Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward.
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.