FRANCE. No. 566.] Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I herewith enclose you the copy of a memorandum, received by me. from a gentleman in Paris, showing that the confederates have recently given a very large order to the house of Silvee & Co., London, for insulated telegraphic wire. The information comes to him from one of the partners in the house, and is, I presume, reliable. The wire is intended for use in exploding torpedoes, or vessels filled with powder, beneath federal ships, and its delivery should be vented, if possible. I will give this information to Mr. Morse, our consul at London, in the hope that he, through some of his agents there, may find out the name of the ship which carries it out, when, and to what port she sails. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. pre WM..L. DAYTON. [Memorandum.] PARIS, November 19, 1864. A large order for insulated telegraphic wire has been given by the confederates to Silvee & Co., London, with the intention of using it to explode torpedoes, or vessels filled with powder, beneath federal ships-of-war. The order is a very large one, and our agents should endeavor to prevent it arriving in a southern port. Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward. No. 567.] : LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, November 25, 1864. SIR I enclose you a printed copy of a note recently addressed, it would seem, by the rebel commissioners abroad to Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys and to the other representatives of other courts in Europe. I know nothing of it, except from seeing it in print. My attention has not been called to it by Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys. The manifesto referred to you will doubtless recollect as an emission from the rebel Congress of last year; at least, I believe that was its date. I have been much annoyed by the unfriendly spirit of the government press of France since the election. The Patrie, in its issue of yesterday, throws out the suggestion that, inasmuch as Mr. Lincoln will not receive the vote of a majority of the electors of all the States, it will not be possible to recognize him as the President of the United States. A conjoint effort of the English and, I am sorry to say, of the French press is being made to ward off the influence and effect of the late election. If there is anything in the English papers which seems calculated to belittle its consequences, and encourage the south to hold out in the hope of recognition, it is sure to be translated and copied into the French journals. This is the case, I observe, with a piece from the London Press, (supposed to be Lord Palmerston's organ,) copied this morning into the Moniteur. But it is needless to trouble you with these things. I have referred to them only because I have been myself disappointed. The result of the election does not seem to have brought about that spirit of fairness which I had anticipated. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. WM. L. DAYTON. The following collective note has been addressed to the French minister of foreign affairs by the diplomatic representatives of the confederate government in Europe. The note transmits an official copy of the manifesto of the congress of the Confederate States: "PARIS, November 11, 1864. "SIR: The undersigned, commissioners of the Confederate States of America, have the honor, in conformity with instructions from their government, to present to your excellency a copy of a manifesto published by the congress of the said States with the approbation of the president, who was requested to send copies to his commissioners abroad, in order that they might communicate them to the foreign governments. The undersigned communicate, at the same time, a copy of the preamble and of the resolutions of the congress annexed to the said manifesto. "The feelings, the principles, and the views which have inspired and still inspire the Confederate States are set forth in this document with all the authority appertaining to the solemn declarations of the legislative and executive branches of their government, and with a clearness which leaves no room for either comment or explanations. It is therein declared, in a few words, that all they ask for is that there shall be no interference with their peace and internal prosperity, and that they may be allowed peaceably to enjoy their undeniable rights of life and liberty as well as that of laboring for their happiness. "Those are rights which their common ancestors have declared to be equally the inheritance of all the parties who subscribed the social compact. Let the north cease to attack us, and the war will be at an end. If any questions exist which require to be settled by means of negotiations, the Confederate States have always been and still are disposed to enter into communication with their adversaries in a spirit of equity and of noble frankness, and to submit their cause to the enlightened judgment as well as the solemn and sacred arbitration of Heaven. "The undersigned very respectfully solicit the attention of the government of his Imperial Majesty to this frank and complete explanation of the attitude and views of the Confederate States. They will, moreover, simply observe that since the publication of this manifesto our enemies have continued to make war with a recrudescence of ferocity, with a still more glaring contempt for all the laws of war between civilized nations, and by more audaciously violating the obligations of international law. "After having thus fulfilled the instructions of their government, the undersigned tender to your excellency the expression of the sentiments of distinguished consideration with which they have the honor to be, your excellency, your humble and obedient servants, "J. SLIDELL, A similar document, with the necessary changes, has been presented to all the cabinets of Europe, Constantinople excepted. Mr. Slidell handed in person to M. Drouyn de Lhuys the above. Bishop Lynch will hand to the Pope the copy intended for him. No. 1.] Mr. Pennington to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF the United STATES, Paris, December 2, 1864. SIR: I perform the painful duty of announcing to the Department of State the sudden death of the Hon. William L. Dayton, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to France. Mr. Dayton expired yesterday evening at nine o'clock very suddenly of apoplexy. I will be guided by my circular instruction, and will respectfully await further instructions from the department in reference to the performance of the functions of my office. I hasten to communicate this sad event to the department. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. Seward, Secretary of State. No. 2.1 Mr. Pennington to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF the United STATES, SIR: In my despatch, No. 1, of Friday, December 2, I hurriedly communicated the melancholy fact of the sudden death of the Hon. Mr. Dayton. He was apparently quite well up to the time of his death, and died so calmly that the person sitting by his side did not think him dead but sleeping. His physician says nothing could have been done for him, it was positive apoplexy. I communicated at once the sad event to the minister of foreign affairs, the doyen of the diplomatic corps at Paris, and to the grand master of ceremonies of his Majesty, the Emperor and Empress, through the Duc de Bassam,.grand chamberlain to their Majesties, and to their Imperial Highnesses the Prince Napoleon and Princess Chlotilde, and her Imperial Highness the Princess Mathilde, through their respective aide-de-camp and chamberlains. By authority from the Emperor suitable honors were paid to the remains of the minister of the United States to France, in addition to the religious service held over his remains in the American chapel in the city. The services at the chapel were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Sunderland, the pastor of the American chapel, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Cleveland, of Connecticut, and the American Mr. Lamson of the American Episcopal church at Paris. A few remarks were also made by Mr. Bigelow, our consul, and also by Mr. Laboulaye, member of the Institute of France. The Emperor had sent to represent him the Baron de Lajus, and Prince Napoleon, his aide-de-camp, Brigadier General de Franconnière, and the services were attended by his excellency Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys, the Duc of Cambacériès, grand master of ceremonies, the heads of the foreign missions and the members of all the diplomatic corps. The ceremonies gave general satisfaction, and also convincing proof of the estimation in which Mr. Dayton was held. Enclosed I send you slips cut from the daily journals of Paris. His remains will be taken early next week to Havre, and will be escorted by several distinquished Americans living in Paris to that place, and leave for America in charge* of Mr. Brooks, vice-consul of the United States at Paris, in the steamer Lafayette, which leaves Havre for New York on next Wednesday, the 14th instant. In accordance with my circular instructions, I have assumed the duties of chargé d'affaires of the United States, ad interim, and will be obliged if you will cause to be forwarded to me an authority to draw and appropriate the contingent fund of this legation, in the same manner as was allowed to Mr. Dayton. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, W. S. PENNINGTON. Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. [From Galignani's Messenger of December 5, 1864.] PARIS, December 5, 1864. The lamented death of Mr. Dayton, the United States representative, is touched on by sev eral of the Paris journals in terms of merited regret. The Constitutionnel says: "Mr. Dayton was one of the most distinguished and enlightened men of the United States. From his courteous manner and his-always well-chosen and measured language, every one could recognize in him a diplomatist who had followed the good traditions bequeathed by the first generation of statesmen of the American republic." The Patrie, which had always supported the confederate cause, is not less warm in its appreciation: "Our political differences," it observes, "do not prevent us from joining with the Unionists in their regret for the death of the able diplomatist, as well as honest man and perfect gentlemen, whom their cause has just lost. In the difficult circumstances in which his country was placed, Mr. Dayton never departed from the dignity becoming a diplomatist. Being obliged to make himself the echo of the haughty and sometimes excessive exigencies of Mr. Seward, Mr. Dayton found means to mitigate their harshness, and thus to neutralize the just influence which the confederate representatives had acquired in Europe. Mr. Dayton was personally known to the Emperor Napoleon III, whom he frequently met during his residence in the State of New Jersey.' The subjoined passage is from the Opinion Nationale: "The honorable gentleman fulfilled his diplomatic functions with a rectitude and tact which procured him the esteem of even his political adversaries; and assuredly he had to take an active part in a whole series of important and delicate questions. It will suffice to mention the affair of the Trent; the repeated visits of the confederate war vessels in ports of France; the different phases of the Mexican expedition; the offers of European mediation rejected by the United States; and the building of war vessels for the south at Nantes and Bordeaux. In all those difficult circumstances he always had a safe rule of conduct, an infallible guidepolitical probity." The public funeral services of his excellency the Hon. William Lewis Dayton, late ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at the court of the Tuileries, will be solemnized at the American Chapel in the Rue de Berry this day at two o'clock in the afternoon. The funeral cortége will proceed from the hotel of the legation, Rue de Presbourg, Champs Elysées, to the chapel, and after the service the body will be taken to the Western Railway to be conveyed to Havre, on its way to the United States. [From Galignani's Messenger of December 7, 1864.] The funeral service for the late Mr. Dayton was celebrated yesterday afternoon at the American chapel in the Rue de Berry, as announced, in presence of a great concourse of persons, the building and approaches to it being thronged. The Emperor was represented by Baron de Lajus, master of the ceremonies, the Duke de Cambacérès, and Count de Baciocchi; and Prince Napoleon by General de Franconnière. M. Drouyn de Lhuys, minister of foreign affairs, Lord Cowley, and the other members of the diplomatic body, were all in attendance with the principal members of their legations. The coffin was placed on the communion-table and covered with the United States flag, which in its turn was partly concealed by wreaths and flowers placed there by the friends of the deceased. All the principal citizens of the United States now in Paris were present, as well as a number of Americans of the south. Near Mr. Dayton, son of the deceased diplomatist, were to be seen Mr. Pennington, secretary of legation; Mr. Bigelow, American consul; Mr. Aspinwall, of New York, and a great number of political and literary men of France. A detachment of the 65th regiment lined the interior of the chapel. The service for the dead was read by the Rev. Mr. Lamson, after which an address appropriate to the occasion was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Sunderland, who, after touching on the early career and distinguished services of the deceased, referred to the events now in progress beyond the Atlantic, and declared that the United States government was resolved to maintain the struggle to the last. Mr. Bigelow and M. Laboulaye also spoke, after which the crowd withdrew in silence. No. 3.] Mr. Pennington to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I promptly announced to the minister of foreign affairs the death of the Hon. Mr. Dayton, and I have received a reply to my communication. I here with enclose a copy of my note, and the minister's reply. I am sure the department will be gratified to read this testimonial of the Emperor's government of the high consideration in which the late minister of the United States was held, as well as the kind terms in which the minister of foreign affairs has been pleased to express his personal affliction. * I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. W. S. PENNINGTON. Mr. Pennington to Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys. PARIS, December 2, 1864. MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE: I have to communicate to your excellency the painful intelligence of the death of the Hon. William L. Dayton, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States in France. This event occurred last evening at nine o'clock, after an illness of a few minutes. I have the honor to present to your excellency assurances of my high consideration. M. DROUYN DE LHUYS, WILLIAM S. PENNINGTON. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris. Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys to Mr. Pennington. PARIS, December 3, 1864. SIR: The information which you have done me the honor to communicate to me, of the decease of the Hon. William L. Dayton, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America at Paris, has caused me a keen and deep affliction. I hastened to inform the Emperor of the sad event, which nothing could have foreseen. His Majesty has felt it only the more since he bore a particular esteem for this minister. For my part, I have been able to appreciate personally the qualities, the talents, and the experience of Mr. Dayton, and I make it a duty to express here the sincere regrets which his loss has caused. Receive, sir, the assurances of the most distinguished consideration with which I have the honor to be, your very humble and very obedient servant, Mon. W. S. PENNINGTON, DROUYN DE LHUYS. First Secretary of the Legation of the United States of America. No. 724.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 17, 1864. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of November 25th, No. 567, with its accompaniment, namely, what is called a collec tive note, addressed by John Slidell, James M. Mason, and A. Dudley Mann to the government of France and all the other European states, except Turkey. It has about equal value with the similar emissions which an eccentric countryman, William Cornwell Jewett, conveys to the European sovereigns through the public press. I think the Sultan of Turkey is to be felicitated. upon the frankness and loyalty which have secured him against insurgent persecutions affecting the form of diplomacy. I have not failed to notice your complaint against the unfriendly spirit of what is called the government press of France and of Great Britain. To re |