Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 11, 1864. MY LORD: I have the honor to invite your attention to the inclosed copy of a letter of the 8th instant from the Secretary of War, and of the report of Colonel L. C. Baker, provost marshal of the War Department, which accompanied it, in regard to piratical designs of insurgents against the United States who have sought refuge in her Majesty's provinces. I have the honor to request that your lordship will bring the subject under the consideration of his excellency the governor general, with a view to such proceedings as an inquiry into the matter may render expedient. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, my lord, your obedi ent servant, Right Hon. LORD LYONS, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Stanton to Mr. Seward. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, March 8, 1864. SIR: I have the honor of inclosing to you a copy of a report made to this department by Provost Marshal Baker, for your information and such action as you may deem proper. Your obedient servant, EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. Colonel Baker to Mr. Stanton. WASHINGTON, D. C., March 8, 1864. SIR: Herewith I have the honor to forward a statement furnished by one of my agents, who has been in Upper Canada for some two months. The statement can be relied upon as being true in every particular: "There is now lying in Rondeau harbor, about seventeen miles from Cheetham, C. W., a fore-and-aft schooner named the Montreal, commanded by one Captain Whitby, formerly a lieutenant in the confederate navy. She has on board two 24-pounders, a quantity of ammunition, arms-chests, cutlasses, boarding pikes, &c.; she also has a crew of fourteen men, nearly all escaped rebel prisoners. "There is also lying in New Creek, Long Point Marsh, and about fifteen miles from Fort Stanley, C. W., a schooner named the Saratoga; she has four 18-pounders on board, and is manned with a crew of sixteen men. "Both of the vessels referred to are not dismantled, as is usual during the winter months in that climate, but are kept in sailing condition at the shortest notice." My informant has mingled and talked freely with the crews of these vessels, and they do not hesitate to avow their piratical intentions as soon as navigation is resumed in the spring. I am, sir, your obedient servant, L. C. BAKER, Colonel, and Agent War Department. Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, March 24, 1864. SIR: With reference to the note which you did me the honor to address to me on the 11th instant, respecting two schooners which were lying in Canadian waters under circumstances thought to be suspicious, and to my reply thereto, dated the 13th instant, I have the honor to state that, in answer to a communication which I addressed to the governor general upon this subject, his excellency has informed me that he will take immediate steps to ascertain the accuracy of the report respecting the schooners in question, and to prevent any violation of the neutrality of her Majesty's dominions, should it prove to be well founded. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, LYONS. Washington, March 29, 1864. MY LORD: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 24th instant, in which your lordship informs me that, in answer to a communication which you addressed to the governor general of Canada, at the instance of this department, respecting two suspicious schooners in Canadian waters, his excellency has informed you that he will take immediate steps to ascertain the accuracy of the report in regard to the schooners, and to prevent any violation of the neutrality of her Majesty's dominions, should it prove to be well founded. I beg your lordship to accept the thanks of this department for your ready intervention in this matter, and to convey to his excellency the governor general the grateful acknowledgements of this government for his prompt attention to its representation. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, my lord, your obedient servant, Right Hon. LORD LYONS, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, April 14, 1864. SIR: With reference to your notes of the 11th, 16th, and 29th ultimo, and to my notes of the 13th and 24th ultimo, I have the honor to trans mit to you a copy of a dispatch from the governor general of Canada respecting the information given to the United States government that two schooners were lying under suspicious circumstances in Canadian waters. I also inclose a sumniary of a confidential report made by an agent employed by the Canadian authorities to investigate the matter. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. Viscount Monck to Lord Lyons. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, LYONS. Quebec, March 31, 1864. MY LORD: Immediately on the receipt of your excellency's dispatch of March 13, I sent a confidential agent of the Canadian government to investigate the truth of the information communicated to the provost marshal of the War Department of the United States relative to two vessels on Lake Erie alleged to be fitted out for the purpose of piratical aggression on the lake trade of the United States. I have now the honor to inclose for your excellency's information the report of that gentleman, from which you will observe that after the closest scrutiny he was unable to find any evidence to substantiate the allegations referred to. I have, &c., LORD LYONS, &c., &c., &c. MONCK. Report of the agent of the Canadian government to Viscount Monck. I proceeded direct to Chatham, Upper Canada, and on the 22d instant reached the Rondeau, seventeen miles distant, in search of a vessel named the Montreal, stated to be then lying there, under the command of a Captain Whitby, who was also stated to be an officer in the so-called confederate navy. The said vessel was further reported to be then and there lying with sails bent ready for sea at a moment's notice, armed with two 24-pounder guns, a quantity of small-arms, cutlasses, and boarding pikes, and manned with a picked crew of fifteen men, having hostile and piratical intentions towards the United States. In the Rondeau harbor I found a schooner called the Cataragui, under the command of and owned by a Captain Whitby, and with sails bent as described, but affording no further corroboration of the story as reported. Captain Whitby is an Englishman, who has lately purchased the Cataragui from Mr. Anglin, of Kinston. He has never been in the so-called Confederate States at all, and is now living with his wife and one man, a servant, on board his vessel. Having placed myself in communication with him immediately on my arrival, he afforded me at once every facility for examining his vessel, to which I proceeded in his company across the ice in which she lay frozen in, at a distance of about three-quarters of a mile from the shore. The only armament that I could discover on board, after a diligent search, were an old, rusty ship carronade of about four pounds caliber, used for signal purposes, and a double-barreled fowling-piece. On my return to the shore I was met by General Terry, who commands at Johnston's Island, having the two thousand or more prisoners of war there under his charge. Having introduced him to Captain Whitby, the latter, at my request, took him at once on board the schooner, as he had previously taken myself, thus enabling him to ascertain personally the true state of the case. I saw him subsequently on his return, and he expressed himself fully satisfied. From Chatham I next proceeded to Port Stanley, within fifteen miles of which place, at New Creek, another vessel, called the Saratoga, of a similar character and designs, was stated to be lying. A diligent search on either side of that port, and for greater distances than that above specified as the place of her concealment, failed in revealing to me either such a place or vessel, and shipping-masters born in that locality, who have sailed the lakes all their lives, informed me that they had no knowledge of any creek bearing that name on Lake Erie. The creeks from the Rondeau eastwards until you reach Port Stanley, a distance of about forty-five miles, are in the following order: Big Creek, Clear Creek, Sixteen-Mile Creek, Number-Nine Creek, Colonel Talbot's Creek, and Kettle Creek, otherwise Port Stanley. From the latter place, still following the coast line eastward to Port Burwell, a distance of twenty-five miles, are Silver Creek, Catfish Creek, or Port Bruce, and Otter Creek, or Port Burwell. By the before-mentioned authorities I was further informed that it was not possible to winter a vessel at any of the creeks I have enumerated, except at the ports named, and there I saw and examined some fifteen or more vessels, but among them no Saratoga, the vessel I was in search of, nor could I find in the shipping list of Canadian vessels navigating the upper lakes any vessel bearing that name, although I searched it diligently for this purpose, nor had the master mariners whom I consulted knowledge of any such. Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, MY LORD: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a dispatch of the 26th instant, from J. Q. Howard, esq., the consul of the United States at St. John, New Brunswick, relative to the passage through that city of unusual numbers of disloyal citizens of the United States, en route for Canada, among them the insurgent leader Frost. Under these circumstances I would suggest that your lordship would do well to call the attention of the governor general to this movement, with a view to the adoption of such precautionary measures as will frustrate any hostile expedition against the United States from her Majesty's provinces, should such be contemplated. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, my lord, your obedient servant, Right Hon. LORD LYONS, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Howard to Mr. F. W. Seward. UNITED STATES CONSULATE, St. John, New Brunswick, May 26, 1864. SIR: I beg leave to inform the department that an unusually large number of disloyal citizens of the United States have quite recently passed through this city en route for Canada, via Frederickton and River du Loup. The greater part of these insurgents have been living for some months in Halifax; others have found their way north from Nassau and Bermuda. The rebel General Frost has also recently proceeded to Canada from St. John. In view of these facts it is possible that another raid from Canada upon our northern frontier may be attempted. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, Hon. F. W. SEWARD, United States Consul. Assistant Secretary of State. T Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, June 15, 1864. SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you herewith a copy of a dispatch which I have received from the governor general of Canada, in answer to the communication to his excellency of your note to me of the 31st May, relative to the passage through St. John, New Brunswick, of certain persons supposed to be hostile to the United States. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. LYONS. Viscount Monck to Lord Lyons. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Quebec, June 8, 1864. MY LORD: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's dispatch of June 2, and inclosures, relative to the passage of an unusual number of persons, considered by the Secretary of the United States to be disloyal citizens of the United States, through St. John, New Brunswick, en route for Canada. I shall not fail to adopt every precaution in my power to prevent any infringement of the neutrality of her Majesty's territories by these or any other persons, but I need not remind your excellency of the great difficulty that exists in obtaining information with respect to the intentions of such persons, whether passing through or residing in Canada. I have, &c., LORD LYONS, &c., &c., &c. MONCK. Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 24, 1864. MY LORD: I have the honor to acknowledge, with much satisfaction, the receipt of your note of the 15th instant, communicating to me the |