Robert H. Pruyn to William H. Seward, January 22, 1864

Mr. Pruyn to Mr. Seward

Sir: I have the satisfaction to inform you that J. D. Buckley, charged with the murder, at Shanghai, of Captain Mackinnon, surrendered himself to our consul at Nagasaki, and has been sent to Shanghai in her Britannic Majesty’s steamer Encounter, in charge of an officer despatched by the consul for that purpose.

The measures adopted, referred to in my letter No. 4, of the 6th instant, resulted as I hoped. I was the more solicitous of success because I had learned that Buckley was a fugitive from justice from California, charged with shooting a man in the streets of San Francisco, and that the unprovoked attack on Captain Mackinnon grew out of the utterance by the deceased of Union sentiments. Of all this you have been, no doubt, informed by the United States consul at Shanghai,

It is my agreeable duty to call your attention to the considerate courtesy of Captain Roderick Dew, of the Encounter, who detained his ship, as Consul Walsh informs me, several hours, to enable him to secure the prisoner.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,