Office of the Historian

Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.

Department of State, Washington, March 9, 1864.

My Lord: I have the honor to recur to your note of the 1st instant, so far [Page 548] as it relates to the rights of the United States in regard to maritime captures and jurisdiction, and in reply to enclose a copy of a letter of the 5th instant from the Secretary of the Navy, to whom a copy of your note was submitted, which, it is hoped, will prove satisfactory to your lordship.

I have the honor to be, with high consideration, my lord, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

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

Mr. Welles to Mr. Seward.

Navy Department, March 5, 1864.

Sir: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 3d instant, and accompanying papers, in relation to a difficulty which has seemed likely to grow out of a misapprehension of the instructions given to our cruisers in the gulf and on the coast of Mexico.

I do not understand our government to claim the right of “capturing ships for having carried contraband of war, after the contraband has been actually landed,” unless the contraband has been landed by them in a blockaded port and they are on the return voyage from such ports; nor the right of capturing ships in Mexican waters, or in any neutral waters; nor the right to capture neutral ships on a bona fide voyage from one neutral port to another, though laden with articles which would be contraband if carried to an enemy’s port; nor the right to capture neutral ships bound to an enemy’s port, not blockaded, unless such ships have contraband on board; nor the right to exercise exclusive jurisdiction to the extent of more than a marine league from our coast.

With respect to the point last mentioned, any misapprehension which exists may have arisen partly from what may have been an inadvertence, analogous to a clerical error, in the treaty with Mexico, and partly to our municipal law, under which merchant vessels bound to the United States may be boarded by the revenue officers when within four leagues of our coast. Other nations have similar municipal laws, which are to be regarded merely as prescribing the conditions on which trade is permitted.

We claim the right of capturing any merchant vessel returning from a blockaded port, after violating the blockade, such right to exist at any time during the return voyage.

It is not improbable that the commanders of some of our cruisers in the gulf are not accurately informed of the extent of the national rights herein referred to, and the department will lose no time in placing the matter properly before them.

The whole coast of Texas, except such part as may be necessary for access to the port of Brownsville, is to be regarded as under blockade.

The documents are herewith returned.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy,

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.