M ac DONNELL, Lieutenant Governor, to J. H. Burnley, January 24, 1865

Lieutenant Governor MacDonnell to Mr. Burnley

Sir: I have not hitherto acknowledged the receipt of yours of the 22d ultimo, covering a communication from the honorable William H. Seward, giving information, on the authority of the United States consul here, of the existence of a piratical organization of some two hundred persons for seizing United States vessels on the Canadian lakes and elsewhere.

I have delayed acknowledging the above communication in the expectation that I might receive further information to give on the subject. I sent for the United States consul on receipt of your despatch, and assured him of the hearty co-operation of this government in every legal measure for the suppression of conspiracies here of the above nature. I have since endeavored to ascertain whether there are really any parties in this city leagued together for such nefarious purposes as the consul has suggested, and I have hitherto failed to discover any adequate grounds for such a supposition.

You may, however, rely on my willing co-operation to discourage, and, so far as the law will permit, to prevent this part of her Majesty’s dominions being made a rallying place for persons whose attempts are probably designed to place in jeopardy the friendly relations which at present happily exist between her Majesty’s government and that of the United States.

I have, &c.