Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward
Sir: I have still nothing later from the State Department than the 5th of January. France is a prey to the wildest rumors, and to a sort of solicitude which has been compared in my presence by French people to that which prevailed in 1789. This is partly owing to the ignorance of what has occurred between the two governments since the apparently critical moment at which the correspondence sent by the President to Congress closed. In spite of the pacific and friendly tone of the Emperor’s discourse, the public persist in believing that the actual situation is represented by that correspondence. To relieve this anxiety a little, the official press has announced the departure of M. Saillard to Mexico and Mr. Faverney to Washington with communications designed to prepare the way for the retirement of the French army from Mexico, and to satisfy President Johnson of the Emperor’s loyal intentions towards the United States. You will find in the Paris correspondence of the London Times a curious account of Saillard’s unsuccessful efforts to procure some letters of credence, first, from the Emperor, then the minister of foreign affairs, and finally from Walewski. Though his name is not given, he is the third party referred to.
To enable you to see how completely these relations of France with the United States have swallowed up all other questions, I send you a number of journals of a more or less representative character. You will he struck, no doubt, as I have been, by the fact that the propriety of our requiring the Emperor to with draw [Page 809] his army from Mexico is not questioned by any of them; nor do I remember to have heard it questioned by any one with whom I have conversed. It is universally conceded that the moment the indemnity, for which the Emperor professes to have gone to Mexico, ceased to be attainable by arms, it was his duty to leave, in order not to have other motives, which could not be justified, assigned to his expedition.
I am, sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.