letters of marque, or to cooperate in any way whatsoever in the
equipment or arming of any vessel of war or corsair of either
belligerent." He did not intend to abandon publicly this cautious
attitude--at least, not for the present. And while Slidell at
Paris was completely taken in, the cooler head of A. Dudley Mann,
Confederate commissioner at Brussels, saw what an international
quicksand was the favor of Napoleon. It was about this time that
Napoleon, having dispatched General Forey with a fresh army to
Mexico, wrote the famous letter which gave notice to the world of
what he was about. Mann wrote home in alarm that the Emperor
might be expected to attempt recovering Mexico's ancient areas
including Texas. Slidell saw in the Forey letter only "views...
which will not be gratifying to the Washington Government."

The adroit Arman, acting on hints from high officers of the
Government, applied for permission to build and arm ships of war,
alleging that he intended to send them to the Pacific and sell
them to either China or Japan. To such a laudable expression of
commercial enterprise, one of his fellows in the imperial ring,
equipped with proper authority under Bonaparte, hastened to give
official approbation, and Erlanger came forward by way of
financial backer. There were conferences of Confederate agents;
contracts were signed; plans were agreed upon; and the work was
begun.

There was no more hopeful man in the Confederate service than
Slidell when, in the full flush of pride after Chancellorsville,
he appealed to the Emperor to cease waiting on other powers and
recognize the Confederacy. Napoleon accorded another gracious
interview but still insisted that it was impossible for him to