Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara.
The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, had the honor, on Monday last, the 20th instant, of receiving his excellency Señor Don Gabriel Garcia y Tassara, minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, the Queen of Spain. Upon that occasion Señor Tassara verbally communicated to him the substance of a correspondence which had been made to Señor Tassara by his excellency the captain general of Cuba, to the effect that a United States cruiser had chased an English and neutral vessel into the maritime limits of [Page 537] Spain, driven her ashore, and destroyed her by fire, committing at the same time other acts of aggression and violence against not only subjects, but even authorities of the Queen of Spain in that island.
No department of this government had at that time received any information of the transaction thus mentioned, except a vague statement that it was reported at Havana that an insurgent vessel of this country had been chased at sea by an armed vessel of the United States, and was reported to have run ashore upon the coast of Cuba and been burned, without any further or more definite information concerning the transaction. The undersigned immediately thereupon called the attention of the Navy Department to Señor Tassara’s complaint, with a request for the earliest and fullest investigation of the same that the department could make. The undersigned, at the same time, communicated to the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid the information which he had received from Señor Tassara, and authorized him to assure Mr. Calderon Collantes that the subject would be promptly investigated, and that just in the degree that the transaction should be found to justify the representations which Señor Tassara had made to the undersigned would agents of this government, who had equally violated the laws of the United States and their own instructions, be visited with the severe displeasure of the government, and the wrongs and injuries they had committed would be promptly and amply redressed.
The undersigned has now the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a note in writing from Señor Tassara, bearing date the 20th instant, which sets forth the same complaint with customary formality, and which is accompanied by documents presented for the purpose of substantiating the same.
The undersigned being thus, for the first time, made acquainted with the case in a convenient manner, is authorized to renew to Señor Tassara the expressions conveyed to his government that no delay shall be made by this government in ascertaining the merits of the complaint, and in awarding to Spain, and to any other parties who may be concerned in it, if the facts presented shall not be adequately controverted, all the redress and all the satisfaction which the law of nations, or the treaties between Spain and the United States, or even the comities due between friendly nations, shall require.
The undersigned willingly admits on this occasion the general as well as the special grounds upon which Señor Tassara rests his expectations, that this government will act not only promptly, but justly, and in good faith in regard to the complaint.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to Señor Tassara the assurances of his highest consideration.
Señor Don Gabriel Garcia y Tassara, &c., &c., &c.