Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/469

 Building Confederate Vessels in France. 463

bound to assist in every possible way, and to assume any responsi- bility that might be necessary.

" In face of the foregoing statements, you will readily imagine my astonishment when Captain Tessier arrived here (Liverpool) yester- day afternoon, bringing me a letter from M. Arman, informing me that he had sold both the rams and both the corvettes to " govern- ments of the north of Europe," in obedience to the imperative orders of his government. He (M. Arman) could not write particulars. explanations as follows :
 * * * Captain Tessier was charged to deliver further verbal

" M. Arman obtained his promised interview with the Emperor, who rated him severely, threatened imprisonment, ordered him to sell the ships at once, bond fide, and said if this was not done he would have them seized and taken to Rochefort. Captain Tessier also brought me word that the two corvettes at Nantes were ordered to be sold, and the builders of those ships sent me by him a copy of the letter of the Minister of Marine conveying the order to them. The order is of the most peremptory kind, not only directing tiie sale, but requiring the builders to furnish proof to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the sale is a real one. The Minister of Marine writes the order in a style of virtuous indignation, specifies the large scantling, the power of the engines, the space allotted to fuel, and the general arrangements of the ships as proving their warlike char- acter, and dogmatically pronounces the one to which he especially refers " une veritable corvette de guerre." When you call to mind the fact that this same Minister of Marine, on the 6th day of June, 1863, wrote over his own official signature a formal authorization to arm those very ships with fourteen heavy guns each (canons raye de trente), the affectation of having just discovered them to be suitable for purposes of war, is really astonishing.*

" I certainly thought this kind of crooked diplomacy had died out since the last century, and would not be ventured upon in these common-sense days. Fortunately, I have a certified copy of the permit to arm the ships, and I will get the copy of the indignant order to sell them certified also. Captain Tessier saw Mr. Slidell in Paris, who told him that he had been informed of the sale, and was both astonished and indignant."

My first impulse was to resist and to take legal proceedings to


 * See copy of official authorization, page 67.