No. 474.
Mr. Bátres to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Sir: On the 15th ultimo I had the honor to communicate to your excellency the telegram which had been sent me by the Government of El Salvador relative to the case of the American vessel Ounalaska. In amplification of my previous reports concerning the matter, I now take pleasure in informing your excellency that my Government received information about two months and a half ago to the effect that a political revolution was projected in the western departments, and that the revolutionists were relying upon certain arms and munitions for war, which were to be sent to them from San Francisco, Cal.; that, consequently, my Government immediately took all possible precautions both to anticipate the movements of the revolutionists and to seize the arms which they were expecting. These arms arrived on the 16th of last month by the American vessel Ounalaska, and were seized by the authorities of the port of Acajutla. I have the honor to inclose to your excellency a certified copy of a statement made by the captain of said vessel and of the documents presented by him to the military attorney who is engaged in prosecuting the revolutionists; by these documents your excellency will see that the munitions of war brought by the Ounalaska were intended to aid the rebellion in the Republic of El Salvador, they having been cleared by means of fictitious papers, as if they had been intended for the port of Guayaquil.
To the data contained in these papers I take the liberty simply to add that, as soon as the vessel was detained and her cargo seized the maritime commandant of Acajutla began the preparation of the proper legal papers, according to law, and that on the 12th of April last, up to which time I am in possession of advices, the said papers were transmitted to the supreme court of justice as being an admiralty court, in order that it might decide whether the vessel was or was not a lawful prize.
As to the captain and crew of the vessel, the Government generously ordered that when they should have given their evidence before the [Page 748] supreme court of justice, they should be unconditionally released, and that their passage should be furnished them to San Francisco, Cal., at the expense of the nation. In compliance with the instructions of my Government, I am happy to transmit the foregoing information to your excellency, inclosing the documents having reference thereto, and assuring you, &c.