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

Mr. Seward to Mr. Wood

No. 104.]

Department of State, Washington, March 2, 1865.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 6th of February, which contains an account of the representation you have made to the Danish government concerning the transfer of the ram Olinde, otherwise called the Stonewall, to pirates engaged in hostilities against the United States.

While it seems to me possible that your representation might properly have been made in a form more acceptable to that government, yet I approve of the proceeding in its general effect, and I authorize you to state to his Majesty’s government that the subject is regarded by the President as one which it is hoped will receive the serious attention of the government of Denmark.

The inquiries which have been made in France leave it doubtful whether the Danish authorities have exercised that vigilance and that regard to the rights of the United States, in the transaction referred to, which, as a friendly nation, they had a right to expect. It must be apparent that this government cannot rest content if a naval war is waged against us, under a piratical flag, from any of the maritime states of Europe.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Bradford E. Wood, Esq., &c., &c., Copenhagen.