Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: I duly received your note of the 17th ultimo, respecting the case of the Will-of-the-Wisp, and regret to learn that her Majesty’s government still consider the supposed injury inflicted by the seizure of that vessel at the mouth of the Rio Grande to be of such a character as to warrant an appeal from the prize court at Key West to the executive government instead of to the Supreme Court of the United States. Sovereign states usually expect to do justice through their judicial tribunals, and this government is not prepared to waive its claim to this privilege. Even, however, if this were allowable in any case, I am not able as yet to recognize any peculiar circumstances in that of the Will-of-the-Wisp to warrant a departure from the rule. She is understood to have been one of many vessels which, since the insurrection in this country began, have cleared from foreign ports nominally for Matamoras, in Mexico, laden in whole or in part with munitions of war, under the impression that it must be taken for granted that their cargoes were for consumption in Mexico, and not for the contiguous insurgent State of Texas. The transparency of this fraud, however, is deemed obvious by our naval authorities, and the recklessness with which it has been practiced is believed to have materially prolonged the existing civil war.
The frequency with which vessels leave English ports ostensibly for those of the British colonial possessions adjacent to this country, but really to obtain information there as to the most successful manner of violating the blockade; the impunity with which others are built, armed, and manned, in Great Britain, to sink and burn the merchant shipping of the United States, has so often, and with so much earnestness, been brought to the attention of her Majesty’s government, that the government of the United States has already been brought, though with great reluctance, to the consideration of new measures for protection against such injuries. It would be singularly inconsistent on their part, under such circumstances, to withdraw their confidence from judicial tribunals which, although they have generally proceeded with firmness in condemning contraband vessels, have nevertheless, so far as is known, hitherto proceeded in all cases in conformity with the law of nations.
I have the honor to be. with high consideration, your lordship’s obedient servant,
Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., &c.