the position upon which I act in regard to for
eigners resident here, permit me to explain to
you that I think a foreigner resident here has not
one right more than an American citizen, but at
least one right less, that is, that of meddling or
interfering, by discussion, vote, or otherwise, with
the affairs of the Government.

I have the honor to subscribe myself,

Your obedient servant,

B. F. BUTLER,
Major-General Commanding.

Messrs. GEORGE COPPELL, claiming to be
II. B. M. Acting Consul ; A. MEJAN, French Con
sul ; M. W. BEN A cm, Greek Consul.

GENERAL ORDERS No. 41.

NEW ORLEANS, June, 1862.
To Major- General B. F. Butler, Commanding

Department of the Gulf :

GENERAL : The undersigned, foreign consuls, ac
credited to the United States, have the honor to
represent that General Orders No. 41, under date
of tenth inst., contains certain clauses, against
which they deem it their duty to protest, not
only in order to comply with their obligations as
representatives of their respective governments,
now at peace and in friendly relations with the
United States, but also to protect, by all possible
means, such of their fellow-citizens as may be
morally or materially injured by the execution
of an order which they consider as contrary,
both to that justice which they have a right to
expect at the hands of the Government of the
United States, and to the laws of nations.

The " Order " contains two oaths : one, appli
cable both to the native-born and to such foreign
ers as have not claimed and received a protection
from their government, etc. ; the second applica?
ble, it would seem, to such foreigners as may
have claimed and received the above protection :



204



REBELLION RECORD, 1862.



thus, unnaturalized foreigners are divided into
two categories, a distinction which the under
signed cannot admit.

The " Order " says that the required " oath will
not be, as it has never been, forced upon any ;"
that "it is too sacred an obligation, too exalted
in its tenure, and brings with it too many bene
fits and privileges, to be profaned by unwilling
lip-service;" that "all persons shall be deemed
to have been citizens of the United States who
shall have been resident therein for the space of
five years and upwards, and, if foreign-born, shall
not have claimed and received a protection of
their government, -duly signed and registered by
the proper officer, more than sixty days previous
to the publication of this order."

Whence it follows that foreigners are placed
on the same footing with the native-born and
naturalized citizens, and in the alternative either
of being deprived of their means of existence or
forced implicitly to take the required oath if they
wish to ask and do receive " any favor, protec
tion, privilege, passport, or to have money paid
them, property or other valuable thing whatever
delivered to them, or any benefit of the power
of the United States extended to them, except
protection from personal violence."

Now, of course, when a foreigner does not wish
to submit to the laws of the country of which he
is a resident, he is invariably and everywhere at
liberty to leave that country. But here he does
not even enjoy that privilege ; for to leave, he
must procure a passport, to obtain which he
must take an oath that he is unwilling to take ;
and yet that oath " is so sacred and so exalted in
its tenure that it must not be profaned by un
willing lip-service."

It is true that the " Order " excepts those for
eigners who claimed and received the protection
of their government more than sixty days pre
vious to its publication ; but this exception is
merely nominal, because the very great majority
of foreigners never had any cause hitherto, in
this country, to ask, and therefore to receive a
" protection of their government." Besides, this
exception implies an interference with the interior
administration of foreign governments an act
contrary to the laws of nations. Whether the
foreign residents have or have not complied with
the laws and edicts of their own governments is a
matter between them and their consuls, and the
undersigned deny the right of any foreign power
to meddle with, and still less to enforce, the laws
of their respective countries, as far as their fel
low-citizens are concerned. When a consul ex
tends the high protection of his government to
such of his countrymen as are neither natural
ized nor charged with any breach of the laws of
the country in which they reside, he is to be sup
ported by a friendly government ; for it is a law
in all civilized countries that if foreigners must
submit to the laws of the country in which they
reside, they and d fortiori their consuls, must, in
exchange of that respect for those laws, receive
due protection ; that protection, in fact, which
the foreigners have invariably enjoyed in this



country up to the present time. Now, foreigners
are deprived of that protection unless they be
come citizens of the United States ; and this is
done without a warning, and in opposition to the
laws of the United States concerning the mode
in which foreigners may become citizens of this
country. The undersigned must remark that a
just law can have no retroactive action, and can
be enforced only from the day of its promulga
tion, while the order requires that acts should
have been done, the necessity of which was un
foreseen, especially in this country.

The required oath is contrary not orJy to the
rights, duty, and dignity of foreigners, who are
all "free born," but also to the dignity of the
Government of the United States, and even to
the spirit of the order itself.

1. Because it virtually forces a certain class of
foreigners, in order to save their property, tc
swear " true faith and allegiance " to the United
States, and thereby to " renounce and abjure
that true faith and allegiance which they owe to
their own country only, while naturalization is,
and can be, but an act of free will ; and because
it is disgraceful for any "free man" to do,
through motives of material interest, those moral
acts which are repugnant to his conscience.

If the order merely required the English oath
of " allegiance," it might be argued, according to
the definition given by Blackstone, (i. p. 370,)
that said oath signifies only the submission oi
foreigners to the police laws of the country in
which they reside ; but the oath, as worded in
the "order," is a virtual act of naturalization.
A citizen of the United States might take the
oath, although act six of the Federal Constitu
tion, and the act of Congress of June first, 1789,
do not require as much. But no consideration
can compel a foreigner to take such an oath.

2. Because, if, according to the order, the
" highest title known was really that of an Amer
ican citizen," it would be the very reason why it
should be sought after, and not imposed upon the
unwilling, whether openly or impliedly.

3. Because, while the order advocates the
"neutrality imposed upon foreigners by their
sovereigns," it virtually tends to violate that
neutrality, not by forcing them openly to take
up arms and bravely shed their blood in defence
even of a cause that is not their own, but by en
joining upon them, if they wish to redeem their
property, to descend to the level of spies and de
nunciators for the benefit of the United States.

The undersigned will close by remarking that
their countrymen, since the beginning of this war,
have been neutral. As such they cannot be
considered and treated as a conquered popula
tion. The conquered may be submitted to ex
ceptional laws ; but neutral foreigners have a
right to be treated as they have always been by
the Government of the United States.

We have the honor to be, General, your most
obedient servants,

JUAN CALLEJON, Consul de Espana.

CH. ME.TAN, French Consul.

Jos. DETNOODT, Consul of Belgium.



DOCUMENTS.



205



M. W. BENACHI, Greek Consul.
JOSEPH LANATA, Consul of Italy.
B. TERYAGIII, Vice Consul.
AD. PIAGET, Swiss Consul.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OP THE GULF, }
NEW-ORLEANS, LA., June 16, 1802, f

GENTLEMEN : Your protest against General Or
ders, No. 41, has been received.

It appears more like a labored argument, in
which the imagination has been drawn on for the
facts to support it. Were it not that some of the
idiomatic expressions of the document show that
it was composed by some one born in the Eng
lish tongue, I should have supposed that many
of the misconceptions of the purport of the order,
which appear in the protest, arose from an imper
fect acquaintance with the peculiarities of our
language.

As it is, I am obliged to believe that the faith
lessness of the Englishman who translated the
order to you, and wrote the protest, will account
for the misapprehensions under which you labor
in regard to its terms.
The order prescribes

I. A form of oath, to be taken by those who
claim to be citizens of the United States, and
those only who desire to hold office, civil or mili
tary, under the laws of the United States, or who
desire some act to be done in their favor by the
officers of the United States in this department,
other than protection from personal violence,
which is afforded to all.

"\Yith that oath, of course, the alien has nothing
to do.

But there is a large class of foreign-born per
sons here who, by their acts, have lost their
nationalities.

Familiar examples of that class are those sub
jects of France (Franais) who, in contravention
of the Code Civile, have, without authorization
from the Emperor, joined themselves to (the) a
military organization of a foreign State, (tPqfili-
erait a -une corporation miUtaire etrangerc,) or
received military commissions (f auctions publi-
qucs, conferees par un gouvernement etnmger)
from the governor thereof, or who have left France
without intention of returning, (sans esprit de
retour,) or, as in the case of the Greek Consul,
have taken the office of opener and examiner of
letters in the post-office of the confederate States,
or the Prussian Consul, who is still leading a re
cruited body of his countrymen in the rebel
army.

As many of such aliens had been naturalized,
and many of the bad men among them had con
cealed the fact of their naturalization, it became
necessary, in order to meet the case of these bad
men, to prescribe some rule by which those for
eign-born who might not be entitled to the pro
tection of their several governments, or had here
tofore become naturalized citizens of the Unitec
States, might be distinguished from those for
eigners who were still to be treated as neutrals.

This rule must be a comprehensive one, and
one easily to be understood, because it was foi



he guidance of subordinate officers, who should
>e called upon to administer the proper oath.

Therefore, it was provided that all those who
lad resided here five years a length of time
that would seem to be sufficient evidence that
hey had. not the intention of returning, (esprit de
retour,) and who should not have, in that time,
claimed certificate of nationality, called commonly
i "protection" of their government, should, for
his purpose, be deemed prima facie, of course,
American citizens, and, should, if they desired
any favor or protection of the Government, save
rom violence, take the oath of allegiance. But
t is complained that the order further provides
that they must have received that "protection"
sixty days previous to the date of the order, so
as to have the " protection" avail them.

The reason of this limitation was that, as some
of the consuls had gone into the rebel army, and
some of the consuls had been aiding the rebellion
iere, and as " protections " had been given by
some of the consuls to those who were not enti
tled to them, for the purpose of enabling tho
holders to evade the blockade, it was necessary
to make some limitations to secure good faith.

Indeed, gentlemen, you will remember that all
rules and regulations are made to restrain bad
men, and not the good.

For instance : if I allowed the "protections"
given now to avail for this purpose, that Prussian
Consul might give them to the whole of his mili
tia company that live to get back ; and they
might come, claiming to be neutral, as did that
British guard who sent their arms and equip
ments to Bcauregard.

The naturalization laws of the United States
were in abeyance for want of United States
courts here. These provisions permitted all for
eigners who had resided here five years and not
claimed the protection of their government, who
felt disposed to avail themselves of them, and
thus become entitled to the high privileges of an
American citizen, which so many foreigners
value so greatly that they leave their own pros
perous, peaceful, and happy countries to come
and live here, even although allowed to enjoy
those privileges to a limited degree only. So
greatly do they compliment us upon our laws
that they prefer to, and insist upon, stopping
here, even at the risk of being exposed to the
chances of our intestine war, which chances they
seem willing to take, in preference to living in
peace at home under laws enacted by their own
sovereigns. But it is said that, unless foreigners
take the oath of allegiance, they will not be al
lowed a " passport."

This is an entire mistake, and probably comes
from confounding a " pass " through my lines,
which I grant or withhold for military reasons,
with a "passport," which must be given a for
eigner by his own government.

The order refuses all ik passports " to American

citizens who do not take the oath of allegiance ;

but it nowhere meddles with the "passports" of-

foreigners, with which I have nothing to do.

There is nothing compulsory about this order.



206



REBELLION RECORD, 1862.



If a foreigner desires the privileges which the ;
military government of this department accords }
to American citizens, let him take the oath of
allegiance ; but that does not naturalize him. If
he does not wish to do so, but chooses to be an
honest neutral, then let him not take the oath of
allegiance, but the other oath set forth in the |
order.

If he chooses to do neither, but simply to re- ,
main here with protection from personal violence,
a privilege he has not enjoyed in this city for |
many years until now, let him be quiet, live on,
keep away from his consul, and be happy. For
honest alien neutrals another oath was provided,
which, in my judgment, contains nothing but
what an honest and honorable neutral will do
and maintain, and, of course, only that which he
will promise to do.

But it is said that this oath compels every
" foreigner to descend to the level of spies and
denunciators for the benefit of the United States."

There is no possible just construction of lan
guage which will give any such interpretation to
the order. This mistake arises from a miscon
ception of the meaning of the word " conceal," so
false, so gross, so unjust and illiterate, that in
the Englishman who penned the protest sent to
me it must have been intentional, but an error
into which those not born and reared in the
idioms of our language might easily have fallen.

The oath requires him who takes it not to
" conceal " any wrong that has been, or is about
to be done, in aid or comfort of the enemies of
the United States.

It has been read and translated to you as if it
required you to reveal all such acts. "" Conceal "
is a verb active in our language ; " concealment "
is an act done, not a thing suffered by, the " con
cealers."

Let me illustrate this difference of meaning :

If I am passing about and see a thief picking
the pocket of my neighbor, and I say nothing
about it unless called upon by a proper tribunal,
that is not " concealment" of the theft ; but if I
throw my cloak over the thief, to screen him from
the police-officer while he does it, I then " con
ceal " the theft. Again, .if I know that my neigh
bor is about to join the rebel army, and I go
about my usual business, I do not " conceal " the
fact ; but if, upon being inquired of by the proper
authority as to where my neighbor is about to go,
I say that he is going to sea, I then "conceal"
his acts and intentions.

Now, if any citizen or foreigner means to " con
ceal" rebellious or traitorous acts against the
United States, in the sense above given, it will
be much more for his personal comfort that he
gets out of this department at once.

Indeed, gentlemen, if any subject of a foreign
state does not like our laws, or the administra
tion of them, he has an immediate, effectual, and
appropriate remedy in his own hands, alike pleas
ant to him and to us ; and that is, not to annoy
his consul with complaints of those laws or the
administration of them, or his consul wearying
the authorities with verbose protests, but simply



to go home " stay not on the order of his going,
but go at once." Such a person came herewith-
cut our invitation, he will be parted with without
our regrets.

But he must not have committed crimes against
our laws and then expect to be allowed to go
home to escape the punishment of those crimes.

I must beg, gentlemen, that no more argumen
tative protests against my orders be sent to me by
you as a body. If any consul has anything to
offer for my consideration, he will easil}" learn
the proper mode of presenting it. It is no part
of your duties or your rights.

I have, gentlemen, the honor to be your ob t
servant, BENJ. F. BUTLER,

Major-General Commanding.

Messrs. Ch. Mejan, French Consul ; Juan Cal-
lejon, Consul de Espana ; Jos. Deynoodt, Consul
of Belgium ; M. IV. BenachS, Greek Consul ; Jo
seph Lanata, Consul of Italy ; B. Teryaghi, vice-
Consul ; Ad. Piaget, Swiss Consul.



Doc. G9.
THE MASSACRE OF THE NEGROES

IN SOUTH-CAROLINA, JUNE 18, 1862.

THE following is the official report concerning
the massacre of negroes on Hutchinson Island
by the rebels :

U. S. SHIP DALE, ST. HELENA SOFND, j
SOUTH-CAROLINA, June 18, 1862. )

SIR : This morning, at four o clock, it was re
ported to me that there was a large fire on
Hutchinson Island. Shortly after a preconcert
ed signal that the enemy were in the vicinity had
been made from the house of our pibt, I imme
diately started in the gig, accompanied by the
tender Wild Cat, Boatswain Downs, Sen. Acting
Midshipman Terry ; first cutter, Acting Master
Billings ; second cutter, Acting Master Hawkins,
and cutter, Coxswain Shatluff, up Horn or Big
River Creek, in the direction of the fire.

Soon after leaving the ship a canoe containing
three negroes was met, who stated that the rebels,
three hundred strong, were at Mrs. Mardis s
plantation, killing all the negroes. As we ad
vanced up the creek we were constantly met by
canoes with two or three negroes in them, panic-
stricken, and making their way to the ship, while
white flags were to be seen flying from every in
habited point, around which were clustered
groups of frightened fugitives.

When about two and a half miles from Mrs.
Mardis s, I was obliged to anchor the Wild Cat,
from the want of sufficient water in the channel,
with orders to cover our retreat if necessary.
On arriving at Mrs. Mardis s the scene was most
painful. Her dwelling and a chapel in ruins, and
the air heavy with smoke, while at the landing
were assembled one hundred souls, mostly women
and children, in the utmost distress.

Throwing out a picket-guard, and taking every
proper measure against a surprise, I satisfied my-



DOCUMENTS



20?



self that the enemy were not in our immediat
neighborhood, the negroes assuring me that thej
had left the island and returned to Fort Chap
man. I then gathered the following particulars
The rebels, during the night, landed on th
Island from Fort Chapman, with a force of un
known numbers, and guided by a negro, who fo
a long time had been on the Island in the em
ploy of the army, surrounded the house an<
chapel in which a large proportion of the negroe:
were housed, posting a strong guard to oppose
our landing.

At early dawn they fired a volley through the
house, and as the alarmed people sprang nearly
naked from their beds and rushed forth franti<
with fear, they were shot, arrested, or knockec
down. The first inquiry of the rebels was foi
the d d Yankees, and at what time they were
in the habit of visiting the islands, mingled with
exclamations of " Be quick, boys, the peopl<
from the ship will be up," "Let s burn th<
houses," "Not yet; they w r ill see the fire fron
the ship and come up."

Having collected most of the chickens and de
spoiled many of the poor people of their very
wretched clothing, and told them that as they
belonged to the State, or others nearly*adjoining,
they would not molest them, they fired the
building and fled.

As the people were clamorous to be removed,
I filled the boats with them and pulled down to
the tender, on board of which they were placed.
On our return for the remainder they were ob
served, as we approached the landing, to be in
the utmost confusion, dashing wildly into the
marshes, and screaming : " The secesh are coming-
back." On investigation, however, it proved
that the enemy, in full sight, about two miles off,
crossing an open space of ground, were in hasty
retreat instead of advancing. On our first visit
they must have been concealed in a patch of
woods not more than half a mile from our pickets.
Having succeeded in removing or in providing
with boats all who wished to remain to collect
their little property, I returned to the ship,
bringing with me about seventy, among them
one man literally riddled with balls and buck
shot, (since dead ;) another shot through the
lungs, and struck over the forehead witjh a
clubbed musket, which laid the bone perfectly
bare ; one woman shot in the leg, shoulder, and
thigh ; one far gone in pregnancy, suffering from
a dislocation of the hip-joint and injury to the
womb, caused by leaping from a second-story
window ; and another suffering from the displace
ment of the cap of the knee and injury of the leg
from the same cause.

It appears that the negro who had guided the
party had returned to them after the evacuation
of the place, told them all the troops had been
withdrawn, and that the islands were entirely
unprotected except by this ship. I am therefore
at a loss to account for their extreme barbarity
to negroes, most of whom were living on the
plantation where they had been born, peacefully
tilling the ground for their support which their



masters, by deserting, had denied them, and who
were not even remotely connected with the hated
Government army.

I trust you will approve my sending the con
trabands to Hilton Head. Had I not been un
able to provide for such a large number, and so
much embarrassed by the frequent demands
made upon me for provisions by new arrivals, I
should have waited for your advice in the matter.

Last Tuesday we had an arrival of thirty from
the main land, and scarcely a day passed without
one or more of them, always in a half-starved
condition, whose appeals for food I have not yet
been able to resist, though they trespass rather
largely on the ship s stores.

All those newly arrived give the same account
of the want and scarcit} r of provisions among the
white population, and of their own dangers and
sufferings in effecting their escape. Though ex
ercising no control over the negroes on the neigh
boring islands, I have, ever since the withdrawal
of the troops, urged them to remove to Edisto or
St. Helena, and warned them that some night
they would be visited by the rebels.

But the majority insisted on remaining, because
there was their home, while all seemed to have
most perfect faith in the protection of the ship,
though perhaps, as was the case last night, ten
or twelve miles distant from her.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. T. TRUXTON,

Lieut. Commanding.

Flag-Officer S. F. Du PONT,

Commanding Southern Atlantic Blockading Squadron,
Port Royal, S. C.



Doc. TO.
JAPTURE OF THE "CLARA DOLSEN."

U. S. GUNBOAT LEXKGTON, WHITE RIVER CUT OFF, ARK., J
Saturday, June 14, 6 P.M., 1862. )

ON Thursday, twelfth inst., by invitation of
Lieut. J. W. Shirk, U.S.N., commanding, we
boarded this gunboat off Hopefield, Ark., oppo
site Memphis, Tenn. On Friday, thirteenth, at
,en minutes past five A.M., w r e got under way
lown the Mississippi, in company with the U. S.
gunboat Mound City, Capt. Kelty, U.S.N. ; St.
Louis, Capt. "W. McGunnegle, U.S.N., command-
ng, and the tug Spitfire. One howitzer was