Herewith you will receive a copy of a letter to this Department from the passengers on board the schooner Martha, complaining of the seizure of that vessel at Brazoria, in Texas, and of outrages upon their persons by the authorities there. The signatures were affixed to a separate slip of paper, which has been mislaid.

Although the statement of the writers is ex parte, and is not made under oath, yet, as it substantially agrees with several other narratives of the transaction that have appeared in the public prints, and is not improbable in itself, the Department deems itself warranted in instructing you to inquire into the affair, and to demand such reparation of the Mexican Government as the facts, when ascertained, may be found to call for.

You will also endeavor to convey a strong sense of the President's great dissatisfaction at the frequency of such occurrences in the Mexican territories, and of his expectation that effectual measures will be taken to put a stop to them.