No. 226.
Mr. Fish to Mr. Bassett
Washington, October 5, 1872.
Sir: Your dispatch No. 149, of the 23d ultimo, relative to the case of Mr. Charles F. Teel, consular agent at Miragoâne, has been received. The Department approves of the diligence and patriotic spirit which have characterized your proceedings with reference to that case. Its occurrence, so soon after that of Mr. Jastram, looks as if the Haytian authorities were actuated by a spirit of persecution against officers of the United States of that class. The arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Teel certainly appear to have had at least an ingredient of malice in them. There was nothing, so far as we are aware, in his antecedents, which could lead to the presumption that he would deal in counterfeit paper currency, knowing it to be such. The difficulty of distinguishing between the genuine and the spurious, even on the part of skilled and experienced government officers in Hayti, is acknowledged, and was shown by the wide discrepancy of the results of the two examinations of the paper which Mr. Teel had sent to Port au Prince. The most careful and honest private person, therefore, might easily be imposed upon in the receipt and payment of such currency. By ultimately releasing Mr. Teel without trial, that government may be said to have acknowledged that the proceedings against him were baseless and without probable cause. You will, consequently, intimate that it is expected he will be indemnified for the injury which he has sustained.
I am, &c.,