Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara.
Washington, July 15, 1861.
The undersigned, Secretary of State, has the honor of addressing Mr. Tassara on the subject of certain vessels belonging to citizens of the United States now, or lately, detained at the port of Cienfuegos, in the Island of Cuba.
Information has been received at this department that a piratical armed Steamer called Sumter, on the 6th July instant, entered that port with seven vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, which she had captured, with their officers, and also the officers and seamen of another such vessel which she had captured and burned on the high seas. The department is further informed that the Sumter was, on that occasion, manned by a full [Page 268] complement of seamen, marines, officers, and firemen; that she carried an armament of five or eight heavy guns, and that thus manned and armed the vessel was supplied with coal and water at Cienfuegos, and was allowed to depart on the same day to a destination unknown.
The undersigned is further informed that the captured vessels were detained in the port of Cienfuegos, and that their crews, together with that of the vessel which had been burned, were set at liberty.
It is the duty of the undersigned to bring this extraordinary transaction to the notice of the Spanish government. This government will cheerfully receive any explanations of it which the Spanish government may feel itself at liberty to give. But in the meantime, assuming the facts to be correctly presented as they are above stated, the undersigned is instructed by the President of the United States to inform the Spanish government that he deems the admittance of the said piratical vessel, the Sumter, into the port of Cienfuegos, with the captured vessels and crews before described, her supply there with coal and water, and her permitted departure, to have been in violation of the treaties existing between this government and Spain, as well as of the law of nations; and this government, in this view, will expect the immediate release and discharge of the captured vessels and their cargoes. Reserving the subject of indemnity for the injury inflicted upon the United States by the transaction, as recited, until time for explanation shall have been afforded, the undersigned is nevertheless instructed to ask at once that her Catholic Majesty’s government will take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of transactions in the ports of Spain of the kind now in question, which are not more injurious to the commerce of the United States than toward that of Spain herself and of all other commercial nations.
The undersigned is induced to believe that those requests will not only meet prompt attention, but will even be answered in a manner satisfactory to the United States. This belief is founded on these facts: first, a correspondence which has taken place between the consul general of the United States and his excellency the governor general of the Island of Cuba relating to the subject has been submitted to this department, in which correspondence the governor general announces that he has been left withont the aid of instructions in the matter, and that he shall abide the directions of his government, in the meantime taking your advice in the premises. Further, this government has been advised by a communication from Mr. Perry, lately acting as chargé d’affaires at Madrid, under date of the 13th of June last, that he was directed by the Spanish government to inform the government of the United States that Spain would prohibit the entrance of southern privateers into any of her ports, peninsular or colonial, and would also prohibit the furnishing of any supplies to the rebels, whether arms, provisions, coals, ships, or any other merchandise, and that armed vessels, with their prizes, would not be permitted to enter the ports of Spain. Moreover, the same mail which brought the information of this transaction, brought also a despatch from Mr. Perry, containing later assurances received from the government of Spain similar to those already recited, together with an official copy of a royal decree of the 15th June, giving legal effect to the promises thus so repeatedly made.
In specifying these particular grounds of confidence for an expectation of a satisfactory disposition of the subject of this communication, the undersigned is by no means to be regarded as excluding the more general assurances of amity and friendship which have been lately exchanged between the two governments, or their habits of good faith and reciprocal justice which have been confirmed by an almost unbroken experience of two-thirds of a century.
In order to elucidate the subject of this note, the undersigned causes to [Page 269] be annexed thereto a copy of some of the official communications to which allusion has been made, and especially the correspondence between his excellency the governor general of Cuba and the consul general of the United States in that island, and the recent communication from Mr. Perry, together with a copy of the royal decree to which reference has been made.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to offer to Mr. Tassara renewed assurances of his high consideration.
Señor Don Gabriel Garcia y Tassara, &c., &c., &c.