Letter

John Welsh to the Marquis of Salisbury, April 9, 1879

[Inclosure 1 in No. 298.]

Mr. Welsh to the Marquis of Salisbury.

My Lord: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of a dispatch from the United States consul at Zanzibar to the Department of State, and of the correspondence which accompanied it, between that officer and the British consul-general there, relating to the seizure, on the ground of their being slaves, of three negroes from on board the American whaling-bark Laconia, of New Bedford, Mass., by order of Captain Earle, senior naval officer of the British fleet on that station.

I am instructed by my government to bring the matter to your lordship’s attention, and to state that the search for the purpose herein named appears to have been without probable cause, and that, as it was made in violation of the provisions of the first article of the treaty of 1882, it is expected that the British officer who ordered the search will be held accountable therefor by his government.

I have, &c.,

JOHN WELSH.
Sources
FRUS u2014 Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the P 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 P.