Memorandum of conversation between Mr. Mercier and Mr. Seward.
U.S. Department of State · 1862
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Description
Document 367, dated 31 May 1862, is a memorandum of a conversation between Henri Mercier. The French minister in Washington, and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Such memoranda were written up after talks to fix what had been said.
A recorded conversation differs from a letter: it captures diplomacy done aloud, with questions, hints, and warnings that formal notes avoid. Memoranda in this file are among its most revealing papers. This one comes from the weeks after Mercier's Richmond trip, when face-to-face talk between the two men carried more weight than paper. The French legation's notes were written in French and printed here in the Department's English.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | U.S. Department of State |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 1862 |
| COLLECTION | DECLASSIFIED |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 2090 |
| LICENSE | Public Domain |
| RIGHTS | PUBLIC DOMAIN |
| SOURCE | U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian |
Source: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1862/d367