Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress
Mr. Clay to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I transmit to you a communication from the minister of foreign affairs of this republic in relation to the loss of the sloop Muhlenberg, at the port of Ruatan, in July, 1864, appended to which is the statement of Don Francisco Bernardez, United States consular agent at Truxillo.
I have the honor to be, respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Cisneros to Mr. Clay.
Sir: The undersigned is advised of the despatches directed by your excellency to his predecessors in relation to the claim for the sloop Muhlenberg, belonging to Captain Jacob Lang, a citizen of the United States of America, and respecting which no resolution has been taken, for the reason that this ministry had no information of the matter. Being now in possession of all the facts in the case, and aware of the strange pretensions of Captain Lang, the supreme government has ordered the undersigned to reply to your excellency in the following terms:
The whole matter properly belongs to the courts, as can be shown should a question arise on that point. But inasmuch as your excellency directs yourself to the undersigned, by virtue of the instructions which he has to investigate, whether the loss of the sloop was occasioned by improper conduct on the part of the official authorities, he feels assured by the evidence acquired ad hoc that your excellency will esteem the event from the manner in which he elucidates it.
Captain Lang arrived at Ruatan in a state of utter destitution, and was on that account recommended by persons in Truxillo to the governor of the islands. The governor, who was particularly well disposed towards him, received with surprise the news that Lang had disappeared from the bay without having received the customary clearance, (pàse.) A short time afterwards Lang presented himself in company with a person belonging to Ruatan by the name of Loreto Mazier, the latter bringing suit against the former for the sum of $41 87. The governor cannot take cognizance of causes where the amount demanded exceeds [Page 533] $30, and can only use his influence to settle such disputes in a friendly manner. He advised them to appoint arbitrators, to whose decision they might submit the case. Some days afterward Mazier returns, asking for an execution against Captain Lang for the amount he owed him. The governor replied that if they did not appoint arbitrators, (a step which they ought not to omit,) they would have to wait until the court was in session to have the case decided.
Lang then brings suit against Mazier for a still larger sum. The governor insists that he has no jurisdiction except in a conciliatory way. He informs them that the court will sit in August, when the case would be disposed of summarily, but still advises them to submit the matter to an arbitration. Lang would not agree. Then Mazier makes the just observation to the governor that as the former was only a sojourner on the island, he might leave at any moment without paying him, and for this reason he demanded security. The governor represents this to Lang, who offers his sloop as security. And it should be noted that the governor assented to this security, as he was satisfied that Lang would appear before the court when in session. By the laws of the country a creditor can demand bail or security from a suspicious debtor to an amount sufficient to cover the claim, with costs and damages. The offer of Lang to give his sloop as security was entirely voluntary. The governor objected to it, as, being floating property, he might set sail at any moment, and to prevent this a man was sent on board the first night. Lang did not oppose this step, nor did another person who was on board the sloop, which was taken for one night only, and from that date the sloop was free to sail at any time. But Lang offered to remain until he should arrange the business with Mazier, saying at the same time that he needed a navigator, and would look for one in the island. Some days afterward the captain presented himself at the office of the governor, asking for a clearance to go to New Orleans, saying that he had navigator and cargo. The governor replied that if the cargo was on board ho would give him the clearance; that it was an invariable rule in the island, as well as in all other ports, to specify in the clearance the articles which constitute the cargo. Lang then said that he had no cargo on board, but that in the island and at Utila it had been offered him. To this the governor replied that when the cargo was on board he would give him his clearance, but that he ought beforehand to arrange with Mazier; but that unless he (Mazier) would give security for the detention of the sloop, she was at liberty to sail at any time after having the cargo on board. Two days afterward the captain (by letter) asks for a clearance to leave. The governor replies that he will notify Mazier that unless security is given for the detention of the sloop he will grant a clearance the moment that the cargo is on board. Up to this time Lang had presented no manifest of cargo, which, as already stated, is customary on the island, as well as in all ports of the world, and without ever complying with this rule, he takes passage in another vessel, at the same time sending a protest to the governor, in which he declares that the sloop was abandoned, which, however, was not the fact, Lang having left a man in charge, as can be proven. Such, sir, are the facts respecting the merchant sloop Muhlenberg, for which no one in Ruatan would offer $400, which shows her very deteriorated condition.
When Captain Lang left for the United States he had not the smallest idea that his claim was justly founded. The alleged abandonment of the sloop was a sham, else why did he leave a man on board, as before stated. It appears that Lang’s idea was, that if his fraud should prove successful in the United States, to withdraw the man in charge of the sloop, but if it failed, then he would come back and take possession again.
Captain Lang has acted in this matter with most notable bad faith. Wishing to sell a useless sloop for the price of a steamer, without considering that to accomplish his object he compromised his own government with an unjust claim against a country that is far from wishing to attract the attention of any nation by an arbitrary act, and much less the United States, with whom they will ever preserve the best relations, and toward whose citizens they have ever manifested the greatest deference.
The government of this republic is guided in its policy by equity and justice, and a strict observance of international law. Its agents are particularly ordered to respect and observe those principles in their relations and intercourse with foreigners. It would not hesitate to indemnify any power, great or small, for even the smallest injury that any of its agents might occasion. But it cannot in any manner consent to satisfy imaginary claims, founded in the most flagrant bad faith by a foreigner wanting in sympathy for American republics, and whose naturalization in the United States he believes will enable him to acquire a capital without labor.
The government of the United States possesses material power to enforce its just demands, but it is more powerful still by the loyalty of its conduct and the regulation of its policy by right and justice. This conviction inspires the government of the undersigned with the fullest security in relation to a claim founded in falsehood and bad faith, which must be palpable to your excellency, as well as the fact that Lang has made inexact representations to your government in relation to the sloop. The question, sir, has only one point of view. Its solution is obtained by affirming or denying a single argument, viz: was there an attachment (embargo) of the sloop? If there was, then there is justice in the claim, admitting, notwithstanding, the causes which it arose from; and if no attachment was made, the whole foundation of the claim falls to the ground. From the question thus reduced, which is the only way it can be presented, it follows that the government of Honduras is not responsible [Page 534] for the loss of the sloop, inasmuch as no attachment (embargo) was placed upon her, nor any order whatever given to prevent her departure. The governor only required that the cargo should be aboard, and a manifest presented thereof, in order to grant a clearance.
With respect to the claim of Mr. Mazier, the governor said that if he (Mazier) did not give security for the detention of the sloop she would not be detained. Finally, it is proven that the abandonment of the sloop Muhlenberg was a gratuitous and intentional act without any cause, and only for the object of making money on the part of Lang. The undersigned believes he has satisfied the honorable minister of the United States with respect to the before-mentioned claim. The foregoing statement covers the whole ground and, moreover, the information given by the governor is corroborated by the testimony of sworn witnesses. The individuals who have endeavored to aid Captain Lang in the fabrication of his false and unjust claim are generally and proverbially known as enemies of the government of Honduras, as they would be of any other government not English.
The only ground upon which the claim is based is the exigence of the governor that the cargo should be on board. This nobody can complain of, as it is a general rule in all nations, and all submit to it without objection or resistance. Captain Lang would have complied with it if he had been the owner of a good vessel and if he had not been so very poor. But as he came with the intention to sell to the best advantage his useless and worthless property, he imagined in his dreamy calculations that he could effect the sale upon the strength of his own representations, without taking into consideration that the government to which these representations were made is guided only by justice and reason.
The undersigned cherishes the hope that the honorable minister, having in view the just principle of his government that the claim of Lang should be investigated before indemnification is demanded, will pronounce it a rash imposture. If, from want of attention or any other cause, the undersigned has omitted to fully explain any point, he will be happy to do so in deference to the good understanding which exists with the government which your excellency represents.
In thus replying to the communications of your excellency, the undersigned begs you will accept the assurance of the high esteem with which he subscribes himself your most obedient servant,
Hon. Thomas H. Clay, Minister of the United States in the Republic of Honduras.
[Untitled]
Consulate of the United States of America at Comayagua and Tegucigalpa:
Be it remembered, that on the 7th day of July, 1866, personally came and appeared before me William Burchard, consul of the United States of America, at Comayagua and Tegucigalpa, Francisco Bernandez, formerly governor of the Bay islands, and now consular agent of the United States at the port of Truxillo, who being by me duly sworn, did solemnly declare and state as follows: That he is well acquainted with all the parties whose names appear as vouchers in the petition of Jacob Lang to the officer of the United States commanding at Key West relative to the abandonment at the island of Ruatan of an American sloop called the Muhlenberg. That Thomas Connor and John Poppleton, who sign themselves merchants in the aforesaid petition, are small shop-keepers on said island, who have always been and are still hostile to the government of Honduras, and continually oppose and resist the officers sent by said government to govern the islands, and endeavor in every possible manner to involve them in difficulties with foreigners. That Linn H. Woods is a weak young man, who would sign any paper or document, however false, that the before-mentioned Connor or Poppleton might present for that purpose. That James C. Webster, although he has considerable influence in Ruatan on account of a little property he possesses, is not a person of veracity, and has on more than one occasion perjured himself in the courts of the island in criminal cases of great magnitude, and that he has not been convicted and punished for this crime in consequence of the disorganization of the people and government of the said Bay islands. And he, the said Francisco Bernardez, further declares and says that he is acquainted with E. Gordon Street, the same person who wrote a letter to George Hannerwell, of New Orleans, a history of the above document of the sloop Muhlenberg, at the island of Ruatan. That the said Street is a refugee from justice from the island of Jamaica. That he is a man of very bad character, who, as this deponent firmly believes, would not hesitate to make a false declaration or lend his services to advance any claim, however unjust, for a small consideration.
Sworn and subscribed before me in the city of Tegucigalpa, the day and year first above written.
WM. C. BURCHARD, United States Consul.
{Consulate U. S. A., Comayagua and Tegucigalpa.}