Spain, driven her ashore, and destroyed her by fire, committing at the same time other acts of aggression and violence against not only subjects, but even authorities of the Queen of Spain in that island.

No department of this government had at that time received any information of the transaction thus mentioned, except a vague statement that it was reported at Havana that an insurgent vessel of this country had been chased at sea by an armed vessel of the United States, and was reported to have run ashore upon the coast of Cuba and been burned, without any further or more definite information concerning the transaction. The undersigned immediately thereupon called the attention of the Navy Department to Señor Tassara's complaint, with a request for the earliest and fullest investigation of the same that the department could make. The undersigned, at the same time, communicated to the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid the information which he had received from Señor Tassara, and authorized him to assure Mr. Calderon Collantes that the subject would be promptly investigated, and that just in the degree that the transaction should be found to justify the representations which Señor Tassara had made to the undersigned would agents of this government, who had equally violated the laws of the United States and their own instructions, be visited with the severe displeasure of the government, and the wrongs and injuries they had committed would be promptly and amply redressed.

The undersigned has now the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a note in writing from Señor Tassara, bearing date the 20th instant, which sets forth the same complaint with customary formality, and which is accompanied by documents presented for the purpose of substantiating the same.

The undersigned being thus, for the first time, made acquainted with the case in a convenient manner, is authorized to renew to Señor Tassara the expressions conveyed to his government that no delay shall be made by this government in ascertaining the merits of the complaint, and in awarding to Spain, and to any other parties who may be concerned in it, if the facts presented shall not be adequately controverted, all the redress and all the satisfaction which the law of nations, or the treaties between Spain and the United States, or even the comities due between friendly nations, shall require.

The undersigned willingly admits on this occasion the general as well as the special grounds upon which Señor Tassara rests his expectations, that this government will act not only promptly, but justly, and in good faith in regard to the complaint.

The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to Señor Tassara the assurances of his highest consideration.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD. .

Señor Don GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, S., &c., &c.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, November 15, 1862.

The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has now the honor to recur to a communication concerning the house of Avendaño Brothers, at New Orleans, which was addressed to him on the 26th of August last, by Señor Gabriel Garcia y Tassara, her Catholic Majesty's minister plenipotentiary residing near this government.

In that paper Mr. Tassara stated that a confederate steamer going from the Havana, having been captured in Berwick bay, there were found on board of her some letters addressed to the Spanish house of Avendaño Brothers, one of

them containing invoices of goods sent in consignment to them, but not for their account, by different vessels, and a bill to their order for some few hundred dollars.

Mr. Tassara further states that a few days after that incident occurred Avendaño Brothers received a note from General Butler, saying that he wished to see them. That one of the members of the house went to General Butler. That Genefal Butler showed him the letter, (which contained invoices as before described,) together with the bill before mentioned, and two others, seconds, for the value of nineteen hundred pounds sterling, requiring payment of the amount. Mr. Tassara next states that the representative of Messrs Avendaño Brothers assured General Butler that that house had nothing to do with those bills, because they did not, even by name, know the persons by whom they were drawn, but that these protestations served no purpose except to enrage the general, who insisted on his demand, under the threat of imprisonment in Fort Jackson, directing that the member of the house who made the protestations should be kept under arrest, and at the same time Major General Butler ordered an officer to take possession of the correspondence which should be found in the counting house of Avendaño Brothers.

Mr. Tassara proceeds to say that, in the state of things thus described, Messrs. Avendaño Brothers instructed a lawyer to see General Butler, and to cause him to understand the injustice he had done against them. That the general admitted that the bills, and even the goods pointed out by the invoices, were not, in fact, the property of those gentlemen; but he added that the gains which they must have made by the exportation of cotton and the importation of arms must have augmented so much that they might consider themselves very fortunate if they were not compelled to pay a larger sum.

Mr. Tassara proceeds to state that in the face of such violences there was no remedy but to yield, and that the Messrs. Avendaño, fearing to become victims of an outrage, signed a bill of exchange to the order of General Butler for the value of nine thousand six hundred dollars. That then, and not until then, the partner of the house who had been arrested, but was at large on bail, was set at liberty.

Mr. Tassara further states that the head of the said house, by name Don Peregrino Avendaño, not yet knowing to what he might be exposed, and judg ing from past oppressions, resolved to go to the island of Cuba; and that he has done so, and so has abandoned his business at New Orleans.

Mr. Tassara next observes that he deplores the necessity under which he is placed of complaining so repeatedly of the military authority at New Orleans in relation to the subjects of her Catholic Majesty.

Mr. Tassara then observes that the exaction of which the Messrs. Avendaño have been the subjects is a new and odious arbitrariness, and that the charge informally alleged against them cannot be anything else than a pretext to cover up the injury.

Mr. Tassara remarks that her Catholic Majesty's government has no need to repeat that it withdraws its protection from those of its subjects who break the laws of neutrality in the contests of this country.

At the same time Mr. Tassara observes that vague asseverations are not sufficient to prove an offence, especially, in particular, such as the violation of a blockade, which frequently bears its punishment along with it, and which, even when established, cannot palliate such downright injustice as that of which he has thus complained.

Upon these premises, Mr. Tassara expresses the opinion that the United States are under an obligation to make restitution of the sum of nine thousand six hundred dollars, which he represents as having been extorted by violence from the Messrs. Avendaño, no less than of the correspondence which the said

house was also compelled to deliver, and also to compensate the Messrs. Avendaño by the payment of damages and further indemnities.

Mr. Tassara, in conclusion, remarks that he does not question the proper disposition of the government of the United States to give effect to the protection of Spanish subjects residing in this country, but that, in the face of facts of the nature of those which are taking place at New Orleans, such protection seems to be null or insufficient; and such abuses demand urgent remedy.

The undersigned thinks it not improper to recall to the remembrance of Mr. Tassara the fact that some eighteen months ago an insurrection broke out in the city of New Orleans and in the region adjacent to it, and that a seditious party seized upon that important city, with its port, and occupied it with hostile forces, subverting the authorities of the United States and waging a war thereon for the overthrow of this government. All citizens of the United States residing there, whether engaged in trade or otherwise, owed allegiance to the United States, and were, by the Constitution and laws, obliged to refrain from engaging in, or aiding, abetting, or comforting their internal enemies. By the laws of nations, and by treaties, the same obligation rested upon all aliens who were residing there, whether engaged in commerce or not. The government of the United States forbade, by laws and by executive proclamation, all citizens and strangers within the United States from giving or rendering aid or information to the insurgents in any manner, equally by sea and on land. In due time the government despatched naval and land forces to New Orleans, conquered and captured the town and the port, and reduced them to military occupation under the command of Major General Butler, of the volunteer forces of the United States. Since that occupation the civil authority at New Orleans has, from reasons of public necessity, remained entirely in abeyance, and the city and port have been and are yet held under martial law as a military garrison, with the single modification that the blockade of the port has been relaxed, so as to permit legitimate and innocent trade under the restrictions proposed by the military authorities.

The undersigned is informed that the house of Avendaño Brothers are merchants who have for a long time been carrying on trade in the city of New Orleans. The undersigned finds himself obliged to remind Mr. Tassara that no evidence has been furnished to show that, if Avendaño Brothers ever have been subjects of her Catholic Majesty, they have still retained their allegiance, much less that they have not, to use Mr. Tassara's words, "broken the laws of neutrality in the contests of this country," which it has been the duty of the undersigned to describe. Indeed, the Messrs. Avendaño have not caused the undersigned to be furnished with proof of the fact that they ever have been subjects of her Catholic Majesty.

Mr. Tassara will be satisfied that this point is a material one, when he is informed, as the undersigned has learned from the military authorities at New Orleans, that persons who were born in the United States and attained the age of thirty years, continually residing in the country, and carrying on business and enjoying the privileges and exercising the rights of American citizens, have, since this civil war broke out, claimed to be subjects of foreign sovereigns, and by reason thereof rights of neutrality.

The undersigned does not doubt for a moment that Mr. Tassara has assumed upon probable grounds to extend the protection of her Catholic Majesty's government to the Messrs. Avendaño. But, insomuch as they are presented to this government as claimants, it is deemed reasonable that their allegiance, like every other element of their claim, should be substantiated by proper evidence. The undersigned has now to inform Mr. Tassara that it is represented by the military authorities at New Orleans, as a fact which has been duly ascertained by them, that the house of Avendaño Brothers were, from an early period in the present civil war, engaged at New Orleans in exporting cotton through the

blockade, and in importing and supplying the insurgents with arms and munitions of war for the overthrow of the government of the United States, in violation of the laws and the proclamations of the President, and that they thereby became, and ever since have been, active and dangerous enemies of the country whose protection they are now claiming.

The undersigned is justified by the same military authorities in saying that, for all the cotton the Avendaño Brothers so exported, in violation of the blockade, they were required by the insurgents' agents to import, and they did import, one-half of the proceeds or equivalent in such arms and munitions, which they directly or indirectly placed in the hands of the armed insurgents against the United States.

The undersigned is next authorized to state that a steam vessel, the Fox, having at an early period in the war been seized and taken by armed insurgents from her loyal owners, she was thereafter employed by such insurgents in the same contraband exportation of cotton and importation of arms and munitions of war; that, after she had already made three successful trips in that occupa tion, about the 10th of May last she was captured by General Butler on her fourth voyage; that she had then on board a cargo of arms, powder, lead, quicksilver, acids for telegraphic purposes, chloroform and morphine for medical stores, (all of which was not merely contraband, but was designed for the enemies of the United States,) to the value of three hundred thousand dollars; that at the time of the capture the Fox had run into the Bayou la Fourché, on the west side of the Mississippi, from which bayou she might run into Vicksburg, then in the possession of the insurgent enemy.

The undersigned is further authorized to state that on board of the Fox were found invoices, letters of advice, bills of lading, bills of exchange, and other evidence of transactions of the illegal character which the undersigned has described; that the bills of exchange were the produce of contraband shipments of cotton, less the one-half which had been invested in such contraband arms and munitions as have been described; that among these bills were the bills of exchange payable to the house of Avendaño Brothers, to which Mr. Tassara is understood to refer, the first having been forwarded by some other conveyance, but still remaining unpaid, and these very bills were for the one-half of the proceeds of a cargo shipped to Havana, the other half of which proceeds had been invested in such arms and munitions of war for the use of the armed insurgent enemies of the United States.

Besides these papers there was also found in the same vessel a correspondence between one Roest, an emissary of the insurgents at Richmond, engaged in attempting to excite foreign governments, and even the government of Spain, to adopt belligerent proceedings against the United States.

The undersigned is further authorized to state to Mr. Tassara that Major General Butler, by personal examination of the papers of the Fox, ascertained that the Avendaño Brothers were largely interested in, or consignees of, the aforesaid contraband cargo of the Fox. He then took into consideration the facilities for such traffic which were afforded by the no less than fifty-three marine passages connecting the State of Louisiana with the Gulf of Mexico. Upon such examination and consideration he determined to exert his military power to arrest this illegal and dangerous traffic. He called before him a member of the house of Avendaño Brothers, and charged him with the aforesaid participation of the house in the treasonable trade, and the member so charged did not deny the accusation.

Major General Butler having, in the manner before mentioned, seized and brought into the use of the government of the United States the contraband arms and ammunition which represented one-half of the proceeds of the previously described shipments of cotton, he seized for the use of this government the equally contraband other half of those proceeds, which were found on

board in the form of a bill of exchange, payable to the order of Avendaño Brothers. Major General Butler required Avendaño Brothers to pay the amount of that bill of exchange as a just penalty for their crimes against the United States, and as preventive of such treasonable proceedings in future.

The undersigned is further authorized to state to Mr. Tassara that, while it is true that the senior of the house of Avandaño has left New Orleans and taken refuge in Cuba, as Mr. Tassara has been informed, it is also true that his flight from New Orleans was determined by the consciousness that he had committed other grave crimes against the peace, dignity, and sovereignty of the United States.

The undersigned is further authorized to state to Mr. Tassara that the lawyer who was sent by the Avendaño Brothers to Major General Butler to ask explanations was one who had not renewed his oath of allegiance to the United States, as had been required by a military regulation which that general officer had established, and therefore he was not heard when he proposed to argue legal questions with the general in command. In the course of that cenversation Major General Butler, referring the transactions which the undersigned has related, informed the lawyer that Avendaño might think himself well off if he lost no more of the profits of his illegal transactions.

In conclusion, the undersigned, having taken the instructions of the President of the United States upon the subject, has the honor to inform Mr. Tassara that upon the case, as it now stands, the United States cannot admit that they have been brought under such obligations as Mr. Tassara has in his note assumed. At the same time the undersigned holds himself in readiness to receive any information or proofs which Mr. Tassara may be able now, or at any future time, to present, either in support of the case as it has been presented by Mr. Tassara, or controverting the case as it has been presented by the undersigned. Nor will the undersigned, in the prosecution of the matter, fail in any case to furnish Mr. Tassara all such proofs as may be found necessary to justify the defence which the military authorities at New Orleans have authorized the undersigned

to assume.

Mr. Tassara may be assured that, while the government of the United States must, of course, sustain their military authorities in the performance of their difficult and responsible duties towards the government, it will in no case sanction any the least violation by them of the rights of the government or of any of the subjects of her Catholic Majesty. The undersigned hardly need assure Mr. Tassara that this government regrets as profoundly as Mr. Tassara does every occasion which tends in any degree to produce misunderstanding between the United States and Spain.

The undersigned avails himself of the opportunity to offer to Mr. Tassara renewed assurances of his very high consideration.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Señor Don GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c., &c., &c.