Amedée Couturie: Statement Of Facts, April 10, 1862

On this day, the 10th of April, 1862, and at the hour of five minutes to 2 o'clock p.m., I, being in my consular office, No. 109 Canal street, was called upon by an officer wearing the uniform and arms of a captain of the U.S. Army, accompanied by a squad of six or eight men under his command.

The captain informed me that he came to prevent the exit of any person or property from the premises.

I said that I was consul of the Netherlands; that this was the office of my consulate, and that I protested against any such violation of same. I then wrote a note to Comte Mejan, consul of France, in this city, requesting him to come to me for consultation.

This note was handed to the officer, whose name I then learned to be Captain Shipley, who promised to send it after taking it to headquarters.

Captain Shipley returned and stated to me that by order of Major-General Butler my note would not be sent to Consul Mejan, and that he, the captain, would proceed forthwith to search the premises. Captain Shipley then demanded of me the keys of my vault. These I refused to deliver. He remarked that he would have to force open the doors, and I told him that in regard to that he could do what he pleased. For the second time I again protested against the violation of the consular office to Captain Shipley, who then went out. Before he left I distinctly put the question to him, “Sir, am I to understand that my consular office is taken possession of and myself am arrested by you, and that, too, by the order of Major-General Butler?” He replied, “Yes, sir.” During Captain Shipley's absence another officer remained in the office and a special sentinel was put on guard in the room where I then kept myself. The name of this second officer was Lieutenant Whitcomb, as he informed me. Captain Shipley returned and was followed by another officer, whose name I could not ascertain, but from appearances ranking him.

This officer approached me, and in a passionate, insulting tone, contrasting singularly with the gentlemanly deportment of both Captain Shipley and Lieutenant Whitcomb, made the same demand for the keys as had been made by Captain Shipley, and I made the same refusal, protesting against the act, as I had done before. He then gave orders to search the office and break open, if need be, the doors of the vault.

I then arose and said:

I, Amedée Couturie, consul of the Netherlands, protest against any occupation or search of my office; and this I do in the name of my Government. The name of my consulate is over the door, and my flag floats over my head. If I cede, it is to force alone.

Search being begun in the office by the officer, I told him that the keys were on my person. He then in a more than rough tone ordered two of the soldiers to search my person, using the following among other expressions: “Search the fellow,” “strip him,” “take off his coat, stockings,” “search even the soles of his shoes.” I remarked to the officer that the appellation “fellow” that he gave me was never applied to a gentleman, far less to a foreign consul in his consular capacity, as I was then, and that I requested him to remember that he had said the word. He replied it was the name he had given me, and he repeated over the name three times.

Both Captain Shipley and Lieutenant Whitcomb then stepped forward. The latter was the first to take two keys out of my coat pocket. The former took the key of my vault from the right pocket of my pantaloons. Of the keys taken by Lieutenant Whitcomb there was one opening my place of business, which had nothing to do with my place consulate and is situated in a different part of the city. I claimed it, but was told by the commanding officer that he would keep it for the present, but might let me have it to-morrow.

I must here state that when Captain Shipley told me that my letter to the consul of France would not be sent I remarked that I had forwarded another message to the consul and was expecting him every moment, and that if he, the captain, would delay action until I had seen the consul of France something good might come out of my consultation. Captain Shipley replied that he could not delay action, and that the order of General Butler was to go on with the work he was charged with.

The superior officer then took the keys, opened the vault, and in company of Captain Shipley and Lieutenant Whitcomb entered the same. What they did there I was unable to see, as I kept myself in the same place and in the same chair where I had been searched.

After searching for some time said officer retired, leaving the vault open, Captain Shipley and Lieutenant Whitcomb remaining with their men. Two other officers that I had not seen before came in and joined them for some time.

After an absence of about three-quarters of an hour the officer in question returned, and in the presence of the other officers closed and locked the vault, taking the keys along with him. I then remarked to him that the key of my store was among those that had been taken away from my person, and I wished to have it. The same officer then asked me whether my store contained any goods or property belonging to the Confederates, to which inquiry I answered in the negative. The same officer made use of the following language at the time: “You have placed yourself in a bad position, and shall be treated without any consideration.” He retired after that. It was then about 4 p.m.

I then continued to be a prisoner under the charge of Captain Shipley and a guard of armed soldiers placed inside and outside of my office until about 7 p.m., when Captain Shipley, having communicated with another officer who came in the consular office, approached me and said: “You are now at liberty to go wherever you please, sir.” I said: “I am at liberty to go wherever I please?” He answered: “Yes, sir.” I then remarked: “And it is by verbal communication that I am informed of the fact?” He replied: “The same as you were arrested.” I then rose, and before leaving my office made the following remark to Captain Shipley: “You have taken possession of this office, I leave everything in your charge.” To this he replied: “I will take care of it.” Whereupon I left my office, and a short time after I took down my consular flag.

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. 119-21

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.

_______________

*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

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 Amedée Couturie, May 14, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,                  

New Orleans, May 14, 1862.

The CONSUL OF THE NETHERLANDS:

SIR: Your communication of the 10th instant is received. The nature of the property found concealed beneath your consular flag, the specie, dies, and plates of the Citizens' Bank of New Orleans, under a claim that it was your private property, which claim is now admitted to be groundless, shows you have merited, so far as I can judge, the treatment you have received, even if a little rough. Having prostituted your flag to a base purpose, you could not hope to have it respected, so debased.

I am, officially, 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. 124