Letter

JOHN McKEON, United States Attorney to Cornelius Vanderbilt, December 18, 1856

Author

JOHN McKEON, United States Attorney

Recipient

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Date

December 18, 1856

Type

Letter

Language

English

Mr. McKeon, district attorney, to Mr. Vanderbilt, New York.

Southern District of New York, United States District Attorney’s Office,
December 18, 1856.

Sir: Information has reached the Department of State that arrangements are in train in this city for the purpose of a hostile military expedition against the republic of Venezuela. It is reported that you are to supply transportation, arms, and munitions of war for the expedition.

[611] I have been instructed by the Attorney-General of the United States to investigate the subject, and deem it my duty to ask you what truth there is in the report as far as you are concerned. I will be pleased to receive from you such information in regard to the matter as it is in your power to impart to me. I ask this the more readily because I feel assured that you, *as a good citizen, would not willingly aid in the perpetration of such a criminal violation of the laws, sovereignty, and public honor of the United States.

Very respectfully,

JOHN McKEON,
United States Attorney.

Cornelius Vanderbilt, Esq., New York.

Topics

19th Century Diplomacy Foreign Policy

Sources

FRUS u2014 Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the Pr View original source ↗

U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the Pr.