Lyons to William H. Seward, January 23, 1864

Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward,.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a despatch from her Majesty’s consul at New York, informing me of the reported arrival at that place of fifty-one prisoners, said to be principally foreigners, taken on board the steam-vessels Antoniquos, or Antonica, and Dare.

The information which has reached me concerning these individual prisoners is as yet so incomplete, that if the despatch had related to them only, I should not so soon have called your attention to it. You will observe, however, that at the end of it the consul quotes from a New York newspaper the following passage, purporting to be an extract from an order recently given by the Secretary of the Navy to the United States marshal:

“Henceforth British blockade violators will not be released, but detained, and any orders which you may have received inconsistent with this are hereby revoked.”

I have recently had, on more than one occasion, the honor to remind you of the very positive declarations which I have so frequently made to you, by order of her Majesty’s government, respecting the treatment of British subjects taken on board vessels captured for breach of blockade; you will, therefore, easily understand that it has not been without pain and alarm that I have seen even a report in a newspaper that an order such as that attributed to the Secretary of the Navy has been issued. You will also, I am sure, fully comprehend my anxious desire to be enabled to send, on authority, a contradiction of the report, or a satisfactory explanation of it, to her Majesty’s government by the first packet.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,