him than any one else. He answered me that his best advice was for me to keep still for some few days until General Woll arrived with the dispatches.

I took the opportunity to remit to him dispatches that had been intrusted to me by the vice-consul of France at Matamoras, and to make the acquaintance of the various members of the French legation, and more particularly of the chancellor of the legation, to whom I carried a letter of introduction. General Woll arrived nine or ten days after me,and in the interval, I paid several visits to Mr. De Saligny,and I stood on a friendly footing at his residence.

After General Woll arrived, I went to Mr. De Saligny to inquire if he had received the expected dispatches. He answered that he had not, and I then resolved to write to General Forey to announce to him my arrival and ask of him an audience. Inclosed you will find a copy of said letter to the general,marked A.* You will notice in it, general, that I had signed it as agent for the Confederate States of North America. I received no answer from General Forey, and not willing to play a ridiculous part and see the continuation of such humiliating proceedings toward an accredited agent of our Government, I was getting ready for my departure with the courier on the 3rd of May, when, on the 2nd of the same month, I received the visit of General Woll, who told me not to be in so great a hurry; that my letter and given great trouble to General Forey, who had spoken to him about me, stating there was in camp a very dangerous man, who had written to him,and who was certainly a spy of the United States, sent there to watch his movements, under pretext of common interest to both countries, and that he did not know what to do to get rid of him; that he, Woll, suspected that I was the man in question, and that he had undeceived General Forey in his opinion, stating that he was personally acquainted with me, and that, far from being the man he suspected me to be, I was agent of the Confederate States, and not of the United States, who took the name of Federals.

General Woll finally told me that I would soon hear from General Forey, and not to leave, as I intended to do. In fact, on the following day, 3d, of May,the same day of the departure of the mail, I received the visit of the chancellor or the French legation, Mr. De Morincan, who was sent to me by Mr. De Saligny, saying that he would be glad to see me on important matters. I went in the afternoon,and found Mr. De Saligny, who showed me the letter I had written to General Forey with your own,and who told me that he had been delegated by the general to listen to what I had to say. I exposed to him for the first time, in detail, the importance acquired by the port of Matamoras since the blockade,and the resources accruing from it to the Government of Juarez; that the conduct of the Emperor from the beginning of our struggle had gained all the sympathies of our Government and people; that we looked upon France as our natural ally; that we would dispose of 300,000 bales of cotton; that all vendors having choice in their purchasers,our Government and people would give the preference to the French for the acquisition of our cotton; that, by proper management, the cotton would find its way into French ships to the manufactories of France, as we were completely unfettered by commercial restrictions, which trade would go a great way toward allaying the miseries in the manufacturing districts of France,and that we knew that they had

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*Not found.

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