Mr. Dayton to Mr. Seward
Sir: During an interview with Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys, on Thursday last, he handed to me the memorandum of a contract, said to have been entered into between the Juarist authorities of the State of Tamaulipas and the federal authorities of the United States, in virtue of which the latter agreed to furnish a certain quantity of arms and munitions of war in return for delivery to them of many thousand Mexican mules. I herewith send you a translation of this memorandum, which is without signatures. Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys said he found the memorandum on his table, without recollecting exactly whence it came, and therefore called my attention to it. I told him that I had no knowledge on the subject, but from the orders which had been issued by my government forbidding the supply of arms to either belligerent in Mexico, and the fact that we needed arms ourselves, as I supposed, even more than mules, I did not believe such contract had been made. I promised, however, to take the memorandum, and call your attention to it, as I now do.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.