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

Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.

Department of State, Washington, November 10, 1863.

My Lord: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2d instant, transmitting a copy of a despatch from the governor of the Bahama islands to her Majesty’s secretary of state for the colonial department, reporting the proceedings in the case of the schooner Hanover, of Boston, captured by the insurgent privateer Retribution, and taken to Long cay, one of the Bahamas.

The bail required in the case seems surprisingly small and insignificant. This government, however, trusts that the prosecution will be conducted to a result which will vindicate the justice of the British government.

I have the honor to be, with high consideration, your lordship’s obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., &c.