Having communicated a copy of it to the Secretary of the Navy, I now have
the honor to enclose to you a transcript of his reply under date of the
6th instant, and to renew to you the assurance of my high
consideration.
Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., &c.
[Untitled]
Navy
Department,
January 6, 1862.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 31st ultimo, inviting my attention to
a communication from Lord Lyons and its accompaniment, in reference
to the refusal of Acting Rear-Admiral Wilkes, to communicate with a
boat belonging to her Britannic Majesty’s ship Barracouta on a late
occasion. From a despatch, dated the 4th ultimo, from Acting
Rear-Admiral Wilkes, it appears that he did decline to communicate
with the boat mentioned. The fact and the reasons which influenced
him in his action are stated in the following extract from his
despatch:
“I declined having any communication with the authorities, as they
now deny to offer me the courtesies due to my flag and rank. I would
not permit the boats sent out to board me—one from her Britannic
Majesty’s steamer the Barracouta, and another from the
governor—whose intention I well knew was to order me or desire me to
ask permission to anchor, which the pilot told me he had orders to
say could not be done.”
Acting Admiral Wilkes, it appears, was informed by the pilot, acting
under orders, that he could not anchor without permission. He
doubtless did not, under these circumstances, feel disposed to come
to anchor or to allow himself to be boarded by those whose object he
believed was to remind him of a humiliating restriction imposed upon
him; at the same time he refrained from violating the regulation
which had been established. This was doubtless well; for had he done
so, serious consequences might have followed. A short time since, in
returning to you a despatch from the consul of the United States at
Nassau, I had occasion to refer to certain remarks attributed to the
commander of her Britannic Majesty’s ship Barracouta; one of which
was, that “he considered it due to inform me (the consul) of his
determination, if either of the United States vessels should anchor
off this port (Nassau) without the governor’s permission, he should
fire upon them at once, and that he had put his ship in readiness
for action before leaving her to come on shore.”
An officer manifesting such a feeling and disposition towards
another, or the ship of a friendly nation, certainly should not feel
aggrieved at not having the usual courtesies extended to him,
especially under the circumstances alluded to in the extract from
Acting Rear-Admiral Wilkes’s despatch.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the
Navy.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
