of Ushant, and the Georgia commenced taking The Georgia. in arms and ammunition and supplies. Three days passed in this way. There were nine breechloading guns to be mounted on decks, and " guns, shot, shells, rockets, ammunition, rifles, cutlasses, and all sorts of implements of war." All were put on board before Friday, the 10th of April; the insurgents' flag was then hoisted; Maury, the insurgent officer destined for the command, produced his commission; the Japan was changed into the Georgia; fifteen sailors who refused to cruise in her were transferred to the Alar, and the Georgia continued her cruise. On the 8th of April Mr. Adams called Earl Russell's attention to the departure from the Clyde and Newhaven of this hostile expedition, "with intent to depredate on the commerce of the United States," and he stated his belief that the destination of the vessel was the island of Alderney. Earl Russell replied, on the same day, that copies of his letter "were sent, without loss of time, to the Home Department and to the Board of Treasury, with a request that an immediate inquiry might be made into the circumstances stated in it, and that if the result should prove the suspicions to be well founded, the most effective measures might be 1 Vol. II, page 671; Vol. VI, page 511. 2 Vol. II, page 666; Vol. VI, page 509. The Georgia. taken which the law admits of for defeating any such attempts to fit out a belligerent vessel from a British port." Had Her Majesty's Government taken the measures which Earl Russell suggested, it is probable that the complaints of the United States, as to this vessel, might not have been necessary. The sailing and the destination of the Japan were so notorious as to be the subject of newspaper comment. No time, therefore, was required for that investigation. It could have been very little trouble to ascertain the facts as to the Alar. The answer to a telegram could have been obtained in a few minutes. Men-of-war might have been dispatched on the 8th from Portsmouth and Plymouth, to seize both these violators of British sovereignty. In doing this Her Majesty's Government need only have exercised the same powers which were used against General Saldanha's expedition, arrested at Terceira in 1827, and whose use in that case was sustained by a vote of both Houses of Parliament. The island of Alderney and the other Channel islands were on the route to St. Malo and Brest, and it is not at all probable, scarcely possible, that the Alar and the Georgia 3 1 Vol. II, page 667; Vol. VI, page 510. 2 Vol. II, page 668. 3 Hansard, new series, Vols. XXIII and XXIV; Annual Register, History, &c., A. D. 1829, Vol. LXXII, page 187. would not have been discovered. The purposes of the latter vessel, thus taken flagrante delicto, would then have been exposed. This was not done. Instead of directing action. to be taken by the Navy, Lord Russell caused inquiries to be made by the Home Office and the Treasury, and the Georgia escaped. On the 1st of December, 1863, Mr. Adams called Lord Russell's attention to the fact of" the existence of a regular office in the port of Liverpool for the enlistment and payment of British subjects, for the purpose of carrying on war against the Government and people of the United States;" and he expressed the hope that "the extraordinary character of these proceedings, as well as the hazardous consequence to the future peace of all nations of permitting them to gain any authority under the international law, will not fail to fix the attention of Her Majesty's Government." depositions inclosed in this communication furnished conclusive proof that the members of the firm of Jones & Co. were still engaged at Liverpool in procuring and shipping men for the Georgia, and that the payments of the wages of the crew of that vessel were regularly made through the same firm. It was also proved that Jones had 1 Vol. II, page 682; Vol. VI, page 519. The The Georgia. The Georgia. superintended the shipping of the armament of the Georgia off Brest; that he had been standing by the side of Maury when he assumed command, and that he had told the men, as an inducement to them to remain, that "of course they would get the prize money." ניי. On the 11th of January, 1864, Mr. Adams inclosed to Lord Russell copies of papers which he maintained went "most clearly to establish the proof of the agency of Messrs. Jones & Co. in enlisting and paying British subjects in this Kingdom to carry on war against the United States."2 Proceeding were taken against Jones & Highatt, as has already been shown. They were convicted, and were fined but fifty pounds each-manifestly a punishment not calculated to deter them from a repetition of the offense.3 After all this information was before Lord Rus 1 Stanley's affidavit, Vol. II, page 684; Vol. VI, page 522. See also Charles Thompson's affidavit, Vol. III, page 87. 2 Vol. II, page 698; Vol. VI, page 534. No "Five prosecutions were instituted at different times against persons charged with having enlisted or engaged men for the naval service of the Confederate States. Of these, three were successful. Five of the accused were convicted or pleaded guilty. prosecution appears to have been instituted against Bullock himself." (Bernard's Neutrality, pages 361-2.) This is a terribly small record, considering the magnitude of the offenses committed, and considering the zeal shown in repressing enlistments for the service of the United States. (See Vol. IV, page 547, and Vol. IV, page 540.) It is to be observed, too, that Mr. Adams furnished Lord Russell with evidence to sustain a prosecution against Bullock. (Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, March 30, 1863, Vol. III, page 130.) sell, the Georgia, on the 1st day of May, 1864, The Georgia. reappeared in the port of Liverpool. During her absence she had been busy in destroying such of the commerce of the United States in the Atlantic as had escaped the depredations of the Florida and the Alabama. She had been to the Western Islands, and from thence to the Brazilian port of Bahia. From thence she went to the Cape of Good Hope. On the way she fell in with the Constitution, a merchant vessel of the United States, laden with coal. "We filled our vessel with coal from her," says one of the witnesses. In a few days after that she entered Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope. There she staid a fortnight, having repairs done and getting more coal. left Simon's Bay on the 29th of August. It is not probable that the supply from the Constitution was exhausted at that time.1 She then worked her way to Cherbourg, and in a short time after came again into the port of Liverpool. Her career and character were rapidly but forcibly sketched by Thomas Baring, Esq., in a speech in the House of Commons on the 13th of May, 1864. He said: "At the time of her departure the Georgia was registered as the property of a Liverpool merchant, a partner of the firm which shipped the crew. She remained the property of 1 See the affidavits in Vol. II, page 684, et seq. She |