Mr. Seward to Mr. Burnley
Sir: Referring to my note of the 6th instant, transmitting to you a copy of the proceedings of a naval court of inquiry to the conduct of Acting Ensign Lemon on the occasion of the capture and destruction of the Night Hawk, I [Page 44] have now the honor to state that on the 31st ultimo the Secretary of the Navy informed me that as some weight appeared to have been given to an alleged conversation between Captain Glisson, of the Santiago de Cuba, and the master of the Night Hawk, in which the former is said to have condemned the conduct of Acting Ensign Lemon, the Navy Department considered it necessary to call upon Captain Glisson for an explanation, and that he had replied substantially as follows:
“Acting Ensign Lemon was reported to me by the captain and engineer of the Night Hawk as having struck the engineer, and I remarked to them that neither the government nor myself would allow any one to be improperly treated unless they resisted the authority of the officers, and immediately sent for Mr. Lemon, who stated that when he boarded the Night Hawk, after ordering the officers into the boat, the engineer came up to him and said that he would not go until he got his clothes, and appeared to resist his authority. He then struck him on the head, and afterwards he got into the boat.
“I did not disapprove of Mr. Lemon’s course on learning the above facts.”
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your obedient servant,
J. Hume Burnley, Esq., &c., &c., &c.