Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the day before yesterday’s date, enclosing a copy of a report from the assistant collector at New York to the Secretary of the Treasury, from which it appears that the schooner Etta is not recorded in the books of the custom-house at that city as having been seized, and that the United States marshal has no knowledge of any such seizure.
It is stated by the owners that this vessel had sailed under the so-called confederate flag, and then bore the name of Retribution; that she was sold at Nassau, in the Bahamas, and purchased first by other parties, and then by themselves; that she arrived at New York on or about the 20th of August last, and while preparing for sea, in order to return to Nassau, was seized and detained by the United States authorities.
These particulars will probably suffice to enable the proper authorities to find some record of the transaction, and to supply the information asked for by her Majesty’s government as to the grounds of the seizure, and the steps taken to establish its legality.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.