Mr. Seward to Mr. Washburn.
Sir: Your despatch of September 12th (No. 69) has been received. I refer you to despatch No. 51 of this department, dated September 24ht, 1866, and its contents, which I trust has been received since you wrote the communication which is now acknowledged.
The President does not clearly understand the difficulties which you have presented in regard to your reaching Paraguay. It appears that when writing your despatch you had the recent official information from Mr. Webb, at Rio Janeiro, that the Brazilian government would not further object to or oppose your passing up the river to Asuncion.
It appears, further, that you cannot ask the Brazilians to send you through because a note of yours heretofore written to some special envoy of Brazil remains unanswered.
It also appears from your despatch that you do not care for, nor would you accept, a letter from the government of the Argentine Republic to President Mitre, requesting him to send you through, for the reason that you once had such a letter and he did not respect it. It appears, further, that you have put yourself in the way of correspondence with Admiral Godon, in obedience to your previous instructions, asking him to furnish you with a war vessel from the sqadron to take you to Paraguay, and that you have no answer from him, and no advice of the receipt of your letter.
It must be manifest to you, that if you yourself have all these difficulties, when you are at the mouth of the Paraquay river, to ascertain how you are to reach Asuncion, when no opposition is made to your progress by the belligerents, it must be tenfold more difficult for this department, at so great a distance, and with the impossibility of conducting correspondence with the government of the Argentine Republic and its allies, to determine for you in what way you shall proceed. Several of your despatches have conveyed censure [Page 613] against Admiral Godon in regard to his agency in the question of your detention, but the delay in the reception of those despatches, and the difficulties of communicating with him, have rendered it impossible to use those communications for the purpose of giving him more explicit instructions than those which you allege he has disregarded.
You will now please take notice, that if this despatch find you outside of the republic of Paraguay, the President expects you to overlook all points of ceremony and of past offence, real or imaginary, on the part of the allied governments, or any of them, and of past neglect, real or imaginary, on the part of Admiral Godon, and adopt whatever course in your discretion may seem best to reach Asuncion. Assuming that you find no opposition or resistance to your ascending the river and passing to Asuncion, then you will adopt the most practicable means to reach that destination without unnecessary delay, either by means of Brazilian vessels, or of those of either of the allies, whether such vessels are armed or unarmed, or of a ship of war to be furnished by Admiral Godon, or, if absolutely necessary, by means of steamer or other vessel hired by yourself—the expense to be reported to this department.
The past delay has become embarrassing to this government, and it is not disposed to allow itself to be put in the wrong by your failure to reach your destination promptly, when the opposition of the allied belligerents is represented by them to have ceased. Should you longer fail in proceeding towards your destination, and to reach it without serious procrastination, you will report all the circumstances distinctly to this department, in order that the government may be well informed where the responsibility of such failure shall belong.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles A. Washburn, Esq., &c., &c., &c.