matter seem to me to be almost, if not quite, now brought to an end by their unfortunate disposition and conduct. The armed men around my premises place me and my household, according to the best judgment of discreet men here, in personal danger, and render my house here one of constant insecurity, annoyance, and anxiety. This state of affairs seems at times alike almost incredible and, as you may readily conceive, unendurable. It is new even in this country. It has been stated to me that special orders are given to the soldiers around my house to keep up a noisy cry every night, from early evening until the next morning, for the express purpose of annoying me and my household, with the idea of worrying me out, and thus obtaining, by such means, the end had in view as to Boisrond Canal. I am aware how much better it would have been not to have felt authorized or obliged, under whatever circumstances, to incur, in the first instance, any responsibility in the case, and no one can regret more than I do that peculiar circumstances at the moment appeared to leave me no choice as to that first step in this unfortunate affair. But we now find ourselves in the full face of a stern actuality, which, it seems to me, ought to be met in some way alike honorable and consistent with the dignity of our flag. In this view I respectfully renew to you the recommendation made in my No. 366, of the 21st ultimo, for the friendly presence of a national vessel in these waters. SIR: I transmit a copy of a note of the 25th ultimo, addressed to this Department by Mr. Preston, the minister of Hayti accredited to this Government. It relates to the asylum which you thought proper to grant to political refugees in that country, and represents that you had not complied with a request which had been made of you by the government to furnish it with a list of them. It also says that some of them were received at your legation with arms and ammunition. As your dispatches have been silent upon these points, an explanation in regard to them will be desirable. It is presumed that the decisive course which you have thought proper to adopt in regard to the refugees adverted to has been taken in full view of your accountability, not only to your own Government, but to that to which you are accredited. Whatever may be our disposition to receive reasons to palliate or justify your proceedings, it is still in the power of the Haytian government to refuse to be satisfied with them. This is a consideration which should always be borne in mind by a diplomatic agent. While he should not allow it to affect his sense of duty, he should be well aware of the consequence which may attend its conscientious discharge. I am, &c., HAMILTON FISH. No. 381.] No. 320. Mr. Bassett to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Port au Prince, July 16, 1875. (Received July 26.) SIR: An English schooner, called the "Laura Pride," of Turk's Island, Capt. J. W. Stevens, of the burden of one hundred and five tons or thereabouts, left New York on the 1st of June, ultimo, chartered by a Mr. Hollander, laden with sixty-five tons of coal, with arms and ammunition shipped by a Mr. Burnette, a small supply of provisions, and a few agricultural implements; the arms and ammunition being consigned to the Haytian minister of war and marine, the coals to order, and the rest of the cargo to a Mr. Fernandez, a Cuban employed as a professor in the national college here, and generally understood to be an agent.of the Cuban insurgents. When she cast anchor in this harbor on the 27th ultimo, she was immediately thereafter boarded by Mr. Fernandez, who is said to have represented himself as authorized to direct, and, in fact, to have actually directed, Captain Stevens to land his cargo, including the arms and ammunition, at a place called the Platform, on the northern coast, beyond the Môle St. Nicholas. At this time a Spanish war-vessel, the Churruca, appeared in the outer harbor. Inquieted alike by Mr. Fernandez's speech and manner, and by the approach of the Spanish war-vessel, Captain Stevens promptly declined to act upon Mr. Fernandez's statements, and came to the British vice-consulate, giving to my colleague his ship's papers and an account of Mr. Fernandez's visit aboard, at the same time expressing his suspicions and protesting his ignorance of a design on the part of the Cuban agents in New York to press him and his vessel into their service. The result of the conversation was that my colleague, Mr. Byron, informally notified the Spanish consul and the authorities of this government of the facts in the case. Thereupon our Spanish colleague and his naval commander, who had obtained full and precise information of the schooner's departure from New York, and of the very details of her cargo, went to the govern ment to denounce the "Laura Pride," to demand that her cargo be seized, confiscated, and handed over to them, that Mr. Fernandez be dismissed from the public employ, and that Mr. Preston, Haytian minister at Washington, who had, according to Captain Stevens's statement, in some way sanctioned the shipment of the arms and ammunition to the government, be also dismissed from his office as minister. The government promptly disowned all knowledge of or participation in the shipment of the war material, agreed to dismiss Mr. Fernandez from the public service, pretending to be astonished and offended at his conduct relative to the schooner, and pretending also to know nothing of his alleged connection with Cuban insurgents. It also agreed to cause all the schooner's cargo to be discharged and placed in depot here, (see inclosure A,) and to inquire into Mr. Preston's alleged conduct in consenting to the vessel's departure from New York for this port with the war material on board. But it would seem that the difficulty is not yet fully arranged. The Spanish representative now distinctly demands that the arms and ammunition be handed over to him, and that Mr. Fernandez receive some further mark of the disapprobation of this government, such as that he be expelled from Haytiau territory or delivered over to the Spanish authorities. This my colleague of Spain himself tells me. On the other hand, my British colleague, Mr. Byron, denies the right of any one to touch, except by a regular commercial transaction, that part of the schooner's cargo, the coal, which was consigued to order, and has, I believe, entered a protest in that sense. Two Spanish war-steamers, the "Churruca” and the "Bazan," are in the harbor. But I anticipate an amicable settlement of the whole affair at an early day. I am, &c., EBENEZER D. BASSETT. [Inclosure in No. 381.-Translation.] Mr. Excellent to Mr. Bassett. BUREAU OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Mr. MINISTER: I have the honor to inform you that the English schooner "Laura Pride" arrived at Port au Prince, from New York, the 27th ultimo. As the cargo of this vessel is composed, among other objects, of a certain quantity of arms and ammunition, which have been addressed (consigned) to the Haytian minister of war, when the government has given no command (order) of this nature, I bring to your knowledge that, in virtue of the decision of the cabinet, these arms and ammunitions, as well as the rest of the cargo of the vessel, will be discharged and held in depot until some new disposition on the part of the government. Be pleased, Mr. Minister, to accept the new assurances of my high consideration. Mr. E. D. BASSETT, Minister Resident of the United States, Port au Prince. EXCELLENT. No. 383.] No. 321. Mr. Bassett to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Port au Prince, July 16, 1875. (Received July 26.) SIR: I have the honor to represent that, since the writing of my No. 378, of the 27th ultimo, there has been no essential change in the situation relative to the refugees under our flag here. The refugees are still at my house. My premises are still surrounded and closely watched by armed men in a most needlessly offensive and insolent manner, and this government, still persisting in its original demand for the refugees, manifests no disposition to come to an arrangement of the unfortunate difficulty. The situation in this regard has awakened a widespread and lively interest everywhere in this country. Through my colleagues and others it has also been made a subject of communication to foreign lands. No occurrence in this country for the past thirty years and more, not even its so-called civil wars, has excited so deep an interest or caused so much feeling. People every where here are deeply concerned about it, nay, amazed at it; and it has a perceptible effect upon some of the ordinary commercial transactions. The conduct of this government in the case is wholly unprecedented in its history; first of all, in refusing the traditional permission to embark the refugees for foreign territory, and then in refusing to accept, or rather ignoring, your decision upon au appeal which the government itself made to you. No similar con-. duct has ever been observed by any previous government in Hayti And the experiment is now made with us, as experiment was made with us in the Jastram case, and in the case of Mr. Consular Agent Teel, in 1872. As I have already had the honor to say to you in my dispatches numbered 364 and 365, (the statements and views of which I cannot but still respectfully maintain, so far as they relate to the case in hand,) the whole idea at the bottom of this conduct of the government is now, and never has been any other than, to get rid of Boisrond Canal, for fear of his power and influence in the future. The character and reputation of Boisrond Canal were and are such as to mark him out for special attention at their hands. The first step taken against him was to order his arrest on the 1st of May last. Failing to lay hands upon him, he was outlawed by execu tive proclamation the following day. The third step was to demand that I should deliver him over to the government as a criminal. The demand not being acceded to, the next step was to make an appeal to you. Because your considerate decision on the appeal did not concede absolutely the point aimed at, this government taxed its ener gies and cunning to obtain its end by other means, such as annoying me by the continued shouting of hundreds of armed men around my house the whole of every night, and such as causing reports to circulate that it had positive information that I was deserted by my Government in this matter; that my residence had no claim to immunity; that the soldiers were so excited beyond its control that it could not answer for the safety of myself and family. Finding the traditional difficulty of frightening or worrying out Americans, it has recently hit upon another expedient, that of going through with the form of a socalled trial par contumace of the refugees with me and with my colleagues, without, however, giving us any notice as to either the time or the place of the so-called trial. The proceedings were of course summary, before a military tribunal, composed of men who do not pretend to know anything of law, and not one of whom would have dared to even intimate an idea against the fixed purpose of the Executive to have the men on trial all condemned. By this means the authorities hope now to succeed with you. But I affirm, upon my official responsi bility, that the so called trial and its surroundings were a farce, and that the almost sole aim and end in view were to open anew the ques tion with you. They hope now to communicate to you, in phrase and expression redolent of devotion to law, the result of this so called trial. Before you they will appear as persons fully in accord with that spirit of civilization which bows its head before the mandate of the law, when in reality there is no law here in such cases except the will of the Executive, and when these men have nothing but rage in their hearts against Boisrond Canal, aud his death in their eyes. Of course, it ought not to be expected that our Government can deviate from any well-settled policy to suit cases like the one which now besets us; but I venture sincerely to hope and to ask, in view of all the peculiar circumstances surrounding this case, that you will concede to this government nothing whatever further than what is already couceded in your No. 227. * I am, &c., &c., EBENEZER D. BASSETT. No. 384.] No. 322. Mr. Bassett to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Port au Prince, July 22, 1875. (Received September 2.) SIR In the course of my Nos. 364 of the 8th and 365 of the 19th of May last, I had the honor to invite your attention to the dispatches which had been exchanged between this legation and the Haytian government up to the latter date respecting the persons who had taken refuge under the legation-flag. In the hope of reaching a final and friendly termination of the matter, and of thus being able to forward to you the whole case under one cover and one comment, I have delayed sending to you the correspondence which I have since had with this government relative thereto. Disappointed thus far in that hope, I do not now feel justified in longer putting off the inviting of your attention to this correspondence. It is herewith inclosed. The latest inclosure (D) to my No. 365, dated May 17, was my response to a demand from the Haytian minister for the delivering up of Boisrond Canal after he had notified me of his government's reference of the case to Washington. In it I pleaded as my reason for declining to accede to the demand the almost unquestioned exercise of the right of asylum by foreign representatives of every grade in this country since its independence. On the 22d of that month I received from the minister another note, (inclosure A,) calling my attention very seriously to the statement that it had been reported to the government that General Boisrond Canal, in coming to my house, had entered there with arms and ammunitions. The statement is made in the original with all that peculiar reserve and indirection for which the French language affords scope in the oratio obliqua. Three days later, Sunday intervening, I sent him an answer, (inclosure B,) assuring him that the report was not well founded, and telling him also that I would never tolerate such a proceeding as the one alluded to for one moment. I called about this time upon three of the ministers, and gave them, as I shortly afterward gave to the President in a friendly way, all the particulars attending the entrance into my house of General Canal and his two companions. I was, at the same time, unceasingly using every means within my power for a settlement of the case upon terms which could but be at once friendly and satisfactory to all concerned. In that view I called not only myself upon some one of the ministers daily, and often upon the President, but I caused others who had infinence with them to call for the same object. Indeed, I may truthfully say that no, friendly exertion was left unmade, and no friendly argument unused, to reach an amicable adjustment of the difficulty. No similar series of friendly visits and arguments from persons of position and influence have been brought to bear upon the authorities of this government in any case since I have resided here. In a visit to the palace on the 7th ultimo, I found the President alone, and, as always, glad to see me. As I went over the whole matter with him, he seemed much interested in my statements. When at last I was saying to him that I did not then see how I could, under the unforeseen and unexpected circumstances, have acted differently than I had acted as to the refugees, and was reminding him of our proofs of friendship for him and his gov ernment, he interrupted me to say, "Yes, yes, my good friend; I understand your position in the case, (of Boisrond Canal,) and I respect it. But what can I do?" * |