[31] *Mr. Fishy Secretary of State, to Mr. Buchanan.
March 30, 1869.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d instant, addressed to the President, and by him referred to this Department, in relation to the seizure and condemnation of the bark Georgiana by the government of Spain. In reply I have to state that the Georgiana appears to have been condemned by a Spanish admiralty court of the first instance, as a lawful prize of war, in consequence of her having been engaged in transporting a military expedition and its munitions, designed for the invasion of the island of Cuba. If the judgment of that court was erroneous, a remedy should have been sought by the owner of the Georgiana, through appeal to the court of last resort, where it is to be presumed that the error, if any, would have been corrected. If it were admissible now to discuss the propriety of the judgment, this Government is not in possession of such information as would enable it to show the condemnation of the vessel to have been unwarranted. It is not sufficient that the owners, and even the master, were ignorant of the destination and purpose of the criminal expedition *in which the vessel was employed.”The question” it was said by Judge. Betts, delivering the judgment of the district court for the southern district of New York, condemning the schooner Napoleon, “is as to the innocency or guilt of the vessel, as if the transaction in which she was implicated was one of personal violation on her part.” He further remarks that “the most distinguished and unblemished reputation on the part of a ship-owner will not protect his vessel from confiscation when it is engaged, through untrustworthy agents, and without his knowledge, and against his prohibition, in illicit employments, in infractions of revenue and fiscal laws, and pre-eminently in violating the laws of war.” [32]
There is nothing to show that this doctrine, of which this Government has availed itself during the late rebellion, was not legitimately applied to the case of the Georgiana. It is not thought advisable, therefore, to renew any correspondence with the Spanish government in relation to this vessel, which was opened with a view mainly to-rescue from the severe penalties of Spanish law the deluded members of the illegal expedition.
I am; sir, your obedient servant,
Arch. Buchanan, Esq.,
Camden, Maine.