The President is surprised to learn that you have been hindered and
delayed in the military lines of the allies on your return to Asuncion.
That delay is inconvenient and is deemed not altogether courteous. The
President desires to regard it as a not unfriendly proceeding.
Should the hindrance still continue, you will address yourself at once to
the commander of the allied forces and to the President of the Argentine
Republic. You will inform them that you are proceeding as resident
minister for the United States at Asuncion; that you are charged with no
duties that are inconsistent with the neutrality which the United States
has maintained in the war in which the allies are engaged with Paraguay.
You will ask them in the name of this government to give you, together
with your family and domestics, safe conduct through their military
lines.
Should the hindrance not cease within a reasonable time, you will then
deliver a copy of these instructions, together with a copy of the
accompanying letter of instructions from the Secretary of the Navy to
Admiral Godon, and will proceed in such vessel, under such convoy as he
shall furnish, to the place of your destination.
Hon. Charles A. Washburn, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Welles to Rear-Admiral Godon.
Navy
Department,
April 26, 1866.
Sir: On the 12th ultimo the department
acknowledged the receipt of your despatch numbered 33, and dated
January 23, 1866, relating principally to your interviews with Mr.
Washburn, minister to Paraguay, and to your action in not furnishing
him with a public vessel to take him to his destination. You
expressed some apprehension that Mr. Washburn would complain of your
course to the Department of State.
In the acknowledgment to which I have referred the department advised
you that it had received no intimation of such complaint having been
made, and expressed its approval of your proceedings, as indicated
in your despatch.
This matter is recurred to for the purpose of giving you additional
assurances that your course was none other than you were justified,
under the circumstances, in pursuing, and giving you instructions to
afford Mr. Washburn, in a certain contingency, a public
conveyance—that is, in one of the vessels of your squadron—to
Asuncion, which the honor and dignity of the United States require
to be done.
I submitted your despatch to the Secretary of State, who informed me
that no complaint of any kind has been preferred against you to that
department by Mr. Washburn, nor has there been any disposition on
the part of the Secretary of State to question any proceedings which
you have heretofore adopted.
The hindering and delaying of Mr. Washburn on his return to Asuncion,
of which you are doubtless fully advised, is considered an erroneous
and unfriendly proceeding on the part of the allies at war with
Paraguay; explanations from them are regarded as due to the United
States; and they have accordingly been informed that if, in future,
they should refuse to Mr. Washburn the facilities necessary for the
promotion of his journey, an occasion will have occurred in which
the dignity of this government must be consulted, so far as to
furnish the minister the conveyance and convoy necessary, though
possibly at some cost and inconvenience.
I am assured by the Secretary of State that you are in no danger of
being misapprehended by him.
From the general tenor of the last communication from Mr. Washburn,
it is probable that the allies will desist from any further
opposition to his progress. It is incompatible, however, with the
honor and dignity of the United States that their representative
should be hindered or delayed on his way to his official residence
in a foreign country, and he has accordingly been instructed to ask
the commander of the allied forces and the President of the
Argentine Republic, in a respectful manner, to give him a safe
conduct through the military lines. This, it is believed, will be
accorded to him; but, in the event that it should not, he has been
further instructed, without unreasonable delay, to apply to you for
a passage on a war vessel, with sufficient naval escort, to his
destination.
You will therefore, in the event of a refusal on the part of the
allied authorities to permit him to reach the government to which he
is accredited, (which refusal, however, is not anticipated.) furnish
him with the necessary facilities for that purpose.
The delay of Mr. Washburn in prosecuting his journey, and the
obstructions interposed in the mean time by others, are not matters
which are now necessary to be discussed. It is a special request of
the Department of State that Mr. Washburn should reach Paraguay,
and, if other efforts fail, that he should receive the aid of the
naval commander.
Under these circumstances you will extend to him, as the
representative of this government, such assistance as may be
necessary to enable him to accomplish that object.
Very respectfully,
GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the
Navy.
Rear-Admiral S. W. Godon,
Commnanding U. S. Brazil Squadron, Bahia,
Brazil.
