For the better clearing up of what occurred to the steamer Cardenas, as
referred to in your communication at large of the 28th of last month,
the undersigned envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of her
Catholic Majesty has the honor to enclose a copy of the protest made
before the Spanish consul at New Orleans by Captain Burguero,
From the said document it follows, among other things, that the steamer
being compelled to return to Fort Jackson, as was done on the 5th of
June, did not receive a visit from the physician until the 18th, and
only on the 24th was she permitted to enter the port—that is to say,
twenty-five days after her departure from the Havana. In this interval
the brigantine Marie Felicite, which arrived, leaving the same port on
the 13th of June, obtained permit to ascend the river on the 21st. On
the 13th the English schooner Virginia Antoinette, also from Havana,
whence she sailed on the same day as the Cardenas, anchored in sight of
Fort Jackson, and on the 18th obtained the like permit as the French
brig Marie Felicite; and lastly, the mail steamer Roanoke arrived on the
10th and went up to the port without detention.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to reiterate to the
honorable Secretary of State the assurance of his highest
consideration.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States.
[Translation]
At the city of New Orleans, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, before me, D. Juan
Callejon, consul of her Catholic Majesty at this place and its
dependencies, appeared D. Jose Ramon Burguero, of the matriculation
of Coruna, captain of the Spanish steamer Cardenas, the latter of
Havana, accompanied by two witnesses that declaration should be
made, and deposed that on the thirty-first day of May, of one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, he departed from Havana with
his vessel on the course for this port, and with the regular
clearance from the Spanish authorities and from the consul of the
United States at the Havana, pursuing his voyage with fair weather
until the third of June, on which, at five o’clock in the afternoon,
he came in sight of the light-house at the Pass à l’Outre of the
Mississippi river, and proceeded up the stream. At half-past eight
of the same
[Page 525]
evening he
came to the outpost of the custom-house, where, in normal times,
note was taken of the place whence sailed, of the cargoes of
vessels, and from whence advices were sent by telegraph to the
consignees thereof. There he stopped the engine, blew the steam
whistle, and seeing that no one was coming near him, followed up the
river to Forts Jackson and St. Philips, where also he slowed and
stopped the engine, blowing the steam whistle as before. No one gave
any hindrance to his passing, and the steamer followed her course to
the Lazaretto, where he repeated the same doings as he had done at
the customs station and at the forts. No one replied but an officer
called Dikman, of the United States army, and who probably belonged
to that detached post; asked of the captain the favor to take him up
to the city, favor which the captain allowed, and at five o’clock on
the afternoon of the fourth arrived here at this place and made fast
to one of the wharves. Before getting through with this work, the
vessel was invaded by a crowd of people from the city; even at six
o’clock there had not come on board any authority to receive her;
then the captain notified the consignees of the Cardenas, Messrs.
Avendaño Hormanos, and agreed with them to present himself on the
following day, as it was no longer within business hours at the
custom-house or at this her Majesty’s consulate. But at eight
o’clock at night an officer came on board, accompanied by the
aforementioned Captain Dikman, and after having made the townspeople
who had come on board go ashore, he asked the captain in a rough way
if he had a permit from the commander at the forts to pass up. The
captain answered in the negative, relating to him at the same time
the circumstances already narrated; then the officer, whose name is
Staffers, wrote an order, by which he directed that the Cardenas
must go down and anchor below the two forts until otherwise ordered,
which order is not given here, because destroyed a few moments after
being made by the same person who wrote it, who gave it to the
captain verbally, ordering the debarkation of the passengers, firing
up, and going away immediately. This was not possible, and by force
of entreaty the captain got permission for the supercargo of the
Cardenas—which individual spoke English—to accompany him to one of
the officers to present him to General Butler, commanding general of
the department, and state to him that, never having been at this
port, the captain was ignorant of the usages here established; that
he had stopped upon entering the river, on passing by the forts, and
on reaching the Lazaretto, and that no one hindered him from passing
on nor made any signal to him; that if at either of those points he
had received orders to stop he would have respected and obeyed them;
that, unusual to the practice, having boilers in bad condition, and
both empty, he could not depart immediately; that it was not just that the interests of the charterers of
the vessel should suffer from the neglect of the commander at the
forts; that, as for the passengers following the old custom, they
had landed without the captain’s knowledge, and that he could not
seek through a city unknown to him some thirty-five persons, but
that it was to be expected that they would come to get their
passports and baggage. He delivered to the supercargo the register,
the manifests, and a bag of letters sealed up by the American consul
at Habana, the captain giving him special instruction that if the
general insisted on his going off, he should state to him that he
had no provisions or pilot; that he required six hours at least to
fill the boilers and get up steam, and that he would hold the
general responsible for any damage that his order might
occasion.
The supercargo went off with the officer, and at ten at night came
back, accompanied by him, and bringing back the letter-bag and
papers which he took, and complaining that he had not been able to
make his statements because General Butler refused to listen to
them, with strong threats, forbidding him to utter a word. It being
then necessary to go, in compliance with the order the supercargo
had received from the mouth of the general in person, and desirous
to shelter himself from responsibility, the declarant had an
interview with his consignees,
[Page 526]
who accompanied him in search of the
undersigned consul of her Catholic Majesty, whom they could not find
owing to the unseasonableness of the hour. At two in the morning
appeared the pilot, who had been ordered to be got through the aid
of one of the passengers, and the Cardenas left immediately
thereafter. On the fifth day, at seven o’clock in the morning, she
anchored at two miles to the east of Fort Jackson, and the captain
sent the supercargo to the fort to ask the commander if he gave him
permission to go up; to which he answered that he had the general’s
order not to permit the Cardenas to go up, nor communicate with any
one until fresh orders; and, from some remarks of the commander, the
captain arrived at the conclusion that he had been sent there to
perform quarantine. To his great surprise, because neither in the
conversation held with the officers, nor in that had with the
general, was anything said about sanitary regulations. There the
Cardenas remained waiting, shut off from communication, for the
visit of the health officer, without provisions, and in a difficult
position for obtaining them. The said health officer did not come
until the eighteenth day, and found there were no sick on board, but
could not fix for the captain declarant the term of quarantine, nor
did he receive any communication from the authorities which would
fix it.
On the twelfth of June the brigantine Marie Felicite arrived from the
Havana, and on the twenty-first obtained leave to go up the river.
On the thirteenth day arrived the schooner Virginia Antoniette,
Captain Stria, and on the eighteenth obtained the same leave as the
French schooner Marie Felicite. The English schooner Virginia
Antoinette had left the Havana on the same day with the Cardenas. On
the tenth arrived the United States mail steamer Roanoke, also from
the Havana, and went up immediately to the port without performing
the slightest quarantine. On the eighteenth, and by special favor,
the Cardenas was permitted to pass the forts and to anchor in front
of the Lazaretto. On the twenty-third the captain obtained
permission to come to the city, but not the vessel; she did not
receive any until the twenty-fourth, on which she came up to the
port of New Orleans on the twenty-fifth after her departure from
Havana. What was written was read to the captain declarant, and
after confirming the same, and made oath that he had told the truth
in every particular, he added that, considering the procedure of the
military authorities of New Orleans in regard to the Spanish steamer
Cardenas, under his command, to be unjust; considering that the
vessel had a crew, every one in the best condition of health, and
that she was sent to quarantine for an indefinite time, and without
receiving a visit from the health officer until thirteen days after
her arrival; considering that this causeless detention has produced
great losses to the owners and fitters-out of said Spanish steamer
Cardenas, among others that of the cargo of fresh fruit, of which
she brought a large quantity, and which it was made necessary to
throw overboard because it was in a state of putrefaction;
considering that said authorities have acted with notorious
injustice in detaining the steamer Cardenas, while they permitted
the coming up to the port of vessels proceeding from the same place
with the said steamer, even imposing on the last a shorter
quarantine than on the Spanish, or not subjecting them to any, as
happened with the American steam mail packet Roanoke, by these
presents, once, twice, thrice, and in the most public, formal, and
solemn manner, he protests against, &c.
(Certified.)
