Mr. Morgan to Mr.
Seward.
No. 67.]
United States
Legation,
Lisbon,
May 29, 1861.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose a copy of my
note to the government of H. M. F. Majesty on the subject of
privateers.
I have notified our consular agents of the importance of vigilance.
Would it not be good policy to take into regular commission a
considerable number of our clipper ships, till our navy can be placed on
a basis commensurate with the crisis?
The telegraph announces that the President has notified the foreign
powers that he will discontinue diplomatic relations with any nation
that recognizes the so-called Confederate States.
I trust that it is true, for such a policy will produce good results, and
is not less wise than it is dignified.
If we come out of this contest triumphant, and the Union be preserved,
our nation will be more powerful and more glorious, more loved and more
feared, than ever before in our history as a nation.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State.
[Page 404]
[Untitled]
United States
Legation,
Lisbon,
May 21, 1861.
Sir: A combination of individuals in
certain of the southern States of the United States have raised the
standard of insurrection, and under the pretended authority of the
self-styled Confederate States of America have threatened to grant
pretended letters of marque for the purpose of committing assaults
on the lives, vessels, and property of good citizens of the United
States, lawfully engaged in commerce on the high seas, and in the
waters of the United States. And in consequence thereof, on the 19th
day of April, 1861, and the eighty-fifth year of the independence of
the United States, the President, by formal proclamation, declared
that if any person, under the pretended authority of the said
so-called but unrecognized Confederate States, or under any other
pretence, shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons
or cargo on board of her, that such person will be held amenable to
the laws of the United States for the punishment of piracy.
In the name, therefore, of the government of the United States, I
have the honor to request that the government of H. M. F. Majesty
may cause such measures to be taken as will effectually prevent any
vessel from being prepared in any of his Majesty’s ports for the
aforesaid piratical purposes.
Under the conviction that reliable information as to said
insurrection will be gratifying to his Majesty’s government, I
briefly submit the following statement:
- 1.
- The government of the so-called Confederate States has
been neither recognized by any sovereign state, nor has it
been acknowledged by the people it professes to represent.
But, on the contrary, the combination of individuals who
have usurped the title of a government refuse to submit
their constitution to the ratification or rejection of the
citizens of said States.
- 2.
- The insurrectionists are wanting in the great elements
necessary to successful war. Their ports are strictly
blockaded; their supplies are cut off, by land and by sea,
and within themselves they are destitute of the means of
carrying on a prolonged struggle.
- 3.
- That while it may be difficult to predict the length of
time which may be required to suppress the insurrection, yet
in the future nothing can be more certain than are the
vindication of the national flag, and the perfect
restoration of order and prosperity under the Constitution
of the United States.
It affords me great pleasure to renew to your excellency the
assurance of my most distinguished consideration.
His Excellency M. Antonio José
d’Avila,
Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, &c.
