information and reports which I had received. These were sufficient to induce you to take the initiative in the reparation which at first seemed to you to be due.

But from the note which to this end you were pleased to address to me day before yesterday, and from the answer which I made to it on the day following, it appears that you cannot at present decide as to the allegation of Major-General Butler, whilst I, until the contrary be proved, must consider our consul as acting entirely in good faith and as being perfectly in the right to receive from the hands of the agent of the firm of Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, a deposit for that firm. There was not, according to the law of nations and universally received usages, any obligation on the Government of the United States to verify the contents of the kegs, which the agent of the house of Hope had declared to him to contain 800,000 Mexican dollars.

In this state of affairs, which your sense of justice will hasten, as you have assured me, to put an end to as soon as possible, our consul would find himself, without some new proof of conciliation and equity on your part, in a false position. Your note of the 5th says that his consular commission and the exequatur of the President (improperly taken out of his possession by Major-General Butler) will be returned to him immediately, and that he will be “permitted” to resume his functions. I have no reason to suppose, sir, that you have used this term with any positive intention; therefore I flatter myself that, while reserving to yourself any ulterior action against the consul, you will not object to considering him, as I do, and as justice considers every man against whom nothing has been proved, as honorable and as acting in good faith; and that consequently you will not refuse to "invite" him, through my interposition, to resume his functions, while adding that you cannot consider him otherwise than as acting in good faith and as honorable until the contrary be proved, and while waiting for the report of the commissioner whom you are going to send to New Orleans.

I have the honor, Mr. Secretary of State, to request you to be pleased also, as soon as possible, to honor me with your reply in this regard; and I profit by this new opportunity to reiterate 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. 136-7

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 7, 1862

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,            

Washington, June 7, 1862.

Mr. ROEST VAN LIMBURG, &c.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of yesterday and of this date on the subject of the proceedings of Major-General Butler with reference to the consul of the Netherlands at New Orleans. The first of these communications presents several points which merit special notice, but I prefer to reserve a reply to them in detail until I shall have received information in regard to the instructions upon the subject which you expect from your Government.

In answer to your note of this date I have to remark that in conformity with that conciliatory disposition which it has been my purpose to show and which you very liberally acknowledge, I have no objection to your writing to the consul that it is the President's expectation that, he will resume and continue in the discharge of his official functions until there shall be further occasion for him to relinquish them.

I avail myself of this occasion, sir, to offer to you a renewed assurance of my very 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. 137

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 7, 1862

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,            

Washington, June 7, 1862.

Mr. ROEST VAN LIMBURG, &c.:

SIR: In answer to your second note of this date, in which you request the proof upon which Major-General Butler based his proceedings against the consul of the Netherlands at New Orleans, I have to inform you with entire frankness that my communications to you upon the subject have been drawn from the report of that officer with reference to his proceedings in that city generally up to the 16th of last month, the date of the report. That document not being accompanied by any proof of the allegations against the consul, it is quite beyond my power at this time to comply with your request.

I offer to you, sir, a renewed assurance of my very 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. 138

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 9, 1862

LEGATION OF THE NETHERLANDS,                          

Washington, June 9, 1862.

Hon. Mr. SEWARD,

Secretary of State of the United States of America:

SIR: In your note bearing date the 7th of this month, through which you do me the honor to reply to my second note of the same day, you have been pleased, with a frankness which I appreciate, to inform me that your communications on the subject of the affair in question have been drawn from the report which Major-General Butler made to you of his general conduct at New Orleans up to the 16th of the last month; and that this document not being accompanied by any proof of the allegations against the consul, it is not in your power to comply with my request “to be pleased to communicate to me the papers justificative (proofs) of the accusation of the consul and of the seizure of the deposit.”

Your frankness, sir, could not but increase my esteem for the Government whose organ you are, and this frankness encourages me to be equally frank. You will appreciate it on your part, convinced of the respect which I bear for the President and Government of the United States, as also of the confidence which I place in their spirit of justice. Well then, Mr. Secretary of State, since you acknowledge to me that you are not in possession of the proofs, is it not natural to conclude therefrom that these proofs do not exist? For, was it not the duty of Major-General Butler to submit them to you, without delay, to justify the seizure of funds of which you now know that they were in deposit at the house of the Netherlands consul, for account of the honorable house of Hope & Co., of Amsterdam?

Thus, from the moment it shall appear that Major-General Butler has actually seized, without having had well-founded reasons and proofs to justify a step so serious as the carrying off (removal) of a deposit which was at the Netherlands consulate, I expect from the justice of the Government of the United States that the values shall be restored without further delay to the consul or the house of Hope & Co.

I therefore permit myself to request you, sir, to be pleased to call for as soon as possible and to communicate to me the proofs which I have had the honor to request of you in my note of the 7th of this month.

I have the honor, sir, to reiterate 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. 138-9

Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg to William H. Seward, June 9, 1862

LEGATION OF THE NETHERLANDS,                

Washington, June 9, 1862.

Hon. Mr. SEWARD,

Secretary of State of the United States:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 7th of this month, in which you do me the honor to say to me, among other things, that you have no objection that I should write to the consul of the Netherlands at New Orleans “that it is the President's expectation that he will resume and continue in the discharge of his official functions until there should be further occasion for him to relinquish them.” I regret, sir, not to be able to accept that formula without submitting it to the judgment of the Government of the King; and I have the honor 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. 139

William H. Seward to Theodorus Marinus Roest van Limburg, June 9, 1862

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,            

Washington, June 9, 1862.

Mr. ROEST VAN LIMBURG, &c.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your two notes of this date. In reply to the request in one of them for the proofs upon which Major-General Butler based his proceedings with reference to the coin lodged with the consul of the Netherlands at New Orleans, I have the honor to acquaint you that no time shall be lost in making them known to you when they shall have been received here.

I avail myself of this occasion, sir, to offer to you a renewed assurance of my very 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. 139

William M. Evarts to William H. Seward, June 10, 1862

NEW YORK, June 10, 1862.

Governor SEWARD,

Secretary of State:

MY DEAR SIR: A gentleman well-informed in the financial relations of the New Orleans banks has handed me the inclosed memorandum of what he supposes to be the probable status of the specie found under the protection of the Dutch consul at New Orleans. I send it to you, thinking it may be of some service in your investigations.

The idea of this gentleman is that the existence of an occasion for a remittance of some $800,000 to Hope & Co. has been made a cause for this deposit, without the least intention of so paying or providing for the debt, which had, doubtless, been otherwise met.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Weed yesterday at a very agreeable dinner given to him by the district attorney. He seems in excellent health and spirits.

I am, very truly, yours,

WM. M. EVARTS.

[Sub-inclosure.]

MEMORANDUM.

The Citizens' Bank was chartered by the Legislature of Louisiana about the year 1836. The State loaned its bonds to the bank to constitute or raise the capital on which it has been doing business. The bank indorsed the bonds of the State, and negotiated some $5,000,000 of them through Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, where the interest and principal are payable. It is said that $500,000 of these bonds become due and payable at Hope & Co.'s counting-house this year (1862), which, with one year's interest on the whole amount outstanding, probably constitutes the sum placed by the bank shortly before the capture of New Orleans in the hands of the consul of the Netherlands. It is almost certain that Hope & Co. have nothing at all to do with any funds intended to be applied to the payment of the bonds negotiated through them by the Citizens' Bank until they reach Amsterdam; they (Hope & Co.) acting merely as distributors of the funds when placed there with them, all risk of transmission belonging to the bank. Such, I know, was the case with the bonds negotiated by Baring Bros. & Co., issued by the State of Louisiana to the Union Bank of Louisiana. Moreover, it is very probable that the Citizens' Bank has ample funds in London to make the payment due in Amsterdam this year, and will use them for that purpose should the money seized be given up. It should not be forgotten that the Citizens' Bank, or the president, or some other person connected with the bank, has been reported as acting in some way, directly or indirectly, as fiscal agent of the Confederate Government, and that that Government may have funds in the hands of such agent, which were on deposit with the Citizens' Bank. It is even probable that a portion of the gold stolen from the mint in New Orleans at the commencement of the rebellion was deposited in the Citizens' Bank by some agent or officer of the Confederate Government. My opinion is that if the money seized should be delivered up to the consul it will find its way back into the vault of the Citizens' Bank, and that Hope & Co. will be placed in funds to meet the bonds and coupons due this year from other resources of the bank. If the money seized should be found to belong rightfully to Hope & Co., then let the Government send the equivalent amount from here to Hope & Co. by bills of exchange on London, and use the specie where it is for their own purposes.

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. 139-40

Edwin M. Stanton to William H. Seward, June 3, 1862

WAR DEPARTMENT,                     

Washington, D.C., June 3, 1862.

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State:

SIR: This Department has appointed Col. George F. Shepley Military Governor of the State of Louisiana. His jurisdiction will include the city of New Orleans. While exerting the military power to overcome the rebellion, the Department desires to avoid any encroachment upon international rights, and would be glad to be favored with any suggestions which the State Department may think proper to be incorporated into the instructions to Governor Shepley.

Your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON,                   

Secretary of War.

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. 142

William H. Seward to Edwin M. Stanton, June 3, 1862

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,            

Washington, June 3, 1862.

Hon. E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date, and thank you for the courtesy of the communication. In reply I have to acquaint you that this Department has already appointed Reverdy Johnson a commissioner to proceed to New Orleans to investigate complaints of foreign consuls against certain military proceedings of General Butler and to report to this Department.

I think it would be well to instruct Governor Shepley to afford all reasonable facilities to Mr. Johnson to perform the trust confided to him, and further instruct him that the utmost delicacy is required in transactions with consuls and with foreigners, so as to avoid not only just cause of complaint but groundless irritation in a critical conjuncture.

In making these suggestions I am by no means to be understood as prejudging, much less censuring, Major-General Butler, whose general course of administration seems to me to have been eminently judicious and energetic.

It would be advisable for Governor Shepley to refer to the Government at Washington any questions in the determination of which, or in proceedings pursuant thereto, there may be a reasonable doubt as to his authority.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

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. 142