Mr. Seward to Mr. Dayton
Sir: I give you, for your information, a copy of a correspondence which has just taken place between Mr. Geofroy and this department.*
[Page 779]You will perceive that in this correspondence I decline to discuss the question whether the President of Mexico, in his present reduced situation, has, by the law of nations, a right to issue letters of marque. I think the occasion a suitable one for bringing to the consideration of the imperial government the fact that it has now for three years and a half, against the constant protest of the United States, recognized as a naval belligerent an insurrection in the United States that has not only never had a recognized political existence, but also has never had a port in our country. It would simplify affairs very much, and contribute to the security of French as well as of American commerce, if the government of France should apply to our civil strife the principle it assumes in regard to Mexico, namely: that a military force which is destitute of ports or ships of war cannot rightly be deemed a naval belligerent.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
William L. Dayton, Esq., &c.
- See correspondence with the French legation.↩