Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 9, 1862. The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Tassara's note, of the 23d ultimo, in continuation of previous notes on the subject of the conduct of United States cruisers on the coast of Cuba, and, in reply, to inform him that a copy of it has been communicated to the Secretary of the Navy, whose instructions in the premises to United States naval commanders in the Gulf, Mr. Tassara may rest assured, will be as liberal as the public safety may permit, and always consistent with public law. The undersigned offers to Mr. Tassara renewed assurances of his high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Sénor DON GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c., &v., &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 9, 1862. SIR: The note which your excellency addressed to me on the 26th of August last, during my absence from this city, has only just now been received. It prefers a complaint by your government, made in behalf of the Spanish house of Avendaño Brothers, at New Orleans, for severities and exactions alleged to have been committed there by Major General Butler while in the military command of that city. More especially it alleges that, without sufficient cause or grounds, General Butler exacted of the aforesaid house, under threats of violence, a bill of exchange for £1,900, equal to nine thousand six hundred dollars. This complaint is a very grave one. The President, of course, is not prepared to believe that it is justly made; you may, however, without hesitation, assure your government that an investigation of it will be made with the least possible delay, and that ample redress will be promptly given if Major General Butler shall fail to justify his proceedings in the transaction. This government is, above all things, desirous to direct its proceedings in suppressing the present insurrection in such a manner as to do no wrong to individuals, and especially to the subjects of friendly nations. The present seems to be a proper occasion for me to inform you that Brigadier General Shepley, who some time ago was appointed military governor of Louisiana, has now assumed that office, and is charged with the conduct of civil affairs in that State. It may sometimes happen that differences of opinion may arise between this government and that of Spain upon the merits of complaints made by the subjects of Spain against the American authorities, or complaints made by citizens of the United States against the authorities of Spain. In view of such a possibility, I beg leave to suggest the expediency of establishing a joint commission for their settlement, to be composed of commissioners mutually agreed upon by the two governments. A similar proposition has been made by the United States to Great Britain, and it is understood that there is a probability of its acceptance. I avail myself of this occasion to offer to you renewed assurances of my very high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Sénor DON GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SPAIN, Washington, August 26, 1862. In continuation of the business of the Spanish steamer Cardenas, the undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, has the honor to transmit, annexed, to the Hon. Secretary of State of the United States, copy of the proceedings, sustained by documents, by which Don José Maria Morales, president of the Cuban General Steam Navigation Company, shows that the damages occasioned to them by the long detention of said vessel at New Orleans, in consequence of the unjustifiable orders of General Butler, amount to the sum of sixteen thousand three hundred and forty-seven dollars. In pressing this claim the undersigned entertains the confidence that the government of the United States will admit its justice by indemnifying the owners of the Cardenas for the losses they have suffered. The undersigned avails of this occasion to reiterate to the Hon. Secretary of State of the United States the assurance of his highest consideration. GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State of the United States. [Translation.] MOST EXCELLENT CAPTAIN General, Superior Civil GovERNOR: Don José Maria Morales, president of the Cuban General Steam Navigation Company, with all due respect shows to you that on the 13th of this present month arrived at this port from New Orleans the Spanish merchant steamer Cardenas, the property of the said company, and under command of their captain, Don José Ramon Burguero. This vessel was cleared here for that port on the 31st May last past, carrying freight and passengers, with all the formalities and requirements necessary on the part of our authorities, and with the intervention of the consul of the United States at this place in all that concerned certificates to documents. On the 4th day of June, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the said vessel reached New Orleans, made fast to one of its wharves, and landed all the passengers in the best condition of health, without any impediment whatever made by the vessel of war and forts of that place. At eight o'clock the same night an order of the government was made known to the captain to cast off from the wharf, and drop down and anchor below the forts, reminding him that he had entered the port without having asked leave of the commander of said fort; and, although Captain Burguero presented himself to General Butler, commandant general of the department, with the intention of stating to him that, never having been in that port, he was ignorant of its settled usages, that notwithstanding he came to on passing before the forts and on arriving at the Lagavette, nobody prevented him from going on; that if any signal had been made to him to stop he would have obeyed it; and that it did not appear to him to be just that the interests of his owners and freighters should suffer by the negligence of the commanders of those forts. The said General Butler having refused to listen to his reasons, and threatening him with sinking his vessel if he did not immediately comply with the order which had been given him, Captain Burguero, desiring to secure himself from responsibility, and to guard, at the same time, the rights of the owners against the heavy damages which he foresaw would follow upon such a strange order to go into quarantine when there had not been a single sick man on his ship, and to guard, also, the rights of some freighters who had shipped fruits, which surely would rot and be thrown overboard, as in fact took place, went at once, without delay, accompanied by his consignees-Messrs. Avendaño Brothers-before her Majestys consul resident at New Orleans to extend the protest which, in form most solemn, he encloses to you, that you may thereby inform yourself of its contents, and lay it before her Majesty's government, in order to obtain just reparation and indemnification of the losses and damages which have been caused to those interested in the vessel and to some freighters by the effect of the measures which were so inopportunely and so unjustly taken with the steamer Cardenas to cause her to suffer from twenty-two days of quarantine with such rigor as to challenge attention, as exercised only with that vessel, perhaps because she was Spanish, whilst the going up to the port was allowed to other vessels coming from the same place as the Cardenas, or subjecting them only to lighter quarantine, or none, as occurred with the American mail steamer Roanoke, which arrived from Havana a few minutes before the Cardenas. If to such arbitrary action is added the strictness with which the authorities of the port acted on the day of the departure of the said steamer Cardenas an exact and general search being made on board, without passing over the letters passengers were carrying with them, which were opened and read in the presence of all, your excellency and her Majesty's government will not do less than admit that there is just ground to claim from that of the United States what may satisfy the dignity of ours and the injured interests of our subjects, damaged by the effect of the incomprehensible orders of General Butler; because, from the many interesting details which are shown by the protest, is deduced the injustice and oppressiveness of the penalty imposed on the steamer Cardenas, making her, without cause, perform twenty-two days quarantine after the vessel had received on board, on passing one of the forts, an officer of one of the detachments which garrisoned them, who asked the favor of being carried to the city, and after having been landed, together with thirty-five passengers that she brought from Havana, and finally after having been in full and complete communication and contact all the evening of the 4th day of June with the crowded population of New Orleans, which, through curiosity, came to visit the vessel. The Cuban General Steam Navigation Company, considering that the round voyage of the steamer Cardenas could not exceed fifteen days, supplied their vessel with mess rations and provisions for that time, bearing in mind the scarcity and dearness of provisions in New Orleans, in order not to delay their vessel in port more time than was purely needful to take in cargo and passengers, that is to say, three or four days; but, as it could not enter into their calculations that twenty-two days of quarantine would be imposed upon her, it cannot be brought in question but that for a short time, while undergoing that quarantine, the captain was obliged to have recourse to the city to provide himself with necessary food, having had to pay thirty dollars a barrel for flour, half a dollar a pound for meat, a dollar a dozen for eggs, and the rest in the same proportion. The numerous crew of the vessel, exceeding forty persons, including officers, seamen, engineers, firemen, and other service, compulsorily brought upon her a daily expenditure of large amount, besides towings, pilot dues, and other extraordinaries, which have had to be paid three times in consequence of such quarantine, so that the whole will not be less than four thousand dollars; and if to this be added, as should be added, the estimate of damage by the loss of time by twenty-two days detention in such quarantine, during which the vessel might have made very easily a voyage and a half, this is another damage of importance, which, according to the data presented by the administrators of the company, may be considered at the lowest at $12,450 under existing circumstances; and this is the reason why the president of the company, who has the honor to address himself to you, begs you will please to have presented, in due form, the protest enclosed, with a separate note of the estimate of damages brought upon the Cuban General Steam Navigation Company, according to a memorandum signed by the administrators, amounting together to $16,347. These documents are placed in your influential hands, that in such manner and form as you shall seem just most adequate claim be made for payment from the government of the United States, as a just indemnification of the damages which were caused to the said company as a consequence of the unjustifiable orders of General Butler, commandant general of the department of New Orleans, such being an act of justice which is prayed from the government of her Majesty which your excellency so worthily represents in this island. J. M. MIRALES. HAVANA, July 26, 1862. [Translation] Administration of the Cuban General Steam Navigation Company. HAVANA, July 23, 1862. Amount of damages which, according to the notes of expenses presented by the captain of the steamer Cardenas, and the usual product of a round voyage to New Orleans at the present epoch, this administration considers that the Cuban General Steam Navigation Company has suffered, by the unjustifiable detention of twenty-two days, which the said vessel was subjected to at the port of New Orleans by the military commander and representative at that place of the government of the United States of North America, maintenance of the crew during twenty-two days, expenditure of coal, which was necessary to be replaced, at sixteen dollars per ton, tow boats, pilotages, errands of persons in employ, transportation of provisions, commissions on purchases, loss on exchange of paper for gold, &c., &c... $3,897 On a round voyage of a steamer of 407 tons, between this port and that of New Orleans, the period of fifteen days is reckoned. Upon this idea, the Cardenas ought to have made a voyage and a half in the twenty-two days she was detained, and using as bases the net product of that she had just completed, (if she had not been delayed,) amounting to eight thousand three hundred dollars, the company would have earned, for a voyage and a half..... Total.... 12,450 16,347 It results that the Cuban General Steam Navigation Company, which we conduct, has suffered damages to the amount of sixteen thousand three hundred and forty-seven dollars, by the detention of twenty-two days, at the port of New Orleans, of their steamer Cardenas. SAN PELAZIO PARDO & CO. Certified. Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward. [Translation] LEGATION OF SPAIN IN WASHINGTON, The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, has had the honor to receive the note of the honorable Secretary of State, of the 9th instant, in reply to that of the 3d, from this legation, remonstrating against the outrage committed in New Orleans upon the Spanish house of Avendaño and Brothers. The case is, in truth, serious, and the undersigned hopes that, as the honorable Secretary of State assures him, the government of the United States, once convinced of the ground of the remonstrance, will hasten to do justice. The appointment of the new governor of Louisiana will, without doubt, contribute to the settlement of affairs in New Orleans. * * The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to the honorable Secretary of State the assurance of his most high consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Secretary of State of the United States, &c., &c,, &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 17, 1862. The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Tassara's note of the 26th ultimo, in continuation of previous notes on the subject of occurrences which took place at New Orleans in the month of June last, on the arrival and departure of the Spanish steamer Cardenas and the United States steamer Roanoke. In his note of the 16th of July last the undersigned had the honor to inform Mr. Tassara that a transcript of his communication of the 28th of the preceding month, on the subject referred to, would be sent to the special agent of the United States, then at New Orleans, and that he would be instructed to make a prompt investigation of the complaint. The return of that officer, however, to this city, while the instruction was on its way to New Orleans, has rendered a different disposition of the subject necessary, and the undersigned has accordingly transmitted to the Secretary of War copies of Mr. Tassara's several communications, with the request that he would cause an examination of the complaint and allegations in question to be made without delay. The undersigned avails himself of the occasion to offer to Mr. Tassara renewed assurances of his very high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Señor Don GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c., &c., &c. |