done, she be released from a quarantine which in any case would already be too long, and having besides damages which the illegal act done to her may have occasioned; and fixing the rules to which vessels coming to New Orleans must be liable, with dues reciprocity in the island of Cuba and least prejudice to commerce.

In what relates to the Roanoke, and the conversation with the consul of Spain, that that authority be made to understand that he must respect the sanitary regulations of the island of Cuba; that he treat with more consideration the consuls of friendly nations, and refrain from expressions which are not suited either to give security to trade or to maintain friendly relations between the authorities of that island and those of the United States.

The undersigned avails of this occasion to renew to the Honorable Secretary of State the assurances of his highest consideration.

GABRIEL G. Y TASSARA.

JUNE 12, 1862.

General BENJAMIN F. BUTLER,

Commanding-in-Chief of the Department of the Gulf:

GENERAL: On the 10th instant I sent to you the communication which I copy to the letter:

In virtue of the decree of the President of the United States opening this port to general commerce from the 1st June forth, the Spanish steamer Cardenas left the Havana for this port on the 31st May last with freight and passengers, duly cleared by the American consul at that point. The said steamer arrived, without any change, at the wharf here on the 4th instant, in the afternoon, without any hindrance being offered either at Fort Jackson or at the Lazaretto, and the captain being entirely ignorant that vessels coming from Cuba would be subject to quarantine; but shortly after his arrival a direction of yours ordered him to go back to Fort Jackson to remain there until further order, and the captain complied therewith. I understand the object of this order to be to compel the steamer Cardenas to perform due quarantine; but as the captain had informed me that neither here nor there has he been informed of the time which he must remain at that point, and that the Board of health organized by the State of Louisiana, to which I have recurred, has informed me that such board has no authorized agent at the Lazaretto, for which reason, doubtless, no notice has been taken either at that point or at this port, and that in its opinion the steamer Cardenas has not only come to this port under the because nothing new has happened on board, and she had been allowed to land thirty or more passengers. I fear the steamer Cardenas may experience longer detention than is proper, and losses and damages consequent upon it, such as the loss of the cargo of fruit, to which it may greatly conduce, the increasing wages of forty-three seamen which make the crew, and want of provisions for these people, as he only laid stock enough at Havana for the time it might take to come to this port.

The regulation of health which was adopted at the Lazaretto by the aforementioned State Board of Health only imposed ten days" quarantine on arrival from Cuba, reckoned from the day of sailing, when the vessel had no sickness on board, and even such time was preceded by proclamation by the Government declaring what points were held to be infected, admitting to free pratique vessels which had been cleared without notice of it.

On the steamer Cardenas nothing new occurred during the passage, either among passengers or crew. The American consul at Havana gave her no notice, and, as shown to you, she received none at Fort Jackson or the Lazaretto; for these reasons, and considering that nothing new has occurred to this date, and that on this day the ten days" quarantine are completed, which the aforesaid Board of Health had established for vessels coming from Havana, I hope you will deign to give your orders be entire conformity of action with what is the practice in the island of Cuba toward American vessels.

Relying on the authoritative opinion which I have mentioned, and in hope on your impartiality and justice, to which the Government of the Queen of Spain has good right, I do not doubt you will consider these for saving the steamer Cardenas from the great damage which longer detention would occasion, and considering that