er's manifest has invariably been made as in ballast, as nothing was intended to be landed in Havana, and the steamer has thus been entered and discharged, enjoying from the government and its officials such favors and facilities which the comity of friendly nations allows to passenger steamers. That such facilities have been granted without objection, and received with becoming acknowledgment, and with a belief that they would be continued and no commercial regulation disturbed, while the citizens of both countries would be benefitted. That this transit intercourse was unknown at the time the friendly treaty was made by the two governments, and forms a subject not contemplated by that treaty, and which rests upon the law which a kind regard for the spirit of that treaty indicates, and the usage which has become fixed by practice and assent for a period sufficient to establish a custom, which could not have been an article in the treaty, because the whole subject has been created since the treaty was ratified. That the intercourse between the two countries has become so established, and the steamers which regularly perform their trips so available to the undersigned and others of their countrymen for the purposes of business, health, or pleasure, that they did not contemplate a change of policy on the part of the Spanish authorities at Cuba, except such as should be made in the spirit of the treaty which made the two governments friendly nations, and certainly that they would suffer no interruption in their pursuits, and no embarrassment in their commercial regulations, until a notice of a change of policy should be given. But the undersigned are informed by J. D. Bullock, the commander of the steamer, that, while the course of the commander has been uniformly the same in entering and departing from the port of Havana, on her last arrival from Mobile the conduct of the Spanish authorities has been changed towards him and the steamer, without notice and without provocation, and that the steamer has been detained in the port, taken possession of by the government officials, and most of her cargo discharged. That some of the undersigned were passengers on our way from Mobile to New York, some are bound as passengers from this port, and some sending home letters and information; but that our purposes have been all frustrated, and we obliged to abandon the objects we were pursuing; that in our judgment this sudden interruption to our intercourse, which has become important and of long standing, demands the prompt interference of our government and an explanation and redress from her Catholic Majesty the Queen of Spain; and therefore, while we are dwellers in her dominions, we earnestly yet most respectfully ask the government under whose protection we left our country to demand such explanation and redress as shall be satisfactory to a great and honorable nation. Joseph George, New York. C. D. Trafton, James R. Cuisack, J. C. Dawson, Saml. A. Willoughby, Richard H. Thompson, HAVANA DE CUBA, March 4, 1854. Fairhaven, Mass. New York. New York city. New York. New York. New York. 694 Houston st., N. York. New York. Augusta, Ga. New York. New York. New York. New York. New York. Extract of a despatch from Wm. H. Robertson, esq., United States acting consul at Havana, to the Department of State, dated March 7, 1854. "I beg leave to call your attention, in the official journal of this date, to the decree, which I have marked, for the first time published, although it purports to be dated or the order made on the Ŝth of last month, and to take effect on the 23d of the same month. I would not say this decree has been made for the occasion; but I do say that it seems strange that it should not have been made public until to-day, although to take effect from the 23d of last month. This looks at least like an ex post facto law, and seems intended for a particular object." [Translation.] By decree of the Superior Tribunal having the control of the fi nances, of the 8th of last month, ordered to be carried out by the M. E. General Superintendent Delegate on the 23d of the same month, it was ordered that the prohibition observed in former years to admit the alterations, amendments, or additions which consignees may pretend to make, in any sense whatever, in the invoices or obligation papers of the effects which they import, once these have been presented to the respective custom-houses, shall continue to be in force and in all its scope. And by the order of the M. I. Intendant General of the Army and of Finances of this Department, I communicate the same to the mercantile world, for the general understanding, and in order that no one may allege ignorance. Havana, March 6, 1854. The Administrator General: JOAQUIN ROCA DE TOGORES. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, HAVANA. By this public instrument of protest be it known and made manifest to all to whom it doth or may or shall concern, that on the day of the date hereof, before me, William H. Robertson, acting consul of the United States of America for the city of Havana, (island of Cuba,) and the dependencies thereof, personally came and appeared Charles Tyng, senior partner of the mercantile firm of Charles Tyng and Company, consignees and agents in said city, and James D. Bullock, a lieutenant of the navy of the United States, and commander of the steamship "Black Warrior," belonging to the port of New York, in the State of New York, of the burden of fifteen hundred and fifty-six and nine ninety-fifth tons, now lying in the port of Havana. Said appearers being by me severally sworn on the holy Evangelists of Almighty God, the said Charles Tyng did declare and depose, that the steamship Black Warrior aforesaid arrived at about seven o'clock in the morning of the twenty-eighth day of February ultimo; she was expected here from Mobile on the twenty-sixth, (Sunday,) and was cleared by his said house on the twenty-fifth in ballast, as had been the custom on previous voyages, when she was expected to arrive on a day when the custom-house was closed; at 12 o'clock on the 28th their clerk was sent by them to the custom-house for the despatch to the captain of the port, so as to procure the pass for the Moro Castle, as had been usual; this was refused. He immediately appeared at the office of the United States consul and noted protest; as soon as the cause why the custom-house refused to comply with their request, which was, that the manifest delivered by the captain of the ship to the boarding officer did not specify the cargo she had on board in transitu, was ascertained, he immediately made the necessary application to the collector or administrator general of the customs for permission to make the proper alteration in the manifest; the permission was refused, notwithstanding that the said appearer's application was made long before the expiration of the number of hours allowed by the custom-house regulations. He waited till 3 o'clock, p. m., to learn the result of the reference made by the administrator to the intendente of the royal exchequer ; at 3 o'clock, the custom-house being closed, he, said Tyng, called on the administrator of the customs, and urged the right of his house, as the consignees of the ship, to make the addition to the manifest as allowed by the law, as follows: During the twelve hours following the delivery of the manifest, reckoned from six o'clock in the morning to seven o'clock of the evening, he that presented it may make in it the alterations he may deem proper, applying personally to the administrator, if within office hours, or after the expiration of these, to the chief of the revenue guards that may be on service at the custom-house; that the administrator, in the presence of witnesses, most positively denied their right, and would not permit them to make the addition, though there were still four hours left, according to the law before mentioned, and told him that the cargo on the ship was confiscated and must be discharged, and that the only way the vessel could be permitted to leave the port was by his house giving good and satisfactory bonds in blank, to be filled up as he, the administrator, chose, to answer for alt fines and claims which would be preferred. This proposition was rejected. That he, said Tyng, offered, however, to give bonds for all just fines, provided that the ship was despatched with the cargo she had on board for New York without detention; that the administrator then ordered the commander of the revenue guards to proceed with a gang of men on board the ship and discharge her; that subsequently said administrator sent to his house, that of Charles Tyng & Co., a message to the effect that, as the captain was not on board, they, the consignees, were to send some person, or go themselves, to deliver the cargo. This was at half-past four o'clock of the afternoon of the 28th ultimo. That his said house did not go or send any person for that purpose; that on the next morning they were informed that the authorities had taken possession of and were discharg ing the ship, and that Captain Bullock and his crew had retired from the vessel and gone on board the United States steamer Fulton; that he, said Tyng, then called on the collector of the customs to see if no arrangement could be made; the administrator then proposed to him that, after the cargo was discharged, he would only require the captain's personal bond that he would appear when called for, and that his said firm should delegate some person to attend to the delivery of baggage to passengers, and of the cargo; that to this proposition both he and Captain Bullock agreed, providing that the ship was despatched within twenty-four hours, or as soon as possible. The collector subsequently, on the same day, (1st of March,) wrote to him a note to the same effect, and, as soon as received, he, said Tyng, went to the custom-house and agreed to the arrangement last mentioned, and delegated the custom-house clerk of his house for that purpose, as the collector wished; that his (Tyng's) object was to get the ship off as soon as possible, thereby protecting the interests of all concerned; that the collector, before furnishing their said clerk with the necessary order, desired him to bring a letter from his principals authorizing him as their delegate for the purposes above named; that his said house then gave a letter to their clerk, stating that he was the person delegated by them to attend to the discharge of the ship; that this letter the collector refused to receive, saying that they, said consignees, must write a letter to him authorizing said clerk to attend to the delivery of the cargo, to receive it, and point out the stores where they wished to have it stored; that as this pretension of the collector was throwing in fact the whole responsibility of discharging the ship upon the consignees, and was so different from what the collector had proposed to them in the morning, they declined to comply with it; that they then drew a petition and sent it to the Captain General, who is also chief of the royal treasury in the island, assuring his excellency that there could not have been the slightest intention of defrauding the revenue of the government in the irregularity of the captain's manifest, and that they, said consignees, had applied to make the correction within the twelve hours allowed by law, and their application had been unattended to, and asking his excellency to stop the discharge of the vessel, to order the goods taken out to be returned on board, and the vessel despatched; that, so far as this deponent knows, no notice was taken of said petition or memorial; that three different attempts were made to have a personal interview with the Captain General-all equally unsuccessful-the same not having been permitted; that on the following day, (second of March,) they made another memorial, of a similar nature with the former, which has not, to this deponent's knowledge, been noticed; that both memorials were handed to his excellency by his personal friends; that the authorities of this port have proceeded in the discharge of the cargo, without paying the least regard to their rights as consignees and agents and merchants, in not having permitted them to make the necessary alterations in the captain's manifest within the twelve hours after the vessel's arrival; that our appeals have been entirely disregarded, and all the exertions made by them as consignees have been unavailing and useless; that the trifling irregularity in the captain's manifest, which had been countenanced by the custom-house for over twelve months previous, was not a sufficient cause for the seizure by force of the cargo shipped in Mobile for New York, and merely passing through this port whilst the steamer should take the coal that she needed to pursue the voyage to her destination; that there was not the least intention of landing the smallest article that could be considered as cargo; and, finally, that the said cargo was under the protection of the American flag." The said James D. Bullock did declare and depose, that "the steamship Black Warrior, of New York, under the command of this deponent, arrived from Mobile, on her way to New York, in the port of Havana, on the morning of the twenty-eighth day of February last, and anchored near the coal-wharf of Salvador Samá; that she had on board a valuable cargo, consisting of upwards of nine hundred bales of cotton and other merchandise for New York, and several passengers; that the boarding-boat came alongside at about seven o'clock, and he handed to the officers in charge the usual papers-the cargo in transitu, no part of which was to be landed here, being manifested as ballast; that this had been the invariable custom for eighteen months in the case of said ship, and for a much longer time with the steamers of the New York and New Orleans mail line; that his manifest was received without comment, nor was there a single hint thrown out that a different form would be required; that the ship has never passed through this port, since he has commanded her, without cargo in transitu, and no effort was ever made to conceal the fact; that so soon as the boarding boat left the ship she was hauled alongside the wharf to take in her coal; that about twelve o'clock he heard that the American consul in Havana and Mr. |