Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Her Majesty’s government have had under their consideration the note dated the 12th of November last, which you did Mr. Stuart the honor to address to him, in the case of the Sunbeam.
In that note you observe that the statements of the seamen of the Sunbeam do not seem to you to warrant the complaint that a pressure of any kind was made upon them; and you then (as it appears to her Majesty’s government) take up, in substance, the position that, provided no violence be used, it is perfectly competent to the United States government to induce her Majesty’s subjects to act as belligerents, contrary to the law of Great Britain, and in direct opposition to the principles of international law contended for by the United States minister at her Majesty’s court in the case of the Alabama.
I am directed to state to you that her Majesty’s government regret your declaration, and regard it as being inconsistent with the obligations of a belligerent towards a neutral, and as being calculated to embarrass her Majesty’s government in their endeavors to observe a strict neutrality in the present war.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State.