| Show A belf REBEL the queer of agent la europe sir ambrose dudley mann whose death we announced in yesterdays ter days issue was the last of the three envoys whom the sol called confederate states sent to europe the civil war in america to induce the powers to recognize the southern confederacy they left the united states in march 1861 and mr mann swore then ho would never return to bis native land until the south had gained her cause and he kept his word he lived more than twenty eight years without a country and died alone and almost forgotten here in paris the etory of his coming abroad and of what the commission did and did not accomplish was told the writer of these lines by mr mann himself a short time since many years before meeting the deceased the writer knew of him as a person who one was nearly the cause of war between austria and the united mates mr mann then an in the state department part ment at washington was bent to hungary on a secret mission which may perhaps have had something to do with the kossuth movement arrived in that country he was arrested M a spy and it would have gone hard with him had not daniel webster then secretary of the state demanded his release adding that the protection to which mr mann is entitled will be enforced with the full strength of the fleet and army of the united states there was just enough of fight in websters letter to induce the vienna government to let the matter drop and mr mann waa thereafter unmolested the commission of the confederacy was composed of mr yancey of alabama judge roat of louisiana and mr A dudley mann two of them came abroad by way of new orleans and st thomas but mann decided to go from mont gomery by way of washington mr steward was secretary of state then and his plan was to let mann get on board the steamer and ar rest him juat as it wai leaving the dock but president lincoln canceled the order of arrest and he sailed from new york on the europe he of march 1861 in london the commissioners obtained interviews with lords rua beell and palmerston but while they found a strong feeling in eng land decidedly in favor of the south bright and cobden were exceptions there was no disposition to recognize the confederacy of En glands conduct said mr mann to the writer wag ireland had she recognized the confederacy the ariah would have become more clamorous than ever for their liberties slavery did not weigh a feathers weight in the scale although there was not a man in england who justified slavery and the masses of the people felt very strongly in the matter with but few exceptions all those with whom I 1 conversed took the ground that slavery ought not to prevent england from recognizing the independence of the south as soon as she was able to maintain herself against the north in prance the feeling against slavery was stronger but here too the upper classes looked at the question in the same way as did those in england I 1 did nit ni t come to france in my official capacity for I 1 had no confidence in louis napoleon the french emperor played a double game all through the war it did not suit his plans for either of the american bellig arents to obtain a decided advantage over the other he wanted to found a latin empire in mexico for his cousin plon plon and thus get him out of the way and he wanted our war protracted until both parties would be so exhausted as not to be able to interfere with him in his designs after mason and siddell came over the joint committee was disi solved mason was assigned to duty in london siddell to paris rost to spain and I 1 to belgium and central burcope mr yancey went home was elected to the senate and died soon afterward I 1 also had a commission to russia but I 1 never thought it worth while to go to st petersburg the general policy of all the continental powers toward the south was to wait the action of france and england the decease ds statement also paid he was once sent by jefferson davis on a special commission to rome with a view to induce pope pius IX to recognize the coni that was in november 1863 and a few days after his arrival in rome cardinal antonelli presented him to his holiness on that occa ion mr mann handed pius IX a letter written by mr daw in english and which had to be translated then and there so that the pope could understand it mure than twenty four years after this scene in the vatican the des ceased said to the predent writer it was one of the most remarkable conferences that ever a foreign representative had with one of the potentates of this earth even after this lapse of time I 1 can not help but think how mai estic was the conduct of the government of the pontifical states in its bearing toward me as compared with the sneaking aub ter fuges to which some of the european governments had re course in order to evade intercourse with our commissioners nothing was accomplished however by that mission it is true that pius IX wrote a letter to mr david but although it was addressed to that gentleman as pre eident of the confederate states of america it did not contain any positive recognition of the confederate government and this fact was officially admitted by the late judah P benjamin some time secretary of state at richmond and in his late years a distinguished lawyer in london it is certain that mr mann has left behind him a lot of manuscripts which will some day b published in book form he then showed the writer some of these page and said then that he did not they should be printed until after his death the deceased was n bis way a remarkable person it was he who arranged the first treaty between switzerland and the united states then dent pierce beut him abroad at the ime the washington government was thinking of buying the island of cuba another time ha ferran ed several commercial treaties with german he was one of the founders of the north german lloyd steamship company and his invasion inia sion to hungary his already been referred to in this article he was 89 geors of ae M the dirae of his and his funeral will take place from the american church in the avenue this after |
