at that time of returning to Liverpool, he would have no hesitation in speaking of the matter to his officers and the persons from the Sumter. I may also state that Captain Bullock referred to is in Liverpool; that he is an officer of the confederate navy; that he was sent over here for the express purpose of fitting out privateers and sending over munitions of war; that he transacts his business at the office of Fraser, Trenholm & Co.; that he has been all the time in communication with Fawcett, Preston & Co., who fitted out the Oreto, and with Lairds', who are fitting out this vessel; that he goes almost daily on board the gun-boat, and seems to be recognized as in authority. A Mr. Blair, of Paradise street, in this town, who furnished the cabins of the Laird gun-boat, has also stated that all the fittings and furniture were selected by Captain Bullock, and were subject to his approval, although paid for by Mr. Laird. The information on which I have formed an undoubting conviction that this vessel is being fitted out for the so-called confederate government, and is intended to cruise against the commerce of the United States, has come to me from a variety of sources, and I have detailed it to you as far as practicable. I have given you the names of persons making the statements; but as the information in most cases is given to me by persons out of friendly feeling to the United States, and in strict confidence, I cannot state the names of my informants; but what I have stated is of such a character that little inquiry will confirm its truth. Everything about the vessel shows her to be a war vessel; she has well-constructed magazines; she has a number of canisters, of a peculiar and expensive construction, for containing powder; she has platforms, already screwed to her decks, for the reception of swivel guns. Indeed, the fact that she is a war vessel is not denied by Messrs. Laird; but they say she is for the Spanish government. This they stated on the 3d of April last, when General Burgoyne visited their yard, and was shown over it and the various vessels being built there by Messrs. John Laird, jr., and Henry H. Laird, as was fully reported in the papers at the time. Seeing the statement, and having been already informed from so many respectable sources that she was for the so-called confederate government, I at once wrote to the minister in London to ascertain from the Spanish embassy whether the statement was true. The reply was a positive assurance that she was not for the Spanish government. I am therefore authorized in saying that what was stated on that occasion, as well as statements since made that she is for the Spanish government, are untrue. I am satisfied beyond a doubt that she is for a confederate war vessel. If you desire any personal explanation or information, I shall be happy to attend you whenever you may request it. I am, &c., (Signed) THOMAS H. DUDLEY. The statement in the above letter that the Florida was receiving The Florida, as has been already armament at Nassau was erroneous. shown, did not receive any armament at Nassau. To this letter the collector replied as follows:1 The collector of customs, Liverpool, to the United States consul. LIVERPOOL, July 10, 1862. Sig: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communications of yesterday's date, received this morning,) and acquaint you that I shall immediately submit the same honor to serve. I may observe, however, that I am respectfully of opinion the statefor the consideration and direction of the board of customs, under whom I have the ment made by you is not such as conld be acted upon by the officers of this revenue, unless legally substantiated by evidence. I have, &c., (Signed) S. PRICE EDWARDS. A copy of Mr. Dudley's letter of the 9th July was on the 10th July transmitted by the collector to the commissioners of customs, together with the following report from the surveyor of customs: 2 [86] Surveyor's report. SURVEYOR'S OFFICE, July 10, 1862. SIR: I beg to report that, agreeably with your directions, I have this day inspected the steamer lying at the building-yard of the Messrs. Laird, at Birkenhead, and find Appendix, vol. i, p. 183. H. Ex. 282- -S 2 Ibid., p. 185. the confederate government, to act against the United States, under a commission from Mr. Jefferson Davis. Three of the crew are, I believe, engineers; and there are also some firemen on board. 8. Captain Butcher and another gentleman have been on board the ship almost every day. It is reported on board the ship that Captain Butcher is to be the sailing-master, and that the other gentleman, whose name I believe is Bullock, is to be the fighting captain. 9. To the best of my information and belief, the above-mentioned vessel, which I have heard is to be called the Florida, is being equipped and fitted out in order that she may be employed in the service of the confederate government in America, to cruise and to commit hostilities against the Government and people of the United States of America. (Signed) WILLIAM PASSMORE. Sworn before me at the custom-house, Liverpool, this 21st day of July, 1862. (Signed) S. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector. 2. I, John de Costa, of No. 8 Waterloo Road, Liverpool, shipping-master, make oath and say as follows: 1. I know, and have for several months known, by sight, Captain Bullock, who is very generally known in Liverpool as an agent or commissioner of the Confederate States in America. [89] *2. In the month of March last I saw the screw-steamer Annie Childs, which had run the blockade from Charleston, enter the river Mersey. She came up the Mersey with the confederate flag flying at her peak; and I saw the Oreto, a new gun-boat which had been recently built by Messrs. W. C. Miller & Sons, and which was then lying at anchor in the river off Egremont, dip her colors three times in acknowledgment of the Annie Childs, which vessel returned the compliment, and a boat was immediately afterward dispatched from the Annie Childs to the Oreto, with several persons on board, besides the men who were at the oars. 3. On the 22d day of March last I was on the north landing stage between 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning; I saw the said Captain Bullock go on board a tender, which afterward took him off to the said gun-boat Oreto, which was then lying in the Sloyne. Just before he got on board the tender he shook hands with a gentleman who was with him, and said to him, "This day six weeks you will get a letter from me from Charleston," or words to that effect. 4. On the same day, between 11 and 12 o'clock, as well as I can remember, I saw the Oreto go to sea. She came well in on the Liverpool side of the river, and from the Princess Pier head, where I was standing, I distinctly saw the said Captain Bullock on board her, with a person who had been previously pointed out to me by a fireman who came to Liverpool in the Annie Childs as a Charleston pilot, who had come over in the Annie Childs with Captain Bullock to take the gun-boat out. (Signed) JOHN DE COSTA. Sworn before me at the custom-house, Liverpool, this 21st day of July, 1862. (Signed) S. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector. I, Allen Stanley Clare, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, articled clerk, make oath and say as follows: 1. On the 21st day of July, now instant, I examined the book at the Birkenhead dockmaster's office, at Birkenhead, containing a list of all vessels which enter the Birkenhead docks; and I found in such book an entry of a vessel described as No. 290, and from the entries in the said book, in reference to such vessel, it appears that she is a screw steamer, and that her registered tonnage is 500 tons, and that Matthew J. Butcher is her master. (Signed) ALLEN S. CLARE. Sworn before me, at the custom-house, Liverpool, this 21st day of July, 1862. (Signed) S. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector. 4. We, Henry Wilding, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, gentleman, and Matthew Maguire, of Liverpool, aforesaid, agent, make oath and say as follows: 1. I, the said Matthew Maguire, for myself, say that on the 15th day of July, now instant, I took Richard Brogan, whom I know to be an apprentice working in the shipbuilding yard of Messrs. Laird & Co., at Birkenhead, to the above-named deponent, Henry Wilding, at his residence at New Brighton. 2. And I, the said Henry Wilding, for myself, say as follows: I am the vice-consul of the United States of North America at Liverpool. 3. On the 15th day of July, now instant, I saw the said Richard Brogan and examined him in reference to a gun-boat which I had heard was being built by the said Messrs. Laird & Co. for the so-called confederate government, and the said Richard Brogan then informed me that the said vessel was built to carry four guns on each side and four swivel guns; that Captain Bullock had at one time, when the vessel was in progress, come to the yard almost every day to select the timber to be used for the vessel. That the said Captain Bullock was to be the captain of the said vessel; and that the said Captain Bullock had asked the said Richard Brogan to go as carpenter's mate in the said vessel for three years, which the said Richard Brogan had declined to do, because Mr. Laird, who was present at the time, would not guarantee his wages. That the said vessel was to carry 120 men, and that 30 able seamen were already engaged for her. That the petty officers for the said vessel were to be engaged for three years, and the seamen for five months. That the said vessel was then at the end of the new warehouses in the Birkenhead dock, and that it was understood she was to take her guns on board at Messrs. Laird & Co.'s shed, further up the dock; and that it was generally understood by the men in Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard that the said vessel was being built for the confederate government. 4. The vessel above mentioned is the same which is now known as No. 290, and I verily believe that the said vessel is in fact intended to be used as a privateer or vessel of war, under a commission from the so-called confederate government, against the United States Government. (Signed) H. WILDING. S. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector. 5. Sworn before me at the custon-house, Liverpool, this 21st day of July, 1862. (Signed) I, Thomas Haines Dudley, of No. 3 Wellesley Terrace, Prince's Park, in the borough of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, esq., being one of the people called Quakers, affirm and say as follows: [89] I am the consul of the United States of North America for the port of Liverpool and its dependencies. 2. In the month of July, in the year 1861, information was sent by the United States Government to the United States consul at Liverpool, that a Mr. James D. Bullock, of Savannah, in the State of Georgia, who was formerly the master of an American steamer called the Cahawba, was reported to have left the United States for England, taking with him a credit for a large sum of money, to be employed in fitting out privateers, and also several commissions issued by the Southern Confederate States for such privateers, and in the month of August, in the year 1861, information was sent by the United States Government to the United States consulate at Liverpool that the aid Captain Bullock was then residing near Liverpool and acting as the agent of the said Confederate States in Liverpool and London. 3. In accordance with instructions received from the Government of the United States, steps have been taken to obtain information as to the proceedings and movements of the said James D. Bullock, and I have ascertained the following circumstances, all of which I verily believe to be true, viz, that the said James D. Bullock is in constant communication with parties in Liverpool who are known to be connected with and arting for the parties who have assumed the government of the Confederate States. That the said James D. Bullock, after remaining for some time in England, left the antry, and after an absence of several weeks, returned to Liverpool in the month of March last, from Charleston, in the State of South Carolina, one of the seceded States, in a screw-steamer then called the Annie Childs, which had broken the blockade of the Port of Charleston then and now maintained by the United States Navy, and which vessel, the Annie Childs, carried the flag of the Confederate States as she came up the Mersey. That shortly after the arrival of the said James D. Bullock at Liverpool in bos Annie Childs, as above mentioned, he again sailed from Liverpool in a new gunand completed in the early part of the present year, and which gun-boat, the Oreto, boat called the Oreto, built at Liverpool, by Messrs. W. C. Miller & Sons, ship-builders, though she cleared from Liverpool for Palermo and Jamaica, in reality never went to those places, but proceeded to Nassau, New Providence, to take on board guns and arms with a view to her being used as a privateer or vessel of war under a commission from the so-called confederate government against the Government of the United States, and which said vessel, the Oreto, is stated to have been lately seized at Nassau by the commander of Her Majesty's ship Greyhound. That the said James D. Bullock has since he has taken an active part in superintending the building, equipment, and fitting out returned again to Liverpool, and that before he left Liverpool, and since he returned, of another steam gun-boat, known as No. 290, which has lately been launched by it is his wish that we should take the opinion of the law-officers as to the case of this vessel. It is stated that she is nearly ready for sea. Sincerely yours, GEO. A. HAMILTON. The papers thus sent were received at the Foreign Office on the 23d July, 1862, and were, on the same day, referred to the law-officers of the Crown, with the following letter: 1 Mr. Layard to the law-officers of the Crown. [Immediate.] FOREIGN OFFICE, July 23, 1862. GENTLEMEN: With reference to your report of the 30th ultimo, I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you the accompanying papers, which have been received by the board of treasury from the commissioners of customs, containing further information respecting the vessel alleged to be fitting out at Liverpool for the service of the socalled Confederate States; and I am to request that you will take the same into your consideration, and favor Lord Russell at your earliest convenience with your opinion thereupon. The former papers on this subject are inclosed for reference if required. I am, &c., (Signed) A. H. LAYARD. It will have been seen from the above statement that the evidence laid by Mr. Dudley before the collector of customs at Liverpool on the 21st July was on the same day sent to London, on the following day (the 22d) referred to the official advisers of the customs department and reported on by them, and on the 23d referred to the law-officers of the Crown. Of the six depositions one only (that of Passmore) contained any evidence which was at once material to the question and legally admissible. To rely on evidence of this kind proceeding from a single witness, without more corroboration or without inquiry into his antecedents, would, according to English judicial experience, have been very unsafe in a case of this nature. Of the contents of the five others the greater part was merely hearsay and not admissible as evidence; and they furnish grounds of suspicion, but not sufficient grounds for belief. Copies of the depositions were also, on the 22d, sent by Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, with the following note: 1 Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, July 22, 1862. MY LORD: I have the honor to transmit copies of six depositions taken at Liverpool, tending to establish the character and destination of the vessel to which I called your lordship's attention in my note of the 23d of June last. The originals of these papers have already been submitted to the collector of the customs at that port, in accordance with the suggestions made in your lordship's note to me of the 4th of July, as the basis of an application to him to act under the powers conferred by the enlistment act. But I feel it to be my duty further to communicate the facts as there alleged to Her Majesty's government, and to request that such further proceedings may be had as may carry into full effect the determination which I doubt not it ever entertains to prevent, by all lawful means, the fitting out of hostile expeditions against the Government of a country with which it is at peace. I avail, &c., (Signed) [92] CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. On the 23d July two additional depositions were sent by Mr. A. T. Squarey, of *Liverpool, a solicitor employed by Mr. Dudley, to the board of customs, with the following letter: 2 1 Appendix, vol. i, p. 193. 2 Ibid., p. 194. Mr. Squarey to Mr. Gardner. TAVISTOCK HOTEL, COVENT GARDEN, SIR: Referring to an application which I made on behalf of the United States Government, under the instructions of their consul at Liverpool, to the collector of customs at Liverpool on Monday last, for the detention, under the provisions of the act 59 George III, cap. 69, of a steam gun-boat built by Messrs. Laird & Co., at Birkenhead, and which there is no doubt is intended for the Confederate States, to be used as a vessel of war against the United States Government, I beg now to inclose two affidavits which reached me this morning from Liverpool; one made by Robert John Taylor, and the other by Edward Roberts, and which furnish additional proof of the character of the vessel in question. I also inclose a case which has been submitted to Mr. Collier, Q. C., with his opinion thereon. I learnt this morning from Mr. O'Dowd that instructions were forwarded yesterday to the collector at Liverpool not to exercise the powers of the act in this instance, it being considered that the facts disclosed in the affidavits made before him were not sufficient to justify the collector in seizing the vessel. On behalf of the Government of the United States I now respectfully request that this matter, which I need not point out to you involves consequences of the gravest possible description, may be considered by the board of customs on the further evidence now adduced. The gun. boat now lies in the Birkenhead docks, ready for sea in all respects, with a crew of fifty men on board; she may sail at any time, and I trust that the urgency of the case will excuse the course I have adopted of sending these papers direct to the board instead of transmitting them through the collector at Liverpool, and the request which I now venture to make that the matter may receive immediate attention. I have, &c., (Signed) The two additional depositions wore as follows: A. T. SQUAREY. DEPOSITIONS. 1. 1. Edward Roberts, of No. 6 Vere Street, Toxteth Park, in the county of Lancaster, ship-carpenter, make oath and say as follows: 1. I am a ship-carpenter, and have been at sea for about four years in that capacity. 2. About the beginning of June last I had been out of employ for about two months, and hearing that there was a vessel in Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard fitting out to run the blockade, I applied to Mr. Barnett, shipping-master, to get me shipped on board the said vessel. 3. On Thursday, the 19th day of June last, I went to the said Mr. Barnett's office, No. 11 Hanover street, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, and was engaged for the said vessel as carpenter's mate. By the direction of the said Mr. Barnett 1 met Captain Batcher the same day on the George's landing-stage, and followed him to Messrs. Laird & Co.'s ship-building yard, and on board a vessel lying there. The said Captain Butcher spoke to the boatswain about me, and I received my orders from the said boatswain. At dinner-time the said day, as I left the yard, the gate-man asked me if I was "going to work on that gun-boat" to which I replied, “Yes.” 4. The said vessel is now lying in the Birkenhead float, and is known by the name No. 290. The said vessel has coal and stores on board. The said vessel is pierced for guns, I think four on a side, and a swivel gun. The said vessel is fitted with shot and canister racks, and has a magazine. There are about fifty men, all told, now on board the said vessel. It is generally understood on board of the said vessel that she is going to Nassau for the southern government. 5. I know Captain Bullock by sight, and have seen him on board of the said vessel five or six times; I have seen him go round the said vessel with Captain Butcher. I understood, both at Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard and also on board the said vessel, that the said Captain Bullock was the owner of the said vessel. 6. I have been working on board the said vessel from the 19th day of June last up to the present time, with wages at the rate of £6 per month, payable weekly. I have signed no articles of agreement. The talk on board is that an agreement will be signed before sailing, (Signed) EDWARD ROBERTS. Sworn at Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, this 22d day of July, 1862, before me |