Mr. Day to Mr. Cambon.
Excellency: With further reference to your note of the 25th ultimo, in relation to the Spanish brig Amapala, I have the honor to inform you that I am just in receipt of a letter from my colleague, the Attorney-General, inclosing a copy of a report of the United States district attorney at Jacksonville, Fla., on the case in question.
By the report of the district attorney it appears that the statement made to your excellency by the parties in interest that the Amapala was compelled by bad weather to seek shelter at Tampa is wholly incorrect. The evidence taken in preparatorio discloses the fact that the brig was captured off Havana while flying the colors of the Republic of Honduras and attempting to run the blockade. The brig has accordingly been condemned and ordered to be sold.
It appears that there is no desire on the part of the authorities of the United States to detain the passengers who were on board of the brig at the time of the capture. It is thought, however, that this Government is not under any obligation to provide them with the means of transportation, especially as the devices resorted to by the brig for the purpose of escaping lawful capture must have been known to those on board.
Accept, etc.