Mr. Seward to Mr. Morris.
Sir: Your despatch of May 6 has been received.
The President received with profound satisfaction the decree of his Majesty the Sultan, which interdicts the entrance of pirates engaged in depredating upon the commerce of our country into the ports of the Turkish empire. This proceeding is the more honorable to that prince, and it will be the more gratifying to the United States, because it is an unreserved acceptance and application of the principles of international law, which this government has maintained from the beginning of the civil war in which we have so unnecessarily and so unfortunately been involved during the past year. Nor is the proceeding any the less entitled to our grateful acknowledgments because the piratical operations of the insurgents, such as they have been, have already been brought to an end. It will, on the contrary, be to the honor of the Sultan of Turkey that he took the lead in conceding to the United States rights which it is now expected will soon be conceded by all the other maritime powers.
You cannot express these sentiments too strongly in your conversation with the minister for foreign affairs.
Care will be taken to give due publicity to the decree and also to the imperial order prohibiting, for the present, the importation of gunpowder into the Turkish dominions.
I am specially charged by the President to renew the assurances of his satisfaction with the manner in which you have performed thus far the duties of your important mission.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Edward J. Morris, Esq., &c,&c., Constantinople.