Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: I have the honor to aknowledge the receipt of your lordship’s [Page 494] note of the 18th instant in relation to the imprisonment of the master and crew of the so-called British steamer Banshee. This case was first brought to the notice of this department by a note from your lordship, written on the 26th day of December, in which you communicated an extract from a despatch of her Majesty’s consul at New York, wherein it is stated that the master and crew are detained under direct instructions from the United States government, and that they are confined in New York jail. In each of your lordship’s communications it is stated that the prisoners were captured on a charge of breach of the blockade. The advices of the capture which have been received by the government stated that the Banshee belonged to the rebels. She appears to have been captured by an army transport instead of a vessel belonging to the naval service, and it is presumed to be owing to this fact that the papers which have been received at this department from the Secretary of the Navy, in compliance with my accustomed inquiries, fail, on examination, to give the full and exact information which was expected, and which is needed to enable me to give the explanations which your notes require. On discovering this deficiency, I have lost no time in calling on the proper agents to supply the information wanted, and I expect to be able to recur to the subject after a few days.
I have the honor to be, with high consideration, your lordship’s obedient servant,
Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., &c.