Mr. Harvey to Mr. Seward.
Sir: The accompanying copy of a note from the Duke de Soulé, in answer to one which I addressed to him on the 14th instant, in reference to the army of piratical cruisers in Portuguese ports, was only received last night, though dated on the 16th instant.
This reply necessarily precludes any further representation on my part to. his Majesty’s government at the present point of time; but if an occasion should occur, as I hope it may not, I shall not hesitate to discharge the duty which a change of circumstances may require.
If the authorities of the island now act in good faith and with sufficient resolution, the armed cruisers which seek those remote ports for military supplies will be foiled in their iniquitous designs, and our commerce will be spared a renewal of the criminal depredations to which it has been heretofore subjected.
[Page 287]In order to provide as much actual assistance as is at my disposal here to second the moral efforts of the government in affording the desired protection, I have requested the United States sloop-of-war St. Louis to sail immediately for the Azores and. for Teneriffe, with a view of intercepting the cruisers in question.
These measures of precaution and prudence exhaust all the resources which may be commanded for this emergency; and if they are less perfect than they should be, the inadequacy may not be attributed to any want of vigilance or care on the part of the legation, for it has been my duty to make repeated suggestions, derived from actual experience, concerning the indifferent organization of our small naval force in Europe, in the hope that they might attract the attention of the proper department sufficiently to correct, at least, those manifest imperfections which have produced injurious results.
It is not difficult to understand why, with the stern and urgent demands at home, this naval force has not been augmented, but the same reason would not seem to apply to an increase of its efficiency by means of a more thorough and practicable disposition of the ships already in Europe.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.