The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury (McAdoo)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of October 26, enclosing a copy of a letter from the collector of customs at San Juan, Porto Rico, asking for definite instructions with regard to the procedure to be followed in the matter of the clearance of [Page 759] armed merchantmen of belligerent nationality arriving in American ports.
In reply you are informed that the collector’s interpretation of the instructions sent him seem entirely correct, and that French vessels carrying an armament and arriving in port for the first time are not to be cleared except upon instructions from Washington, notwithstanding that the consul has given an assurance in regard to the defensive use of the guns on board.
I have [etc.]