Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your lordship’s note in regard to the Orion.
I cannot subscribe to the correctness of the views of her Majesty’s government on that subject as presented in your note. Your government infers from the statement of the captain that the cargo was innocent, her destination neutral, and her ownership British.
On the contrary, I understand the captor as claiming that the cargo, although innocent as to material, was rendered contraband by the purpose of the captain to consign it to the insurgents; that her destination to Matamoras was only an [Page 465] ostensible one, while her real one was an insurgent port; that her ownership, instead of being British, was insurgent; and that her register was a fraudulent one.
I do not say that the captor’s statement proves these facts, or that they are otherwise established. I present them as the conclusions of the captor, which I derive from his report. The captor presents in his report some evidence which goes to sustain his views as I assume them. Those proofs seem to me to be more than a mere suspicion of his, and I think they justify the bringing of the vessel into port for adjudication. The opinion of her Majesty’s government is pertinent to the question to be decided, and I shall very cheerfully transmit it to the district attorney of the United States, and instruct that officer to submit the same to the admiralty court for its consideration.
I have the honor to be, with high consideration, your lordship’s humble servant,
Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., &c.