Watson Webb to José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Councilor to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, August 5, 1868

Mr. Webb to Senhar Paranhos.

The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a note from his excellency José Maria de Silva Paranhos, councilor to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor, minister and secretary of state for foreign affairs, dated yesterday, August 5, and which is in reply to a note from the undersigned addressed to the predecessor of his excellency, dated July the 13th, remonstrating against the decision of the late government, approving of the conduct of the Marquis de Caxias in refusing to permit the United States Wasp to pass his military lines on her way to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, for the purpose of bringing from that capital his excellency Charles A. Washburn, the duly accredited minister of the United States to Paraguay, and thus relieve him and his family from what the government of the United States declared, to be a “disagreeable and probably dangerous situation.”

The undersigned is greatly impressed with the friendly tone of this note from his excellency the minister of foreign affairs, and tenders to him his sincere acknowledgments for the cordial and frank manner in which he has complied with the wishes of the government of the United States.

His excellency, in reconsidering the too hasty action of his predecessor, and in recognizing the propriety and necessity of a movement by the government of the United States for the relief of its diplomatic agent in Paraguay, and the mode adopted for that relief, has given another and most acceptable proof, on the part of the government and Emperor of Brazil, of their determination to reciprocate the friendly feelings which have always controlled the action of the United States in its intercourse with all the governments on the continent of America. An “American policy,” based upon the advanced civilization of the world, the progress of the age, the interests and wants of new peoples, in contradistinetion to a policy which is of necessity the offspring of the past, and fettered by the thought and action of the period in which it originated, is recognized by all American statesmen, whether of the north or the south. And to secure to the government of America the benefits of such an “American policy,” it is of primary importance that Brazil and the United States, and all the governments on this continent, all of them being constitutional governments, should cultivate among each other the most friendly intercourse and the closest political alliance compatible with their constitutional forms of government. To accomplish this great work, and to draw closer together the United States and Brazil, has been the one great object of the undersigned during his long residence at this court; and he is happy to recognize in the dispatch of his excellency the evidence of a similar feeling and purpose.

Orders have been forwarded by Rear-Admiral Davis, commanding the United States South Atlantic squadron on this station, to Lieutenant Commander Kirkland, commanding the United States steamer Wasp, to proceed at once to Asuncion for Mr. Washburn and his family; and it would be idle for the undersigned to assure your excellency that under no circumstances and in no conceivable event will the progress of that vessel to or from Asuncion impede or in any way be injurious to the interests of the allies waging war against the government of Paraguay.

The undersigned is happy to avail himself of the occasion presented to renew to your excellency the expression of his cordial respect and great consideration.