Mr. Prevost to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s despatch of June 5th, enclosing copy of a note a6ddressed to your excellency by the ministers of Peru and Chili, relative to the debt due by Ecuador, together with your excellency’s answer.
Your excellency then instructs me to await until the expiration of the period named in the note of the representatives of Peru and Chili, viz., 17th of September. I shall therefore make no further demand for the payment. Arrangements are now being made with the bank here by the government of Ecuador for the necessary funds to pay the first dividend; the money will probably be paid within a few days.
During the period that the Spanish squadron was expected here I had requested the commander-in-chief of our naval forces on the station, in view of the circumstances, to send one of the vessels under his command to this port. The United States steamer Mohongo arrived here about the 1st of June, and sailed for Panama on the 27th of the same month. It was at that time that I had made a peremptory demand on the government for the immediate payment of the amount due under the convention of 1862. The public prints, in noticing this, said also that the President of the United States had asked the Senate for more energetic measures to collect the amount due by Ecuador. The newspapers of this city also said that there was no doubt that the presence of a man-of-war in this port at the present time was sent for the purpose of forcing the government of Ecuador to pay the amount past due. I take occasion in all private circles to contradict the statement; I did not do so publicly, nor officially, for I was persuaded that the government placed no confidence in such a statement. There is no doubt, however, that the presence of a man-of-war here always has, and may have had especialy at that time, its moral effect.
During the stay of the Mohongo she was visited by the minister of war, by the governor, and the local authorities of the place, who were received with the usual salutes, and they expressed themselves much pleased at having had an opportunity to visit a style of war ship which was entirely new to them.
On the occasion of the 4th of July I gave an entertainment at my residence; the minister of war, who was present, offered a very complimentary sentiment to President Johnson.
I remain, sir, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.