Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/468

 4fi2 Southern Historical Society Papers.

saved to you. When the first ram is ready to sail,' continued M. Arman, ' the American Minister will no doubt ask the Swedish Min- ister if the vessel belongs to his government. The reply will be 'Yes;' she will sail unmolested, and will arrive at her destination ac- cording to contract. This will avert all suspicion from the second ram, and when she sails under like circumstances with the first, my people, having a previous understanding with you, will take her to any rendezvous that may have been agreed upon, or will deliver her to you or your agent at sea '

"The above is almost a verbatim report of the proposition made by M. Arman, which, after some discussion upon matters of detail, was accepted, and I have since felt a reasonable assurance of seeing one of our rams at work upon the enemy. A day or two after I called on M. Arman again, taking with me Captain Tessier, my agent in France, a man of intelligence, a capital seaman, and of course master of the French language. The object of the visit was to discuss the arrangements necessary to get the corvettes to sea, and to send to them their armament and crews. I told M. Arman that it would not take a long time to set everything afloat when the proper moment arrived, but that the undertaking was one which not only involved a large expenditure of money, but which required to be managed with great caution and secrecy. When the expedition was ready I said it would be absolutely necessary for it to sail promptly, because delay would cause exposure, and certain interruption and failure would follow, and having due regard to such a contingency, it was very im- portant and indeed essential that I should, if possible, get some assurance that when we were all ready to move, the government would permit the vessels to leave Bordeaux. M. Arman replied that he thought there was no doubt about the corvettes being allowed to sail unarmed, but he was to have a personal interview with the Em- peror in ten days or a fortnight, and would then bring the matter to a close by direct appeal to his Imperial Majesty.

" Many details relating to the best mode of shipping the guns, the engagement of reliable captains, and the possibility of getting sea- men from the ports of Brittany were discussed, all in a most satis- factory manner. Before separating, M. Arman expressed great regret at the delay and interference we had met with, and said that as he had made the contracts for building all the ships in perfect good faith, and with the assurance that his government understood the whole transaction, and would permit him to carry it out, he felt doubly