Mr. Seward to Mr. Stuart.
Sir: The papers which accompanied your note to this department, of the 1st instant, marked “informal,” have been taken into deliberate consideration. They relate to restrictions on the export from New York to Nassau of articles from England by steamers, and particularly to those by the China, British Queen, and to the case of the schooner William H. Clear, and to the relanding of drugs and surgical instruments shipped by a British firm in New York for Nassau.
Having referred these papers to the Secretary of the Treasury, explanations upon the subject have been received from him, the substance of which will be made known to her Majesty’s government through Mr. Adams, the United States minister at London. It is not to be doubted that these explanations will show the necessity of the restrictions referred to for protecting the rights of the United States with reference to transit trade through ports within their jurisdiction.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William Stuart, &c., &c., &c.