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
