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of her build, her cargo, and other attendant circumstances, she seemed to be intended to run the blockade; and such, in fact, proved to be the

case.

Vessels at Glasgow.

On the 21st of March, 1863, Lord Russell wrote to Mr. Adams "with reference to a report that vessels of war were being built at Glasgow for the so-styled Confederate States; that it appeared from information collected by the commissioner of customs that there were only two large steamers in course of construction at the yard of Messrs. Thompson & Co.; that one of them had the appearance of being constructed to receive armor-plates, but that the bottom was not more than half plated, and that the planking of her top-sides had only just commenced." The other, Lord Russell wrote, was a screwsteamer intended to be employed in the Mediterranean trade, but neither of these vessels could be completed for several months.1

In forwarding this letter to Mr. Seward, Mr. Adams stated:

It is proper to mention that the investigation appears to have been initiated by his lordship upon information not furnished from this legation, and that Lord Russell's communication to me was perfectly spontaneous.2

Mr. Adams's letter of acknowledgment to Earl Russell is as follows: MY LORD: I had the honor to receive your lordship's note of the 21st instant, apprising me of the preparations making in the yard of Messrs. Thompson & Co. of a Vessel evidently constructed for hostile purposes.

Information of the same nature received from other sources has led me to a belief that this is one of a number intended to carry on the piratical species of warfare praċticed by the insurgents against the commerce of the United States, in accordance with the plans laid down in the intercepted correspondence which I had the honor some time since to lay before you. It is a source of much gratification to me to learn that this proceeding is exciting the attention of Her Majesty's government.3

The intercepted correspondence alluded to by Mr. Adams had been forwarded by him to Earl Russell on the 9th of February, 1863.4 It related to arrangements for the issue of a loan in England, on account of the confederate government, for the export of munitions of war to the Confederate States, and also to a supposed contract made by the confederate navy department with a Mr. Sanders, for the construction in England of six iron-clad steamers, combining the capacities of freighting and fighting ships, in a manner which could enable them to force the blockade. A correspondence ensued in which Lord Russell denied that the papers proved any overt acts against the law which warranted a criminal prosecution of the parties concerned. He added, however, in a note of the 2d of April, 1863, that—

In view of the statements contained in the intercepted correspondence, Her Majesty's government have renewed the instructions already given to the custom-house authorities of the several British ports where ships of war may be constructed, and by the secretary of state for the home department to various authorities with whom he is in communication, to endeavor to discover and obtain legal evidence of any violation of the foreign-enlistment act with a view to the strict enforcement of that statute whenever it can be readily shown to be infringed, and Her Majesty's government would be obliged to you to coinmunicate to them, or to the local authorities at the several ports, any evidence of illegal acts which may from time to time become known to you. On the 26th of March, 1863, Mr. Adams wrote to Earl Russell, forwarding an extract of a letter from Mr. Dudley, the United States consul at Liverpool, on the subject of two vessels, Southerner. the Phantom and the Southerner, which the consul believed to be in. tended for confederate cruisers. The principal reason for Mr. Dud

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The Phantom and

ley's suspicions seems to have been the connection of the firms of Fraser, Trenholm & Co., and Fawcett, Preston & Co., with these vessels. He says at the end of the letter: "I suppose it will be impossible for me to obtain legal evidence against these two vessels, and nothing short of this will satisfy this government." Even of the information furnished by Mr. Dudley, part-namely, that the last-named of these two vessels, the Southerner, had arrived at Liverpool-was erroneous, and was corrected by Mr. Adams in his note, according to later advices received from Liverpool.

Mr. Adams was informed on the following day that immediate inquiry would be made on the subject, and inquiries were accordingly at once made, as in the case of the Georgiana, both through the customs authorities at Liverpool and by means of detective police officers, as to these two vessels. They failed to produce any evidence against them, and indeed one of them turned out to be a blockade-runner, and the other was afterwards engaged in trade in the Mediterranean. In acknowledgment of the steps which had been taken, Mr. Adams wrote as follows to Earl Russell on the 6th of April, 1863:

It is a source of great satisfaction to me to recognize the readiness which Her Maj. esty's government has thus manifested to make the investigations desired, as well as to receive the assurances of its determination to maintain a close observation of future movements of an unusual character that justify suspicions of any evil intent.1

The Alexandra.

On the 28th March, 1863, Mr. Dudley, the United States consul at Liverpool, wrote to the collector of customs at that port, forwarding six depositions relative to a vessel called the Alexandra, and applying for her seizure. Copies of these depositions were also forwarded to Earl Russell, by Mr. Adams, on the 31st of March; and after further inquiry by the authorities, the ship was seized on the 5th of April. Mr. Adams, being informed of this step, wrote on the 6th of April to Earl Russell to express his "lively satisfaction."

The history of this vessel is well known. The proceedings which were instituted by the government in the proper court, failed, under the direction of the lord chief baron to the jury that, to establish the intention that the vessel had been equipped for the purpose of war, it was necessary that she should have been armed, as well as fitted for the reception of guns. The jury having given a verdict against the Crown, the application to the court of exchequer for a new trial, on the ground of misdirection of the judge in so directing the jury, failed by reason of the judges of that court being equally divided in opinion. Writing to Mr. Adams after the verdict had been given, Mr. Seward says:

You are authorized and expected to assure Earl Russell that this Government is entirely satisfied that Her Majesty's government have conducted the proceedings in that case with perfect good faith and honor, and that they are well disposed to prevent the fitting out of armed vessels in British ports to depredate upon American commerce and to make war against the United States.

This Government is satisfied that the law-officers of the Crown have performed their duties in regard to the case of the Alexandra with a sincere conviction of the adequacy of the law of Great Britain, and a sincere desire to give it effect.3

An appeal was made to the court of exchequer chamber, but it turned out that, owing to an omission in the act constituting the latter, no provision had been made for such a case.

After a detention of a year, pending the trial and appeal, the Alexandra was liberated.

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She went first to Bermuda, then to Halifax, and from thence to Nassau, where, after repeated investigations, she was again seized, in December, 1864, on a fresh charge of an intention to employ her as a ship of war in the confederate service, and though the proceedings in the vice-admiralty court there ended in an acquittal, the decision did not take place till the end of May, 1865, when the civil war was at an end. The costs and damages incurred by the government on account of the two seizures amounted to over £4,000.

On the 6th of April, 1863, a dispatch was received from the British consul at New York, in which allusion was made to a report The South Carolina. which had appeared in the newspapers of that city, that the Georgiana, which, as I have already said, was no more than a blockade-runner, and which is so denominated in the United States Documents,' was intended to be armed as a confederate cruiser, and that a similar vessel, called the South Carolina, was building in the Clyde. The matter was referred to the commissioners of customs, and the latter reported, on the 13th of April, as follows:

On the receipt of the said letter, we referred the same to our collector at Glasgow for his inquiry respecting the South Carolina; and it appears from the report of the measuring surveyor of shipping at that port, which has been forwarded to us by the collector, that there are about forty ships building at the present time in the port, and it may be intended to give one of them that name; that the only ship apparently designed for a ship of war is the one building in the yard of Messrs. Thomson, referred to in our report to your lordships of the 11th ultimo, and that she is still in a very unfinished state. The measuring surveyor adds that he is giving his closest attention to this vessel, and will take care to keep the collector fully informed of her progress from time to time.

A report having appeared in the "Daily News," on the 17th of March, 1863, that the Gibraltar, which, after acting as a The Gibraltar or confederate ship of war under the name of the Sumter, had Sumter. been sold to private owners, and had arrived at Liverpool in the previ ous month, was fitting out at Birkenhead as a vessel of war, Lord Russell at once requested that inquiries might be made on the subject, and communicated the result to Mr. Adams. I shall have subsequently to go fully into the case of this vessel also, which was an object of constant vigilance during her stay at Liverpool, and which was not permitted to leave until the authorities were satisfied that there was no intention of again equipping her as a confederate cruiser.

On the 7th of July, 1863, Mr. Dudley forwarded to the collector of customs at Liverpool several depositions relative to two iron- Iron-clads at Birclad steamships building in Messrs. Lairds' yard at Birken- kenhead." head, which were alleged to be intended for the service of the Confederate States, one only of which had at the time been launched, the other being still in process of construction. Representations were also made on the subject by Mr. Adams, and a lengthened correspondence ensued. A strict watch was from the first kept upon the vessels, and inquiries made as to their character and destination. It was at first reported that they were built for the government of France. Subsequently they were claimed by a M. Bravay, of Paris, who produced a legal instrument, from which it appeared that the vessels had, in fact, been built to the order of Captain Bullock, (the confederate agent who had been instrumental in obtaining the Florida and Alabama for the confederate government,) but that Bullock had transferred his interest in them to Bravay. M. Bravay stated that he had purchased them for the Viceroy

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of Egypt; but the Viceroy, on inquiry, disclaimed any intention of ac quiring them.

On the 9th of September, 1863, a letter was addressed to the builders, Messrs. Laird, informing them that the government could not permit the vessels to leave the Mersey until satisfactory evidence could be given of their destination, or until the inquiries then being prosecuted on the subject should be brought to a conclusion; and, on the 9th of October following, both vessels were seized and given over into the care of the captain of Her Majesty's ship Majestic, then stationed at Liverpool. A commission was sent to Egypt for the purpose of procuring evidence with a view to their condemnation, but the result appearing doubtful, it was decided by the government to purchase them, though it was not in want of them, rather than run the risk of their passing directly or indirectly into the hands of a belligerent. They were accordingly purchased in May, 1864, for the sum of £220,000,1

pero.

Mention has already been made of the inquiries instituted by the The Canton or Pam- government as to vessels supposed to be building for the Confederate States at Glasgow. On the 17th of October, 1863, Mr. Adams wrote to Earl Russell, stating that, in addition to a formidable steam-ram in process of construction at that port, there was also another steamer ready to be launched, called the Canton, having all the characteristics of a war-vessel, which was about to be fitted out and dispatched with the same intent from the same place. Mr. Adams inclosed some extracts from a letter from the United States consul at Glasgow, who, he said, entertained no doubt as to the destination of the vessel, although, from the secrecy used in the process of construction and preparation, he had been slow in gaining evidence on which to base a representation.2

Directions were at once given to the proper authorities to make inquiries and to take any measures which might legally be possible. The investigations remained for some time without any definite result. The vessel was carefully examined. It appeared that though in course of being fitted as a passenger-ship, she possessed some peculiarities of construction which rendered her capable of being converted into a vessel serviceable for warlike use. The builders, however, and the firm through whom she had been contracted for, disclaimed any knowledge of such an intention, and declared their belief that she was intended for the merchant service. The evidence as to her being intended for the confederate service, which was supplied by the United States consul, did not go beyond vague rumor and hearsay.

The vessel was launched on the 29th of October, 1863. On the 16th of November the collector of customs at Glasgow reported that, as she was being rapidly got ready for sea, he had arranged with the captain of Her Majesty's ship Hogue, then stationed in the Clyde, to prevent the possibility of a departure pending the decision of the authorities ;3 and a week later a gun-boat was moored alongside of her to prevent any chance of her leaving surreptitiously.*

By the end of November, the inquiries of the Government led to the production of evidence showing who were the real owners of the vessel, and that they had contracted to sell her to one Sinclair, calling himself a citizen of the Confederate States. A letter from Sinclair was produced, dated in the previous September, in which he said that "the

1 British Appendix, vol. ii, pp. 457–459.

2 Ibid., p. 467.

3 Ibid., p. 499.

4 Ibid., p. 508.

determination of the government to prevent the sailing of any vesse that might be suspected of being the property of a citizen of the Confederate States was made so manifest, that he had concluded it would be better for him to endeavor to close the contract and go where he could have more liberal action ;" and it appeared from the further correspondence that he had agreed to do this, even on condition of forfeiting the cotton-certificates which he had already deposited as security. The Pampero was seized on the 10th of December, and legal proceedings were instituted, a verdict was entered against her by default, and she remained under seizure until some months after the termination of the civil war.

Iron-clad ram at

As regards the other vessel building in Messrs. Thompson's yard at Glasgow, on which the authorities, as has been mentioned, were keeping watch, Mr. Adams, writing respecting the Glasgow. seizure of the Pampero, reports as follows, (January 28, 1864:)

One good effect of these various proceedings has been to remove all further anxiety respecting the destination of the formidable iron-clad ram in process of construction at the same place. That she was ordered in the first instance by the rebels, I have no manner of doubt; she has now been purchased by the Danish government, as I learn from the Minister, M. de Bille.

The Rappahannock.

In September, 1863, an old gun-boat named the Victor, being considered as rotten and unserviceable, was sold by the British government to a private firm. The firm having afterward applied for the masts and sails of the vessel, the question of granting the application was referred to Earl Russell, who advised, as a measure of precaution, that the masts and sails should for the present be reserved. On the 24th November, 1863, she suddenly left Sheerness, where she was being prepared for sea, at midnight, and crossed over to Calais.1 She was still in a condition quite unfit to go to sea, her rigging being incomplete and her crew deficient. At Calais her commander declared her to be a confederate vessel of war, though she was neither equipped, manned, nor armed. She was allowed to remain, and to make such repairs as were necessary to render her seaworthy, but the precautions taken by the authorities to prevent her being made more serviceable for warlike purposes rendered her practically useless for the confederate service. It having been discovered that large additions had been made to her crew, the French government refused to permit her departure, and she was eventually abandoned by her officers."

"Contrast, again," says the Case of the United States triumphantly, "the course of the French government with that of the British government in like cases. What vessel bearing a commission was ever disturbed by a British gun-boat, no matter how flagrant might have been her violations of British sovereignty?" Had those who ask this question forgotten the case of a certain vessel called the Canton, or Pampero, which was served exactly in the same manner, having first had a gun-boat placed alongside of her and having been afterward seized?

No information had been received by the government tending to throw any suspicion on the Victor before her departure. Evidence having subsequently been furnished by Mr. Adams to Lord Russell tending to implicate various persons in the fitting-out of this vessel and the obtaining a crew for her, prosecutions were instituted against such

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