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LIST OF PAPERS.

No.

1. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, February 19, 1863, (one inclosure).

2. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, March 9, 1863

3. Earl Russell to Lord Lyons, March 27, 1863.

4. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, April 4, 1863, (one inclosure)..

5. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, April 29, 1863, (two inclosures)

6. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, April 30, 1863.

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7. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, July 7, 1863, (four inclosures)

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8. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, July 13, 1863

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9. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, August 17, 1863.

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10. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, August 22. 1863.

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11. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, August 24, 1863, (two inclosures).

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12. Mr. Layard to Mr. Laird, M. P., August 31, 1863.

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13. Mr. Laird, M. P., to Mr. Layard, September 2, 1863.

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14. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, September 14, 1863.

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15. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, September 17, 1863

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16. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, September 29, 1863, (one inclosure).

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483

17. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, October 2, 1863..

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489

18. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, October 23, 1863, (three inclosures) 19. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, October 26, 1863.

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22. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, October 31, 1863, (six inclosures).

23. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, November 10, 1863

24. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, November 14, 1863.

25. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, November 16, 1863.

26. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, January 13, 1864, (four inclosures). 27. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, January 14, 1864..

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CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING THE ALABAMA.

No. 1.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

London, February 19, 1863. (Received February 21.)

MY LORD: At the request of my government, I have the honor to submit to your lordship's consideration a copy of a memorial addressed to the Secretary of State by an association of underwriters in New York.

Renewing, &c.,
(Signed)

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

[Inclosure in No. 1.]

Memorial.

Your memorialists, representing the New York Mutual Insurance Company, of the city of New York, respectively submit to the Department of State of the United States the following facts, viz:

That the said New York Mutual Insurance Company had certain policies of insurance upon the following vessels: ship Brilliant, $9,245; ship Manchester, $7,500; and the said vessels, in the prosecution of their lawful voyages, were arrested on the high seas by a steamer called the Alabama, and by her boarded and burned, and the New York Mutual Insurance Company have paid the policies of insurance on the abovenamed vessels in consequence of said destruction; and your memorialists are of opinion that the said steamer having been built at, fitted out, and sailed from, a port in Great Britain, and her crew being composed principally of the subjects of the government of Great Britain, she is to all intents and purposes à British vessel.

And your memorialists therefore claim from the government of Great Britain the repayment to them of the above amounts with interest accruing thereon, and respectfully request the United States Government to make the necessary claim on their behalf.

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SIR: I have the honor to acquaint you that Her Majesty's govern ment have had under their consideration your letter of the 19th ultimo, inclosing a copy of a memorial which has been addressed to the United States Secretary of State by the New York Mutual Insurance Company,

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claiming the repayment by Her Majesty's government of certain * policies of insurance upon the United States vessels Brilliant and Manchester, which have been destroyed on the high seas by the confederate steam-vessel Alabama.

I have now the honor to state to you that Her Majesty's Government entirely disclaim all responsibility for any acts of the Alabama, and they had hoped that they had already made this decision on their part plain to the Government of the United States.

I am, &c.,
(Signed)

No. 3.

RUSSELL.

Earl Russell to Lord Lyons.

FOREIGN OFFICE, March 27, 1863. MY LORD: Mr. Adams having asked for an interview, 1 had a long conversation with him yesterday at the foreign office.

He read me a dispatch of Mr. Seward on the subject of the Alabama and Oreto. In this dispatch, which was not unfriendly in its tone, Mr. Seward complains of the depredations on American commerce committed by vessels fitted out in British ports, and manned, for the most part, by British sailors. He alludes to the strong feeling excited in the United States by the destruction of her trading vessels and their cargoes. He repeats the complaint common in America, that England is at war with the United States, while the United States were not at war with England. He expresses his hope that Great Britain, in execution of her own laws, will put an end to the fitting out of such vessels to prey on the commerce of a friendly nation.

I said that the phrase that England was at war with America, but America was not at war with Englaud, was rather a figure of rhetoric than a true description of facts. That the facts were that two vessels, the Oreto and the Alabama, had eluded the operation of the foreignenlistment act, and had, against the will and purpose of the British government, made war upon American commerce in the American seas. That the fitting out of the Alabama, the operation against which the foreign-enlistment act was specially directed, was carried on in Portuguese waters at a great distance from any British port. That the most stringent orders had been given long ago to watch the proceedings of those who might be suspected of fitting out vessels of war for confederate purposes. That if there were six vessels, as it was alleged, fitting out in British ports for such purposes, let evidence be forthcoming, and the government would not hesitate to stop the vessels, and to bring the offenders before a court of justice. That Mr. Adams was no doubt aware that the government must proceed according to the regular process of law and upon sworn testimony.

Mr. Adams, on the other hand, dwelt on the novelty and enormity of this species of warfare. He said that if a belligerent could fit out in the ports of a neutral swift armed vessels to prey upon the commerce of its adversary, the commerce of that belligerent must be destroyed, and a new and terrible element of warfare would be introduced. He was sure that England would not suffer such conduct on the part of France, nor France on the part of England. He should be sorry to see letters of

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