Letter

Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons to Lieutenant Governor Gordon (and Major-General Doyle.), December 16, 1863

Author

Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons

Recipient

Lieutenant Governor Gordon (and Major-General Doyle.)

Date

December 16, 1863

Type

Letter

[Enclosure 2 in No. 3.]

Lord Lyons to Lieutenant Governor Gordon (and Major-General Doyle.)

[Telegraphic.]

Washington, December 16, 1863.

The United States government informs me, officially, that it has authentic intelligence that Braine and Parr, two men charged with having committed piracy and murder on board the United States steamer Chesapeake, have taken refuge in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick; and it requests the British authorities to do anything which can be legally done to detain the two men, until formal affidavits can be forwarded, with a view to their extradition for trial. The Secretary of State suggests that, if it be alleged that the men were belligerents, and that their acts were acts of lawful warfare, the proper time for examining this plea will be when the propriety of complying with an actual demand for extradition shall be under consideration. I have answered that it is certain that your excellency will act in exact conformity with the requirements of municipal law, and international law, and comity.

Topics

19th Century Civil War Diplomacy

Sources

FRUS u2014 Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth View original source ↗

U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth.