Mr. Fish to Baron Gerolt
The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note which Baron Gerolt, envoy and minister plenipotentiary of the North German Union, did him the honor, on the 16th instant, to address to him upon the revocation of the declaration made by the North German Government at the commencement of the war with France, for the protection of all private property at sea. Baron Gerolt apparently labors under a mistake in supposing [Page 406] that the undersigned, in Ms note of the 14th instant, inquired whether the merchant vessels of the United States would, after the inauguration of the new measures, still be protected from capture as before, and would be treated according to the provisions of the treaty between Prussia and the United States which was cited by the undersigned.
The undersigned was unfortunate in the use of language in his note of the 14th instant, if it is capable of being construed as implying any doubt of the purpose of the government of His Majesty the King of Prussia, or of the government of North Germany, to observe faithfully its treaty obligations toward the United States. The telegram of Count Bismarck communicated to the undersigned by Baron Gerolt on the 14th instant, related to terms to French vessels alone.
It was the object of the undersigned to ascertain whether the vessels of the United States were to continue at liberty to transport contraband of war without liability to seizure, in accordance with the terms of the notice communicated to the undersigned on the 19th of July last. If it should appear that it was the purpose of the North German government to withdraw the privilege so conceded, it would follow that the vessels of the United States would be remitted to the rights secured to them by the treaty cited in the undersigned’s note of the 14th instant. The undersigned hopes to receive at to early day information on this subject which may be made public.
The undersigned observes with some surprise that Baron Gerolt thinks that it might be considered as a matter of course that articles contraband of war were not intended to be embraced among the items of “private property on the high seas to be exempted from seizure,” under the notice of the 19th of July last. The undersigned takes the liberty to refer Baron Gerolt to the very precise language in the telegram of Count Bismarck, and to say that it seems to the undersigned scarcely probable or even possible that a statesman so distinguished as Count Bismarck, and so accurate in the choice of words to express his meaning, would have failed to set forth so important an exception, had he not intended to extend the exemption from seizure to all private property.
The undersigned has the honor, &c.,