sure that the Meteor shall not be employed in any act of hostility against Spain, in violation of the laws of neutrality. The undersigned had the honor to make known to the honorable Secretary of State, by note of the 4th instant, what was supposed to be the security which it was said the court would settle upon in order to leave the vessel at liberty, and which it has now settled upon. The undersigned believed that in such case the President of the United States, in virtue of the powers given to him by the act of neutrality, would provide for indefinite detention of the Meteor. The government of the United States cannot permit that a vessel under sentence of a court shall be left at liberty to violate the law, when only the intent to do so has been punished with confiscation. Moreover, the government of the United States cannot permit that-although the security be accepted that may be an illusion, from the insufficiency of the valuation, and that the collector can grant a clearance for the sailing of the vessel-without requiring the exact fulfilment of the provisions of the act of neutrality. The undersigned hopes these points will be taken into consideration, and that orders will be given, as well to the court as to the collector of the customs, this very day, if possible, by telegraph. The undersigned avails of this occasion to reiterate to the honorable Secretary of State of the United States the assurance of his highest consideration. GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SPAIN AT WASHINGTON, Washington, July 24, 1866. The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, has learned that the custom-house at New York has seen itself under the necessity of detaining in that port the Meteor, upon a charge of false register. This circumstance proves the bad faith and the intentions of the owners of the Meteor. It is regrettable that the court, which has given such proofs of impartiality in the course of this affair, should not have comprehended the management of the owners of the Meteor, and that, departing from the antecedents established in the proceedings, at the very moment when it recognized the culpability of the vessel and condemned her, should accept the security offered by such owners. Although this security was so insignificant and so inferior to the value of the vessel that it was necessary to protest against it, and experts (among them one of the most reputed constructors in this country) estimated the value of the vessel at three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, without reckoning the cargo, which could not be examined, the security accepted by the court for vessel and cargo is only one hundred thousand dollars. The undersigned knows that the judicial power is independent in its acts, but, in an international question such as relates to that of the Meteor, the government of the United States can and should interfere to obviate the inconveniences of the procedure of the court. Everything causes the suspicion that when the sentence of the judge condemning the vessel became known the question was discussed of taking the vessel out of the port of New York, even by proceeding in a manner contrary to the purposes of the act of neutrality. The owners offer the security when the condemnation of the vessel is made known to them, and when there were good reasons to suppose that it was agreed upon with the agents, enemies of Spain, to employ the vessel in open hostilities, even to calculating the prizes the Meteor ought to make to cover the amount of the security and other outlay. In view of these circumstances the undersigned repeats what he said in his note of the 4th instant, and requests the honorable Secretary of State to give orders to annul the action of the judge in accepting the security, or that the President of the United States, exercising the powers which the act of neutrality grants him, may decree the detention of the vessel until the state of war between Spain and the republics of Chili and Peru be ended. The undersigned avails of this occasion to repeat to the honorable Secretary of State the assurances of his highest consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SPAIN AT WASHINGTON, Washington, July 28, 1866. Adhering to his notes of the 21st and 24th instant on the affair of the Meteor, the undersigned must bring to the knowledge of the honorable Secretary of State that this morning he has received from New York the following telegram: "The collector has received from the Treasury Department the order to release the Meteor. The district attorney has not received any instructions, and consequently the vessel will go to sea." The undersigned must expect that the Department of State will give the orders necessary to prevent so grave a violation of the laws of neutrality of the United States. The undersigned avails of this fresh occasion to reiterate to the honorable Secretary of State the assurances of his highest consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &r.. GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SPAIN AT WASHINGTON, Washington, August 2, 1866. The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, received the note of the 30th June from the Department of State, replying to his of the 28th on the affair of the Meteor, that the affair had passed to the cognizance of the Attorney General. It having afterwards come to his knowledge that the Meteor had been given up to her owners and sailed from the port of New York for Boston, the undersigned would request the honorable Secretary of State to tell him if the delivering up is definitive, and if a vessel solemnly condemned by a court of the United States for flagrant violation of the laws of neutrality is left at liberty to enter the service of any of the belligerents against Spain. The undersigned avails of this occasion to repeat to the honorable Secretary of State the assurances of his highest consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor now to recur to the note with which you favored me on the 28th of July last, concerning the case of the Meteor. The opinion of the Attorney General has been taken upon the question which was submitted in that note. That opinion is that neither the Attorney General, nor any other executive department, has any control over the proceeding in the United States district court by which the Meteor was released from official custody. The undersigned offers to Mr. Tassara on this occasion renewed assurance of his very high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Señor Don GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 4, 1866. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2d instant, in which you inquire, first, whether the delivery of the Meteor, by order of the United States court of New York, is definitive; and, secondly, whether a vessel solemnly condemned by a court of the United States for flagrant violation of the laws of neutrality is left at liberty to enter the service of any of the belligerents against Spain. An answer, by way of anticipation, to the first of these two questions will be found in the note which I had the honor to address to you on the 2d instant, in which I communicated the result of the examination of the case which had been made by the Attorney General. According to that opinion the delivery of the Meteor is definitive. With regard to the second question, viz., whether a vessel solemnly condemned by a court of the United States for flagrant violation of neutrality is left at liberty to enter the service of the belligerents against Spain, I have to say, with great respect, that in the absence of any facts touching the present character, condition and destination of the vessel, or the present purposes of her owners, the question can only be regarded by this department as an abstraction. It is undoubtedly the province of the judicial and revenue agents of the United States at Boston or elsewhere to receive and act upon any information which may be laid before them tending to show a present design or purpose on the part of any one to infringe or violate the neutrality laws of the United States by the owners of the Meteor. The undersigned offers to Mr. Tassara on this occasion renewed assurance of his very high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Señor Don GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 7, 1866. Recurring to the subject of the Meteor, the undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to enclose herewith, for the information of Mr. Tassara, a copy of a letter of the 4th instant from the Attorney General of the United States. The undersigned offers to Mr. Tassara renewed assurances of his high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Señor Don GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c. &c., &c. Mr. Stanbery to Mr. Seward. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, SIR: I received, yesterday, your letter of the 1st instant, enclosing a copy of a note of the 21st ultimo, addressed to you by the minister of Spain, relative to the proceedings of the district court at New York in the case of the Meteor. The question you ask is, whether it is expedient or necessary to interfere with those proceedings? I reply that the constitution and laws have committed to the tribunals of the district court exclusive original jurisdiction of the case, and do expressly prohibit the executive department of the government interfering with that tribunal in the exercise of such jurisdiction. The government, through its counsel, had the right to oppose before the court the granting of the claimant's application to bond the vessel after condemnation. This right was duly exercised. The district attorney was instructed by this office not to give consent thereto, and the instructions were, I am advised, obeyed. But when the court, in the exercise of the discretion vested in it by the law, decided in favor of the application, and ordered the release of the vessel on stipulation filed, all opportunity, as well as all right, on the part of the government to object or resist terminated. In respect to the value of the vessel, and the amount of the bond to be accepted as a substitute for her, that was a matter also within the jurisdiction of the court, to be decided according to the evidence submitted. It appears, by the note of Mr. Tassara, that the valuation and report of the appraisers were contested in court, and counter-affidavits submitted. It is to be presumed that the court considered the question in the light of all the evidence adduced on the part of the libellant and of the claimants, and that its decision was correct. But whether its decision was right or wrong, no executive officer has power to review or resist it. I have the honor to remain yours, with great respect, HENRY STANBERY, Attorney General. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward. [Translation.] SPANISH LEGATION IN WASHINGTON, The minister of Spain has had the honor to receive yesterday's communication from the honorable Secretary of State, enclosing one from Mr. Savage, acting consul general of the United States in Havana, dated the 20th instant, informing him of the landing of negroes near Cardenas, and stating that the superior court had appointed a commission, consisting of one of the justices of said court and the notary, José N. de Ortega, to proceed immediately to the spot and institute the requisite proceedings. The undersigned understands this communication is meant to show the strict enforcement the Cuban authorities intend to give to the orders of the Spanish government for the suppression of the slave trade. The undersigned herewith returns the said communication of Mr. Savage, according to request, and accepts the opportunity to renew to the honorable Secretary of State the assurances of his great consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SPAIN AT WASHINGTON, The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, has the honor to address himself to the honorable Secretary of State of the United States, to make known to him that through a channel that deserves confidence he is assured that the monitor Idaho, belonging to the government of the United States, is getting ready, and is soon to go out, armed for Peru or Chili, under pretext of having been sold to Japan. The undersigned hopes that the honorable Secretary of State of the United States will fix his attention on this news, not doubting that, in case it should be true, even the departure of said monitor, or any other vessel, on the conditions mentioned, may be avoided. The undersigned avails of this occasion to repeat to the honorable Secretary of State the assurances of his highest consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. GABRIEL G. TASSARA. Mr. Seward to Mr. Tassara. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 20, 1866. The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of Mr. Tassara, of the 17th instant, stating that the monitor Idaho, belonging to the government of the United States, is getting ready, and is soon to go out armed, for Peru or Chili, under pretext of having been sold to Japan, and will thank Mr. Tassará to inform him what other information, if any, he has in his possession in regard to the port or place at which the Idaho is, and from which she is expected to sail, and also to furnish him with any reference to evidence of such design, and the party or parties concerned. The undersigned offers to Mr. Tassara assurances of his high consideration. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Señor Don GABRIEL GARCIA Y TASSARA, &c., &c., &c. AUSTRIA. Mr. Motley to Mr. Seward. No. 134.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Vienna, December 11, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your.despatches Nos. 159, 160, and 161, of dates November 4, 6, and 17. Since my last despatch upon the internal politics of this empire events have been transpiring of which the result must necessarily be of considerable importance not only to Austria, but to all Europe. No results, however, have yet |