[Translation.]

Señor Palacios to Mr. Seward.

Mr. Minister: Rear-Admiral Davis having reached Angostura, and the following correspondence having taken place, (numbers 1 to 5,) and the minister of foreign relations being absent, he requests me to send you the annexed documents and a certified copy of the depositions of Bliss and Masterman, before they were delivered on board the Wasp this afternoon, until the minister can address you on the subject.

I have the honor to offer you the assurances of my distinguished consideration.

JUAN MANUEL PALACIOS, Chief Clerk in the Commanding General’s Office.

Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.

Rear-Admiral Davis to President Lopez.

No. 1.

Sir: I have the honor to apprise your excellency of my arrival in front of the batteries of Angostura.

My object in placing myself in personal intercourse with your excellency is to request that Messrs. Bliss and Masterman, the individuals arrested and detained in Asuncion, on the 10th day of September last, may be delivered into my keeping, subject to the order of the United States.

It does not belong to me to define or even to consider the state of these individuals. But on this subject your excellency will, I do not doubt, repose confidence in the justice and friendship of the United States, which has afforded your excellency many recent proofs of its respect and sympathy.

Any papers your excellency may be pleased to send with these individuals will be transmitted to Washington by the earliest opportunity.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your excellency’s most obedientservant,

C. H. DAVIS, Rear-Admiral Commanding the Naval Forces of the United States in the South Atlantic.

His Excellency Marshal Don Francisco Solano Lopez, President of the Republic of Paraguay.

[Page 698]
[Translation.]

Señor Palacios to Rear-Admiral Davis.

No. 2.

Admiral: I have the honor to inform your excellency of the receipt of the note you have been pleased to address, under date of yesterday, to his excellency the marshal President of the republic, by whose order I now reply to your excellency.

The Paraguayan government, always influenced by the best and most friendly sentiments towards the United States of America, would gladly avail itself of every opportunity in which, without receding from its sovereignty and its rights, it could offer fresh proofs of its constant friendship; but his excellency the President regrets that it is not in his power to accede to the delivering on the terms of your excellency of the accused, Bliss and Masterman, to the keeping of your excellency, who if not called upon to define, or even to consider, should not at least concede from yourself the fact of their being criminals, deeply committed in the affairs of a horrible conspiracy—very particularly the former.

Nevertheless, his excellency the President of the republic would cheerfully consent to the delivery of the criminals, Bliss and Masterman, provided it were requested in a manner more in conformity with the fact of their being accomplices of Mr. Washburn, and the first intimately acquainted with his intrigues in the character of conspirator and agent of the enemy, of which he is now accused in the national tribunals, since they could be useful in the administration of justice by the American government, to whose judgment he would confide the above-mentioned criminals.

I avail myself of this opportunity to assure your excellency of my very distinguished consideration.

JUAN MANUEL PALACIOS, Chief Military Secretary.

His Excellency Rear-Admiral C. H. Davis, Commanding the Naval Forces of the U. S. in the South Atlantic.

Rear-Admiral Davis to President Lopez.

No. 3.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a communication from your excellency in reply to my communication of the 4th instant, in which your excellency expresses a willingness to deliver to the United States government, in my keeping, the accused persons Bliss and Masterman, mentioned in the said note, but that your excellency objects to their delivery under the terms of my note.

I wish your excellency to believe that it is no part of my official duty either to offeror to refuse any terms which will affect the alleged criminal condition of the two persons in question.

The papers accompanying these two persons will sufficiently express to the government of the United States the judgment of the government of Paraguay in their cases.

I take this occasion to inform your excellency that I am accompanied by a minister accredited to the government of Paraguay, who, should no difficulties exist to prevent it, will present his credentials.

Considering this, and the friendship of the government of the United States of America for that of the Republic of Paraguay, I have to ask your excellency to embark the accused persons Bliss and Masterman on board of this vessel, in order that I may keep them in security, subject to the disposition of the government of the United States, of whose justice and friendly sentiment your excellency can entertain no doubt.

Your excellency is aware that the present position of this vessel is one in which she should not be detained longer than is absolutely necessary.

Will your excellency, therefore, be pleased to inform me when I may expect to receive these persons on board, or to apprise me at the earliest moment that it is not your excellency’s intention to send them at all, if such should be your final decision.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your excellency’s most obedient servant,

C. H. DAVIS, Rear-Admiral Commanding the Naval Forces of the United States in the South Atlantic.

His Excellency Marshal Don Francisco Solano Lopez, President of the Republic of Paraguay.

[Page 699]
[Translation.]

Señor Palacios to Rear-Admiral Davis.

No. 4.

Admiral: His excellency the marshal President of the republic directs me to reply to the communication of yesterday’s date which he has just received from your excellency, in answer to a communication of mine of the same day, written also by his excellency’s command.

As to what is said of the form of your excellency’s application for the embarcation of the criminals Bliss and Masterman, that it never intended either to offer or refuse terms which might affect the criminal condition of the individuals in question, but to leave it well established that this application could not be complied with in the sense of a reclamation, but of a graceful courtesy on the part of the government of Paraguay towards that of the United States of America; if in my answer your excellency could find anything different, I beg pardon.

Your excellency will now permit me to remark that I have written nothing in that communication which authorizes your excellency to believe that it has ever been the intention of his excellency the President of the republic not to deliver up the criminals, Bliss and Masterman, unreservedly.

I thought that I had made it distinctly apparent that his excellency regretted that it was not in his power to accede to the conditions of the first demand; but since neither a reclamation nor a demand is in question, thus strengthening my former communication, his excellency has given the necessary orders for the delivery of the criminals in a conspiracy, Bliss and Masterman, on board of your excellency’s vessel, that they may be securely retained, subject to the disposition of the government of the United States, asking permission to recommend to your excellency their entire non-intercourse with the belligerent countries in whose service the conspiracy was set on foot.

Your excellency will consider this application sufficiently justified by the actual state of the war, which has also led your excellency to request that you should not be detained longer than is absolutely necessary.

In this respect I am happy to inform your excellency that the prosecuting officers, who have received the orders of his excellency with a recommendation to be brief, expect to get through in time for the embarcation of the criminals, Bliss and Masterman, by 3 o’clock of the afternoon of the 8th instant, and at the same time they have expressed a wish, which they hope will be gratified, that your excellency will name one or two of your officers who can witness on the morning of the same day the verification of the declarations of both of the accused in the case.

His excellency the President thanks your excellency for the information that you are accompanied by a minister accredited to this republic, the presentation of whose credentials the minister will be pleased to arrange at his convenience in the customary form.

I profit by the occasion to offer to your excellency the assurance of my very distinguished consideration.

JUAN MANUEL PALACIOS, Chief Military Secretary.

His Excellency Rear-Admiral C. H. Davis, Commanding the Naval Forces of the U. S. in the South Atlantic.