VII. When it appears from the account kept that a sum equal to a 6-months dividend has been received in London from the Mexican Government, the financial agency shall give public notice that the money is about to be paid, and shall proceed to effect it, cutting off the respective coupons.

VIII. The Mexican Government defrays the expense of the dividend in London.

IX. The agents of the bondholders in the ports shall give to the respective collectors a receipt in triplicate for every amount paid there in money or bills. The managers shall retain one copy of these documents, and remit another to the Junta de Credito Publico, which has the management of the account of the debt contracted in London, and the third to the general Treasury.

X. The funds which on the publication of this decree are held by the collectors of the maritime Custom-Houses in cash belonging to the English debt shall be delivered to the agents, and those which are still to be collected shall be paid in bills payable on the expiration of the periods, as set forth in Article I.

XI. The salaries of the Mexican agency shall be paid by the Custom-House of Vera Cruz out of the Government part of the duties, remitting every month 1,250 dollars. In case of any remittance being deferred, the agency shall take the amount from the dividend fund, on the understanding that it shall be repaid the following month.

I therefore order that this shall be printed, published, and take effect accordingly. Given in the palace of the National Government in Mexico, 23rd January, 1857.

IGNACIO COMONFORT.

CORRESPONDENCE between The United States and Peru, relative to the Recognition by The United States of the existence of a state of Civil War during the struggle between Vivanco and Castillo; and to the Seizure on the High Seas and elsewhere of American Vessels employed in the Guano Trade.-March-May, 1858.

The Peruvian Minister at Washington to The United States' Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

(Translation.)

Washington, March 27, 1858. THE Undersigned, Minister resident of Peru, in pursuance of instructions received from his Government, has the honour of begging the Secretary of State of The United States to be pleased to

direct his attention to the claims addressed to the Peruvian Government by the Minister of The United States at Lima, as they appear in the notes of the 4th and 9th of February ultimo, which he deemed it proper to transmit to his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations of Peru, and which are now within the reach of the Secretary of State.

The Minister of Foreign Relations of Peru has minutely and satisfactorily answered all that was alleged in the notes referred to accompanying such answer with the proofs and documents upon which the Government of Peru relies to deny in toto, the justice, and even the plausibility of the claims to which reference is made.

The Undersigned would deeply regret that the documents and declarations alluded to should not have been communicated to the Cabinet of Washington; for through them only can an equitable settlement be made of the serious questions which have been started in that correspondence.

In instructing the Undersigned to enter into direct communication with the Government of The United States, the Government of Peru was moved by the desire that no effort should be wanting on its part to satisfy the former of the sincerity and good faith with which the latter has in this case striven, as it will ever strive, to cultivate and deserve its friendship. It also had for its object to show in this form the deep reliance which it has ever placed in the moderati on and the equity of the Government of The United States, preferring to recur to them rather than continue, with its Minister at Lima, a discussion, in the course of which the Government of Peru regrets to have discovered in his proceeding a want of that impartiality and friendly disposition so necessary to maintain, in all cases, relations of good understanding between Governments.

In his communication dated on the 4th of February last, the Minister of The United States in Peru calls the attention of that Government to the case of the American barque Dorcas C. Yeaton, and of her captain, Samuel Potte, alleging the following in said

case:

That, on the 23rd of January, 1858, in latitude 22° 13', longitude 71° 31', on the high seas, at 7 o'clock A.M., said barque was detained by the Peruvian armed steamer Tumbes, with hostile demonstrations; that the barque having heaved-to, Lieutenant Dueñas, the commander of the steamer, ordered her to be boarded, despatching for that purpose one of his boats under the order of an officer; that said officer boarded her, in fulfilment of his orders, and asked, in the language of authority, to be informed of the route which she was pursuing, as well as for the delivery of her papers; that Captain Potte obeyed under protest, and that the Peruvian officer went back to the steamer with the papers; that he soon

returned, ordering the Captain to accompany him on board of the Tumbes; that Captain Potte refused, and insisted that the flag and character of the vessel should be respected, but that, the officer repelling all excuse, the captain was compelled to obey, although protesting that he would make Commander Dueñas and bis Government responsible for the outrages which were committed against him; that on his reaching the steamer he again protested before her captain against the unlawfulness of such acts, but that his representations were disregarded; that the Captain of the Tumbes eventually resolved that the barque should not continue her course, but, on the contrary, to send her under duress to Callao; that he abstained from taking forcible possession of her out of respect for the wife and family of the Captain who were on board, but exacted his word of honour that he would immediately and directly proceed to Callao; that, accordingly, the Dorcas C. Yeaton proceeded for that port, with a prize officer on board detached from the Tumbes for that purpose.

The Minister of The United States alleges that the barque, upon her arrival at Callao, was boarded by an officer of the captaincy of the port, who took possession of her papers, and ordered Captain Potte to accompany him ashore, treating him in an arbitrary, rude, and threatening manner; that the Captain had no choice but that of obedience, and that he was then taken to the office of the Port Captain, and thence to the residence of the Governor, where he was examined and asked whether he wanted a cargo of guano for The United States, in which case he was told that one would be given to him when he was set at liberty. The Minister adds, that the conduct of Commander Dueñas had been approved by the council of Ministers of Peru, and sustained by the Minister of Foreign Rela tions in an interview which he had with his Excellency. Reassuming these facts, after alluding to them in detail, the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of The United States concluded by denouncing them as a serious insult to the flag, the rights and the dignity of The United States, and, in consequence thereof, peremptorily demands:

First, That the Government of Peru shall give such satisfaction as the Government of The United States may prescribe.

Secondly, That Lieutenant Don Ygnacio Dueñas be suspended from his command, and continue out of the service of the Republic for such time as the Government of The United States may define; and,

Thirdly, That ample indemnification be made to the owners of the Dorcas C. Yeaton for all damages that may result from the facts mentioned.

Before reaching conclusions so serious as these, which might

involve still more serious consequences, and demanding a satisfaction which is, in terms, most offensive to Peru, because they imply nothing less than the annulment of her laws and tribunals, the Minister of The United States in Lima, it was to be hoped, might have dwelt with some measure of soberness and attention in his investigation on the grounds of claims that are so serious, peremptory, and extraordinary. The Government of Peru has certainly, up to this time, evinced no disposition the least to violate the rights or to insult the dignity of The United States; and, although such a disposition may be unjustly, gratuitously, and groundlessly imputed to her, the relative circumstances and forces of the two nations, no less than the fact that the interests of Peru depend on the continuance of her pacific relations with all nations, and especially with the people of The United States, would seem to tell sufficiently upon any dispassionate mind to render impossible the very idea that the Government of Peru should attempt or pretend to dishonour the flag of that Republic. No doubt it is quite possible that, in Peru, as in any other country, an officer in her service may commit, through want of reflection or due prudence, some act which would require satisfaction; but it seems impossible that his Government, proceeding in a dispassionate manner, and with a knowledge of the facts, should, without reason, assume upon itself the very serious responsibility of adopting and approving such a conduct. The very fact of the Government's publicly approving the conduct of Commander Dueñas, it seems to the Undersigned, ought to have started some doubt in the mind of the enlightened Minister of The United States at Lima as to the accuracy of the facts on which he has insisted with so much energy.

The experience which his Excellency, through, a long residence in Peru, has gathered as to the character of its Government, the deep and habitual respect with which it has ever received and entertained his communications, the personal consideration which it has ever lavished upon him, and the important concessions which have constantly been made to him, only out of respect for him and for the nation which he represents; all these, it seems, ought to have checked the severe and hasty judgment which he has been pleased to pass upon this matter. At the time of writing his communication, his Excellency had under his eyes Commander Dueñas' official report, published on the 30th of January in the "Peruvian," the Government's official paper, which positively states that the change in the vessel's course was made in consequence of an "agreement" with the captain; and whilst his Excellency is pleased to assume, as truthful, one sentence of the report which will be hereafter alluded to, and which he considers accusatory of the Commander of the Tumbes and of his Government, he chooses to argue of falsehood the rest of the

document which testifies the good faith and legality of the conduct of that officer.

In order to set up and sustain the serious claims referred to, the Minister of The United States relies exclusively on the protest made for the purpose on the 23rd of January, 1858, by Captain Potte, his pilot, and two of his sailors. The Minister of Foreign Relations of Peru, in his note of the 9th of February, communicated to the Minister of the United States in Lima the minutes of the declarations of Captain Potte, the pilot, John P. Coggwell, and the second pilot, Joseph P. Cunningham; as also those of the commander of the Tumbes, of the officer who boarded the Dorcas C. Yeaton, of the five sailors who were in the boat with him, together with that of the marine who was transferred to Callao in the barque; all taken before the judge of the first instance at this port, sworn to and subscribed by all of them, and all evidencing the complete falsity of the allegations of the protest, as the honourable Secretary of State will perceive from the copy which the Undersigned has the honour of transmitting to him. From these declarations Honourable Mr. Cass will see that the true relation of the facts is the following:

Commander Dueñas having been ordered to pursue and capture those vessels which, according to the information of the Government, had gone to Punta de Lobos and Pabellon de Pica, in collusion with the insurrectionists of the south of the Republic, for the criminal purpose of working the deposits of national guano at those points, met on his voyage the Dorcas C. Yeaton, which was sailing in that direction. He made the usual signal to her to heave to, and sent an officer to her, unarmed and accompanied by 5 men in a boat, the men also being unarmed, in order to ascertain whence she came and whither she was sailing. The sailors remained in the boat, and the captain went on board, in the most peaceful manner; the captain receiving him courteously on the deck of the barque. Being asked whence he had come, and to what point he was going, the captain answered that he was on his way to Iquique, and voluntarily exhibited his papers, and as readily delivered them also to the officer, who returned to the steamer. The papers showing a discrepancy, namely, that the barque had been cleared for Callao by the way of Valparaiso, whence it had proceeded, whilst the Consul of The United States at that port had cleared her for Iquique, the officer returned to inquire into the cause of this irregularity, and the captain of the barque, wishing to give a satisfactory explanation, proceeded of his own accord and will aboard of the Tumbes, where he entered into a free and voluntary communication with its Com. mander. Mr. Dueñas being convinced, by Captain Potte's representations, that he had no other object in going to Iquique than that of securing freight to return home, he promised him, if he