Mr. Washburn to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I left Corrientes on the 3d instant, and reached this place on the 7th instant, and immediately addressed a letter to Admiral Godon, advising him of the continued refusal of the allies to permit me to pass through their military lines, and requesting him to furnish me a war vessel and such convoy as might be necessary to enable me to reach my destination. In accordance with your instructions, I also sent him a copy of your despatch to me, No. 63, together with a copy of the letter of the Secretary of the Navy to him. When or where they will reach him I am unable to conjecture. I had supposed that on receiving the instructions from the Secretary of the Navy he would move in this direction, or at least that he would not go further away, so as to require longer time for me to communicate with him. Instead of that, however, I am told by Captain Crosby, of the Shamokin, that he has been informed the admiral has gone to Bahia, and thence to Pernambuco; and, for aught I know to the contrary, he may go to Para or Maranham before coming this way again. In that case, it will be a long time before he can get my letter, and as none of the commanders of the vessels of the squadron will move without his orders, it may be a longer time yet before I get to Asuncion. It is strange to me that the admiral should show such reluctance to send a gunboat to Paraguay. It cannot be to economize coal, for he shows no such economy of coal when he has a pleasure excursion in view.
On my return to this place I found that it was generally known that the United States government condemned the action of the allies in refusing me a passage through their military lines, and had sent orders to the admiral to send the naval force necessary to take me to my destination. This news had caused great satisfaction among the Americans here. One of the heaviest shippers from this port to New York assured me that during a residence of twenty-five years no news had ever been received here so satisfactory to Americans, save only the news of the collapse of the rebellion. This may be an exaggeration, but I know that, with scarce an exception, the Americans here are greatly delighted at the changed aspect that your last instructions have given to this act of discourtesy on the part of the allied authorities.
I have in previous despatches alluded to the fact that before I left here, some six or seven months ago, to go up the river to Corrientes, where the allied forces [Page 594] then were, supposing that they would permit me to pass through to Paraguay, the proposition was made to Admiral Godon that the American merchants here would furnish gratuitously the coal necessary for the trip, provided the admiral would send a gunhoat. The proposition was made to him by Mr. Samuel B. Hale, one of the wealthiest and most respected American merchants in all South America. He has been in business here for some thirty years, and though there are other rich and influential Americans here, he has more influence here than any other American has or ever had. Mr. Hale now tells me that when he saw the admiral here in January last, and urged upon him the propriety of sending up a gunboat to Paraguay, suggesting that the coal would be furnished gratuitously, the admiral answered that would make no difference. The Brazilian admiral, he said, was opposed to his sending up an American vessel, and opposed to my going through to Paraguay. Therefore he should not send a gunboat. Such is the testimony of Mr. Samuel B. Hale. It is cited now to show that where has been equivocation or bad faith somewhere. In my despatch of April 27th, 1866, in my account of my interview with Admiral Tamandare, of the Brazilian squadron, I wrote as follows: “He (the admiral) said that ‘when he was in Buenos Ayres he had an interview with Admiral Godon, of our navy, and told him that so long as the squadron was at Corrientes he could not object to an American war vessel going up to Paraguay, inasmuch as the gunboats of other neutral nations had been permitted to go up and down. But when the squadron moved up the river and became engaged in active operations the circumstances would be entirely changed and no one would be allowed to pass. This statement of Admiral Tamandare very much surprised me, as it was in flat contradiction to what Admiral Godon had stated to me before I left Buenos Ayres. One of the strongest reasons he had for not sending a gunboat to Paraguay was the objections made by Admiral Tamandare.”
Thus it appears from what the Brazilian admiral then said to me, and from the letter of President Mitre, (a copy of which I send herewith,) there is a conflict of statement between them and our admiral as to whether Admiral Tamandare did object to the sending of an American war vessel up the river previous to the advance of the squadron from Corrientes to Paraguay. They both, however, the President and the admiral, justified themselves in impeding my voyage to Paraguay by saying that Admiral Godon had assured them they had a perfect right to do so. I infer from the copy of the letter from the Secretary of the Navy to Admiral Godon, accompanying your despatch No. 43, that a long despatch of mine, dated January 16, 1866, was never received by you. In that I gave a long account of my endeavors to induce the admiral to send a war vessel up the river at that time, the reasons he gave why he should not, and the reasons I gave why he should. I send with this a copy of that despatch.* I think it was sent by some sailing vessel from this city to New York, but I do not precisely remember.
Had a war vessel been sent up to Asuncion at that time, the round trip could have been accomplished easily in two weeks, at a trifling expense, as the river was then high and no serious impediments to navigation had been placed in it by the Paraguayans. Now, however, the river is very low, and President Lopez has been long engaged in placing torpedoes in the river and choking up the channel, so as to render it impassable for the Brazilian squadron. The Brazilian admiral and President Mitre now both say that had a gunboat gone up at that time no objection would have been made. Now, however, the question has assumed a serious aspect, and however well disposed the allies may be to [Page 595] avoid a dispute with the United States, the expense to our government will be at least quadrupled.
I have the honor to be, very truly, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
- The original of the despatch above referred to was never received at the Department of State.↩