Mr. Bayard to Mr. Preston.
Washington, February 5, 1889.
Sir: I received at a late hour last evening a telegram, dated at New York on the 4th instant, in the following words:
Steam-lighter Admiral, at pier 10, North River, New York, has on board armament of rebel steamer Madrid, consisting of several 100–pounder Parrott cannons with ship carriages and several hundred projectiles, part received from William Reed & Son of Boston and part from Joseph Frazer of New York. They are, we believe, intended to be shipped on the tender of the Madrid, the American steamer Carondelet, now at Erie Basin, or another vessel, for a neutral post, but in fact for Cape Hayti. Collector Magone advised, asked to telegraph to you for immediate instructions to act.
Stephen Preston.
As heretofore, when allegations have been presented to this Department of the fitting out and arming, within the United States, of vessels for participation in the existing conflict in Hayti, I have communicated the information to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney-General in order that the officers of their respective departments may be suitably instructed to co-operate in securing all possible opportunities for resort to the judicial branch. And I again impress upon you the necessity to which I adverted in my communication of the 28th ultimo, of setting the judicial machinery properly in motion in order to determine whether the facts you represent in respect of the participation of vessels of the United States in the internecine warfare of factions in Hayti constitute a violation of the statutes of the United States.
Accept, etc.,