assertion concerning Mr. Crawford and states that my promptness in doing so is a new and gratifying proof of my desire for the preservation of harmonious relations between the British and American Governments.

I have, &c.,

LYONS.

[Inclosure No. 1.]

WASHINGTON, December 12, 1861.

Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c.

SIR: A letter has been published in the newspapers which purports to have been addressed on the 16th of November last by Captain Wilkes, of the U. S. steamer San Jacinto, to the Secretary of the Navy. It contains the following statement: "They (Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell) have been presented to the captain-general of Cuba by Her Britannic Majesty's consul-general. " The writer of the letter appears to have been misinformed. I am able to contradist the statement on the authority of Mr. Crawford, the consul-general, himself. In a dispatch which I have received from him to-day he declares officially with references to assertions to the same effect made in American newspapers that he neither presented nor accompanied Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell to the captain-general.

I have,&c.,

LYONS.

[Sub-Inclosure.]

HAVANA, December 2, 1861.

[Lord LYONS, Washington.]

MY LORD: I have seen in the American papers a statement which as published by a press so infamous as that of the United States has become I consider wholly unwothy of my notice, but under present circumstances, as much importance appears to attach to the false information that has been given respecting me in commection with Messrs. Slidell and Mason, I think it necessary to state to your lordship that I neither presented nor accompanied those gentleman to the captain-general in inform or otherwise.

Mr. Slidell is an qcquaintance of mine since 1825, and Mr. Mason's brother was my very intime friend when he was secretary to the U. S. legation in Mexico under Mr. Poinsett long ago. I certainly did myself the pleasure of calling on those gentlemen as strangers and showed them such civilities as were in my power, but I never thought of rendering them any official services. I presume they were fully aware that had they needed any such assistance I could not have given it and none was ever applied for.

I have, &c.,

JOS. T. CRAWFORD.

[Inclosure Numbers 2.]

DEPERTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 13, 1861.

Right Honorable Lord LYONS, &c.

MY LORD: I thank your lordship for your note of the 12th instant contradicting on the authority of Mr. Crawford, Her Brittannic Majesty's consul-general at Havana, the report that gentleman had presented Messrs. Mason and Slidell to his excellency the captain-general of Cuba. This prompt proceeding on your part to remove what might have been a subject of discontent on the part of this Government with