Colonial Despatches

Mr Merivale
The recent communications from the For. office and the governor, are in circulation.

The three Accounts (C.O., F.O., and Admiralty) hardly seem to me to tally as to the exact present position of affairs in S. Juan.

I should wish them to be compared and a Memn made out, & let the F.O. be asked whether they consider the Memn (when prepared) correct. This will probably be wanted for Parlt.

Mr Merivale
The Duke of Newcastle believed that the accounts received respectively from the Foreign Office, Admiralty and Governor of the present position of affairs at San Juan do not tally, and His Grace wished a Memd to be prepared to be referred to the Foreign office with a view to ascertaining whether they consider it correct (see Minute on Ady/109).

I find however that the accounts derived from the three sources are the same.

I have nevertheless prepared & submit herewith a memd of the course of events & correspondence since General Scotts arrival to supersede General Harney.

I am obliged to Mr Irving for the trouble he has taken in preparing this Memdum. I retain it for the present.

R.L. Baynes to Secretary to the Admiralty, No. 179, 9 November 1859, forwarding copy of a correspondence between Douglas and Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army (not in file), and expressing his personal views on the San Juan situation.

Baynes to Secretary to the Admiralty, 26 October 1859, forwarding copy of a letter Douglas had received from Scott.

Scott to Douglas, 25 October 1859, proposing a joint military occupation of San Juan.