Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship’s note of the 22d instant, which is accompanied by a copy of a letter that has been addressed by Mr. Edward Cunard to her Britannic Majesty’s consul at New York.
In that letter Mr. Cunard, by way of complaint against the requirement of bonds at the custom-house in New York for goods shipped to her Majesty’s colonial ports in the Bahamas, remarks, that “the royal mail steamship Corsica is advertised to sail on the 29th instant, and I have applications from merchants to send freight by her, but on application at the custom-house I am informed that before the ship clears, I shall have to give the bond and sureties as stated to you in my letter; and as I cannot give these, the steamer must proceed to Nassau without freight.”
Simultaneously with this communication of Mr. Cunard, I have a despatch from Major General Banks, to the following effect:
“Since assuming command at Brownsville, Texas, Major General Heron’s attention has been attracted to the large stock of goods in Matamoras, and daily arriving there, intended for use in the rebel States, and he has been to some trouble in investigating the matter, for the purpose of satisfying himself from what ports these goods were shipped. He says that many of them came from New York and Boston direct, and that the goods are of such a character that it cannot but be known to the custom-house officers at these places that they were intended for rebel use. He also adds that large quantities of gray cloth for uniforms, cotton goods, bagging, rope, and other articles of that kind, have passed through the custom-house at New York, for Matamoras; that the goods are bought for Texas; that it is well known by every one that such goods are never used in Mexico, yet they are cleared without trouble at New York, and go into Texas as straight as if they were landed, at Galveston. Plenty of evidence, he continues, can be had at Brownsville to substantiate these statements, and he submits the matter for the action of the major general commanding.”
Having taken the President’s directions, I have now to inform you that, in his opinion, the restrictions of which Mr. Cunard complains cannot be relaxed at present, with safety to the United States. The right to suppress contraband trade in our own ports, with our own insurgent citizens, is deemed absolute. It seems to this government that the measures adopted to that end are the only ones which, while they have any efficiency, will in the least degree embarrass or obstruct legitimate commerce.
I have the honor to be, with high consideration, your lordship’s obedient servant
Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c &c., &c.