Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2d instant, in which you inquire, first, whether the delivery of the Meteor, by order of the United States court of New York, is definitive; and, secondly, whether a vessel solemnly condemned by a court of the United States for flagrant violation of the laws of neutrality is left at liberty to enter the service of any of the belligerents against Spain.
An answer, by way of anticipation, to the first of these two questions will he found in the note which I had the honor to address to you on the 2d instant, in which I communicated the result of the examination of the case which had been made by the Attorney General. According to that opinion the delivery of the Meteor is definitive.
With regard to the second question, viz., whether a vessel solemnly condemned by a court of the United States for flagrant violation of neutrality is left at liberty to enter the service of the belligerents against Spain, I have to say, with great respect, that in the absence of any facts touching the present character, condition and destination of the vessel, or the present purposes of her owners, the question can only be regarded by this department as an abstraction. It is undoubtedly the province of the judicial and revenue agents of the United States at Boston or elsewhere to receive and act upon any information which may be laid before them tending to show a present design or purpose on the part of any one to infringe or violate the neutrality laws of the United States by the owners of the Meteor.
The undersigned offers to Mr. Tassara on this occasion renewed assurance of his very high consideration.
Señor Don Gabriel Garcia y Tassara, &c., &c., &c.