Attempt to obtain the proceeds of the Confederate loan in Paris.
--The
Paris Galignani says:
‘
An application was made to the
President of the
Civil Tribunal by
M. M. Erlanger & Co., bankers, under the following circumstances: In the beginning of 1863 the applicants had undertaken the negotiation of a loan for the
Confederate States, but their operations were suddenly paralyzed by a notice of seizure of its proceeds, served on them at the instance of
M. M. Dupasseur & Co., ship owners of Havre, who alleged that they had a claim on the Confederate Government for a million of franc, as an indemnity for the willful destruction of their ship, the
Lemuel Dyer, with a cargo of 2,683 bales of cotton, when leaving New Orleans in April, 1862.
France not having recognized the
Confederate States, Dupasseur & Co. could not obtain a remedy by diplomatic means, and therefore adopted the expedient of seizing the proceeds of the loan.
Erlanger now applied for an order to annul the seizure, on the ground that it interfered with their rights as negotiators of the loan, and that the question involved points of international law not within the competence of the tribunal which granted the order for seizure.
The application was opposed by Dupasseur & Co., whose counsel argued that the Confederate Government was the only party entitled to demand annulment of the seizure; but the
President decided that as the seizure had impeded
Erlanger & Co.'s operations, they had a right to demand its suppression, especially as the claim of Dupasseur & Co. had not been legally established, and he accordingly granted the order demanded by the applicants.
’
