Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I

Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.

Washington, January 30, 1863.

Sir: I have received the note which you did me the honor to write to me yesterday, in answer to the representation which I made to you on the 9th instant on the subject of the capture of the schooner Mount Blanc.

It will be my duty to bring to the notice of her Majesty’s government the information which you convey to me, without note or comment, or explanation, that the commander of the United States vessel which captured the Mount Blanc addressed, on the 26th of last month, a report to the Navy Department defining the spot on which the capture was made; and that his superior officer, in forwarding the report, drew the attention of the department to the fact that this spot is within a marine league of one of the cays of the Bahamas, over which jurisdiction is claimed by Great Britain.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

LYONS.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.