[Translation.]
Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward.
Legation of Spain at
Washington, Washington,
January 28, 1866.
The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, has
had the honor to receive the notes of the 24th and 27th, from the
department, in answer to his of the 24th and 25th, about the detention
of the Meteor. The honorable Secretary of State ad
interim replies in both that prompt attention will be given to
the affair, and the undersigned hopes this may be done with the urgency
which the case requires. At the same time, and referring to his previous
note of the 9th about what was said in the World, of the 6th, of the
departure of two vessels, armed with torpedoes, for Chili, the
undersigned feels bound again to call the attention of the department to
a correspondence, dated at New York the 30th December, and published in
the Herald, from London, and which has been copied in the papers of this
country, referring pointedly to the same facts which had already been
published in the World.
It is hard upon the undersigned to be obliged to dwell upon such
suppositions, and he now repeats his security in respect of the high
responsibilities which, calumniously no doubt, are compromised by them.
Whatever may be the origin of them, notwithstanding, and strange as may
be to the government of the United States acts like those mentioned,
their transcendence is so much the greater when, in many minds, they are
mixed up with facts, such as the explosion at Taboga, and prove more and
more the movements of the conspiracy which, under the shade of
neutrality, exists in this country to violate that very neutrality
adversely to Spain. In the face of such facts, the government of the
United States cannot remain indifferent, and supposing orders, which
doubtless have been given on these matters, and the investigations which
have been made into them, the undersigned can do no less than call the
attention of the department to the necessity of disavowing, in some
manner, the opinion that the neutrality of the United States can be
publicly and with impunity violated by preventing, among other things,
floating about, without correction, notices such as that which assumes
the possibility that Vessels of the navy—the ram Dun derberg, which is
still in the hands of its builder, Mr. Webb—may be sold to the agents of
the Chilian government.
The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to reiterate to the
Secretary of State ad interim the assurance of
his highest consideration.
Hon. William Hunter, Acting Secretary of State.
[Page 599]
[New York
Herald of 27th of
January.]
the chilian question—alleged american aid and
comfort to the chilians—effect of the capture of the covadonga
in europe, &c.
[Correspondence London Herald.]
An expedition has already sailed from this port, the object of which
is to make a direct attack—an attack which, if successful, will put
an end to the blockade—upon the Spanish fleet in Chilian waters. The
design of the inspirers and leaders of this expedition is to destroy
the Spanish vessels with torpedoes; and what is most important, the
enterprise receives at least the covert sanction of the United
States government, as represented in one of its highest officials. A
few weeks since, Señor McKenna, the Chilian special agent, waited
upon Secretary Welles, and represented to that officer the necessity
for the destruction of the Spanish fleet. He spoke of the benefits
that would result to the United States from such an event, and
finally enlisted the sympathies as well as the more practical
assistance of the honorable Secretary. The Chilian ambassador told
Mr. Welles that the American civil war afforded a striking example
of what might be done in the way of annoying a hostile fleet, and
declared, in plain language, that his government was determined to
try the virtue of torpedoes in the work of opening its ports. He
therefore entreated the Secretary to give him the name of some
person then or formerly in the employment of the federal government
upon whose experience and sagacity the Chilians could rely. Mr.
Welles consented, and furnished him with a letter of introduction to
an engineer, then residing in New York, who had served the United
States during the war, and the efficacy of whose inventions had been
thoroughly tested Señor McKenna put himself in communication with
this officer, and the upshot of the whole affair is that one vessel,
conveying a cargo of torpedoes, has already sailed for the Chilian
coast. Others are to follow in due time. These submarine shells were
made in the Novelty Iron Works in this city; the vessel was loaded
at the company’s wharf. No attempt at concealment was made. The
torpedoes passed, to those who witnessed the shipment, as well as to
the workmen engaged in their manufacture, as “soda-water
fountains.”, The engineer who has undertaken the task of raising the
blockade is the brother of an enterprising American who has long
enjoyed the confidence of the Chilian government, and who has
accumulated a handsome fortune in the construction of railways in
Chili. All parties concerned in the work of blowing up the fleet
have been promised the protection of the government they seek to
benefit; all bear regular commissions, signed by the Chilian
authorities. The leader in the enterprise is to receive thirty
thousand dollars in gold as soon as the Spanish admiral’s flag-ship
is destroyed, and he has, in addition, a regular salary of five
hundred dollars per month in gold. His assistants also receive five
hundred dollars per month. What is quite significant is the fact
that the torpedo vessel used by our enterprising Yankees was sold to
them by the United States government at a merely nominal price. In
fact, the whole affair is winked at by our government. I understand
that the British consul here has been placed in possession of the
more important of the facts above related. The matter cannot long be
kept a secret here; indeed, in a few weeks it is highly probable
that it will be made public in the most startling and convincing
manner.