would accept from France what they utterly deny her right to offer, and thus lend their assistance to the completion of a course of action which they have consistently condemned from its inception. I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. JOHN BIGELOW. No. 529.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow. DEPARTMENT of State, Washington, September 29, 1866. SIR: The President having accepted your resignation as United States minister to France, has appointed General John A. Dix, of New York, to be your suc cessor. He has accepted the mission, and will depart for France on the 28th of the ensuing month. It will be gratifying to the department should you find it convenient to continue in your ministerial capacity until relieved by your successor. I am led to make this request by the confidence in your ability and discretion which has been created by the satisfactory manner in which you have already discharged your official duties. I am, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN BIGELOW, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 530.J Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 29, 1866. SIR: Your despatch of the 7th instant, concerning the relation between France and the imperial government in Mexico, has been received. I have very carefully perused the newspaper discussions which accompanied that paper. Certainly they are bold and free. It is This government is awaiting the arrival of the time indicated by the Emperor of the French for withdrawing his forces from Mexico. It is not unreasonable that public opinion in France, as well as in Mexico, should be much disturbed with anticipations of ultimate consequences to result from that measure. not seen how our own position could be improved now by the manifestation of any doubt or apprehension concerning the execution of the arrangement for the evacuation of Mexico. If, however, you find any indication of inconstancy on the part of the imperial government, you will, in a discreet as well as respectful manner, cause it to be understood that the United States are relying with entire confidence upon the evacuation of Mexico by the French forces according to the existing arrangement. I am, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN BIGELOW, Esq., Sr., Sr., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 535.] * Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow. [Extract.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 8, 1866. SIR: not distinctly presented to me, namely, what this government would think of the withdrawal of the whole French army in the coming year, instead of its being withdrawn in three semi-annual detachments, commencing next November. What I have said is this: that the arrangement proposed by the Emperor for a withdrawal of the troops in three detachments, beginning in November next, was, in itself, quite likely to be forgotten here, in the political excitement which attends all Mexican questions, before the execution of the agreement should begin. That frequent incidents of various kinds, presented by the press in France and in Mexico as indicating a disposition on the part of the Emperor to depart from that engagement, have unavoidably produced a wide popular mistrust of even the Emperor's sincerity in making the engagement, and of his good faith in fulfilling it. That by circumstances of this character this department was kept continually under an apparent necessity of protesting against proceedings which were thus weakening public confidence in its very just and well defined expectations. That the government, on the contrary, relies with implicit confidence upon the fulfilment of the Emperor's engagement, at least, to the letter; and it has even expected that, overlooking the letter, it would be fulfilled with an earnestness of spirit which would hasten instead of retard the evacuation of the French forces in Mexico. At present, however, we are waiting for the beginning of the evacuation. When that beginning shall have come, the government will cheerfully hear suggestions from any quarter calculated to reassure the restoration of tranquillity, peace, and constitutional domestic government in Mexico; but until we shall be able to refer to such a beginning, any proceedings towards negotiation would only tend to confound public opinion in the United States, and to render the situation of Mexico more complicated. Of course it is unnecessary to inform you that the speculations which are indulged in by a portion of the public press, concerning relations supposed to be established between this department and General Santa Anna, are without foundation. I am, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN BIGELOW, Esq., &c., &c., &c.. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 374.] Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: The Marquis de Moustier received the diplomatic body yesterday for the first time. He asked if it was true, as reported in the journals, that our official relations were soon to terminate; expressed his regret to learn that it was, and his desire to have co-operated with me in cultivating friendly relations between our respective countries. In reply to a question of mine he said that the policy of his government towards the United States and Mexico would not undergo any change in consequence of the change of his department. His excellency then went on to say that he was using what leisure he could command to master the various American questions with which he had no previous occasion to make himself familiar, and as soon as he was prepared he would be happy to talk with me or with my successor more at length; meantime he wished me to understand and to report to you that he saw the Emperor at Biarritz; that his Majesty expressed his desire and intention to retire from Mexico as soon as practicable, and without reference to the period fixed in the convention with Maximilian, if a shorter time will suffice. His excellency then went on to say that the "dissidents," according to late reports, are gaining ground, but that it is.not the intention of the Emperor to undertake new and distant expeditions to reduce them; that there was some talk of retaking Tampico, but what was decided upon had not yet transpired in Paris. He said the position of France was a delicate one, and that there was nothing that the Emperor desired more than to disembarrass himself of all his engagements with Mexico as soon as he could with dignity and honor, and that with our aid, upon which he counted, the time might be very much shortened. To this I made only the general reply that I had no reason to doubt that the future intercourse of the United States with France would be marked by the same friendly consideration which had characterized it heretofore. I did not ask what kind of aid from the United States he had in his mind, presuming it was forbearance rather than any active co-operation upon which he counted. I may as well mention in this connection that I returned yesterday morning from Biarritz, where I was informed by Mr. Periere, the owner of the FrancoMexican line of steamships, that the contract had been finally signed by his agent at the ministry of war, for the repatriation of all the French army in Mexico in March next, that shall not have returned previously. The letter advising him of the fact had been received, as I understood him, only the day before. Some of the troops, he said, would be repatriated this fall, but all the remainder before the end of March. I have reason to think he was instructed to make this communication to me. No. 377.] Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF the United STATES, SIR: I have the honor to enclose a copy of the correspondence which has passed between this legation and the minister of foreign affairs since my last communication, in relation to a seizure of powder on board the schooner William L. Richardson, Captain Goodwin, in the gulf of California. The Marquis de Moustier proposes to postpone the final consideration of this claim until the organization of a mixed commission, which he informs me has been strongly urged upon his government by the cabinet at Washington, and to which the Emperor is ready to accede. As I have been advised of no negotiations modifying my instructions No. 43 and No. 287, and as the Marquis de Moustier's predecessor had never suggested the suspension of this claim upon any such pretext, I gave his excellency yesterday to understand that I presumed my government would have advised me of any negotiations pending at Washington or elsewhere, if it intended that they should in any way modify my conduct here; that I had received no intimation of the kind from Washington, though I could readily see many advantages in referring claims of this class to a commission with powers; and that for the present I should content myself with referring his communication to my government for further instructions. His excellency then remarked that he was also awaiting additional information from the minister of marine. I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Drouyu de Lhuys. JOHN BIGELOW. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note verbale which your excellency addressed to this legation on the 26th of March, 1865, in relation to a hundred barrels of blasting powder, seized on board the American schooner William L. Richardson, in the gulf of California, by one of the vessels of the French naval division on the Pacific. Your excellency informs me that an application, made through my immediate predecessor by some California merchant, to ship blasting powder monthly to certain Mexican ports for use in the mines of Mexico, has been refused on the ground that powder delivered at any point where actual war prevailed must be regarded as contraband of war, and that the government of the Emperor already had knowledge of operations of that character which had worked to the advantage of its enemies. Your excellency further states that the case of the schooner Richardson falls within the foregoing rule, from which your excellency represents that there was the less occasion to depart, as the French authorities were in possession of reliable information that the powder with which she was laden was destined to the use of guerillas whom Señor Vega was trying to organize in the States of Sonora and Sinaloa. Though my government entertained no doubt that the destination of the schooner Richardson was correctly represented in the statement of Captain Goodwin, which I had the honor to transmit to your excellency on the 9th of March, 1865, and that the cargo of powder was designed exclusively for mining purposes, the doubts which you express in regard to the correctness of the representation led me to refer the case back to Washington, whence I have received some additional proof, which I now have the honor to submit to you in the annexed enclosures, marked, respectively, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and to which I invite your attention. I do not know what authority your excellency may have for stating that the cargo of powder on board the William L. Richardson was shipped for La Paz; but whatever it may be, the testimony which I have now the honor to subinit, and that which I have submitted on a previous occasion, constrains me to think that your excellency has been misled. The manifest of the schooner, the sworn statement of Captain Goodwin, the formal declarations of the director and engineer of the Arizona Mining Company, the letter of the United States consul at La Paz, and, finally, the written admission of the French officer who made the seizure, all concur to show that the powder in question was shipped to Arizona, and not for La Paz, or any other Mexican port. Had there been any question at La Paz about the destination of the powder at the time of its seizure, Captain de la Canre would hardly have given Captain Goodwin a certificate, in which he speaks in so many words of his seizure of the one hundred kegs of powder, shipped in San Francisco on the schooner William L. Richardson, to be delivered to Paul Helder at Fort Yanca, Colorado river," &c. These documents seem to prove by the highest order of testimony 1. That the schooner William L. Richardson was an American vessel, bound from one American port to another. 2. That the powder seized was of a kind known as blasting powder, and was designed to be used for industrial purposes at Tubac, in Arizona, and within the territory of the United States. My government is in possession of no evidence which tends to impeach the testimony of any of the witnesses to whose statements I have referred, or to invalidate the conclusions to which it has conducted me. I venture to believe that it will prove upon perusal equally satisfactory and conclusive to your excellency. Assuming, as I feel authorized to do, that the powder on board of the Richardson was bound from one American port to another, it can make no difference, so far as the owner's right to indemnity is concerned, whether it was contraband of war or not. The United States, while recognizing the right of France to prevent contraband of war from reaching Mexican territory, will not be expected to allow any exercise of that right to interfere with perfect freedom of trade between her ports. The most rapid and inexpensive, and in fact the only available mode of shipping merchandise from the United States to the Arizona Mining Company, is by the route taken by Captain Goodwin through the gulf of California and the Colorado river. The freedom of the navigation of that gulf and river are guaranteed to us by a solemn treaty still in unimpaired vigor, and if any of the exigencies of war should lead to an unlawful seizure in these waters of American merchandise, I am aware of no principle of equity or law by virtue of which full indemnity for the damage sustained by the owner of the property can be refused. The length of time which has elapsed since this seizure was made authorizes me to express the hope that this case will receive your excellency's early attention. I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to your excellency the assurances of high consideration with which I have the honor to be your excellency's very humble and very obedient servant, His Excellency Monsieur DROUYN DE LHUYS, JOHN BIGELOW. Mr. Moustier to Mr. Bigelow. PARIS, October 13, 1866. SIR: I have examined the reasons that have delayed, up to the present time, the final settlement of the claim which you have made upon the Emperor's government in behalf of the owners of the American schooner W. L. Richardson. My predecessor had only proposed to postpone the examination of it until the claims which we have to make against the government of the United States should themselves be put in the way of settlement. You are doubtless informed that we have been for some time in negotiation upon this subject with the Washington cabinet. This cabinet has been very urgent that the mixed commission which it was proposed to establish for this purpose should be authorized to act at the same time upon the French claims made against the United States and upon the American claims made against us. We have assented to this proposition, and it is not owing to us that we have not already arrived at a complete understanding upon this question. You will comprehend, therefore, that we were waiting until there should be a definite agreement between the two governments in regard to the manner in which it would be best to proceed in relation to the claim which you have recalled to my notice. It is indispensable, in any case, that my department should obtain, in relation to this affair, fuller information from the ministry of marine, and I shall immediately request that department to furnish it to me. Accept assurances, &c., &c. Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward. MOUSTIER. No. 378.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 529, advising me of the acceptance of my resignation by the President, and of the wish of the department that I would remain in charge of this mission until relieved by my successor, who was to sail for France on the 28th instant. I shall, of course, await here the arrival of General Dix, and be happy to render him such assistance as he may find available in entering upon the duties of his mission. I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, SIR: Your despatch of the 19th ultimo, No. 370, was duly received, and has been perused with much interest. However variously the letter of the Marquis de La Valette may be construed, |