File No. 22113/6.
The Secretary of State to Minister Brown.
Washington, November 6, 1909.
In re the detention by Honduras of the Perlas Co.’s launch, Mr. Knox instructs Mr. Brown to remind the minister for foreign affairs that the Government of the United States has upon occasion asserted and exercised the right to restore to the legitimate use of American owners vessels that had been impressed by revolutionists, even going so far, in the Colombian revolution of 1885, as the retaking by a warship of such a vessel on the seas. Mr. Knox expresses the hope, however, that this aspect of the question will not be presented for discussion.