Mr. Seward to Mr. Burlingame
Sir: The department has received a despatch of the 1st of April last from Mr. Le Gendre, the United States consul at Amoy, accompanied by an extract from a letter of a Mr. McPhail, of Formosa, on the subject of the wreck of the American bark Rover, on a shoal near that island, and the subsequent murder by the savages of thirteen out of fourteen of her crew. Mr. Le Gendre says that he was about to embark in the United States steamer Ashuelot for the scene of the disaster for the purpose of inquiring into the case; that he had written to you, and had asked instructions in regard to it. The directions to you upon the subject, contained in my No. 202 of the 20th of last month, are repeated.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Anson Burlingame, Esq., &c., &c., &c.