Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-06
/ POINT CLEARED UP.
co1rNTDE DTORNY's SUGGESTION
TO MIR. LAMAR.

story Of the Present Secretary's So
-, In Europe rs the Agent of the
sn,tnern Confederacy.
,rsa MORNING NEWS published a spe-
,i.l from Washington few days ago con-
ching an interesting account of Hon.
n G. Iamar's visit to Europe as q
missioner for the Confederacy. The
s.uo,ying from the Washington cores
.,ao3ent of the New York Times is fuller
s,colut Of thesame matter:
paragraph that originated with the
savannah NEWS, and which was contri-
l.Itad to that newspaper by an anony-
mus correspondent, has recently found its
nav into the columns OF some Northern
;,nrnaIs. and was few days ago copied
t6e Times. Ii related that the Hon. l..
4 LAMAR now Secretary of the In
,I1or returned from Europe In 1864 bear
assurances from Lord Palmerston and
M Emperor Napoleon, that, If the Con-
t.-.te Government would abolish slav-
XIV IN recognition by England and France
a6uld be possible. The story, as told To
.6p savannah NEWS asserted that Mr..
,mar diligently sought to impress upon
remembers OF the Cabinet of the Con-
.o9aratp States the Importance of such a
step. Ii was intimated that he mad
probably urged Mr.. Davis to take steps IN
me matter by asking the Confederate Con-
eress to pass an act for the gradual aboli-
ton Of slavery.
mis- paragraph has been read by many
n4rsons with much interest, and it being
believed that Mr.. Lamar could tell some
niug of interest about it and give cor
ract account Of the facts which led to the
publication Of the statements concerning
him. his attention was directed to it to-
dav He read it over carefully, and then
said:
.Weu, there is something in the story,
butas told it is very erroneous. 1t brings
up some interesting "reminiscences of my
STAY In Europe as the foreign agent OF the
Confederate government. While ] was
abroad | saw the Emperor repeatedly, but
had no conversation with him. Napo-
leon made no suggestion as to what the
course Of the Confederacy should be. lie
was with the South in sympathy, how
ever So was Persigny, and so was de
Morny, the Prime Minister. The Count
d. M0rny was the man who is really re-
sponsible, originally, for the appearance
Of this story Obout the abolition of slavery
bY the Southern COnfederacy.
''De Morny,' said Mr.. Lamar, was a
bright man, and he understood France,
the sentiments of mobiles and common
people, and the disposition toward the
AUIlttlGLdGJ VI All pOAAbiNctA NLtAooCo All tAAS
empire. He told me that the H06leSSe-
Emperor Princes, the GuiZot faction, i'm
perialists, and BourbOns alike-Were for
us. Ii the desire of those classes-the
wealthy, aristocratic and pOwerful-was
alone TO be consulted they would declare
tOr the Coniederacy at once. But the
peasants PeSctGudg6-they were against
Inc Confederacy. TO them the idea that
cause was TO be espOused that was not ia
y0rable to liberty was intOerable, and
not to be harbOred for moment. II the
COnfederacy, seeking independence not
alone on the ground that its cause was
one of resistance to compression, could also
appeal to common France for it supportin
an effort to enlarge human liberty, thea
the Emperor, who had great regard for
peScIdU0qe as well as the mobiles, could ex-
tend assistance with the assurance that
he would be upheld. Persigny was of the
same opinion, and so were others about
the Emperor with whom l conveTsed. De
M0ruy was confident that the pOpulace of
the French empire were more intensely
opposed to us than the people of England,
and that their repugnance was to be at
trlbuted to the fact that we were con-
tending for the maintenance Of slavery.
"While I was in England said Mr..
Lamar, Il did not meet Lord PalmerstOn
4 TO talk with him on the subject OF recOgni-
ton OF the Contederacy. Dickens,
B Tnackeray, Carlisle, were all with US. OF
8 that am fully certain. Disrael1 might
have been with us if it had not been for an
& unluckY mistake made by MIR. Mason,
who was then with me. We were both
invited to dinner at the same house. the
Z house Of Col. Greville, where many
81 Southern men gathered, and were to meet
n number Of prominent men of the time,
among them Mr.. Disraeli, as he was
called then. Mr.. Mason was good deal
of Nirginlan in his notions about social
etiquttee, and, it appears, did not know
that it was enough for two or three gen.
tlemen TO be invited to dinner by an Eng
lisnman to remove all bars TO converse
ton between them. An Introduction was
unnecessary under such circumstances.
When dinner was served it 80 happened
that as the ladies and gentlemen paired
81 and passed into the dinning-ro0m, Mr..
Dsraeli and Mr.. Mason were thrown to-
gether for the first time. MIR. Disraeli
was all grace and suavity. He bowed to
Dir. Mason.
"'Have you heard from Yicksburg re-
CentyY he asked.
Mr. Mason drew back and fixed his
great black eyes wonderingly on Mr..
Usraeh. The American and Virginian
could not understand how so great a lib
erty could be taken by one gentleman
Wltu another gentleman when there had
y
eadly, never speaking in fact, and it was
impossible after that TO attempt to APP
lfoaeh Dlsrael on recognition.
~ does not at present seem to me that
aad any further talk about the proposal
Y abolish slavery by the COntederacy. In
I'o4' on my way home, the blockade run
neT on which l had sailed made an effort
" pass the United States ships at Will
hlngton. The steamer was attacked and
sunk, and got of in boat with my Of
Acets. But, as fate would have it, in at
leh ping to go ashore, the boat was also
SUNK, and my diary, kept during my en-
sIe stay abroad, iloated OF upon the
waters. have never heard that it got
asuore. The water where we were upset
was only about . feet deep, and the boats
company waded TO the dry land.
INA speak 20 anybody Ia tue matter
ABOUT the abolition propositions Yes,
eld' was younger then than / am now,
was more enthusiastic, and 1 was full Of
sle force OF de Morny's suggestion. /
SPOKE To Mr.. Judah y. BENJAMIN, to Mr..
nepninger, to Mr. Clay, and TO others,
olt never TO Mr.. Davis. | knew that II
would be useless. Slavery twas the thing
'f which we were contending, and /
AAe" That 10 propose to Mr.. Davis to Sc
V3ie foreign succOl by abolishing 'the n-
1lallOn' would result adversely. Moth
4t ever came OF IL in the way OF legisla-
ilNN mtfQfnrf a IafftuTnff ton The